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

JANUARY 17,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

DUMMIES OF THE WORLD UNITE – FROM DAILY MAIL:    The chief executives of major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers on Monday warned of an impending 'catastrophic' aviation crisis on Wednesday when AT&T and Verizon finally deploy their new 5G services.  The two companies have spent tens of billions of dollars to license the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency range for their new high-speed C-Band 5G service.  But officials with the FAA and airplane manufacturer Boeing have warned that there is potential for interference with vital aircraft instruments that operate in the 4.2 to 44 GHz range, such as radio altimeters that tell pilots their altitude as they fly in low visibility.   In short, the fear is that false altitude readings could confuse pilots as they approach the runway in poor visibility conditions, with potentially disastrous results. 

The executives warned that some planes could even be grounded permanently over the safety concerns.
And on a day like Sunday, when winter weather gripped the nation, the CEOs claim in their letter that interference to airplanes' altimeters could result in a situation where 'more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays.'

...Action is urgent, they added in the letter, writing: 'To be blunt, the nation´s commerce will grind to a halt.'   Y'think maybe they should have addressed this problem a little earlier?  I mean, sorta.  Wednesday I think is, like, this week.  But I'm sure Kammy is on the case.

January 17, 2022       Permalink 

THE EARTHQUAKE – OVERNIGHT:  There has been a stunning change in party affiliation in the United States.  If it continues, we may be looking at the fadeout of the Democratic Party.  From the Washington Examiner: 

More people now identify as Republican than at any other time this century, according to Gallup’s latest political party preference report.

Republicans currently enjoy a 47% to 42% identification advantage over Democrats, tied for the highest lead Republicans have had since they first took over the House of Representatives in 1995.

The only higher margin for Republicans occurred in 1991, shortly after the first Gulf War.

Democrats started 2021 with a 9-point lead over Republicans 49%-40%. But as President Joe Biden failed to end COVID as he promised, failed to prevent the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and failed to stop rising inflation, the Democrats' edge over Republicans gradually sank along with Biden’s approval ratings.

According to Gallup, just 43% of adults approve of the job Biden is doing as president, compared to 51% who disapprove. A recent Quinnipiac poll put Biden’s approval at an even lower 35%.

Biden’s approval ratings could be even lower, considering that according to the latest CBS poll, just 26% of adults say things are going well in the country today compared to 73% who say things are going badly.

COMMENT:  What surprises me, considering these numbers, is that there is no serious talk about anyone forming a third party, especially a center-left party to replace what remains of the Democrats.  The great Democratic names of the past – Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson – probably couldn't get into today's Democratic Party.  They'd be called fascists, racists, warmongers, and white.  Kennedy's uplifting inaugural address would be trashed as a call for white supremacy.  None would be considered for the presidency.

That same party now gives us Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  No wonder the numbers are what they are.

January 17,  2022     Permalink 

JANUARY 16,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

BIG SHOT FAMILY NEWS – OVERNIGHT:  WE ARE DEDICATED TO BRINGING YOU THE MAJOR NEWS FROM FAMILIES AROUND THE WORLD.  IN THAT SPIRIT, WE REPORT THE FOLLOWING,    FROM DAILY MAIL:  Prince Andrew would 'shout and scream' if his teddy bear collection was knocked out of place by palace maids, a former royalty protection officer has claimed.  Former bodyguard Paul Page made the revelation during an interview with Ranvir Singh for the upcoming ITV documentary, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile.  The former constable, who left the Metropolitan Police in 2007, was part of the elite Royal Protection Squad and had access to the Duke of York's private residence.  He claimed that Andrew had a bed with '50 or 60' stuffed toys and maids were given a laminated picture so each bear could carefully be put back in its original position.  And to think, we complain about Hunter Biden. 

