RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/23/if-biden-is-ready-to-lock-down-again-we-should-just-elect-fauci-instead/

Joe Biden climbed out of his basement last week. Twice! Once to deliver a brief but well-received address at the Democratic National Convention, and once to give a socially distanced interview to ABC News with his wing-woman Kamala Harris. The big news out of the interview is that Biden said he would shut America down again if scientists told him to.

If this is true, then I have a question. Why are we even bothering to consider Biden? Why not just elect Dr. Anthony Fauci, or Dr. Deborah Birx if we want to smash glass ceilings in the process?

This is really not a facetious question. Shutting down America again would not only cripple America, but it would also make any other policies that Biden might have in mind utterly pointless. A jobs program when nobody can go to work? An education program when nobody can go to school? An infrastructure program with no construction workers? I mean, how does this work?

The big giveaway in Biden’s answer is that he openly would give away the power of free citizens in a democratic-republic to make their own decisions and not be dictated to by “experts.” I recently interviewed Brown University economics professor Glenn Loury, who put this very well. He said experts should be on tap, not on top. On tap for us, but not on top of our lives. You can see the clip here.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-0822-klacik-response-20200821-hcgwdtny5bbl5egm7c6dke4tc4-story.html

The writer is a Republican candidate for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District.

I expect more from The Baltimore Sun than graceless screeds. You are not the right-wing media or a partisan liberal rag. You are the editorial board of Maryland’s paper of record. Like it or not, I am the Republican nominee for a contested congressional race where the Democratic nominee was pushed out of the NAACP, according to your reporting, amid allegations of sexual harassment, nepotism and mismanagement. That is the candidate you have endorsed. I am a woman of color running in a state that has no women in any elected federal or statewide offices. But you have now twice, without ever having met or interviewed me, attacked and mocked me on your opinion page (“Is Kim Klacik running for Congress, mayor or chief Trump enabler?” Aug. 19). What gives?

Not that it should matter, but I’m a moderate Republican. I believe in paid family leave and over-the-counter birth control, that climate change is man-made and presents an existential threat that demands our urgent attention, and that who you love is beyond the province of government. I believe we should invest more money in education, that teachers and social workers and mental health practitioners should be paid far more than they are, and that chokeholds and qualified immunity should be abolished.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/513214-could-kamala-harris-transform-law-enforcement-as-the-vice-president

National conventions have long served as what magicians call the turn. As explained in the movie “The Prestige,” every magic trick has three stages. First comes the pledge, when the magician “shows you something ordinary.” Then comes the turn, when he “makes it do something extraordinary” like vanish. Finally, he has “to bring it back in the hardest part” known as the prestige.

In American politics, candidates make the pledge to voters on the extremes of their parties during primaries. Then comes the turn, when the more extreme nominee disappears at the convention. The turn was not as tough for Joe Biden, who was fairly moderate as a senator, as it was for Kamala Harris, who was ranked by GovTrack as the most liberal senator to the left of even Bernie Sanders.

Nonetheless, in perhaps the neatest trick of all, the Washington Post’s David Byler recently described Harris as a “small ‘c’ conservative.” The concern for some of us is that the prestige, when earlier objects might reappear after the election, particularly regarding the Justice Department and the legal system. There is reason to worry about what might be revealed, post-election.

One of the Democratic convention speakers was former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, widely viewed as the leading candidate for attorney general in a Biden administration. She was presented as the personification of a new Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law. Yates declared: “I was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s shameful and unlawful Muslim travel ban.” The problem is, she wasn’t. She was fired for telling an entire department not to defend a travel ban that ultimately was upheld as lawful.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/22/feeling-good-through-feeling-bad/

Usually, political conventions are feel-good events. The party faithful congregate, wave flags, and cheer their candidates. Tomorrow is another day! Nothing stands between us and victory except defeat!

These Roderick Spode-like sentiments are echoed and amplified by the cheering masses, who never let a dollop of tautology intrude upon and dampen their enthusiasm. 

This year, as we all know, the Chinese virus—which is to say our quivering response to this new seasonal ailment—has transformed the cheering masses into isolated maskists. 

About the only congregations our masters in the media and Democratic statehouses smile upon these days are those undertaken for the sake of rioting, arson, and general mayhem. Congregating in a church to worship is dangerous to your health and so is forbidden. So are birthday parties for your five-year-old. But scores or hundreds congregating to burn public buildings and to blind policemen is constitutionally protected “peaceful protest.”

Terror about the novel coronavirus—to say nothing of terror at the possible legal and public-relations liability of people getting sick at large in-person events you sponsor—prompted both parties to scrap their plans for a live convention and broadcast “virtual” conferences instead. 

Last week’s Democratic National Convention—four nights of taped hectoring and inadvertently hilarious exercises in politically correct sermonizing—showed how difficult it is to make a virtual event seem like an actual celebration. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/in_his_convention_speech_joe_plagiarized_from_everyone_including_himself.html

The Democrat National Convention is already fading in the rear-view mirror of history, and the country is preparing for the Republican National Convention (which sounds as if it will be a more cheerful, optimistic affair). The passage of time, however, has allowed people to compare Biden’s acceptance speech to other speeches and, lo and behold, Biden is back to plagiarizing, whether it’s stealing ideas from Trump, words from other politicians, or whole passages from himself.

