SoonerPolitics.org

Live Watch Party Coverage Around the State

6/30/2020

Sooner Politics Election Center was live, 8:30pm, on election night, providing poll results, trends, impact, and analysis of the future for Oklahoma.

SP founder, David Van Risseghem was joined by 3D Politics host, Tom McCay, & Kevin Batts of Red River TV; for all the election results.
We had the latest from the State Election board web servers, ad hoc correspondents from all over the state's watch parties and campaign headquarters.
We captured the thrill of political victory, and the grueling pain of electoral defeat.
We assessed the mandates claimed by the balloting breakdowns, and disputed claims.

What will healthcare look like with SQ802's demise?
Who will be in the 58th Oklahoma legislature?
Did Oklahomans reject county office holders?
Will New School Board Members finally reform our failing public schools?

Listen to the podcast, here.

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Two Tulsa Cops Shot Over A Car Tax Dispute With Driver

6/29/2020

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Today, two Tulsa cops are clinging to life for attempting to collect vehicle taxes for the state. What used to be a citation offense, was changed by the legislature, to a vehicle impoundment and potential forfeiture. The registration tax is often over $1000.
100 years ago, our Oklahoma constitution and statutes prohibited courts & cops from taking a worker's tools or his horse as punishment for an offense. Today, our marble chambers of lawmaking, have an insatiable lust for asset forfeiture without due process.
We now raise the stakes for our cops by making them bring economic ruin to a family because we sometimes can't pay the vehicle tax quickly, which the legislature actually doubled just 2 years ago. None of these actions justify a brutal shooting of two cops. I simply wish to inform the lawmakers...
It this the kind of outcome you envisioned when you decided to 'get tough' on collecting taxes with the impoundment of property? The cops were doing the bidding of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the state legislature. I pray they survive, and I pray our lawmakers reconsider their 'get tough & get physical' approach to tax collections.

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O'Donnell Leads All House Lawmakers In 2020 Freedom Index

6/28/2020

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Rep. Terry O'Donnell

The 2020 House Freedom Index is now published, to compare the lawmakers' commitment to restoring and protecting individual liberties in their powers to create and rescind laws.
This year a member of the House leadership team Terry O'Donnell of the Tulsa metro delegation, led all scores with a +85, on a spectrum of 100 to +100.
A person scoring a zero on this index is deemed to vote against freedom in half the scored floor votes. A score of +50 on this index is equivalent to a +75 on many other indices that do not issue negative index scores.
Once again, two House freshmen tied in the 2nd spot; along with Rep. Kevin West of the OKC metro delegation. The freshmen were rural lawmakers from eastern Oklahoma, David Hardin, and David Smith.
Former Democrat, Johnny Tadlock was one of four Republicans tied for the 4th spot, along with Jim Olsen, Sean Roberts, & Judd Strom. Olsen & Strom are in their first 2-year term. Tadlock completed his 3rd term, Roberts finished his 5th term.

Unlike last year's inaugural index, the two major parties are not as clearly separated. Democrat Merleyn Bell scored 0, but that still put her as high or higher than 26 Republicans. Dell Kerbs was the lowest scoring Republican with a -40, which is worse that the worst Democrat in the 2019 index. Last year's average score was +28.8, but this year's score is a pathetic +6.8, which isn't small govt. creed.

Kevin West

David Hardin

David Smith

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Tulsa Mayor Mulling Mandatory Mask Edict, Despite No recent Deaths

6/27/2020

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Of all the reported 384 deaths of Covid-19, in Oklahoma; just 49 have been in the past 4 weeks. We are 2 1/2 months past our peak death rates from mid April (the month when 200 Oklahomans died).
The recent spike in positive tests correlate with;

massive increases in testing the general public, even though they present no illness symptoms;
the massive youth protests of a few weeks ago.

But Tulsa County's controversial, and increasingly political county Health dept director, Bruce Dart; is signaling to Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum that he may very soon ask to mandate the wearing of face masks. Dart indicated to a Tulsa radio station of Friday that his entire top leadership is in favor of the draconian mandate.
Bynum had said that if the health dept recommends it, the edict of the mayor will be forthcoming.
And all previous mask edicts have never had exemptions for those fully recovered from Covid-19 and aflush with antibodies to inoculate them.

