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WATCH: Cruz Goes Over The 4 Critical Questions He Asked During Impeachment Q&A

On episode eight of “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” which was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday, the senator discusses four of the most critical questions asked during the “Question and Answer” portion of the ongoing Senate impeachment trial that took place on Wednesday.

The first question Cruz asked was, “as a matter of law, does it matter if there was a quid pro quo?”

Cruz noted that the Democrats are “bickering back and forth” about a quid pro quo because it would tie into bringing in former National Security Advisor John Bolton as a new witness.

“And my point is … it doesn’t matter. It makes no impact on the legal issue,” Cruz said. “And so that was the question I wanted to emphasize at the outset to make clear the legal question is, does the president have the authority to do what he did? And in this instance – look, a point I’ve been making from the beginning, a president always has the authority to investigate corruption if there’s credible evidence.”

Knowles asked Cruz if he was “satisfied” with the answer given, and Cruz said that he was. He then explained that even the new Middle East peace proposal is a quid pro quo.

The president is promising, among other things, to the Palestinians, that collectively, the United States and other countries will invest $50 billion if the Palestinians stop terrorism. That’s a quid pro quo. That’s an exchange that happens in foreign policy all the time.

Cruz added that this is an important point to make clear because what “an awful lot of what people are fighting about doesn’t affect the question, the legal question before the Senate, of whether the president committed impeachable crimes, whether the president committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Cruz continued, stating that his second question arose out of a hypothetical from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) pertaining to Obama investigating Mitt Romney in 2012. 

“Lindsey Graham came up to me … what if Obama had evidence that Romney was corrupt?” Cruz said. “And I’m like, that’s good.”

Cruz then offered the question, which he penned and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked:

If President Obama had evidence that Mitt Romney’s son was being paid a million dollars a year by a corrupt Russian company … and Romney had acted in his official capacity to benefit that company, would Obama have had the authority to ask that the potential corruption be investigated?

As for the answer, Cruz said that while Republicans knew the Democrats would try to “filibuster the question … there’s value … to teeing up that hypothetical, making clear that their position is, doesn’t matter what evidence of corruption you have, you can’t have an investigation if it’s your political rival. Well, that’s just nutty. I mean, that’s not the law. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Cruz said that Schiff’s alleged refusal to answer the question provided insight, especially in light of his responses to the following questions.

Cruz’s third question pertained to the whistleblower:

So, this is a question I had written out before that points out that the inspector general for the intelligence community wrote that the whistleblower had some indicia of arguable political bias in favor of a rival political candidate … I said, look, did the whistleblower ever work for Joe Biden? If so, did he work for Joe Biden on issues involving Ukraine? If so, did he assist in any material way with the quid pro quo that Joe Biden executed when he demanded that Ukraine fire the prosecutor that was investigating Burisma, the company paying his son a million bucks a year?

According to Cruz, Schiff “utterly dodge[d]” and wouldn’t “answer.” Instead, he offered a “prepared speech” about protecting the identity of whistleblowers, which had nothing to do with the question.

Cruz told Knowles that Schiff’s answer frustrated him, so he went back to the “cloak room” to write another question, which was then asked by Sen. David Perdue (R-GA):

You refused to answer the question on political bias. Are the House managers refusing to tell the Senate whether or not the so-called whistleblower had an actual conflict of interest? And the question went on to say … there are seven billion people on planet Earth. Almost all had no involvement, zero involvement, in Biden’s quid pro quo. Are the House managers unwilling to say whether the so-called whistleblower was a fact witness who directly participated in, and could himself face criminal or civil liability, for Joe Biden’s demanding Ukraine fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma?

Once again, according to Cruz, Schiff refused to answer the question:

So Adam Schiff, the position of the House managers, they refuse to tell you whether this so-called whistleblower has actual bias, has a conflict of interest, and if he actively participated, if he was working for Joe Biden, and if he was the guy Joe Biden used to say, “Hey, go to the Ukrainians and cut off their military aid until they fire this prosecutor.”

