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DECEMBER 14,  2018

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

THE NEW OFFICE TEMP – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:    President Trump said Friday that he’s tapped Mick Mulvaney to be acting chief of staff at the White House, adding yet another role to the man who’s already his budget director.  Mr. Mulvaney will take over for current Chief of Staff John Kelly, who is leaving at the end of the year. The White House said there is no time limit on the role.  “He’s the acting chief of staff, which means he’s the chief of staff. He got picked because the president liked him, they get along,” an official told reporters.  Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman, had been doing double-duty for the last year as both chief of the Office of Management and Budget, which is the nerve center of the administration, and as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFBP got a new permanent director last week, so Mr. Mulvaney is free of those duties.  And the White House said one of Mr. Mulvaney’s deputies at the budget office will take over his duties there, allowing him to fulfill the chief of staff’s role.  Seems like a solid choice. 

OBAMACARE TERMINAL? – FROM THE DENVER POST:   A federal judge in Texas threw a dagger on Friday into the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the entire health-care law is unconstitutional because of a recent change in federal tax law.  The opinion by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor overturns all of the sprawling law nationwide.  The ruling came on the eve of the deadline for Americans to sign up for coverage in the federal insurance exchange created under the law.  Since the suit was filed in January, many health-law specialists have viewed its logic as weak but nevertheless have regarded the case as the greatest looming legal threat to the 2010 law, which has been a GOP whipping post ever since and assailed repeatedly in the courts.  The Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional in 2012 and 2015, though the first of those opinions struck down the ACA’s provision that was to expand Medicaid nationwide, letting each state choose instead. No matter how O’Connor ruled, legal experts have been forecasting that the Texas case would be appealed and could well place the law again before the high court, giving its conservative newest member, Justice Brett Kavenaugh, a first opportunity to take part.  Yes, I suspect we will see a Supreme Court drama on this, and very soon.  Obamacare will stay in effect until higher courts rule. 

YOU CAN'T MAKE IT UP – FROM PJ MEDIA:   A student club at the University of London is requiring that all comedians sign a "behavioral agreement" as a condition of performing at a January comedy night.  According to emails reviewed by PJ Media, the UNICEF on Campus chapter at the University of London sent five local comedians — including Russian-born free speech advocate Konstantin Kisin — a request to perform.  "Attached is a short behavioural agreement form that we will ask for you to sign on the day to avoid problems," wrote Fisayo Eniolorunda, the club’s event organizer, in an email to Kisin and four other comedians sent Sunday.  "This comedy night… aims to provide a safe space for everyone to share and listen to Comedy," states the behavioral agreement form. "This contract has been written to ensure an environment where joy, love, and acceptance are reciprocated by all."  "By signing this contract, you are agreeing to our no tolerance policy with regards to racism, sexism, classism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia or anti-religion or anti-atheism."  Can you imagine the kind of comedy they'll get?  "A funny thing happened to me after being sexually harassed by a privileged white male..."

December 14, 2018     Permalink

FRANCE IN DISTRESS – AT 1:20 P.M. ET:   France is just recovering from a terror attack in Strasbourg.  and is now bracing for new "demonstrations" by violent protesters.  The country is unstable.  And the British government barely has the support of Commons.  And other European countries are in economic distress.  And our own government is wracked with bitter clashes.

Welcome to the free world.

From AP:

PARIS (AP) — Anticipating a fifth straight weekend of violent protests, France’s president on Friday called for calm and the Paris police chief warned that armored vehicles and thousands of officers will be deployed again in the French capital.

Police chief Michel Delpuech told RTL radio that security services intend to deploy Saturday in the same numbers as last weekend, with about 8,000 officers and 14 armored vehicles protecting the streets of Paris during a planned anti-government protest by the yellow vest movement.

Delpuech said the biggest difference will be the deployment of more groups of patrol officers to catch vandals, who last weekend roamed the streets around the elegant Champs Elysees, looting and causing damage. Police arrested more than 1,000 people in Paris last weekend and 135 people were injured, including 17 police officers.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner also urged protesters to express themselves peacefully after a police shootout on Thursday ended a two-day manhunt for a man suspected of killing four people near a Christmas market in the eastern city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of police were mobilized in the search, which ended with the suspect being shot dead.

