A blog dedicated to carrying on the work of Gary Welsh's Advance Indiana by continuing the fight for the Republican Principles of limited government, free speech, advocate for good government, rule of law, civil liberties, and opposing cults. We oppose the Church of Scientology. Send any requests, news tips, or gossip. Email: 6vwts@notsharingmy.info. Use the Contact Form on the right side of the screen. Follow on Twitter: @IndyRepublicanX
TIP LINE
If you have any news tips, gossip or rumors you would like to share or any ideas for future post. Please send an email to: 6vwts@notsharingmy.info or contact us on Twitter: @IndyRepublicanX
You do not have to leave your name. We appreciate greatly your support.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Open Letter to London Mayor Sadiq Khan
Friday, June 2, 2017
The End of Angie's List?
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Indy Republicans Guide to Taking Back The GOP
The biggest problems with the Hoosier GOP include the reduced role of elected precinct committee men and women in favor of appointed pc's. The refusal to advocate for good government such as the recent move to charge citizens search fees for public records, the increasing politicalization of state government by elimination in 2011 of the Merit System of Employment. The abandonment of free market capitalist principles with the establishment of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to serve as a way to curry political favors with donors and lobbyists. By abandoning the principles of enforcing state ethics laws by the appointment of the Governor of the states Inspector General and making them a servant of the governor.
Target #1
The Media
If we are to reform the Republican Party we must convince enough of the general and voting population of the rightness of our cause. We must also make the public aware of the corruption in our political system and explain why it must be stopped. The media is the main source of information for most people. Whether they be working class or executives. At this time unfortunately our voices within the Indiana press with some exceptions are very few.
In our state much of the media establishment of the major newspapers and television stations is run out of Indianapolis. These outlets are run by a relatively small number of people. Most of whom have an interest in not rocking the status quo. Their reasons can vary from being money grubbing power seekers to just believing they know better how to run our lives than we do. However there are still members of the Indianapolis and National press who still do a decent job at being journalists. We will list the "good journalists" shortly. In order to make the Indiana press start doing there jobs we the people must keep up non stop pressure on the press to do their jobs. As far as Establishment hack reporters like Tim Swarens and Matt Tully of the Indianapolis Star. Most likely Matt, Tim and their fellow travelers in the press will never stop pandering to the Powers that Be. In order to further our goals of having a world class media in Indiana we must work to change the media culture in this state. Here are Indy Republicans steps to reforming the media:
Republican Party Should Listen to J. Cal Davenport or get toasted!
Greg Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault for lifting The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs by the neck and slamming him to the ground hard enough to break his glasses, all because Jacobs asked for a response from the candidate regarding the CBO’s scoring of the American Health Care Act. Newspapers have pulled endorsements in what will hopefully not be the last of the repercussions for Gianforte’s conduct. (Hat tip to Andrea Ruth for such a fantastic job following this story.)
One congressional candidate, who is already facing swift and harsh backlash — some social media defenders notwithstanding — is only one straw, but it’s just the latest in a series that has made it harder and harder to take the Republican Party seriously anymore. Founder of the Gianforte Family Foundation, whose mission it is to “support the work of faith-based organizations engaged in outreach work, strengthening families, and helping the needy,” Gianforte also has worked with Focus on the Family and donated over a million dollars to a creationist museum. He is a poster child for political engagement by a conservative Christian entrepreneur.
And this becomes his witness.
Liberals punch people and set fire to tires in order not to provide a platform to views they don’t like too, so violence as a solution to ideological challenges is largely the order of the day in American politics. Without a doubt, it is a pervasive problem across the spectrum.
Yet in spite of the if-it-bleeds-it-leads bias toward reporting the outrageous, I argue that the biggest problem in the American political system is that there is an overwhelming lack of seriousness. It infects the GOP at least as much as any other party, and when it sufficiently debilitates its host, the host sees only escalating absurdity as the way forward.
I remain a registered Republican. Certainly I approve of a greater number of GOP politicians — Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, my own state of Michigan’s lieutenant governor, Brian Calley, for example — than of any other party, but that is mostly due to the fact that the only rival to the Republican Party in size is the Democratic Party. Before I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative, but the movement and its party manifestations over the past five, but especially two, years have threatened to return it to the laughable status it maintained prior to the work Bill Buckley and so many others did to make it intellectually respectable — and elect Ronald Reagan.
