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

JANUARY 2,  2018

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

REALITY – FROM REUTERS:   NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City will install more than 1,500 new barrier posts on sidewalks and plazas to protect pedestrians from vehicles after at least two instances last year of drivers killing people after mounting the curb, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.  The thin, cylindrical, waist-height metal bollards are intended to be a more attractive alternative to the hulking concrete blocks the New York Police Department had deposited in busier areas around the city following the vehicle attacks, de Blasio said.  “We understand what’s happening around the world and we even saw some tragedies here,” the mayor said at a Times Square announcement in front of a line of the posts. Similar bollards were installed in Times Square in 2016.  The mayor is an old leftist, who arranged to be sworn in Monday by Bernie Sanders.  But he wants to run for president in 2020, and is trying to show a tougher image.  Won't work.

NOT GOOD, NOT JUST – FROM PAGE SIX:    The federal grand jury handing down indictments for special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t appear to include any supporters of President Donald Trump, according to one witness who recently testified before the panel.  “The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” my source said. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley [Calif.]”  Of the 20 jurors, 11 are African-Americans and two were wearing “peace T-shirts,” the witness said. “There was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.” Mueller was not present.  The Washington, DC, grand jury, which meets only on Fridays, handed down its first indictments in October, charging Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and his partner Rick Gates with money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents. The two are pleading not guilty.
Mueller’s team is expected to bring more charges against Manafort relating to his work on behalf of the Ukrainian government in the years before Trump became a candidate.  Sol Wachtler, the former chief judge in New York, once called for abolishing grand juries because they are so easily manipulated that they would “indict a ham sandwich.”  It is not wrong to bring up the backgrounds of grand jurors, or any jurors for that matter.  We correctly abolished all-white juries in this country because they were often blatantly discriminatory.  The same can be said of other juries that represent other groups or neighborhoods.  The jury system is imperfect.  I am deeply concerned about any charges against the Trump people that are brought to a District of Columbia grand jury.  I would much prefer northern Virginia, where more balance can be achieved.

AH, THE BEAUTY OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE – FROM DAILY MAIL:  Tens of thousands of pre-planned operations could be postponed in January as hospitals battle severe winter pressures.  In a drastic step to try to free up hospital staff and beds, NHS England urged hospitals to defer day-case procedures and routine outpatient appointments until January 31.  To help free up doctors for patients with the most urgent need, the body also said the deferral of non-urgent inpatient elective care - such as hip replacements - should be extended until January 31.  Officials have estimated that this could lead to up to 55,000 deferred operations.  Cancer operations and time-critical procedures should go ahead as planned, NHS England said.
The move comes after leading medics warned that every emergency department in the country is struggling to cope with winter pressures.  Some hospitals have declared themselves at the most severe pressure level while doctors warned that scores are operating at almost full capacity.  Meanwhile a number of ambulance services are also under severe pressure, with two even resorting to taxis to ferry patients to hospital.  Strange, we have winter here, and I'm not reading stories like this about American hospitals.  I wonder why.

January 2,  2018     Permalink 

HATCH TO RETIRE; ROMNEY AS SENATOR? – AT 5:05 P.M. ET:  Orrin Hatch, ancient senator from Utah, will not run for re-election this year.  Will Mitt Romney , a Republican critic of the president, run for the seat and possibly make another bid for president in 2020?  From CNBC:

Orrin Hatch, currently the second-longest serving U.S. senator, plans to retire at the end of his term.
In a video shared on Twitter, the 83-year-old Utah Republican announced his plan to leave the Senate early next year after more than 40 years. Hatch's announcement came just a little more than a week after the Republican tax plan that he helped to craft was signed into law.

President Donald Trump had urged Hatch, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, to seek re-election later this year. Hatch showered Trump with praise during and after Congress' passage of its tax bill, setting himself apart from some GOP senators who criticized the president's actions or fitness for office this year.

In the video, Hatch said he was "deeply grateful" to serve as a senator and said "the next chapter in my public service is just beginning."

And...

