Seldom Balanced – Usually Fair
From Jonathan Bernstein at Bloomberg View:
The highlight of the first day of the Republican Convention was Melania Trump singing her husband’s praises. That’s what those who just tuned in for the broadcast network coverage saw. It was a solid speech.
The rest of the day — the part that very few voters watch — had relatively few mentions of the Republican standard bearer.
From Walter Brasch at The Moderate Voice:
When I was a junior at San Diego State, I had a sudden urge to need a restroom. The closest one was clearly marked, “Faculty Men Only.” The nearest one for male students was on the other side of the building.
I did what any rational person would do—I used the faculty restroom.
One of the professors, who was using a urinal a couple spaces away, told me the restroom was for professors only. (I assumed there were separate restrooms for staff.) “What department are you in,” asked the prof.
In my deeper voice, I responded I was with sociology, hoping he knew little about the sociology faculty.
“Just out of grad school?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, hoping that I looked much older than my 19 years. I wasn’t lying. I was “with sociology”—as a student, though. And, since I had no plans to go to grad school, I was truly “out of grad school.”
From FactCheck.org:
At his July 5 press conference, FBI Director James Comey said a “very small number” of emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton over her private server “bore markings indicating the presence of classified information” — contradicting Clinton’s claims that she “never received nor sent any material that was marked classified.”
But now we are learning more about those emails from Comey, who testified before the House Oversight Committee on July 7, and State Department spokesman John Kirby, who addressed these emails at press briefings on July 6 and 7:
“Because you do not feel the pain, does not mean it does not exist.”
From conservative James Wigderson at Right Wisconsin:
Indiana Governor Mike Pence is considered such a safe pick for Donald Trump’s running mate that there must be something seriously wrong within the campaign. They’re not “letting Donald be Donald.” Where’s Omarosa?
While picking Pence may seem “safe” for Trump, it’s certainly an odd position for the Indiana governor. After losing a congressional election in 1991, Pence wrote an essay, “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” for the Indiana Policy Review, an apology to his opponent for the negative campaign.
From Last Of The Millenniums:
Y’ all remember Cathy? Her State Of The Union response where she just made stuff up?
‘During Cathy McMorris Rodgers response, she mentioned “Bette from Spokane,” who was kicked off her health insurance and was facing a “nearly $700 per month” increase in her premiums, #ThanksObama. This was to illustrate how bad the law was, and how all Americans everywhere were suffering because Obamacare…..’
From Infidel753:
Turkey is one of the Middle East’s two long-standing democracies (the other is Israel), but this week’s failed coup there is a reminder of how differently things can work in different societies.
After World War I led to the collapse of the decrepit Ottoman Empire, the modern Turkish state was established by Kemal Atatürk, perhaps history’s best example of a charismatic leader who changed the course of a whole country’s development. Atatürk, an atheist, was determined to make the new Turkish state as modern and Western as possible in every respect, including both democracy and secularism.
Guns, Misconduct, and Strategy
What must we do when society’s weakest links can inflict deadly damage, and a bad shooting can involve a good cop?
We become more secure when those who protect us are given measured, tested, state-of-the-art strategies.
We become less vulnerable when we restrict the ability to inflict widespread violent force to those whom we can trust.