The Republicans in Oklahoma have had 3 major infusions of new energy and involvement, in the past 40 years.

• The Reagan revolution morphed with a 'religious right' movement in the late 80s & early 90s. 
• The Tea Party revolt against insider bailouts of 'too big to fail' corporations, & cultural pushback of the Obama years.
• The Trump revolution of blue collar conservatives. For national rebuilding & rejecting globalist agendas.

  As a part of that Reagan revolution, I joined the Tulsa GOP in 1984, shortly after I got married & settled in Oklahoma. At that time, the GOP was a very small portion of Oklahoma politics. Rural Democrats controlled all aspects of state govt. and Tulsa was just beginning to see expanded GOP influence. Dewey Bartlett sr., Jim Inhofe, & Frank Keating were a few shining stars in Tulsa, but one leader in the newly-emerging religious right said; "the GOP establishment still acts like the County starts at Utica Square and ends at I-44."

  In the SoonerPolitics weekly review of the statewide battle against a viral pandemic, we focus on the fatality rate breakdown.
   Men are shockingly 50% more likely to die(1.27%), than women(0.84%). Yes, women get sick from covid at a rate 13.3% higher than men, But men clearly face a much higher risk of death.
   Are women getting better care? Are men worse patients? The disparity needs to be honestly and thoroughly investigated.
  In past weeks we've shown how our healthcare professionals have successfully kept our overall fatality rate at the 3rd best in the nation. But who are our fatalities? 
  Yes, the oldest demographic sector(65+) make up about 80% of our reported deaths. They  face perhaps a 5% chance of dying if they get sick from Covid-19.  
  All races suffer, but Asians and Africans living in Oklahoma are slightly less likely to die when infected. Whites are slightly more vulnerable.

 Majority Floor Leader, Jon Echols, decided to call attention to the monumental event, and 'dog-whistle' to his leadership team, that it's okay to send in the wolves & initiate not only Rep. Moore, but also by proxy, the entire freshman class.
  They were in the preliminary questions of floor consideration when a litany of irrelevant questions, badgering about properly using the microphone, and other nonsense;

  ​Political organizer, journalist, & advocate, David Van Risseghem announces his candidacy for OKGOP vice chair, in support of John Bennett's leadership for 2021-23.
Stressing communications, diversity, & party principles; Van wants to support the vision, priorities, and game plan for the Bennett agenda to continue the Reagan/Trump vision for a strong and prosperous America, and a peace based on strength.
   Over the next few weeks, Oklahoma's Republican party is completing their precinct & county reorganizational meetings, and electing leaders for 2-year terms. In April, the state convention will be held, to elect a new set of leaders at the state level.

Click on the video to hear David's announcement and the reasons for his decision to seek a supporting role for former Representative, John Bennett.

  Oklahoma can 'high five' ourselves for successfully stalling the Covid-19 virus spread far better than most of the other 49 states.  Even our peak infection period was spread over a 3 month period, compared to other states like Minnesota and California, which got slammed  with hospitalizations at a much higher increase, and all at once.
   These statistics will now allow our public health statisticians to analyze what public policy measures worked best, and what policies might have actually added to the health problems on a deadly scale.
  Not only has Oklahoma lightened the potential stress on the hospitals, but Oklahoma has also been among the best in the nation at successfully recovering our sick Covid patients.  We have an aggregate recovery rate of about 99%, so far. 

  CNN also keeps metrics on fatalities. The nation has an aggregate 1.76% fatality rate. We posted each state's current fatality rates among those who have confirmed covid-19 infections. Oklahoma is still among the lowest in fatality rates, at just under 1%. Only Alaska & Utah have lower fatality rates, at about 0.50% each.

On a very cold & icy February day, thousands in the far western edge of the OKC metro braved the elements to vote in a senate primary. The Republican Senate leadership PAC heavily funded Keri Shipley, but the people had other preferences. 
  Jake Merrick scored an overwhelming upset victory with over 58% of the voters choosing his leadership.
  Among the issues in the race, Shipley's support for the Democrat in the recent governor's race seemed to tell the very conservative district that Merrick was the reflection of their values.

