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FEBRUARY 15,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:50 P.M. ET: 

WE FEEL THEIR PAIN – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   Harvard University's selection of Lawrence Bacow as its new president has been met with disappointment and frustration from those who hoped to see a person of color in the post for the first time.  With the former MIT chancellor tapped to replace Drew Faust in summer 2018, it has been pointed out on social media that Harvard will now have had more presidents named "Larry" than it has had women or people of color combined.  Harvard's first "President Larry" was early 20th-century legal scholar Abbott Lawrence Lowell, followed up by Lawrence Summers from 2001 to 2006.  "I really can't stop laughing at the fact that this isn't even Harvard's first president who's a white male economist named Larry. lolsob." tweeted doctoral student Nadira Farah Foley.  Do you remember when the standard was to choose the best person for the job?  Those were the old days.

A SLIGHT COURSE CORRECTION – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:  When it comes to air quality, the products you use to smell nice or scrub your kitchen could be just as bad as the car you drive. A new study of the air around Los Angeles finds that consumer and industrial products now rival tailpipe emissions in creating atmospheric pollutants.  The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, reveal a shift in the balance of polluting power in cities — one that may prompt researchers and regulators to focus even more on a wide range of common consumer and industrial goods like hairspray, paint and deodorant.  Air pollution exposure is a leading cause of health problems worldwide. Among risk factors to human health, it ranks fifth behind malnutrition, poor diet, high blood pressure and tobacco, according to a report last year in the journal Lancet.  I'm so relieved that cars now will not be blamed for every evil.  I knew it was really hairspray, but no one would listen.  The hairspray lobby is just too strong.

GREAT! – FROM THE COLLEGE FIX:   Over the last week, college students nationwide have hung posters on their respective campuses advancing a novel idea: dating.  At a time when “Sex Weeks” and the progressive feminist narrative that celebrates meaningless, attachment-free, non-emotional sex dominates campuses, some students are advancing a notion that encourages their peers to get to know one another before getting naked.  The posters push a “people are worth it” dating message.  “Deep down, everyone desires the intimacy that comes from knowing and being known, loving and being loved,” Shaun Evans, a student who hung the posters at Notre Dame, said in an email to The College Fix.  “That desire is misdirected and intimacy is effaced by the hook-up culture..."  Not a bad idea.  We are getting a number of indications that traditional values are starting to make a comeback on college campuses.  Maturity and adulthood may soon become almost acceptable, if suspect. 

February 15,  2018     Permalink

THE ILLUSIONS OF EUROPE – AT 2:41 P.M. ET:   We like to remind readers that there's a real world outside American politics and the latest attempts to brand President Trump a Commie spy.  We are used to regarding the nations of Western Europe as our allies, but how allied are they really?  Some disturbing thoughts from an expert follow.  As Trump attempts to restore the foreign policy of the United States, he will face resistance from the Obama disciples in Europe.  From Breitbart: 

A military analyst has criticised EU leaders for failing to accept that “the Western world is at war” and warned that Europe will see worse terror attacks committed by Islamic extremists.

“Most politicians do not want to admit that the Western world is at war and should act accordingly… Policy responses are, in most cases, inadequate,” Lukáš Visingr told Czech news channel ?T24.

Mr. Visginr added that the recent period of calm – following the spate of Islamic extremist-inspired terror attacks that included the London Bridge, Manchester, Champs Elysees, Paris, and Barcelona attacks during the summer of 2017 – should not be taken as permanent.

“Informants warn that there are hundreds and thousands of well-trained jihadists in Europe who are ready to carry out attacks,” he said, noting that these Islamic State militants are returning from war zones in the Middle East after facing military defeat.

The security specialist also observed that terror attacks hitherto have mostly been carried out by “keen amateurs; they were not people who had special training from ‘professional’ terrorists like the Islamic State”.

“When this new generation [of returning, trained Islamic State militants] begins attacking, I think that we are in for much worse things.”

“I am convinced that there will be large-scale Islamic extremist attacks in Europe,” Visginr warned.

COMMENT:  The entire piece is worth reading.  As usual, the Europeans are nostalgic for their foreign policies of the 1930s, which brought so much success.  Choke.  And, as usual, they believe that if they run into trouble, a call to Washington will solve the problem.

They don't realize that Washington has gotten tired of receiving collect calls.

February 15, 2018       Permalink

MITT IS BACK – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:  Mitt Romney will be announcing his candidacy for the Senate seat in Utah being vacated by Orrin Hatch.   He is delaying his announcement out of respect for yesterday's Florida shootings.  From The Politico:

Mitt Romney is poised to launch his political comeback — but don’t expect him to talk much about his onetime nemesis, President Donald Trump.

The 2012 GOP nominee had planned to announce his campaign for Utah Senate with a Thursday web video, bringing to an end months of speculation about his intentions and instantly becoming the highest-profile Republican on the ballot this year. On late Wednesday, Romney postponed the rollout in light of the deadly school shooting in South Florida.

