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DECEMBER 11,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – at 11:53 P.M. ET:

TH DUMBEST SENATOR SPEAKS – FROM BREITBART:   On Monday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour President Donald Trump should resign over the sexual misconduct allegations against him.  Gillibrand said, “President Trump should resign. These allegations are credible, they are numerous. I’ve heard these women’s testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking. And President Trump should resign his position.”  She's known in the Senate as a supreme opportunist.  She'd hitch a ride in a hearse just to get a picture with a grieving widow.

THIS GETTING RIDICULOUS – FROM FOX:   The New Yorker has severed ties with star reporter Ryan Lizza in response to behavior the magazine described as “improper sexual conduct.”  Lizza emerged as a household name last summer after he recorded a phone call with then-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who went off on a profanity-laced tirade. President Trump fired Scaramucci after less than two weeks.  “The New Yorker recently learned that Ryan Lizza engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct. We have reviewed the matter and, as a result, have severed ties with Lizza. Due to a request for privacy, we are not commenting further,” the magazine said in a statement.  Lizza is also a contributor to CNN and the network put out its own statement shortly after the news broke.  “We have just learned of the New Yorker's decision. Ryan Lizza will not appear on CNN while we look into this matter,” a CNN spokesperson said.  This is taking on the characteristics of a witch hunt.  I don't like it.  Men are having their lives destroyed without any chance to defend themselves.  Larry King was also charged today with groping.  Who will be destroyed tomorrow?

MY HEART BREAKS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  The family of the alleged ISIS-inspired Port Authority bomber said they were “heartbroken” by the attack on Monday and blasted law enforcement agencies for what they claimed were heavy-handed tactics by investigators.  “We are heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today and by the allegations being made against a member of our family,” said the statement read by Albert Fox Cahn, the Legal Director for the NY Chapter Council for Islamic Relations.  “But we’re also outraged by the behavior of the law enforcement officials who held children as small as 4 years old out in the cold and who pulled a teenager out of high school classes to interrogate him without lawyer, without his parents.”  It was not immediately clear if the 4-year-old or the teenager were were related to the suspect.  Wait.  Someone will try to blame Trump, or Bush, or Cheney.

December 11, 2017       Permalink

TERRIFIC YOUNG WOMAN – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  And yes, you even find them in the Ivy League.  This Harvard student is taking on the casual pro-Communism of other Harvard gems.  From Campus Reform: 

A Harvard University student whose father escaped Romanian Communism recently called out her liberal classmates for casually endorsing the murderous ideology.

In an essay for The Harvard Crimson, sophomore Laura Nicolae warns that widespread student sentiment on campus paints communism as an “idealistic or revolutionary” ideology, glossing over the fact that millions of people have died as a result of it.

"Roughly 100 million people died at the hands of the ideology my parents escaped...We owe it to them to recognize that this ideology is not a fad, and their deaths are not a joke."   

“They cannot tell their story. We owe it to them to recognize that this ideology is not a fad, and their deaths are not a joke.”

Nicolae argues that for many students, “casually endorsing communism is a cool, edgy way to gripe about the world,” citing the rise of students wearing Ché Guevara shirts, the formation of student clubs dedicated to Marxism, and noting that her campus is “saturated with Marxist memes and jokes about communist revolutions.”

In an interview with Campus Reform, Nicolae explained that she was inspired to write the piece because she hopes to “remind people of the historical truth that every time communism has been tried, it has resulted in misery, starvation, and violence.”

Students don’t learn this in school, she explained, adding that “communist theory and rhetoric have been separated from communism’s historical consequences.”

“College culture generally looks favorably upon the idea that we should be mindful of the historical context and consequences of our political speech,” she said. “It’s a mystery to me why political speech about communism doesn’t get that same treatment. That’s a double standard.”

COMMENT:  She's terrific.  There are many reasons why Communism has not been held in the same contempt as Nazism.  First, and most important, we fought a world war against Nazism, with hundreds of thousands of American casualties.  The Communist Russians were, during that war, on our side, at least on the surface.

Second, Communism appealed to many simplistic intellectuals in the press and the universities, and they filtered the news about what real Communists actually did.

Third, the excesses of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his allies turned many people away from anti Communism, making it more difficult to expose the truth about the reds.  It was said in the early 1950s that Joe McCarthy was the best friend Joe Stalin ever had.

I hope we'll see a backlash on college campuses against the reds.  Young women like Laura can make it happen.

December 11, 2017        Permalink

ALABAMA SENATE ELECTION TOMORROW – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   And it really does look too close to call.  From NBC News: 

WASHINGTON — The entire political world is watching Alabama's Senate race, but what happens Tuesday is anybody's guess.

The highly unusual nature of the election, along with the difficulty faced by pollsters, has made the race murkier than a cypress swamp.