Once upon a time, the American media was not in love with Joe Biden. That’s why, in 1987, when it emerged that Biden had copied a Welsh Labour politician almost word for word (albeit without the Welshman’s elegance and passion), the media ran with the story:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-mail-voting-redo-in-new-jersey-11598050780?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

On Wednesday a state court found that the election in the city’s third ward “was rife with mail in vote procedural violations,” and therefore it “was not the fair, free and full expression of the intent of the voters.” A redo will be held Nov. 3. “Of all ballots cast in the Third Ward City Council election,” Judge Ernest Caposela wrote, “24.29% were rejected.” By comparison, he said that in 31 municipal elections held the same day across New Jersey, the overall ballot-rejection rate was “only 9.6%.” For democratic legitimacy, that’s an alarming “only.”

At a Paterson apartment building, the U.S. Postal Service didn’t place blank ballots into individual mailboxes, the judge wrote. Instead “a substantial number” were “left in bulk in the foyer.” Court filings cite people who said they didn’t vote, yet ballots were sent in under their names. About 200 ballots were found in a mailbox in Haledon, N.J., an adjacent town. Three voters, the local news said, strangely did not list their addresses as any local cemetery, despite their being dead.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-me-too-covid-plan-11598050972?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Joe Biden on Thursday issued an appeal to Americans who have grown tired during the pandemic of Donald Trump’s persona and behavior. The Democratic nominee is also promising a better virus strategy, which would be wonderful if he had one. But the virus plan he’s pushing is little different on the substance than what the Trump Administration is already doing.

President Trump’s biggest mistake in the pandemic has been his own shifting rhetorical leadership. He’s moved from public nonchalance to worst-case shutdowns back to overconfidence and in recent weeks more focused concern. He has suggested that triumph over the virus is just around the corner, which defies reality, while minimizing the disease’s severity. Democrats this week hammered his constant self-congratulation and seeming lack of empathy, which have hurt in particular with older voters.

***

But Mr. Trump’s virus policy in practice has been better than his critics claim, and Mr. Biden isn’t offering better ideas. Start with testing. Mr. Biden promises to “develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately.” Great—the Food and Drug Administration in the past week has approved two new rapid tests that can be scaled up quickly.

https://www.hawkinsforohio.com/

https://townhall.com/columnists/gabriellahoffman/2020/08/21/entrepreneur-shay-hawkins-hopes-to-take-conservative-message-to-columbus-n2574792

Entrepreneur Shay Hawkins Hopes to Take Conservative Message to Columbus-Gabriella Hoffman

Shafron “Shay” Hawkins is a candidate running to serve in Ohio’s House of Representatives.

As the Republican nominee for Ohio’s 6th House District, a district surrounding Cleveland, Shay hopes to flip it from blue to red this November.

And he could very well pull it off.

After going viral for this tweet, Shay spoke to me about his candidacy and why he’s optimistic about his chances this fall.

A Bona Fide Conservative with an Inspiring Life Story

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2020/08/21/alek-skarlatos-campaign-ad-n2574826

https://www.alekfororegon.com/issues/

Alek Skarlatos Campaign Ad Hearkens Back to His Train Heroics Cortney O’Brien

Alek Skarlatos is a hero. He was one of three young men who happened to be on the right train at the right time in Paris in 2015. He and his friends Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, who all had military experience, managed to subdue a terrorist who had plotted to shoot and kill passengers, saving countless lives.

Now, Skarlatos wants to bring his fighting spirit to Congress. He’s running as a Republican in Oregon’s 4th congressional district against Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio. On Friday the 27-year-old unveiled a new ad and his campaign theme, “Fight for the American Way of Life.”

The ad brilliantly depicts Skarlatos sitting on a train that is en route while his narration plays.

“We can feel it,” Skarlatos begins. “America is in danger.” 

https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/21/a-recap-of-the-democratic-national-conventions-most-insane-moments/

Democrats wrapped up their party convention Thursday night having officially coronated former Vice President Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential nominee with California Sen. Kamala Harris riding on the ticket months after she ambushed Biden as a racist.

After nominating the farthest-left presidential ticket in history with a more than $10 trillion platform spearheading the left’s 21st-century woke revolution, Democrats have 74 days to make their case to the nation before judgment day on Nov. 3.

If the last four days featuring eight hours of an “Orange Man Bad” infomercial in prime time were any preview of the campaign ahead, Democrats are pinning their message on pursuing the total transformation of American society into an exhaustively woke socialist utopia with a faux-moderate Biden as their Trojan horse.

The DNC was a circus, but a boring one at that. While the four nights of prime-time coverage featured Bill Clinton as the party’s moral compass, John Kerry as a legendary Middle East peacemaker, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a coronavirus miracle worker, the convention still operated on a full-day calendar streaming live panels of party activists speaking with prominent politicians.

Here’s a rundown of some of this week’s most notable moments that legacy media won’t cover.