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DECEMBER 19,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

FINALLY – The Senate passed the tax reform package tonight, the House having passed it earlier.  The bill must now be returned to the House for technical reasons.  It will pass the House in the morning, and will then be sent on to the president for his signature.  We don't yet know when the signing will occur.  The White House is thinking about holding off the signing to early January, and making a big occasion of it.  I like that idea.  The Republicans now have a major legislative victory.  If it works for the individual citizen and family, the victory could go a long way toward securing GOP control of Congress in the 2018 midterms.

FOOLS – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:    Parents of students at a Connecticut high school say they were upset when First Daughter Ivanka Trump made an unannounced visit.  Some parents pulled their children from class on Monday, saying they were troubled they were not told in advance that President Donald Trump's daughter and senior White House adviser was paying a visit to Norwalk Early College Academy at Norwalk High School.  Karey Fitzgerald, of Norwalk, told News 12 Connecticut she thinks parents should have had the choice of whether to send their child to school.  'This should have been brought to our attention, although I do understand security reasons,' she added. 'I think we should have had the choice to send our child to school or keep them home.'  The level of immaturity is breathtaking.  I wonder what these kids are taught at home, if anything.

I CAN'T WAIT TO GO – FROM THE HILL:   The Colorado Democratic Party is renaming its annual dinner the “Obama Dinner."  The dinner is being named after both former President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, with the party’s executive director Pilar Chapa saying the move was to recognize the couple’s “historic contributions.”  Chapa listed the passage of ObamaCare, economic growth and work on climate change as efforts that “cemented President Obama’s legacy as a transformational leader of our country.”  Chapa also cited Michelle Obama’s work on children’s health programs and for military families.
“The Obama legacy embodies the values we hold as Democrats, and we are beyond proud to rename our annual dinner after our former first family,” Chapa said in the statement.  The party of Jefferson, Jackson, Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy is now dead. 

December 19,  2017     Permalink

WHAT?  OUR HILLARY? – AT 12:36 P.M. ET:  These attacks on Hillary Clinton, sometimes called, affectionately, the Queen of Ethics, must stop!  Give us back our Hillary.  From Fox:   

A new legal complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission alleges that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee used state chapters as strawmen to circumvent campaign donation limits and laundered the money back to her campaign.

The Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee, filed its complaint with the FEC on Monday with the allegations that the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) solicited cash from big-name donors, including Calvin Klein and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane -- money that was allegedly sent through state chapters and back to the DNC before ending up with the Clinton campaign.

Officials with the committee said their filing was spurred by their own analysis of FEC reports, where they said they discovered the HVF either never transferred the money to state chapters and back to the DNC, or did so without the state chapters having actual control. 

“What we have found, people need to see,” Ted Harvey, chairman of the CDP which emerged from the now-defunct Stop Hillary PAC, told Fox News. “I think it’s important that the American public has an understanding of how corrupt this campaign system was and that they were doing anything they could to secure the nomination in her favor.”

In its complaint, the CDP alleges that about $84 million was funneled illegally from the DNC through state party chapters and back into the war chest of the Clinton campaign.

COMMENT:  Oh, probably some broken calculator did this.  You know, if you don't replace the batteries regularly, this confusion can happen.  The numbers on the screen change.  It's very bad.  And don't buy off-brand batteries.  They make the results worse.

I'm sure Hillary will explain these misunderstandings in her next book, "I'm Poor."

December 19, 2017        Permalink

MAJOR EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  I wanted to rush this to you so that you can enroll immediately.  Please.  Space is limited.  From College Fix: 

A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states.

The goal was to help participants in “unpacking Whiteness” to support students and staff with issues and efforts “related to identity and social justice,” the website added.

The “Conversations on Whiteness” session was one of more than a dozen workshops offered at the conference, held Dec. 4 and 5. The whiteness session utilized the “Privileged Identity Exploration Model” to help white participants explore the “discomfort” of their “white identity,” according to organizers.

COMMENT:  I think this is pretty much the answer to everything, don't you?  Forget that physics, chemistry, math and engineering stuff.  Take the Conversations on Whiteness course. 

Then try to get a job.

December 19, 2017       Permalink

WONDERFUL CHOICE – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  The Heritage Foundation, one of the most important conservative think tanks in the nation, has named a new president.  She happens to be an African-American woman.  Most important, she's terrific.  From Daily Signal: 

Kay Coles James, a conservative leader with experience in government, academia and public policy, will be the next president of The Heritage Foundation, the think tank announced Tuesday.

