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SEPTEMBER 16,  2017

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

THE TRUE BELIEVERS – FROM THE POLITICO:   The Democratic base is growing anxious as its leaders order Chinese food and make deals with the president who many in their ranks would prefer to see impeached.  For some liberal activists and lawmakers, the burgeoning partnership between President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi amounts to dancing with the devil. As long as the Democrats keep leading — driving a wedge between Trump and the fractured GOP — no one will bust up the dance.  I'd hold off on any opinions on this.  We really know so very little.  There may not be any real relationship at all.  And what deals will actually be made?  Wait for more information.

STAND FIRM – FROM NEWSBUSTERS:   Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter writes that American television series are facing international backlash due to their “military themes for Trump voters,” calling it a trend for the Fall lineup and labeling it “Patriotic TV.”  Apparently, they feel shows like CBS's SEAL Team, NBC's The Brave and The CW's Valor are a blatant attempt to appeal to Trump supporters. Now that would be a shock.  Roxborough believes "the shift in focus is threatening one of the most lucrative aspects of the American TV business: international sales. And the risky move comes at a time when U.S. programming is facing more challenges from home-grown product around the world."  That's okay, guys.  Stand firm.  Build a large American audience by putting on great shows with American values.  Lots of people in America, and they all have TV's. And they're clearly turned of by the P.C. brigades.  Maybe we can still salvage American television.

PARENTS HAVE STARTED TO NOTICE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Universities known for being hotbeds of campus protest and liberal activism are struggling with declining enrollments and budget shortfalls, and higher education analysts say that’s no coincidence.  Take Oberlin College. According to a document leaked to The Oberlin Review, the school’s student newspaper, the small liberal arts college famous for social justice hoaxes has had trouble attracting and retaining students, missing this year’s enrollment mark by 80 and racking up a $5 million budget deficit in the process.  William A. Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School who runs the Legal Insurrection blog, said the “most obvious culprit” in Oberlin’s dwindling admissions is “relentless social justice warfare.”  “Social justice warfare at Oberlin has been more intense and sustained over a longer period of time than at most schools, and has come to define Oberlin in the media,” Mr. Jacobson said. “The resulting mockery and derision, even in liberal publications, has damaged the Oberlin brand.”    The market is working.  Parents, who are expected to write the checks, are starting to ask serious questions about what a college is really about.  The answers aren't always wonderful.

September 16,  2017     Permalink

CHICAGO STORY – AT 12:41 P.M. ET:   A tragic city, poorly run, and seemingly based entirely on racial politics.  But the demographics are changing.  From CBS Local: 

The face of Chicago is changing.

New census statistics show the Hispanic population grew by 17,000 in a one-year period. For the first time, Hispanics are the second-largest ethnic group in the city.

Meanwhile, the African-American population is shrinking, with 42,000 moving out.

In Little Village, it’s not hard to spot the influence and heritage. At Dulcelandia, a candy store, sales and the number of customers have increased since the business opened in 1995.

This would seem to reflect new U.S. Census data showing the Hispanic population in Chicago jumping from 786,000 to 803,000 between 2015 and 2016.

This means about 30 percent of the Windy City’s population is now of Hispanic or Latino descent.

“It represents an increase in our purchasing power so that helps to better the economic conditions of the area,” says Eduardo Rodriguez of Dulcelandia.

Subtracted from Chicago’s numbers – more than 42,000 African Americans, who left the city.

Shari Runner of the Chicago Urban League says this trend began about a decade ago. She thinks lack of economic opportunity and crime and high taxes are pushing African Americans out of Chicago.

COMMENT:  Okay, we know why African Americans may want to leave.  But why are Hispanics coming, and what does that mean for the future of Chicago?  Remember, it really was Cuban immigrants who did so much to save Miami. 

Having gone to the University of Chicago, I feel I have some kind of stake in the city.  I want to know what happens next. 

September 16, 2017       Permalink

ANOTHER NEW CONCERN EMERGES, AND SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  North Korea and ISIS could team up.  We haven't seen this before.  From Britain's Express: 

North Korea could use Islamic State (ISIS) fighters to launch terror attacks across the globe, a terrifying report has warned.

Experts said Kim Jong-un’s hermit state would not hesitate to use extremist jihadis to attack their Western enemies.

North Korea would actually find it easier to target their rivals using ISIS than by themselves, a report by Washington-based anti-extremism group Clarion Project said. 

They said North Korea had previously worked with Islamic extremists, selling them weapons in 2003 and 2005, and would not flinch away from a similar partnership in the future. 

The report said: “North Korea could collaborate with Islamist terrorists or criminal elements for an attack in America.

“North Korea is officially a communist, Stalinist dictatorship, but that hasn’t stopped it from crossing the ideological divide to embrace Islamist regimes and, reportedly, even jihadist groups.”

They said, despite a strict anti-religion policy in North Korea, Islam was growing in the hermit state. They added the anti-American nature of society in North Korea would increase the likelihood of extremism. 

The report said: “North Korea is isolated now but don’t assume that Islamists won’t be able to enter the country and make contact with its black market as the regime becomes unstable.

