Here are my observations on the news of the day.
MORE SIGNS OF JOURNALISM DYING – “Is it worth it to tune in tonight?” read a four-column banner headline across the top of the Arizona Republic Opinions page today. Digital editor Joanna Allhands and columnist Linda Valdez “walk us through whether the president’s speech is worth your time,” the paper states.
Allhands began with, “Ugh. Don’t bother watching,” and followed with “the full speech will be somewhere online and there will be no shortage of commentary from both sides about what was said (or not).”
I’ve always believed that a journalist should have an unbridled curiosity and a strong interest in current events and the facts surrounding them. I don’t read that into Allhands’ comment.
There’s some hope for Valdez, who responded to Allhands’ “ugh” with two words: “Informed electorate. It’s our job as a free people to pay attention … the people should use every opportunity to see for themselves who is telling the truth. The State of the Union is a rare opportunity to listen to his words in a formal setting and compare them to his subsequent tweets for consistency or spin.”
“I don’t need the drama while I’m trying to relax for the evening,” concluded Allhands, who really needs to find work in another career, while Valdez admitted she would be “holding my nose. But I’ll still be watching.
I will be watching, and I will be researching other media to check their reactions to the same words I heard.
THAT HILLARY ‘SURE’ VICTORY – “If we’d seen a Hillary Clinton victory in November 2016, which was supposed to be a sure thing, there would be no scandals at all,” writes Victor Davis Hanson in National Review.
Victor Davis Hanson (likesuccess.com)_
“That is, the current players (in the FBI and DOJ) probably broke laws and committed ethical violations not just because they were assured there would be no consequences, but also because they thought they’d be rewarded for their laxity,” Hanson believes.
He reminds his readers that Hillary never seemed worried about even the appearance of scandal. “Evidently, she instead reasoned that she was within months of becoming President Hillary Clinton and therefore, in her Clintonesque view of the presidency, exempt from all further criminal exposure.”
Thank goodness Donald Trump was elected and we are now discovering what her supporters were doing undercover, to do in the Trump candidacy and eventually the presidency.
The departure of deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe is but the first of the Obama-Comey deep state to get the axe. Agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page believed they could safely and candidly express their contempt for Trump. After all the investigation was under a secret FBI investigation. And who will know that Hillary’s exoneration was written before she was interviewed?
“A final paradox: Why did so many federal officials and officeholders act so unethically and likely illegally when they were convinced of a Clinton landslide?.” Hanson asks.
You can read Hanson’s entire piece by clicking here.
MORE DEMOCRAT RESISTENCE – Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are being urged by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to use a “reveal and shame” tactic during hearings of judicial nominees, since they do not have the power to filibuster them, according to Nicholas Ballasy, writing in PJ Media.
While the committee recently approved 17 more Trump judicial nominees, and a list of 12 new nominees have been released, Democrats have been pulling out all stops to delay confirmations.
Blumenthal argues that the Trump administration is “seeking to radically reshape our judiciary,” posing a threat to those bleeding-heart liberal issues (my words).
He reminds his colleagues that the appointments are lifetime in tenure, and with the nominees being young, they could be there for 30 to 40 years. Boo Hoo, Senator. As President Obama would have told us … the election is over and we won.
SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-OH) is another Democrat, who just can’t cope with the fact that Hillary Clinton lost in November 2016. Logan Dobson, who tweets @LoganDobson, opines “Imagine being a senator and still not knowing the point of the Senate. He attached an @SenWhitehouse tweet: “Popular vote went to Hillary, and Democratic Senators represent 450 million more Americans than Republican Senators do. Give democracy a chance rather than ignoring the popular majority.” Would somebody buy the senator a Scotch with a bit of advice to deal with it.
DON’T GET EXCITED YET over the tales being circulated about the president’s plans to overhaul the nation’s broken immigration system, including a path to citizenship for DACA individuals, $25 billion for border security, ending the visa lottery and chain migration.
As I cautioned you when tax reform was being discussed, the details have yet to be made known and negotiations haven’t been scheduled. It will be interesting to see if the Dems really want to fix the system they repeatedly say is broken.
EXXON MOBIL Chairman and CEO Darren Woods announced plans to invest an additional $35 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, indicating the decision was at least partly due to the recently passed tax legislation.