Former Massachusetts Gov. and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney was considering running for Hatch's seat if the senator retired, according to reports. Romney has strongly criticized Trump and could prove another irritant to the president if elected.

Romney lives in Utah and is popular in the state. He will be 71 at the time of this year's midterm elections.

In a statement Tuesday, Romney thanked Hatch but did not address whether he plans to run for the seat.

"Senator Hatch has represented the interests of Utah with distinction and honor," he said in a Facebook post.

COMMENT:  If Romney runs, I'd imagine Trump would find a way to endorse him, even if it's a cold endorsement.  Romney should have no great difficulty winning the seat as Utah is ultra-Republican.  Then he would have to decide whether to mount a primary challenge against Trump in 2020, or against Mike Pence if Trump is no longer president.

January 2, 2018       Permalink

COMMON SENSE ON IRAN – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  Voices from the Obama administration are already out in the media advising that we remain silent about the Iranian protesters.  You know, do just what Barack did when Iranians revolted in 2009...as if that were somehow successful.  (To liberals, nothing succeeds like failure.)   

Benny Avni, a true veteran observer of the Mideast, sees it quite differently, as does President Trump.  From the New York Post: 

Like New Yorkers, Iranians were out on the streets over New Year’s — except rather than braving ever-dropping temperatures, they faced tear gas, nasty riot cops and bullets.

Think we’ve seen this before? Wrong.

The ongoing days of rage (five and counting) are remarkably different than the failed protest in the aftermath of the rigged 2009 Iranian election.

They may signal the start of an evil regime’s downfall and reshape the entire Mideast.

But Iranians need our help.

And...

They chant, “No Syria, no Gaza, we’d die only for Iran.” And “Reformists, traditionalists, you’re all the same.” Even “Down with the dictator,” accompanied by the destruction of posters of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

This, in other words, is about regime change.

And there’s another crucial difference between 2009 and today. Back then, President Barack Obama was secretly planning to launch talks with the regime. When the Green Revolution threatened to undermine his overtures, he mostly stayed mum.

And guess what? Over the weekend Philip Gordon, an architect of Obama’s Mideast policies, wrote in a widely echoed op-ed we should “do nothing” now, too.

His argument: Iran’s leaders would claim a US-Zionist plot. Let’s exercise some humility. This is about Iranians, not us.

Yet, Cold War dissidents like Natan Sharansky say President Ronald Reagan’s encouragement helped them survive the Soviet regime. Now as the veteran Farsi-language broadcaster Menashe Amir tells me, the current uprising needs international, and specifically American, encouragement to survive the regime’s onslaught.

And...

Do nothing? Absurd. America should amp-up encouragement to protesters. Europeans, so quick to jump on any human-rights bandwagon but decisively quiet about the rights of Iranians, should be shamed into joining in.

And this is no time for a regime lifesaver. Rather than ease sanctions, America should reiterate to Europeans, Asians and others that they can either do business with the clerical oppressors or with us, but not both.

Regime change has always been our best option for dealing with Iran’s America-hating genocidal dictators bent on possessing nuclear weapons.

Rather than doing nothing, we should side with those in Iran who share that goal.

The Islamic Republic may not fall tomorrow, but as in the Cold War, oppressive regimes rarely last forever no matter how stable they look to outsiders.

And just like then, we have an important role as catalyst in their demise.

COMMENT:  Right on.  I think Benny nails it.  I would trust Trump's instincts on this, remembering that all the "experts" urged that Ronald Reagan never utter the words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"  He ignored those "experts" and the wall came down.

January 2, 2018       Permalink

BE CAREFUL! – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  The North Korean regime, apparently feeling the heat from President Trump, is making overtures to the South Korean government.  That government is known to go wobbly, using Margaret Thatcher's phrase, and does not have the spine of the Trump administration.  From Fox: 

South Korea on Tuesday proposed high-level talks with North Korea to strategize ways to cooperate during the upcoming Winter Olympics, the olive branch coming after Kim Jong Un expressed a desire to send his own athletes to the games — which the South’s sports minister said could usher in peace and prosperity on the peninsula after a year of nuclear war threats.

