NEWSFEED THURSDAY: Pelosi’s Televised Impeachment Statement from Hell

J Robert Smith

  • Dec. 5, 2019
  • 3 min read

Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n

— John Milton, Paradise Lost

THE TAKE

There’s a teaching moment in cynicism available for your kids. It can be seen on ABC News via YouTube. Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t just play a cynic, she is one. So thoroughly a cynic that Pelosi’s thick makeup barely hid the corrosion underneath. The speaker accused President Trump of committing treason – well, practically. That was once a hanging offense.

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NEWSFEED MONDAY: Eco-sins, Pope Francis, & the Road to Draconian Laws

J Robert Smith

  • Dec. 2, 2019
  • 4 min read

VATICAN CITY — Following through on a proposal made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis said there are plans to include a definition of ecological sins in the church’s official teaching.

“We should be introducing — we were thinking — in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, ecological sin against the common home,” he told participants at a conference on criminal justice Nov. 15.

— Catholic News Service, via EarthBeat, November 15, 2019

Climate change is a favorite issue for Pope Francis. It is almost certain that it will be a major aspect of the catechism on “ecological sin.”

But his understanding of environmental care and climate change is bankrupt theologically and scientifically. [snip]

— The Christian Post, November 24, 2019

THE TAKE

Roman Catholics beware. Pope Francis wants to introduce “ecological sins” into Catholic teachings. But the pontiff wants even more than sins against the environment, evidently. Francis has declared that eco-sins are crimes. Presumably, Francis will leave writing legal codes to secular powers. But that’s no consolation. Here’s why.

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NEWSFEED THANKSGIVING: What Democrats are Unthankful For

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 27, 2019
  • 4 min read

My family, like many others in the US, has a Thanksgiving Day tradition of going around the dinner table and having each of us reveal one thing we are thankful for. The responses usually include such things as family, health, talents and abilities, and freedom.

— Ben Sharp, exploreGod, Undated

THE TAKE

It must be special to spend Thanksgiving at a gathering of Democrats. Imagine the table talk. It’s not centered on what to be grateful for, but, rather, what’s wrong with just about everything in America. Worse, no football is allowed on the tube. It’s far too masculine a sport – and violence, other than what Antifa produces, is a no-no.

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NEWSFEED MONDAY: ’96 Olympics: The Railroading of Richard Jewell

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 25, 2019
  • 5 min read

“This is essential because the underlying theme of the [Clint Eastwood movie about Richard Jewell] is that the FBI and press are not to be trusted. Yet the way the press is portrayed often differs from reality,” Riley said in the letter to TheWrap on Monday.

— Atlanta Journal Constitution editor-in-chief Kevin G. Riley, via TheWrap, November 18, 2019

[R]ecently the American Journalism Review sharply criticized The A.J. C. for the scanty confirmation and lack of skepticism in its coverage of Jewell.

— “American Nightmare: The Ballard of Richard Jewell,” Vanity Affair, February 1997

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Why Don’t Democratic Candidates Seem to Like America Much?

Robert Meyne

  • Nov. 23, 2019
  • 4 min read

It’s astonishing how politically bifurcated we have become. Many people who’ve spent years supporting politicians who are seriously flawed – liars, crooks, hypocrites –have adopted faux outrage over everything done by President Trump. Some Democratic leaders announced before Trump was even inaugurated that they wanted to impeach hm. Their entire agenda, for more than three years, has been driven by a single goal: to get rid of Trump. They put politics ahead of the national good, consistently and reliably. (There are days that I wish Republicans in Congress were as disciplined and committed as the Democrats.)

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NEWSFEED THURSDAY: The Radical Feminist Approach Behind Impeachment

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 21, 2019
  • 4 min read

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testified that there was a “quid pro quo” between the U.S. and Ukraine, even though President Trump made it crystal clear to Sondland that there was no “quid pro quo.”

So, how did the ambassador arrive at his opinion that a “quid pro quo” must somehow exist? It turns out that he assumed or “presumed” it. At one point, he called it a mere “guess.”

The trouble with presumptions and guess-work is that they are often unreliable and sometimes quite wrong. Assumptions and suppositions, by their nature, can be risky and foolish. We should trust only in what we know that is derived from facts. This was the fatal flaw in Sondland’s narrative. [Bold added]

— Gregg Jarrett, November 20, 2019

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NEWSFEED TUESDAY: Will Trump Lose Reelection in the Suburbs?

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 19, 2019
  • 4 min read

For his part, the president has accepted that path — choosing not to broaden his appeal by tapering his temperament to one that might suit the two-income, two-degree Republican-leaning suburban families who split their tickets in 2016 and then chose Democratic congressmen in 2018. These voters crave predictability and civility at a gut level, two things in short supply in Trump’s style, but they tell pollsters they are wary of the lurch toward socialism in today’s Democratic Party. Thus far, their hearts have overpowered their heads in off-year elections in the Trump era, and Democrats are banking on the same result in 2020. [Bold added]

— Selena Zito & Brad Todd, Washington Examiner, November 18, 2019

THE TAKE

There’s no disputing that Democrats made gains in suburbs in the 2018 midterm elections and 2019 off-year elections. Republicans should be concerned. The big question for 2020: Will the presidential race pivot in the ‘burbs? Will Democrats make enough inroads in suburban areas in key battleground states to defeat Trump? Will Trump be the first president since the elder Bush to get a “one and done” edict, thanks to the drift of suburbanites?

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NEWSFEED MONDAY: Jordan, Stefanik – Rising Stars in the Impeachment Fight

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 18, 2019
  • 2 min read

“A new Republican Star is born,” Trump wrote on Twitter, sharing a video of her appearance at Friday’s impeachment hearing. “Great going Elise Stefanik!”

— Breitbart, September 16, 2019

OUICK TAKE

Leaders arise in trying times – often times of conflict. Ever heard of Grant and Sherman? Until the Civil War, both soldiers were obscure figures. But winning battles against tough foes changed all that. Both became household names long before the war ended. Both are enduring, revered historic figures.

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NEWSFEED WEEKEND: Why is Trump Accuser, Yovanovitch, above Scrutiny & Criticism?

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 16, 2019
  • 3 min read

Trump took to Twitter on Friday morning to claim that “everywhere” U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch went “turned bad” and suggested she was to blame for the situation in Somalia, where she did her first tour. Yovanovitch was asked to react to the tweets during the hearing on Friday which was being carried live on air, and described them as “intimidating.”

The president’s tweet ran counter to a desire by Republicans to avoid attacking the character of career public servants like Yovanovitch, who boasts decades of service in the diplomatic corps in both Republican and Democratic administrations.

— The Hill, November 16, 2019

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NEWSFEED THURSDAY: The Bland Stalinist Evil of the Impeachment Hearings

J Robert Smith

  • Nov. 14, 2019
  • 3 min read

The burden of proof is on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) to do more than secure impeachment, which is all but certain. Their job is to conduct these hearings in a way that moves public opinion to the point that the Senate will convict the president. That means giving Republican senators something that changes their impression of Trump’s conduct of Ukraine foreign policy. What’s alleged may make many members of the GOP uncomfortable, but it doesn’t come remotely close to requiring that the president be removed from office. [bold added]

— Los Angeles Times, November 13, 2019

Evil, however, proves to be clever. It is charming, and sometimes handsome and even eager to please. It loves opera and literature. Small children are happily dandled on its knee.

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