Liberty & Prosperity Blog

Teacher Exodus-Part One By Ramblin’ Rose 'Experts' (who are they?) claim that a person changes careers 7 times in a lifetime or has 12+ jobs in a lifetime. (I assume that 'they' mean training and a degree/certificate for a career and employment for a job.) Yet, this fall, as the opening day of government-funded schools approaches, the media bemoaned the fact that 113,000 Minnesotans have a teaching license, but only 56,000 are teaching full-time, presumably in the 325 government-funded schools in MN. Why should the general public have 7 careers, based upon personal choice, and teachers follow only one career path in their lifetime? Shouldn't that be a personal choice for teachers as it is for other people? Teacher unions begin the defense of the loss of teaching professionals to low pay. Historically, that was true, but the data do not currently support that claim. An online search stated that the average personal income in the US is now $64,214 (laborers to doctors...

Democrats are playing coy on the issue of abortion. Democrats nationwide have made their campaigns all about abortion all-the-time. When asked if they support any limitations on abortion, Democrats dodge the question. A spokesperson for John Fetterman replied "John has been clear that he believes that the Supreme Court and Republicans should have left Roe the hell alone, and the whole point is that these decisions should be between a woman, her doctor, and a God if she prays to one — not politicians. Dr. Oz, on the other hand, said he supports banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. These dangerous views are deeply out of step with the people of Pennsylvania." According to the article, a "spokesperson for Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto referred Fox News Digital to a Reno Gazette Journal article which stated that 'abortion up to the moment of live birth is not a thing, according to obstetricians.'" Then there's this: Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz....

Race-Based Layoffs…in Minneapolis Schools By Ramblin’ Rose Dr. Martin Luther King proclaimed a dream of judging a person on character and not skin color. Ibram X. Kendi advocates reprisal for past discrimination by current discrimination and current discrimination through future discrimination…an eternal loop of unending retribution. That second ideology seems to be alive and well in Minnesota. In 2021, the Minnesota Legislature passed a statute (122A.70. Subdivision 1.b.1) that provides "additional stipends as incentives to mentors of color or who are American Indian." They pay non-white mentors more than white educators and allow minorities to share sites based on race. This statute also allows employees to seek offices with others of similar skin tones, not with others in their department. That option is not available to Caucasians. Discrimination? Racism? Not many know of this legislation…except those who have used it to their personal advantage. Employees typically find...

John Hinderaker's post over at Powerline properly captures Minnesota's gubernatorial race. That's especially true when John states if "money were the key in factor in politics, Scott Jensen’s issue-based campaign wouldn’t have the chance of a snowball in Hell. But facts matter, and buying votes isn’t as easy as the Democrats think." John then notes that "Still, our best candidates need and deserve our financial support. You can contribute to a solid conservative campaign, run by a hard-working candidate who eminently deserves to win, here ." Tim Walz is counting on his money advantage (he'll likely outspend Scott Jensen by a 10:1 margin) to help him win. Tim Walz's record on crime, education (school choice) and COVID is terrible, though. One thing featured at the Jensen booth are lots of charts on tons of different subjects. In this picture, Dr. Jensen stands in front of this chart, which highlights Tim Walz’s record on crime: If this race turn...

Democrats are attempting to tell John Q. Public that they aren't for defunding the police. Still, it's difficult to buy the notion that Democrats who voted for 87,000 new IRS agents and who voted for a flat DHS budget are pro-law enforcement. Add to that a marginal increase in the defense budget and it's virtually impossible to picture Democrats as pro-law enforcement. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Joe Biden once said that he could determine a politician's priorities by looking at his budget. This time, I agree with him.  It might be the last time in Biden's political career that happens. Still, I'm just getting started with the Democrats' priorities. Another of the Democrats' priorities is pandering to the teachers' unions. This isn't that debatable. It's just an observation. It's stood the test of time. Whether it's the CDC changing its COVID guidance, Tim Walz spiking school choice or Charlie Crist picking a teachers...

