After posting the following, GATEWAY PUNDIT asks: “Has anyone on the left ever read a single history book?”
Grand Rapids’ worker-run, no-tipping restaurant closes
The end has come for a popular Grand Rapids restaurant known as much for its creative vegan dishes as its progressive business model.
For much of its five-year existence, the eatery went by the moniker Bartertown Diner, until it was rebranded in September to The Garden Diner and Cafe.
The offbeat 30-seat eatery announced this month that its last day would be Wednesday, Nov. 30.
After a strong summer, the restaurant with about a dozen employees had struggled in recent months, said Thad Cummings. He took it over in March with Crystal Lecoy, who left two months later.
“I was an original investor in it,” Cummings said. “I wanted to push it to see if the model could be done.”…
Bartertown’s initial menu was described in a 2011 MLive review as an “imaginative” array of veggie, vegan and raw dishes that came with names like Dirty Dirty Beans & Greens and Raw Trash salad…
Employees would be expected to join the union, Industrial Workers of the World, he said.
In keeping with the worker empowerment theme, he commissioned a mural depicting Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong and other provocative leaders tackling restaurant duties.
In the end, the restaurant failed to achieve the employee business model it envisioned.
In this short example, John Fund confirms that voter fraud would not make a difference nationally in the popular vote that Trump erroneously Tweeted would put him ahead of Hillary — HOWEVER — it does affect smaller races. AND THIS can have very damning consequences on public policy that effects the entire populace.
…In the ’08 campaign, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman was running for re-election against Democrat Al Franken. It was impossibly close; on the morning after the election, after 2.9 million people had voted, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes.
Franken and his Democratic allies dispatched an army of lawyers to challenge the results. After the first canvass, Coleman’s lead was down to 206 votes. That was followed by months of wrangling and litigation. In the end, Franken was declared the winner by 312 votes. He was sworn into office in July 2009, eight months after the election.
During the controversy a conservative group called Minnesota Majority began to look into claims of voter fraud. Comparing criminal records with voting rolls, the group identified 1,099 felons — all ineligible to vote — who had voted in the Franken-Coleman race.
Minnesota Majority took the information to prosecutors across the state, many of whom showed no interest in pursuing it. But Minnesota law requires authorities to investigate such leads. And so far, Fund and von Spakovsky report, 177 people have been convicted — not just accused, but convicted — of voting fraudulently in the Senate race. Another 66 are awaiting trial. “The numbers aren’t greater,” the authors say, “because the standard for convicting someone of voter fraud in Minnesota is that they must have been both ineligible, and ‘knowingly’ voted unlawfully.” The accused can get off by claiming not to have known they did anything wrong.
Still, that’s a total of 243 people either convicted of voter fraud or awaiting trial in an election that was decided by 312 votes. With 1,099 examples identified by Minnesota Majority, and with evidence suggesting that felons, when they do vote, strongly favor Democrats, it doesn’t require a leap to suggest there might one day be proof that Al Franken was elected on the strength of voter fraud.
And that’s just the question of voting by felons. Minnesota Majority also found all sorts of other irregularities that cast further doubt on the Senate results.
The election was particularly important because Franken’s victory gave Senate Democrats a 60th vote in favor of President Obama’s national health care proposal — the deciding vote to overcome a Republican filibuster. If Coleman had kept his seat, there would have been no 60th vote, and no Obamacare…..
Someone on LIVELEAK had a great insight! LEFTISTS like to repeat lines, one being from DailyKos, who’e headline reads:
MORE THAN A BILLION VOTES: 31 CASES OF VOTER FRAUD…
Here is the comment from LiveLeak:
“Wait, 1200 illegal votes in just that one election. What the [effe] happened to “There have only been 31 actual cases of voter fraud in the last decade!” Time for a full recount of all districts across the U.S. Not because it will change anything but because it is easier to tell someone to shut the [effe] up when you have numbers behind your argument.” — Fedup Withitall
Here is the entire interview with John Fund where the above came from AS WELL AS a portion of the WALL STREET JOURNAL article that prompted the interview (video is from the WSJ):
…How common is this? If only we knew. Political correctness has squelched probes of noncitizen voting, so most cases are discovered accidentally instead of through a systematic review of election records.
