Maybe my sample isn’t projectable…
===============
I recently had a very encouraging experience when I went to one of my granddaughter’s cross-country running meets.
There were 20 Baltimore area teams … about 400 runners … most of whom had family & friends there to root them on … a very diverse group.
Everybody seemed to be having good family time … most adults were encouraging all the runners … regardless of their team affiliation, their speed and position or their race … no chatter about CRT or any other political hot buttons.
Everything seemed so normal.
When I told my story to some friends, they opined that there’s still a big group of people “in the middle” … far away from the loud extremist positions … more concerned about family life and community than political scuffling.
That meshed with my cross country experience but, of course, I had to get analytical …
==============
The Pew Research Center has tracked party identity and ideology for decades.
One way they do it is by scoring the Republicans and Democrats on a 10-item scale of political values … more liberal values sort to the left … more conservative values sort to the right.
Here’s how America looked about 15 years ago … in 2004.
Democrats clustered to the left (the light blue hump), Republicans clustered to the right (the red hump ).
The dark blue hump in the middle is the moderate middle … consisting of both Democrats and Republicans who shar similar values.
Back in 2004, both the Democratic and Republican humps peaked relatively close to the middle … and the moderate middle was sizable.
==============
Now, fast forward to 2017 — the latest Pew survey.
Democrats cluster further to the left, Republicans cluster further to the right.
The distance between the peak in the Dem’ hump and the peak in the GOP’s hump widened.
Less than 10 percent in each party overlaps ideologically with the other side.
So, the moderate middle substantially shrank.
=============
What has happened since 2017?
While Pew hasn’t published a directly comparable study since 2017, they did run a poll that asked whether the country is more or less divided before and after the pandemic.
The bottom line: Most people believe their society is now more divided than before the pandemic.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA — From his seaside mansion, former president Barack Obama announced today that he is formally passing ownership of the stock market and economy on to President Trump.
“All the gains were mine — Trump didn’t build that — but this crash is all on Trump,” Obama said as he admired the ocean, which will consume his home in fewer than twelve years.
“My responsibility for the great economic gains in this country ended the moment the stocks started to tank this morning.”
The former president said that he does reserve the right to reverse his stance and reclaim credit for any economic gains realized after the market turns around, whenever that may be.
According to Gallup — the most trusted polling organization — it’s a dead heat between former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump.
Photo source: Gallup
Both are “most admired” by 18% of Americans.
Trump’s score increased by 5 percentage points from 2018.
Obama’s inched down by a point over that period.
Pundits say that Trump’s increase is mostly attributable to the continuing economic boom
I’ll take that…
Obama’s decline?
In 2018, Obama was “most admired” by 39% of Dems … that number dropped to 35% in 2019.
Hypotheses include:
Out of sight, out of mind … happens to all former presidents.
Way more “hope” than “change”
Not progressive enough for 2019 Dems.
Gallup didn’t offer a point-of-view as to whether impeachment boosted or dampened Trump’s scores.
What’s worse, lots of inconsequential lies … or a a couple of consequential ones?
============
As a Catholic kid, I was taught about the difference between venial sins and mortal ones.
The former are naughty-naughty … destining you to a few years in a holding tank before admittance to perpetual bliss in heaven.
The latter – mortal sins – are bad-bad … guaranteeing you that you’ll get banished to the fires of hell.
That lesson comes to mind when former President Obama adopts his trademarked holier-than-thou persona and lambasts current President Trump as a congenital liar.
According to a recent Gallup poll, American’s satisfaction with the way they are being governed has bumped up by 10 points in the past year (the green line below).
38% now say they’re satisfied with the way they are being governed.
….and, the results may surprise some of you!
=============
Kast week, breaking from the historical precedent, former-President Obama hit the campaign trail to support Dem candidates by blasting Trump and burnishing his record as president.
The sweet oration was there … along with the usual emphasis on “I” (reportedly. 132 times) and the castigation of all evil people who disagree with him … especially President Trump.