When it comes to political instincts, it's difficult to do worse than Charlie Crist. In 2010, Crist ran for the U.S. Senate. Crist started as a Republican before getting crushed by Marco Rubio. After that crushing, Crist switched to the Democrat Party. Now, Crist is hoping to get crushed again, this time at the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis. This weekend, Crist guaranteed that defeat by picking Karla Hernández-Mats, president of Miami’s United Teachers of Dade, as his running mate. Florida is fresh off its primary in which parent-oriented school boards carried the headlines by flipping 6 school boards, including the Miami-Dade Board. In light of Tuesday's results, the natural pick would be to stick a thumb in parents' eyes. That's precisely what Crist did in picking Ms. Hernandez-Mats. Think of it as Crist's Terry McAuliffe moment. You remember that moment, right? That’s the time when McAuliffe insisted that "I don't think parents should be telling schools wh...

Fox9 political reporter Theo Keith is planning on catching lots of politicians at the Great Minnesota Get Together, aka the Minnesota State Fair. This week, Keith broke news  during his interview with MnGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen. During his interview with Keith, Dr. Jensen said that he'd start running campaign ads in September. Walz has been running ads since Farmfest or thereabouts. DFL special interest allies like the Alliance for a Better Minnesota have run negative ads criticizing Dr. Jensen. That's helped Walz run mostly positive ads.  During their only debate, Walz showed himself to having a temper. At Farmfest, Walz didn't mix with the crowds very much. By comparison, Jensen mixed with the crowd for 2-3 hours. During the debate, Jensen "passed the eye test", according to a loyal reader of this blog. It isn't surprising that Walz hasn't agreed to any debates since Farmfest. A local businessman who watched the debate said the thing that...

Rep. Cindy Axne, (D-IA), insists that Joe Biden's Deadbeat Bailout, known by the MSM as Biden's student loan forgiveness proposal, isn't inflationary . Apparently, we've either found a dishonest Democrat or another economically illiterate Democrat. It's possible that she's a little of both. Rep. Axne is quoted as saying "I hear from realtors that student loan debt is strapping people from buying new homes. When folks buy a property, not only does that help the economy — with, you know, paying for the house to be built and those workers to built it, but it's all the stuff they buy to put in there — that creates jobs in America for appliances and things… if they build a family, all this stuff. It helps build our economy. So, I'm glad to see this is something that will not impact inflation negatively." That's a lovely theory and anecdote but it's detached from what Jay Powell said at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday. Powell sai...

Years ago, President George W. Bush tried telling then-Sen. Joe Biden what his priorities were. Biden allegedly told Bush to show him his budget and he'd tell President Bush what his priorities were. This fiscal year's Biden budget showed the Homeland Security budget flat. This week, Joe Biden announced that he was tired of obeying the Constitution's prohibition forbidding him from acting like he's emperor. This week, Biden announced that he's unilaterally appropriating money to buy votes and wipe out all the deficit reduction that wasn't in the Inflation Reduction Act. Let's explain that. The supposed deficit reduction in the Inflation Reduction Act was actually a gimmick. It didn't really exist because it relied on extending the Obamacare subsidies for 3 years even though the administration admits that it wanted the subsidies made permanent. By extending the subsidies 3 years instead of 10 years, this administration created the illusion of $300,000,000...

Yesterday, I got an email from the Minnesota Freedom Club highlighting the latest campaign to defeat Gov. Tim Walz, (DFL-MN), this November. It's simply titled Walz Failed. Today, there's already a hashtag started for this campaign. That hashtag is #TimWalzFailed, which is true. He's an epic fail. One of the tweets on this hashtag says "The number of daily diners in the city of Minneapolis was down an average of 54.3% in July - so the city had less than half the number of people eating out, compared with July 2019, according to Open Table." Here's another tweet: It’s amazing the difference freedom can make. #walzfailed #timwalzfailed https://t.co/hZJlVCqfoy — Brent (Hopfull) Larson (@Bmlarson527) August 22, 2022 The email said: Friend, We just released our FIRST ad on EXPOSING Governor Tim Walz’s FAILURE to keep Minnesota streets safe. When rioters took over our cities, Minnesotans called for help and Walz refused to answer. "We have reached out to t...

