Lots of good news for the nation in general today regarding the economy and foreign affairs. Although the actual facts of the matters will surely upset those on the left and their flacks in the mainstream media whose entire platform rests on condemning Republican failures, real or contrived.
To start, Jeff Cox reports @cnbc.com: “The U.S. job market roared back to life in June, with a better-than-expected 222,000 new positions created while the unemployment rate held at 4.4 percent, according to a government report Friday.”
With results far above predictions, Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the report "is another illustration that the real economy is in good health,” although the “only disappointment is that wage growth still shows few signs of accelerating."
Additionally, May’s results were revised to 152,000 up from an initially reported 138,000, and April was revised upward as well, from 174,000 to 207,000.
“The labor-force participation rate edged higher to 62.8 percent.Those considered out of the labor force declined by 170,000 to 94.8 million while the labor force increased by 361,000 to 160.1 million. The employment population ratio rose to 60.1 percent, a full half percentage point above its level from a year ago.”
Another indicator of the economy’s building strength can be seen in a tilt toward full-time positions, which grew by 355,000, while part-time employment fell by 224,000.
And then, an interesting dilemma related to the left’s dearth of viable issues comes from a similar article by Patricia Cohen @nytimes.com.
Headlining her column “U.S. Labor Market Roars Back, Adding 222,000 Jobs in June,” Cohen quotes Jim O’Sullivan, chief United States economist for High Frequency Economics as saying: ”It’s pretty clear that the trend in employment growth is strong enough to keep the unemployment rate trending down.”
Next comes an observation from Diane Swonk, founder of DS Economics in Chicago, about the increase in professional jobs reflecting hiring of new graduates. “Finally the millennials are getting more jobs,” she said.
Which means that with more millennials employed, a significant leftist voter base will be greatly reduced in size as well.
While the economy’s performance provides real-world evidence of improvement as promised by the POTUS, another leftist fabrication lost credibility as well. Although many celebrities vowed to move out of the U. S. if Donald Trump became president, none did. However, one who’d left before is now coming back.
According to Daniel Nussbaum @breitbart.com: “Actor and immigration activist George Clooney will move to Los Angeles with his wife Amal and newborn twins Ella and Alexander due to security concerns at his England estate, according to a report.”
As reported by Life & Style magazine, Clooney will move to his mansion in Studio City, California because his 17th century mansion in Sonning, England is “not sufficiently safe for them.”
“His mansion in Studio City [Calif.] was deemed the most secure, and it’s within minutes of an LAPD station.”
The relocation decision’s most interesting because both Clooney's “have been among the most vocal and active celebrity advocates for open borders and the free flow of refugees between countries.”
“In February of last year, the actor met privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and praised the German leader’s acceptance of refugees from Syria and other countries. The same month, Clooney told Sky News in an interview that the United States is not doing “enough” to help Syrian refugees, and that 10,000 refugees per year was too low a figure to be admitting into the country.
“In an April 2016 interview with the BBC, Amal Clooney criticized then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plans to build a security wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, telling the outlet that the plan does not represent “U.S. values.”
“George has also been an outspoken critic of Trump, telling The Guardian in a March 2016 interview that he believes Trump to be a “xenophobic fascist” and an “opportunist.” He previously described Trump’s immigration policy proposals as “idiotic” and “intolerant.”
“Clooney owns several homes throughout the world, including a massive estate in Lake Como, Italy. The actor has previously taken extensive security measures to keep his home in Italy private, and in 2015, local mayor Robert Pozzi reportedly imposed a $600 fine on anyone found trespassing near the actor’s property”
In summation, this writer’s intention was to make the point that Clooney is without doubt a premier example of hypocrisy at its very highest level. However, whereas the word “hypocrisy” is overused, an alternative was sought which revealed numerous results. And since all of them apply to Clooney and his ilk, here they are:
Lip service, dissembling, feigning, pretense, pretence -crocodile tears, insincerity, falseness, hollowness,sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, smarminess, unctuousness, unction, fulsomeness, oiliness, oleaginousness, insincerity, pretence, deceit, deception, cant, duplicity, dissembling, falsity, imposture, sanctimoniousness, phoniness, deceitfulness, pharisaism, speciousness, two-facedness, and phariseeism.
While Clooney’s decision to reside in America certainly refutes his globalist rhetoric, another of his utterings don’t seem to hold much water either. Clooney believes Trump to be a “xenophobic fascist” and an “opportunist.” He previously described Trump’s immigration policy proposals as “idiotic” and “intolerant.”
Although Clooney claims that Trump’s an “xenophobic fascist” and an “opportunist,” countless others around the world express a totally different opinion as can be seen in an article today by Rick Lyman and Joanna Berendt @nytimes.com, who write: “The crowd in Krasinski
Square was loving it. “In the Polish people,” President Trump said, “we see the soul of Europe.”
Addressing Trump’s reception in Poland, the authors relate: “Cheers. Shouts of joy. American flags of red, white and blue waved with red and white Polish ones across the crowded square, the epicenter of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis in 1944 and the site of a revered monument to that battle. Aging fighters from Poland’s struggle against Communism stood alongside new mothers pushing baby carriages, and the crowd spilled into the narrow side streets on the edge of Old Town.
“If Mr. Trump was looking for a soft entry point for his second foray into Europe as president, after the stinging reaction of many European leaders to his first visit, he certainly found it.
“Poland is the first place in his foreign voyages where he can feel fully satisfied,” Janusz Sibora, an expert in diplomatic protocol, said in an interview with Gazeta.pl, a Polish website. “If he could, he would have taken this square back with him to Washington.”
As an example of pubic sentiment, the authors quote Polish citizen Slawomir Kaminski, who “had come with a big group on a bus from the eastern town of Pulawy.”
“I am here because the most powerful politician in the world is here,” Mr. Kaminski said, and because he agrees fervently with most of Mr. Trump’s views. “Look at him pressuring the NATO members to raise their military spending,” he said. “That’s what we need.”
“Mr. Kaminski shrugged off worries that Mr. Trump would follow through and establish friendlier ties with Russia, enabling President Vladimir V. Putin to reassert Moscow’s influence.”
And then, Mr. Kaminski offered a thought that while certainly applicable to Trump, fits Clooney and his cohorts quite appropriately too: “One should be judged by their deeds,” Kaminski said. “Not words.”
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, July 7, 2017
Thursday, July 6, 2017
BloggeRhythms
The underlying theme in today’s two major items is that while both concern politics, the issues involved are really based on nothing more than common sense.
The opening item regards California Congresswoman Maxine Waters who ordinarily receives little press coverage whereas she doesn't do very much as a rule. However, she apparently hates Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson with such vehemence that she’s gained national attention with threats to harm him physically.
According to Trent Baker @breitbart.com, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host Tucker Carlson responded to Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) threat to take Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s “ass apart” because she believes he knows nothing about the HUD’s mission.”
And that’s where “common sense” kicks in. Because the result of Water’s threats is to bring self-inflicted national attention to herself for very little positive gain, while her own huge vulnerabilities become exposed.
On his show, “Carlson noted that Waters, a politician for 40 years, lives in a 6,000 square-foot mansion worth $4.3 million that is not even in her congressional district, saying that “almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”
“[W]aters is a confirmed expert on the question of housing, especially her own housing,” Carlson stated. “Consider where she lives, in a 6,000 square foot, $4.3 million mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Now, how did she afford a place like that after having spent the last 40 years working in government? We hate to speculate. How did she keep getting reelected despite not living in her own Congressional district? No clue there either. The district Waters actually represents in Congress has the second-highest percentage of African-American residents in the state of California.”
He continued, “Now, the neighborhood where Waters actually lives is just six percent black or, as she might put it herself if she didn’t live there, it is segregated — like 1950s level segregated. And as we’ve mentioned, it is really, really rich. So, how did Maxine Waters pull off a housing coup like that, who knows, but it almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”
Thus, the most likely result of Water’s threat is that Secretary Carson will continue in office unaffected, while Waters has made a target of herself for Carlson and other Republican TV hosts to pursue in the future. And if that doesn't suggest the absence of common sense, one has to wonder what does.
Along the same lines, but on a grander scale, Jack Montgomery writes @breitbart.com that: “Dire prophecies of an economy in freefall after Brexit have suffered another blow with the publication of a report which indicates that Britain will outperform Germany, France and the entire Eurozone over the coming years.”
