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JULY 5,  2017

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

THE RULE OF LAW – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  A prestigious New England college has instituted a new scholarship intended in part for illegal immigrant students.  The Marianne Ejier Olds ’47 Scholarship Fund will “support the education of students who are U.S. permanent residents with refugee or asylum status, undocumented students and international students at Smith [College],” according to Smith’s news portal.  The scholarship was established by Jacqueline Olds, the daughter of Marianne Ejier Olds. The elder Olds was an alumna of Smith, having been accepted in 1943 as part of the college’s refugee admissions program after having fled Nazi rule in Europe.  “It is important,” Jacqueline Olds said, “that the college be able to continue to support the educational needs of these students who face unique challenges. Someone needs to stick up for refugees, and I hope this sets an example for others to follow.”   The problem is that an illegal immigrant has broken the law.  There is no punishment.  There is no admonition.  How about scholarship programs for legal immigrants, or for Americans in disadvantaged communities?

THE FATE OF POLICE – FROM FOX:   The ambush shooting that killed a New York City police officer in the Bronx marked the latest in a growing number of officer deaths in 2017, up 18 percent from this time last year.  A total of 67 officers have died so far this year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. It found there were 57 officer deaths between January 1 and July 5, 2016. In addition, gun-related deaths have risen by 9 percent, from 22 to 24 for 2017, the researchers say.  The figures suggest a grim trend; 2016 was the deadliest year for police in 5 years. A total of 135 officers died last year.  New York Police Department Officer Miosotis Familia was “assassinated” during an “unprovoked attack,” according to NYPD commissioner James O’Neill. Familia was sitting in her marked vehicle early Wednesday when a man shot at her through the window.   Of course, this has nothing to do with the anti-police rhetoric of the political left, or the contempt for police shown by the Obama administration.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.

COMMON SENSE – FROM FOX:    After the food stamp rolls swelled for years under the Obama administration, fresh figures show a dramatic reduction in states that recently have moved to restore work requirements.  States were allowed to waive those rules for able-bodied adults thanks to the 2009 economic stimulus. As the rules loosened and the economy sputtered out of the recession, food stamp enrollment soared to record levels – peaking at nearly 48 million nationwide in 2013.  But while that number has dipped gradually in recent years, some states have moved aggressively to push recipients who can work back into the job market and, in due time, off the program.  Alabama began 2017 by requiring able-bodied adults without children in 13 counties to either find a job or participate in work training as a condition for continuing to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.   According to AL.com, the number of those recipients declined from 5,538 to 831 between Jan. 1 and the beginning of May – an 85 percent drop.  And those off the roles and into employment gain self-esteem and self-confidence.  Part of any good welfare program is a plan to get people out of the program.  That goal is often frustrated by those for whom welfare is a business, not a helping hand.

July 5, 2017       Permalink

NORTH KOREA BOASTS, BUT WHAT WILL WE DO? – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:   North Korea loves to rub salt in the wound, and why not?  There never seems to be an effective response from us, or anyone else.  This is a tough one.  North Korea is a dangerous rogue state, but even Secretary of Defense Mattis has warned of the horror of a ground war on the Korean peninsula.  From Reuters: 

North Korea said on Wednesday its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large nuclear warhead, triggering a call by Washington for global action to hold it accountable for pursuing nuclear weapons.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department said it had concluded that North Korea test-launched an ICBM on Tuesday, which some experts now believe had the range to reach the U.S. state of Alaska as well as parts of the mainland United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the test, on the eve of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, represented "a new escalation of the threat" to the United States and its allies, and vowed to take stronger measures.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test completed his country's strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs and ICBMs, the state KCNA news agency said.

Pyongyang would not negotiate with the United States to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against the North, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

"He, with a broad smile on his face, told officials, scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased ... as it was given a 'package of gifts' on its 'Independence Day'," KCNA said.

Kim ordered them to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees," it added.

The launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea's weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.

The test successfully verified the technical requirements of the newly developed ICBM in stage separation, the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead and the late-stage control of the warhead, KCNA said.

Tillerson warned that any country that hosts North Korean workers, provides economic or military aid to Pyongyang, or fails to implement U.N. sanctions "is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime".

"All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons," Tillerson said in a statement.

COMMENT:  Thus far the American response has been mild – Tillerson's routine statement, some test launchings of small missiles in an exercise in South Korea, and the president tweeting a message ridiculing Kim.

It will take much more.

After he was elected, President Trump said the North Koreans would never be permitted to have an ICBM.  They now have it.  Trump properly criticized Obama for allowing Syria to cross his red line, without punishment.  Now North Korea has crossed Trump's.

The problem is not easy.  All the options are problematical, most are dangerous.  But we elected Trump to solve problems, and now the responsibility is his.  He could, of course, decide to live with a nuclear North Korea, armed with ICBM's, and depend on deterrence.  But how would that differ from Obama's policy?

A decisive moment is at hand.

