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MARCH 30,  2017

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

AND WHO REALLY CARES? – FROM CBS:   BERKELEY (KPIX 5) – While the resistance to President Donald Trump has largely been private citizens across the Bay Area and country, municipalities are jumping into the fray.  On Tuesday night, the Berkeley City Council passed a five-page resolution calling for the president to be impeached.  “We were one of the first cities to standup against apartheid – that’s a movement that took off and spread and that’s very important,” Councilmember Sophie Hahn told KPIX 5.  Berkeley City Councilmember Kate Harrison co-sponsored the resolution.  “I think it’s going to send a powerful message. I think we have no choice but to do this,” Harrison said.  The home of the Free Speech Movement wasn’t the first city in the Bay Area to pass a resolution calling for the impeachment of Mr. Trump. The cities of Richmond and Alameda got there first.  I'm sure they all feel good about themselves, and will get raves from their psychiatrists.

MAJOR ART NEWS – FROM FOX:    Crayola is saying farewell to the dark-yellow Dandelion crayon from its iconic 24-count box.  The company made the announcement on Twitter Thursday, a day before National Crayon Day.  The arts and crafts company was originally expected to announce the retirement in Times Square on Friday morning during a Facebook live stream event but will reveal Dandelion's replacement instead.  This is the first time the company has retired a color from its classic 24-count box but has ditched others in the past including blizzard blue, magic mint, teal blue and mulberry.  The current 24-count Crayola box contains red, yellow, blue, brown, orange, green, violet, black, carnation pink, yellow orange, blue green, red violet, red orange, yellow green, blue violet, white, violet red, dandelion, cerulean, apricot, scarlet, green yellow, indigo and gray.  Nothing is really sacred these days, is it?  We'll remember Dandelion.  It served us well.

SHEER TRAUMA – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Members of the University of Pennsylvania fossil fuel divestment group Fossil Free Penn apparently were “written up” by campus officials after they refused to vacate a school building at closing time.  FFP’s Abby McGuckin confirmed with The Daily Pennsylvania that 13 students were “cited for university infractions.”  Sit-in “co-coordinator” Zach Rissman said 8 or 9 students had stayed overnight at College Hall last evening, while 14 slept there the night before.  FFP member Gavi Reiter was miffed that the university — which voted down a fossil fuel divestment measure last year — doesn’t seem to appreciate what her group is doing:  “Our goal in staying overnight is to put pressure on the administration and the Board of Trustees to see that we are here and we’re giving our time and our sweat and our energy and our mental capacity to put into everything we’re bringing to the table.  I don't know how Penn can treat these little geniuses as harshly as it has.  Is there no humanity?  Is there no understanding of their feelings? 

March 30,  2017     Permalink

NUTS IN BRUSSELS – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:   The head of the European Union, Jean-Claude Juncker, is now threatening to break up the United States.  Lunatics on parade.  From London's Express: 

In an extraordinary speech the EU Commission president said he would push for Ohio and Texas to split from the rest of America if the Republican president does not change his tune and become more supportive of the EU.

The remarks are diplomatic dynamite at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over Europe’s meagre contributions to NATO and the US leader’s open preference for dealing with national governments.

They are by far the most outspoken intervention any senior EU figure has made about Mr Trump and are likely to dismay some European leaders who were hoping to seek a policy of rapprochement with their most important ally.

Speaking at the centre-right European People Party’s (EPP) annual conference in Malta this afternoon, the EU Commission boss did not hold back in his disdain for the White House chief’s eurosceptic views.

He said: “Brexit isn’t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same.

“If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”

COMMENT:  Note that he limits the promotion of Texas independence to Austin, the state's most liberal city.  I don't think he'll get much support down Alamo way. 

We get the feeling that there's panic at the EU.  If another major country opts out, the EU could easily start to crumble.  All those bureaucratic jobs lost.  No more control over people's lives.  Worse than climate change!

March 30, 2017       Permalink

WE HAVE A GREAT SECOND LADY – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:   We've heard little about her, as the press has been spending all available time tearing down the president and his family.  But Karen Pence is first class.  From Fox: 

Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence, is celebrating Women's History Month by honoring military spouses.

Pence is scheduled to attend a reception honoring military spouses at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi today.

Spouses of active-duty sailors stationed at the base are scheduled to attend, as are spouses of Mississippi National Guard members.

