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FEBRUARY 25,  2018

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

THAT'S IT FOR WINNIE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  It was probably his darkest hour.
Winston Churchill, the revered British Prime Minister who led his country to victory in World War II, was outed on Saturday as a cheating husband.  The Sunday Times of London reported his galpal was Doris Castlerosse, the “promiscuous’’ great-aunt of model and actress Cara Delevingne.  The startling news came from Churchill’s aide, John “Jock’’ Colville. Two years before he died in 1987, Colville recorded his memories for the Churchill archive, but no one listened to all of it — until now.  “He [Churchill] did one terrible thing,” Colville said.   The one "terrible" thing was the affair.  Now I guess Churchill is finished, outed as just another Harvey Weinstein or Charlie Rose.  No more bust in the Oval Office.  Who will be the first to claim "me too"?  History is so cruel.

MICHELLE'S BOOK – FROM AP:  NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle Obama's memoir is coming out in November.  The former first lady tweeted Sunday that the book is called "Becoming." She is calling her memoir a "deeply personal experience."  The former first lady and her husband, former President Barack Obama, last year reached a joint agreement with Penguin Random House for their respective books. The deal is believed to be well in excess of $30 million.  Memoirs by former first ladies usually sell well and Michelle Obama's memoir is highly anticipated. She is admired around the world and has never told her story at length. Her only previous book was a 2012 work on gardening, "American Grown."  I can't wait.  I wonder if she's proud of her country now.

OLYMPICS END – Did anyone notice?  The next summer games will be in Tokyo in 2020, during our presidential campaign.  The next winter games will be in Beijing in 2022.  Are we getting a message about Asian dominance?  I assume so.  Asia has become an athletic center as well as a manufacturing center.  The next games scheduled for the United States won't take place until 2028, in Los Angeles.  I assume California will still be in the Union.

February 25, 2018       Permalink

THE MISGUIDED PRESS – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 2:18 P.M. ET:  Excellent words about the fact that some American journalists have trouble distinguishing between Ivanka Trump and the sister of the North Korean dictator.    From Fox: 

Ivanka Trump is in South Korea for the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games and, inevitably, she is being compared to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who attended the opening ceremonies.

The disgusting fawning over Kim Yo Jong at the start of the Olympics exposed a truth about much of America’s mainstream media: any enemy of President Trump will be showered in praise.

It didn’t matter that Kim Jong Un is a brutal despot who is starving his own people, allows no freedom, and imprisons or kills his opponents. A documentary called "Secret State of North Korea” – made in 2014 using video smuggled out of North Korea – showed people in the countryside eating grass. What mattered was the opportunity to show up Donald Trump.

Writing in the New York Post at the start of the Olympics about the fawning coverage given Kim Yo Jong, Bethany Mandel, who frequently fundraises to rescue North Korean refugees hiding in China noted that it was “strange reading a red carpet-like report about a member of a regime that has concentration camps the size of Los Angeles, where children have been secretly photographed starving in the streets and whose leader uses anti-aircraft weaponry to execute his political enemies.”

But no, in the choice between Ivanka Trump or the sister of a murderous dictator (who is, actually said to have killed one of his other siblings), the American media just can’t decide which way to lean.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  But it's happened before.  During the Vietnam War, certain elements of the American media sanitized the North Vietnamese dictatorship.  And at home, those same elements sanitized the "anti-war" movement, which was heavily infiltrated by the pro-enemy left.

February 25, 2018       Permalink

THE VALUE OF SUNLIGHT – AT 12:30 P.M. ET:  Politicians, and other office holders who act like politicians, seek publicity.  They crave it.  But publicity has a downside.  With it comes sunlight, exposure, examination.  We often learn more about the publicity seeker than that person wants us to know.

Sunlight, Justice Brandeis wrote, is the best disinfectant.  And we're seeing an example of the disinfecting right now.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Embattled Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said he had provided "amazing leadership" to his department on Sunday, drawing disbelief from CNN host Jake Tapper.

Tapper pressed Israel during a nearly half-hour interview about the response of his department before and during the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead.

Israel announced Thursday that school resource officer Scot Peterson had been suspended and decided to retire rather than be terminated after learning Peterson failed to enter the school during the massacre and engage the shooter.

Israel also defended the conduct of his department in response to the 18 calls its deputies got about the killer, Nikolas Cruz, including fears he could be a "school shooter in the making." No report was initiated upon that tip.

Tapper asked Israel, who participated in CNN's town hall on guns on Wednesday and called for stronger gun control laws, if he could see how the public would be critical when it saw so many red flags go ignored by the department.