Oklahoma Death Toll Ceased For 10 days

Despite no deaths in the entire state for the past 10 days, the narrative of more govt controls is being echoed from one leftist media outlet to another, in a reverberating chamber of fear.

Does this death chart look like it's a building problem?

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NY Governor's Fascism Killed More New Yorkers Than Al Qaeda

6/27/2020

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Govt regulation can kill more than no regulation at all.

There were 3,298 confirmed NY nursing home deaths from the coronavirus & another 2,646 deaths presumed to have been caused by COVID-19, for a total of 5,944, according to the official figures., as of Sunday, May 31st.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has faced widespread criticism for his handling of nursing homes amid the coronavirus crisis, including a controversial, March 25 directive from the state Department of Health that mandated they accept patients discharged from hospitals with the infection.
Cuomo — who reversed the order a month later, has tried to pin the blame for the initial decision on guidance from President Trump’s administration.
As an economic model, fascism is often misidentified and demagogued. When a govt's lust for more control is launched into an agenda for execution, they have two versions of tyranny to choose from. Corporate giants spend billions to encourage fascism because it allows them to remain wealthy and even build on that wealth by using govt regulations to kill off smaller & more efficient business competition.

A reporter asked Gov. Cuomo; "Who can be held responsible for the mass deaths caused by sending the deadly virus into nearly every NY nursing home?" "No one", was Cuomo's reply.

Is Medicaid really fascism? Yes! Did it lead to thousands of NY nursing home deaths? Yes!

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Oklahoma Divorce Rate Continues To Drop

6/25/2020

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Oklahoma has long had the dubious distinction of one of the nation's highest divorce rates. But it's been getting lower in the past 30 years. Now, it's about half of what it was in 1990, when 8 of every 1000 Oklahomans were granted a divorce that year. About 3.8 of every 1000 residents were granted a divorce in 2018
But the Oklahoma Marriage rate has also dropped. It's down about 20% from where it was in 1990.
The Oklahoma Dept. of Health is investing agency resources to keep tabs on our marriage relationships. Perhaps that's mission creep, but we'll avoid that rabbit trail for now.

What we will do is compare which counties have the highest & lowest divorce rates.
Surprisingly, the two big metro areas are neither the best nor worst. Tulsa is 26th lowest with a 3.5 rate; & Oklahoma County was 3.7 rate.

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Medical Marijuana Upheld By Oklahoma Supreme Court

6/24/2020

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Paul Tay Amazed Top Legal Minds With his jail cell challenge to the high court.

The leading industry attorney for Oklahoma's farmers & shops providing medical cannabis, Ron Durbin; went public last night with the breaking new of a 5-3 Oklahoma Supreme Court decision on a challenge to the SQ807 proposal to fully end the prohibition on cannabis possession and casual consumption.
The incredible and somewhat implausible scenario came when a jailed Tulsa political figure wrote a petition to the court using pencil and note paper. Paul Tay was denied access to the jail library during the challenge 'window' of 10 days after SQ808 was filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State.
None the less, Tay made what durbin called a very coherent and compelling argument that the federal supremacy clause ought to force the disqualification of the ballot proposal even before the signature-gathering is allowed to proceed.
While Durbin detailed his respect for Tay's legal prowess, Durbin was very concerned that the Tay rationale would extend, if it prevailed; to further strike down the entire medical application of marijuana(cannabis).
The high court decision, and the various opinions, are published here.
Tay did set a precedent for a pauper's claim and waiver of filing fee. Additionally, Tay's case also established a possible waiver of filing in legal format, due to his incarceration limits.

The Court's published decision..

2020 OK 57, 118582 Decided 06/23/2020¶0
This is an original proceeding to determine the legal sufficiency of State Question No. 807, Initiative Petition No. 423. The petition seeks to create a new article to the Oklahoma Constitution, Article 31, for the purpose of legalizing, regulating, and taxing the use of marijuana by Oklahoma adults.
Petitioner Paul Tay filed this protest alleging the petition is unconstitutional because it violates the federal supremacy provisions of Article VI, clause 2 of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 1 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Petitioner alleges the proposed measure is preempted by existing federal statutes including the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801-904, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968, and Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 280E.
Because the United States Supreme Court has not addressed this question, the Supremacy Clause permits us to perform our own analysis of federal law. Upon our review, we hold Petitioner has not met his burden to show clear or manifest facial constitutional infirmities because he has not shown State Question No. 807 is preempted by federal law. On the grounds alleged, the petition is legally sufficient for submission to the people of Oklahoma.