The bottom line is that the honor system doesn’t work.
The danger looms large in states such as California, which provides driver’s licenses to noncitizens, including those here illegally, and which also does nothing to verify citizenship during voter registration. In a 1996 House race, then-challenger Loretta Sanchez defeated incumbent Rep. Bob Dornan by under 1,000 votes. An investigation by a House committee found 624 invalid votes by noncitizens, nearly enough to overturn the result.
How big is this problem nationally? One district-court administrator estimated in 2005that up to 3% of the 30,000 people called for jury duty from voter-registration rolls over a two-year period were not U.S. citizens. A September report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation found more than 1,000 noncitizens who had been removed from the voter rolls in eight Virginia counties. Many of them had cast ballots in previous elections, but none was referred for possible prosecution.
The lack of prosecutions is no surprise. In 2011, the Electoral Board in Fairfax County, Va., sent the Justice Department, under then-Attorney General Eric Holder, information about 278 noncitizens registered to vote in Fairfax County, about half of whom had cast ballots in previous elections. There is no record that the Justice Department did anything.
A 2014 study by three professors at Old Dominion University and George Mason University used extensive survey data to estimate that 6.4% of the nation’s noncitizens voted in 2008 and that 2.2% voted in 2010. This study has been criticized by many academics who claim that voter fraud is vanishingly rare. Yet the Heritage Foundation maintains a list of more than 700 recent convictions for voter fraud.
A postelection survey conducted by Americas Majority Foundation found that 2.1% of noncitizens voted in the Nov. 8 election. In the battleground states of Michigan and Ohio, 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively, of noncitizens reported voting. In 2013, pollster McLaughlin & Associates conducted an extensive survey of Hispanics on immigration issues. Its voter-profile tabulation shows that 13% of noncitizens said they were registered to vote. That matches closely the Old Dominion/George Mason study, in which 15.6% of noncitizens said they were registered.
Fixing this problem is very straightforward. The Trump administration should direct the Department of Homeland Security to cooperate with states that want to verify the citizenship of registered voters. Since this will only flag illegal immigrants who have been detained at some point and legal noncitizens, states should pass laws, similar to the one in Kansas, that require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The Justice Department, instead of ignoring the issue, should again start prosecuting these cases.
The bottom line is that the honor system doesn’t work. There are people—like those caught voting illegally—who are willing to exploit these weaknesses that damage election integrity.
While media types blame Governor Snyder directly (for instance Rachel Madcow’s MSNBC title — “Flint toxic water tragedy points directly to Michigan Gov. Snyder”) for the water issue, but the New York Times says it old lead pipes. An issue that is duplicated in old cities. Twitchy has an interesting story about the water in Flint Michigan. Firstly though, the reason we hear about this and not the other water “issues” is because the Michigan governor is a Republican. We never hear nearly as much about the Aliso Canyon gas leak (in California). Here is the first graphic I grabbed from Twitchy, via VOX:
The second story is also from the same Twitchy story but from Mother Jones… and the reason I am posting links to VOX and Mother Jones is because they are both left leaning (very left leaning) orgs:
Perspective is always needed in the malaise of media… and this time I wish to thank Twitchy in bringing truth to us by way of Mother Jones and VOX!
They say hipsters are saving Detroit, but just how far do you have to drive from the “safety” of the downtown hipster enclaves until you reach certain death territory? Let’s find out…
Editor’s comment – So how long before we start seeing scenes like this in Dearborn, Michigan, Minneapolis, northern New Jersey and parts of Philadelphia?
Luckily, we have guys fighting against these laws/zones I have posted about in the past (here, here, and here). The atheist Pat Condell says Sweden is lost, but we have areas becoming like this, as LR pointed out, Dearborn, Michigan.
