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SEPTEMBER 5,  2017

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

CHICAGO'S TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday assured incoming high schoolers that they need not to worry about President Trump ending the “Dreamers” program, saying Chicago Public Schools are a “Trump-free” sanctuary for young illegal immigrants.  “To all the Dreamers that are here in this room and in the city of Chicago: You are welcome in the city of Chicago. This is your home. And you have nothing to worry about,” Mr. Emanuel told a group of freshman on the first day of classes at Solorio Academy High School, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.  “Chicago, our schools, our neighborhoods, our city, as it relates to what President Trump said, will be a Trump-free zone. You have nothing to worry about,” Mr. Emanuel said. “And I want you to know this, and I want your families to know this. And rest assured, I want you to come to school … and pursue your dreams.”   Maybe the mayor can figure out a way to get these kids to school safely.  I guess that doesn't count for much in Rahm Emanuel's backyard.

KIND OF RUNS IN THE FAMILY – FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:  Hillary Clinton said that the email her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Bill Shillady, sent her on the morning after she lost the 2016 presidential election helped her heal from her devastating defeat.  It wasn’t until months later, when Shillady published that email in a book, that it came to light that he had plagiarized the words that so moved the candidate.  Now, less than a month after the book’s publication, the publishing house that printed it says it is pulling the book off the shelves because it’s riddled with plagiarism.  “Abingdon Press initiated an extensive review of the book and was alarmed to discover other content unattributed by the author. Abingdon Press has zero tolerance for plagiarism,” the Rev. Brian K. Milford, the president of the publishing company, said in a statement. “Consequently, we have discontinued sales, will remove existing copies from all sales outlets, and will have them destroyed along with our existing inventory.”  The Clintons sure know how to pick 'em.

GOOD MOVE – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:  The Pentagon said Tuesday that was putting two U.S. Navy ships staffed with Marines on standby to help FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.  Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis “approved the use of USS Kearsarge and USS Oak Hill along with the Marine Corps to support FEMA response operations for Hurricane Irma,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Heather Babb.   Terrific.  Let Americans see the capabilities of the armed forces up close.  We have a gap in America between military and civilian, and it is dangerous in a democracy.  The people must feel that the military is part of them, not a class apart. 

September 5, 2017       Permalink

DEMOCRATIC DILEMMA – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:   It's that nasty corruption thing again.  And, ironically, the current target is one of the more mature and rational Democrats in the Senate.  From the Washington Times: 

As Sen. Robert Menendez prepares to face corruption charges, Republicans are confident and Democrats fearful that the taint of a weekslong trial will snare other prominent Democrats in New Jersey and Washington.

The trial kicks off Wednesday in New Jersey, where the 11-year incumbent senator is accused of using his office to try to assist and protect a longtime friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen, in disputes with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

One high-profile Democrat already has been caught in the backwash. Former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who retired last year, was fingered as trying to help Mr. Menendez in his efforts to derail a federal probe of Melgen.

“Who knows who else will be implicated, but it’s clear now that the corruption extended beyond Menendez’s office,” said Michael Ahrens, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “It’s just as stunning that no Senate Democrat has said Menendez should resign immediately if convicted.”

Mr. Menendez had asked the judge to allow him to skip out on the trial so he could be in Washington for upcoming votes. The judge rejected his request, saying he is no different from any other worker whose schedule is set by others but who has to be in court to face prosecutors.

In a detailed statement last week, those prosecutors outlined the case against Mr. Menendez, whom they indicted in 2015 on accusations of taking roughly $1 million in gifts — including airplane flights and stays at lavish resorts and hotels frequented by Hollywood A-listers such as George Clooney and Beyonce — in exchange for political favors for Melgen.

COMMENT:  There are also rumblings in Washington that the probes into the Trump campaign's alleged "collusion" with Russia are falling short, and that the people who have the real problems are the Democrats, whose emails wound up in strange hands and whose national chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, employed, along with other Democratic members of the House, some odd chaps of Pakistani background who are currently under investigation.  They handled sensitive information technology.

Nothing to see, nothing to see.  Let's move on to Melania's Stilettos.

