TWO WOMEN WITH DIFFERING VIEWS – Under the headline, “The GOP’s Wide-Open Arms,” in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley A. Strassel wrote how “the Republican Party that presented itself to the nation this week had a wide and welcome look,” as she described the minority voices at the RNC convention.

The following day, the Wall Street Journal’s east coast elitist columnist, Peggy Noonan, continued her anti-Trump mantra, referring to the convention as an “insane-a-thon,” while begrudgingly admitting there was “some degree of outreach.”

Noonan got a dig in early, accusing the party of “(leading) with a lie.”  She didn’t appreciate those news clips of Democrats praising Trump for his virus response.  Later, she said that was a mistake, adding “that ship has sunk.”

Reminding her readers of the Washington Post’s belief that “For at least a half century, the party of Lincoln has battled charges that it is racist, sexist and anti-immigrant,” Strassel noted “these ‘charges’ weren’t true, of course.”

“This week,” said Strassel, “Americans got to choose between that version of the GOP and their own lying eyes,” referring to the “array of African-American officials, sports icons and civil rights leaders, Latina business-women, Native Americans, Cuban  refugees, powerhouse female politicians, dairy farmers and loggers, newly sworn-in immigrants, union workers and an openly gay former acting director of national intelligence.

“It was an optimistic presentation, too – a celebration of the party’s width and depth.  And the GOP didn’t just celebrate its minority voices, it led with them, speaker after speaker,” Strassel added.

While Noonan acknowledged that the stories of some of the speakers were “genuinely moving,” all designed to enable the GOP to make its case as an inclusive party of all colors and creeds, she left her readers by insulting the president she dislikes so much.

“This country is full of law-abiding people of all colors who are appalled by Donald Trump,” Noonan said. “It is political malpractice to push them toward him.”

Clearly, Noonan is concerned with the success of the president’s outreach to minorities we have witnessed, and reviewed in Strassel’s column.

PRO SPORTS OVER THE LINE – Some time ago I wrote that I would no longer watch professional sports on television. That doesn’t mean I will no longer speak out against them.  I believe their endorsement of Black Lives Matter will result in a backlash by fans like me.  All lives matter.

The pampered LeBron James’ latest rant against the police following the shooting in Kenosha was over the top. Where was he, with his Black Lives Matter T-shirt, when the former black chief of police of St. Louis, David Dorn, was gunned down by another black?

Jason Whitlock, a black sportswriter and commentator, took on the NBA and James, writing of the Milwaukee Bucks refusal to take the court before a playoff game, denouncing it as fomenting racial animus.

“I’m black.  I’m not scared. I’m not terrified.  Neither is LeBron James.  He’s lying,” Whitlock wrote. “He and the political activists controlling him want black people to immerse themselves in fear.  Fear is a tool used to control people.”

Whitlock reminded that, “If you comply with police instructions, there is virtually no chance of an American citizen being harmed by police.”

“LeBron James foolishly thinks he’s overseeing the police,” said Whitlock, but “he’s overseeing the black KKK.  He’s promoting racism.  He’s demonizing a group of white people based on the behavior of a few.

“No one who professes to care about the welfare of black people would adopt the tactics of white bigots.  Bigots, regardless of color, have a common trait,” Whitlock wrote. “Ignorance.  Ignorance fuels their ego.  Information is their enemy.  They avoid it all costs.  Negative anecdotes frame their worldview.”

I’M REALLY PROUD OF WHITLOCK for taking his principled stance; one that will no doubt cause him to be shunned by those uninformed, over-paid, ego-centric athletes.

MEANWHILE, I understand that the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been working toward peace in the Middle East, urged NBA players to formulate “concrete solutions” amid the Jacob Blake shooting.  Don’t hold your breath.

HAVE YOU HEARD?  Acting on a tip, the Kenosha Police, with the help of U.S. Marshals, arrested a group of people from Oregon at a remote spot just outside of town in a black school bus, a bread truck and a minivan.

The arrest took place when individuals were attempting to fill multiple fuel cans. Discovered in the vehicles were helmets, gas masks, protective vests, illegal fireworks and suspected controlled substances.

Where are they getting the money to go city to city and cause havoc? I don’t expect we’ll ever see checks signed by the likes of George Soros, but the Antifa crowd is getting funding from someone or some group.

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for some in the media to comment on former First Lady Michelle Obama’s latest podcast on Thursday.  She complained that white people treated her like she “doesn’t exist,” recalling two incidents while away from the White House.

She spoke of standing in line at an ice cream shop with her daughters when “a white woman cuts in front of us to order, like she didn’t even see us.”  And another time while walking the dog, “people would come up and pet my dog, but not look me in the eye.  They don’t know me.”

“I swear, Michelle Obama looks for racism under every rock, in every nook and cranny of her every day life,” writes Kim Hirsch in her Victory Girls piece, “Michelle O and the Giant Chip on Her Shoulder.”

“(She) could use her fame to try to heal the racial divide in this country,” writes Hirsch. “She could remind Americans that the nation – while not perfect has come a long way in race relations,” said Hirsch, suggesting that she could speak to the success of Sen. Tim Scott and Herschel Walker. 

Fat chance of that happening, but how about her husband being the first black president, thanks to millions of white votes?

Earlier this month, she fabricated a story of suffering from a low-grade depression over the outbreak of Covid-19, racial strife and the “hypocrisy” of the Trump administration. 

Balderdash.  If anything, it’s because she has witnessed President Trump destroy whatever legacy her husband mustered in his eight years in office.

ONE GOOD TURN deserves another.  Democrat mayors of cities in the Iron Range of Minnesota – Virginia, Chisholm, Ely, Two Harbors, Eveleth and Babbitt – are endorsing President Trump’s reelection.  Trump came to the rescue of working class people there, enabling the Iron Range to roar back to life after thousands of jobs were lost and generations of young people abandoned the area to provide for their families with good-paying jobs elsewhere.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.