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JANUARY 27,  2017

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

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' – FROM THE SACRAMENTO BEE:   Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment seeking California’s secession from the U.S. can begin collecting voter signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot, the secretary of state’s office said Thursday.  The so-called Calexit movement emerged within days of the upset presidential victory of Republican Donald Trump, who lost California by nearly 4.3 million votes. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that nearly one in three Californians support the state leaving the U.S.  Proponents have until July 25 to collect 585,407 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.  The proposed measure would strike language from the California Constitution defining the state as “an inseparable part of the United States of America, and the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.” If it passed, there would be a statewide special election in March 2019 to ask voters if they want California to become an independent country.  Oh please.  I wish they'd stop this.  Even if the Constitutional hurdles could be conquered, the Democratic Party would never allow California to leave.   Without California the Dems would probably never win a national election again.

WARNING – FROM THE ALGEMEINER:   A report by the Texas Department of Public Safety raises concerns about ISIS terrorists using the Mexican border to enter and leave the country. The Texas report noted that at least 13 aspiring terrorists have tried to cross the Mexican border, or considered trying, since 2012.  Most of the people who tried to sneak over the border knew they were on the Federal no-fly list, the report said. According to the Lone Star state’s report, sneaking across the southern border “presents an opportunity for increasing numbers of aspiring foreign terrorist fighters to evade US interdiction efforts such as the No-Fly List.”  The most recent case occurred in October. Texas authorities arrested two Milwaukee men near San Angelo, Texas, on their way to the Mexican border. Jason Ludke, 35, and Yosvany Padilla-Conde, 30, wanted to go to Mexico, obtain fraudulent travel documents and travel to join ISIS in Syria or Iraq.  I have confidence that President Trump will confront this problem, and seriously.  I only hope it won't be too late.

I LOVE HER ALREADY –  FROM CNN:  Nikki Haley, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, walked into UN headquarters for the first time Friday and promptly said, "For those who don't have our backs, we're taking names."  The former Republican governor of South Carolina vowed there is a "new US UN."  Haley told reporters, "Our goal with the administration is to show value at the UN, and the way to show value is to show our strength, show our full voice. Have the backs of our allies and make sure our allies have our backs as well."  She then added, "For those who don't have our backs, we're taking names, and we will make points to respond to that accordingly."  She has a great future, but the diplomatic establishment and its northeast chapter will try to destroy her.  How dare an American ambassador try to speak up for the United States!

January 27, 2017       Permalink

GOTCHA – AT 9:36 A.M. ET:   ABC got caught giving a distorted report of a comment by Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's first press secretary.  From Newsbusters:

Another example of fake news from the liberal media? ABC late on Tuesday night apologized for deceptively editing former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer. In a segment from Monday on current press secretary Sean Spicer, Nightline’s Juju Chang featured a quote of Fleischer apparently trashing Spicer's press event: “His briefing made me uncomfortable. It was too truculent, too tough. It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday — ”

On Twitter, Fleischer corrected: “Nightline proves Spicer right about MSM’s dedication to negativity.” Left out of his original comment from Monday? Fleischer's tweeted his full quote: “It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday, Sean recovered it and ran for a 1st down on Monday.”

Fleischer added, “If this is how the press reports, Trump is right to go after them.” He concluded, “When the press distorts someone's quote and twists their words, we all have a problem.”

On Tuesday's show, at 1:05am ET, Chang issued a correction.

COMMENT:  It's about time the press was challenged.  True, journalism is only history's rough first draft, as Ben Bradlee famously remarked, but it should be at least a reasonably accurate draft. 

It's clear many journalists see their job as destroying Trump, who is the anti-Obama.  And Obama was a godlike figure to too many journalists.

The press also seems to be panicking over Trump actually doing things.  How dare he?   And how dare he not seek the approval of the press?

Trump's press strategy is shrewd.  He knows he's more popular than the media, and he'll milk that fact.  He'll also milk the fact that the press got everything wrong about the last election, and seems stuck in the last century.

January 27, 2017       Permalink

THE VOTER FRAUD CONTROVERSY – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  The president says there is widespread voter fraud, the anti-Trump mainstream media (which is almost all of it) automatically disagrees.  Where is the truth?  From IBD: 

President Trump, refusing to back down from his claim that millions of illegal votes tipped the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, now wants a comprehensive review of voter integrity in the United States. Whatever Trump's motivation for his claim, it's the right call.

