Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

SEPTEMBER 27,  2016

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

COMEY ADMITS – FROM BREITBART:   FBI director James Comey conceded that he is a “deeply flawed” person who failed to stop some terrorist attacks before they happened. Comey made the admission while being interrogated Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.  Comey faced pointed questions about recent terrorist shootings and bombings in the United States and about his failure to recommend indictment for Hillary Clinton in her private server scandal. Comey is under fire in the public for these failures, with Breitbart News recently reporting on his financial links to the Clinton Foundation.  Comey has enjoyed an enviable reputation as an honest, incorruptible public servant.  Sadly, that reputation has been damaged recently, but one wonders whether the damage came from Comey's own misjudgments, from pressure from the Obama administration, or both.  Another blow to his image would probably make it impossible for him to remain.

ABSURD – FROM BREITBART:   A United Nations-affiliated group in Geneva is calling for the U.S. to give African Americans reparations for the country’s history of slavery, according to a recent report by the group.  The group’s statement was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a group that reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights, The Washington Post reported.  The group of experts, made up of leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings about the link between the U.S.’s history of slavery and present injustices, such as the recent police shootings of African Americans to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday.  This is ridiculous, as the U.S. has had generous social-service programs for African Americans for generations.  It's standard UN left-wing stuff, but it will resonate on the American left as well, and among race hustlers.  Traditionally, reparations programs provide for direct victims or their immediate survivors. 

FOOLISHNESS – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:    President Obama nominated Jeffrey DeLaurentis on Tuesday to be the first United States ambassador to Cuba in over five decades.  DeLaurentis is a career diplomat who would be the first American ambassador to the communist island in 55 years, Yahoo News reported. He is no stranger to working with the Cuban government, serving as the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Havana since August 2014 to help normalize relations between the two countries. DeLaurentis also worked with Havana in two former jobs he held at the State Department.  Confirming DeLaurentis will likely prove to be difficult. A simple majority of the Senate must confirm a president’s nominee, but a single lawmaker can impose an anonymous hold to delay the process. The White House faces an uphill battle as many Senate Republicans who are against normalizing relations with Cuba have threatened to vote down any pick Obama may put forward.  Obama became the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years when he traveled there earlier this year.  The political prisoners in Cuba could not be reached for comment.

September 27,  2016     Permalink

CRIME SURGES – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  Despite what the Obamans say, violent crime is on the rise.  The FBI said yesterday that murder is up 11% nationwide.  We feel it around us.  A fine analysis was presented by IBD: 

War On Cops: The number of violent crimes jumped last year by 4%, a sad indictment of eight years of President Obama's policing and prison-sentencing "reforms" and further bolstering the argument that the so-called "Ferguson Effect" is largely to blame for the upsurge in criminal violence.

If you don't think this rise in violent crime, especially murder, is strange, consider this: While violent crime is soaring — murder and manslaughter in 2015 rose almost 11% from a year earlier — property crimes fell 2.6%, marking the 13th-straight year of decline, according to the latest crime report by the FBI.

That divergence between violent crimes and property crimes comes after eight years of President Obama suggesting that our criminal justice system — from street-level police to our courts to our jails and prisons — is just too hard on criminals.

Worse, over his two terms, Obama has joined with the left-leaning media and progressive intelligentsia to poo-pooh the notion that letting violent criminals out of prison, pulling back from aggressive, "broken-window" policing, and pushing a false narrative that police are engaged in a "war" on young black men have any impact on crime.

The result of this denial, sadly and predictably, has been more crime.

As the data show, the long, steady decline in violent crime rates that took place in the 1990s and into the 2000s has ended. The nation today is increasingly violent and racially divided, in large part thanks to Obama's refusal to rebuke rioters in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore or, most recently, Charlotte, N.C.

This refusal has made it much harder for police to do their jobs, turning what once were routine police contacts in minority neighborhoods into highly fraught confrontations that can turn violent in an instant — and often do. Police are pulling back from aggressive crime control in troubled areas, letting criminals, many freshly out of prison, take advantage of the lack of police presence to commit crimes — most often, with minority citizens as their victims.

