Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news of the day.
WASTING NO TIME – Newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr, who I predict will be the savior of the Department of Justice, and possibly the Trump presidency, has selected Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as his deputy.
NO SURPRISE – All of the 16 states indicating they will sue to halt President Trump’s Southern border emergency declaration are Democrat-controlled.
IT BEGAN WITH DEMOCRATS in the U.S. House, who were more than willing to obstruct the president, for whom they have such disdain. “The Democrats think that they know so much more and are better informed than those who are actually on the ground every day at the Southern border,” writes Alicia Luke and Jeff Dunetz at The Lid.
The pair reported on the appearance of Mark Morgan, Obama’s Border Patrol Chief, on Fox, who confirmed that the president didn’t manufacture the emergency with a firm, “absolutely not.”
“This is part of the frustration for those of us from a law enforcement, border security perspective,” remarked Morgan. “How many more statistics do we have to provide? How many more factually based examples do we have to provide? How many more angel families have to stand in front of some of these individuals before they finally say, ‘yeah, okay, this is real.’ It’s just ludicrous.”
Morgan recalled his days with the FBI when he supervised an MS-13 gang force in Southern California, relating how they would laugh about the ease of going back and forth across the border.
“It’s about stupid, stubborn, defiant Democrats, who have chosen to disregard their duty to represent the people in favor of petty party politics,” Luke and Dunetz believe.
IT’S TIME FOR THE GOP SENATE to stand strong behind the president’s declaration of emergency on the border. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the protector of all that’s important to the culture of the Senate, reluctantly supported the emergency. Surely, he was looking ahead to 2020.
That was key, because former Speaker Paul Ryan let us down, choosing to ignore the fact that border security was high on the president’s agenda. It didn’t have to get to this point.
Some Republicans, tired of winning, continue to waver on the need for barrier protection. It appears, however, that there are enough Republicans in the House and Senate to sustain a veto if Congress indeed does seek to override the president on the emergency declaration. They better, because the base continues to support the president.
DEMOCRATS TURNING ON MUELLER? – As I mentioned earlier, it appears that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will end without finding any collusion between the president and Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. The rumor isn’t sitting well with those Democrats who have been ardent admirers of Mueller.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is upset that Mueller hadn’t investigated Trump’s 1990s dealings with Deutsche Bank well enough. How does he know? “Trump’s business dealings in the distant past seem a bit far afield. Irrelevant in fact,” notes Investor’s Business Daily.
“Six months ago, the Democrats were lining up to protect Mueller from being fired by Trump,” states IBD. “And just two months ago … incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced a bill designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by Trump.”
“Now, unsure that Mueller will provide the outcome they’re looking for, Democrat are more willing to pre-emptively discount the Special Counsel’s report,” says the Daily Wire.
Regretfully, nearly years remain in Trump’s term for Democrats to continue their shameful partisan attack.
DON’T GET EXCITED, but another well-known journalist is speaking out about the death of true journalism. Lara Logan, who has been a featured reporter on CBS’s 60 Minutes until recently, has denounced the liberal leak culture that dominates the likes of the New York Times and Washington Post.
She trashed news reports based on single, anonymous government sources, calling it an abandonment of journalistic standards, according to John Hinderaker in Power Line.
“That’s not journalism, that’s horseshit,” Logan said. “Responsibility for fake news begins with us.”
Logan joins former ABC reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who has written extensively on the failure of the profession to uphold its standards. I have frequently quoted Attkisson in this blog.
You may recall my December 27, 2018 piece, “Could It Be True,” in which I wrote of columnist Jon Gabriel’s commentary, “Crisis-driven media is losing fight.” In it he referenced NBC’s Chuck Todd, who wondered “if Americans are even listening anymore.”
I repeat, don’t get excited. As long as the Times and Post continue to publish articles with unattributed sources and CNN and MSNBC’s faux reporters spew their hate of the Trump presidency, many Americans will receive “horseshit” reporting, to quote Logan.
WONDER HOW THEY THINK? You are aware, of course, that the media not only has a political bias, but a discernable hatred of President Trump, but they don’t openly reveal their wishful thoughts as did Jeff Greenfield recently.
Greenfield has been a political analyst and commentator on CBS, ABC and PBS over four decades, primarily on television. I recall his initial appearances on CBS when he was in his twenties.
Here’s an excerpt from a piece by Greenfield in which he made it quite clear what he was thinking:
“Those of us – the majority of Americans – who are outside of this circle (the president’s base) have watched these past few years with a mix of incredulity and anticipation. Any moment now, the CNN megapanels hint every day, Robert Mueller or federal prosecutors in Manhattan will be issuing indictments or a devastating report that will drive the president from office.
“Soon, a credible Republican – John Kasich? Bill Weld? Larry Hogan? Charlie Baker? Nikki Haley? – will emerge to challenge Trump in the 2020 Republican primaries.
“Any moment now, Trump himself, driven into panic and despair by a rising tide of condemnation, will resign from office.”
Dream on, Jeff.
Understand that the media are complicit with Democrats in building that condemnation among gullible Americans, but resignation is but a dream.
THE NAME GEORGE MENDOSA may not mean anything to you, but he was the sailor in the famous photo taken on VJ Day in Times Square of him spontaneously kissing Greta Zimmer Freidman, a nurse in uniform, in celebration.
George passed away at age 95. Friedman died in 2016 at age 92.
Can you believe there was a woman interviewed by Martha MacCullum on Fox Tuesday, a gender violence expert, who saw it as a non-consensual assault. What is the world coming to?
INTERESTING – Rachel Cross points out @RacelCrossUTK: “The U.S. is on track to deliver another record-smashing year of oil production, which will probably make the country the largest crude producer in the world, since both Russia and Saudi Arabia are reducing output this year in an effort to boost prices.”
HERE’S ANOTHER GLORIOUS INSULT from the past:
“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” – Oscar Wilde
May God bless the United States of America.