Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

JUNE 17, 2022

IT'S ABOUT TIME:  The FBI has started to investigate attacks on and threats to pregnancy counseling centers, which are part of the pro-life movement.  This should have happened much earlier.  From the New York Post: 

The FBI is investigating attacks on pregnancy resource centers across the country as acts of domestic violent extremism, the bureau announced on Friday.

“The FBI is investigating a series of attacks and threats targeting pregnancy resource centers and faith-based organizations across the country,” the FBI said in a statement first reported by Fox News. “The FBI takes all threats seriously and we continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners and will remain vigilant to protect our communities.”

The investigations come after violent pro-abortion groups have targeted these organizations following the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which purported to overturn Roe v. Wade. These groups counsel women on alternatives to abortion and, often, provide shelter and other resources for new and expectant mothers. Many of them are religiously affiliated with Christian organizations and churches.

The attacks have, so far, involved assaults on physical property where graffiti, paint, fecal matter, are strewn on the exterior walls and where windows and doors are broken.

However, a recent assassination attempt on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in Maryland stemmed from the publication of his home address by ‘Ruth Sent Us,’ one of the groups involved in virulent pro-abortion protests outside such centers.

The pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge had recently taken credit for an attack on Wisconsin Family Action in Madison, Wis., in May, where two Molotov cocktails were thrown into its offices after windows were broken.

Pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge had recently taken credit for an attack on Wisconsin Family Action in Madison, Wis., in May, where two Molotov cocktails were thrown into its offices after windows were broken. Extremists also threw red paint on a similar location in Washington, D.C. Similar arson attacks were also reported at such centers in Gersham, Oregon, Buffalo, N.Y., and New York City.

The investigation comes after 124 Republican Members of Congress wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for an investigation. In its statement, the Bureau said that “the FBI takes all threats seriously and we continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners and will remain vigilant to protect our communities.”

COMMENT:  Speaker of the House and second in line for the presidency Nancy Pelosi has already announced that she has no intention of speaking about attacks on pro-life centers.  Good old Nancy, true to the American spirit in every way.

I'm only guessing, but I'd imagine that the FBI is moving now to avoid looking flat-footed if there are riots after the Supreme Court hands down its decision on whether to overturn Roe v. Wade.  I'd love to know if the Bureau is moving on its own, or was ordered to by our less-than-awake attorney-general, Merrick ("I never heard of it") Garland. 

June 17, 2022     Permalink

THE SLOW FADEAWAY OF CNN:  CNN's "numbers" are pathetically bad.  The network's new owners say they want to shake up CNN and turn it into a balanced news reporting operation.  The question is whether it's too late.  CNN's viewers will have a booster meeting in a phone booth next week.  From Fox: 

CNN had its smallest weekday audience since the Obama administration on Tuesday as ratings woes continue to plague the struggling network. 

CNN, which was purchased by Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year following the closing of a $43 billion merger, averaged only 393,000 total viewers on June 14. The dismal turnout was CNN’s smallest weekday audience since Nov. 2, 2015 if you exclude Thanksgiving Day. 

The network also had its least-viewed, non-Thanksgiving weekday during the hours of 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. when CNN’s daytime lineup managed only 489,000 average viewers. It was CNN’s worst performance in that category since Nov. 3, 2015. 

CNN developed a reputation for relying on critical coverage of former-President Trump to attract liberal viewers under former boss Jeff Zucker, but Tuesday’s gloomy turnout came one day after the Jan. 6 committee spent Monday focused heavily on Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results through litigation. CNN shed a staggering 43% of the 694,000 total viewers who tuned in on Monday when there was no hearing on Tuesday. 

The rock-bottom viewership came as recently appointed CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht – who replaced Zucker – is expected to address staffers during an internal staff meeting on Thursday. He previously informed staffers he would "double down on what's working well and quickly eliminate what's not," and there have since been lingering questions about what programs or personalities were scrapped by the new regime.  

Long-struggling morning show "New Day" will be re-imagined later this year, Licht announced at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront event last month. Other changes have not yet been announced, but Licht has stated he wants to put an emphasis on news, as opposed to liberal opinion programming. 

COMMENT:  My own sense is that CNN's problems are well past the point where some adjustments will do the trick.  What is needed is a total overhaul, which may, sadly, mean major personnel changes.

The network's coverage of Ukraine has been the one bright spot in its recent legacy.  But its domestic coverage continues to beat the anti-Trump gun.  It's as if nothing has changed.  And the ship is still sinking.  What kind of viewer base will CNN have when changes are finally made?  Will anyone come back? 

June 17, 2022       Permalink

JUNE 16, 2022

BLACK REPUBLICANS EMERGE – OVERNIGHT:  Another one of the Democratic Party's base groups is getting wobbly.   Look at the number of black Republicans running for office.  From Newsweek: 

A record number of Black Republican candidates are running for congressional office this year. The National Republican Congressional Committee counted 81 African American candidates running under the GOP banner in 72 congressional districts in 2022. This is more than a 50 percent increase over the 2020 election cycle. And if the GOP knows what's good for it, this will be the start of a new era in right-wing politics.

This new development comes after decades during which the GOP struggled to attract minorities into its ranks—both minority voters as well as minority candidates. The Republican Party, which saw its support among Black Americans begin its descent shortly after Reconstruction, stopped making concerted efforts to regain Black support by the 1960s. President Richard Nixon, who had a "Black Cabinet," was the last Republican president to make a concerted push to win over Black voters. Since then, the party got by making milquetoast overtures to the Black community, almost as if they were merely checking a box.

But now, in the post-Trump era, it appears the GOP is beginning to embrace a new strategy, one that includes supporting minority and female candidates to appeal to a broader swath of voters. One of the lessons the party seems to have learned of late is that representation matters. And in a movement that purports to eschew identity politics, it appears that at least some in the leadership understand that one crucial part of winning over Black voters, in particular, is to make sure they see people in the party who look like them.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told the Washington Times that having more Black conservatives in the House has helped to inspire more Black voters to give GOP candidates a chance. "They see me. They see Burgess. They saw [Rep. Allen West of Florida]. They saw [Rep. Mia Love of Utah]. They see [Virginia Lt. Gov.] Winsome Sears. They see [North Carolina Lt. Gov.] Mark Robinson," he explained. "And what they say is, 'You know what? Maybe I should step up, too.'"

COMMENT:  Great!  And what is especially great is that a growing number of African-Americans realize that they've been exploited by the Democrats, who've been taking them for granted for decades.  While the GOP hasn't had an African-American on the national ticket, that day may soon come.  There is national talk surrounding Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and the above-mentioned Winsome Sears. 

The Democratic response to black Republicans will undoubtedly be to label them as "illegitimate," or a creation of Donald Trump.  I don't think that will cut it in the modern era.  Once people learn they are permitted to think for themselves, and to vote the way they wish...they'll rather like it.

June 16, 2022     Permalink