AG Garland tested, AG Barr interviewed, and a quick NYC trip later - America is still great!
Bonus videos Billy Joel and Michele's Daily Devotional.
Join Virginia FREE Friday at 3pm via Zoom. It’s a respectful, vibrant dialogue.
Any news this week? Holy guacamole, Batman.
I rolled out of Penn Station NYC this morning having retrieved youngest child (#4) John (20) after his last day interning in “dreary old Manhattan.”
As I waited to connect with John after his work day concluded, I met a wonderful family of eight from Germany at burger joint near the financial district. It didn't take long to find out that the dad (and the only male in the group) is CEO of a fairly large and growing company in Europe. Because one of my closest friends travels often to Germany looking for investments to make, I asked if the CEO if needed any capital. Never know. Couldn’t hurt to ask. Turns out, he does!
A couple clicks (LinkedIn and WhatsApp) and texts later - Presto! - two people connected with a real possibility of creating a mutually beneficial outcome. Who knows? Maybe someday you might be using some of the outcomes of this meeting. Doubt it…but you never know, right?
The reason I tell this very brief story is because of something my new found German friend said during this meeting, “This is what I love about America. You never know when something amazing can happen. Americans always look for what’s possible.”
I said, “Well, that’s kind of how we got started.”
Folks, it’s easy to look at all that is going on in the world and see a glass half empty; however, in all of human existence we have it better than 99.99% of the people who have ever lived.
Doesn’t make it easy and the very real problems we have won’t solve themselves.
Let’s take a deep breath this weekend, enjoy the break in humidity, and dial down the cultural temperatures. We can do this.
As my 7th grade P.E. teacher, the venerable Hunter Talbot, barked at us almost daily, “Can’t - is UnAmerican!”
Viva.
Although Amtrak’s WiFi is spotty (real 21st Century First World problem ), I highly recommend hitting the rails when you can. Amtrak is much improved over the last several years.
Annnd finally…
1. Attorney General Merrick Garland is probably the single most important member of the Biden Administration not named Joe Biden. Monday’s FBI raid of Donald Trump’s Mar A Lago home underscores the importance of having a politically blind Department of Justice. Read this NYT article on Garland from April headlined:
As Matt Taibbi, neither a conservative nor a fan of Trump, points out in his recent column titled: Welcome to the Third World - The FBI really better have something "pulverizing" on Trump, because otherwise we've just witnessed one of the dumbest moves in the history of politics
unless yesterday’s events are tied, quickly, to an attempt by him to prevent Biden’s 2020 certification, or an effort to game the electoral system ahead of 2024, or some other devastatingly serious crime, this is absolutely going to play as the crudest harassment. I worry particularly about the reported presence of counterintelligence agents at the raid, raising the specter — which numerous sources told me is theoretically possible — of parts of this investigation remaining secret. If any of this happens, the Biden administration will have achieved the impossible, turning Donald “Grab ‘Em By the Pussy” Trump into a victim.
Moreover, they’ll have guaranteed that the next Republican who wins the White House, if such a thing is allowed again, will tug at every rein of power to prevent ever having to leave and risk this kind of prosecution. Ask anyone who grew up in autocratic societies how that dynamic works. There has to be more than what we’re hearing, or else yesterday — otherwise a beautiful summer Monday — will go down as an infamous crossroads, a day we passed a point of no return.
Taibbi is MUST reading and a testament to his profession. He calls it both ways.
Regardless, Garland still has some splainin’ to do…
Speaking of AGs doing some splainin’…
2. Great interview of former AG Bill Barr by Peter Robinson with the Hoover Institution. Fascinating and informative. Highly recommend.
Speaking of partisanship…
3. Article from Axios on more “ideological self-segregation” - basically people are moving to states that align with their political views more and more. But the greatest influence is…cost of living. #HiVirginia #CNBCRightAboutSomething
Speaking of abortion politics and partisan reporting…
4. The Dobbs decision is moving polls in the direction of Democrats as the National Generic Ballot according to Real Clear Politics is now tied. Reminder - there is a difference between polling Likely Voters (LV) and Registered Voters (RV). The LVs are still up for the GOP at +1.5 - Trafalgar not included because it looks like an outlier. Just a few months ago the NGB was in the high single digits.
5. Excellent polling sources tell me that the closer a race is to a state with a ban or near ban on abortion, the greater the intensity is the movement towards Democrats. I’m hearing up to 8 points in some areas. That’s a really big deal.
Recently, headlines like this one ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch:
Indiana becomes 1st state to approve abortion ban post Roe
Google….define ban.
Ban v. officially or legally prohibit.
From the article’s second paragraph:
The ban, which takes effect Sept. 15, includes some exceptions. Abortions would be permitted in cases of rape and incest, before 10-weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly. Victims of rape and incest would not be required to sign a notarized affidavit attesting to an attack, as had once been proposed.
The Clinton and Bush standards on abortion of (safe, legal, and rare) + (rape, incest, and life of the mother) now constitute a ban for headline writers. #FactCheckHeadlines
6. Used some WSJ charts below for some perspective 3yr pull backs on Dow Jones, S&P, and NASDAQ exchanges. Yes, we’re in a recession but for now the 1Q and 2Q numbers show that it is a mild recession. Falling demand is bringing down gas prices and that is mitigating inflation - slightly.
7. If you don’t think energy, especially crude oil, is a major force in our economic activity compare this chart to the three above. When demand is ahead of supply, prices go up. Demand is falling. #InflationImpact
8. During the conversation with my new German friend, he lamented the strength of the US Dollar. Naturally, I was intrigued to see how well the USD is doing.
That’s a big deal.
9. Following dinner and brisk walk around the financial district - saw the Wall St. Charging Bull and Fearless Girl statues etc. - I stopped in the hotel bar for a night cap and to watch some highlights. The conversation with other patrons quickly turned to “where y’all from?” Well, much to my surprise and to the insistence of three Southwestern Arkansans, Virginia is not in the American South.
A brief explanation of American history and geography went unheeded and I silently let comedian Ron White’s admonition win out - “You can’t fix stupid. Stupid is fo’ evah.”
10. Speaking of Virginia and the South…(And we’re back…) Richmond Times Dispatch ran these two depressing charts this week.
Homicide charts courtesy of the RTD:
Blacks make up 20% of Virginia but almost 70% of our homicide victims.
Real problems deserve real solutions. Not blame and shame.
We HAVE to start working together folks. It’s that simple.
Great read - have a wonderful weekend!