The Brexit issue was followed closely here because it's timing coincided with the U.S. presidential election. And both contests defined the difference for voters between open and free societies versus governmental control and stifling bureaucracies.
In Britain’s case, “Oxford Economics, which employs around 200 professional economists, industry experts and business editors, predict that the British economy will grow by 1.8 per cent between 2017-2021.”
In contrast, “Germany, the European Union’s economic powerhouse, will only grow by 1.3 per cent as it struggles with the consequences of the migrant crisis; behind stagnant France on 1.4 per cent and not too far ahead of crisis-wrecked Italy on 1.1 per cent.
“The situation in the Eurozone may, in fact, turn out significantly worse, with Jim Mellon, the Leave.EU co-founder described as ‘Britain’s Warren Buffet’, predicting that the single currency will finally go into meltdown in the coming years.”
Andrew Neil writes @afneil: “UK manufacturers report strongest order books for 30 years, driven by food, drink, tobacco and chemicals -- CBI industrial trends survey.
“The report, commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN), goes on to suggest that Britain could achieve even better growth – as high as 2.7 per cent per year – if Whitehall delivers sweeping new powers over spending and taxation to local government.
“CCN, which describes the English counties as “sleeping giants” just waiting for their economic potential to be unleashed, believes over a million new jobs could be created over a ten-year period, £26.3 billion added to the national economy in tandem with public sector savings of £11.7 billion over a five-year period.”
In a separate analysis, Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane described Britain’s strong economic performance “despite Brexit” as a "Michael Fish moment for the economics profession."
Unfamiliarity with Michael Fish led to research that revealed he’s a BBC meteorologist known for an “infamous weather forecast” in 1987. At the time, Fish opened by saying, “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard that there’s a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.”
“A few hours later, the south-east was hit by the most powerful storm in three centuries, affecting three million homes and uprooting millions of trees. Winds reached 120 miles per hour before measuring devices were overwhelmed, sweeping buses and lorries off roads, and dashing the historic Shanklin Pier into the sea.”
All of which confirms that simply because an individual has, somehow or other, attained a title or particular position for themselves, doesn’t guarantee any infallibility. And in the cases of ones like Waters or Fish, past performance must always be considered when evaluating any information either provides. Because for both, they’ve long since disqualified themselves as reliable resources in their respective occupations.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
The opening item regards California Congresswoman Maxine Waters who ordinarily receives little press coverage whereas she doesn't do very much as a rule. However, she apparently hates Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson with such vehemence that she’s gained national attention with threats to harm him physically.
According to Trent Baker @breitbart.com, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host Tucker Carlson responded to Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) threat to take Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s “ass apart” because she believes he knows nothing about the HUD’s mission.”
And that’s where “common sense” kicks in. Because the result of Water’s threats is to bring self-inflicted national attention to herself for very little positive gain, while her own huge vulnerabilities become exposed.
On his show, “Carlson noted that Waters, a politician for 40 years, lives in a 6,000 square-foot mansion worth $4.3 million that is not even in her congressional district, saying that “almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”
“[W]aters is a confirmed expert on the question of housing, especially her own housing,” Carlson stated. “Consider where she lives, in a 6,000 square foot, $4.3 million mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Now, how did she afford a place like that after having spent the last 40 years working in government? We hate to speculate. How did she keep getting reelected despite not living in her own Congressional district? No clue there either. The district Waters actually represents in Congress has the second-highest percentage of African-American residents in the state of California.”
He continued, “Now, the neighborhood where Waters actually lives is just six percent black or, as she might put it herself if she didn’t live there, it is segregated — like 1950s level segregated. And as we’ve mentioned, it is really, really rich. So, how did Maxine Waters pull off a housing coup like that, who knows, but it almost qualifies her to be HUD Secretary herself.”
Thus, the most likely result of Water’s threat is that Secretary Carson will continue in office unaffected, while Waters has made a target of herself for Carlson and other Republican TV hosts to pursue in the future. And if that doesn't suggest the absence of common sense, one has to wonder what does.
Along the same lines, but on a grander scale, Jack Montgomery writes @breitbart.com that: “Dire prophecies of an economy in freefall after Brexit have suffered another blow with the publication of a report which indicates that Britain will outperform Germany, France and the entire Eurozone over the coming years.”
The Brexit issue was followed closely here because it's timing coincided with the U.S. presidential election. And both contests defined the difference for voters between open and free societies versus governmental control and stifling bureaucracies.
In Britain’s case, “Oxford Economics, which employs around 200 professional economists, industry experts and business editors, predict that the British economy will grow by 1.8 per cent between 2017-2021.”
In contrast, “Germany, the European Union’s economic powerhouse, will only grow by 1.3 per cent as it struggles with the consequences of the migrant crisis; behind stagnant France on 1.4 per cent and not too far ahead of crisis-wrecked Italy on 1.1 per cent.
“The situation in the Eurozone may, in fact, turn out significantly worse, with Jim Mellon, the Leave.EU co-founder described as ‘Britain’s Warren Buffet’, predicting that the single currency will finally go into meltdown in the coming years.”
Andrew Neil writes @afneil: “UK manufacturers report strongest order books for 30 years, driven by food, drink, tobacco and chemicals -- CBI industrial trends survey.
“The report, commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN), goes on to suggest that Britain could achieve even better growth – as high as 2.7 per cent per year – if Whitehall delivers sweeping new powers over spending and taxation to local government.
“CCN, which describes the English counties as “sleeping giants” just waiting for their economic potential to be unleashed, believes over a million new jobs could be created over a ten-year period, £26.3 billion added to the national economy in tandem with public sector savings of £11.7 billion over a five-year period.”
In a separate analysis, Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane described Britain’s strong economic performance “despite Brexit” as a "Michael Fish moment for the economics profession."
Unfamiliarity with Michael Fish led to research that revealed he’s a BBC meteorologist known for an “infamous weather forecast” in 1987. At the time, Fish opened by saying, “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard that there’s a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t.”
“A few hours later, the south-east was hit by the most powerful storm in three centuries, affecting three million homes and uprooting millions of trees. Winds reached 120 miles per hour before measuring devices were overwhelmed, sweeping buses and lorries off roads, and dashing the historic Shanklin Pier into the sea.”
All of which confirms that simply because an individual has, somehow or other, attained a title or particular position for themselves, doesn’t guarantee any infallibility. And in the cases of ones like Waters or Fish, past performance must always be considered when evaluating any information either provides. Because for both, they’ve long since disqualified themselves as reliable resources in their respective occupations.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
BloggeRhythms
Todays two major items address political issues, however, they also clearly illustrate the significant difference between irrational ideology and plain old everyday common sense.
Jennifer G. Hickey writes @FoxNews.com that after “the food stamp rolls swelled for years under the Obama administration, fresh figures show a dramatic reduction in states that recently have moved to restore work requirements.”
“States were allowed to waive those rules for able-bodied adults thanks to the 2009 economic stimulus. As the rules loosened and the economy sputtered out of the recession, food stamp enrollment soared to record levels – peaking at nearly 48 million nationwide in 2013.”
In recent years, some states have moved aggressively to push recipients who can work back into the job market and, in due time, off the program.
When Alabama began requiring in 2017 that able-bodied adults without children in 13 counties either find a job or participate in work training as a condition for continuing to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to AL.com, the number of those recipients declined from 5,538 to 831 between Jan. 1 and the beginning of May – an 85 percent drop.
Similarly, in select counties in Georgia by the end of the first three months, “the number of adults receiving benefits in three participating counties dropped 58 percent, according to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.”
“The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that in 21 additional counties that restored the work requirement, there was a 62 percent drop in SNAP participants.”
As to be expected, “advocates for waivers argue that the flexibility is needed to help people get back on their feet in the wake of the economic crisis. And a call in the Trump administration’s budget to resurrect the work mandate and scale back SNAP’s budget has drawn fire from anti-hunger advocates.”
Mariana Chilton, a professor of public health at Drexel University, predicted in a column for The Hill: “Parents will work just as hard at unforgiving jobs and see less food on the table for their families. Children will become sicker without the proper nutrition, ending up in hospitals or on the rolls of what social services remain. Some children will die.”