South Korea’s unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon, during a nationally televised news conference, suggested the two rival countries meet on Jan. 9 at the shared border village of Panmunjom to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties.

"We hope that South and North Korea will sit down to discuss the North's participation in the games and ways to improve inter-Korean ties in a frank manner," Cho said, according to Yonhap News Agency. "The government has a willingness to have dialogue with the North regardless of timing, place and format.”

North Korea has not responded to the South’s proposal. Kim said during his New Year’s Day address he is willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang — to be held between Feb. 9 and 25 — and “sincerely” hoped the games “will be a success.” It was the first time the despot expressed some interest in sending athletes to the games after repeated calls from South Korea.

COMMENT:  It's a time for caution.  The North does nothing out of the goodness of its heart.  It wants something, maybe a respite from the constant American pressure, and it knows there are those in South Korea who would sell America down the river for a phony peace treaty.

Keep up the pressure.  Keep our naval forces in place.  Make clear that nothing changes unless the North gives up its nuclear and missile programs.  Ignore all advice from the Obama appeasers.

January 2,  2018     Permalink

JANUARY 1,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:  

I'M SO MOVED – FROM TOWNHALL:   After decades of ignoring, embracing and enabling rampant sexual abuse in Hollywood, some of its biggest male (and female) stars plan to wear black at Sunday's Golden Globe awards as a protest against Harvey Weinstein and those like him.   Male actors have decided to join forces with their female peers who will protest sexual harassment by wearing black to the 2018 Golden Globes.  A number of high profile actors including Dwayne Johnson, Tom Hiddleston and Armie Hammer will sport black on the Globes red carpet according to their stylist Ilaria Urbinanti.  After receiving many questions on the matter, Urbinanti took to Instagram to confirm the fashion news.  “YES the men WILL be standing in solidarity with women on this wearing all-black movement to protest against gender inequality at this year’s Golden Globes. At least ALL MY GUYS will be,” celebrity stylist Ilaria Urbinanti wrote last week on Instagram.    I'm sure all these fine folks are just so sincere, and so concerned, and never knew anything of the foul deeds within the industry.   They also own a bridge in Brooklyn they'd like to sell you.

LET US REMEMBER – FROM REAL CLEAR DEFENSE:   SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area man who survived the infamous 1942 Bataan Death March and symbolized the thousands of unheralded Filipinos who fought alongside American forces during World War II has died. He was 100.  Ramon Regalado died Dec. 16 in El Cerrito, California, said Cecilia I. Gaerlan, executive director of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society, which has fought to honor Regalado and others. She did not have a cause of death.  “He really embodied the qualities of the greatest generation and love for country,” she said.  Regalado was born in 1917 in the Philippines. He was a machine gun operator with the Philippine Scouts under U.S. Army Forces when troops were forced to surrender in 1942 to the Japanese after a grueling three-month battle.  The prisoners were forced to march some 65 miles (105 kilometer) to a camp. Many died during the Bataan Death March, killed by Japanese soldiers or simply unable to make the trek. The majority of the troops were Filipino.  Regalado survived and slipped away with two others — all of them sick with malaria. They encountered a farmer who cared for them, but only Regalado lived.  A man who truly walked the walk, along with his Filipino and American comrades. 

THE GRIM RECORD – FROM THE LATIN AMERICAN HERALD TRIBUNE:  MEXICO CITY – Mexico is closing out 2017 – tied with Syria – as the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, with 12 reporters murdered during the year, the highest yearly total in its history.  Twelve journalists also were killed in wartorn Syria during 2017.  Although Reporters Without Borders (RSF) registered a global decline in crimes against reporters in 2017, with the year being the least deadly for journalists in the last 14 years, Mexico stood out as an exception with a rising trend of killings.  Of the 65 journalists killed worldwide in 2017, 12 died in Mexico, where drug traffickers and organized crime threaten, extort, attack and execute journalists who report on their criminal activities.  According to RSF, Mexico and Syria both had 12 reporters killed this year, followed by Afghanistan with nine and Iraq with eight.   Remember this story when American journalists tell you that President Trump is such a threat to freedom of the press. 