James will officially take the reins from Heritage founder Edwin J. Feulner on Jan. 1. Feulner, who led the organization from 1977 to 2013, has served as president during the organization’s nationwide search for a new leader. Former Sen. Jim DeMint resigned as president in May.

Heritage’s board of trustees unanimously elected James after an extensive search, said Thomas A. Saunders III, the board’s chairman.

“All of us at Heritage are looking forward to continuing working with Kay Coles James developing and advancing conservative policy solutions and principles that are in the best interest of the American people,” Saunders said in a statement.

Over the course of her 30-year career, James has served in government, academia, and the private sector. Her roles include director of the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush, a senior member of President Donald Trump’s transition team, Virginia’s health secretary under Gov. George Allen, and dean of the School of Government at Regent University. She currently leads The Gloucester Institute in Virginia.

“For more than four decades, The Heritage Foundation has been a vital force in American conservatism, producing the research, analysis, and solutions that inform and influence policymaking,” James said. “I’m honored that the board would ask me to lead this important work. What we believe, what we develop, what we fight for—these are the policies that help people. I look forward to expanding the conservative movement in a positive, inclusive way as we build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish.”

COMMENT:   Oh, I'd like to see how the mainstreamers handle this story.  If they report it at all.

December 19,  2017     Permalink

DECEMBER 18,  2017

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

COMPLICATIONS – FROM THE HILL:   A New York cosmetics executive who publicly alleged Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s repeatedly solicited the future president to become his campaign makeup artist and to pitch her new product line in the months before her story roiled the 2016 race, according to the woman and her contemporaneous emails.   “Hi Donald, you are doing a tremendous job of shaking things up in the United States. I am definitely on Team Trump as so many others are,” Jill Harth wrote the future president in an Oct. 1, 2015, email sent to him through his New York company’s headquarters.   “I can’t watch television without seeing you or hearing your name everywhere! It’s a good thing for sure but PLEASE let me do your makeup for a television interview, a debate, a photo session, anything!” Harth wrote.  We have no independent confirmation here, but, if the story is true, this was a revenge hit against Trump...revenge for not giving the accuser a job.  I think we'll see many more stories like this, but each one must be verified.

ECONOMIC OPTIMISM SOARS – FROM CNBC:  American optimism on the economy is reaching new heights and President Donald Trump's approval ratings look to be benefiting, at least somewhat.  The CNBC All-American Economic Survey found that for the first time in at least 11 years, more than half of respondents to the survey rated the economy as good or excellent, while a near record 41 percent expected the economy to improve in the next year.  "We're not measuring a marginal change in the economy, we're measuring a different economy,'' said Public Opinion Strategies' Micah Roberts, the Republican pollster for the survey. The poll of 800 adults across the nation, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, was conducted Dec. 10-13 by that firm and Democratic pollster Hart Research.  We hope it lasts.  Trump needs a strong economic engine to take into next year's midterms, which are crucial.  Remember, if the GOP loses control of the Senate, it means that all Trump Supreme Court appointments can be blocked.  If it loses control of the House, it means probable, if frivolous, impeachment of the president.  A strong economy is the best guarantee of electoral victory.

THE BLOB – FROM SCIENCEALERT.COM:   A vast mass of hot rock is welling up underneath Vermont and extending into other subterranean regions below New England, new research shows.
Scientists used a network of thousands of seismic measurement devices in the largest geological study of its kind, detecting the enormous blob upwelling under Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts – and possibly elsewhere.  "The upwelling we detected is like a hot air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England," says geophysicist Vadim Levin from Rutgers University – New Brunswick.  Scientists have told me privately that this has something to do with the chemical interaction between Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.  Both are known for over-production of hot air.

December 18, 2017       Permalink

IF WE HAD REAL JOURNALISM, THIS WOULD BE A MAJOR SCANDAL – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:  The Obama administration made a devil's bargain in order to enhance the possibility of a nuclear deal with Iran, and thus establish what passes for Obama's legacy.  From Fox: 

The Obama administration gave a free pass to Hezbollah’s drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations — some of which were unfolding inside the U.S. — to help ensure the Iran nuclear deal would stay on track, according to a bombshell exposé in Politico Sunday.

