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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas last night.  It's here.

SEPTEMBER 10,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:30 P.M. ET:

ANTI-CHRISTIAN HORROR IN CHINA – FROM FOX:   The Chinese government is destroying crosses, burning bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith as the crackdown on religious congregations in Beijing and several provinces intensifies.  The suppression of religious freedoms comes as an official government campaign to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist party and removing any potential challenge to the party’s power in the country.  “The international community should be alarmed and outraged for this blatant violation of freedom of religion and belief,” Bob Fu of China Aid, said.  The "international community" won't be alarmed and outraged until Christian churches and organizations in the West wake up and start screaming.  Their lack of militancy is thoroughly self-destructive.

DeSANTIS QUITS CONGRESS – FROM POLITICO.COM:   Rep. Ron DeSantis is resigning from his seat in Congress to focus on his race for Florida governor, his campaign confirmed Monday.  DeSantis is a three-term member of Congress representing the 6th District, a coastal seat just south of Jacksonville. He defeated Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the GOP gubernatorial primary two weeks ago and is now running against Democrat Andrew Gillum in the general election.  In the House and on Fox, DeSantis has taken on such a strident role defending President Donald Trump that Trump endorsed his gubernatorial campaign and has called the congressman one of his “absolute warriors.”  In his resignation letter to Speaker Paul Ryan, DeSantis said he did not want to continue receiving a salary because he will “likely miss the vast majority of our remaining session days.”  The contest in Florida is much closer than had been expected, with Dems, as usual, trying to paint DeSantis as a racist, the standard Democratic charge.

GRASSLEY MOVES TO ADVANCE KAVANAUGH – FROM MSN:    Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to set up a Judiciary Committee vote on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, likely next week.  Grassley's office on Monday sent out an agenda for a business meeting the committee will have on Thursday. Kavanaugh's nomination is included as one of roughly two dozen judicial nominations that could get a vote.  The move means Kavanaugh's nomination could get a vote as soon as this week. But Democrats are expected to delay the vote until next week, meaning Kavanaugh's nomination will likely be taken up by the committee on Sept. 20.  Under committee rules, any one senator can delay a nomination by a week when it's on the agenda for the first time, as Kavanaugh's nomination will be on Thursday. Nominations are routinely held over for a week.  The judge did well in his confirmation hearings, and there is optimism among his supporters that he will be confirmed.

September 10, 2018       Permalink

STARR QUALITY – AT 2:50 P.M. ET:   Every now and then, someone comes forward to remind us of some of the less-than-adequate characters who have dominated Washington and even won our support.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Ken Starr, the Whitewater and Lewinsky affairs prosecutor whose probe led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, is breaking his 19 years of silence to finally dish on the former first family and their “legacy of contempt.”

In his explosive account of the five-year saga into multiple White House scandals, titled "Contempt, A memoir of the Clinton Investigation," Starr portrays Clinton as a “deeply flawed president who believed he was above the law.” But, he added, Clinton was lucky and escaped removal from office because of an “indulgent” public.

Hillary Clinton takes it harder, as Starr described the former first lady and 2016 presidential runner-up as a serial liar who was a “systematic enabler” of her husband’s years of extramarital affairs and cover ups to hide them.

And, he added, Hillary Clinton made up the charge that her husband was being attacked by a right wing conspiracy “to avert the nation’s gaze from her husband’s many crimes.”

As for Monica Lewinsky, he wrote, she was the sad face of the parade of Clinton victims. “She carries with her forever the living reality of the Clintons’ victim-strewn path to power, the most visible casualty of the Clintons' contempt,” wrote Starr.

COMMENT:  Question:  How many "news" programs in Washington will book Ken Starr as a guest?  I'm sure Fox will.  What about the others?  Will they ignore him, or will they book him just to ambush him? 

Read the whole piece.  Very substantive.  The Clinton machine is no doubt already in gear trying to shred the book.

September 10, 2018       Permalink

A GIANT DEPARTS – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:  CBS honcho Les Moonves is gone, a target of the "Me Too" movement.  It's important because Moonves, whether we like his choices in programs or not, has been one of the most effective executives in broadcast history.  From CBS: 

CBS Corporation announced on Sunday that chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is departing the company, effective immediately. Moonves's exit comes hours after The New Yorker published accounts from six women with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct, following allegations by six other women in July.

A financial exit package for Moonves will be withheld pending the results of an ongoing investigation into the allegations against him. Moonves was eligible for as much as $180 million if fired without cause, according to an employment contract he signed in May 2017. Recent reports indicated a potential payout in the range of $100 million.

The company said in a statement that CBS and Moonves will donate $20 million to one or more organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace. The donation will be made immediately, the statement said, and deducted from any severance he ultimately receives.

Joseph Ianniello, the current Chief Operating Officer and deputy to Moonves, will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent leader.

Moonves, 68, has run CBS since 2006 and his exit marks a dramatic fall by one by the most powerful executives in Hollywood.

The allegations, reported by Ronan Farrow, include forced kissing, forced oral sex, unwanted advances and physical abuse. Some of the women say Moonves retaliated against them and that their careers suffered after they rebuffed his advances.

Moonves has denied the allegations against him. In a new statement to The New Yorker, Moonves acknowledged three of the encounters but said they were consensual. He did not tell The New Yorker which three he was acknowledging.

COMMENT:  Obviously, improper or threatening behavior must be punished, and there is no question that women have been subjected to that behavior.  However, I still feel uneasy about punishment without a true trial, and I feel uncomfortable about demands to make contributions to organizations or movements, however noble the cause.  It reminds me of Jesse Jackson-style shakedowns to buy racial peace.

There has to be a better way to address the very legitimate concerns of women without wrecking our sense of what constitutes justice for the accused. 

September 10, 2018       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  A week ago the president was as low as 44% in the Rasmussen daily tracker.  He then bounced back to 48%, and holds that number this morning.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 33% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 43% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10.

COMMENT:  The polling now becomes more serious,  The president has promised to go out on the campaign trail regularly.  Can he save the Republicans in the midterms?  Who knows?  The battle is just beginning.  Don't be surprised if the polls are all over the lot, especially in the first weeks. 

By the way, one thing to watch later this week is the New York gubernatorial primary, which takes place Thursday.  Incumbent semi-popular Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has presidential ambitions, is running against whackjob actress Cynthia Nixon for the Democratic nomination.  Nixon, to her credit, has run a hard, effective race.  All the pundits think Cuomo will win easily, but you never know.  New York State is one of the centers of the fringe left.  Socialism is in the air.  The mainstream media is praying for an upset.

September 10,  2018     Permalink 

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