September 5, 2017       Permalink

ANOTHER WARM GREETING FROM NORTH KOREA – AND EUROPE STARTS TO WORRY – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:   News reports say that the Norks are preparing for a new, imminent test of another ICBM.  And their "diplomats" aren't trying to be very diplomatic about their policies.  From Fox: 

North Korea vowed Tuesday to send more of its sinister “gift packages” to the U.S. -- similar to the Hermit Kingdom's recent nuclear test -- as the French defense minister warned of the rogue nation’s missiles reaching Europe sooner than expected.

Han Tae Song, the ambassador of North Korea to the U.N. in Geneva, said at the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament that Sunday’s supposed hydrogen bomb test was “addressed to none other than the U.S,” Reuters reported.

"The U.S. will receive more gift packages from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK," Han said.

And even the Europeans are starting to worry:

French defense minister Florence Parly said Europe could also face North Korea’s wrath sooner than expected, according to Reuters. North Korea test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile in July, following a series of other missile launches earlier this year. 

“The scenario of an escalation towards a major conflict cannot be discarded,” Parly said during a speech to the French military. “Europe risks being within range of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un’s missiles sooner than expected.”

COMMENT:  I'd imagine that Trump, or, more probably, Secretary Tillerson, is asking for public European support in our confrontation with North Korea.  We will get it from some countries, primarily Britain.  The statement by the French defense minister is welcome.  I'd like to hear from Germany.

Israel has of course announced its support.  Arab countries?  We have Arab allies.  They must speak out.

The North Korean story is developing day by day.  It will not soon end.

September 5, 2017       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT RISES – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  It's the day after Labor Day, which means the start of a new political season.  As we've noted here, this one is likely to be angry, bitter, and explosive.  The next four months will be crucial, as the president tries to get his majorities in Congress actually to do something to advance the administration's agenda.

The president himself seems to be rising.  The first Rasmussen poll published after the Labor Day holiday shows him gaining about three points over last week.  From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.
The latest figures include 28% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 44% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16.

That's actually not bad.  Obama, who could do no wrong according to most of the mainstream media, hovered in the mid-forties during most of his tenure.  But Rasmussen still warns: 

While his daily job performance rating is improving this week, the president’s monthly performance rating for August dipped slightly from July. 

COMMENT:  That is because the president has a tendency to step all over his accomplishments with a foolish statement or action.  We hope that's now been curtailed under the influence of Gen. John Kelly, his new chief of staff.  We will soon know.

But I do think we're seen, in the last few weeks, a more confident Trump, especially in his handling of Hurricane Harvey.  He did the right things, he said the right things, and his administration responded well.  He has also reacted, with complete appropriateness, to the rising North Korean threat, a situation that may well define the foreign policy of his presidency.

Now he must work to get that key legislation passed – especially a tax cut for the American people.  I somehow have reasonable hope that he and Congress will pull it off, primarily because the whole House and a third of the Senate are up for re-election a year from now.

September 5,  2017     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 4,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

IRMA ON THE WAY – FROM FOX:  Florida Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in the state as rapidly growing Hurricane Irma, now a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall later this week.  The state of emergency has been issued for all of Florida’s 67 counties. Scott said that the state would “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” as Irma is expected to hit the state around Friday.  The governor tweeted Monday that he urges "all Floridians to remain vigilant and stay alert to local weather and news and visit FLGetAPlan.com today to get prepared."  CNN will no doubt blame President Trump for the storm, and suggest that he dreamed it up with Putin.

JAPAN PREPARES – FROM NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW:  TOKYO -- As tensions on the Korean Peninsula reach new heights with Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, Japan is planning for a possible mass evacuation of the nearly 60,000 Japanese citizens currently living in or visiting South Korea.  "There is a possibility of further provocations," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a Monday meeting with ruling coalition lawmakers. "We need to remain extremely vigilant and do everything we can to ensure the safety of our people."  In response to North Korea's sixth nuclear test, Japan and the U.S. seek to ratchet up economic pressure on the rogue state through an oil embargo and other measures. But U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday also said any threat to the U.S. or its allies "will be met with a massive military response -- a response both effective and overwhelming."  An unpredictable situation.  No one knows exactly what is in the North Korean leader's mind.  Don't be shocked, should tensions rise more, to see anti-American and pro-North Korean demonstrations on some American college campuses.  Extra credit will be given.

