RUTHFULLY YOURS

The House has its share of infamies, great and small, real and symbolic, and has been the scene of personal infamies from brawls to canings. But the conduct of Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the State of the Union address this week will go down as a day of infamy for the chamber as an institution. While it has long been a tradition for House speakers to remain stoic and neutral in listening to the address, Pelosi appeared intent on mocking President Trump from behind his back with sophomoric facial grimaces [texting, speaking, mouthing epithets, shuffling papers, nodding, then shaking her head as if she were conducting a speech, tilting her head up and down, moving her microphone, raising her papers high, rearranging and fluttering them repeatedly, and her signature lip-smacking] and head shaking, culminating in her ripping up a [government property] copy of his address [in violation of Federal law].

Her drop the mic moment will have a lasting impact on the House. While many will celebrate her trolling of the president, she tore up something far more important than a speech. Pelosi has shredded decades of tradition, decorum, and civility that the nation could use now more than ever. The House speaker is more than a political partisan, particularly when carrying out functions such as the State of the Union address. A president appears in the House as a guest of both chambers of Congress. The House speaker represents not her party or herself but the entirety of the chamber. At that moment, she must transcend her own political ambitions and loyalties.

What followed was an utter disgrace. First, Pelosi dropped the traditional greeting before the start of the address, “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States.” Instead, she simply announced, “Members of Congress, the president of the United States.” It was extremely petty and profoundly inappropriate. Putting aside the fact that this is not her tradition, but that of the House, it is no excuse to note that the president was impeached.

No sooner had Nancy Pelosi disrespected both the office of the President and the American people, the spin doctor mainstream media allies of the Democrat Party began equating President Trump’s not accepting Speaker of the House Pelosi’s hand shake to Pelosi ripping up her copy of the State of the Union Address before numerous millions of people watching on television around the world

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/he-snubbed-her-handshake-she-tore-up-his-speech-trump-pelosi-drama-on-full-display-at-state-of-the-union/ar-BBZEF8L?li=BBnb7Kz .

While the American State Department and many other folks are famous for such alleged moral equivalency claims as well, it’s the media of various sorts which is of concern right now https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/6/article38.htm.

Whatever the President’s real or alleged shortcomings may be, any reasonable observer cannot help but notice that the attempt to attack and get rid of Donald J. Trump began the day the Clinton team, whose Foundation has been the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars from often questionable and controversial sources (including Russian, Arab, and Ukrainian), lost the election in 2016. Besides Hillary, Slick Willy was chomping at the bit to be the First Dude back in the White House.

https://spectator.us/trump-state-union-address-touching-moments/

One of the many things that F. Scott Fitzgerald said that sound good but aren’t true is this: ‘There are no second acts in American lives.’ Consider the life of Donald Trump. Five years ago he was a dubious real estate developer and professional celebrity. Now he is not only president of the United States, but he is, three years into his first term, the most ostentatiously successful president in memory. Donald Trump is a walking refutation of what is perhaps Fitzgerald’s second most quoted line.

Possibly Fitzgerald’s first most quoted line is this: ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.’ That isn’t true, either. On the contrary, espousing or embodying contradictory ideas is generally a mark of pedestrian intelligence, on the one hand, and defective character on the other. In this context, uncharitable people might be inclined to adduce people like Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell (remember him?). They spout certain platitudes about the importance of Constitution, the rule of law, etc., but then do things that utterly betray their fine sounding sentiments.

Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address tonight brought both of Fitzgerald’s sayings to mind. The announced theme of the evening was ‘the great American comeback’. And the president indulged in a litany of what that comeback has encompassed. But as in his 2018 and 2019 State of the Union addresses, a major theme of his remarks was unity: the importance of working across the aisle to achieve what is good for the whole country, not just one party. In 2018, in a column called ‘Trump restores the We‘, I wrote that a major theme of the evening was the call to put aside ‘the partisan passions that divide us in order to go forward as a people united in the goal of making a better America’.

In 2019, the president sounded a similar note. The choice before us, he said, was between the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution, on the one hand, and cooperation, compromise, and the common good, on the other. ‘Victory,’ he said ‘is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.’

https://pjmedia.com/trending/white-women-draped-in-white-sit-while-trump-announces-lowest-minority-unemployment-numbers-ever/

Well, this is weird. Not only are the Democrats sheathing themselves in their favorite historic color for intimidating folks at the State of the Union address, but they all refused to stand while President Trump announced the lowest unemployment numbers for black and Hispanic people in the history of the country.

You have to wonder what message they’re trying to send as they sit there completely unimpressed that more minority people are working than ever before. We know you hate the president, but don’t you like Americans who have jobs? It seems like one of those things that would be easy to cheer. But Trump Derangement Syndrome, so whatever. Minority jobs come second to that. I’m surprised they didn’t wear black for mourning the impeachment acquittal that is coming in the morning.

Dems claim they’re in white because something, something, suffragettes.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/trump-rises-occasion-state-union-address-joseph-klein/

With Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, sitting stone-faced behind him for much of the time, President Donald Trump delivered a stirring, upbeat State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. “I say to the people of our great country and to the members of Congress: the state of our union is stronger than ever before,” the president declared.

President Trump followed Bill Clinton as the second president in U.S. history to have delivered his State of the Union address while impeachment proceedings against him were still ongoing. President Trump delivered his State of the Union address on the eve of his expected Senate acquittal of the two hopelessly partisan articles of impeachment that the House had rushed through its chamber and then delayed sending over to the Senate for weeks.

Like Bill Clinton, President Trump did not lob any recriminations against his political adversaries during his speech. There was no mention of the impeachment ordeal the Democrats had put him and the nation through. Instead, the president extolled what he called “The Great American Comeback” and projected optimism for America’s future.