Despite the dire warnings, though, “an analysis of a group of 7,000 Mainers who left SNAP in 2014 found their total earnings increased from $3.85 million in the third quarter 2014 to $8.24 million in the last quarter of 2015.” An increase in income of more than 200% for those involved.
Similarly, “Kansas saw a 75 percent decline after implementing work requirements in 2013. In addition, nearly 60 percent of former beneficiaries found employment within 12 months and their incomes rose by an average of 127 percent per year, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.”
And while the Democrats greatest fear isn’t mentioned, simple common sense applies again. Whereas now that the former SNAP recipients are making some money on their own, the chances are they’ll start voting Republican now.
The same kind of real-world level-headedness came from former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, who blasted his party colleagues on Tuesday over a push to examine President Trump’s mental and physical fitness for office – and potentially use the findings to seek his removal.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Kucinich said “It’s a political statement, not a medical statement. I think it’s destroying the party as an effective opposition.”
He then inadvertently put his finger on a major part of his party’s problem by saying: “People want political parties to be focused on America’s economic needs, jobs, wages, heath care, education, retirement security and peace -- and they want American politicians to be constructive, not destructive.” However, his party’s shortfall is, none of its leadership has any of those answers or capabilities.
Thus, in the absence of constructive alternatives and qualified candidates, a campaign is being led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who’s trying to rally support for his mental-fitness bill “in the wake of Trump’s controversial attacks on various media outlets and personalities.”
While bill has nearly two-dozen cosponsors, including former Democratic Party leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the following tweets are what Raskin’s referring to:
While the POTUS’s tweets certainly seem sane and perfectly logical, it’s also of interest to note how viewers responded. While Trump received a total of more than 105,000 positives in total, Raskin’s results were very much different.
Raskin tweeted: "The President should take a break from watching TV and read the#25thAmendment to the Constitution. There are ways out of this.”
That got him 183 “retweets,,” and 426 “Likes” in total. A shortfall of 104,574 to Trump supporters.
A couple of readers provided quite appropriate comments.
Reader mikekley commented: “When a wack job like Kucinich recognizes the destructiveness of the DNC, one would think it would open some liberal eyes...
“But, to the good fortune of the country, Kucinich is now just too main stream for the far-left nuts running the DNC...
“Bottom line, 2018 will be good for the country and the GOP...”
mich46 added: “I guess everybody in the USA is allowed to have an opinion, except the President.
“Everybody in the USA is allowed the "freedom of speech", except the President. and
“everybody in the USA is allowed to have a sense of humor, except the President.”
Which means, as mentioned at the outset today, the present hostile approach taken by Democrats against the POTUS not only makes extremely little political sense, it defies both common sense and logic as well.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Jennifer G. Hickey writes @FoxNews.com that after “the food stamp rolls swelled for years under the Obama administration, fresh figures show a dramatic reduction in states that recently have moved to restore work requirements.”
“States were allowed to waive those rules for able-bodied adults thanks to the 2009 economic stimulus. As the rules loosened and the economy sputtered out of the recession, food stamp enrollment soared to record levels – peaking at nearly 48 million nationwide in 2013.”
In recent years, some states have moved aggressively to push recipients who can work back into the job market and, in due time, off the program.
When Alabama began requiring in 2017 that able-bodied adults without children in 13 counties either find a job or participate in work training as a condition for continuing to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to AL.com, the number of those recipients declined from 5,538 to 831 between Jan. 1 and the beginning of May – an 85 percent drop.
Similarly, in select counties in Georgia by the end of the first three months, “the number of adults receiving benefits in three participating counties dropped 58 percent, according to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.”
“The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that in 21 additional counties that restored the work requirement, there was a 62 percent drop in SNAP participants.”
As to be expected, “advocates for waivers argue that the flexibility is needed to help people get back on their feet in the wake of the economic crisis. And a call in the Trump administration’s budget to resurrect the work mandate and scale back SNAP’s budget has drawn fire from anti-hunger advocates.”
Mariana Chilton, a professor of public health at Drexel University, predicted in a column for The Hill: “Parents will work just as hard at unforgiving jobs and see less food on the table for their families. Children will become sicker without the proper nutrition, ending up in hospitals or on the rolls of what social services remain. Some children will die.”
Despite the dire warnings, though, “an analysis of a group of 7,000 Mainers who left SNAP in 2014 found their total earnings increased from $3.85 million in the third quarter 2014 to $8.24 million in the last quarter of 2015.” An increase in income of more than 200% for those involved.
Similarly, “Kansas saw a 75 percent decline after implementing work requirements in 2013. In addition, nearly 60 percent of former beneficiaries found employment within 12 months and their incomes rose by an average of 127 percent per year, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.”
And while the Democrats greatest fear isn’t mentioned, simple common sense applies again. Whereas now that the former SNAP recipients are making some money on their own, the chances are they’ll start voting Republican now.
The same kind of real-world level-headedness came from former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, who blasted his party colleagues on Tuesday over a push to examine President Trump’s mental and physical fitness for office – and potentially use the findings to seek his removal.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Kucinich said “It’s a political statement, not a medical statement. I think it’s destroying the party as an effective opposition.”
He then inadvertently put his finger on a major part of his party’s problem by saying: “People want political parties to be focused on America’s economic needs, jobs, wages, heath care, education, retirement security and peace -- and they want American politicians to be constructive, not destructive.” However, his party’s shortfall is, none of its leadership has any of those answers or capabilities.
Thus, in the absence of constructive alternatives and qualified candidates, a campaign is being led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who’s trying to rally support for his mental-fitness bill “in the wake of Trump’s controversial attacks on various media outlets and personalities.”
While bill has nearly two-dozen cosponsors, including former Democratic Party leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the following tweets are what Raskin’s referring to:
While the POTUS’s tweets certainly seem sane and perfectly logical, it’s also of interest to note how viewers responded. While Trump received a total of more than 105,000 positives in total, Raskin’s results were very much different.
Raskin tweeted: "The President should take a break from watching TV and read the
That got him 183 “retweets,,” and 426 “Likes” in total. A shortfall of 104,574 to Trump supporters.
A couple of readers provided quite appropriate comments.
Reader mikekley commented: “When a wack job like Kucinich recognizes the destructiveness of the DNC, one would think it would open some liberal eyes...
“But, to the good fortune of the country, Kucinich is now just too main stream for the far-left nuts running the DNC...
“Bottom line, 2018 will be good for the country and the GOP...”
mich46 added: “I guess everybody in the USA is allowed to have an opinion, except the President.
“Everybody in the USA is allowed the "freedom of speech", except the President. and
“everybody in the USA is allowed to have a sense of humor, except the President.”
Which means, as mentioned at the outset today, the present hostile approach taken by Democrats against the POTUS not only makes extremely little political sense, it defies both common sense and logic as well.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
BloggeRhythms
Very slow day in the news, as should be expected on July 4th. However, there were a couple of items from yesterday worthy of mention.
For starters, the stodgy, pompous, self-impressed Charles Krauthammer showed signs of awakening in regard to the POTUS’s manipulation of the childishly gullible mainstream media.
Jeff Poor writes @breitbart.com that “Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer offered his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s Twitter habits, which have been a media focus the day after the president tweeted a video of him pummeling a faceless CNN logo.”
Krauthammer said “[Y]ou have the sense if they succeeded in stopping him from tweeting, it is like putting a cork in a bottle. He would implode. This is the way he conducts himself, in which he stabilizes himself psychologically, I would guess, looking from the outside. And it’s not the fact that he tweets. For God’s sake, the Pope tweets. There is nothing wrong with tweeting intrinsically. It’s what you tweet. And Kellyanne Conway is right — three-quarters of what he tweets is about policy and what he’s doing.”
“That’s fine,” he continued. “But then why does he do the other quarter? I mean, I think he is trolling the press. This CNN bit I found it rather amusing. It was meant to drive them crazy, to get an overreaction, to get attention and to sort of heighten the contradictions — if you want to use a Leninist term, between him and the press, his adversaries in the press, and to solidify his base. So, there is some strategy here, not much. The rest is a psychological need, and who knows, perhaps this is therapy for him.”