“For all we know, and there are reasons to suspect, based on what the inspector general said, that this so-called whistleblower is not some disinterested third party. He’s right in the middle,” Cruz said. “If an investigation shows Biden is, in fact, corrupt, it is entirely possible, or at least the House managers wouldn’t tell us, if this so-called whistleblower was worried about his own rear end, was worried about, wait a second, if they go after Biden, they’re going to prosecute me because I was involved in this corruption.”

Cruz told Knowles that House managers wouldn’t answer that, but also that Schiff, who “just kind of riff[s],” actually read “word for word” from a piece of paper:

Look, he’s under oath … and it was really clear that he didn’t want to say something on this, about what the inspector general said were significant indications of political bias on the part of the whistleblower. And that suggests this whole thing was cooked up in the beginning, and was a crock from day one. 

via The Daily Wire

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Drug Deaths Dropped Almost 5% in 2018, After Rising for 28 Years

The number of drug deaths dropped sharply in 2018 after 28 years of rising casualties, and Americans’ life expectancy also reversed its decline, rising by one month to 78.7 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The drop in drug deaths saved roughly 2,900 lives, and it follows a massive death spike under President Barack Obama, whose progressive deputies did little to discover or curb the massive spike in deaths from opioids and fentanyl shipped from Mexico and China. “The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased … by 2% per year from 2006 through 2013, and by 14% per year from 2013 through 2016,” the CDC reported.

A March 2019 report by the Washington Post said:

In May 2016, a group of national health experts issued an urgent plea in a private letter to high-level officials in the Obama administration. Thousands of people were dying from overdoses of fentanyl — the deadliest drug to ever hit U.S. streets — and the administration needed to take immediate action. The epidemic had been escalating for three years.

“The fentanyl crisis represents an extraordinary public health challenge — and requires an extraordinary public health response,” the experts wrote to six administration officials, including the nation’s “drug czar” and the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The administration considered the request but did not act on it.

Under President Donald Trump, the death toll has dropped by 4.5 percent — or roughly 2,900 lives per year — amid a growing economy that is pulling sidelined Americans back into jobs. That gain is aided by Trump’s rejection of business demands for more migrants, and his increased actions against drug smuggling from Mexico and China. The partial recovery is showcased by a January 30 report in the New York Times:

“It’s literally like coming out of a fog,” said Andrew Wright, 34, who has been drug-free since August 2018, when he entered treatment at the Counseling Center in Portsmouth, Ohio. Medicaid, the government insurance program, covered his care. “It’s like I’m 22 and I’ve finally made it out of my parents’ house, embracing life for the first time. I’m learning how to live.”

…

… he has now stayed off drugs for the longest period in his adult life, he said, a fact he attributes to his treatment program together with a change in the attitudes of the people in his town. A small grooming products company, Doc Spartan, hired him to make beard oil and grenade-shaped soap. Someone sold him a cheap car. Others helped him start sorting out his life — getting driver’s license, dealing with his unpaid bills and getting treatment for hepatitis C.

“I literally feel like I’m a soldier in this war, and I really like it,” said Mr. Wright, who now works as a trainer at PSKC, a CrossFit gym, and at a halfway house.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported January 29:

In 2018, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States was 4.6% lower than the rate in 2017.

In 2018, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in the United States (Figure 1), 4.1% fewer deaths than in 2017 (70,237).

The death toll fell in several midwest states which had been hit hard by outsourcing and free trade:

The drug overdose death rate was lower in 2018 than in 2017 for 15 jurisdictions: Alaska, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin (Figure 2).

The drug overdose death rate was higher in 2018 than in 2017 for 5 states: California, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

But the good news is mixed with bad news:

In 2018, the states with the highest age-adjusted drug overdose death rates were West Virginia (51.5 per 100,000 standard population), Delaware (43.8), Maryland (37.2), Pennsylvania (36.1), Ohio (35.9), and New Hampshire (35.8).

