Waters drowning
Let this sink in. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, had bank executives before her at the U.S. Capitol last week and appeared ready to give them a tongue lashing over the part they play in the student loan crisis. And apparently this longtime House member did not know, or remember, that President Barack Obama had nationalized student loan services nearly a decade ago.
She related that 44 million Americans owe $1.56 trillion in student loan debt today and that in each of 2017 and 2018 a million student loan borrowers defaulted on their loans. Imperiously, she then asked her guests, "What are you guys doing to help us with the student loan debt? Who would like to answer first? Mr. Monihan? Big bank?"
"We stopped making student loans in 2007 or so," he responded.
"So you don't do it anymore? Mr. Corbyn?" she asked the next banker.
"We exited student lending in 2009," he said.
"Mr. Dimon?" she asked the next man down the line.
"When the government took over student lending in 2010," he said, "we stopped doing all student lending."
The woman whose committee regulates banks suddenly was speechless.
Mother Teresa's hate speech?
Social media bigwigs squirmed mightily last week when they had to defend, or deflect, their platforms' censorship of conservatives during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on technological censorship.
Typical of the exchanges was one Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had with Twitter representatives, including Carlos Monje Jr.
"Here is a tweet that says, 'Abortion is profoundly anti-women' - it's a quote from Mother Teresa," he said, "and this tweet was blocked. It's fairly remarkable that Mother Teresa is now deemed hate speech. Do either of you agree with the proposition that Mother Teresa is issuing hate speech?"
The initial reaction was complete silence.
"Is this hate speech?" Cruz asked again.
More silence ensued.
Monje finally fumbled around trying to answer, then said, "Every tweet has context behind it." He also said Twitter had "actioned accounts on both sides of this debate."
In other words, he wouldn't dare say it was hate speech but wouldn't say it wasn't.
Cruz had made his case.
Land of Lin ... abortions
No official change has been made, but the Land of Lincoln, once a nickname for the state of Illinois, has a new rival. When motorists cross the Mississippi River into Illinois from Missouri on I-55/I-64, they are greeted by a new sign: "Welcome to Illinois, where you can get a safe, legal abortion."
How proud Illinois residents must be.
The billboard followed action in Missouri's legislature, where lawmakers are considering a ban on abortions after six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The bill, if enacted, would allow exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape and incest.
The sign, erected last month, was paid for by Hope Clinic for Women, an abortion provider in Granite City, not too far across the river from St. Louis.
National media liberal? What?
It may be breaking news in La La Land, but the Hollywood Reporter took a recent poll on the news media and found what most already know: "Americans Think All Network News Channels Lean Liberal."
ABC, CBS and NBC averaged about 35% of respondents saying they were "more liberal" as opposed to "more conservative" or "no political lean." A third of respondents answered "don't know" or "no opinion."
"Network news channels like ABC, CBS and NBC, which strive toward impartiality in their reporting," Eric Hayden wrote, apparently not intending sarcasm, "were perceived by a significant margin to be 'more liberal' in their political lean than neutral."
CNN was found by 46% to be "more liberal," and MSNBC was determined to be 43% "more liberal." For each, 12% said the cable news outlets had "no lean." The poll found 51% saying Fox News was "more conservative," with 8% saying it had "no lean."
Left-leaning National Public Radio, described by Hayden as "centrist," was thought by only 27% to be "more liberal," with 21% saying "no lean."
Tyler Sinclair, vice president of Morning Consult, which conducted the poll with The Hollywood Reporter, appeared oblivious to the last 50 years of media reporting in blaming President Donald Trump for the skewed views.
"President Trump's relentless rhetoric on the mainstream media has helped shape how those mediums are viewed among his base," he said.