In his second paragraph, grasping the fact that the tweeting is “meant to drive [the media] crazy, to get an overreaction, to get attention and to sort of heighten the contradictions,“ confirms that Krauthammer’s finally waking up to Trump's basic methodology. However, believing that there isn’t much “strategy” involved reveals Krauthammer's intellectual shortcoming, as defined by a reader, Chr1st1an, who commented: “They are one dimensional chess players playing chess with a five dimensional thinker.”
Others too, prove that the “solidified” base is far more attuned to what their leader is doing than Krauthammer quite narrowly envisions.
Reader, Ministry_of_Truth_Crusher, commented: “Yes, Captain Obvious, he's trolling CNN”
marty #trumptrain wrote: “KRAUT-SPAMMER hits one out of the infield!”
proreason added: “It's a bunt single! and the 3rd basemen let it roll.
“But in addition to poor Charles, you would think that out of the thousands of drooling partisans in the Fake Media, at least one of them would get up and say "you know, fellow ideologues and liars, this Trump guy is a master at this social media game, and we have skillsets that would embarrass 4 year-olds. Maybe we should try some other tactics for a while."
Reader Joshua Norman focused on the hypocrisy rampant in the MSM, commenting: “Exposed CNN and other corporate political entertainment networks as hypocrites. It's ok to murder Trump in a daily play and call for his assassination but a silly professional wrestling meme makes them cry like little children.”
While the commentary reveals considerable intellect among the POTUS’s base of supporters, Trump's team also knows full well about how the MSM distorts and manipulates what’s presented as fact to its audience.
According to Trent Baker @breitbart.com: “Sunday, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, said on New York AM 970 radio’s “The Cats Roundtable” that the fake news media is “collapsing in on itself.”
“To those supporters of the Trump administration who may have been worried by all the fake news reporting of the last 23 weeks, I can assure you, just ignore it,” Gorka told host John Catsimatidis. “The fake news complex is collapsing in on itself. We see that with the massive scandal at CNN, having to fire people who were generating totally false stories about the administration. We see that with the severe personnel cuts at ‘The New York Times.'”
“We are not affected by the fake news here inside the West Wing,” he added.
What’s significant about Gorka’s quite accurate assessment is the time-frame involved. Because although only 23 weeks have passed under the new administration, the fake news media is already “collapsing in on itself.”
Which means that in the not too distant future the public will likely be receiving far more accurate reportage from the MSM, largely as a result of the POTUS’s tweets refuting and exposing falsities. And that suggests it isn’t the POTUS who as proposed by Krauthammer requires “therapy,” but Krauthammer and his cohorts that should be seeking professional help.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
For starters, the stodgy, pompous, self-impressed Charles Krauthammer showed signs of awakening in regard to the POTUS’s manipulation of the childishly gullible mainstream media.
Jeff Poor writes @breitbart.com that “Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer offered his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s Twitter habits, which have been a media focus the day after the president tweeted a video of him pummeling a faceless CNN logo.”
Krauthammer said “[Y]ou have the sense if they succeeded in stopping him from tweeting, it is like putting a cork in a bottle. He would implode. This is the way he conducts himself, in which he stabilizes himself psychologically, I would guess, looking from the outside. And it’s not the fact that he tweets. For God’s sake, the Pope tweets. There is nothing wrong with tweeting intrinsically. It’s what you tweet. And Kellyanne Conway is right — three-quarters of what he tweets is about policy and what he’s doing.”
“That’s fine,” he continued. “But then why does he do the other quarter? I mean, I think he is trolling the press. This CNN bit I found it rather amusing. It was meant to drive them crazy, to get an overreaction, to get attention and to sort of heighten the contradictions — if you want to use a Leninist term, between him and the press, his adversaries in the press, and to solidify his base. So, there is some strategy here, not much. The rest is a psychological need, and who knows, perhaps this is therapy for him.”
In his second paragraph, grasping the fact that the tweeting is “meant to drive [the media] crazy, to get an overreaction, to get attention and to sort of heighten the contradictions,“ confirms that Krauthammer’s finally waking up to Trump's basic methodology. However, believing that there isn’t much “strategy” involved reveals Krauthammer's intellectual shortcoming, as defined by a reader, Chr1st1an, who commented: “They are one dimensional chess players playing chess with a five dimensional thinker.”
Others too, prove that the “solidified” base is far more attuned to what their leader is doing than Krauthammer quite narrowly envisions.
Reader, Ministry_of_Truth_Crusher, commented: “Yes, Captain Obvious, he's trolling CNN”
marty #trumptrain wrote: “KRAUT-SPAMMER hits one out of the infield!”
proreason added: “It's a bunt single! and the 3rd basemen let it roll.
“But in addition to poor Charles, you would think that out of the thousands of drooling partisans in the Fake Media, at least one of them would get up and say "you know, fellow ideologues and liars, this Trump guy is a master at this social media game, and we have skillsets that would embarrass 4 year-olds. Maybe we should try some other tactics for a while."
Reader Joshua Norman focused on the hypocrisy rampant in the MSM, commenting: “Exposed CNN and other corporate political entertainment networks as hypocrites. It's ok to murder Trump in a daily play and call for his assassination but a silly professional wrestling meme makes them cry like little children.”
While the commentary reveals considerable intellect among the POTUS’s base of supporters, Trump's team also knows full well about how the MSM distorts and manipulates what’s presented as fact to its audience.
According to Trent Baker @breitbart.com: “Sunday, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, said on New York AM 970 radio’s “The Cats Roundtable” that the fake news media is “collapsing in on itself.”
“To those supporters of the Trump administration who may have been worried by all the fake news reporting of the last 23 weeks, I can assure you, just ignore it,” Gorka told host John Catsimatidis. “The fake news complex is collapsing in on itself. We see that with the massive scandal at CNN, having to fire people who were generating totally false stories about the administration. We see that with the severe personnel cuts at ‘The New York Times.'”
“We are not affected by the fake news here inside the West Wing,” he added.
What’s significant about Gorka’s quite accurate assessment is the time-frame involved. Because although only 23 weeks have passed under the new administration, the fake news media is already “collapsing in on itself.”
Which means that in the not too distant future the public will likely be receiving far more accurate reportage from the MSM, largely as a result of the POTUS’s tweets refuting and exposing falsities. And that suggests it isn’t the POTUS who as proposed by Krauthammer requires “therapy,” but Krauthammer and his cohorts that should be seeking professional help.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, July 3, 2017
BloggeRhythms
Today’s another rife with huge discrepancies between what the mainstream media would have audiences believe about the POTUS’s performance and the truthful results.
To begin, an update follows on the “Drudge Poll” posted yesterday that asked “Should President Trump use socials?”
At present, 77.24% (349,766 votes) favor continuance of his “Tweeting.”
22.76% (103,055 votes) believe he should “Delete.”
While an overwhelming number of respondents obviously enjoy having their president communicate directly with them, Trump's policies too are working far better than the media would have its readers believe.
An example comes from no less than the ordinarily anti-Trump New York Times in article by Kirk Semple this morning @nytimes.com.
Semple writes about Honduran, Eswin Josué Fuentes, who planned to “slip into the United States within days,” along with his 10-year-old daughter. However “the night before he planned to leave, he had a phone conversation with a Honduran friend living illegally in New York.
Under President Trump, the friend warned, the United States was no longer a place for undocumented migrants.”
Passing up $12,000 in smuggler fees his sister in the U. S. had lined up for the journey, Fuentes said: “I got scared of what’s happening there.”
According to Semple: Trump’s “hard-line approach to immigration already seems to have led to sharp declines in the flow of migrants from Central America bound for the United States.
“From February through May, the number of undocumented immigrants stopped or caught along the southwest border of the United States fell 60 percent from the same period last year, according to United States Customs and Border Protection — evidence that far fewer migrants are heading north, officials on both sides of the border say.”
“Inside the United States, the Trump administration has cast a broader enforcement net, including reversing Obama-era rules that put a priority on arresting serious criminals and mostly left other undocumented immigrants alone. Arrests of immigrants living illegally in the United States have soared, with the biggest increase coming among those migrants with no criminal records.
“The shift has sown a new sense of fear among undocumented immigrants in the United States. In turn, they have sent a warning back to relatives and friends in their homelands: Don’t come.”