The death rate from “synthetic opioids” — such as fentanyl — grew slower than in prior years, while the deaths from heroin and opioids fell:

Better cancer treatments also saved many lives and to extend lifespans to 78.7 years, according to the CDC. The New York Times reported:

Improvements in cancer mortality rates represented the single largest share of the life expectancy gain in 2018, about 30 percent. Next came the decline in so-called unintentional injuries, which include deaths from car accidents and drug overdoses. That category accounted for about 25 percent of the gain, a change that was driven almost entirely by a decline in drug deaths …

But life expenctancy remains below the 2014 peak, according to a January 30 report in the Washington Post:

A decline in the death rate from cancer is the single largest driver of the small increase in life expectancy, the CDC reported. Five of the other nine leading causes of death also showed declines in death rates, including the top cause, heart disease, as well as unintentional injuries (which include overdoses), chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. Two more, diabetes and kidney disease, were essentially unchanged. Deaths from suicide and influenza and pneumonia increased.

Despite the encouraging elements of the CDC mortality report, the broader pattern for American health remains sobering. Life expectancy improved by the tiniest of increments, from 78.6 to 78.7 years. That figure remains lower than the peak in U.S. life expectancy, at 78.9 years, in 2014.

…

“It’s good news that there was an increase in life expectancy. That’s what we want to see, but it doesn’t really alter the long-term picture. We still have a very bleak situation at this point,” said Steven H. Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In October 2019, federal data also showed that Trump’s policies have also reduced the murder rate in the United States.

Nationwide, homicides spiked to 15,195 in 2016, up from 12,278 murders in 2014 when Obama and his progressive and media allies began blaming police forces for multiple episodes in which young black men were killed.

Since then, Trump has ended the White House support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and the number of murders was forced down to 14,123 in 2018, according to new FBI data. The murder rate dropped by 6.8 percent from 2017 to 2018, saving more than 1,000 lives.

.

via Breitbart News

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WATCH: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu Says President Trump Is “Greatest Friend That Israel Has Ever Had”

President Trump announced a historic peace plan for Israel and Palestine.

The peace plan has two parts; it creates an independent Palestinian state while permanently acknowledging that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Trump’s peace plan emphasizing that it was both practical and realistic because it balances Israel’s national security with Palestine’s aspirations for statehood.

Netanyahu concluded, “You have been the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”

WATCH:

The post WATCH: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu Says President Trump Is “Greatest Friend That Israel Has Ever Had” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

via The Gateway Pundit

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The Democrats and Socialist Contradiction

When is a socialist not a socialist?  When he or she is a Democrat.

Many people are perplexed that in the middle of one of the greatest economic periods in our nation’s history, the longest economic expansion on record, at a time when more people are doing well than ever before, so many people appear have such an attraction to what they call socialism.  Many were shocked when a Gallup poll earlier this year found that 43 percent of Americans believe socialism would be a good thing for America and a later Pew Poll found 42 percent of Americans expressed a positive view of socialism.

The Gallup poll was an attitude survey exploring how American’s attitudes toward socialism have changed over the years.  The Gallup survey indicated that American’s definition of Socialism has changed.  Today, nearly a quarter of Americans associate socialism with social equality and only 17 percent associate it with the classical economic definition of controlling the means of production.  Ever since 2010, a majority of Democrats polled by Gallup have viewed socialism positively. 

In an interesting variation to the question on preference for socialism, Gallup asked its respondents whether they would prefer government control or a free market in a number of market and societal activities.  The answers were mixed.

The respondents strongly favored a free market in technological innovation (76 percent), distribution of wealth (68 percent), the economy overall (62 percent) and wages (62 percent).  They favored government control of environmental protection (66 percent) and protecting consumer privacy online (57 percent).

In healthcare, the respondents favored free market control by 53 percent and in higher education they favored free-market control by 56 percent.  This is interesting since these are two of the major socialist legs of the current Democratic platform and they seem to have tepid support.

The significant takeaway from the Gallup Poll is that Americans tend not to view the word “socialism” in classic terms but the view is very mixed.  They say they favor equality and fairness but then strongly favor free-market control of innovation, wealth distribution and wages.  Definitely not Marx or Engels.

While 47 percent of those surveyed say they would vote for a socialist candidate for President, 58 percent said they would vote for an atheist and 60 percent for a Muslim.  So does socialist mean anything?

Today’s definition and concept of socialism is apparently muddy and ill defined.  What remains consistent and strong is the American disposition toward the free market, even in those who call themselves socialists.

