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Thursday, April 18, 2019

Georgia Media Engages in Polling Propaganda

In order to further the liberal agenda on the legalized killing of children still in their mothers’ wombs and to help elect more democrats, the largest newspaper in the state of Georgia—The Atlanta-Journal Constitution (AJC)—has engaged in polling propaganda. Of course, like virtually all U.S. newspapers, given that the AJC is dominated by those with a liberal worldview, this should surprise no one. However, it doesn’t mean we should let them get away with it.

As I noted in a recent column, earlier this year the Georgia legislature passed the LIFE Act—often dubbed a “fetal heartbeat” bill. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has yet to sign the bill, but he is widely expected to do so. Given that protecting the so-called “right” to kill the unborn is sacred to the modern left, liberals across my home state of Georgia have gone to great lengths to demonize and discourage anyone willing to stand up for the most helpless and innocent among us.

In an effort to discourage the pro-life movement and to paint the U.S. as more pro-abortion than it really is, for years now abortion apologists—especially those in the media and the Democrat Party—have promoted polls that supposedly show overwhelming support for the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. For example, late last summer, after President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ)/NBC News poll purported to show 71 percent of Americans were against “completely overturn[ing]” Roe.

However, such polls are almost always seriously flawed. As Michael J. New noted at the time,

The survey question began by stating that Roe v. Wade established a right to an abortion, “at least in the first three months of pregnancy.” It then asked respondents if they would like to see the Supreme Court “completely overturn” Roe v. Wade. As such, many respondents likely concluded that Roe v. Wade only legalized abortion in the first trimester and a reversal of Roe would ban first-trimester abortions.

On the question of overturning Roe, the recent AJC poll uses the exact same deceptive language as the WSJ/NBC poll. The question reads,
In 1973 the Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe versus Wade decision or not?
Unsurprisingly, poll results showed that, to the above question, 70 percent answered “no.” Subsequently, on its website (and I’m assuming in the print edition as well) the AJC ran the headline “AJC poll: Strong support for Roe.” The first sentence of the article declared, “Seven of 10 Georgia voters say they oppose overturning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that guaranteed the right to an abortion, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.”

The article made no mention of how polling subjects were asked about the Roe decision. To warn readers about this, I noted as much in the comments section of the article. Shortly thereafter, my comment was deleted, and soon after that, the AJC website posted an article that contained the poll questions and results.

Given that we are 46 years removed from the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe, many Americans are ignorant about the fact that Roe v. Wade deals with abortion. Thus, pollsters are left to try to explain the decision in one or two sentences. Therefore, we get inaccurate polling results on the Roe decision and on abortion. As was noted in National Review last year,
A Pew Research Center poll taken in 2013 found that only 62 percent of respondents were aware that Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion. Seventeen percent thought Roe v. Wade dealt with some other public-policy issue and 20 percent were unfamiliar with the decision. Furthermore, even many who realize Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion fail to understand the full implications of the decision. Many wrongly think that overturning Roe v. Wade would result in [a] national ban on abortion, instead a reversal of Roe would return the issue to the states.
What’s more, while the recent AJC poll supposedly showed overwhelming support for the Roe decision, respondents were about evenly split on their support for Georgia’s LIFE Act. Forty-three percent said they somewhat or strongly supported the bill while 48 percent said they somewhat or strongly opposed it. These results are more in line with what more sophisticated abortion polling reveals.

For example, consider last year’s Gallup poll on abortion. On the question of whether the Supreme Court should overturn Roe, 28 percent said yes and 64 percent said no. However, more detailed questioning reveals that Americans are not as much in favor of Roe as a simple question on overturning Roe might indicate. When asked whether an abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy, “When the woman does not want the child for any reason” (the vast majority of abortions are performed because the child would be an inconvenience), 45 percent said it should be legal, while 53 percent said it should not be legal.

When the same question is asked about the last three months of pregnancy, only 20 percent said abortion should be legal, while 77 percent said it should not be legal. Likewise, in the last three months of pregnancy, when asked about whether abortion should be legal if the child would be “born mentally disabled” or “born with Down Syndrome,” the vast majority thought abortion should be illegal (61 percent to 35 percent and 68 percent to 29 percent, respectively) in such cases.