Reader, LB from Florida commented: “Too bad it took Trump to remind the world (and the US establishment) that the US is a sovereign nation with borders, not merely a place to do business. The Democrats will not turn their party around and start winning nationwide until they learn this lesson that Americans demand border enforcement.”
Despite the source being the New York Times 119 others “Recommended’ the article.
Another reader, Heather from San Francisco, added: “Many people, right and left, want our borders enforced. For decades, the Republican party refused to do anything about illegal immigration because their business clients profited from the cheap labor. And the Democratic party refused to do anything because their "open borders" activists insisted that enforcing immigration laws was racist (although Obama did increase deportations of criminals). Now we have Trump, who is doing something about illegal immigration, however clumsy, unfair, and occasionally illegal. I will never support Trump, but apparently many others will just because of this issue. The mainstream leaders of both parties need to get with it.”
96 more “Recommended” this one.
Aside from the strides made in curbing illegal immigration even before the proposed wall is yet to begin construction, another positive report comes from Sho Chandra @bloomberg.com regarding the economy.
“American factories powered up in June at the fastest pace in nearly three years, with robust advances in production, orders and employment that indicate a firming in the economy, data from the Institute for Supply Management showed Monday.
“Faster growth in orders and production in the final month of the quarter indicates solid demand that, together with rising exports, shows manufacturing is on solid footing. The ISM’s pulse of employment in the industry also indicates the government’s measure of factory payrolls, released as part of the Labor Department’s jobs report on Friday, will rebound in June after declining a month earlier.
Most importantly: “The expansion was broad based, with 15 of 18 industries surveyed by the purchasing managers’ group posting growth in June. They included machinery, transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and petroleum and coal products. The three reporting contractions were apparel, textile mills and primary metals.”
Other Details include:
In presenting his theory regarding the media’s move away from fact oriented, opinion-free reportage, Goodwin includes substantial references to his own long-term career in the very same environment.
Goodwin writes: “In a “spate of stories, which continues today, in which the Times routinely calls Trump a liar in its news pages and headlines. Again, the contrast with the past is striking. The Times never called Barack Obama a liar, despite such obvious opportunities as “you can keep your doctor” and “the Benghazi attack was caused by an internet video.” Indeed, the Times and the Washington Post, along with most of the White House press corps, spent eight years cheerleading the Obama administration, seeing not a smidgen of corruption or dishonesty. They have been tougher on Hillary Clinton during her long career. But they still never called her a liar, despite such doozies as “I set up my own computer server so I would only need one device,” “I turned over all the government emails,” and “I never sent or received classified emails.” All those were lies, but not to the national media. Only statements by Trump were fair game.
“If I haven’t made it clear, let me do so now. The behavior of much of the media, but especially the New York Times, was a disgrace. I don’t believe it ever will recover the public trust it squandered.”
Coming to the crux of his premise regarding the loss of mainstream media audience, Goodwin writes: ''Incredible advances in technology are also on the side of free speech. The explosion of choices makes it almost impossible to silence all dissent and gain a monopoly, though certainly Facebook and Google are trying.”
As to what the future holds, Goodwin believes the main ingredient is the audience itself, and that: “[A] necessary ingredient in determining where we go from here [is] you. I urge you to support the media you like. As the great writer and thinker Midge Decter once put it, “You have to join the side you’re on.” It’s no secret that newspapers and magazines are losing readers and money and shedding staff.
“Some of them are good newspapers. Some of them are good magazines. There are also many wonderful, thoughtful, small publications and websites that exist on a shoestring. Don’t let them die. Subscribe or contribute to those you enjoy. Give subscriptions to friends. Put your money where your heart and mind are. An expanded media landscape that better reflects the diversity of public preferences would, in time, help create a more level political and cultural arena. That would be a great thing. So again I urge you: Join the side you’re on.”
It’s truly an excellent, information-packed media chronology from one who’s lived through all that he writes about. Here’s a link:http://nypost.com/2017/07/01/why-the-media-has-broken-down-in-the-age-of-trump/
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
To begin, an update follows on the “Drudge Poll” posted yesterday that asked “Should President Trump use socials?”
At present, 77.24% (349,766 votes) favor continuance of his “Tweeting.”
22.76% (103,055 votes) believe he should “Delete.”
While an overwhelming number of respondents obviously enjoy having their president communicate directly with them, Trump's policies too are working far better than the media would have its readers believe.
An example comes from no less than the ordinarily anti-Trump New York Times in article by Kirk Semple this morning @nytimes.com.
Semple writes about Honduran, Eswin Josué Fuentes, who planned to “slip into the United States within days,” along with his 10-year-old daughter. However “the night before he planned to leave, he had a phone conversation with a Honduran friend living illegally in New York.
Under President Trump, the friend warned, the United States was no longer a place for undocumented migrants.”
Passing up $12,000 in smuggler fees his sister in the U. S. had lined up for the journey, Fuentes said: “I got scared of what’s happening there.”
According to Semple: Trump’s “hard-line approach to immigration already seems to have led to sharp declines in the flow of migrants from Central America bound for the United States.
“From February through May, the number of undocumented immigrants stopped or caught along the southwest border of the United States fell 60 percent from the same period last year, according to United States Customs and Border Protection — evidence that far fewer migrants are heading north, officials on both sides of the border say.”
“Inside the United States, the Trump administration has cast a broader enforcement net, including reversing Obama-era rules that put a priority on arresting serious criminals and mostly left other undocumented immigrants alone. Arrests of immigrants living illegally in the United States have soared, with the biggest increase coming among those migrants with no criminal records.
“The shift has sown a new sense of fear among undocumented immigrants in the United States. In turn, they have sent a warning back to relatives and friends in their homelands: Don’t come.”
Reader, LB from Florida commented: “Too bad it took Trump to remind the world (and the US establishment) that the US is a sovereign nation with borders, not merely a place to do business. The Democrats will not turn their party around and start winning nationwide until they learn this lesson that Americans demand border enforcement.”
Despite the source being the New York Times 119 others “Recommended’ the article.
Another reader, Heather from San Francisco, added: “Many people, right and left, want our borders enforced. For decades, the Republican party refused to do anything about illegal immigration because their business clients profited from the cheap labor. And the Democratic party refused to do anything because their "open borders" activists insisted that enforcing immigration laws was racist (although Obama did increase deportations of criminals). Now we have Trump, who is doing something about illegal immigration, however clumsy, unfair, and occasionally illegal. I will never support Trump, but apparently many others will just because of this issue. The mainstream leaders of both parties need to get with it.”
96 more “Recommended” this one.
Aside from the strides made in curbing illegal immigration even before the proposed wall is yet to begin construction, another positive report comes from Sho Chandra @bloomberg.com regarding the economy.
“American factories powered up in June at the fastest pace in nearly three years, with robust advances in production, orders and employment that indicate a firming in the economy, data from the Institute for Supply Management showed Monday.
“Faster growth in orders and production in the final month of the quarter indicates solid demand that, together with rising exports, shows manufacturing is on solid footing. The ISM’s pulse of employment in the industry also indicates the government’s measure of factory payrolls, released as part of the Labor Department’s jobs report on Friday, will rebound in June after declining a month earlier.
Most importantly: “The expansion was broad based, with 15 of 18 industries surveyed by the purchasing managers’ group posting growth in June. They included machinery, transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and petroleum and coal products. The three reporting contractions were apparel, textile mills and primary metals.”
Other Details include:
- “Measure of export orders climbed to 59.5 in June from 57.5
- Employment gauge increased to 57.2 from 53.5
- Production index rose to 62.4, highest since February, from 57.1
- A gauge of supplier delivery times advanced to 57, the highest since December 2014, from 53.1, indicating deliveries are taking longer
- Order backlogs measure rose to 57 from 55
- Index of prices paid dropped to 55, lowest since November, from 60.5”
In presenting his theory regarding the media’s move away from fact oriented, opinion-free reportage, Goodwin includes substantial references to his own long-term career in the very same environment.
