hotair--2020-08-03--Trump testing czar: It's time to "move on" from hydroxychloroquine

Brett Giroir makes the right point here about why promoting the drug is a bad idea .
It ’ s not that it ’ s dangerous , although it does cause side effects in some users .
It ’ s not even that we ’ re facing the sort of shortage of it that we were facing in April , when the hype machine about HCQ revved up .
The feds have acquired many millions of pills since then .
It ’ s that touting it as some sort of easily available life-saver is apt to lead people to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the false belief that they can always just scrounge up some hydroxy if they get sick and beat the disease that way .
There ’ s no substitute for mask-wearing , social-distancing , and hand-washing right now , he says .
The anecdotal reports and observational studies are mixed , but the randomized clinical trials all point one way .
Although some people with a medical pedigree less impressive than Giroir ’ s aren ’ t concerned about that : Who knows if even Trump thinks it ’ s effective ?
He went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cure early and now he ’ s stuck defending it .
Forced to choose between admitting that he ’ s wrong and his team of scientists is right on the one hand and on the other hand saving face by encouraging an unproven treatment to Americans who need good advice , there ’ s no question what his choice will be .
Is the president ’ s obsession with hydroxychloroquine hurting him politically ?
According to YouGov , yeah .
They asked the question , “ Do you approve or disapprove of President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Twitter ?
” Note the split among independents : YouGov also asked people if they thought hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19 .
Independents split 15/53 on that .
Republican numbers are more favorable to Trump ’ s position , but those voters are already in the bag — and even the Republican splits are less one-sided than you might expect .
Thirty-nine percent of GOPers ( and 44 percent of people who say they intend to vote for Trump this fall ) say that they believe the drug is a cure .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s tepid support by Trump ’ s usual standards within the party as around 25 percent of Republicans and intended Trump voters say it ’ s not a cure .
By comparison , Democrats are much more lopsided in opposition ( 6/73 ) .
I sympathize with anyone who likes Trump and is normally inclined to believe him but is left struggling with the fact that doctors like Fauci and Giroir and Scott Gottlieb keep telling them that it looks like a bust .
What are you supposed to do with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parties may diverge in their views of HCQ but they ’ re broadly in sync now on masks : Democrats are still more likely to say they “ always ” wear masks in public spaces , but 72 percent of Republicans agree .
In fact , a majority of Republicans now favor mask mandates .
Maybe that ’ s a reaction to Trump leading by example on masks lately , maybe it ’ s a reaction to GOPers worrying more about the pandemic as it spreads across red states , maybe it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news , whatever the answer .
The Times has a story today about scientists in the feds ’ employ beginning to worry that the White House will try to rush an unready , untested vaccine to market in October as a pre-election surprise to help Trump .
“ There are a lot of people on the inside of this process who are very nervous about whether the administration is going to reach their hand into the Warp Speed bucket , pull out one or two or three vaccines , and say , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few thousand people , it looks safe , and now we are going to roll it out , ’ ” said one advisor to the FDA .
I ’ ve seen that theory raised before and I ’ m always left wondering why its adherents feel so sure that would do more to help Trump than to hurt him .
Presumably many respected scientists would come out of the woodwork to warn the public if the data suggested that the vaccine ’ s not ready for primetime , and as we can see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public would be more likely to believe them than Trump .
( As further evidence , compare Fauci ’ s approval ratings to the president ’ s . )
Trump has very little credibility on COVID-related matters , from his early pollyanna-ish assurances that the virus would disappear to his insistence on reopening ASAP would be a good idea to his inane refrain that the U.S. only has more cases than Europe because we ’ re testing more .
Add to that the fact that many Americans are already worried about the safety @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a recipe for political disaster .
If he calls a presser on October 20 and says , “ It ’ s ready !
” , everyone except his most devoted supporters will react with suspicion that he ’ s pushing snake oil in hopes of getting an election bounce .
The media will start digging into the vaccine ’ s approval process to see if shortcuts were taken ; people will howl for Fauci , Birx , Giroir , and respected doctors outside the administration like Gottlieb to give their honest assessment of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re all prepared to chuck ethical obligations out the window and lie on Trump ’ s behalf by saying the vaccine is proven safe and effective when it isn ’ t , the “ October surprise ” will quickly turn into an October fiasco in which the president is accused of playing politics with the health of 330 million people for his own electoral benefit .
The backlash might finish him off .

Brett Giroir makes the right point here about why promoting the drug is a bad idea. It’s not that it’s dangerous, although it does cause side effects in some users. It’s not even that we’re facing the sort of shortage of it that we were facing in April, when the hype machine about HCQ revved up. The feds have acquired many millions of pills since then. It’s that touting it as some sort of easily available life-saver is apt to lead people to take more risks than they otherwise would in the false belief that they can always just scrounge up some hydroxy if they get sick and beat the disease that way. There’s no substitute for mask-wearing, social-distancing, and hand-washing right now, he says.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump's coronavirus testing czar @HHS_ASH says America needs to "move on" from discussing hydroxychloroquine. #MTP "The evidence just doesn't show hydroxychloroquine is effective, for now." pic.twitter.com/JrQGTGDnfg — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 2, 2020
The anecdotal reports and observational studies are mixed, but the randomized clinical trials all point one way.
Although some people with a medical pedigree less impressive than Giroir’s aren’t concerned about that:
At his event just now, Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine at length. When asked about Fauci's comments about the drug not being effective against the coronavirus, he said, "I don't agree with Fauci." — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 3, 2020
Who knows if even Trump thinks it’s effective? He went all-in on the idea of a miracle cure early and now he’s stuck defending it. Forced to choose between admitting that he’s wrong and his team of scientists is right on the one hand and on the other hand saving face by encouraging an unproven treatment to Americans who need good advice, there’s no question what his choice will be.
Is the president’s obsession with hydroxychloroquine hurting him politically? According to YouGov, yeah. They asked the question, “Do you approve or disapprove of President Trump promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine on Twitter?” Note the split among independents:
YouGov also asked people if they thought hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19. Independents split 15/53 on that. Republican numbers are more favorable to Trump’s position, but those voters are already in the bag — and even the Republican splits are less one-sided than you might expect. Thirty-nine percent of GOPers (and 44 percent of people who say they intend to vote for Trump this fall) say that they believe the drug is a cure. That’s embarrassing, but it’s tepid support by Trump’s usual standards within the party as around 25 percent of Republicans and intended Trump voters say it’s not a cure. By comparison, Democrats are much more lopsided in opposition (6/73). I sympathize with anyone who likes Trump and is normally inclined to believe him but is left struggling with the fact that doctors like Fauci and Giroir and Scott Gottlieb keep telling them that it looks like a bust. What are you supposed to do with a hash of information like that?
The parties may diverge in their views of HCQ but they’re broadly in sync now on masks:
Democrats are still more likely to say they “always” wear masks in public spaces, but 72 percent of Republicans agree. In fact, a majority of Republicans now favor mask mandates. Maybe that’s a reaction to Trump leading by example on masks lately, maybe it’s a reaction to GOPers worrying more about the pandemic as it spreads across red states, maybe it’s both. It’s good news, whatever the answer.
The Times has a story today about scientists in the feds’ employ beginning to worry that the White House will try to rush an unready, untested vaccine to market in October as a pre-election surprise to help Trump. “There are a lot of people on the inside of this process who are very nervous about whether the administration is going to reach their hand into the Warp Speed bucket, pull out one or two or three vaccines, and say, ‘We’ve tested it on a few thousand people, it looks safe, and now we are going to roll it out,’” said one advisor to the FDA. I’ve seen that theory raised before and I’m always left wondering why its adherents feel so sure that would do more to help Trump than to hurt him. Presumably many respected scientists would come out of the woodwork to warn the public if the data suggested that the vaccine’s not ready for primetime, and as we can see in the hydroxychloroquine polling above, the public would be more likely to believe them than Trump. (As further evidence, compare Fauci’s approval ratings to the president’s.) Trump has very little credibility on COVID-related matters, from his early pollyanna-ish assurances that the virus would disappear to his insistence on reopening ASAP would be a good idea to his inane refrain that the U.S. only has more cases than Europe because we’re testing more.
Add to that the fact that many Americans are already worried about the safety of the vaccine and it’s a recipe for political disaster. If he calls a presser on October 20 and says, “It’s ready!”, everyone except his most devoted supporters will react with suspicion that he’s pushing snake oil in hopes of getting an election bounce. The media will start digging into the vaccine’s approval process to see if shortcuts were taken; people will howl for Fauci, Birx, Giroir, and respected doctors outside the administration like Gottlieb to give their honest assessment of the vaccine. Unless we think they’re all prepared to chuck ethical obligations out the window and lie on Trump’s behalf by saying the vaccine is proven safe and effective when it isn’t, the “October surprise” will quickly turn into an October fiasco in which the president is accused of playing politics with the health of 330 million people for his own electoral benefit. The backlash might finish him off.


