I’m sure the Wall Street Journal could write all of my columns, but occasionally I find a Journal, which has so much neat stuff in it, that I underlined a few partial columns, and present them to you, and urge you to spend less than a dollar a day to subscribe. Here they are:
Hegseth
“So far, President-elect Trump is standing by his choice of Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, despite the disclosure that Mr. Hegseth paid a woman in 2020 to settle an allegation of sexual assault in 2017. Press reports say the accusation took Mr. Trump’s transition team by “Surprise,” which might be a lesson about picking unvetted cabinet secretaries on a whim.”
From Friday’s Journal: “Trump Team Was Surprised by Release of Report on Defense Nominee Hegseth” (headline) “Hegseth, who was in the midst of getting a divorce from his second wife after fathering a child with a producer at the network, both acknowledged it was something they shouldn’t be doing.”
Hegseth is tattooed from shoulder to toe, and that makes me nervous enough without considering the affair with a married woman, but then I am ancient!- Don
Dept. of Education
“For Mr. Trump and many Republicans, however, the Education Department’s problems extend well beyond its redundancies. In their view, it and its personnel have come to represent much that is wrong with education today. Two thirds of American children are unable to read with proficiency, yet education bureaucrats are obsessed with trans rights, DEI initiatives, and ensuring that elementary school libraries are stocked with pornographic texts. Students are taught that math is racist, that standardized texts are biased, that “objectivity” and “hard work” are traits of white supremacy.”
I hope Trump’s promise of its eradication come true! -Don
Ukraine
“The fate of Ukraine will also determine U.S. security interests across the globe. Iran and North Korea, have enabled Russia’s war. A victory for Mr. Putin is a win for all these regimes. A clear victory for Ukraine and defeat for Russia, would prove that the U.S. and its allies are strong enough to counter military and diplomatic challenges worldwide, and the West faces many.”
Hopefully, Russia will lose the war they started – Don
I could certainly go on about Matt Gaetz, except he has already resigned, since it is obvious that all the evidence is against him, and the Senate would never get him in anyway. Trump, who will never admit he is wrong about anything, would undoubtedly have fought to have him as AG, but his resignation from consideration, saves Trump the trouble.
Tulsi Gabbard (from Tuesday)
“Mr. Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, or DNI, is on the record as opposing the security decisions that made Trump’s first-term foreign policy a success. Ms. Gabbard argued for years that Mr. Trump’s first-term policies would start a war. The opposite was true. She had one note on Iran-Obama style appeasement, which was the only way to avoid war, and she was wrong. Most shamefully, Ms. Gabbard went to Syria in 2017 for a photo op with dictator Bashnar Al-Assad while he was massacring his own people. Mere hours after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ms. Gabbard blamed NATO. Perhaps Ms. Gabbard will drop her glib Bernie Sanders-style patter once she has responsibility, but she hasn’t renounced those views as far as we have seen. Ms. Gabbard has given no indication across her long political career, that she is the right person for that vital duty.”
Far be it by me to agree or disagree with various Journal columnists, other than to observe that the Wall Street journal is the most politically conservative media that exists, and its writers research deeply into their column’s accuracy. It’s too late for us to decide, but I think the above observations make sense to me!
-Don Stott, don@coloradogold.com