Democrat Governor Cuts Funding for Public Broadcasting : What Are The Risks?

First of all, it takes $4.2 million dollars to support 71 employees' salaries and benefits? What's at stake here is a public business like the NPR and it's affiliates around the country that clearly are not non-partisan and never have been for decades. If this passes, all affiliates will be at risk.

Larger, why should those of us who are not part of that bias have to pay from our taxes that supports a group of people that is in opposition  to what we believe? With out a doubt, if NPR was run Republicans the democrats would have found a way to take the funding years ago.

That this governor, a democrat, it taking this step to defund public broadcasting is remarkable. He has to know he will be a one time governor if he even last that long. He is treading on sacred ground eliminating tax dollars to a progressive democrat communication arm the democrats need to being their message to a partisan crowd at someone else's expense.

Actually he is probably putting his family at risk as well, and he will realize this after he takes the 3 a.m.phone call that suggests he rethink his proposal to eliminate funding for public broadcasting. The metallic voice on the other end of line will hint at a compromise that will satisfy all parties without further negotiations.

Would the collective actually threaten a sitting democrat governor for being realistic and responsible? Probably not, but times have changed and so have the players. It's not the democrat party of your father any longer.

Democrat Governor Wants to Cut Taxpayer Funding for Public Broadcasting to Zero
Fred Lucas / @FredLucasWH / February 22, 2017   

At a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly considering cuts to public broadcasting, one Democrat governor already has proposed to eliminate taxpayers’ subsidies for his state’s TV and radio affiliates. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s budget proposal would cut state funding for the West Virginia Public Broadcasting, or WVPB, from $4.6 million all the way down to zero. Justice’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal is aimed at closing a $500 million revenue shortfall. It also includes about $450 million in new tax hikes.

“You’re faced with a $500 million hole in the bucket,” Justice told the state Legislature earlier this month. “And the next year is a $700 million hole in the bucket … We’ve got an 18 carat dog’s mess, don’t we? We do. I didn’t create the dog’s mess. I have inherited the dog’s mess. And I am telling you, you have to have real direction and real ideas and real cooperation together to be able to get out of this.”

Justice went on to broadly talk about making spending cuts and tax hikes painless, but didn’t specifically address public broadcasting during his State of the State address. Justice’s spokesman Grant Herring didn’t return multiple phone calls and emails from The Daily Signal on Wednesday.

WVPB CEO Scott Finn referred The Daily Signal to Herring for all questions.

The state’s portion of the funding makes up almost half of the WVPB’s $10 million budget, according to Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting and the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation, which advocate on behalf of and raise private money for the state’s public broadcasting. A statement from the organizations’ chairs read, “such a drastic and immediate cut threatens the very existence of our state’s PBS and NPR stations.” “This state cut would translate into layoffs of up to 75 percent of our staff, which would endanger our ability to operate,” read the statement from Friends of WVPB Chairwoman Susan C. Hogan and WVPB Foundation Chairman Ted Armbrecht. About $4.2 million of the $4.6 million covers the salaries and benefits for WVPB’s 71 employees, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Hogan told The Daily Signal the organization has hired a lobbyist and a marketing director to galvanize public support.

“Alternative ways [for WVPB] to exist would be as a private nonprofit. The other is to become part of a university,” Hogan told The Daily Signal. “The former would take years to get to that point. The latter would take intense negotiation.”

The state Legislature is holding hearings and drafting its own budget proposal, said Jared Hunt, spokesman for West Virginia House Speaker Tim Armstead, a Republican. For now, the speaker doesn’t have a specific position on public broadcasting. But, it’s ultimately up to the governor, Hunt said.

“Even if we do restore the funding, the governor does have line-item veto power and if he wanted to, he could take that funding back out,” Hunt told The Daily Signal. “If he wanted to take that funding back out in the final version of the budget bill, that is his prerogative. A lot will depend on what the governor’s perspective is at the time.”

Taxpayers, whether at the state or federal level, shouldn’t have to fund what is heavily liberal-leaning programming, said Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “Whether it’s state or federal, all taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to fund such marked bias,” Gonzalez told The Daily Signal. “They have been criticized for this for years, and their only defense is ‘No, we’re not [biased].’”

Trump met Wednesday with his budget team at the White House, as the president plans to present a budget proposal in the near future. News reports say he intends to privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the agency that oversees the TV network, Public Broadcasting System, as well as National Public Radio. U.S. taxpayers spend $445 million annually on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In brief remarks from the White House, Trump didn’t address any specific detail other than cutting waste and getting spending under control. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sat on each side of the president, while other top advisers were also in the Roosevelt Room with him. “The finances of this country are a mess but we’re going to clean that up,” Trump said. “I will be holding everybody accountable for that.”
Gonzalez thinks PBS and NPR could do well as private nonprofits.

