Opinion

Oklahomans don’t like the government telling them what to do. No matter what it is.

I’ve talked to countless Oklahomans who were as shocked as I was when Joe Biden said in a recent speech that he had “lost patience” with the American people and demanded that Americans get a COVID-19 shot.

China and Russia lay down demands on their citizens. In America, we have personal responsibility and freedom. The president can advise and encourage, but not demand.

“Working class Bronx native” served U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) well as “elect me” schtick in 2018.

It wasn’t true - Ocasio-Cortez is an architect’s daughter who grew up in the tony suburb of Yorktown Heights (median family income of $137,580 versus the U.S. median family income of $68,703), attended Boston University, and interned for U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) before putting together her “just your average waitress” PR package - but it got the political job done.

On July 26, 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order under which the U.S. government’s Medicare Part D program would have negotiated lower prescription drug prices based on an “International Price Index.”

Implementation of the order was delayed pending counter-proposals from Big Pharma, but the Democratic response was swift.

“Instead of meaningfully lowering drug prices, President Trump’s executive orders would hand billions of dollars to Big Pharma,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) complained, without explaining why or how.

Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called members of the U.S. House of Representatives back from their August district work for an emergency session.

However, instead of considering truly pressing matters affecting the safety and security of our nation and allies, she focused debate and votes on ensuring passage of a “budget” in order to usher in $3.5 trillion in new spending on socialist-style policies and programs through the reconciliation process.

If you were paid $218,250 for a relatively light workload compared to your peers, how would you respond?

University of Oklahoma Professor Suzette Grillot opted for insubordination and filing lawsuits filled with inflammatory allegations against her employer.

That Grillot has been demoted by the university and now rebuffed by a federal judge is a rare glimmer of sanity in Oklahoma academia.

With news channels on 24/7, we can all be overwhelmed.

This is true, especially when those channels focus on one or two items, repeating the same headlines every few minutes.

The channel’s commentators all see the events in the same way. In essence, they could all seem to be talking heads, without an original thought of their own.

Too often the news media wants sensationalism, dramatizing everything, even stretching the truth or creating it without checking facts. Why let facts get in the way of a good story?