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JULY 30,  3017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:55 P.M. ET: 

SHOW OF FORCE – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Sunday in a show of force against North Korea following the country's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test. The U.S. also said it conducted a successful test of a missile defense system located in Alaska.  The B-1 bombers were escorted by South Korean fighter jets as they performed a low-pass over an air base near the South Korean capital of Seoul before returning to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.  The only question is whether anything we do will change the North's behavior.  So far, nothing has.

ANOTHER "EDUCATOR" HEARD FROM – FROM BREITBART:  Jason Osamede Okundaye, Ethnic Minorities Officer for Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, is being investigated after cheering on violent ‘Black Lives Matter’ rioters in an extraordinary anti-white online rant.  “ALL whites people are racist,” tweeted the Cambridge Ethnic Minorities Officer, as rioters protesting the death of alleged drug dealer Rashan Jermaine Charles attacked police and members of the public in Dalston, East London.  “White middle class, white working class, white men, white women, white gays, white children they can ALL geddit [get it],” he declared.  Where would Cambridge, presumably one of the great universities of the world, acquire a genius like this?  And why would it want to?

YIKES!  DID YOU KNOW THIS? – FROM KAISER HEALTH NEWS:    The controversial practice has been standard in many teaching hospitals for decades, its safety and ethics largely unquestioned and its existence unknown to those most affected: people undergoing surgery.  But over the past two years, the issue of overlapping surgery — in which a doctor operates on two patients in different rooms during the same time period — has ignited an impassioned debate in the medical community, attracted scrutiny by the powerful Senate Finance Committee that oversees Medicare and Medicaid, and prompted some hospitals, including the University of Virginia’s, to circumscribe the practice.  Known as “running two rooms” — or double-booked, simultaneous or concurrent surgery — the practice occurs in teaching hospitals where senior attending surgeons delegate trainees — usually residents or fellows — to perform parts of one surgery while the attending surgeon works on a second patient in another operating room. Sometimes senior surgeons aren’t even in the OR and are seeing patients elsewhere.  Okay, next time you have an operation, insist that your surgeon wear a GPS.

July 30, 2017       Permalink

CLOSE CALL DOWN UNDER – AT 12:50 P.M. ET:   This has gotten far too little attention in our media.  Australia just had a close call with terrorism, and our government is watching developments carefully.  This is not lone-wolf stuff.  From The Hill: 

The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday it is closely monitoring the foiled Australia terrorist plot in which extremists planned an attack targeting an airplane.

“We are closely following the terrorism investigation in Australia and assisting our partners," DHS said in a statement.

"The Department of Homeland Security remains focused on the persistent and emerging threats to aviation, and we have taken extraordinary steps in recent weeks to raise the baseline of aviation security worldwide, especially to protect flights bound for the United States," the statement said. "We will continue to work with authorities in Australia and elsewhere to confront these threats.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Saturday that Australian authorities had thwarted a terrorist plan to "bring down" an airplane through counterterrorism raids.

Authorities arrested four men in connection with the plot, The Australian reported.

While those arrested have not been charged, authorities believe the attack was inspired by the Islamic State, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said.

COMMENT:  We've gotten too used to the concept of the lone wolf, itself a misnomer.  There's no such thing as a lone wolf.  Islamic terrorists are radicalized by someone.  They didn't come to terrorism naturally.

But small operations are only part of the Islamist workbook.  Aviation has been a terror target for decades.  It's a spectacular target, with instant propaganda results. 

July 30, 2017       Permalink

TENSIONS WITH IRAN RISE – ANYONE SURPRISED? – AT 11:54 A.M. ET:  While we're distracted by the bizarre activity in Washington, hostile nations aren't modifying their hostility.  If only we'd stayed with Barack.  He was so good at bringing us perfect government.  We saw the oceans recede, and peace come to the world...  From AFP:   

Tehran (AFP) - A defiant Iran vowed on Saturday to press ahead with its missile programme and condemned new US sanctions, as tensions rise after the West hardened its tone against the Islamic republic.

In the latest incident, Tehran and Washington accused each other's naval forces of provocative manoeuvres in the Gulf that culminated in a US helicopter firing warning flares.

The US Navy said it had reacted to unresponsive vessels belonging to the Revolutionary Guards closing in on American ships at high speed, a charge denied by Iran which described the American move as unprovoked.

"At 4 pm (1130 GMT) on Friday, the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards' frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force's ships," the Iranian paramilitary force said.

"The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares," it said. The Guards "ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission".

The US Navy said its ships were on a routine patrol when an American helicopter "observed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval vessels approaching US naval forces at a high rate of speed".

"US naval forces attempted to establish communications, with no response from the Iranian vessels. Shortly thereafter, at a safe distance, the US helicopter deployed flares, after which the Iranian vessels halted their approach," it said.