However, under the court’s current interpretation of Roe—a legal and moral abomination— laws that would restrict abortion according to the above opinions would almost certainly be struck down. In other words, because of the pro-abortion hyperbole regularly thrown around by liberals, many Americans simply don’t understand that for U.S. laws to reflect such opinions, Roe would have to go.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Guess What’s Worse Than “Creepy Uncle Joe.”

It turns out that handsy Ol’ Uncle Joe really is a bit “creepy” after all. We can all say that, now that enough democrats have told us this is the case. At least this is the current take of certain presidential-minded democrats who’ve decided that they no longer want or need Joe Biden. If these democrats were in their right minds, they would realize that loveable Ol’ Joe—with his hair sniffing and back rubbing and face pecking—is among the least of their problems.

Nevertheless, right now many in the democrat party simply want to be done with Biden because of “inappropriate touching.” This is the man who served in their party as Vice President for eight years and as a U.S. Senator for 36 years. By inappropriate touching, they mean things like hand-holding, forehead-to-forehead conversations, holding women “for a beat too long” at receptions, and the like. No one is alleging anything criminal, nor is anyone using the phrase “sexual harassment.”

What’s more, very little we are hearing from Biden’s accusers and their accomplices is new information. It seems clear that these accusations against Biden are little more than a political ploy by some democrats who hope to rid themselves of what they see as an old straight white man who doesn’t seem quite hip or radical enough to be their presidential nominee. As Brent Bozell and Tim Graham recently put it,
The Democrat-media complex has suddenly decided that Joe Biden has a creepiness problem. Why now? Why not when he was vice president for eight years? Does anyone remember the allegedly fierce White House press corps pelting the press secretary with questions, asking when then-President Obama would tell his understudy to stop putting his hands on women -- and little girls -- and putting his face uncomfortably close to theirs?
In spite of the efforts of his fellow democrats who want the “creepy old man” label to force him to just go away, Joe Biden seems to be leaning toward making them beat him the old fashioned way: at the ballot box—or at least Biden hopes to force his opponents to have to work hard in rigging the primaries. Whether Biden runs, or whether he gets the nomination, the efforts against him remind us that democrats remain blind to the real problems within their party.

For example, far worse than space-invading Biden is biology-denying Biden. Recall, more than once, Joe Biden has called “transgender equality” the “civil rights issue of our time.” Because of his efforts and the efforts of those like-minded in the Obama administration, among other perverse—or “creepy”—things, boys started using girls’ restrooms and locker rooms. Soon afterward, boys started—and continue—to take trophies from girls.

In addition, because of their lust to promote liberal dogma on sex and sexuality, again ignoring sound science, morality, and common sense, the Obama-Biden administration lifted the long-held Combat Exclusion Policy, and U.S. women became eligible for front-line combat operations. In other words, time and again Joe Biden and his like-minded ilk—which includes pretty much every democrat running for president—continue to ignore the truth about something as fundamental as the difference between males and females. They turned their wicked ignorance into disastrous policy for the nation. Quite a bit worse than serial hair sniffing, don’t you think?

Also recall that biblically-ignorant Biden preceded Barack Obama and the Supreme Court in voicing his support for legally redefining marriage. To prove his apostasy, Biden has even officiated a same-sex “wedding.” As if a legal redefinition of the oldest and most foundational institution in the history of humanity wasn’t enough of a blow to Christianity, in 2012 the Obama-Biden administration issued its notorious contraception and abortifacient mandate.

Through these other nefarious efforts, Biden, Obama, et al have regularly waged war on Christianity and religious liberty. Ignoring the centuries-old beliefs of those who don’t share his perverse modern views on marriage and sexuality, as Vice President, Biden strongly supported passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). As Ryan Anderson put it,
[ENDA] tramples First Amendment rights and unnecessarily impinges on citizens’ right to run their businesses the way they choose. The proposed legislation does not protect equality before the law; instead it would create special privileges that are enforceable against private actors.
Again, virtually every democrat—including those running for president—share such oppressive views on Christianity and religious liberty. Instead of making life more difficult for us Christians, I would prefer a hug from Joe Biden.

