RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/06/01/memorial-day-this-year-marred-by-americas-sharp-political-divisions-ii-tipp-poll/

It’s sad that even at a time of the year set aside to commemorate the more than 1 million people who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom and way of life, Americans today find themselves deeply divided about their country and its prospects, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

Each month, I&I/TIPP asks respondents to its poll the same question: “In general would you say the United States is: 1.) Very united. 2.) Somewhat united. 3.) Somewhat divided. 4.) Very divided.”

While this fairly new question in the I&I/TIPP Poll goes back only to April of 2021, its most recent message is not one of optimism. Among the 1,320 adults across the country who responded to the online poll, a meager 24% said the U.S. was “united.” That further broke down to only 10% saying we were “very united” and 15% saying we were “somewhat united.”

The poll, taken from May 4-6, has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 points.

Those calling the U.S. “divided” formed a significant majority of Americans across the board among the 21 major demographic groups that I&I/TIPP breaks down monthly.

The “divided” number was overwhelming: 71% “divided” vs. 24% “united.” It isn’t even close.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-michael-sussmann-verdict-jury-acquittal-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-john-durham-russia-2016-11654035223?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

A Washington, D.C., jury on Tuesday acquitted Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI, and the verdict is no doubt a disappointment for special counsel John Durham. But the case did perform a public service by exposing a major part of the 2016 Russian collusion dirty trick that hadn’t been previously told.

The evidence was strong enough to bring an indictment, and it was reinforced by a text message in which Mr. Sussmann had told FBI general counsel James Baker that he represented no client. In truth he represented the Clinton campaign, as billing records showed. But Mr. Durham had charged Mr. Sussmann with lying to Mr. Baker in person, not in the text message, which the special counsel only obtained after he had filed the original indictment.

The jury may also have been persuaded by the defense claim that the FBI already had ample reason to know that Mr. Sussmann was working for the Clinton campaign. Mr. Sussmann was certainly known to the FBI—enough so that we learned at the trial that he had his own pass to the FBI building.

The verdict is less important than what we learned about the false Clinton claims about the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia’s Alfa Bank. The story was a concoction from the start, spread to the press by investigators-for-hire Fusion GPS and Clinton sources. We learned that Hillary Clinton personally approved leaking the false claim to a reporter, and the campaign and Mrs. Clinton then tweeted the press report approvingly.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-biden-lies-crime-race-america

Joe Biden talks frequently about Donald Trump’s “Big Lie”: that the 2020 election was stolen. The president is correct; Trump’s claim hurts our nation.

But Biden has some Big Lies too: that the biggest threat this country faces is white supremacy, that efforts to prevent election fraud in states like Georgia will suppress minority voting and that the United States is a “systemically racist” country.

These lies are purposeful and political, meant to shore up support among Black and White liberal voters. They are also harmful, leading to policies that have made our country less safe, our elections less secure and our people less optimistic.

Biden has lied generously, consistently — almost voluptuously — about so many topics: inflation, the border, Build Back Better, his loopy fictions about conductors, being arrested with Nelson Mandela, the most recent fable about applying to the Naval Academy and so on.

But his creative juices really start to flow when he talks about race and crime.

For instance, Biden speaks with great passion about hate crimes perpetrated against Black Americans, implying that white supremacy is the scourge that fills our morgues and makes our sidewalks unsafe. It is total bunk.

Heather MacDonald writes in the City Journal that most hate crimes are committed not by whites but rather by blacks. MacDonald presents the statistics, which do not lie. She writes: “From 2016 to 2020, blacks nationally were twice as likely to commit a hate crime as whites, according to FBI data, among hate-crime suspects whose race and ethnicity were known.”

As to local hate crimes: “In New York City, from 2010 to 2020, blacks were 2.42 times as likely as whites to commit a hate crime…Blacks in Los Angeles committed anti-Asian hate crimes at 4.8 times the rate of whites in 2021…committed anti-gay hate crimes at seven times the rate of whites, and anti-Semitic hate crimes at 2.4 times the rate of whites.”

https://pjmedia.com/columns/paula-bolyard/2022/05/31/another-historic-biden-first-black-staffers-leaving-white-house-in-droves-n1602221

The Most Diverse White House EVER™ has a big problem: There’s been a mass exodus of black staffers, with some complaining about a lack of opportunity and mentoring for minority employees.

According to Politico, “At least 21 Black staffers have left the White House since late last year or are planning to leave soon. Some of those who remain say it’s no wonder why: They describe a work environment with little support from their superiors and fewer chances for promotion.”

They’re calling it “Blaxit”—not to be confused with Blexit, an exit of black people from the Democrat party, headed by conservative commentator Candace Owens.

