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JUNE 4,  2017

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

EXPLANATION PLEASE – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   The security services were facing difficult questions last night over how at least one of the London Bridge terrorists slipped through the intelligence net.
It emerged that the 27-year-old Muslim extremist appeared in a TV documentary last year about British jihadis – and was involved in a filmed altercation with police after an Islamic State flag was unfurled in a park.  He was caught on camera alongside two notorious preachers who were well known to police and intelligence officials because of their extremist views.  Amid a series of revelations last night, it was claimed that a friend of the Watford-born suspect had reported him to the anti-terror hotline after he became radicalised by watching extremist videos on YouTube.  It was also alleged that police were warned about the suspect radicalising children in a local park two years ago.  How much more evidence do you need?

WE'VE NOTICED – FROM MARKETWATCH:  WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said there was no proof so far of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign, as Congress geared up for a week of high drama highlighted by the testimony of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.  “Listen, there’s a lot of smoke. We have no smoking gun at this point,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said on CNN. “But there is a lot of smoke."  Yeah, smoke.  This nonsense has been going on and on, and no one has been able to show that a crime was committed.  Will a crime be manufactured by the Trump haters in Washington?  That's the way totalitarians play the game, so I wouldn't be surprised.

AN EXTREME CONSPIRACY THEORY – FROM DAILY CALLER:  MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts theorized on Sunday that President Trump is trying to provoke a terrorist attack on U.S. soil in order to “prove himself right” about Islamic terrorism.  Roberts floated the theory during two separate interviews, one with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and another with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.  Roberts pointed to Trump’s tweets early Sunday in the wake of a terrorist attack that left at least seven dead in London.  Trump wrote that “we must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people.” He also criticized London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said that there was “no reason to be alarmed” following the attacks.  Pretty outrageous.  Reminds me of the weird theories about JFK's assassination and the equally weird theory that FDR planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Will MSNBC apologize?  Don't bet on it.

June 4, 2017       Permalink

TRUMP ON LONDON – AT 1:50 P.M. ET:   The president has spoken in response to the latest London attacks, and the usual suspects are out in force criticizing his common sense.  From Fox: 

President Trump on Sunday responded to the London terror attack, suggesting political correctness and the London mayor’s soft response are contributing to strikes by radical Islamic terrorists.

Seven people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the two Saturday night attacks on and near the London Bridge. Police are investigating the incidents as terror attacks, but no terror group has yet to claim responsibility.

"We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse,” Trump tweeted first.

The president has from the start of his successful 2016 presidential campaign argued that the key to stopping global terror strikes is to address radical Islamic teachings and being more vigilant about allowing people into the United States from mostly-Muslim countries that are hotbeds for terror training.

"At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!” Trump also tweeted.

COMMENT:  That last comment really set off the Trump haters.  How dare the president criticize the Muslim mayor of London!  Is there no end to Trump's disrespect for diversity?

The fact is that the mayor of London has shown precious little urgency about terrorism, even commenting that it is part of urban life. 

The president went on to tweet that there is no gun debate over the London attacks because knives were used.  He was greeted with pundisteria, a journalistic form of madness, for suggesting that guns not be condemned.  Isn't condemning firearms what the good people do?

Read the president's tweets.  They're just fine.

June 4, 2017       Permalink

FIGHTING BACK ON CAMPUS – AT 12:46 P.M. ET:  Not everything is bleak in higher education.  We're starting to see some genuine fight-back by the forces of sanity and maturity.  A new appointment at Harvard is a stellar example.  From Daily Caller:   

Harvard Law School named professor John Manning as its new dean Tuesday, soliciting praise from conservative and libertarian legal scholars.

Manning, who clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia and Judge Robert Bork, joined Harvard Law’s faculty in 2004. He teaches public law and statutory interpretation.

“This is a fantastic choice,” said professor Jonathan Adler, architect of several legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act. “Professor Manning is a superlative scholar and extraordinarily decent man. Congratulations to all.”

Professor Robert George, a prominent philosopher, jurist and conservative intellectual at Princeton endorsed the move.

Ed Whelan, a Scalia clerk and legal commentator who leads the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, called the development “excellent news.”

Among Manning’s predecessors as dean is Justice Elena Kagan, who was effusive in her praise of her longtime colleague and friend.

“[Manning] embodies a blend of scholarly accomplishment, devotion to teaching, engagement with practice, and passion for the law that represents the best of our profession,” Kagan said. “And he’s a terrific human being, always intent on what he can do to help others do their best work.”

Manning will assume the deanship this summer. He succeeds Dean Martha Minnow, who has led the law school since 2009.

