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MARCH 4,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

THIS DATE:  March 4th plays a special role in presidential history.  With the exception of George Washington's first inaugural, all presidential inaugurations were held on this date until FDR's second inaugural, which was held on January 20th, 1937.  All scheduled inaugurals since then have been held on January 20th.  Of course, presidents have been inaugurated on other dates due to death or resignation of their predecessors.  The March 4th date worked well in times when transportation to and from Washington was slow, and could take weeks from distant locales.  But with the advent of train, automobile, and especially air travel, the March 4th date passed into history. 

CARRYING THINGS A BIT FAR – FROM HEATSTREET:   A Vegan woman in Georgia was arrested for taking out her anger on the world of meat by slamming her car into a truck carrying chicken.  The woman was identified as 26-year-old Judith Moriah Armstrong. Police were able to track her down, but she refused to leave her house until they produced a warrant. She did, however, speak to them through different windows in the house.  After originally telling police it was an accident, she admitted to hitting the truck on purpose. She claimed she did it because she was a vegan. The driver of the truck says she hit the truck once from the side and then rammed it again after he slammed the breaks, causing his truck to spin out. The driver called 911 to report the color of the car, but Armstrong had already fled the scene.  I will call for new defensive measures at all hot-dog stands.  This vegan  aggression must stop.  This is how Hitler got started.

SOME AMERICANS ARE JUST SO UPSET – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   A new Fox News poll found more than nine-in-10 Democratic voters are "nervous" about the state of U.S. politics, while just more than one-quarter of Republicans feel the same way.  The Feb. 11-13 survey concluded 92 percent of liberals and progressives are worried about the country with President Trump in the White House, while just 29 percent of conservative voters do. Those numbers have changed significantly from last March when eight-in-10 people of both parties said they were anxious about current political affairs.  So nervousness is now the subject of pollsters?  What's next?  Anxiety?  Apprehension?  Butterfly stomachs?  The softness of our society is on full display.

March 4,  2017     Permalink

THE WEIRDNESS MARCHES ON – AT 8:51 P.M. ET:  Former President Obama has sorta, kinda, maybe denied the current president's charge that Obama wiretapped him.  The wording of the denial reflects the true art of the machine politician.  From Breitbart: 

A number of ex-Obama officials appear to suggest that the Obama administration may have actually wiretapped the Trump campaign, but that if they did it would have been justified by a court and part of an investigation by the Justice Department—not led by or ordered from the White House or the former president himself.

On Saturday, former President Obama’s spokesman Kevin Lewis denied that the former White House or the former President himself would have given such an order to wiretap Trump Tower—or any other type of surveillance in any case—but that such an order would have come from an “independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.”

“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Lewis said. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Lewis’ statement on the former president’s behalf came in response to the explosive charges from President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Saturday morning that the Obama team conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the campaign and afterward...

...Interestingly, however, a number of other former Obama administration officials do not deny that such a wiretap existed. They just deny that the White House or Obama himself would have approved it or ordered it, and say that the Department of Justice would have sought it in consultation with a foreign intelligence surveillance, or FISA, court.

Obama’s former speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted that he would warn reporters against saying there was no wiretap.

COMMENT:  Oh please.  Does anyone reading this believe that Obama's attorney-general, Loretta Lynch, would have approved the wiretapping of a presidential nominee without running it by Obama?  Given the politicization of the Justice Department under Obama, it's highly unlikely.

This is just beginning.  Lindsey Graham, who heads a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this morning that he wants to get to the bottom of things.  I'm sensing that we may be in for a new edition of the Watergate committee, or the Army-McCarthy hearings. 

Lots of fun.

This could be Trump's revenge.

March 4,  2017     Permalink

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:   They're coming faster than ever – the attempts to make colleges into sandboxes and playpens...at $60,000 a year.  From the College Fix:

Star Wars Stormtrooper costumes have been banned from an upcoming Princeton University alumni reunion party, with organizers telling their fellow 2012 grads the costumes would just be too upsetting for some.

“The Class of 2012’s costumes for an upcoming reunion were changed after a classmate raised concerns about the origin of the term ‘storm trooper,’” Lindy Li, a spokeswoman for Princeton’s class of 2012, said in a Facebook post obtained by the Daily Caller. “The costumes were vetted by over 50 classmates who did not make this connection and never had any intention of referring to the World War II era.”

“Out of an abundance of caution and sensitivity, and in an effort to guarantee all classmates feel comfortable and welcome on campus, we decided to change our design to another character in the Star Wars universe.”