The Second Lady joined the "Fox & Friends" co-hosts this morning to discuss the event and the humbling sacrifice made by our service members and their families.

Pence, whose son is a Marine currently flight training at the base, said that people often come up to her and thank her for her family's sacrifice.

"My sacrifice is nothing compared to what our military spouses do," Pence said. "And it's a humbling thing to see their willingness to move every year, to change jobs, change communities, change schools for their children and support their loved one who's deployed."

She said one of the topics she will be discussing at Meridian today is the importance of military spouses using the available resources and support groups.

"It's not easy for them," Pence said. "I just honor all of them. I'm so grateful that these women are willing to support our men and women in uniform."

COMMENT:  Wonderful woman, and an inspiration to military women and military wives.  Let's see how much respect Karen Pence gets from "feminist" groups.

March 30, 2017       Permalink

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA? – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:  President Trump, using Twitter (ugh!) just ripped into the GOP's Freedom Caucus.  From Fox: 

President Donald Trump just took to Twitter to go after the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!" he wrote.

The caucus, chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), opposed the American Health Care Act, which was championed by Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

The bill died on Friday without a vote due to opposition from the caucus members and some moderate Republicans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reacted on "America's Newsroom," telling Shannon Bream that he believes the president must put partisanship aside to address health care.

He advised the president to allow ObamaCare to collapse, then reach out to both sides of the aisle to replace the law with something better.

Graham said one-fifth of the nation's economy cannot be reformed using only Republican votes.

"Challenge Democrats to help you fix their mess. ... Put America first and we'll all be OK. Don't let partisanship take over health care."

Later in the show, caucus member Jim Jordan (R-OH) reacted, saying that the health care bill was contrary to the Freedom Caucus' mission to "change Washington."

"We appreciate the president, we're trying to help the president. But look at the legislation. It doesn't do what we told the voters we were gonna do," said Jordan, noting the bill was polling at just 17 percent.

COMMENT:  Was it really necessary for the president to slam the Freedom Caucus that way?  Washington is not the New York real estate industry, which is known for its coarseness.  Trump should be trying to bring the Freedom Caucus on board by showing sensitivity to its concerns.  Slamming them will only raise their anger.

I wish Twitter had never been invented. 

The president said earlier in the week that he'll soon have a new health plan, and will get it passed.  Maybe it's time for some honey.  There's plenty of time for vinegar if the honey doesn't work. 

Trying to peel off some Dems is a good idea, although the Democratic Party is today wracked with fear and intimidation.  It's so-called "base" is mean-spirited, rigid, fierce, and totalitarian.  Other than that, it's lovely.

March 30,  2017     Permalink

MARCH 29,  2017

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

LAW AND ORDER IN CHICAGO – FROM CBS CHICAGO:   An 18-year-old Back of the Yards woman faces weapons charges after she was stopped by Chicago Police as she pushed a baby stroller with a rifle, handgun and ammunition inside early Monday morning.  Yarisma Martinez lived a few blocks down from a house in the 4500 block of South Hermitage, where a police surveillance camera spotted a man firing a rifle on the street around midnight, prosecutors said Tuesday.  The camera showed 18-year-old Martinez and another woman arriving at the house soon after, carrying a bag as they entered the house. The pair left the house, this time pushing a stroller and carrying a diaper bag.  I think it's so touching – a baby stroller, a diaper bag, an arsenal.  I'm sure she's just a good mother with a penchant for marksmanship sports.

THE END OF CIVILIZATION – FROM THE TELEGRAPH:  Chocolate bars are likely to shrink by a fifth in the next three years after Public Health England told sweet manufacturers they could meet obesity targets by cutting product size.  Today PHE published new guidelines which call on food manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of cereals, breakfast goods, yoghurts, biscuits, ice creams, sweet spreads and confectionery by 20 per cent by 2020.  The cuts are intended to reduce the number of children who are overweight or obese by the end of the decade and take 200,000 tons of sugar out of the British diet each year.  Don't these children have parents?  Don't the parents control the kids' diets?  Is anyone responsible for anything these days?  Keep our chocolate bars!

