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DECEMBER 9,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:06 P.M. ET:

MADNESS – FROM TIMES OF ISRAEL:  A host on the Palestinian Authority’s official television channel recently praised a man who attacked and stabbed three Israeli policemen at a police station in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood.  In a remarkable statement, Palestine TV’s Dana Abu Shamsiya said of assailant Abdul Rahman Abu Jamal that he “harvest[s] souls in the battlefield” and was “desired by the black-eyed virgins [of Paradise].”  On November 14 Abu Jamal arrived at the entrance to the police station, attacked and lightly injured three officers. During the scuffle a fourth officer was lightly hurt by shrapnel as others shot at the attacker.   Black-eyed virgins of Paradise?  Who in this day and age talks like that?  And what else do they believe?

I'M SO SHOCKED – FROM DC WHISPERS:  Via Zero Hedge:  The CFO of the Clinton Foundation, thinking he was “meeting an old professional acquaintance,” admitted to investigators that the charity had widespread problems with governance, accounting and conflicts of interest, and that Bill Clinton has been commingling business and personal expenses for a long time, reports The Hill’s John Solomon.  Clinton Foundation CFO Andrew Kessel made the admissions to investigators from MDA Analytics LLC – a firm run by “accomplished ex-federal criminal investigators,” who have been probing the Clinton Foundation for some time.  Kessel told MDA “There is no controlling Bill Clinton. He does whatever he wants and runs up incredible expenses with foundation funds, according to MDA’s account of the interview. “Bill Clinton mixes and matches his personal business with that of the foundation. Many people within the foundation have tried to caution him about this but he does not listen, and there really is no talking to him.”  Haven't seen this in The New York Times.  I wonder why.

HOW FAR BACK YOU WANNA GO? – FROM YAHOO SPORTS:   Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, making him the second straight quarterback from Oklahoma to win college football’s most prestigious award.  Just hours after winning the award, though, several of his old homophobic tweets surfaced on Twitter.  Update: He apologized in the early hours of Sunday morning via Twitter:  I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15. I used a poor choice of word that doesn’t reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intend to single out any individual or group.Murray used an anti-gay slur both on its own and when tweeting at his friends in 2011 and 2012 — when he was 14 and 15 years old. The tweets in question were deleted from Murray’s account late Saturday night.  It's absurd to go back to someone's early adolescence to find something damning.  Can we grow up?  At the same time, this is another lesson in the need to be careful when using social media.  You may only get one, "I'm sorry."

December 9, 2018       Permalink

YOU MEAN, COMMON SENSE IN EDUCATION? – AT 1:12 P.M. ET:  Stories like this give me hope for the future of our country.  And I love it when "educators" are taught what education really means.  From The Hill: 

The Ohio Senate passed a bill Thursday requiring each student in the state to be able to write in cursive by the end of the fifth grade. 

The measure, also known as House Bill 58, was passed by the Ohio Senate and would require the state’s Department of Education to craft a new curriculum for students before the start of next year. 

Under the new measure, students in the state would be required to legibly write letters in print by the end of third grade and write in cursive before going on to sixth grade.

According to a local Fox station, the Ohio House of Representatives first approved the bill in June.

The legislation was first introduced in February 2017.

Any changes to the measure must reportedly be approved by the Ohio House before heading to Republican Gov. John Kasich to be signed. 

COMMENT:  This is great.  It is outrageous for children to go through school without learning how to write in basic cursive...the kind of writing we all do to write notes, memos, letters, and anything else.

There are smug "sophisticates" who tell us that, in a world of computers and tablets, all with keyboards, no one really needs to learn cursive.

Oh yeah?

Grab, by the collar, anyone who tells you that, and march him down to the nearest Staples.  Point out the whole wall filled with choices of inexpensive pens.  Ask him if he wonders who uses those things, and why Staples carries them.  The answers are obvious.

I am about to write a shopping list, in cursive.  Eat your heart out.

December 9, 2018       Permalink 

SOME PEOPLE SHOULD SHUT UP – AT 12:15 P.M. ET:  There is no more obnoxious character around Washington these days than Adam Schiff, Dem congressman from the People's Republic of California, and next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. 

Schiff is a major talker.  Not a major thinker.  Just a major talker.  But his latest comments about the president are not only vulgar, they are dangerous.  The president's authority, especially when dealing with foreign nations, is undercut, even though Mr. Trump has not been seriously charged with anything.  From The Hill:

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that President Trump might "face the real prospect of jail time" after prosecutors indicated last week that he directed illegal payments during his 2016 presidential campaign.