I imagine that Obama was expecting a continuation of the free-pass that the press gave him during his active tenure … but, that wasn’t the case.
For example, the AP — which is dependably left of center — took a stab at fact-checking Obama’s assertions.
The entire AP report is worth reading if you have time.
Here are some highlights…
============
Freedom of the press
Obama: “I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people.”
AP: Trump may use extraordinary rhetoric to undermine trust in the press, but Obama arguably went farther — using extraordinary actions to block the flow of information to the public .. in a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into its news-gathering activities, betraying information about its operations “that the government has no conceivable right to know.”
Quoting the NY Times: “The Obama administration moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.”
Oops.
============
ObamaCare
Obama: “Sabotage of the Affordable Care Act has already cost more than 3 million Americans their health insurance.”
AP: While sign-ups for government-sponsored private insurance under Obama’s law show a drop of about 900,000 … that number is more than offset by the number of additional people who are now working full-time with employer-sponsored health insurance benefits.
And, enrollment through expanded Medicaid — the other major source of Obamacare coverage — appears to be stable at about 12 million people.
The AP fact-check didn’t flashback to Obama’s biggest whoppers: “Keep your plan, keep your doctor” or “reduce costs by $2,500”.
Bottom line: Many folks had to switch plans and doctors … and average out-of-pocket spending on healthcare went up by $2,500 … a $5,000 swing from the promise.
Obama: “The actions we took during that crisis returned the economy to healthy growth.”
Fact-check (from multiple sources): Yes, the economy did start to revive itself.
Obama stepped-up Bush-initiated programs to bail out the the U.S. financial and auto industries … and his stimulus package pumped almost $1 trillion into the economy. About 1/2 went to tax cuts and about 1/2 went mostly to so-called shovel-ready projects and grants and loans to green energy initiatives.
But, data shows that the recovery was far slower than prior economic recoveries (source); none of the shovel-ready or green projects reached marquee status (quick: name one besides Solyndra); and, most economists credit the Fed’s near-zero interest rate policy for the recovery’s growth.
Importantly, GDP growth was stalled at 2%, which was touted as a “new normal”.
It’s currently hovering around 4%
==============
Hope the AP’s fact-checking was just a one-time effort…
I’m deeply and sincerely appreciative to the men and women who serve in our military … especially those who were killed, wounded or confined as POWs.
I can’t imagine the horror of being a POW for 5 years.
So, I put John McCain irrevocably in the heroes’ column.
That said I disagreed with many of his political stands.
That was ok with me because he was one of very few politicians that I thought was a good, well intended man who had the cajones to speak his mind truthfully.
This week I’ve been struck by the gross hypocrisy of politicos who “always respected” John McCain.
Always? Really?
Reminded me of the day — the moment — when Obama “lost” me.
It was the televised healthcare summit that Obama held to “listen” to opposing views.
McCain offered a short, sincere, respectful point-of-view.
Obama shot him his trademarked condescending glance and rebutted: “John” … not Senator McCain … “you can stop campaigning the election is over so .”
Pretty disrespectful, right?
I wonder if Obama’s flowery eulogy this week will say “I always respected, Senator McCain” or if it will include an apology for publicly disrespecting “John” at the healthcare summit.
My money is on the former.
==============
PS Obama doesn’t have a monopoly on this week’s hypocrisy. It’s just that the incident was meaningful to me at the time. There are worse cases, including the Bush campaign insinuating during the SC primary that that McCain was a racist. I doubt that Bush will apologize for that in his eulogy.
And, to boot, there’s some clear evidence of collusion.
===============
Loyal readers know that I’m not a big fan of Facebook.
I’m amazed by the amount of sensitive information that people post and, for most, the lack of interest (or sophistication) in protecting the privacy of that information.
So, I wasn’t surprised when yesterday’s “shocking” headlines started rolling about FB’s massive data breach.
