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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

OCTOBER 27,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

THE NERVE – From the Washington Free Beacon:   Iran is hosting a three-day conference this week focusing on “police brutality against blacks in America,” according to the event announcement.  Foreign Desk reported that the event’s organizer, Nader Talebzadeh, told an Iranian news outlet that he had extended invitations to the conference to 30 “anti-Israel blacks” from the United States. He said that the conference, beginning Monday, would feature “human rights defenders” and “social activists.”  “Blacks in America are the only group who utilize their right to protest, and Iran is the perfect place to host them and to initiate a direct relationship with this segment of the American population,” Talebzadeh said.  “This will be the start of a relationship based on culture, diplomacy, and revolution. We hope to serve as an international example,” Talebzadeh explained, noting that the treatment of African Americans at the hands of police is important to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.  What a farce.  This is one of the most brutal regimes in the world, and they're judging us.  I'd love to see the "representatives" from the United States.  I'll take names.

ANOTHER GENIUS HEARD FROM – From Townhall.com:  The same day the Center for Medical Progress released its 11th video showing Planned Parenthood doctors discussing the harvesting of fetal body parts, progressive actress Lena Dunham announced in her newsletter that she will be dressing up as an abortionist for Halloween.  “Still, I want to be accepted and to WIN BIG! And this year, I think I may have finally nailed it,” Dunham wrote in her daily email newsletter. “I’m going as something newsy, sexy, and cool: a Planned Parenthood doctor!”  Ms. Dunham, although an actress of above-average ability, is a moral moron, and has the intellectual maturity of a 12-year-old.

NOT ALL BAD FOR DONALD – Despite a stunning poll showing Ben Carson taking the lead nationally in the GOP presidential sweepstakes, Donald Trump continues to gain in some state races.  From theconservativetreehouse.com:   The latest PPP Poll from North Carolina shows Donald Trump, with 31%, extending his lead in the state. Ben Carson comes in second with 23% and Carly Fiorina has collapsed from last month, landing at 6%, with less than half her previous favorability and double the unfavorability. Candidate Jeb Bush also takes a severe step backwards.  There's a GOP debate tomorrow (Wednesday) that could prove dramatically important in sharpening the public's perception of the candidates.  I hope the race shakes out to about five candidates before the next debate.  Then the focusing will really start.  The election is a bit more than a year away.  Plenty of time for change.

October 27, 2015       Permalink 

THERE IS NO BIAS IN THE ACADEMIC WORLD (CHOKE) – AT 10:03 A.M. ET:  No, not much.  Campus Reform, a great website, nails the facts, which are indisputable:

Only one undergraduate professor from the top 50 liberal arts colleges has donated to a Republican presidential candidate in the current election cycle.

According to FEC third quarter reports released October 16, 47 professors at the top 50 liberal arts colleges in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, have given to presidential campaigns. Of those 47 professors, Hamilton College History Professor Robert Paquette was the sole donor to a Republican candidate, giving $150 to Carly Fiorina’s campaign.

The remaining 99.51 percent went to Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The 46 other professors collectively donated $20,875 to Hillary Clinton and $8,417 to Bernie Sanders. Professors donating to Clinton have given an average of $1,043.75. Those giving to Sanders donated an average of $323.73.

"I do believe these numbers give an accurate representation of the political leanings of faculty on most college campuses," Paquette wrote in an e-mail to Campus Reform, "especially allegedly elite liberal arts colleges like Hamilton College," where he claims to be the "only out-of-closet conservative in a faculty of 200."

After 35 years of experience in higher education, Paquette believes that the business "has become a racket monopolized by the academic left."

Paquette argues that with cover from "spineless or sympathetic" administrators, leftist faculty are able to keep their campuses liberal. Conservatives like himself can be prohibited from participating in searches for their own department and large endowment funds are "lavished on faculty activists and their programmatic agendas.”

Paquette says that trustees know about the problem but "[prefer] not to hear, see, or speak any evil to protect the elite ‘brand’ of the college."

COMMENT:  And that's part of the problem – trustees (and alumni) who only want to preserve the prestige of the degree.  But more and more people are finding out the truth about American higher education, and what it's become.  The trouble is, the academic establishment is entrenched, and perpetuates itself.  We need, first of all, a selective cutoff of federal aid – stop feeding the beast.  We need a revolt by parents paying the tuition.  We need exposure of the scandal by the media (not much chance), and we need revulsion by students who'll realize they're being used.

Tough order.  Maybe generational change will help.  But the bias problem can only be solved in the long term, if at all.

