Boom

   The U.S. economy tripled its rate of output in the fourth quarter, an indication that signs of a recession are slim. That puts opposing politicians in a corner as they look for a something to criticize the current  government administration in Washington.

   Not that they will stop blaming Democrats for what they claim is a dwindling economy that was strengthened during the previous GOP administration. Economists point out that the Trump administration inherited a strong economy, but it faded over his four-year term.

   Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annualized rate of 6.9 percent in the  fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 2.3 percent in the third quarter.

   A growth rate of about 2 percent is considered normal and safe, while a negative rate for two consecutive quarters establishes a recession.

   The current strong growth rate will be cheered by many, but other economists will warn it's too strong. That may be why the Federal Reserve Board will boost interest rates, its way of preventing a dangerously high increase.

   Already, prices have been rising, but consumers feel income hikes do not match price hikes.

   

   

Conflicting Interests

    Ultra-conservative protestors are objecting to covid vaccine mandates, insisting they have full control over their own bodies.

   These same demonstrators insist with equal vigor that abortion laws should be overturned.

   Therefore, women do not have control over their own bodies. 

    Which is it, folks?

Spousal Choice

    The congressional committee investigating the January 6 invasion of the national Capitol by Trump supporters has asked the ex-president's daughter to talk to the panel.

   Emphasis on request.

   Others have been given subpoenas, a demand that they  testify.

   The panel stressed that they are asking her to appear. Ivanka Trump is married to Jared Kushner, a prominent New Jersey developer.

   Does this mean she will have to choose between supporting her father or her husband, who may have differing views of the issue?

Critique of Race Theory

    All the noise about Critical Race Theory raises two questions:

   1/ What is it?

   2/ If  racism exists, how do we deal with it?

 

   The first question is the basis for study in advanced placement classes in high schools and in colleges. This immediately leads to the second question.

   A few states in America have banned the teaching of this topic, warning that it will cause discomfort among young students. In effect, this denies that the problem of racism has ever existed.

   But the topic has not been taught in elementary schools. Rather, it has been discussed only at higher educational levels. To deny racism exists in America is a denial of reality.

   The purpose of education is to acknowledge reality, understand problems and issues, and to search for ways to deal with them.

   So the answer to question number one is this: Racism, by definition, is to categorize a group of people according to color or ethnic background, and to use that as a means to reduce them to a lower level of society.

   As for question number two, the ideal solution is to acknowledge racism exists, and to develop ways to reduce and eliminate the discrimination it causes throughout society.

   Denial does not eliminate a problem.

  

   

Closing In

    Subpoenas have been issued for Eric Trump's phone records and for Rudolph Giuliani for him to testify to the Congressional committee investigating the events that led to the attempted takeover of the Capitol building a year ago.

   Whether they will comply or they will invoke the Fifth Amendment as protection is the next question.

   For many people, taking the Fifth is a way of covering guilt.

Fixing the Vote

    In the past six presidential elections in America, the Republican candidate won the popular vote count once.

   That was when George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004. Four years earlier, he lost the popular vote count but won the electoral college vote after a lengthy battle over ballot "shreds" in Florida that wound up in the Supreme Court.

   In the 2016 election, Donald Trump lost the popular vote but won the presidency after another battle over electoral votes. Four years later, he lost both vote counts despite another long battle in a series of court jurisdictions, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him twice.

   Perhaps it's reassuring to believe that one out of six ain't bad.

   Either that, or it may be time to repair the way presidential elections are held.

DT = Delirium Tremens

    Many people are intoxicated by the rantings of the ex-president, and they refuse to listen to news reports that document his many lies perpetrated in public speeches. 

   Time was, the L-word was almost never used on TV broadcasts. Now, it's used regularly by national and international broadcasters, including the BBC, France24, and DW, which is based in Germany. In addition, it's used by NPR -- the American listener-supported network -- as well as all the major commercial TV networks.

   Even the Fox network, on its basic TV news operations and its computer outlets, reports the falsehoods uttered by the ex-president. The evening  commentators continue to support him, but they are opinion programs, not basic news reports.

   Note: The ex-president's speech in Arizona Saturday evening was not carried live by the Fox network. On Sunday, other news networks documented and explained the various lies he spoke during the speech.

   So even if there were some validity to the claim that American news operations are biased against DT because they are controlled by Democrats -- the only exception being Fox and its evening commentators -- that leaves the international news operations. They are available in America and are known for their neutrality.

   To paraphrase Chico Marx: Who you gonna believe, Donald Trump or the BBC, France24, DW, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, the Associated Press and all the other major news operations dedicated to reporting truth?

   Or do they all lie, and the only person worth believing is known as DT?

