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JULY 24,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

BUT WE KNEW THIS, DIDN'T WE? – FROM THE TELEGRAPH:  Dogs will make a speedy effort to comfort their owners if they think they are upset, a study has shown for the first time.  Although anecdotally, dog owners claim that their pets are in tune with their emotions and will offer support in times of crisis, it has never been scientifically tested before.  In a new study, scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, took 34 dogs and positioned them behind a door which was closed with magnets, with their owners on the other side.  While sitting behind the door, the owners were asked to either hum "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or pretend to cry.  They found that many of the dogs nosed their way through the door but did it three times more quickly when they thought their owners were upset and needed comforting.  The Democratic National Committee claims that only Democratic dogs do this, especially dogs belonging to marginalized breeds.

THIS IS THE NINTH CIRCUIT? – FROM REUTERS:   A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, rejecting a claim by Hawaii officials that the right only applies to guns kept at home.  The extent of the right to gun ownership protected by the Second Amendment is one of the most hotly contested debates in the United States, where life has been punctuated by a steady stream of mass shootings.  The ruling issued by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, came a year after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule either way on the carrying of guns in public.  Two of the three 9th Circuit judges voted to reverse a decision by the U.S. District Court in Hawaii that state officials did not infringe on the rights of George Young, the plaintiff, in twice denying him a permit to carry a gun outside.  I'd imagine this will find its way back to the Supreme Court.

SHE'S BAACK – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:  Thanks to President Trump’s tax cuts and reforms 90% of American wage earners have a higher take-home pay this year.  Over 3 million working Americans have received Trump tax cut bonuses as a result of the Trump tax reform law.  But fake Elizabeth Warren wants to take that all away.  Elizabeth Warren told CNBC Democrats will end the Trump tax cuts if they take power in November.  Warren also promoted a 50% tax hike on American earners.  Wow, there's a winning platform.  Why didn't we think of that?

July 24,  2018     Permalink

THE NEW McCARTHYISM – AT 2:18 P.M. ET:   The term "McCarthyism" is one of the most commonly used, and misused, in American politics.  It referred originally to the raw tactics used by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin in his anti-Communist crusade of the early 1950s.  While McCarthy's cause was basically just, his tactics and personal behavior were awful, and he was eventually brought down by his own party.

We are today going through a new McCarthyism, this time the McCarthyism of the left.  Of course, the mainstream media won't call it that, but it's there.  Dennis Prager, at RealClearPolitics, has written one of the best pieces I've read on this disturbing and dangerous development:

You and I are living through the greatest mass hysteria in American history. For many Americans, the McCarthy era held that dubious distinction, but what is happening now is incomparably worse.

For one thing, any hysteria that existed then was directed against the greatest evil in the world at the time: communism. Then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee notwithstanding, there really were Americans in important positions who supported communist regimes enslaving their populations and committing mass murder. McCarthy was on to something.

In contrast, the country is choking on hysteria over the extremely unlikely possibility -- for which there is still no evidence -- that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, and the absurdity that President Trump works for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For another, the mainstream media did not support McCarthy. Most in the media were highly critical of McCarthy. Today, the mainstream media are not the voices of caution. They are the creators of the hysteria.

There have been conspiracy theories throughout American history (e.g. Lee Harvey Oswald didn't kill President John F. Kennedy alone; the moon landing never happened). But this is the first time the media have created and promoted a conspiracy. Not surprisingly, they have dropped any pretense of objective reporting in the process. 

And while some Americans were unfairly labeled communists during the McCarthy era, countless Democratic politicians and leaders in news and entertainment have called members of the Trump administration and the tens of millions of Americans who support the president fascists, white supremacists, haters, xenophobes and even Nazis.

MSNBC contributor Jill Wine-Banks said of the Trump-Putin Helsinki press conference: "It's just as serious to me as the Cuban Missile Crisis in terms of an attack, or the 9/11 attack. ... (Trump's) performance today will live in infamy as much as the Pearl Harbor attack or Kristallnacht."

Former communist, Obama operative and CIA Director John Brennan tweeted: "Donald Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous."

The constant invoking of the Holocaust, the Nazis and now Kristallnacht (the unofficial beginning of the Holocaust, a night in 1938 when German Jews were beaten to death, synagogues were burned and Jewish shops were destroyed) only minimizes the evils of Nazism and the Holocaust. A young American who, having gone to a typical university, probably knows nothing about the Nazis and the Holocaust will now think Nazism and the Holocaust were 20th-century expressions of Trump and American conservatism. 

