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SEPTEMBER 9,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:19 P.M. ET: 

ATTACK IN PARIS – FROM THE SUN:   TWO British tourists in Paris were among seven victims of a savage knife attack in the French capital, police said last night.  A suspect, reportedly of Pakistani or Afghan origin, began "slashing passers-by" on the Loire Quay in the north of the city on Sunday night, according to reports.  The knifeman, who was also armed with a metal bar, first stabbed three people outside the MK2 cinema complex, "including two English tourists", according to investigators.  One was particularly badly hurt after being "stabbed in the head",  while the other was "cut in the chest".  Petanque players who saw what happened then tried to intervene, throwing metal balls at the attacker, but it was reportedly not enough to stop him.  A security guard told French media he saw the suspect being chased by two men.  The knife has become the weapon of choice for terror attacks in London.  Apparently, it's getting trendy in Paris as well.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.  Please move on.

GETTING TO THE GREAT ISSUE OF OUR TIME – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  The University of Wisconsin-Madison student government has proposed “taking action” against a company which uses — gasp! — gelatin in its ice cream.  The Badger Herald reports that in its first meeting of the new school year, the Associated Students of Madison discussed how Babcock ice cream “marginalizes” religious and vegetarian students via its use of a beef-based gelling ingredient.  “There’s a real push to try to include everyone in the Wisconsin community in the ability to eat the Babcock ice cream, which is a part of the Wisconsin experience,” Representative Jared Lang said.  If the ASM legislation passes, Babcock Dairy would be “formally acknowledged” as marginalizing UW-Madison religious students. This means the ASM would recommend that the school administration, dining halls, and unions all follow suit, as well as formally “condemn[ing] UW sponsored events with Babcock ice cream.”  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  It's about time they dealt with this.  These kids have guts!

SWEDEN SHIFTS – FROM THE GUARDIAN – Sweden faces a period of political uncertainty after an election that did not leave either main parliamentary bloc with a majority  With more than 99% of the vote counted, the centre-left bloc is sitting on 40.6% and the centre-right on 40.2%  Analysts predict long negotiations, potentially taking weeks, will be needed to create a majority or a plausible minority government
The populist, anti-immigrant party Sweden Democrats won 17.6% of the vote, up on the 12.9% it scored in 2014, but well below the 25% predicted in some polls.  The governing Social Democrats, led by prime minister Stefan Löfven, saw their score fall to 28.4%, the lowest for a century but maintained their record of finishing first in every election since 1917.  Löfven said he would not be resigning, and urged cross-bloc cooperation.  Maybe the election will knock some sense into the leftists, who have governed Sweden, and ruined it, for too long.  It is far from the paradise portrayed by Western socialists.  Its neutral foreign policy is amoral at best, and its domestic policies have led to sloth and lack of imagination.  Kind of a glorified old-age home.

September 9, 2018       Permalink

OBAMA IS BACK AND...NOBODY CARES – AT 12:24 P.M. ET:  Obama's weak speech, upon returning to the campaign trail, gives President Trump an opportunity.  From the great Michael Goodwin at the New York Post:   

With Hillary Clinton already part of the midterm scrum, Barack Obama’s entry last Friday shows the old band is getting back together again. So far, the music is uninspiring.

Clinton, as usual, is all about the money. Her latest slush fund, ­Operation Together, sent an ­e-mail offering donors a “Resist” sticker if they send her $5. I was able to resist the offer.

Obama, meanwhile, gave his first campaign speech since leaving the White House and his ­media handmaidens instantly swooned like giddy teenagers.

Twitter promoted it as a “candid speech,” which is accurate only if you think Obama is an honest politician. Twitter’s bias is showing again.

It’s true there were some clever and cutting lines about Trump being divisive, but to appreciate them you had to forget Obama’s eight years in the Oval Office. Those without amnesia will recall that polls said Americans thought the nation was more divided when he left than when he started, ­including along racial lines.

Obama’s harsh partisan tone Friday, complete with his typical mocking of Republicans, was in striking contrast to the odes to ­bipartisanship voiced at Sen. John McCain’s funeral. Too bad Obama wasn’t there . . . oh, wait, he was.

