Truth over party

“Liz Cheney is an important figure in our times. And I have similar praise for Adam Kinzinger and Mitt Romney­­––for all the Republicans who voted to impeach or convict Trump. Historically, the left never defeats fascism on its own. . . . I continue to disagree with Liz Cheney on a range of issues, but she is an ardent constitutional patriot. She doesn’t believe her party must win. Her party is now one of ‘rule or ruin.’ Either they rule, or they eliminate any basic democratic norms. They have positioned themselves outside the constitutional order.​” -Jamie Raskin. Democratic member of the House representing Maryland’s Eighth District from interview in The New Yorker

George Pataki Supporter, Earle I. Mack is Exactly what is wrong with the Republican Party

And probably why George Pataki didn't get any traction in his campaign bid. In short, his suggestion is that Republicans should run like they are Democrats.

The New York Times reported:

• Earle I. Mack, a prominent real estate developer and Republican donor who was supporting Mr. Pataki, said the former governor had faced a difficult national environment for his "middle of the road" brand of politics. Mr. Mack, who spoke with Mr. Pataki ahead of his announcement, said Republicans faced a dire future if they did not tack toward the center, as Mr. Pataki had urged.
  "It's time for a more moderate Republican," Mr. Mack said, adding: "If we don't have a candidate that understands the Supreme Court has ruled that gay marriage is legal and a woman's right to choose is legal, if they can't get that through their head, they're going to keep losing elections."

Bob Dole, Mitt Romney, John McCain are all a part of that kind of thinking. Why don't Republicans realize why it doesn''t work??

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MEME REPORT:
WHAT CAN BE SAID ABOUT HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN THAT HASN'T ALREADY BEEN SAID ABOUT A TRAIN WRECK?

Paul Ryan Seeks to Turn the 2016 Presidential Election to the Establishment

A New York Times article summarized:

• He (Paul Ryan)  invited the Congressional Black Caucus and other minority caucuses to a holiday reception and will try to reach beyond the Republican base. “It means show up and talk to everybody, appeal to everyone,” he said.
  And that will start with Republican primary voters, about a third of whom have been swayed so far by Mr. Trump’s recipe of strict immigration policies, tough foreign policy talk, blunt and highly personal critiques of his competitors, and a vague appeal for general greatness.
  “There is this real, palpable anxiety in the country” fueled by stagnant wages and slow economic growth, Mr. Ryan said, “and then you turn on the TV and you see ISIS, you see San Bernardino and you see all these security threats, and it’s like the world is on fire.”
  At the same time, “we have to make sure populism doesn’t trump individual rights,” he said. “It’s a distraction to prey on fears.”

In other words, Ryan is seeking to sway the election to go the way he thinks it should: Back into the mainstream of establishment Republicans, like himself...and the others who have lost along with him, like Mitt Romney and John McCain. Ryan doesn't get it. The most main stream establishment  Republican in the candidate list is Lindsey Graham and he can't even poll as a favorite presidential candidate in his own state.

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MEME REPORT:
RELIGION OF PEACE?

Saturday Read 10.29.15

I havent paid much attention to the news surrounding Ben Carson's involvement with the SDA's any more than I paid attention to the news surrounding Mitt Romney's involvement with Mormonism. As candidates they run to be president of the USA, not president over just Christians who will reject Carson as they did Romney because of their church affiliations. There were many evangelicals who rejected John Kennedy because of his Catholicism. The attached article is extreme, as I have known SDA's who do not follow word for word the teachings of Ellen White even though she essentially founded the church. Heck I know Lutherans who don't know anything about Martin Luther for that matter. When Walter Murphy wrote his famous book "Kingdom of the Cults," he struggled as to whether or not to include the SDAs in it. I might also even though I was once married to one and know her SDA beliefs played a part in the rather quick end to our marriage. That being said, however, it is the content of character that is more important to me as opposed to ones personal views about a religion that someone might be involved with when they dont even know to what extent he/she does believe in it. In short, as a Christian and theologian I have no problem with Ben Carson and his SDA affiliation.
http://cowgernation.com/2015/10/24/newsflash-evangelical-christians-ben-carson-follows-a-cult/


As his surge in heavily evangelical Iowa puts a spotlight on his faith, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is opening up about his membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He embraces it as right for him while also framing his beliefs in broad terms that aim to transcend divisions among Christians.
In an interview with The Associated Press, days after GOP rival Donald Trump criticized Carson's church, the retired neurosurgeon said his relationship with God was "the most important aspect. It's not really denomination specific."
Carson discussed a brief period as a college student when he questioned whether to stay in the church. And in his own criticism, he said it was a "huge mistake" that the top Adventist policymaking body recently voted against ordaining women. "I don't see any reason why women can't be ordained," he said.

From Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ben-carson-seventh-day-adventism/2015/10/31/id/699956/#ixzz3qBc9fzma

 

New results are in from NAEP, the test known as the “report card” for the nation’s schools. They’re not good.
New results are in from the test known as the “report card” for the nation’s schools, and they’re not good.
The U.S. Department of Education just released data from the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nationally representative test measuring student achievement in mathematics and reading. The NAEP, administered every other year in math and reading, often is called the nation’s report card.
There no doubt will be numerous analyses of all the data that NAEP provides, including student subgroups, achievement gaps, state-specific results, charter performance, and progress (or lack thereof) over time.
But at first glance, the new results paint a picture of continued lackluster academic performance.
Math and reading achievement declined for both fourth- and eighth-graders from 2013 to 2015. Mathematics achievement declined at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels, and reading achievement declined significantly for eighth-graders.


 - Even as President Barack Obama sent U.S. troops back to Iraq and ordered the military to stay in Afghanistan, he insisted Syria would remain off limits for American ground forces. Now the president has crossed his own red line.
His deployment of up to 50 U.S. special operations troops into northern Syria to assist in the fight against the Islamic State is the kind of incremental move that has defined Obama's approach to the Middle East in his second term.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/1 /31/with_syria_deployment_obama_crosses_own_red_line_128613.html



Arthur C. Brooks writes in the New York Times:

Scholarly studies have piled up showing that race and gender diversity in the workplace can increase creative thinking and improve performance. Meanwhile, excessive homogeneity can lead to stagnation and poor problem-solving.
Unfortunately, new research also shows that academia has itself stopped short in both the understanding and practice of true diversity — the diversity of ideas — and that the problem is taking a toll on the quality and accuracy of scholarly work.

The ideological imbalance that pervades academia fosters groupthink and undermines critical thinking. The dominance of left-leaning perspectives in academic institutions compromises their commitment to open inquiry and effective education.

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MEME REPORT:
INITIATIVE 42 IS A FAILED REACTION; NOT A RESPONSE

Keith Plunkett: The state flag isn’t the problem. Forgetting our humanity is.

Excerpt from an article by Keith Plunkett.

A young mentally unstable young man in South Carolina, easily susceptible to a message of hatred and violence, and apparently without any parental supervision to help steer him in a different direction or get him the help he needed, walked into an African American church in Charleston and gunned down 9 people because of the color of their skin.

Within hours pictures surfaced of the young man waving a Confederate Battle Flag. President Obama’s lack of compassion for the dead in an attempt to use the tragic incident as a political means to reboot a discussion about gun control are quickly overshadowed when former presidential candidate Mitt Romney– with an equal lack of compassion for the dead–calls for the Confederate Battle Flag to be removed from flying at the state capitol in South Carolina. The outrage mob on Twitter and in the media picks up on the comments to begin focusing on Mississippi’s official state flag and the “need” to change it, too.

9 people are dead in South Carolina and their families and community are devastated. The remainder of a young mans life is ruined by the lack of a social network that could have and should have intervened. And all we can talk about now is a damn flag?

What the hell happened to our society that causes us to search for blame in an object, and ignore the real causes of social degradation?

We cannot change what happened in years past, but we can learn from it and change next year and the year after. Those who can’t take their experiences nor their time nor their place and honor it through action that puts the health of society and our people first will be easily manipulated by symbols and symbolic gestures that are meaningless when it comes to facing shared challenges.The problem doesn’t lie in the facade we paint, the problem lies in the hearts of each of us. We can’t create new packaging and expect the underlying issues to disappear into the wind.

Fortunately, if we have the courage to take our individual little pieces of knowledge, our own places in time and history, and join it together with others experience, then that is where the solutions can be found.
That starts with losing our newfound national pastime of constantly being offended and making politically selfish points out of every human tragedy.

The state flag isn’t the problem. Forgetting our humanity is.

Complete article is HERE

If you want to win, Don't let Phil Bryant endorse you [Tate Reeves Warning Edition]

Gov Byrant endorse these candidates and they all lost: Dan Moreland, John McKay, Cheri Berry, Fred Pitts, and Mitt Romney. And in yesterdays election he endorsed Boyce Adams and Windy Swetman. They also both lost. The Mississippi Democrat Trust caught onto that trend.

Bryant endorsed Tate Reeves, so maybe good news for one of Reeves opponents? 

[H/T to Cottonmouth for tip off]