July 2020 Commentaries

These commentaries are continued from June 2020 Commentaries.

This page contains non-Coronavirus commentaries.
For my commentaries about the Coronavirus crisis, Coronavirus Articles and Commentaries.

This page mostly contains short comments I’ve posted about news articles on Trib Live. This is the website for three Pittsburgh area newspapers, including my hometown newspaper. I read their website every day. Trib Live is left leaning in its perspective across all three of its newspapers and on its website. The comments at the end of articles are also mostly left leaning, being posted mostly by people from the very blue city of Pittsburgh. As such, my voice is rather unique. That is why I decided to start posting comments, to counter the liberal perspective. There is a 750-character limit to comments, so I need to be concise in my comments, which is not always easy for me to do. The title links open in a new window. The comments are posted in reverse chronological order. Newest on top, oldest at the bottom.

Robert Lighthizer: USMCA, replacing NAFTA today, is the model for all future trade agreements

This is a surprisingly very positive article about yet another great Trump achievement from the normally liberal, Trump-bashing Trib. It is good to see some honest reporting for a change.
7/1/20

‘Ask a Black Doctor About Covid-19’ Facebook event set for Thursday

How is this not a racist headline and event?
7/2/20

Black-owned businesses see sales surge amid racism reckoning

Like the “Ask a Black Doctor” article, I must ask, how is this not racist? If someone promoted “shop at white-owned businesses”, the left would go nuts. How about just shop at the store that offers the best products or services at the best price?
7/2/20

US jobs surge: Trump sees sunshine, Biden ‘no victory yet’’

It is normal for a challenger to an incumbent to paint the current state of things in as worse of a light as possible. That is the only way to convince the public that the incumbent needs to be replaced. But it still is sad that Biden cannot see the good in so many people going back to work, as Trump is able to do.
7/5/20

Alexander Vindman retiring from Army, lawyer blames Trump

First, let me give the obligatory recognition and thanks to Vindman for his military service. But once he left active service and became a member of the NSC, those medals on his chest made little difference in his handling of classified information.

The entire impeachment fiasco began because Vindman got his feeling hurt when Trump ignored the talking notes Vindman had prepared for the July 25 phone call. Those hurt feelings caused Vindman to illegally leak the contents of the call to the so-called whistleblower, who did not have the security clearance to receive such classified information, which any phone call by the President automatically is. For that, Vindman should have been prosecuted.

Instead, expect a new “tell-all” book to be released by Vindman sometime in the near future. That book will be sure to be a best-seller. Vindman has probably seen the pattern of other former White House officials who left the administration, wrote a tell-all book critical of the President, and became millionaires.

I will have much more to say about Vindman and the entire impeachment fiasco in my forthcoming two-volume set Dems Cannot Bet Trump, So They Impeach Trump. I hope to have it available by the end of the summer. But sadly, I doubt my books will not become best-sellers, as they will not be critical of the President.
7/9/20

Police: Man learning how to drive crashes into license center in Penn Hills

How embarrassing! At least they didn’t mention his name. But he knows who he is!
7/10/20

Pittsburgh joins Philadelphia, anti-gun groups in support of Harrisburg firearm regulations

Glad to see the survey results:

Do you think Pennsylvania needs stricter gun regulations?
No 90%
Yes 8%
I'm not sure 1%
Based on 1,877 responses.
7/10/20

Biden pledges New Deal-like economic agenda to counter Trump

“Biden called for a $400 billion, four-year increase in government purchasing of U..-based goods and services, plus $300 billion in new research and development in U.S. technology firms.”

“He also emphasized previous pledges to establish a $15-per-hour minimum wage,”

“Biden will continue presenting his energy and infrastructure plan to combat the climate crisis,”

More big government proposals that will completely tank the already faltering economy.

But most of all, don’t miss the completely different tone of this article to the one about Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech. That was said to be a “racist” speech, though if you listen to it, you will hear it was anything but. It was in fact a great unifying speech that all Americans could support.
7/10/20

Power Outage

Thousands still without power from Friday’s thunderstorms across region

My power went out at 4:00 am. I know, as I sleep with a white noise machine. When it shut off, it woke me up. The power came back on shortly before 6:00 pm. But it made little sense for the power to go out hours after the storms ended and early in the morning, when air conditioners were not running.

