Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news of the day.
PRESIDENT TRUMP STATED HIS CASE for border security in an Oval Office address last night with facts surrounding the crisis of human and drug trafficking, and the loss of American lives caused by illegals. He urged both sides to get together to resolve this problem, pointing out that Democrat leadership previously voted for the wall.
President Trump will not be fooled by Nancy Pelosi’s promise to discuss border security after opening the government. (arstrechnica.com)
Democrats want him to agree to open the government with their promise to discuss border security. Yeah, right. They fooled Ronald Reagan, but are not going to pull the football away ala Lucy in the Peanuts comic strip with President Trump.
We all know that Democrats have made this a political issue, refusing to agree simply because it would give President Trump a win.
Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who were given equal time to speak after the president, chose only to accuse of him of malice and misinformation, the talking points they planted with the media.
Here are a few examples of the media’s complicity yesterday.
THE AUDACITY OF THE MEDIA – Joe Lockhart, former Bill Clinton press secretary and 2004 advisor to the John Kerry campaign, appeared on CNN’s New Day Tuesday morning with a demand, heretofore unheard of by real journalistic standards and ethics.
As the network’s political commentator, Lockhart recommended that the networks not provide live coverage of President Trump’s Oval Office Tuesday night address. Instead, Lockhart said Trump should give the networks the text in advance, “and let us decide in advance what’s true.”
While excerpts of speeches are often released in advance, CNN co-host John Berman countered Lockhart saying, “to be clear, there’s no precedent for that. There’s no precedent for the networks getting the presidential text beforehand and then deciding whether it’s true or not.”
A SIDE NOTE: Lockhart sold his Washington DC home to Barack and Michelle Obama in May 2017.
CNN’S CHRIS CUOMO was seen furrowing his brows at the suggestion by Don Lemon that drastic measures – such as a broadcast delay – may be needed to edit out “propaganda” when President Trump addresses the nation, according to Douglas Ernst of The Washington Times.
In an unusual turn for CNN, Cuomo said, “He (the president) has his right to make the argument to the American people, and by the way, wanting barriers along the border is not propaganda. It’s not immoral, it’s not wrong.”
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ), not known for his honesty, suggested that the networks might want to run a disclaimer regarding the truthfulness of the speech across the screen during the broadcast of the president’s address.
I’ll touch on the media response and that of the planned Wednesday meeting in my next post.
EVIDENCE OF WARREN’S LEFTIST BONA FIDES – Lie, attack, and smear. Elizabeth Warren is proving she has learned the Alinsky Rules.
Warren blasted Trey Gowdy, who recently retired as a representative of South Carolina, in a tweet saying he “foamed at the mouth with power in Congress then retired because he claimed he didn’t enjoy it. Now it’s clear: Trey Gowdy just wanted a fat lobbyist paycheck. This should be illegal. We need a lifetime ban on lobbying for members of Congress.”
Okay … so she wants a ban on lobbying Congress, but why did she feel it was necessary to lie and attack Gowdy? It’s the Alinsky way.
Gowdy called Warren’s claim that he left Congress for a fat lobbyist paycheck “demonstrably and factually untrue,” adding that “there are a million things that you can legitimacy criticize me for, and if she’s struggling to come up with a list, my wife is happy to help, but I’m not a lobbyist.”
Currently, a member of Congress must wait one year after leaving office before lobbying former colleagues directly, and there are about 125 former members turned lobbyist.
A SIDE NOTE: While lobbyists are frequently referred to in derogatory terms, lobbyists provide a service on behalf of their clients, providing information to help members and their staffs better understand issues. You might be surprised that the biggest spender by far for lobbying is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
EVEN MAGGIE HABERMAN, the New York Times’ White House correspondent, found Elizabeth Warren’s “get me a beer” Instagram campaign rollout “stilted,” adding that it displayed “awkwardness,“ Cameron Cawthorne, of the Free Beacon, reported.
Recalling Warren’s scathing tweets and interviews while in attack mode on Trump in 2016, Haberman says “a lot of this race for Democrats is going to be about not just who can take the fight to Trump, but how you take the fight to Trump. I think the awkwardness of her rollout shows that the Democrats are still figuring that out.”
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR Ralph Northam, a Democrat, is introducing a legislative package that would repeal voter identification requirements and implement no-excuse absentee voting.
“Participation makes our democracy strong,” said Northam, “rather than creating unnecessary barriers that make getting to the ballot box difficult.”
Virginia has become home to a broad spectrum of Latinos, Arabs and South Asians. Its immigrant population grew four times as fast as its native-born population from 2007 to 2015, bringing its numbers to one in eight Virginians.
One only has to look back to the midterms, when the New York Times reported that “a lack of engagement from the brimming immigrant population here representing a key challenge for Mr. Northam,” to understand his interest in repealing voter ID and absentee ballot laws. He’s obviously looking ahead to the next election.
Virginia’s voter ID law enables a voter to use a wide-range of photo ID’s, including a tribal ID from one of 11 state recognized tribes and even employer photo IDs.
Kaye Kory, a Democrat in the state’s House of Delegates, said that the current law that requires voters in Virginia to present a photo ID to vote “prevents the most vulnerable from voting.”
How do Democrats get away with boldly insulting their constituents as individuals too unintelligent to determine how to get a photo ID? Instructions are clearly published online and available at state offices.
The no-excuse absentee ballot provision would give Virginians the ability to vote absentee without having to provide a reason to do so.
May God bless the United States of America.
