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SEPTEMBER 12-13,  2022

I rarely do this, but I'd like to recommend a book.  Will Stroock, a distinguished military historian and Urgent Agenda contributor, has written "The Great Nuclear War of 1975," a novel filled with non-fiction elements.  It's about a nuclear war between the West and the Soviet Union, with the United States led by President Nelson Rockefeller.  Absolutely exciting and gripping, and a reminder that a nuclear war might well be fought, and will have an aftermath.  Well worth your time.  Let me give you the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TR51QFZ/ref=pe_2313400_664428180_em_1p_0_lm

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

THIS IS NUTS:  EMPLOYEES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES ARE DEEPLY UPSET.  FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   The New York Times expects employees to start returning to the office three days a week starting this week — but more than 1,300 journalists are saying hell no, they won’t go.  It’s just the latest blow in the increasingly bitter contract dispute between the News Guild journalists union — which includes reporters and photographers, as well as some editors and business-side employees — and upper management, over wages.  As of Monday, 1,316 Times workers had signed a pledge not to return to the office. This includes 879 members of the News Guild, but also members of the Times Tech Guild and the union for Wirecutter, the paper’s product-recommendation spinoff.  “People are livid,” Tom Coffey told The Post. A 25-year veteran editor at the NYT, he works on the news desk and serves on the union’s Contract Action Committee.  He added that being forced to return to the office during a period of high inflation means workers will have to spend more money on gas, mass transit, clothing and lunches, despite the lack of salary increases.  NYT video journalist Haley Willis tweeted today: “The @nytimes is giving employees branded lunch boxes this week as a return-to-office perk. We want respect and a fair contract instead — so I’m working from home this week along with 1,300 of my @NYTimesGuild and @NYTGuildTech colleagues, with support from @WirecutterUnion.”  Branded lunch boxes?  To impress whom?  Maybe this bitter experience will teach The Times and its people that there's a real world out there, not just an ideological world.

IRAN COMMENTS ON THE DEATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II.  Apparently, the late sovereign was the equal of Adolf Hitler.  Watch the YOUTUBE video.  It is incredible that we still negotiate with, and make concessions to, a government that puts out this vile stuff.  Where is our dignity?

September 12-13       Permalink

WHAT'S HOLDING THE GOP BACK?  We are seeing more and more articles pointing to factors that are suppressing the expected GOP landslide.  The bigs in the GOP must listen.  From the Washington Times: 

The Republican Party needs to ramp up its election outreach or lose voter support, at least according to a very succinct survey. 

Indeed, the proverbial Grand Old Party may not be so grand right now. The GOP’s popular appeal is not resonating with voters as the clock relentlessly ticks toward Election Day.

“Have Republicans made a strong enough case as to why they should earn your support in the 2022 midterm elections?” asks a Trafalgar Group poll of “likely general election voters” released Tuesday.

And the results: 56% of the respondents said the GOP message has not reached them, a third agreed that the party had made a strong enough case to make their point, while the rest were unsure.

“Considering the failure of Afghanistan, inflation, student loans, the recession we are in, the attempted vaccine mandates, the border, and President Biden’s dark and dangerous speech recently, the Biden administration has been a complete disaster, and his record low approval numbers show that. Logically, one would think that national Republicans would be riding high, able to take advantage of this situation to create momentum,” said Mark Meckler, president of the Convention of States, in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

“Yet, the fact is the feckless leadership, poor communication, and what appears to be a non-existent strategy is causing voters to say loud and clear: you need to try harder. If the GOP thinks they are just going to win this thing by not being Joe Biden, they are sorely mistaken,” he added.

But back to the numbers.

A hefty 87% of Democrats said Republicans had failed to make their case, along with 57% of independents, and even 26% of Republican voters themselves.

The poll also found that 64% of voters ages 25-34 and 61% of those ages 35-44 also agreed that the GOP had not made that “strong enough case” to win their support.

The numbers were highest among Black voters (69%) and Hispanic voters (63%) — though 54% of White voters also said the GOP message was missing.

Message to the Republican Party: Get a message.

COMMENT:  The message is correct.  We've said it here before.  Republicans can't just be against Biden.  They have to be for something.  The voting public wants to know what the GOP will do to get us out of our current mess, and they're not hearing it.

We hear that the GOP is about to unveil its vision of the future.  The unveiling had better come before the election.  And it must focus on the winning issues for Republicans, not their philosophy of life.  Education.  Killing inflation.  Crime.  Restoring the spirit of the country. 

The message must be optimistic.  Reagan told us, "It's morning in America."  Today's Republicans sometimes settle for "Biden is bad."  Morning wins.

Can you believe that September is half over?  There's not much time until election day.  This will be a turnout election.  If you want to win, you've got to get your people to the polls.  Some Democrats are newly animated over the abortion issue.  Republicans  must be so driven on election day that they'd go through a tornado to vote.

September 12-13     Permalink

A BIT OF HOPE AT CNN:  There are signs that the failing "first name in news" is finally recognizing its problems and trying to correct them.  But the path is long.  From Newsbusters: 

CNN offered another clue Monday morning into how a properly-run CNN under Discovery and boss Chris Licht might look as New Day introduced a new segment called “Upon Further Review” to reexamine stories that, once facts emerged, showed something was different than the initial narrative. With the ever-pompous John Avlon at the helm, the first installment touched on the debunked claims of racist taunts from Brigham Young University fans to a Duke women’s volleyball player.

Having promoted the story herself, co-host Brianna Keilar began by informing viewers that “[t]wo weeks after a Duke volleyball player alleged she was called racial slurs during a game against Brigham Young University, an investigation into the incident found no evidence to corroborate the report.”

