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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

FEBRUARY 6,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET:  

IS THIS MAN INSANE? – FROM BREITBART:   Democratic Sen. Tom Carper says ‘dreamer’ illegal immigrants should be hired to replace millions of Americans who supposedly are too unskilled, uneducated, unethical or drugged up to work for companies.  “I think the business community is saying that to the administration [and] they are certainly saying that to those of us in the Congress, and we should focus on that,” Carper told MSNBC.  “We have a moral responsibility to them,” Carper said about the roughly 690,000 ‘dreamer’ illegals, not about Americans. Carper added, “doing a deal with the dreamers is as much about —  as I said earlier — is about making sure we have the folks who can go to work tomorrow.”  I hope the Republicans in Delaware have a good candidate to put up against this bizarre nut.

AND ANOTHER NUT – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Democratic Illinois Rep. Danny Davis defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as an “outstanding human being” on Monday.  Farrakhan is known for embracing radically anti-Semitic and anti-white views, as even the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center has acknowledged. Farrakhan’s history of racially extreme comments includes blaming Jews for the September 11 attacks, saying white people “deserve to die” and praising Adolf Hitler as a “very great man.”  A bombshell new photo emerged last week, showing former President Barack Obama smiling with Farrakhan at a Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) meeting in 2005. The journalist who took the photo said he suppressed its publication to protect Obama’s presidential aspirations.  Recently we learned that a man seeking a GOP congressional nomination in Illinois is a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi and admirer of Adolf Hitler.  Republican leaders at all levels instantly denounced him.  Thus far the comments of Danny Davis have been met only by the silence of leading Democrats, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Says something, doesn't it? 

SELLING THE L.A. TIMES – FROM THE WRAP:  Tronc, Inc., the owner of the Los Angeles Times, is expected to sell the paper to L.A.-based billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, multiple outlets reported Tuesday. According to the New York Times the deal, said to be worth approximately $500 million, could be announced as soon as Wednesday.  Soon-Shiong, the founder of Culver City-based NantHealth and a major shareholder in Tronc, is also expected to purchase the San Diego Union-Tribune, according to a Washington Post report.  It's been a troubled paper for years.  Of all the major city papers in the U.S., the L.A. Times seems to have the least influence.  I generally find its journalism shallow, with some noted exceptions.  The Times needs to be less like the city it serves.

February 6, 2018       Permalink

FASCINATING, AND POSSIBLY A GOOD OMEN – AT 12:40 P.M. ET:   You may recall that Harvard is looking for a new president.  But what kind of president?  It's easy to fear that, given the current fads in higher education, the country's most influential university might choose a trendy, hip, member-of-the-right-group symbol.  The cocktail-party set in Boston would love it.

But wait a second.  Can it be?  The New York Sun, an excellent online paper, has discovered the names of some of the leading candidates, and they don't fit the expected picture:

BOSTON — Harvard University will choose its next president in the coming weeks. Surprises are always possible, but the search looks like it’s headed in a direction that tells a story of national, even international significance. Among the leading contenders for the job are reportedly the:

• dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria, whose bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering is from the Indian Institute of Technology.

• president of the Broad Institute, Eric Lander, whose undergraduate and graduate work were in mathematics and who was a professor at Harvard Business School and in MIT’s biology department before founding Broad, which does health-related genetics research.

• dean of Harvard’s faculty of arts and sciences, Michael Smith, whose Ph.D. in electrical engineering is from Stanford.

• provost of Harvard, Alan Garber, an economist who has an M.D. from Stanford.

• president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, a 1991 graduate of Harvard Medical school who was featured in this past weekend’s New York Times as a big pal of Harvard presidential search committee member and billionaire David Rubenstein.

Notice any common themes emerging?

Three of the past five presidents of Harvard were trained in the humanities. Nathan Pusey was a classicist. Neil Rudenstine is a scholar of Renaissance literature. The outgoing president, Drew Faust, is a historian.

Harvard hasn’t had a scientist or engineer as president since James Bryant Conant stepped down from the job in 1953. It appears as if the university is ready for another one.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  The Sun documents the collapse of the Humanities and Social Sciences into a scrap heap of leftist ideology.  Many of our colleges are becoming public embarrassments.  "Social justice," which means justice only for selected groups, is the new motto.

Maybe Harvard, by choosing a practical, mature, scientifically literate president, can signal that some good change is coming.

February 6, 2018       Permalink

GOING AFTER RUSSIA – AT 11:34 A.M. ET:  One of the absurd things about the inquiries into alleged Trump collusion with Russia, is the way in which the media avoids covering the president's actual policies toward Russia.   In fact, he is far tougher on Moscow than Field Marshal Obama ever dreamed of being.   We're seeing it right now.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday criticized Russian efforts to "whitewash" the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons.