Goodwin writes: “In a “spate of stories, which continues today, in which the Times routinely calls Trump a liar in its news pages and headlines. Again, the contrast with the past is striking. The Times never called Barack Obama a liar, despite such obvious opportunities as “you can keep your doctor” and “the Benghazi attack was caused by an internet video.” Indeed, the Times and the Washington Post, along with most of the White House press corps, spent eight years cheerleading the Obama administration, seeing not a smidgen of corruption or dishonesty. They have been tougher on Hillary Clinton during her long career. But they still never called her a liar, despite such doozies as “I set up my own computer server so I would only need one device,” “I turned over all the government emails,” and “I never sent or received classified emails.” All those were lies, but not to the national media. Only statements by Trump were fair game.
“If I haven’t made it clear, let me do so now. The behavior of much of the media, but especially the New York Times, was a disgrace. I don’t believe it ever will recover the public trust it squandered.”
Coming to the crux of his premise regarding the loss of mainstream media audience, Goodwin writes: ''Incredible advances in technology are also on the side of free speech. The explosion of choices makes it almost impossible to silence all dissent and gain a monopoly, though certainly Facebook and Google are trying.”
As to what the future holds, Goodwin believes the main ingredient is the audience itself, and that: “[A] necessary ingredient in determining where we go from here [is] you. I urge you to support the media you like. As the great writer and thinker Midge Decter once put it, “You have to join the side you’re on.” It’s no secret that newspapers and magazines are losing readers and money and shedding staff.
“Some of them are good newspapers. Some of them are good magazines. There are also many wonderful, thoughtful, small publications and websites that exist on a shoestring. Don’t let them die. Subscribe or contribute to those you enjoy. Give subscriptions to friends. Put your money where your heart and mind are. An expanded media landscape that better reflects the diversity of public preferences would, in time, help create a more level political and cultural arena. That would be a great thing. So again I urge you: Join the side you’re on.”
It’s truly an excellent, information-packed media chronology from one who’s lived through all that he writes about. Here’s a link:http://nypost.com/2017/07/01/why-the-media-has-broken-down-in-the-age-of-trump/
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Sunday, July 2, 2017
BloggeRhythms
Today’s another where some simple numbers present a totally different picture of the POTUS’s popularity than the media will ever present to the public.
To begin, Drudge posted a “Drudge Poll” asking “Should President Trump use socials?”
At present, results show that 75.07% (200,517 votes) are in favor of his “Tweets.”
24.93% (66,417) chose “Delete.”
Whereas most often the percentage of respondants to polls is a mere fraction of those visiting websites, it can be assumed that the vast majority of those visitors generally share common beliefs and interests. And that means the next statistic has significant value because on Thursday June 29th, Drudge posted the following: “THANKS A BILLION!
DRUDGEREPORT POPS TO #2 MEDIA TRAFFIC... PASSES GOOGLENEWS, CNN, FOX, NYTWASHPOST, HUFFBUZZ..”
Thus, if the audience poll participation assumption holds true, millions upon millions of Trump supporters who didn’t vote in the Drudge poll nonetheless believe he should continue his use of “socials.”
Joel B. Pollak picked up on the same theme today @breitbart.com, writing: “The conventional wisdom in the media, and even among many conservatives, is that President Donald Trump’s tweets are frustrating his policy agenda. But the opposite is true: his most controversial tweets are helping him.
“The conventional wisdom relies on the mistaken assumption that presidents must pursue their policy priorities by seeking support from the public at large. If that were true, it would indeed be best for Trump to play nice on Twitter.
“But in reality, because Republicans control Congress, and since they are prepared to use the Senate reconciliation process to overcome total Democratic obstruction, Trump merely needs to unite his own party to fulfill his agenda.”
From there, Pollak establishes the certainly valid case that a significant portion of the Republican Party has been hostile to Trump and his agenda from the outset. And that he cannot rally them whereas they’re not only split into different factions, but many cannot stand each other either. Thus, the “only way to unify them is to convince them that unless they fulfill their legislative promises on Obamacare and tax reform, they are going to lose the 2018 midterm elections, because conservative voters will stay home in droves.” And that unity can surely be helped by Trump’s tweeting directly to the voting public, as he’s does now.
Furthermore, “The president’s Twitter wars, like the one that exploded this week with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, also boost the conservative base. Not because the base condones what he says — many conservatives do not — but because when Trump alienates the media and the Democrats, he must rely more heavily on his supporters. That makes the party base immensely more powerful in defining the president’s agenda and keeping it focused.
“The notion that Trump’s tweets take media attention away from his accomplishments is spurious. The media have no interest whatsoever in covering Trump’s successes. At best, [what] the MSNBC fight has done is displace the Russia story (probably not intentionally — Trump is not that calculating, and he has nothing to hide on the Russian front.)”
“There is another advantage in Trump’s tweets. From The Art of the Deal, through the presidential campaign, and today, Trump has shown that he uses a strategy game theorists call “massive retaliatory strike.” As Breitbart News explained last year, Trump “is friendly by default, but hits back hard if challenged.” As a deterrent, that strategy is most effective when it is consistent. And certainly Scarborough and Brzezinksi did enough to invite a response.
“Far from embarrassing the country, as the media suggests, Trump’s approach also puts America’s enemies on notice.”
Most interestingly, while the Drudge poll results clearly illustrate the public favorability of Trump’s direct interaction with them, followed by Pollak’s well-informed explanation of the logic involved, Maureen Dowd once again demonstrates how out of touch she, her publication and her audience are with the value of today’s communication technology as applied by Trump.
Dowd continued her vendetta with Trump, writing @nytimes.com yesterday: “The 71-year-old president’s pathological inability to let go of slights; his strongman reflex to be the aggressor and bite back like a cornered animal, without regard for societal norms; his lack of self-awareness about the power he commands and the proportionality of his responses; his grotesque hunger for flattery and taste for Tony Soprano tactics; his Pravda partnership with David Pecker, the head honcho at The National Enquirer, which has been giving Trump the Il Duce treatment while sliming his political opponents, the “Morning Joe” anchors and Megyn Kelly — these are all matters that should alarm men and women equally.”
While the preceding paragraph is representative of the article in general, Dowd then shows that she’s either totally out of touch with Trump’s activities in office, or is presenting a total fabrication to her readers as she writes: “Trump is isolated in the White House, out of his milieu, unable to shape the story, forced to interact with people he doesn’t own. Even the staffers folding his clothes aren’t on his payroll.”
However, there’s another viewpoint regarding Trump’s work ethic that comes from supporters such as political commentator Michael Reagan who told Newsmax TV from the beginning: “President Donald Trump has not stopped to let "grass grow underneath his feet" since he took office last Friday and that will be a theme of his time in the White House.”
“Trump will not be taking much time off from work over the next four years, Reagan told "Newsmax Prime" host JD Hayworth.
"Now he's been sworn in, and he's not letting grass grow underneath his feet," Reagan said. "He was busy Saturday, he was busy Sunday, and of course now Monday, the first day of the work week, he's doing what? Meeting with leadership and Congress, meeting with unions, and signing executive orders in order to put people back to work in this country."
And that’s the way it’s been ever since.
As far as the Dowd article’s concerned, reader CWT from Houston commented: “Dowd is concerned because a television personality personally insulted the President, and he personally insulted her back? Seriously? Mika is in the rarified arena of MSNBC. Millions of people watch her show. She earns an exceptional salary, hundreds of times more than most ordinary men in the United States by a long shot. She hides behind her femininity and now has hurt feelings? At her strata of American television exposure and personal wealth, she doesn't get to do that. She operates where the movers and shakers, the important people operate. She attacked Trump. Trump defended himself. That's life. Get over it, or get out.”
Another reader abbeylou came from a different direction, commenting: “What did having Obama as President tell us about the voters? That we embrace Muslim terrorists; that we have no pride in country; that we want to get attacked again as we reduced our military to pre World War II; that we love liars and don't care that Americans are killed in Benghazi...in fact...we stopped their being saved. That it's fine to destroy evidence of felony cover ups; that it's fine to politicize federal agencies, that it's ok to sell uranium to the Russians at our detriment, that destroying government equipment with a hammer is fine, especially when they hold evidence of committed felonies, that ....that...that....TRUMP!!!! Make America Great Again!!!”
At the same time, some quick research on another subject shows that as usual, a very different picture exists than what’s presented in the MSM regarding reworking Obama’s health care tax.
While the MSM clamors that too much time’s been taken and therefore, Republican plans are a failure, according to the Obamacare website: “Obama’s Health Care Reform, commonly called ObamaCare but officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA) for short, was signed into law on March 23, 2010.