Not surprisingly, he seemed bitter about the way the country is moving on without him. It still hasn’t dawned on him that, by 2016, America wasn’t buying what he was selling.

While campaigning for Clinton then, he said it would be a “personal insult” if young people and nonwhites didn’t turn out in big numbers. That they didn’t could explain why much of his speech had a scolding tone about voting.

But as someone said about empty sports stadiums, you can’t force people to go to the game if they don’t want to.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  Goodwin is worth it.  Obama flopped in his return to politics because he had nothing to say, and his scolding "I am your daddy" tone was a turnoff.  His failure to understand how conditions have improved for millions of people was a major flaw.  The leftists, and he is one of them, never seem all that interested in people.  People are pawns, means to a larger, more Utopian end.

Put the gross, bragging, vulgar Trump on a stage with Obama, and I think Trump would win.  A job for most people is better than an inspirational speech.

September 9, 2018       Permalink

PROGRESS ON NORTH KOREA? – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:   We don't know the full nature of the talks between Secretary Pompeo and the North Koreans.  But there are some signs of progress, and this is one.   From The Hill:

North Korea staged a huge military parade on Sunday to mark 70 years since the country’s founding, but it held back its most advanced missiles to avoid jeopardizing ongoing talks with the U.S.

North Korea has long used parades to display the strength of its military, having most recently held one of February of this year. But the parade on Sunday didn’t include intercontinental ballistic missiles that are believed to be able to reach the continental United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the parade but reportedly did not address the crowd.

Sunday’s parade also emphasized the country’s economy in addition to showcasing its military capabilities. A parade float at the event displayed a slogan of ““All our might to build economy!” according to Reuters.

Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s titular head of state, said during a speech at the parade that the country had achieved its status as a military power and would now be focusing on strengthening its domestic economy, the news service reported.

COMMENT:  Other reports say that Kim has reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearize.  We'll see in time.  I have great faith in Secretary Pompeo, a vast improvement over Grand Admiral John Kerry, king of the seas, who was Obama's diplomatic poodle.

September 9,  2018     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 8,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:35 P.M. ET: 

CHANGE IN SWEDEN? – FROM AFP:  Swedes vote in legislative elections on Sunday expected to see the far-right surge amid a deep rift over the integration of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, with the election outcome seen as uncertain.  Neither Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's left-wing bloc nor the centre-right opposition were seen obtaining a majority.  The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), an anti-immigration party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, are tipped to win around 20 percent of votes, according to an average of seven polling institutes published in the past 10 days, up from 13 percent in 2014 elections.
That could make SD Sweden's second biggest party behind Lofven's Social Democrats.  SD has capitalised on voters who feel left behind by traditional parties in favour of the 400,000 asylum seekers who have arrived since 2012, whom they believe are straining the country's famed welfare model.  Immigration, integration, health care, the climate and education have been Swedes' main concerns in the election campaign.  We may not like the origins of the SD, but it's a good thing that Sweden is being shaken up politically.  It's about time.  The country has been asleep for years.

TENNIS:  ANOTHER DISGRACEFUL MOMENT IN AMERICAN SPORTS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Naomi Osaka, 20 years old, just became the first player from Japan to win a Grand Slam.
Yet rather than cheer Osaka, the crowd, the commentators and US Open officials all expressed shock and grief that Serena Williams lost.  Osaka spent what should have been her victory lap in tears. It had been her childhood dream to make it to the US Open and possibly play against Williams, her idol, in the final.
It’s hard to recall a more unsportsmanlike event.  Here was a young girl who pulled off one of the greatest upsets ever, who fought for every point she earned, ashamed.  At the awards ceremony, Osaka covered her face with her black visor and cried. The crowd booed her. Katrina Adams, chairman and president of the USTA, opened the awards ceremony by denigrating the winner and lionizing Williams — whose ego, if anything, needs piercing.  The deserving winner will take her impression of America back to Japan.  We are better than this.