“It is unfair and unwise to fund any media organization that ignores the philosophy and arguments of one-half of the country,” Gonzalez added. “I think their membership model for raising money works. I think they would survive and thrive on their own.” Hogan contends that public broadcasting is essential for the America. “[The Corporation for Public Broadcasting] is the spirit and soul of America,” Hogan said. “You tell me a cable station that does what PBS does.”

Home Invaders confronted by 11 Yr Old Preteen With 12ga Equalizer!

This is interesting stuff, even if it hasn't been vetted for factually, it still tells a story about taking personal action to protect your self in a situation where the police cannot arrive in time to assist you. The Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark has a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on this very subject on radio and television, where he says people must assume the task of doing what is necessary to protect themselves until the official police show up. This makes good sense. It's hard to believer anyone would opt to stand down in the face of a home invasion if that person was armed and aware. Still if that person was a progressive socialist liberal democrat they could opt to try and discuss the situation and make them believe, even though they have a shot gun in their hands, they mean them no real harm. Actually, what they would like to do is help them by finding a job and nice place to live while become accustomed to our ways in America. The progressive liberal can explain all of the local, state and federal programs that are available to assist in relocation for them and their family. The progressive will find much satisfaction in informing the home invaders that life can be so much better then robbery with free rent, free medical care, food stamps and so much more that will make life easier and more rewarding. The problem of course is that the progressive will soon arrive at the conclusion the invaders don't understand English and for that matter don't care as they are inside your home to robe you and worse, not be given a seminar on the progressive socialist liberal democrat ideology. The situation at this point, for the home owner, would take a turn for the worse. In the case of the 11 year girl, home by herself, it doesn't take rocket science to know what would have transpired if this girl was unarmed. I'm sure the progressive democrats where alarmed at her action to defend herself with lethal force when maybe she could have given them a chance to understand what it means to become civilized. AN 11 YR OLD WHO SHOT ILLEGALS (Thanks FOX NEWS for reporting it.) A Shotgun-armed Preteen vs. Illegal Alien Home Invaders.   Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26, probably believed they would easily overpower home-alone 11-year-old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two-story home.   It seems these crooks never learned two things: They were in Montana, and Patricia had been a clay-shooting champion since she was nine.Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's room and grabbed his 12-gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun.  Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor, only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buckshot from the 11-year-old's knee-crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals.   When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive. It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen 45-caliber handgun he took during another home invasion robbery.              That victim, 50-year-old David 0'Burien, was not so lucky. He died from stab wounds to the chest.   Ever wonder why good stuff never makes NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, or ABC news? An 11 year old girl, properly trained, defended her home, and herself against two murderous, illegal immigrants and she wins. She is still alive. Now THAT is Gun Control!              Thought for the day: Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrants' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist.'

 

 

 

Town Hall Meetings Have Orginized Chaos : Dave Brat Wins The Crowd

It seems that this is only the beginning of the destructive attacks that the progressive liberal democrats are backing to disrupt our civil society that has worked to have a peaceful transition of one power group to another.

The democrats do not believe or accept the fact that an opposition to their grip on power is legitimate and therefore that opposition must be not only stopped but destroyed.

The town hall meetings that have been the seen of disruption from organized agitators for the sole propose of not allowing local politicians to connect with their supporters to explain what is going on in Washington.

Much like what happens on university and college campuses when a Conservative is asked to speak on campus but is attacked to make sure they can not speak, little wonder this same tactic is used in the town hall meetings of Republicans.

What we are witnessing is the progressive liberal democrat ideology of verbal violence to stop an exchange of ideas that are not acceptable to the democrats. And of course, if that doesn't work, like on California campus of Berkeley, the progressive democrats turn to open violence to private property and Conservative members to do them bodily harm.

Watch How One Congressman Handles a Rowdy Town Hall Meeting
Video Team / February 22, 2017

Rep. Dave Brat shocked the political establishment in 2014 when he defeated then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the GOP primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. On Tuesday, Brat was back in the spotlight at a town hall meeting in rural Blackstone, Virginia.

During the lively and occasionally boisterous meeting, Brat was peppered with questions from constituents on a range of policy issues and current events. Despite frequent interruptions—some cheers and other jeers—Brat kept his cool and responded to nearly three dozen questions.