When he goes forward, Romney intends to carefully skirt questions about how he’ll deal with the president and what could be in store for his future, amid speculation that he’s already plotting a role in leadership or even another campaign for the White House.

Instead, Romney plans to keep it hyperlocal, presenting himself as someone who will tend to the state’s needs even though his election is essentially a foregone conclusion, according to several people who’ve spoken to him in recent weeks. It’s an approach other big-name figures who’ve run for Senate have employed, such as Hillary Clinton and Al Franken: Don’t appear to be taking anything for granted or coasting on celebrity.

Think more meet-and-greets with voters, a largely Utah-based campaign team, fewer TV commercials, and less give-and-take with national reporters.

In short, the 2018 Romney Senate campaign will look nothing like his 2012 presidential bid.

COMMENT:  He will be an instant celebrity, but knows enough not to throw his weight around in the Senate, which is a very traditional body.

Look, you never know.  This is a second political life.  Nixon became president eight years after he was defeated for the same office by John F. Kennedy.  Reagan tried for the nomination in 1976 and fell short.  He was elected president four years later.

Mitt's relationship with Trump will be studied from the first moment the new senator arrives in Washington.  If I were Trump, I'd recall the old mantra from organized crime, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

February 15, 2018       Permalink

SOMETHING WAS MISSED – AT 11:54 A.M. ET:  The FBI was alerted to the alleged Florida high-school killer.  From Buzzfeed: 

Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube vlogger noticed an alarming comment left on one of his videos. "I'm going to be a professional school shooter," said a user named Nikolas Cruz.

The YouTuber, 36-year-old Ben Bennight, alerted the FBI, emailing a screenshot of the comment to the bureau's tips account as well as calling the Mississippi FBI field office. He also flagged the comment to YouTube, which removed it from the video.

Agents with the bureau's Mississippi field office got back to him "immediately," Bennight said, and conducted an in-person interview the following day, on Sept. 25.

"They came to my office the next morning and asked me if I knew anything about the person," Bennight told BuzzFeed News. "I didn't. They took a copy of the screenshot and that was the last I heard from them."

FBI agents contacted Bennight again Wednesday, after a 19-year-old named Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, killing at least 17 people.

In the wake of the deadly shooting, questions have emerged over whether officials and acquaintances had missed warning signs about the alleged shooter, a former student who was expelled from the high school last year for disciplinary reasons.

COMMENT:  Obviously, this requires a serious investigation.  It may be, of course, that the Bureau investigated and found nothing actionable.  But this kid was on the radar screen, as were the San Bernardino terrorists.  And, like them, he fell off.

February 15,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 14,  2018

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

TV SLUMP – FROM BLOOMBERG:    Television-advertising sales in the U.S. fell 7.8 percent to $61.8 billion last year, the steepest drop outside of a recession in at least 20 years, while sales at cable networks slumped for the first time in almost a decade. And there’s no sign of a pickup in 2018, excluding cyclical events like the Olympics and the midterm elections, according to data from Magna Global.  The decline in TV viewership is accelerating as online rivals Google and Facebook have increased their investments in video, capturing almost every new advertising dollar entering the marketplace. Television ad sales have fallen even as global advertising grows, leading research firms and analysts to predict that the business may never recover.  This goes along with declines in NFL ratings.  My own sense is that new technology and social media play a role, but that the increasing politicization of television plays a significant role as well.  People get fed up and tune out.

SICKENING – After today's outrageous killings at a Florida high school, some Democratic senators couldn't wait to make political hay out of the horror.  They naturally called for new gun control legislation, as if that would have saved lives in Florida.  I also was repelled by self-indulgent Florida officials who seemed to think the main story was how they felt about the murders.  I'm sure the anti-Trump media will go to town tomorrow morning, and will tie the president to these events.  I hope the White House is disciplined enough not to say anything foolish.  I also hope the investigators will look into the possibility that the killer, who had a troubled history, was radicalized by online groups. 

THE WRONG WAY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Georgetown University leaders have done much in recent times to make amends for the institution’s involvement in slavery, but after a cadre of slave descendants recently said those efforts are not enough — they still want cash — campus leaders have pledged to continue to work “toward reconciliation.”  “Following many conversations and dialogue with members of the Descendant community, the University and the Jesuits earlier this month reached out to members of the Descendant community to propose a framework for long-term dialogue, partnership and collaboration,” a campus representative told The College Fix in an email.  Slavery ended 153 years ago.  Reparations to descendants of slaves from colleges and universities hardly seem justified.  Scholarship programs would be a better choice.  Eric Hoffer, the "longshoreman philosopher" of the 1950s, once wrote that all causes become businesses, then they become rackets.  The "reparations" movement is growing on college campuses, and appears to be an example of just what Hoffer was saying.

February14, 2018       Permalink

OH, ISN'T THIS CHOICE?  ANOTHER SELF-INFLICTED WOUND FOR THE LEFT – AT
12:22 P.M. ET:    What are the fools up to now?  Why, trying to restrict military voting, that's what.  I guess this has great appeal to the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.  From The Washington Times:

DENVER — After years of accusing states of “voter suppression,” the Center for American Progress wants to make it tougher for overseas military to vote in the name of election security.