Meanwhile, Obama, along with liberal officials at the state level, has promulgated sentencing reforms that led to 400,000 felons being released from state and federal prisons from 2009 to 2014. This has only added fuel to the fire.

COMMENT:  Both Obama and Hillary Clinton live in the 1960s.  Ah, wasn't it a time?  Sure it was:  High crime, low standards, the turning of the nation's back on its greatest generation.

And we may get four more years of it.

September 27, 2016       Permalink 

AND THE POLLS – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Tough to tell because we don't know the methodology of all the polls, but Trump, to my surprise, seems to have the edge.   From London's Daily Mail, which does excellent political reporting on the United States: 

CNN awarded Hillary Clinton an overwhelming victory in the first presidential debate - but most snap polls show Trump emerged victorious.

Trump and Clinton tangled over the economy, her use of a private mail server and his unwillingness to release his income tax returns on Monday night.

They engaged in a vigorous back-and-forth on the debate stage at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, as polls showed them locked in a tight race.

However, after the debate's end, polls conducted by a number of media websites showed their readers felt the real estate mogul came out on top.

Trump acknowledged the result, tweeting: 'Wow, did great in the debate polls (except for @CNN - which I don't watch). Thank you!'

CNN/ORC's snap poll, gave Clinton the win with 62 per cent to Trump's 27.

It was the biggest, and fastest, exercise conducted by an opinion polling firm.

The poll of 521 registered voters who watched the debate was a sample which the network warned leaned more Democratic than the average - starting the night with Clinton ahead 26 per cent among the sample.

And while it handed the victory overwhelmingly to Clinton, it was more mixed on whether the debate will make a difference, with 47 per cent saying it would not affect their vote, 34 per cent saying it moved them towards Clinton - and 18 per cent towards Trump.

Online polls carried out afterwards gave a different outcome - handing the title to Trump.
Such polls are self-selecting, and more likely to pick up the views of those who vote, although CNN's study also reflected a similar bias.

COMMENT:  The real tracking polls will start to show reaction to the debate in a day or so.  Those are the ones to watch. 

September 27, 2016       Permalink

THE DEBATE – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  I don't care.  The only thing important about that debate is who won. 

My own sense is that Hillary got the better of it – better prepared, better poised, more skillful, even marginally likeable.  But a voter watching might not agree.  Let's see what the polls say.

Mitt Romney handily defeated Barack Obama, an incumbent president, in the first debate of the 2012 campaign, but Obama came back swinging in the next outing and won the election.

Some say presidential debates don't matter, but they do.   They can provide reassurance that a candidate about whom doubts have been raised is really up to the job, and actually the best in the race.  John F. Kennedy came into the first ever televised presidential debate in 1960 with the image of a young, unready office seeker.  But, in the view of those watching, he bested Vice President Richard M. Nixon and substantially advanced his cause.  (Those who listened on radio thought Nixon won.)  In 1980, Ronald Reagan, defined by a hostile press as a warmed-over movie actor, overwhelmed incumbent small-timer Jimmy Carter and dramatically helped his successful run for the Oval Office. 

I don't think Donald Trump helped himself last night.  He reminded me of a telegram sent by the playwright George S. Kaufman to an actor:  “Am in the rear of the theater watching your performance. Wish you were here.”

September 27,  2016     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 26,  2016

UPDATE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET:  I've yet to see or read a relatively objective observer who thought Trump won the debate.  I will stick by my earlier belief that a small advantage went to Clinton, primarily because of style and appearance.  She actually came off as somewhat likeable, whereas Trump wore a constant sneer.  Television is a cool medium, and sneering doesn't usually work because it isn't attractive.  I'll be looking for more reactions, and new polls.  I certainly don't think Trump was destroyed, but I think his momentum was slowed or stopped.  Bottom line:  It was hard to like him as a man.

