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JUNE 20,  2017

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

HANDEL HANDLES IT – Republican Karen Handel has won the special Congressional election in Georgia's 6th C.D., defeating Democrat Jon Ossoff.  Handel received 52.1 percent of the vote to Ossoff's
47.9 percent.  So ends the Democratic dream of making this the most important election in world history.  The district is traditionally Republican, and Ossoff certainly ran a close race, benefiting from millions of dollars from sources outside Georgia.  But he lost.  One hopes the Democratic Party understands that losing is not good, and not an expression of public confidence.  We'll probably have more on this latest Democratic failure tomorrow.

HILLARY GETS MORE HEAT – FROM FOX:  The State Department has opened a formal inquiry into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned. Despite being under investigation, Clinton and her staffers still have security clearances to access sensitive government information.  The department’s investigation aims to determine whether Clinton and her closest aides violated government protocols by using her private server to receive, hold and transmit classified and top-secret government documents. The department declined to say when its inquiry began, but it follows the conclusion of the FBI’s probe into the matter, which did not result in any actions being taken against Clinton or any of her aides.  Depending on the outcome of the current State Department inquiry, Clinton and her aides could have their access to sensitive government documents terminated.   The aides' clearances should be terminated, but I'm guessing that Hillary will keep hers.  I don't think Trump wants to humiliate her further.  He wants to be the big guy, and I think the word will be passed to the press that he personally approved her clearance.

SO MUCH FOR GUN CONTROL – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    The man who was killed after plowing a car filled with guns into a police van on the Champs-Elysées had a permit to carry arms despite being on France’s terror watch list, officials said.  Adam Dzaziri, 31, had at least nine weapons — including two pistols and a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle — in his home in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, a source close to the probe told the Telegraph of the UK.  Dzaziri was carrying in his car an assault rifle, two handguns, ammo and two large gas canisters, two police sources and the judicial official told the paper.  Prime Minister Edouard Philippe expressed his alarm that Dzaziri was able to have a weapons permit despite being on a jihadist watch list.  “What I know at this stage is that the first weapons permit was given before this individual was flagged up,” he told BFM-TV and RMC radio Tuesday.  He said “nobody can be satisfied — and certainly not me” that Dzaziri had still been able to carry lethal weapons.  We're told they're so tough on guns in Europe, yet look at the number of terror incidents in which guns were found, either on the offender or in his residence.  Criminals and terrorists do not observe gun-control laws. 

June 20, 2017       Permalink

THE SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBLEM – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  Robert Mueller, former FBI director and now special counsel to the Justice Department, hired to probe President Trump, has a problem.  A trust problem.  A credibility problem.  Glenn Harlan Reynolds, master of Instapundit, explains the dilemma at USA Today:   

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a problem: He has a disqualifying conflict of interest regarding a large part of his work. It involves a choice between investigating or relying on former FBI director James Comey, a longtime close friend of Mueller’s.

Ideally, he’ll recognize that and resign. But if he doesn’t resign, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should appoint another special counsel to take over the obstruction-of-justice part of the investigation, where Mueller is disqualified.

At present, there are two investigations: One into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians (a claim that even Democrat Chris Matthews admitted fell apart after Comey’s recent testimony) and an investigation into whether, while being investigated for this claimed collusion, President Trump or someone else obstructed justice. That investigation is closely tied to Comey, and so is Mueller.

As Bill Otis wrote in these pages last week, Mueller is too close to Comey to be impartial, and that violates Justice Department conflict of interest rules.  As Otis noted, “Comey and Mueller have been friends for nearly 15 years. They were partners in the episode that defined Comey's professional persona more than any other in his public service. It would be surprising if it had not also forged a permanent bond with Mueller ... Comey now finds himself at the center of the Russian investigation over which Mueller presides.