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BLM's Epic Fail, Caught On Camera, Live!

6/22/2020

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Breitbart News sent a team to interview overnight campers in line for the Tulsa Trump Rally.
BLM terrorized the group by repeatedly acting like they were going to jump the curb on ATVs & mow down the campers in their shelters. And then they BLM trainees got their turn.
Breitbart caught the wheelie which wasn't scripted, and the wipeout which probably caused an asphalt burn on a 'tough guy's' rear end.

While the Trump supporters expressed genuine concern for possible injuries, they were obviously pleased that a divine justice intervened.
After the incident, no further ATV excursions were seen in Trumpville, that night.

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Trump's Top Speech Moments From Tulsa

6/21/2020

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Real reporting is not always an easy job. Some of my friends took incoming fire, last night, just to give their fellow citizens a trusted and detailed understanding of what happened & in which order it happened.

I'll admit that I called it a night before the 2nd round of protests got energized. I'll even admit that my body was so screaming with pain from sunburn and swollen feet that it was hard to take good notes of the speech Trump gave.

This speech was really important because it reflects his reworked campaign narrative in the light of 3 bizarre months of a global health emergency, followed by the worst rioting in at least 50 years.

But I did do some live note taking on some of Trump's one-liners. Tonight I'm going to publish them in this digest.

Donald Trump was having as much fun as his rally supporters. His events evoke memories of the old Rush To Excellence Tour Stops.

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The Real Reasons For Lowered Attendance At Trump's Tulsa Rally

6/21/2020

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The only narrative I give credibility to is that the hype made folks say..
"I'm Not going to camp out overnight to get to wait the whole next day, to get in the big arena."

Folks just didn't even come downtown in numbers exceeding 20K.
Yes, people griped about standing at checkpoints, or standing hours outside the arena, but folks didn't go home because of those reasons. There just were not 20k attenders going downtown in the first place.
The huge news is the webcast numbers broke all records for Trump. Folks stayed home but watched in massive numbers, and that's BESIDES the network coverage.

Reasons.. & Real Reasons

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Owen Shroyer Denounces 'Pussy Gundy'

6/21/2020

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In the heat of Saturday's show of force by Tulsa police, We caught up with Owen Shroyer of the infamous InfoWars media Network. We were talking about what was happening just a few feet away from us.
A group of media reporters were confined behind a riot response squad of combined Tulsa Metro police department personnel. He was packing up his booth which had been overrun by the mob just minutes earlier. His security team had protected their booth, but he saw the reasons to remain were becoming moot.
I had earlier asked his folks to keep an eye on a case of tee shirts which the OAN network had abandoned. He just needed to know what I wanted to do with the last box in his booth area.
That led to a discussion of what the tee-shirts have come to represent, and Shroyer discussed his long-standing admiration for OSU Head football coach, Mike Gundy, which had vanished in the previous few days.

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Tulsa Peace Officers Restore East Gate To Trump Rally

6/21/2020

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Late Saturday afternoon, a large group of loud protesters temporarily blocked off the main entrance to the Trump Rally. A rapid deployment force of the Metro police depts swiftly and peaceably restored order on the streets. We arrived just as a police tape had been tied into place.
Initially I was ordered back, but when I raised my left hand to show my Trump rally wrist band, the officer asked if I was seeking to get back in. I aid I prefer to provide press coverage from a safe distance. He pointed to a spot and I joined a small group of local & national media.

That's when I rolled the raw video you see posted, here.

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'Trumpville' Crowds Swell As Curfew Gets Cancelled

6/19/2020

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The festival continues at 4th & Boulder, in downtown Tulsa, on Friday afternoon. 