These guys, preaching strongly/holding the front-lines, whips up the crowd in a way that Jesus did… where Jesus (and the apostles) were threatened with stoning — some even martyred in the throws of preaching:
Authorities are concerned how Hizballah might react in case Israel or other countries get into a conflict with Iran, which sponsors the terrorist group, said FBI Assistant Special Agent Todd Mayberry, who oversees counter-terrorism in Michigan.
….
One challenge is being able to keep track of so many potentially radical websites and differentiating what might be a legitimate threat from harmless talk. Estimating there are thousands websites that could have extremist activity, he said:
“If I gave you the number of Michigan IP addresses that are on some of these sites, it’s staggering,” Mayberry said.
Asked by a member of the Jewish Community Council of Metro Detroit about possible Hizballah support in Muslim-American communities, Mayberry said: “There are (some) people who see Hizballah as freedom fighters and as charitable.”
But at the FBI and other federal agencies, he said: “Our position remains the same… they’re terrorists.”
“If you give them (Hizballah) money, and I can show that you’re giving them money, you’re going to jail,” Mayberry said.
He added: “If you preach in your mosque or in…your home, where you espouse Hizballah rhetoric and you say how great they are and everything, you’re going to get a case opened…They are terrorists.”
“Everybody has their opinion…It’s a free country up and to a point. But they are a terrorist group…and until that changes,” the FBI will go after “anyone who supports them whether financially or with material support.”
Jennifer M. Granholm was elected governor of Michigan 2002. In 2006, she was re-elected with the largest number of votes ever cast for governor in Michigan. As Governor, Granholm led the state through a brutal economic downturn that resulted from a meltdown in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. She worked relentlessly to diversify the state’s economy, strengthen its auto industry, preserve the manufacturing sector, and add new, emerging sectors, such as clean energy, to Michigan’s economic portfolio.
Here is the comparison (thanks to FreeRepublic) of this “innovation”
A miniature wind turbine is featured in former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s official portrait, which was unveiled at the state Capitol on Friday. According to media accounts, Granholm said that the turbine is a symbol “of her administration’s efforts to rebuild the state’s shattered manufacturing base through alternative energy.”
But a can of Planters Peanuts may have been a better choice. Confectionery and nut stores brought more jobs to the state in the past few years than wind and solar combined. Wind energy accounted for 45 jobs in 2008 and 31 jobs in 2009. In 2008, there were 315 jobs generated by the wind and solar industry in the state. By comparison, there were 350 jobs generated in confectionery and nut stores in the state in 2008.
All were but a tiny fraction of the state’s overall economy: Michigan has more than 4 million jobs.
“Green energy hasn’t been the savior it has been hyped to be,” said James Hohman, Mackinac Center for Public Policy fiscal analyst.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics was not able to release 2009 data on wind and solar jobs. Hohman said that’s generally because the data was focused on one facility or not enough facilities to meet privacy standards for reporting jobs.
Granholm said in September 2007 that wind energy would create jobs and help diversify the state’s job base.
Libertarian Republican has a story on my birth state and their choice to change direction:
The conservative blog Western Right has an excellent round-up of Michigan election results. They report on a little-noticed shift that is sure to have enormous consequences for the future of Michigan politics. The State Supreme Court now has a Republican majority 4 to 3. The infamous liberal-controlled Court for decades has shot down conservative/libertarian-backed measures such as tax cut initiatives, union-busting measures and most famously, the initiative to repeal Affirmative Action hiring and college admissions quotas.
Republicans in Michigan won a victory of epic proportions in the November election. They won everything. Well, almost every race that they seriously contested.
Bill Scheutte won the Attorney General race 52.6% to 43.5% over David Leyton.
Ruth Johnson won the Secretary of State race 50.7% to 45.2% over Jocelyn Benson.
