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Cal Thomas channels Justice Alito on liberties

Syndicated columnist, Cal Thomas, begins his column, “Basic Liberties Being Eroded,” by discussing product warnings:

Everywhere one looks there are warning signs, from labels on cigarette packs warning that smoking causes cancer, to ridiculous labels on thermometers that read, “Once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally.”

(That’s quite an example to prove your point, Cal, but is it that ridiculous? In June, a survey from the Center for Disease Control reported that “4% of respondents consumed or gargled diluted bleach solutions, soapy water and other disinfectants in an effort to protect themselves from the coronavirus” because some idiot suggested it might keep them from getting the virus.)

From there, Thomas moves to his main point: how, according Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, our liberties are being eroded. Thomas then references a recent Alito speech given to Federalist Society lawyers which has been widely criticized for being far-too-partisan for a sitting justice:

"As politically partisan a speech as I've ever seen from a justice: arrogant, tendentious, and sloppy," Harry Litman, a former U.S. Attorney who now teaches constitutional law at the UCLA School of Law and UC San Diego, wrote.

My advice to Cal Thomas: stick with thermometers.

Two Ohio editorials

If you are keeping score at home, there were two more Ohio editorials today making it six (out of ten) for the last week.

An editorial page is not complete without a couple of attacks on liberals

The original title of Thomas’ column was the more accurate “Alito and Liberty.” The Intelligencer also changed the title of Froma Harrop’s syndicated column from “The Republican Wing of the Democratic Party” to “Liberals Not Biden’s Best Advocates.”

Most of Harrop’s column deals with The Lincoln Project, the group that produced a number of excellent ads attacking President Trump. (I’ve featured a couple of them.) If you check who is behind the Project, you will find mainstream Republicans who have never been liberals; there only commonality with liberals was wanting to see Trump out of office. Harrop (correctly) never calls them liberals. On the other hand, the Intelligencer’s title suggests that they are one and the same even though that is clearly not the case.

Additionally, today’s political cartoon attacks California governor Gavin Newsom. In it, two face-masked fellows in jail are talking; one tells the other one that he is in jail because “I had too many guests in my home.” The other replies: “Who do you think you are, Gavin Newsom?” The cartoon is an attack on California’s governor whose state recently put more restrictions on groups. Additionally, Newsom apparently broke the state’s mask rules at a private party.

Since neither Newsom story appeared in the Intelligencer, I have to wonder how many of its readers know the background or, for that matter, who, since he’s not identified in the cartoon, Gavin Newsom is. Yeah, but the Intelligencer got to “own the libs” on this one.

Erick Erickson tells us about God’s election plan

In today’s column, far-right syndicated columnist Erick Erickson, as he often does, tells us what God is thinking. He also counsels those who supported Trump that the election results were meant to be:

In fact, Christianity teaches that no leader comes to power without God's providence.

So, in 2016, Erickson’s God chose Trump, whose neglect and incompetence have cost thousands of lives? And, of course, Erickson’s God doesn’t like many Democrats, especially gay ones. (See, for example, “Erick Erickson Denies Buttigieg Can Be a Christian,” in New York Magazine.)

Missing in action: George Will

Regular readers of the Monday Intelligencer can probably remember when the Monday editorial page regularly featured syndicated columnist George Will who, while espousing conservative principles, did so without glorifying narrow-mindedness and hatred. It may be a coincidence, but Will’s Monday columns disappeared from the Intelligencer not long after he started criticizing the president and his congressional enablers. (I wrote about it here.)