Greetings! I usually have many bones to pick with the Washington Free Beacon’s political coverage, but this headline today put a smile on my face: Bearded Vance Overcomes Century-Old “Fur Ceiling” with VP Nom.  Any guesses on who will be the first Oval Office occupant with a tattoo?...The National Review suggests that public schools can combat declining patriotism, which the Republican 2024 platform identifies as a significant problem…Trump’s Truth Social stock skyrocketed 30% after the weekend assassination attempt.  So, Trump is not only lucky, he’s richer (ABC News)…After watching Nikki Haley’s speech at the RNC last night, I couldn’t shake the feeling that’s she’s running for president in 2028…Bloomberg’s Devin Leonard used TheRighting’s exclusive research on declining traffic to news websites (especially on the right) to form the backbone of this story that was posted Monday…”Twisters,” is the big blockbuster movie opening Friday featuring killer tornadoes and dare-devil stormer chasers.  What it doesn’t have is a climate change message and that’s OK with FrontPage. According to writer Daniel Greenfield, “How and why did 'Twisters' avoid the same woke gutter as so many other movies? Maybe the producers decided they wanted to make money. Who knows?”PS: the trailer looks awesome and it should hit box office gold… In case anyone cares: I’ve called my big sister “JD” well before JD Vance hit my radar.  I like her politics way better…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Today’s required reading: J.D. Vance’s bestseller Hillbilly Elegy.  I read Vance’s memoir  when it was published in 2016 and was impressed by his inspiring story of a hardscrabble childhood and his drive to make something of himself. The book had an anyone-can-make-it-in-America vibe, yet doesn’t clearly reflect Vance’s MAGA world view that could land him a heartbeat away from the presidency….Not required viewing:  the Netflix  movie version of the book, which reduces Vance’s journey to routine soap opera… A Wall Street Journal columnist argues that one of the positive lessons of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was that it allowed the world to see a tough leader in the U.S.  “It may be important to let foreign enemies know that there are still some strong American leaders that they may have to deal with,” writes Thomas Sowell of the conservative Hoover Institute…The right wing media watchdog NewsBusters showers CNN with rare praise for grilling Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on the Secret Service’s conduct in the botched  assassination attempt…No matter how many serviceable interviews President Biden does with NBC’s Lester Holt, I can’t  unsee his disastrous June 27 debate performance…Dept. of Irony: while Biden and other political leaders call for “turning down the temperature,” the mercury is expected to hit 100 degrees in Washington today…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard