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DECEMBER 2,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:31 P.M. ET: 

VICTORY – FROM FOX:   Hampshire College in Massachusetts raised the American flag back to full staff Friday after outraged veterans protested the school's decision to stop flying all flags across campus.  The college in Amherst had lowered the U.S. flag to half-staff after Election Day. The flag was found burned on Veterans Day, and the school chose to stop flying it – and any other flags – a week later.  "We understand that many who hold the flag as a powerful symbol of national ideals and their highest aspirations for the country -- including members of our own community -- felt hurt by our decisions, and that we deeply regret," the college's president, Jonathan Lash, stated Friday. He added, "We did not lower the flag to make a political statement. ... We acted solely to facilitate much-needed dialogue on our campus about how to dismantle the bigotry that is prevalent in our society."  Yeah, right.  You ban the flag to fight bigotry.  Sure, that makes sense.

LOWER EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Many professors try to tell students what to think and give them only one side of the story inside the classroom. But then there’s scholars who go above and beyond in their attempts to indoctrinate students.  Young America’s Foundation has pulled together a list of examples, calling it “The Dirty Dozen: America’s Most Bizarre and Politically Correct College Courses of 2016-2017.”  “The sad truth is that many of America’s greatest minds are spending four formative years and tens of thousands of dollars sitting in classes such as ‘Ecofeminism,’ and ‘Queering God,’ which clearly do little to equip them to face the real and complex problems our country desperately needs them to solve,” the foundation stated in releasing its list.  The list of classes named by YAF as the most egregious this year are:

1. Diversity and Design, University of Arkansas
2. Black Hair Politics, University of Florida
3. Gender and Food Politics, University of Florida
4. Ecofeminism, University of South Carolina
5. Transgender Cultural Production, Yale University
6. Hand to Mouth: Writing, Eating, and the Construction of Gender, Dartmouth University
7. Racial Capitalism, Williams College
8. Queering God: Feminist and Queer Theology, Swarthmore College
9. Environmental Justice, University of Missouri
10. White People, Middlebury College
11. Transgender Latina Immigration: Politics of Belonging and Labor in the United States, Bowdoin College
12. Saints and Sexuality, University of Mississippi

I'd like to meet some of the students who would choose stuff like that.

A GREAT CULINARY LOSS – FROM TAIWAN NEWS:   Chef Peng Chang-kuei (???), the founder of the famous Hunan-style restaurant chain Peng's Garden Hunan Restaurant (?????) and inventor of the world famous Chinese dish General Tso's Chicken, died on Nov. 30 at the age of 98 from Pneumonia.  A native of Changsha, Hunan Province, Peng began training at the age of 13 under the tutelage of the famous Hunan chef Cao Jing-chen (???), who was the family chef of Tan Yan-kai (???), the prime minister of the Nationalist government from 1926 to 1928. After WWII, he was put in charge of running Nationalist government banquets, and in 1949 he fled to Taiwan after the Kuomintang's forces were defeated by the communists in the Chinese Civil War.  According to an interview with the China Times, Peng says that his most famous dish was created in 1952 during a four-day visit by U.S. Seventh Fleet commander Admiral Arthur W. Radford. After three days, he had served the guests most of his repertoire of dishes, so to try and mix things up a bit, he decided to chop some chicken into big chunks, fry it to a golden hue and then added a different combination of sauce and seasoning to create a new dish.  The admiral was so impressed with the dish that he asked Peng what it was called, he thought quickly on his feet and said "General Tso's Chicken" (????).  I noticed that the flag on our local Stop and Shop was flying at half staff.

December 2, 2016       Permalink

THE COLLEGE LEFT DOUBLES DOWN – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   Barnard College, the women's college of Columbia University, is looking for a new president.  And what are the main qualifications, according to a number of its students?  Oh, you'll never guess.  From College Fix: 

Following the announced resignation of Barnard College’s president, many students at the women’s college are hoping that her successor brings more intersectionality to the job.

In other words, they don’t want another white woman – and preferably not a heterosexual.

Debora Spar told the student body earlier this month she would leave Barnard in March to become the president of Lincoln Center.

Students quickly flooded message boards, expressing their dissatisfaction and sadness with how Spar had led the college and demanding that the next president look nothing like her.