OH HOW JUICY – OVERNIGHT:  OUR WONDERFUL HOUSES OF LEARNING, YUCH!  FROM COLLEGE FIX:   A group of America’s most prestigious universities formed a “cartel” to keep the net price of attendance artificially high, according to a lawsuit filed in an Illinois federal court this week.  The lawsuit was filed against 16 schools that are being accused of illegally colluding to limit the amount of financial assistance they offer students. Such a practice would save schools money and prevent students from fleeing to competitor schools that offered more generous financial aid packages.  “In critical respects, elite, private universities like Defendants are gatekeepers to the American Dream,” reads the lawsuit. “Defendants’ misconduct is therefore particularly egregious because it has narrowed a critical pathway to upward mobility that admission to their institutions represents.”  The schools accused of illegal collusion include Brown University, Northwestern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dartmouth College, University of Chicago, Cornell University, Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, and others.  And now they've graduated to wokeness.  What a bunch!  It's time the American press took a good, hard look at some of these institutional gems, but they won't, because the press is filled with their graduates. 

January 16, 2022       Permalink

LOSING NEW YORK – OVERNIGHT:  Manhattan, one of the better-known pieces of real estate in the country, has elected a certified idiot as district attorney.  He is one of the "woke" D.A.'s helped into office by the generosity of George Soros, a billionaire leftist and threat to public sanity.  Already the Manhattan D.A.'s office, a critical place in the fight against crime, is feeling the devastating effects.  From the New York Post: 

Prosecutors in soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office are flooding the exits amid his “radical shift in policy,” The Post has learned.

Bragg’s controversial “Day One” memo issued on Jan. 3 told assistant district attorneys to not seek prison sentences for many criminals and to downgrade some felonies to misdemeanors. His leadership has already created a firestorm that has led to an online petition calling for him to be removed.

“I know one [ADA] who was with the office over 20 years who left without a job,” said a law enforcement source. “They didn’t want to work in this kind of office. They wanted to continue prosecuting the law.”

Over the past three weeks, at least a dozen lawyers have quit.

Among the departures is senior trial counsel Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, who successfully prosecuted Harvey Weinstein, and won a 2016 conviction in the infamous 1979 murder of Etan Patz.

Illuzzi-Orbon, a Republican, had been at the office since 1988, taking only a brief leave in 2015 for an unsuccessful run for District Attorney in Staten Island.

Friday was her last day, sources told The Post. She did not return a request for comment.

Friday was her last day, sources told The Post. She did not return a request for comment.
Also gone is John Irwin, a one-time trial division chief.

Another veteran prosecutor lost her title and was told she would have to work for someone Bragg brought over from the Legal Aid Society, a source said.

“He wants to get rid of all the senior people who prosecuted high-profile cases and replace them with young inexperienced people who think like him and don’t want to uphold the law,” said a former prosecutor.

A source familiar with the office said none of the departing lawyers had been fired.

Mark Bederow, who worked in the Manhattan DA’s office, said some turnover was to be expected with a new boss, but that Bragg’s arrival will “likely” lead to more departures since “It appears to be such a cultural and radical shift in policy.”

“I would anticipate that many people within the office who have been there for years, who perhaps do not share the same philosophy as the incoming DA, will most likely leave,” he said. “I would expect that the incoming classes of DAs in the next couple of years will entirely share the policies of Mr. Bragg.”

At least a dozen lawyers have quit the Manhattan DA office in the past few weeks.
Christopher Sadowski

Bederow said the turnover would lead to “transformation in the Manhattan DA’s office unlike anything anyone has seen for decades.”

Madeline Brame, the mother of murder victim Hason Correa, said she was worried about what Bragg’s policies — which include not seeking prison sentences of more than 20 years in most cases — would mean for the upcoming trail of her son’s accused killers. Correa, a 35-year-old Army vet, was stabbed to death in Harlem in 2018.

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  It's disgrace.  There has to be some legal and Constitutional way for the decisions of a D.A. to be overturned.  The new mayor, Eric Adams, has promised to make the streets safe.  How can he do that, at least in Manhattan, when we have a D.A. who is openly sympathetic to criminals.

Elections have consequences.  So does absysmal journalism.  We heard almost nothing about Bragg's views when he was running for D.A. last year.  And the Democratic Party doesn't care.

At some point, Adams and Bragg are going to clash.  I want to be there.

January 16, 2022        Permalink