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JUNE 25,  2016

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

DOES HE HAVE THIS NAILED DOWN? – FROM BREITBART:  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa said that there is enough evidence to indict Hillary Clinton for mishandling national security information on her private email server.  “There is more than enough for an indictment,” Issa, the former House Oversight Committee chairman, told Breitbart News Saturday on Sirius/XM Patriot Channel 125.  I wonder if that's the main issue, though.  A very well-informed source told me this week that the true focus of the FBI investigation is bribery.  I have no confirming information, but the source is reliable. 

WILL BOLTS GOP – FROM FOX:   Syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor George Will has left the Republican Party due to Donald Trump's presumptive nomination for president.  Will, whose column is published by The Washington Post, told that paper Saturday that he changed his Maryland voter registration from Republican to "unaffiliated" earlier this month after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would vote for the real estate mogul.  The website PJ Media reported that Will discussed his decision during an event Friday for the conservative group the Federalist Society.  "This is not my party," Will said in a speech.  Will has been a persistent critic of Trump and recently wrote a column urging Republican donors to "save their party by not aiding its nominee."  Will is a prominent figure, and clearly this will not help Trump's cause.  On the other hand, Trump had a very good week.  He stayed on message and largely out of trouble.  If numbers start going his way, Will may not have many people joining him at the exit.  But if Trump's numbers continue to fall, there could be a genuine revolt at the GOP convention, which starts July 18th.

IS THIS A KIDS' GAME? – FROM REUTERS:   Just days after voting to leave the European Union, more than 2.5 million Britons and UK residents had signed a petition calling for a second vote, forcing lawmakers to at least consider a debate on the issue.  Parliament has to consider a debate on any petition posted on its website that attracts more than 100,000 signatures.  The proposal, posted before the June 23 referendum, said the government should hold another plebiscite on EU membership if the support for Leave or Remain in a referendum was less than 60 percent in a turnout of under 75 percent of eligible voters.  The result on Thursday saw 52 percent of voters, 17,410,742 people, back a British exit, on a turnout of 72 percent.  Incredible.  Like children.  If you don't win the election, ask for another election.  Isn't that the way the game is played?  And then we go to recess.

June 25,  2016     Permalink

A GREAT RESPONSE – AT 1:15 P.M. ET:  Britain is under enormous assault from the usual suspects for its vote to leave the EU.  How dare these people think for themselves!  Naturally, the words of the modern McCarthyism are being thrown about – racists, bigots, fearmongers, xenophobes, morons.

But some of the pushback against these libels is positively exquisite.  Consider this, from Peter Hitchens, in the Daily Mail:     

What an awesome tribute to the British people. Day after day, month after month, voters were bombarded with hysterical threats and terrifying scares — everything the Government machine, the mainstream party leaders and the global political and financial elites could throw at them.

They endured insults and abuse. Those who believed Britain could prosper as an independent nation, both in Europe and the world beyond, were attacked as 'Little Englanders'.

Those who were concerned about the effects of uncontrolled immigration on jobs, wages, housing, public services and the welfare of their children were smeared as 'racists'.

Most insidious of all, it was even suggested that Leavers were somehow implicated in the tragic death of MP Jo Cox.

But outside the echo-chamber that is the metropolitan liberal class, the real people of Britain saw things differently.

They held their nerve, saw through the lies and trusted their instincts.

In a magnificent affirmation of national self-belief and character, their resounding message to the elite was:

We are fed up with being disdained and ignored over the issues about which we feel strongly.

We deserve better than to be treated as a mere offshore province of an unelected, anti-democratic, corrupt pan- European bureaucracy.

We have less to be ashamed of than any other nation on Earth. We gave the world Parliamentary democracy, the industrial revolution, Magna Carta, human rights and free trade.

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  It's a wonderful affirmation of democratic values.  We could use writing like that in the American press.

June 25, 2016       Permalink

THIS DATE – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:   On this date in 1950, North Korean troops, equipped by the Soviet Union, crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea.  Within days President Truman ordered air and naval support for the South Koreans.  After that came the ground troops.  The Korean War had begun.

We sometimes call it the forgotten war.  Korean War veterans, to many Americans, are curiosities.  What war was that?  When did it happen?  Isn't South Korea where Samsung is?

In fact, the Korean War, which never had the full support of the American people, was one of the most consequential foreign-policy actions in American history.  It reflected the lessons learned from World War II, which had ended only five years earlier – that aggression had to be stopped early, that nations had to combine to stop it to prevent a larger war later.

Some 37,000 Americans died in the Korean War. 