Posts from a public Facebook forum, Overheard @ Barnard, show the disdain that many students have for Spar as a paragon of “white feminism.”

“Can we write a letter and get like all of the students to sign it… no more white presidents [please],” student Talia Kay wrote on the page. “It’d be great if [we seniors] ushered in our last year by advocating for the administration to hire a woman of color to fill the position.”

Student Josh Zoeller of Columbia University, which is affiliated with Barnard, then chimed in: “hire a Native American woman.”

Upon hearing Spar’s pending resignation, Barnard student Krish JB wrote: “We gone finally have that WoC [woman of color] now?”

Krish, who identifes as “he/they,” then suggested they should ask for “maybe even a TWoC,” meaning a nonwhite transgender woman such as actress Laverne Cox.

COMMENT:  The sad fact is that they may get what they want.  The boards of trustees of these "schools" are often made up of cowards who look for the next invitation to a campus cocktail party. 

It's pathetic.  Our next generation of leaders.  I hope not.  The American people started a rebellion in 2016.  Now they have to see it through and drain the campus swamps, as well as the one in Washington.

December 2, 2016       Permalink

WHAT HAPPENED? – AT 9:44 A.M. ET:  The postmortems on the election are mostly in, but Michael Barone, one of the best political analysts we have, has now written his, explaining how the polls and predictions could have been so wrong.  From RealClearPolitics:   

Springtime polls seemed to assume the electorate would look much like the one in 2012. The signs that Trump would run much better than Romney among non-college-educated whites weren't very clear, particularly when his controversial comments caused his overall numbers to sag.

Going well into the fall, few polls showed the surge of votes that decided the election in what I have called the outstate Midwest -- the counties outside metropolitan areas with a million-plus people in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and (sort-of-Midwestern) Pennsylvania, states with 64 electoral votes that went to Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016.

Those outstate areas trended the same way as Iowa, none of whose 99 counties is in a metro area with a million-plus people and whose six electoral votes went for Obama and for Trump. There, polls showed Trump opening up a significant lead over Clinton in mid-September. In Iowa and the outstates, Trump won percentages higher than George W. Bush did in 2004, while Clinton ran far behind Obama's 2012 showing -- 12 points behind in outstate Ohio, 11 points behind in Iowa and outstate Michigan, 9 points behind in outstate Wisconsin and 8 points behind in outstate Pennsylvania.

These are all places with many non-college-educated whites and few blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Trump's stands on trade and immigration -- distinctly different from those of other Republicans -- were surely partly responsible for his outstate margins, and it seems unlikely another Republican nominee could have matched them.

Two other factors were in play, factors that led to sharp Democratic gains in these same areas in the 1970s. One was honesty. The outstate Midwest recoiled against Richard Nixon's Republicans in the Watergate years, and this year, these voters had a similar reaction to Clinton's email lawbreaking and lies. That helped Trump, though it probably would have helped any other Republican nominee.

The other factor was dovishness. The Upper Midwest has long been the most isolationist part of the country. In the 1970s, voters there reacted against Republicans' support of the Vietnam War. This year, they seem to have moved toward Trump, who opposed military interventions supported by other Republicans. It seems unlikely another Republican nominee could have duplicated this appeal.

Finally...

So the familiar partisan lines of the past 20 years have been redrawn, and now we have a more downscale Republican Party and a Democratic Party confined to its coastal and campus cocoons. We'll see how that works out.

COMMENT:  Very well analyzed.  Barone knows this nation county by county.  Even the parts where they don't have an Apple Store.

December 2, 2016       Permalink

MAGNIFICENT – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  There have been many articles reporting the reaction of American adolescents (of any age) to Trump's victory, but the best I've seen is by the Australian writer Roger Franklin.  Consider this, from the Quadrant:

In another example of the craven, bended-knee attitude of the US Fourth Estate, reporters solicited questions from Team Hillary that might embarrass Trump and his surrogates. Not that this is solely an American vice, as anyone would be aware who saw the Seven network’s Mark Riley ask Julia Gillard at the National Press Club how the media might be of greater assistance. It seems that to be the very model of a mainstream media journalist one needs a certain narrow, fixed and port-canted worldview. Blame it on groupthink or the blinkered education doled out in university journalism schools. Or just blame it on sheer laziness. It requires some effort to leave the office or climb off the campaign bus and put “dirt on your shoes”, as the editors of old used to say. Whatever the factors, as newspapers die, this campaign and its coverage are a good reason not to shed too many tears for a business that has thrown away that single asset even more valuable than advertising revenue: its credibility.

