Things are going well if these stories are considered big news

HILLSBORO, Ohio --- In many parts of the country it can be safely said that, overall, things seem pretty good right now. People know this from the nature of the news that has lately risen to the top of our daily headlines.

It is always instructive to watch the national news from locations outside New York or Washington, from vantage points where Americans shake their heads over the issues deemed significant in the big media centers. Let's examine a few.

Ensnared by Democrats' own trap set during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings - scouring through old yearbooks and attempting to make high school or college behavior relevant to fitness for public service decades later - those politicians and many in the media now find themselves duty-bound to apply those same impossible standards to politicians they would otherwise embrace.

Millions of Americans find it remarkable that a stupid decision to don blackface or include an offensive photograph in a yearbook more than 30 years ago results in more alarm than much more recent comments by the same Virginia governor - comments made this year, while serving in office - defending what many interpret as legalized infanticide.

Likewise, the heralding of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as something akin to a native of the island paradise Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman, and her depiction in the media as Trump-slayer extraordinaire have been nothing short of mystifying. According to various news accounts and pundits, Pelosi, in just a few short weeks, has brought President Donald Trump to his knees.

But for others, Pelosi's behavior has been predictably obstructive. Her mugging during the State of the Union address was bizarre, and her mocking applause in the president's face was churlish. Trump, setting a good example for once, ignored her. Can we imagine the firestorm if a male speaker of the House applauded that way in the face of a female president?

Rushing to judgment and alleging racism with scant evidence has become a troubling epidemic. For example, after the initial, misleading characterization of the confrontation last month between students from Covington Catholic High School, some of them wearing "Make America Great Again" hats, and a Native American activist, the actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, "The red MAGA hat is the new white hood."

In standing by this judgment even as the Covington story evolved significantly from early reports, Milano ignored a number of key differences between the white hood and the red hat, the most important being that the hoods of the Ku Klux Klan concealed the faces of the cowards wearing them. The faces of those who wear MAGA hats are completely identifiable, since they believe they have nothing for which to feel shameful. Milano's comment is indicative of the hyperbole applied in today's political environment, but countless nonracist, nonbigoted MAGA-hat wearers shrug and go about their day.

The only recent headlines hinting at anything that would have qualified as big news in the pre-hypersensitivity era were connected to the negotiations to avoid another government shutdown. The last time around, Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed to be aggrieved at the effect the shutdown had on 800,000 federal employees. And yet, their anxiety did not extend so far as to agree to the modest $5.7 billion for border barriers that would have kept the government open and federal workers on the job, leading many to view their tears as the crocodile variety.

Another misleading but consistent storyline is the notion that how Trump's base reacts to his agreement to sign the bipartisan deal to avert the shutdown will be determined by right-wing radio talk-show hosts or conservative cable-TV commentators. It won't.

Meanwhile, that old standby, the Trump-Russia collusion probe, has so far produced little more than crimes and alleged crimes that came about as a result of the investigation itself (perjury, witness-tampering, etc.). Nevertheless, Democrats such as Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have made it clear that investigating Trump, with or without evidence, will be their main pursuit, guaranteeing two more years of alarmist headlines - the only meaningful result being Trump's re-election, thanks to voter backlash to Democratic Party overreach.

To be sure, each of these topics contains elements of legitimate news. But the extent to which they have dominated our headlines, news feeds and broadcasts is disproportionate to their true import. Many of the issues focus on political payback, or someone feeling offended by someone else. The latter should be settled by a simple apology, but we do not permit such a civil resolution these days. For many, banishment is the only acceptable adjudication.

In the meantime, millions of Americans scan their favorite sources to see whether any big news is happening. Based on what they see and read, things are obviously pretty good right now.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Abernathy is the former publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette.

Previously:
• 01/22/19 '%#&@ --- Trump found something to bash us with yet again!'
• 01/14/19 The wall is Trump's 'read my lips' pledge
• 01/10/19 Dems risk misreading the meaning of the midterms
• 12/24/18 Is arming teachers a good idea? Depends on where you live
• 12/11/18 The partisan media still doesn't understand us
• 11/23/18 Prez honoring Elvis? It's about time
• 10/03/18 The Kavanaugh accusations were just what the doctor ordered for Trump Country
• 08/21/18 America can't stop watching
• 08/07/18 To the GOP's base, Trump can do no wrong
• 07/31/18 Will the media's anti-Trump fever ever break?
• 07/24/18 The media's martyr complex
• 07/18/18 What got Trump into hot water regarding Putin was not what he said
• 06/14/18 One lib pol's careful playing of the Trump card
• 06/13/18 Roseanne's twisted tweet was horrible. Its consequences will be worse
• 05/08/18 America's charitable instincts know no political divide
• 05/01/18 Millions of women voted for Trump, and didn't need a man to convince them
• 04/05/18 'Roseanne' is not pro-Trump; it's pro-civility
• 01/09/18 Trump is right to bully America's enemies
• 12/11/17 Abandon Trump? Oh, absolutely not now!
• 11/10/17 Please, Big Media, come visit us in Trump country
• 10/12/17 The left does not out-care the right
• 08/15/17 An honest conversation about race is not allowed
• 08/02/17 Why people like me still support Trump