Kristen Soltis Anderson at The Washington Examiner recently highlighted the fact that young people are abandoning the GOP ship like it just hit an iceberg. In 18 months, 23 percent of those 18-29 defected from the party and have not returned. As no course correction appears forthcoming, there’s no reason to expect that to change any time soon.
From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that Christians under forty are marching out of the Republican tent, because they are finding it difficult to reconcile their faith with a party whose titular head shows a callous disregard for the very minorities and vulnerable people we conservatives told ourselves our policies best served. One isolated (but nationwide) incident might have been written off as the last electoral gasp of a generation unable to cope with the changes in America — 50- to 64-year-olds left the Democrats at a greater rate than any other age bracket — except that the GOP leadership morphed from being “concerned” about Donald Trump into monkeys that see and hear no evil.
Too many at the grassroots level have likewise transformed. News that is sometimes fake, but more often spun — predigested for those with weak stomachs — serves as the blindfold and earplugs that block out the pervasive moral and intellectual vapidity. The party in Washington is unserious because those who are “engaged” (I use that term loosely) are unserious, and demand nothing more. Rather than think deeply about the myriad problems and challenges America faces, those who claim to take them seriously just get angrier, while also becoming less connected to reality and other people.
What do those of us who increasingly feel like a minority do? If we leave, where do we go? The Democratic Party continues its insistent on abortion on demand, it elevates issues like an endless menus of genders from which to choose over basic budget math and common sense, a loud and influential faction mocks Christianity and its most compelling member is a 75-year-old self-described socialist.
Speaking of Bernie Sanders, he happens to be the only prominent member of his party both to insist that there is a space for pro-lifers on the left and to unequivocally condemn the violent reactions of campus liberals who protest speeches by conservatives. Yet to embrace him is to embrace a man with a budget proposal that would have added $21 trillion to the debt in just a decade — an anathema to conservatives, as well as anyone who realizes that this so much money it could be piled in stacks of $5 bills and still reach the moon five times. We’re not about to leave a sinking party only to advocate for sinking a party under crushing debt. Be serious. The problem is bipartisan.
The Democratic Party’s adamantine defense of the increasingly misnamed Affordable Care Act is completely unironic in the face of double-digit premium hikes. The alternative? Republicans spent 7 years promising us free-market, conservative solutions to problems in the healthcare industry, only to offer “Swampcare” in various editions, which, in greater and lesser degrees, buys every Obamacare premise about the nature of the problems and solutions, and gives us just a little less of what we had before, as though the solution to the nauseating taste of Budweiser is Bud Light.
If silliness pervades both major parties, are there other options? The Libertarian Party confidently nominated a successful two-term Republican governor of a center-left state, implicitly assuring us that James Weeks II stripping down at national convention was just an anomaly. Then Gary Johnson took a golden opportunity and turned it into a reminder of why the LP is such a distant third electorally, with this. And this. And this. They can’t be serious.
Evan McMullin, my favorite presidential candidate in the general, finished third in his home state of Utah — his best showing — despite the fact that the GOP there was hemorrhaging his fellow Mormons. Since the election, he’s appeared to be more an opportunist than a serious leader, embracing interpretations of President Trump’s every action that put him in the worst possible light, no matter how implausible or inconsistent. He isn’t serious.
The Constitution Party is irrelevant. The problem proves to be not just bipartisan, but multi-partisan. (Perhaps the new Federalist Party is the place to be? At this point, it’s far too early to predict the success of that venture.)
I am partial to the view that the path partially is to be found outside of party politics, but the degree to which politics is downstream from culture is up for debate, as is the question of how politics itself influences culture. Besides, the insanity reaches outside of party politics as well, the Seth Rich conspiracy theory being only the most recent example. To find our place outside of a party is simply to act on the knowledge that conservatism isn’t a party. Eventually, though, a political movement needs an electoral outlet.
To return for a moment to the GOP, I’m agnostic and ambivalent as to whether it is part of the long-term future of serious conservatism. If it ceases entirely to be the party of Lincoln, Coolidge and Reagan, what merit does it hold as a vehicle for the movement? It’s the short term that presents a problem.
It seems as though any moron can run for office these days. When anyone can captain the Titanic, it’s much more likely to hit an iceberg. The pertinent (and seemingly eternal) question is whether it is possible to wrest control and correct course in time. If not, on which liferaft do we take refuge as we abandon ship?
