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.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

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

JANUARY 9,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

NO MILITARY SALUTE FOR OBAMA – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Obama's farewell salute from the military, as poll shows most are unhappy with his years as commander-in-chief - and less than a third voted for Hillary  More than half the troops have an unfavorable opinion of President Obama's military leadership, according to a new poll.  The survey says 49 per cent of service members voted for Donald Trump.  Just 36 registered support for Obama's conduct as commander in chief.  A majority said the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan has made the nation less safe.   Just 29 per cent backed Hillary Clinton.  That pretty much tells the story.  The military gets it.  Obama has been an inadequate, indifferent commander-in-chief.  He deserves his numbers.

DEMS' SLOGAN FLOPS – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   The Democrats' new healthcare slogan, "Make America Sick Again," is a clunker with a majority of voters, according to fresh data from a Republican pollster.  The national survey, conducted for a GOP political group, asked 1,000 likely voters if they agree that, "If Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act, it will make America sick again." Overall, only 32.1 percent of voters agreed, including, at 57.1 percent, a majority of Democrats; 64.8 percent of Independents disagreed, as did 85.9 percent of Republicans.   "Nearly 70 percent of respondents support repeal of ACA with a realistic modest transition period and letting people keep their coverage while they wait for the new law to be in place," read the polling memo prepared for American Action Network, a political nonprofit organization aligned with House Republican leaders. Even Democrats support this by a [48 percent to 43 percent] margin. Additionally, respondents disagree with the Democratic claim that if Republicans repeal ACA that it will make America sick again."  The people have spoken, but Democrats in Congress listen only to other Democrats.  That may explain why they lose elections.

HOW CLASSY – FROM PJ MEDIA:   WASHINGTON -- A Missouri congressman and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus plan to rehang this week a student painting depicting a police officer with a boar-type head after an angry GOP congressman took it down.  The annual Congressional Institute art competition solicits entries from high school students each spring. Students submit works of art to their congressional offices, and teams of artists representing the district pick the winners, which are displayed in the Capitol for a year.  The controversial winner is from Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay's (D-Mo.) district, which includes the city of St. Louis and northern areas of St. Louis County.  The painting, "Untitled #1" by Cardinal Ritter High School grad David Pulphus, had been hanging in a House walkway among other contest winners since June. On Friday, after learning about the painting's depiction from Twitter, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) took it down.  But Joe Kasper, chief of staff for Hunter, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that despite the "very strong statement" and "outpouring of support" surrounding the painting's removal, the congressman wouldn't take down the painting again if his colleague decided to put it back up.  What's so sad is that a congressman thought the painting appropriate in the first place.  Precisely how does it advance the lives of people of color?

January 9, 2017       Permalink

POLICE WORK – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  It has happened again.  From the Orlando Sentinel: 

Two Orlando-area law enforcement officers were killed this morning, one shot by a murder suspect who managed to get away and a second killed in a crash while officers and deputies scrambled to find him.

The first victim was an Orlando police officer, Master Sgt. Debra Clayton, who was shot and killed on Princeton Street as she tried to detain the suspect.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina called Clayton, a mother of two, "a hero. She gave her life for the community she loves."

It resulted in a huge manhunt for the suspect, Markeith Loyd, 43, who was wanted, accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend.

Shortly before noon, about four hours after the shooting, a SWAT team was at an apartment complex off Cinderlane Parkway with rifles out while a law enforcement helicopter circled overhead.

An officer on a bullhorn called the suspect by name and told him to come out.

The second law enforcement death today was an Orange County motorcycle deputy who was part of the effort to capture the suspect, said Sheriff Jerry Demings.

“We’re sad on this day for many reasons," Demings said at a morning news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Both officers were taken and pronounced dead there.

Demings did not release the name of the deputy, saying the agency was still trying to notify relatives.

Both agencies identified the shooter as Markeith Loyd, 43, a man who officers and deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Office tried to corner and arrest earlier today.

