Here are my observations and opinions on selected news of the day.
NO SURPRISE – The left-leaning Arizona Republic’s editorial board states, “Easy decision: Reject Judge Kavanaugh,” claiming “Senate shouldn’t OK anyone who would abet Trump.” How ludicrous.
KATIE PAVLICH, writing in The Hill, noted that “The Democrats demanding more of Kavanaugh’s records in front of the cameras are the same who claimed on the day he was nominated that they’d already seen enough and made up their minds.”
I FOUND IT INTERESTING that George Papadopoulos, who was being investigated by the Mueller team to draw him into the Russian collusion charges aimed to President Trump, has been sentenced to just 14 days in jail for lying to the FBI. Special Counsel Mueller argued for a sentence up to six months.
I once referred to Papadopoulos as a non-player, a Trump “wannabe.” Now I learn that his attorneys sought to portray him as someone “out of his depth.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, in Friday’s August jobs report, a 2.9 percent increase in wages over the last 12 months was touted as the healthiest raise in some time, “more evidence that faster growth is flowing to workers,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
WERE YOU AWARE that 120 utilities across the country are lowering rates for customers, according to the Americans for Tax Reform. That means lower electric, gas and water bills. A complete list of actions by these utilities can be found at the organization’s website.
A REMINDER – Democrats have made it known that if they regain control in Washington by winning in the midterms, they intend to repeal the tax cut, which means that utility rate will rise again.
OUTRAGEOUS – Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she immediately thought of Vice President Pence when the guessing began on who wrote the anonymous op-ed for the New York Times. Leave it to looney Nancy.
WHAT IS HE THINKING? I’m referring to Tucker Carlson of Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight show, claiming to be “the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and group-think.”
As a regular viewer, I was astonished with his Friday attack on billionaire Jeff Bezos, who became the world’s richest person as the CEO of Amazon. He purchased The Washington Post last year for $250 million.
Carlson, who I assume is a believer in free enterprise, castigated Bezos, with his billions, for his record of paying his Amazon employees poorly, so poorly that they have to apply for food stamps.
Carlson’s rant against Bezos sounded like the far-left socialist demands of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.
Surely, Bezos knows what his jobs are worth in wages and has sufficient manpower to keep Amazon humming.
Obviously, Carlson was referring to the pickers and packers who average $15 an hour, because my research indicates that the company’s salaries for technical software and other administrative positions are comparable to most firms.
ELVIA DIAZ STEPS IN IT AGAIN – You may recall from my last post that it was Diaz who foolishly predicted that “Kyl may bolt after the Supreme Court vote,” within the Arizona Republic’s editorial board’s pathetic opinion page review of Jon Kyl’s selection by the governor to fill the Senate vacancy left by the late John McCain.
In the Republic’s Saturday edition, a half-page was devoted to a column by Diaz in which she opined that she would “often fantasize that Arizona is the utopia where people are bonded by shared values and goals, where we’re equal regardless of birthplace or the color of our skin,” before admitting, “it’s a fantasy all right.”
I have never referred to Diaz’s ethnicity in my criticism of her columns. Simply, she is lightweight with no depth. The editorial board of a daily newspaper is no place to fantasize.
REGULAR READERS will recall that I published my own farewell to John McCain here and devoted space in subsequent posts to pass along post-memorial reflections on the senator. While they continue to surface, I choose to no longer elaborate on them.
May God bless the United States of America.