While the Gallup Poll looked at changing attitudes, the Pew Poll was more of a snapshot of what people are thinking today and a contrast of America’s views of capitalism versus socialism.

Here, the contrasting views were interesting in that those who had a positive view of socialism and a negative view of capitalism tended to hold the very shallow “talking point” issues so common among the generally uninformed.  Those who held a positive view of capitalism and negative view of socialism demonstrated a slightly higher understanding of the systems.  Neither set of views really captured the essential qualities of either system and indicated a general systemic emotional response.

Respondents viewing capitalism negatively cited “benefits only a few/unequal distribution of wealth” (23 percent) and “exploitive in nature” (20 percent).  On the positive side of socialism they cited “creates a fairer, more generous system (31 percent) and “builds upon and improves capitalism” (20 percent).  No explanation for how this might work was offered.

On the positive view of capitalism, respondents noted “promotes individual opportunity” (24 percent), “general positivity” (22 percent) and “essential to America” (20 percent).  On the negative side of socialism, respondents cited, “undermines the work ethic” (19 percent), “historic and comparative failure” (18 percent) and “undermines democracy” (17 percent).

Collectively, what do these two surveys indicate?  Gallup said that in technology, the economy and wages, roughly 75% of Americans favored the free market.  The Pew Poll said that 65 percent of Americans had a positive view of capitalism.

Of those surveyed by Gallup, about 60 percent favored government control of the environment and online privacy.  The Pew Poll indicated that those positively disposed toward socialism were so inclined because it promotes a fairer, more generous system and that it builds upon and improves capitalism.

None of those surveyed commented on socialism as a form of government or seemed aware that under a socialist system they lose individual rights.  Those who viewed socialism positively seemed to do so mostly because they saw it as “fairer”, presumably because at present others had more than they did.  None commented on the tax implications of socialism and, in fact, were negatively disposed to this facet of socialism because they were strongly supportive of the free market with regard to the market and the distribution of wealth. This is an internally contradictory view.

If roughly two thirds of Americans are not favorably inclined to socialism and favor the free market with regard to economic issues, and over half favor free market control of healthcare and higher education, to whom do the current slate of Democratic candidates think they appeal?  The campaign platforms of all the remaining candidates are decidedly socialist; universal healthcare, free college, elimination of college debt, Green New Deal.  While the surveys indicate that roughly two thirds of those surveyed were in favor of government control of environmental issues, that quickly becomes an economic issue where free market again becomes the favored mechanism.

As the Democratic field falls all over itself to move ever further left toward a more classic socialism, it appears that there is ample data to substantiate what most know intuitively; they are moving further away from their voters, who have no idea what that is.  This is when a socialist is not a socialist -– when they are Democrats.

The only common thread in all of Democratville is their hatred of Donald J. Trump – Trump Derangement Syndrome.  That is clearly manifest in the sham impeachment frenzy but that will fall far short of sufficient substance to win the election.  It is disintegrating as we watch.

With no discernable path to victory for the Democrats and a bacchanalian rite in progress guaranteed to shred their party, one can only see a resounding victory for the President this fall.

When is a socialist not a socialist?  When he or she is a Democrat.

Many people are perplexed that in the middle of one of the greatest economic periods in our nation’s history, the longest economic expansion on record, at a time when more people are doing well than ever before, so many people appear have such an attraction to what they call socialism.  Many were shocked when a Gallup poll earlier this year found that 43 percent of Americans believe socialism would be a good thing for America and a later Pew Poll found 42 percent of Americans expressed a positive view of socialism.

The Gallup poll was an attitude survey exploring how American’s attitudes toward socialism have changed over the years.  The Gallup survey indicated that American’s definition of Socialism has changed.  Today, nearly a quarter of Americans associate socialism with social equality and only 17 percent associate it with the classical economic definition of controlling the means of production.  Ever since 2010, a majority of Democrats polled by Gallup have viewed socialism positively. 

In an interesting variation to the question on preference for socialism, Gallup asked its respondents whether they would prefer government control or a free market in a number of market and societal activities.  The answers were mixed.

The respondents strongly favored a free market in technological innovation (76 percent), distribution of wealth (68 percent), the economy overall (62 percent) and wages (62 percent).  They favored government control of environmental protection (66 percent) and protecting consumer privacy online (57 percent).