COMMENT:  Already there are rumblings on the left.  Manning is a white male, and therefore seen as a threat to the comfy identity politics commonly practiced at Harvard.  President Drew Faust should be praised for backing the appointment.  Now it's time to stand firm and not let the bullies try to block Manning.

June 4, 2017       Permalink

MAY RESPONDS TO THE ATTACK – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Four days before Britain's national election, Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the latest terror attack.  From The Telegraph:

Theresa May has vowed that “enough is enough” as she urged people to go about their lives as normal after seven people were killed and almost 50 injured in the London Bridge terror attack.  

The Prime Minister said that there is “far too much tolerance of extremism in our country” as she set out plans to crack down on terror.

She said that while the Manchester Arena attack which killed 22 people, the Westminster attack in March which left four people dead and the London Bridge attack are not directly connected, there is now a “new trend” in the threat the UK faces as “terrorism breeds terrorism”. 

The Prime Minister said that the UK must do more to tackle the threat posed by “Islamist extremism”.

Ah, she used the term.  Will she now be read out of respectable society?

Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, she said: “It will only be defeated when we turn people’s minds away from this violence and make them understand that our values, pluralistic, British values, are superior to anything offered by the preachers and supporters of hate.”

Mrs May paid tribute to the emergency services who responded to the latest attack with “great courage and great speed” as she confirmed that many of the injured are in “life-threatening conditions”.

COMMENT:  Sadly, she's run a poor campaign, and the election Thursday is in doubt.  The Labour Party, her main opponent, is headed by a certified nutcase who's expressed open sympathy with terrorists in the past, is anti-American, anti-NATO, and anti-Israel.  And yet, his party might win and put him in the prime minister's office.  Let us hope that Britain still has enough Churchillian backbone to stand for the right things.

June 4,  2017     Permalink
 

JUNE 3,  2017

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

LONDON LATEST – FROM THE TELEGRAPH:  Six people have been killed and almost 50 people were injured in a "rampage" in central London, the third terrorist attack to hit the UK in less than three months. Three attackers were shot dead by police in the attack on London Bridge and Borough Market. Police said they believed there were no more than three attackers.  A white transit van ploughed into a crowd of people on the bridge at speed shortly after 10pm. The three men then stabbed people with 12-inch knives at nearby Borough Market, with a transport police officer among those injured.  It is reported by multiple witnesses that the attackers shouted, "This is for Allah."  Britain's national election is only four days away.  We can't say with any certainty how this latest attack will affect the vote.

SICK CELEBRATIONS – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Islamic State sympathizers are reportedly celebrating the latest attacks to shake the United Kingdom online.  Attackers slammed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge late Saturday evening. The incident was immediately followed by a string of stabbings at Borough Market nearby. Pro-ISIS channels are heralding the attacks as “the black days we’ve promised” and are anticipating an ISIS claim, reports the SITE Intel Group, which monitors jihadi activity worldwide.  ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing in Manchester that killed almost two dozen people and injured numerous others. In the wake of the attack, ISIS warned that “what comes next will be more severe on the worshipers of the Cross and their allies,” and in this month’s magazine, ISIS said that another terrorist attack in Britain was inevitable.  How many hours do you think it will take the leftists to caution that we must understand the pain of the attackers and not hurt their self-esteem?

HELP FROM THE NORTH – FROM DAILY CALLER:  They might not achieve one million participants, but the numbers were already building towards 5,000 Saturday morning. As one organizer, Mike Wain put it: “I was hoping for a million but I guess this will do.”  They had come to protest the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in general but they weren’t without specific grievances against a regime that they say overtaxes, overspends and is a clear and present danger to free speech. They began their march on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital of Ottawa and they will proceed throughout the city today.  Wain is passionate about the Million Deplorables March. He says he was inspired to lead this weekend’s event because he felt Trudeau was getting a free ride from the media and a pass from too many voters...Unlike most of the Canadian media, Wain is exultant over President Donald Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the Paris Climate Accord  “Donald Trump’s a smart man; he knows a con when he sees one.”  I think Trump's support domestically, and to a degree internationally, is importantly underestimated. 

June 3, 2017       Permalink

EXCELLENT ADVICE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 1:28 P.M. ET:  Monica Crowley, the broadcast commentator and print columnist, worked closely with Richard Nixon after Nixon was driven from office.  From that experience she's developed some sound advice for President Trump, including this statement, our quote of the day:  From the New York Post:   

“I always knew that there was a double standard,” Nixon once said to me. “I just didn’t realize that when it came to me, there’d be a triple standard.” Later, he said, “I should have known that since so many hated me, I couldn’t even sneeze as president without someone ordering an investigation.”

