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JUNE 23,  2021

CORRECTION:  In yesterday's edition we referred to Maya Wiley, runner-up in the ongoing New York City mayoral contest, as white.  She is actually mixed race – black father, white mother, not that it matters.  She is a committed leftist, which is exactly what New York does not need right now.

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

ANOTHER RALLY FOR TRUMP – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:    President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will hold a major rally in Sarasota, Florida, on Saturday, July 3, 2021, at 8:00PM EDT.  This Save America rally is co-sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida and marks President Trump’s further support of the MAGA agenda and accomplishments of his administration. Please join us for a HUGE fireworks show to celebrate America following President Trump’s remarks to conclude a full day event commemorating our Great Country!  Saturday, July 3, 2021, at 8:00PM EDT
President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, Delivers Remarks.  He's still the biggest star out there.  CNN will undoubtedly cover the event.  Without Trump, they don't exist.

A POTENTIAL NEW STAR – FROM FOX:   Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig says that "things are moving along at a great pace" when it comes to his potential Republican run for Michigan governor in 2022.  Craig, who retired earlier this month after eight years as the top law enforcement official for Michigan's largest city, with 44 years in law enforcement, said in an interview with Fox News that he’s "encouraged" as he continues what he calls "the listening sessions."  "I continue to be both flattered and humbled about the interest shown to me as a possible candidate for governor," Craig emphasized.  Asked about his timetable to make a decision, Craig said "things are moving along at a great pace…I’m continuing the evaluation. I’m optimistic, hopefully within a few weeks I should be making a statement on the decision."  Craig confirmed that he’s held discussions with the Republican Governors Association (RGA), as well as GOP leaders in Michigan, as he moves closer to launching a bid to try and defeat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who’s up for reelection next year.  "I’ve had conversations with members of the RGA and those conversations are continuing," Craig said. And he added that he’s also in talks with "GOP leaders at the state level."  You've probably seen him on television.  He strikes me as a capable, no-nonsense guy who rejects the latest fads, like defunding the police.  Michigan needs new leadership, as Whitmer has proved that her nuttiness is incurable.  Craig for governor.

June 23, 2021       Permalink

ANOTHER GOOD MOVE BY RON – AT 11:35 P.M. ET:  Gov. Ron deSantis of Florida continues to hit one home run after another.  Polls show he is now the most popular Republican candidate for the party's 2024 presidential nomination.  His political instincts are right on.  From Daily Caller:

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday requiring high school students to learn about the evils of communist ideologies.

During a press conference at Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers, Florida, DeSantis signed three education bills designed to foster civic literacy in schools.

“It’s crucial to ensure that we teach our students how to be responsible citizens,” DeSantis said during the press conference. “They need to have a good working knowledge of American history, American government and the principles that underlie our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

Florida HB 5 adds a requirement to the high school government curriculum that students be taught the “evils of communism and totalitarian ideologies.”

“We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand the difference, why would somebody flee across shark-infested waters, say leaving from Cuba to come to southern Florida. Why would somebody leave a place like Vietnam? Why would people leave these countries and risk their life to be able to come here. It’s important students understand that,” DeSantis said.

Absolutely dead on.

The bill also contains a provision that will create a “Portraits and Patriotism Library,” the purpose of which is for students to learn about “real patriots” who came to America after fleeing communist and socialist regimes, DeSantis explained.

The governor also signed SB 1108, which requires state college and university students to take a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement, and HB 233, which requires colleges and universities to conduct annual assessments on the “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” at their institutions.

“It used to be thought that a university campus was a place you’d be exposed to a lot of different ideas,” DeSantis said. “Unfortunately now, the norm is really that these are more intellectually oppressive environments. You have orthodoxies that are promoted, and other viewpoints are shunned or even suppressed. We don’t want that in Florida.”

COMMENT:   I have no doubt that the "sophisticates" will pounce on deSantis, but he'll have the people on his side.  His comments about the state of universities will strike a chord with parents who have heard horror stories from their own children. 

Ron's immediate hurdle is the 2022 Florida governor's race, in which he'll be running for re-election.  He should ace that, and would then be well set up for 2024, assuming Trump doesn't run.