In healthcare, the respondents favored free market control by 53 percent and in higher education they favored free-market control by 56 percent.  This is interesting since these are two of the major socialist legs of the current Democratic platform and they seem to have tepid support.

The significant takeaway from the Gallup Poll is that Americans tend not to view the word “socialism” in classic terms but the view is very mixed.  They say they favor equality and fairness but then strongly favor free-market control of innovation, wealth distribution and wages.  Definitely not Marx or Engels.

While 47 percent of those surveyed say they would vote for a socialist candidate for President, 58 percent said they would vote for an atheist and 60 percent for a Muslim.  So does socialist mean anything?

Today’s definition and concept of socialism is apparently muddy and ill defined.  What remains consistent and strong is the American disposition toward the free market, even in those who call themselves socialists.

While the Gallup Poll looked at changing attitudes, the Pew Poll was more of a snapshot of what people are thinking today and a contrast of America’s views of capitalism versus socialism.

Here, the contrasting views were interesting in that those who had a positive view of socialism and a negative view of capitalism tended to hold the very shallow “talking point” issues so common among the generally uninformed.  Those who held a positive view of capitalism and negative view of socialism demonstrated a slightly higher understanding of the systems.  Neither set of views really captured the essential qualities of either system and indicated a general systemic emotional response.

Respondents viewing capitalism negatively cited “benefits only a few/unequal distribution of wealth” (23 percent) and “exploitive in nature” (20 percent).  On the positive side of socialism they cited “creates a fairer, more generous system (31 percent) and “builds upon and improves capitalism” (20 percent).  No explanation for how this might work was offered.

On the positive view of capitalism, respondents noted “promotes individual opportunity” (24 percent), “general positivity” (22 percent) and “essential to America” (20 percent).  On the negative side of socialism, respondents cited, “undermines the work ethic” (19 percent), “historic and comparative failure” (18 percent) and “undermines democracy” (17 percent).

Collectively, what do these two surveys indicate?  Gallup said that in technology, the economy and wages, roughly 75% of Americans favored the free market.  The Pew Poll said that 65 percent of Americans had a positive view of capitalism.

Of those surveyed by Gallup, about 60 percent favored government control of the environment and online privacy.  The Pew Poll indicated that those positively disposed toward socialism were so inclined because it promotes a fairer, more generous system and that it builds upon and improves capitalism.

None of those surveyed commented on socialism as a form of government or seemed aware that under a socialist system they lose individual rights.  Those who viewed socialism positively seemed to do so mostly because they saw it as “fairer”, presumably because at present others had more than they did.  None commented on the tax implications of socialism and, in fact, were negatively disposed to this facet of socialism because they were strongly supportive of the free market with regard to the market and the distribution of wealth. This is an internally contradictory view.

If roughly two thirds of Americans are not favorably inclined to socialism and favor the free market with regard to economic issues, and over half favor free market control of healthcare and higher education, to whom do the current slate of Democratic candidates think they appeal?  The campaign platforms of all the remaining candidates are decidedly socialist; universal healthcare, free college, elimination of college debt, Green New Deal.  While the surveys indicate that roughly two thirds of those surveyed were in favor of government control of environmental issues, that quickly becomes an economic issue where free market again becomes the favored mechanism.

As the Democratic field falls all over itself to move ever further left toward a more classic socialism, it appears that there is ample data to substantiate what most know intuitively; they are moving further away from their voters, who have no idea what that is.  This is when a socialist is not a socialist -– when they are Democrats.

The only common thread in all of Democratville is their hatred of Donald J. Trump – Trump Derangement Syndrome.  That is clearly manifest in the sham impeachment frenzy but that will fall far short of sufficient substance to win the election.  It is disintegrating as we watch.

With no discernable path to victory for the Democrats and a bacchanalian rite in progress guaranteed to shred their party, one can only see a resounding victory for the President this fall.

via American Thinker

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Trump years bring real hope and change, making America great again

Although former president Barack H. Obama (D) campaigned and won the presidency twice on a slogan of hope and change, he left his office leaving Americans “frustrated and angry” according to an AP survey analyzed in Fortune, full of “fear and loathing,” deemed Michael Goodwin of the New York Post — both admittedly not Obama fans.  However, even the Obama-friendly Public Broadcasting System (PBS) could only sum up the two Obama terms with “achievements and setbacks.”

