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NOVEMBER 8,  2018

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

NOW THE POLITICAL BLOOD FLOWS – FROM FOX:  As two Democratic strongholds in Florida continue to report votes days after Election Day, Senate candidate Rick Scott filed a lawsuit late Thursday against Brenda Snipes, the embattled Broward County Supervisor of Elections, alleging that she is illegally refusing to provide any information about the number of ballots cast or counted in Broward County.  The bombshell litigation comes hours after Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, in an extraordinary series of tweets that alleged incompetence if not outright complicity by Florida officials, charged that Democratic lawyers were "descending on" the state in a calculated attempt to "change the results" and "try and steal" races for Senate and agriculture commissioner.  A recount now appears imminent not only in Scott's race, but also Florida's high-profile gubernatorial contest between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, based on new vote totals -- even though Gillum has already conceded.  Strange things are indeed happening in the vote count in Florida.  The center of action is Broward County, just north of Miami.  Corruption in Broward is a fine art.  Votes appear and disappear according to need.  It is more than conceivable that results announced right after the election – Republican Scott winning the Senate seat and Republican DeSantis winning the governorship – could be reversed.  The lawyers are descending.  Court challenges are almost certain.  This can go on for weeks.  We sense the rising fury in Republican circles, and the real fear of a major steal.  Meanwhile, some press outlets are, of course, lining up behind the Democrats. 

AND, SADLY, ARIZONA – FROM CNN:   Democratic US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has pulled slightly ahead of Republican Rep. Martha McSally in the close race for US Senate in Arizona.  As of a few minutes before 8 p.m. ET Thursday, Sinema held a slim lead with 49.1% of the vote, while McSally was right behind with 48.6% of the vote, with 83% of the vote reported, CNN results show. Nearly 9,000 votes separate McSally from Sinema.  Sinema's lead comes after roughly 127,000 votes in Maricopa County -- the state's most populous county, which includes Phoenix -- were counted Thursday. Thousands of votes still remain to be counted in the state.  Individual counties in Arizona will continue to update their vote counts periodically until ballots are certified.  It appears that most of the still uncounted votes come from Democratic areas, but we can never be sure.  What a sadness it would be if Sinema, a certified flake, becomes senator from Arizona instead of the patriot and combat veteran, Martha McSally.  Leftist Democrats will have their heroine.

WHAT DID WE EXPECT? – FROM AMERICAN THINKER:   CBS News last night went all in for the identity politics advocacy, highlighting the numbers of women elected to the new incoming House, which was won by the Democrats. The idea of course was to paint Republicans by implication as racist and sexist, and promote Democrats as the only party of 'inclusion.'  It's drivel - and with CBS's exclusion of Southern California's first Korean-American congresswoman, Young Kim, it was obviously a selectively edited report.  Young's problem, see, is that she's a Republican who defeated a Democrat, and that doesn't quite fit the "narrative." So despite being the first Korean-American congresswoman, she got left out of the story.  As the Stalinists did it, she's a "non-person."  And that's the way the left plays the game.  I hope these women enjoy their moment in the Sun, for they will be discarded as soon as they outlive their usefulness to the "movement."

November 8,  2018     Permalink

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT – AT 12:06 P.M. ET:  It turns out that even environmental religionists in a deep blue state vote with their wallets.  From IBD: 

Global Warming: Environmentalists were hoping to score a huge victory in Washington state with a statewide tax on CO2 emissions. Alas, even liberals in Washington don't believe climate change is that big a threat.

Before the election, glowing stories in the press talked about Washington "taking up the fight" on climate change after President Donald Trump dropped out of the Paris climate deal. The state would make history. It would be a "bellwether," and would start a trend across the country.
Carbon Tax

The initiative proposed a $15 tax on each ton of carbon emissions in the state starting in 2020, with the tax rate climbing each year. It would have cost families in the state nearly $1,000 a year by 2035.

Keep in mind that the proposed carbon tax was a tiny baby step toward what environmentalists' claim will be needed to avoid a worldwide climate catastrophe. The United Nations says we'd need a global carbon tax of up to $5,500 to achieve that.

Washington voters rejected even this minimalist step toward fighting what a large majority of them claim to believe is an existential threat to humanity.

Think about it this way. Washington is a deep blue state where Trump got less than 37% of the vote in 2016. Only six states in the nation were more anti-Trump.

Yet 56% of Washington voters rejected the CO2 tax. Only three counties in the state — Jefferson, King (where Seattle is located), and tiny San Juan — voted for the tax.

COMMENT:  So typical of liberals.  They're liberal, until it costs them something.

