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FEBRUARY 21,  2018

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

BIAS?  YOU MUST BE KIDDING – FROM DAILY CALLER:   None of the 16 publicly-confirmed lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team are registered Republicans, The Daily Caller News Foundation has found.  Voter registration records indicate that 13 of the attorneys are Democrats and three have no party affiliation. This is the first time the political affiliation of all 16 lawyers has been reported.
One of the lawyers, Zainab Ahmad, appears to have registered as a Republican at the age of 18, but has since changed her registration status to unaffiliated.   There is a 17th lawyer on the Russia probe, but this person’s identity and political affiliation remain unknown.  The special counsel’s office has previously disclosed that nine of the 16 lawyers have made a total of $62,000 in donations to Democrats, with one of those nine lawyers having also donated $2,750 to Republican candidates.  Appearances do count, and the appearances here are pretty awful.

OH DEAR, THE CALCULATOR MUST NEED NEW BATTERIES – FROM DAILY MAIL:   Despite a never-ending drumbeat of criticism and suspicion related to a trio of Russia investigations, President Donald Trump's approval rating is in better shape than Barack Obama's was at the same point in his presidency.  Trump's job approval number stood at 48 per cent on Wednesday in a Rasmussen Reports tracking poll. Fifty-one per cent disapprove.  On February 21, 2010, Obama's was 45 per cent, with 54 per cent opposed to his work in the Oval Office.  Trump's current level of support is also above his performance level in the 2016 election, when 46.1 per cent of voters chose him over Hillary Clinton and a handful of minor candidates.  What does this say about the actual influence of the news media?  They're throwing everything they've got at Obama, and much of it is bouncing off.

AIN'T SOCIALISM GRAND? – FROM REUTERS:   CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty, according to a new university study on the impact of a devastating economic crisis and food shortages.  The annual survey, published on Wednesday by three universities, is one of the most closely-followed assessments of Venezuelans’ well being amid a government information vacuum and shows a steady rise in poverty and hunger in recent years.  Over 60 percent of Venezuelans surveyed said that during the previous three months they had woken up hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food. About a quarter of the population was eating two or less meals a day, the study showed. Last year, the three universities found that Venezuelans said they had lost an average of 8 kilograms during 2016. The Hollywood "stars" who rushed to Hugo Chavez's side to show solidarity are now strangely silent.

February 21,  2018     Permalink

COMMON SENSE ANSWERS – AT 2:31 P.M. ET:   TV News tells us there's a new student movement devoted to gun control.  And of course, the usual suspects in the press are drooling all over these kids.  We should admire their wish to participate, to help solve a problem, to save lives.  Commendable.  Very much so.  But we must never base public policy on their conclusions or recommendations.  It is common for young people to ask the right questions and come up with answers that are wrong or even catastrophic.  And our responsibility is to potential victims, who we must protect from harm.

One common-sense answer to gun violence is to harden schools, making them as invulnerable as possible to an active shooter.  Many on the left don't like that because it doesn't fit their world view.  But mature adults realize it's a critical first step toward the saving of actual lives.  From Breitbart: 

Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff Richard K. Jones offered free concealed carry training for 50 teachers and 250 teachers responded within 24 hours.

Breitbart News reported that Jones began advertising the free training on Sunday and the immediate response was 50 emails within 20 minutes:

On February 20 Fox 91 reported the response had jumped to 250 teachers who wanted training. Jones reveled in the opportunity to instruct them, saying, “We have 250 and growing fast. We will start training fast, next week.”

He stressed that he wants teachers to understand what they can do with a gun if an armed attacker enters the classroom. And while he cannot delegate the authority for teachers to carry on a given campus–that is a school board decision–Jones said he wants the teachers to be ready if their school board so chooses.

He said, “If the school boards want to give the authority to teachers to be armed…[they] can do that, they have the authority to do it, but I’m going to do my part, and I assume I’m probably the only one in the state of Ohio that’s doing that – but something has to happen.”

COMMENT:  Good!  We can do so much so quickly to harden schools, including the call-up of Military Police companies in the Guard and Reserves.  We can hire veterans and retired police officers.  We can ask for parent and grandparent volunteers to sit at a desk at the front door of a school several hours a week, and alert the school to any danger.