July 5, 2017       Permalink

PRESIDENT ON A MISSION – AT 8:12 A.M. ET:   The president launches his second international trip today, in the shadow of North Korea's latest nuclear test.  From Fox: 

President Donald Trump is just days away from crucial meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at this year’s G20 Summit in Germany. First, he stops today in Poland, where a conservative populace and strong pro-American sentiments are sure to make him feel welcome.

Maybe, if the West Europeans showed some respect for President Trump, they'd get some in return.  But it's very hard for Western Europe, with its socialist illusions, to understand reality.

He’s due to address a regional summit of Eastern European leaders and deliver a speech outlining his vision for trans-Atlantic ties.

Trump’s policies and statements have ruffled the feathers of many world leaders since he took office.

On Friday, leaders from the world’s biggest economies will meet at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where many of those public spats could be rekindled.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she wants the summit to focus on key international issues such as climate change, free trade and an unfettered press — issues that push up against Trump’s positions and populist rhetoric.

COMMENT:   By contrast, Trump seems to be developing a good relationship with the new leaders of France.  He had a successful meeting with the new South Korean leader last week.  And he is making substantial progress in the Mideast. 

The headline of the trip will be the meeting with Putin.  The anti-Trump press will look for signs that the president is "soft" on Putin, and Trump must be careful not to provide the press with ammunition, something he unfortunately does regularly.  I'd like to see the White House describe the meeting as "correct and frank," which usually means troubled.  That's just right.

At the same time, Trump must make clear to the West Europeans that America is a worldwide power with worldwide interests.  Western Europe is only one of those interests.  The West Europeans demand too much attention. 

July 5, 2017       Permalink

COP ASSASSINATED IN NEW YORK – AT 7:50 A.M. ET:  We hope this isn't the start of another cycle of murders of officers.  From the New York Daily News: 

An NYPD officer shot while sitting in a police vehicle in the Bronx has died, authorities said early Wednesday.

The slain officer was identified as Miosotis Familia, 48, a 12-year veteran of the police force. She was assigned to the 46th Precinct. 

Two cops gunned down Familia’s alleged assailant during an exchange of fire after he blasted the mobile command post parked near E. 183rd St. and Creston Ave. around 12:30 a.m., according to police sources and Commissioner James O'Neill.

Surveillance footage shows the suspected 34-year-old shooter marching toward the command post “with purpose,” the source said.

O’Neill said the gunman fired one round, striking Familia in the head as she was wrapping up her shift in the Fordham Heights neighborhood.

The cop’s partner frantically screamed into his police radio for help…

….Officers with an NYPD anti-crime unit flocked to her partner’s distress call, confronting the fleeing gunman a block from the shooting on Morris Ave. He brandished a silver revolver and police opened fire, killing him, O'Neill said. 

He was identified as Alexander Bonds, whose criminal rap sheet includes an assault on a police officer with brass knuckles, a source said.

And...

The source said Bonds, who boasts up to six different aliases, recently spoke critically of law enforcement on an unspecified social media site. He said police in Oakland, Calif., were wrong to stop a child riding a bicycle.

And...

The late night holiday shooting was eerily similar to the assassination of two officers as they sat in their marked police car on a street in Brooklyn in December 2014.

Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were targeted by a gunman who had posted anti-police messages on his social media feeds in the days before the shooting, officials said at the time.

COMMENT:  I have no doubt that the NYPD will be on the highest alert as a result of this latest incident.  And there could be copycats out there in other cities.

The drumbeat of anti-cop rhetoric has already taken its toll.  We hope that toll does not grow.

July 5,  2017     Permalink  

JULY 4,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

DO THEY HAVE TO AUTOMATE EVERYTHING? – FROM CNBC:  Grilling burgers may be fun on the Fourth of July, but less so if hot grease is your daily grind.  Enter Miso Robotics. The southern California start-up has built a robotic "kitchen assistant" called Flippy to do the hot, greasy and repetitive work of a fry cook. Flippy employs machine learning and computer vision to identify patties on a grill, track them as they cook, flip and then place them on a bun when they're done.  Miso is part of a budding kitchen automation industry. Its peers include Zume Pizza, Cafe X, Makr Shakr, Frobot and Sally, which are developing robots to help commercial kitchens churn out pizzas, lattes, cocktails, frozen yogurt, and salads.  No more mama's home cooking.  Now we'll have snacks by Miso Robotics or burgers by Makr Shakr.  How romantic.  No more diner scenes in movies either.

GOOD DEAL – FROM CNN MONEY:  Drivers are enjoying the cheapest Fourth of July gasoline in more than a decade. Enjoy it while it lasts: Experts say prices will start inching higher soon.  The average price nationwide for a gallon of regular is $2.23, down 15 cents from a month ago, according to AAA.  And really cheap gas is even more common than suggested by that average: About 25% of gas stations nationwide are selling gas for $2 a gallon or less.  The last time gas was this cheap heading into Independence Day was 2005.  But wholesale gasoline prices have already started to climb up, and that will probably translate into modestly higher prices at the pump in coming days, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks gas prices for AAA.  Of course, if you were a true social justice warrior, you wouldn't use a car at all, poisoning the air, destroying the Earth and the Solar System.  You'd walk, or take a collective ride in the new Goremobile.  But you won't do that, would you?