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Joyriding Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard Crashed City Car
Monday, May 22, 2017
19 Dead and 50 Plus Injured in Ariana Grande Concert Explosion
Going Back to the USSR Comrade Pence?
Indy Car Robbery Suspects In Custody
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti were robbed at gunpoint at a Taco Bell in the 3500 block of West 16th Street. Dixon’s wife Emma Davies-Dixon is also listed as a victim on the police report, as is an unidentified 25-year-old man.
The incident happened hours after Dixon won the pole position Sunday for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500.
The teens are listed as 14 years old and 15 years old in the IMPD report.
IMPD said that surveillance cameras at Taco Bell caught a suspicions vehicle on video. The vehicle and the suspect appeared from the same direction, then the suspects ran in the same direction of the vehicle.
About 30 minutes later, the vehicle was located. The passenger attempted to run from police but was caught by a K-9. That passenger was positively identified by one of the victims. The driver told detectives that he was partially involved and told investigators where the stolen property was. One of the suspects was sent to the Juvenile Detention Center was the other was sent to a local hospital.
In addition to being this year’s pole sitter, Dixon is previous winner of the big race. Franchitti has made it to the winner’s circle three times.
Chip Ganassi Racing issued a statement to 24-Hour News 8:
Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti are completely fine after being held up last night by two men at a fast food restaurant in Speedway, Ind. Thank you to everyone for all of your concerns about their well-being. However, we will allow the Speedway/Indianapolis police departments to handle the situation and while they conduct their investigation we will refrain from making any further comments to allow Scott to focus on the upcoming Indianapolis 500.”
We would like to thank the IMPD for apprehending the suspects so quickly. We would also like to wish Scott and Dario good luck in the 500. Also we would like to ask all of you to pray that these two young people who allegedly robbed Misters Dixon and Franchitti. We pray that these two young people clean up their acts and that after their debts to society are paid they go onto live good and prosperous lives. IR's staff believes in outing corruption, sin, and evil wherever we see it. But we all also believe in practicing active goodness and working to achieve the final salvation of all souls. To all of you out there. This is the Indy Republican newsdesk and we wish you all a good night.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Cover up at the BMV?
A supervisor at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and her son — also a BMV employee — have been fired after an internal fraud investigation.
But the BMV is releasing few details about the firings, rekindling concerns about openness at an agency that has overcharged customers, grappled with an ethics scandal and faced questions about politically motivated hirings.
Stacy Cox, the accounting supervisor at BMV's headquarters in Indianapolis, was terminated on March 21 for providing false information during an investigation by the agency's Fraud and Security Enforcement division.
Apparently if the BMV is to be believed lying during an investigation runs in the family. Since Cook goes onto say:
Her son, Richard Cody Pringle, who also worked at the central office as a driver's license printer, was terminated two weeks later for the same reason.
The fraud investigation was prompted by the employees' personal vehicle transactions, including allegations of the employees submitting false monetary amounts paid for those vehicles, according to Ashley Hungate, a spokeswoman for the state personnel department.
In phone interviews, Cox and Pringle defended their actions as oversights rather than deliberate misconduct.
IndyStar requested a copy of the fraud investigation reports, but the BMV refused to provide them. citing exemptions to the state's public records law regarding personnel matters.
Such reports, however, are typically released when they involve non-employees.
Government watchdogs say the agency's decision to withhold reports involving BMV employees is concerning, especially since employees fired after fraud investigations have landed sensitive jobs with BMV contractors in the past.
Sarah Bonick, a spokeswoman for the BMV, said the agency must strike a balance between employee privacy and transparency.
Cox told IndyStar the investigation began when she bought a vehicle from an Eastside junkyard, Barlow's Used Auto Parts, where her brother worked.
The vehicle turned out to be stolen. She said she was unaware that the vehicle was stolen when she bought it.
BMV investigators later found she had titled a box truck five years earlier in her name and listed the purchase price as $0, even though her then-boyfriend had paid for it, she said.
The BMV takes such indiscretions seriously because they can muddy the vehicle's ownership history and allow the new owner to avoid title costs, which include a 7 percent sales tax based on the purchase price listed on the title.
Pringle said BMV investigators questioned him about several vehicles he bought or sold, including a pickup truck he purchased from the owner of Barlow's, where his uncle worked.
"They accused me of lying about how much I paid for it," Pringle said. "I can't remember the amounts."
