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OCTOBER 5,  2017

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

YALE IT ISN'T – FROM TOWNHALL:   Swansea University in Wales is renaming its law school after Hillary Clinton and will honor the two-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state with an honorary degree. Clinton is being honored for her "commitment to promoting the rights of families and children around the world," and will receive the degree on October 14.  Additionally, there will be a ceremony unveiling a stone that will change the name of Swansea's law school from College of Law to the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law. Clinton is of partial Welsh heritage.  Okay, at least it's a law school.  It could have been the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Laundry Science. 

HYPOCRITES – FROM  HOTAIR:  Fearless Girl, the bronze statue put up opposite the “Charging Bull” statue in New York City became a rallying point for feminists. But State Street, the company that commissioned the statue, seems to have fallen short of its own professed ideals. The Boston Globe reports State Street has agreed to a $5 million settlement for pay discrimination against female executives.  Absolute hypocrisy.  But this kind of hypocrisy is widespread in politics.

MORE AGONY FOR THE NFL – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Even before its feud over the national anthem with President Trump, the NFL Players Association wasn’t on the same political team as many of its fans, judging from its contributions to leftist advocacy groups.  Tax documents released by 2ndVote show the NFLPA donated $5,000 in 2015 to the Center for Community Change Action, a group active in the anti-Trump resistance, and bankrolled by a host of liberal foundations, including top Democratic donor George Soros’s Foundation for Open Society.  A member of the AFL-CIO, the NFLPA also contributed in 2013 and 2015 to Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, which Open Secrets said spent $1 million in 2016 to defeat Trump.  Working America has since mobilized against the Republican tax-cut framework, denouncing it as the “Trump tax scam.”  The NFLPA contributed $5,000 in 2014 to Jobs with Justice, another pro-union group backed by Soros, and $5,000 in 2013 to the progressive Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.  The NFL and its associated organizations seem to be determined to drive conservative fans away, and I'll bet conservatives make up most of their base.  The NFL needs new leadership.

October 5,  2017     Permalink

NORTH KOREA – AT 1:08 P.M. ET:   A serious authority predicts another North Korean action next week.  We have to take his concern seriously.  From US News:

A top CIA official for the Korean Peninsula warned Wednesday that the U.S. should be ready for a new provocation by North Korea on Columbus Day, Oct. 9, which coincides with the anniversary of the founding of the political party that governs in Pyongyang.

"Stand by your phones," Yong Suk Lee, deputy assistant director of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, said while speaking at a conference organized by the agency at The George Washington University.

Lee did not speculate what North Korea might do, though it frequently carries out missile launches or nuclear tests on major state anniversaries, such as the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un or other dates associated with the lives of his father or grandfather.  Oct. 10 marks the anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea in 1945.

Tensions with North Korea have reached new extremes in recent weeks, following months of increased weapons tests combined with new U.S. appraisals that Pyongyang is close to perfecting or perhaps already has made an intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit targets accurately.

Lee added that Pyongyang historically has been controlled by its fear of the Chinese abandoning its support for the Hermit Kingdom, or that the U.S. would carry out a military strike. Kim Jong Un no longer has those fears, Lee said.

"There's a clarity of purpose in what Kim Jong Un has done," Lee said.

COMMENT:   We'll see.  It's only a prediction, but an authoritative one.  The United States has usually been strong on technical intelligence, but much less strong on human intelligence – knowing the intent of enemy leaders.

Some say that Kim is actually very cautious, and has no interest in an actual conflict with the United States or any of our allies.  Others, however, say he's impulsive and unpredictable, and may act recklessly when he should be most careful.

You know, those Japanese are shrewd.  They'd never attack Pearl Harbor.

October 5, 2017       Permalink

THIS IS CHILLING – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Conditions on our college campuses are deteriorating.  It's perfectly clear that a number of students, and some faculty members, have no business being in a place of learning.   From Fox: 

A celebration of free speech at William & Mary College in Virginia took an unexpected turn last week when protesters from Black Lives Matter swarmed the stage and forced organizers to end the event.