COMMENT:  Please read the whole thing.  We are experiencing an enormous journalistic failure.  We have had journalistic failures before, and they have been costly.  Reporting from Vietnam became highly politicized, and leftist, and it clearly affected the American public's attitude toward the war.  By contrast, the reporting of the campaigns and presidency of Barack Obama were a disgrace to journalism, giving a weak, inexperienced man a pass no matter what he did.  The country was poorer for it. 

Will we get out of this?  American history tells us that we go through cycles that include failure and despair, but that we always survive and prosper.  I don't know.  This feels different.  It's as if "success" and "accomplishment" and "patriotism" have become unacceptable ideas. 

July 24,  2018     Permalink

INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  This story began to make the rounds yesterday.  If it is true, and the sources are good, it is incredibly important, a substantial breakthrough on the North Korea issue.  But proceed with caution.  From Fox:

An American research group on Monday claimed that North Korea has begun dismantling its main missile-engine test site, a possible sign that Pyongyang is fulfilling the promises North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made to President Trump at the summit in Singapore last month.

According to an analysis of satellite imagery of the location by the North Korea-focused 38 North website-- between July 20 and 22--the North Korean government appeared to be dismantling the Sohae launch site.

Some facilities on the site were either razed or taken apart. The facilities included a rocket engine test stand, which is used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles. Another facility was identified as a space-launch vehicles and a rail-mounted processing building.

“Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence building measure on the part of North Korea,” analyst Joseph Bermudez wrote in the 38 North report.

Bermudez said the satellite images indicate that Pyongyang took “an important first step toward fulfilling a commitment made by Kim Jong-un.”

COMMENT:  Let us hope this is true, and the start of true denuclearization.  If that is the case, President Trump will have made a major contribution to peace, and to American defense.

Beware of stories – which are inevitable – trying to disparage any breakthrough.  To some people, destroying the president is far more important than world peace.  Same was true when Reagan was president.

July 24,  2018     Permalink

JULY 23,  2018

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

SLOW DEATH OF A NEWSPAPER – FROM THE HUFF POST:  The New York Daily News, a storied big-city tabloid known for its ruthless and splashy front pages, laid off half its newsroom staff on Monday, marking the latest round of cuts at the beleaguered Tronc company’s media holdings.  “We are fundamentally restructuring the Daily News,” an email from Tronc to the staff reads. “We are reducing today the size of the editorial team by approximately 50 percent and re-focusing much of our talent on breaking news — especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility.” The paper had about 85 newsroom employees prior to the cuts, according to the New York Post.  The Daily News used to be considered one of the best written newspapers in the country, although the self-anointed intellectuals considered it the newspaper of the deplorables.  Its photography was superb.  It felt the heartbeat of a city that no longer has a heartbeat.  Recently it's been a Trump-hating, ranting mess.  At this point it would be better if the paper simply died a gentle death.

ARE WE SERIOUS HERE? – FROM PJ MEDIA:   Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) has launched a campaign to replace more moderate Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) as leader of the House Democratic Caucus.  Crowley was defeated in his primary by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Lee, an antiwar member of the House Progressive Caucus whose Bay Area district includes Berkeley,was the only member of Congress to vote against retaliatory action after al-Qaeda struck the United States on 9/11. “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore," she said at the time.  Lee was rated the most liberal member of the House in GovTrack's 2017 ideology rankings. Crowley fell in the middle of the House Dems' ranking.  In a letter to colleagues today, Lee stressed that "the strength of our caucus lies in our diversity of experiences and ideas."  She is poison, a hard Marxist who wanted to be our first ambassador to Castro's Cuba.  Just how left do the Dems think they can go before they turn off most of their own party?  The press will, of course, cover for Lee, but that will simply expose further the corruption of the press.

THE CULPRITS EXPOSED! – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Two Chinese flight attendants-turned-turtle smugglers were ordered booted from the US on Monday, according to a report.  The Chinese Eastern Airlines workers had been secretly stashing dozens of legally protected spotted and box turtles in pillow cases and carry-on luggage to smuggle them from Los Angeles to China, where they would cash in on them on the black market, authorities said.  The turtles’ colorful shells are believed to bring good luck in China, and their meat supposedly increases sexual prowess when eaten.  Rogue flight attendants, Huaqian Qu, 41, and Renfeng Gao, 31, were suspected of having carried out their scheme for a while, prosecutors said.    Be gone with them!  Turtle smuggling was destroying who we are.  Now, our great national nightmare is over. 

