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NOVEMBER 1,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

WHEN YOU'RE LOSING PAPA JOHN'S... – FROM FOX BUSINESS:   Papa John’s Pizza, one of the NFL’s biggest corporate sponsors, on Wednesday said the league’s mishandling of player national anthem protests has had a negative impact on its sales.  “The NFL has hurt us,” Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter said during an earnings call. “More importantly, by not resolving the current debacle to the players’ and owners’ satisfaction, NFL leadership has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.”  A longtime NFL sponsor, Papa John’s has been the league’s official pizza since 2010. The restaurant chain has partnered with several top NFL stars, including retired quarterback Peyton Manning and Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, as well as 23 of the league’s 32 teams. Papa John’s has also been a major advertiser during NFL broadcasts for several years.  Did you ever think you'd see the NFL charged with damaging Papa John's?  Is this the end of civilization, or what?

ASTROS WIN – The Houston Astros have won the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It took a full seven-game series for the Astros' triumph to be achieved.  To some, the Houston victory came as a result of skill, perseverance and spirit.  To those of us who worshipped the old Brooklyn Dodgers, the victory was Divine retribution for the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn in 1957.  We have never forgiven Walter O'Malley, who owned the team, for abandoning us to our agony.  Who were we left to root for?  The moneybags New York Yankees?  It was said that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for U.S. Steel.  It was also said that there were three permanent villains in Brooklyn – Hitler, Stalin, and Walter O'Malley.  Congratulations, Houston.

THE AIRLINE BOOM – FROM CNBC:  With the economy picking up strength and airfares staying relatively low, a record number people are expected to fly during the Thanksgiving holiday period.
"Low fares and increased availability of seats continue to make air travel widely accessible," said John Heimlich, vice president and chief economist of Airlines for America, a trade group representing carriers.
Airlines for America estimates 28.5 million people will fly U.S. airlines between Friday, Nov. 17, and Tuesday, Nov. 28. If that happens it would be a 3 percent increase over 2016.  The busiest day of the Thanksgiving weekend will be Sunday, Nov. 26, when an estimated 2.88 million people are expected to take a flight.  There are good signs in the economy.  Trump has brought a good deal of economic confidence, although he'll never be given the credit by the media.

November 1, 2017       Permalink

AND THE PLOT THICKENS – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:   It turns out that the alleged perpetrator of yesterday's terror attack in New York was known to federal authorities.  Some "lone wolf."  From ABC News: 

The suspected New York City attacker, Sayfullo Saipov, was interviewed in 2015 by federal agents about possible ties to suspected terrorists, but the agents did not have enough evidence to open a case on him, laws enforcement officials tell ABC News.

Saipov was listed as a “point of contact” for two men whose were listed in a Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism database and later overstayed their tourist visas, one federal official told ABC News. One was merely flagged after arriving from a so-called “threat country,” while the other vanished and was being actively sought by federal agents as a “suspected terrorist.”

An official told ABC News that the FBI has since located him and he is not believed to have been involved in Tuesday’s attack.

Speaking on Wednesday, President Donald Trump noted that Saipov had served as the “point of contact” for 23 people. A source confirmed that number to ABC News but said it is unclear if those people are "immediate family members, distant family members, or friends.” Only those two men, however, were listed in the database.

Saipov, 29, came to the United States from Uzbekistan through a Diversity Visa Program lottery in 2010, making him a legal permanent resident of the United States upon arrival. He has lived in Ohio, Florida and, most recently, Paterson, N.J., where federal agents interviewed Saipov in 2015.

COMMENT:  We see this pattern regularly.  The Boston bombers were also on the FBI radar screen for a time.

We've got to do better.  Maybe more personnel are simply needed.  Or maybe political correctness has intruded into the surveillance process.

November 1,  2017     Permalink

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 11:44 A.M. ET:   We just had a terrorist attack in New York.  But Iran is threatening much larger attacks elsewhere.  Eternal vigilance, my friends.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

A top Iranian military commander has threatened to launch ballistic missile attacks on U.S. forces in the region amid a public effort by the Islamic Republic to show off its advanced missile capabilities, according to U.S. officials and regional reports.

Iranian leaders disclosed that their advanced ballistic missile technology, which could be used as part of a nuclear weapons program, is sophisticated enough to strike U.S. forces up to nearly 1,300 miles, or 2,000 kilometers, away, which encompasses all U.S. bases in the region.

