New Jersey host decries focus on grocery-bag ‘nonsense’

NEWS AND OPINION:

Let us focus on New Jersey. The feisty Garden State is a complex place, with vigorous politics and spirited opinions.

Then there is the Common Sense Club, founded by talk radio host Bill Spadea, who holds court on WKXW New Jersey 101.5 each weekday morning from a studio in the state capital of Trenton. His motto is “Save Jersey. Save America” — and he is vexed that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has taken an intense interest in grocery bags.

“The liberals claim they are focusing on the real problems facing New Jersey, but what was their latest action to protect America? Cancelling plastic and paper grocery bags,” Mr. Spadea said in a public outreach shared with Inside the Beltway.

“A new law recently went into effect here in New Jersey banning so-called ‘single-use’ bags. Other than the fact that these bags are used multiple times by normal shoppers like us, and the fact that they are an infinitesimal part of the trash in our landfills, the radical left vilified this convenience in order to make a political point. They targeted shoppers with no regard for the elderly and disabled shoppers,” Mr. Spadea advised.

“This is another push by the government to control your actions by limiting your personal freedom and economic choices. What’s even worse is that this is happening while so many other critical issues truly need to be addressed. While struggling families and small businesses are trying to stay ahead of rising costs and the devastation caused by President Biden’s reckless policies, New Jersey politicians are focused on this nonsense,” he noted.

Mr. Spadea was also the Republican nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District in 2004. Is another run in his future? Find his story at CommonSenseClub.org or BillSpadea.com

A VULNERABLE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

“Do you think public schools should require that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited by students each day?“ asks a YouGov online poll of 9,659 U.S. adults conducted June 2.

The results: 52% of the respondents agreed that the pledge should be a part of the daily routine in all schools. That finding included 77% of Republicans, 51% of independents and 39% of Democrats.

Another 33% said “no,” that the pledge should not be a part of the school day — a finding led by respondents who identified as Democrats. Close to half of them — 47% — said the pledge should be left out.

Another 15% were unsure about the issue. And of course, this is a controversial matter.

For insight, consult the National Constitution Center, which offers a straightforward analysis titled “The history of legal challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance,” written in 2021 by Scott Bomboy, the center’s editor-in-chief.

Find his research at ConstitutionCenter.org; enter the key words “Francis Bellamy” in the search function. Bellamy, by the way, wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.

Mr. Bomboy also included a link to a 2003 Smithsonian Magazine article titled “The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance” by the late journalist and film producer Jeffrey Owen Jones, who co-wrote the 2010 book “The Pledge” with Peter Meyer, former news editor of Life magazine.

NOT A FINE WHINE

No whining in the White House? Now there’s a thought.

“President Biden whines to aides that ‘everything landed on his desk but locusts,’ and ‘if it’s not one thing, it’s another.’ It’s a shame no one informed him that the job of the president is difficult, and that he would be expected to address multiple problems at once, before he sought the office,” writes National Review columnist Jim Geraghty.

“The White House is beset by three major problems simultaneously: a president wallowing in self-pity; an in-over-its-head staff that feels the need to keep the president away from cameras; and the few experienced voices of reason, like perhaps Treasury secretary Janet Yellin, getting boxed out by the Twitter Left,” he noted, offering a timeline of whine moments and presidential complaints.

“Joe Biden, you’re the president. You asked for this job. You campaigned for this job. You assured us, over and over again, that you had the right kind of experience and judgment to do this job. You are now in the job that you’ve been trying to get since 1987. Stop whining about how difficult the job is,” Mr. Geraghty advised.

TEPID AT BEST

“Americans are unusually lukewarm about a second Biden term,” writes Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, a senior writer for FiveThirtyEight in a new analysis exploring President Biden’s chances of reelection.

“Biden’s age has also been a problem for voters that has hovered in the background for years. If he’s elected to a second term, he’ll be 86 when he leaves office — nearly a decade older than [Ronald] Reagan, who had previously been America’s oldest president at 77. In 2020, a Pew Research Center poll found that 31% of registered voters who supported Biden were concerned about his age and health. There’s evidence, too, that Americans generally have reservations about electing a candidate of advanced age. A YouGov poll conducted in January, for instance, found that 58% of Americans support a maximum age limit for elected officials,” Ms. Thomson-Deveaux wrote.

“But it’s also possible that something else is going on: Some Americans might want Biden to step aside in favor of someone else. Perhaps they’d prefer someone who better represents the party’s growing diversity, or someone who is perceived as having a better shot at defeating the Republican nominee in 2024. After all, Biden’s approval ratings are low and his support has eroded among young voters, Latinos, and Black voters in particular. Those voters might be dissatisfied with Biden’s inability to deliver on the sweeping promises he made at the beginning of his term. Or they might just be afraid he can’t win,” she said.

POLL DU JOUR

• 90% of recent U.S. home buyers say their home buying process was stressful.

• 62% say they were stressed about finding a home within their budget.

• 61% say they were stressed about finding a home in their preferred neighborhood.

• 50% say the process of home buying “left them in tears.”

• 40% waived a contingency, such as their financing or inspection contingency, on at least one of their offers.

• 30% say they lost to an all-cash buyer at least once.

SOURCE: A Zillow Group Population Science poll of 2,000 U.S. adults who recently purchased a home, conducted throughout February, March and April and released June 2.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.