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OCTOBER 23,  2017

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

WHY ARE WE STILL HERE? – FROM THE INDEPENDENT:  Our universe shouldn't exist, scientists say.  The most elite scientists in the world are still struggling to find why exactly our universe didn't destroy itself as soon as it came into existence. That's what science says should have happened – but it clearly hasn't, since you're here reading this, as far as we know.  At the beginning of the universe, according to the standard model, there were equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. The trouble with that is that they would each have annihilated each other, leaving none of the matter that surrounds us today.  But if our universe didn't exist, we wouldn't have CNN.  Hmm.  Okay, blow it up.

WILL WE EVER LEARN? – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  The illegal immigrant whose case turned Massachusetts into a “sanctuary” state is behind bars yet again.  Police say he committed a stunning daylight robbery by taking a wheelchair-bound woman, slapping her and stealing the $2,000 she had just carried out of the bank.  Sreynuon Lunn had been free on the streets of Boston because his home country won’t take him back, leaving immigration officers no choice but to release him under a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.  His case gained headlines over the summer when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that state and local authorities could no longer legally hold immigrants for pickup by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Now ICE is trying to decide whether to try again to pick up and deport Lunn, even as he faces local charges from the latest robbery.  I always thought that the federal government controlled immigration policy.  Maybe I'm just old-school. 

POISONOUS ATMOSPHERE – FROM AOL:  A principal in Massachusetts has issued an apology after a mock tombstone for President Trump was displayed at a school Halloween event. “Our school, and this includes school events sponsored by related groups, is not the place for politics,“ Dr. Telena Imel wrote in a letter sent to the parents of students at West Parish Elementary. "In planning future events, it will be made clear to organizers that school is not the place to engage in or to display political agendas or opinions.”  We are getting more and more reports of anti-Trump hatred that is so great that it spills over into suggestions that something awful should happen to the president. 

October 23,  2017     Permalink 

IS THE "RUSSIA ISSUE" SUBJECT TO CHANGE? – AT 11:11:20 A.M. ET:   Have you noticed that the word "collusion" seems to be fading away?  From the Washington Examiner: 

Have you noticed? In recent public comments, the lawmakers investigating the Trump-Russia affair, along with some of the commentators who dissect its every development, seem to be focusing more on the facts of Russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 election and less on allegations that Donald Trump or his associates colluded with those efforts.

Some of that could be just an impression. But the fact is, the subjects that have dominated discussion of the Trump-Russia matter lately -- Facebook and other social media ads and the most recent update from Senate Intelligence Committee leaders Richard Burr and Mark Warner -- do not necessarily point toward collusion. Rather, more often than not, the latest talk points toward Russian "active measures," that is, the effort to disrupt the 2016 campaign.

Why the change?

"Because that's where the evidence is going," one lawmaker who follows the matter closely told me in a text exchange. "I mean, things could always change, but that observation is just the reality of the situation right now, as I see it."

"Because they've been spinning their wheels on something for which evidence has yet to emerge," said another lawmaker.

COMMENT:  Raises serious questions about how the mainstream media has handled this issue.  The media had Trump guilty before a single hearing was held or a single witness sworn.

Donald Trump may be his own worst enemy – he is – but the media can be its worst enemy as well.  If the press cannot be believed, the bad guys in government and industry get a pass.

October 23, 2017       Permalink

IT AIN'T JUST NUKES – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  We've been focusing on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.  They apparently are working on a broader canvas.  From The Sun: 

KIM Jong-un is feared to be secretly mass producing biological weapons to unleash nightmarish plagues on US troops, a report has found.

Under the cover of a farm lab, it is claimed North Korean chemists could be weaponising some the world’s deadliest diseases such as smallpox, Black Death and cholera which could lay waste to millions of people if an epidemic was sparked.

Radio Free Asia cited a report released by Belfer Centre of Harvard University’s Kennedy School, which says the rogue state already has biological weapons.

And it is feared that North Korea has the industrial facilities to mass produce them, flouting a UN ban on the doomsday weapons.

The chilling report states that the highly infectious diseases could be spread via a missile, drones, planes and sprayers. 

North Korea's 200,000 special forces could also unleash the bio-weapons.

The report states: “While nuclear programs can be monitored by the number of nuclear tests and the success of missile tests, weaponise and cultivating pathogens can stay invisible behind closed doors.

COMMENT:  Such a dangerous world, and our college students are seeking "safe spaces" on campuses, places where they're free from any idea with which they disagree.

We are not ready.