October 27, 2015       Permalink

COPS IN DANGER – AT 9:20 A.M. ET:  It is a new kind of domestic terrorism, directed at cops, and the White House is doing nothing to stop it.  Now there is an FBI warning of a plot that may be carried out this week.  From the New York Post: 

The FBI released an alert Monday warning the NYPD and police departments nationwide of a potentially dangerous anarchist group that says it plans to ambush cops on Halloween.

The extremist group – known as the National Liberation Militia – has proposed a “Halloween Revolt” that encourages supporters to cause a disturbance to attract police and then viciously attack them, the FBI said.

The group has recommended that members wear typical Halloween masks and use weapons such as bricks, bottles and firearms, according to the release.

The NYPD Intelligence Bureau is monitoring the threat, and there is no known link between the threat and New York City law enforcement specifically, the FBI said.

COMMENT:  The FBI bulletin is not surprising.   And the notion of luring police to a scene has been mentioned before.  The president should be out there publicly saying that he will order whatever forces are necessary to counter attacks on law enforcement.  He could, for example, federalize National Guard MP units to augment police.  Or even use regular troops, as was done in Little Rock in 1957 and in other places in the 1960s.  But Obama simply makes meely-mouthed boilerplate denunciations of violence.  Not a leader.  Not a great man.

October 27, 2015       Permalink

JEB'S CRISIS – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:   And it's very real.  He can't seem to gain traction in the polls, and he's proved to be an uninspiring candidate.  A recent outburst reveals a deeply frustrated man, who's living in the shadow of a father and brother, both of whom made it to the presidency.  From Byron York at the Washington Examiner: 

"I just cringed," said one member of Jeb Bush's extended circle of advisers when asked his reaction to Bush's recent mini-tantrum on the state of the Republican presidential race. "Every politician, at some point, and sometimes justifiably, is pissed off at the voters. But you can't display your frustration with the public."

That's what Bush did, thrusting into public view the deep frustration that has been building as his once-mighty campaign slipped behind not only Donald Trump but other GOP rivals as well.

"If this election is about how we're going to fight to get nothing done, then I don't want to have any part of it," Bush told a Republican gathering in South Carolina Saturday. "I've got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around and be miserable, listening to people demonize me and feeling compelled to demonize me. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that."

The short version: I don't need this. The other guy's a clown, but if that's what you want, vote for him. I've got better things to do.

It's probably an understatement to say voters don't like such talk. "It's a non-winning message," said the adviser.

COMMENT:  There's a lot of political buzz to the effect that the Bush campaign is completely retooling, but it may be too late.  His name is Bush.  He's not a newcomer.  He just hasn't made an impression, and it's really too bad.  He was a fine, thoughtful governor of Florida.

The fact that Ben Carson has overtaken Trump in a new national poll (see post below) should teach Bush that it can be done.   The message Jeb is sending out, though, signals capitulation, not victory, and Americans love winners.

October 27, 2015       Permalink

YIKES-A-ROOTIE – AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  Ben Carson now leads Donald Trump nationally in the new New York Times/CBS poll.  Is the Trump boom over?  From The New York Times: 

Ben Carson has taken a narrow lead nationally in the Republican presidential campaign, dislodging Donald J. Trump from the top spot for the first time in months, according to a New York Times/CBS News survey released on Tuesday.

Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, is the choice of 26 percent of Republican primary voters, the poll found, while Mr. Trump now wins support from 22 percent, although the difference lies within the margin of sampling error.

The survey is the first time that Mr. Trump has not led all candidates since The Times and CBS News began measuring presidential preferences at the end of July.

No other candidate comes close to Mr. Carson and Mr. Trump. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida received 8 percent while former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, are each the choice of 7 percent of Republican primary voters.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio each received support from 4 percent of those surveyed.

COMMENT:  Are GOP voters tiring of Trump?  I certainly hope so.  The more I see and hear of the man, the more revolted I become.  His vulgarity.  His out-of-control ego.  I really don't want the White House to be renamed Trump Plaza.  I don't want the swimming pool repainted in shocking pink. 

As for Ben Carson, who doesn't like him?  I don't know if he really is right for the presidency, and I fear he'd be eaten alive by Hillary Clinton in a debate.  But the man is superbly accomplished and has fine character.  If he took the oath of office, I'd know we had decency in the White House, which we don't have now.