It's improvisation.  It isn't perfection.  But there are many patchwork things we can do immediately to help protect kids.

Or will the ideologists take over and resist any practical measures, pushing instead for "gun control" to satisfy their constituencies?

February 21, 2018       Permalink

JUST THE FACTS, PLEASE – AT 12:45 P.M. ET:  Since the horror of the Florida shootings, a great deal of misinformation has been passed around.  No one wants to diminish the awfulness of what happened.  But false information can do no good.  One falsehood given great prominence is that we lead the world in mass killings, that they don't really occur too often anywhere else.   We don't have a record we can be proud of, but we are far from the top.  From IBD: 

A study of global mass-shooting incidents from 2009 to 2015 by the Crime Prevention Research Center, headed by economist John Lott, shows the U.S. doesn't lead the world in mass shootings. In fact, it doesn't even make the top 10, when measured by death rate per million population from mass public shootings.

So who's tops? Surprisingly, Norway is, with an outlier mass shooting death rate of 1.888 per million (high no doubt because of the rifle assault by political extremist Anders Brevik that claimed 77 lives in 2011). No. 2 is Serbia, at just 0.381, followed by France at 0.347, Macedonia at 0.337, and Albania at 0.206. Slovakia, Finland, Belgium, and Czech Republic all follow. Then comes the U.S., at No. 11, with a death rate of 0.089.

That's not all. There were also 27% more casualties from 2009 to 2015 per mass shooting incident in the European Union than in the U.S.

"There were 16 cases where at least 15 people were killed," the study said. "Out of those cases, four were in the United States, two in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom."

"But the U.S. has a population four times greater than Germany's and five times the U.K.'s, so on a per-capita basis the U.S. ranks low in comparison — actually, those two countries would have had a frequency of attacks 1.96 (Germany) and 2.46 (UK) times higher."

Yes, the U.S. rate is still high, and nothing to be proud of. But it's not the highest in the developed world. Not by a long shot.

COMMENT:  Let's see if the political class and its allies in the press get that right.  I doubt if they will.  Saying that the U.S,. is the world leader in mass killings is just the kind of thought that the left loves. 

Truth?  Who needs truth?

February 21, 2018       Permalink

OLYMPICS DIVE – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Hear many people talking about the Olympics?  Neither have I.  They're a bust.  Not only have Americans not done particularly well, but NBC has botched just about everything.

After days of on-air gaffes, trying to cover the Florida shootings from South Korea, and having on-air talent that, in too many cases, didn't measure up, NBC topped it off last night by cutting off ladies' figure skating, the premier audience sport of the winter Olympics, to go to local news.  If you wanted to continue watching the ladies skate, you had to find an obscure sports channel associated with NBC.  I doubt if all TV systems even have it.  If you stuck with NBC, you could get the ladies, on tape, after the locals told us about what was happening in the neighborhoods. 

Brilliant move by NBC.  Tonight the ladies continue.  Let's see if the network can prevail upon the locals to delay their broadcasts so we can watch an entire event.  From Deadline.com: 

Heading into the final days of competition out of PyeongChang and February 25’s closing ceremony, the ratings for NBC out of these games are pretty clearly not going to be making on to any podium Looking on track to be the lowest rated Olympics ever with a drop of about 8% from the previous last place of Sochi 2014, the coverage last night presented mixed results.

With a 12.6/21 metered market rating, last night’s President’s Day primetime coverage on NBC and NBC Sports Network was down 13% from the early numbers , the first Monday of the 2018 Games. That is not a low for the 2018 Games, the hockey saw NBCSN have its best Monday prime since June 2015 and actually represents an overall bop up of 7% from the results of February 18’s primetime NBC and NBCSN airing.

Still, with that breathlessly said, the combo ratings from the two Comcast-owned outlets also saw a 14% drop from the NBC-only primetime coverage of the Sochi Olympics on the comparable night of February 17, 2014.

Having the well-hyped debut of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as its lead-out, that Monday Olympics broadcast of over four years ago went on to snare 23.5 million viewers. Facing some actual worthy competition on the other nets, that was the first time that the tape-delayed games out of Russia topped the mainly live 2010 Olympics from Vancouver for the struggling XXII Winter Olympics.

