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JUNE 13,  2017

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

THE P.C. MADNESS CONTINUES – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:  A group of Native American and indigenous activists are lobbying the United Nations to outlaw "cultural appropriation" across the globe.  Critics of "cultural appropriation" believe that people should not adopt ideas, art, food, clothing, or other elements of cultures they do not belong to. Most recently, pop star Katy Perry apologized for appropriating African-American culture by wearing cornrows and eating watermelon in a music video.  A specialized committee within the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization has been considering several draft documents on indigenous appropriation for the past two decades, CBC News reported Tuesday. If passed, international intellectual property regulations would expand to protect "indigenous designs, dances, words, and traditional medicines." This is madness.  Don't we already have patent and copyright laws that protect against improper use?  Who determines when "cultural appropriation" occurs?  This looks like a major-league shakedown?

HOW MUCH SHOCK CAN WE TAKE? – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Sasha Obama turned sixteen on Saturday, a day before Twitter was shocked to discover (again) that the former First Daughter's real first name isn't Sasha, but Natasha.  'Today is the one year anniversary of me finding out Sasha Obama's actual first name is Natasha,' wrote Refinery29 writer Ashley C. Ford on Twitter on Sunday, unleashing a firestorm of stunned tweets from people who were just hearing the news for the first time.   'Sasha Obama's real first name is Natasha??' replied an astonished Willmarie Samarez. 'We've been living a lie!'   I'm afraid it's true.  The nation has been deceived.  I don't know how we explain this to our children.

NO, KAMMY, YOU WON'T BE PRESIDENT – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris was silenced during the testimony of Attorney General Jeff Sessions when she refused to let him fully answer her questions.  The California senator tried to lock Sessions in a rapid fire question-and-answer style that didn’t allow Sessions to give full answers to her line of questioning.  “Did you consult [Department of Justice policy] before you came before this committee knowing we would ask you questions about it?” Harris asked of Sessions’ assertion that he wouldn’t discuss private conversations with the president.  Sessions tried to answer before Harris cut him off, asking, “Did you ask that it would be shown to you?”  Sessions was clearly becoming frustrated with her inability to let him finish his thoughts, but Harris kept going.  “Did you not ask your staff to show you the policy that would be the basis for your refusing to answer the majority of questions that have been asked of you?”  “Chairman, the witness should be allowed to answer the question,” one senator can be heard in the background.  Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr took the reigns, saying, “Senators will allow the chair to control the hearing. Senator Harris, let him answer.”   She's considered a potential Dem presidential candidate for 2020.   But in the last few weeks she's been shut down twice at Senate committee meetings and caught dropping the F-word in public comments.  Not ready for prime time, or the White House.

June 13, 2017       Permalink

JUSTICE – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  Sexual violence against women should be taken very seriously, and usually is.  Sadly, though, some have misused the issue for personal advancement, publicity, or journalistic fame.  When that happens, the justice system must be put to work to right the wrong or remove the false charge.  A falsely accused fraternity at the University of Virginia has now received at least some justice.  From Daily Caller: 

Rolling Stone has settled a lawsuit with the University of Virginia fraternity whose members were falsely accused of raping a female student in a Nov. 2014 article, The Daily Caller has learned.

A source involved at the national level with the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, tells TheDC that Rolling Stone will pay $1.65 million to settle the defamation suit.

The magazine’s decision follows a settlement in April with Nicole Eramo, a University of Virginia associate dean who was also smeared in the article, which was written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

In the piece, “A Rape on Campus,” Erdely relayed the story of Jackie Coakley, a Virginia woman who claimed she was brutally raped by a group of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members during a party in Sept. 2012.

Erdely portrayed Eramo as dismissive of Coakley’s case. But it was later revealed that Coakley not only fabricated the attack by the fraternity members but that Eramo took her allegations seriously at the time she made them.

A jury in Virginia awarded Eramo $3 million in damages — $2 million from Erdely and $1 million from Rolling Stone.

COMMENT:  There are few things quite as ugly as a false charge.  The Ninth Commandment reads,
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."  How many young people know that today?

June 13, 2017       Permalink

AND KOREA – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  While we entertain ourselves with the investigative antics of Washington, our capable secretary of defense is, like ISIS in the post below, issuing a warning.  I'd take this one seriously as well.  From Reuters: 

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday that North Korea's advancing missile and nuclear programs were the "most urgent" threat to national security and that its means to deliver them had increased in speed and scope.