“The extreme anti-Americanism and anti-democracy thought that is instilled in the population means this Muslim population will probably be inclined towards radicalism.”

COMMENT:  An excellent, sophisticated report.  We may well be facing new coalitions in the future, coalitions that at first sound illogical.  But remember that Nazi Germany, a profoundly racist state, had no problem having Japan, populated by people of another race, as an ally. 

Our opponents are growing in power, not weakening.  The negligence of the Obama administration is partly at fault, but so is the relaxed attitude we adopted after defeating the Soviet Union in the cold war.  We may face a struggle, against multiple enemies, of many decades.  I'm not sure we have the will to win.  That will be one of the great question marks of the 21st century.

September 16, 2017       Permalink

ARREST – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  British police have arrested the man they believe planted the bomb yesterday on a train, wounding 30 people.  From the Daily Mail:

Armed police are this afternoon raiding a house in Surrey hours after arresting the 18-year-old man believed to have planted the Parsons Green bomb.

One nearby resident told MailOnline that officers had found a bomb at the site in Sunbury-on-Thames after 'around 60 people' were evacuated from their homes.

Earlier today police apprehended a suspect in the 'port area' of Dover as it was thought he was attempting to flee the country.

Hmm.  Wonder where he was going.  I don't think it was Bermuda.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd described the arrest as 'very significant', but added: 'The operation is ongoing.'

The suspect was taken to a local police station and will be transferred to south London during the course of the day, officers said.

It comes after the Prime Minister last night announced Britain's terror threat has been raised to its highest level amid fears the bombing could inspire copycat attacks.

The raid in Surrey took place at a residential address just before 2pm this afternoon.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'Residents in the buildings immediately surrounding the address are also being evacuated as a precautionary measure.

'Cordons are being put in place at a 100 metre radius to facilitate the Metropolitan Police Service's operation, which is being supported by colleagues from Surrey Police.

'A search of the address is ongoing and the cordons will remain in place until the operation is complete.'

Sunbury-on-Thames is just a 37-minute train journey from Wimbledon station, where the tube that was bombed yesterday began its journey.

Security minister Ben Wallace said today the threat level has been raised to critical because a new attack is likely to be 'imminent' as an increased presence of armed officers was seen in cities across the country. 

COMMENT:  We've gotten much too used to these attacks.  We're taking them for granted.  We've got to raise our guard because we may well be next.

September 16,  2017     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 15,  2017

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

THERE IS JUSTICE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   The president of John Jay College said she was “shocked” to hear the “abhorrent” anti-cop statement spewed by a professor at her school and immediately suspended him.  “I am appalled that anyone associated with John Jay, with our proud history of supporting law enforcement authorities, would suggest that violence against police is ever acceptable,” John Jay president Karol Mason said about professor Michael Isaacson...Isaacson, who works in the economics department at the college, tweeted the anti-cop screed from the account @VulgarEconomics.
“Some of ya’ll might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at John Jay College but I think it’s a privilege to teach future dead cops,” Isaacson tweeted on Aug. 23.  I wonder how many minutes it will take before he finds a job at another college.

TERROR CRISIS IN BRITAIN – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Armed police have flooded London's streets as the terror threat level was raised to critical amid fears the Parsons Green bomber could strike again, Theresa May announced tonight.  The introduction of Operation Temperer will see soldiers replacing police at key sites including nuclear power plants to free up extra armed officers for regular patrols.  Scotland Yard said it is making 'excellent' progress in hunting the suspected terrorist who set off a crude bucket bomb on a packed commuter train by Parsons Green tube station in west London at 8.20am.  Mrs May said in a statement from Number 10: 'The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has now decided to raise the national threat level from severe to critical - this means their assessment is that a further attack may be imminent.'

THAT WAS CLOSE – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Non-U.S. citizens won't be allowed to vote on local matters in College Park, Md., despite city council officials voting in favor of a proposal that would have allowed it earlier this week.  The College Park City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to allow legal permanent residents and illegal immigrants to participate in municipal elections. One council member did not vote.  "For most Council actions, a simple majority of Council members present must vote in favor of an item for it to be adopted," the city said in a news release. "However, changes to the Charter have a different requirement. The City Charter was amended in June to require the affirmative vote of six elected officials to change the Charter."  The original vote got substantial coverage across the internet.  Even though the result was reversed, the fact remains that a number of municipalities are giving the vote to non-citizens.

September 15,  2017     Permalink

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, JOE – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:   Former Vice President Joe Biden has always been known in Washington as a decent guy, if a bit dense, but one prone to making outrageous remarks.  He once said that if Republicans won the White House, African Americans would be sent back to slavery.

Well, that's just Joe, you know.

But now Biden has simply gone too far, seeming to equate those seeking basic standards of due process in college sexual assault cases with Nazis.  From College Fix: 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s* recent announcement that her department will revise Title IX enforcement practices led one angry former vice president to compare her to white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

The architect of the Obama administration’s Title IX policy, Joe Biden told rape-culture activists on a conference call last week that supporters of DeVos’s planned review of Obama’s sexual-misconduct guidance were “cultural neanderthals.”