The tents and canopies were stretched for blocks and venders lined the curbs as people arrived to get a coveted seat at the big arena.
Word hit the crowds that Mayor Bynum has fully lifted the curfew language, now that the Secret Service is confident of the situation on the ground.
The iron wall of 9ft fencing is still not completely installed, and foot traffic is allowed unchecked, in the 'green zone', today.
We went downtown to observe the vehicle perimeter. It appears that the only entrances into the green zone will be at 4th & Boulder, and near 7th & Houston.
Then a 2nd perimeter will block all access to the arena complex. That inner perimeter seems to have access checkpoints at 3rd & Houston, and 4th & Frisco. We could be slightly off on the exact inner gate locations.

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Trump Tulsa Rally Zone Fenced In - Curfew In Effect

6/19/2020

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Just hours after SoonerPolitics broke the story of a violent beating of a Trump supporter from Florida, the city has fenced in the Arena section of the Tulsa downtown district.

A curfew is now in effect for the "green zone" and a thorough sweep is underway from the Secret Service.It's not known when the general public will be allowed inside the green zone, but we expect that the 6am Friday morning rush of business workers will have to face metal detectors, physical searches, and temperature checks, in order to get in at any of the 3 entrances.
We suspect there will be entrances at the north, east, and south sides of the fenceline.
The fences are formidable, at 9 feet high and made of iron. We're told by those in today's line, that there will be a 2nd inner fence around the 3 venues. That's where people will have to part with many items such as bottled liquids and umbrellas.

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Violent Attack On Tulsa Rally Visitor Caught On Tape - UPDATED

6/18/2020

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Local TV Stations Refuse To Cover The Attack

On Thursday afternoon, in Tulsa; several dozens of Trump supporters had already begun an early festival kickoff and canopy caravan on the front entrance to the BOK Arena. We rolled the video camera while greeting several of them to the city. While We were speaking to a group on midwesterners, a black young man is seen in the background sneaking up on a Floridian of Cuban descent.
The young black man (in an orange shirt) began punching the Cuban whose head was down. The bloody assault to his face was not responded to with return blows or use of weapons.

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Sooner Politics
Editorial

David Van Risseghem reports the events and adds some perspective.

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David Van Risseghem is the Publisher of SoonerPolitics.org. The resource is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform. This endeavor seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement...

"No politician 'checks off every box" in your list of issues. You have to prioritize and use personal discretion regarding every current and future issue that you can imagine. Then you have to also judge integrity & consistency. A candidate's openness to study the issues & courage to think for themselves. Then you need to review their honesty & work ethic. I respect any voter's decision, when they've informed themselves and took voting seriously." - David Van Risseghem

Live Watch Party Coverage Around the State

Listen to the podcast, here.

Two Tulsa Cops Shot Over A Car Tax Dispute With Driver

O'Donnell Leads All House Lawmakers In 2020 Freedom Index

Tulsa Mayor Mulling Mandatory Mask Edict, Despite No recent Deaths

Oklahoma Death Toll Ceased For 10 days

NY Governor's Fascism Killed More New Yorkers Than Al Qaeda

Govt regulation can kill more than no regulation at all.

Is Medicaid really fascism? Yes! Did it lead to thousands of NY nursing home deaths? Yes!

Oklahoma Divorce Rate Continues To Drop

Medical Marijuana Upheld By Oklahoma Supreme Court

Paul Tay Amazed Top Legal Minds With his jail cell challenge to the high court.

The Court's published decision..

BLM's Epic Fail, Caught On Camera, Live!

Trump's Top Speech Moments From Tulsa

The Real Reasons For Lowered Attendance At Trump's Tulsa Rally

Reasons.. & Real Reasons

Owen Shroyer Denounces 'Pussy Gundy'

Tulsa Peace Officers Restore East Gate To Trump Rally

'Trumpville' Crowds Swell As Curfew Gets Cancelled

Trump Tulsa Rally Zone Fenced In - Curfew In Effect

Violent Attack On Tulsa Rally Visitor Caught On Tape - UPDATED

Local TV Stations Refuse To Cover The Attack

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Oklahoma Death Toll Ceased For 10 days

Govt regulation can kill more than no regulation at all.

Is Medicaid really fascism? Yes! Did it lead to thousands of NY nursing home deaths? Yes!

Paul Tay Amazed Top Legal Minds With his jail cell challenge to the high court.

The Court's published decision..

Reasons.. & Real Reasons

Local TV Stations Refuse To Cover The Attack

Sooner Politics Editorial

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918 . 928 . 7776

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