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JULY 13,  2017

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

BRAVA! – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Bienvenue!  The First Couple arrived in Paris this morning and wasted no time attending to their schedule, with First Lady Melania Trump going straight from the tarmac at Orly Airport to the Necker Hospital for children in Paris.  Stunning in a red suit, the first lady met Martin Hirsch, the director of Paris’ public hospital system and posed with hospital staff.  The former model also spoke with children at the hospital in French, one of five languages she speaks. She introduced herself, asked them where they grew up and gave them words of encouragement.  Mrs. Trump read the sick tots a French classic — “The Little Prince” — in a room filled with Legos and other toys, and was given a French-language copy of the book by the hospital’s director.  She was elegant and superb, and spoke in their native language.  Will Melania get credit for the great work she's doing as first lady?  I doubt it, but the public knows what it is seeing.

DEBUNKED! – FROM CNN:   A newly discovered photo that claimed to hold the key to the 80-year-old mystery surrounding Amelia Earhart's disappearance may have been published two years before she vanished, new evidence suggests.  The blurry photo, used in a History Channel documentary, was alleged to show the groundbreaking pilot and her navigator Fred Noonan alive and well on a dock in the Marshall Islands in 1937.  But two bloggers say they have found the photo in a Japanese coffee-table book from 1935 -- when Earhart was safely in the United States.  I've always loved following the Earhart theories.  This one, centered on a newly discovered photo, was debunked within days of being featured on the History Channel.  Read the whole story, which contains the photos.

ESCAPE OF THE YEAR – FROM NBC:    A Texas man who became trapped inside an ATM slipped notes to customers via the receipt slot pleading for them to help him escape, police said Thursday.  The contractor became stuck Wednesday when he was changing a lock to a Bank of America room that leads to the back of the ATM, Corpus Christi police Lt. Chris Hooper said. He couldn't let himself out of the room because he didn't have a keycard on him and was unable to notify bank employees for help.  "Apparently he left his cellphone and the swipe card he needed to get out of the room outside in his truck," Hooper said.
When he realized customers were retrieving cash from the machine, he passed notes to them through the ATM receipt slot. One read, "Please help. I'm stuck in here and I don't have my phone. Please call my boss ..."  Some customers appeared to dismiss the notes as a gag, Hooper said. But one called police, who detected a faint voice coming from inside the ATM. An officer kicked in the door to the room and freed the man, whose name has not been released.   Okay, okay, we all have questions about this story.  The police only heard a faint voice?  How thick are those walls?  The guy passed notes through the receipt slot?  Why didn't he just put his mouth up to the slot and scream?  It's an open space.  But it's a great story.  Always take your phone and keys with you?

July 13, 2017       Permalink

ON FOREIGN POLICY, THUMBS UP ON TRUMP – AT 11:50 A.M. ET:   President Trump is sometimes called "Reaganesque" in foreign policy.  And Reagan's foreign policy is still preferred by the American people.  He outranks Obama, despite the protection Obama receives from an admiring media.  From Rasmussen: 

Following his speech in Poland last week, some are calling President Trump’s remarks touting the values and strengths of the West Ronald Reagan-esque. And half of voters think that’s whose foreign policy Trump should emulate, rather than that of his most recent predecessor.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters prefer a president with a foreign policy more like Reagan. Forty-two percent (42%) prefer a foreign policy more like Barack Obama.

COMMENT:  The fact that Reagan's popularity has lasted all these years is remarkable.  If Trump follows Reagan's peace-through-strength policies, he'll do just fine.

That a recent president can only score 42% on foreign policy, where people traditionally rally 'round the president, tells part of the story of Obama's failure.  His foreign policy was a series of mistakes and losses, and Americans don't like to lose.

July 13, 2017       Permalink

A WARNING TO THE DESTROY-TRUMP CROWD – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, one of our best political observers, sends out a warning to the left about overreaching in its hatred of Donald Trump.  Will the left listen?  Probably not.  Brain death is permanent.  From the Washington Examiner:   

Overreach. President Trump seems to have an uncanny knack for provoking it in his opponents and critics. This often hurts him and the country. But it has the potential to hurt those doing the overreach as well.

Start with Trump's speech in Warsaw last week. "As the Polish experience reminds us," he said after recounting in vivid detail how Poland rebounded from decades of horrors, "The defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means, but also on the will of its people to prevail. The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive."

But Trump's text included praise of Poland's and Western civilizations' resistance to Nazi and Communist totalitarianism, empowering women, striving for excellence, valuing the dignity of human life, debating and challenging "everything." Presumably, Trump's critics embrace each of these products of Western civilization.

