Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

DECEMBER 23,  2018

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

THEY MUST BE SHATTERED – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   As the federal government is in the midst of a partial shutdown, Georgetown University wants any affected staff and students to know they can take advantage of campus counseling services.  As of Saturday, approximately one-quarter of the federal government closed down as negotiations between Republicans and Democrats did not produce a funding agreement. The main issue is construction of a wall on border between the US and Mexico.  The shutdown could persist into the new year.  In an email obtained by The College Fix, GU Associate Vice President for Federal Government Relations Katy Button reminded the campus community that the university’s Faculty & Staff Assistance Program includes “free [and] confidential counseling,” and is available to those impacted by the federal closures.  I'm sure the little angels will be told that the shutdown is the result of white supremacy.

WHEN IT ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAS NO CHANCE OF BEING THERE OVERNIGHT – FROM THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS:   Employees at a FedEx Ground facility in Hutchins were arrested this week after two package handlers were accused of stealing nearly $50,000 in cellphones and paying a manager and security guard to ignore the crimes.  Officers were called to the company Wednesday night after a manager said he wanted to monitor two employees he suspected of stealing items shipped through FedEx, according to warrants.  The employees, 47-year-old Larry Poole and 58-year-old Wade Hal, were expected to arrive at the facility at 11 p.m. When they arrived, the manager and a team of security guards watched through a security camera as the duo unloaded trailers at the business, the warrants state.
Poole and Hal removed phones from packages that were shipped to the facility and placed them in two backpacks, according to the warrants.  The duo was suspected of paying a manager, 31-year-old Anthony Edison, and a security guard, 33-year-old Ricky Lacy, to "turn their face the other way" during the crime, the documents state.  Officers confronted Poole and Hal and discovered they had 94 cellphones and an Apple Watch, according to the warrants. The items were valued at $48,390.  Not too smart.  How long did these clowns think they could do this without people realizing that iPhones were missing?  Probably the most noticeable, and desired, item in most shipments today.

INCREDIBLE TRAVEL – FROM QZ.COM:   Qantas Airways, the flag carrier of Australia, is looking to launch what would be the world’s longest flight by 2022. The proposed Sydney-to-London route would take 20 hours and 22 minutes.  The airline has a business plan, but no plane to fly it. Qantas has requested proposals from Boeing and Airbus for airplanes and configurations that could operate the trip. The plane makers would likely need to shave weight to provide a solution. That means fewer passengers and less cargo, but more legroom and possibly even lounges or gyms on board.  The route would shorten the flight time between Sydney and London by 3 hours and 45 minutes before as well, of course, any layovers and time needed to make connections.  Lounges?  Gyms?  Oh, just get some new ocean liners and give yourself some real travel time.

December 23, 2018       Permalink

THEY'RE FOOLING AROUND ALREADY – AT 12:20 P.M. ET:   Pretty soon, the presidential race, and the states are competing with each other.  From the Politico:

California’s newly instituted March 3 primary date is rattling the early presidential state map, as Democratic state and party officials grapple with the shadow cast by the nation’s most populous state.

The idea that millions of absentee and mail-in votes could be cast in advance of California’s actual primary election day — and the prospect that presidential candidates might bypass the early states entirely to concentrate on target-rich California — is finally beginning to sink in.

Bill Gardner, the longtime secretary of state who has the legal authority to set the New Hampshire primary election date, told POLITICO he doesn’t plan to set the date for the nation’s first presidential primary until the fall, when he will better understand the potential impact of California’s early voting and determine whether other state legislatures have attempted to infringe on the Granite State’s first position.

While the schedule set forth by the Democratic National Committee has New Hampshire’s primary slated for Feb. 11, 2020, Gardner raised the prospect that the date could change.

“Not the case,” said Gardner, referring to the Feb. 11 date. “I haven’t set the date. I’ll set the date, most likely, next fall.”

Was it possible that he could set the nominating contest as early as December 2019? Gardner called that speculative, but wouldn’t rule it out.

“Well, the law, and the circumstances could require that. The law says it can be in the year of the election or the year before,” he said. “The law provides a great deal of flexibility in order to preserve the tradition of the primary.”

COMMENT:  I'll bet some political operator comes up with the idea of primaries starting a year or more before the election.  The news networks would love it.  So would the ad agencies and the political advisers.  The 18-month campaign might actually happen.

