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 29,  2018

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

THE NEW KIND OF WARFARE – FROM THE LA TIMES:  A cyberattack that appears to have originated from outside the United States caused major printing and delivery disruptions at several newspapers across the country on Saturday including the Los Angeles Times, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.  The attack led to distribution delays in the Saturday edition of The Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and several other major newspapers that operate on a shared production platform. It also stymied distribution of the West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which are all printed at the Los Angeles Times’ Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles.  “We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.  No other details about the origin of the attack were immediately available, including the motive. The source identified the attacker only as a “foreign entity.”   Chilling.  Imagine if airlines and hospitals were affected.  This is a new type of warfare and I'm not sure we're prepared for it.

THERE IS INDEED FAKE NEWS – FROM RTE:   Influential German news weekly Der Spiegel said it has suspended two senior editors following the scandal involving a reporter who admitted faking stories for years.  The company said the contracts of Ullrich Fichtner, an editor in chief, and Matthias Geyer, a chief editor, had been suspended.  The suspension "will remain until the (magazine's) internal commission has completed its investigation into the affair," the editor in chief Steffen Klusmann said in an internal letter.  Earlier this month, Der Spiegel stunned the media world by revealing that one of its award-winning reporters had falsified stories for years.  Claas Relotius, 33, resigned this month after admitting he had made up stories and invented protagonists in more than a dozen articles in the magazine's print and online editions.  Yes, Virginia, there is fake news.  A lot more of it than you think.

COMING SOON TO AN AMERICAN CAMPUS NEAR YOU – FROM DAILY MAIL:  An Egyptian court has sentenced a 25-year-old woman to three years in prison for 'sexually harassing' a monkey in the country's north, state daily Al-Ahram reported Friday.  A court in Mansoura city charged Basma Ahmed with 'inciting debauchery' and 'committing an obscene act in public', a judicial source told the newspaper.  She was arrested in October after a 90-second video of the incident went viral, particularly among young people and students, Al-Ahram said.  Anyone who opposes the rights of monkeys is a blatant monkist.  There'll be a march for monkey freedom in Washington in April.  Be there.

December 29, 2018       Permalink 

THE PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:  Despite the thumping he's taking in the press, the president's numbers are holding up, but there are warning signs.  From The Hill:

President Trump's public support appears to be holding steady despite the partial government shutdown dragging on amid a stalemate over his demand for border wall funding.

In a poll released Friday by The Hill and HarrisX, the president's job approval rating stands at 47 percent, down 1 point from the previous survey Dec. 7-8 and within both studies' 3.1 percent margin of error.

Trump's approval rating in the Hill-HarrisX polls has been relatively steady since September, remaining between 45 percent and 48 percent.

"Despite a couple of polls being a little bit outside or perhaps a little bit of outliers, we've seen the president's approval rating generally consistent and in the low- to mid-forties," Mallory Newall, research director at Ipsos Public Affairs, said Friday during a panel discussion featured on Hill.TV's "What America's Thinking."

While Trump's numbers have stayed relatively steady during his presidency, he has consistently received more very negative assessments in surveys than very positive ones.

That dynamic is a "warning sign," Republican pollster Ed Goeas said in the discussion Friday.

"There's real intensity on the strong negatives versus the strong positives. That is not a good sign for the president in terms of going forward."

It may be particularly difficult for Trump, Goeas argued, as he was able to win in 2016 despite being unpopular because his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton was "equally disliked."

COMMENT:  That's true, about Madam Hillary.  But it could also be true about the Democratic candidate in 2020.  The batch of "mentionables" doesn't contain too many lovable types.  Kamala Harris has a personality even a mother would balk at.  Ditto Cory Booker.  Biden is likable, but may forget that there's an election.  Bernie Sanders gets good numbers, but wait 'til voters learn what he really believes. 

At the same time, we don't know who might emerge in 2019.   Beto O'Rourke has now gotten the attention of the Great Mentioner.  He's very likable, quite charming, and a complete empty suit, or pair of jeans, or whatever he's wearing.