Over at RedState.com, Bonchie wrote about Joe Biden's deadbeat bailout in this article . What he didn't write about is how the university system is mismanaged. There was a time when I covered the university corruption/mismanagement beat as well as anyone in Minnesota. That period of time gives me insight that few people have. It isn't that I want to destroy the university system. It's that I want the university system run efficiently. When I wrote about MnSCU hiring a high-priced consultant to come up with a new name for their system, I was outraged when they paid this high-priced consulting firm $2,300,000. Likewise, I was upset when a university spent almost $450,000 on a rebranding project. Those memories rushed back when Joe Biden said that "The cost of education beyond high school has gone up significantly ... Many states have cut back support for their state universities, leaving students to pick up more of the tab." Actually, university systems are like...

Tim Walz's mishandling of COVID led to the closing of a once-popular bar in Minneapolis. That's according to owner Greg Urban, who implicitly blamed Tim Walz and Jacob Frey for his shutting down. Urban is quoted as saying "We haven't turned a profit since February 2020. The city has never recovered. And now there is shooting after shooting." Urban noted that his saloons "in Austin, Texas, and in Pensacola and Lakeland, Florida" are thriving. The article notes that "The restaurant and entertainment scene in Minneapolis was devastated by crippling COVID restrictions dating back to March 2020, followed by riots in the summer of 2020." Leadership matters. Unfortunately, Walz and Frey didn't provide that leadership. Thanks to that leadership void, Urban is opting for sites in business-friendly states like Texas and Florida. Independent videographer Rebecca Brannon noted on her Twitter feed that Urban had closed his Minneapolis saloon effective...

Democrat spinmeisters have been talking for 2+ weeks about how the momentum had shifted. Combine that with GOP establishment bedwetters whining about how each day talking about Mar-a-Lago was a day lost where they could've talked about crime, the border crisis or inflation. Apparently, voters didn't get the message. Kevin Walling, a former Biden surrogate, didn't get that memo either . In his op-ed, Walling skips past this year's primaries while touting a Washington-centric message. Walling wrote "All of these factors, coupled with a series of big legislative wins for veterans health care, the CHIPs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act provide a stark contrast for President Biden and the united Democratic Party compared with the scenes playing out on the Republican side of the aisle." Tuesday night in Florida, voters without a statewide GOP race to rush to the polls about showed up anyway to throw out woke Democrat school board members en masse. Prior to Tuesd...

Since just after Joe Biden's victory in 2020, I've paid lots of attention to school boards, starting with Loudoun County, Virginia. It started as an uprising. It grew into a revolt. Then it blossomed into a full-blown movement of highly motivated parents. From there, the movement spread into the Dallas, TX suburbs. Finally, it's taken root in Florida. Tonight, Ron Desantis's endorsed candidates for Florida school boards totally outperformed expectations . Tonight, 25 of the 30 school board candidates endorsed by Gov. Desantis, (R-FL), won their races. According to Kira Davis's article, "Of the 30 candidates endorsed by DeSantis, 25 won their races. A few boards had the potential to flip from liberal to conservative, and flip they did. Sarasota County flipped their school board from a 3-2 liberal majority to a 4-1 conservative majority. The Miami Dade school board also flipped their majority from liberal to conservative, making them the largest county in America...

Anyone thinking that Joe Biden, aka Aviator Joe, should stop in a little (but growing) town called Realityville. Though most people don't know this, there's a town called Realityville in virtually every state in the US. Joe Biden likes pretending that he's from Realityville, PA. He pretends to be an everyman by calling himself Scranton Joe. It's worked effectively for him for decades. Now, it's obvious that he's swung his allegiance to coastal climate change elitists. Scranton Joe died when he met Barack Obama. That's when Aviator Joe took over. Lately, the MSM has talked repeatedly about Joe's comeback. This morning, I saw an article that asked if it was inevitable for Democrats to lose the House. For Democrats not living in Realityville, USA, the answer is that Democrats are screwed in the House. What we know The MSM always tells the truth. If they report it, take that to the bank. For the past couple weeks, the MSM has told us how Aviator Joe was gett...