The Daily Signal traveled to Blackstone for Brat’s meeting, and aired footage Wednesday along with interviews with some attendees and the congressman.

The Daily Signal’s Genevieve Wood also interviewed Sondra Clark of Heritage Action for America, a sister organization of The Heritage Foundation, about political activism at town hall meetings.

Watch the Video - https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/videos/798804016952219/

Transgender Bathroom Progressive Nightmare : Trump Changes Direction.

Goodness - what could possible go wrong with such insanity. And as this article points out, problems have taken place where males have taken advantage of this criminal letter from Barack and his progressive liberal collective members, that allows males that decide they are females to enter female only areas wit6h the intention of taking unwanted and criminal advantage of young females.

And of course, why haven't we seen any head lines in the local new media about this??? Well that's easy to explain, the media is a member of the progressive socialist liberal democrat collective, willing stooges and they activity and are more then willing to cover up any atrocity that may occur due to the Ogbjma threat to schools, to protect the ideology of the progressives, centralized top down power.

The bottom line from the progressives that seeks chaos and conflict is 'to hell with the people and their rights to privacy', the ideology of the collective must be protected at all costs.

Trump Right to Fix Obama’s Unlawful Transgender School Policy
Ryan T. Anderson / @RyanTAnd / February 22, 2017   

The Trump administration acted Wednesday night to fix the Obama administration’s unlawful “gender identity” school policy and return authority to parents and teachers in the states.
Civil rights officers in the Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued a joint letter saying the administration was rescinding the policy, which had required schools to allow students who identify as transgender to use the restrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities of their choice—or face loss of federal funds.

In the letter, they said the Obama mandate did not show “due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts” in making education policy.

The Trump administration is doing the right thing in correcting Obama’s unlawful overreach, which imposed a one-sided solution on all 50 states. Parents and teachers in local schools now can work to find win-win solutions that protect the dignity, privacy, and safety of all students.

For years, the Obama administration unilaterally had redefined bans on “sex” discrimination to include “gender identity.” The problem came to a head May 13, when Obama’s Justice and Education departments sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to our nation’s schools, informing them that “both federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX,” a 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded schools.

With this decree, the Obama administration directed all schools to allow “students to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity.”
Schools were told they had to allow students access to bathrooms, locker rooms, dorm rooms, and hotel rooms for overnight field trips based entirely on the self-declared gender identities of their students.

On Aug. 21, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled the Obama administration’s attempt to redefine sex was unlawful, and blocked the decree from going into effect. O’Connor held that it “cannot be disputed that the plain meaning of the term sex as used … following passage of Title IX meant the biological and anatomical differences between male and female,” and he placed a nationwide injunction on the administration’s guidance to schools. The Justice Department, under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, appealed this ruling Oct. 20.

But on Feb. 10, with Jeff Sessions as the nation’s new attorney general, the Justice Department withdrew that motion for a stay and cancelled the scheduled oral arguments. The Trump administration rescinded the Obama guidance saying officials would interpret the word “sex” in Title IX to mean “gender identity.” Instead, the administration will allow parents and teachers to work together in local schools to find nuanced solutions that address the needs of everyone.

Wednesday night’s moves signaled a change in position that could have a significant impact on the Justice Department’s controversial Title IX lawsuit against North Carolina’s Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (known as HB2), which the Trump administration inherited. The actions also could affect a Title IX gender identity case, currently set for oral argument at the Supreme Court next month, that depends in large part on the Department of Education’s position.

Dignity, Privacy, and Safety Concerns
Last week at The Heritage Foundation, a panel of women explained the many policy problems with “gender identity” laws. As one of them said, “when gender identity wins, women always lose.”
The panelists—a rape survivor, a lesbian, a feminist activist, a stay-at-home mom, and a conservative—explained how people who identify as transgender should be free to live as they want, but that the law shouldn’t therefore eliminate women-only spaces or redefine what it is to be a woman.

(Video) https://youtu.be/WYKdY3v46nw

While we must be sensitive to the dignity, privacy, and safety concerns of people who identify as transgender, that is not a reason to ignore the dignity, privacy, and safety concerns of everyone else.
Unfortunately, the Obama-era policies were entirely one-sided. They favored the concerns of people who identify as transgender while entirely discounting the concerns of others.