He went so far as to compare them to participants in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville last month, which left one counterprotester dead.

The former vice president and 36-year U.S. senator acknowledged the severity of his analogy, stating that it was “gonna get me in trouble.”

“Guys, we have the power on our side. We have the people on our side,” he said 17 minutes into his 19-minute address:

We cannot let the kind of things – I’m gonna make an analogy, it’s gonna get me in trouble – we cannot let the kind of talk that occurred down at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville with those Nazis marching [sic]. When we’re silent, we give a rationale, an excuse to people who are the very people we’ve been fighting all along.

COMMENT:  There is a time to get off the stage, and  for Joe Biden it is now.  Like Hillary Clinton, he is way past his "sell by" date. 

Betsy DeVos is a heroine for taking on the fascistic practices of the Obama/Biden Title IX office – practices that have resulted in many lawsuits filed by young men falsely accused of sexual assault, and practices that have not done a thing to help women.  The only people helped seem to be people in the Title IX office itself, and professional "feminists" on college campuses.

Sexual assault is a crime of extreme gravity.  In some jurisdictions it is a capital offense.  A victim deserves the best police investigation, including access to DNA evidence, expert detectives, search warrants, and the services of the local district attorney.  Instead, what many young women get is an amateurish hearing on a college campus, designed more to glorify activists than to punish a perpetrator.

Betsy will clean things up.  Joe Biden should simply go away.

September 15, 2017        Permalink 

THE DEMOCRATIC CIRCUS – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  The Democrats, a leaderless, bitter party, are now riding right off the cliff, following Bernie Sanders and his "Medicare for all" campaign.   From the Washington Free Beacon: 

How rudderless is the Democratic Party? Its membership is so bereft of leadership and policy direction that 16 of its senators have signed on to a health care bill sponsored by a self-avowed independent democratic socialist from Vermont.

The "Medicare for All Act of 2017" would repeal Obamacare, along with most other private and public insurance, and replace it with a government-run, one-size-fits-all, centrally directed system of reimbursement for medical expenses. Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, holds the same opinion of health insurance as he does antiperspirants: "You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different sneakers when children are hungry in this country."

Senators Harris, Booker, Gillibrand, and Warren, who in addition to cosponsoring the bill may soon be fighting each other, as well as Sanders, for the Democratic nomination, are generals re-enacting the last war. They saw how well Sanders did against Clinton, they have marched in the anti-Trump "resistance" movement, and they want to inoculate themselves from accusations of ideological heresy.

Which is why they embrace the thin-skinned and irritable senator whose wife is under federal investigation. What the copycats forget is the future in politics is never a straight-line projection of the present, much less of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the 2016 Democratic primary. "Medicare for All" might strike Warren &co. today as legislation worthy of support for reasons both moral and self-interested. In time, however, palling around with Bernie Bros may become a liability.

For one thing, the policy is remarkably vague. "Mr. Sanders did not say how he would pay for his bill," writes Robert Pear of the New York Times. "Aides said he would issue a list of financing options." The "options" are not included in the bill—but they are enough to raise the hair on the back of one's neck.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  Very well reported.  Single payer would be a catastrophe in this huge country.  Americans are very independent people, and they're not going to permit their health decisions, and the decisions for their children, to be made in Washington. 

As for the Democrats who are rushing to follow Bernie off the cliff, there isn't one of them worthy of the White House. Kamala Harris just got to the Senate and is already running for president.   She's a three-fer, black, Asian and female, which is what makes her acceptable to the Democrats.  Cory Booker has been a huge disappointment, a man who sells out his friends in a flash if there's something in it for him.  Kirsten Gillibrand, our senator here in New York, could walk into any venue in this state, and no one would know who she is.  A nonentity with no demonstrated abilities.  Elizabeth Warren is well known to you, as well known as any other crazy aunt.

What a prospect.

September 15, 2017       Permalink

THERE WAS TERROR IN LONDON TODAY – AT 9:26 A.M. ET:  Fortunately, no one was killed, but many were injured.  From the Telegraph: 

A huge counter-terrorism investigation is under way after a bucket bomb was detonated on a packed London Underground train at Parsons Green.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic after the blast sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a District line service in west London. At least 22 people were injured, including a boy believed to be aged about 10.

A major manhunt for the bomber has been launched, with police working with MI5 as they forensically examine the device. No arrests have so far been made and the attacker remains at large.

After the attack during the Friday morning rush-hour, Britain's most senior counter-terror officer Mark Rowley said: "We now assess this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device."

A total of 22 people - including children - were injured in the explosion, with most of them suffering from "flash burns". 

Others were trampled and suffered crush injuries in the rush to escape the packed carriage, which was the last in the train. 

COMMENT:  Thus far there has been no claim of responsibility, and there are no known suspects.  Suspicion understandably falls on Islamist extremist groups, but we should be restrained in our judgment until more facts are known.

September 15,  2017     Permalink