Questions swirl around Comey — about whether the president wanted/hinted/hoped/asked/directed/or something else the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be stopped/abandoned/slowed/soft-peddled/something else. This is probably the central element of the obstruction of justice case that Trump's opponents would like to see made against him. Questions also swirl about Comey's notes about this conversation and why he gave them to a private individual (professor Dan Richman of Columbia Law) to convey to journalists.

And...

We have a deeply divided nation, and Trump’s supporters already see this investigation as a witch hunt, an attempt at a lawyer’s coup by the “Deep State” that has always opposed Trump’s presidency.  An outcome that looks rigged could produce an even bigger explosion than Trump might produce by firing Mueller.

If Trump is cleared by a new special counsel, the country will be spared a great political trauma. Should the investigation go the other way, however, only a new special counsel — preferably one from outside the Beltway — can hope to placate the millions of Americans who cast their votes for Donald Trump.

Will Mueller step down, or will Sessions appoint another counsel? What happens next will tell us a lot about both men.

COMMENT:  Very wise, very well argued.  The whole Mueller episode is poisonout.  You'd think Mueller would realize it and do the right thing. 

It's no-win for Mueller.  He'd be best turning the probes over to someone else.

June 20, 2017       Permalink

US DOWNS IRANIAN DRONE OVER SYRIA – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  This comes only two days after a US Navy fighter shot down a Syrian jet.  American military action is increasing in the Syrian theater, another sign of President Trump's seriousness about ending the conflict on our terms.  No Obama he.   From Fox:

A U.S. jet shot down an Iranian drone flying in southern Syria near U.S.-backed forces on Monday, a U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News.

A U.S Air Force F-15 shot down the Iranian-made drone, according to the official.

This is the second time the U.S. has shot down an Iranian drone in less than a month. U.S. officials reported on June 8 that an American fighter jet shot down a drone likely connected to Iranian-supported Hezbollah forces. The drone fired on U.S.-backed troops before it was taken down. An Army spokesman at the Pentagon said at the time that the drone carried more weapons and was considered a direct threat. 

Monday's incident also marks the fifth time since late May that the U.S. military has bombed pro-Syrian forces in southern Syria.

US special operations forces have been training Syrian rebels at an outpost near al-Tanf Syria, close to Syria’s border with Iraq and Jordan for the past few years.

On Sunday, a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet near the town Tabqa for the first time, U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a statment. The Syrian government SU-22 dropped bombs near the Syrian Democratic Forces. 

COMMENT:  Don't look for extensive discussions about the Trump/Mattis military strategy on CNN or its fellow leftist networks.  Important news stories are being pushed aside in favor of the investigations. I mean, what's important here?

ISIS is being defeated in Syria and Iraq, but the threat will not be over.  They'll turn even more of their attention to international terror.

June 20, 2017       Permalink

TODAY IN GEORGIA – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  There's the now-famous special Congressional election today in Georgia, to replace Tom Price, who resigned his seat to become secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump Cabinet.

 The seat is traditionally Republican – it was once held by Newt Gingrich – but Dems see the chance for an upset, and have poured millions of dollars, most of it from out of the district – to flip the seat.  It's now the most expensive Congressional race in history.  If the Dems succeed, they will bill the race as a referendum on Donald Trump, and will say that this is one of the most important elections in world history.  Maybe even beyond world history.  Maybe even beyond humanity.  The most important in the Universe.  If the Dems lose they will blame Russia.  From Fox: 

ATLANTA –  With campaign spending expected to top $50 million, the race to fill the suburban Atlanta congressional district, vacated when Tom Price was named Health and Human Services Secretary, is the most expensive in U.S. history. Both candidates in the 6th District are calling on heavy hitters with Georgia roots to get out the vote on Tuesday.

“It’s time to be knocking on those doors. It’s time to be making those calls. It’s time to be sending those emails,” Secretary Price told supporters at a weekend rally for Republican Karen Handel. “It’s time to be making certain that you are asking every single individual that you see within the 6th District, ‘Have you voted?’”

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, also stumped for Handel over the weekend, while Democrat Jon Ossoff enlisted the support of Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon.