September 26, 2016       Permalink

SMALL ADVANTAGE TO CLINTON – AT 11:30 P.M. ET:  What I do after a debate, aside from pondering my own reaction, is check a number of reactions across the internet.  The overall impression I'm getting, and I agree, is this:  On style, demeanor, "presidential image" and preparation, the ribbon goes to Clinton.  She was ready, she was poised, she had great hair and makeup, and she remembered to moderate a voice that is periodically out of control.  Trump was not terrible, but seemed agitated, a bit sneering, and not exactly the picture of a wise, thoughtful president.  It was that good image he should have gone for, and he didn't bother.

On substance, Clinton knew more, but what she knew wasn't always accurate.  Murder is up in New York, and members of her campaign team were active in promoting a kind of birtherism against Obama in 2008.  Iran was not weeks away from a nuclear weapon when she heroically stepped in to organize an anti-Iran coalition.  Problem is, she sounded more informed than Trump.

On balance I'd give a small victory to Clinton, but enough of one to put an election away.  People who were for Trump will still be for Trump.  People who will be for Clinton will still be for Clinton.  I think some independents might tilt more toward Clinton than before, and I think she might have pulled back some voters who were drifting toward a third-party candidate.

Both candidates failed in what they had to do to land a knockout:   Trump did not cut the image of a president, and Clinton could not show that she would actually improve the country.

BULLETIN:  First poll just out, from CNN, held, by about a 2 to 1 margin, that Clinton won.   Of course, CNN watchers are probably mostly Democrats.  We'll wait for other polls.

September 26, 2016       Permalink

It's 8:58 P.M. ET, and Abbott and Costello are about to debate.  I'll be back after the event with a report on reactions.  During the event I pledge to try hard to pay attention, and not let my mind drift to more important things, like the latest sale at the Container Store.  Remember, there are only two things about a presidential debate that are important – who wins and how biased the questions are.  We're not talking Lincoln and Douglas here.

HOUSTON UPDATE AT 10:55 A.M. ET:  FROM CNN: 

The suspect in a shooting in southwest Houston was pronounced dead after a shootout with police, Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo told reporters.

The police chief declined to release the suspect's identity, but told reporters "he is a lawyer and there were issues concerning his law firm."

Nine people were injured in the shooting, Montalvo said. Of those injured, three people were treated and released and six are hospitalized. One person is in critical condition and one person is in serious condition, she said.

COMMENT:  A lawyer?   Very sad, and very intriguing.

September 26, 2016       Permalink

ANOTHER NUT? – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  Bernie Sanders has a clone, or a brother, or something, and he may get to the British parliament.   From the Times of Israel: 

Larry Sanders, 81, is running as the Green Party candidate, for the seat being vacated by former Prime Minister David Cameron, who has held the seat for the Witney constituency in Oxfordshire in southern England since 2001.

Cameron resigned as prime minister in July, and announced earlier this month that he would leave parliament as well.

The election is scheduled for October 20. The main issue of his campaign is expected to be privatizing Britain’s national health care service.

Larry Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, has lived in Oxford, England since 1969, and taught at Oxford University in the department of social administration.

He was active in politics in the Labour Party, which he left in 2001 saying it had moved too far to the right. He then joined the Green Party. He currently serves as health spokesperson for the party.

The Labour Party was too far to the right?  He's as nutty as his brother.

Larry Sanders was a delegate to this year’s Democratic National Convention representing Democrats Abroad, where he spoke about his brother and cast his vote for him.

COMMENT:  This too shall pass.

September 26, 2016       Permalink

MAJOR SHOOTING INCIDENT – THIS TIME HOUSTON – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:   Only days after the mall shooting in Washington state, there's a new one in Houston.  From Fox: 

Six people were injured when a shooter opened fire at a southwest Houston shopping center on Monday morning, police and fire officials said.

The suspected shooter “has been shot by our officers,” Houston Police said in a tweet. “No reports of other suspects at this time.”

Those who were shot were being transported to area hospitals, the HPD tweeted.

A fire official said some people were shot while inside their cars and the conditions of those wounded was varied. Several people were hit with glass fragments from shattering car windows.

"We have several with extremity injuries," an official told reporters. "We have a couple that are more serious."

And...

Police scanners reported at 6:30 a.m. that a male suspect was firing on vehicles with a revolver, according to ABC13.