It is now 66 years later.  South Korea is a tremendous success story.  The war was bitter, with advances and reversals, with China entering and pushing back America and its allies.  It ended in an armistice in 1953, soon after Dwight Eisenhower became president.  The armistice line told the story – the invasion of South Korea had failed.  It remained an independent country.

America stayed the course after the war, through many discouraging years, when it appeared South Korea might slip into dictatorship.  Through our help, and the continued stationing of American troops in the country – they're still there today – South Korea was turned into a stable, booming American ally.

The lessons:  Aggression must be countered.  America must remain true to its allies, with the understanding that ultimate victory requires time and investment.  The stationing of American troops over a long term is crucial to victory and stability, something Field Marshal Obama ignored when he pulled all American troops out of Iraq, reversing our gains.

The Korean War began a year after NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – was founded.  NATO, like South Korea, still stands.  It kept the peace in Europe and contributed to the ending of the Cold War, largely on Western terms.  

Hmm.  Long-term investments, a strong national defense, the presence of American troops, the will to win.  You think they're important?  I mean, maybe?  Will someone send a note to President Obama?

June 25, 2016       Permalink

FEAR AND DREAD – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  In the aftermath of Brexit, there is fear and dread in the European establishment.  There must be panic at EU headquarters.  What will happen to expense accounts, expensive suits, power over people's lives?  Will life still be worth living?  From Fox:

As the European Union's founding nations rushed to an emergency meeting Saturday to consider their future, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government reportedly fears the United Kingdom could be just the first of several nations to pull out of the alliance.

A German government-run newspaper pleaded for the EU not to sever ties completely with Britain -- otherwise France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria and Finland could lose any incentive to stay. The paper, Die Welt, called for keeping the UK an "associated partner country."

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, celebrated the Brexit vote results, describing the EU as "doomed" and "dying." Far-right leaders in France and the Netherlands called for their own referendums on staying in the EU, Sky News reported.

COMMENT:  There have been polls taken in EU countries, asking voters whether they wanted to leave the Union.  Right now Italy is at 48% (leave), and France at 41%.  Those are very high numbers, dangerous numbers for the EU.  They may be higher in nations not polled.

There is also a movement in Britain to have a second referendum, the theory apparently being that short-term economic damage done to Britain by Brexit could change the vote to "remain."  That is always possible.  The establishment will not give up its goodies because of one referendum.  However, the Brits tend to get very plucky under pressure.  Attempts to punish them may simply increase their resolve, as it did in 1940. 

The story will grow, not diminish.  If other nations schedule votes on "leave" or "remain," we could see the dismantling of modern Europe as we know it.

June 25,  2016     Permalink

JUNE 24,  2016

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

COMPARISONS – Britain's Brexit vote is already producing at least one good result.  Members of the journalistic and political classes in the U.S. suddenly realize, and some are saying, that Brexit was a warning to the elites and establishments in the United States:  listen to people.  Listen to voters, to senior citizens, to veterans.  Stop listening only to the people you agree with you or who went to the proper schools, or who are members of the approved, aggrieved groups.  There is a sense building – you can feel it in the commentary – that Brexit will have an effect on politics here, but especially in Europe.  Already there's serious talk of other countries leaving the EU. 

CUBA SI, YANQUI NO – FROM FOX:   Cuba is refusing to approve visa applications for members of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, according to the committee's chairman.  Members were hoping to leave on Friday afternoon to examine lagging security in the country's airports, which are set to begin making flights to the U.S. this year. The lawmakers were forced to cancel when their applications were denied that morning.  "We wanted to look at their airport security ... because TSA has been backchanneling to us that it's not adequate," said Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. "So I attempted to go down there to just look at them, there were five of us, and they denied our visas."  Officials say Cuba is set to begin making 110 daily flights into the U.S. from 10 airports in the country this fall, but they lack security measures that include scanners and bomb-sniffing dogs.  Some great act of friendship by Cuba.  And such contempt for passenger safety.  I wonder if Field Marshal Obama will have anything to say about this.  Probably not.  Must not upset the Castro brothers, those kings of democracy.

WHY AM I SUSPICIOUS? – FROM FOX:  CAIRO – Initial attempts to download information from the flight data and voice recorders of an EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean last month have failed, and key parts of the recorders are being sent to France for repairs, according to Egyptian and U.S. officials.  The "electronic boards" of the recorders are being flown next week to the offices of the French aviation accident investigation bureau near Paris, authorities said. After the boards are repaired and salt removed, they will be sent back to Cairo for data analysis, Egypt's Investigation committee said in a statement late Thursday.  Makes me uneasy.  EgyptAir has a controversial history, and some feel that substandard performance in accident investigations is part of this history.  In 1999 Egyptair Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic.  An investigation produced strong evidence that the crash was intentional, caused by the co-pilot.  But the Egyptians never accepted that conclusion, despite the evidence.  Now we have another mystery, and I wonder whether we'll get a straight story from EgyptAir.  I hope my concerns will prove unfounded.