Nonetheless, they sneer at Trump's pledge to oppose "another oppressive ideology — one that seeks to export terrorism and extremism all around the globe." But that threat of Islamic terrorism is real.

And...

To call these statements "racism" or "dog whistles" to "white nationalists" is nonsense.

This week's lead story about Donald Trump Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian apparatchik revived the meme of Russian "collusion" and provoked similar overreach. This meeting, which included campaign manager Paul Manafort and son-in-law Jared Kushner, seems to have been a waste of everyone's time, and it's easy to argue that it was ill-advised.

But Democratic politicians and bloggers, who haven't given up on dreams of somehow ousting Trump from office and who are eager as always to delegitimize his presidency, have gone farther. Some have argued that attendance at the meeting violates a federal criminal statute prohibiting foreigners from giving "money or other things of value" to a federal or state campaign.

That's obviously a stretch. People involved in campaigns get information every day from foreign sources — starting with the Daily Mail website — which could conceivably help their cause. Common sense tells us this is not criminal behavior.

And...

There's no bipartisan consensus now that Trump should go, and an obvious political peril, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has recognized, in Democrats' campaigning not just for a check on the president — the usual off-year opposition theme — but for a futile 1999-style impeachment trial. Overreach is not usually good politics.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's a good warning.  The Democrats are going crazy, and I don't see where it's actually helping them.  Every little revelation produces declarations that this is the worst catastrophe in human history.  Trump as Hitler.  As Mussolini.  As BUSH!!!  Even Cheney!!!!!!

The Dems need tranquilizers.  And new leadership.

July 13, 2017       Permalink

BAD NEWS – LITERALLY – AT 10:30 A.M. ET:  Mainstream journalism is bad enough.  We don't need to make it worse.  But that's what's just happened.  CBS News has signed a baffling agreement to join with Britain's BBC in a joint operation.

The BBC is, stretching it, a second-rate news organization, perhaps the most overrated news outlet in history.  It is famously left-wing, snotty, rather anti-American, with some historic anti-Semitic overtones thrown in.  Other than that, it's great.  It is overrated by the chattering classes in large measure because it sounds so good.  They speak well at BBC.  Very big on enunciation and the Queen's English.  The pseudos love that kind of stuff.  If it sounds good, it must be good.  Not like those Americans.  From The Hill:

CBS News on Thursday announced a new "editorial and newsgathering relationship" with BBC News "that will significantly enhance the global reporting capabilities of both organizations," the networks said in a joint statement.

“CBS News is completely committed to original reporting around the world—a commitment clearly shared by the BBC,” said CBS President Ben Rhodes. “There’s no better partner to strengthen and extend our global coverage than BBC News. I look forward to working with James Harding as we increase the capabilities of both organizations.”

Ha ha.  A little Freudian slip there.  It isn't Ben Rhodes, it's David Rhodes.  He is the brother of Ben Rhodes, the famously deceptive Obama administration operative who openly bragged that he'd established a false narrative to advance Obama's Iran nuclear deal. 

I hope David Rhodes is a bit more honest.

“There’s never been a more important time for smart, courageous coverage of what’s happening in the world,” said BBC Director of News and Current Affairs James Harding. “This new partnership between the BBC and CBS News is designed to bring our audiences—wherever you live, whatever your point of view—news that is reliable, original and illuminating.

"Our ambition is to deliver the best in international reporting on television. We’re really looking forward to working together.”

BBC was founded by Lord Reith of Britain in the 1920s.  Reith later became, while head of BBC, an admirer of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement in Germany.  That is not a controversial statement.  His sentiments are found in his diaries and in the acknowledgments of his own daughter.

One of the great myths about BBC is that Winston Churchill used it to rally Britain to the anti-Nazi cause in the late 1930s.  In fact, Reith constantly tried to keep Churchill off the BBC.  Churchill used other means to deliver his message. 

Some recent government reports in Britain have been highly critical of BBC's bias in international reporting.

Nice move, CBS.  Nothing like digging the grave deeper.

July 13,  2017     Permalink

JULY 12,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:06 P.M. ET:

SUCH GENIUSES – FROM FOX:  Two Democratic congressmen introduced an article of impeachment on Wednesday against President Trump, accusing him of obstruction of justice over his firing of former FBI Director James Comey.  The resolution says Trump “prevented, obstructed and impeded” the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn by “threatening and then terminating” Comey.  Rep. Al Green (D-TX), accompanied by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), speaks with the media about his plans to draft articles of impeachment against President Trump on June 7, 2017.   “We now begin the effort to force the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on obstruction of justice and Russian interference in our election,” said California Rep. Brad Sherman, who sponsored the resolution. Texas Rep. Al Green is a co-sponsor.   The resolution had been expected, despite warnings from others in the Democratic Party that talk about "impeachment" is not helpful.  No, not helpful at all.  There isn't anything close to an impeachable offense here.  They're making fools of themselves.  But, of course, they're liberals. 