But no matter, as my battery backup kept my Internet alive, so I used a tablet for a short while and wasted time on Facebook, then got to work when the power came back on and I could use my desktop PC again.

I’m just thankful the power did not stay off much longer, as I have lots of work to do today. The battery backup kept me from losing anything on the PC and messing up the files, so I was back to work without any problems to deal with.
7/11/20

Trump commutes longtime friend Roger Stone’s prison sentence

Roger is 67 and suffers from various preexisting conditions that would put him at elevated risk of serious consequences from a CV infection. That is the very type of person prisons have been letting out. As such, it made little sense to put this non-violent criminal behind bars. As Stone has said, it could have been a death sentence.

As for those complaining, don’t forget, Obama pardoned or commuted over 1,700 criminals, far more than any other President. But I don’t remember all the cries of there being “two systems of justice” back then.

As for Trump wanting “to undo the effects of a Russia investigation that has shadowed his administration from the outset,” that is as it should be, as that investigation should never have happened. It was predicated on lies and disinformation given to a FISA court. If Durham ever gets done with his report, we will convictions of those involved in starting this witch hunt.
7/11/20

Look out, Mars: Here we come with a fleet of spacecraft

“Only the U.S. has successfully put a spacecraft on Mars, doing it eight times”

American exceptionalism at work.
7/14/20

‘Glee’ star Naya Rivera found dead at California lake

“She is the third major cast member from the show to die in their 30s.”

A “Glee curse?”

Condolences to her family. And prayers for her son, who was with her when she downed.

“The boy was wearing a life vest, and another life jacket was found in the boat along with Rivera’s purse and identification.”

She was swimming in murky waters without a life jacket? Not smart. But still, a tragic, unnecessary death.
7/14/20

Columbus Day and Statues

This summer, there has been a push by protesters and rioters to remove statues of Christopher Columbus and to eliminate Columbus Day as a national holiday. But those who are doing so seem to have little knowledge of the person of Columbus and the history behind Columbus Day and these statutes.

On July 15, 2020, a member of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Italian Sons of America was interviewed on KDKA radio. He explained the background to Columbus Day and statutes of Columbus.

He said that in in 1891, recent Italian immigrants were subjected to a tide of racism. That racism included the lynching of some Italian-Americans. It was not as widespread as that of blacks in the deep south, but it did occur.

To turn back that tide of racism and lynchings, the federal government instituted Columbus Day as a national holiday in 1892. It was more to honor Italian-Americans in general than Columbus per se.

Since that time, Columbus Day has become to Italian-Americans like me what St. Patrick’s Day is to Irish-Americans, MLK Day is to black Americans, or Cinco de Mayo is to Hispanic Americans. It is a celebration of the unique contributions of Italian Americans to the American culture, just as each of these days are to their cultural contributions.

As for statutes of Columbus, the one here in Pittsburgh was erected by Italian Americans, as a source of pride in our heritage. The same is true elsewhere in the country. As such, the removal of them is an insult to Italian Americans everywhere in the USA.

As for Columbus himself, he never owned a slave, as many are alleging, as the first slave ship did not arrive here until over a century later. He was in fact a brave explorer that opened up the Americans to the Old World. And without him, there would be no USA today.

I will have more to say about this push to disparage Columbus and other notable figures in American history in my forthcoming book Breakdown of American Society. But I am mentioning this here to educate those who support such actions.
7/19/20

Another Misleading Trib Headline

U.S. economy shrank at record-breaking 33% rate last quarter

Misleading headline. Be sure to note the following:

“The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter — by far the worst quarterly plunge ever”

The “annual rate” means they extrapolated the second quarter numbers to what it would be if the economy continues to contract at the same rate for a full 12 months. The actual contraction in the second quarter was one-quarter of that, or 8.25%. That is still terrible, but not near as bad as 33%. As always, the Trib is trying to make things look as worse as possible, as a means of disparaging Trump.
7/30/20

These commentaries are continued at: August 2020 Commentaries

The First Impeachment of Donald J. Trump

This three-volume set covers the impeachment of Donald J. Trump that occurred over the fall of 2019 to the winter of 2020. It was yet one more attempt to oust the President from office by Democrats, who never accepted he won in 2016. A complaint about a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky led to an impeachment inquiry to begin in early September 2019. Along the way, the corruption of Joe Biden that Trump wanted investigated and which led to the impeachment inquiry is discussed.

The above commentaries were posted in July 2020.

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