Mail Sales Boom

    The pandemic has kept people home, but it has not prevented them from buying stuff.

   The U.S. Census Bureau said electronic shopping and mail-order operations increased sales by 35 percent in 2020 when the pandemic struck, compared to 2019. It was the biggest sales hike of any industry.

   Total retail sales rose 3 percent to $5.57 trillion.

   The  larger problem, however, remains that sales clerks who work in-store lose their jobs when sales decline.

Insurrection

    The government has formally charged a leader of the demonstration a year ago with insurrection as a way to stop the certification of the American presidential election.
   Technically, the charge is "sedition insurrection," a more serious accusation.
   The question now is how many more leaders of the riot will be charged. The U.S. attorney general indicated last week that the federal government will follow the evidence as far upward as it may go.
   Will it go all the way to the Oval Office when it was occupied by the previous president?

Randy Andy

   The now ex-duke of York is on his own to defend against sexual abuse charges brought by a young woman.

   Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew can no longer use the title "prince" in front of his name, and will have to defend his court case "as a private citizen."

   Also, his "military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen."

   Translation: You're on your own, kid. You're fired.

"You're Fired"

   No one who has given aid and comfort to those engaged in insurrection against the United States shall hold any office, national or state.
   That's a summary of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and it means that Donald J. Trump cannot run for president again, nor can he hold any other government office.
   It was written primarily to apply to those actively engaged in rebellion during the Civil War, but it included all those who encouraged those who did. It remains part of the Constitution, and still applies to anyone who rebels against the government.
   Those who have seen the recordings of what the ex-president said and did on January 6 of last year when his supporters stormed the Capitol in their attempt to overturn the previous election, know that the term "insurrection" applies. And they know that Trump encouraged and supported their actions as he claimed that the election was "rigged" against him.
   The Constitutional provision applies to all those who participated in the insurrection a year ago. Unless Congress, by a two-thirds vote in each House, "removes such disability."
   Trump continues to assert that the election was "stolen" from him, despite all evidence that he lost.
   We live in interesting times.

American Reich

    The CNN cable TV network has presented a documentary comparing Donald Trump's speeches and activities to that of Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich.

    It's a comparison that has been made before, but this one has collected speeches and videos from both leaders and run them consecutively to illustrate the similarities.

   Very effective and forceful.

Whither America?

    Talk show hosts are increasingly worried about the future of the American way as evidence piles up that followers of the ex-president continue their insistence that the recent election was rigged.

   But that claim of a rigged election was being made more than five years ago by the candidate himself, months before election day.

   What a surprise it must have been to the said candidate when it turned out that he won.

   But he didn't win the vote itself. Rather, he collected more electoral votes, a procedure set up because writers of the Constitution did not fully trust voters in general.

  So who did the rigging?

  That was in 2016. In the 2020 election year, the same candidate again warned of rigging, but this time he lost both voting tallies, the popular vote and the electoral vote.

 However, rather than accept the reality that he lost his bid for re-election to a second term as president, Donald Trump continued his claim that the election was rigged, and that he really did win.

  The danger of that continuous chant became most evident on January 6, 2021, when thousands of his supporters raided the U.S. Capitol as Congress was going through the formal process of accepting the vote count and declaring the winner.

   Nevertheless, Trump insisted that his own vice president overrule the Congress and declare that Trump won election to a second term.

    Either he did not know or he ignored the Constitutional stipulation that a vice president's role is only to preside over Senate activities, with no other authority.

  That's all.

  He has no authority over what members of the House of Representatives say or do, and no vote in the Senate except in case of a tie. None of this mattered to the now ex-president.

  The continuing danger to American government is that the many devoted followers of Donald Trump are so dedicated to his wishes that they will do whatever he wants, regardless of its legality or whether it conforms to the Constitution.

  Scholars are busily gathering facts, events and history to warn that America faces a grim future, possibly even by autumn of this year, when Election Day comes and voters are set to choose one-third of the members of the Senate and all members of the House of Representatives.

  Meanwhile, several states are modifying their rules to minimize or prevent voting by anyone other than supporters of Donald Trump.

  In addition, threats of violence are being made against members of Congress, forcing many of them to resign or not seek re-election.

  The danger signs are clear.

