Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news items of the day.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY appears to agree with me that the resignation of James Mattis isn’t a reason to get hysterical. “It’s funny how unhinged the lefty-dominated media have become over Mattis’ departure. They’ve all treated it as a crisis. It is no such thing,” the IBD editorial board wrote.

It should be noted that while IBD regrets that Mattis is leaving, and they sided with him on the president’s decision to pull troops out of Syria, “Trump was elected, Mattis wasn’t” and Syria is Trump’s call; reminding its readers that Trump is the commander in chief.

Can you imagine the New York Times or Washington Post being so objective?

TRUMP STILL UNDER CNN MICROSCOPE – Disgraced CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta continued his tirade against the president Wednesday night as the fill-in host of “The Situation Room,” according to Nicholas Fondacaro for Newsbusters.

The fact that the president autographed a ‘Make America Great Again” cap for a trooper during his visit to Iraq turned into a major presidential offense. Acosta wanted to believe that the president was mixing politics with his visit by handing out the red caps.

Bringing Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr into the coverage, he asked, “Is that unusual to see the president doing that on a base? Does this run the risk of the president, you know, facing some accusations that he’s turning this into a campaign stop?”

Starr informed Acosta that apparently some of the troops showed up with caps, but pointed out that if the president had brought them, “what commander allowed that to really happen.”

Not satisfied that he hadn’t pinned something on the prez, Acosta brought in former Pentagon spokesman, retired Admiral John Kirby, to comment. “It is, in fact, a campaign slogan, that is a campaign item, and its completely inappropriate for the troops to do this,” he claimed.

I COULDN’T HELP BUT BE REMINDED of the movie, “The Caine Mutiny.” I saw John Kirby as Captain Queeg saying, “Aboard my ship, excellent performance is standard, standard performance is sub-standard, and sub-standard performance is not permitted to exist – that, I warn you.

I imagined Kirby as Queeg turning to Jim Acosta, playing Lieutenant Maryk, saying, “Mr. Maryk, you may tell the crew for me that there are four ways of doing things aboard my ship: The right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way. They do things my way, and we’ll all get along.”

THE BLOG TWITCHY provided a number of quotes from the media and tweeters who jumped at the chance to criticize President Trump for not visiting the troops at Christmas time. You just know that they were so sure that the Mattis resignation and the shutdown would keep him at home. Actually, they were probably hoping he would go down to Mar-A-Lago to play golf, so they would have a double-whammy.

MSNBC: “President Trump is the first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmastime.”

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: “Though he called military personnel on Tuesday, Trump did not visit a hospital or a military base.”

VOTE VETS (the liberal PAC): “Trump has yet to visit troops in war zone and, by staying home on Tuesday, Trump became the first president since 2002 who didn’t visit military personnel at a hospital or a military base around Christmastime.”

Kevin Baron @DefenseBaron: Other world leaders visit their troops they send to fight and die abroad. Trump refuses.”

Ryan Hill @RyanHillMI: “The presidency in a nutshell. All he does is sit on his ass and watch TV.”

Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson chose to direct his distain to Trump supporters with: “Which is it MAGAs? Cowardice or indifference?”

Shameless!

THE RENAMING OF A CHICAGO EXPRESSWAY after former president Barack Obama isn’t going over very well in the Windy City.

Bill Daley, the brother of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and the son of former Mayor Richard J. Daley, wants to recognize Obama for his political career that started as a South Side community organizer.

Currently named the Dan Ryan Expressway, the name change is not going over well with the Ryan family. Dan Ryan and Richard J. Daley teamed to make the expressway a reality. It was opened in 1962.

Even if the city fathers change the name, it will always be called the Dan Ryan Expressway, recalling that the renaming of the Squaw Peak Parkway in Phoenix to the Piestewa Parkway. It’s still called the Squaw Peak or simply referred to as 51.

So, the Obama legacy people are in the same boat with those McCain legacy folks, looking for something they can rename or name after their heroes.

What would happen if Wrigley Field became Obama Field?

             May God bless the United States of America.