According to an email to alumni explaining the decision over their reunion party, slated for June, the issue is the “origin of this word and its connections to early- to mid-20th century Germany.”

COMMENT:  I understand the concern, but isn't this carrying things too far?  Star Wars has nothing to do with Nazi Germany. 

Last night, at Middlebury College in Vermont, conservative scholar Charles Murray was roughed up, and a female professor escorting him was sent to the hospital, by a violent crowd protesting Murray's appearance.  The college stood firm in its commitment to free speech, but so far we have heard of no arrests of the mob, or expulsions from Middlebury.  You may have seen this story on TV last night.  We'll follow it to see if there are any consequences for the mobsters.

There are terrible things happening on our campuses.  Some brave educators are speaking out, but the mob still has the advantage.

March 4, 2017       Permalink

A MAJOR CHARGE – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   President Trump this morning made one of the most serious charges we've seen a political figure make in recent history.  He charged that the Obama administration was wiretapping his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign.

If true, this could be Watergate times ten.  If not true, it could bring down the Trump administration.  From Fox: 

President Trump made a startling claim Saturday that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower phones tapped in the weeks before the November 2016 election.

In early Saturday morning tweets that began at 6:35 a.m., the president said the alleged wiretapping was “McCarthyism” and “Nixon/Watergate.”

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism,” Trump wrote.

“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he said in another tweet.

Trump also tweeted that a “good lawyer could make a great case of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”

COMMENT:   When confronted with a grave charge like this, the nation depends on a free and independent press for answers.  But what happens when that press has destroyed its own credibility to grovel to Barack Obama and his political cronies?

That's what has happened.  Indeed, the Washington Post, in reporting the story above this morning, already tried to cast doubt on its veracity.  But this time the liberal press may not get away with it.  If Trump has the goods, we could be in for some explosive months, and even the possibility of the former president testifying before a grand jury or the Congress of the United States.  If Trump's charge is false, he could be toast.

My hunch, only a hunch, is that Trump has the goods.

March 4,  2017     Permalink

MARCH 3,  2017

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

TRUMP GAINS – FROM RASMUSSEN REPORTS:  The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 53% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove.  The latest figures include 37% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 36% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of +1. This rolling three-day survey now includes two nights following the president’s nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress and shows a three-point improvement in his overall approval rating since then.  It's tough for this president because he faces the overwhelming hostility of the press.  But little by little he is gaining public respect.

HILLARY – FROM HEATSTREET:   In a rare appearance in public, Hillary Clinton visited Harvard University on Friday and made comments suggesting she may be disappointed with her aides and friends, saying she’d bring “no one” to a deserted island even if she could.  The former presidential candidate appeared at a private Harvard event with a small number of students and was later interviewed about her time as the Secretary of State. During the visit, Clinton was asked which three “non-relatives” she’d bring to a deserted island, according to people attending the event.  “No one,” Clinton replied, raising concerns of what’s left of her close relationship with Huma Abedin and other fellow travelers.  There is bitterness there, which is understandable.  But the fault for her defeat lies with the failure of her and her party to connect with the American people.

THIS IS TRULY NUTS – FROM FOX:   British actor Riz Ahmed issued a warning to the entertainment industry.  The actor said a lack of diversity in television and movies in the U.K. could cause people to "retreat to fringe narratives, to bubbles online and sometimes even off to Syria."  The actor, while addressing British Parliament, said the U.K. has failed to represent minorities on screen.  "If we fail to represent, we are in danger of losing people to extremism," Ahmed claimed.  The 34-year-old rose to fame in 2016 with major roles in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," "Jason Bourne" and HBO's "The Night Of." "If we don't step up and tell a representative story. .. we are going to start losing British teenagers to the story that the next chapter in their lives is written with ISIS in Syria," he told Parliament. "We are going to see the murder of more [members of Parliament] like Jo Cox because we've been mis-sold a story that is so narrow about who we are and who we should be."  So, let's see if I get this right.  One of the root causes of terrorism is bad casting in Hollywood?  Well, yeah, sure.  Hey, why not?  Why, if I don't see an American blogger at his Mac computer on my TV screen, I may just react by blowing up convenience stores.  Makes sense.

March 3, 2017       Permalink

A DOSE OF REALITY – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  We're being told by the mainstream press that Obamacare is suddenly very popular among the masses.  But is it really true, or playing with numbers.  From IBD:   

Health Reform: The need for an overhaul of ObamaCare just got more acute, as a new survey shows that satisfaction rates among those enrolled in ObamaCare plans has taken a steep nose-dive this year amid premium hikes and reduced choices.