NOT THE GREATEST GENERATION – FROM STUDYFINDS:  BOSTON — For some, it’s the best four years of their lives. For others, it’s a period of constant struggle, whether academically, socially, or both. College brings about new experiences and challenges for young adults that can be difficult to adapt to and overcome, so perhaps it’s no surprise that a new study reports high rates of stress and mental health conditions among students.  The newly-published report out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that a quarter of college students received were diagnosed with a mental health condition in the past year, and a fifth have had suicidal thoughts.  Researchers looked at survey results from 67,308 students across 108 American colleges and universities during the spring of 2015. Students were questioned on the frequency of stressful events, depression or anxiety in their daily lives, and reported whether or not they’d been diagnosed with a mental health condition in the past year. Stressful events were viewed as anything that students viewed as traumatic or difficult to handle, whether academic or personal. That includes financial struggles, family problems, trouble sleeping, self-esteem issues, or health matters.  I don't diminish the importance of mental-health issues, but this is the most pampered generation I've ever seen.  I wonder if that has something to do with the inability of many to cope.   

September 8, 2018       Permalink

A MAJOR EMPLOYMENT TREND – AT 2:30 P.M. ET:  This is long overdue, a recognition that we have over-worshipped the college degree.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Big companies like Google, Apple, and IBM are no longer requiring applicants to hold a college degree.

This is a significant change. Historically, employers have required a college degree whether or not it was necessary to do the job.

Is this because colleges are no longer teaching the needed skills, or because there are so many job openings to fill that standards are dropping? Could it be that vocational training and self-taught skills are enough for certain jobs in the modern-day economy?

IBM is now looking at candidates with experience in non-traditional education, such as coding boot camps or industry-related vocational classes.

Glassdoor compiled an August list of 15 big companies that no longer require a degree to apply:

• Google
• Ernst & Young
• Penguin Random House
• Costco Wholesale
• Whole Foods
• Hilton
• Publix
• Apple
• Starbucks
• Nordstrom
• Home Depot
• IBM
• Bank of America
• Chipotle
• Lowe’s

This is a welcome change for many jobseekers, as well as high school graduates considering whether college is worth the exorbitant cost. With college tuition soaring nationwide, these companies are giving young people an opportunity to succeed without going into debt for a degree they may not even use on the job.

This change should not alarm those with a college degree, however.

“Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door,” Maggie Stilwell, Ernst and Young’s managing partner for talent, has stated.

COMMENT:  I suspect that some employers have also found out that many college degrees are useless, pointless, and have more to do with indoctrination than education.  They may have also found out that many "college graduates" cannot write an English sentence and cannot read anything above a high-school level.

An important trend.  I wonder if the mainstream media will show much interest.

September 8, 2018         Permalink

COMMITTING POLITICAL SUICIDE – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  As Jerry Lewis once said, bad looks you can change, stupid is forever.  From the Resurgent: 

Bob O'Rourke, Ted Cruz's Irish-American opponent who has culturally appropriated the name Beto to sound hispanic, has been in full defense of protestors taking a knee to the national anthem. Now he's going directly after the American flag.

O'Rourke rented out a Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Navasota, TX to hold a campaign rally. According to VFW Post 4006 Commander Carl Dry, O'Rourke's campaign insisted the VFW Hall take down its American flags.

“I do not normally attend rental events, but I attended Saturday to make sure things ran smoothly,” said Dry, who noted there were only two requests he could not allow at the VFW Post. “They wanted to open the doors (to the Flight Deck Lounge) and I couldn’t allow that and they wanted to take the flags down, I didn’t only say no, I said hell no, you don’t take the flags off the wall. I can’t believe any American would ask us to do that and I don’t know why he wanted them down or what he was going to put up instead.”

This seems to be a pattern with O'Rourke. He supports protesting the national anthem, he wants to take people's guns away, and his campaign team sees no problem asking a group of veterans to take down their American flags so he can have an American flag free rally.

This is an instinct thing, folks. When your campaign staff does that, it is a reflection of the candidate himself. It is more and more clear that Bob O'Rourke is not just okay with protesting our flag and national anthem, but he's okay with getting rid of them altogether.

COMMENT:  We've said here before that O'Rourke is a fraud.  He not only uses a fake name, he portrays himself as a homeboy, when in fact he's a national ultra-liberal Democrat.  But he's young and Kennedyesque, an intentional pose, and he's attracted a lot of attention and some young screamers.  He has become a political threat to Senator Ted Cruz, one of the great and true intellects of the Senate, and he must be stopped cold.

September 8,  2018     Permalink