SHE'S BAAACK – FROM THE POLITICO:  Donna Brazile will celebrate the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s election with the publication of her book “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House.”  Brazile was chosen as interim Democratic National Committee chair after the Wikileaks release of internal party emails last year precipitated the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Brazile became a favorite target of Trump and his supporters after an email released in a separate hack appeared to show she slipped a question to Hillary Clinton ahead of one of the Democratic primary debates.  Brazile’s publisher Hachette promises a book that is “equal parts campaign thriller, memoir, and roadmap for the future.” The publisher did not say how much the book deal was worth.  I simply cannot wait for my copy.  Why, we're getting the wit and wisdom of someone who improperly slipped her fave candidate a question before a debate.  Haven't you always wanted to know the thinking of someone who does that?

THE LESS AFFLUENT DON'T EAT MORE FAST FOOD – FROM CNN:  Our recently published research examined this assumption by looking at who eats fast food using a large sample of random Americans. What we found surprised us: Poor people were actually less likely to eat fast food -- and do so less frequently -- than those in the middle class, and only a little more likely than the rich...In other words, the guilty pleasure of enjoying a McDonald's hamburger, Kentucky Fried Chicken popcorn nuggets or Taco Bell burrito is shared across the income spectrum, from rich to poor, with an overwhelming majority of every group reporting having indulged at least once over a nonconsecutive three-week period.  Please keep these findings from Michelle Obama.  She'll go into shock.

July 12,  2017      Permalink

THE PEOPLE ARE ON TO THE WASHINGTON DANCE – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Many years ago I had the chance to interview Charles Kuralt, who did the "On the Road" series for CBS.  I asked him, "Charles, of all the things you've learned in the years you've traveled around the United States, what is the one thing that stands out?"  Without any hesitation, Kuralt answered, "I am always amazed at how well informed Americans are." 

Kuralt was right.  His opinion isn't popular in "intellectual" circles, but was still right.  The average American may not be able to articulate his or her views in the manner of a professor of history, but the average American has a keen sense of what is actually happening.  And tracking polls show that Americans are interested and engaged.

Americans are following the probes in Washington.  From IBD: 

Is Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in trouble? Officially, the answer is no. But the results of a new IBD/TIPP Poll suggest that many Americans are highly skeptical of both Mueller and the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in last year's election.

Mueller was named to be special counsel after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May. Comey was investigating claims that Russia interfered in the U.S. election and that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russian officials.

Since then, Mueller himself has come under fire for hiring a number of prosecutors who donated to Hillary Clinton, which some see as a possible conflict of interest.

"I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters," Trump said on "Fox and Friends" in late June.

Other Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, echo that sentiment. "The fix is in," Gingrich said in an interview with The Daily Caller. "This is the establishment counterattacking legally when they lost politically."

Moreover, one of the prosecutors that Mueller added to his team, Andrew Rosenstein, previously worked for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whom Trump also fired. And Mueller and Comey, his successor at the FBI, are known to be close friends.

So, in the minds of many, the conflicts in the Mueller investigation are piling up, as the IBD/TIPP data clearly indicate. The IBD/TIPP Poll data were gathered June 23 to June 29.

Perhaps most seriously, among the 614 polled who say they're following the Russia story closely, 49% say that Special Counsel Mueller's friendship with former FBI Director James Comey represents a "conflict of interest for Mueller's investigation." Some 47% disagreed.

The results, no surprise here, skewed sharply according to party affiliation. A majority of Republicans (81%) and Independents (52%) said Mueller had a conflict of interest with his Comey friendship. Just 26% of Democrats agreed.

Meanwhile, even more poll respondents  — including a surprising number of Democrats — felt a conflict existed in the fact that Mueller had interviewed with the White House to replace former FBI chief Comey, who stands at the center of the investigation into Russia's alleged tampering with the 2016 vote and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.

Mueller was no stranger to the job, having held the post from 2001 to 2013, under both President Bush and President Obama. Based on that, it should be no surprise that the White House would want to interview him.

But the IBD/TIPP Poll shows Americans seem bothered by this. Some 52% agreed that Mueller's job interview was a conflict of interest going forward for the investigation, while just 40% disagreed. No surprise that 70% of Republicans and 52% of Independents felt this was a problem. But 41% of Democrats also did.