Killing newborn children who happen to escape the deadly instruments of an abortionist and emerge alive from their mothers’ wombs is far worse than anything a moral person would deem “creepy.” Yet modern democrats are actually making the case for what could be described as “post-birth abortions.” Infanticidal democrats are concerned that Joe Biden is not sufficiently devoted to the cause of killing the unborn—or even the newborn, if necessary. It seems Mr. Biden is a bit too “creepy,” but not quite heartless enough for modern democrats.

If you would be “creeped out” by someone coming into your home and stealing your stuff, then socialism is probably not your thing. Nevertheless, democrats’ embrace of all things socialist is only rivaled by their lust to make legal nearly every perversion imaginable in the sexual realm.

Whether the “New Green Deal”—supported by a majority of leading democrats—or Medicare for all—supported by most of the democrats’ 2020 presidential field, along with an “aggressive and expanding” group of over 100 Congressional democrats—in the vain pursuit of utopia, modern democrats continue to promise to spend other people’s money. As I noted recently, for a picture of just how worse than “creepy” socialism can be, take a look at Seattle, San Francisco, or Venezuela.

So we have hair smelling, hand-holding, and hugging vs. socialism, infanticide, and those who can’t—or refuse to—tell the difference between males and females. Given such, I’ll take “creepy” over the democrats’ platform any day.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com


Friday, April 5, 2019

Hollywood: Do You Know Why You’re in Georgia?

After Georgia lost out to Louisiana on the production of Ray (the film about Georgia native Ray Charles) in 2008, then Georgia governor—now U.S. Secretary of Agriculture—Sonny Perdue, a Republican, signed tax-incentive legislation that was intended to lure the film industry to Georgia. It worked, and in a big way. Georgia is now often referred to as “the Hollywood of the South.” However, the way things are trending in film production, California may soon seek to become “the Georgia of the West.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, a report by Atlanta’s NBC News affiliate “11-Alive” described Georgia as “the top filming location in the world.” In 2016 and 2017, Georgia led the U.S. in the number of top-grossing feature films produced. In that two-year period, Georgia produced 32 such films, while California was second with 22 top-grossing films. In 2016, Georgia led the world in the production of top-grossing films.

Additionally, in the last decade Georgia has seen a massive investment in film and television infrastructure. U.S. News reports that, “According to Adweek, 16 film and TV studios announced plans to locate or expand facilities in Georgia since 2010.” In 2014, Pinewood Studios Group built its massive Georgia campus. According to U.S. News,
After two expansions, the 700-acre site now houses 18 sound stages with nearly 1 million square feet of covered space. Outside of California, Pinewood Atlanta is the largest purpose-built studio complex in the country, meaning it was built specifically to fit the needs of the film industry.
A Time magazine piece last year reports on “How Georgia Became the Hollywood of the South.” The piece contains several photos of the booming film infrastructure present in Georgia. The piece also notes,
In 2007, the film industry spent $93 million on productions in Georgia. In 2016, it spent over $2 billion. In the past decade, the tax perk has attracted the Hunger Games franchise, the Fast and Furious movies and superproducer Tyler Perry, who has made the state his base. Television hits like Stranger Things, critical darlings like Atlanta and reality series like The Real Housewives of Atlanta have all set up shop in the capital, often for years at a time. Georgia’s government estimates that in 2016 alone, the film industry gave the state a $7 billion economic boost through job creation and tourism.
In other words, the film industry and the state of Georgia have a nice little thing going that seems to be extremely financially beneficial to both sides. However, it doesn’t seem widely understood among those in Hollywood why things in Georgia are so favorable for their industry. This especially seems to be the case with those who make their living in front of the cameras. For those of you who need reminding or are confused or ignorant about why the film industry likes Georgia, allow me to shed a bit of light on the matter.

For over a decade, the Republican Party has dominated Georgia’s politics. The GOP in Georgia has had a “political trifecta”—control of the office of the governor, the state House, and the state Senate—since 2005. Republicans have won every state-wide race since 2010. Notice how GOP control of Georgia politics coincides with the meteoric rise of the film industry in Georgia. It was a GOP Governor, House, and Senate in Georgia that gave Hollywood the favorable financial conditions it now enjoys, and it is Georgia republicans who keep such conditions in place.