October 23, 2017       Permalink

COUNT ONE IN – AT 10:29 A.M. ET:  It's not too early to think about the 2020 presidential election.  The Republicans may have just gotten the first primary challenger to Donald Trump.  From Daily Mail:

Billionaire Mark Cuban has said that if he were to run for president in 2020, then he would run as a Republican and would therefore challenge the incumbent, Donald Trump, in the party's primary.

'I think there’s a place for somebody who is socially a centrist but I’m very fiscally conservative,' Cuban said in a Sunday night interview at his Dallas, Texas home with Fox News show 'OBJECTified'.

Cuban discussed with the show's host, Harvey Levin, how he fashions himself as 'fiercely independent' but would decide to run as a Republican under the United States two-party system.

'We’re going into an era where people want someone who comes up with solutions. I think we’re going into a time where you need somebody who can connect to people and relate to people at a base level and appreciate what they’re going through.

'And I think I qualify on each of those,' Cuban said.

The Dallas Mavericks owner also said that he is asked '100 times a day' whether or not he would run. He said that on a 1-10 scale of the likelihood of him running, he is currently at a '4'.

Sounds more like a six to me.

Cuban also discussed how he initially supported Donald Trump. He eventually endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Speaking of Trump, he said: 'I liked the fact that he was honest, outspoken, that he wasn't like I told him a Stepford candidate.'

In late September, Cuban said that Trump needs to be able to 'take the blowback' after criticizing the NFL and revoking a White House invitation to Golden State Warriors' star Stephen Curry.

'If the president's going to say something condemning a person, an industry, a sport, then he's got to be able to take the blowback that's going to come back,' Cuban told NBC News.

COMMENT:  I wonder if we'll see a trend toward businessmen and businesswomen running for the presidency.  I would not be surprised.

Of course, at this stage everything is speculation.  Donald Trump may not run again.  He may not be able to for some medical reason.  He might be an impeached president.  We might have another serious terror attack.  Who knows.

I don't see a particularly strong bench in either party. 

October 23,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 22,  2017

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

SUCH ENLIGHTENMENT – FROM DAILYWIRE:   The U.K. government blasted the United Nations for using the term "pregnant women" in a new version of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, claiming the term excludes transgender people who have given birth, and is therefore disrespectful.  The U.N. treaty, which has been in force since the mid-1970s, pledges that the international community will protect "pregnant women," and that signatory countries will make a particular commitment to providing for expectant mothers, including exempting them from the death penalty. The U.N. recently opened up the treaty for small changes that wouldn't impact the overall purpose of the pact.  If a "transgendered" person becomes pregnant, doesn't that make the person automatically female?  Did I skip something in school?

THE HILLARY CORPORATION – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  Hillary Clinton is returning to the campaign trail Sunday in New Jersey where wealthy fans can pay $4,300 for a photo with the former first lady.  Clinton will be stumping for Phil Murphy, the Democratic candidate for governor, at an event closed to the press, with actress Whoopi Goldberg also expected to attend.  General admission tickets, for those uninterested in a photo, cost $1,000, according to an invitation reported by NJ Advance Media.  Republican candidate Kim Guadagno is taking aim at the fact that Clinton will be speaking behind closed doors.  "We've called on Phil Murphy to release a full transcript of Hillary Clinton's speech given behind closed doors to high dollar donors. What's he hiding?" Guadagno's campaign said in a statement.  Of course I have my checkbook out already.  I'll send a dollar.

A HINT? – FROM ESPN:  The debate over NFL player protests during the national anthem has become so big within the league that it has delayed the completion of commissioner Roger Goodell's contract extension, league sources told ESPN.  Goodell's deal is still expected to be completed and has been papered, sources told ESPN, but the process has been slowed while the overwhelming majority of the NFL's attention has been diverted to handling the anthem issue, which has affected TV ratings, merchandise sales and the country's feelings about football.  I just don't think Goodell has been very effective for the NFL during this dispute.  Maybe the contract should be held up a bit longer, or a lot longer, until the audience and advertising losses stop.

October 22,  2017     Permalink

TRUTH TELLING – AT 11:56 A.M. ET:   We all know that the Democratic Party is veering sharply to the left, forced by its constituent groups and its allies in the academic world.  But rarely have I seen the shift described more bluntly, and in such clear context, as in this, from the College Fix: 

Rafael Dagnesses was born in Cuba in 1965, and fled the communist country as a young boy with his family after Fidel Castro executed many of his adopted grandfather’s military comrades.

Dagnesses, who has some experience recognizing communism when he sees it, told a room full of College Republicans recently that when he looks at the Democrat Party, he sees socialism and communism.

“I don’t want the Democrat Party to disappear,” said Dagnesses, a Republican who has twice run unsuccessfully for Congress in recent years.