As for the charge that many of the lawyers hired by Mueller for his team were Hillary Clinton supporters, just 44% agreed that this was a "legitimate concern," while 52% disagreed. But again, Republicans (83%) and Independents (51%) were a majority thinking it was a concern. Just 13% of Democrats did.

COMMENT:  I think the public is right.  The impression of justice is as important as the reality of justice.  The impression of justice here is pretty awful.  Mueller, surprisingly, has shown something of a tin ear.

July 12, 2017       Permalink

GOOD IDEA – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  One of the major mistakes of this administration was the failure to clean house when it took office.  The White House should have been wiped clean of all Obama employees.  Appointments to key offices in agencies should have been made, putting loyal Republicans in charge.  When an assistant secretary of state position is vacant, those in that second do what they wish.  In too many cases, what they wish is what Obama wished.  From Fox:   

President Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski predicted Wednesday that the leakers driving coverage of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting last year with a Russian lawyer will be fired, as the White House reportedly scrambles to find the source or sources.

“Anybody, and I mean anybody who is not on the president’s agenda that works in this administration should absolutely be removed immediately,” Lewandowski told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning.

“I don’t know who the leaker is but let me tell you this, if it were up to me, and somebody was speaking to the media [and leaking information detrimental to Trump], I would fire them on the spot, and Donald Trump will do the same,” he added.

Numerous accounts in the wake of the Trump Jr. revelations have described the White House as racked by internal drama and suspicion. In seeming reference to such stories, the president tweeted Wednesday morning: “Remember, when you hear the words ‘sources say’ from the Fake Media, often times those sources are made up and do not exist.” 

But there is little question the president’s inner circle would like to get to the bottom of the leaks.
The latest – and perhaps most serious – Russia-related controversy started when The New York Times began reporting on a meeting Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner had last summer with a Russian lawyer who apparently offered to provide dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Trump Jr. on Tuesday ultimately published the emails he exchanged with the contact who set up the meeting -- music publicist Rob Goldstone. Those emails describe the offer of incriminating information on Clinton as part of "Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump."

COMMENT:  Washington runs partly on leaks to reporters, but leaks can be carried to such an extreme that they paralyze the government.  Some portray leakers as heroes and heroines, and some are.  But most are not.  Most are partisans doing their bit for their side, or their little piece of the pie.  Some seek to ingratiate themselves with reporters.  It's an ugly business.

There are more leaks to come.  And if Trump should have a major success, you may be sure it will be followed by a leaked, unfavorable story.  That is the game.

July 12, 2017       Permalink

ANYTHING NEW? – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  What can I tell you that's both new and accurate, about the Donald Trump Jr. scandal, soon to be described by CNN as the greatest scandal in the history of this or any other world?  Not much.  Nothing terribly new. 

In truth, had this been the Obama administration, with Michelle meeting with some Russian lawyer, the story would have never made the papers.

Lesson one in politics:  What happens to you will depend largely on who you are, not what you do.  R

Richard Nixon, not my favorite guy, was driven from office because he was Richard Nixon.  Watergate was a minor scandal that he mishandled.  Had it been Jack Kennedy in office, it would have been a hiccup.  And the Washinton Post, whose editor, Ben Bradlee, was a close personal friend of Kennedy's, wouldn't have shown the slightest interest.

Lyndon Johnson was essentially driven from office – forced out of the Democratic presidential race in 1968 – because he was Lyndon Johnson.  He was despised by the liberal, Ivy League wing of his own party, which pined for the days of finer music concerts in the White House.  Jack Kennedy, who in many ways I admired, made incredibly serious mistakes in his first year in office, but he was Jack Kennedy.  No calls from the mainstream media for his head.

Now there is a real, serious attempt to drive Donald Trump from office.  The American people dared elect him, and the American people must be punished.  True, Trump has brought much of this on himself.  He made too many enemies and not enough friends while running for president, and, unlike Reagan, hasn't reached out to potential allies since his inauguration.   He isn't, to use Arthur Miller's phrase from Death of a Salesman, "well-liked."

But Donald Trump is the elected president.  He is remarkably active and determined.  He is repairing the pathetic foreign policy of Field Marshal Obama and Grand Admiral Kerry.  He deserves a chance, and too many don't want to give him that chance.

That is what this is about – the determination to bring down a presidency by those who couldn't win an election.  It is of a piece with the dream of the political left to govern by non-democratic means, by investigations, harassment, court decisions and legal maneuvers.  Who needs those deplorables out there?

This is a critical time for this democracy.

July 12,  2017     Permalink