The new coverage of ObamaCare these days has been all about protests against repeal and the alleged increase in public support for the law.

But a survey of actual ObamaCare customers released this week paints an entirely different picture.

It found that just 22% of the 44,200 ObamaCare enrollees polled rate their health plan as good to excellent. That's down from 77% who gave their ObamaCare plans high marks last year.

The reason for the sharp decline was higher premiums, worse service and lack of choice. The survey, conducted by Black Book Market Research, found that 96% reported a decline in customer service support, 90% noted premium increases, 80% said their plans had narrower provider networks, and 77% said their plans' benefits had been trimmed. Nearly two-thirds (61%) complained about lack of competitors in their market.

In other words, the collapse of competition in the ObamaCare exchanges — which left five states and a third of U.S. counties with only one ObamaCare insurer — has led to the rapid deterioration in quality.

Black Book managing partner Douglas Brown says that the remaining plans "failed to congruently ramp up member services support to process claims, respond to enrollment issues, answer provider questions, denials, authorizations, and payment."

None of this, mind you, has anything to do with Republican calls to repeal ObamaCare, since insurers announced their massive rate hikes and their plans to abandon ObamaCare long before the November elections.

COMMENT:  When Obamacare was passed, we were warned by knowledgeable people that it was set up as a trick – with services delivered first, to be followed by large premium increases later.  A typical example of the socialist approach – everything is great for the first year or two, then, when the citizenry is trapped, the deterioration starts.  Eventually, people get used to the lower standards.  It's the equality of misery.

March 3, 2017       Permalink

FASCINATING – AT 10:26 A.M. ET:  Is the Trump Effect beginning to impact Britain?  Maybe so.  From Heatstreet: 

With its new summer school program, Oxford University is seeking to increase educational opportunities for one particular underprivileged group: white, working-class males.

This week’s announcement comes after the Office of Fair Access, a British education regulator, instructed universities last month to make this demographic a “strategic priority” in the coming years. Last year, the Office of Fair Access’s director, Les Ebdon, said white male students’ failure to get a college education was “a shocking and avoidable waste of talent.”

A study by the Sutton Trust, an education charity, released last November, found that fewer than one-fourth of the UK’s poor white boys met basic proficiency standards in key subjects. Moreover, it found that just 45 percent of white British students were college-bound.

Poor, white boys were “less likely than anybody else in Britain to go university,” Theresa May recently said. That’s not quite true—Gypsy/Roma students have even poorer college prospects. But standardized tests show that white, working-class students chart lackluster scores, even as their peers in other disadvantaged ethnic groups showed dramatic improvement in academic performance over the past decade.

“We need a more concerted effort with white, working-class boys, in particular,” the Sutton Trust’s chairman said in November.

COMMENT:  One part of the Trump effect is that it encourages institutions to look at groups that have been neglected, often because of political correctness.  "The forgotten American," the phrase used by Trump during the campaign, originated during the Depression to describe Americans who'd been left behind by a crumbling economy.   There are new forgotten Americans today, and apparently there are forgotten Brits as well.

March 3, 2017       Permalink 

CONFIRMATION – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  Research, admittedly by a conservative group, confirms what we've seen with our own eyes...the incredible anti-Trump bias in the press.  From The Washington Times: 

There was no press honeymoon for President Trump during his first month in office. A meticulous new study by the Media Research Center finds that 88 percent of the broadcast news coverage of Mr. Trump and his team was “hostile” during the first 30 days of office.

The coverage was intense and plentiful. The study, which analyzed both tone and content for evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS, found that the “Big Three” networks produced 16 hours of coverage on the new president and his staff. That is over half — 54 percent — of their total coverage for the month.

“Our measure of media tone excludes soundbites from identified partisans, focusing instead on tallying the evaluative statements made by reporters and the nonpartisan talking heads (experts and average citizens) included in their stories,” write Rich Noyes, research director for the conservative press watchdog, and fellow analyst Mike Ciandella.

“In their coverage of Trump’s first month, the networks crowded their stories with quotes from citizens angry about many of his policies, while providing relatively little airtime to Trump supporters.” the pair noted. “And the networks’ anchors and reporters often injected their own anti-Trump editorial tone into the coverage. ‘It has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality,’ CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley snidely began his February 6 broadcast.
“A new American president is always a big story, but TV news is obsessed with the Trump administration — and not in a good way,” they observed.

COMMENT:  The net effect is that Trump is becoming more popular, and the news outlets are destroying their credibility.

March 3,  2017     Permalink