Safe Spaces for Women, a group that “provides survivors of sexual assault with care, support, understanding, and advice,” recently submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court explaining how gender identity policies can negatively impact sexual assault survivors:

Safe Spaces for Women has a strong interest in ensuring that the voices of women who have suffered sexual abuse are heeded when policies are made that may directly affect their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. This includes policies that require educational institutions covered by Title IX to admit to female showers, locker rooms, and restrooms biological males who identify as female. While Safe Spaces for Women bears no animus toward the transgendered community, it is deeply concerned that … survivors of sexual assault are likely to suffer psychological trauma as a result of encountering biological males—even those with entirely innocent intentions—in the traditional safe spaces of women’s showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms.

The brief goes on to note that the guidance from the Obama administration was issued “without giving those affected a voice in the process. … improperly circumvent[ing] the notice and comment process when that process was needed most.”

Likewise, Kenneth V. Lanning, a 40-year veteran law enforcement officer who specialized in sex crimes for the FBI at Quantico for 20 years, explains the problem with “gender identity-based access policies” for sex-specific intimate facilities. Lanning says “the problem with potential sex offenses is not crimes by transgendered persons,” but rather “offenses by males who are not really transgendered but who would exploit the entirely subjective provisions” of such policies “to facilitate their sexual behavior or offenses.” Lanning explains that:

Allowing a man, based only on his claim to be [a] transgendered woman, to have unlimited access to women’s rest rooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, showers, etc. will make it easier for the type of sex offense behavior previously described to happen to more women and children. Such access would create an additional risk for potential victims in a previously protected setting and a new defense for a wide variety of sexual victimization.

Indeed, as The Daily Signal previously noted, such sexual victimization already is occurring by men who have disguised themselves as women.

What to Do Now
Wednesday night’s actions by the Justice and Education departments will lead to good policy outcomes, which is why it should not be limited to Title IX. The Trump administration should extend this decision to every area where federal agencies have imposed new “gender identity” rules on the American people without basis in law, without congressional authorization, without considering legitimate countervailing concerns, and without the support of the American people.

Congress should make such administrative actions permanent by reintroducing and passing H.R. 5812, the Civil Rights Uniformity Act, which clarifies that the term “sex” does not mean “gender identity” for the purpose of interpreting civil rights statutes. This would have the benefit of undoing the past and current abuses of Title IX, as well as preventing future abuses of other civil rights law.

Passing the Civil Rights Uniformity Act would ensure that unelected bureaucrats and judges would not get to unilaterally reshape policy affecting women and girls. It would allow schools to continue providing separate bathroom and locker room facilities and sports teams based on biological sex, not gender identity. It also would address other unilateral Obama-era “gender identity” reinterpretations in health care, emergency shelters, housing, and employment. At the same time, such legislation would properly leave states and private entities entirely free to provide nuanced, sensitive, and reasonable accommodations of people who identify as transgender.

Up until last year’s prime-time interview of the celebrity then known as Bruce Jenner, few Americans ever had had a conversation about transgender issues. It’s a conversation we need to have. But the Obama administration tried to shut down these discussions before they’ve even begun. The Obama administration attempted to force a one-size-fits-all policy on the entire nation rather than allow parents and teachers and local schools the time, space, and flexibility to find solutions that work best for everyone.

The Trump administration has taken the first steps to correct this.

While the Obama administration attempted to rewrite law to impose a federal “gender identity” policy on the entire nation, the Trump administration is respecting federalism, local decision-making, and parental authority in education. For most Americans, concerns related to transgender students are a new reality. Rather than follow the Obama administration’s rush to impose a top-down solution on the entire country, the Trump administration is allowing the American people to have these conversations, consider all the relevant concerns, and make policies that will best serve all Americans.  Good for them.
This commentary has been updated to reflect news developments.

Union Rank and File Voted Trump? : Wisconsin's Act 10 - Freedom to Chose

It seems the unions are now a victim of Scott Walkers Act 10 and the resulting ignorance of union members that have opted out of the union as a matter of choice. The union believes it has to be ignorance or stupidity or both that someone would prefer to chose independent thought rather then having someone else decide and direct individual decisions.

In Wisconsin teachers are just smarter for Act 10. Before Act 10,  teachers just didn't have a choice to chose to not join the union, it was a matter of fact. But now when the choice is available, they chose to not belong to a union and save the money from dues deduction.

It was stamped for the door.

Who know this would happen? The freedom to chose will always win the day as the free market has shown government directed decisions are a loser. 

Decline of Unions Under Right-to-Work Laws Levels Playing Field for Trump
Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / February 19, 2017

Donald Trump prevailed where other Republican presidential candidates failed in Midwestern states in part because of new right-to-work laws that have diminished the power and influence of the teachers’ unions, according to labor policy analysts.