December 23, 2018       Permalink

COMMON SENSE – FROM BREITBART:  One great thing Trump is doing is reversing the damage done by Barack Obama.  From Breitbart: 

The Trump administration has revoked an Obama-era policy that urged public schools to employ more lenient forms of discipline for students of color and of other minority groups.

On Friday, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice rescinded the Obama administration’s 2014 “Dear Colleague Letter” that a federal school safety commission said “may have paradoxically contributed to making schools less safe.”

The Obama-era Departments of Education and Justice, under Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder, issued school guidelines that claimed students of color are “disproportionately impacted” by suspensions and expulsions, a situation they said led to a “school-to-prison pipeline” that discriminates against minority and low-income students.

In school districts that adopted the policy, minority students whose behavior would have previously drawn an arrest or a suspension were, instead, referred to “teen courts” or “restorative talking circles.”

According to the Obama administration’s 2014 Dear Colleague letter, school districts whose disciplinary measures showed “disparate impact” – meaning a disproportionately greater number of minority students are affected by disciplinary measures – were open to investigation by the Departments of Justice and Education, even if the behaviors leading to the discipline were unacceptable.

Critics of the Obama-era guidance say it tied the hands of teachers and school officials to administer discipline fairly and effectively and forced them to make statistics – which would be viewed favorably by the federal government – the priority.

In its final report, the safety commission had “significant concerns …  regarding the legal framework upon which the Guidance is based.”

COMMENT:  Equal justice is the goal, not special justice for some.  Many don't realize how radical the Obama administration actually was.  Radical and reckless.

Now things are changing for the better.

December 23,  2018     Permalink

DECEMBER 22,  2018

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

GOOD COMPANIES – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  Several major firms are resisting calls from director Judd Apatow and other Twitter liberals to boycott Tucker Carlson’s TV show because he opposes illegal immigration.  Pacific Life, Indeed.com, IHOP and several other companies did pull their ads from the Fox News Channel show “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” but the resisters include such major firms as Farmer’s Insurance, Mitsubishi and John Deere.  In a statement to the Daily Beast, Farmers Insurance said it “invests in advertising across a broad range of networks and programs that reflect the diversity of opinions and viewpoints found across the nation.”  When Farmers advertisers on political shows, the company explained, it “should not be construed to be an endorsement of any kind as to a show’s content or the individuals appearing on the show.”  The Japanese auto and ship giant concurred, telling the Beast that “our advertising media spend is determined based on demographics and psychographics, not politics.”   Glad to see some corporations are actually resisting political correctness, rather than joining it.

WHAT HARVARD ACCEPTS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Parkland shooting survivor and anti-gun activist David Hogg is heading to Harvard.  The graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — where 17 students were shot and killed in February — took to Twitter to share the news of his acceptance.  “Thank you all for the well wishes, I’ll be attending Harvard in the fall with a planned major in Political Science,” Hogg tweeted Saturday morning.  Hogg and other Parkland survivors were launched into the national spotlight as they fought for gun control after the shooting.  Jaclyn Corin, another Parkland survivor, tweeted this week that she was also accepted into Harvard.  He turned into a little demagogue after the shooting, exploiting the event for his own political future.   He is vicious.  I guess, though, that if you take the "correct" position on gun control, fair Harvard will accept you. 

THE ETERNAL QUEST – FROM CBS LOCAL:  PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Could the secret to eternal youth be found in blood transfusions from young people? Some claim that transfusions with “young blood” from teenagers can reverse the aging process.  It’s being tested in patients over the age of 35 as part of a clinical trial called ambrosia, where people paid $8,000 to get the rich growth factors found in bloods plasma platelets.  Dr. Jesse Karmazin said.  Results of the trial have not been published.  Dr. Karmazin, who plans to open a business selling young blood, says patients who’ve had it say they feel amazing, and he says he’s seen evidence of reversing the aging process in rats.  “Their brains are younger, their hearts. Their hair, if it was gray, it turns dark again,” he said.  There has also been encouraging Alzheimer’s research using young blood at Stanford University.  “We found that it was safe and feasible to administer infusions of young plasma weekly,” Dr. Sharon Shaw, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Stanford, said. Dr. Shaw is a researcher who says they have seen evidence of improvement in functional ability.  “It’s all very exciting that there can be components in blood that can be healing,” Dr. Shaw said.  I wonder if we can give "old" blood to Democratic members of Congress, so they can stop acting like teenagers.  Just askin'.

