Presidential Popularity (Average Poll Ratings)

This is a tweet from CNN producer Ryan Struyk:

Average presidential approval ratings through this point in term via ABC/Post and Gallup polling:

Kennedy 73%
W. Bush 71%
H.W. Bush 70%
Johnson 69%
Eisenhower 67%
Nixon 58%
Truman 56%
Obama 55%
Reagan 55%
Carter 52%
Clinton 51%
Ford 47%
Trump 38%

An unrelated, but pleasant, side note: Democrats have won the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections.

Joe Biden, Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas

Click here for an article in The Washington Post by Elise Viebeck entitled "Joe Biden was in charge of the Anita Hill hearing. Even he says it wasn’t fair."

Krugman Does It Again

Hits it out of the park, that is. Click here for his article in The New York Times entitled "The Great Republican Abdication," subtitled "A party that no longer believes in American values."

In the face of Trump's disregard for the law, "the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy."

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt co-authored a book entitled "How Democracies Die." They maintain:

that when mainstream politicians abdicate responsibility in the face of a leader who threatens democracy, it’s usually for one of two reasons. Either they have the misguided belief that he can be controlled, or they’re willing to go along because his agenda overlaps with theirs — that is, they believe that he’ll give them what they want.

Krugman points out the deep unpopularity of Republican positions:

By large margins, the American public believes that corporations and the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes. By even larger margins, the public opposes cuts to safety-net programs like Medicaid. Yet as far as I can tell, every G.O.P. budget proposal over the past decade has combined big tax cuts for the rich with savage cuts in Medicaid.

Why, then, do Republicans keep getting elected?

Partly by lying about its policies. But mainly the G.O.P.’s political achievements depend on identity politics — white identity politics. Exploiting racial resentment to capture white working-class voters, while pursuing policies that benefit only the wealthy, has been the core of the party’s political strategy for decades. That’s why, in an increasingly diverse country, Republican support has stayed overwhelmingly white.

Has Trump delivered? Yes:

In 2017 he passed a huge tax cut, largely for corporations, that disproportionately benefited the wealthy, and almost succeeded in repealing Obamacare, in the process gutting Medicaid.

Krugman draws two conclusions about this Republican behavior:

First, anyone expecting bipartisanship in dealing with the aftermath of the Mueller report — in particular, anyone suggesting that Democrats should wait for G.O.P. support before proceeding with investigations that might lead to impeachment — is being deluded. Trump is giving the Republican establishment what it wants, and it will stick with him no matter what.

Second, it’s later than you think for American democracy. Before 2016 you could have wondered whether Republicans would, in extremis, be willing to take a stand in defense of freedom and rule of law. At this point, however, they’ve already taken that test, and failed with flying colors.

The simple fact is that one of our two major parties — the one that likes to wrap itself in the flag — no longer believes in American values. And it’s very much up in the air whether America as we know it will survive.

Excellent Exposure Of Fox News Hypocrisy

This is a series of short cuts from Fox News criticizing Obama -- for playing golf, vacationing in Florida, tweeting, being obsessed with cable TV (?!), legislating by executive action, criticizing former presidents and media outlets, increasing the deficit, not being transparent, concealing records, "pandering to the worst regimes, and thugs, and dictators," ignoring the rule of law, constantly campaigning, blaming others, never making any concessions, treating his opponents as enemies, will never admit he's wrong, for insecurity and vanity, failing to set the correct tone for the country, dividing the country and pandering to his base, doesn't like being mocked (thin-skinned?), trash talking, name-calling, failing to be positive and uplifting, acting like a schoolyard bully, not being able to scare Putin.

Of course, Trump is worse on all these counts by several orders of magnitude.

Must Read - Rupert Murdoch

Click here for a long, long article at The New York Times by Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg, entitled "How Rupert Murdoch's Empire of Influence Remade the World."

The article includes:

Part 1: Imperial Reach. Murdoch and his children have toppled governments on two continents and destabilized the most important democracy on Earth. What do they want?

Part 2: Internal Divisions. President Trump’s election made the Murdoch family more powerful than ever. But the bitter struggle between James and Lachlan threatened to tear the company apart.

Part 3: The New Fox Weapon. The Disney deal left the Murdochs with a media empire stripped to its essence: a hard-core right-wing news machine — with Lachlan in charge.

Brian Stelter comments:

Murdochland was quiet when the NYT published its three-part investigation of "Planet Fox" two weeks ago. But one of Rupert's top execs, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, has something to say. In a Tuesday evening speech, he "dismissed the NYT's investigation as a 'rancid hatchet job' that was 'distant from the truth,'" according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Thomson called it "multi-generational muck-spreading in which the facts were incidental, if not accidental, and the journalistic jaundice and corporate self-interest were fundamental." Hmmm, which facts? I don't see any corrections on the story!

Tip For Copy-And-Paste

If the material you're copying contains images or other weird stuff, copy as usual, but paste into your document using the command Control-Shift-V. That usually copies only the plain text.

Magic Jack

Click here for a Bob Rankin article entitled "Will MagicJack Replace Your Landline?"

Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu

Click here for an article at How-To Geek by Walter Glenn entititled "10 Ways to Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu."

Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) Is A Fool

Click here for an article in Rolling Stone by Tim Dickinson entitled "Is This the Dumbest Moment in Congressional History?" Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky)was questioning John Kerry at a congressional hearing on “The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change and Protect National Security." Dickinson says:

Kerry is an expert on climate change who helped broker the Paris climate accord and recently criticized president Trump for proposing to set up a task force that seeks to counter the scientific consensus on climate change. Massie calls advocates of climate action “alarmists” and believes that the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is “plant food.”

Here's part of a transcript of the questioning:

Massie: Sec. Kerry, I want to read part of your statement back to you: “Instead of convening a kangaroo court, the president might want to talk with the educated adults he once trusted his top national security positions.” It sounds like you’re questioning the credentials of the president’s advisers, currently. But I think we should question your credentials today. Isn’t it true you have a science degree from Yale?
Kerry: Bachelor of arts degree.
Massie: Is it a political science degree?
Kerry: Yes, political science.
Massie: So how do you get a bachelor of arts, in a science?
Kerry: Well it’s a liberal arts education and degree. It’s a bachelor…
Massie: OK. So it’s not really science. So I think it’s somewhat appropriate that someone with a pseudo-science degree is here pushing pseudo-science in front of our committee today.
Kerry: Are you serious?! I mean this is really a serious happening here?

Freedom Works actually posted a 38-second video clip of the exchange, under the heading: .@RepThomasMassie takes John Kerry to SCHOOL! 😎 #ampFW #SassyWithMassie. I guess they're proud of it.

Massie responded to the resulting ridicule, defending(?) himself as follows:

"When I asked Kerry if he had a science degree, he answered 'no' but forgot to turn his microphone on," Massie wrote on Twitter Thursday. "The left has been using his flub to conceal what this exchange proved which is Kerry admitted he doesn't have a science degree, even though his degree says 'science.'"

Former national security adviser under President Barack Obama, Susan Rice, replied to Massie's tweet, "The idiocy is shocking. Even now."

Massie responded to Rice:

"Big government is the religion. Climate change is the hymnal," Massie fired back. "Have the audacity to tell a priest he has no clothes and all of the Obama administration has-beens will clear the bleachers to jump in the dumpster fire."

It's shocking to learn that Massie has two engineering degrees from MIT.