"The regime’s nuclear weapons program is a clear and present danger to all, and the regime’s provocative actions, manifestly illegal under international law, have not abated despite United Nations’ censure and sanctions," Mattis said in a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee.

"The most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security is North Korea," the statement added. "North Korea's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has increased in pace and scope."

And...

The U.S. focus on North Korea has been sharpened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year and by Pyongyang's vow to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

Mattis, speaking before the panel, warned of the potential losses in the case of conflict with North Korea.

"It would be a war like nothing we have seen since 1953 and we would have to deal with it with whatever level of force was necessary ... It would be a very, very serious war," Mattis said.

COMMENT:  I'm glad Mattis stressed how horrible a new Korean War would be – classic ground fighting with armor and infantry units, and large casualties.  This is critically important stuff, and look what Washington, and the anti-Trump news media, are focused on these days.

June 13, 2017       Permalink

TAKE IT SERIOUSLY – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  ISIS is speaking to us again, and we'd be well advised to hear the words.  From AP: 

BEIRUT (AP) -- The Islamic State group is calling on supporters to carry out attacks in the United States and Europe during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began two weeks ago.

In an audiotape circulated online Monday, spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajer praised last week's attacks in Iran's capital, saying the country is "weaker than a spider's web" and calling for more assaults.

Al-Muhajer also called for attacks in Russia and Australia, saying "heaven is reached under the shadow of swords."

IS has called for attacks during Ramadan in the past. This year it has claimed responsibility for attacks in Britain, Egypt, Iran and the Philippines that killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds.

COMMENT:  The fact is, the pace of small terrorist attacks has been relentless.  The press likes to dismiss them as the work of "lone wolves," but we've noted here before that there's no such thing as a lone wolf.  People do not radicalize themselves.  They are radicalized by some outside group or individual, even if the process occurs through the internet.

We can expect more attacks.  This enemy keeps its word.

June 13,  2017     Permalink

JUNE 12,  2017

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

HOW CLASSY – FROM DAILYWIRE:  CNN serial plagiarist Fareed Zakaria went to see a production of Julius Caesar in New York's Central Park, a play that we now know depicts the gruesome assassination of President Trump. Nothing wrong with that. Zakaria might not have known what he was in for.  But after it was over, Zakaria so enjoyed the bloody spectacle, was so enthused, he declared the play a "masterpiece" and publicly recommended it to others.  "If you're in NYC, go see Julius Caesar, free in Central Park," Zakaria tweeted 13 days ago, "brilliantly interpreted for Trump era. A masterpiece."  More class from CNN, which has become a supermarket tabloid with pretty faces.

THEY'RE COMING, THEY'RE COMING – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Alien life could be discovered within the next two decades – but, these lifeforms will be far from intelligent beings, one expert claims.  According to astronomer Chris Impey, scientists are likely on the verge of detecting microbes on a planet beyond our own, with nearby candidates such as Jupiter’s moon Europa thought to contain some of the conditions to support life.  While scientists have been searching the skies for decades, the expert says we may now detect microbial life in the next 10 to 15 years, especially as forthcoming instruments such as the James Webb Telescope promise to improve our chances.   Microbial life is fine.  That's more advanced than the Democratic Party.  Nancy Pelosi can greet the first microbe.

LATEST TRENDS – FROM WHIMN:   Do you spend more quality time with your phone than you do with your partner? Are you compulsively checking for notifications and endlessly scrolling through your social media feeds while in the presence of your significant other?  If this sounds like you, you may be one of millions of people experiencing what is a relatively new psychological condition known as ‘phubbing’ that, according to influential new research, may be slowly eroding your relationship with your partner.   It used to be called rudeness.

June 12,  2017     Permalink

A SERIOUS WARNING – AT 11:50 A.M. ET:  William Bratton is New York City's former police commissioner, one of the leading police authorities in the country.  He should know.  From the New York Post:   

Recent acts of terror in Europe are the “new normal” — and surely coming soon to the United States, former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton ominously warned Sunday.

Evildoers have stepped up attacks on soft targets — such as London Bridge, Manchester Arena and Bastille Day in Nice — in the past 12 months, making a similar terrorist strike on American soil inevitable, Bratton told “The Cats Roundtable.”

“(European-style terror attacks are) going to be the new normal in our world,” Bratton told interviewer John Catsimatidis on AM 970. “The pace of terrorist attacks, certainly in Europe, has been increasing.” Bratton warned: “That type of attack is quite likely to occur in the United States at some point in time.”

