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MARCH 1,  2018

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

HOW SAD – FROM FOX:  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday voted against a nomination by the Trump administration to fill a federal judgeship -- and signaled that it's because the nominee is white.  Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor that the nomination of Marvin Quattlebaum, a white judge who is a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in Greenville, South Carolina, “speaks to the overall lack of diversity in President Trump’s selections for the federal judiciary.”  Quattlebaum’s nomination, Schumer said, replaces two black judges from South Carolina whom the Obama administration nominated to fill the position — which The Post and Courier notes has long been vacant.  Chuck is running scared in a party that has bolted to the left.  He is seen as insufficiently radical.  If the Dems take over the Senate, I wouldn't be shocked if there's a move to oust Chuck and replace him with a leftist woman.

YOUNG ADULTS ACTING LIKE YOUNG ADULTS – FROM THE INDEPENDENT:   Young adults spend more than six hours a day "stressed out", a study has found.  A poll of 1,000 18-25-year-olds found money, appearance and career worries as well as fears about the future mean a large chunk of their time is spent feeling anxious or under pressure.  But one in 10 feel they have no-one to turn to discuss their concerns, leaving them to face their fears alone.   In other words, they feel like young adults.  It's a difficult, transitional time of life.  I don't see why anyone would be shocked by these findings.

SERIOUS? – FROM MARKETWATCH:   Weight Watchers has new branding and initiatives planned for 2018, including new food guidelines  Weight Watchers International Inc. says it will be shifting its focus from weight loss to overall wellness, and it has hired a new executive to help.  More people are joining Weight Watchers for “something more than getting into a size 8,” Chief Executive Mindy Grossman said on the company’s late Tuesday earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. Rather, people want to feel healthy at any size or weight and are focused on wellness measures like blood pressure and cholesterol count.  “Today, healthy is the new skinny,” she said.  Uh, I dunno.  Weight Watchers may want a new mission, but that name sends a very definite message, and Blood Pressure Watchers doesn't have much of a ring.  Let's see how this works out.

March 1, 2018       Permalink

PEOPLE GET FOUND OUT – AT 5:29 P.M. ET:   Remember the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and how she behaved after a severe hurricane hit the island?  She was all over TV, denouncing President Trump and suggesting that genocide was occurring.

The liberal press made her into a heroine.  Her people have apparently decided that she ain't.  From Fox: 

The mayor of Puerto Rico’s largest city became an international star when she donned a T-shirt and baseball cap and begged for help after Hurricane Maria left San Juan in shambles. And she became a darling of the left when she took aim at President Trump for not doing enough to help her people.

Six months later, constituents of Carmen Yulin Cruz are still struggling for food, shelter and power, and many have turned on the leader who they say turned her global close-up into a never-ending parade of self-promotion.

“If we don’t get food and water into people’s hands, what we are going to see is something close to a genocide,” Cruz told an international audience after Hurricane Maria roared onto the island in September knocking out power and leveling entire neighborhoods in its path.

Her subsequent feud with Trump over recovery efforts turned her into a liberal star. She’s been on numerous national television shows including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and scored a high-profile invite to the State of the Union as the guest of New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

After the speech, Cruz characterized the president’s pledges of support to Puerto Rico as “hypocrisy.”

But while Cruz’s pitch-perfect soundbites make for good tv, there’s a growing frustration among her constituents who feel forgotten and say Cruz’s personal political ambitions are coming at the expense of the very people she’s supposed to be representing.

She hired extra photographers to follow her around post-storm and is even scheduled to make multiple appearances in Holyoke, Mass., next month.

COMMENT:  She appeared to be a self-promoter right from the start.  Maybe some reporters should have begun their coverage of her act by asking her why San Juan was so unprepared for the storm.  But that would have been an attack on a woman and a minority, a twofer, and that is not allowed. 

March 1, 2018       Permalink

BULLETIN:  ALBERTO CARVALHO, THE SUBJECT OF THE POST JUST BELOW, ANNOUNCED THAT HE HAS TURNED DOWN THE POSITION OF CHANCELLOR OF THE NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM.  TRANSLATION:  HIS PAST GOT FOUND OUT PRETTY QUICKLY, AND WAS PUBLICIZED BY SOME ALERT, AND HONEST, JOURNALISTS.  WELL DONE.

THIS IS AN ABSURDITY; IT'S ALSO NEW YORK – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  New York's hard-left mayor, Castroite and amateur Sandinista Bill de Blasio, has huffed and puffed in searching for a new schools chief, and the guy he came up with is a beaut.  From Conservative Treehouse:   

According to the New York Daily News, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has hired Miami Dade’s former school head Alberto Carvalho to be the New York School Chancellor. This will NOT end well.  New York parents likely have no idea who their mayor just hired.