hotair--2020-08-03--The TikTok people have a message for President Trump

The last time we checked in on the TikTok controversy , the President was threatening to ban the platform entirely from American soil unless a way could be found to not have the app ship everyone ’ s data directly to the Chinese Communist Party .
Stepping into the breach thus far has been Microsoft , who has “ generously ” offered to take the problem off of everyone else ’ s hands and buy TikTok and run it themselves .
But even that doesn ’ t sound like a plan that ’ s going to make the heavy hitters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A group of them , led by someone named Max Beaumont , have penned an open letter to the President , asking him to reconsider his threatened course of action .
But from the way Beaumont describes things , handing the platform over to Microsoft wouldn ’ t be much of an improvement over the CCP .
( Medium ) Gen-Z spent our childhoods on the internet .
But the internet that we encountered as teenagers was a very different internet than the one we grew up with .
Net neutrality and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of corporate monopoly .
Facebook and Google have taken the place of hundreds of companies and narrowed the world ’ s definition of what the internet could be .
TikTok is not based on open access or freedom of information : there are serious concerns over how the app collects its data that merit an American response .
But ironically , it is the first company to challenge the companies that have put an end to the open internet .
TikTok has enabled the kinds of interactions that could never take place on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We do not expect our parents ’ generation to understand how it has done so .
We expect them to think that we are naive creators desperate to keep our followings .
But we wanted to explain why we think that Donald Trump should think again about his decision to eliminate TikTok from America ’ s shores .
Signing off on this letter are 19 other people , all presumably TikTok luminaries , each one listing their number of followers under their names .
They range from just over one million to as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ironically , Beaumont comes in as low man on that totem pole with 360K followers . )
Having never used TikTok nor even installed it on any of my devices , I ’ m not familiar with their work , but I assume they are “ influencers ” in the TikTok universe .
While Beaumont admits that there are data security issues with the platform that need to be addressed , his broader complaint seems to be with the overall functioning of the internet and how the Big Tech giants have impacted how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
His chief complaints are with Facebook , Instagram and Twitter , which he accuses of dominating public discourse and fostering an increasingly partisan and divisive environment .
( Okay , Max… I think we ’ re going to have to give you that one . )
But what does he propose we do about it without surrendering ourselves to the not-so-tender mercies of the CCP ?
He suggests “ spinning off ” TikTok USA into a private business and letting them have an IPO .
Before you point out that Microsoft taking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , keep in mind what the author just finished pointing out .
Microsoft is already part of the evil empire that ’ s driving everyone apart and dominating the internet .
In fact , one might persuasively argue that Microsoft is the Darth Vader of this particular universe .
So handing them control of TikTok probably wouldn ’ t do much to assuage Beaumont ’ s fears .
But what ’ s the alternative ?
TikTok has already grown into a monster and you need a ton of investment capital to take over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t many kindly mom and pop shops with that sort of cash laying around .
If Microsoft wasn ’ t going to buy it , the app likely would have gone to Google or someone else in the same club .
In the end , however , even if we don ’ t satisfy all of Max Beaumont ’ s dreams , cutting off the CCP ’ s access to our data is still a plus , right ?
Well… sort of .
But now it will all be going to Microsoft @ @ @ @ @ @ @ improvement , but I wouldn ’ t call it a black and white , night and day distinction .

The last time we checked in on the TikTok controversy, the President was threatening to ban the platform entirely from American soil unless a way could be found to not have the app ship everyone’s data directly to the Chinese Communist Party. Stepping into the breach thus far has been Microsoft, who has “generously” offered to take the problem off of everyone else’s hands and buy TikTok and run it themselves. But even that doesn’t sound like a plan that’s going to make the heavy hitters in the American TikTok community very happy. A group of them, led by someone named Max Beaumont, have penned an open letter to the President, asking him to reconsider his threatened course of action. But from the way Beaumont describes things, handing the platform over to Microsoft wouldn’t be much of an improvement over the CCP. (Medium)
Gen-Z spent our childhoods on the internet. But the internet that we encountered as teenagers was a very different internet than the one we grew up with. Net neutrality and freedom of information were sacrificed in favor of corporate monopoly. Facebook and Google have taken the place of hundreds of companies and narrowed the world’s definition of what the internet could be. TikTok is not based on open access or freedom of information: there are serious concerns over how the app collects its data that merit an American response. But ironically, it is the first company to challenge the companies that have put an end to the open internet. TikTok has enabled the kinds of interactions that could never take place on the likes of Facebook and Instagram. We do not expect our parents’ generation to understand how it has done so. We expect them to think that we are naive creators desperate to keep our followings. But we wanted to explain why we think that Donald Trump should think again about his decision to eliminate TikTok from America’s shores.
Signing off on this letter are 19 other people, all presumably TikTok luminaries, each one listing their number of followers under their names. They range from just over one million to as high as 26.2 million. (Somewhat ironically, Beaumont comes in as low man on that totem pole with 360K followers.) Having never used TikTok nor even installed it on any of my devices, I’m not familiar with their work, but I assume they are “influencers” in the TikTok universe.
While Beaumont admits that there are data security issues with the platform that need to be addressed, his broader complaint seems to be with the overall functioning of the internet and how the Big Tech giants have impacted how we all navigate and use the web. His chief complaints are with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, which he accuses of dominating public discourse and fostering an increasingly partisan and divisive environment. (Okay, Max… I think we’re going to have to give you that one.) But what does he propose we do about it without surrendering ourselves to the not-so-tender mercies of the CCP?
He suggests “spinning off” TikTok USA into a private business and letting them have an IPO. Before you point out that Microsoft taking it over would accomplish the same goal, keep in mind what the author just finished pointing out. Microsoft is already part of the evil empire that’s driving everyone apart and dominating the internet. In fact, one might persuasively argue that Microsoft is the Darth Vader of this particular universe. So handing them control of TikTok probably wouldn’t do much to assuage Beaumont’s fears.
But what’s the alternative? TikTok has already grown into a monster and you need a ton of investment capital to take over an operation like that. There aren’t many kindly mom and pop shops with that sort of cash laying around. If Microsoft wasn’t going to buy it, the app likely would have gone to Google or someone else in the same club.
In the end, however, even if we don’t satisfy all of Max Beaumont’s dreams, cutting off the CCP’s access to our data is still a plus, right? Well… sort of. But now it will all be going to Microsoft. I suppose that’s an improvement, but I wouldn’t call it a black and white, night and day distinction.


hotair--2020-08-03--Debacle: New York's mail-in primary is *still* incomplete -- after six weeks

As I wrote last week , forget about the arguments on potential fraud .
Instead , think of just how badly the New York vote-by-mail primary has been handled from just a logistics point of view , and extrapolate that into fifty states in a general election .
The New York Times reports today that the vote count for the June 23 primary has still not been completed , and disqualified ballots are still piling up by the thousands : Election officials in New York City widely distributed mail-in ballots for the primary on June 23 , which featured dozens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hoped to make voting much easier , but they did not seem prepared for the response : more than 10 times the number of absentee ballots received in recent elections in the city .
Now , nearly six weeks later , two closely watched congressional races remain undecided , and major delays in counting a deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots and other problems are being cited as examples of the challenges facing the nation as it looks toward conducting the November general election during the pandemic .
… Election lawyers said one area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that mail-in ballots have prepaid return envelopes .
The Postal Service apparently had difficulty processing some of them correctly and , as a result , an unknown number of votes — perhaps thousands — may have been wrongfully disqualified because of a lack of a postmark .
Thousands more ballots in the city were discarded by election officials for minor errors , or not even sent to voters until the day before the primary , making it all but impossible for the ballots to be returned in time .
Six weeks .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential election using vote-by-mail systems that have similar logistics problems ?
That puts the final first count into mid-December , just a couple of weeks before the deadline for the Electoral College , usually around January 6 .
In New York , there won ’ t be much suspense over who won the presidential election ( although there might be challenges aplenty in congressional and state races ) .
However , we can expect all sorts of challenges to counts and then to ballots themselves in battleground states where the failure rate of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the two presidential candidates .
Suddenly , we ’ re looking at not just one Florida 2000 situation but potentially several , and this time with much less time to process those challenges .
Congress can delay the Electoral College vote , but not for long ; the presidential term ends at noon on January 20 by explicit constitutional mandate .
If we don ’ t have a president elected at that time , we also won ’ t have a vice president , which means the presidency temporarily goes to the speaker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t know who that might be , because potentially hundreds of House seats may be up in the air by the time Congress is supposed to reconvene in a new session .
New York isn ’ t just an outlier either , as Salena Zito pointed out last week .
Pennsylvania had the same problems in its primary : According to data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State , the number of mail-in ballots was 1,224,215 out of a total vote number of 2,877,749 .
Traditional absentees were 236,231 .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ showed up in person at the polls on primary Election Day was 1,361,231 , making it for the first time in this state ’ s history that in-person voting was eclipsed by votes received by mail .
… On the eve of the election , Democratic Gov .
Tom Wolf , citing civil unrest and a surge in ballots , signed an executive order for six counties to extend the deadline for county election offices to receive absentee or mail-in ballots to 5 p.m. June 9 , though they had to be postmarked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June 2 .
The data shows that 15,610 ballots statewide were not counted because they arrived late .
A grand total of 37,119 were not counted because either the ballot was undeliverable , the label was canceled for one reason or another , or there was no signature accompanying the ballot .
In 2016 , Donald Trump won Pennsylvania over Hillary Clinton by the slim margin of 40,000 votes — the first time a Republican had won the Keystone State ’ s electoral votes since George H.W .
Bush did it in 1988 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1.46 million votes by mail combined , with 52,729 failures in both categories .
That ’ s a failure rate of 3.6 % , far exceeding the percentage of victory for Donald Trump in all three Blue Wall states four years ago , as well as Hillary Clinton ’ s margin of victory in Minnesota .
The implications of using systems with that high of a failure rate are immense ; in an election where 130 million votes get cast , 4.7 million voters can expect to be disenfranchised at a 3.6 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ massive disaster for electoral credibility .
Nonetheless , Nancy Pelosi wants to go full speed ahead on mass vote-by-mail in November : Fraud ’ s not the issue , or at least not the pressing issue .
The voting system itself has too many points of failure and delay , and introduces too much ambiguity , to produce reliable results .
Those risks are present in absentee voting as well , but the normal volume is minimal enough that those failures don ’ t threaten the overall results .
The dry runs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all but the most unreasonable away from their use .
If we can go to protests and shop at Walmart , we can vote in person .
And all of the data we have in 2020 shows that we must vote in person .