Final election results have Trump narrowly winning Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes by a margin of 47.9 to 46.9 percent over Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate. Trump had 1,409,467 votes to Clinton’s 1,382,210.,In Michigan, the margins were even closer with Trump winning that state’s 16 electoral votes with 47.6 percent against Clinton who had 47.3 percent of the vote. Trump had 2,279,805 votes to Clinton’s 2,268,193.

“Did the labor reforms enacted in Wisconsin and neighboring Michigan help Donald Trump win those states?” Matt Patterson, executive director of the Center for Worker Freedom, said in an email to The Daily Signal. “No question in my mind. Hard to fight when your bazooka’s been replaced by a squirt gun.”

Two teachers’ unions, the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Michigan Education Association, both experienced a significant drop in membership since those states passed right-to-work legislation. Such laws prohibit employers from entering into agreements that make union membership and payment of union dues a condition of employment.

Wisconsin became a right-to-work state in 2015, Michigan in 2013. Since then, government figures show, the teachers’ unions in both states have lost thousands of dues-paying members. The drop has been particularly precipitous in Wisconsin, where in 2011 Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation that reformed the state’s collective bargaining process. In fact, the Wisconsin Education Association Council has lost about 60 percent of its members since Walker’s reforms were implemented, an analysis of public records by the Education Intelligence Agency shows.

Under Act 10, also known as the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, most of Wisconsin’s government workers, including public school teachers, are now required to contribute more for their pension and health care benefits.

Act 10 also limits collective bargaining to wage negotiations, requires annual union recertification, ends the automatic deduction of union dues, and allows for public sector employees to decide whether they want to join a union and pay dues.
Wisconsin’s right-to-work law gives private sector employees the same right to decline union membership and payment of dues.

Diminished Union Clout
The Wisconsin Education Association Council had about 100,000 members before Act 10 passed; the latest figures show the union with 36,074. The decline reflects what has happened nationwide, the MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Wisconsin, reported.
The Wisconsin and Michigan unions are both affiliates of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union for workers in public schools.

The 3 million-strong NEA lost more than 300,000 members in affiliated state teachers’ unions from 2010 to 2015, according to the analysis by the Education Intelligence Agency cited by the MacIver Institute. That’s a membership decrease of 10 percent.

So what is the political fallout?
“There’s no doubt that with the decline in union membership here in Wisconsin, the political clout of the union bosses and their ability to automatically turn out members for Democrats has declined dramatically,” Brett Healy, president of the MacIver Institute, told The Daily Signal, adding:

When we look at the decline in union membership and compare it to the recent political fortunes of the Democratic Party, you can clearly see that when people are given the ability to choose whether or not they want to join a union we are seeing less people voting for Democrats.

After the Wisconsin Education Association Council’s loss of tens of thousands of paying members, it has become evident that the teachers’ union’s ability to influence the outcomes of elections and public policy decisions has waned in the past few years, Healy added.
“The Wisconsin Education Association [Council] was the single biggest political player in the capital, but after the passage of Act 10 and right-to-work, their membership, which is where they derive their political power, has declined,” he said. “A majority of teachers in Wisconsin have decided that their money is better spent in other ways rather than turning it over to union bosses.”

Trump’s Union Vote
Act 10 has been transformative not just politically, but financially. A MacIver Institute analysis of the legislation’s budgetary impact found that it saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $5 billion. Most of these savings were generated by requiring government employees to contribute more for their retirement, according to the analysis. “Gov. Walker and the Republican legislature not only saved Wisconsinites an incomprehensible amount of money but they also fundamentally changed government in Wisconsin forever,” Healy said a year ago.

Trump benefited politically from right-to-work changes in Michigan just as he did in Wisconsin.
But the billionaire developer’s personal appeal with blue-collar union workers gave him an advantage other Republican candidates have not had recently, Vinnie Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center, a free-market think tank in Michigan, said in an interview. “The Michigan teachers’ unions, which have led the charge politically in the state, have been weakened in recent years and that certainly helped Trump,” Vernuccio said. “But don’t underestimate the union vote for Trump in key swing states. Exit polls show he did surprisingly well.”

Among union households (where at least one person is a union member), Trump’s margins improved significantly over those of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. When Michigan passed its right-to-work law in 2013, the Michigan Education Association had 113,147 members, the Mackinac Center reported. By 2016, the union had 90,609 members, a decline of about 20 percent.

