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JULY 8,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

GREAT TALES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT – FROM THE LEXINGTON (KY) HERALD-LEADER:   Three people are behind bars after one woman allegedly tried to sell methamphetamine in a Magoffin County courtroom.  Telby Fields, 24, of Mount Olive, Kentucky, was in court on Monday, July 2, for a scheduled court date in an earlier 2018 case in which she was charged with third-degree terroristic threatening. While sitting in the back waiting for the judge to appear, Fields reportedly asked at least three other people waiting in the courtroom if they would be interested in buying methamphetamine from her.  A security officer overheard the transactions and told Magoffin County Sheriff Department Detective Neil Adams.  She should join the Socialist Party, claim victim status, and go right to Congress.

I WANT TO HEAR THE EXPLANATION  – FROM THE SACRAMENTO BEE:  A man tried to light his cigarette with the flames coming from his burning sedan after rear-ending an SUV westbound on Interstate 80, according to the California Highway Patrol traffic incident information page  The collision occurred around 2 p.m. on Sunday west of Antelope Road near Citrus Heights, the CHP said. According to a log published on the incident information page at 2:19 p.m., a witness reported that a shirtless male attempted to light a cigarette with his incinerated car. At 2:26, a log reported that the man tried to run into the fire.
A witness reported to the CHP seeing the male driver and female passenger attempt to switch seats before officers arrived. The man ultimately admitted to being the driver, the CHP said, and was arrested for driving under the influence.  No one suffered serious injuries.  And he should wear a shirt.  No sense of respectability.

July 8, 2018       Permalink

HERE COME THE JUDGE – AT 3:20 P.M. ET:  The president will announce his choice for the Supreme Court tomorrow night.  The Democrats are already calling it one of the worst choices in human history, worse than Moses turning the wrong way in the desert and missing the oil.

Get set for major-league weeping.  If you know a Democrat, give him, her, or whatever, a pack of Kleenex.

We usually don't like speculative stories here, but The New York Times has a pretty good reporting piece on the pressures on the president to make the right call:

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, told President Trump this past week that Judges Raymond M. Kethledge and Thomas M. Hardiman presented the fewest obvious obstacles to being confirmed to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court, according to Republican officials briefed on the conversation.

While careful not to directly make the case for any would-be justice, Mr. McConnell made clear in multiple phone calls with Mr. Trump and the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, that the lengthy paper trail of another top contender, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, would pose difficulties for his confirmation.

Mr. McConnell is concerned about the volume of the documents that Judge Kavanaugh has created in his 12 years on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as well as in his roles as White House staff secretary under President George W. Bush and assistant to Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.

The number of pages is said to run into the millions, which Mr. McConnell fears could hand Senate Democrats an opportunity to delay the confirmation vote until after the new session of the court begins in October, with the midterm elections looming the next month. And while Judge Kavanaugh’s judicial opinions are publicly known, Mr. McConnell is uneasy about relitigating Bush-era controversies, the officials briefed on his discussions with Mr. Trump said.

COMMENT:  We recall the wise advice from William F. Buckley Jr, who advised the Republican Party always to nominate the most conservative candidate who can be elected.  The same advice goes for Supreme Court nominations.  The president should name the most Constitutionally committed conservative who can actually win confirmation.

The choices I've seen so far can probably all be confirmed, though a few might need the support of vulnerable Democratic senators who are running for re-election this year in red states.

July 8, 2018       Permalink 

OH NO, CAN THIS BE HAPPENING AGAIN? – AT 1:21 P.M. ET:  Now we know who she is.  She's "Jaws."  And it isn't safe to go back in the water.  From Michael Goodwin at the New York Post:

Hillary Clinton is up to something.

Five times in the last month alone, she sent e-mails touting her super PAC’s role in combating President Trump. Most seized on headline events, such as the family-separation issue at the southern border.

Under the message line, “horrific,” she wrote June 18: “This is a moral and humanitarian crisis. Everyone of us who has ever held a child in their arms, and every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.” She said she warned about Trump’s immigration policies during the 2016 campaign.

