Liberals Censored By OK Democrat Leadership

  There appears to be a possible civil war brewing within the Oklahoma Democrat party over an email sent to legislative leaders, ordering them into silence on many unpopular liberal issues.

  The Gayly (an advocacy journal of the homosexual cause) published a story which complained about the email from the Oklahoma Democrat Party Chairman. In the email, he lists several hot-button liberal issues which he ordered Democrat leaders to keep their mouths shut about.

Common Core Is Back: Hofmeister Accused Of Lying To Legislature

Rep. Cleveland takes aim at the state education leadership for deceit. 

News9 reports:

  Some frustrated lawmakers said they feel duped by state Education Superintendent Joy Hofmeister.

  Rep. Bob Cleveland says that Hofmeister told his caucus she backed House changes then went back and told the Senate she preferred their changes.

“She left ours, goes over to the Senate and tells a whole different story,” said Cleveland, R-Slaughterville. “She did not tell the truth.”

Common Core Resurrects At State Legislature

Editor's Note: The 2014 repeal effort required a new set of standards to be put in place within 2 years. Recently, the standards were submitted to the legislature with a 30 day review period to respond or be adopted. Today, the legislature's 30 day deadline is up. The new standards are terribly flawed and the legislature is about to silently approve them for 6 years.

From Jenni White of R.O.P.E.

   Recently I sent you an email regarding the problems with the new Oklahoma Academic Standards as identified by reviewers.

  This weekend, I took those problems and compared them with HB3399 (the Common Core repeal bill). What I found was that - as written and presented to the Oklahoma Legislature this year - the standards could be construed to violate no less than SEVEN different mandates in that bill. You can read about all seven here.

  We would really appreciate it if you would take a minute to write or call your personal Oklahoma Senator and Representative and ask them to PLEASE DISAPPROVE Oklahoma's new Academic Standards (OAS) and send them back to the Oklahoma State Department of Education for revision BEFORE THE 23rd of this month when they become LAW!

How A Liberal Hate Group Shut Down A Trump Rally

Fountain Hills is a secluded community, northeast of Phoenix. 

  It takes very little creativity to shut down an event on a Chicago area liberal college campus, but no one expected a suburban Arizona event to be effectively shut down for about an hour, last weekend.
  Trump's local organizer was Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (greater Phoenix). Joe lives in the Fountain Hills remote community. He organized an outdoor event in this sleepy little bedroom community, perhaps to avoid any liberal enclaves or urban hotbeds of anti-liberty hate groups.

Trump Rejected By Utah Republicans

  It was Donald Trump's worst election result to date. the Republicans of Utah soundly rejected him, limiting his numbers to under 15% of the statewide totals.

Kasich Edges Out Trump For 2nd

  John Kasich, the stubborn minor league governor from Ohio, bested Trump for 2nd place. Kasich has no money and no organization to speak of, yet he was more popular among those few Utes who weren't in the Cruz caucus.

Cruz at 70%

  Ted Cruz had an overwhelming victory, garnering nearly 70% of the vote. The unabrasive conservatism of Cruz was hugely popular with the social conservative state.
  The week ends with a relative  draw among the states deciding their preference for the Republican nomination. Trump's message and style ended up winning Arizona's primary.

Pruitt Scorned By Highest Court

  The Supreme Court of the United States just dealt the Oklahoma Attorney General a stinging rejection. They voted on a very wide margin, to reject Pruitt's Colorado Pot case without even hearing it. Pruitt had teamed up with Nebraska's AG to take on Colorado and seek to end the sale of Cannabis, there.
  Pruitt and other Oklahoma public safety officials had reassigned numerous state troopers to the few remote highways near the panhandle, in hopes of catching folks who might be traveling with pot they purchased in Colorado. The rest of Oklahoma was harmed by the shortage of troopers available to the rest of the Sooner state.

City Hall Attempts Media Blackout

Fox23 declares the new tax idea "Dead In the Water". 

From Batesline.com

  Michael Bates and other bloggers are again digging up the inconvenient facts about the ill-designed "vision tax" being pushed by elite leftists in the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. The biggest boondoggle among many, are the fantasies of a dream lake resort community in the Casino District along the South Arkansas River.

Fox23 mysteriously deletes their news story. 