John Solomon is one of the best investigative reports in DC. When writes an article about breaking news, I listen. This morning, Solomon is breaking news again, this time reporting that the White House started the investigation into President Trump. According to Just The News' reporting, aka JTN, "On April 11, 2022, the White House Counsel's Office — affirming a request from the Department of Justice supported by an FBI letterhead memorandum — formally transmitted a request that NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 boxes for its review within seven days, with the possibility that the FBI might request copies of specific documents following its review of the boxes," Wall wrote Trump defense attorney Evan Corcoran." After that, Solomon reports "The Counsel to the President has informed me that, in light of the particular circumstances presented here, President Biden defers to my determination, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney General for the Offic...

For the last month or thereabouts, the GOP establishment has worried about the GOP's chances of retaking the Senate. The GOP establishment is personified by Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove.  I'd include Mitt Romney in that bunch, too, except he's pretty much disqualified himself, much like Liz Cheney disqualified herself. People who think that Republicans face an uphill fight in recapturing the Senate's majority aren't paying attention. First, polling showing Democrats leading in battleground states are virtually all using registered voter screens. That's worth 3-5 points for Democrats. Polls using a likely voter screen show much closer races. Next, high-quality polls, starting with Trafalgar, InsiderAdvantage and I&I TIPP, are the most reliable polls. It wasn't long ago when, Tim Ryan, the Democrats' sacrificial lamb against JD Vance in Ohio, supposedly led Vance by 3-4 points. McConnell and Rove didn't comment directly about the campaign but they...

When Tim Walz first coined the phrase "One Minnesota", I'm confident that he didn't want it to become a negative. Thanks to his failure to address crime, and Keith Ellison's failure too, Minneapolis has become one of the most violent cities in the US. According to Stephen Montemayor’s Star Tribune article, Minneapolis is a Minnesotan's nightmare. Montemayor reported about "United States Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger", who "called a press conference to discuss the strategy he is pursuing with other state and federal law enforcement agencies to address violent crime in the Twin Cities." Montemayor continued, writing "'What law enforcement is encountering on the streets of Minneapolis, St. Paul and other cities today is far more disturbing than even the alarming numbers show,' Luger said. ' By their actions, their weapons and their words, violent offenders are displaying an absolute disdain for the law and a disregard ...

This morning, Tom Weiler, the GOP candidate for Minnesota's Third Congressional District, met with Tom Hauser for an interview. It was the first time I'd seen Mr. Weiler. I came away impressed with him. In the segment after the interview, former DFL State Party Chair Brian Melendez described Rep. Dean Phillips, Mr. Weiler's DFL opponent, as a moderate. On every major piece of Joe Biden's agenda, Rep. Phillips has voted with the Squad, Pramila Jayapal and all the other Democrat socialists in Congress. Rep. Phillips talks like a moderate but votes like a hardline Marxist. Further, Phillips is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, though he hasn't solved a single problem nor has he proposed anything to fix inflation, curb crime or produce prosperity. With Phillips, being part of the Problem Solvers Caucus is just a box to be checked to prove that he's a moderate. I don't buy that Phillips is a moderate. Hall of Fame NFL Coach Bill Parcells once famously said...

There's spin and then there's lying. What KJP does most of the time during the WH daily press briefings is spin. What Ron Klain, Biden's Chief of Staff, did in this article is outright lying. In one paragraph, Klain said "We now have a presidency where the president has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt, the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower, the most judges confirmed since Kennedy, the second-largest health care bill since Johnson and the largest climate change bill in history… The first time we've done gun control since President Clinton was here, the first time ever an African American woman has been put on the U.S. Supreme Court… I think it’s a record to take to the American people." The first question I have for Mr. Klain is simple. Are any of these things important to the American people? Are people paying less for groceries? As a result of this bill, will people pay less for heating their homes this winter than the...