AND NOW THE ACTUAL NEWS – FROM DAILY MAIL:  Despite claims by furious Trump opponents that they would leave the country if he won the presidency, Canada hasn't proved as many citizenship applications as might be expected.  The country's did receive an uptick of 66 per cent in applications from January-April 2017, but that only meant an average of 400 people per month rather than the previous year's 264.  And those figures are still down from highs of 2011 - the middle of the Obama administration - when 564 Americans a month were trying to become Canadian, the National Post reported.   The left is wonderful at advertising dramatic pledges to leave the United States if so-and-so is elected.  The pledges never seem to pan out.  Even leftists like the privileges of American citizenship.

July 4, 2017       Permalink

AN OVERALL VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE – AT 1:44 P.M. ET:   Our institutions are failing to thrill the American people with their abilities.  From the fine reporter, David Martosko, at the Daily Mail: 

The Trump administration is suffering from a trust deficit as the president battles with federal lawmakers and political journalists.

But a new poll that identified the problem found Americans trust Congress and the news media even less.

A survey conducted by Marist College for National Public Radio and the PBS 'NewsHour' program found just 37 per cent of adults in the U.S. trust the Trump administration, compared with 61 per cent who don't.

More than four in 10 said they don't trust the administration 'at all.'

Congress is distrusted by 68 per cent of Americans and trusted by just 29 per cent.

The media tied Congress witl 68 per cent distrust, but had far more in the 'not at all' column.

Thirty per cent of adults said they trust the media either 'a good amount' or 'a great deal.'

The two American institutions that placed highest were intelligence agencies and the courts.

Sixty per cent of adults said they trust the intelligence community, compared with 37 per cent who don't.

Those numbers were the same for the courts. They're also an almost perfect mirror of Trump's.

COMMENT:   Polls are snapshots in time, but they give us a general view of what people are thinking.  We have a trust deficit, and it will be difficult to repair it in today's contentious atmosphere.  To a degree, distrust in institutions can be positive, driving those institutions to do better.  But I wouldn't want the nation to have to go to war under current conditions of cynicism.

July 4, 2017       Permalink

CNN SINKING – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:   After a brief spurt of popularity, linked to its scandal-mongering "coverage" of the Trump administration, CNN is sinking in the ratings again.  If the network got new leadership, and returned to basic journalism, it would start to recover.  From Gateway Pundit: 

CNN incurred a significant decrease in TV viewers in June as the month progressed thanks in large part to President Trump pointing out their media bias and false reporting,

For the month of May, CNN averaged 821,000 viewers per hour throughout the entire day and 1.12 million total viewers during the prime time hours.  Comparably, FOX News averaged 1.42 million viewers per hour throughout the entire day and 2.24 million viewers during prime time, or twice as many viewers during prime time hours as CNN.

By the end of June, due to CNN being caught in a number of ‘fake news’ stories, its numbers dropped significantly.

On Wednesday June 28th CNN’s numbers dropped to only 666,000 TV viewers throughout the day and only 882,000 viewers during primetime.  These pathetic numbers were roughly 80% of May’s monthly average for total day TV viewers and prime time viewers or 20% down.

FOX News on the other hand, had TV viewership that was up from May with 1.705 million total viewers daily per hour average and 2.647 viewers during prime time for an increase of roughly 20%.

COMMENT:  There are some good people at CNN, but they're not being permitted to act as real journalists.  The network has become anti-Trump all-the-time, and it's clear that many viewers are fed up. 

Their leader, Jeff Zucker, almost destroyed NBC.  Practice makes perfect.

July 4, 2017       Permalink

THE NORTH KOREAN LAUNCH – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  The latest North Korean launch reminds us, on our Independence Day, that our independence and freedom are under constant threat.  From Fox: 

The ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Tuesday flew longer than any missile test conducted by the rogue regime to date, U.S. Pacific Command said -- meaning Kim Jong Un's dictatorship may now possess the ability to strike Alaska.

North Korea launched a missile on Mother's Day that flew for 30 minutes and reached an altitude 1,000 miles higher than the international space station. But Tuesday's missile flew for 37 minutes and reached a height of 1,500 miles, leading missile experts to conclude it could have reached a target 4,000 miles away, putting Alaska in its cross-hairs.

"The threat is much more immediate now," National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters prior to the launch. "So it's clear we can't repeat the same failed approach of the past."

COMMENT:  No we can't.  Last week the U.S. hinted at expanded military options in dealing with North Korea.  The president's first response to this new launch was to say that he can't believe South Korea and Japan would put up with this much longer.  And he put additional heat on China to pressure North Korea to stop these tests.

Nothing so far has worked.  I would not be shocked to see the U.S. Navy shoot down the next missile to be test-launched from North Korea.  That would provoke a serious confrontation with the North, but how can that possibly be avoided?

Once again we bear the brunt of past appeasement, by both Democratic and Republican administrations, of North Korea's frightening regime.

July 4,  2017     Permalink