July 23, 2018       Permalink

A STUNNING POLL RESULT – AT 1:29 P.M. ET:  The Dems dream of taking back Congress in November and leading us toward a Leninist lite revolution, in the Obama tradition.  The voters aren't necessarily buying.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

A majority of respondents in a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters said Democratic congressional candidates are out of step with most Americans.

Asked whether Democratic candidates' approaches to the issues "are generally in the mainstream of most Americans' thinking, or are generally out of step with most Americans' thinking," 56 percent said they are "out of step" and just one-third said they are "in the mainstream." These figures are a marked swing from July 2016, when only 42 percent of respondents said Democratic congressional candidates were out of step and 48 percent said they were in the mainstream.

In the July 2016 poll, Republican candidates were seen as much less mainstream than Democrats, with 31 percent of respondents saying the Republicans were in the mainstream and 59 percent saying they were out of step. A slightly higher percentage of respondents in July 2018 see Republicans as mainstream (33 percent) and a slightly smaller percentage of them see Republicans as out of step (57 percent.)

That makes the current numbers nearly identical for both parties' candidates.

COMMENT:  The poll may seem a bit confusing at first, but the bottom line is that both parties are unpopular, with no edge for the Democrats.  In order to take back Congress, the Dems would need a substantial lead in public approval, and that lead just isn't there.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls shows the Dems leading in the generic battle for Congress by six points, as of this morning, which is not much of a lead.  They'll need more favorability than that to take back either House, and the Republicans haven't even begun their major campaign.  Trump will be on the campaign trail, where his mission will be to energize the party base and get it to the polls.

July 23,  2018    Permalink

IRAN, SUDDENLY – AT 12:45 P.M. ET:  Last week it was Russia, now the spotlight suddenly switches to Iran as a result of some belligerent statements made by its supreme or almost-supreme leader.  From NBC News: 

President Donald Trump escalated a war of words with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani with a menacing tweet late Sunday.

In the nearly all-caps tweet, Trump directly warned the Iranian president to “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN,” adding that any new ones would bring "CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

Trump’s tweet came hours after Rouhani’s own warning over the weekend, reported by Iranian state news agency IRNA, that Trump was playing “with the lion's tail.”

"America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars," Rouhani said.

Trump called the comments “DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!"

Should we take all this stuff seriously?  Some will say it was Trump being Trump in response to some internal propaganda from the Iranians.  But, in fact, Secretary of State Pompeo was also speaking toughly about Tehran, suggesting that his comments were coordinated with the White House.  From CNN:

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing speech on Iran's leadership Sunday, accusing Tehran's ruling ayatollahs of spreading violence across the Middle East and lining their own pockets with ill-gotten gains at the expense of ordinary Iranians.

"The ideologues who forcibly came to power in 1979 and remain in power today are driven by a desire to conform all of Iranian society to the tenants of the Islamic Revolution. The regime is also committed to spreading the Revolution to other countries, by force if necessary," said Pompeo during a highly anticipated address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Southern California is home to a significant portion of the Iranian diaspora living in the United States. Many of them fled Iran after the revolution that brought Iran's ayatollahs to power.

"To the regime, prosperity, security, and freedom for the Iranian people are acceptable casualties in the march to fulfill the Revolution," said Pompeo.

The secretary of state and former CIA director accused several members of Iran's leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, of participating in widespread corruption.

COMMENT:  Iran, aided by European leftist and business interests, has been all over the Mideast, continues to threaten Israel's existence, and refuses to make additions to its nuclear agreement with the West that would give us greater safeguards against an Iranian atomic bomb. 

Expect to see new sanctions, and possible friction with our European "allies" over those sanctions.  Clearly, Trump is trying to get the Iranians to come to their senses, but the hardliners are in charge, and we can easily see the start of military buildups.  No one wants it to go that far, but Trump's cause is just, as it is in his dealings with North Korea.  We cannot settle for what Obama accepted – meaningless "agreements" and pledges that are quickly violatesk. that place our people at risk.

July 23,  2018     Permalink