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NOVEMBER 2,  2017

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

ANOTHER DEM POWERHOUSE EMBARRASSED – FROM BLOOMBERG:   The Service Employees International Union, the second-largest labor union in the U.S., has fired a senior staff member and accepted the resignation of another following allegations of workplace harassment at the organization.  “These personnel actions are the culmination of this stage of the investigation which brought to light the serious problems related to abusive behavior towards staff, predominantly female staff,” an SEIU spokeswoman said in an email.   Kendall Fells, one of the top national leaders of SEIU’s "Fight For 15" campaign, has resigned, according to a person familiar with the actions. Fells declined to comment. Detroit leader Mark Raleigh was fired, the person said.   One of the most powerful forces in the Democratic Party.  LIke 'ol man river, the hypocrisy keeps rolling along.

A SMALL VICTORY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Bowing to criticism from the Bruin Republicans and a legal threat from the Alliance Defending Freedom, UCLA has withdrawn its demand that the student organization pay unspecified security fees for its Nov. 13 event with conservative pundit and alum Ben Shapiro.  The dispute was an unwelcome distraction for the University of California System right as it announced plans to open the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at its internship center in Washington, D.C.  UCLA had warned the BRs that if students, faculty and staff didn’t make up at least 70 percent of the 600-person audience, the club would have to pay security fees. The BRs claim the 70-percent clause has been used four times in eight years – twice against its events.  Remember the old notion that the power to tax is the power to destroy?  On college campuses the power to impose security fees is that same power to destroy.    

OH, GO AWAY – FROM FOX:   Former first lady Michelle Obama explained Wednesday at a summit in Chicago that she believes men are “entitled,” and that women protect them too much.  Speaking at the first Obama Foundation international summit, Obama -- one of the event’s headliners -- said that men are essentially babied and protected by women, while women are raised to be “strong.”  “It’s like the problem in the world today is we love our boys, and we raise our girls,” Obama said. “We raise them to be strong, and sometimes we take care not to hurt men -- and I think we pay for that a little bit.”  She might take a walk through Arlington sometime and meet all the protected men.  They no longer need protection.

November 2, 2017        Permalink

REPUBLICANS UNVEIL TAX BILL – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:  Finally, some progress, but expect this bill to go through many revisions.   From Fox: 

House Republicans on Thursday unveiled their long-awaited tax bill which preserves the popular 401K retirement account, lowers rates for many individual households but trims deductions for state and local taxes.

A summary of the plan, which was made available to reporters ahead of its public release, would also reduce the cap on the popular deduction to interest on mortgages to $500,000 for newly purchased homes. The current cap is $1 million.

The plan also limits the deductibility of local property taxes to $10,000 while eliminating the deduction for state income taxes. Republicans in high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey had come out strongly against it.

“I view the elimination of the deduction as a geographic redistribution of wealth, picking winners and losers,” New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said. “I don’t want my home state to be a loser, and that really shouldn’t come as any surprise.”

Called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the GOP plan would also leave the top individual tax rate at 39.6 percent.

The child tax credit will rise to $1,600 from $1,000, though the $4,050 per child exemption would be repealed.

The legislation is the first major revamp of the U.S. tax code in three decades and has been a top legislative and political priority of Republicans.

COMMENT:  Now the real combat begins.  The key news reporting will involve analyzing how the typical "family of four" will fare under the plan.  No two analyses will result in exactly the same figures.

You may be sure that the authors of the bill allowed plenty of wiggle room for negotiations.  Republicans know that this is make-or-break for them.  If they can't pass a tax bill, they're doomed.

November 2, 2017       Permalink

VIRGINIA CLOSE – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:   The quality of news reporting  being what it is, we're hearing very little about next Tuesday's elections, which include the mayoralty election in New York and the governorship choice in Virginia.

The New York election is a foregone conclusion.  As usual, the almost invisible Republican Party has barely run a campaign, giving hard leftist Mayor Bill de Blasio an automatic second term.  No one can remember anything he did during his first.

The Virginia race is major.  Virginia is currently governed by Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat and old Clinton hand.  The Dems would love to hold onto the governor's office in a state that went for Clinton by about five points last year.  But the election is unexpectedly close.  From WaPo: 

One week from Election Day, Democrat Ralph Northam’s lead has narrowed to five percentage points in the Virginia governor’s race, with Republican Ed Gillespie closing a motivation gap and consolidating support among conservatives and supporters of President Trump, a new Washington Post-Schar School poll finds.

Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, leads among likely voters 49 percent to Gillespie’s 44 percent, a margin that is not statistically significant. The Democrat was up by 13 points in a Post poll earlier this month. Libertarian Cliff Hyra is at 4 percent, enough to play spoiler if the race remains tight through Tuesday.

COMMENT:  A few polls show Gillespie ahead, but other polls show Northam ahead.  Turnout will be the key.  If Republicans can turn Virginia, it will be a major political event.  This is by far the most important contest next Tuesday.

November 2, 2017       Permalink

THOUGHTS THAT MATTER – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas appeared on Laura Ingraham's new Fox show, and, as usual with him, said some things worth noting.  From lifezette.com: 

Ingraham asked Thomas about what he said in the fall of 1991, when Democrats brought a witness, Anita Hill, before the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse him of sexual harassment. Ingraham played the footage.

"No job is worth what I have been through," said Thomas in 1991. "No job."

Yet Thomas won confirmation, and as a conservative, helped shape law for America. Thomas told Ingraham the struggle of veterans help him see it was indeed worth it.

"I think we are called to do certain things," said Thomas. "When we do Wounded Warriors events or ... Wreaths Across America, what do you tell the widows, the families of the fallen? That you were too afraid to go through a little bit of uncertainty, a little bit of difficulty, to do a job like this? When they actually were in harm's way? What do you tell the young man who is a double amputee, because of war? That you were afraid to go through that? I don't think anyone would choose to go through unpleasantness, but if it has to be that, to do what is right, then so be it."

COMMENT:  Wonderful words from a great man, who has always carried himself with dignity and lack of anger.  He towers above his critics. which have always included the phonies and frauds of Hollywood.

Read the rest of the piece.  It's worth it.

November 2,  2017     Permalink

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