Republicans have reclaimed a 4-3 majority on the court. This sets Young up to become the Chief Justice next year. This will also protect the rule of law against liberal activists and the market against greedy trial lawyers. It should also protect a Republican redistricting plan.
(A hand of an aborted baby retrieved from the trash behindWoman Care abortion clinic in Lathrup Village, Michigan.)
One News Now reports on three abortion clinics in Michigan that violated many laws, but action was only taken on one of them:
Three Michigan abortion clinics have been cited by the Office for Civil Rights for violating the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but a pro-lifer is disappointed that no further action has been taken.
In December 2008, Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society discovered the remains of aborted babies in the trash behind the three abortion clinics. She also found hundreds of medical records on women who had undergone the procedure, so she filed complaints and extensive documentation.
“Dumping of these patient records is a violation of Michigan state law, but it’s also a violation of the federal regulations known as the HIPAA laws, and the government agency that oversees the HIPAA law is the Office for Civil Rights,” Miller explains.
Under the law, tThose patient records are supposed to be confidential information, but she contends they are hardly confidential if they are thrown into a dumpster. But even though a citation has finally been issued, the pro-lifer wonders why it has taken two years.
“Finally, the Office for Civil Rights agreed that, in fact, these particular clinics were in violation of federal law and cited them as such,” Miller notes. But in the meantime, she has waited for a determination on any further action that might be taken. She admits to feeling “disappointed” because the investigators have not fined the clinics, even though they have been given every reason to do so.
Two of the clinics are owned by Albert Hodari, who is currently the target of a lawsuit by a young woman who claims she changed her mind about an abortion only to have the abortionist’s assistant hold her down while he killed her unborn baby.
On those babies found in the trash,Bishop John Quinn says a prayer for them:
Southfield — Their deaths at the hands of an abortionist cut short their earthly lives, but the 23 aborted babies, whose remains were found in a local abortion clinic trash receptacle, are assured of eternal life with God, Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn said last Saturday.
“The life which these children received has been destroyed by death, yet Christ has taken them up,” Bishop Quinn said during the graveside ceremony at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
Msgr. Robert McClory, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Detroit, prayed, “May these little ones, one day, meet with us in the joy and love of your kingdom.”
[….]
“I assumed if you went through an abortionist’s trash long enough, you’d find babies, but nothing prepares you for it,” Kukla continued. “I was changed forever when I first saw the photos of aborted children, but to actually hold one just convicts you all the more,” she added.
“…In 1994, nearly two-thirds of U.S.-born teenagers were in the summer labor force; by 2007 it was less than half. At the same time, the overall number of immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job doubled. The evidence indicates that immigration accounts for a significant share of the decline in teen labor force participation…”
I am a native-born New Mexico Hispanic. I often write letters to newspapers on a subject which those without an Hispanic last name dare not write: the urgent need for immigration reform.
This nation’s immigration policy, begun in 1965, is a disaster. It hurts minorities, the poor, the environment – as we see dramatically here in the West on an almost daily basis – and immigrants themselves.
Because of my last name, I can call for immigration reform, although I, too, have been labeled a racist – a hurtful claim that is impossible to disprove. As Ventura, Calif., Navy Dispatch editor Samuel Francis wrote in a recent editorial, – ‘Hate’ now includes all opposition to immigration.” Yet, immigration affects us all, and we should be able to talk about it without fear of character assassination.
This trend has its roots in the national news media, where reporters almost invariably report on immigration as being good and those opposed to immigration as being bad or racist. These stories remind us that we are a nation of immigrants, while ignoring that the incredibly high rates of immigration to the United States are largely a recent phenomenon.
From 1915 to 1965, legal immigration ran about 220,000 a year – the number most immigration reform advocates want us to return to, since that number would stabilize our population. Since 1989, legal immigration has averaged about 1,063,000 a year. Another 1 million people a year immigrate illegally, according to one estimate.
[….]
On a personal level, I am concerned about over-immigration because it hurts me and others in a state where the tide of immigrants out of Mexico is crushing native-born Hispanics, flooding already stressed schools, and sharply increasing drug trafficking and violent crime.