That was then; this is now.  Three years into the Donald J. Trump (R) presidency, ABC News, another media outlet hostile to Trump, reports: 

US life expectancy rose in 2018 for 1st time in 4 years: Study

Drug overdose deaths are declining for the first time in decades.

Life expectancy in the U.S. rose in 2018, the first such increase in four years, according to a report the National Center for Health Statistics published on Thursday.

The average American man will live to be 76, and the average woman will live to be 81.

Those gains were driven by declines in 6 of the 10 leading causes of death between 2017 and 2018, and a notable drop in drug overdose deaths.

Overdose deaths, after increasing for decades, fell for the first time in 28 years, from 70,237 in 2017 to 67,367 in 2018, according to the report.

“It’s really the drug overdose deaths that are driving that trend,” said Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at NCHS.

Drug overdose deaths, Anderson explained, have a profound impact on average life expectancy because many occur at younger ages than other leading causes of death — cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease.

“When folks die at younger ages, they have a disproportionate impact on life expectancy,” Anderson said. …

Leo Beletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, praised the efforts individual municipalities have made to drive down drug overdose fatalities.

“These findings reflect overdose trends that we have seen in many jurisdictions in the last year, as overdose fatality rates have stabilized or declined slightly,” he said.  ”This is the result of overdose prevention efforts like naloxone distribution, and access to lifesaving medications methadone and buprenorphine, [which] are finally reaching more people.”

This is not the only instance in the Trump presidency where hope and change “are finally reaching more people.”

“Americans More Satisfied With Economy, Security, Race Relations After Three Years of Trump,” headlines PJ Media.  Yes, they’re-Trump backers there, but they were reporting the results of the more presumably neutral Gallup poll, which phrased its findings as follows:

Americans’ Take on the U.S. Is Improved, but Still Mixed

  • Most Americans satisfied with country on the economy, national security

  • Dissatisfaction still runs high on numerous domestic issues

  • Average satisfaction across 27 issues is higher than when Trump took office

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump’s upbeat view of the nation’s economy, military strength, economic opportunity and overall quality of life will likely resonate with Americans when he delivers his State of the Union address to Congress next week.  Most Americans say they are satisfied with each of these aspects of the country as 2020 begins.  The majority also feel positively about the positions of women and gays in society. …

At the same time, the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with a host of issues that Trump would do well to address. These include a variety of domestic issues such as public education, healthcare, abortion policies and guns — as well as the economic issues of poverty and the distribution of income and wealth.

In just three years of the Trump presidency Gallup discovered this (emphasis added):

Changes Since Trump Took Office

As Trump enters his re-election year, Americans are more positive on eight key issues than they were just before he took office in January 2017.

  • Gallup records double-digit increases in public satisfaction with the nation’s economy, security from terrorism, military strength and the state of race relations.

  • Satisfaction is also up by between six and nine points on crime, the position of blacks and other racial minorities, the distribution of income and wealth, and the opportunity for a person to get ahead through hard work.

Over the same period, Americans have grown slightly less satisfied on three issues: abortion (down 7 points), the level of immigration (-6) and the environment (-6). (snip)

Americans’ average satisfaction rating for the 27 issues Gallup has tracked consistently since 2001 is now 47%. This is up three points from a year ago and is the highest since the January 2005 poll. 

And Trump accomplished all this in spite of or because of the overwhelming negative coverage from most of the media and the farcical impeachment hearings.

Gallup summed up its findings on the current attitudes of Americans as follows:

While large majorities applaud the nation’s economy and military strength, they remain critical of the federal government on several dimensions and see room for improvement in numerous areas related to the health and wellbeing of Americans.

Well, just give Trump five more years — one year remaining in his first term and four more years of his hopefully sure to be second term — and those problems certainly be overcome.

Making America Great(er) Again!  MAGA!