The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, announced on Tuesday that Iranian missiles can already "cover all U.S. bases in the region" and that Tehran has the capability to increase its missile power even further.

"Based on the policies specified by the Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei], the range of our missiles is limited to 2,000km, but we have the capability to increase the range," IRGC Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said following an announcement by the country's supreme leader that Iranian ballistic missile technology would be capped at this distance for the short term.

While pro-Iran activists cheered the announcement as a sign of moderation on Iran's part, U.S officials and experts told the Washington Free Beacon that the distance cap on these missiles is effectively meaningless since the country's current military technology is capable of striking U.S. forces, a position emphasized by Iranian military leaders.

"At present it [this distance] is sufficient because the Americans are in a 2,000 km radius from our country and their attacks will be responded," Jafari was quoted as saying in Iran's state-controlled press outlets.

COMMENT:  Another perfect example of making agreements with the Iranians that wind up benefiting only them.  Thanks Obama/Kerry! 

The issue here is not whether the Iranians will launch an attack on American positions.  That's unlikely.  However, the fact that they can do it will influence Iran's power position in a region where power is the only thing that counts.

Iran is now moving aggressively to control the Mideast.  During the Obama administration there was very little done to resist Tehran, just as there was little or nothing done to oppose Russia's re-entry into the region.   So we're now facing Russia and Iran in an area critical to American security and the security of our allies.

When Trump said he was left a mess by Obama, he was laughed at by the mainstream media.  But his comment was accurate.  Now his attempts to clean up the mess are being fought tooth and nail by the very people who made it.

November 1, 2017       Permalink

SOME GOOD NEWS – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  Sometimes the most lasting impact of an administration is felt, not in the headlines, but in the news on page 20.  The Senate is now confirming a number of President Trump's judicial nominations.  The country will be better off for his excellent choices.  From Powerline: 

This morning, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Notre Dame Law professor Amy Barrett as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit. The vote was 55-43.

Three Democrats — Sen. Joe Donnelly, Sen. Tim Kaine, and Sen. Joe Manchin — broke ranks and voted to confirm Barrett. They thus rejected the suggestion by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others on the Senate Judiciary Committee that Barrett is too Catholic to be an appellate judge.

This morning, the Senate also voted 60-38 for cloture (i.e., to limit debate) on the nomination of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit. The Senate now has up to 30 hours of post-cloture debate on Justice Larsen’s nomination. Larsen may be confirmed as early as tomorrow.

Next, the Senate will turn to the cloture and confirmation votes on Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit. She will probably be confirmed by the end of the week. If so, that will make it three conservative female circuit judges confirmed in three days.

COMMENT:  And more confirmations are coming.  If the GOP can keep control of the Senate next year, the federal court system might well be heavily transformed by the Trump administration, and a major danger to the nation – judicial dictatorship by liberal judges – could be avoided.

November 1,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 31,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:  We'll devote "Short Takes" tonight to today's terror attack in New York:

NAILING IT - FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  The driver who plowed into a group of people on Tuesday, killing 8, left behind handwritten notes pledging loyalty to ISIS along with an image of an ISIS flag inside his vehicle.  Sayfullo Saipov, 29, had the notes written in Arabic inside his Home Depot rental truck along with a picture of the ISIS flag, according to law enforcement sources.  The handwritten notes indicated that he had pledged allegiance to the terror group, the sources said.  The excuse makers are already out in force on MSNBC, although I must say that CNN was very forthcoming about the ISIS connection.

SOMETHING MISSING? – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Former President Barack Obama tweeted about Tuesday’s New York City terror attack, and noticeably left out a major point concerning the nature of the incident.  Obama made no mention of the word “terror” or “terrorist” and simply referred to Tuesday’s events as “today’s attack":  "Michelle and I are thinking of the victims of today's attack in NYC and everyone who keeps us safe. New Yorkers are as tough as they come."  No thanks, guy.  And no thanks also for your administration, which tried to replace the word "terror" with "manmade disaster," and referred to the Fort Hood terror attack as "workplace violence."  He who controls the vocabulary controls the country. 

THE VICTIMS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Information about the victims in the deadly truck rampage in downtown Manhattan has started to emerge, with officials identifying the nationalities of some who died.  Argentina’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that five friends from the country — who were in town celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation — were among the dead.  Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister for Belgium, wrote on Twitter that at least one of the victims was Belgian.  “I am deeply saddened to announce a Belgian victim in Manhattan,” he tweeted. “I express my condolences to the family and friends.”  These were the only fatalities due to terrorism to occur in New York since the 9-11 attacks of 2001.  A remarkable record of success in preventing terror attacks, despite today's tragedy.

