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

THE MAYOR IS AN IDIOT – We wondered when Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York would finally show himself to be the radical leftist he'd always been.  It's now happened.  From ABC:  "Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani 'fundamentally misunderstands the reality,' New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said today on 'This Week' in response to Giuliani’s recent comments focusing on violence within African-American communities, rather than questions over police interactions with minorities that have sparked nationwide protests.  'I think he fundamentally misunderstands the reality,' de Blasio told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in his first television interview since a New York grand jury decided this week not to indict police officers in the July death of Eric Garner in Staten Island. 'We’re trying to bring police and community together. There is a problem here, there is a rift here that has to be overcome.'"  Under Giuliani's guidance, and the guidance of his successor, Mike Bloomberg, the murder rate in New York was brought down 80%.  The greatest beneficiaries were African Americans.  Apparently, this proves that Giuliani failed to understand the reality.  For de Blasio, reality is only found in far-left ideology.  Rudy's record speaks for itself.

THE OBAMA RECORD – From The Hill:  "A slim majority believes that race relations have gotten worse since President Obama took office in 2009, according to a poll released Sunday.  The poll was conducted for Bloomberg Politics in the days following a grand jury decision not to indict a white New York City police officer who killed an unarmed black man.  Thirty-six percent say relations have stayed the same, and only 9 percent say they have gotten better.  Among black people, only 45 percent say race relations have gotten worse, though that figure is still the plurality in the poll. Fifty-six percent of white people think the situation has deteriorated."  My own sense is that sensational reporting, by CNN among others, has exacerbated the problem.  But there are no polls about that.

CHECK THE PHOTO WITH THE STORY – From Daily Caller:  "At a die-in for any cause, protesters collectively get down on the ground and pretend to be dead. The tactic is a favorite of environmental activists, AIDS activists, gun control activists — the whole spectrum of leftist demonstrating, really.  But what’s a protester to do while dying in? It’s not like the world stops. You’ve still got email. There’s still Facebook and Instagram. Angry Birds and WhatsApp beckon.  And so it was that 'dead' participants at a die-in this week at George Washington University stopped being dead periodically to check their mobile phones."  The left never inconveniences itself.  I recall the "anti-war" protests in my Manhattan neighborhood in the late sixties.  The grim-faced leftists would shake their fists and demonstrate against "American imperialism," then go out and have a nice hot meal at an imperialist restaurant. 

December 7, 2014