“ObamaCare’s reform of the health care system under the ACA has been an ongoing effort to improve the national health care system. Although reform has taken great strides under President Barack Obama, efforts to make health care better have been in motion for decades.
“ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The law required that health insurance exchanges commence operation in every state on October 1, 2013.”
Which means that while reform had been “in motion for decades,” and it took almost three years to implement after being signed into law, Democrats, along with the MSM, claim that Trump’s 5 1/2 months in office is too long a time for any and all revisions.
And that’s obviously another excellent reason for the POTUS to keep communicating directly with his supporters who certainly deserve the truth they'll never get from the left or the MSM.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
To begin, Drudge posted a “Drudge Poll” asking “Should President Trump use socials?”
At present, results show that 75.07% (200,517 votes) are in favor of his “Tweets.”
24.93% (66,417) chose “Delete.”
Whereas most often the percentage of respondants to polls is a mere fraction of those visiting websites, it can be assumed that the vast majority of those visitors generally share common beliefs and interests. And that means the next statistic has significant value because on Thursday June 29th, Drudge posted the following: “THANKS A BILLION!
DRUDGEREPORT POPS TO #2 MEDIA TRAFFIC... PASSES GOOGLENEWS, CNN, FOX, NYTWASHPOST, HUFFBUZZ..”
Thus, if the audience poll participation assumption holds true, millions upon millions of Trump supporters who didn’t vote in the Drudge poll nonetheless believe he should continue his use of “socials.”
Joel B. Pollak picked up on the same theme today @breitbart.com, writing: “The conventional wisdom in the media, and even among many conservatives, is that President Donald Trump’s tweets are frustrating his policy agenda. But the opposite is true: his most controversial tweets are helping him.
“The conventional wisdom relies on the mistaken assumption that presidents must pursue their policy priorities by seeking support from the public at large. If that were true, it would indeed be best for Trump to play nice on Twitter.
“But in reality, because Republicans control Congress, and since they are prepared to use the Senate reconciliation process to overcome total Democratic obstruction, Trump merely needs to unite his own party to fulfill his agenda.”
From there, Pollak establishes the certainly valid case that a significant portion of the Republican Party has been hostile to Trump and his agenda from the outset. And that he cannot rally them whereas they’re not only split into different factions, but many cannot stand each other either. Thus, the “only way to unify them is to convince them that unless they fulfill their legislative promises on Obamacare and tax reform, they are going to lose the 2018 midterm elections, because conservative voters will stay home in droves.” And that unity can surely be helped by Trump’s tweeting directly to the voting public, as he’s does now.
Furthermore, “The president’s Twitter wars, like the one that exploded this week with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, also boost the conservative base. Not because the base condones what he says — many conservatives do not — but because when Trump alienates the media and the Democrats, he must rely more heavily on his supporters. That makes the party base immensely more powerful in defining the president’s agenda and keeping it focused.
“The notion that Trump’s tweets take media attention away from his accomplishments is spurious. The media have no interest whatsoever in covering Trump’s successes. At best, [what] the MSNBC fight has done is displace the Russia story (probably not intentionally — Trump is not that calculating, and he has nothing to hide on the Russian front.)”
“There is another advantage in Trump’s tweets. From The Art of the Deal, through the presidential campaign, and today, Trump has shown that he uses a strategy game theorists call “massive retaliatory strike.” As Breitbart News explained last year, Trump “is friendly by default, but hits back hard if challenged.” As a deterrent, that strategy is most effective when it is consistent. And certainly Scarborough and Brzezinksi did enough to invite a response.
“Far from embarrassing the country, as the media suggests, Trump’s approach also puts America’s enemies on notice.”
Most interestingly, while the Drudge poll results clearly illustrate the public favorability of Trump’s direct interaction with them, followed by Pollak’s well-informed explanation of the logic involved, Maureen Dowd once again demonstrates how out of touch she, her publication and her audience are with the value of today’s communication technology as applied by Trump.
Dowd continued her vendetta with Trump, writing @nytimes.com yesterday: “The 71-year-old president’s pathological inability to let go of slights; his strongman reflex to be the aggressor and bite back like a cornered animal, without regard for societal norms; his lack of self-awareness about the power he commands and the proportionality of his responses; his grotesque hunger for flattery and taste for Tony Soprano tactics; his Pravda partnership with David Pecker, the head honcho at The National Enquirer, which has been giving Trump the Il Duce treatment while sliming his political opponents, the “Morning Joe” anchors and Megyn Kelly — these are all matters that should alarm men and women equally.”
While the preceding paragraph is representative of the article in general, Dowd then shows that she’s either totally out of touch with Trump’s activities in office, or is presenting a total fabrication to her readers as she writes: “Trump is isolated in the White House, out of his milieu, unable to shape the story, forced to interact with people he doesn’t own. Even the staffers folding his clothes aren’t on his payroll.”
However, there’s another viewpoint regarding Trump’s work ethic that comes from supporters such as political commentator Michael Reagan who told Newsmax TV from the beginning: “President Donald Trump has not stopped to let "grass grow underneath his feet" since he took office last Friday and that will be a theme of his time in the White House.”
“Trump will not be taking much time off from work over the next four years, Reagan told "Newsmax Prime" host JD Hayworth.
"Now he's been sworn in, and he's not letting grass grow underneath his feet," Reagan said. "He was busy Saturday, he was busy Sunday, and of course now Monday, the first day of the work week, he's doing what? Meeting with leadership and Congress, meeting with unions, and signing executive orders in order to put people back to work in this country."
And that’s the way it’s been ever since.
As far as the Dowd article’s concerned, reader CWT from Houston commented: “Dowd is concerned because a television personality personally insulted the President, and he personally insulted her back? Seriously? Mika is in the rarified arena of MSNBC. Millions of people watch her show. She earns an exceptional salary, hundreds of times more than most ordinary men in the United States by a long shot. She hides behind her femininity and now has hurt feelings? At her strata of American television exposure and personal wealth, she doesn't get to do that. She operates where the movers and shakers, the important people operate. She attacked Trump. Trump defended himself. That's life. Get over it, or get out.”
Another reader abbeylou came from a different direction, commenting: “What did having Obama as President tell us about the voters? That we embrace Muslim terrorists; that we have no pride in country; that we want to get attacked again as we reduced our military to pre World War II; that we love liars and don't care that Americans are killed in Benghazi...in fact...we stopped their being saved. That it's fine to destroy evidence of felony cover ups; that it's fine to politicize federal agencies, that it's ok to sell uranium to the Russians at our detriment, that destroying government equipment with a hammer is fine, especially when they hold evidence of committed felonies, that ....that...that....TRUMP!!!! Make America Great Again!!!”
At the same time, some quick research on another subject shows that as usual, a very different picture exists than what’s presented in the MSM regarding reworking Obama’s health care tax.
While the MSM clamors that too much time’s been taken and therefore, Republican plans are a failure, according to the Obamacare website: “Obama’s Health Care Reform, commonly called ObamaCare but officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA) for short, was signed into law on March 23, 2010.
“ObamaCare’s reform of the health care system under the ACA has been an ongoing effort to improve the national health care system. Although reform has taken great strides under President Barack Obama, efforts to make health care better have been in motion for decades.
“ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The law required that health insurance exchanges commence operation in every state on October 1, 2013.”
Which means that while reform had been “in motion for decades,” and it took almost three years to implement after being signed into law, Democrats, along with the MSM, claim that Trump’s 5 1/2 months in office is too long a time for any and all revisions.
And that’s obviously another excellent reason for the POTUS to keep communicating directly with his supporters who certainly deserve the truth they'll never get from the left or the MSM.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
Saturday, July 1, 2017
BloggeRhythms
Having no rational plan, programs or leadership, the political left is now showing signs of coming mentally unglued altogether. As reported by David Martosko, US Political Editor @dailymail.co.uk via Drudge this morning: “A Democratic congressman has proposed convening a special committee of psychiatrists and other doctors whose job would be to determine if President Donald Trump is fit to serve in the Oval Office.
“So far two dozen members of the House, all Democrats, have signed on to cosponsor the bill.”
While panic among Democrats increases daily, it seems that investors and others involved in the nation’s economy have a very different opinion about the job that the POTUS is doing.