  Merrick benefited from a strong ground game and an army of volunteers who were largely activists for many issues related to individual liberties.
  Some dirty tricks also backfired for Shipley. An establishment Republican leader spread rumors of a lengthy court record which was intended to implicate candidate Jake Merrick. But a  thorough research confirmed that an entirely different 'Jake Merrick' owned that dubious journal. 
  Even though there's no clear evidence that Shipley herself spread the rumors, it did potentially damage her campaign's 'integrity factor'.

  Like in the days following Pope Formosus, the radicals of the left are choreographing a mockery of our founding fathers' constitutional process in their rabid denunciations of all that former president Donald Trump has accomplished for the good of the USA.

  This posthumous impeachment of a presidency is not completely unprecedented. Not if you study world history and the Great  Roman Empire. In 896 AD,  when the mingling of religious powers into the crumbling Roman Empire served to further advance the latter's demise.

  Jean Paul Laurens was a very political figure in the Vatican of the 9th century. A predecessor pope had assigned many political duties to him. But Pope Stephen V (his immediate predecessor) was from the aristocratic Hadrean Roman family, & Laurens was their political foe.

The last few weeks have been the darkest for Oklahoma families stricken with covid-19, the virus that came from Wuhan, China. 
 184 Oklahoma deaths to confirmed Covid patients occurred just this week, and it's only Thursday. Last spring it took well over a month for Oklahoma to go from one death to 184.
  This is the time to console and comfort. A time to drop off a warm meal to a bereaved family. 
  This is a time to share family memories and words of tribute. 
  This is a terrible time for grandchildren to say good bye to grandpa or grandma.
  But sometimes it's also an orphaned home, or a widow's loneliness.
  And dare we mention the agony of burying a son or daughter? perhaps in their prime of life?
  Let's make sure we have our neighbor's phone numbers, & give them phone calls if we haven't seen them at the mailbox.
  Let's rise up to the character and legacy of the generations we're having to memorialize this month.
  Spring is coming. Let's get thru this winter of death, together.

  Oklahoma County Assessor, Larry Stein, filed this eyewitness video report from Norman Oklahoma. Larry was on location because of a state conference with other counties' officeholders. On his way to the conference, he went by the local sporting goods 'superstore. 
​ What Larry saw was a developing line what was preparing to wrap around the outside of the building. It's because a fresh shipment of some arms and ammunition is expected to arrive and go to the shelves for immediate purchase.

  Sooner Politics founder & director, David Van Risseghem; declared his candidacy for the #2 slot in the Oklahoma Republican party. During the Monday night webcast of 3D Politics Live, he told fellow panelists that immediately after the previous week's show interview with former Rep. John Bennett, Van Risseghem was asked to "make good" on his pledge to help Bennett in the leadership of the party. Bennett is currently the only announced candidate for Chairman.
 Van Risseghem says he's committed to assisting in the agenda, priorities, and timing of the Sallisaw former lawmaker.
  Van Risseghem was the 2012 state coordinator for the Rick Santorum presidential campaign. He says his skills at team building were proven in that campaign, as the very underfunded Santorum campaign won Oklahoma handily, over Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul. 
  Since then Van Risseghem has focused on building a media outlet for the vast network of conservative citizen journalists and helping them get their work in front of the people of the state.
​ SoonerPolitics will continue under a management company, so that David can focus on the Party process and so the several dozen bloggers and Vloggers can have the best presentation in continuity.

 The dictatorial act of President Joe Biden, to kill the international pipeline known as Keystone XL, has created greater environmental, public safety, & productivity challenges. 
  Biden, & his former boss, Barack Obama; have cozied up to Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway Holdings, the principal owners of America's largest railway, BNSF.
  Train derailments are just one of the environmental dangers. Trian crossings cost American productivity indexes every time the highways and city streets are shut down.  The flow of crude oil to refineries and distributors is cheaper, faster, and safer, when pipelines are efficiently utilized. 
  But the trains which burn diesel fuels are also another hypocrisy of the so called environmental prophets. While pipeline pumps also use fossil fuels, they are only transporting the liquids and gases, not the massive steel tanks, carriages, and train engines.
  Something to think about when your contemporaries tell you that Biden cares about jobs, public safety, and our environment.