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JULY 20,  2017

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

WE JUST CANNOT WAIT! – FROM DAILY CALLER:   WASHINGTON — California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, a favorite among liberal progressives, told The Daily Caller Thursday that this weekend’s scheduled appearance in New Hampshire has nothing to do with potentially running for president in 2020.  But she said that she would run for president if millennials want her to.  “I’m just going up to do a county Democratic thing. That’s all,” she said.  When TheDC pressed further, Waters, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, said laughing, “I’m not running for anything but my own seat. I don’t have any presidential aspirations. If the millennials want me to do it, I’d do it, though.”  I'm sure the letters of encouragement will come pouring in.  Run Maxine run!  You'll run so well in those working-class sections of the Midwest!

WHAT A JERK – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Bill Nye “the Science Guy” said Wednesday that significant action on climate change will be possible once the climate skeptics and deniers of older generations die off.  Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, the 61-year-old TV host was asked to comment on a recent Pew survey that revealed 58 percent of Republicans and right-leaning Independents believe higher education has a negative effect on the country, a number that spiked significantly during President Trump’s rise to power.  Mr. Nye said people are just scared of the truth.  “It just sounds like people are afraid,” he said. “And the people who are afraid in general — with due respect, and I am now one of them — are older. Climate change deniers, by way of example, are older. It’s generational. So we’re just going to have to wait for those people to ‘age out,’ as they say. ‘Age out’ is a euphemism for ‘die.’ But it’ll happen, I guarantee you — that’ll happen.”  Thanks for your enthusiasm, science guy.  Did it ever occur to you that many of these people whose death you'll welcome are actually the wisest, most experienced citizens we have?  That they've learned through experience to be skeptical, to ask questions?  Who needs people like that, right?

THE EXCITEMENT BUILDS – FROM DAILYWIRE.COM:   In an attempt to destroy themselves ahead of the 2018 election cycle, Democrats have come up with yet another slogan guaranteed to fail dramatically: “Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages” – which sounds more like an advertisement for a temp agency than an actual Congressional campaign slogan...As several commentators have pointed out, this slogan is also a rip-off of Papa John’s: “Better ingredients. Better pizza. Papa John’s.”  I'd rather vote for Papa John. 

July 20, 2017       Permalink

SESSIONS SAYS HE'LL STAY – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:   Attorney general Jeff Sessions says he'll stay on, despite the tongue lashing he got from President Trump yesterday.  From Fox: 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday he plans to stay on the job at the Department of Justice, on the heels of President Trump sharply criticizing him for recusing himself from the Russia probe.

In a press conference on Thursday scheduled to discuss cybercrime, Sessions' appearance took a quick turn to the issue of whether the top law enforcement official plans to offer his resignation to Trump.

“We in this Department of Justice will continue every single day to work hard to serve the national interest, and we whole-heartedly join in priorities of President Trump,” Sessions responded. “I have the honor of serving as attorney general. It’s something that goes beyond any thought that I’ve ever had for myself.”

Sessions added: “We love this job, and we love this department and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate.”

COMMENT:  He's basically saying that Trump would have to fire him.  Sessions, to some degree, has his own power center.  As a former senator he has many friends in the Senate who would take offense if Trump humiliated him. 

But you never know with Trump.  He comes from the New York real-estate industry, which is one step above organized genocide.

July 20, 2017       Permalink

AND MORE NONSENSE FROM CNN – AT 10:17 A.M. ET:   The "most trusted name in news," as it calls itself, really can't be trusted with anything other than badminton scores.  There may even be a question about that. 

CNN gave three times more coverage to the alleged ‘secret meeting’ between President Trump and Vladimir Putin at a G-20 dinner than former President Barack Obama's infamous hot mic gaffe with Russia's former president in 2012, according to a study by the Media Research Center.

The study, released on Wednesday by Newsbusters, showed that from the time the news broke late Tuesday afternoon on the previously undisclosed Trump-Putin talk through around midnight, CNN spent over 75 minutes covering the discussion. 

Trump and his aides pushed back hard on the media's coverage of that meeting, downplaying its significance and suggesting there was nothing 'secret' about it. 

The MRC study, meanwhile, contrasted CNN's coverage with that of the March 2012 conversation between Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. 

Obama’s microphone was on during the exchange where he told Medvedev that “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”

Medvedev responded: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir [Putin].”

COMMENT:  You'd think, considering liberal hysteria over Trump's contacts with Putin, that liberals are hard-nosed anti-Russkie zealots.  In fact, the Obama administration was breathtakingly soft on Russia, and on Communism generally.  

Why don't "journalists" remember that?  I wonder why.

July 20, 2017       Permalink

NO NEWS NEWS – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  The news industry is getting desperate for more anti-Trump news.  From Reuters: 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About one in eight people who voted for President Donald Trump said they are not sure they would do so again after witnessing Trump's tumultuous first six months in office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 2016 voters.

While most of the people who voted for Trump on Nov. 8 said they would back him again, the erosion of support within his winning coalition of older, disaffected, mostly white voters poses a potential challenge for the president. Trump, who won the White House with the slimmest of margins, needs every last supporter behind him to push his agenda through a divided Congress and potentially win a second term in 2020.