As I wrote last week, forget about the arguments on potential fraud. Instead, think of just how badly the New York vote-by-mail primary has been handled from just a logistics point of view, and extrapolate that into fifty states in a general election. The New York Times reports today that the vote count for the June 23 primary has still not been completed, and disqualified ballots are still piling up by the thousands:
Election officials in New York City widely distributed mail-in ballots for the primary on June 23, which featured dozens of hard-fought races. The officials had hoped to make voting much easier, but they did not seem prepared for the response: more than 10 times the number of absentee ballots received in recent elections in the city. Now, nearly six weeks later, two closely watched congressional races remain undecided, and major delays in counting a deluge of 400,000 mail-in ballots and other problems are being cited as examples of the challenges facing the nation as it looks toward conducting the November general election during the pandemic. … Election lawyers said one area of concern in New York City was that mail-in ballots have prepaid return envelopes. The Postal Service apparently had difficulty processing some of them correctly and, as a result, an unknown number of votes — perhaps thousands — may have been wrongfully disqualified because of a lack of a postmark. Thousands more ballots in the city were discarded by election officials for minor errors, or not even sent to voters until the day before the primary, making it all but impossible for the ballots to be returned in time.
Six weeks. For a primary. What happens in a presidential election using vote-by-mail systems that have similar logistics problems? That puts the final first count into mid-December, just a couple of weeks before the deadline for the Electoral College, usually around January 6. In New York, there won’t be much suspense over who won the presidential election (although there might be challenges aplenty in congressional and state races). However, we can expect all sorts of challenges to counts and then to ballots themselves in battleground states where the failure rate of mass vote-by-mail far exceeds the distance between the two presidential candidates.
Suddenly, we’re looking at not just one Florida 2000 situation but potentially several, and this time with much less time to process those challenges. Congress can delay the Electoral College vote, but not for long; the presidential term ends at noon on January 20 by explicit constitutional mandate. If we don’t have a president elected at that time, we also won’t have a vice president, which means the presidency temporarily goes to the speaker of the House — only we won’t know who that might be, because potentially hundreds of House seats may be up in the air by the time Congress is supposed to reconvene in a new session.
New York isn’t just an outlier either, as Salena Zito pointed out last week. Pennsylvania had the same problems in its primary:
According to data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State, the number of mail-in ballots was 1,224,215 out of a total vote number of 2,877,749. Traditional absentees were 236,231. This meant that the number of Pennsylvanians who showed up in person at the polls on primary Election Day was 1,361,231, making it for the first time in this state’s history that in-person voting was eclipsed by votes received by mail. … On the eve of the election, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, citing civil unrest and a surge in ballots, signed an executive order for six counties to extend the deadline for county election offices to receive absentee or mail-in ballots to 5 p.m. June 9, though they had to be postmarked no later than Election Day itself — June 2. The data shows that 15,610 ballots statewide were not counted because they arrived late. A grand total of 37,119 were not counted because either the ballot was undeliverable, the label was canceled for one reason or another, or there was no signature accompanying the ballot. In 2016, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania over Hillary Clinton by the slim margin of 40,000 votes — the first time a Republican had won the Keystone State’s electoral votes since George H.W. Bush did it in 1988.
That’s a total of 1.46 million votes by mail combined, with 52,729 failures in both categories. That’s a failure rate of 3.6%, far exceeding the percentage of victory for Donald Trump in all three Blue Wall states four years ago, as well as Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory in Minnesota. The implications of using systems with that high of a failure rate are immense; in an election where 130 million votes get cast, 4.7 million voters can expect to be disenfranchised at a 3.6% failure rate.
That would be a massive disaster for electoral credibility. Nonetheless, Nancy Pelosi wants to go full speed ahead on mass vote-by-mail in November:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that mail-in voting in the upcoming election will be an essential option for Americans‘ safety and well-being, despite President Donald Trump’s claims that mail-in voting will lead to fraud and delays. On ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi went on the offensive about Trump’s claims — noting that the president’s family members, including Donald Trump Jr., advocated mail-in voting for a special election earlier this year in California. “I know that Republicans know how to do mail-in voting,” Pelosi said.
Fraud’s not the issue, or at least not the pressing issue. The voting system itself has too many points of failure and delay, and introduces too much ambiguity, to produce reliable results. Those risks are present in absentee voting as well, but the normal volume is minimal enough that those failures don’t threaten the overall results. The dry runs of mass vote-by-mail are bad enough to warn all but the most unreasonable away from their use.
If we can go to protests and shop at Walmart, we can vote in person. And all of the data we have in 2020 shows that we must vote in person.


hotair--2020-08-03--Today's hot topics on Relevant Radio®: Riots and policing, fertility and COVID, sacraments and heali

Today's hot topics on Relevant Radio®: Riots and policing, fertility and COVID, sacraments and healing, homeschooling, Catholic education, and more!

Once again , I get to step outside the box and guest host the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio® from 3-6 ET today !
The Catholic talk-radio network is heard nationwide on the air , as well as online and through their free mobile app that plays live and podcast shows .
• Townhall ’ s Julio Rosas returns to brief us on the status of protests and violence in Portland , Seattle , and other cities , plus we ’ ll talk about the latest from Minneapolis as well .
• Don ’ t expect a COVID-19 baby @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that ’ s bad news in more ways than one .
• The sacraments bring us closer to Christ , but they also can bring us closer to health as well .
Father Stefan Starzynski explains .
• With schools likely to remain closed for a while in the fall , parents will have to homeschool a little longer .
Kari Beckman from Regina Caeli Academy discusses those challenges and reminds parents that they have resources to help guide them .
• Should COVID-19 relief aid be available to Catholic schools and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( D-IL ) joins us to discuss it .
• And more to come … stay tuned !
We may add more before the show starts today , plus we will have the chaplet of Divine Mercy in the second hour .
We will also take your calls at 1-888-914-9149 .
You can also listen on the Relevant Radio® app no matter where you are in the world , so download it now .
I ’ ll look forward to talking with you !

Once again, I get to step outside the box and guest host the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio® from 3-6 ET today! The Catholic talk-radio network is heard nationwide on the air, as well as online and through their free mobile app that plays live and podcast shows.
Today’s Relevant Radio® show includes:
Townhall’s Julio Rosas returns to brief us on the status of protests and violence in Portland, Seattle, and other cities, plus we’ll talk about the latest from Minneapolis as well.
Don’t expect a COVID-19 baby boom, economist Lyman Stone says, and that’s bad news in more ways than one.
The sacraments bring us closer to Christ, but they also can bring us closer to health as well. Father Stefan Starzynski explains.
With schools likely to remain closed for a while in the fall, parents will have to homeschool a little longer. Kari Beckman from Regina Caeli Academy discusses those challenges and reminds parents that they have resources to help guide them.
Should COVID-19 relief aid be available to Catholic schools and other religious-based schools? Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) joins us to discuss it.
And more to come … stay tuned!
We may add more before the show starts today, plus we will have the chaplet of Divine Mercy in the second hour. We will also take your calls at 1-888-914-9149. You can also listen on the Relevant Radio® app no matter where you are in the world, so download it now. I’ll look forward to talking with you!