"So what happened? Fox23 isn't commenting on the story's disappearance, but it's reasonable to speculate based on behavior by Vote Yes forces in past big-project sales tax elections. I have reason to believe that Vision Tulsa supporters threatened to pull advertising, threatened to cut off any cooperation by city officials on future Fox23 stories, and threw some confusing but irrelevant information at station officials at the last minute -- confusing enough to convince station officials to hold off on the story until more research could be done." - Michael Bates

  It seems the city is selling a multi million dollar dam which requires as much maintenance as our last one never got.
  Fox 23 was set to expose the planning disaster, when they suddenly got so much pressure that they pulled the story without any editorial explanation.

Inhofe Endorses 'Climate Change' Kasich

  The Detroit Free Press recently endorsed Kasich, in part because of Kasich's public advocacy of state regulations directed at attempting to control climate change.

"Kasich accepts the reality of climate change. Our planet's changing climate — and the threat that poses to human life, as it currently exists — is the most pressing issue of our times." - Detroit Free Press

  Inhofe has previously staked his political reputation on challenging the lack of real scientific evidence of both manmade causes of harmful climate swings and real solutions.

Rick Brinkley Teaches Self-worth & Forgiveness On Social Media

  Today, Rick began talking about forgiveness and restoration. He particularly focused on self-worth & analyzing the attitudes of others; scrutinizing whether they are honoring God in their attitudes..

On Tuesday, Rick Brinkley broke his silence on his social media account and talked about gambling addictions and how to get free. Brinkley was recently sentenced to about 3 years of prison for his confessed embezzling of well over a million dollars, ironically from the consumer foundation, "The Better Business Bureau of tulsa". The allegation is that while serving as the leader of a business watchdog group, judging the ethics of local businesses, Brinkley was systematically stealing massive funds from the group, to fund his secret gambling addiction.

Q: "Did you lose any friends after going through all of this?"

 A: "No, I really did not lose a single friend. However, I did lose people I thought were my friends, but really didn't lose a single friend."

Q: "How do you respond to people who don't like you now?"

A: "I don't. They have a right to dislike me based upon what they know of me and what I did. And, I respect their right to feel that way."

Rick Brinkley Speaks Out About Gambling Addictions

  This morning, former senator and recently sentenced felon, Rick Brinkley; posted up this message regarding the scourge of gambling addiction which has become epidemic in Oklahoma. Brinkley had confessed to embezzling over a million dollars from his employer, to fund his casino gambling addiction. 
  Sooner Politics is still awaiting a message from the Oklahoma Indian Casino industry, regarding their ideas and their commitment to help end the scourge of gambling addictions.

Rick Brinkley
March 14 · Tulsa ·
  I've spent the better part of the past 72 hours responding to supportive Facebook posts and private messages. All of these expressions of support and kindness are appreciated more than the writers will ever understand.
  However, the most important messages came from people who asked for help with their own gambling addiction. I've sent a lot of links to many people.
  If you think you may have a gambling addiction, please know you are not alone. It's estimated over 150,000 Oklahomans suffer from this addiction. Gambling addiction has the highest rate of successful suicide among all addictions including drugs and alcohol.
  For many, seeking recovery is literally a matter of life or death. If you think you might have a gambling problem, click on the link below and answer 20 easy questions.
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/content/20-questions

Needed Oklahoma Traffic Innovations

  Other states and nations have developed some great innovations in traffic engineering. It appalls me that Oklahoma fails to do any earnest  effort to research and institute these great designs. We'll look into just a couple of them and get the readers' reactions.

Cruz Platform Opposes Dominionism Doctrine

  There have been several passing inferences about "Dominionism" in this presidential nominating process. Most of them have been published within the last few weeks, as an attempt to paint Ted Cruz as a cultist nut.
  I will say that I do believe there have been multitudes of fundamentalist Christians who believed this doctrine. Infact, I would say that it has been a mainstream view of the evangelical churches of the last century.  But it runs contrary to any Libertarian tenets of the Republican Party.

Either Cruz is a 'Moral Majority Republican' or he is a 'Constitutional Liberty Republican'. But he can't be both.

  Either Cruz is a "Moral Majority Republican" or he is a "Constitutional Liberty Republican". But he can't be both.

State Auditing Proceeds With Attorney General's Office

  I spoke with Oklahoma's State Auditor & Inspector, this weekend. Mr. Gary Jones confirmed that his office is indeed proceeding with a legally-mandated audit of the Attorney General's Office.

  Gary Jones said; "The Attorney General may or may not spend department money on other audits, but my office is proceeding with our (mandated) audit". I asked if the two departments are cooperating? "Yes, the AG's office is cooperating."