Avlon took over and said he’d be “starting something a little different” (versus his smug “Reality Check” lectures) called “Upon Further Review” that would provide “updates” on “the initial official version of the story once more facts come in.”

He explained that the incident at BYU put volleyball at “the front of the outrage Olympics two weeks ago when a Duke starter named Rachel Richardson make the explosive accusation.”

Noting that Richardson received support from “stars like Lebron James” as “the country rallied around her” (which was dubious to suggest), Avlon conceded “her family appear[ed] here on CNN, amid some 65 separate articles” in the press “about the controversy” and it resulting in the University of South Carolina cancelling a lady’s basketball game against BYU.

Avlon then said BYU “offered a wholehearted apology” and “banned a fan who had been identified as making the racist slurs,” but still “launched an internal investigation.”
As a result, however, Avlon said “that’s where the narrative started to fall far short of the initial indignation” as BYU found zero evidence to corroborate Richardson’s tall tale after having “review[ed] all available video and audio recordings and reaching out to more than 50 folks who attended the game, including Duke personnel and athletes.”

Avlon argued that while “healthy skepticism is always a virtue…this doesn't read like a cover-up” as opposed to “a rush to judgment because of a well-intentioned impulse to believe the Duke player's accusations.”

What Avlon wouldn’t admit was those defending Richardson indeed wanted the racist slurs to be true in order to further their preferred narratives about humanity or, more specifically, those that lean conservative (such as Mormons).

“Now, we need to note that the investigation does not call Rachel Richardson a liar or a fabricator. It leaves open the possibility that she sincerely believed that she heard repeated racial heckling and that some sort of misunderstanding occurred,” he added, as if to offer an olive branch.

Moments after saying “facts always have to come first,” Avlon came back to argue that, when more facts come to light, both journalists and the public should “acknowledge it and adjust,” no matter the topic.

He then concluded with more sage advice:

"Fidelity to the facts is all that we as journalists and citizens should ask. It's understandable that there's a desire to believe people when they say they've been victimized, but the accusations have to be backed up by facts and when the facts don't fit upon further review, we need to set the record straight with as much intensity as the initial reports."

Exit question: How much do you think Avlon and his CNN colleagues will apply this to conservatives, Republicans, and former President Trump?

COMMENT:  Well, it's a start.  But even if CNN is saved from disgrace, it will not guarantee any improvement in even more important "news" networks, like CBS, NBC, ABC and newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post.  We can hope for the best, but one can seriously wonder whether some of the "leaders" in journalism are beyond redemption, and whether new organizations will be needed to replace them.

September 12-13, 2022       Permalink

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

THEY'RE CRAWLING OUT OF THEIR BUNKERS:  I call it the 48-hour rule.  Under that rule, it takes about 48 hours for the left to re-organize after a large event and make it its own.  Never let a good crisis go to waste, they say.

And so it is.  The death of Queen Elizabeth has given the left a new birth of wackdom.  Right at the top of the honor role is Christiane Amanpour, who could not resist.  Get this, from Fox: 

CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour suggested Friday that King Charles III must address Britain's "colonial legacy."

Amanpour was live in London analyzing Charles III’s first public address as king and the conversation came around to how "different demographics" were listening to it for different reasons.

"I really do believe that we have to have this conversation right now, even at this moment," she said of British colonialism and pointed to the king's remarks.

"And look, what he said, ‘In the 70 years of her being on the throne, many cultures and faiths have flourished in these past seven decades,’" she paraphrased.

Amanpour appeared to suggest that this flourishing was overblown, "particularly in the wake of Black Lives Matter and particularly in the protests that erupted all over the world after what happened in Minnesota, here as well, in France and other parts of these nations that had colonial servants, let’s face it."

She recounted further that Britain, specifically, has a controversial imperial history, saying, "People were in service to this empire. The wealth of this empire was derived on the back of the people of their empire."

"What we’re saying is that there is the generation of multicultural and diverse Britons who want this answered, who want to see their monarch finally talk about what it means and, you know, potentially the idea of reparations, definitely justice, right? Justice," she said, warning that the citizenry of Britain has diversified and is looking to the King to address modern cultural issues with new policies.

She added further that "Prince William who’s the heir and the next king, he talked about it, having been criticized for a trip he made in the Caribbean - again, colonial legacy - that we must have this discussion, and it must be up to those countries. But it also has to be had in this country [England] as well."

During his first televised address as king after he inherited the crown from the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles III addressed the increasingly diverse state of the U.K.

"In the course of the last seventy years we have seen our society become one of many cultures and many faiths. The institutions of the State have changed in turn," he noted. "But, through all changes and challenges, our nation and the wider family of Realms – of whose talents, traditions and achievements I am so inexpressibly proud – have prospered and flourished. Our values have remained, and must remain, constant."

COMMENT:  Oh please.  Give the lady a comfort pill.  First, the Royal Family does not make policy.  Second, British colonialism largely ended before Elizabeth even became queen.  Third, the Queen's passing is not the time to bring up events in Minnesota, a place not generally impacted by public policy.  Fourth, Britain has treated its new immigrants far better than most countries would. 

And reparations?  Britain is straining financially.  Its people have been through two world wars.  Its citizens today did not cause colonialism.  Reasonable respect for the past is fine, and sometimes apologies are appropriate, and maybe even gifts.  But this discussion is out of place as the sovereign's coffin is being moved.

The left always carries things too far.  It's a proud group tradition.

September 11, 2022       Permalink