hotair--2020-08-03--Why so slow, Joe? Biden moves back VP announcement again

Joe Biden finds himself in quite a pickle .
The closer he gets to announcing a choice for his running mate , the more controversies pop up about the alleged frontrunners .
Whether it ’ s trips to Cuba and fawning over Castro or baggage over past actions in office , some of the women on his list are potential disasters waiting to happen .
Let ’ s be honest – Joe Biden isn ’ t making the decision anyway .
His team is doing it for him and they ’ ll let him know when a decision is made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ female and most are women of color because that is what is expected in today ’ s political climate .
Sorry , Elizabeth Warren .
She is not only a White woman but she is also a bit long in the tooth .
Sleepy Joe needs some energy infused into his campaign and while Elizabeth Warren has a high energy level on the campaign trail , she is nonetheless a seventy-year-old woman who would be running with a 77-year-old man .
Biden will celebrate his 78th birthday shortly after election day .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ starting to catch on favorably in polling with his law and order actions , Team Biden may be putting that at the top of the list of for qualifications .
That could mean Kamala Harris because of her experience as Attorney General of California and the San Francisco District Attorney ’ s Office .
But , her history in those positions is less than palatable to the far left .
Biden could pick her because she is well-known but he doesn ’ t need her to deliver California for him and the Bernie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be happy .
Also , Kamala is an ambitious politician .
She ’ ll run again for president and Biden will have to keep looking over his shoulder with her .
She didn ’ t catch on with voters during the presidential primary .
A recent USA Today/Suffolk poll shows 72 % of Democrats want Biden to select a woman of color as his vice president .
In that poll , 36 % said they would be excited with Harris as the choice .
Team Biden could choose Rep. Val Demings if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and order choice .
She had a 27-year career in law enforcement that ended with her being the first woman to become Chief of the Orlando Police Department .
She was also a member of the House impeachment team .
She has raised her profile during the BLM marches and rioting through cable news interviews .
Her professional history , though , will likely not go over with the BLM supporters .
This is 2020 and that is just how it is .
Susan Rice is alleged to be at the top of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience in foreign policy and Biden worked with her during the Obama administration .
He is said to be comfortable with her .
Conservatives would rejoice if she is chosen because of her hideous record in foreign policy , including Benghazi .
For those hoping Biden will be Obama ’ s third term , Rice would be a good choice .
She could help get the rest of the band back together .
That would be enough to send any conservative running , not walking , to the polls in November to vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run for elected office , though , and her personality isn ’ t exactly all warm and fuzzy so she ’ d be an unknown quantity on the campaign trail .
Those three women of color are the ones who I think are at the top of the list .
I did see Stacey Abrams on a Sunday show yesterday but I think her ship has sailed .
And , I saw Karen Bass on one show but , as referenced above , she has some real baggage that has to be explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes news for being on the list is Amy Klobuchar .
She would be a reasonable choice but she ’ s a White woman .
She could bring the moderates out to vote and help pretend that Joe won ’ t go bat poop crazy to keep the far-left appeased once he gets into office .
He ’ s already said he ’ ll be the most progressive president if he ’ s elected so Klobuchar could calm the voters in the middle of the country .
But , he won ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ short end of the stick , if you ask me .
She dropped out of the primary and flew immediately to Texas to campaign for Joe .
I ’ m not sure what Team Biden promised her but it seems like she got a raw deal .
Originally , Biden said he ’ d announce his choice on or near August 1 .
Since then the timeline has been fluid .
Now the announcement is reported to be pushed back to August 10 .
The Democrat convention begins August 17 , so he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s going to make an announcement before then .
Biden is beholden to Black voters , especially Black women voters , so he limited himself right away as he pandered to Black voters .
Now he has to keep the Bernie Bros happy .
Will Sanders play a part in the selection of Biden ’ s running mate ?
Bernie ’ s voters are not at all excited about Biden .
Sanders is now telling Democrat voters to just go ahead and get Biden elected and then they can work out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office .
Which sounds a lot like , “ Just hold your nose and vote for Joe.
” Not exactly a rousing endorsement , amirite ?
I have no sympathy for Team Biden .
The longer they take , the worse the top contenders look .
The party of identity politics is more concerned about checking boxes than looking clear-eyed for the best running mate .
That ’ s fine with me .
I don ’ t want the next president to be a Democrat anyway , especially one who will only be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the party to gain control .

Joe Biden finds himself in quite a pickle. The closer he gets to announcing a choice for his running mate, the more controversies pop up about the alleged frontrunners. Whether it’s trips to Cuba and fawning over Castro or baggage over past actions in office, some of the women on his list are potential disasters waiting to happen.
Let’s be honest – Joe Biden isn’t making the decision anyway. His team is doing it for him and they’ll let him know when a decision is made. All of the possible candidates are female and most are women of color because that is what is expected in today’s political climate. Sorry, Elizabeth Warren. She is not only a White woman but she is also a bit long in the tooth. Sleepy Joe needs some energy infused into his campaign and while Elizabeth Warren has a high energy level on the campaign trail, she is nonetheless a seventy-year-old woman who would be running with a 77-year-old man. Biden will celebrate his 78th birthday shortly after election day.
I keep thinking that since President Trump is starting to catch on favorably in polling with his law and order actions, Team Biden may be putting that at the top of the list of for qualifications. That could mean Kamala Harris because of her experience as Attorney General of California and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. But, her history in those positions is less than palatable to the far left. Biden could pick her because she is well-known but he doesn’t need her to deliver California for him and the Bernie Bros wing of the party wouldn’t be happy. Also, Kamala is an ambitious politician. She’ll run again for president and Biden will have to keep looking over his shoulder with her. She didn’t catch on with voters during the presidential primary. A recent USA Today/Suffolk poll shows 72% of Democrats want Biden to select a woman of color as his vice president. In that poll, 36% said they would be excited with Harris as the choice.
Team Biden could choose Rep. Val Demings if he’s going with a law and order choice. She had a 27-year career in law enforcement that ended with her being the first woman to become Chief of the Orlando Police Department. She was also a member of the House impeachment team. She has raised her profile during the BLM marches and rioting through cable news interviews. Her professional history, though, will likely not go over with the BLM supporters. This is 2020 and that is just how it is.
Susan Rice is alleged to be at the top of the list. She’s got experience in foreign policy and Biden worked with her during the Obama administration. He is said to be comfortable with her. Conservatives would rejoice if she is chosen because of her hideous record in foreign policy, including Benghazi. For those hoping Biden will be Obama’s third term, Rice would be a good choice. She could help get the rest of the band back together. That would be enough to send any conservative running, not walking, to the polls in November to vote for Trump. She’s never run for elected office, though, and her personality isn’t exactly all warm and fuzzy so she’d be an unknown quantity on the campaign trail.
Those three women of color are the ones who I think are at the top of the list. I did see Stacey Abrams on a Sunday show yesterday but I think her ship has sailed. And, I saw Karen Bass on one show but, as referenced above, she has some real baggage that has to be explained away.
One name that no longer makes news for being on the list is Amy Klobuchar. She would be a reasonable choice but she’s a White woman. She could bring the moderates out to vote and help pretend that Joe won’t go bat poop crazy to keep the far-left appeased once he gets into office. He’s already said he’ll be the most progressive president if he’s elected so Klobuchar could calm the voters in the middle of the country. But, he won’t pick her. She really got the short end of the stick, if you ask me. She dropped out of the primary and flew immediately to Texas to campaign for Joe. I’m not sure what Team Biden promised her but it seems like she got a raw deal.
Originally, Biden said he’d announce his choice on or near August 1. Since then the timeline has been fluid. Now the announcement is reported to be pushed back to August 10. The Democrat convention begins August 17, so he’s running out of time if he’s going to make an announcement before then. Biden is beholden to Black voters, especially Black women voters, so he limited himself right away as he pandered to Black voters. Now he has to keep the Bernie Bros happy. Will Sanders play a part in the selection of Biden’s running mate? Bernie’s voters are not at all excited about Biden. Sanders is now telling Democrat voters to just go ahead and get Biden elected and then they can work out their agenda after Biden’s in office. Which sounds a lot like, “Just hold your nose and vote for Joe.” Not exactly a rousing endorsement, amirite?
I have no sympathy for Team Biden. The longer they take, the worse the top contenders look. The party of identity politics is more concerned about checking boxes than looking clear-eyed for the best running mate. That’s fine with me. I don’t want the next president to be a Democrat anyway, especially one who will only be a figurehead and allow the Marxist wing of the party to gain control.


hotair--2020-08-03--Minneapolis civic leaders: Here's a primer for all you future victims of crime -- let it happen

“ Lie back , and think of England.
” That appears to be the Minneapolis city council ’ s new approach to law enforcement .
According to the Daily Caller ’ s Kyle Hooten , the city issued a new advisory for its citizens .
“ We want those who live and work here to be safe !
” the advisory declared .
It sounds more like they want the criminals to be safe , but … hey , they live and work here too , right ?
( Via Twitchy ) : Note the irony in the valediction at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city council added “ To Protect with Courage , ” even while demanding an end to the police department and advising their citizens to become compliant victims .
This isn ’ t a courageous statement , even if its advice is rather pedestrian ; it ’ s a declaration of surrender .
The “ compassion ” in this declaration is aimed at the criminals rather than the victims .
In a sane world , a statement that starts by noting a huge spike in violent crime — carjackings especially — would be followed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more police officers to protect the citizens.
” Instead , the city council had the temerity to demand that police do more while simultaneously cutting both their funding and their credibility : MPD officials not authorized to speak publicly estimate the department , which is budgeted for 888 officers this year , could lose as much as a third of its workforce by the end of the year .
The shortages highlight the challenge facing the city ’ s beleaguered police force as it faces calls for its defunding , or even abolishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer to respond to emergency calls , even as homicides , shootings and robberies have all increased by double digits from last year .
Some of that frustration surfaced during Friday ’ s City Council meeting , when Council Member Andrea Jenkins questioned officers ’ apparent reluctance to enter the area surrounding Floyd ’ s memorial at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue , a long troubled corner that has been the site of several shootings in recent weeks .
“ People in this area , they ’ re not experiencing slow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response .
They ’ re being told that this is called a no-go zone by MPD , ” she said in the meeting broadcast on Zoom .
Jenkins , it should be noted , is one of the biggest advocates for abolishing the Minneapolis police department .
If Jenkins had her way , there wouldn ’ t be any police to respond to these calls at all .
As it is , the city council ’ s push to eliminate the police has delegitimized their presence by a considerable amount , making it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighborhoods .
Police are now worried that any show of force will require escalation , and they know that the city government won ’ t back them up .
And Jenkins has the nerve to scold the police over a lack of enthusiasm for their jobs ?
Come on , man .
That ’ s why , as the Star Tribune reported over the weekend ( same link ) , more than 100 officers have left the force since the end of May .
They expect dozens more to hit the exits soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are well on their way to that one-third reduction even without any action from the city council .
That also means that the city is in violation of its charter , which requires a certain staffing level for its police department in a formula that presently would demand 725 “ employees.
” If the city remains in violation of its charter , the state could seek to revoke it and place the city under state control , although that would be a last-gasp effort at best .
At the very least , however @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuits , not least from businesses that are now being told that it ’ s open season for crime in the streets of Minneapolis .