Up against The Bachelor and Big Brother: Celebrity Edition on the holiday Monday of last night, it appears unlikely we’ll see a similar win in the final numbers today.

As it is, when you just go NBC’18 to NBC’14, last night’s metered market ratings fell 22% from Sochi, one of the harshest drops of these games so far.

COMMENT:  All kinds of reasons will be given.  I think, and it's only my own speculation, that a combination of factors conspired to produce this dismal result.  NBC's many mistakes and lack of flair were probably primary.   A suspicion that the Olympics might be politicized, as was pro football this season, was probably in there as well.  And the lack of recognizable star names in American figure skating played a role.

February 21,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 20,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:50 P.M. ET: 

CURIOUS – FROM FOX:   Vice President Mike Pence was set to secretly meet with North Korean officials at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, earlier this month, but North Korea canceled at the last minute, the Trump administration said Tuesday.  “North Korea dangled a meeting in hopes of the Vice President softening his message, which would have ceded the world stage for their propaganda during the Olympics,” Nick Ayers, Pence’s Chief of Staff, said.  Pence “was ready to take this opportunity,” according to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, and would have used the meeting to emphasize U.S. concerns about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.  Better no meeting than exploitation of the vice president by the Norks. 

DAVID, WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOU? – FROM THE HILL:  CNN political analyst David Gergen issued a stark warning about the Trump administration on Sunday, saying the threat of authoritarian rule under President Trump is growing.   "It is the beginnings, in many other countries it's been the beginnings of an authoritarian rule, and that's the larger threat hanging over us now," Gergen said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."  Gergen was referring to Trump's comments slamming the news media, which has often been critical of the president, as well as institutions like the FBI.  "We have an election that's just around the corner later this year. What if the Democrats take the House back? Is all of that going to be blamed on fake news? What if they fall short? Are Democrats going to think, you know, it was all that meddling, and they have won a few seats that they wouldn't have otherwise won," he said earlier.   Gergen used to be the adult in the room at CNN.  Now he's thrown in his lot with the nut cases.  I see nothing authoritarian in Trump's denunciations of the press or his criticism of government agencies.  Under sane definitions of authoritarianism, Obama was far more of a danger.

BEST OF THE BEST – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said in a statement read on Fox News on Tuesday that he is still recovering from surgery and that his progress is moving "steadily slower" than he would like.  Still, he expressed optimism about an eventual return to TV.   "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier shared the brief update on Krauthammer on his evening show, where Krauthammer has long been a panelist. Baier, who said he constantly keeps in contact with Krauthammer, said that of all the questions he gets from viewers on social media, Krauthammer's status tops the list.  And for good reason.  Krauthammer is the dean of political commentators, a brilliant conservative and thoroughly civilized.  In addition, he's a board-certified psychiatrist, so he understands Washington.

February 20, 2018       Permalink

UNBELIEVABLE – AT 1:48 P.M. ET:    Is there any limit to the mean-spiritedness of some people?  Will Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the finest men to sit on the Supreme Court, ever see any peace?  From PJ Media: 

Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson served only three years in that role; she was reportedly fired in 2014 for an ill-founded complaint about her compensation and for her "brusque" workplace manner. Her editorial competence was not questioned, however. In the era of #MeToo equalizing the perpetrators of rape with those of inadvertent microaggressions, perhaps no one remains in elite New York media qualified to make such a judgment, anyway.

This week, Abramson's reputation seemingly landed her a 4,000-word New York magazine cover story, which resurrects the sexual harassment complaints against Justice Clarence Thomas:

Feel free to question Abramson's timing and her subjectivity. Indeed, Abramson admits she is targeting Thomas again solely because the timing is proper, and the target high-value. She writes:

Thomas, as a crucial vote on the Supreme Court, holds incredible power over women’s rights, workplace, reproductive, and otherwise. His worldview, with its consistent objectification of women, is the one that’s shaping the contours of what’s possible for women in America today, more than that of just about any man alive, save for his fellow justices.

His worldview, of course, is that life and rights begin at conception, and that equal protection necessarily frowns upon laws based on gender. Abramson equates these views with dehumanization of women, and thus sees him as a worthwhile target based on his current import during this elite-media-driven "cultural" moment. Folks, if you think there's a time and a place to destroy a person, you are not in it for the alleged victims.

