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JULY 25,  2018

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

GREAT – FROM THE ALGEMEINER:  A newly-formed group of young dissidents inside Iran has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warning that any negotiations with the Islamic Republic’s leaders cannot be carried out in good faith.  “Mr Pompeo: Please take into consideration that any negotiations with the barbaric regime in Iran not only will delay the process of peace in the region, but also will give time to the murderous [Tehran] regime to create new terrorist cell groups for the complete destruction of the Middle East and North African regions,” the letter — dated July 21 and first published by Kayhan, an Iranian opposition newspaper based in London — stated.  “All we are asking your respectful government to do, is to continue to stand with us and support the voiceless people in Iran and to help us achieve our goals in reaching peace, prosperity, secularism, and most importantly, a free democratic Iran,” the letter asserted.  I hope Pompeo responds positively, and demonstrates a contrast with Obama, who showed no interest at all. 

THE DEMOCRATS ARE INCREASINGLY NUTS – FROM RASMUSSEN:  Democrats strongly defend those who think President Trump is a traitor. Other voters say they’re just playing politics with the claim.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 65% of Likely Democratic Voters believe critics of Trump’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin truly believe he is a treasonous Russian puppet. Just as many Republicans (67%) disagree and think those critics are only making the charges for political purposes, a view shared by a plurality (47%) of voters not affiliated with either major party.  The Dems have become the new McCarthyites, and they're damned proud of it.

THE RIGHT WAY – FROM FOX:  Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Wednesday said the team’s players will be required to stand on the sidelines for the national anthem this season, days after the NFL said it would freeze a new policy on the polarizing issue amid ongoing negotiations with the players union.  “Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toe on the line,” Jones said Wednesday during a team press   conference.  Starting before the 2016 season, dozens of NFL players have knelt during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. The debate over the policy intensified last season after President Donald Trump said players were disrespecting the American flag and called on league owners to fire anyone who did not stand for the anthem.   The team should set the policy.  The players are on team time and on team property.  They should respect the team's decision on the anthem. 

July 25, 2018       Permalink

AND THIS AIN'T BAD EITHER – AT 9:44 A.M. ET:   Economy, economy, economy.  The lights are green.  The optimism is high.  From Fox: 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is having a bad week – and it’s about to get worse.

On Friday we’re expected to learn from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis that the U.S. economy grew at a blistering pace in the second quarter of this year, further affirming the success of President Trump’s tax cuts and deregulatory efforts.

President Trump hinted at the good economic news in a tweet Tuesday, writing: “Our Country is doing GREAT. Best financial numbers on the Planet. Great to have USA WINNING AGAIN!”

Economists expect the Bureau of Economic Analysis report Friday will show that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew between 3.3 percent and 4.6 percent in the second quarter – showing not only a strong economy, but one that is accelerating.

Schumer hopes each day to distract from the booming economy by championing a bewildering array of issues – the latest being the news that “ghost gun” plans will appear on the Internet starting Aug. 1 and enable people to make guns with 3D printers.

COMMENT:  If the economy sustains through election day, the GOP can deliver the message that a Democratic victory can endanger all the progress that's been made, we may come out of these midterms in reasonable shape.  The economy is the president's strongest weapon, as it affects every family. 

There is a report that Republican members of the House are seriously preparing a new tax-reform package.  Good.  As long as the reform benefits the great mass of Americans, it can only help defeat the socialist surge coming from the other side.

July 25, 2018       Permalink 

SOME NICE NEWS – AT 9:22 A.M. ET:  With all the grimness, we look for positive things to report, as a little smile goes a long way.  Consider this, from Fox:

A Republican challenger has pulled even with blue state Oregon's Democratic incumbent governor, according to a new poll.

The news comes as a surprise in a state that hasn’t seen a Republican governor since late 1980s, sparking fears of the end of Democratic Party’s total domination of the state.

The poll indicates that Republican state Rep. Knute Buehler is waging a serious challenge to Gov. Kate Brown, a vocal critic of President Trump, with both candidates getting support from 45 percent of likely voters, the Oregonian reported.

Oregon is considered a solid blue state, with Democrats controlling both the state House and Senate, while Brown has been the governor since 2015.

The poll, conducted by Florida-based Gravis Marketing, invigorated the race overnight, though Democrats began questioning its validity.

“It's hard to understand how this is a reputable piece of public opinion research,” Brown’s campaign spokesman, Christian Gaston, told the Oregonian.

But other pollsters in the state aren’t dismissing the poll showing the two candidates deadlocked in the race, saying Brown doesn’t have strong voter support.

COMMENT:  We always caution about putting too much faith in one poll, but this is a breath of fresh, or at least filtered air.  Oregon has gone fashionably left, and maybe the people of the state, looking south at the mess of San Francisco, have had it.  We hope so.

July 25,  2018     Permalink

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