The walk from West 72nd Street to the anti-Trump protest took about thirty minutes, but there was no need to hurry, as the marching throng had only just begun to tap the deep wells of its bitter fury. The first thing, the most striking, was the cookie-cutter sameness of those who had turned out to denounce the result of an entirely democratic election. With few exceptions, the oldest faces—other than my own—would not have been much more than thirty, with most demonstrators of college age. The overwhelming skin pigment was whiter than any Westchester country club.

The truculence being paraded down Fifth Avenue seemed the product of political disappointment and a consequence of errant parenting. This was Generation Brat in full voice and the self-absorption was deafening. The anticipated pleasure of victory on election night had been denied them, so the response was a tantrum. The election was invalid, yelled a bearded young fellow from beneath his fashionable man-bun, never bothering to exclaim why the orderly and honest exercise of a nation’s franchise needed to be overturned. At another corner, an obese young woman was being hugged in her tearful misery by a coterie of friends, all equally upset. There was the chanting of predictable couplets—“Hey, ho, / Trump’s gotta go” and “Dump Trump / Dump Trump”—and vows and pledges to oppose and frustrate “the racist Trump agenda” at every turn. Had these children never before been denied that for which they wished? Evidently not, and now they were throwing a tantrum worthy of toddlers. And not just in New York: across America similar rallies were congealing.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It sums up the state of this country superbly.

December 2,  2016    Permalink

DECEMBER 1,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:23 P.M. ET:  

TRUMP PICKS MATTIS – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:   WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Thursday he had chosen James N. Mattis, a hard-charging retired general who led a Marine division to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to serve as his secretary of defense.  Mr. Trump made the announcement at a rally in Cincinnati, calling General Mattis “the closest thing we have to Gen. George Patton.”  General Mattis, 66, led the United States Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, from 2010 to 2013. His tour there was cut short by the Obama administration, which believed he was too hawkish on Iran.  If they thought he was too hawkish on Iran, then he's fine with me.

EGADS – SUCH BOTHER – FROM THE HILL:   Former Gen. David Petraeus is reportedly one of President-elect Donald Trump's finalists to be secretary of State.  If he's chosen, he'll have three days to notify his probation officer.  Petraeus was sentenced to two years of probation on April 23, 2015, for giving his mistress classified information.  "The defendant shall not leave the Western District of North Carolina without the permission of the Court or probation officer. Travel allowed for work as approved by U.S. probation office," says a court judgment, reported first by Brad Heath of USA Today.  "The defendant shall notify the probation officer within 72 hours of any change in residence or employment," the document adds.  Pretty humiliating, but I think it can be overcome. Petraeus is paying his debt to society, but seeks redemption through further service.  The Dems will have a field day, but coddling criminals is their specialty, so I don't think they'll make much of an impact. 

GREAT MOMENTS IN CLOGGED ARTERIES – FROM BRITAIN'S SUN:   The inventor of the Big Mac has died at the age of 98.  Michael “Jim” Delligatti came up with the iconic McDonald’s burger nearly 50 years ago.  The franchise-owner from Uniontown Pennsylvania put the stacked treat on sale at one of his restaurants in 1968.  McDonald’s initially did not approve of deviating from its strict formula of simple hamburgers, cheeseburgers and milkshakes.  But the creation of a two-patty burger with lettuce, cheese, gherkins, onions and “special sauce” proved an instant hit, and was rolled out to his other 47 outlets across the US.   McDonald’s spokeswoman Kerry Ford confirmed that Delligatti died at his home in Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, surrounded by his family on Monday night.  He opened his first McDonald’s restaurant in 1957 and went on to spread the brand across Pennsylvania and beyond.  His son revealed that Delligatti ate at least one 540 calorie Big Mac every week, according to CBS.  He ate one Big Mac a week, and lived to 98?  Do you still believe in nutritionists?