“Balance is good,” he said, “but the Democrat party no longer exists. Rational, middle of the road Democrats have been hijacked by the leftist, socialist, communist movement.”

Dagnesses made the comments as the keynote speaker at a Bruin Republicans meeting at UCLA on Wednesday.

“I don’t quote books,” Dagnesses, a Marine veteran and former police officer, told the students. “I quote reality.”

COMMENT:  He's saying what a lot of people are thinking.  There was an attempt by the far left to take over the Democratic Party in the late forties.  It was rebuffed, thanks to a coalition led by Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt.  The same crowd, or their kids, made a much more successful attempt in the late sixties.  It's been downhill from there.

October 22, 2017        Permalink

CONDEMNED BY HER OWN – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:   Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC left-wing host, has had a hot streak.  She sometimes even beats her Fox opponents in the ratings.  But now she has apparently gone too far even for her comrades, the proper word, at her political fringe.  From Fox: 

MSNBC star Rachel Maddow’s latest anti-Trump conspiracy theory was so outlandish that even the dependably liberal HuffPost criticized it as "so flimsy that it could be debunked by a quick glance at a map."

On Thursday evening, "The Rachel Maddow Show" opened with a somber 25-minute diatribe that attempted to connect the tragic ambush attack that killed four American soldiers in Niger to the latest version of President Trump’s proposed travel ban, which included the nation of Chad.

Maddow essentially claimed that the inclusion of Chad, which recently pulled its troops out of Niger, in the revised travel ban resulted in extremist attacks such as the one that left four Americans dead.

The HuffPost, which is so anti-Trump that it refused to even cover him in the political section during the early stages of his campaign, published a story headlined, "What the hell was this Rachel Maddow segment?" The MSNBC host proclaimed that Chad’s pullout from Niger "had an immediate effect in emboldening ISIS attacks," but the HuffPost easily shot down her theory.

Colby College Department of Government assistant professor Laura Seay told the HuffPost that "any expert" would have said Maddow's conspiracy theory was "crazy" and the pullout of Chadian troops isn’t necessarily related to the Trump’s travel ban.

"Everybody that I know is appalled by this. I would like to think that Maddow's researchers are more responsible," Seay told the HuffPost.

COMMENT:   Quick success can bring sloppiness and a sense of invulnerability.  Quick success can also breed jealousy in competitors.  Watch it, Rachel.  You're in the danger zone, and mistakes are not tolerated.

October 22, 2017       Permalink

WONDERFULLY SAID – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:47 A.M. ET:  It was shocking this week to see the vicious liberal attacks on General John Kelly, the president's chief of staff.  He is a retired four-star Marine general, whose own son was killed in action in Afghanistan.   Yet, no respect was shown by the liberals, who accused Kelly of everything from lying to, of course, racism.  Michael Goodwin of the New York Post nails it: 

Brian Fallon, a CNN contributor and former Clinton flack, put out an appalling tweet that said in part: “Kelly isn’t just an ­enabler of Trump. He’s a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest.”

Others piled on, though it would be hard to top the view of a writer for The New Yorker. Under the headline, “John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup,” Masha Gessen declared that his remarks “could serve as a preview of what a military coup in this country would look like.”
Wow, I must be slipping. How did I miss a military coup?

Gessen’s evidence includes Kelly’s lionizing of soldiers who died for America, and his decision to take questions only from journalists who had a personal connection to a fallen soldier or knew a Gold Star family.

Gessen called this “a loyalty test,” and was especially outraged that Kelly ended by saying, “We don’t look down upon those of you who haven’t served. In fact, in a way we are a little bit sorry because you’ll have never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our servicemen and women do — not for any other reason than that they love this country.”

I must be wrong again because I believe Kelly is absolutely right. I believe those of us who never served in the military have missed something essential about America.

We’ve never committed ourselves to defending our country and all it stands for. We’ve never felt the deep bonds created by sharing that commitment with others, and have never been willing to die so that others might live in freedom.

Overall, it is a very good thing that America has a volunteer army, with military leaders happier to have those who enlisted rather than those who were compelled. Yet the lack of broad military service explains some of the disconnect between the ­media and the military.

For those on the outside, then, humility is required, but that’s only part of it. Most important is gratitude for those extraordinary men and women who, knowing the risks, choose to serve.
In that spirit, I thank Gen. Kelly for his valor on the battlefield and at home. That some refuse to hear him, or worse, insult him, is their everlasting shame.

COMMENT:  The decline of the press is a major danger to America.  A profession that can save a country, and a free press can, is also a profession that can destroy it.  The press, and its close allies in the academic world, are aiding in the destruction of what is best about America.  They don't care, and some may not even realize it.  But they will someday miss the nation they are tearing down.

October 22,  2017     Permalink