Doug Santo

This is my favorite movie. It is an American classic. There are many great characters, many great scenes, but the best is the meadow. The cinematography. The music. The dialogue. This is uniquely American, and Cogburn is a uniquely American hero. Cogburn meets four criminals in a dangerous situation. He is informed that Matty Ross is safe and the criminal Tom Cheney is captured. The bandit chieftain asks Cogburn to step aside. Cogburn, outnumbered 4 to 1, spits in the chieftains eye and charges the criminals guns blazing.

WHICH IS REAL AND WHICH IS PARODY?:  It’s not easy to tell.

ABC News:  Transgender teens outrun track and field competitors but critics close behind

Babylon Bee:  Man Identifying As 6-Year-Old Crushes Game-Winning Homer In Tee-Ball Championship

Gail Herriot strung together these articles.

“…The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, reflecting widespread optimism about America’s economic outlook.

The rate increase, the second thus far in 2018 and the seventh since the Great Recession, will result in higher interest rates on credit cards, home-equity lines, and other forms of credit. The increase, which comes after a similar incremental hike in March, places the Fed’s benchmark rate between 1.75 and 2 percent.

The move, which was announced at the conclusion of a two-day meeting, continues a pattern of gradually contracting monetary policy that began in 2015 and interrupted years of unchanged interest rates designed to revive the economy after the collapse of 2008.

Officials suggested that they will raise rates twice more in 2018, but with unemployment at a near-record low of 3.8 percent, some economists believe additional rate increases will be necessary to stave off inflation…”

 

Original Here

CNN Promises To Maintain Complete Lack Of Editorial Integrity Despite AT&T-Time Warner Merger

I listened to former senator Joe Lieberman’s commentary on the Trump/Kim meeting. It made me remember that if Lieberman was the democratic candidate for president in 2016 against Trump, I probably would have voted for Lieberman. He is a good man. Maria Bartiromo is doing some really good journalism on this topic and others. I salute her.

I watched President Trump’s press conference after his meeting with North Korea. I could criticize aspects of the president’s responses to questions, but who cares. It was an historic meeting. The president did well in the meeting and the press conference. I was proud of President Trump and glad that he was representing my country.

The president said in his press conference that North Korea agreed to facilitate the return of remains of U. S. service men who died during the Korean War.

To the brave Americans who gave their lives during the Korean war I say:

Hail Heroes. Rest with God. You are not forgotten.

You will be coming home to your country.

I need a bourbon.

Shot:    ‘The View’ Bashes Trump for Meeting Kim Jong-un: Went ‘Too Far!’   —NewsBusters, today.

Chaser:    ‘View’ Hosts Trash ‘Hypocrite’ Mike Pence for Not Giving North Korea Due ‘Respect’ at Olympics —NewsBusters, February 12.

Hangover:    The View’s Behar: Obama Critics Hate ‘Reaching Across the Aisle’ to Iran, Cuba —NewsBusters, March 21, 2016.

Ed Driscoll strung together this trio of posts.

Steven Green:

“…The most difficult voters to win are the other side’s loyalists. They’re also the most valuable, since stealing one of those is effectively winning two votes. The vote you won for yourself and the vote you took from the other guy. Sustained efforts at winning over party loyalists results in a landslide, obviously. But doing so may also result in that most elusive gain: Realignment.

If Trump can crack the black vote by 15% or more, then we might just witness a once-in-a-generation political realignment.

While it’s uncertain if it can be done, Trump would be stupid not to try. Black Americans were sorely disappointed by Barack Obama, and millions live in the Rust Belt states Trump is attempting to revitalize. That makes this the perfect moment to try, and whatever other flaws Trump may have, he’s not stupid…”

Rochelle Riley:

“…He doesn’t really have to do much.

He does it by inviting the presidents of some of nation’s historically black colleges to gather in the Oval for a photo op, and watch them do it, because their schools are struggling or dying.

He does it by freeing the Johnsons — freeing the history of Jack and commuting the sentence of Alice.

Anyone who thinks that Trump didn’t gain some black votes by those actions last week doesn’t understand the power of connecting with the disconnected.

In Detroit, and other urban areas – where we can’t get more than 14% to 20% of registered voters to turn out for a municipal election — and where many people still love Kanye West (though he thinks slavery was a choice) or R. Kelly (who is avoiding jail by inexplicable means) — Trump may be resonating.

And now he’s considering pardoning Muhammad Ali, who doesn’t need his support, but that won’t stop Trump from claiming that he saved his reputation…”

Donald Trump is wooing black voters and killing the Democratic party

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Trump administration will reject requests for asylum on the basis of domestic violence or gang violence. I think this is a good decision. Sessions is a mixed bag. He did not display strong leadership when he first arrived at the administration, but he has improved with time and makes consistently good choices. The article is worth a read.

Original Here

Good information that many are unaware of.

Austin Bay:

“…The April 27 hug between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was a photo op with diplomatic promise but also great risk.

Here’s the major risk: The North Korean Kim regime has a hideous record for murder, intimidation and crime, and it is a genuine threat to peace. But for the restraint of South Korea and the U.S., the Kim dictatorship’s bloody violations of the 1953 armistice could have easily ignited another combat phase of the Korean War. The January 1968 Blue House Raid, in which North Korean commandos attempted to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee, is all but forgotten. It must not be. The regime has engaged in the mass starvation of its own people. The regime is still deeply involved in organized crime, with drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations its forte.

This criminal regime cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons and the means to use them…”

Original Here

This seems like common sense to me.

“…A new study from a prominent researcher finds that higher minimum wages have increased poverty in poor neighborhoods, a finding that could shake up the debate over the federal wage floor and slow the liberal push for a $15-an-hour minimum.

The study, led by the University of California, Irvine economist David Neumark and published by the business-backed Employment Policies Institute, finds that, over the course of decades, higher minimum wages don’t reduce poverty in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Rather, the analysis finds that a $1 increase in the minimum wage raises poverty rates and government dependency by about 3 percent.

The report also finds evidence that cash welfare fails to lower poverty…”

Original Here

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Glenn Catbagan signals as an F-35B Lightning II ascends on an aircraft elevator aboard the USS Essex during a composite training unit exercise in the Pacific Ocean, June 2, 2018.

Fred Barnes is an old hand at politics. He sees a tightening midterm election.

“…Strategists treat the “generic ballot” as a magic number. It asks which party you intend to vote for. At one point, Republicans were minus-18. That’s landslide time. Now they’re minus-3 or tied with Democrats.

Republicans have underpolled on this question for decades. This leads to a twist. If they’re at minus-7 or better, they’ll probably lose fewer than 23 seats and relegate Democrats to the minority for two more years. That’s what GOP savants say, anyway.

Ah, but there’s more. Republican intensity—how hyped up they are about the election—has gotten stronger than the anger of all those agitated Democratic resisters. That’s a pretty amazing development. So is the emergence of the 89-90 percent of Republicans who say they’re fine with Trump, according to a GOP survey of likely voters.

Issues? The double whammy of a surging economy and huge tax cut are bound to boost Republicans. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is sticking to her story that the tax bill merely sprinkled crumbs around the country, but no one else is…”

Original Here

Batavia, New York. Elba Farm Security Administration farm labor camp. An old man who has lived all of his life near Broadway, New York City, and who was taken off relief and sent to the Elba FSA camp to work in the harvest. He said, “There is so much suffering in the world today that mine doesn’t seem so much, and I’m doing my best to help bring in Uncle Sam’s crops.”