‘Knocked Silly’
The Daily Signal sought comment from both the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Michigan Education Association on the right-to-work laws in their states and the impact on their membership rolls and political activism. Neither union responded. “Unions have been knocked silly in Wisconsin, thanks to the one-two punch of Act 10 and right to work,” Patterson, of the Center for Worker Freedom, a Washington-based nonprofit affiliated with Americans for Tax Reform, told The Daily Signal:

Give people the chance to leave their union, it turns out, and lo and behold there’s a stampede for the door. And these fleeing workers take their money with them, money that unions can no longer use to buy politicians.

John Mozena, vice president of marketing and communications for the Mackinac Center, said in an email that he sees a growing separation between rank-and-file union members and union leaders that worked to Trump’s advantage:

In labor strongholds like Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, West Virginia and Missouri, union leaders have failed to turn out enough voters to create notable electoral consequences for politicians who introduced, supported, or voted for right to work or other worker freedom legislation.
That’s in part because union members have largely come to realize that these laws don’t actually hurt them or their unions. In fact, [the laws] give them as individuals more options than they had before.

Many union members also are voting against candidates that receive the lion’s share of their leaders’ support. The contrast was most stark in the 2016 election, where almost all union leaders endorsed and used their members’ money to support Clinton. Yet in key states like Ohio, almost half of union members voted for Trump.

The only states to register significant increases in active membership in NEA-affiliated teachers’ unions over five years, according to the Education Intelligence Agency analysis, are Delaware (5 percent), Vermont (8 percent), Montana (16 percent), and North Dakota (19 percent).
Clinton won Delaware and Vermont, but Trump won Montana and North Dakota.

‘Unfortunate Situation’
After spending several months combing through the U.S. Department of Labor’s LM-2 financial disclosure forms, researchers with the Center for Union Facts found that unions directed about $530 million in membership dues to the Democratic Party and to left-leaning special interest groups from 2012 to 2015.

The Center for Union Facts is a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates transparency and accountability on the part of organized labor. Every labor organization that falls under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act must file an LM-2.

“An unfortunate situation has developed where unions are more focused on politics than on collective bargaining or workplace issues,” @Richard_Berman says.

Recipients of union donations identified by the Center for Union Facts include Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Governors Association. These donations fall within labor’s political advocacy budgets, which are funded by dues and “disguised as worker advocacy related to collective bargaining—separate from direct campaign contributions,” the center said in a release.
“I do believe a very unfortunate situation has developed where the unions are more focused on politics than they are on collective bargaining or workplace issues,” Richard Berman, the center’s executive director, said in an interview with The Daily Signal.

Since surveys show that about 40 percent of union households vote Republican, this means the dues of a substantial number of union members are directed toward political causes they do not support, Berman said. But he said he sees a strong potential for the growing right-to-work movement to level the political playing field in future election cycles, as it did in 2016.

In the meantime, Berman said, the new chairman of the National Labor Relations Board should use the board’s regulatory powers “to provide enough transparency in the area of labor finances” to inform union members of leadership’s activities.

The Unhinged Opposition To Trump : P.J. O'Rourke

I think O'Rourke are spot on here. What is scary are those screaming, tearing their clothing and gnashing their teeth really have no good idea why they are so angry, but are still willing to go into the street destroying private property.

History is riff with examples of such criminal activity that always turned out poorly for everyone.

There is more scary stuff in that these thousands of people that are willing to commit destruction for no reason, will also be easily be lead into doing things that are far worse. These unhinged and unbalanced are easily directed to function as willing surrogates for crimes against the country under the guise of doing ''the will of the people''.

Anyone that refuses to recognize that maybe they are wrong headed when they are smashing windows and lighting cars on fire. will recognize them is a threat to civil society.

My Worries About the Opposition to Trump – Part II

By P.J. O'Rourke

As I said in my previous column, the election of President Trump has provoked a worrisome hysteria among some Trump opponents.  Not that some Trump supporters haven't also been acting giddy and frantic...You may cheer the man or you may boo him, but no one applauds hysteria overrunning the body politic.

It's like rats overrunning Hamelin. That didn't turn out well for anyone in the old folktale. The Pied Piper didn't get paid. The burghers of Hamelin lost their children. Those children were led away to a place that I doubt was ideal for getting a good education and maturing into responsible adults. Plus, the rats drowned.

But besides the hysteria, Trump's election has also fostered a rise in fanaticism. I'm not talking about neo-Neanderthal alt-right loonies or black-clad anarcho-dipsticks...