In 2013 an investigation into the Miami-Dade School Police Department (M-DSPD) uncovered several police officers, and School Resource Officers, admitting to breaking the law because they were instructed to do so by M-DSPD Police Chief Charles Hurley.  During the investigation, Chief Hurley admitted to giving the police officers instructions to hide criminal conduct by students, because of specific demands by School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

Alberto Carvalho is a very well connected political figure among Democrats.  [Carvalho also has a zipper problem] It was Carvalho’s program to use the police to inflate statistical improvements in schools that eventually led to neighboring Broward County doing the same thing in 2013.  Those policies directly led to the recent school shooting in Parkland.

COMMENT:  He's also an illegal immigrant who later became legal.  Who can ask for anything more?

This is so typical of Bill de Blasio, who is to the left of Bernie Sanders.

But, ultimately, I blame the Republicans.  Rudy Giuliani proved that a Republican can be elected mayor of New York, and he became a great mayor.  Ever since Rudy, though, the Republican Party of New York has retreated to its traditional loser status.  It barely ran a mayoral campaign when de Blasio was elected once, and then again.  Why bother?  These elections are so difficult, and not nearly as much fun as an annual dinner.

Come back, Rudy.

In the meantime, we will watch The New York Times cover up for the new schools chancellor.

March 1, 2018       Permalink

BOOM! – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:  The economy roars ahead.  Of course, it's the Obama economy, you understand.  He waved a wand, and this is what happened.  From Bloomberg:

U.S. factories expanded in February at the fastest rate since May 2004, indicating sustained strength in manufacturing as demand remains solid, figures from the Institute for Supply Management showed Thursday.

And more from Bloomberg: 

Americans’ wallets fattened in January on recent tax cuts, indicating increased spending power may boost the economy this quarter.

Real disposable income, or earnings adjusted for taxes and inflation, advanced 0.6 percent from the prior month, the biggest gain since April 2015, according to a Commerce Department report Thursday.

And from MarketWatch:

The rate of layoffs as measured by U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 1969, reflecting the strongest labor market since the end of the dotcom boom nearly two decades ago. Initial U.S. jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 210,000 in the seven days ended Feb. 24. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims to total 226,000. New claims haven't been this low since December 1969. The more stable monthly average of claims declined by 5,000 to 220,500, the government said Thursday. That's also the lowest level since 1969.

COMMENT:  Not bad at all.  I don't know how the Democrats will answer that, except to divert attention from it.  After all, every Democrat in Congress voted against the tax cut.

March 1,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 28,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

VIRTUE SIGNALING LOSES – FROM MORNING CONSULT:    Unfavorability ratings for the three major rental car brands associated with Enterprise Holdings Inc. — Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo and National Car Rental — all more than doubled among surveyed adults after they learned about the companies ending discounts for NRA members.  Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s favorability rating slid from 61 percent to 50 percent, while its unfavorability rating jumped from 12 percent to 25 percent. For Alamo and National Car Rental, favorability was little changed, whereas unfavorability ratings increased from 10 percent to 24 percent and 11 percent to 25 percent, respectively.  I'm not an NRA member, but I think it's insane to blame the NRA for school shootings.  Much of the public seems to agree.

ANOTHER FOX HIT – FROM CNS:  Talk radio giant Mark Levin’s Fox News Channel television program premiered over the weekend, drawing 1.4 million viewers despite its 10PM Sunday night time slot.  Life, Liberty & Levin was the most-watched show in its time slot. Its debut episode also won the key 25-54 year-old demographic, Mediaite reports:  “Fox News’s newest series, Life, Liberty & Levin, debuted this past Sunday and led its 10 PM time slot in both total viewers (1.413 million) and the demo (309,000), ticking ahead of Patty Hearst (306,000) in the [25-54 year-old audience] demographic.”  Levin’s show addresses first principles and conservative philosophy, and will look at issues such as immigration, national security and government overreach.  There is an audience for clear thinking, and it's never tuned to CNN.

SAN FRANCISCO CRAZY – FROM FOX:  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is regarded by most Republicans as a far-left liberal. But a recent column identifies the San Francisco Democrat as the “most right-wing" candidate running in her district this year.  Emily Cadei, a correspondent for the Sacramento Bee, wrote Monday that Pelosi -- who'll turn 78 on March 26 -- will be forced to fight off three opponents, all coming at her from the left, when she seeks re-election later this year.  This is not the first time Pelosi will face pressure from the left while defending her seat. Her backers point to her track record of turning back other opponents, usually by margins of 70 to 80 percentage points, and see no likely difference this year, Cadei writes.  Nancy Pelosi, right-wing nut.  Sounds so good.

February 28,  2018     Permalink

AM I READING THIS RIGHT? – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:   Is this some kind of breakthrough, or am I hallucinating again?  From AP:

NEW YORK (AP) — Columnist Michael Gerson and commentator Amy Holmes are teaming to start a conservative-oriented talk show on PBS that takes its cue from William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line,” which aired from 1966 to 1999.

The new show, “In Principle,” will air Friday nights starting April 13. PBS will decide after an eight-week run whether to continue.

