Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news items of the day.

EAGER TO CONTINUE THE ANTI-TRUMP attack, the media leaped at the opportunity to criticize his cancelling of one side trip due to weather, and French President Emanuel Macron’s swipe at Trump’s “American first” stance.

President Trump took the high road on Sunday during the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, paying tribute to America’s fallen heroes and the friendship with France that was “sealed in battle.”

Though one might have expected President Trump to respond to Macron’s statement that Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism, he instead exalted the enduring friendship between the two countries.

THE DISRESPECTFUL event staged by CNN’s Jim Acosta during last Thursday’s White House press conference may have gained him the notoriety he sought by challenging President Trump, but most journalists know that they are supposed to report the news and not “be” the news.

DID YOU NOTICE after that altercation, two black reporters, April Ryan and another unidentified reporter attempted to play the race card by adding “white” to the president’s earlier statement of being a nationalist – America first – and not a globalist. The president wasn’t having any part of that question.

MORE ACCESS TO THE PRESIDENT – Clearly, President Trump gives the media more access than any previous president. In addition to frequent official press conferences, he has met one-on-one with a number of the press corps, and regularly spends 30 to 45 minutes answering questions on the White House lawn before taking the helicopter out. Before leaving for Paris Friday, he scolded a female reporter for asking a stupid question and reminded her that she often was guilty of doing so.

FLORIDA EMBARRASSSMENT – As if Democrat incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum weren’t enough of an embarrassment, the incompetence of Broward and Palm Beach County election officials surfaces again.

A Sunshine State poll revealed that 49 percent of Florida voters didn’t know enough about Nelson, their senator for 17 years, to form an opinion of the job he was doing, and were unable to name a single accomplishment. Perhaps you saw the news coverage of Nelson standing roadside with a sign, “I’m Bill Nelson.”

Considering all of the hurricane activity in Florida, not once did Nelson ask President Trump for assistance, while his GOP opponent Rick Scott did so on a regular basis.

“Even the left-leaning Miami New Times has lost patience with their man (Nelson), calling him “the scarecrow-made-from-used-mulch,” wrote Nancy Smith in Sunshine State News.

Then there’s Gillum, a socialist, who as mayor of Tallahassee, has been accused of corruption with an undercover FBI agent revealing that he accepted New York theater tickets from a supplier.

Ben Domenech specifically cited the incompetence of Dr. Brenda Snipes in Broward County in his piece, “Broward County Is An Embarrassment, And Then Potential For A Stolen Florida Election Is Real,” in The Federalist.

Recounts are underway there as I write this.

Meanwhile, counting continues in Arizona as we anticipate the winner who will fill the seat of Sen. Jeff “the” Flake, Republican Martha McSally or Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.

SPEAKING OF AN EMBARRASSMENT- Women who watch “The View” have more reason to be embarrassed by Joy Behar, who falsely claimed that Republicans maintained control – and even gained seats – in the midterms because of gerrymandering. Further evidence of her lack of knowledge of a political system of which she often comments. Gerrymandering only comes into play in House races.

THOSE DEMS WHO LOST were endorsed by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and a host of celebs, including Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, and Taylor Swift, and let’s not forget the lost “investments” by the likes of billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros. Steyer’s funding of “green” propositions failed in several states, including Arizona.

“2018 Proved (Again) That Obama is Electoral Kryptonite in Battleground States,” said Rachel Stoltzfoos in her piece in The Federalist, where she noted that candidates in four of the six battleground states Obama visited lost big races.

WINNER WARREN TERMED BIGGEST LOSER – Although Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren was reelected to her senate seat with 60 percent of the vote, Kimberly Strassel refers to Warren as the biggest loser after the midterms.

Commenting on Warren’s effort to remake Washington in her progressive image, Strassel writes about her failure to seed her handpicked liberal proteges. She campaigned for Richard Cordray, who lost his bid for governor in Ohio, and Katie Porter, who ran for a House seat in California. She had a shadow war room, and built ties to some 150 campaigns while directing millions of fundraising dollars to select candidates.

She was also a major loser in her home state of Massachusetts, where voters shot down a ballot initiative she endorsed 70 to 20 percent. Her choice for governor lost to Republican Charlie Baker by 34 points, garnering more votes than Warren did in her race.

AFTER WHITE WOMEN voted 59 percent for Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, the Women’s March came unglued. Liz wrote @lizlamorte: “White women helped elect Trump, and now helped elected Ted Cruz. Extremely disappointing, but not surprising.”

Ann Marie Hoff, wrote @Annimallover: “Why did 59% of WHITE WOMEN vote for Ted Cruz? Women HAVE TO VOTE their interests, not follow their husband’s!

Zerlina Maxwell, writing @ZerlinaMaxwell asks “what’s wrong with Black Men? 16 percent voted for Ted Cruz.

INCIDENTALLY, 34 percent of Latino women and four percent of black women voted for Cruz.

LAUGH-OF-THE-DAY – California Democrat Rep. Eric “The Mannequin” Swalwell is considering a run for the presidency in 2020. He campaigned for fellow Dems in Iowa, his 13^th visit to the Hawkeye State. Earlier he hosted a “Countdown to Victory Dinner” in New Hampshire, where “people were extremely impressed by him,” according to Alex Griswold of the Washington Free Beacon.

ACTIVIST JUDGE STOPS KEYSTONE – Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Brian Morris is the latest example of why the Trump administration is busily filling judgeships with individuals who won’t legislate from the bench.

Morris blocked construction of the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline by citing his personal belief that the government’s analysis didn’t fully study the cumulative effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of current oil prices on the pipeline’s viability or include updated modeling of potential spills.

The 1,184-mile pipeline, that would transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude a day from Alberta, Canada and Montana to facilities in Nebraska, has been studied over a 10-year period. Transporting oil via pipeline has long been acknowledged to be safer than movement by rail or truck tankers.

REMEMBER THOSE CLIMATE CHANGE SCARES over the effect on corn crops? While the past 70 years have been good for corn production in the midwestern states, with yields increasing fivefold since the 1940s, researchers have decided to look at the effect of changes in climate and local temperature.

They found that a prolonged growing season due to increased temperatures, combined with the natural cooling effects of large fields of plants, have made a major contribution to improved corn production in the United States.

Early planting means the corn has more time to mature before the end of the growing season. More surprising was the trend that has benefited corn yields.

“Whereas the vast majority of temperatures have warmed over the last century,” writes Anthony Watts, of Watts Up With That?, “the hottest days during the Midwestern growing season have actually cooled.”