"How could there not even be a report on this one?" Tapper asked.

"If that's accurate, Jake, there needed to be a report and that's what we're looking in to, that a report needed to be completed, it needed to be forwarded to our homeland security or violent crimes unit and they would've followed up on it," Israel said.

And...

"Are you really not taking any responsibility for the multiple red flags that were brought to the attention of the Broward Sheriff's Office about this shooter before the incident?" Tapper asked.

"Jake, I can only take responsibility for what I knew about. I exercised my due diligence. I've given amazing leadership to this agency—" Israel started.

"Amazing leadership?" Tapper asked incredulously.

COMMENT:  It now turns out that three other sheriff's deputies also did not enter the school to engage the shooter. 

Maybe this politically ambitious sheriff thought this was his moment in the sun.  It was.  And the sunlight is doing its job. 

And a pat on the back for Jake Tapper, one of the more independent CNN reporters, for refusing to follow the CNN party line and blame the gun.

February 25, 2018       Permalink

THE NEW DEMOCRATS – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Dianne Feinstein of California is the oldest senator.  She is also, in terms of service, the senior Democrat.  Say what you will about her, she's considered one of the more responsible Democratic senators, a moderate liberal who has talked about working with Trump, a mortal sin in her party.  When Kamala Harris, her new colleague from California, started to be mentioned as a presidential candidate, Feinstein firmly reminded her party that "she just got here."  Another sin.  Harris is a minority, and therefore qualified to be president.

Now the ultimate slap.  The Democratic convention of California, known for its radicalism, has refused to endorse Feinstein for another term.  From Fox: 

The California Democratic Party will not endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid this year, with delegates at the party’s annual convention giving the majority of votes to her top primary challenger, progressive State Sen. Kevin de Leon.

De Leon got 54 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent for the more moderate Feinstein, according to results released Sunday. But neither Democrat will receive the state party endorsement because they failed to reach the 60 percent threshold.

The vote totals were not a surprise, considering the state party’s liberal leaning.
And Feinstein leads de Leon by 29 percentage points in the primary race, according to the most recent RealClearPolitics polls average.

“The outcome of today’s endorsement vote is an astounding rejection of politics as usual, and it boosts our campaign’s momentum as we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a complacent status quo,” said de Leon, according to Politico. “California Democrats are hungry for new leadership that will fight for California values from the front lines, not equivocate on the sidelines.”

Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate at 84, is seeking a sixth term.

Feinstein took heat last fall from some on the left after appearing to voice optimism about Trump becoming "a good president.” Feinstein also recently said that former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which Trump is ending, was on shaky legal ground.

COMMENT:  Feinstein will still probably win another term, but her rejection by her party's convention is more indication that the Democratic Party is going further and further to the left.  Right off the cliff. 

February 25,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 24,  2018

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

A GENDER OFFENSE – FROM FOX:   There was a little bit of confusion during the medal ceremony for Men’s Olympic Curling on Saturday at the Pyeongchang Games.  After the victorious American teammates took their place on the top step of the podium and gold medals were draped around their necks, they noticed they'd received the awards engraved for the women's winners.  Only Joe Polo, the team’s alternate, received the correct men’s medal, WNBC reported.  No sweat, though. The mixup was quickly fixed and the men got the appropriate medals they deserved.  I am militant.  I see anti-male sexism here.  Heads must roll.  This is a grave offense.  Do not accept apologies.

THE FUTURE? – FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE:  Robot cars without drivers could be on California streets by early spring.  Long-awaited state regulations for autonomous cars without human drivers may be approved Monday by a legal compliance agency, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, which submitted the rules to the Office of Administrative Law on Jan. 11.   A thumbs-up would open a 30-day public notice period, during which companies can apply for permits to test the cars. California could begin issuing such permits April 2, according to spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez.  “I think we’ll definitely see some companies applying for driverless testing permits right away,” she said. “Manufacturers will want to be the first ones.”  Who wants this?  All the fun is being taken out of driving.   

HYPOCRISY LIVES – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  As France, Germany and Italy chastised President Trump for rejecting the Paris climate accord in June and mocked the U.S. for turning its back on the environment, their nations were busy importing record amounts of American coal.  The U.S., federal data show, is seeing something of a coal renaissance, but the boom — partly the result of Mr. Trump’s aggressive policies to roll back Obama-era regulations on the fuel — largely has benefited foreign markets. Some of the biggest buyers are also the biggest critics of the Trump administration’s climate policy, including China and leading European nations that now claim to be the world’s leaders on fighting global warming.  The U.S. last year produced 773 million short tons of coal, 45 million more than 2016. That was the largest year-to-year increase in nearly two decades, government numbers show.  Does anyone still care what Western Europe thinks?   It's a great museum, but the civilization is dying. 