Although former president Barack H. Obama (D) campaigned and won the presidency twice on a slogan of hope and change, he left his office leaving Americans “frustrated and angry” according to an AP survey analyzed in Fortune, full of “fear and loathing,” deemed Michael Goodwin of the New York Post — both admittedly not Obama fans.  However, even the Obama-friendly Public Broadcasting System (PBS) could only sum up the two Obama terms with “achievements and setbacks.”

That was then; this is now.  Three years into the Donald J. Trump (R) presidency, ABC News, another media outlet hostile to Trump, reports: 

US life expectancy rose in 2018 for 1st time in 4 years: Study

Drug overdose deaths are declining for the first time in decades.

Life expectancy in the U.S. rose in 2018, the first such increase in four years, according to a report the National Center for Health Statistics published on Thursday.

The average American man will live to be 76, and the average woman will live to be 81.

Those gains were driven by declines in 6 of the 10 leading causes of death between 2017 and 2018, and a notable drop in drug overdose deaths.

Overdose deaths, after increasing for decades, fell for the first time in 28 years, from 70,237 in 2017 to 67,367 in 2018, according to the report.

“It’s really the drug overdose deaths that are driving that trend,” said Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at NCHS.

Drug overdose deaths, Anderson explained, have a profound impact on average life expectancy because many occur at younger ages than other leading causes of death — cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease.

“When folks die at younger ages, they have a disproportionate impact on life expectancy,” Anderson said. …

Leo Beletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, praised the efforts individual municipalities have made to drive down drug overdose fatalities.

“These findings reflect overdose trends that we have seen in many jurisdictions in the last year, as overdose fatality rates have stabilized or declined slightly,” he said.  ”This is the result of overdose prevention efforts like naloxone distribution, and access to lifesaving medications methadone and buprenorphine, [which] are finally reaching more people.”

This is not the only instance in the Trump presidency where hope and change “are finally reaching more people.”

“Americans More Satisfied With Economy, Security, Race Relations After Three Years of Trump,” headlines PJ Media.  Yes, they’re-Trump backers there, but they were reporting the results of the more presumably neutral Gallup poll, which phrased its findings as follows:

Americans’ Take on the U.S. Is Improved, but Still Mixed

  • Most Americans satisfied with country on the economy, national security

  • Dissatisfaction still runs high on numerous domestic issues

  • Average satisfaction across 27 issues is higher than when Trump took office

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump’s upbeat view of the nation’s economy, military strength, economic opportunity and overall quality of life will likely resonate with Americans when he delivers his State of the Union address to Congress next week.  Most Americans say they are satisfied with each of these aspects of the country as 2020 begins.  The majority also feel positively about the positions of women and gays in society. …

At the same time, the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with a host of issues that Trump would do well to address. These include a variety of domestic issues such as public education, healthcare, abortion policies and guns — as well as the economic issues of poverty and the distribution of income and wealth.

In just three years of the Trump presidency Gallup discovered this (emphasis added):

Changes Since Trump Took Office

As Trump enters his re-election year, Americans are more positive on eight key issues than they were just before he took office in January 2017.

  • Gallup records double-digit increases in public satisfaction with the nation’s economy, security from terrorism, military strength and the state of race relations.

  • Satisfaction is also up by between six and nine points on crime, the position of blacks and other racial minorities, the distribution of income and wealth, and the opportunity for a person to get ahead through hard work.

Over the same period, Americans have grown slightly less satisfied on three issues: abortion (down 7 points), the level of immigration (-6) and the environment (-6). (snip)

Americans’ average satisfaction rating for the 27 issues Gallup has tracked consistently since 2001 is now 47%. This is up three points from a year ago and is the highest since the January 2005 poll. 

And Trump accomplished all this in spite of or because of the overwhelming negative coverage from most of the media and the farcical impeachment hearings.

Gallup summed up its findings on the current attitudes of Americans as follows:

While large majorities applaud the nation’s economy and military strength, they remain critical of the federal government on several dimensions and see room for improvement in numerous areas related to the health and wellbeing of Americans.

Well, just give Trump five more years — one year remaining in his first term and four more years of his hopefully sure to be second term — and those problems certainly be overcome.

Making America Great(er) Again!  MAGA!

via American Thinker Blog

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