A Houston Police Department bomb squad was at the site of the shootings after a suspicious vehicle, believed to belong to the suspected shooter, was discovered ABC13 reported.

The shooting comes days after a shooting at a Washington state mall that left five people dead. On Sept. 17, a 20-year-old man stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer.

COMMENT:  No word on the identity of the alleged assailant.  Strange.  He's been down for a while, but maybe he doesn't have a name.  Or wants to choose a new one.  However, we must try to understand the socio-economic factors that led him to this act, especially the influence of capitalism and Israeli settlements. 

We'll let you know.

September 26,  2016     Permalink

LAST-MINUTE, PRE-DEBATE POLL – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Last-minute polling confirms a Trump surge in recent days, leading to a tied race.  From The Hill: 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are in a tight race nationally, according to a new Bloomberg Politics poll.

In a head-to-head matchup, both candidates are favored by 46 percent of likely voters, according to the poll.

The race has tightened since August, when Clinton had a 6-point lead over Trump.

When third-party candidates are included, Trump has a 2-point lead over the Democratic nominee, 43 to 41 percent.

Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson has the support of 8 percent of likely voters and Green Party nominee Jill Stein is backed by 4 percent.

Pollsters found that Clinton leads Trump by 13 points among female likely voters, 52 to 39 percent. The Democratic nominee also has a lead over her Republican rival among likely voters under 35, 50 to 40 percent.

The poll also shows that 49 percent of voters think Clinton will perform better in Monday night's first presidential debate and 39 percent think Trump will do better.

More than 70 percent of respondents think Clinton's truthfulness is "just fair" or "poor." More than 60 percent say the same of Trump.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 21 to 24 among 1,002 likely voters. The margin of error is 3.1 percent.

COMMENT:  Isn't it hilarious how the writer of the story managed to insert areas where Clinton leads, although the poll shows a tied race?  Isn't Trump leading anywhere?  How did we get the tie?  Are the batteries in the calculator dead?  Good deal on batteries at Staples this week.  Go now.

September 26,  2016    Permalink

SEPTEMBER 25,  2016

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

GOOD WORDS FROM DALLAS –  From Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who called a meeting with all of his coaches, players and field staff and firmly told them, "You are all simply paid performers on a stage and that field is my stage! You will stand, with your hand over your heart and with respect, when our country's national anthem is being played or you will no longer be a Dallas Cowboy, a coach for the Dallas Cowboys or have any association with the Dallas Cowboy Organization! I will immediately fire you, no matter who you are!"  Seems reasonable to me.  There's an old American saying:  "Your rights end where my nose begins."  A player, as a citizen, has a right to protest under the First Amendment, on his own time.  It is doubtful he retains that right when putting on a uniform and occupying space on a team's field.  No one has a right to come into your home and stage a political demonstration.

NO CLASS – FROM FOX:   Three Walmart workers in McDonough, Ga., refused to decorate a “thin blue line” cake for a police officer’s retirement party because they said it was racist.  A number of my Georgia readers alerted me to the story and on Saturday night I spoke directly with the police officer’s daughter. She asked that I not divulge her name and I’ve agreed to do that. “I was so shocked,” she told me. “I didn’t know what to do or say or anything. I was trying not to lose my temper or make a scene.”  For the record, Walmart has confessed that most of her allegations are true.  Next time these cake decorators are in danger, let them call a pastry chef to save them.  They should be dismissed immediately. 

NO GUN CONTROL – FROM FOX:   Authorities in Southern California have had more than 300 weapons lost or stolen over the last five years.  The Orange County Register reported Sunday that an investigation of 134 state and local police agencies from Kern County to the Mexican border showed 329 firearms were lost or stolen and some were involved in crimes.  Some of the lost weapons include Glocks, Sig Sauers, Remington shotguns, rifles and even grenade launchers. The paper reported that officers have treated their weapons in a reckless manner. High-caliber firearms were stowed in backpacks and gym bags, while handguns were hidden in center consoles.  According to the Register, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported that at least 103 of the agency’s 20,000 guns were lost or stolen over the last five years. Is this poor training, poor discipline, or is there some group (or groups) targeting police departments?  I'd like to know how many of these weapons are used in crimes.