   AG, Scott Pruitt, had objected a few months ago and instead insisted that he be able to hire his own auditor to provide him with an internal document which he would then decide whether or not to make public.
  In other audit news, the auditor's office is conducting audits of both the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office. Of particular interest is the inmate funds which are turned over to the sheriff's office upon an inmate's "getting booked" into the jail facility. There are already some very serious discrepancies in the Tulsa fund and even more suspicions that the former sheriff's personnel have committed criminal theft and conspiracy of the property of jail inmates.

OKGOP Launches "Red to the Roots" Initiative

  “Red to the Roots is not a new program but a new name and a new energy.” said OKGOP Chair Pam Pollard.  During the tenure of Matt Pinnell, as OKGOP Chair and Pam Pollard as Vice Chair an initial effort was launched for the state party organization to overtly aid Republican nominees for county office.  Red to the Roots is a revived and invigorated version of that effort.

  Pollard continued, “I tapped Richard Engle to spearhead the effort because he successfully chaired the previous work.  Upon becoming Oklahoma Republican Chair I found that some other state organizations were engaged to assist local Republican candidates.  Tennessee and South Carolina named the outreach work ‘Red to the Roots.’ We are combining our previous positive experience with the experience of these other states to create what we hope to be the strongest increase of Republican victories in county and other local offices.  Conservative ideas work at every level of government and it is long past time for us to concentrate on the area of government that often has the greatest impact on the daily lives of Oklahomans.”

Cruz takes massive early lead in Wyoming

Party leaders use simple, low-tech means of determining county results. 

The live results:

  The Casper Star tribune explains the unique Wyoming process, here:

  Wyoming Republicans will gather in each of the state’s 23 counties today to decide on a presidential nominee.

  But while they’ll select 12 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention in July, the process won’t be complete for another month.

  That’s because Wyoming’s selection process stretches over three events — caucuses held earlier this month, today’s county conventions and a statewide convention in April.

  The county conventions could show which GOP presidential candidate has the most support among Wyoming Republicans.

McAnally Elected OKGOP Vice Chair

DeWayne McAnally was selected by the State Committee
to complete the term as OKGOP Vice Chair.

  After winning a large plurality in the first ballot of a three-way race, Dewayne McAnally was selected as OK GOP Vice chair on an acclimation requested by opponents Cleveland County Commissioner Harold Haralson and former State Rep. Porter Davis. 

  The OK GOP State committee met this morning just south of the state capital park, to select a new party Vice chair, after Estela Hernandez submitted her resignation two months ago.

Failed Political Parties of Yesteryear

You've heard of the Whigs, Bull Moose, & the Reform Party. But there are several other parties. In 1968 we saw the American Party and the Yippies.

James Yancy Callahan (December 19, 1852 – May 3, 1935) was an American politician, and a Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1899, representing the Oklahoma Territory He was a member of the Free Silver party, and is (as of 2015) the only third party politician to represent Oklahoma at the federal level.

  You may not have heard of the Silver Party (which was strong in Oklahoma during her first years of statehood). The Readjusters and Anti Masonic Party were as unique as the Suffrage and Free Soil parties.

 The History Channel's website has quite a list. Read it here.

Birth of a new party

  Theodore Roosevelt was the founder of the Bull Moose Progressive Party and thus is often associated with the party.

  Roosevelt left office in 1909. He had selected Taft, his Secretary of War, to succeed him as presidential candidate, and Taft easily won the 1908 presidential election. Roosevelt became disappointed by Taft's increasingly conservative policies. Taft upset Roosevelt when he used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up U.S. Steel. During his own presidency, Roosevelt had approved J.P. Morgan-owned U.S. Steel as a "good" trust.[2] They became openly hostile, and Roosevelt decided to seek the presidency.

 

  Roosevelt entered the campaign late, as Taft was already being challenged by progressive leader Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. Roosevelt far outpolled Taft in the primary elections which were held in a few of the more progressive states. But Taft had worked far harder than TR to control the Republican Party's organizational operations and the mechanism for choosing its presidential nominee, the 1912 Republican National Convention. So, despite Roosevelt's last-minute attempt to block Taft's re-nomination, the party re-nominated Taft in June.[3] Before the final vote, Roosevelt had said that he would accept a presidential nomination from a new, "honestly elected", convention. He ordered pro-Roosevelt Republican convention delegates to abstain from voting, in rebuke of Taft's "steamroller tactics"... The next day, Roosevelt supporters met to form a new political party of their own.

Rubio Wins All 23 Puerto Rico Delegates

(CNN)Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will win the Republican primary
in Puerto Rico, CNN projects, picking up his second contest
in a campaign that has been dominated by Trump and Cruz.