Even as US-backed forces close in on ISIS in Raqqa, Syria, the terror group will only spread from a setback in a conventional war, according to Bratton — analogizing it to a particularly gross medical procedure.

“As the issue in Syria comes to closure as ISIS loses its last city in the caliphate, unfortunately, it is like lancing a boil,” he said.

“What is inside will spread around the world even more.”

Bratton blamed porous European borders for exacerbating the problem.
“
The open-border situation in Europe is compounding the problem,” said Bratton, who served as NYPD commish in two stints, 1994-96 and 2014-16. “It [hinders the effort] of trying to keep track of people who identify as terrorists or having terrorist leanings.”

COMMENT:  Common sense talking.  But it may be futile.  There are still too many people around who believe that we must get at the "root causes" of terrorism.  The problem with that notion is that you've got to get the root causes right.  It's been my experience that the "root causes" crowd never gets them right because it doesn't want to.  It wants to push an ideology.  Crime?  Root cause – poverty and lack of services.  Hey, who cares about culture or lax law enforcement?  Terrorism?  Root cause – poverty, lack of opportunity, colonialism.  Hey, who cares about religious ideology shoved down the throats of vulnerable young men?

Show me the problem and I'll check with the nearest leftist "scholar," who'll provide the root cause without even looking.

June 12, 2017       Permalink

I HOPE TRUMP DOESN'T SEE THIS – AT 10:53 A.M. ET:  I wouldn't want Mike Pence to disappear in the White House basement.   From Axios:

Beyond his base voters, Trump has an even bigger potential problem looming with his base in Congress. While Republican lawmakers won't say it publicly, it's widely known if they could pick between President Pence and President Trump, the Vice President would win 90% of the vote among the GOP.

Why this matters: Bill Clinton benefited from a large number of true fans and believers among elected Democrats when he survived impeachment. Trump has few authentic fans or loyalists in Congress. So if things take a turn for the worse, GOP flight could come fast and furious — since the end result would be President Pence.

COMMENT:  This is the great unspoken political issue.  It's there, it's felt, it's not discussed on TV panel shows.  There are many GOP members of Congress who would love to see Trump shoved out the way Nixon was shoved out – by forcing him to resign. 

Problem is, Trump isn't Nixon.  Nixon, with all his faults, had a sense of politics and a sense of history.  He resigned because he knew the alternative was probably impeachment.  Even if he wasn't convicted at an impeachment trial, he knew he'd be fatally weakened.

Trump is no such animal.  He's the roughest of the gut fighters.  Whether he'd resign in the face of some stunning revelation, or the findings of an investigation, is "iffy."  But Mike Pence is waiting in the wings, and is out on the stump often.  

It may come to that.  That's when the drama really begins.

June 12, 2017       Permalink

POLLING LATEST – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  You'd think, listening to the mainstreamers, that President Trump is about to be driven out of town by the American people.  Why, the sky actually is falling.  And yet, new polling from Rasmussen suggests that the sky is in place, and that the president's numbers are actually remaining pretty steady.  From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 30% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 44% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14.

Two out of the three nights in this survey follow former FBI Director James Comey’s public testimony before a Senate panel. We’ll tell you at 10:30 what voters think of Comey’s testimony.
Just prior to his appearance before Congress, voters trusted Comey more than the president by a 45% to 37% margin, but there was a substantial partisan difference of opinion.

From comments Comey made in his testimony, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee now says there should be a probe of whether former Attorney General Loretta Lynch tried to undercut the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of top security information while secretary of State. Last year, 54% of voters favored naming a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton because of potential conflict of interest concerns about Lynch and the Justice Department. 

The Rasmussen Consumer Confidence Index has jumped to its second highest rating ever.

COMMENT:  Actually, not bad.  The Consumer Confidence figure is sure to help Trump.  But he's got to survive the onslaught of investigations.

The Democratic style remains the same:  The party is very unpopular, and is today mostly a coastal and college-town organization.  The most active part of its base is far left.  Ideologically, the party is heading in a direction that is disastrous for itself and the country.  But the Dems always have an out, and that is something called "lawfare."  Do everything with lawsuits.  If you can't win with the people, try to win in court. 

So they'll try to destroy Trump with probes and court cases, having lost to him in the greater court of public opinion.  I hope the GOP is agile enough to counter the attack..

June 12,  2017     Permalink