That's Tommy Jefferson's alma mater.  There won't be any more donations from him.

“Liberalism is white supremacy!” the protesters shouted, and “ACLU, you protect Hitler too!”

The disruption occurred before Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, could give a planned speech on freedom of expression.

So even the ACLU doesn't satisfy Black Lives Matter.  And liberalism is white supremacy.  William & Mary is today a state school, and students, faculty and guests are, supposedly, guaranteed the protection of the Bill of Rights. 

The protesters livestreamed the demonstration on Facebook and were heard shouting other slogans, including, "The oppressed are not impressed!,” “Blood on your hands!,” and “The revolution will not uphold the Constitution!”

The ACLU earned the wrath of the protesters after they defended white supremacists' right to march in Charlottesville, Va., in August, according to the campus's Flat Hat News. The march in Charlottesville quickly turned violent, leading to the death of one woman and injuries to many others.

Gastañaga tried to point out to the disruption as an example of why she needs to talk about freedom of expression on university campuses, saying “Good, I like this,” as the protesters raised their signs.

"I'm going to talk to you about knowing your rights, and protests and demonstrations, which this illustrates very well," she said. "Then I'm going to respond to questions from the moderators, and then questions from the audience."

But the protesters continued the disruption and barred anyone from approaching Gastañaga to speak. One organizer reportedly granted the demonstration's leader a chance to speak.

COMMENT:  Did the ACLU person actually believe they were going to allow her to speak?  These are fascists of the left.  They boast that "the revolution will not uphold the Constitution."  They want a dictatorship that they will run. 

And, of course, they are "oppressed," a word that has lost all meaning. 

Some campus administrations are fighting back against this violence.  Others knuckle under.  The Democratic Party is silent.  We must understand the oppressed, after all.

October 5, 2017       Permalink

CONFRONTING IRAN – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:   The president is set to announce a new policy on Iran.  This will be important.  From ace defense reporter Eli Lake, at Bloomberg:

After more than nine months in office, President Donald Trump finally has an Iran policy.

Last month before the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump approved the long-awaited strategy to deal with Iran, according to administration officials. These officials tell me it will outline a new aggressive approach to countering Iranian threats all over the globe and endeavor to use the leverage of Trump's threats over the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to spur U.S. allies to begin to address its flaws.

On Wednesday at a press conference to dispel news reports that he considered quitting his post over the summer, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hinted the new policy was coming. Speaking of the Iran nuclear agreement, he said, "the JCPOA represents only a small part of the issues we have to address with Iran."

The centerpiece of Trump's new Iran strategy will be the designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, placing it in the same category as al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Congress mandated this designation over the summer, but allowed Trump to waive the requirement.

The designation would be significant.

The Revolutionary Guard in Iran controls a large portion of the state's economy. Iranian economist and businessman Bijan Khajehpour, in an article in al-Monitor in August, estimated that the guard was responsible for 15 percent of Iran's gross domestic product. (He also acknowledged that it's difficult to arrive at a precise statistic because there are no official statistics on the web of companies it controls and its stake in enterprises with state and semi-state entities in Iran's economy.)

The designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization could create problems for foreign companies seeking to invest in Iran. While the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama issued rules requiring private companies to do due diligence and avoid investment in the Revolutionary Guard, the rules were weakened in the final months of the administration.

The new designation will make life harder for those companies.

COMMENT:  Sounds like a good policy start to me, and well thought out.  It could help in establishing Trump as a very capable foreign-policy president. 

But, of course, we await the official announcement, and the fine print.