Haley said at a U.N. Security Council meeting that reports of a chlorine gas attack on Sunday followed "a troubling pattern" in Syria, where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly used chemical weapons on his own people. She laid out expectations for Syria to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal under the Chemical Weapons Convention and U.N. Security Council resolution 2118, but implicated Russia in protecting Assad.

"It's a true tragedy that Russia has sent us back to square one in the effort to end chemical weapons use in Syria," Haley said. "But we will not cease in our efforts to know the truth of the Assad regime and ensure that truth is known and acted on by the international community."

She argued that Russia's actions to prevent accountability is detrimental to the U.N.'s credibility.

"So what do the American people see? What do people of all countries see?" Haley asked. "They see a council that can't agree to take action, even after the investigative mechanism created by this council found that the Assad regime used chemical weapons."

She said evidence of dozens of victims in the latest attack led the U.S. to propose a statement condemning it, but Russia has delayed the statement.  

COMMENT:  Not exactly a love fest with Moscow.  As usual, our heroine, Nikki Haley, was terrific.  But I wish "journalists" would look at this administration's actual policy toward the Russians.  It's tough and realistic, and Putin cannot be happy.

February 6, 2018       Permalink

AND ANOTHER ONE – AT 10:49 A.M. ET:  You'll recall that, some weeks ago, a state employee in Hawaii sent out a live alert warning that Hawaii would be hit by an incoming ICBM.  It created a near-panic and wasn't corrected until more than a half hour later.  Now there's been another false emergency alert.  These things are dangerous, costly, and unacceptable.  From NBC News: 

Some residents along the East Coast received a false tsunami warning on Tuesday morning as part of a monthly test by the National Weather Service. 

A tweet from the National Weather Service (NWS) in Charleston, South Carolina, said the alert was sent around 8:30 a.m. ET. 

"We have been notified that some users received this test message as an actual Tsunami Warning," the NWS tweeted, adding that a tsunami warning was "not in effect." 

In a statement to NBC News, the NWS said that a routine test was sent out and that the agency is investigating why it was communicated as an actual tsunami.

"The test message was released by at least one private sector company as an official Tsunami Warning, resulting in widespread reports of tsunami warnings received via phones and other media across the East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. We're currently looking into why the test message was communicated as an actual tsunami warning, and will provide more information as soon as we have it," the NWS said.

The agency said their test message "was not disseminated to the public via any communications channels operated by the National Weather Service."

The push notification sent to phones in South Carolina was reportedly sent by the AccuWeather app, according to The Post and Courier of Charleston.

AccuWeather also tweeted that the notification was a test, not an actual warning.

COMMENT:  A presidential commission is required to look into all emergency services and their communications systems.  Fortunately, no one was killed or seriously injured as a result of this latest blunder, but we can easily imagine serious accidents and deaths as people panicked and tried to get away from the incoming "tsunami." 

Not acceptable.  Serious action required.

February 6,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 5,  2018

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

IRAN MILITANT – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:  Iran announced on Monday that it has begun mass-producing a new weaponized drone that carries smart bombs capable of precision strikes, according to the Islamic Republic's military leaders.  Iran, which has engaged in a massive military buildup since receiving billions of dollars in cash windfalls as a result of the landmark nuclear deal, says that these advanced new drones will be delivered to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, which has been coordinating war efforts across the Middle East, including most controversially in Syria, where Iranian-backed forces have attacked U.S. troops.  They should call their drone the Obama, in honor of the man who made it possible.   Another model could be called the Kerry.

HILLARY SPEAKS – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:  Two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday that she intends to continue fighting for women's rights and to "remain on the front lines of democracy," despite her 2016 election loss to President Donald Trump.  "Advancing the rights, opportunities, and full participation of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the 21st century," Clinton told students at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. "I intend to keep fighting to pursue this agenda and remain on the front lines of democracy."  Clinton appeared at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security to give a speech, participate in a panel discussion, and present the 2018 Hillary Rodham Clinton awards to individuals who advance women's role in creating a more peaceful and secure world.  We are a tolerant people, and we will tolerate this.  But I do wonder why no one has ever asked Hillary Clinton what she's actually accomplished for women.