The left-wing public-policy group issued Monday a report, “Election Security in All 50 States,” that called for stricter standards to prevent cyber-meddling in elections by foreign governments, including banning military stationed abroad from submitting ballots via email or fax.

One state that allows such vote-casting is Colorado. The center called on the state to “prohibit voters stationed or living overseas from returning voted ballots electronically.”

“Regardless of the state’s secure ballot return system for electronically voted ballots, we recommend that all voted ballots be returned by mail or delivered in person,” said the 245-page report.

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams defended the practice, saying the state has incorporated safeguards to protect the integrity of ballots cast by military personnel living overseas.

“They don’t believe someone who works on a submarine should be allowed to vote. We do,” said the Republican Williams in a statement.

Conservatives were quick to blast the report’s recommendation as unworkable and politically motivated.

“Perhaps they think that Navy SEALS can swim ballots ashore, hand them off to Army paratroopers who can parachute into Colorado to drop off the ballots?” asked the conservative website Colorado Peak Politics.

COMMENTS:  The Center for American Progress is backed by the very same folks who oppose voter I.D. programs,those common-sense procedures for avoiding voter fraud.  They're the same wonderful guys who deny there's any problem with fraud in our big cities, even though we've seen cases of more people voting in a precinct than live there. 

Now they're going after the troops.  Smart move.  GOP ad planners please note.

February14, 2018       Permalink

KA-BOOM – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   New polling shows the GOP rising.  No guarantees about the future, of course, but a smile is good.  From The Politico: 

Republicans have erased the Democratic advantage on the generic congressional ballot in a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that, for the first time since April, also shows President Donald Trump’s approval rating equaling the percentage of voters who disapprove of his job performance.
Fully 39 percent of registered voters say they would support the GOP candidate for Congress in their district, while 38 percent would back the Democratic candidate. Nearly a quarter of voters, 23 percent, are undecided.

Voters are split almost evenly along party lines. Democratic voters break for their party, 85 percent to 5 percent, while Republicans similarly favor the GOP, 84 percent to 8 percent. Among independent voters, 26 percent would vote for the Democrat, 25 percent for the Republican and nearly half, 49 percent, are undecided.

The GOP’s 1-point advantage comes after three months of tracking in which Democrats maintained a lead ranging between 2 and 10 points on the generic ballot. That has been generally smaller than the party’s lead in other public surveys: The most recent RealClearPolitics average shows Democrats ahead by 7 points on the generic ballot, though that’s down from a high of 13 points late last year.

The new year has also produced a Trump polling bump. In the new poll, 47 percent of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while the same percentage disapprove.

Among Democrats, 16 percent approve of Trump’s job performance and 80 percent disapprove. The numbers are almost exactly inverted among Republicans: 82 percent approve, while 16 percent disapprove. Trump is still underwater among independents: 39 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove.

COMMENT:  Nothing like a tax cut and a strong economy to win support.  Naturally, the politically correct press is trying to counter the Republican rise by an all-out attack on the White House.  CNN has completely lost the soul it barely had. 

But, as with Ronald Reagan, many people are looking past the press at actual events, and they are seeing a president and Republican Congress which, despite many faults and shortcomings, are doing a solid job, if not yet a great one.

And the self-inflicted wounds of the party of Nancy Pelosi should not be ignored.  Every Democrat in Congress voted against the tax cut.   Imagine what that will sound like in the fall's political ads.  "If your member of Congress is a Democrat, he or she voted against you."  Try countering that, Nance.

February14, 2018       Permalink

VALENTINE'S DAY GREETINGS – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  Brought to you by the wonderful, mature, thoughtful students of Yale University.  From Daily Caller: 

A group of Yale University students have come together to host an anti-Valentine’s Day event that takes aim at “a tradition rooted in capitalism and heteronormativity” and bashes fraternities because they don’t let females join.

That borders on the hilarious.  They hate capitalism and something called "heteronormativity," but they want to join fraternities.  What's wrong with that picture?

“Are you going out this Wednesday out of respect a tradition rooted in capitalism and heteronormativity? Or have you slipped through the cracks to suffer the awkward, social consequences of aloneness on Valentine’s?” the anti-Valentine’s Day event organizers ask.

Hosted by the women’s and LGBTQ group Engender, the event will show “This World: Frat Boys,” a documentary that looks at the dark side of fraternities. The group makes its mission “to advocate for gender integration of Yale’s all-male fraternities given their disproportionate control over campus social life,” according to its website. The group pushes fraternities to accept women but does not display a similar fervor for integrating sororities.

COMMENT:   I don't know how you wish to deal with that somber message.  Cancel flowers?  Dinner?  Loving emails?  I just don't know.

Frankly, I'm going on with my traditional Valentine's Day wishes.  I'm prepared for the consequences.

February 14,  2018     Permalink