The Georgia GOP has won elections, not just by promising to govern as economic conservatives, but because of their conservative positions on the moral issues as well—especially the issues of life in the womb and marriage. Recall that like dozens of other U.S. states, the Georgia electorate—the voters, not the politicians or courts, mind you—overwhelmingly chose to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Unsurprisingly, for well over a decade now, these same voters have decided that they want politicians who share their worldview on the moral issues.

In other words, if you want the benefits of financial conservatism, then you’re going to have to be at least content with conservative legislation on abortion and the like. The same political worldview that has created an economic climate that allows for the creation of thousands of jobs and billions in revenue in the film industry is the same political worldview that protects life in the womb, believes marriage is the union of one man and one woman, believes that boys don’t belong in girls’ locker rooms, and so on. These positions have proved quite politically popular in Georgia, and that is why the GOP is in power here.

Ignorant of such facts, for weeks now dozens of Hollywood actors and actresses have threatened the state of Georgia over a recently passed—but yet to be signed into law—pro-life “fetal heartbeat” law. A few days after the Georgia Senate passed the LIFE Act, Alyssa Milano—who thinks MAGA hats are “the new white hood”—penned a brief and angry op-ed for Deadline. A day after Milano’s op-ed, the Writers Guild of America also took their “brave” stand against defending the most helpless and innocent among us. As if we all didn’t already know, Hollywood again made it clear that their “right” to do whatever they wish in the sexual realm trumps almost everything else.

Filmmakers may well decide that instead of making movies and TV shows in Georgia, they would rather take a “principled” stand in favor of killing the unborn and take their business elsewhere. If they hope to find another state that will give them a similar sweet deal on taxes as has Georgia, almost certainly such a state will also be filled with conservatives and conservative politicians who share Georgia’s views on the unborn.

Along with believing in capitalism and the free market, conservatives all over the U.S. generally also believe in the right to life, marriage as the union of one man and one woman, that science determines sex, and so on. We conservatives—especially Christian conservatives—reject the immoral “theology of self” that so permeates Hollywood. We believe that there is a higher Law that all other law and good government must be rooted in and subject to.

Thankfully—unlike Georgia’s last republican governor—in Brian Kemp it seems we now have a governor who’s actually willing to govern according to conservative principles. Though, signing into law a bill that almost certainly will—at least temporarily—be blocked by the courts is not the bravest political act Governor Kemp could—or should—perform. There are other grave moral matters that deserve his, and the Georgia legislature’s, attention.

A strong religious liberty bill (succeeding where former Governor Deal failed), protecting female athletes and students from the transgender madness that is sweeping the nation—these also need sound conservative action in Georgia. Such legislation will be much more likely to withstand legal challenges. And make no mistake about it, as is the case with abortion, Hollywood perverts will howl about any legislation that doesn’t conform to their immoral worldview.

On abortion, Governor Kemp—along with all Georgia republicans—should call the bluff of the Hollywood elite. Let’s see if they really are willing to abandon the tens-of-millions in profits that Georgia’s conservative tax laws allow them, along with the multi-million dollar infrastructure investments already in place in Georgia. In other words, if Hollywood wants to continue to do business in Georgia, they can surrender to the will of Georgians when it comes to our laws. If not, then good riddance, and good luck finding a political climate that will give you what you want on the economic and the moral issues. 

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Monday, April 1, 2019

“Seattle is Dying” because Liberalism is Killing It

If you haven’t seen the KOMO News special Seattle is Dying, you need to. (Watch it here.) The hour-long show does a sound job of depicting the ugly decline of one of the most beautiful places in America. However, the piece misses the forest for the nasty, dirty, twisted trees.

Of course, part of the root of the problem in Seattle is political, but Seattle is Dying virtually ignores the liberal politics behind Seattle’s foul decline. As John Sexton at Hot Air put it, “There’s really no escaping the fact that the current situation is the result of political decisions.”
And yet, reporter Eric Johnson [the KOMO reporter behind the story] said on Facebook that he though[t] politicizing the story was a mistake. He says he’s received many offers to comment on national shows that lean either right or left and he’s turned them all down. He really seems to believe that people on all sides of the aisle can see the problems and the solutions regardless of where they are coming from.
Johnson begins his report by describing the “seething anger” of Seattle residents who no longer feel safe in their city. Scenes of filth—that rival what is seen in third-world countries—and “lost souls” litter the hour-long report. Residents and small business owners are “mad” and “embarrassed” at the fact that, in many places, their city, simply put, “looks like sh-t.” And law enforcement personnel are little to no help at all.