WHAT OUR KIDS ARE LEARNING – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:   A California State University-Dominguez Hills lecturer recently used her political science course syllabus to assert that President Trump was elected by “appealing to hatred and bigotry,” even labeling him a “white supremacist.”  Dr. Brooke Mascagni included the language in her syllabus for an “American Political Institutions” course, which is worth three credit hours at the California institution.  “The President of the United States won the 2016 election by appealing to hatred and bigotry,” the syllabus declares, according to images obtained by Campus Reform, adding that “just about everyday, a new scandal breaks or evidence of corruption emerges.”  That is called "scholarship" in some circles.  California State is a state institution, supported by public funds.  Let's see if there's an uproar.  Don't hold your breath.

February 5, 2018       Permalink

TALK ABOUT BAD P.R. – AT 11:31 P.M. ET:   What are the Germans thinking?  From the Jerusalem Post,  based on a story in the German publication BILD: 

German technology was sold to Iranian companies and subsequently used in Syrian chemical weapons attacks, the mass-circulation BILD reported on Monday.

Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control approved a license for a company to sell military-applicable technology to Iranian firms.

The German company Krempel, located near the southern city of Stuttgart, sold electronic press boards to Iranian companies that were used in the production of rockets. The Jerusalem Post reported in 2017 that multiple German intelligence reports revealed that Iran sought chemical and biological weapons technology from the Federal Republic.

The research of human rights group Syrians for Truth and Justice, BILD and the online investigative journalist website Bellingcat showed photographs of the rocket remains with the Krempel logo and the product's signature “Made in Germany” line. The rocket debris was found after two poison gas attacks assumed to have been conducted by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. Krempel confirmed the delivery of electronic technology “Presspan PSP 3040,” a material with a cellulose base used for insulation.

COMMENT:  You'd think that Germany, with its history, would know better.  But greed overcomes all.  When the Iran nuclear deal was completed, German businessmen were crawling over each other to profit from doing business with the world's greatest sponsor of terror.

February 5, 2018       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:   There were headlines at the end of last week, reporting that Mr. Trump had hit 49% in the Rasmussen poll, based presumably on his State of the Union performance.  But could it hold?

The Dems and the mainstream media joined up in their usual unholy alliance to throw everything they had at the president, and I personally expected his numbers to dip at the start of this week.  I was wrong.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-nine percent (49%) also disapprove.
The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 39% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -4.

All three nights of this survey now follow the president’s well-received State of the Union address last week. Both Trump’s overall approval rating and his Presidential Approval Index rating remain at their highest levels in nearly a year.  

COMMENT:  Other polls, of course, have Mr. Trump lower.  But enough polling has now come in to demonstrate that the trend is clearly upward. 

This can reverse.  The president, to paraphrase a description by Churchill of our own secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, is a bull who brings his own china shop with him.   If Mr. Trump can avoid self-inflicted wounds, and keep the economy humming, he might just pull a Republican Congress out of November's fire.

February 5, 2018       Permalink

A VERY BAD IDEA – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Two things about socialism – it never succeeds and it never dies.  Now, a rather depressed city in California is going in the socialist direction, as if the city fathers, mothers and non-gendered parents have discovered something great.  They have not.  From WND:

The mayor of Stockton, California, is leading an experiment with “universal basic income,” which is set to start by giving low-income residents $500 a month, no questions asked.

Mayor Michael Tubbs calls his city “ground zero” for issues like wage stagnation, rising housing prices and loss of middle-class jobs that affect the nation.

The Central Valley city went bankrupt in 2012, and for decades it has been trying to diversify its agriculture-based economy.

“I feel that as mayor it’s my responsibility to do all I could to begin figuring out what’s the best way to make sure that folks in our community have a real economic floor,” Tubbs said.

Are you loving the ‘Nunes Memo’? Get the political manifesto from the House Intel Committee chairman who wrote it.

Dorian Warren serves as co-chairman the Economic Security Project, which is contributing $1 million to the initiative. He said the goal is to gather data on the economic and social impacts of giving people a basic income.

In addition to tracking what residents do with the money, Warren said they will be monitoring how a basic income affects things like self-esteem and identity.

“What does it mean to say, ‘Here is unconditional guaranteed income just based on you being a human being?'” Warren asked.

COMMENT:  A bad idea for a number of reasons.  There's a rule of thumb in politics that, once you give a benefit, you can't take it back, because the voters will turn against you.  That's true.  It's also true that a guaranteed income has to come from taxpayers who are earning their income, leading to real resentment and social division.  It's further true that a guaranteed income never created a job or an incentive.

President Trump understands economics, and knows that the road to economic prosperity is the building of a strong, jobs-oriented economy.  That will include the redevelopment of our infrastructure, which is on his agenda.  I doubt if giving people $500 a month, with no strings attached, will build anything but a huge deficit, which the powerful California delegation in Congress will pressure Washington to pay off.

February 5,  2018     Permalink