#2. I Was Most Persuaded By People Only Slightly Less "Backwards" Than Me

I still remember the time I heard a very respected church couple say, "You can be a good Christian and vote Democrat." I think I had to sit down. My head was spinning. Up was down. Down was up.

I knew this couple was "good" on every part of the Good Christian checklist -- they would have been anti-gay-marriage at the time, among other things. And for me (remember, up was down), this meant they were cool on every point except the crazy thing they just said about DEMONcrats (or DemoRATS).

It turns out that I, and most people, are more likely to take seriously "otherwise good people" with "one crazy idea" than someone who is different from me in every way and wants me to change everything.

(snip)

Non- or less-religious people may say, "But I use Bible quotes all the time to tell religious people they are wrong and it doesn't work." Of course it doesn't. I never listened to that kind of argument from someone who didn't actually believe in the Bible, because what is this, some kind of game to you? You think you found some loophole in my Dungeons And Dragons rule book? You don't believe the quote you are throwing at me, but you think I am dumb enough to fall for it because I am dumb enough to do whatever my magic book says. This is not a good setup for a cooperative response.

First, we have no idea if any of these allegations are true. Yes, they are explosive; they are also entirely unsubstantiated, at least to our knowledge, at this stage. For this reason, even now, we are not going to discuss the specific allegations within the document.

Second, while unproven, the allegations are being taken quite seriously. The President and President-elect do not get briefed on material that the intelligence community does not believe to be at least of some credibility. The individual who generated them is apparently a person whose work intelligence professionals take seriously. And at a personal level, we can attest that we have had a lot of conversations with a lot of different people about the material in this document. While nobody has confirmed any of the allegations, both inside government and in the press, it is clear to us that they are the subject of serious attention.

Third, precisely because it is being taken seriously, it is—despite being unproven and, in public anyway, undiscussed—pervasively affecting the broader discussion of Russian hacking of the election. CNN reported that Senator John McCain personally delivered a copy of the document to FBI Director James Comey on December 9th. Consider McCain’s comments about the gravity of the Russian hacking episode at last week’s Armed Services Committee hearing in light of that fact. Likewise, consider Senator Ron Wyden’s questioning of Comey at today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, in which Wyden pushed the FBI Director to release a declassified assessment before January 20th regarding contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (Comey refused to comment on an ongoing investigation.) So while people are being delicate about discussing wholly unproven allegations, the document is at the front of everyone’s minds as they ponder the question: Why is Trump so insistent about vindicating Russia from the hacking charges that everyone else seems to accept?

Fourth, it is significant that the document contains highly specific allegations, many of which are the kind of facts it should be possible to prove or disprove. This is a document about meetings that either took place or did not take place, stays in hotels that either happened or didn’t, travel that either happened or did not happen. It should be possible to know whether at least some of these allegations are true or false.

Paul Gazelka fused faith and career as he applied Christian principles to building an insurance business in the Brainerd area. Now the man who wrote a memoir about it titled, “Marketplace Ministers,” is set to become one of state government’s most powerful politicians, the most socially conservative person in modern times to serve as Minnesota Senate majority leader.

“I had met the qualifications of high performance, but would I be able to relate to agents who didn’t share the same spiritual ideas that were important to me?” Gazelka wrote of becoming a manager with his company, in the book released in 2003 by a Christian publishing company. “How would I relate to someone who consumed large amounts of alcohol or who had been married multiple times?”

Gazelka, of Nisswa, takes over as Senate majority leader when the new Legislature convenes on Jan. 3. With Republicans now in charge of the House and Senate, Gazelka and House Speaker Kurt Daudt will collaborate on a GOP vision for state government as Minnesota grapples with skyrocketing health care costs, deteriorating roads and bridges and a deepening urban-rural divide.

“Not having to be looking at the whole state (before), it wasn’t my first priority,” Gazelka told the Star Tribune. “My first priority was my district. So now I know I have to think broader, I want to think broader.”

The University of Minnesota authored an 80-page report after conducting an investigation into 12 Gophers football players.

University officials have said they cannot comment on their rationale for the discipline 10 players received due to privacy restrictions. However, the basis for their decision is laid out in a confidential EOAA report obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

The Minneapolis Police Department conducted its own investigation into accusations involving football players at an apartment in Dinkytown on Sept. 2.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is releasing both documents because we believe it is important for community members to be able to read and evaluate for themselves what Minneapolis police found in their investigation of the incident and what the University of Minnesota’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action investigation concluded.

Both documents are graphic in nature.

Miles W. Lord, a former federal judge whose withering criticism of corporate abuses and forceful rulings in favor of women, minorities, workers, consumers, antiwar protesters and the environment broadened his reputation well beyond Minnesota, died Saturday.

Lord, 97, died in Eden Prairie, said family members who were with him. He had been in declining health for some time.

Lord served as Minnesota’s attorney general and U.S. Attorney from Minnesota before being nominated as a federal judge by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.

He presided over a series of landmark federal cases, including the Reserve Mining pollution case in the early to mid-1970s and a consumer lawsuit against A.H. Robins, maker of the Dalkon Shield IUD.

Stewart Mills says he has decided not to ask for a recount in northeastern Minnesota's 8th Congressional District.
"After much consideration, thought, and prayer along with consulting with my family and supporters I’ve decided not to ask for a recount. I would like to commend the County Clerks and Secretary of State for an exemplary job in conducting an election that in the end came down to 0.56 percent," Mills said in an email on Friday.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's office had estimated the cost of the recount at $102,000. The cost would have had to be covered by Mills, a Republican, since the vote margin between him and Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Crosby) was too large to require a state-funded recount.

Mills called the cost "excessive" and said instead of paying the recount, he would donate some of his cash on hand to the Salvation Army. Donations made to the Mills campaign to fund a recount will be returned.

"I send my congratulations to Congressman Nolan. We did not always agree on everything, but I respect the Congressman, and wish him the best as he moves forward representing the 8th Congressional District," Mills said.