Here are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.
STOP LOOKING AT THE POLLS – A friend of mine, who readily admits to being a pessimist told me today, “Things look bleak,” and that he finds it hard to believe the polling is as far off as in 2016.
He’s gone wobbly, paying attention to polls, when it is generally accepted that large numbers of voters simply do not want to reveal who they are supporting for president.
In a different kind of survey, on Thursday we have learned that a Cato Institute/YouGov survey of 2,000 Americans finds that an amazing 62 percent say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. That’s up from 2017 when 58 percent felt that way.
Seventy-seven percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Independents all agree they have opinions they are afraid to share.
APPARENTLY, I’M NOT ALONE – I complained about the Wall Street Journal leaning left in my July 13, 2020 blog, so it really didn’t surprise me when I saw the headline, “Journal News Staffers Seek Clearer Separation From Opinion Pieces,” in Wednesday morning’s Journal.
A letter, signed by more than 280 reporters, editors and others sent to the publisher, calling for a clearer differentiation between news and opinion content. There’s supposed to be a wall between the Journal’s editorial-page operations and the news staff.
HOW INTERESTING – A never-Trumper and founder of Right Side PAC, a political action committee to oppose President Trump’s reelection, was arrested in a public corruption probe, according to Haris Alic at Breitbart.
Mathew Borges, a lobbyist and former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, was arrested in connection with a year-long $60 million federal bribery scheme. He and three other lobbyists allegedly conspired with the Republican Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives to secure a $1.3 billion taxpayer bailout for an Ohio-based energy company, FirstEnergy.
What makes it doubly interesting is that Borges launched the PAC with Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump supporter and White House Communications Director, who had a falling out with Trump.
JOHN KASICH, the former Republican Governor of Ohio, who I initially supported for the presidency in 2016 – admittedly a big mistake – will be speaking at the Democrat National Convention.
It’s the fitting end of a career in politics as he is being billed by the media as the “token Republican who endorses Joe Biden,” chasing another ego boost.
OPRAH WINFREY has jumped on board The 1619 Project of the New York Times and writer Niklole Hannah-Jones to reframe American history by claiming that America’s founding is based on racism instead of equality and liberty,“ according to Krystine Skurk in The Federalist.
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES (nytimes)
Winfrey is partnering with Lionsgate to turn the Times 1619 project into feature films and television programs. “From the first moment I read ‘The 1619 Project’ and immersed myself in Nikole Hannah-Jones transformative work,” Winfrey said, “I was moved and deepened and strengthened by her empowering historical analysis.”
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer was also taken in by the Times work saying, “The 1619 Project was a great awakening and a true history that you probably never learned in school.”
“Most Americans do not fact-check the films they watch,” writes Skurk. ‘Destroying American heroes in film and on television by overemphasizing their flaws and underemphasizing their contributions will do more to demoralize American patriotism than any statue toppling.
“It is fascinating that two of the most privileged women in America, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hannah-Jones and media empire queen Winfrey, are advancing the claim that black people are still systematically oppressed.
“No reasonable person denies that there are still instances of racism and pockets of people with provincial racist attitudes, but to call fundamentally oppressive a country that has provided its citizens with more opportunity than any society in history is nonsensical,” concludes Skurk.
To give you an example of Hannah-Jones’ deep thinking, I remind you of her response to the rioting, looting and burning in major cities. She said, “Destroying property, which can be replaced, is not violence.”
Winfrey’s decision to endorse Barack Obama for president was a misjudgment on her part, considering his empty record on improving the lives of blacks, though she wouldn’t admit it. I hope her decision to support the filming of stories based on The 1619 Project fail at box offices and on TV.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