December 29, 2018       Permalink

PREPARING – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:  Not to ruin anyone's good time, but this a news site.  There is clearly apprehension, in this and other countries, about some kind of terrorist act over New Year's.  The NYPD is taking serious precautions.  From NBC News:

An army of cops — backed by bomb-sniffing dogs, drones, and more than 200 blocker vehicles — will blanket New York City's Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebration, authorities said Friday.

Officials with the NYPD and FBI in New York said there are no known specific or credible threats to the annual event but urged the public to remain vigilant.

"We always have the world's best intelligence analysts and investigators monitoring the threat stream day and night," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said at a press briefing.

The NYPD will be keeping a close eye on the festivities with the help of more than 1,200 cameras, including portable devices brought to the area to add an extra layer of coverage. The camera footage will be fed to one of the NYPD's state-of-the-art intelligence centers, where officers have the ability to quickly rewind or zoom in on the numerous feeds.

In a first, the department will also be deploying its own drone to add another camera to the sky, augmenting the NYPD's helicopter fleet. The drone will be tethered to the ground and will have an area cordoned off below it to protect revelers in the event of a malfunction.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force will also be on hand with counter-drone technology, authorities said.

The extraordinary security measures include welding shut manhole covers and embedding officers inside area hotels.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said the teams of intelligence detectives will take their positions inside hotels "well before New Year's Eve."

Miller said the officers will be teamed up with hotel staff carrying master keys and allowed to spend days getting to know hotel housekeepers and other staff so they will be able to identify anyone who doesn't belong on the premises and the hotel staff knows the detectives.

COMMENT:  Remarkable.  Good work by the NYPD.  I can't wait for the ACLU to move in and try to stop some of this work. 

I love the idea of embedding officers in hotels.  A very good precaution.  Some major attacks have originated in hotels, or involved hotels – Mumbai in India, and Las Vegas in the United States, to name two.

We hope for the best, but eternal vigilance is in order.

December 29,  2018     Permalink

DECEMBER 28,  2018

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

WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE – FROM DAILY MAIL:  Nancy Pelosi is spotted vacationing at an $899-a-night Hawaii hotel that has a 'Spa Without Walls' as White House blasts her for refusing to enter talks to end week-long government shutdown.  Watch, the Dems will shout "sexist!" at this report.  The hypocrisy of liberals is neverending.  

GREAT MOMENTS IN LEGAL HISTORY – FROM DAILY CALLER:   The United States Air Force said Thursday that there is nothing wrong with troops getting “Make America Great Again” hats signed by the president, countering a media narrative about potential misconduct.  During an unannounced visit to U.S. military bases in Iraq and Germany the day after Christmas, President Donald Trump snapped photos with and signed memorabilia for U.S. service-members.  CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times seized on photos of U.S. Army and Air Force members holding “Make America Great Again” hats and suggested that the military members were breaching protocol by getting the president to sign them....U.S. Air Forces Europe made clear in a statement Thursday that troops at Ramstein Air Base did not break any rules by bringing their own hats for the president to sign.  “There is no rule against Airmen bringing personal items to be signed by the president,” USAFE said, noting that while troops held the hats to be signed, they never wore them while in uniform.  I'm glad this didn't have to go to the Supreme Court.

PLEASE NOTE THIS – FROM THE BOSTON HERALD:   A staggering 144 police officers were killed in the line of duty this year, a national report shows, and for the first time in decades the leading cause was shootings...Nationwide, 52 of the 144 police fatalities this year were firearm-related deaths. The total number of deaths represented a 12 percent jump over 2017, according to a preliminary Law Enforcement Fatalities Report released Thursday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.  The data show that firearms-related fatalities are up 13 percent year over year, replacing traffic-related deaths, which had been the leading cause of death for the last 20 years.  Haven't seen much concern about this in the mainstream media.  Wonder why.

December 28, 2018       Permalink

TRUMP MAKES IT CLEAR – AT 11:30 A.M. ET:   The president doubles down on the wall and the border, and I think he has a good chance of carrying public opinion with him.  From Daily Mail:

President Donald Trump returned Friday to a threat to close the nation's southern border if he doesn't get his wall money from Congress.