October 31, 2017       Permalink

UNBELIEVABLY DUMB – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   The Democratic National Committee puts out a want ad that is probably illegal.  From Townhall.com: 

The Democratic National Committee is hiring for some new positions in their Technology Team, including Chief Security Officer, IT Systems Administrator, and Product Manager. In the email soliciting job applications, it says that the DNC is looking for a "staff of diverse voices and life experiences." 

Unfortunately, according to the DNC's Data Service Manager Madeleine Leader, this desire for "diverse voices and life experiences" apparently doesn't extend to "cisgender straight white males." In the closing paragraph of the email, Leader said "I personally would prefer that you not forward to cisgender straight white males, as they are already in the majority." 

Yup. 

Elliott Hamilton from the Daily Wire posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter, saying that this is another symptom of the "patently absurd oppression Olympics." 

("Cisgender" is a term meaning someone who identifies as the gender assigned to them at birth, i.e. someone who is not transgender.) 

First off, kudos to the DNC for recognizing that their technology department probably needed an upgrade, so that's at least a positive step. But second--was it really necessary to straight-up single out a group of people who shouldn't apply? If the best candidate for the job is a straight white male, they should hire the straight white male. His hypothetical "life experiences" aren't any less valuable due to his sexuality or skin tone and could certainly contribute to a diverse workplace. 

Anyhow, for what it's worth, saying this is potentially a violation of the DNC's own policies.

COMMENT:  Let the lawsuits begin.  Who will be first?  Will CNN rush to cover this story?  Will Democrats in Congress express their outrage.

Will there be a million-straight man march on Washington?

Are you kidding?

October 31, 2017       Permalink

ACCIDENT IN NORTH KOREA? – AT 10:49 A.M. ET:   There are reports from usually credible sources that North Korea has sustained a serious accident at a nuclear test site.  From Fox: 

About 200 people are feared dead in North Korea after underground tunnels at a nuclear test site that was feared to be unstable reportedly collapsed, crushing 100 people in the initial cave-in and 100 others when the tunnels again gave way on top of rescuers.

The collapse at the Punggye-ri test site on Oct. 10 occurred while people were doing construction on the underground tunnel, Japan’s Asahi TV reported, citing a source in North Korea. The television station also said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 most likely caused the tunnel to crumble and created serious damage in the region.

No officials have confirmed the Japanese TV station’s claims, but experts have feared for more than a month that the test site was on the verge of crumbling since the nuclear blast. North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb, calling it a “perfect success.” It was the country’s most powerful bomb tested to date and the blast was reportedly 10 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima at the end of World War II.

COMMENT:  This news comes as the president prepares to leave for Asia later in the week.  I assume the report that this was an "accident" is accurate.  How it afffects the North Korean nuclear program is an unknown.

There is some informed speculation that North Korea will try a new nuclear test or rocket launch while the president is in Asia, just to embarrass him.

October 31, 2017       Permalink

ECONOMY OUTSTRIPS EXPECTATIONS – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  And, of course, President Trump will get no credit from the troopers of the mainstream media.  They're too busy extolling the virtues of Maxine Waters.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

The U.S. economy is outpacing expectations for the first time since April. What that means for the stock rally is a matter of debate.

Citigroup U.S. Economic Surprise Index, a widely-used tool used to gauge how economic data matches up to expectations, has risen to its highest level since April in recent weeks. As The Wall Street Journal’s Morning MoneyBeat newsletter noted Tuesday, a number of better-than-expected readings on the economy–from third-quarter gross-domestic product to manufacturing activity–helped pull the index out of negative territory in October for the first time since spring.

Analysts at PNC Asset Management Groups said the index’s recovery– which indicates economic data is coming in above forecasts–is due in part to “analysts’ predictions becoming too dour in the middle of the year.” The recovery in global growth is also helping the index, PNC said.

More positive economic surprises have helped bolster the U.S. stock market since 2016, said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, in a research note last week. Though the index doesn’t measure economic growth, positive readings can be an encouraging sign for investors who often respond to how data stacks up to expectations rather than the data itself.

COMMENT:  Good, good, and good.  We'll be watching the jobs figures closely as well.  If economic growth can be sustained, and a good tax cut passed, the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans should be well prepared for the 2018 midterms.

Getting some major manufacturing back will be topping on the cake.

October 31,  2017     Permalink