September 25, 2016       Permalink

WILL PENNSYLVANIA DECIDE IT? – AT 12:50 P.M. ET:  Some pundits look to Pennsylvania as perhaps the decisive state in the presidential election.  And Trump is gaining.  From The Hill:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump has narrowed to 3 points in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to a new poll.

Clinton leads Trump, 44 percent to 41 percent, in the Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll released late Saturday.

One week ago, Clinton had a 9-point advantage in that poll, 47 percent to 38 percent.

Clinton’s lead in a four-way matchup is now 2 points, 40 percent to 38 percent, pollsters found. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson has fallen to 8 percent support, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein has 3 percent.

Trump saw a jump in support from his own party in the new poll, with 85 percent of likely Republican voters in Pennsylvania saying they’d pick him instead of Clinton. That’s up from 71 percent in the last poll.

COMMENT:  It has to be the Charlotte riots and Trump's firm law-and-order stand that is producing these new numbers. 

If Trump can capture Pennsylvania, it's hard to see Clinton winning the election.  Pennsy is a "must" state for her.

September 25, 2016       Permalink

THE TRUTH STARTS COMING OUT – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Have you noticed how, after every mass attack, the "authorities" try to assure us that there's no evidence pointing to terrorism?  It's part of the politically correct culture of our time.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.   But the truth then starts to come out.  From the New York Post:   

The alleged New Jersey terrorist charged with trying to blow up Chelsea last weekend with homemade bombs spent weeks getting an “Islamic education” at a Pakistani seminary, according to a report.

Ahman Khan Rahami spent three weeks in Kuchlak, an area described as a longtime “hub” for the Taliban, in 2011, a security official inside the country told the Guardian.

Rahami, 28, attended lectures at the Kaan Kuwa Naqshbandi madrasa.

US authorities have been tight-lipped with details of Rahami’s trips to Pakistan, acknowledging he was married during a visit to Quetta.

Security agencies inside Pakistan have tried to “hide all details” of his visits to Quetta, one anonymous official told the Guardian.

Rahami also visited Surkhab and Nushki, where a US drone killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in May.  

COMMENT:  I'm sure he was studying to be a hairdresser.  Why, what could be more logical?  And everyone knows that Pakistan is the world center for hairdressing education.  Choke.

And now we have the latest mall shooting – five dead – in the state of Washington.  We learn that the alleged shooter is from Turkey.  Of course, we must not condemn all turkeys, or Turks, or Muslims, or whatever.  I want to know more.  Why do I think I know where this is going.  These things always seem to go in the same direction.

September 25, 2016       Permalink

AS HIGH NOON APPROACHES – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  The first debate is a day away, and the race is getting tighter.  Several polls now suggest that Donald Trump is regaining the momentum after dropping the ball a few weeks ago by once again bringing up the Obama birthplace issue.  From the Morning Consult:

Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 1 percentage point among likely voters who were polled a few days ahead of the much-anticipated debate between the two presidential candidates. The debate will take place Monday evening.

The ratings for the televised matchup between the two candidates are expected to be at record highs. Two-thirds of registered voters say they expect to watch the debate, with 41 percent saying they are “very likely” to watch it.

In a nationwide poll of 1,712 likely voters taken Sept. 22 through Sept. 24, 39 percent of respondents chose Trump, while while Clinton was the choice for 38 percent. The difference between the two candidates is within the margin of error. The other candidates in the race continue to trail behind the leaders, with Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson at 9 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 4 percent; 10 percent of respondents say they don’t know or have no opinion.

In a head-to-head matchup without the third-party candidates, Clinton edges out Trump by 2 points among likely voters, 44 percent to 42 percent, within the margin of error.

COMMENT:  A new Washington Post poll, just out, also shows an exceptionally tight race.  I'm not sure what may have caused this new Trump surge.  Maybe it's Hillary's own weakness.  Maybe it's resentment at the viciousness of the attacks on Trump.  Maybe it's the rioting in Charlotte and the terrorist attacks in New York and New Jersey.

We'll be watching the TV rumble tomorrow night.

September 25,  2016    Permalink