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ollie Ahuattce The ADVANCE, January 17, 2024/Page 7A
A free press is not a privilege but
organic necessity in a great society.
-Walter Uppmann
COMMENTARY
out of
CONTEXT
A compilation of quotations on a variety of
issues by national, state and regional writers,
well-known personalities, just plain everyday
people and from various publications
collected by the editors of THE ADVANCE.
Quotes for our Times:
Mia Cathell, a reporter for Townhall fo
cusing on fact-checking and investigative
stories: Those behind the efforts to disqualify
Trump have something in common.
All over America, party loyalists whose
preferred candidate is President Joe Biden
are engaging in lawfare to win at the bal
lot box by any means necessary, Some of
the bad-faith actors spearheading the ef
forts to defeat former President Donald
Trump — the GOP's far-and-away frontrun
ner — before Election Day even begins are
beneficiaries of puppeteering philanthropist
George Soros.
Rebecca Downs, Web Editor at Townhall.
com: Ted Cruz has an idea on how SCOTUS
could rule unanimously to keep Trump on
the ballot.
The senator defended his prediction
to a shocked Ferguson, explaining that he
believes Chief Justice John Roberts "is go
ing to be deeply invested in wanting this to
be unanimous, in not having the Supreme
Court appear partisan." Cruz added that
"every justice is going to be aware this is a
decision that is going to be watched by the
country, and watched by the world" and
that "every justice is aware of not wanting
the Court to appear like a political or parti
san body."
Emphasizing Roberts' concerns, Cruz
stressed that the chief justice cares deeply
about "the institutional legacy of the Court,"
with he, but also the other justices believ
ing such a decision would be "best for the
Court and best for the country."
Robert Henneke, executive director and
general counsel at the Texas Public Policy
Foundation: Despite the spin, Americans
know this truth about Bidenomics.
As my colleague Rata Bejar noted re
cently, "The most vocal leaders on the Left
want Americans to believe that the coun
try is still deeply racist. But this message gets
very little traction among Texas Hispanics."
Why? Because what's important to
them is what has always been important
to American families: a strong economy,
effective schools that teach real skills and
knowledge, and the opportunity to make a
better life for themselves.
That's why the Biden administration's
claims about a booming economy feel -
and are - hollow. Americans can see the
reality - in their monthly budgets.
Byron York, chief political correspondent
for The Washington Examiner. Trump co-de
fendant alleges Georgia prosecutor corrup
tion.
One more thing. Various exhibits at
tached to the motion contain copies of
invoices Wade sent to Willis 1 office. They list
what Wade did during the hours for which
he was requesting payment. Two entries are
of particular interest. There is one billing note
for "Conf with White House Counsel" on May
23, 2022, and another for "Interview with
DC/White House" on Nov. 18, 2022. Given
the intensely political nature of the Trump
case, any evidence of Biden White House
involvement will be of great interest.
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TheAWOL Defense Secretary
RICH 1
LOWRY
COLUMN |
Anyone following how
weak and passive the U.S. has
been in the face of provocations
from our adversaries in the
Middle East might conclude
that the secretary of defense has
gone missing.
And, at least for a few days
last week, he literally was.
In an age when it’s nearly
impossible to go off the grid,
Secretary of Defense Lloyd
Austin managed it. He failed to
notify the White House and
other key players that he was
hospitalized in the intensive
care unit. This, needless to say,
is not an incidental detail about
his life — like, say, that he rou
tinely does his grocery shop
ping on Saturday afternoons, or
is taking the Kansas City Chiefs
and giving the points this week
end.
If the principal deputy as
sistant secretary for Fair Hous
ing and Equal Opportunity
went missing, presumably only
her personal assistant would
notice, and the country would
be better for it.
The secretary of defense, in
contrast, is a rather consequen
tial position in the U.S. govern
ment. He is in charge of the
largest and most important part
of the executive branch and sec
ond in the chain of command
only to the president of the
United States. He is central to
any number of scenarios crucial
to U.S. national security, includ
ing the decision to launch a nu
clear strike.
If a U.S. destroyer gets hit
in the Red Sea, you don’t want
U.S. commanders and high U.S.
officials wondering where the
SecDef is.
Although much remains
unanswered, we know that Aus
tin had an elective procedure at
Walter Reed Hospital on Dec.
22. Back home, he experienced
severe pain and went back to
the hospital on Jan. 1 and was
put in intensive care.
Somehow even Austin’s
deputy secretary, who picked
up some of his duties, didn’t
learn of his whereabouts until
four days after his hospitaliza
tion.
Loose lips may sink ships,
but spectacularly dysfunctional
lack of communication at the
top of the U.S. government is its
own problem.
Just as no Harvard fresh
man could get away with the
plagiarism that Claudine Gay
engaged in, no Private first class
could go AWOL and expect to
remain in the military.
The Pentagon says it
couldn’t notify other VIPs like,
you know, the president of the
United States, because Austin’s
chief of staff was also ill. Are we
really supposed to believe that
no one else at the Pentagon has
access to a phone or email?
We are obviously not living
through an era of great biparti
sanship, so it was notable that
the Austin absence resulted in a
joint statement from the Re
publican chairman and the
Democratic ranking member of
the House Armed Services
Committee pointedly asking
for more information about the
days in question.