January 1, 2018       Permalink

NEEDED ACTION – AT 4:47 P.M. ET:  The Obama administration would never do anything like this.  After all, we must love our enemies.   From Fox: 

The Trump administration has decided to withhold millions in military aid to Pakistan as the president accuses the Muslim-majority nation of harboring terrorists and telling “lies” to the United States.

“The United States does not plan to spend the $255 million in [Fiscal Year] 2016 Foreign Military Financing for Pakistan at this time,” a National Security Council official told Fox News on Monday.

The official added, “The president has made clear that the United States expects Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorists and militants on its soil, and that Pakistan’s actions in support of the South Asia Strategy will ultimately determine the trajectory of our relationship, including future security assistance.”

The Trump administration will continue to “review Pakistan’s level of cooperation,” the official said.

Earlier Monday, President Trump, in his first tweet of 2018, said that the United States “has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.”

COMMENT:  Great.  Trump, with his many faults, is making one fine decision after another.  The sadness is that there are so many plotting to bring him down, and return to the old Establishment ways.

Stop them.

January 1, 2018       Permalink

A PROFIT-MAKING BUSINESS – AT 3:28 P.M. ET:  And a sordid affair, with the name Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's daughter) once again making an appearance.  From The Hill: 

Prominent Democratic donors gave at least $700,000 to women's rights lawyer Lisa Bloom in the final stretch of the 2016 race as she sought to publicize sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.

American Bridge, a group associated with Democratic operative and Hillary Clinton ally David Brock, gave $200,00 to the effort, sources told the Times. Fashion entrepreneur Susie Tompkins Buell, a longtime donor to Brock, gave Bloom another $500,000.

The efforts did not result in any women coming forward, according to the Times. Bloom told the paper that one woman requested as much as $2 million for her story, a sum she was unwilling to offer.

Democratic donors familiar with Bloom's efforts say that Bloom kept the $200,000 from American Bridge but refunded the $500,000 from Buell.

In a statement, Bloom denied that the Clinton campaign had any knowledge of her efforts or that she had collaborated with Clinton's team "on any of this." She also denied that payments were needed before the women would come forward.

“It doesn’t cost anything to publicly air allegations,” Bloom said. “Security and relocation are expensive and were sorely needed in a case of this magnitude, in a country filled with so much anger, hate and violence.”

The Hill first reported last month that Bloom offered to sell the stories of Trump's alleged victims in return for a commission for herself, and offered some victims as much as $750,000 in compensation.

COMMENT:  May I modestly suggest that the California Bar investigate Lisa Bloom?  Is this accepted behavior for a lawyer? 

I have no doubt that there are serious, valid cases of sexual harassment.  I also have no doubt that there are plenty of false cases, launched for revenge or money, or political gain.  A good, ethical legal system will sort them out.

January 1, 2018       Permalink

TRUMP KEEPS IT UP – AT 10:30 A.M. ET:  Unlike Obama, who showed no enthusiasm whatever when Iranians revolted in 2009, President Trump is keeping up a steady drumbeat of support for the current Iranian protesters.  Whether that support will translate into action is what thoughtful people must ask now.  From AFP:

WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump said Monday it was “time for change” in Iran and that the country’s people were “hungry” for freedom, after days of deadly protests against the government in Tehran.

“Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration,” Trump tweeted, referring to the nuclear pact sealed under his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

“The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!”

Trump has been vocal on Twitter about the protests in Iran since they erupted last week.

Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

COMMENT:  The president returns to Washington today from his holiday stay in Florida.  What will he actually do about Iran?  Will he turn up the heat?  Or will he weaken before the pedestrian and mediocre advice given by Deep State, which saw nothing wrong with Obama's appeasement policies?

And what about our mainstream media?  Yes, they've been reporting the Iran story, but some reporters, especially the ones with the British accents at CNN, seem almost reluctant to admit that the protesters have a point, and are demanding their freedom.  After all, admitting that is conceding a point to Donald Trump, and that is forbidden by Deep Press.

January 1,  2018     Permalink