“I can’t stand the idea that today people applaud police forces and that tomorrow some people will think it makes sense to throw stones at us,” Castaner said from Strasbourg.

A sixth “yellow vest” protester was killed this week, hit by a truck at a protest roadblock. Despite calls from authorities urging protesters — who wear the fluorescent safety vests that France requires drivers to keep in their cars — to stop their violence demonstrations, the movement rocking the country since mid-November has showed no signs of abating.

“Last week, we pretty much handled the yellow vests but we also witnessed scenes of breakage and looting by criminals,” Delpuech said. “Our goal will be to better control this aspect.”

The protests began Nov. 17 against a rise in gas taxes but have morphed into an expression of rage against France’s high taxes and a sense that President Emmanuel Macron’s government does not care about French workers.

Macron has acknowledged he’s partially responsible for the anger and has announced a series of measures aimed at improving French workers’ spending power but has refused to reinstate a wealth tax that was lifted to spur investment in France.

COMMENT:  We must be careful not to glorify the protesters.  Some deeper reporting suggests that the leaders of these protests have fascistic ideas, which wouldn't surprise me.  They are taking advantage of real frustration among the French people.

The instability in the West is striking.  It reminds me of 1968, when the United States suffered two political assassinations – Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy – and violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  Americans for a time seemed to lose confidence in their own country, and we went through a period of instability and doubt, culminating in the resignation of President Nixon in 1974. 

We were lucky, during that time, to have Ronald Reagan waiting in the wings.  I don't see another Reagan right now.

December 14, 2018       Permalink

NEW CHANCE FOR MARTHA? – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Arizona just held a special Senate election to fill the seat being vacated by the terminally obnoxious Jeff Flake.  Sadly, ultra-liberal Kyrsten Sinema, posing as a moderate, defeated Air Force heroine Martha McSally, who ran a poor campaign.

However, there's new hope for Martha.  Former Senator Jon Kyl has been temporarily filling the seat made vacant by the death of John McCain.  He's now announced his resignation, and the word in Arizona is that the Republican governor may appoint McSally to fill out McCain's term.  It would be a good move.  From CNN:

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl will step down from the US Senate at the end of this year, a few months after being appointed to fill the late Sen. John McCain's seat.

Kyl wrote in a letter Wednesday to Arizona Gov. Doug Doucey that he will resign from the US Senate effective December 31, 2018.

Ducey, a Republican who was just re-elected to a second term, will now pick a replacement to serve until 2020, when there will be an election to fill the remaining two years of McCain's term.

"When I accepted your appointment, I agreed to complete the work of the 115th Congress and reevaluate continuing to serve," Kyl wrote in his letter to Ducey, released by the governor's office Friday. . "I have concluded that it would be best if I resign so that your new appointee can begin the new term with all other Senators in January 2019 and can serve a full two (potentially four) years."

In September, Ducey tapped Kyl to temporarily replace McCain, who died in August -- just two years into his sixth Senate term. At the time, Kyl committed to serving through at least this year and said from the start that he would not run for re-election in 2020.

And...

The governor's office said a replacement to the seat will be announced in the near future. Arizona law requires Ducey to pick an appointee that is the "same political party as the person vacating the office."

A month ago, before Kyl's decision was announced, Rep. Martha McSally emerged as one of several possible replacements after losing a Senate race to fill outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake's seat to Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been leveraging his political power to try to convince Ducey to choose McSally, several Republican sources told CNN.

COMMENT:  I'd be very disappointed, and so will many Republicans, if the governor does not pick Martha.  True, she ran a mediocre campaign, but she still came within a hair of winning.  And she's an outstanding person, the first American woman to fly in combat.

December 14,  2018     Permalink

DECEMBER 13,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:

HUH? – FROM BREITBART:   Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee amid suspicion that a portion of the $107 million it raised was misspent, according to a report.  The Wall Street Journal states the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is in the beginning stages of probing whether the committee’s most prominent donors made sizable contributions “in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions or to influence official administration positions.”  I'm getting more than a little uneasy about the "investigations" of the president that seem to crop up regularly.  Is there any evidence here?  Or is this part of the overall war on Trump being waged within the Establishment?  I don't doubt that people made donations with the hope that they could influence policy.  That happens every day.  The issue is whether a donation actually led to a provable change of policy.  I'm not interested in a donor's wishful thinking.

