Democrats practice SELECTIVE OUTRAGE!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

D’s HAVE A MAJORITY IN THE SENATE!

by Steve Fair

     The SCOTUS confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh has now surpassed Judge Robert Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas’ hearings in absurdity.  With an estimated 20 million Americans watching or listening, Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford tearfully testifying he had sexually assaulted her in high school and Kavanaugh tearfully denying it.  Democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee demanded the FBI investigate Ford’s accusation before the committee vote, but that was denied and they voted along Party lines to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate, but not without drama.  Senate Jeff Flake, (R-AZ) said he would only vote to move the nomination along if the Republican leadership would agree to a one week delay to allow the FBI to investigate and report back.  That was agreed to and at this point, the earliest the Kavanaugh nomination vote on the Senate floor will happen is mid-October. 

     First, Republicans don’t stick together like the Democrats and don’t lead the same way when they are in the majority.  They are too accommodating to the minority.  It’s fine to allow for a minority voice, but the Senate GOP leadership bends over backwards for the minority.  That was not the case when the Democrats were in charge.  They largely ignored the Republicans.  The GOP is more accommodating because they need the more moderate members of the GOP caucus to stick with them in order to get anything done. When GOP Senator’s Flake, Collins, and Murkowski waffle on supporting a Republican POTUS’s Supreme Court nominee, Democrats have a practical working majority in the Senate without winning elections.    

      Second, this isn’t about Kavanaugh’s fitness to serve on the SCOTUS.  It’s about judicial interpretation. Democrats know if the Constitution is interpreted literally, it presents a challenge to many liberal rulings past courts have made.  That’s why they are fighting with every ounce of strength to keep Kavanaugh off the court.  Kavanaugh is an ‘originalist’  in his interpretation of the Constitution(in the vein of Thomas and Scalia).  That means the good judge approaches the law literally and strictly, with little or no allowance for connotation. The Democrats prefer judges that are ‘structuralist,’ meaning they approach interpretation of the law with an abstract view, expanding the meaning beyond its original meaning to encompass situations not anticipated by the law’s authors or enactors at the time it was originally written.

     Third, the FBI has issues?  This agency has an agenda, but Senate Republicans are going to have them conduct a fair and impartial investigation into a 37 year old incident?  Expect the agency to find something, even if they have to make it up.    

     Groucho Marx said: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them….well I have others.”  That describes the Senate Democrats; selective outrage when it benefits their cause, while ignoring creditable evidence against their own.   These hearings have been a joke and hopefully the American people will see through the Democrat tactics and keep the GOP in the majority November 6^th.

 

Education leaders should be thinking outside the BOX!

WEEKLY OPINION EDITORIAL

REFORM, NOT REVOLUTION!

by Steve Fair

     On Saturday, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) came to OKC.  Warren, a 1966 graduate of NW Classen High School, came back to her high school alma mater to keynote the Oklahoma chapter of the American Federation of Teachers(AFT).  Addressing several hundred educators in the cafeteria, Warren said: “You’ve got to pay for teachers, you’ve got to pay for builders, you’ve got to pay for books. And, money is about values. Are we going to decide that’s it’s just going to be all about billionaires and tax breaks for big corporations? Or are we going to say that everybody pays a fair share?”  National AFT President Randi Weingarten commended the teachers for the walkout in April.  "Protest is important, but it is step one. What we want, what our kids deserve is a revolution," Weingarten said.  Three observations;

     First, Oklahoma government funds common education.  The money is just not getting to the classroom.  According to an Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs study, total revenues for Oklahoma public schools are at an all-time record high. Since 2006, school revenues have risen by more than $2.5 billion, or 41 percent, and now stand at over $8.8 billion- and it is before the latest round of revenue increases.  The problem is the money is not getting to the classroom where it makes a difference. If school administration in Oklahoma had grown as the same rate as student population over the past 20 plus years, and that money put into the classroom, Oklahoma teachers would be making $6,000 more annually. 

     Second, the average Oklahoman pays more than their ‘fair share’ of taxes.  Senator Warren suggests tapping billionaires to fund education, but there are not enough billionaires in the Sooner state to fund common education.  The numbers just will not work.  Hard working Oklahoma taxpayers, who can’t take off work and storm the Capitol demanding a pay raise, will pay the increased taxes. 

     Third, it is time for reform, not a revolution in education. Oklahoma kids deserve a change, but education leadership must commit to reducing administrative costs, pushing for merit based pay, and embracing technology before that reform happens.  Involvement in government/politics is a good thing, but it must be rooted in knowledge, not just zeal.

     Seventy four licensed teachers ran for the Oklahoma legislature this year, many on the Republican ticket.  Many of the educators who ran on the GOP ticket- and won- are clearly not fiscal conservatives.  Their stated goal is to increase funding for common education by raising taxes. 

     In the preamble of the Oklahoma Republican Party platform, it states that revenues collected at all levels of government should be used only for well defined, legitimate government functions, and should be carried out efficiently so that tax rates may be kept as low as possible.  The platform also calls for audits of common education and merit pay.  How many of the licensed teachers running on the GOP ticket have read the platform?