By mid-day, the previous “no big news” climate shifted to near market hysteria
Why?
Bang … a Trump connection headlined in the NY Times:
In a nutshell, a data outfit called Cambridge Analytica “harvested” the personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users … and fed the information to Trump digital campaigners.
OK, data breaches are bad … it’s horrible to have your private info fall into the wrong hands (i.e. Trump’s)
Hmmm.
But, Trump and his supporters are all Neaderthals, right?
How did they do it … and where did they get the idea?
One Of These Things (Is Not Like The Others)
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
I like to tune in to MSNBC to get a sense of what the far left is saying … and, for pure entertainment value.
To say the least, I was surprised that a constantly looped headline following Trump’s signing of the tax reform package was:
=========
I had to scratch my head: What Obama tax cut?
At first, I assumed that they might be referring to Obama’s billion-dollar stimulus program which gave a dollar-a-day Tax Credit ($400 per worker and $800 per couple) in 2009 and 2010.
You might have missed this in the flurry on news last week…
President Trump issued an Executive Order redirecting NASA’s mission:
The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery.
It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use.
This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints — we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond — and bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.
=========
I know what you must be thinking: What’s newsworthy about that … hasn’t that been NASA’s mission all along?
Nope.
President Trump’s Executive Order reverses former-President Obama’s marching orders for NASA.
In case memories have faded, let’s flashback to 2010 ….
To win Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski’s vote on the tax reform bill, a provision was slipped in to open part of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. Source
Though the provision hasn’t got much coverage, I suspect that it will eventually cause an uproar.
To prep HomaFiles readers, we thought it would be a good time time to reprise a HomaFiles blast-from-the-past …
Both the New York Times and Washington Post editorial boards enthusiastically supported drilling in ANWR in the late 1980s.
The Post noted that the area “is one of the bleakest, most remote places on this continent, and there is hardly any other where drilling would have less impact on surrounding life. . . . ”
ANWR is roughly the size of South Carolina …
However, the area where, according to Department of Interior estimates, some 5.7 billion to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil reside is much smaller and … would amount to the size of Dulles airport.
A friend and I were chatting about the rash of naval accidents – 3 collisions and a ‘ran aground’.
How can that happen?
Conspiracy theorists wonder if the collisions were intentional acts of terror (remember the USS Cole bombing?) … or the result of computer hacking (military computer systems haven’t been immune from).
So far there hasn’t been any evidence of either terrorism or cyber-attacks.
Regarding the latter, there are back-up systems.
You know, sailors eyes – watching out for ships in the vicinity.
And, when Romney observed that our military strength had been depleted, especially with hot spots developing around the globe, Obama took him to the hoop again.
Romney said; “’Our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917.’
Obama quipped::
Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed.
We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them.
We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.
And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we’re counting ships.
The mainstream press and other Obama supporters took the opportunity to portray Romney as old-fashioned and clueless about modern warfare.
=======
Memo to former President Obama:
FYI: bayonets are still standard issue for marines … and all branches train recruits on hand-to-hand combat and knife wielding – a close cousin of bayonets – is a part of the training.
And, while horses aren’t a primary means of troop transport, special forces are sometimes forced to use horses to reach some of the tough terrain parts of Afghanistan.
==========
The bigger issue is the size of the Navy’s fleet.
Who’s right on that one: Obama or Romney?
We’ll address that in our next post.
============
click to viewRomney’s remarks and Obama’s mocking rebuke
Even the mainstream media has had to acknowledge former President Obama’s infamous Syrian red line threat.
========
You remember, the former President said that Syria would face grave consequences if chemical weapons were used.
When the WMDs were used, the Administration kicked into high gear with increasingly harsh teleprompter readings and and a pleas for the Russians to take charge.
Soon thereafter came the declarations of victory – bold self-praise that all chemical weapons had been destroyed or removed (to Russia, of course).