Three days later, she was back again, saying that her group, Onward Together, raised $1 million and would split it among organizations working to change border policy, including the American Civil Liberties Union and a gaggle of immigrant, refugee, Latino and women’s groups.

And the day after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, Clinton introduced a newly minted resistance partner. Called Demand Justice, it promises to protect “reproductive rights, voting rights and access to health care” by keeping Senate Democrats united in opposing any conservative Trump nominee.

The instant, in-house nature of Demand Justice was reflected by the name of its executive director: Brian Fallon, Clinton’s campaign press secretary.

In truth, Fallon’s role doesn’t tell us something we didn’t know. Onward Together, formed in May of 2017, is a Clinton 2020 campaign vehicle in waiting.

Its homepage says the group “is dedicated to advancing the vision that earned nearly 66 million votes in the last election.”

Advancing the vision? More like advancing the candidate who collected those votes despite not having a vision.

With the Democratic Party locked in a battle between its far left wing and its far, far left wing, no single leader has emerged to unite it. Clinton is trying to play that role by being a mother hen to the fledgling activists drawn to politics by their hatred of Trump.

If they were active in 2016, most probably supported Bernie Sanders in his primary challenge to Clinton. But by helping to fund them now, she is putting them in her debt for later.

COMMENT:  I think Goodwin is right, but I wonder if Clinton could ever get the nomination again.  Her party has left her, and is on to more extreme things.  Much of the new party even sees Bernie Sanders as too moderate. 

But, in a dark way, I'd like to see Hillary run again.  The fun factor can't be beat. 

July 8, 2018        Permalink  

SIGN UP!  BE LESS THAN YOU CAN BE! – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:  There are times when an academic opportunity presents itself, and you must respond!  Get this one, from Campus Reform: 

The Portland State University Women’s Studies department will offer a course next semester exploring “ecological feminist spirituality” and the potential for an “ecological revolution.”

“Ecofeminist Spirituality” is a senior-level course taught by Dr. Frodo Okulam, and primarily aims to explore “different forms of ecofeminist spirituality” including “feminist biblical interpretation” as well as “goddesses and spirituality.”

"The insight of Ecofeminism is that the oppression of women and the exploitation of the earth are related."

“The insight of Ecofeminism is that the oppression of women and the exploitation of the earth are related,” Okulam told Campus Reform, adding that “in its least radical form…it would use existing laws to reform our relationship with nature.”

But Okulam also teaches students about other variations of ecofeminism. In a handout she often provides to students, for instance, she explains that there are Socialist Ecofeminism, Radical Ecofeminism, and Spiritual Ecofeminist schools of thought.

The most radical of these, she says, is Socialist Ecofeminism, which “would end the domination of women and nature inherent in the capitalist economy’s exploitation of both” and “transform the structure of power itself.”

Spiritual Ecofeminists would seek “a balance within our ways of knowing, so that neither mind nor body are seen as opposed to one another,” she added. “They do not argue for the primacy of women over men, but against practice of…hierarchical power itself.”

Though Okulam said that next semester’s syllabus isn’t yet ready, a copy of the previous syllabus indicates that the class is a cross between environmental science, biblical studies, and feminist theory.

COMMENT:  Space is limited.  Please rush.  And share the wisdom with us.

July 8,  2018     Permalink

JULY 7,  2018

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

COMMON SENSE – FROM THE HILL:  Hollywood celebrities have been raising the heat in their rhetoric against President Trump, but critics say the often-profane criticism could actually inflame a pro-Trump backlash ahead of November’s midterm elections.  Trump is considered vulgar Enemy No. 1 in much of the entertainment world, and more and more performers — from Robert De Niro to Michelle Wolf — are following him into the mud, though their harshest insults may actually be giving Republicans a boost.  “I think that they live inside this cultural bubble where they all talk among themselves and make the incredibly erroneous conclusion that the rest of the nation must think like they do,” GOP consultant John Brabender said in an interview with The Hill this week.  Good political sense.  Hollywood doesn't have much glitter anymore.  It's a fading scene, and the hateful rhetoric of the Hollywood crowd is just another sign of how out of touch they really are. 