June 23, 2021       Permalink

JUNE 22,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

A WARNING – FROM DAILY MAIL:   Russia's defense ministry has announced it sank an aircraft carrier just 35 miles off the coast of Hawaii in a huge war games exercise that has alarmed the US.   At least 20 Russian warships, submarines, and support vessels, flanked by 20 fighter jets, are taking part in the exercises - the biggest since the Cold War.   Russia says that they are 300 miles off the coast of Hawaii, yet unconfirmed satellite images from June 19 appear to show them much closer - within 35 miles of the U.S. state.  Russia says their forces are at a distance of about 2,500 miles southeast of the Kuril Islands.   The location would correspond broadly with reports from U.S. media channels that Russian warships were conducting their maneuvers between 300 and 500 miles west of the main Hawaiian islands, The Drive reported.  Their actions have alarmed the Pentagon.  Twice this month - on June 14 and 18 - the U.S. scrambled F-22s from Hawaii in response to Russian bomber flights.  Neither time did the bombers enter the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) perimeter, and so they were not intercepted.  On June 17 the Navy admitted that the USS Carl Vinson and her strike group were operating near Hawaii, without revealing when they had arrived, or why.   Anyone in Washington interested?  Or are we still fighting over voter I.D.?  Russia now joins China as a threat to the United States in the Pacific.  Notice the deep concern in the American media.  This news report came to us from Britain's Daily Mail.

IS IOWA AN INDICATOR?  FROM FOX:  President Biden's approval rating among voters in the state of Iowa has plummeted in recent months.  More Iowans disapprove of the job Biden is doing than approve – Biden has a 43% approval rating and 52% disapproval rating, according to a recent Des Moines  Register/Mediacom Iowa poll. Five percent of people polled said they are not sure whether they approve or disapprove.  Vice President Harris faced similar numbers. Fifty percent expressed disapproval of Harris' job performance compared to 42% who approved.  Biden's job approval numbers among Republican versus Democratic Iowans are miles apart. Eighty-nine percent of Democrats approve of Biden compared to just 6% of Republicans, according to the June Iowa poll.   Iowa is an early primary state.  State polls are often indicators that presidents or candidates are in some trouble.  National polls can take time to catch up.

June 22, 2021       Permalink

LATE WORD FROM THE NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL PRIMARY – OVERNIGHT: 

Vote counting has stopped for the night in the Democratic primary, with Eric Adams, the only candidate advocating anything close to a law-and-order policy, leading.  Adams, an African American with a police background, has about 31 percent of the primary vote.  About nine points behind is AOC's hand-picked radical leftist, Maya Wiley, who was a virtual unknown before Ocasio-Cortez anointed her.  Wiley is quite the image of the woke white New Yorker – fabulously wealthy, with a private security detail, yet talks about disarming the police, which serves the peasantry.

New York is now using something called "ranked choice" voting, an invention that few voters asked for, which allows the voter to name his or her first five choices for mayor.  Unless a candidate gets more than 50 percent in tonight's first round, which looks impossible at the moment, the new mechanism goes into action.  Through magic calculations reflecting the dark mystery of big-city politics,  the new system will determine the actual winner of the primary by combining first, second, and third choices.  I don't quite understand it, and have my serious suspicions.

What happens in the Democratic Party here will affect party thinking around the country.  If Adams pulls out an ultimate win in the primary and becomes the Dem nominee, he will almost certainly be the next mayor.   That will be a huge rebuke to the woke crowd and send a signal that New Yorkers are tired of crime and decline.  But if Wiley pulls an upset, it will vastly advance the power and prestige of AOC, lurching the party even further to the left.   Such a victory could even encourage Ocasio-Cortez to challenge U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is up for re-election next year.  A victory by Ocasio-Cortez over a Senate giant would probably split the Democratic Party and force the formation of a new center-left party.  It might also hurry the exodus of citizens from New York, which now has the largest out-migration of any of the 50 states.

New York City is crawling back from the pandemic and the suicidal policies of current Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fan of Fidel Castro.  Voters have a choice between a better future and a Marxist present.  Adams is hardly my ideal, but he's the best candidate running.

Oh, what about the Republicans?  True to Republican New York tradition, they've pretty much given up before the general-election campaign begins.  They had a mayoral primary, won by anti-crime crusader Curtis Sliwa.   But the party bigs, or smalls, show little interest in Sliwa or in putting up a fight.  A good Republican could possibly win in a year when voters are desperate for personal safety, but there is no well-known figure, like Rudy Giuliani, on the horizon.

June 22, 2021       Permalink