The Way It Iz

Last Sunday, the country woke up to devastating news. For the second time in under a 24-hour period, and in an all-too-familiar occurrence, a mass shooting was committed on US soil. While the shooting in Dayton, Ohio, did not come with an explanation, the El Paso Walmart shooting was accompanied by a manifesto that left no doubt as to the white supremacist’s motivations. In fact, over the last 12 months, white supremacists have been responsible for several high-profile foreign and domestic attacks, including two synagogue shootings in Poway, California, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as the Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings in two mosques, leaving 51 dead.

The Republicans messed up. Last week, House Republicans had the opportunity to firmly possess the moral high ground for at least the remainder of this electoral class. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought a resolution condemning President Trump for his xenophobic tweets targeting the self-titled “Squad,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and former anonymous member of the House Ayanna Pressley. (Side note: Isn’t nicknaming your own group the most obnoxious move in politics? I can only assume they settled on “The Squad” because “‘N Sync” was already taken.)

The Democrats are a funny party, aren’t they? For legitimately decades, at this point, Democrats cry out that religious Christians are doing the wrong thing by forcing their religion down the throats of their opponents. From polarizing issues like abortion to whether or not a baker must provide a cake for a same-gendera wedding, from whether or not G-d should be in the Pledge of Allegiance to whether or not people should say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays,” the Left has constantly portrayed Conservatives as Bible-thumping weirdos who either don’t understand or refuse the concept of separation of church and state.

Powerful people get preferential treatment. This is the theme of the week, especially as it relates to Jeffrey Epstein, a Wall Street financier convicted of multiple sex crimes. Last week, the details of his 2008 court case unfolded, and the public learned that Epstein pled down from a large number of serious charges to a single state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor. He was “sentenced” to 18 months in prison, during which time he was allowed his own security detail, as well as work release that allowed him to go to his office for up to 12 hours a day for six days a week! He was released on probation after “serving” 13 months. Even his probation was weak, as he was allowed to travel between his homes in New York, Miami, and the US Virgin Islands.

With all the hubbub surrounding the Robert Mueller hearing last week, you may not have had the time to consider the results of H.Res.246, a resolution that, in its own words, sought to oppose “the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) and other efforts targeting Israel, and states that BDS undermines the possibility for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The reason you may not have heard about it is that it caused little controversy. The resolution passed 398-17.

Well, Kamala Harris has certainly had a great week. She was the talk of the first round of presidential candidate debates. In fact, according to polling data from fivethirtyeight.com, Harris was only outperformed on the debate stage by Elizabeth Warren, and they weren’t even on the debate stage on the same night. Polling data also shows that Warren has seen an almost ten percent boost in cable news coverage as well as an 11 percent bump in online media attention. And, in what seems to be the best measure of support these days, Harris picked up close to 60,000 Twitter followers, more than any of her competitors.