 

It's a Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill sequel!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

REALITY TV AT IT’S WORST!

by Steve Fair

     Brett Kavanaugh is President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.  He is currently a judge on the DC Court of Appeals.  During his confirmation hearings, the Democrats have tried delaying the proceedings, interrupting Kavanuagh when he was trying to answer questions, and shouting down Senator Grassley’s rulings, but nothing compares to the latest tactic. 

     With the Judiciary Committee ready to vote on his confirmation, a college professor named Christine Ford, sent a letter to Senator Diane Feinstein, (D-CA), accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault thirty years ago when he and she were in high school.  Initially, Ford’s letter was released anonymously, but after the creditability of that was questioned, Ford publically came forward saying, “civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation.”  An eyewitness to the supposed incident in question says it never happened, but Democrats are demanding that Kavanaugh answer her allegations.     Ford has said she will testify before the committee if called.

     This has little or nothing to do with sexual assault.  This is clearly an attempt by Democrats to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation from coming before the full Senate until after mid-terms.  This shameful display of grandstanding should be condemned by both sides of the aisle, but sadly, some so-called Republicans are more than willing to help the D’s, so long as it hurts President Trump.  GOP Senators Bob Corker, (R-TN) and Jeff Flake, (R-AZ), who are both not seeking re-election and both hate Trump, have said the vote should be delayed until Ford and Kavaugh both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.  Senator Susan Collins, (R-ME) tweeted agreement and Senator Lisa Murkowski, (R-AL) said the committee should delay the vote until both testify.  With the GOP margin razor thin in the Senate, it is likely Grassley will be forced to let the Ds have their grandstand moment.  Much like the Clarence Thomas/ Anita Hill show 27 years ago, expect “R” rated testimony to be placed into the Congressional record this week.  Set your DVRs, so you don’t miss one salacious detail.

     Republicans need to recognize Democrats don’t play the game the way they do.  Both sides can and are partisan, but Democrats don’t accept the minority status in Congress like the GOP.  For example, the confirmation hearings for President Obama’s SCOTUS nominees- Kagan and Sotomayor- were much less dramatic and more civil than George W. Bush’s nominees- Roberts and Alito, because the Rs knew they didn’t have the votes.  Not so with Democrats- they fight to the bitter end. With a 24 hour news cycle, Congressional committee hearings have become reality TV at its worst.

    Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the judiciary hearings have devolved into a ‘highly partisan show.”  “The way I was confirmed was right- this way is wrong,” the former liberal ACLU lawyer who was confirmed in 1993 by a bi-partisan vote of 97-3 said to applause at George Washington University of Law. 

     The Democrat strategy of bringing up unsubstantiated allegations from thirty years ago may backfire.  The American public is not stupid and they recognize grandstanding when they see it.

 

Blitz of Attacks on POTUS is not a coincidence- Deep State fights back!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

DEEP STATE HATES TRUMP!

by Steve Fair

    

     Last week, the New York Times published an anonymous op/ed supposedly written by a senior official in the White House.  The article was critical of President Trump, his temperament, style of leadership, and lack of knowledge on foreign policy.  The op/ed comes on the heels of Senator McCain’s funeral/political rally, which featured politicos in both Parties , trashing the president, which followed the release of Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear- Trump in the White House.  Woodward, of Watergate fame, is very critical of the POTUS in the new book.  Mainstream media is in a feeding frenzy and hoping to hurt Trump’s reputation to help Ds in the mid-term elections.  Four observations:

     First, the New York Times is a liberal rag with no journalistic integrity.  There was a time when the Times reported just the facts, but sadly they abandoned that strategy years ago and have evolved into nothing more than a sensationalist tabloid masquerading as a historical newspaper. 

     Second, anonymous pieces should never be taken seriously, especially hit pieces.  This op/ed could have been written by someone in the White House, but it may very well been written by someone at the Times.  The Times has never accepted Trump’s victory.  Take the Times op/ed with a grain of salt.

     Third, some of the criticism in the Times op/ed is petty.  The account of how Trump runs meetings in the Oval Office- with no organization and repeatedly changing his mind, if true, is more about his business background than his lack of knowledge.  In high level business meetings, decisions are often walked back several times before a consensus is reached.  That can be frustrating to those who like more formality in meetings-military and political types- but in the business world, it is how things get done.    

     Fourth, establishment politicians, in both Parties, want Trump gone.  His loud, sophomoric style is bombastic and unconventional.  He never takes the high road when attacked, but hits back twice as hard.  His constant tweeting incites his critics and his rhetoric is over the top.  But while it appears the POTUS is shooting from the hip, his accomplishments say otherwise.  In less than two years, he has passed historic tax cuts, had one SCOTUS justice confirmed, another about to be, repealed hundreds of restrictive government regulations, cracked down on sanctuary cities, moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and much more.  The only way to slow him down is to flip the U.S. House from Republican to Democrat control.  That is why the mid-terms are so important and why this blitz of assaults have come so close together.   

     The Times op/ed implies an influential group in the administration- a so-called ‘Deep State’ (permanent bureaucrats who just tolerate elected officials and ignore their directives)- are running(and saving) the country by ignoring Trump’s orders.  If that is the case, they should be rooted out and fired for insubordination.  The ‘Deep State’ hates Trump because he threatens their kingdom.  The establishment wants a POTUS they can control and that’s not what America elected.