In case you’ve forgotten the chest-banging, here’s a great compilation of the self-congratulatory gobbledygook (def’n)
Wonder if the guy watched the 2012 Presidential debates when Obama mocked Romney and declared the cold war to be over …
=======
On the Sunday talk shows, outgoing CIA Director John Brennan had some sharp criticism and warnings for President-elect Trump.
Brennan said that Trump is a bit naive and doesn’t have a “full understanding” of Russia’s power and the threat to the world posed by Russia’s aggressive actions.
Brennan failed to mention that — up to a couple of months ago — President Obama didn’t consider Russia to be much of a threat.
I wish the shows’ anchors had asked Brennan if he remembered the 2012 Presidential debates?
A key moment was when President Obama ridiculed Gov. Romney’s knowledge of foreign affairs.
The clip is a classic … try to stay calm when you.watch it
President Obama seems determined to leave office ungracefully … spending his lame duck time igniting a steam of transitional stink bombs to welcome the President-elect.
Or, as pundits like to say (when somebody other than Obama is doing it): “taking unprecedented unilateral action”.
Those who are gleefully cheering him on, should keep in mind that what goes around, comes around.
Some day, Trump may be in a lame duck period with a Dem president-elect ready to launch.
When he starts complicating life for the president-to-come, today’s cheer squad will have no legitimacy to whine.
Obama’s recent power plays reminded me of a “must read” opinion piece in the Washington Post archives.
The article was penned by left-leaning GWU law professor Jonathan Turley
Turley has long been warning that Dems may think it is clever and appropriate when Obama circumvents the Congress and courts to implement his partisan policies, but that they should be forewarned that what goes around, come around.
Specifically, he says:
Democrats have supported President Obama’s claims of unchecked authority in a variety of areas.
Obama has been particularly aggressive in his unilateral actions.
From health care to immigration to the environment, he has set out to order changes long refused by Congress.
Thrilled by those changes, supporters have ignored the obvious danger that they could be planting a deeply unfortunate precedent if the next president proves to be a Cruz or Trump rather than a Clinton.
While the policies may not carry over to the next president, the powers will.
The Obama model will be attractive to successors who, although they may have a different agenda, have the same appetite for unilateral decisions.
According to his economists, the trillion dollar stimulus program was a bust!
========
Lots of MSM headlines these days about the strong economy that Obama is handing Trump … with a strong suggestion that Trump will have a hard time matching Obama’s stellar performance as a job creator.
Really?
On the plus side, the reported unemployment rate has dropped from the financial crisis highs.
For today, we’ll push aside the facts that (a) American’s who have been economically crushed largely voted the Dems out of office; and (2) the labor force participation rate has dropped precipitously – giving the unemployment rate a faux boost.
But, let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers … using the Administration’s own analyses.
There was a “must read” opinion piece in the Washington Post .
The article was penned by left-leaning GWU law professor Jonathan Turley
Turley has long been warning that Dems may think it is clever and appropriate when Obama circumvents the Congress and courts to implement his partisan policies, but that they should be forewarned that what goes around, come around.
Specifically, he says:
Democrats have supported President Obama’s claims of unchecked authority in a variety of areas.
Obama has been particularly aggressive in his unilateral actions.
From health care to immigration to the environment, he has set out to order changes long refused by Congress.
Thrilled by those changes, supporters have ignored the obvious danger that they could be planting a deeply unfortunate precedent if the next president proves to be a Cruz rather than a Clinton.
While the policies may not carry over to the next president, the powers will.
The Obama model will be attractive to successors who, although they may have a different agenda, have the same appetite for unilateral decisions.
“The Obama administration has denied a bid by two Democratic governors to reconsider how it treats marijuana under federal drug control laws, keeping the drug for now, at least, in the most restrictive category for U.S. law enforcement purposes.”
“So, under federal law, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which means it’s considered to have “no currently accepted medical use” and a “high potential for abuse.”
The Brussels terrorists’ attacks were were an immense tragedy … to be taken seriously.