“With this election, it would indicate that people are prepared to change,” Lewis said at a weekend campaign event. “I think that many people will see the handwriting on the wall.”

The Real Clear Politics Average of polls shows Ossoff with a slight lead of 49.6 percent to Handel’s 47 percent in a district that normally favors establishment Republicans.

COMMENT:   They're voting now.  Oh, Ossoff isn't voting as he doesn't even live in his own district.  But, why worry about a little thing like that?

Ossoff is a lightweight, but has some charisma, and all that Democratic money.  Karen Handel is a solid candidate, but with no particular magic.  Ossoff has already been caught lying on his resumé.

My sense is that Ossoff  may pull it out, and he'll then become a symbol of an imagined Democratic resurgence.  Don't buy it.  Special elections rarely symbolize anything but the special conditions under which they're held.

June 20,  2017     Permalink

JUNE 19,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

THE RISING BUSH – FROM GALLUP:  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Former President George W. Bush's national image continues to improve in his retirement, with his favorable rating rising seven percentage points over the past year to 59%. This continues the fairly steady improvement in Bush's favorable rating since it registered a meager 35% at the start of his post-presidential years in March 2009. Bush's favorability now approaches that of former President Barack Obama, who measured at 63% in the same poll, conducted June 7-11.  Bush, who was subjected to the same press treatment that has afflicted Trump, was a very decent president, and I hope he will continue to rise in stature.  He deserves it.

OH PLEASE – FROM PAGE SIX:  CANNES — CNN boss Jeff Zucker says despite Donald Trump’s war on the network and what the president says is “fake news,” he is certain that CNN maintains the trust of its viewers, as it extends into digital brands to attract a younger audience.  Speaking at Cannes Lions he said, “CNN has been around for 37 years, our trustworthiness today is the same as it was a year ago, before people in high offices started questioning it. We know that through our own brand research. Just because somebody says you are not trustworthy, that doesn’t mean it is so … CNN’s brand equity is built over 37 years doing hard work in very dangerous places … those who rely on CNN trust CNN more than ever.”   Well, I guess the man is happy with his illusions.  CNN will become the first name in news, which is its claim, when it starts reporting the news, rather than the views.  It misses major stories, but gives us endless babble about the evils of Trump.

LAURA IN FOR SEAN? – FROM MEDIAITE:  As part of a report that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is about to yield the briefing room podium in favor of a job overseeing White House communications, Politico floated the name of a leading contender, and it’s a name with which Fox News viewers are undoubtedly quite familiar.  According to the website, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham interviewed for the job last week with Spicer and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.   She'd be very good – she's a lawyer, a known TV quantity, and very knowledgeable.   She's also seen as very strong, not someone who could be easily rolled.  Another candidate, we hear, is Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle, also a lawyer and a familiar TV face. 

June 19, 2017       Permalink

WELL THANKS FOR WAKING UP, GUYS – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:    It has dawned on certain members of the Republican Congress that they're not getting anything done, and that this could be an embarrassment in the upcoming midterm elections.   Thought progress is being made.  From The Hill: 

Alarmed by the stalemate on healthcare reform, lack of progress on tax reform and appropriations bills that are far behind schedule, Republican lawmakers across Congress are increasingly willing to consider canceling the month-long August recess.

Senate Republican negotiators reported that they are not close to a deal on healthcare reform and that scheduling a vote by July 4, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has pushed, is likely unrealistic.

That impasse has held up work on a budget resolution, which is necessary to move tax reform and the annual appropriations bills.

Once Republicans vote on a budget resolution for 2018, it will wipe out the special vehicle they plan to use to pass healthcare reform with a simple majority vote — a vehicle that was set up by the budget resolution for 2017.

Lawmakers calculate there are only 45 legislative days until the end of the  fiscal year, on Sept. 30.

With the party still sharply divided on healthcare and tax reform, it looks increasingly possible that Republican lawmakers will leave town in July for a monthlong break without any major accomplishments under their belts.