It isn't a well-kept secret that crime is the DFL's Achilles Heel issue this election cycle. The Jensen-Birk ticket know that. That's why they're putting out a proactive, aggressive plan to make Minnesota's streets safer. According to this executive summary , the Jensen-Birk plan calls for Make Carjacking a Crime with Harsh Penalty Stop Non-Profit Funding to Bail out Criminals Bring in the State Patrol to Reinstate Order Make Penalties Harsher Screen and Appoint Judges who will Uphold Sentences Judges must Follow Guidelines Protect the Children End Recidivism with Productive Training Corrective Labor and Community Participation Use the National Guard That's a plan that reduces crime while increasing citizen safety. We already know what Tim Walz thinks of his former fellow guardsmen: Tell that to the 55th Civil Support Team: Unit Information The 55th Civil Support Team perform duties in support of emergency preparedness programs to prepare for or respond to emer...

When Charles Manson was tried for murder, he took the stand. The prosecutor asked him if he gave one of his "family" an order to murder someone. Manson didn't flinch in saying "I didn't have to." Implicit in his testimony was that the people in his family knew what he expected of them. Merrick Garland doesn't need orders from Joe Biden. He knows what Biden expects of him. Biden expects Garland to be Biden's wingman like Eric Holder was Barack Obama's wingman. Further, Biden expects Garland to keep Biden's son out of prison, no easy task considering Hunter's history. Garland isn't that talented at carrying out Biden's orders. Obviously, Biden has it in for Donald Trump. In his raid of Mar-a-Lago, as Dan Henninger notes in this column , Henninger wrote "Mr. Garland issued a brief, no-questions-allowed statement about the Mar-a-Lago intervention asserting that 'where possible' it is the Justice Department’s practice to ...

Let's state this clearly. Joe Biden isn't delusional. He's just a liar who hasn't hesitated in overhyping himself. That's the indisputable message from Tired Joe's dishonest op-ed . In his op-ed, which I doubt he wrote, he stated "I took office during a dark time in America. A once-in-a-century pandemic. Devastating joblessness. Clear and present threats to democracy and the rule of law. Doubts about the American future itself. We have not wavered or given in to these challenges. Instead, we are doing the hard work of delivering on results for the American people." Talk about malarkey . When Joe took over, gas cost $2.39/gallon, inflation was 1.4% and the economy was growing at a 6.5% rate. More importantly, people's paychecks stretched farther because inflation wasn't a factor. Biden insists that he's worried about "democracy and the rule of law." That's more malarkey from the man who trademarked the word. If he's worried...

Joe Biden allegedly wrote this op-ed touting his signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, which doesn't reduce inflation. In the op-ed, he highlighted 3 key points. The first point highlighted is that, in Joe's own words, "First, we are lowering costs for working families. We are giving Medicare the power to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. Seniors will pay less for their prescription drugs. The big drug companies spent nearly $100 million to beat this law. We prevailed." If these things are great and important, why are some of these provisions not implemented until 2025? Personally, I'd make Democrat senators eat Biden's second point. Biden's second point says "Second, in this historic moment, Democrats sided with the American people and Republicans sided with the special interests. Every single Republican voted against lower prescription drug prices, against lower health care costs and against a fairer tax system. Every single Republica...

James Carville is initially famous for creating the 1992 campaign line of "It's the economy, stupid." He's about to become famous for another campaign statement. According to this article , they quote Carville as saying "Really stupid people demand to have really stupid leaders. That’s where the Republican Party stands now." That's breathtakingly foolish politically. Is Carville saying that the flood of Hispanics flocking to the GOP are stupid? Is Carville saying that the parents of students who are abandoning the Democratic Party are stupid? Carville didn't stop there. The article continues, saying "Carville said the Democrats need to focus more on celebrating their economic achievements, such as the American Family Rescue Plan Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, and concentrate on criticizing the GOP for its stances on the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot." That's the right approach, Jim. Remind voters that the America...