You wouldn’t know it, given some of the past week’s noteworthy dumb & dumber happenings.
Let’s start with the UK’s response to the bombings.
Did the Brits make any notable raids to crack the terrorists’ network of killer cells.
Nope, instead of going for the jugular, UK authorities went for the capillaries and arrested some dude for for making an inappropriate, potentially anti-Islamic tweet:
========
The charges were eventually dropped, but please tell me, how does law enforcement prioritize chasing insensitive tweeters over cold-blooded killers?
Maybe it has to do with the UK police patrolling with 1 bullet less than Barney Fife.
Tweeters are probably “safe stops” … cold-blooded killers, not so easy.
Or, maybe the world is just going completely wacky. A couple of more examples …
Now that it looks like Trump will be the GOP candidate. it’s time to reprise a “must read” opinion piece that appeared in the Washington Post a couple of months ago.
The article was penned by left-leaning GWU law professor Jonathan Turley
Turley has long been warning that Dems may think it is clever and appropriate when Obama circumvents the Congress and courts to implement his partisan policies, that they should be forewarned that what goes around, come around.
Specifically, he says:
Democrats have supported President Obama’s claims of unchecked authority in a variety of areas.
Obama has been particularly aggressive in his unilateral actions.
From health care to immigration to the environment, he has set out to order changes long refused by Congress.
Thrilled by those changes, supporters have ignored the obvious danger that they could be planting a deeply unfortunate precedent if the next president proves to be a Cruz rather than a Clinton.
While the policies may not carry over to the next president, the powers will.
The Obama model will be attractive to successors who, although they may have a different agenda, have the same appetite for unilateral decisions.
I’m a political junkie, and even I got bored during the debate last night …
Yesterday, Romney (who I still think would have made a great President), Rubio (a smart policy wonk who looks like a Latino Doogie Howswer and will never shake the ‘Gang of 8’ goo off of his shoe), Cruz (who holds deep conservative principles that include cheating to win) took their best shots at Trump and the Donald swatted them all back at them in short order.
Bottom line: Nobody cares that Trump is shallow on policy, used Trump U. to swindle some folks, sprinkled money to practically all politicians as a cost of business, or is ambivalent about Planned Parenthood.
After years of watching Obama get pushed around by loose-cannon world leaders and ISIS, many Americans just want a President who will “man-up”. Out-bully the bullies who are taking our lunch money …
That’s the Donald.
=======
During the debate, I was reminded of a poll taken a couple of years ago.
The question: Who is the stronger leader: Putin or Obama ?
YouGov polled Americans on that very question. asking folks to to rate Obama and Putin – whether they are strong or weak leaders.
How would you have rated each of them: very strong, somewhat strong, somewhat weak, or very weak?
The central observation was that EVERYBODY else (including the Washington Post and New York Times) called the terrorist group ISIS, but Obama continued to use the more arcane term ISIL
“The usage of the term “Levant” has been relegated to academia in the fields of archeology and literature, but there is a recent attempt to reclaim the notion of the Levant as a category of analysis in political and social sciences.”
There was a “must read” opinion piece in the Washington Post last weekend.
The article was penned by left-leaning GWU law professor Jonathan Turley
Turley has long been warning that Dems may think it is clever and appropriate when Obama circumvents the Congress and courts to implement his partisan policies, that they should be forewarned that what goes around, come around.
Specifically, he says:
Democrats have supported President Obama’s claims of unchecked authority in a variety of areas.
Obama has been particularly aggressive in his unilateral actions.
From health care to immigration to the environment, he has set out to order changes long refused by Congress.
Thrilled by those changes, supporters have ignored the obvious danger that they could be planting a deeply unfortunate precedent if the next president proves to be a Cruz rather than a Clinton.
While the policies may not carry over to the next president, the powers will.
The Obama model will be attractive to successors who, although they may have a different agenda, have the same appetite for unilateral decisions.