October 5,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 4,  2017

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

SIGN OF THE TIMES – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   He’s Italian, very tall, a little stiff — and he’s getting round-the-clock police protection.  No, it’s not Bill de Blasio.  In the city that’s the biggest terror target in the world, the NYPD is providing 24/7 body-guard services to the marble statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle.  The patrols, which consist of one or two cops working eight-hour shifts, were set up in hopes of preventing any more vandalism before Monday’s Columbus Day holiday.  “The statue has been there for years and years [since 1892] without any issues,” groused one law-enforcement source.  “Now because everybody’s complaining about Columbus, and they attacked him with paint, we have to put cops on there to make sure nobody does it anymore,” said the source, calling the new patrol a necessary, but irritating, “waste of manpower.”  It's the right thing to do.  Columbus is part of our heritage, the symbol of the European discovery of this continent.  Whether you like him or not, it is unacceptable to allow vandals to deface that aspect of our history.

MICHELLE SPEAKS – FROM FOX:    Former First Lady Michelle Obama said that many people "don't trust politics" because the Republican Party is “all men, all white.”  Speaking about diversity at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women on Tuesday, Obama said it's important to bring in different people to get a broad range of perspectives on every issue.  She said the color and gender dichotomy in Congress was particularly noticeable when she attended State of the Union addresses.  "On one side of the room, it's literally gray and white. Literally, that's the color palette on one side of the room," Obama said. "On the other side of the room, there are yellows and blues and whites and greens. Physically, there’s a difference in color, in the tone. Because one side: all men, all white. On the other side: some women, some people of color.” The ignorance of those remarks is breathtaking.  There are prominent black Republicans, like Ben Carson, Condi Rice and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.  There are prominent Republican women, symbolized by Nikki Haley.  There are no tests for race, gender or ethnicity within the Republican Party, whereas the Democrats have an informal quota system. 

NFL HURTING – FROM HOT AIR:   Pretty soon, it could be NFL team owners on their knees begging TV viewers to come back.  Once again in Week 4 of the 2017 season, as players continued their sitting-kneeling protests against something, former fans silently exercised their right of free speech using TV remotes.  Despite the always insightful, candid commentary of Jon Gruden, this week’s Monday Night game on ESPN lost audience again. It was actually a pretty good game, by all accounts. After the 29-20 win, Kansas City remained the only unbeaten team at 4-0, while Washington fell to 2-2.  This game though drew 13% fewer viewers than last week. And the drop was worse — 16% — in the key demo that ad buyers covet.  The game drew 11.9 million viewers, down almost two million from last week.  The knee brigade should realize that it has lost.  Do whatever you want on your own time, but don't impose your politics when you're invited into the homes of sports viewers.

October 4, 2017       Permalink

TAX PLAN UPDATE – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:   Despite all the trauma of recent weeks, work is proceeding on a new U.S. tax system.  From CNBC: 

House Republicans are leaning toward setting a higher tax rate for wealthy Americans than the one outlined in the framework unveiled by the White House and GOP leadership last week.

That plan called for consolidating the current seven tax rates into just three — 12, 25 and 35 percent. However, it gave lawmakers the option of adding a fourth rate to ensure that high-income households do not receive the biggest benefits—and a senior Republican said they are "highly likely" to take it.

The Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal negotiations, said the precise rate has not been determined. But, the person said, it will not be higher than the current top rate of 39.6 percent.

Publicly, top Republicans in both chambers have pointed to the possibility of a fourth rate to deflect criticism that their tax plan primarily helps the wealthy. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah attacked a recent study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that found half of the tax benefits in the GOP proposal would accrue to the wealthy. Speaking at a hearing on Tuesday, Hatch said that no numbers have been finalized and called the report a "blank-filling exercise designed to cast the framework in the worst possible light."

"The framework does not include any specific information about things like the break points for the individual tax brackets, the value and indexing of the enhanced child tax credit, or the precise rate for the top bracket," Hatch said. "Without those and other key pieces of information, there is simply no way for any outside party to produce a credible analysis of the framework, let alone a detailed estimate of revenue and the distribution of tax burden."

House Speaker Paul Ryan last week said the goal of tax reform is to help the middle class—and suggested the fourth rate could play a key role in fulfilling that promise.