     CNN is now projecting that Marco Rubio, from neighboring Florida, will win all of Puerto Rico's 23 delegates because he surpassed the 50% threshold in the vote totals. This is the rule set by the Puerto Rico GOP and falls within the rules of the RNC.
  When Jeb Bush ended his active campaign, the vast support of the locals switched their allegiance to Rubio.
  The Georgia primary seems so long ago. But that was the last solid win Trump has had. Since then, Cruz has won Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska, Kansas, and Maine.
Rubio has won Minnesota and Puerto Rico.

(CNN)Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will win the Republican primary in Puerto Rico, CNN projects, picking up his second contest in a campaign that has been dominated by Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

  Kentucky narrowly went for Trump but Cruz got nearly as many delegates. And Louisiana also narrowly went for Trump. but Cruz will get just as many delegates.  The net result is that Trump's early delegate lead is now shrinking sizably.

Cruz Momentum Ignites On March 5th

  Ted Cruz defeated Donald Trump by a large margin in this weekend's contests. Cruz gathered 41% of the vote in 4 state contests: Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maine. Three of the four were party caucus events. Louisiana holding the primary.
  The Saturday events of this past week have capped off a huge change in the GOP presidential competition.
  Ted Cruz entered last week with 2 stinging losses in South Carolina and Nevada. But the rules changed when the Super Tuesday states largely followed a more disciplined standard of voter eligibility. Trump has had to rely on states where non Republicans were allowed to vote in the party elections.
  The two other minor candidates; Rubio and Kasich, barely reached double digits in the March 5th contests.

Will The GOP Be Worth Saving?

The National Review just posted a very challenging question:

Is the GOP Worth Saving?

The Reagan coalition is long gone,

 replaced by Chamber of Commerce hegemony.

  Thursday night’s debate underscores this truth: The GOP is disintegrating. When the front-runner for your party uses the national debate stage to discuss the size of his Anthony Weiner, you have a problem. When that same man affirms that he will order U.S. soldiers to commit the horrifying war crime of deliberately slaughtering the wives, children, and elderly noncombatant relatives of ISIS, you have an even worse problem.

The mind boggles....

"I do not know that I can ever bring myself to vote for a man who boasts about his private parts in public and vows to kill innocent women and children, even if I don’t believe him."

  On a more prosaic level, it is also true: When a solid conservative like Ted Cruz emerges as the leading opponent to Trump, and the GOP establishment stubbornly refused to coalesce around him, you have both a political and a moral problem. 

he·gem·o·ny həˈjemənē,ˈhejəˌmōnē/ noun leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.

  Especially after the GOP’s preferred horse lost not only in Iowa, and not only in New Hampshire, but in South Carolina. Marco Rubio’s innovative 3, 5, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1 strategy is right on target. Meanwhile Kasich is living in his own egocentric fantasy land as the Democrats’ favorite Republican.

  Right now, many conservatives are reacting to the #NeverTrump movement by pointing to the horrors of Hillary Clinton and urging conservatives to avert their eyes from Trump’s constant parade of horribles. Join together as Republicans to beat Horrible Hillary, they say, or lose the Supreme Court for a generation.

  There is a lot to be said for that point of view. I am still mulling it all over.

C-PAC Coverage on SoonerPolitics Roku Channel

The Sooner Politics Channel

  The Sooner Politics Roku channel is pleased to be able to carry the speeches at this year's C-PAC conference. If you have the Roku set top device, add the free channel "soonerpolitics".
  It's a private channel but it's free of charge.


Sooner Politics carries massive volumes of programming and our curators have organized it for you.  Roku devices start at $40 and there's no monthly fee for over 1000 channels.
The C-PAC programming is also available on their Youtube channel and some coverage on C-Span TV.

xx

Liberty University Students Reject Falwell & Trump

The Hill published this excerpt, today.

  "In a very public repudiation of Jerry Falwell jr., the student body of Liberty University supported Rubio and Cruz by a vast margin. Donald Trump barely beat out Kasich with just 8%.
  Donald Trump reportedly placed fourth in the precinct for Liberty University in Virginia despite an endorsement from Jerry Falwell Jr., the school's president.
  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took first with 44 percent support in Liberty's precinct and 513 votes, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 33 percent, Ben Carson at 14 percent and Trump at 8 percent.

Editorial: If Trump Had Taken Over The Continental Congress..