COMMENT:  I am reminded of the famous statement made by the Boston lawyer, Joseph Welch, to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, during the famous Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954.  McCarthy had publicly outed a colleague of Welch's, Fred Fisher, as a former member of a leftist organization, even though he had become a Republican, and McCarthy could have brought up the man's past privately.  By outing him publicly, he inevitably damaged Fisher's reputation.  Welch replied:  "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

At long last, has the press left no sense of decency?  Must the sleazebags of the media go after Justice Thomas again, after more than a quarter century of distinguished service on the Court?  Must these "journalists" endlessly labor to prove their liberal bona fides? 

We all know that the real reason the liberal underworld is going after Clarence Thomas is because he's a black conservative.  He dared stray from the party line.  He must be punished.

Some days I want to deny that I ever worked in the news business.

February 20, 2018         Permalink

THE GOP IS PUNCHING – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  Republican tiger Devin Nunes is relentless in his pursuit of the truth in the "Russia collusion" scene.  I think we may be getting closer to what the real truth is.  From Fox: 

House Intelligence Committee Republicans have launched “Phase 2” of their probe into the origins of the unverified anti-Trump dossier, firing off an inquiry to a host of current and former officials -- including former FBI Director James Comey.

In a letter obtained by Fox News, committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., posed a string of dossier-related questions to current and former intelligence, law enforcement and State Department officials. He specifically wants to know when they learned the document was funded by Democratic sources, and how it was used to obtain one or more surveillance warrants at the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

In the Feb. 20-dated letter, Nunes even threatened to issue subpoenas.

"If you do not provide timely answers on a voluntary basis, the Committee will initiate compulsory process,” he wrote. 

Nunes, with cooperation from the White House, earlier this month released a controversial memo alleging the anti-Trump dossier – compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign – was crucial in the application for a surveillance warrant against Trump associate Carter Page.

COMMENT:  We're seeing signs that the Democrats are getting very nervous.  If there was collusion with the Russians, the colluders-in-chief were probably Democratic operatives.  This is logical, as the modern Democratic Party has been very casual in its attitude toward Russia.  It was Hillary herself who advertised a "reset" with Moscow when Barack Obama, the most left-wing president in our history, took office.  And it was the Democratic administration that looked the other way while Putin grabbed off Crimea and put his fingerprints all over the Mideast. 

Root for Nunes.  He's got to get his work done this year because the Democrats could conceivably win control of the House, which would mean Nunes would lose his chairmanship.

February 20, 2018       Permalink

DISTURBING – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  There are some disturbing reports that the Trump administration, under pressure from the left-leaning State Department, is softening its Iran policy.  Say it ain't so, Donald.  From the excellent Michael Wilner at the Jerusalem Post: 

WASHINGTON – State Department officials are seeking a commitment from their European counterparts that they will work to “improve” the Iran nuclear deal over an undetermined period of time – a request short of the concrete and swift policy changes demanded of them by US President Donald Trump last month.

According to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters, US officials are asking the governments of Britain, France and Germany to commit to “work together to seek a supplemental or follow-on agreement” to the 2015 international deal governing Iran’s nuclear program “that addresses Iran’s development or testing long-range missiles, ensures strong [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspections, and fixes the flaws of the ‘sunset clause.’”

It is a departure from the president’s initial request of the “E3” powers. In January, Trump announced that he was waiving nuclear-related sanctions on Iran for the “last time,” and that he would allow them to enter back into effect in 120 days if Europe fails to adopt a dramatically new posture on the nuclear agreement.

“This is a last chance,” Trump warned.

COMMENT:  Once again we see the heavy hand of the State Department Europhiles.  We vastly exaggerate the importance of Western Europe in the modern world.  Western Europe is committing cultural suicide, and some of the European countries, like the Netherlands, might not even exist in 50 years because of demographics.

Every American boy buried in Europe is buried there because of failed European diplomacy.  Yet, there is still an element in Washington – the kind who spent their junior college year abroad – who believe we should still genuflect before Europe's age and laughable wisdom. 

Meanwhile, European businessmen, especially the Germans, are making fortunes in Iran, and supplying Iran with funds and possibly technology.  Not a good scene, but something that's happened before.

February 20,  2018     Permalink