“Lie back, and think of England.” That appears to be the Minneapolis city council’s new approach to law enforcement. According to the Daily Caller’s Kyle Hooten, the city issued a new advisory for its citizens.
“We want those who live and work here to be safe!” the advisory declared. It sounds more like they want the criminals to be safe, but … hey, they live and work here too, right? (Via Twitchy):
Here's the not cropped, unmarked version of that message pic.twitter.com/Dpf1nqRknc — Kyle Hooten (@KyleHooten2) August 1, 2020
Note the irony in the valediction at the bottom of the page. The city council added “To Protect with Courage,” even while demanding an end to the police department and advising their citizens to become compliant victims. This isn’t a courageous statement, even if its advice is rather pedestrian; it’s a declaration of surrender. The “compassion” in this declaration is aimed at the criminals rather than the victims.
In a sane world, a statement that starts by noting a huge spike in violent crime — carjackings especially — would be followed by “and we’re hiring more police officers to protect the citizens.” Instead, the city council had the temerity to demand that police do more while simultaneously cutting both their funding and their credibility:
MPD officials not authorized to speak publicly estimate the department, which is budgeted for 888 officers this year, could lose as much as a third of its workforce by the end of the year. The shortages highlight the challenge facing the city’s beleaguered police force as it faces calls for its defunding, or even abolishment. Residents say that police are taking longer to respond to emergency calls, even as homicides, shootings and robberies have all increased by double digits from last year. Some of that frustration surfaced during Friday’s City Council meeting, when Council Member Andrea Jenkins questioned officers’ apparent reluctance to enter the area surrounding Floyd’s memorial at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue, a long troubled corner that has been the site of several shootings in recent weeks. “People in this area, they’re not experiencing slow response, they’re experiencing no response. They’re being told that this is called a no-go zone by MPD,” she said in the meeting broadcast on Zoom.
Jenkins, it should be noted, is one of the biggest advocates for abolishing the Minneapolis police department. If Jenkins had her way, there wouldn’t be any police to respond to these calls at all. As it is, the city council’s push to eliminate the police has delegitimized their presence by a considerable amount, making it even tougher to show up in hostile neighborhoods. Police are now worried that any show of force will require escalation, and they know that the city government won’t back them up. And Jenkins has the nerve to scold the police over a lack of enthusiasm for their jobs? Come on, man.
That’s why, as the Star Tribune reported over the weekend (same link), more than 100 officers have left the force since the end of May. They expect dozens more to hit the exits soon, perhaps hundreds, which means they are well on their way to that one-third reduction even without any action from the city council. That also means that the city is in violation of its charter, which requires a certain staffing level for its police department in a formula that presently would demand 725 “employees.” If the city remains in violation of its charter, the state could seek to revoke it and place the city under state control, although that would be a last-gasp effort at best. At the very least, however, it will prompt an avalanche of lawsuits, not least from businesses that are now being told that it’s open season for crime in the streets of Minneapolis.


hotair--2020-08-03--Rasmussen: Trump job approval rises to 51/47

There are two polls out today showing a Trump surge , one a crazy outlier that contradicts virtually all other polling and the other a more interesting outlier that tracks with a trend in other polling .
The crazy outlier is the one published by the Democracy Institute and Sunday Express that has Trump leading in Florida , Minnesota , even Michigan , and slightly expanding on his 2016 electoral vote haul of 306 .
That ’ s way , waaaay off of the battleground polling averages at RCP .
In fact , Trump hasn ’ t led in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yourself : If there were a MAGA surge happening there , would Team Trump really have stopped buying TV ads in Michigan recently ?
They know which states are in play and which aren ’ t .
So much for the crazy outlier poll .
The more interesting outlier is Rasmussen , which has Trump ’ s daily job approval rising to 51/47 , his best number since before the pandemic began .
How much can we trust Rasmussen , a firm whose numbers for Trump are frequently better than the competition ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nailing the popular-vote margin of the 2016 election ; two years later , they crapped the bed on the midterms .
Ras typically finds Trump ’ s approval a few points higher than other pollsters do , often above 46 percent when he seldom touches that number in other surveys , but that may be explained partly by the fact that Rasmussen polls likely voters .
Likely voters tend to trend more Republican .
The bad news for Trump and the GOP is that no other polling outfit has had him at 51 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missed something in RCP ’ s long list of data on his approval rating , he ’ s hit that number several times in Rasmussen polling since 2017 but never once anywhere else .
( He did touch 50 a few times earlier this year in the HarrisX/Hill poll . )
Pretty outlier-y .
What makes Rasmussen ’ s number noteworthy is that Trump ’ s approval has risen lately in the polling averages , which contradicts the media impression that he ’ s sinking further and further under the political weight of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dates at the bottom and you ’ ll see just how badly things deteriorated for him over the past two months , after the George Floyd protests broke out nationally and he staged that ridiculous spectacle in Lafayette Park .
He ’ s regained enough ground over the past 10 days or so , though , that he ’ s now slightly above where his approval stood on May 27 , two days after Floyd ’ s death .
His recent surge in the average isn ’ t being driven entirely by Rasmussen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s scored 44 percent or better in polling by Harvard-Harris , Change Research , HarrisX/The Hill , the Economist/YouGov , and Emerson .
Forty-four percent approval was standard for Trump before the pandemic .
He ’ s gained a bit on Biden lately in the national head-to-head polling too .
Not a ton ; he ’ d still be a sitting duck if the election were held today .
But the trend is in the right direction for him .
A month ago he had sunk to 40.0 percent against Biden , seemingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Democrat led by 9.3 points at the time .
Today Trump is back to 42.0 percent and Biden ’ s lead is down to 7.4 points .
Before the pandemic Biden typically led Trump by five points or so , a margin that would all but guarantee a popular-vote victory but would leave the electoral college very much in doubt .
We ’ re not far from that margin now .
What explains Trump ’ s ( modest ) surge back towards competitiveness ?
That ’ s not “ supposed ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looks as intractable as ever and deaths are climbing in the south and California .
My guess is that it ’ s a backlash to news of murders rising in major U.S. cities .
Crime in general is down this year ( mostly due to the lockdown this past spring , one would guess ) but murders are up in America ’ s urban centers : The WSJ has a story about the national trend out this morning to supplement the local trends being followed by local papers .
Lefties will say “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s watch !
” Right , but he ’ s positioned himself as President Law And Order and the left has saddled Biden with “ defund the police ” baggage whether he wants it or not .
Relatedly , mass protests against racism and police brutality have fallen off .
That makes it harder for violent unrest like the spectacle in Portland to hide in a crowd of more acceptable peaceful demonstrations .
Americans were hugely sympathetic to the BLM protests in June after the initial wave of violence settled into something more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that there are fewer rallies , it may be that some swing voters are more focused on the vandalism and violence against police .
Whatever the explanation , the fact that Trump ’ s prognosis improved somewhat during a month of depressing COVID news suggests that his fortunes aren ’ t completely tied to the pandemic .
His polling tanked during June , a month when America ’ s daily case counts declined , and then it rebounded in July , a month when those counts began to climb again .
Either there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the spread of the disease and the public ’ s reaction to it or voters have begun to treat COVID-19 as political “ background noise , ” with little movement in Trump ’ s rating driven by shifting trends .
It could also be that his brief experiment with a “ new tone ” on the virus ( wear masks !
convention is cancelled ! )
helped him a bit , and that some sort of *big* shift in the trends — like , say , if America ’ s schools reopen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two weeks later due to major outbreaks — might drive his numbers one way or the other .
But the “ background noise ” theory isn ’ t necessarily good news for him .
Right , it may mean that the electoral bleeding from virus politics has finally stopped for him , but it may also mean that his deficit against Biden has now “ settled ” at seven points or so and it ’ ll be harder to make it budge between now and November .
That is , some undecideds may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the pandemic by giving him a thumbs down and they ’ re sticking with that no matter what the case counts and daily deaths happen to be week to week .
“ He has three months to win them back , ” you might say .
Eh , not really .
More like six to eight weeks , after which many votes are banked .
He needs this upward trend in job approval to continue — now .
By October it might be too late for a turnaround .