SICKENING – FROM CNS:   One of the first two Muslim women elected to the U.S. Congress took a snide dig on Twitter at Vice President Pence for sitting with eyes closed during a heated Oval Office meeting, posting a photo with the caption, “Jesus take the wheel!” - and, the other incoming Muslim congresswoman applauded the insult.  Ihlan Omar’s (D-Minn.) tweet ended with the hashtag #BorderWall, a reference to the contentious issue discussed during President Trump’s meeting Tuesday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)  The second Muslim woman elected to the House, Palestinian-American Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib, “liked” Omar’s Pence tweet.  Imagine if Islam had been insulted.  CNN would do two weeks on it.  These two women are trouble.  They do not accept American concepts of religious tolerance, but they will be protected by the fashionable left-wing press.

GETTING SERIOUS – FROM CNS:  (CNSNews.com) – For 16 consecutive years, the State Department under three administrations has rejected advice from an independent statutory watchdog to blacklist Pakistan for religious freedom violations – until now.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Tuesday that he has designated the world’s second most-populous Islamic nation as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for egregious abuses of religious freedom.  Under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), the federal government identifies countries that have engaged in or tolerated ”systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom” as CPCs, a designation that provides for sanctions or other measures designed to encourage improvements.  Pompeo also named nine other CPCs – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.  A step forward.  If the Dems win the White House in 2020, they'll probably reverse it. 

December 13, 2018       Permalink

JUSTICE IN AMERICA? – AT 1:53 P.M. ET:  We have an attorney general here in New York State who needs to be treated, and medicated, and have her mouth washed out with strong soap.  From dailywire.com:   

New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James is buttressing President Trump’s claims that there is a “witch hunt” pursuing him; she told NBC News that she intends to investigate not only the president, his family and "anyone" in his circle who may have violated the law.

James blustered, "We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well,” adding, "We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law.”

NBC listed some of the investigations that James said she plans to pursue:

• Any potential illegalities involving Trump's real estate holdings in New York, highlighting a New York Times investigation published in October into the president's finances.

• The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian official.

• Examine government subsidies Trump received, which were also the subject of Times investigative work.

• Whether he is in violation of the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution through his New York businesses.

• Continue to probe the Trump Foundation.

Newsweek reported, “James also indicated she intends to probe government subsidies received by the president, as well as any illegal activities that might involve Trump’s real estate holdings in New York City.”

COMMENT:  This is madness.   Does this well-known leftist operative have any probable cause to believe there's been illegality?  It is it just a hunch?  An order from party officials?

The power of the prosecutor is always great.  It can easily be abused.  This is abuse, not public service.  Our attorney general needs to be restrained.  Even if you dislike the president intensely, you should insist on the due process required in a democracy.

December 13, 2018       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  The pollsters are now starting their end-of-the year polls and their end-of-the-president's-first-two-years polls.  What is striking is how solid President Trump is.  No, his ratings are not all that great, but they are remarkably consistent.  He has a base of support that will not abandon him, no matter how much mud is thrown in his direction.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove. 

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 40% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -5.

COMMENT:  Fox reports, in its poll:  "Overall, 46 percent of voters approve of the job Trump is doing and 52 percent disapprove.  In January, it was 45-53 percent.  Moreover, approval has barely budged all year, staying within the narrow range of 43 to 47 percent.

Some other polls show the president lower, but, on balance, he's about where Obama was at this point in his presidency.  The mainstream media keeps telling us that Mr. Trump is unpopular, but compared with whom?  Being in the mid-forties is not unusual. 

And Harry Truman ended his presidency with an approval rating in the twenties.

Approval ratings at this point in a presidency have little to do with re-election prospects.  The Dems have yet to mention a presidential candidate who can go the distance against Trump.

December 13,  2018     Permalink