“I think there’s a majority that probably supports being here,” said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), referring to the possibility of canceling or cutting short the August recess.

He said GOP lawmakers need to make progress on the budget and spending bills to avoid a government shutdown scenario in September, as well as progressing on tax reform.

COMMENT:  I'm so moved that someone actually looked at a calendar.  The Republicans are facing an entirely avoidable midterm disaster unless they start producing a record to take to the American voter. 

Give the people a tax cut.  All will be forgiven.

June 19, 2017       Permalink

QUESTIONS ARE BEING ASKED – AT 10:45 A.M. ET:  The actions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller are raising more than a few eyebrows in legal circles.  From Fox: 

Alan Dershowitz is warning that the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has become "too political."

On "Fox & Friends" this morning, Dershowitz, a legal scholar and Harvard University Law School professor, noted that several of the lawyers special counsel Robert Mueller has hired have donated to Democrats in the past.

"In a partisan atmosphere like this, you have to be so careful not to give the other side the ability to claim prejudice," Dershowitz said. "And I think they have given the other side the ability to claim prejudice."

Dershowitz added that it's unlikely that Mueller himself can remain dispassionate in the case, considering his long-term friendship with former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by President Trump.

"This is becoming very political, when you have the Justice Department itself being on both sides, prosecuting the president - possibly - and also serving as defense witnesses for the president," Dershowitz said. "This is just becoming too political on both sides."

He pointed out that Republicans, meantime, are calling for former Attorney General Loretta Lynch to be prosecuted.

"We have to stop criminalizing political differences," Dershowitz said. "The criminal law should be reserved for obvious violations of the criminal law that exists, not for making political points against your political enemies on both sides."

COMMENT:  Dershowitz is becoming a major legal commentator in his retirement from Harvard Law School.  He is correct on these issues.  It's hard to believe that Mueller is so politically insensitive that he doesn't see the danger in hiring Democratic Party contributors to investigate the Trump administration 

Mueller should probably step down, considering the raised eyebrows, but won't.  Trump has the power to fire him, but the appearances would be awkward, to say the least.  "President fires lawyer who's investigating president."  Mueller's appointment was a big mistake in the first place.  His probe may drag on for months or years, distracting the business of government.  And there's no real evidence that any crime was committed.

June 19, 2017       Permalink 

DANGEROUS STUFF – RUSSIA RESPONDS TO OUR SHOOTDOWN OF SYRIAN PLANE – AT 9:38 A.M. ET:  And tensions continue to grow in a region that is already a tinderbox.  From Fox: 

Russian officials on Monday threatened that their country would treat U.S.-led coalition planes in some parts of Syria as targets after the U.S. military shot down a Syrian Air Force jet on Sunday.

Russia's defense ministry said planes flying in Syria, west of the Euphrates River, would be considered targets.

The news came one day after the first time in history a U.S. jet shot down a Syrian plane – and the first time in nearly 20 years the U.S. has shot down any warplane in air-to-air combat.

The last time a U.S. jet had shot down another country’s aircraft came over Kosovo in 1999 when a U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagle shot down a Serbian MiG-29.

On Sunday, it was a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet that shot down a Syrian SU-22 after that jet dropped bombs near U.S. partner forces taking on ISIS.

Russia's defense ministry also said Monday it was suspending coordination with the U.S. in Syria over so-called "de-confliction zones" after the downing of the Syrian jet.

COMMENT:  The Russians wouldn't even be in Syria had American weakness, under Field Marshal Obama and Grand Admiral Kerry, not created a power vacuum.  We pay the price for Obama's amateurish foreign policy. 

Trump must stand his ground, and not give an inch to Moscow. 

Isn't it interesting that this is coming at a time when the president is under investigation for possible collusion with Russia during the election campaign?  That investigation may influence his decisions now, which is why investigations of sitting presidents are so dangerous...unless they're actually based on something real.

June 19,  2017     Permalink