The hosts plan to interview two guests each show, hoping for an in-depth discussion on issues and their formative political experiences. No guests have been announced yet, but Gerson said he’d like to discuss issues like race, gun control and whether conservatism is the right message for the working class.

“I find when I go around the country that there is actually a hunger for serious, civil dialogue as an alternative to the bitterness of our civic discourse,” Gershon said.

Gerson is known to the PBS audience as a frequent guest on “NewsHour.” Holmes worked on MSNBC and on Glenn Beck’s media company, The Blaze.

Although the show is beginning at a time of Republican dominance in both the White House and Congress, Gerson has often found himself at odds with President Donald Trump. He said Holmes more often takes the president’s side, or acts as the “anti-anti-Trump.”

“I think the Trump era has been a very difficult time for traditional conservative discourse,” he said. “I think a lot of institutions and places have been co-opted in this era. I view conservatism not only as a belief but a state of mind, a respect for tradition but also a respect for facts.”

At the same time, Trump began to have political success because neither party was addressing the economic concerns of working class Americans, he said.

COMMENT:  I'm looking forward to it.  I'm not sure it will reach the level of the great debates between William F. Buckley Jr. and John Kenneth Galbraith, but this is an advance from the stale, tilt-to-the-left programming we've been getting.

February 28, 2018       Permalink

DISCIPLINE – AT 11:22 A.M. ET:   As we've noted here, we've started to see some pushback against the political madness that has enveloped many of our college campuses.  The steps are small, but visible.  Some observers say that, by the next academic year, we should see more and greater pushback, with greater commitment to free speech.  We hope so.

Middlebury College, in Vermont, had a serious incident last year, in which student demonstrators physically injured a professor who had the nerve to support the right of students to hear a controversial conservative.  Now Middlebury is showing some spine in dealing with another serious student infraction that might have gone unpunished only a few years ago.  From College Fix: 

Middlebury College recently disciplined one of its students after she published an evidence-free list of alleged student rapists, naming specific Middlebury students without providing any verification at all for the claims made against them.

Elizabeth Dunn has been disciplined “in the form of a letter in [her] file,” according to the school newspaper, The Middlebury Campus.

“Official college discipline is a permanent attachment to a student’s file and must be reported if a student is asked whether they have received college discipline,” the newspaper reports. “It is also reported to the parents and guardians of the student.”

Dunn was sanctioned “for violating the respect for persons policy and obstructing a Title IX investigation (i.e. not sharing the names of survivors),” she told The Campus.

Previously Dunn stated that she was facing possible suspension or expulsion. A petition that circulated last month demanded that Dunn receive no sanctions from the college whatsoever.

Dunn made headlines at the end of last year when she published a list of alleged rapist on her Facebook page, explicitly calling out numerous Milddlebury students by name and accusing them of sexual assault. Dunn provided no evidence to support the accusations and did not appear to take any steps to verify the claims of assault.

One young man whose name was on the list ended up contemplating suicide and had to seek professional help for the stress caused by being publicly accused on the basis of no evidence.

Middlebury was the site last year of a violent anti-free-speech mob that arose in protest of political scientist Charles Murray’s visit to campus. That mob ended up putting a teacher in the hospital and causing property damage. Nearly six dozen students were sanctioned by the university as a result.

COMMENT:  At least Middlebury is moving in the right direction.  Expulsion would have been an appropriate penalty for such a heinous act, but the college-discipline letter is a good start.

It's distressing that some students wanted Dunn to receive no punishment.  But the college appropriately resisted that adolescent, contemptible position.

February 28, 2018       Permalink

THE RECORD – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:  Any school shooting is a tragedy, and a single victim is an awful tragedy.  However, we must deal with the menace intelligently, and put school shootings in perspective, before we start making serious mistakes.  From the Washington Times: 

Despite the horror of the high school massacre in Florida, U.S. schools overall are safer today than they were in the early 1990s, and there is not an epidemic of such shootings, a new academic study is reporting.

Researchers at Northeastern University say mass school shootings are extremely rare, that shootings involving students have been declining since the 1990s, and four times as many children were killed in schools in the early 1990s than today.

“There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” said James Alan Fox, the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern. He said more children die each year from pool drownings or bicycle accidents.

There are about 55 million school children in the U.S., the study said, and over the past 25 years, about 10 students on average per year were killed by gunfire at school.

The researchers used data collected by USA Today, the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report, Congressional Research Service, Gun Violence Archive, Stanford Geospatial Center and Stanford Libraries, Mother Jones, Everytown for Gun Safety, and a New York City Police Department report on active shooters.

COMMENT:  James Alan Fox is one of the country's leading experts in murder, and his comments are worth considering.  Please read the whole article.

One of the things that defines the political left is a refusal to look at the results of its own policies.  The left is not so much a political force as a religion, and an orthodox religion at that.  You have to accept it all to stay a member of the faith.  In gun matters, as in all other matters, the left will fall back on ideological correctness, and never look at the result.

February 28,  2018     Permalink