According to Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee @marketwatch.com the “Dow, S&P 500 notch best first-half performance since 2013.”
There is naturally, much explanation, speculation and trader reaction in the article. However, regardless of the arguments pro and con, investor confidence in the Trump economy is certainly a driving force in record securities investment taking place at present.
A reader, alex anson, summed the significant gains up this way:
“Thank you Donald Trump, you have done more for the good of the country in six months. As compared to the 8 years of the lying Obama, administration. Liars, liars, they were and are, that is why their pants are now on fire.
“As for the lying press, keep them on a full court press. They can't stand the pressure, they just can't take it anymore.”
As a practical reality, it appears that reader anson, is absolutely correct in his perception of the “lying” press whereas, according to ap.org/dynamic yesterday: “In stories published April 6, June 2, June 26 and June 29, The Associated Press reported that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies have agreed that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump. That assessment was based on information collected by three agencies - the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency - and published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which represents all U.S. intelligence agencies. Not all 17 intelligence agencies were involved in reaching the assessment.”
Thus, we have another day and another MSM retraction.
On the very same day, Matthew Boylea reports @breitbart.com: “Breitbart News investigation has led to the correction by the Associated Press–which originally resisted–of the fake news it printed as deeper questions of responsibility, accountability, and journalistic ethics consume the AP heading into Fourth of July weekend.
“This time, the Associated Press invented an imaginary meeting between EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, and then alleged that some kind of impropriety happened as a result.
“A Breitbart News investigation uncovered that no such “meetings” took place, the Senate Intelligence Committee was not investigating the matter, and the Treasury Department had already—at the urging of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to now Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before Trump’s inauguration—looked into it and determined the matter to be entirely “without merit.”
Adding to the mounting problems Democrats face due to their incapability's in office, an article by William Lajeunesse @FoxNews.com raises the question of who’s mental fitness really needs testing, the president’s or those on the political left?
Lajeunesse addresses the national debate regarding sanctuary cities and the proposition that illegal immigrants are safer within them.
According to Lajeunesse: “Sanctuary supporters claim they are."
"Police chiefs across the nation believe that enlisting local police to enforce immigration law is a bad idea," California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, a Democrat, claimed at a news conference last week. "Having [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] pluck criminals out of jail and send them across the border or wherever they came only to come right back endangers our communities.”
However, a “six-year study published last year by the University of California, Riverside found "violent crime is slightly higher in sanctuary cities." It concluded there was "no statistically discernible difference in violent crime rates, rape, or property crime across" 55 cities studied.
Nonetheless, data from the Arizona Police Association reveals otherwise. “In May 2008, Phoenix reversed itself, becoming a non-sanctuary state. Under the policy, police had full discretion to ask suspects about their immigration status and had the freedom to call ICE.”
Levi Bolton, the association’s executive director said: “We saw a decrease in crime. It had a deterrent effect on folks because the risk of discovery went up exponentially when we actually enforced the law."
“Bolton served with Mark Spencer, who spent 25 years patrolling in Phoenix.
"When we eliminated our sanctuary policy back in 2008, we saw crime, violent and stolen vehicles fall by 25 percent," he recalled. "We saw a 20-year low crime rate. When we were allowed and had the discretion to contact our federal immigration partners, crime fell drastically."
“According to City-Data.com, which collects data from various government agencies, from 2008 to 2009 Phoenix's murder rate fell 27 percent, robberies by 23 percent, assault by 13 percent, burglaries by 14 percent and theft by 19 percent. The numbers for each category fell the following year as well – albeit by smaller margins.”
Reader, RudiMatt, addressed the premise quite succinctly, asking: “Why can't people get this concept, if you come to a country and break it's immigration laws you have committed a crime. It's really that simple.”
Thus, when all of the information's gathered regarding specific issues, rather than broad speculations about incompetency, one has to truly wonder who’s really in need of mental testing. Is it leftist leadership, the group proven erroneous at every turn imaginable, or the POTUS whose platform seems to be working slowly but surely, as it turns the nation’s prospects around for the better?
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
“So far two dozen members of the House, all Democrats, have signed on to cosponsor the bill.”
While panic among Democrats increases daily, it seems that investors and others involved in the nation’s economy have a very different opinion about the job that the POTUS is doing.
According to Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee @marketwatch.com the “Dow, S&P 500 notch best first-half performance since 2013.”
There is naturally, much explanation, speculation and trader reaction in the article. However, regardless of the arguments pro and con, investor confidence in the Trump economy is certainly a driving force in record securities investment taking place at present.
A reader, alex anson, summed the significant gains up this way:
“Thank you Donald Trump, you have done more for the good of the country in six months. As compared to the 8 years of the lying Obama, administration. Liars, liars, they were and are, that is why their pants are now on fire.
“As for the lying press, keep them on a full court press. They can't stand the pressure, they just can't take it anymore.”
As a practical reality, it appears that reader anson, is absolutely correct in his perception of the “lying” press whereas, according to ap.org/dynamic yesterday: “In stories published April 6, June 2, June 26 and June 29, The Associated Press reported that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies have agreed that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump. That assessment was based on information collected by three agencies - the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency - and published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which represents all U.S. intelligence agencies. Not all 17 intelligence agencies were involved in reaching the assessment.”
Thus, we have another day and another MSM retraction.
On the very same day, Matthew Boylea reports @breitbart.com: “Breitbart News investigation has led to the correction by the Associated Press–which originally resisted–of the fake news it printed as deeper questions of responsibility, accountability, and journalistic ethics consume the AP heading into Fourth of July weekend.
“This time, the Associated Press invented an imaginary meeting between EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, and then alleged that some kind of impropriety happened as a result.
“A Breitbart News investigation uncovered that no such “meetings” took place, the Senate Intelligence Committee was not investigating the matter, and the Treasury Department had already—at the urging of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to now Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before Trump’s inauguration—looked into it and determined the matter to be entirely “without merit.”
Adding to the mounting problems Democrats face due to their incapability's in office, an article by William Lajeunesse @FoxNews.com raises the question of who’s mental fitness really needs testing, the president’s or those on the political left?
Lajeunesse addresses the national debate regarding sanctuary cities and the proposition that illegal immigrants are safer within them.
According to Lajeunesse: “Sanctuary supporters claim they are."
"Police chiefs across the nation believe that enlisting local police to enforce immigration law is a bad idea," California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, a Democrat, claimed at a news conference last week. "Having [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] pluck criminals out of jail and send them across the border or wherever they came only to come right back endangers our communities.”
However, a “six-year study published last year by the University of California, Riverside found "violent crime is slightly higher in sanctuary cities." It concluded there was "no statistically discernible difference in violent crime rates, rape, or property crime across" 55 cities studied.
Nonetheless, data from the Arizona Police Association reveals otherwise. “In May 2008, Phoenix reversed itself, becoming a non-sanctuary state. Under the policy, police had full discretion to ask suspects about their immigration status and had the freedom to call ICE.”
Levi Bolton, the association’s executive director said: “We saw a decrease in crime. It had a deterrent effect on folks because the risk of discovery went up exponentially when we actually enforced the law."
“Bolton served with Mark Spencer, who spent 25 years patrolling in Phoenix.
"When we eliminated our sanctuary policy back in 2008, we saw crime, violent and stolen vehicles fall by 25 percent," he recalled. "We saw a 20-year low crime rate. When we were allowed and had the discretion to contact our federal immigration partners, crime fell drastically."
“According to City-Data.com, which collects data from various government agencies, from 2008 to 2009 Phoenix's murder rate fell 27 percent, robberies by 23 percent, assault by 13 percent, burglaries by 14 percent and theft by 19 percent. The numbers for each category fell the following year as well – albeit by smaller margins.”
Reader, RudiMatt, addressed the premise quite succinctly, asking: “Why can't people get this concept, if you come to a country and break it's immigration laws you have committed a crime. It's really that simple.”
Thus, when all of the information's gathered regarding specific issues, rather than broad speculations about incompetency, one has to truly wonder who’s really in need of mental testing. Is it leftist leadership, the group proven erroneous at every turn imaginable, or the POTUS whose platform seems to be working slowly but surely, as it turns the nation’s prospects around for the better?
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
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