February 24,  2018     Permalink

GUN WARS – AT 12:41 P.M. ET:  I am not a member of the NRA.  (I was at one time.)  But I think the group is often treated unfairly, blamed for killings when the blame always resides with the murderer.

Now some corporations, with their usual spines of Jell-O, are canceling commercial agreements with the NRA, fearing their liberal customers.  Some cities are making it clear that they won't welcome NRA conventions.

But a pro-NRA backlash is building.  From Fox:

The governors of Kansas and Nebraska are each opening their doors to the National Rifle Association’s annual convection after a top Dallas official suggested the gun rights group find a different host city.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, took to Twitter on Friday to say that he and other residents in the Cornhusker State “love our constitutional rights” and welcome the convection in their state.

Kansas Gov. Kris Kobach has also invited the group.

“I’ve already reached out to the @NRA and urged them to bring the #NRA convention to #KS.,” Kobach tweeted Friday. “Kansans love our right to keep and bear arms. Kansas is the most pro-gun state in America. Our right to keep and bear arms const. amendment passed by greater margins than any other state.”

Their remarks follow Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who in the aftermath of the deadly Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school, said the NRA should “reconsider” coming to his city because “there will be marches and demonstrations.”

COMMENT:  It might be more thoughtful if the mayor pro tem would address the crime problem in his city.  Barring the NRA won't save one life.

It might also be wise if some of these self-righteous fools who are grandstanding this issue would team with the NRA in teaching gun safety.  But that's what grown-ups do.

February 24,  2018     Permalink

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:   We always like to remind readers that, in the midst of our domestic troubles and scandals, there are the risks of the outside world.  A war in some far-off place can ultimately result in the death of a soldier from Des Moines. 

The war in Syria has gotten very hot again.  The casualties are ghastly.  From AFP: 

Douma, Syria (AFP) — New airstrikes on the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Saturday took the civilian death toll from seven days of devastating bombardment to more than 500, after the United Nations again delayed a vote on a ceasefire.

More than 120 children have been among the dead in the bombing campaign that the regime launched last Sunday on the enclave just outside Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitor of the war said at least 29 civilians were killed in Saturday’s strikes, including 17 in the main town of Douma.

It has said the strikes are being carried out by Syrian and Russian forces. Moscow, which intervened militarily in support of its Damascus ally in 2015, has denied any direct involvement in the Eastern Ghouta bombardment.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said Russia’s recent actions in Syria were a “disgrace”.

COMMENT:  Of course, the American media will not point out that, eight years ago, there were no Russian forces in the Mideast.  It was the blunders of Field Marshal Obama and Grand Admiral Kerry that invited them in.  If there was any collusion with Russia, it was done by the Obama crowd.

But nothing to see there, nothing to see.  Let's just move on and blame Trump.

February 24, 2018       Permalink

YES, IT HAPPENS – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Bigotry and discrimination are wrong.  I stress the word "all." Reverse discrimination, favoring one group over another to "improve society" is just as wrong.  Some innocent person or group gets hurt.   Note the story coming out of ABC.  From Page Six: 

WABC/Channel 7 bosses Dave Davis and Camille Edwards are out amid two discrimination lawsuits from employees.

Last fall, WABC sports reporter Laura Behnke filed a discrimination lawsuit against Davis and Edwards, claiming she wasn’t promoted to the main sports reporter position because she is a white woman. Behnke later left WABC in New York when her contract expired.

Matthew Lamattina, another employee, filed a separate discrimination lawsuit against Edwards last October.

Now, Page Six has learned that both Davis and Edwards have left the company.

WABC announced Davis’s retirement Thursday in a news release.

In Davis’ departing memo to staff, which was obtained by Page Six, the WABC president explained that he wouldn’t be working another day.

“Having decided this, I think it best to move on quickly,” Davis wrote in his email to staff. “No time like the present. Leaving a place and people you care for is always difficult, but this is the right time.”

COMMENT:   I know people who've been victims of reverse discrimination, and it's a bitter pill.  Some of them worked most of their lives to qualify for a position, only to be turned down because they didn't fit within a quota.  That is not a way to solve society's problems. 

February 24,  2018     Permalink