His point was that he should have recognized that, given the grave threat he posed to the establishment and media, he should have been hyper-vigilant and hyper-ethical, leaving no openings anywhere for anyone to leverage against him.

Several years after his resignation, Nixon gave a series of interviews to David Frost, during which he made a profound admission: “I brought myself down. I gave them the sword, and they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I’d been in their position, I’d have done the same thing,” he said.

He later added, “I made so many bad judgments. The worst ones: mistakes of the heart rather than the head . . . But let me say, the man in that top job has got to have a heart, but his head must always rule his heart.”

Trump can enjoy a successful presidency if he heeds the warnings of a former “man in that top job” who learned the hard way the brutal ending in store when you undercut your own presidency — and give your enemies the sword.

COMMENT:  Well said.  Read the whole thing.  It's well worth it.  The dream of the establishment right now is to drive Trump from office and reinforce its own power.  And the establishment often succeeds.

June 3, 2017       Permalink

WILL SOMEONE SHUT HER UP? – AT 12:40 P.M. ET:   Hillary Clinton is out of control and a growing danger to the republic.  Her comments are becoming downright embarrassing, and I get the feeling she spends much of her time throwing darts at pictures of her enemies.  She has run out of darts.  From the Daily Mail:

Hillary Clinton said former President Barack Obama was able to shatter the racial barrier due to his looks.

Speaking at Recode’s Code Conference on Wednesday, the former secretary of state said that misogyny played a part in her election loss to Donald Trump this past fall.

After the Democratic Party nominee implied that her being a woman cost her votes since she didn’t ‘look like and talk like and sound like everybody else who’s been president,’ she then mentioned Obama’s historic election in 2008.

‘And you know, President Obama broke that racial barrier, but you know, he’s a very attractive, good-looking man with lots of ...’ Clinton says before her interviewer, Kara Swisher, interjects.

Well, he’s likable enough,’ Swisher said – a reference to a line Obama uttered about Clinton during a debate in the middle of their 2008 primary battle.

‘He’s likable enough, absolutely,’ Clinton responded.

COMMENT:  Can you just imagine the reaction if a Republican had spoken about Obama that way?  CNN would devote a week to the comment.  There'd be a documentary on stereotyping.  Panelists would ask if we're entering a new period of oppression, based on looks.

Hillary must be presented with the joys of retirement.

June 3, 2017       Permalink

MIKE GOES TO THE MIKE – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Mike Pence has been on the move recently.  The vice president will be in Iowa this weekend, shoring up the Republican base.  The Trump/Pence base seems solid, but there are areas of discontent.  From AP: 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is trying to solidify the Republican base in Iowa, where some conservatives complain President Donald Trump has much to prove and party leaders say he’s being undermined from within.

Headlining Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual summer fundraiser, Pence will promote steady job numbers under Trump, who campaigned last year on promises of economic growth.

But it’s Pence’s boss who has more work to do to satisfy Iowa’s disproportionately influential Christian right, despite carrying Iowa by 9 percentage points in the 2016 election after Democrat Barack Obama won there in 2008 and 2012.

“I’m still waiting to see a conservative agenda put forward,” said Iowa Republican Kay Quirk, a retired nurse from the socially conservative northwest region of the state. “I haven’t given up hope by any means. But I’m still waiting.”

Chiefly, Quirk and other Iowa conservatives are bothered that Trump has not delivered on the promise to repeal the 2010 health care law. But that’s not all. Mike Demastus, a pastor from Des Moines, pointed to Trump’s announcement Thursday that he would keep, at least for now, the U.S. Embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv. Trump promised during the campaign last year to move the embassy to Jerusalem, the place most closely associated with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

“When it comes to moral issues, he hasn’t moved the needle one notch,” Demastus said.

It’s not as if there is a revolt brewing within the Iowa GOP.

Republicans control both houses of the Iowa Legislature, the governor’s office, both U.S. Senate seats and three of four House seats. Trump also chose Iowa’s longtime Republican governor, Terry Branstad, to be his ambassador to China.

And the vast majority of Iowa Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing. Surveys this year have shown Trump’s job approval among Republicans around 85 percent, about the same as it is nationally.

COMMENT:  There's something else here.  Mike Pence is, understandably, popular among Republicans, and he's strengthening his own constituency, while becoming better known to the general public.  If the current probes don't go well for Trump and he's forced from office, as was Nixon, Pence will have ready-made support as he moves into the presidency.  We hope Trump will be fine, but you never know.

June 3,  2017     Permalink