October 27,  2015     Permalink

OCTOBER 26,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

BEN SOARS IN IOWA – From Breitbart:   A Monmouth University poll released Monday shows Dr. Ben Carson surging to a mammoth 14 point lead over Donald Trump. Currently, the good doctor leads the billionaire businessman 32% to 18%. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are tied for third at 10%. Jeb Bush is at 8%. Carly Fiorina, who has pretty much disappeared from the news cycle over the past two weeks, is at just 4%.  It is safe to say that Carson is now the leader in Iowa. Of the last five polls taken over the last 10 days, Carson’s leading by an average of 9%. The closest Trump has come to Carson is a tie in one of these polls, and as of now that poll looks like an outlier.  Past election campaigns show that victory in Iowa is not a guarantee of victory anywhere else.  The real news is that Carson has done so well against Trump.  Carson has to repeat that performance in other states, though, and that doesn't seem to be happening...as of now.  We still have plenty of time before the first primary voting begins early next year.

MAJOR COCKTAIL PARTY NEWS – From the Daily Caller:   While discussing the efficacy of a hypothetical Speaker Paul Ryan, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry cautioned guest Alfonso Aguilar against using the phrase “hard worker,” implying that it is somehow offensive to African Americans.  “I just want to pause on one thing because I don’t disagree with you that I actually think Mr. Ryan is a great choice for this role, but I want us to be super careful when we use the language ‘hard worker,'” she told Aguilar.  “I actually keep an image of folks working in cotton fields on my office wall because it is a reminder about what hard work looks like.”  “In the context of relative privilege,” Perry added, “when you talk about work-life balance and being a hard worker, the moms who don’t have health care… we don’t call them hard workers. We call them failures. We call them sucking off the system.”  “Really, y’all do,” Harris said in reference to Republicans and conservatives.  Ms. Harris-Perry has lived on another planet for many years, so we should be understanding.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – From Fox:   The Border Patrol is looking for a few good men and women -- but not angry confrontation, and that concern is what prompted the agency to back out of a college job fair.  Accusing the federal agency charged with protecting U.S. borders of “unjust killings, …. racial profiling, use of force, and unjust violence,” protesters at University of California-Irvine succeeded in stopping the Border Patrol from taking part in a weekend career fair - and blocked students from learning more about a possible job opportunity.  "We regret to inform the community that out of concern for the safety of CBP Recruitment Officers, U.S. Customs & Border Protection will no longer be participating in the UCI Fall Career Fair,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ralph DeSio told FoxNews.com, instead referring students to the agency’s recruitment website.  Not shocking.  The hard left on college campuses has tried to block military recruiters for years.  One of these days Congress will develop the spine to threaten a cutoff of federal funds to colleges and universities that fail to safeguard civil liberties.

October 26, 2015       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:  British MP Dan Hannan comments eloquently on the loss last week of Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, who went down to electoral defeat.  From the Washington Examiner: 

The free world has lost its leader. In the absence of a vigorous American foreign policy, Canada's Stephen Harper supplied his own. For the better part of a decade, he energetically championed Western interests. He was serious about fighting terrorism, keen on free trade and prepared to deploy proportionate force in defense of freedom.

His defeat in last week's Canadian general election will be felt far beyond that sparse, chilly country. When other Western leaders fretted about Israel's 2006 Lebanon war, he gave his full backing to the Jewish state. When others dithered over Putin's invasion of Ukraine, he led international condemnation. Obliged to meet Vladimir Putin at a summit meeting, he was admirably curt: "I guess I'll shake your hand, but I have only one thing to say to you: Get out of Ukraine."

Canada, like most countries, partly defines itself with reference to what it isn't; but Harper was uncomplicatedly pro-American and pro-British. In his first overseas speech as prime minister, he told a London audience how glad he was that his was a common-law, Anglosphere nation. As a matter of historical fact, this might not seem especially radical; but, my goodness, what a refreshing break from the line taken by previous Canadian leaders, namely that their country was a happy multiculti fusion of First Peoples and Acadians and Vietnamese boat people.

COMMENT:  Absolutely true.  Harper is a giant compared to Obama.  As a world leader, he was in the Reagan tradition.  We will miss him.  And we will now be entertained by his elected successor, Justin Trudeau, who has much in common with Barack Obama.  Both are children.  Both are unprepared.  Both are loved by the chattering classes. 

Canada may be fun for the next few years, but it won't be serious.

October 26, 2015       Permalink

COLLAPSE OF OBAMACARE? – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Silvio Canto Jr. refers us to a piece in The Wall Street Journal warning of things to come, bad things, in Obamacare.    Remember that Obamacare was structured so that the benefits came first, and the costs came later.  A really dishonest scheme.  Americans will feel the real impact once Obama leaves office. 