The poll surveyed voters who had told Reuters/Ipsos on Election Day how they had cast their ballots.

While other surveys have measured varying levels of disillusionment among Trump supporters, the Reuters/Ipsos poll shows how many would go as far as changing the way they voted. The survey was carried out first in May and then again in July.

COMMENT:  Hardly shocking.  It's actually very common for presidents to lose support, or struggle to get support, during their first year.  And it is very common for presidents to take a beating in the first mid-year election following their own taking the oath.  Negative opinion is pretty casually developed.

FDR suffered enormous losses in Congress in his first mid-term following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  We were at war, fighting for our existence, and yet the people handed the commander-in-chief a substantial defeat.

Maybe it's the American "show us what you can do" attitude.  But it's not a major headline that Trump is struggling.

July 20,  2017     Permalink

JULY 19,  2017

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

GET WELL, SENATOR – FROM TUCSON.COM:   U.S. Sen. John McCain revealed Wednesday evening that he has a brain tumor.  The announcement follows a procedure to remove a blood clot from above his left eye at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix last Friday, where a pathology report revealed the glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor.  Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.  A statement from McCain's doctors say he is recovering from his surgery, but it is unclear when the 80-year-old Republican would return to the Senate.   "Further consultations with Senator McCain's Mayo Clinic care team will indicate when he will return to the United States Senate," the statement read.  Senator McCain is a fighter.  Agree or disagree with him, he has served this country in ways most people can't imagine.  We wish him the best.

WALKING PAPERS? – FROM CNN:  Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump said in an interview published Wednesday that he would not have chosen Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself over matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign.  Trump's remarks, in a 50-minute interview with The New York Times, represent an extraordinary rebuke from the President toward the nation's top law enforcement official who happens to be one of his earliest political allies.  "Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the President," Trump said, referring to himself. "How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, 'Thanks, Jeff, but I'm not going to take you.' It's extremely unfair -- and that's a mild word -- to the President."  Stunning.  I don't see how Sessions can remain.  It's clear that Trump has lost confidence in him, and yet doesn't want to fire him, perhaps because of the optics.  But Jeff should resign and go quietly, without a book contract. 

A REMARKABLE MOMENT – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  The US is opening its arms to a terminally ill British baby by offering him and his parents permanent residency to allow them to seek treatment in America.  The House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed an amendment Tuesday to grant 11-month-old Charlie Gard and his parents the legal status should he be allowed to move to the US.  Charlie suffers from a rare genetic condition that has rendered him unable to eat or breathe without help or move his limbs. His parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, are desperately trying to bring him to the US for experimental treatment.  The baby can’t be removed from the UK hospital without permission from British courts, which are denying his parents’ request because doctors say he has no chance of surviving.  Congress’s offer of permanent residency would be similar to Charlie holding dual citizenship and would still make him subject to British law. A ruling is expected on Charlie’s future next week, according to the Standard.  Good for us.  I have no qualifications whatever to make a medical judgment, but every legitimate avenue should be tried to help Charlie.  In the end, it may all be useless.  But we will have tried.  When in doubt, choose life.

July 19, 2017        Permalink

I LOVE IT – THE SPECTATOR DOES A NUMBER ON THE TERMINALLY OBNOXIOUS KAMALA HARRIS – AT 1:22 P.M. ET:   The Democrats are already looking for a presidential candidate for 2020, and some very fashionable Dems think they have found her.  Why, here comes Sister Kamala.  She's a woman.  She's black.  She's Asian.  Who could ask for anything more? 

And the Spectator hopes she's nominated:

Finding a pol as (or more) obnoxious than Barbara Boxer is no easy feat, but Golden State voters managed to perform it by selecting Kamala Harris as her replacement. Harris is a left-wing dingbat of singular rudeness. A deluded Boxer thought of herself as kittenish and charming; Harris conceives of herself as more of a clawing feline — the relentless prosecutor who is going to bring the conservative dogs of Washington to heel. Except she is too vapid and dim to pull the role off.

My favorite moment from her absurd harangue of General Kelly earlier this year came when she demanded to know why he was subjecting immigration officers and local officials to a “Hobbesian choice.” She meant Hobson’s choice. Kelly was too nice to point out her sub-literate gibbering, but he did object to her lack of basic manners. She interrupted him repeatedly and finally he told her to knock it off (as have even John McCain and Richard Burr). That, of course, has occasioned feminist whining from Harris about a culture of mansplaining and double standards. 

And...

Were it not for her fanatical support for abortion and all things culturally degenerate, NOW and NARAL would see Harris as an annoying and unworthy rival to Elizabeth Warren.

And...

The growing chatter among Dems about her as a potential 2020 candidate is yet another illustration of the party’s lack of seriousness. At a time when it should be downplaying its image as an out-of-touch bi-coastal party, it deepens that image by pushing one more San Francisco radical forward. Who knows, maybe Harris can run with Pelosi.

