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

ISN'T THAT PRECIOUS – FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE:   Bay Area restaurant owners are joining the national debate about immigration policy.  President Donald Trump’s hard-line stance on the issue has sparked the Sanctuary Restaurants Movement, which launched in early January and now counts more than 240 restaurants across the country. The Bay Area is home to about two dozen participating restaurants, including Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco, Cancun Sabor Mexicano in Berkeley and Flea Street in Menlo Park.  Largely symbolic in nature, the collaboration is led by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United and promotes safe, tolerant spaces to restaurant workers, employers and consumers. While the sanctuary restaurant label doesn’t protect immigrants from law enforcement, the classification does spur business owners to educate themselves and their staff about how to handle federal officials during possible raids.  Another national protest — dubbed “A Day Without Immigrants” — took place Thursday, where foreign-born workers and students stayed home to demonstrate their importance to the country’s workforce and way of life; several dozen Bay Area restaurants closed for the day in solidarity.  I'm waiting for San Francisco restaurants to launch an "observe the law" day.  I guess it's too much to ask.

SWEET REVENGE – FROM TOWNHALL:   After Ivanka Trump's brand was placed on the "Grab Your Wallet" boycott list, several stores have dropped the line, citing poor sales. While Amazon is on the list as well, they certainly aren't seeing any effects of the boycott. In fact, an Ivanka Trump-branded fragrance is the top seller on the entire site in the women's eau de parfum category.   A majority of the fragrances' negative reviews made reference to President Trump.  As Katie Pavlich wrote, considering that Ivanka is by far the most liberal member of the Trump family, this boycott is completely moronic.  The left is completely moronic.  Its conduct is disgraceful and damaging to our country, and its inability to accept an election loss is adolescent, like most of its ideas.

DANGER – FROM CNS:   Sixty percent of the refugees admitted into the United States since a federal judge halted President Trump’s executive order designed to prevent “foreign terrorist entry into the United States” originate from five of the seven countries identified by the administration and its predecessor as most risky.  Of the total 2,576 refugees resettled in the U.S. from around the world since U.S. District Judge James Robart’s February 3 restraining order, 1,549 (60.1 percent) are from Syria (532), Iraq (472), Somalia (363), Iran (117), and Sudan (65). No refugees have arrived from the other two applicable countries, Yemen and Libya.  Are we supposed to be okay with this?  We can be compassionate and cautious at the same time. 

February 16, 2017