COMMENT:  At least the boys are at work.   We must have a new tax code.  First, the American people need it.  Second, it will be very important in keeping Republican control of Congress next year.  The Republicans might not be legislative stars right now, but the Democrats are beneath contempt – not even a political party, merely a set of interest groups ready to raid the Treasury.

October 4, 2017       Permalink

PANIC – AT 11:47 A.M. ET:   Will America have a new refugee crisis?  It's possible...and it may come from Puerto Rico.  From Bloomberg:

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello warned Tuesday that millions could flee the commonwealth for the U.S. mainland if sufficient aid doesn’t arrive soon to stem a crisis that’s been unfolding over the past two weeks...The governor told reporters in San Juan that some of the island’s 3.4 million residents were already leaving in search of better conditions. Most of the island remains without electricity, and about half of all residents still lack basic water services after Hurricane Maria.

Rossello said he couldn’t stop the short-term outflow of islanders, but said the exodus would continue without an effective aid package from Congress.

“You’re not going to get hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans moving to the states -- you’re going to get millions,” said Rossello, who briefly lost his voice at one point during the news conference, perhaps a sign of fatigue from the round-the-clock recovery effort. “You’re going to get millions, creating a devastating demographic shift for us here in Puerto Rico, a brain drain.”

A massive outflow on the order described by Rossello would have major implications for the economic and financial viability of the commonwealth. It could even have political ramifications as Puerto Ricans, with their leanings to the Democratic Party, move to places such as Florida in search of better conditions.

COMMENT:  Essentially, this is political blackmail, and little more.  Rossello knows that an outmigration of large numbers of Puerto Ricans to Florida would quickly flip the state into the Democratic column...permanently.  It could even have a profound effect on Texas and Louisiana. 

The blackmail will work.  Puerto Rico will get what it wants.  It was bankrupt before the hurricane, owing more than $70-billion, most of it to Wall Street banks.  Much of that will probably be forgiven, under White House pressure.  And Puerto Rico will go back to its corrupt ways.

October 4, 2017       Permalink

HUH? – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:  The Las Vegas killer's girlfriend is back on American soil, and has been interviewed, at least briefly, by the FBI.  The investigation into the massacre is still under the control of Las Vegas police, and they will be interviewing this "person of interest."  But already her family is talking.  From NBC News: 

The Las Vegas gunman bought his girlfriend a ticket to the Philippines and “sent her away” to spare her life, her distraught sisters said Wednesday.

Stephen Paddock bought Marilou Danley “a cheap ticket” to her home country two weeks before he opened fire on a country music concert on the Las Vegas Strip.

Investigators believe Danley, 62, who arrived back in the U.S. late Tuesday escorted by FBI agents, could fill in some of the blanks as to why Paddock assembled an arsenal of guns and killed 58 people.

Clark County, Nevada Sheriff Joe Lombardo described her as “a person of interest."

Her sisters, who live in Australia, believe she knew nothing of Paddock’s deadly intentions.

“She didn’t even know that she was going to the Philippines, until Steve said ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines,’” one of the sisters, who spoke on condition they not be identified, told NBC’s Australian partner, Channel 7.

“She was sent away," the woman said of Danley, "so that she will not be there to interfere with what he’s planning." She added that with her sister out of the country, Paddock could plan "without interruptions."

“In that sense I thank him for sparing my sister’s life, but that won’t be to compensate the 59 people’s lives," she said.

COMMENT:  I don't know.  Does that sound right to you?  How would these sisters know why she was sent away?  And why did she go?  Could he order her out of the country? 

We also know that Paddock wired her $100,000 when she was in the Philippines.  Why was that?  To tide her over and get her some premium ice cream?

This whole story doesn't add up.  The guy had a major arsenal.  Didn't Marilou ever see it?  Didn't she suspect anything? 

We await facts.  I'm not sure that's what we're getting.

October 4,  2017     Permalink