An elaborate campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, known as Project Cassandra, reportedly targeted the Lebanese militant group’s criminal activities. But by tossing a string of roadblocks holding back the project, Obama administration officials helped allow the 35-year-old anti-Israel criminal enterprise to evolve into a major global security threat bankrolling terrorist and military operations, the report added.

“This was a policy decision, it was a systematic decision,” David Asher, who helped establish Project Cassandra as a Defense Department illicit finance analyst in 2008, told Politico. “They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.”

When Project Cassandra leaders, who were working out of a DEA’s Counter facility in Chantilly, Virginia, sought an OK for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, Justice and Treasury Department officials delayed, hindered or rejected their requests, according to Politico.

COMMENT:  This is stunning.  The more we learn about the Obama administration, the worse the picture gets.  Cynicism.  Double dealing.  Real leftism.  Not good stuff.

Read the whole thing.  The fact that the original report came from Politico, a left-wing site, is significant.

December 18, 2017       Permalink

HAS THE RETHINKING BEGUN? – AT 11:39 A.M. ET:   We've noted here that we take sexual assault and sexual harassment seriously, but that the wave of accusations, day by day, is beginning to look like a dangerous reproduction of the Salem Witch Trials – men destroyed in one day based on accusations, with no ability to defend themselves.

Is that idea spreading?  Is there a second look by thoughtful people?  Maybe.  From The Hill: 

At least four senators, including two Democrats, have reportedly said that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) should reconsider his resignation.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told Politico that the deluge of Democrats calling for Franken to resign was “the most hypocritical thing” he has “ever seen done to a human being.” 

“What they did to Al was atrocious, the Democrats,” Manchin added. “The most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen done to a human being — and then have enough guts to sit on the floor, watch him give his speech and go over and hug him? That’s hypocrisy at the highest level I’ve ever seen in my life. Made me sick.”

Politico also spoke with sources familiar with a private conversation between Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Franken in which Leahy told Franken that he regrets calling for him to resign.

Two other senators said they were rushed to weigh in as pressure on Franken mounted, according to the news outlet, which added that they said did not put enough care and thought into their statements.

Franken announced earlier this month that he would resign after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. One woman said he forcibly kissed her during a USO tour, and at least two others said he groped them while taking photos when he was in office.

Franken is one of three lawmakers to step down over sexual misconduct allegations as the #MeToo movement draws attention to similar cases in Hollywood and the media.

COMMENT:  Tavis Smiley, the African-American PBS host, is fighting back against charges, and I don't blame him.  As one performer said, 50 years of work is destroyed in one day, based entirely on accusations.

Some men have quickly conceded that the charges are true, and resignations by them, or suspensions, are appropriate.

But others have either denied the charges or offered explanations.  They are entitled to a defense, to their day in court.  But many have simply been thrown under the bus in the current madness.  Due process is the heart of our justice system, and it's being denied, just as it's been denied to college men facing similar, often vague accusations.

A backlash is developing that can destroy the important issues of harassment and assault.  Women will not be helped, and an opportunity to improve our society can be missed.  Mad stampedes and accusations never lead to anything good, except for some lawyers and some aspiring political candidates.

December 18, 2017       Permalink

A NEW STRATEGY – AT 11:09 A.M . ET:  President Trump outlines his new national-security strategy today.   Be prepared for the usual ridicule from CNN and The New York Times.  From advance notices, this will be a serious, well-thought-out speech.  From Fox: 

President Trump’s national security strategy, set to be unveiled in a major address Monday afternoon, restores references to the “jihadist” terror threat – in a tacit rebuke to the Obama-era decision to avoid such language.  

The president is expected to detail his administration’s strategy at 2 p.m. ET in Washington, D.C.

Trump is expected to discuss threats he'll deem as "rogue regimes," like North Korea, and "revisionist powers," like Russia and China, who aim to change the status quo.

But notably, the document repeatedly refers to “jihadist” terror groups, in a break from the Obama administration.

“The primary transnational threats Americans face are from jihadist terrorists and transnational criminal organizations,” the document states, according to excerpts released ahead of the speech.

Another section calls for strengthened missile defense and homeland security, vowing to “pursue threats to their source, so that jihadist terrorists are stopped before they ever reach our borders.”

Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump White House adviser, drew attention to the term in an interview Monday morning with “Fox & Friends.”

“The political correctness of the last eight years is gone,” he said. “You haven’t seen anything like this for 20-25 years.”

COMMENT:  Sounds good to me.  I can't wait to see how the Democrats react.

December 18,  2017     Permalink