“The usage of the term “Levant” has been relegated to academia in the fields of archeology and literature, but there is a recent attempt to reclaim the notion of the Levant as a category of analysis in political and social sciences.”
Hmm.
An arcane academic usage … being reclaimed by politicos.
During last Friday’s press conference, President Obama criticized opponents to his policies as having “half-baked ideas” and speaking “mumbo jumbo” … and, he said that Congress should tighten gun control laws because “the polling says the majority of Americans understand we should be changing these laws “ and “Congress should act on behalf of the majority” Source
Yesterday, we commented on the majority rule part of the teaching moment …. pointing out that “acting on behalf of the majority” didn’t seem to be important for ObamaCare or the Iran Deal.
Perhaps the President has had a change of heart re: the will of the majority.
Or he, himself, may be spewing some mumbo jumbo.
=====
Today, let’s dig a little deeper on the basic premise behind his call for action on stricter gun laws: a majority of Americans favor such a move.
With Russia now propping up the Assad regime, “requesting” that the U.S. pull all troops and planes from Syria, and clearly establishing its sway in in the Middle East, I think a flashback is in order.
Remember the 2012 Presidential debates?
A key moment was when President Obama ridiculed Gov. Romney’s knowledge of foreign affairs.
Given recent events in the Ukraine, the clip is a classic … try to stay calm when you.watch it
The Obama-friendly MSM has been trying its best to hype the deal as the most consequential foreign policy act in history … or at least the past hundred years.
Republicans and Israelis are ranting doom and gloom. The former largely for political reasons; the latter with legitimate concerns that they’re toast.
So, I’ve been feeling a bit guilty that I can’t get revved up on the issue
Thought Obama’s press conference yesterday might get me interested.
“Without provocation, an attacker ambushed and killed officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos while they sat in their marked patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant Area of Brooklyn … ‘They were quite simply assassinated, targeted for their uniform,’ Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a news conference.”
Earlier in the day, the killer posted a photo of a silver handgun and a message on Instagram in which he talked about killing police officers “in retaliation for the deaths of Garner and Brown.”
Both the New York Times and Washington Post editorial boards enthusiastically supported drilling in ANWR in the late 1980s.
The Post noted that the area “is one of the bleakest, most remote places on this continent, and there is hardly any other where drilling would have less impact on surrounding life. . . . ”
ANWR is roughly the size of South Carolina …
However, the area where, according to Department of Interior estimates, some 5.7 billion to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil reside is much smaller and … would amount to the size of Dulles airport.
“Without provocation, an attacker ambushed and killed officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos while they sat in their marked patrol car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant Area of Brooklyn … ‘They were quite simply assassinated, targeted for their uniform,’ Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a news conference.”
Earlier in the day, the killer posted a photo of a silver handgun and a message on Instagram in which he talked about killing police officers “in retaliation for the deaths of Garner and Brown.”
That’s pretty ironic since the Dems were, before the election, boasting about their predictive analytics and their unstoppable get-out-the-vote organization.
I haven’t been hearing much on the news about the GOTV machine that failed to get-out-the-vote.
=====
So, what happened? Here are a couple of hypotheses to ponder(more…)
Last week, the NY Times took aim at the Obama-deniers – the Dem Senatorial candidates who wont even admit that they voted for the guy (even though they voted with the guy over 90% of the time).
Specifically, the Times blasted:
But one of the reasons for his unpopularity is that nervous members of his own party have done a poor job of defending his policies over the nearly six years of his presidency, allowing a Republican narrative of failure to take hold.
Few voters know that the 2009 stimulus bill contributed heavily to the nation’s economic recovery, saving and creating 2.5 million jobs.
I can nit pick that it should be “recovered” not created … and I could point out that full-time jobs are being replaced with part-time jobs … and I could pile on by mentioning that most of the jobs are in the low pay hospitality and retail industries.
But, I won’t do that, because I want to make another point.
The Homa Files 