The rumored economic boom, despite many news reports to the contrary, has left Hispanics behind. The Federal Reserve recently reported that the median Hispanic net worth fell a whopping 24 percent between 1995 and 1998 due to “an accelerating influx of poor immigrants.” Put another way, when workers ask for a raise, they are often reminded that there are many others who will do the same work for less, including for below minimum wage. We all, native-born and immigrants, know there is no “labor shortage” for many of our jobs.
For that matter, do any American workers at any level see employers clamoring to increase their pay? No, they see industry calling for the right to import more cheap workers.
While I care about the world’s poor – roughly 1.5 billion people fall into that category – I believe we cannot possibly welcome all these mostly economic (rarely political) refugees to the United States. Do advocates of high immigration believe our own slums are empty and that we no longer have citizens needing a fair chance at decent-paying jobs?
We must return immigration to traditional levels. To stop the cross-border flow and the peril the trek brings to Mexican nationals, we must impose sharp penalties for those employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Another significant reason behind this very important job loss for an important segment of our population is minimum wage hikes. First Milton Friedman then a portion of an article:
….Unfortunately, teens are also learning personal lessons about price theory and supply and demand. While America’s youth were busy downloading the latest iTunes, those running the country savaged their job prospects. In July 2009, a month distinguished by the then-highest unemployment rate among teens since at least 1948, the latest of three hikes in the minimum wage pushed through by Congress in 2007 went into effect. As a consequence, the cost to hire part-time or unskilled workers jumped to $7.25 per hour, a full 41 percent increase from the 2007 going rate of $5.15. Some considered the hike overdue; a decade had passed since the prior increase. Others argued that carrying through with such a hefty jump was ill conceived, especially in light of the recession. The bottom line: The sharp rise in the minimum wage has almost certainly contributed to an equally harsh increase in unemployment among those not yet old enough to vote.
Why? Because teens account for a disproportionate number of those paid bottom-of-the-barrel rates. In 2009, for example, teens made up 6 percent of all workers paid by the hour, but 23 percent of those paid at or below the minimum rate. Put another way, some 5 percent of the nation’s hourly workers received minimum wage or less; nearly 19 percent of teens fall into this category. At last count, nearly 26 percent of all teenagers were unemployed, up from 24 percent a year earlier. This is a decidedly worse showing than the rate for adult men, for instance. In June, unemployment for men totaled 9.9 percent, actually down slightly from 10 percent the year before.
That higher minimum wages could lead to lower employment isn’t a shocking concept.
Naturally, the recession caused millions of all ages to lose their jobs. However, the disproportionate hit taken by young people can also, according to a recent study, be laid directly at the door of the hike in minimum wage. Economists William Even of Miami University and David MacPherson of Trinity University compared teen job losses in states impacted by the minimum wage hikes with states that were not affected. (Some states had independently passed a minimum wage as high or higher than the national level, thus rendering the federal hike irrelevant.) They conclude that the increase in minimum wage raised teen unemployment by 114,000….
Now, the 40-year-old is rethinking her lifelong support for the party. She has been without steady work for two years, lost her home and car and began receiving cash assistance from the state for the first time. This year, she says, “I’m willing to take a chance on something different.” Another possibility, she says, is that she won’t vote at all.
Ms. Jones is part of an unmeasured, agitated mass: unemployed Americans who don’t believe the Obama Administration and Congress have done enough to produce jobs. With elections coming up, their unease is especially troublesome for the Democrats, who control both chambers.
A poor economy never bodes well for incumbents. Cook Report, the nonpartisan political newsletter that tracks congressional races, estimates that 73 House seats are vulnerable—including Mr. Schauer’s. This group has two things in common. Almost all (66 of 73) are held by Democrats, and most include counties that have unemployment rates exceeding the national average, according to data assembled by The Wall Street Journal.
Libertarian Republican