  In a parallel universe, Donald Trump bought out a silicon valley operation which stumbled into a technology for time traveling.  He immediately activated the technology to transport himself to the Dutch colony on Manhattan Island, the mid 18th century.  Once established, he manipulated the system and got himself named a delegate to the little-known conference, going on in Philadelphia.
  After a little finagling, he was able to wrest control of a committee which was tasked with writing a letter.  Trump immediately rewrote the letter's opening paragraphs, (because he says he's a better negotiator).

The New and Improved Declaration of Independence: 

Words of Trump In Red 

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, As eloquently detailed by the western world's greatest land developer and dealmaker, Donald J. Trump of New York.
 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Look, you snob lords and lazy-butt Tories... You haven't done a damn thing with the vast holdings that you grandparents left you. And little King George.. the house of commons needs to overthrow this town drunk. Nobody likes him. He lies. Believe me. This guy is a serial liar. This guy hasn't won a military battle in decades.

Internals of Oklahoma's District Presidential Results

  The Oklahoma State Election Board is now publishing the results of the Super Tuesday Presidential polling numbers.
  Of particular interest is the District breakdown. The numbers will determine allotments of the 15 GOP delegates which are set aside by the RNC, specifically to the districts. Remember that anyone who fails to attain a 15% threshold will not be awarded any delegates. With that in mind, here are the ballot totals for the 3 candidates who have met the threshold.

Carson Quits Debate

Gretchen Carlson of Fox News reports:
"He does not see a path forward in '16"

Bill Shapard Sees Polling Failure

Super Tuesday in Oklahoma: Analysis, Comments and Takes from News and Social Media

OklahomaWatch asked several of us to comment on the results of Super Tuesday results.

Pat McGuigan, current and former governors, political consultants, and other perspectives were sought.
Cliff Adcock of Oklahoma Watch then compiled the best quotes for his report. One particular quote stood out, to me.

Delegate Scorecard: Trump & Cruz Stretch A Lead

The Delegate Math and number of state wins, is key to getting nominated.

Cruz still needs 4 more state wins in order to get the mandated 8, in order to get his name even considered in the nomination process. Trump has 10 state wins.

  The AP has run some reliable math on the results of Super Tuesday and previous contests. The results are now being tabulated and they show a clear separation happening. Marco Rubio stayed in 3rd place and  is 120 delegates behind the 2nd place candidate, Ted Cruz.

   For all of Trump's braggadocio, he still remains only 90 delegates ahead of Cruz. But he's failing to perform anywhere close to his media polls had suggested. In Oklahoma, Cruz outperformed the RCP average by a factor of 59%!

Rubio Gets Skunked in 2 States, Cruz Gets Delegates All Across the Nation

  The various state GOP organizations participating in Super Tuesday are now busy awarding delegates. It appears that Rubio has totally failed in two states; Alabama & Texas. In those two states, Rubio is still in the teens.
 Cruz met every state's threshold and is being awarded delegates in all of them. Texas is especially a stinging defeat, because those proportional delegates will be reassigned to Cruz and Trump, further separating them into a lead far ahead of Rubio.
  We will continue to monitor the fallout and whether Rubio will step aside and throw his support to Cruz.

Cruz Wins Oklahoma Primary

Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, earned a very convincing win in Oklahoma's super tuesday Republican  Presidential preference primary.  Donald Trump had come into the night with a large lead in the recent media polling and had predicted a near sweep across the nation in tonight's contests.

“If you want to beat Donald Trump, we’ve got to get to a head-to-head, one-on-one race,” Cruz said before he cast his vote in Houston, TX. “What Donald is benefiting from is a fractured opposition.”

Cruz is expected to win 4 of the 5 congressional districts with Rubio having a strong pocket of support in the OKC metro (District 5).
Trump's support is largely in the "Little Dixie" region and a few other patches.

Trump Only Funds 1% Of His Campaign

  The Trump campaign is mostly run off of borrowed money. Trump's contributors (YES THEY EXIST) provided about 21%. Trump's bankers provided nearly 78%. Trump is only contributing about 1% of his campaign's most recent funding numbers. A research group published their findings at TheNewRevere.com.
  This may not be much different from other presidential campaigns, but it is far from the claims Donald Trump makes in his campaign speeches. the truth is that Trump fully expects to raise money after he is elected, to pay off the massive loans that his campaign is taking out. He is essentially attempting to buy the presidency.

Latest Oklahoma Election Results

The Oklahoma State Election board is committed to providing the latest information on the presidential primary races. Click on the selected race, below, to find out the latest returns. The counting will begin when the polls close, at 7pm, local time. The political parties will be allocating delegates when the results are made official.