According to press reports, Harris wowed supporters of Hillary’s at a recent fundraiser in the Hamptons. What a compelling look for a defeated party — a San Francisco kook feted by routed East Coast plutocrats impressed by her stern questioning of General Mattis over the plight of transgender soldiers. That should work well in the Rust Belt and the South.

And..

In 1984, Reagan crushed the “San Francisco Democrats,” as his foreign policy advisor Jeane Kirkpatrick called them. Trump, in his re-election bid, would do the same, should Harris somehow rise to the top in the primaries. He would probably find that even more fun than beating “Pocahontas.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole piece.  It's juicy, even scandalous.  At the same time, don't underestimate Harris.  The mainstream press will love her, and try to help her, and that could be trouble.

July 19, 2017       Permalink

THE INSANITY WATCH – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:   No one denies that things are insane in Washington.  The Democratic Party is at its weakest point in a century.  The Republican Party is at its strongest.  Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate.  And they cannot create and pass a replacement for Obamacare.  Indeed, people now openly wonder when the next collapse will occur.

But the fact is that many Republicans are soldiering on, hoping to get much done by the end of the year.  If Republicans cannot pass a decent budget and tax-cut program, they can kiss control of Congress goodbye.  And for good reason.   From AP:

WASHINGTON — Despite opposition from Republican moderates and conservatives, House leaders are pressing ahead with a budget plan whose success is critical to the party’s hopes to deliver on one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities — a GOP-only effort to overhaul the tax code.

The importance of the measure has been magnified by the collapse in the Senate of the Trump-backed effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law, leaving a rewrite of the tax code as the best chance for Trump to score a major legislative win this year. The measure would require about $200 billion worth of cuts to benefit programs and other so-called mandatory spending coupled with the tax plan.

The budget plan unveiled Tuesday is crucial because its passage would pave the way to pass a tax overhaul this fall without the fear of a filibuster by Senate Democrats.

But it also proposes trillions of dollars in cuts to the social safety net and other domestic programs and puts congressional Republicans at odds with Trump over cutting Medicare. It also would sharply boost military spending.

“In past years, the budget has only been a vision. But now, with the Republican Congress and a Republican White House, this budget is a plan for action,” said Budget Committee Chair Diane Black, R-Tenn. “Now is our moment to achieve real results.”

Unclear, however, is whether GOP leaders can get the budget measure through the House.

Conservatives want a larger package of spending cuts to accompany this fall’s tax overhaul bill, while moderates are concerned cuts to programs such as food stamps could go too far.

“I just think that if you’re dealing with too many mandatory cuts while you’re dealing with tax reform you make tax reform that much harder to enact,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
Black announced a committee vote for Wednesday, but was less confident of a vote by the entire House next week; a delay seems likely because of the ongoing quarrel between the GOP’s factions.

COMMENT:  Only strong leadership can break this logjam.  And that's what Republicans don't have.  The Senate and House leaderships are wobbly.  President Trump is no Ronald Reagan.  Many in the party don't like him and owe him nothing.  His low popularity ratings, however undeserved, limit his clout.

Reagan used to say that if he got 80 percent of what he wanted in a negotiation, he had a good deal.  Many Republicans don't understand that.  They want it all for their little faction of the party.

Another lesson unlearned is that, once you give a benefit to the American people, it's almost impossible to take it back.  If the GOP thinks it can cut Medicare, it's delusional.  It's the second most popular program out there, the first being Social Security.

A lot of work to do.  The future of the Republican Party depends on what its Congressional branch does over the next six months.  I can't say, based on the record, that I'm optimistic, but I'm hopeful.

July 19, 2017       Permalink

HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THIS STORY WILL GO? – AT 8:33 A.M. ET:  Another headache for Hillary, but we're sure there's an innocent explanation because she would never do anything wrong.  From Fox: 

The U.S. Postal Service violated federal law by letting employees do union-funded work for Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic candidates while on leave from the agency, according to an Office of Special Counsel report obtained by Fox News.

The OSC determined the USPS "engaged in systemic violations" of the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits certain political activities of federal employees.

The investigation was launched months ago after Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., brought constituent complaints to the OSC in October. The constituent, identified as a USPS employee, was concerned the Postal Service “incurred unnecessary overtime costs” and “improperly coordinated” with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) when it released members for several weeks of “union official” leave without pay to participate in campaign work.

“The Labor 2016 program sought to ‘elect Hillary Clinton and pro-worker candidates across the country,’” the report said, citing campaign work like door-to-door canvassing, phone banks and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
According to the report, roughly 97 NALC members requested the leave without pay to participate. The NALC, which endorsed Clinton last June, compensated those USPS workers using the Letter Carrier Political Fund, the union’s PAC.
The majority of the campaign work took place in 2016 battleground states, specifically Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. 

Officials at multiple levels apparently were involved. 

COMMENT:   We have no problem with legitimate unions here.  I'm a union member myself.  Ronald Reagan was a union president.  But violation of the law must never be tolerated.

Hillary, along with union leaders, owes us an explanation.  And there may have to be prosecutions.

July 19,  2017     Permalink