December 22, 2018       Permalink

A DAY IN HISTORY – AT 1:52 P.M. ET:   I'm a sucker for American military history.  We recall that Christmas of 1944 was hell for American forces in Europe.  The Nazis surprised us with a major, desperate offensive, soon to be called the Battle of the Bulge.  From Daily Caller: 

Today, December 22, marks the 74-year anniversary of American Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe’s legendary reply to the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge.

During the Battle of the Bulge, German forces had surrounded the Americans holding Bastogne and the area around the town.

German forces approached the men of the 101st Airborne Divison to demand their honorable surrender or face annihilation. In the absence of General Maxwell Taylor, McAuliffe was in charge of the 101st. The German message was delivered to him around noon, and read in part:

This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong
German armored units. More German armored units have crossed
the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and
reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet.

Libramont is in German hands.

There is only one possibility to save the encircled
U.S.A troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable
surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over
a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the
presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German
Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready
to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The
order for firing will be given immediately after this two
hours’ term.

What did McAuliffe do? Did he order his men to throw their weapons down and surrender to the Germans, who had them outnumbered and encircled?  Did he cave to the enormous threat from the enemy?

No, he simply replied with one word: NUTS! His full message read:

December 22, 1944

To the German Commander,

N U T S !

The American Commander

What happened next was unbelievable — and one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of American warfare. The American forces defended Bastogne, pushed the Germans back and didn’t give a damn inch to the enemy.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's terrific.  And it harks back to a time when Americans really did believe in themselves and their country, flaws and all.

I'm sure there are many who, today, regard themselves as "educated" or "sophisticated," and who chuckle at that moment in American history.  They are neither educated nor sophisticated.  They're just childlike fools.

December 22, 2018       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT IN TROUBLE – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  Another resignation in protest over Syria.  This ain't funny.   From Fox: 

Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy for the global coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS), has resigned in the wake of President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, Fox News confirmed Saturday -- coming on the heels of the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this week.

U.S. officials said this week that the Trump administration is making plans to pull all 2,000 troops out of Syria, and Trump later tweeted that “we have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Ground troops moved into Syria in 2015 to combat ISIS in the region, amid an escalating Syrian civil war. Trump had talked about pulling out of Syria before, but military leaders had warned about ISIS re-emerging should the U.S. do so. There is also concern about abandoning the U.S.'s Kurdish allies.

On Thursday, Trump announced that Mattis was retiring in February. Mattis’ resignation letter said that Trump had a right to a Defense Secretary “whose views are better aligned with yours” on policy.

Sources told Fox News this week that Mattis' resignation was "in protest" over the president's national security policies and that more resignations could be coming.

COMMENT:   And Mr. Trump is facing opposition, and dismay, from major Republican figures in the Senate, senators who had been supporting him on foreign policy.

In the last few days Urgent Agenda has received more messages critical of the president than in the entire Trump presidency, starting in January of 2017.

This is not good.  Presidents get into trouble, but they are in serious trouble when their own party starts doubting them.  Remember that Nixon was forced to resign, in the midst of the Watergate investigations, because support in his own party was eroding.  He resigned before being impeached by the House.  His fate in the Senate would have been in doubt.

I've never believed that Nixon was forced out by Watergate.  Watergate was the proximate cause, the excuse.   He was forced out because he was Richard Nixon.   Even though he had carried 49 states in the 1972 presidential election, he was less than popular, and rather disliked by fellow Republicans.

The same thing is true of Trump.  He is disliked within his own party.  He has made unnecessary enemies, and few friends.  If he gets into trouble because of the Mueller probes, he might find little enthusiasm for him to stay in office.  The current erosion of support because of his Syria decision is a serious warning to him. 

All is not lost.  Please recall that Harry Truman was widely regarded as hopeless before his spectacular come-from-behind victory in the presidential race of 1948.  And Franklin D. Roosevelt lost considerable support during his second term over his scheme to pack the Supreme Court and his decision to go for an unprecedented third term.  He not only won a third term, but a fourth as well. 

Don't underestimate Trump's political skills.  But don't overestimate them either.  Some of his allies say that he will survive, and win re-election, because there is no one else to take his place.  Recall the French proverb, that the graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable men.

December 22,  2018     Permalink