Misplaced Lament

    Many of the thousands of daily newspapers that were published in America years ago are gone, and a review of journalist Carl Bernstein's new book, "Chasing History," laments what the NY Times headline calls the "Golden Age" of newspapers.
   While it's true that many newspapers that formerly appeared in the afternoon are gone, it's not quite true that daily journals have disappeared entirely. Television and the advent of email have indeed played a part in causing a change in journalism, but many newspapers now appear in the morning, and carry longer, more in-depth stories than their afternoon counterparts.
   In addition, the morning dailies carry more local news stories. Television network news programs focus more on national and world news. And even the local TV stations carry state and regional news reports. Local news remains the province of smaller daily newspapers, which also carry advertising by local service providers, who cannot afford the expense of buying space in major regional dailies, much less television broadcasters.
   So is the newspaper industry dying?
   No. It has certainly changed, as television provides instant coverage of events as they happen. For in-depth coverage, print has the time and the space to report not only the first four of the journalistic Five Ws -- Who, What, Where and When -- but also to investigate the more important -- the Why something happened, and what can be done to prevent it happening again.

Infamy Dates

    The date of the riotous attempt one year ago to foil a presidential election has joined December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001, as dates that will live in infamy, said Vice President Kamala Harris in her remarks as she introduced President Joe Biden for his commemorative speech today.

    Unlike the two other dates, when government officials from both parties attended events to deal with the national crises, Republican legislators did not participate in the ceremonies today. There were just two: Rep. Liz Cheney and her father, Dick Cheney.

 

Blame Game

   Without using the former president's name, Joe Biden put the blame for the insurrection a year ago directly on the man who directed protestors to march to the nation's Capitol and force Congress to reject the election results and rename him as president for a second term.

  "His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution. He can't accept he lost," Biden said. He added that the former president "created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest."

   The former president responded by alleging that Biden "used my name today to try to further divide America."

   Observers noted that Biden did not use any name, but instead referred to "the former president" nearly a dozen times in the speech.

   Yesterday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said his agency will hold "all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law -- whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault," a clear reference to the former president and his speech to demonstrators shortly before they invaded the Capitol.

News Judgement

   Donald Trump canceled a public speech planned for Jan. 6, the one-year anniversary of the Capitol coup attempt, after TV news media said they would not carry the speech.

   Trump has been widely criticized for his failure to act promptly that riotous day to ask the demonstrators to go home.

   

   

Journalistic Privilege

   News reports say Congress may call Fox commentator Sean Hannity to talk to the Jan. 6 investigating committee about his attempt to persuade Donald Trump to intervene in the insurrection. 

   But will he claim journalistic privilege and refuse to talk to the committee?

   In turn, this raises two major questions: Is he a neutral reporter and therefore able to claim that protection? Secondly, does the issue of journalistic privilege apply on a federal level?

   Many states have such legal protection in place for investigative reporters so they need not reveal confidential sources. That's good, because that forces police to gather their own sources. Journalists have gone to prison rather than reveal their sources to police.

   The Fox network program host clearly voices his opinions on issues of the day, and there are firm reports that Hannity attempted to persuade Trump to ask the protestors to go home.

   So will the Foxy talker agree to talk to federal investigators? 

Comment on the twit

Here's an insightful Twitter posting from Rep. Liz Cheney:

   "The Republican Party has to make a choice. We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both."

Pants On Fire

    Young Reporter:  Did you ever get the feeling when working on a story that one side is lying to you?

   Editor: Sure. It happens all the time. Maybe they both are. But our job is to report both sides and the reader decides where the truth is.

   That was true fifty years ago when I was asked that question, and it's just as true today. The difference is that many politicians are flagrant in their lies, and they make no effort to disguise them.

   One example is the propaganda voiced by many Republicans that the events of one year ago were really peaceful demonstrations by Trump supporters, or were riotous protests by radical leftist opponents.

   The name-calling has become so severe that some conservative extremists are being banned from social media sites because of their comments.

   The latest example comes from Twitter, which has permanently blocked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from its site because of her "repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy" as well as other false comments she posted on her web site.

   Her response, according to published reports, was to call Twitter an "enemy to America and can't handle the truth." She added, "Social media platforms can't stop the truth," and Big Tech "can't stop the truth."

  Note: Neither can politicians stop a free press from reporting what politicians say, and publicizing fact alongside the comments so readers can decide what's true and what is political balderdash.

  Both Greene and Donald Trump have been banned from using Twitter because they posted false information about the insurrection one year go. Greene can still use her congressional account.

Odd Numbers Out

   Next month will see two days in which numerals repeat in establishing the date: When the month begins and when it nears the end.

   The second day of February will show as 2/2/22, and the fourth Tuesday will be dated 2/22/22.

   As the month begins, Druids and others will mark the beginning of a new year, and other traditionalists will observe Groundhog Day.

    Numerologists will make much of the repetition of the even digits, twice in the same month, noting also that it will be the second month of the year.

   So is it all only a series of coincidences, or does it have other significance?

  You decide.