December 1,  2016    Permalink

WAR WARNING – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  Let's not forget there's a rest of the world.  And it's very dangerous.  From London's Express:

VLADIMIR Putin's warships have been dispatched to Crimea's western coastline in response to the start of Ukrainian missile tests nearby, as tensions in the region reach fever pitch.

Vessels from Russia's Black Sea Fleet have taken up position near the disputed Crimean peninsula - which was illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - to help strengthen the air defences.

The aggressive land grab plunged Ukraine-Russia and east-west relations to their lowest point in years and threatened a new Cold War.

Kiev began two days of missile tests today, angering Russia, which has put its air defence forces on high alert.

The drills come more than two years after a Malaysia Airlines jet was downed over Ukraine during fighting with Russian-backed separatist rebels.

A military source in Crimea told the Reuters news agency: “Warships of the Black Sea Fleet have taken up positions near Crimea's western coast for the duration of Ukraine's planned missile tests from December 1-2.

“The ships' air defence units have been put on a higher state of alert.

“Their equipment is designed in the first instance to shoot down heavy anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles.

"Together with land-based air defence units on the peninsula, the ships have thrown up a practically impenetrable shield against the enemy's rockets.”

COMMENT:  This may be Trump's first major foreign-policy challenge.  If he has as good a relationship with Putin as he claims, he might be able to separate the two sides in that dispute.  Of course, he won't get the same Nobel Peace Prize that Obama got in his first week in office, but he'll get history's gratitude.

December 1, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP – WINNING ALREADY – AT 9:35 A.M. ET:  And the mainstream media is going nuts.  I mean, who is this guy to actually accomplish something...even before he takes office?  From the great Michael Goodwin at the New York Post: 

Donald Trump has come a long way from the “disarray” and “chaos” the media claimed to spy before his transition even got started. Such a long way that it’s fair to say that Trump is having just about the best 24 hours a president-elect could have.

Two A-plus moves — the deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana instead of moving them to Mexico, and getting crime-busting US Attorney Preet Bharara to stay on — keep faith with the populist themes of Trump’s campaign.

He pledged to stand up for workers and stop manufacturing jobs from leaving America. And he pledged to drain the government swamp, which is Bharara’s specialty.

For Trump to deliver two huge down payments in one day is remarkable. Imagine what he can do when he is actually president.

COMMENT:  Absolutely right.  And notice how the mainstreamers are trying to play down the Carrier deal that will preserve American jobs.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.  What's the big deal?

The big deal, mainstreamers, is that this is something Barack Obama never dreamed of doing.  I mean, who are those peasants out there who don't have art history degrees?  Must we talk to them?

Yeah, you must.

December 1, 2016       Permalink

THIS COULD BE A YUGE CHANGE – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  For a Republican president, the idea is to speak over the heads of the mainstream media and directly to the American people.  This new technological capability that Trump will have will make that possible to a dramatic degree.  From CNET: 

President-elect Donald Trump will have access to a system that can send unblockable texts to every phone in the US once he takes the oath of office.

Wireless Emergency Alerts are a program created by a 2006 act of Congress. The so-called "WEAs" can be targeted messages sent to all mobile phones in a particular area, like Amber alerts, or to all phones nationally, like an alert issued by the president, according to a report by New York Magazine's Select/All blog.

Trump is known for off-the-cuff messages on social media, especially Twitter. Tweets and other social missives lent Trump a direct mouthpiece to his supporters, bolstering his campaign and circumventing traditional media that he sometimes claimed was treating him unfairly. But tweets have landed Trump in hot water, too. Critics claim his informal tweeting is unpresidential, pointing to such behavior as an early-morning rant lashing out at a former beauty-pangeant winner, retweets with media linked to white supremecists and messages that promote unsubstantiated news, among others.

The WEAs are limited to 90 characters, though! Trump will need to recalibrate from the 140-character Twitter standard if he wants to shoot all Americans an unblockable text.

Trump's office didn't immediately return a request seeking comment.

COMMENT:  Think of the president able to send an immediate few sentences to tens of millions of people, with no reporters in between.  I kind of like that.

December 1,  2016     Permalink