Shortly after the election, Trump said that he would have won the popular vote — which he lost by nearly 3 million votes — if it weren't for "millions of illegal voters."

That sent the mainstream press into a fit of apoplexy, with journalist and left-wing activists denouncing Trump's claim as pure fabrication from a sore winner.

They went into another rage when Trump restated the claim in a meeting with lawmakers this week. The New York Times, which never called Obama out on his many abject lies, declared in its news pages that "Trump Repeats Lie About Popular Vote in Meeting With Lawmakers."

As we noted in this space before, there is evidence of ineligible voters casting ballots, citing studies that showed how outdated and slipshod voter registrations make it at least possible for noncitizens, and even illegal aliens, to vote. (A Pew Center study found that one out of every eight voter registrations is inaccurate, out-of-date or a duplicate.)

We pointed to 2014 study in the online Electoral Studies Journal which found, alarmingly, that "noncitizen votes likely gave Senate Democrats the pivotal 60th vote needed to overcome filibusters in order to pass health care reform and other Obama administration priorities in the 111th Congress."

COMMENT:  The piece points out, quoting ace journalists John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky, that "we don't know how big of a problem voter fraud really is because no systematic effort has ever been made to investigate it."

So let's find out.  The president has suggested an investigation, and I would suggest a bipartisan investigation is in order, led by people of fine reputation.  We know that there are many cases where strange statistics have come out of election districts, and they may well be impacting Congressional and state elections, if not presidential contests. 

Investigate.  Tell us what we know, what we don't know, and what we need to know.

January 27, 2017       Permalink

SLUGGISH – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  Final figures are in proving that Obama's economic expansion was a bust.  From MarketWatch:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy slowed in the fourth quarter and annual growth failed to reach 3% for the 11th straight year, reflecting the huge hurdles the new Trump administration faces in trying to speed up a 7 ½-year-old expansion.

Gross domestic product, the official scorecard for the economy, expanded at a 1.9% annual clip from October to December, the Commerce Department said. That’s a marked drop from a 3.5% growth rate in the third quarter and below the 2.2% MarketWatch-compiled consensus.

U.S. stock futures YMH7, -0.06% were pointing to a weaker start. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday finished at a record high and is up 25% over the last 52 weeks.

For the full year, the U.S. grew just 1.6%, down from a 2.6% clip in 2015. The last time the U.S. topped 3% growth — the historical average is 3.3% — was in 2005.

President Donald Trump has vowed to push the economy into a higher gear with an aggressive combination of tax cuts, reduced regulations and more government spending on public works. Yet economists say it will take time before the U.S. reaps any benefits.

Most predict the economy will grow around 2% or a bit faster in 2017. If Trump’s approach works, the payoff is unlikely to come until the end of the year or early 2018, they say.

COMMENT:  If I recall, it took almost two years before the Reagan recovery began to happen, but it happened.  In the meantime, Reagan's approval rating suffered...and then returned.  I expect we'll see a repeat.

January 27, 2017       Permalink

JANUARY 26,  2017

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

THE TRUMP EFFECT, CONTINUED – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  One of America’s biggest metropolitan areas has submitted to President Trump’s call for an end “sanctuary cities” — as the Mayor of Miami-Dade County has ordered his jails to comply with requests from federal immigration officials, according to a report.  Mayor Carlos Gimenez said he made the move for fear of Trump’s executive order threatening to cut funds to “sanctuary cities,” according to the Miami Herald.  “In light of the provisions of the Executive Order, I direct you and your staff to honor all immigration detainer requests received from the Department of Homeland Security,” Gimenez wrote to one of his top jail executives, the report said.  Donald Trump is doing more in one week than Barack (Speedy) Obama did in eight years.

THE PRIME MINISTER – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   British Prime Minister Theresa May sidled up to Donald Trump Thursday, saying his “great victory” would make America “stronger” and “more confident” in coming years.  Speaking to reporters on her plane to Philadelphia, May, the daughter of an Anglican vicar, said she’d feel comfortable working with the brazen billionaire.  “Haven’t you ever noticed, sometimes opposites attract?” May said, according to The Guardian.  Later, she delivered a speech before Republican members of Congress in Philadelphia, calling for a renewal of the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States in the wake of Brexit and Republicans’ electoral victories in November.  She's incredibly impressive.  People are already talking about a renewal of the Reagan-Thatcher connection.

THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION – FROM REUTERS:   (Reuters) - Staff and volunteers at the Virginia Zoo were scouring nearby neighborhoods for a female red panda which may be roaming the area after she went missing from her enclosure, the zoo said.  The search was launched on Tuesday after staff at the zoo in Norfolk noticed Sunny, a 19-month-old red panda, was not in the enclosure that she shares with Thomas, a male red panda.  Sunny was last seen on Monday at 5 p.m. local time. She may have fallen from a slippery branch in her habitat while Thomas was pursuing her that night when it was rainy and windy, the zoo said in a statement on Wednesday.   Psst.  She made it to Washington, D.C., which has been declared a
sanctuary city for red pandas.  It's the least we can do.

January 26, 2017       Permalink

THIS IS NUTS – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:   Democratic geniuses have come up with another brilliant proposal.  From the Daily Mail:

Two Democratic lawmakers have put forward bill that would take away President Trump's access to the nuclear codes.

The new law, introduced by Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Ted Lieu of California, would prevent the President from launching nuclear weapons without first a obtaining a congressional declaration of war.

Under current legislation, the US president can launch a nuclear strike regardless of whether or not America is under attack.

In a statement, Markey said that nuclear war is the 'gravest risk to human survival,' and expressed concerns about Trump having access to the nuclear button.

After introducing the bill Markey said he was concerned by Trump's past assertions that he would consider using nuclear weapons against terrorists.

COMMENT:  This is complete madness, and increases the chances for nuclear war.  One of the things that prevents war is an enemy's knowledge that the United States can strike back within minutes after detecting a nuclear attack, or the presence of incoming missiles or aircraft.  If an enemy knows that the president must wait for Congress to grant authorization, the deterrent effect is lost.  Why not attack, and target Congress itself?

The Democratic left has been brain dead for years.  It's time for voters to pull the plug.

January 26, 2017       Permalink

A GUEST IS COMING – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:   Britain's prime minister, Theresa May, will be the first foreign leader to visit President Trump.  From the Telegraph: 

Theresa May will say that Britain and America can “rediscover our confidence” and “lead together again” in the wake of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

The Prime Minister will address the annual congressional Republican Retreat in Philadelphia and say that the UK and USA will “renew the special relationship” now that President Trump is in the White House.

Her address will come just hours before she becomes the first foreign leader to meet Mr Trump on Friday.

And...

The two leaders will hold talks in the Oval Office and are expected to discuss plans for a major post-Brexit trade deal.

Mrs May travels to America as her Government publishes a short Article 50 Bill in Parliament, which formally begins the process of Britain leaving the European Union.

And...

In her speech, Mrs May will compare President Trump’s election to the Brexit referendum, making clear that both votes represent a chance to “renew” America and Britain.

“The United Kingdom is by instinct and history a great, global nation that recognises its responsibilities to the world,” Mrs May will say.

COMMENT:  This should be a wonderful visit.  Compare please with Barack Obama, who distanced himself from Britain, and a number of other traditional allies. 

January 26, 2017       Permalink

STUNNING – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen, which had one of the best records of accuracy in predicting the 2016 presidential race, shows President Trump soaring with the American people:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-one percent (41%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 44% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 31% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of +13 (see trends).

Regular updates are posted Monday through Friday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).

In the latest of this week’s executive orders, Trump has begun a crackdown on illegal immigration, adding thousands of Border Patrol agents, starting the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and cutting federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce immigration law. He also has imposed a temporary ban on refugees from and visas for citizens of several Middle Eastern countries until the U.S. government can do a better job screening out possible terrorists.

COMMENT:  Rasmussen has explained that its high rate of accuracy last year was based on the belief that the election was about issues, not media-driven narratives.  I'm sensing that this is correct, and is continuing.   The American people are responding to Trump's handling of major issues in his first week, not the media's opinion of him.  In other words, he's mastering the art of speaking above the media to the people themselves. 

January 26,  2017     Permalink