There are two polls out today showing a Trump surge, one a crazy outlier that contradicts virtually all other polling and the other a more interesting outlier that tracks with a trend in other polling. The crazy outlier is the one published by the Democracy Institute and Sunday Express that has Trump leading in Florida, Minnesota, even Michigan, and slightly expanding on his 2016 electoral vote haul of 306. That’s way, waaaay off of the battleground polling averages at RCP. In fact, Trump hasn’t led in a poll of Michigan all year.
Ask yourself: If there were a MAGA surge happening there, would Team Trump really have stopped buying TV ads in Michigan recently? They know which states are in play and which aren’t. So much for the crazy outlier poll.
The more interesting outlier is Rasmussen, which has Trump’s daily job approval rising to 51/47, his best number since before the pandemic began. How much can we trust Rasmussen, a firm whose numbers for Trump are frequently better than the competition’s? They got quite close to nailing the popular-vote margin of the 2016 election; two years later, they crapped the bed on the midterms. Ras typically finds Trump’s approval a few points higher than other pollsters do, often above 46 percent when he seldom touches that number in other surveys, but that may be explained partly by the fact that Rasmussen polls likely voters. Likely voters tend to trend more Republican.
The bad news for Trump and the GOP is that no other polling outfit has had him at 51 percent approval — ever. Unless I missed something in RCP’s long list of data on his approval rating, he’s hit that number several times in Rasmussen polling since 2017 but never once anywhere else. (He did touch 50 a few times earlier this year in the HarrisX/Hill poll.) Pretty outlier-y. What makes Rasmussen’s number noteworthy is that Trump’s approval has risen lately in the polling averages, which contradicts the media impression that he’s sinking further and further under the political weight of the pandemic.
Follow along with the dates at the bottom and you’ll see just how badly things deteriorated for him over the past two months, after the George Floyd protests broke out nationally and he staged that ridiculous spectacle in Lafayette Park. He’s regained enough ground over the past 10 days or so, though, that he’s now slightly above where his approval stood on May 27, two days after Floyd’s death. His recent surge in the average isn’t being driven entirely by Rasmussen either. Since late July he’s scored 44 percent or better in polling by Harvard-Harris, Change Research, HarrisX/The Hill, the Economist/YouGov, and Emerson. Forty-four percent approval was standard for Trump before the pandemic.
He’s gained a bit on Biden lately in the national head-to-head polling too. Not a ton; he’d still be a sitting duck if the election were held today. But the trend is in the right direction for him.
A month ago he had sunk to 40.0 percent against Biden, seemingly poised to have the bottom drop out. The Democrat led by 9.3 points at the time. Today Trump is back to 42.0 percent and Biden’s lead is down to 7.4 points. Before the pandemic Biden typically led Trump by five points or so, a margin that would all but guarantee a popular-vote victory but would leave the electoral college very much in doubt. We’re not far from that margin now.
What explains Trump’s (modest) surge back towards competitiveness? That’s not “supposed” to happen at a moment when COVID-19 looks as intractable as ever and deaths are climbing in the south and California. My guess is that it’s a backlash to news of murders rising in major U.S. cities. Crime in general is down this year (mostly due to the lockdown this past spring, one would guess) but murders are up in America’s urban centers: The WSJ has a story about the national trend out this morning to supplement the local trends being followed by local papers. Lefties will say “that’s happening on Trump’s watch!” Right, but he’s positioned himself as President Law And Order and the left has saddled Biden with “defund the police” baggage whether he wants it or not.
Relatedly, mass protests against racism and police brutality have fallen off. That makes it harder for violent unrest like the spectacle in Portland to hide in a crowd of more acceptable peaceful demonstrations. Americans were hugely sympathetic to the BLM protests in June after the initial wave of violence settled into something more traditional street marches and rallies. Now that there are fewer rallies, it may be that some swing voters are more focused on the vandalism and violence against police.
Whatever the explanation, the fact that Trump’s prognosis improved somewhat during a month of depressing COVID news suggests that his fortunes aren’t completely tied to the pandemic. His polling tanked during June, a month when America’s daily case counts declined, and then it rebounded in July, a month when those counts began to climb again. Either there’s a weeks-long lag between trends in the spread of the disease and the public’s reaction to it or voters have begun to treat COVID-19 as political “background noise,” with little movement in Trump’s rating driven by shifting trends. It could also be that his brief experiment with a “new tone” on the virus (wear masks! convention is cancelled!) helped him a bit, and that some sort of *big* shift in the trends — like, say, if America’s schools reopen in September and then need to close two weeks later due to major outbreaks — might drive his numbers one way or the other.
But the “background noise” theory isn’t necessarily good news for him. Right, it may mean that the electoral bleeding from virus politics has finally stopped for him, but it may also mean that his deficit against Biden has now “settled” at seven points or so and it’ll be harder to make it budge between now and November. That is, some undecideds may have rendered their verdict on his handling of the pandemic by giving him a thumbs down and they’re sticking with that no matter what the case counts and daily deaths happen to be week to week. “He has three months to win them back,” you might say. Eh, not really. More like six to eight weeks, after which many votes are banked. He needs this upward trend in job approval to continue — now. By October it might be too late for a turnaround.


hotair--2020-08-03--RNC: Not so fast on that private Trump renomination plan

Over the weekend , Karen discussed an announcement from the RNC indicating that President Trump ’ s official renomination for a second term would take place during a smaller , private gathering in Charlotte with no press access being offered .
But before the day was over , it began to sound as if at least some members of the committee didn ’ t get the memo .
Or at least it wasn ’ t as much of a unanimous decision or done deal as it had previously seemed .
A second RNC official , speaking on conditions of anonymity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ final decision hadn ’ t been made yet and the show might still go on , including some members of the press , though in a smaller , more abbreviated format .
The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month , without members of the press present , a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said on Saturday , citing the coronavirus .
However , a Republican National Committee official contradicted that assessment Sunday , emphasizing that no final decisions have been made and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still being evaluated , The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity .
While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month , citing spiking cases of the virus across the country , 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte , North Carolina , on Aug. 24 to formally vote to make Trump the GOP standard-bearer once more .
The committee is still only planning on a bit more than three hundred delegates showing up .
That makes sense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from states that are imposing quarantines on people returning from areas where COVID-19 cases are on the rise and/or if they attended large gatherings of people .
Both would apply to the convention in Charlotte at present .
But the decision to eliminate the press seemed like a strange call to make .
If you ’ ve got enough room to safely put 330 people with social distancing rules in place , how much harder would it be to squeeze in a few dozen reporters ?
Also , if you ’ re not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opportunity to gin up some earned media opportunities , why bother holding a physical conference at all ?
The rest of the business that the committee and the delegates need to attend to could all be handled without heading to North Carolina .
Trump would clearly be unhappy about not being able to give his acceptance speech to a capacity crowd that ’ s packed to the rafters with supporters , but the novel coronavirus is probably going to make that impossible anyway .
He could still record the speech from the Oval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ press .
The rules committee could hold their meetings online through video teleconferencing .
The same goes for the official vote by the delegates , many of whom are already going to have to vote that way even if the meeting is held in Charlotte .
I tend to agree with some of the sentiments Karen shared in the previous article linked above .
The conventions every four years have traditionally been a great excuse to party , swamp the media ’ s coverage of the campaign and hold private meetings and negotiations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they don ’ t really accomplish that much of substance that adds up to more than formalities , aside from setting the final wording of the platform and amending the rules as required .
I ’ ve been to a few of these shindigs myself , and they present far more of a festive atmosphere than any sort of solemn chamber of diligent labor .
What we ’ ll hopefully find out today ( or at least early this week ) is how the RNC let that initial announcement go out without having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now they ’ ve simply made themselves look disorganized and not fully unified heading into the final weeks of the campaign .

Over the weekend, Karen discussed an announcement from the RNC indicating that President Trump’s official renomination for a second term would take place during a smaller, private gathering in Charlotte with no press access being offered. But before the day was over, it began to sound as if at least some members of the committee didn’t get the memo. Or at least it wasn’t as much of a unanimous decision or done deal as it had previously seemed. A second RNC official, speaking on conditions of anonymity, told the Associated Press that a final decision hadn’t been made yet and the show might still go on, including some members of the press, though in a smaller, more abbreviated format.
The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said on Saturday, citing the coronavirus. However, a Republican National Committee official contradicted that assessment Sunday, emphasizing that no final decisions have been made and that logistics and press coverage options were still being evaluated, The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 24 to formally vote to make Trump the GOP standard-bearer once more.
The committee is still only planning on a bit more than three hundred delegates showing up. That makes sense since many of them will be coming from states that are imposing quarantines on people returning from areas where COVID-19 cases are on the rise and/or if they attended large gatherings of people. Both would apply to the convention in Charlotte at present.
But the decision to eliminate the press seemed like a strange call to make. If you’ve got enough room to safely put 330 people with social distancing rules in place, how much harder would it be to squeeze in a few dozen reporters? Also, if you’re not going to use the convention as an opportunity to gin up some earned media opportunities, why bother holding a physical conference at all? The rest of the business that the committee and the delegates need to attend to could all be handled without heading to North Carolina.
Trump would clearly be unhappy about not being able to give his acceptance speech to a capacity crowd that’s packed to the rafters with supporters, but the novel coronavirus is probably going to make that impossible anyway. He could still record the speech from the Oval Office and have it delivered to the press. The rules committee could hold their meetings online through video teleconferencing. The same goes for the official vote by the delegates, many of whom are already going to have to vote that way even if the meeting is held in Charlotte.
I tend to agree with some of the sentiments Karen shared in the previous article linked above. The conventions every four years have traditionally been a great excuse to party, swamp the media’s coverage of the campaign and hold private meetings and negotiations with others from the party. But they don’t really accomplish that much of substance that adds up to more than formalities, aside from setting the final wording of the platform and amending the rules as required. I’ve been to a few of these shindigs myself, and they present far more of a festive atmosphere than any sort of solemn chamber of diligent labor.
What we’ll hopefully find out today (or at least early this week) is how the RNC let that initial announcement go out without having everyone on board with the plan. Now they’ve simply made themselves look disorganized and not fully unified heading into the final weeks of the campaign.