COMMENT:  Master Sgt. Clayton was an African-American female officer.  I wonder if her black life will matter to Black Lives Matter.  I'm not holding my breath.

There has been a dramatic increase in the murder of police officers in the last year.  That doesn't seem to move the man who has less than two weeks left in his presidency.  I think it will move the incoming president.

January 9, 2017       Permalink

PIERS NAILS IT – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  I must admit that I was never much of a fan of Piers Morgan when he had a talk show on CNN.  But, having been dispatched for low ratings, he's gone back to traditional journalism in Britain and has really turned out some gems.

Last night, at some Hollywood event called the Golden Globes, Meryl Streep accepted an award and used her time to bash the president-elect of the United States.  Piers replies to Meryl.  From the Daily Mail: 

In fact, there’s no better role model for any budding actor, or finer example of true feminist power at its very best.

So when she speaks, the world listens.

Last night, Streep received a Lifetime Achievement award at the Golden Globes, and chose the moment to launch a very personal attack on Donald Trump.

She began by saying that Hollywood, foreigners and the press are ‘the most vilified segments of American society right now’.

At which point the cameras panned out to hundreds of the richest, most privileged people in American society sitting in the audience in their $10,000 tuxedos and $20,000 dresses, loudly cheering this acknowledgement of their dreadful victimhood.

She then said that if all the ‘outsiders and foreigners’ were kicked out of Hollywood, ‘you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.’

Wow.

I haven’t heard such elitist snobbery since Hillary Clinton branded Trump supporters ‘a basket of deplorables’.

And...

At the end of her speech, Streep launched a passionate defense of the press. ‘They’ll need us to safeguard the truth,’ she said.

Now, I’ve been a journalist for over 30 years. I love my industry, warts and all, and I welcome any support.

But when it comes to the truth, many parts of America’s media were found severely wanting in this election campaign.

Frankly, a lot of the coverage was a fact-starved partisan disgrace as they fought to see who could sink deeper into the tank for Hillary Clinton.

The mainstream US media, having gleefully fuelled Trump’s candidacy for months to suit their own self-serving commercial interests, then turned on him like spitting cobras when he looked like he might actually win.

It’s also a fact that no president in modern times has been so anti-press, or so intent on attacking press freedom, as Barack Obama, one of Streep’s heroes.

Under his administration, the US government has set a new record for withholding Freedom of Information Act requests. Obama’s also used the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers who leak to journalists more times than all previous administrations COMBINED.

Finally...

Meryl, I still love you dearly, but you had a chance to bring your country together last night and you blew it.

COMMENT:  Wonderfully done.  Read the whole thing.  It'll make your day, or at least an hour.

January 9, 2017       Permalink

REMEMBER BALTIMORE? – AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  That's the city where six police officers were falsely accused of contributing to the death of an African-American man they'd just apprehended.  The story might have ended with the officers' acquittal, but it didn't.  Now, five of the officers are demanding real justice.  From Hot Air: 

The long, drawn out battles surround the Freddie Gray trials in Baltimore may seem like a distant memory at this point. Much of daily life in the city has returned to normal, even though the murder rate stayed stubbornly high at 318 for last year. (Shockingly, that’s still down from the 344 they rang up the year before, but far higher than 2014’s level of 211, which was far more typical of the past decade.) With all the trials against the police officers involved in Gray’s arrest and subsequent death having failed or been dismissed, the dust has largely settled. The mayor is on her way to a civilian gig with the DNC.

But there’s one last piece of business to be attended to. There is a pending defamation lawsuit against State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, brought by five of the officers she attempted to prosecute. Mosby’s latest attempt to get the case tossed out ran into a brick wall in court this week when a judge ruled that it can still move forward. ABC News reported:

A federal judge has ruled that a defamation and malicious prosecution lawsuit filed against Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby can go forward.

The lawsuit was filed by five of the six Baltimore Police officers charged in 2015 with the death of Freddie Gray.