REAL CLASS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   President Trump threw a White House party for the Senate, but most Democrats couldn’t be bothered to attend.  In a sign of how difficult it could be for Mr. Trump to carry out his stated desire of working across party lines on his biggest priorities, 28 of 46 Senate Democrats snubbed an invitation to the White House on Tuesday night for a spring soiree of music and fellowship. Independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, a member of the Democrats’ leadership team, also was a no-show.  At least 44 of the Senate’s 52 Republicans attended the East Room reception, which was co-hosted by first lady Melania Trump and featured the U.S. Army Chorus and Marine Band.  White House press secretary Sean Spicer called it “an amazing opportunity to have a moment sort of free of politics and to enjoy some collegial moments with each other in the White House.”  I think most Dems actually wanted to go, but were desperately afraid of being "named" by the party's increasingly vicious and irrational base.  The once-great Democratic Party seems awfully small.  Do the Democrats have any program at all?

March 29, 2017        Permalink

HMM – AT 12:28 P.M. ET:   Is there political scheming afoot?  Could it affect the 2020 presidential election?  From the Washington Examiner: 

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said he would be open to step aside and not run for re-election in 2018 if a candidate like Mitt Romney were to run for his position in his stead.

In an interview with National Journal, the Republican senator who has been in office since 1976 said he "might very well consider" not campaigning for another term if an "outstanding person" were to run for his position.

Asked if he had any people in mind, Hatch replied: "Well, Mitt Romney would be perfect." He added that he has reached out to Romney about the idea.

In February, Romney declined to rule out a run for a Senate seat in the future.

COMMENT:  A seat in the Senate would be the perfect perch from which Romney could run again for president.  In 2020 he'd be 73, which is fine, given today's age spans. 

That, of course, would depend on Trump, and whether he'll run again, or even want to.  And it might also depend on Mike Pence's status.

At least the GOP has a good bench of potential presidents.  The Dems have Elizabeth Warren and...Hillary?

March 29, 2017       Permalink

OH DEAR, DID SOMEONE JUST SLIP SOMETHING ABOUT THE OBAMA CROWD? – AT 11:45 A.M. ET:   Maybe President Trump wasn't so far wrong when he claimed he'd been surveilled.  From Fox: 

A former top Obama administration official has acknowledged efforts by her colleagues to gather intelligence on Trump team ties to Russia before Donald Trump took office and to conceal the sources of that intelligence from the incoming administration.

Evelyn Farkas, deputy assistant secretary of defense under Obama, made the disclosure while on the air with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.

“I was urging my former colleagues, and frankly speaking the people on the Hill, it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration,” Farkas, who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.

“Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy ... that the Trump folks – if they found out how we knew what we knew about their ... the Trump staff dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence.”

COMMENT:  This all needs to be unraveled.  Clearly, the Trump people had contact with Russian officials, but that is routine for a transition team.  And, clearly, the Obama administration had information, gathered secretly, on the transition team's actions.  Who got that information?  How was it used?  Whose names came up?

I'm not sure Congress can truly investigate these items, considering the poisonous atmosphere in Washington.   Maybe a "Challenger"- type commission is called for, the kind of commission that probed the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger during the Reagan administration.

March 29,  2017     Permalink

BYE-BYE – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:   On this historic day, Britain has taken the first formal steps to separate from the European Union.  Rule Britannia!  From Daily Mail: 

Theresa May vowed to restore Britain's 'self-determination' as our historic EU divorce letter was finally delivered to Brussels today - including a stark warning that trying to punish the UK would be a 'costly mistake'.

As Tory MPs roared her to the rafters in the Commons, the Prime Minister confirmed her envoy Sir Tim Barrow had handed the formal notification to European Council president Donald Tusk in the Belgian capital.

She gave an upbeat assessment of the country's 'bright future' once it regains control after 44 years ties to the EU, while stressing she wanted to forge a 'deep and special special' bond with our old partners.

But the letter also included stark threats about the 'fragile' condition of the bloc, making clear that efforts to give Britain a bad deal would be seriously damaging for the bloc's own prosperity and security.

The point of no return was reached at 12.20pm today UK time, as the handover between Sir Tim and Mr Tusk happened at his HQ in the Belgian capital.

Mrs May was greeted with cheers by MPs as she arrived in the Commons chamber for her regular PMQs session. Meanwhile, outside parliament Europhile protesters were still vainly demanding a rethink.

COMMENT:  Theresa May is becoming another Margaret Thatcher.  She's terrific, and a stand-up woman.  The British decision to leave the EU, made in an open referendum by voters, is correct.  The EU is an arrogant, creaky, and unrepresentative institution.

Now the fun begins.

March 29,  2017     Permalink