COMMENT:  Seems like an entirely appropriate warning action by the US Navy.  The key here is not this minor incident, but Iran's refusal to curtail its missile program.  Since our nuclear deal with Iran essentially guarantees that Tehran will be free to develop nuclear weapons in the future, the building of ICBMs will allow Iran to have a delivery system already in place.  Iran will become one of the world's nuclear powers.

Nice going, Barack.  But we're sure you meant well, as you'll explain in your new $65-million book.

July 30, 2017     Permalink

YOU SMARTY PANTS READERS BETTER UNDERSTAND YOUR PRIVILEGE – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  We really are terrible, just terrible.  Why, a university says so.  The latest in fashionable research.  A pop quiz tomorrow.  From Daily Caller: 

The University of Iowa’s student newspaper has announced the discovery of a special privilege which intelligent people acquire as an accident of birth. This new privilege — called “cognitive privilege” — functions in essentially the same way as white privilege.

The Daily Iowan revealed the discovery of this new privilege earlier this week.

Garden-variety white privilege “is an important topic that deserves a public discussion,” the op-ed on “cognitive privilege” explains, but it is also “prudent to at least mention the wider concept contained therein: that of privilege itself.”

Privilege in general is “the receipt of certain benefits wholly through accident of birth and it is “undeniable that privilege itself is a reality,” the student newspaper explains.

As with skin color and much else, Daily Iowan author Dan Williams argues, people have no control over how smart they are. Life is a huge cosmic lottery full of winners and losers.

Cognitive privilege is one of “many kinds of privilege besides white privilege.”

Also, Williams declares, robots will wipe out manual labor jobs but will somehow not affect jobs available to members of a special cognitive elite.

Damn bigoted robots!

“Thus, the accident of having been born smart enough to be able to be successful is a great benefit that you did absolutely nothing to earn. Consequently, you have nothing to be proud of for being smart.”

COMMENT:  I'm embarrassed already.  Not that I think I'm smart.  I don't want that privilege.  I never earned it.  But if I am smart, I will just have to be more sensitive toward the ignorant, the unprivileged, the dense.  I will start by being kind to liberals.

July 30,  2017     Permalink

JULY 29,  2017

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

GOOD WORK – FROM AP:  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) —  Police disrupted a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane and arrested four men on Saturday in raids on homes in several Sydney suburbs, the prime minister said on Sunday.  Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said security had been increased at Sydney Airport since Thursday because of the plot. The increased security measures had been extended to all major international and domestic terminals around Australia overnight.   The latest is that it was Islamist-inspired (shock!), but no specific groups have thus far been named.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM FOX:   University of California, Irvine officials have rescinded hundreds of admission offers for the upcoming fall semester.  The Los Angeles Times reported that offers to 499 UC Irvine students were withdrawn — 290 of them for transcript issues and the rest for poor senior-year grades, according to campus data.  KABC-TV reported Friday that the university’s Student Government Association has since demanded officials apologize to impacted students, reimburse all fees and guarantee future admission.  I love it.  Clearly, the university is saying that a number of admitted students had, uh, problematical transcripts.  Does that mean faked transcripts?  And the rest went down the academic tubes.  Please note that the so-called "student government" makes it plain it doesn't care about those little things.  Just admit the snowflakes.  Who needs standards?

A MAJOR POWER CENTER – FROM FOX:   Incoming White House Chief of Staff John Kelly plans to bring in one of his deputies from the Department of Homeland Security when he begins his new job Monday.  Kirstjen Nielsen, who has served as chief of staff under Kelly at DHS, will follow her boss to the White House, a Trump administration official told Fox News.  Nielsen will be White House deputy chief of staff, the source said.  "She’ll be the one person Kelly brings with him,” an administration official told Politico.   She's very well regarded.  Kelly is making it clear it will be his chief of staff's office, not beholden to anyone outside the White House.  An exciting moment.

July 29, 2017       Permalink

DEBBIE DOES D.C. – AT 2:29 P.M. ET:  As each day goes by, we learn more and more about some seedy Democratic activity in the runup to last year's election.  Investigate!   And that's what Republicans plan to do.  I hope they have a longer-than-usual attention span.  From the Washington Free Beacon:   

Congressional leaders are interested in conducting their own independent investigation into a growing scandal surrounding IT staffers working for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), who are accused of stealing sensitive computer equipment from House lawmakers' offices.

One of these IT staffers, Imran Awan, was arrested this week when trying to travel to Pakistan and charged with bank fraud after a months-long investigation that found he wired nearly $300,000 to that country. Several other staffers tied to Awan are the focus of an investigation into claims they stole sensitive equipment and illegally penetrated the House IT network.

Leading members of the House Judiciary Committee and Government Oversight Committee told the Washington Free Beacon that the appropriate congressional bodies should launch an investigation into the illicit IT activity, which could include asking for testimony from Wasserman Schultz on the situation.