hotair--2020-08-03--Book review: Somewhere in the skies

Book review: Somewhere in the skies

I recently had the pleasure of previewing a copy of a second-edition release of a book by author , podcaster and playwright Ryan Sprage titled Somewhere in the Skies .
This book was originally released a few years ago , but Ryan has updated it appropriately given the growing body of news related to this subject of UFOs and the increasing public interest in this material .
The subject at hand , as indicated by the title , is the frequently astounding sights that have been seen in our skies , particularly around military exercises and installations , which are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But it ’ s not only the military and subject matter experts who experience such events .
There are many ordinary people from around the world who have reported experiences that are remarkably similar to the data collected by our military officials , civilian pilots and law enforcement officers over the years .
This is what makes Somewhere in the Skies a bit different from most of the mainstream media coverage of the UFO/UAP topic that you ’ ve become familiar with of late .
The author delves into some of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the encounter reported by military pilots and more .
But he goes far beyond those well-trod stories .
Sprague has taken a journey to meet the people who have been left behind in this discussion .
He relates personal tales from regular citizens who have had experiences that are often remarkably similar to the stories now being told on CNN , Fox News , and in the pages of outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post .
But their stories were never told in such expansive forums because they lacked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positions .
And yet they ring true to this day .
In this updated edition of the book , Sprague adds many details , including an entirely new chapter covering events that happened in 2017 and beyond , all of which seem to place new pieces into the jigsaw puzzle of the UFO/UAP phenomenon .
And beyond the obviously necessary data of times , dates , descriptions of encounters and other details , Ryan offers a first-person perspective as detailed by the very real human beings who found their lives forever changed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ encountered upon telling their stories .
The original book was always on my list as a good reference for anyone looking to dive into this subject .
This revised edition is even more highly recommended for those coming into the topic because of all the recent news regarding the puzzling phenomena being observed in our skies .
You can also check out Ryan Spragues weekly podcast here .

I recently had the pleasure of previewing a copy of a second-edition release of a book by author, podcaster and playwright Ryan Sprage titled Somewhere in the Skies. This book was originally released a few years ago, but Ryan has updated it appropriately given the growing body of news related to this subject of UFOs and the increasing public interest in this material. The subject at hand, as indicated by the title, is the frequently astounding sights that have been seen in our skies, particularly around military exercises and installations, which are attributed to UAPs or Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon.
But it’s not only the military and subject matter experts who experience such events. There are many ordinary people from around the world who have reported experiences that are remarkably similar to the data collected by our military officials, civilian pilots and law enforcement officers over the years. This is what makes Somewhere in the Skies a bit different from most of the mainstream media coverage of the UFO/UAP topic that you’ve become familiar with of late. The author delves into some of the more commonly known tales, such as the encounter reported by military pilots and more. But he goes far beyond those well-trod stories. Sprague has taken a journey to meet the people who have been left behind in this discussion. He relates personal tales from regular citizens who have had experiences that are often remarkably similar to the stories now being told on CNN, Fox News, and in the pages of outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post. But their stories were never told in such expansive forums because they lacked the “muscle” of their official positions. And yet they ring true to this day.
In this updated edition of the book, Sprague adds many details, including an entirely new chapter covering events that happened in 2017 and beyond, all of which seem to place new pieces into the jigsaw puzzle of the UFO/UAP phenomenon. And beyond the obviously necessary data of times, dates, descriptions of encounters and other details, Ryan offers a first-person perspective as detailed by the very real human beings who found their lives forever changed by what they experienced and the reactions they encountered upon telling their stories.
The original book was always on my list as a good reference for anyone looking to dive into this subject. This revised edition is even more highly recommended for those coming into the topic because of all the recent news regarding the puzzling phenomena being observed in our skies.
You can also check out Ryan Spragues weekly podcast here.


hotair--2020-08-03--Get woke, ratings choke? NBA, MLB slide after openers

Quarantined America practically handed the sports leagues a captive audience , as the nation thirsts for entertainment .
Major-league sports should have had a wild response , with its unscripted action and athletic feats .
And in fact , both the NBA and Major League Baseball got off to pretty decent starts .
The NBA scored its second-highest ratings of the season in its Thursday re-opener : A thrilling showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers drew 3.4 million total viewers , more than doubling the network ’ s average viewership for a regular season telecast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that represents the eighth most-watched game of the NBA season so far and the least-watched of the Lakers and Clippers ’ four match ups in the 2019/20 season to date .
However , it is also worth mentioning that the opening night game was exclusive to TNT , whereas the audience for Thursday night ’ s encounter was diluted slightly by the fact it aired on multiple affiliate networks across the country .
The two L.A. teams ’ Christmas game drew a whopping 9 million total viewers for ABC and ESPN .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s second most watched of the season , behind the first Lakers-Clippers game of the season from Oct. of last year .
MLB also got off to a fast start : The opening night of Major League Baseball ’ s virus-shortened 2020 season set TV viewership records for Walt Disney Co ’ s ESPN sports channel , the network said on Friday .
Four million people , on average , watched the New York Yankees beat defending champions the Washington Nationals on Thursday in the first game of a season delayed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It was the biggest opening-night audience on record , at more than triple the number of people who tuned in for the first game of the 2019 season , ESPN said in a statement .
Overall , it was the highest-rated Major League Baseball game on any network since 2011 .
After the initial welcome-back , however , fans have apparently walked away .
A week later , MLB games are struggling to break into the seven-figure viewer range , and the NBA isn ’ t doing all that well either ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) : The overall ratings for all television shows are not yet available , but Outkick ’ s Strauss noted that none of this compares well with the ratings for a golf exhibition last May : Huston writes that the actual final numbers for “ The Match II ” with Brady , Phil Mickelson , Peyton Manning , and Tiger Woods “ peaked at an amazing 6.3 million viewers.
” For the latest week of prime-time numbers we have from Nielsen — the week of June 15th — that would have made the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daytime .
These NBA and MLB sporting events took place in the evenings , for the most part , and none of them except their openers would have cracked the top 10 — even though four of those on Nielsen ’ s list were reruns that week .
The lowest number of viewers on that list from June 15 was 3.859 million viewers for a repeat of “ The Neighborhood.
” That rerun drew more than twice as many viewers as tuned in to see the NBA , and almost four times as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see a prime-time Brewers-Cubs game .
So what gives ?
Why aren ’ t viewers tuning in to see live sports at anywhere near the levels that they watch lame sitcom reruns ?
Perhaps all the rules changes necessary to restart both leagues have put off viewers , but sports fans have been so starved of real competition that , as Strauss pointed out , they practically stampeded to watch Brady and Manning play exhibition golf .
The audience is there , but the two leagues aren ’ t attracting them .
Why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparently not the lectures … especially , in the NBA ’ s case , from a bunch of China-stooge hypocrites lecturing on human rights .
When it comes to the NFL ’ s anti-Semitism hypocrites on hatred , the outcomes are likely to be very , very similar .
If sports fans want to watch demonstrations and endure fatuous sloganeering , they can watch their local news every day .
If they want to be entertained , well , there ’ s always a “ Young Sheldon ” rerun ( 4.9 million ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the more annoying leads in TV history , but at least he ’ s not lecturing the rest of us on freedom and justice while taking the sweet , sweet Chinabucks .
Update : Are we comparing national apples to regional oranges ?
Jason Cooper believes so , and he has a point : That ’ s true , although I think the prime-time games were broadcast more nationally .
However , the exhibition golf match ( played in daytime ) showed a massive amount of pent-up demand for sports on television @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say from these numbers , even for regional games , that the leagues are leaving a lot of that demand unmet .
And don ’ t think advertisers aren ’ t going to notice .