The judge ruled that the suit against Mosby and Baltimore City Assistant Sheriff Samuel Cogen can proceed, said Michael Glass, an attorney for Sgt Alicia White and Officer William Porter.

Van driver Officer Caesar Goodson was the only officer who didn’t file a lawsuit.

COMMENT:  We'll follow the lawsuit.  One of the most legitimate fears anyone can have, even in our democratic society, is an out-of-control prosecutor.  From the very beginning it appeared that the prosecution of those officers was pursued, not to seek justice, but to satisfy the mob.  Let us see where the evidence takes us.

January 9,  2017     Permalink 

JANUARY 8,  2017

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

THE TRUMP EFFECT – FROM FOX:   Fiat Chrysler said Sunday it would spend $1 billion on U.S. manufacturing, including modernizing plants in Michigan and Ohio, in a move that’s set to add 2,000 new jobs, Reuters reported.  According to the company’s plan, the plant in Warren, Michigan will be made capable of producing a pickup truck currently built in Mexico.  The Warren plant will make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs. A plant in Toledo, Ohio also will get new equipment to make a new Jeep pickup.  The move by Fiat Chrysler follows a similar recent announcement made by a competing auto brand.  The brand was Ford, and the impetus came from President-elect Trump.  If Trump can truly rebuild American manufacturing, his legacy will be sealed.  And things are starting to happen.

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   They are titans of philosophy, without whose work an understanding of the subject is all but inconceivable.  But now students at a University of London college are demanding that such seminal figures as Plato, Descartes, Immanuel Kant and Bertrand Russell should be largely dropped from the curriculum simply because they are white.  These may be the names that underpin civilisation, yet the student union at the world-renowned School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is insisting that when studying philosophy ‘the majority of philosophers on our courses’ should be from Africa and Asia.  Yawn.  Are there any courageous faculty members who can take on these "students" and show them how reckless they are?  I hear only silence.

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS – FROM AFP:    Washington (AFP) - A Rastafarian prophet, a former Taliban captive and thousands of minor drug traffickers have one thing in common: Their names have been submitted to President Barack Obama for clemency before he leaves office in two weeks.  Some US presidents have used this regal power of leniency in a pointed way near the end of their term in office.  On the last day of his term in 2001, Democratic president Bill Clinton granted pardons in a highly controversial move to late fugitive trader Marc Rich, whose ex-wife had been a major donor to Democrats.  Sixteen years later, Obama is fielding pressure from all sides to grant unlikely pardons or commutations of sentences to people whose supporters say have been unjustly sentenced or sought out by the justice system.  Among them is Bowe Bergdahl, a US Army sergeant held captive for five years by the Taliban before his release in a prisoner swap, who is due to be court-martialed for desertion.  There is legitimate concern that Obama might go nuts and grant pardons to dangerous people, but I'll withhold any comment until I see the actual list.  I think he should grant a general pardon to political pollsters for the crimes they committed before the election.

January 8, 2017     Permalink

SO GLAD TO HEAR IT – AT 1:20 P.M. ET:  Outgoing President Obama (that sounds so good) has finally conceded that he might be a little bit responsible for his party's devastating losses at the polls.  But just a little bit.  A little weeny bit.  From The Hill: 

President Obama in an interview broadcast Sunday accepted some of the blame for the Democratic Party's loss of seats in the House, Senate, governorships and state houses during his time in office.

"I take some responsibility on that," the president told ABC's "This Week."

"I think that some of it was circumstances."

Obama said he came into office in the middle of one of the worst financial crises since the Great Depression.

"And unlike FDR who ... didn't take office until about three years into the Great Depression, it was happening just as I was elected," Obama said.

"I think we did a really good job in saving this economy and putting us back on the track of growth."

But, he added, there were still a lot of people who were out of work in 2010.

"There were a lot of folks who had lost their homes or saw their home values plummet, their 401(k)s plummet," Obama said.