The White House, natu
rally, immediately made clear
its “complete trust and confi
dence in Secretary Austin.”
In fairness, once someone
has presided over the pullout of
Afghanistan without getting
fired, it’s hard to cashier him for
anything short of losing some
other country in humiliating
fashion.
This fiasco could simply be
Austin’s own unbelievable per
sonal lapse. But it’s hard not to
see the controversy in the con
text of an administration that,
when it comes to national secu
rity, cares as much about fash
ionable ideological fixations —
from DEI to the climate — than
the essentials involved in main
taining a highly capable war
fighting machine.
And the most important
lack of transparency about
health is happening before our
eyes. It doesn’t involve any cabi
net official, but the com-
mander-in-chief himself. We
are told that Joe Biden is robust
and energetic, when he is in
creasingly rickety and, seem
ingly, easily confused. We can
be sure if the president gets
worse, the White House —
adopting the Austin policy —
will do everything in its power
to hide the ball.
Meanwhile, we’ve con
ducted a real-time experiment
regarding Biden foreign policy.
With a war on in Gaza and Ira
nian proxies attacking U.S. in
terests throughout the Middle
East, the secretary of defense
disappeared, and it didn’t mat
ter.
Rich Lowry is editor of the
National Review.
(c) 2024 by King Features
Synd., Inc.
GRITTY
A Nation Dr.
King Would Not
Recognize
This year, 2024,
marks the 60th an
niversary of the sign
ing into law of the
landmark 1964 Civil
Rights Act.
[This week] we
observe the national
day set aside to note
and honor the leader
of the movement that
led to that act becoming law: Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
We must ask how, after 60 years, with
vast changes in the world, with develop
ments in technology unimaginable 60
years ago, that we remain obsessed with
race. How is it that claims of racism, injus
tice and unfairness persist like nothing
happened?
Indeed, data suggest that Black Ameri
cans, on average, still lag behind economi
cally.
The Federal Reserve recently pub
lished its Survey of Consumer Finances
showing that average Black family income
is 43% that of white families. In 1989, it
was 42%.
Average Black household net worth
now is 15.6% that of white households. In
1989, it was 17.8%.
The deterioration of traditional reli
gious values in the country has taken a toll
on all American families. But proportion
ally more on Black families.
Per the U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, in 2022, 43% of Black chil
dren lived in a two-parent home — down
26.5% from 1970. Among white children,
75.6% lived in a two-parent home, down
15.5% from 1970.
America today is a far different coun
try than the one where King led the Civil
Rights Movement.
The language that King used to lead
and animate his movement was the lan
guage of the Bible. He spoke as a pastor.
But in 1965, according to Gallup, 70%
of Americans said religion is “very impor
tant” in their life.
In 2023, 45% of Americans say reli
gion is “very important” in their life.
In the last speech of his life in 1968, in
Memphis, Tennessee, King spoke about
Please see Star page 8A
Dandelions
I still re
member the
wonder of
it all — see
ing a shoot
ing star blaze
across a dark
starry sky and having the presence
of mind to tilt my face upward and
whisper a wish to the heavens above.
As a child, I believed in the magic of
making wishes — from extinguish
ing all of my birthday candles with a
single breath, to tossing a penny into
a fountain, to pulling the long piece
of a chicken’s wishbone, to blowing
all the feathery seeds from the head
of a dandelion.
In my mind’s eye, I see the dan
delions sway in the warm Southern
breeze, and I suddenly remember
the feel of stiff blades of grass press
ing against the soles of my bare feet
as I tiptoed out to where the patch
had established their colony of wish
es. The dandelions were in all stages
of growth and development. Some
were mere leaves spread out flat in
the grass, while others had shot up
yellow blooms or fluffy seed pods. I
crouched down and admired them
all.
I often collected the dandelion’s
quarter-sized yellow flowers and
formed a bouquet in my tiny hands,
and sometimes I carried the flow
ers inside the house and presented
them to my mother as a love offer
ing. Beauty thrives in such simplic-
ity.
But I’d be lying if I suggested
that my favorites were not the fuzzy
seed pods. They were special — like
an alien species. I plucked them up
and examined them as if I were a sci
entist looking through the lens of a
microscope. When I was done with
my observation, I made a wish and
puffed air toward the sphere as if ex
haling the smoke from a cigarette. I
watched the fluff dance and dissipate
— a constellation of tiny parachutes
charting new beginnings across my
family’s landscape.
I don’t remember who first
taught me how to make a wish upon
a dandelion — probably my sister,
Audrey, three years my senior, and
whom I followed around like a little
lost puppy much to her dismay. But
it doesn’t matter who introduced me
to the concept. All I know is this: I
couldn’t resist their call.
“Come over here and blow on
me,” they whispered in the wind like
the song of sirens.
I obeyed. I’d hold the bushy
orb before my face, make my wish,
then blow with all my might caus
ing the seed head to explode before
me. In my youth, I wasn’t concerned
about spreading weeds throughout
a pristine green lawn. I was focused
on this simple ceremony of inno
cence, a ritual that allowed me to
glimpse the infinite possibilities that
stretched before me. Making wishes
on dandelions was, and is, a sacra
ment of hope.
And perhaps these strong mem
ories and emotions that bind me to
my childhood are the reason I can’t
bring myself to shoot them with her-
Please see Amber page 8A
From the Porch
By Amber Nagle