Quarantined America practically handed the sports leagues a captive audience, as the nation thirsts for entertainment. Major-league sports should have had a wild response, with its unscripted action and athletic feats. And in fact, both the NBA and Major League Baseball got off to pretty decent starts. The NBA scored its second-highest ratings of the season in its Thursday re-opener:
A thrilling showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers drew 3.4 million total viewers, more than doubling the network’s average viewership for a regular season telecast. To put that number into perspective, that represents the eighth most-watched game of the NBA season so far and the least-watched of the Lakers and Clippers’ four match ups in the 2019/20 season to date. However, it is also worth mentioning that the opening night game was exclusive to TNT, whereas the audience for Thursday night’s encounter was diluted slightly by the fact it aired on multiple affiliate networks across the country. The two L.A. teams’ Christmas game drew a whopping 9 million total viewers for ABC and ESPN. Last night’s game was TNT’s second most watched of the season, behind the first Lakers-Clippers game of the season from Oct. of last year.
MLB also got off to a fast start:
The opening night of Major League Baseball’s virus-shortened 2020 season set TV viewership records for Walt Disney Co’s ESPN sports channel, the network said on Friday. Four million people, on average, watched the New York Yankees beat defending champions the Washington Nationals on Thursday in the first game of a season delayed by four months due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was the biggest opening-night audience on record, at more than triple the number of people who tuned in for the first game of the 2019 season, ESPN said in a statement. Overall, it was the highest-rated Major League Baseball game on any network since 2011.
After the initial welcome-back, however, fans have apparently walked away. A week later, MLB games are struggling to break into the seven-figure viewer range, and the NBA isn’t doing all that well either (via Breitbart’s Warner Todd Huston):
MLB really fell off after opening day. In general, both leagues aren't getting the audience one might expect from a nation that's been deprived of entertainment for months https://t.co/GazeoR9SNB — Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) August 2, 2020
The overall ratings for all television shows are not yet available, but Outkick’s Strauss noted that none of this compares well with the ratings for a golf exhibition last May:
You could chalk sagging interest up to pandemic conditions, but 5.8 million tuned in to watch Tom Brady hit golf shots into the woods https://t.co/vIPxNc1uDi — Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) August 2, 2020
Huston writes that the actual final numbers for “The Match II” with Brady, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods “peaked at an amazing 6.3 million viewers.” For the latest week of prime-time numbers we have from Nielsen — the week of June 15th — that would have made the top 10 despite being played in the daytime.
These NBA and MLB sporting events took place in the evenings, for the most part, and none of them except their openers would have cracked the top 10 — even though four of those on Nielsen’s list were reruns that week. The lowest number of viewers on that list from June 15 was 3.859 million viewers for a repeat of “The Neighborhood.” That rerun drew more than twice as many viewers as tuned in to see the NBA, and almost four times as many as those who tuned in to see a prime-time Brewers-Cubs game.
So what gives? Why aren’t viewers tuning in to see live sports at anywhere near the levels that they watch lame sitcom reruns? Perhaps all the rules changes necessary to restart both leagues have put off viewers, but sports fans have been so starved of real competition that, as Strauss pointed out, they practically stampeded to watch Brady and Manning play exhibition golf. The audience is there, but the two leagues aren’t attracting them. Why?
Huston offers the obvious conclusion:
As the NBA and MLB return from their coronavirus-imposed hiatus, it appears TV viewers are not interested in what the increasingly woke leagues have to offer. With both baseball and basketball draped in all sorts of Black Lives Matter and social justice symbolism for their opening games, a substantially smaller number of fans tuned-in to the rest of the week’s games.
Sports fans enjoy the games but apparently not the lectures … especially, in the NBA’s case, from a bunch of China-stooge hypocrites lecturing on human rights. When it comes to the NFL’s anti-Semitism hypocrites on hatred, the outcomes are likely to be very, very similar. If sports fans want to watch demonstrations and endure fatuous sloganeering, they can watch their local news every day. If they want to be entertained, well, there’s always a “Young Sheldon” rerun (4.9 million) to watch. That character is one of the more annoying leads in TV history, but at least he’s not lecturing the rest of us on freedom and justice while taking the sweet, sweet Chinabucks.
Update: Are we comparing national apples to regional oranges? Jason Cooper believes so, and he has a point:
What you need to remember about the MLB numbers is that the first night they were the only games on in the country. Since then every team is on tv on their regional networks. You should be looking at those ratings. — Jason Cooper (@JasonCooper22) August 3, 2020
That’s true, although I think the prime-time games were broadcast more nationally. However, the exhibition golf match (played in daytime) showed a massive amount of pent-up demand for sports on television. It’s pretty fair to say from these numbers, even for regional games, that the leagues are leaving a lot of that demand unmet. And don’t think advertisers aren’t going to notice.


hotair--2020-08-04--Seattle's "peaceful protesters" come after Police Chief's suburban home

It ’ s probably time to update one of our standard political sayings for the crazy world of 2020 .
Try this one on for size .
“ A Liberal Reform Police Chief is just a Law and Order Police Chief who hasn ’ t had her home vandalized yet.
” That may turn out to be the case with Seattle Chief of Police Carmen Best .
She ’ s been working alongside Mayor Jenny Durkan all during the protests and riots , preaching the need to hear the voices of underserved communities , reexamine how they police the community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be lurking .
And she ’ s largely been following the media narrative of “ mostly peaceful protesters ” as the mobs have ravaged the streets of her city .
But that seems to have come to an end after the mob showed up at her own house on Sunday night .
In a letter she sent to the City Council yesterday , her language took on a markedly different tone .
( Washington Times ) Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best sent a letter to the city council asking members to “ stand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hundreds of protesters descended on her home over the weekend .
“ A residence of mine in Snohomish County was targeted by a large group of aggressive protestors late last night , ” Chief Best wrote in a letter to the city council made public Monday .
“ My neighbors were concerned by such a large group , but they were successful in ensuring the crowd was not able to trespass or engage in other illegal behavior in the area , despite repeated attempts to do so.
” On Saturday night , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of vehicles descended on the quiet street in Snohomish County where Chief Best lives , though she was not home at the time of the demonstration , according to reports .
Reading through her statement , the first thing you ’ ll notice is that the phrase “ peaceful protesters ” has been replaced by “ aggressive protestors.
” Gone is the talk of people “ raising their voices.
” That ’ s now been replaced by “ other illegal behavior.
” Her letter speaks of “ violence and intimidation ” against elected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like myself.
” She even went so far as to demand that the Council take action to prevent “ mob rule.
” Is this the same Chief Best we ’ ve been hearing from for months now ?
What happened to political correctness ?
Keep in mind that this is the same Chief of Police who recently sent a different letter to business owners and residents of the city ’ s downtown area saying that they were basically on their own when the mobs arrived .
But now that the mobs have shown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparently a whole new ballgame .
This is something that people with a firmer grip on reality have been warning about since the beginning .
It ’ s one thing for the rest of the country to watch the mob violence play out on their televisions when it ’ s largely contained to the centers of our larger cities .
But when the violent crowds begin spilling out into the suburbs , you will see attitudes changing very , very quickly , and demands for a law and order agenda will be heard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rioters will find their positions far less secure .
But is it too late to unring that bell at this point ?
The mobs have clearly been listening to the media coverage and the statements from easily cowed mayors and governors .
They ’ ve been set loose to smash storefronts and loot businesses , leaving graffiti-covered , burned-out shells in their wake .
And few have received more than a slap on the wrist for it .
Why wouldn ’ t they move into the suburbs ?
There ’ s plenty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there .
Oh , wait .
That ’ s right .
Gun sales have been surging among homeowners .
The next phase of this battle may wind up turning quite ugly .
But the elected officials who allowed events to spiral this far out of control are far more to blame than anyone but the rioters themselves .

It’s probably time to update one of our standard political sayings for the crazy world of 2020. Try this one on for size. “A Liberal Reform Police Chief is just a Law and Order Police Chief who hasn’t had her home vandalized yet.”
That may turn out to be the case with Seattle Chief of Police Carmen Best. She’s been working alongside Mayor Jenny Durkan all during the protests and riots, preaching the need to hear the voices of underserved communities, reexamine how they police the community and sniff out racism wherever it may be lurking. And she’s largely been following the media narrative of “mostly peaceful protesters” as the mobs have ravaged the streets of her city. But that seems to have come to an end after the mob showed up at her own house on Sunday night. In a letter she sent to the City Council yesterday, her language took on a markedly different tone. (Washington Times)
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best sent a letter to the city council asking members to “stand up for what is right” after hundreds of protesters descended on her home over the weekend. “A residence of mine in Snohomish County was targeted by a large group of aggressive protestors late last night,” Chief Best wrote in a letter to the city council made public Monday. “My neighbors were concerned by such a large group, but they were successful in ensuring the crowd was not able to trespass or engage in other illegal behavior in the area, despite repeated attempts to do so.” On Saturday night, a group of about 200 protesters and dozens of vehicles descended on the quiet street in Snohomish County where Chief Best lives, though she was not home at the time of the demonstration, according to reports.
Reading through her statement, the first thing you’ll notice is that the phrase “peaceful protesters” has been replaced by “aggressive protestors.” Gone is the talk of people “raising their voices.” That’s now been replaced by “other illegal behavior.” Her letter speaks of “violence and intimidation” against elected officials and civil servants, “especially like myself.” She even went so far as to demand that the Council take action to prevent “mob rule.”
Is this the same Chief Best we’ve been hearing from for months now? What happened to political correctness? Keep in mind that this is the same Chief of Police who recently sent a different letter to business owners and residents of the city’s downtown area saying that they were basically on their own when the mobs arrived. But now that the mobs have shown up at her house it’s apparently a whole new ballgame.
This is something that people with a firmer grip on reality have been warning about since the beginning. It’s one thing for the rest of the country to watch the mob violence play out on their televisions when it’s largely contained to the centers of our larger cities. But when the violent crowds begin spilling out into the suburbs, you will see attitudes changing very, very quickly, and demands for a law and order agenda will be heard. Any politicians seen as coddling the rioters will find their positions far less secure.
But is it too late to unring that bell at this point? The mobs have clearly been listening to the media coverage and the statements from easily cowed mayors and governors. They’ve been set loose to smash storefronts and loot businesses, leaving graffiti-covered, burned-out shells in their wake. And few have received more than a slap on the wrist for it. Why wouldn’t they move into the suburbs? There’s plenty of prime real estate waiting to be looted there.
Oh, wait. That’s right. Gun sales have been surging among homeowners. The next phase of this battle may wind up turning quite ugly. But the elected officials who allowed events to spiral this far out of control are far more to blame than anyone but the rioters themselves.
UPDATE: Check out this video of protesters trying to get past residents who are having none of it.
“We are peaceful! You pointed a gun at my face!”
“That’s why you are peaceful.”
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1290473037729587202