"There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

.@AdamSchiff on the Russia Investigation: My takeaway is there's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office the justice department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time. pic.twitter.com/3kfwumFkh7
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation)

Schiff's comments come after federal prosecutors said in a legal filing Friday that referred to Trump as Individual-1 that Trump coordinated with and directed his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, during the 2016 campaign to make illegal payments to two women claiming they had affairs with Trump. It was the first time prosecutors made those accusations against Trump.

Schiff, who is likely to be the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, added that the next president may have to determine whether to pardon Trump.

"We have been discussing the issue of pardons the president may offer to people or dangle in front of people," Schiff said. "The bigger pardon question may come down the road, as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump."

COMMENT:  Democrats might be advised to zip it before all the facts are known.  They've just been given control of the House of Representatives.  The American people will expect action on matters of concern to them, not simply to the Democratic base.

But, already, we hear the new landlords of the House actively discussing impeachment, jail time for the president, and all the things that will make life for American families better.  I'm being sarcastic.

I'm afraid the Democratic mindset may be set in stone, and that we're in for a rough and depressing two years.

December 9,  2018     Permalink

DECEMBER 8,  2018

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

YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS UP – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:    A Minnesota professor suggested in a series of tweets that the Virgin Mary did not consent to the conception of Jesus Christ and suggested that God may have acted in a “predatory" manner.  Minnesota State University, Mankato psychology professor and sex therapist Dr. Eric Sprankle critiqued the story of the Virgin Mary in a tweet Monday, suggesting that the Virgin Mary did not consent to being impregnated by God.  “The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays,” Sprankle said.  Another Twitter user called the professor’s claim into question, noting that the Bible states that the Virgin Mary did, indeed, agree to God’s plan for her.  “The biblical god regularly punished disobedience,” Sprankle rebutted. “The power difference (deity vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying ‘no’ negates her ‘yes.’ To put someone in this position is an unethical abuse of power at best and grossly predatory at worst.”  That is absolutely sick, and a stunning abuse of the role of professor.  Resign now.

HOW DECENT PEOPLE ACT – FROM DAILYWIRE.COM:  Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote a letter this week in support of a criminal justice reform bill that has bipartisan support and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.  In a letter obtained by The Daily Wire from the National Diversity Coalition For Trump, King wrote in a "plea to Congress" that the "First Step Act" is an opportunity to take a "monumental" step "towards assisting and empowering the least of these in America."  "The bill would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for some crimes and grant judges greater discretion in sentencing nonviolent drug offenders," A Bloomberg editorial said about the bill. "It would also fund recidivism-reduction programs for low-risk inmates and allow some 2,600 drug offenders to petition for reduced sentences. Perhaps most important, the bill would require more research on criminal justice — a predicate to reducing guesswork in setting future policy on sentencing."   Whether one agrees with the legislation or not, the fact that Dr. King felt free to endorse something championed by President Trump indicates that there are still people who put country before partisan politics.

ICE IN ACTION – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Foreign nationals from 24 countries — including four people with Interpol warrants for their arrests — were among the 105 arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a five-day sweep.  The agency announced the arrests Friday in a news release.  “Our focus has been and will continue to be on arrests of illegal aliens who have been convicted of serious crimes or those who pose a threat to public safety,” said John Tsoukaris, director of the Newark field office.  The people arrested ranged in age from 18 to 65 years old. The agency said more than 80 percent had either prior convictions or pending charges for a variety of crimes, including sexual assault on a minor, child abuse, possession of narcotics, distribution of narcotics, extortion, DUI, fraud, domestic violence, theft, possession of a weapon, robbery, promoting prostitution, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of a child, credit card fraud, insurance fraud, shoplifting, and illegal re-entry.  The agency said the pre-planned sweep targeted criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and other immigration violators.  And there are leftists who want to abolish this agency.  Shame.

December 8,  2018     Permalink

A WORD TO THE WISE – AT 1:26 P.M. ET:   Mark Penn is a renegade Democrat who has been close to the Clintons.  He supports his party, but never hesitates to criticize it when he thinks it's gone astray.  Now, as the Dems start savoring the idea of impeaching President Trump, Penn implores them to be careful, and to remember the lessons of the past.  From Fox: 

The warning signs of partisanship taken too far come from what happened in 1998 with the impeachment of President Clinton by the House, and from the recent Senate confirmation battle that raged over the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In the Clinton case, voters reacted negatively to Republicans who tried to turn unsavory personal behavior into crimes to support the impeachment of the president in the House of Representatives.

Clinton was acquitted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice at his Senate trial, so the effort to remove him from office failed.