I'm not talking about the kind of fanaticism that takes possession of crazy people. It is possible to be perfectly sane and still be too much of a fan of certain ideas or concepts (a problem not unknown in the investment world). And this is what I think has happened to some Trump opponents. Although I'm not letting Trump's fan base completely off the hook. Some of his boosters have shown elements of the kind of unreasonable over-enthusiasm that can wreck a downtown after a city's sports team wins a championship.

Fortunately, in the case of those Trump boosters, I'm speaking in a metaphorical way: vehicles of civility overturned, windows of communication broken, cans full of common sense thrown into the air... You know what I mean. However, many of Trump's otherwise reasonable opponents have also shown fanaticism... a different kind of fanaticism... one that doesn't really have that much to do with Trump himself, let alone his ideology. (Which, personally I'm still trying to figure out. And I bet I've got a lot of company.)

It's a strange sort of fanaticism. It's not politically partisan, per se. It's a fanaticism of attitude.The attitude the fanatics have is a fanatical obeisance to politics, an absurd reverence for the state, a belief that government is the Alpha and the Omega.

There are two basic attitudes toward government. First, there's the attitude we have. We regard government simply as an organization. And I say "we" because I think I'm speaking for most Stansberry Research subscribers. (And I know I'll hear about it in the mailbag if I'm not.)

We regard government as a big organization, a powerful organization, and, sometimes, when enemies attack or when the potholes in the Interstate system get so large we can lose Buicks in them, an important organization. But it's just an organization. Like any organization it has conflicting objectives. (Spend nonexistent money or tax until no money exists?) It has confused priorities. (Undercut domestic manufacturing or make $1,000 toasters in Cleveland?) It has bureaucratic muddles. (Name any three letters of the alphabet and get an acronym for a federal agency.) And it has personal rivalries. (Steve Bannon versus the world.)

As far as we're concerned government is a kind of business, albeit a business in which we invest involuntarily through our tax dollars. Sometimes it succeeds and we get peace and prosperity (for which government takes the credit). Sometimes it fails and we get terrorism and 2008 (which government blames on somebody else). And we never know what we're getting next.

It's probably just as well that Americans can't trade the business of government on the stock exchange, because everybody would be trying to go short and long on it at the same time, and the stock exchange floor would be chaos. But what Americans can do with the business of government is change its senior management. And this is what Americans have done.

We – the people who regard government simply as an organization – are just waiting to see how the change in management works out. But other people have a different attitude toward government. They regard government as something more than an earthly system run in a fallible manner by ordinary mortals. They believe government is the entity "from whom all blessings flow."

They think government created the heaven and the earth, or at least the heavenly parts of the earth (Brooklyn, Berkeley, Ann Arbor). They think government will lead them to the land of locally sourced unpasteurized raw milk and honey produced by free-range bees gathering pollen from flowers upon which no pesticides have been used.

They think government watches over them at all times – for which they rejoice when it comes to social services, though they tremble before the NSA. They believe government will come to judge the living and (in the case of college curriculums dominated by dead white European males) the dead. Not a sparrow falls without government knowing, as long as it's an endangered species of sparrow.

The people with this attitude have turned government into a religion.

Our President who art in Washington,
sensitive, caring, inclusive, and progressive be thy name.
Thy Congress cooperate,
thy entitlement programs operate,
in the United States as it is in enlightened Nordic countries with comprehensive social welfare systems.
Give us this day our daily seven-grain bread, subsidized housing, single-payer medical care, and free college tuition,
and forgive others their implicit racism,
as we forgive those who are vegetarians, but not vegans, and who don't ride a bicycle to work.
And lead us not into exploitation by the 1%,
but deliver us a $15 minimum wage.
For thine is the coastal elites, the mainstream media, the liberal-arts faculties, and Martha's Vineyard when the Clintons are vacationing there, forever.
Amen and Awomen.

You can understand the consternation that such people feel when they're bowing down to a golden calf and the calf in question swats them with its Twitter tail, kicks them with its cabinet appointment hooves, and leaves a cow pie of loose talk on their altar.

Progressives : Syrian Refugees Are Welcome - Our Walls Will Protect Us.

Progressive believe tunnel vision works.

It is about national security. But who cares if you believe it will be others that will suffer catastrophic consequences, not you behind your gated community and armed guards if the worst happens.

Just think how good you feel about allowing thousands of refugees into our country that believe they have any obligation to god to kill us. You really don't believe anyone would actually want to kill us as we have only good thoughts about them.

And how bad you will feel, angry that those in power didn't do something to stop it.