“America is the place where anything can happen. America is the place where anyone can rise. Here, on this land, on this soil, on this continent, the most incredible dreams come true,” the president said. “The American age, the American epic, the American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising. God’s grace is still shining. My fellow Americans, the best is yet to come.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/president_trumps_moving_statesmanlike_state_of_the_union_address.html

On Tuesday night, two very different events took place. The first was President Trump’s State of the Union speech, one that showcased incredibly good news about the state of America today, soaring rhetoric, and moving human interest stories. That’s what this post is about. The other event was the embarrassing Democrat temper tantrum, something that we’ll save for a less uplifting, but perhaps more amusing, post.

What touched the audience most during the speech were the interactions Trump had with his honored guests. There are too many of these interactions to retell for this post, but the following guests were especially moving:

There was Juan Guaido, the true president of Venezuela, who is being kept out of office by the tyrannical socialist, Nicholas Maduro. To Guaido, Trump had one message:

All Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom! Socialism destroys nations. But always remember, freedom unifies the soul.

There was Kelli Hake, a war widow, and Gage, her 13-year-old son. Kelli’s husband and Gage’s father had died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb that Qassem Soleimani had supplied. It was a vivid reminder of the havoc and death Soleimani sowed throughout the Middle East.

There was Jody Jones, whose brother, Rocky, was randomly shot to death by an illegal immigrant who was still on the streets thanks to California’s sanctuary state policy.

There was Iain Lanphier, an 8th grader who wants to be part of the new Space Force. What was really awesome, though, was that Iain was there with his great grandfather, 100-year-old Brigadier General Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman and career military pilot who fought in WWII, Koran, and Vietnam.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/nancy_pelosi_throws_a_public_temper_tantrum_and_other_democrat_misbehavior.html

Two different events played out on the floor of the House on Tuesday night. The first was President Trump’s powerful, moving, uplifting, and optimistic State of the Union speech. The second was the immature, arrogant, intemperate, and really disgusting temper tantrum in which Democrats indulged.

The most obvious sign of a complete mental breakdown on the left was Nancy Pelosi’s conduct during the speech. Her petulant behavior could not be missed because she was seated behind the president, to his left. Whenever the camera was on Trump, it was on Pelosi too.

Pelosi’s hissy fit first showed itself when Pelosi refused to give Trump the traditional formal introduction. Traditionally, Speakers of the House say that it is their “high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.” Pelosi, however, in grudging and rushed tones, simply said, ‘Members of Congress, the President of the United States.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-impeachment-agonistes-11580860797?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Donald Trump delivered his third State of the Union address Tuesday night in one of the most paradoxical political scenes in memory. The President stood before the House Speaker who recently impeached him, and a day before the Senate will acquit him as his approval rating rises.

Mr. Trump touted his substantive policy achievements as he began to frame his case for re-election. They include tax reform and deregulation that gave the economic expansion a second life and has produced the tightest labor market since the 1960s. Wages are now rising for the least skilled and educated, a reversal of the Obama years when most gains went to those who held financial assets.

The President also celebrated his record number of first-term judicial nominees, who are remaking the judiciary as he promised in 2016. He talked about criminal-justice reform, which he pushed across the finish line in Congress despite doubts in his own party. And he talked at some useful length to make the case for education choice, especially for poor children denied it by teachers unions and a Democratic Party that increasingly opposes even charter schools. This will be a clear point of contrast in the election, and it’s a winning issue.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/rush/

“There is no one like him. Let’s keep him in our prayers.”   Amen! rsk

I haven’t felt much like working the last couple of days. Or like doing much else. See, Rush Limbaugh is a longtime friend of mine. Like all of Rush’s friends and tens of millions of other Americans, I’m reeling from the sudden diagnosis of advanced lung cancer.

Rush is an American original. It is said of some originals that, if you didn’t have them, you’d have to invent them. (Voltaire was talking about God when he said it; Don King, of course, about himself.) Yet no one could ever have invented Rush, because he was inconceivable.

When he burst upon the national scene over three decades ago, popular political media was the preserve of the political left. The thought of anyone, much less an unabashed conservative, carrying a three-hour daily broadcast through monologues teeming with conviction and good cheer — with the occasional phone call but virtually no guests — was not just unheard of. It was not in the realm of perceived possibility.

It took talent on loan from God, for sure. But it mainly took a guy with supreme belief in himself. Belief that was well-founded because it sprang from a unique combination of life-experience, of getting off the floor when life knocks you down, and of a sense of destiny about doing what you’re born to do. Add to that Rush’s abiding faith in the innate goodness of America — of her traditions, love of liberty, willingness to sacrifice, and grasp that human flourishing means learning from our mistakes.

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/68329-is-trumps-unorthodoxy-becoming-orthodox-2020-02-04

When candidate Donald Trump campaigned on calling China to account for its trade piracy, observers thought he was either crazy or dangerous.

Conventional Washington wisdom had assumed that an ascendant Beijing was almost preordained to world hegemony. Trump’s tariffs and polarization of China were considered about the worst thing an American president could do.

The accepted bipartisan strategy was to accommodate, not oppose, China’s growing power. The hope was that its newfound wealth and global influence would liberalize the ruling communist government.

Four years later, only a naif believes that. Instead, there is an emerging consensus that China’s cutthroat violations of international norms were long ago overdue for an accounting.

China’s re-education camps, its Orwellian internal surveillance, its crackdown on Hong Kong democracy activists and its secrecy about the deadly coronavirus outbreak have all convinced the world that China has now become a dangerous international outlier.

Trump courted moderate Arab nations in forming an anti-Iranian coalition opposed to Iran’s terrorist and nuclear agendas. His policies utterly reversed the Obama administration’s estrangement from Israel and outreach to Tehran.