In the Kavanaugh confirmation fight, voters reacted negatively to Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who went overboard with Spartacus moments and for the way they handled allegations of sexual misconduct.

Voters made clear in both the Clinton and Kavanaugh cases that they want their elected representatives in Congress to get the business of lawmaking done and not focus on partisanship.

Back in 1998, House Republicans considered Bill Clinton an illegitimate president who they believed the American public would support removing from office if Independent Counsel Ken Starr reported that Clinton lied under oath. The Starr report was a blockbuster, complete with graphic descriptions of Oval Office sexual activity between Clinton and then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky and stained-dress evidence.

But the plan backfired. In the 1998 midterm elections, Republicans actually lost seats in Congress as we Democrats used the theme “Progress, not Partisanship,” and the whole imbroglio toppled House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

And...

Sure, the Mueller report is going to be a collection of greatest hits against President Trump – a prosecutor’s tale carefully woven over two years to turn every utterance by Trump into obstruction and every contact with a Russian into collusion.

But, absent the caveat of some truly new and devastating information, the public is smart enough to distinguish the case against President Trump from the kind of actual obstruction of justice by President Nixon, who authorized hush money to organizers of the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters.

And...

So come January, the Democrats in the House will have a choice. They can accept the Mueller report and move on. Or, they can hold endless hearings all over again run by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who is expected to chair the House Judiciary Committee, and then vote to impeach the president or censure him for the actions described in the Mueller report.

And...

President Trump, like it or not, maintains significant and passionate public support that has even withstood unbelievably damaging tapes and countless critical stories and revelations in the media.

Trump’s approval ratings in polls right now are above where Presidents Clinton and Obama were at this same stage of their presidencies. According to the most recent RealClear Politics average of polls, Trump has an approval rating of about 43 percent and a disapproval rating of 52 percent.

The U.S. president is not viewed as negatively as French President Emmanuel Macron, whose approval ratings are below 20 percent.

In fact, members of Congress have Macron-like approval ratings, precisely because of their failure to get things done for the American people.

The question confronting Democrats at the start of the new year will be whether they want to repeat what the Republicans did in 1998, and whether it will have the same outcome. The most likely answers right now are yes and yes.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  An incisive and experienced argument from a real pro.  His advice will, as he suggests, probably not be taken, and we could be in for a real mess.

December 8, 2018       Permalink

FRANCE EXPLODING – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  And there seems to be so little interest here.  Not only is France getting wobbly, but this unrest can easily spread to other economically troubled European countries.  Western Europe, which loves to lecture America, is in no position to lecture anyone.  From Britain's Express: 

The yellow vest protests in the French capital escalated on Saturday with protesters firing tear gas canisters against police officers and holding up banners calling for France to leave the European Union. More than 400 people have already been arrested with thousands of protesters breaking police barriers to inundate the streets of Paris. The so-called gilets jaunes have been protesting against French President Emmanuel Macon's policies for the fourth weekend in a row.

8,000 officers and 12 armoured vehicles sent into Paris today as more than 1,000 people gathered in the city centre.

Protesters met at the Champs-Elysées and marched to a police cordon before stopping.

This is now the fourth weekend of protests, with last week seeing hundreds of people arrested and many injured on the streets.

Ministers have said the protests have been hijacked by “ultra-violent” protestors as four have died and hundreds more have been injured.

Despite the violence, the movement has garnered support from the French people, with 77 percent justifying the protests according to French news site Le Figaro.

That is an incredible figure.

The government have since said it is scrapping the fuel increases and has frozen electricity and gas prices for 2019.

However, protests have erupted over other issues, such as the need for higher wages, lower taxes, easier university requirements, better pensions and even President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation.

Protester Claude Rigolet told the BBC: "Everything is more expensive. Taxes are going up - housing, heating costs, cars. Everything is going up."

Protesters have organised themselves via social media, declaring this weekend as "Act IV" in a dramatic opposition to Macron’s policies.

The French President popularity rating plummeted to a new low of 23 percent in November - down by a massive six percentage points from October.

Despite the French President performing a U-turn against raising fuel taxes, another massive wave of violence hit the whole country on Saturday.

Arnaud Touati, co-founder of Paris-based law firm Alto Avocats, warned the damage done to France so far has been “devastating”.

He said: “Undoubtedly, we underestimate the considerable damage that this type of event has caused to France's reputation.

COMMENT:  Reputation is only a part of it.  Western Europe, where pomposity combines with weakness to produce a dangerous mix, will increasingly be seen as a region of the past unless it can solve its basic problems.  Why do I think those problems can best be solved by the nations themselves, without the heavy hand of the centralized European Union guiding them?

December 8,  2018     Permalink