Recent polls show Republican Roy Moore leading Democrat Doug Jones by single digits, and most experts would bet on the Republican to prevail in the heavily red state — but they probably wouldn't wager much on it.

"There is no like election like this one," said Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster based in Montgomery, whose firm, Anzalone Liszt Grove Research, has been involved in some of this year's biggest races.

Turnout is always tough to predict in a special election, especially one two weeks before Christmas. Even establishing a baseline of expectations for the race is slippery, since few have bothered polling a state where elections are generally predetermined for candidates with an "R" next to their name on the ballot.

The allegations of sexual impropriety against Moore may keep some Republicans home and could lead others to cast write-in votes, following the example of Sen. Richard Shelby, who said Sunday on CNN, "I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore." But the extent of those GOP defections is impossible to gauge.

COMMENT:  It really is a sickening election.  The Democrat is a liberal trying to hide it, and getting help from George Soros's nightmare network.  Roy Moore, the Republican, is an awful candidate with credible sex abuse charges against him, and a record of being an erratic, law-defying judge.  And he will be an embarrassment to the party if he goes to the Senate.  He almost certainly will have to undergo an Ethics Committee investigation based on the allegations of some women that he abused them when they were teenagers.

Nothing like good government.  The GOP loses whether Moore is victorious or not.  Trump wants him because he will vote properly on administration proposals.  But the other senator from Alabama, Republican Richard Shelby, announced over the weekend that he couldn't vote for Moore.

Republicans could have come up with a decent candidate.

December 11, 2017       Permalink

TERROR IN NEW YORK – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  There was an attempted terrorist attack in Manhattan this morning.  A single bomber carried an explosive device through a subway station.  The device went off, possibly prematurely.  The bomber was injured, and there are reports that several others were injured as well.  From the New York Post: 

An ISIS-inspired would-be suicide bomber set off a homemade explosive device at the Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station Monday morning, seriously wounding himself and injuring three others, law enforcement sources said.

The man — a 27-year-old Brooklyn man identified by high ranking police sources as Akayed Ullah — had wires attached to him and a 5-inch metal pipe bomb and battery pack strapped to his midsection as he walked through the Manhattan transit hub.

The man partially detonated the device, which he was carrying under the right side of his jacket, prematurely inside the passageway to the A, C and E trains at Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street around 7:40 a.m., sources said.

Police quickly took the man into custody.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the man was inspired by ISIS and possibly born in Bangladesh.

Bratton, who said the man had been living in the US for seven years, “was supposedly setting the device off in the name of ISIS.”

COMMENT:  The fact that he is from Bangladesh has now been confirmed.  He is still alive, which means he can probably be questioned.

Police have cut off a number of routes into Manhattan, but have not explained why.

You may recall that ISIS put out several videos weeks ago, warning of holiday-time attacks in New York.  We don't know if this morning's attacker had specific instructions or acted alone after being inspired by ISIS.

December 11,  2017     Permalink

DECEMBER 10,  2017

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

DANGEROUS CARGO – FROM FOX:   Miami police were forced to briefly shut down the area surrounding an art show and clear the site after security dogs reacted to a suspicious crate in Miami, Fla., during the Art Basel festival on Saturday morning.  But when authorities opened the crate outside the Art Miami tent, it contained none other than a “punk” style picture of Hillary Clinton -- complete with pink hair and a studded jacket.  The potential threat, nonetheless, delayed the opening of the tent located at One Herald Plaza, blocking out both event staff and attendees and prompting police to section off Biscayne Boulevard with their cruisers and caution tape, according to the Miami Herald.  Hillary will now say that this picture cost her the election.

WHAT KIND OF GIFT DO YOU BUY? – FROM TRUTH REVOLT:    If anybody was looking to marry 33 year-old Amanda Liberty of Leeds, England, they better move fast, because they've got competition in the form of her fiance. Who is an inanimate object. More specifically, a chandelier named Lumiere.
Yes, like that Lumiere. The woman is marrying an inanimate object, which is a complete debasement of marriage and a symptom of the total collapse of society; could she not at least have given it a more creative name?  Being a modern woman, and the lone human in the relationship, Liberty didn't wait around for Lumiere to propose to her but, rather, proposed to "her" on Valentine's Day (Yes, Lumiere is a "she"). Another modern facet of their relationship? It's an open one. Liberty is currently dating 25 other chandeliers, and chooses one from her collection to sleep with each night. Lumiere understands.  Who are we to object to someone else's culture?  I just learned that my niece is marrying an iPad.  The Pro model.  At least she has taste.