"And we were just at the beginnings of a recovery. And the, you know, whoever is president at that point is gonna get hit and his party's gonna get hit," he continued.

COMMENT:  Obama has never been very good in history.  Doesn't read much.  Never released his grades.  FDR was re-elected in 1936, 1940, and 1944.  His successor, Harry S. Truman, was elected in 1948.  It wasn't until 1952, 20 years after FDR's first presidential victory, that the Republicans won a presidential election, and then only with war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

Democrats also dominated Congress, with few interruptions, for decades after FDR's first national victory.  They did so, however, by having a broadly based party, and one that actually knew how to do things, not just think things.  Contrast that, please, with the party of Obama.

January 8, 2016       Permalink

THE DEM PLAYBOOK – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:   What we are seeing in Washington, as we approach inauguration, is chilling.  The Democratic Party has gone into full obstruction mode.  Having learned nothing from the election, the party that has forgotten who Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy were, is now attempting to prevent Donald Trump from governing.  We have never seen this before.  From the brilliant Michael Goodwin at the New York Post: 

This is a first: Donald Trump is guilty of an understatement, of making a molehill out of a mountain. He called the Washington furor over Russian hacking a “witch hunt” when it is actually far more sinister and dangerous.

Witch hunts end. The Washington mob aims to make sure the election never ends and that Trump can never govern.

There are no modern precedents to the scandalous attempts to smear and undermine the president-elect. Nearly nine weeks after his victory and less than two weeks before he takes the oath, the voter-nullification plot is growing more vile.

It began when the Clinton campaign and her donors tried to overturn results in key states, then tried to steal the election outright by intimidating electors of the Electoral College.

When all that failed, the establishment forces that opposed Trump all along — the Obama White House, members of both parties, the Democratic media and Big Government activists — switched their goal to thwarting his presidency. One example: They aim to deny confirmation to as many as eight Cabinet picks.

This is not mere politics. This is half the country going rogue in a fit of madness.

COMMENT:  Read the entire thing.  It's a superb summation of what the Democrats, and a small number of Republicans, are doing.

Trump should be planning a strategy right now to get around these obstructionists.  He will get no help from the press, but can get considerable help from the American people.  Trump must be prepared to go to the people with very specific plans, and show how the Democrats are obstructing them.  Public pressure is a powerful tool.  Reagan used it.  He learned it from Roosevelt, one of his idols.  Let Trump propose a tax cut for the middle class.  Let him propose an economic plan for inner cities.  Then let the Democrats try to obstruct. 

January 8, 2016       Permalink

ATTACK IN JERUSALEM – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  One day after a gun attack at Fort Lauderdale airport, carried out by a man who'd been photographed giving the ISIS salute, there is news of another attack in Jerusalem.   From Fox: 

A Palestinian who may be linked to ISIS rammed his speeding truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others before being shot dead in one of the deadliest attacks in a year-long campaign of violence, Israeli police said.

Five people were arrested Sunday -- including the assailant's father and brother -- in connection with the attack.

"Today we saw evil and cruelty incarnate," Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said in a statement. "This murderous attack is a direct result of murderous Palestinian incitement. I call on the Secretary General and the Security Council to condemn this terror attack immediately."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the truck's driver had been identified and appeared to be "a supporter of the Islamic State." Netanyahu, speaking at the scene of the slaughter, added there "definitely could be a connection" between Sunday's horrific attack and similar ISIS truck attacks that took place in France and Germany in recent months.

COMMENT:  In a sad way, we're getting used to these attacks, even here in the United States.  They're forgotten quickly, and no real retaliation is carried out.

What did France do after the horrific attacks in its homeland?  Mostly nothing.  Next week it will host an international conference stacked against Israel, another act of French appeasement of the West's enemies.  European and British appeasement were among the leading causes of World War II.

But within two weeks we will have a new president, and maybe, just maybe, things will change for the better.

January 8,  2016     Permalink