June 24,  2016     Permalink

CLINTON LEADS IN NEW POLL – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  But it's only by five points after a terrible month for Trump.  From The Hill: 

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by five points nationally, a new poll says.

Clinton has 44 percent support to Trump’s 39 percent, according to the survey released Thursday by Rasmussen Reports.

The two were in a virtual tie in the Rasmussen poll until two weeks ago, when Clinton pulled ahead after a rough stretch for Trump.

Both Clinton and Trump are trying to consolidate support within their own parties after at-times brutal primary seasons.

Clinton now has the backing of 80 percent of Democrats while Trump has the support of 70 percent of Republicans, the poll found.

Clinton holds double-digit leads over Trump among women, minorities, government employees, and voters under 40 — all reliable Democratic Party constituencies.

But she's also ahead, by single-digit margins, among middle-aged adults and private sector workers.

Trump leads Clinton among males and senior citizens, and has a slight advantage among whites, according to Rasmussen.

Voters continue to overwhelmingly dislike and distrust both Trump and Clinton; about 17 percent of likely voters say they are supporting somebody else or are undecided.

COMMENT:  Given the month Trump created for himself, I'm surprised Clinton's lead isn't wider.  However, Trump is having a good week.  He's under better management, and seems to have accepted the need to deliver serious comments in a serious way.  He has a long road, but the Brexit vote in Britain suggests that rebellion is in the air in the Western world, and that he might benefit.

Trump can win it, with difficulty.  He also must run a convention in Cleveland next month that says "the president," and not "the apprentice."

June 24, 2016       Permalink     

CAMERON RESIGNS – AT 9:38 A.M. ET:  British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to resign, following the sharp defeat he received in the Brexit referendum.  From CNN: 

London (CNN) The UK has voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum that triggered the resignation of British Prime Minister David Cameron and wreaked havoc on global markets.

There was a mixture of jubilation and disbelief in the UK as people awoke Friday to the final verdict in the extremely close vote that deeply divided the nation.

Europe was plunged into uncertainty following the result, with calls for further referendums from emboldened far-right groups who see it as a boost for their anti-EU, anti-immigration policies.
It also reverberated across financial markets, with London's FTSE 100 index plunging by more than 8% at the open on the heels of sharp losses in Asia.

Within hours of Thursday's ballot outcome -- 51.89% in favor of leaving the EU, with 48.11% against -- Cameron delivered an emotionally charged statement outside the door of 10 Downing Street, announcing his intention to stand down.

He said that "the British people have voted to leave the EU and their will must be respected... the will of the British people is an instruction which must be delivered."

"There can be no doubt about the result."

Cameron gave no timetable for his departure, but said that he wanted a new leader to be in place by October when his Conservative Party holds its annual conference.

Boris Johnson, a former London mayor who campaigned for the UK's departure from the EU, is tipped by bookmakers as Cameron's likely successor.

COMMENT:  Johnson is pro-American, a somewhat humorous guy with funny hair.  (Sound familiar?)  Standing him next to Donald Trump would be a hair stylist's delight.

I'm love to see him as prime minister.   Such fun.

June 24, 2016       Permalink

BRITAIN LEAVES EU! – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  Journalism is all agog today over the nerve of Britain to assert its independence.  The most clarifying comment I've seen comes from British conservative writer Nile Gardiner: 

The momentous victory for the Brexit campaign signals a new era of freedom for the British people.

Britain outside the EU will be a stronger ally for the United States.

After more than four decades of being shackled to the European Union (previously the European Economic Community), Great Britain has declared its independence.

The vote for Brexit (52 percent of Britons cast ballots to leave the EU) is a vote for sovereignty and self-determination. Britain will no longer be subject to European legislation, with Britain’s Parliament retaking control. British judges will no longer be overruled by the European Court of Justice, and British businesses will be liberated from mountains of EU regulations, which have undermined economic liberty.

COMMENT:  Well said.  We might add that this is also a victory for the apparently strange concept that political leaders should occasionally listen to their people and understand what they are saying.  In Britain, as in America, the elites only talk to each other and to "representatives" of groups popular on the political left.

We may well have had a bit of the Trump effect in Britain yesterday.

June 24,  2016     Permalink