These are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.

WALL STREET JOURNAL JUMPS ON BOARD – The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, is seemingly in agreement with the leftist media that wants President Trump’s daily virus task force briefings to cease.

In its Thursday editorial, “Trump’s Wasted Briefings,” the board invokes a fictitious “friend of ours” (a Trump voter), “who sent us a note recently saying she stopped watching the daily White House briefings of the coronavirus task force, because they have become less about defeating the virus and more about the many feuds of Donald J. Trump.”

The Journal concedes that the “briefings began as a good idea to educate the public about the dangers of the virus, how Americans should change their behavior, and what the government is doing to combat it.  They showed seriousness of purpose, action to mobilize the public and private resources, and a sense of optimism.”

However, they note that “sometime in the last three weeks Mr. Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a showcase for him. Perhaps they substitute in his mind for the campaign rallies he can no longer hold because of the risks.”

That’s exactly what the leftist media have asserted.  They’ve seen his approval ratings rise in polling, even their own.  NBC’s Andrea Mitchell recently bemoaned that “their candidate” Joe Biden was getting lost in the fog.

The Journal was also critical of the president’s dueling with members of the press, it refers to as “useless squabbles” that “contribute little to public understanding.” Au contraire, it gives the public a front row seat to see how some despicable members of the press play the gotcha game, and in the process the public distrust of them sinks even lower.

“The president’s outbursts against his political critics,” the Journal believes, “are notable off key … this isn’t impeachment and Covid-19 isn’t shifty Schiff.”  The Journal misses the point. The president sees his handling of the virus is the opposition’s next opportunity, after nearly four years of attacks, to do him in.

“If Mr. Trump (why not President Trump) wants to make his briefings more helpful to the country, here’s our advice,” they write, “Make them no more than 45 minutes, except on rare occasions,” and “let Mr. Pence (that’s Vice President Pence) lead them each day, focusing on one issue or problem.”

“Maybe then our friend who was a Trump voter might start watching again,” the editors conclude.

Kramerontheright will go along with President Trump’s instincts.

“THE BRIEFINGS ARE TRUMP’S ‘BULLY PULPIT,’” writes Lisa Carr in one of my favorite blogs, Victory Girls. In her piece, she writes of the left’s notion that the daily briefings from President Trump are part of his “self-serving, bully pulpit,” and they’re (GASP) terrified.”

Quoting from an article in the left-leaning Salon, which attempts to dismantle the briefings as “no news” events, dominated by the bragging Trump, she cites his attacks on the media, and quotes the author, Heather Digby Parton: “After nearly a full month of this, it’s taken on the atmosphere of ritual humiliation.”

“The left is not satisfied.  If there weren’t these daily briefings, they would be complaining that Trump spends too much of his time golfing at Mar-a-Lago and should be paying attention to what is going on in this country,” note Carr.

“These reporters would have never dared to approach Barack Hussein Obama in the cavalier and disrespectful demeanor in which they have approached Trump at these briefings,” Carr suggests.  And I remind you that Obama was playing golf the day he declared the Swine flu emergency.

MEANWHILE, in Althouse, a blog by Ann Althouse, she borrows from the thinking of John Cassidy of the New Yorker, who wrote of the credibility a leader needs at this time and states that she believes Trump has been appealing to common values and emphasizing moral standards and solidarity. Noting, however, that the Trump-hating media will not help him to do this.  They’re looking for ways to blame him, to worsen his credibility.”

SOMETHING TO PONDER – “If it spreads like a bioweapon, kills like a bioweapon, and terrorizes like bioweapon, it has become a bioweapon,” tweeted China expert Gordon G. Chang, a Fox News Channel contributor @GordonGChang.

INTERESTING – Pink About it, writing @Pink_About_it, cleverly notes that “The same people who say Trump is (a doctor) ‘giving medical advice’ … act like Bill Nye is a scientist … pretended Al Gore was a credible scientist for climate change … act like Bill Gates is a doctor … and say a 16-year old is a climate expert.”

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH – “If you are pro hydroxychloroquine, I can tell you that my mother, a pathologist, is firmly convinced that it saved my life,” wrote David Lat @DavidLat

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP – When Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, while emphasizing the practice of social distancing, signed an executive order stating residents must stay at home, except for essential business, for the next three weeks, it included a misdemeanor fine up to $1,000 for violators.

As she signed the order, eight individuals, standing shoulder to shoulder, were photographed behind her.

VOTER FRAUD – I believe Democrats lay awake at night thinking about ways to gain votes, especially from illegals.  Nancy Pelosi tried to get voting provisions inserted in the virus relief bill.  She’s pushing ballot harvesting, same-day voter registration and federally-mandated early voting provisions. And she wants to see ballots printed in foreign languages.

Ballot harvesting allows for any person to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot to a designated election office or post office and does not limit the number of absentee ballots that any one person can collect.

The media is carrying the Dem’s water on the expansion of voting rules.  A reporter at Wednesday’s daily virus briefing chose to use that venue to challenge the president’s recent reference to voter fraud.  The media refuses to do due diligence reporting on this issue even though it has been evident in several states.

In a site called INSIDESOURCES, Margaret Menge wrote a piece, “Mail-In Ballots Make Voter Fraud Easy.  I Know Because I Did It.”  She describes in detail her attempt to get voter registration applications – one under her name and two others on fictitious names.  She was successful in getting an application for one of her phony names, and when an election neared, she requested and received an absentee ballot for that individual.  Of course, she didn’t vote as that individual.

J. Christian Adams of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, writing about the dangers of voting by mail, says that if states aren’t careful, they’ll be issuing “an open invitation to fraud.”

HAVE YOU HEARD that President Trump reduced the annual percentage of fuel efficiency percentage to 1.5 percent from the 5 percent per year established by Barack Obama, which it has been said made lighter, less safe cars.

The new rule embraced by a broad coalition of free market organizations, is projected to save Americans $1,400 over the life of a new vehicle, and, more importantly, it will reduce collision fatalities by more than 3,300 annually, and it will reduce hospitalizations by tens of thousands, according to Paul Bedard in Washington Examiner.

Kramerontheright has supported the free market and has frequently criticized automakers for bowing to federal government demands over fuel efficiency.

                  May God continue to bless the United States of America.