ObamaCare’s image of invincibility is increasingly being exposed as a political illusion, at least for those with permission to be honest about the evidence. Witness the heretofore unknown phenomenon of a “free” entitlement that its beneficiaries can’t afford or don’t want.

This month the Health and Human Services Department dramatically discounted its internal estimate of how many people will join the state insurance exchanges in 2016. There are about 9.1 million enrollees today, and the consensus estimate—by the Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare actuary and independent analysts like Rand Corp.—was that participation would surge to some 20 million. But HHS now expects enrollment to grow to between merely 9.4 million and 11.4 million.

Recruitment for 2015 is roughly 70% of the original projection, but ObamaCare will be running at less than half its goal in 2016. HHS believes some 19 million Americans earn too much for Medicaid but qualify for ObamaCare subsidies and haven’t signed up. Some 8.5 million of that 19 million purchase off-exchange private coverage with their own money, while the other 10.5 million are still uninsured. In other words, for every person who’s allowed to join and has, two people haven’t.

Among this population of the uninsured, HHS reports that half are between the ages of 18 and 34 and nearly two-thirds are in excellent or very good health. The exchanges won’t survive actuarially unless they attract this prime demographic: ObamaCare’s individual mandate penalty and social-justice redistribution are supposed to force these low-cost consumers to buy overpriced policies to cross-subsidize everybody else. No wonder HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said meeting even the downgraded target is “probably pretty challenging.”

COMMENT:  We didn't need a complete rewrite of the health-care system to repair problems.  But the socialist/Dems went all in, hoping to climb the staircase to socialized medicine.  The staircase is collapsing, and the next president will be burdened with the task of cleaning up the mess.  My fear is that we'll get less care for more money, which is usually where government control leads. 

October 26, 2015        Permalink

WRONG TRACK – AT 10:19 A.M. ET:   Overwhelmingly, Americans believe the country is on the wrong track.  From the Washington Examiner: 

An overwhelming majority of American voters think the country is headed down the wrong path, according to a new public opinion survey commissioned by Clout Research.

The new poll of about 800 likely voters found that only nine of 100 Republicans and 15 of 100 independents believe the country is going in the right direction. A little over 50 percent of self-identified Democrats (51.9 percent) believe the country has taken a turn for the worst while 83.9 percent of independents and 87.4 percent of Republicans hold the same belief.

Despite enjoying a president from their own party, only 44 of 100 Democrats in the survey said they believe the U.S. "is on the right track."

"The latest WND.com/Clout Research survey shows that the dramatic dissatisfaction that Republican voters toward the Obama administration since early in his first term has spread to include all of Washington," Fritz Wenzel, a partner at Clout Research, said in a statement accompanying the results.

COMMENT:  I'm not familiar with Clout Research, and so I'm depending on the reliability of the Washington Examiner in reporting these findings.

Assuming the poll is accurate, it is up to the GOP to exploit public dissatisfaction by choosing a strong candidate for president and running a superb campaign.  That campaign must include a huge get-out-the-vote effort to counter the Democratic ground game, which has always been superior.  The only poll that counts, as they say, is the one on election day.

October 26, 2015       Permalink

A REAL CONVENTION? – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  Fascinating piece in the New York Post by ace political reporter Fred Dicker.  Is it possible that the Republican Party is heading for a brokered convention?  Brokered conventions are rare in this age of heavy primaries, but can happen:

With no clear front-runner and Donald Trump and Ben Carson continuing to dominate the crowded presidential field, two top New York Republicans predict a brokered convention in Cleveland next summer — with the possibility of a surprise GOP ticket emerging.

“At this point, I see a brokered convention in Cleveland,’’ former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who backs long-shot Ohio Gov. John Kasich and plans to attend the July convention, told The Post.

“It would be the first time in a long time, but I believe there’s a reasonable chance that there will be no clear winner after the primaries are concluded — provided that neither Trump nor Carson has collapsed,’’ he continued.

State GOP Chairman Ed Cox said he also saw a “real possibility of a contested convention because there are so many good candidates and no clear leader.”

“You could have a lot of maneuvering for support at the convention. It could be very exciting,’’ Cox continued.

New York’s “proportional’’ — as opposed to “winner-take-all’’ — April 19 GOP primary could become all the more important if there’s no front-runner, Cox said.

COMMENT:  Could be, and it could be great for the Republican Party.  A brokered convention would dramatically increase TV viewing.  It would be a real contest, a World Series of politics.

And a surprise ticket could emerge.  I love those smoke-filled rooms.  The people filling them with smoke have often made some good decisions.

October 26, 2015        Permalink