WHEN A LIBERAL IS ACCUSED – FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES:   OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has repeatedly denied accusations he acted inappropriately with a young reporter at a charity event 18 years ago. On Friday, he said his accuser might have experienced their interaction differently.  “I do not feel that there was any inappropriate action of any type,” Trudeau said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s (CBC) Toronto radio station. “But, and this is the really important thing, it is not just my experience that matters in this.”  He added, “The way the same interaction can be experienced by different people is a really important thing to get our minds around.”   The philosopher speaks.  If he were on the right, they'd be screaming for his head.

A MATURE NEGOTIATOR – FROM FOX:   U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday shrugged off North Korea’s accusation of the U.S. making “gangster-like” demands regarding denuclearization, saying he’d “go nuts” if he paid attention to everything the media reports.  In a trilateral news conference in Tokyo, accompanied by officials from Japan and South Korea, Pompeo reaffirmed the U.S. goal of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, reiterating that his talks with North Korea last week were conducted in “good faith.”  When a reporter asked about North Korea’s Saturday comments, Pompeo didn’t seem too bothered.  “Look, people are going to make stray comments after meetings,” Pompeo said. “If I paid attention to what the press said, I’d go nuts, and I refuse to do that.”  “And so if those requests were ‘gangster-like,’” Pompeo added, “then the world is a gangster because there was a unanimous decision at the U.N. Security Council about what needs to be achieved.”  I trust Pompeo and his judgment.  He's a first-class guy with a very fine mind.  He also thinks America is a good place.

July 7, 2018       Permalink

RUDY THE TOUGH – AT 12:15 P.M. ET:   This is the Rudy we saw when he was mayor of New York.  The man does not like to lose.  He doesn't consider it noble.  Now he's representing the president, and he doesn't intend to lose.  From Fox: 

President Trump’s lawyers have told FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller that they want him to produce evidence that Trump has committed a crime before they agree for the president to be interviewed as part of Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Rudy Giuliani, the top lawyer on the legal team, told Fox News on Saturday he is asking Mueller for a “factual basis for the investigation” before the team considers allowing Trump to be interviewed by Mueller’s team.

Trump and his team have become increasingly frustrated with how long Mueller’s probe is taking to complete, and Trump in particular has taken a more aggressive stance toward Mueller since the Department of Justice criticized the FBI’s actions in 2016 in relation to the Hillary Clinton email probe.

The new demands by Trump’s legal team indicate that it is likely to take a more aggressive and combative stance toward Mueller going forward.

The New York Times, which first reported on the new demands, reported that Giuliani has acknowledged that Mueller is unlikely to agree to them, and also left open the possibility that Trump may still agree to be interviewed. Trump has repeatedly said he is keen to sit down with Mueller.

COMMENT:  At least the White House is showing some spine.  This president has been investigated, and probed, and harassed.  The other side wants him gone...and doesn't care if it sullies American democracy to get him gone.  They know they have the Establishment and the mainstream journalists with them.

This is the danger of special prosecutors.  They operate on their own, but it's the American people who elect the president.  It is an inherent contradiction.

July 7, 2018       Permalink

WHOOPS – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  The first high-level talks between Secretary Pompeo and the North Koreans have concluded, with the sides giving contradictory versions of what happened.  This may not succeed.  From Fox: 

North Korea on Saturday accused the U.S. of undermining the spirit of last month’s summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un after what it says were “regrettable” talks with a delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, accusing the U.S. of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nuclear weapons, came shortly after Pompeo’s delegation left the country.

"We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders' summit ... we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures," Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

"However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable," the spokesman said.

Pompeo had struck a different tone, telling reporters as he left that the talks with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been “productive.”

"We had many hours of productive conversations,” he said. “These are complicated issues, but we made progress on almost all of the central issues. Some places a great deal of progress. Other places, there's still more work to be done.”

COMMENT:  It's impossible to know what to make of this.  They're negotiating.  The president promised he would grant no concessions to the Norks if our requirements were not met.  It doesn't look as if they were met.

I would not be shocked if the talks broke down for a time.  That's the business.  Play the long game. 

July 7,  2018     Permalink