CONTINUING THE MADNESS – FROM THE HILL:  At least 16 NFL players protested during the national anthem prior to Sunday’s games, The Associated Press reported.  San Francisco 49ers players Eric Reid, Eli Harold and Marquise Goodwin, and New York Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon all knelt during the anthem before their teams’ respective games.  Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who has drawn direct criticism from President Trump, sat through the anthem prior to his game.  Each of the five players has previously sat or knelt during the anthem throughout this season.  During the late afternoon games, another 11 players were seen protesting in some fashion. Los Angeles Chargers lineman Russell Okung raised his fist during the anthem.  Meanwhile, some ticket prices are down to three dollars.  Fans are turning away from the NFL.  Who is helped by these protests?

December 10,  2017     Permalink 

POISED FOR GREATNESS? – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:  The anti-Trump press has the president practically out the door.  But there is a growing realization among the grown-ups that, with all his faults, he's a serious man doing serious things, and may be poised for greatness.  From Conrad Black in Canada's National Post: 

It is distressing to read and listen to the nonsense in the Canadian media about Donald Trump. It is too early to predict whether he will be a successful president or not. But no one relying on the Canadian media would be aware that he has more than doubled the economic growth rate, reduced illegal immigration by about 80 per cent, withdrawn from the insane Paris Climate accord, helped add trillions to U.S. stock market values, created nearly two million new jobs, led the rout of ISIL, and gained full Chinese adherence to the unacceptability of North Korean nuclear military capability. He will probably pass the greatest tax cuts and reforms since Reagan, if not Lyndon Johnson, by Christmas, and may throw out the most unpopular feature of Obamacare, the coercive mandate, with it.

He can be a tiresome and implausible public figure at times, and the reservations widely held about him, in the United States and elsewhere, are understandable and not unfounded. He is, however, the most effective U.S. president since Reagan.

COMMENT:  Well said.  The verdict is far from being in, and the president can destroy himself.  But thus far his record is remarkably good.  We recall that Reagan, at this stage in his presidency, was still regarded as an "amiable dunce," and is now seen as an accomplished, possibly great president.

Great presidents usually do one or two great things.  All the rest becomes the background chatter of history.  If Trump can build a great economy, and pull off one major foreign accomplishment, like a Mideast peace deal or the taming of North Korea, he will make his mark, with or without the approval of CNN.

Read the whole piece.

December 10, 2017       Permalink

NAILED – AT 11:45 A.M. ET:  We have a senator from New York named Kirsten Gillibrand.  She got to the Senate by appointment, after Hillary Clinton resigned to become Obama's secretary of state. 

She was appointed by the then-governor, primarily to block the ambitions of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy.  The Democratic Party didn't want to open up another Kennedy power center, which would have diminished the influence of the Dem establishment.  Besides, Caroline Kennedy had difficulty completing an English sentence in public.

So Gillibrand was in, and she got elected to a full term.  And she's there.  And she could walk into any venue in New York, and no one would know who she is.  Ah, but according to a piece in Politico last week, her time has come...even for a run for the presidency.  Her issue always has been sexual harassment.  People, Politico said, are watching Kirsten.

Except, the increased attention has brought increased scrutiny.  And what many see, they don't like.  From The Hill: 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has put herself in the spotlight by calling on Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to step down and saying President Clinton should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Taking on major figures in her own party has bolstered the New York Democrat’s standing as a voice for change in the nation’s reckoning over sexual harassment and misconduct, which is reshaping society.

But it has also won her criticism. 

Supporters of Clinton blasted Gillibrand as disloyal for her statements about Clinton, with some noting how the Clintons supported her over the years. 

Those sympathetic to Franken suggested it was craven for her to be the first out with a statement Wednesday calling for him to resign, and suggested she was both seeking attention and building her brand on a fallen progressive hero.

Gillibrand has won headlines with her action that could be useful if she chooses to run for president in 2020 against what could be a crowded field. 

Others said the moves could actually hurt her in a primary, where loyalists to Clinton and Franken will have long memories.

“All this reeks of is political opportunism and that's what defines Kirsten Gillibrand's career,” one Democratic strategist said. “Why wasn't she talking about Bill Clinton when he was helping her during her various races for the House and Senate? And would she be talking about Bill Clinton today if Hillary Clinton was president? I think we all know the answer.”

COMMENT:  When you rise in politics, the knives start coming out.  Gillibrand has done strange things in the past, like embracing a Columbia student whose rape accusations were thoroughly discredited by two Columbia investigations, and also embracing a rabid anti-Israel activist, not too wise for a New York senator.  She wants street cred on the far left.

But most people aren't far left, and many Democrats don't appreciate her maneuvering.  Also, she's not known for having a giant intellect. Her greatest accomplishment was that her college roommate was the actress Connie Britton.

You can't write her off, but I think that, if the party wanted a woman as its candidate in 2020, it would choose Kamala Harris of California.  No genius either, but she's better at the political game, and she'd have the entire California delegation with her in a nomination fight. 

December 10,  2017     Permalink