November 8, 2018       Permalink

A GOOD SUMMATION – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:45 A.M. ET:  Ed Rogers gives the perfect summation of what happened on Tuesday.  Will the Democrats understand?  From the Washington Post: 

While Tuesday night was not a complete win for Republicans, there was no blue wave, either. By most measures, Republicans beat the odds of history and nearly everyone’s expectations, while Democrats were left disappointed as the fantasy of Beto O’Rourke, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams and others winning fizzled. Not one new progressive Democrat was successful bursting onto the scene. It will take a few days to process the meaning of this year’s election returns, but the instant analysis is clear: Democrats may have won the House, but Trump won the election.

As I always say, in politics, what is supposed to happen tends to happen. I predicted in August that the Democrats would take the House but that alone was not enough for most Democrats. As much as this year’s midterms offered an obvious opportunity to rebuke President Trump, little of what the arrogant Democrats and members of the mainstream media expected would happen actually did. So much of what they said turned out to be wrong that it will take a while before the significance becomes clear. And if the 2018 midterms prove anything, it is that Trump is standing strong while Democrats and their allies who thought Trump would have been affirmatively rejected are in fact the ones who have themselves been denied.

Democrats have underperformed in comparison with the historical markers and general expectations of a midterm cycle. The president’s party loses 37 seats in the House on average in midterm elections when his approval is below 50 percent — but Democrats aren’t projected to pick up nearly that many seats. No liberal will want to admit it, but Trump is an asset to the Republican Party, while President Barack Obama was a disaster for the Democratic Party.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  The Democrats must now produce something in the House that the American people want.  However, what they apparently intend to produce are investigations, including, incredibly, an attempt to impeach Justice Kavanaugh.  They haven't yet figured out that it was their very treatment of Kavanaugh that energized Republicans and led to most Democratic senators in battleground states who voted against the judge to go down to defeat.

Democrats have a choice.  They can try to govern the House in the interest of the nation, or they can play only to their base, which includes liberal billionaires.  I'm afraid the base will win, and the country will lose.

November 8,  2018     Permalink

NOVEMBER 7,  2018

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

AT LEAST HE'S TRYING – FROM DAILY MAIL:   A 69-year-old Dutch businessman is battling legally to reduce his age by 20 years so he can get more work and attract more women on Tinder.
Emile Ratelband argues that if transgender people are allowed to change sex, he should be allowed to change his date of birth because doctors said he has the body of a 45-year-old.  The positivity guru, a media personality in the Netherlands, is suing his local authority after they refused the amend his age on official documents.  Mr Ratelband's case has now gone to a court in the city of Arnhmen in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland.   This can lead to an entirely new global movement – the right to an individual age.  I'd imagine American liberals would choose twelve.

WHITE HOUSE PUNISHES CNN – FROM THE HILL:   The White House on Wednesday pulled press credentials from CNN's Jim Acosta after he engaged in a heated back-and-forth with President Trump.  White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited Acosta's refusal to give up the microphone from a young staffer who tried to take it during a press conference on orders from Trump.  Sanders said in a statement the White House will “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable.”  “As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice,” Sanders said.  I'm lukewarm on this.  The best way to deal with a bully like Acosta is to expose him to the public...as a bully.  Punishing him makes him a martyr, which is what he wants.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Ohio University leaders are reportedly considering the creation of a workout room that would be designated for minority students.
It’s one of at least three ideas proposed by a campus diversity leader as she and student leaders brainstorm plans to redevelop a portion of largely unused racquetball courts at the private institution.  Gigi Secuban, who took the helm over the summer as the university’s first-ever vice president of diversity and inclusion, reportedly made the suggestion at a recent student senate meeting.  “Secuban mentioned a plan to turn one of the racquetball courts at Ping Recreation Center into a private workout room for minorities, sexual assault survivors, or people with special religious accommodations,” The New Political student news outlet reported.  Enough already.

November 7, 2018      Permalink

SESSIONS FIRED – AT 5:14 P.M. ET:  Jeff Sessions has been fired by President Trump.  From Fox:

Jeff Sessions, once one of President Trump’s most loyal and trusted advisers before infuriating Trump over his recusal from the Russia investigation, has resigned as attorney general at the request of the president.

“At your request, I am submitting my resignation,” Sessions wrote in a Wednesday letter to Trump.

The president tweeted that Matthew Whitaker, chief of staff to Sessions, will become the acting attorney general. Whitaker, according to sources, is now overseeing everything at the Justice Department, including the Russia investigation -- despite calls from Democrats to recuse himself.

“We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well,” he said.

Trump added: “We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”

COMMENT:  My sense is that the president should have waited for election tensions to die down before making this change.  He's only looking for trouble, and he will find it.