Wasserman Schultz's testimony is of particular interest as she has come under fire for keeping Awan on the House payroll even after information about his actions became public and not cooperating with the investigation.

COMMENT:  The "not cooperating" part is key.  There are reports that Debbie is beside herself with anguish over Awan's arrest.  What does he know about her, and her operations when she was chairman of the Democratic National Committee?

After months of talk about collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russkies, not a single fact has emerged to back up that charge.  Maybe now, as the spotlight turns to the Dems, the real story of the campaign will come out. 

July 29, 2017       Permalink

ON TRUMP – AT 1:48 P.M. ET:  Rich Lowry is one of the best-known conservative writers.   He presents an unvarnished picture of President Trump and the characteristics that have landed him in political trouble and are driving supporters away.   This follows on our earlier post today.  We have tried so hard to be supportive of the president, but his behavior has now reached critical mass, and must be corrected.  Conservative writers like Lowry are speaking out.  From Newsmax: 

Jeff Sessions thought he was on the Trump team, but he was sadly mistaken.

For President Donald Trump, the world breaks down into three categories — there's family, who are part of the charmed Trump circle by blood or marriage; there are "winners," who have earned Trump's regard by making lots of money (often at Goldman Sachs); and then there's everyone else, who are adornments to be cast aside as Trump finds convenient.

Sessions is emphatically in the latter category. If the former Alabama senator wanted to be securely ensconced in Trump world, he should have had the foresight to marry Ivanka. Nothing else — not endorsing early, not carrying water in trying circumstances in the campaign — will ever make him anything more than some guy who happens to be attorney general of the United States.

Trump's treatment of Sessions is unprecedented in the annals of American government. Cabinet officials have been hung out to dry before. They have been forced to resign or fired. Never before has a Cabinet secretary been publicly belittled in an ongoing campaign of humiliation by the president who appointed him.

The drama hangs a lantern on Trump's flaws. Trump lacks gratitude, dismissing Sessions' endorsement of him in the primaries as merely the senator's reaction to the size of Trump's crowds. He obviously doesn't feel any respect for someone who, as an honorable person with a long career in public service, deserves it. He doesn't care about propriety, which would dictate dressing down Sessions in private, not flaying him in public. And, finally, he doesn't feel any obligation to Sessions, despite the fact that Sessions gave up a safe Senate seat to serve in his administration.

For Trump, loyalty is unilateral, not reciprocal, and it has a very particular content. It's not loyalty to the agenda or to the party, but to Trump, specifically his personal interests and honor.

COMMENT:   Read the whole thing.  It's important.  We are doing now what the Democrats refused to do under the cynical, incompetent administration of Barack Obama.  They refused to correct mistakes, and gave Obama the blind loyalty of the dictatorial society.  We must not do the same.

People forget that it was Republicans who stopped Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.  It was Republicans who made it clear to Richard Nixon that he could not continue in office.

Democrats go down with the Titanic.  Republicans try to avoid the iceberg.

July 29, 2017       Permalink

THE CRISIS – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  We cheer the appointment of John Kelly, retired Marine four-star general, to be White House chief of staff.  His appointment provides great opportunity for the White House to be brought under control, and relieved of its day-to-day chaos.

But his appointment also underlines the crisis we face:  We have a creative, hard-working president with some terrific ideas, but he is a terribly flawed, undisciplined, egotistical man who is destroying his own administration.  Why, just yesterday, the president was on Long Island, speaking about the need for border control, sane immigration, and the fact that we must support our police officers.  Good stuff, especially his concern for the men and women who protect us every day.

But then, typical of Trump, he went off-message and started urging officers to rough up those they arrest, an absolute violation of accepted police procedure.  In this democracy, punishment is meted out by courts, not arresting officers.

A police organization immediately rebuked the president. 

Imagine, he came to praise police, and wound up being slapped on the wrist by a major police group for his irresponsible advice.

That's Trump, and Trump is becoming a tragedy.  He is heading into Nixon territory.  Nixon was driven from the presidency not by the smallish sins of Watergate, but because he was Richard Nixon.  If Jack Kennedy had done what Nixon did, it would have been on page 46.  Nixon was disliked, even within his own party.  A remarkably capable and knowledgeable man, he was the author of his own disaster.

Trump is writing his presidential book now.  If the Democrats gain control of the House next year, they will impeach him.  They will find some flimsy reason.  And then he will have to fight for his presidency in the U.S. Senate, which judges impeachment cases.   Senate Republicans are increasingly distancing themselves from this president.  He bashes them individually, and is publicly humiliating Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former senator highly regarded in that body.

The president is in danger, and cheering crowds in Ohio won't save him.  Maybe John Kelly can.

July 29,  2017     Permalink