NO MORE STRANGE VOICES? – FROM BUSINESS TIMES:  [PARIS] Scientists have pinpointed a part of the brain where "voices" torment schizophrenia sufferers, and partially muted them with magnetic pulse treatment, a team reported on Tuesday.  More than a third of sufferers treated with magnetic pulses in a patient trial experienced "significant" relief, the scientists said in a statement.  "We can now say with some certainty that we have found a specific anatomical area of the brain associated with auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia," the team said.  "Secondly, we have shown that treatment with high frequency TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) makes a difference to at least some sufferers."  This will be great news for certain Washington politicians, network executives and college professors. 

September 4, 2017       Permalink

MARVELOUS – QUOTE OF THE DAY –  AT 11:35 A.M. ET:  A relative newcomer to Texas talks about the state.   From the Austin American-Statesman: 

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned as an outsider looking in, it’s that there’s a sense of purpose to these people like I’ve never seen. A central passion runs through Texans unlike any other American identity. Pride percolates here. It’s something people who aren’t from Texas just can’t grasp. We may have a docile sense of civic pride for our hometowns, but nothing like this state demands of its residents.

The Texas flag flies as high as the American flag, while the state Capitol is just a smidge taller than the U.S. Capitol, because – Texas. There are Texas flags on everything. And folks all over this huge collection of miles expect a reverential obsession from those who choose to take up this address, if only for a while.

That sense of purpose and absolute unwillingness to bend in their pride is why Texas will only become stronger in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's terrific.  We're all in favor of flag-waving here, as long as it's a good flag.

September 4, 2017       Permalink

NIKKI ON NORTH KOREA – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  Our superlative UN ambassador lays it on the line before the "international community."  I wish we had a hundred Nikkis in the State Department:  From Fox: 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday asked the body’s Security Council to impose the strongest possible sanctions against North Korea in response to the rogue nation’s most recent nuclear test, saying “the time for half measures … is over.”

Haley spoke at U.N. headquarters in New York a day after North Korea claimed to have conducted an underground test on a hydrogen bomb.

It was the country’s sixth such test, following five previous ones on a nuclear warhead and recent launches of inter-continental missiles to land such weapons on foreign soil.

“We cannot kick this can down the road any longer,” said Halley at a special U.N. meeting convened after the weapon test overnight Saturday.

North Korea is “begging for war,” she also said Sunday. “The time for half measures by the Security Council is over.”

And...

And like Trump and other top administration officials, Haley also said the U.S. intends to impose economic sanctions on countries that do business with North Korea.

COMMENT:  Those sanctions will especially affect China, North Korea's largest trading partner.  Will China honor the sanctions?  If they don't, what do we do then?  Will Russia?

Imposing sanctions is one thing.  Getting them to work is quite another.  Nation sanctions are fine, but they must be joined by a credible threat of force, which means in part a major military buildup.

September 4, 2017       Permalink

NORTH KOREAN MENACE – AT 10:30 A.M. ET:  Apparently, the north is prepared to go ahead with its next missile launch.  From Fox:

North Korea appears to be preparing to launch a ballistic missile-- possibly an ICBM, South Korean media reported Monday.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said North Korea appeared to be planning a future launch to show off its claimed ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons, though it was unclear when this might happen.

Chang Kyung-soo, an official with South Korea's Defense Ministry, told lawmakers that Seoul was seeing preparations in the North for an ICBM test but didn't provide details about how officials had reached that assessment.

Following U.S. warnings to North Korea of a "massive military response," South Korea on Monday fired missiles into the sea to simulate an attack on the North's main nuclear test site a day after Pyongyang detonated its largest ever nuclear test explosion.

The heated words from the United States and the military maneuvers in South Korea are becoming familiar responses to North Korea's rapid, as-yet unchecked pursuit of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can strike the United States.

The most recent, and perhaps most dramatic, advancement came Sunday in an underground test of what leader Kim Jong Un's government claimed was a hydrogen bomb, the North's sixth nuclear test since 2006.

COMMENT:  Secretary Mattis yesterday hinted at massive military action by the U.S. against North Korea, but did not detail the circumstances that would trigger it.

We await specific action by the administration.  A policy should have been in place by now.

September 4,  2017     Permalink