He then sold that vehicle for $500 and "some handguns," he said, but only listed the $500 cash on the title work. He later told BMV investigators that there was only one handgun involved in the exchange, though in reality there were "three or four," he said.
"It was none of their business how many guns I traded for," he said.
In another case, he purchased a vehicle for $2,000 from a friend, but paid only $100 in cash and agreed to work off the remaining $1,900 at his friend's shop, he said. So he listed $100 on the title work.
While the terminations may be justified, advocates of open government said the BMV should be more transparent about such situations.
"As a citizen, I am always concerned when a government agency fails to be transparent regarding offenses or violations that occur at the hands of its employees," said Zachary Baiel, president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government. "Without access to this information, the public cannot be assured the necessary accountability has been met."
Julia Vaughn, public policy director for Common Cause Indiana, shared her concerns.
"While keeping these records under wraps serves their immediate interest of avoiding public scrutiny about what happened here, in the long-term it’s just another reason for the public not to have faith in this agency," she said. "All I can think is there is information embarrassing to someone at a higher level who is still at the BMV."
IndyStar reported in 2015 that at least three fired BMV employees were later hired by a BMV contractor, where they continued to have access to sensitive information stored on BMV terminals.
Two of the employees had been fired after a fraud investigation; the other was terminated for poor performance that supervisors said opened up the agency to potential fraud.
As in this latest case, the BMV declined to release any of the FSE investigation reports related to those employees.
Bonick said the BMV now has safeguards to ensure that fired employees don't end up working in similar positions for outside contractors.
"All potential employees who will have access to BMV terminals or our transaction system while working for a contractor are vetted through the State Personnel Department and also the BMV’s Fraud and Security Enforcement Department," she said in an email. "Any former State of Indiana employee, not just those who previously worked for the BMV, who have been flagged as Not Eligible For Rehire are not approved."
The firings come after several turbulent years for the agency. Since 2013, the BMV has admitted to overcharging Hoosier motorists about $90 million in taxes and fees. Those overcharges have since been refunded, but one of two class-action lawsuits over the fees remains unresolved.
Any IndyStar investigation in 2015 found that top BMV officials knew for years they were likely gouging Hoosier motorists with excessive fees, but chose to ignore or cover up the overcharges rather than refund the extra money and adjust to significant budget losses.
The financial mismanagement raised serious questions about the qualifications of several top BMV officials and the role that political connections played in their hiring.
IndyStar also found that Shawn Walters, the agency's former chief of staff, encouraged the use of a new fee, then went to work for a private vendor that benefited from it.
The series of controversies led then-Gov. Mike Pence to shake up BMV leadership and cancel the state's contract with the controversial outside vendor. The state ethics commission later fined Walters $500 for violating state ethics rules — an amount that government accountability experts criticized as too low.
The BMV has since worked with lawmakers to streamline the state's complicated system of fees.
Well we can all see why Holcomb didn't have a problem vetoing the controversial public records search fee bill. It is because he knows his lapdogs throughout state government will refuse to release records by claiming they relate to "personnel matters". As for BMV spokeswoman Sarah Bonick's stating they have to balance employee privacy with transparency. We ask: "Ms. Bonick how is that applicable in this case?" Cox and Pringle are no longer employed by the BMV. So how can the BMV say that by keeping their fraud investigation reports secret you are protecting employee privacy? Especially since reports are usually released when non-employees are involved? Even conceding that somehow the agency is interested in protecting Cox and Pringle's privacy. Cox and Pringle have given interviews to the Indianapolis Star. So obviously they are not concerned about their own privacy. So there is no reason for the BMV not to release the information.
Last June we blogged about several BMV scandals and gave links to Gary Welsh, Paul Ogden and Charlie White's chronicling of all the BMV stupidity. IR must confess that Julia Vaughn's saying "All I can think is there is information embarrassing to someone at a higher level who is still at the BMV." Has all of us thinking this is more likely than not the reason for the BMV's being so reluctant to release the information in this case. But if so who at the BMV stands to be embarrassed by this and why? For the record IR is not saying that this is anything other than a simple fraud investigation. That we don't know. But given the BMV's troubled history. Our natural inclination is to assume a cover up. Unless we are given reason to believe otherwise. If you have any information, rumors or tips. Please leave a comment at the end of this post. Or on the web version of this blog fill out the contact form and submit it.
From all of us here at IR we wish you all a good rest of the week. And remember stay positive.