Whitaker is known as a severe critic of the Mueller investigation,  That immediately makes him a lightning rod.  At the same time, the president is now better positioned to deal with Mueller, who's expected to issue a report soon.

November 7, 2018       Permalink

ELECTION LATEST – AT 4:53 P.M. ET:  Montana is gone.  Dem incumbent Senator Jon Tester is projected to win a narrow victory over GOP challenger Matt Rosendale.

In Florida, incumbent Dem Senator Bill Nelson, apparently defeated by a whisker by Republican Rick Scott, has asked for a recount.  Since the vote margin is less than half a percent, Nelson is legally entitled to it.  This could take days or weeks.

In Arizona, we are waiting for uncounted early ballots to be counted.  Martha McSally retains a narrow lead over Democrat Krysten Sinema.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams still refuses to concede defeat, and is considering legal options even though her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, has 50.3% of the vote.  In Georgia, if no one reaches 50% in the governor's race, there is a runoff.  But Kemp has reached 50%.  I don't get it either.  I suspect we're in store for several weeks of racial politics, in which Abrams will charge voter suppression.

November 7, 2018       Permalink

PAYING THE PRICE – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  As they say, decisions have consequences.  From Fox:

Incumbent Senate Democrats in battleground states who opposed the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination appeared to have paid a price on Election Day, with senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Florida's Bill Nelson all suffering defeat.

In fact, every Democrat incumbent who opposed Kavanaugh in states rated "toss up" by Fox News lost their race. In contrast, the lone Democrat who voted for Kavanaugh, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, won his race.

"Every Dem Senator in a competitive race who voted against Kavanaugh lost," tweeted Tom Bevan, Co-founder of RealClearPolitics. Fox News polling offered evidence the Kavanaugh issue was a major problem for those battleground incumbent Democrats.

A Fox News poll from early October, just before the Kavanaugh confirmation vote, found 34 percent of North Dakotans said they would be less likely to vote for Heitkamp if she voted against Kavanaugh, with just 17 percent saying it would make them more likely to vote for her.

In Missouri, among the 28 percent of voters who said they could still switch candidates, almost twice as many said they'd be less likely to support McCaskill if she opposed Kavanaugh.

COMMENT:  There must be an entirely new mechanism put in place to insure that the abuse of Judge Kavanaugh never happens again.  It violated the American sense of fairness, and I'm sure that many women saw their son up there, or their husband, or brother, or father. 

It was that intrinsic American sense of fairness that brought down Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.  His cause, anti-Communism, was never very controversial.  His methods were, and the American people made clear their feelings.

Let us see if the Democratic Party will correct its methods, or yield once again to the blindness of identity politics.

November 7,  2018     Permalink

IT AIN'T OVER – AT 9:30 A.M. ET:  The election is not over.  Three critical US Senate races are still unresolved.

We thought we had Republican Rick Scott's victory in Florida nailed down, and Scott claimed victory over incumbent Dem Senator Bill Nelson.   Not so fast.  The final totals show Scott with 50.2% and Nelson with 49.8%, within the half-point spread that triggers an automatic recount in Florida.  You'll recall the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential race.  This can go on for weeks.

Arizona:  With 99% of the votes counted, our Martha McSally leads with 49.3%, with Dem Krysten Sinema at 48.4%.  However, we're told that there may be hundreds of thousands of early-voting ballots uncounted, and that could take many days.  One official says that there might not be first results from that count until Thursday.  The good news:  Earlier reporting said that the early Arizona vote came mostly from Republicans.  But we may have to wait to celebrate.

Montana:  Fascinating.  With 84% of votes counted, Republican challenger Matt Rosendale is leading incumbent Dem Senator Jon Tester, 48.9% to 48.2%.  We're hoping for a GOP victory to flip the seat, but it's too early to tell.

Now the sadness:  We lost Nevada, the only clear Republican Senate loss last night.  Dean Heller lost to Democrat Jacky Rosen.

There is no statistical way for the Democrats to take control in the Senate, but Florida, Arizona, and Montana, if they go GOP, would mean a GOP pickup of five seats, and that would be sweet.  We wait for numbers.

On another matter, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams of Georgia is refusing to concede defeat, despite the fact that Republican Brian Kemp leads her 50.5% to 48.6%. The source of her resistance is the fact that one county – DeKalb – has not reported all its votes.  Hmm.  DeKalb contains the Atlanta area, where Dem majorities are heavy.  And it's the only county out?  I wonder why, I wonder why.  Does the term "hanky panky" interest you?  If Kemp's final vote falls below 50%, there will be an automatic runoff.  Stand by.

November 7,  2018   Permalink