RUTHFULLY YOURS

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.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/the-sleight-of-hand-convention/

Biden’s speech was affecting, but the Democrats were awfully vague about what they plan to do if he wins.

Joe Biden delivered the best speech in a half-century political career on Thursday night. It was interesting to contrast his delivery with Kamala Harris’s 24 hours earlier. Both the presidential and vice-presidential nominees spoke to an empty hall. But Biden was forceful, emotional, emphatic, and clear-sighted as he made the case for an effective federal response to the coronavirus and a bipartisan reconstruction of the American polity after decades of increasing polarization. I couldn’t help thinking what the world would look like if Biden had disobeyed President Obama and run for president in 2016. It would be a very different place, I imagine.

But that’s not where we live. Biden’s impressive oratory capped off a four-day exercise in sleight of hand. The Democrats spent hours reminding Americans that Joe Biden is a decent and empathetic human being and that the current occupant of the White House has, shall we say, other qualities. But that’s about as specific as things got. Address after address, video montage after video montage, mentioned systemic racism and the injustices committed against indigenous people. I watched all of the convention, and the word “China” was not uttered until 10:57 p.m. on Thursday. Nor did any of the Democrats mention the violence that has erupted in America’s cities after the protests against the killing of George Floyd. Biden talked about jobs, but the American worker made only guest appearances in the four days of programming.

https://spectator.us/joe-biden-platitudes-policies-democratic-national-convention/

Joe Biden’s speech was effective in many ways and sure to please his supporters. But anyone who expected him to say something substantive about his policies left empty-handed. He did little more than spin gauzy pictures of a rosy future.

First, the good news for Biden supporters. He looked strong, never stumbled, and delivered the speech with remarkable empathy, energy, and modulated tones. His performance showed no traces of the confusion he has shown occasionally or the cognitive decline he has been charged with. He was at his best.

Biden also made the best of his strongest quality: he’s a likable guy, whose tragedies have made him deeply sympathetic to others facing their own difficulties. He’s not faking that, and it shows. He’s proud of his working-class roots and proud he has fostered a close, loving family as father and grandfather. The lead-up to his speech captured that well with pictures of his parents and video of his family today.

Biden’s admirable personal qualities shone through, allowing him to bond with voters in ways Hillary Clinton never could. They also reinforced a central message of his campaign: I’m a guy like most of you; I’m on your side and will work hard for you; I don’t think of myself as superior; together, we can have a brighter future.