Black staffers leaving the White House include:

Kamala Harris’ senior adviser and chief spokesperson Symone Sanders
Harris senior aides Tina Flournoy, Ashley Etienne, and Vincent Evans
Public engagement head Cedric Richmond
Public engagement aide Carissa Smith
Gender policy aide Kalisha Dessources Figures
National Security Council senior director Linda Etim
Digital engagement director Cameron Trimble
Associate counsel Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo
Chief of staff Ron Klain advisers Elizabeth Wilkins and Niyat Mulugheta
Press assistant Natalie Austin
National Economic Council aides Joelle Gamble and Connor Maxwell
Presidential personnel aides Danielle Okai, Reggie Greer, and Rayshawn Dyson

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/jury-sussmann-trial-continues-deliberations

The jury in the trial of 2016 Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on Tuesday found the defendant not guilty on a charge of providing a false statement to the FBI, after deliberating in the morning and on Friday.

Special Counsel John Durham last year charged Sussmann with lying to the FBI, while working as a private attorney, for allegedly telling then-bureau General Counsel James Baker that he was not working on behalf of any client while providing him with data he said substantiated an alleged secret communications channel between the Russian Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization.

Durham argued Sussmann was working on behalf of two clients, the Clinton campaign and former tech firm executive Rodney Joffe, when he presented Baker with two computer thumb drives of data and white papers.

The connection was allegedly a back channel to the Kremlin.

The Sussmann-Baker meeting took place Sept. 19, 2016, just weeks before Election Day.

The trial is the first in Durham’s investigation into the origins of the now-debunked Russia collusion narrative.

“While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service,” Durham said after the verdict. “I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.”

The next trial will be in October in Virginia for Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst accused of lying to the FBI in connection with the collusion plot.

https://www.city-journal.org/realities-about-race-and-equality-in-america

Editor’s note: The following is an edited version of a speech delivered at the 18th annual Bradley Prizes ceremony on May 17, 2022.

Pundits tell us that we’re living in a period of “racial reckoning” in America. Racial dispute suffuses our public life—from school board elections to presidential campaigns. This estrangement of intellectuals, politicians, journalists, and activists derives, in turn, from the fact of persisting black disadvantage across so many fronts in our country’s economic and social life. The reality here is too familiar to require elaborate recitation. Whether talking about health or wealth, education or income, imprisonment or criminal victimization, the relatively disadvantaged status of those Americans who descend from slaves, more than 150 years after emancipation, is palpable.

What are we to make of this? That question has bedeviled me for decades—indeed, ever since I began graduate studies in economics at MIT a half-century ago. I am a black American economist in this era of racial discontent in my country; an Ivy League professor and a descendant of slaves; a beneficiary of a civil rights revolution, now over two generations in the past, which has made possible for me a life that my ancestors could only have dreamed of. More than all of these things, I am a patriot who loves his country. I am a man of the West, an inheritor of its great traditions. As such, I feel compelled to represent the interests of “my people.” But that reference is not unambiguous, invoking, as it does, both communal and civic antecedents.

Racial disparities are real, of course, but, at the end of the day, just how important is race, as such? Inequality in America is not mainly a racial issue. Many poor and marginalized white people deserve our concern, too. Is “race” an undeniable difference between people, or is it a social construct? Interracial marriage has grown dramatically, as has the number of people viewing themselves as “multiracial,” including the first black president and vice president of this country. We talk incessantly about racial identity. But what about culture and values—aspects of our humanity that transcend race? I have become convinced that the alienation that afflicts so many prosperous black Americans is the result of false narratives told by demagogues and ideologues about how “white supremacy” threatens them, or how we have, in effect, reverted to the era of Jim Crow.

https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/top-paid-la-lifeguards-earned-up?s=w

Who knew that LA lifeguards—who work in the sun, ocean surf, and golden sands of California— could reap such unbelievable financial reward?

It’s time we put Baywatch on pay watch. In 2019, we found top-paid lifeguards made up to $392,000.

Unfortunately, today, the pay and benefits are even more lucrative.

Daniel Douglas was the most highly paid and earned $510,283, an increase from $442,712 in 2020. As the “lifeguard captain,” he out-earned 1,000 of his peers: salary ($150,054), perks ($28,661), benefits ($85,508), and a whopping $246,060 in overtime pay.

The second highest paid, lifeguard chief Fernando Boiteux, pulled down $463,517 – up from $393,137 last year.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 98 LA lifeguards earned at least $200,000 including benefits last year, and 20 made between $300,000 and $510,283. Thirty-seven lifeguards made between $50,000 and $247,000 in overtime alone.

And it’s not only about the cash compensation. After 30 years of service, LA lifeguards can retire as young as 55 on 79-percent of their pay.