Media Expert Explains Her Job : We Tell You What to Think!

What exactly does it mean to have a grip on reality? I'm not sure where or how to begin to explain the absolute lack of the mental capacity of these people that believe they are the smartest and brightest in the room.

If it was a one-off thing that happens on the mains stream news, one could ignore it but this kind of thing happens of an hourly basis by progressive socialist liberal media.

The bigger story here this isn't a slip of the brain, a brain fart,  this is what they really believe. The accident here is Mika let us know what she really thinks about the public and how they, we must be treated.

The public, those of us in the trenches not aware of their absolute powers to persuade have to treated like children gone astray. Fools wallowing in ignorance of the bigger picture that must be shown the light of true socialist liberal ideology to save from their own destruction.

Progressivism : A metal disease of self induced ignorance.

Progressive Government Insanity : Good Sense And Logic Lost, Trashed!

This can be seen as just how far out of touch the government under progressive socialist liberal democrats really are -

Trump is fixing it now as he drags our bloted government of blood suckers in the government departments and agency tyrants kicking and screaming out of the ditch that Barack and the progressive democrat collective dumps us in.

The average citizen down here in the trenches is still bewildered by the amount of destructive hate that is being brought against Trump and the Republicans for have the audacity to win an election that was the progressive socialist liberal democrats by right to win.

Everyone knew they would win. It was no contest. They had a candidate from the inner ranks of the collective and enough money to buy three election. This election belongs to us and only us.

But on no, the people actually voted them out of power? Democrats on the outside looking in? The door to the treasury has been slammed shut? The progressive socialist are stunned, and followed closely by fear and then unhinged hatful outrage.

Again, when a progressive democrat is denied power, all semblance of humanity and common sense no longer apply. From that point forward it's relentless attack to destroy and by any means necessary all those that took, stole their birthright to power.

Banned Muslims From US : Racist? Carter Gets A Pass

Jimmy actually never left his peanut farm.

Jimmy Carter was and is a peanut farmer and a segregate democrat who had no idea what America actually stands for or what Americans generally believe.

Yet being just a good soldier in the ranks of willing democrats and other good soldiers waiting to receive orders on what to do next, he accepted the order and duty to advance the agenda and ideology of the party founders.

Jimmy's history is about being a walk-on from the farm to the presidency, but was still able to do and say just about anything no matter how illogical, illegal, immoral or stupid, got a pass from the media.

Where did he come from? Who is this guy? Fast forward, enter (Barry) Barack Hussain Ogbjma, stage left! Another walk-on community organizer ready to do his duty for the larger cause of the parties tortured philosophy of getting and keeping the power to control!

Oh WOW, who knew the press would line up and defend them both without a second thought. It's all in the family so why not circle the wagons?

The only saving grace for Carter was he had no idea what was going on in Washington or the world, where as Barack knew from the beginning what he wanted to do, and with the help of the progressive media running point, he brought his religious jihad for transformation to America.

The legacy of moral and unethical destructive chaos is baked into the DNA, there is no escaping that reality. And American and the free world have suffered greatly as a result for it.

Bring A Pet to Church : Understanding Needs (Humor)

Okay, time to lighten up and enjoy the day with a little humor. This isn't an outright out loud good one but it will bring a smile that makes a big difference to most of us after watching the morning news.

Enjoy!

Pets to Church

A single guy decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet.

After some discussion, he finally bought a talking centipede,
(100-legged bug), which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box back home, found a good spot for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him.

So he asked the centipede in the box,  "Would you like to go
to church with me today? We will have a good time." But there was no answer from his new pet.

This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked again,  "How about going to church with me  and receive blessings?" But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation.

The guy decided to invite the centipede one last time. This time he put his face up against the centipede's house and shouted,

"Hey, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about God?"

This time,  a little voice  came out of the box , "I heard you the first time!  I'm putting my shoes on! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moonbeam Governor Attacked by Coyote : Millions Lost in Revenue (Humor)

Sure, this is just for fun but I believe there is a lot true here as well - Little wonder the state of California is in debt for at least 100 $billion dollars and growing. And if that's not enough, people are fleeing that state like rats from a sinking ship.

The Coyote Principle     

California

  

·  The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.

·  The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural.

·  He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the state $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

·   He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

·  The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

·  The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.

·  The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.

·  The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

·  The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The state spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re the nature of coyotes.

·  PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the state.

  

TEXAS   

·  The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

·  The Governor shoots the coyote with his state-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.

·   The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

 

And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Texas is not.