One small business owner describes the police as “a bunch of twinkle-toes…[who] don’t have enough authority.” It’s virtually unanimous among those fed up with what Seattle has become, that law enforcement are not to blame. Frustrated Seattle residents say that the police have had their hands tied—or their toes “twinkled”—by the politicians and the courts. They point especially to Seattle’s mayor and city council.

At a townhall meeting, seething residents scream at city council members to “enforce the law” and otherwise get tough on the violent and destructive homeless so rampant in Seattle. Using FBI data from 2017, Johnson shows a graphic that displays the number of property crimes for the 20 largest U.S. cities. Easily out-pacing all other U.S. cities are Seattle and San Francisco.

Given that liberal politics and policies have turned San Francisco into a literal toilet—where one must consult “poop maps” in order to navigate the streets safely —citizens of Seattle should not be shocked that the democrats who run their city government are getting similar results in their liberal efforts against crime and filth.

A 61-page report compiled by Scott Lindsey analyzes the criminal activity of 100 “prolific offenders” who regularly threaten Seattle neighborhoods and streets. Johnson interviewed Lindsey for Seattle is Dying. Lindsey was asked, “Of the 100 that you looked at, what percentage of them were homeless?” The answer: 100 percent. Lindsey is also asked, “What percent showed signs of addiction?” The answer: 100 percent. Yet Seattle mayor Jenny Durkin (D) says “It is wrong to conflate homelessness with a rise in crime.”

Homelessness and crime are “conflated” like disease and homosexuality. And just as is the case with homosexuality, liberals like Jenny Durkin want to tell us “her truth.” After all, if you’re a liberal, it’s not that important to be factually correct. Seattle is run exclusively by politicians like Durkin, and despite the anger of residents over the issues of homelessness, crime, filth, and the like, it doesn’t look like Seattle is going to elect conservatives—or even republicans anytime soon.

In fact, there are some recent reports that Seattle is going to continue its leftward march. In January of this year a headline in The Seattle Times read, “The Seattle City Council may be up for a big shift all right — further to the left.” The article notes,
With a wave of retirements, it’s true the council is prepped for a major political realignment. But if anything it’s even further left.

“Socialists into City Hall!” is how the Seattle chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America sees the opportunity, according to a meeting notice this month for the group…Already Democratic Socialist members are running vigorous campaigns for two of those empty seats. Community organizer Tammy Morales is the early favorite in Harrell’s South End district, as she nearly defeated him in 2015. And Shaun Scott, a Black Lives Matter activist and local writer, is vying for Johnson’s seat.
An upcoming meeting will feature Morales, Scott and Seattle’s one current elected socialist, Kshama Sawant, talking about how it’s they who are really going to take back the city. “Socialists have a different idea of what Seattle should look like,” the announcement says.

For an idea of what socialists think Seattle should “look like” visit the Facebook page “Seattle Looks Like Sh-t.” For an idea of what socialists think things should look like on a national scale, examine Venezuela.

Seattle's socialism

As Seattle is Dying notes, the Puget Sound Business Journal estimates Seattle and outlying areas spend $1 billion annually—a number that is “almost certainly underestimated”—addressing and responding to the homeless situation. Eric Johnson exasperatingly declares, “The more money we throw at the problem, the worse it gets.” Yet, almost certainly, the solution to Seattle’s homeless crisis, according to Democratic Socialists of America—along with plain-ol’ democrats—involves spending even more money.

With his voice full of frustration, Johnson declares that what’s happening in Seattle “isn’t about dollars, it’s about human lives…How can watching human beings live and die in filth and degradation and madness be right?” Of course, it isn’t “right,” but when dealing with moral issues, those with a liberal worldview cannot be trusted. Thus they certainly should not be given political power.

As has always been the case, the moral problems that plague the world defy mere political solutions. However, sound politics is certainly part of the solution, and that part of the answer is really rather simple. If Seattle voters truly want to cure to what is killing their once-beautiful city, they must stop electing liberals.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2019, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com