Here are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.
DAMN THE ACQUITAL, it’s full speed ahead as the media attack on the Trump administration continues.
At Bloomberg News: I’m sure you will recall the instructions Michael Bloomberg issued to his news staff that there will be no background or investigative reporting on “the boss,” who was entering the Democrat presidential race. That didn’t stop Bloomberg’s Chris Strohm from taking an overly zealous bias poke at the president in his latest piece referencing his tweets and the attorney general’s discomfort over them.
MSNBC’s Katy Tur continued to look foolish while reporting from New Hampshire. Sure that the man she approached was a Sanders supporter, she asked, “Can you tell us who you voted for?” “Donald John Trump,” he responded. “Bernie Sanders is not appealing to you?” Tur continued. “His whole ideology would be destructive to the country. It’s anti-growth, its anti-family, it’s anti-American, and as a Roman Catholic, it is anti-life,” he said as Tur looked anxious to move on to another person.
Tur, you may have heard, once proclaimed that journalists are like firefighters, and on another assignment stated that you can get a 30-year car loan. As for her knowledge of politics, she once bemoaned gerrymandering in Senate races, which isn’t possible because it would require crossing state lines.
(Courtesy Michael Ramirez)
“Morning Joe” Scarborough’s sidekick at MSNBC, Mike Barnicle, while reporting from New Hampshire apparently talked to some Trump supporters, too. Their acceptance of Trump’s foibles got to Barnicle who voiced his despair over the “horrendous things” the president “says and does,” adding “That’s why this vote this year in every state is the most important ballot anyone will ever cast.”
Not to be out done in the ridiculous contest, the snarky Nicolle Wallace at MSNBC said, “I have not frickin’ clue what democratic socialist means,” and predicted “he’ll (Sanders) will lose 44 states if he’s the nominee.” Symptoms that Wallace suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome surface with her statement, “I’m on the record … I will gladly and easily and handily vote for Bernie Sanders if he’s the nominee.”
IS THERE ANY DOUBT that MSNBC deserves its low viewership on cable?
ANDEW YANG, while stating his disappointment that he didn’t fulfill some people’s goals for his campaign, told Buzzfeed, “There’s also a competitive part of me, too – like, I can’t believe I lost to these people.” He went on to criticize his former rivals for not addressing issues that really matter, saying that he “felt like we were sometimes speaking different languages … and the language I speak is just English.”
AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, elitist columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan, writes, “take Mike Bloomberg seriously,” as she draws a comparison to the “Guy on a lark takes an escalator ride down to a rally and the system is changed forever. Expect the unexpected.”
When you read her beliefs, “He is what Mr. Trump claimed to be and probably wishes he were. And he isn’t afraid of the president. Whatever he says, Mr. Trump, who respects money more than anything, would be afraid of him,” one has to know that she would like to see Mike as the nominee.
By the end of her column, that becomes clearer. “I have known him more than a decade and consider myself a friend, an admiring one. But this isn’t written out of affection or regard. It’s what I think I’m seeing. Take Bloomberg seriously. Uphill, but he could pull this off.”
THE CONSUMER SENTIMENT INDEX, determined by the University of Michigan, registered at 100.9 for February, higher than expected in view of the outbreak of the coronavirus. Consumer assessment of current economic conditions were virtually unchanged from January while expectations rose slightly.
“Net gains in household income and wealth were reported more frequently in early February than at any prior time since 1960,” reported Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers.
I AGREE with the online publication, The Lid, that we should stop referring to cities as a sanctuary city. “It’s an aiding and abetting criminal city,” says The Lid.
THE DEMOCRATS AND CHRISTIANITY – I have frequently written about the left’s attacks on religion and patriotism. Reading Hugh Gurdon’s editorial, “The Left’s ugly prejudices on display,” in Washington Examiner magazine, reminded me of material in my “pile of stuff” that I have been saving for a future piece on the views of candidates.
(Courtesy Gary Varvel)
It goes beyond the phony claims by Nancy Pelosi that she prays for the president.
“Unrestrained contempt against Christians, for example, is not only allowed but encouraged,” Gurdon writes. “It is especially applauded when directed against Catholics, for Church teaching is an impediment to the dogmas of modern secularism. It is therefore always open season on Catholics; just ask Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Jew-hatred is also given indulgence and encouragement.”
Gurdon cites a CNN panel that was openly mocking Trump supporters, slipping into Southern accents as a way to convey stupidity. He comments that the “Disdain for Trump voters has been parsed so many times that it would tedious to rehash it. They don’t understand or don’t care about the biggest reason their gal lost in 2016, the belittling of ‘deplorables’ is just too much fun to quit.”
From my “pile of stuff” I found a piece from the National Catholic Register, “Bernie Sanders Says Christians Need Not Apply for Public Office,” in which Mathew Archbold recalled the confirmation hearing for Russell Vought, who was the president’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Sanders disagreed with a piece Vought had written defending his alma mater, Wheaton College, a Christian institution for firing a professor who expressed solidarity with Muslims. Sanders called it “indefensible, hateful, Islamophobic and an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world.”
Even though Vought responded to Sanders that “all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect, regardless of their beliefs,” the blustering Sanders stunningly concluded, “I would simply say, Mr.Chairman, that his nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about.”
Vought is currently the acting director of OMB.
ON ABORTION – “Support for abortion “is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat,” according to Bernie Sanders.
Apology Joe Biden has said that “legal abortion is a fundamental value of the Constitution,” even though the Constitution does not mention abortion.
Elizabeth Warren wants a “national law to protect women’s choice.”
When a pro-life Democrat asked Pete Buttigieg if he would support a change in the Democrat platform that the so-called “big tent” party would welcome pro-life members, he essentially told her she has no place in today’s Democrat party as he refused to commit to such a move on her behalf.
Amy Klobuchar said she wants pro-life Democrats in her “big tent,” but says, “I am strongly pro-choice. I have always been pro-choice.” It’s rather meaningless, writes Alexandra Desanctis of the National Review, “Considering that Klobuchar has shown little inclination to amend her policy stance on abortion to provide a more welcoming home for Democrats who oppose the killing of the unborn. She doesn’t deserve much substantive praise.”
IS IT ANY WONDER? – The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star are the latest among dozens of newspapers across the country that have filed for bankruptcy protection.
They blame it on advertising dollars flowing to the Internet, including Google and Facebook. Of course, they’re not going to tell you why they’re not getting those advertising dollars.
To survive, they’ve sold their souls to news conglomerates, like USA Today and McClatchy, that provide them with editorial copy along with the Associated Press.
As someone who grew up reading a daily newspaper and later writing for them, I have been a witness to the demise of newspapers, including the Tucson Daily Citizen and the Phoenix Gazette, along the way.
In the Phoenix metropolitan area, the Arizona Republic is operating with a diminishing staff, dependent on USA Today and AP material. They’re trying to hang on with Arizonans, who are still Republican for the most part, and ignore the opinions of its editorial board of lightweights.
Two bleeding-heart liberal columnists, who are in over their heads when it comes to national issues, devote most of their columns to trash Sen. Martha McSally and anything Trump.
For example, E. J. Montini’ s latest column is a diatribe on Attorney General Bill Barr, filled with biased misinformation not only on Barr, but the president and McSally, giving him a trifecta on hate.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