The federal government is partially shut down in Washington and remain that way until next week at least. Lawmakers have avoided the capital since Christmas in recognition of the reality that they are nowhere ending the fight with Trump with a spending deal. 

Trump warned as the weekend began that he'll close every port of entry if he doesn't see progress not only on his wall but on a total immigration overhaul as he claimed once more that the dispute is totally political in nature and has nothing to do with their claims that his desired border barrier would be impractical.

'We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with,' he said in a long tweet. 'Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!' 

Trump made a similar declaration about the politics of the argument on Thursday afternoon, claiming that 'everybody knows' that walls 'work perfectly' while offering a prediction that his point of view would be vindicated in 2020. 

'This isn’t about the Wall, everybody knows that a Wall will work perfectly (In Israel the Wall works 99.9%). This is only about the Dems not letting Donald Trump & the Republicans have a win,' he proclaimed. 'They may have the 10 Senate votes, but we have the issue, Border Security. 2020!'

The president spent the afternoon haranguing Democrats for the 'stupidity' that he said was driving them to oppose his strategy for keeping out illegal immigrants via a wall that he says he needs at least $5 billion to finish.

'They don’t have much to campaign on, do they? An Open Southern Border and the large scale crime that comes with such stupidity!' he wrote in one of several tweets that he sent over a three-hour period.

COMMENT:  We've said it before:  Like him or dislike him, never underestimate Trump's political instincts.  And his arguments resonate with people concerned about security.  I think that's most of us.

December 28, 2018       Permalink

THE HISPANIC VOTE – A MAJOR STORY – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  You won't hear much about it from the mainstream media, but something is happening with the Hispanic vote that may change a number of political calculations.  From,  believe it or not,  AP:

LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — Pedro Gonzalez has faith in Donald Trump and his party.
The 55-year-old Colombian immigrant is a pastor at an evangelical church in suburban Denver.

Initially repelled by Trump in 2016, he’s been heartened by the president’s steps to protect religious groups and appoint judges who oppose abortion rights. More important, Gonzalez sees Trump’s presidency as part of a divine plan.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Gonzalez said of the president. “He was put there.”

Though Latino voters are a key part of the Democratic coalition, there is a larger bloc of reliable Republican Latinos than many think. And the GOP’s position among Latinos has not weakened during the Trump administration, despite the president’s rhetoric against immigrants and the party’s shift to the right on immigration.

In November’s elections, 32 percent of Latinos voted for Republicans, according to AP VoteCast data. The survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters — including 7,738 Latino voters — was conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.

Other surveys also found roughly one-third of Latinos supporting the GOP. Data from the Pew Research Center and from exit polls suggests that a comparable share of about 3 in 10 Latino voters supported Trump in 2016. That tracks the share of Latinos supporting Republicans for the last decade.

The stability of Republicans’ share of the Latino vote frustrates Democrats, who say actions like Trump’s family separation policy and his demonization of an immigrant caravan should drive Latinos out of the GOP.

“The question is not are Democrats winning the Hispanic vote — it’s why aren’t Democrats winning the Hispanic vote 80-20 or 90-10 the way black voters are?” said Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster. He argues Democrats must invest more in winning Latino voters.

COMMENT:  As usual, the press gets it wrong.  Notice the patronizing attitude toward conservative Hispanics in that story.  Why aren't they smart enough to know how evil Trump is?  Why don't they care about illegal immigrants?   Why don't they think like us? 

My friends in the Hispanic community tell me that it is a very complex mechanism.  Not all Hispanics think alike.  They come from a variety of Spanish-speaking cultures.  There is a new generation of Hispanics that is very entrepreneurial.  Many Hispanics appreciate the Trump economy.  And a large number of Hispanics reject illegal immigration.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Trump's part of the Hispanic vote increase in 2020.

Nor would I be surprised if Trump makes gains in the black community, especially if he launches initiatives for economic improvement in large cities.  I'd love to see it.

December 28,  2018     Permalink