Quote for the day…

A sack of “oh wells” is much lighter than a bag of “what ifs.” -Unknown

Welcome to another exciting edition of Caught My Eye (CME)!

CME is the once-a-week column that is posted every Friday morning. This is when I look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week.

Here are some of the things that “Caught My Eye” this week:

• Zinke Running
• Conservatives
• Dumbass of the Week
• One More Thing

ZINKE RUNNING:

MTN News is reporting that former U.S. Interior Secretary and GOP Congressman Ryan Zinke told MTN News on Thursday that he’s running for Congress in Montana in 2022 – in whatever district he lives in, after lines for new districts are drawn in the state.

Time for some cold hard facts from Jack the Blogger (that’s me):

Unless Zinke is tied up in court or in prison, he should win the race for U.S. House. Those on the left continually bring up investigations and wrongdoing by Zinke, but unless something sticks, he will probably have clear sailing for the win.

The sad thing with people like Zinke, Daines, Gianforte, etc., is when something shinier comes up (another office), they run off chasing it and screw over Montana.

CONSERVATIVES:

I know a lot of conservatives and they seem to believe most of what they read and watch. Sadly, they read conservative-leaning publications and watch conservative-leaning shows on cable news. They never get the straight scoop because it might not be what they want to hear. It’s hard to get the straight scoop these days from any cable news channel. They are always giving their opinions with the story which is ruining the news.

Now there’s research to back up my beliefs that conservatives are not smarter than the average bear. Here is the abstract from the research article that appeared in Science Advances:

The idea that U.S. conservatives are uniquely likely to hold misperceptions is widespread but has not been systematically assessed. Research has focused on beliefs about narrow sets of claims never intended to capture the richness of the political information environment. Furthermore, factors contributing to this performance gap remain unclear. We generated an unique longitudinal dataset combining social media engagement data and a 12-wave panel study of Americans’ political knowledge about high-profile news over 6 months. Results confirm that conservatives have lower sensitivity than liberals, performing worse at distinguishing truths and falsehoods. This is partially explained by the fact that the most widely shared falsehoods tend to promote conservative positions, while corresponding truths typically favor liberals. The problem is exacerbated by liberals’ tendency to experience bigger improvements in sensitivity than conservatives as the proportion of partisan news increases. These results underscore the importance of reducing the supply of right-leaning misinformation.

Read the complete article by clicking HERE.

DUMBASS OF THE WEEK:

This week’s “Dumbass of the Week” is Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, and a retired three-star general.

During a panel discussion at what some called a “QAnon-themed conference” in Texas last weekend, Flynn was asked this question:

I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?

In case you don’t know what happened in Myanmar, the military took over the country detaining several civilian leaders. It is being run by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Flynn responded to the question by saying:

No reason, I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That’s right.

By Monday Flynn had walked back his comments, but it was too late.

For wanting a military-style coup in the USA, Michael Flynn is The Western Word’s “Dumbass of the Week.”

ONE MORE THING:

This is the 550th “Caught My Eye.” How cool is that?

“Caught My Eye” is only posted on Fridays.

Please, no parades. Thanks for reading!

## ENJOY THE WEEKEND ##