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JUNE 9,  2018

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

TRUMP BESTS OBAMA AND EVEN RON – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   According to the latest FOX News poll President Donald Trump has a better rating than Presidents Obama and Reagan at the same point in their presidencies.  President Trump’s approval is now at 45%.  And that is with 90% negative coverage from the far left mainstream media.  Of course, other polls differ.  But the point here is that, despite attempts to portray the president as unpopular, he's holding his own with past presidents.  If he can pull off a good deal with North Korea, his numbers are likely to rise even more.

CNN IS THE TITANIC OF NEWS NETWORKS – FROM BREITBART:  Far-left cable channel CNN suffered a massive ratings collapse in May. June is shaping up to be worse.  CNN stumbled out of May with a massive -25 percent ratings collapse when compared to the same month last year. Because Fox News actually experienced total viewer growth and MSNBC’s loss was a negligible two percent, we know the problem is CNN and not the news cycle or Americans tiring of the news.  To understand just how awful a week CNN just had, you have to understand just how bad the entire month of May was for the anti-Trump cable channel.  Average Total Primetime Viewers in May 2018  Fox News: 2.38 million;  MSNBC: 1.65 million;  CNN: 835,000.  CNN is simply the anti-Trump network, dressed up as a news operation.  It is often unwatchable.  It has little or no credibility left.

SOLUTION – FROM FAST COMPANY:   Thanks to a brilliant design decision, no one at the Bairui Plaza shopping mall in Xi’an, China, will ever again get stuck behind a slow walker, blocking the path while they watch a MuchDank video on their phone. Some genius has added a pedestrian lane just for people who can’t stop staring at their phones.  According to the New York Times, the new lane of traffic was intended to address the needs of the so-called “heads down tribe,” people who find the world around them so dull that they can’t bear to look up from their phones, even when crossing the street. Their distracted walking is part of a growing number of traffic-related deaths, with the World Health Organization estimating that around 68,000 pedestrians are killed every year in China. While there are undoubtedly large-scale solutions to the problem (education campaigns, fines, etc.) the easiest solution might be the one used at the mall: Pedestrian lanes specifically for cellphone users.  I think we should make special lanes for liberals, who haven't looked up in decades. 

June 9,  2018     Permalink

THE AFTERMATH – AT 1:46 P.M. ET:   The press is often too quick to leave a story and "move on" to the next one.  What gets missed, though, is the aftermath of a story, which can include critical information on what actually happened, why it happened, and how to avoid having it happen again.

Ben Bradlee, the late, legendary editor of the Washington Post, said that journalism is history's rough first draft.  The problem is, there is rarely a second draft.

There is new information out on the recent school shooting in Florida, and it is important.  It reveals what many people could see as negligence on the part of school authorities.  How often is this repeated throughout the United States?  From the South Florida Sun Sentinel: 

Two months before the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School, a retired Secret Service agent warned administrators that the school could be vulnerable to a gunman.

Gates were unlocked. Students did not wear identification badges. A fire alarm could send students streaming into the halls. Active-shooter drills were inadequate, he said.

The retired agent, Steve Wexler, said he made his point by strolling through the school with Post-it notes, attaching them to places his bullets or knife would land if he were an intruder. No one stopped him, he said.

In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Wexler said he was invited to analyze the school’s security and presented his recommendations to four staff members.

“I said, ‘This stuff is blatantly obvious. You’ve got to fix this,’” Wexler said.

He never heard another word from the district, he said.

COMMENT:  There are simple, available, inexpensive ways to strengthen schools against attacks.  Fact is, we protect jewelry stores better than we protect children.

But the ideologists aren't interested.  They believe that guns, apparently the kind that aim themselves and fire themselves, are the real culprits.  There are legitimate gun issues to discuss, but may we just apply some common sense to our schools and take the necessary defensive steps Agent Wexler recommended?  And there are many more steps that can be taken, from armed security guards to quick lockdown systems. 

Solutions, not ideology.  That is where to begin.

June 9, 2018       Permalink

THEY ARE GOING CRAZY, AS USUAL – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:   The president has left the G7 early and is on his way to Singapore, to confront the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, aka Rocket Man.

But many in the European and American press are going nuts.  How dare the president not stay at the G7 to hear all about climate change.  Is the man not with it, not hip?  Has he no respect for the Georgetown party circuit?  What have we elected?  A man who thinks for himself?  It's a dark day for the dry cleaners who polish the stripes in the diplomats' pants.

Tranquilizers have been given out at the G7, where Mr. Trump got a cool reception because he had the nerve to understand that he represents the United States.  So crude.

Christiane Amanpour was positively beside herself last night, ridiculing the president for stirring up disagreement with our allies.  Why, she exclaimed, they aren't even enemies.  They're allies!  Isn't it our place to genuflect before our European betters?  Why, they speak foreign languages!  And Ms. Amanpour, Christiane of Tehran, smugly ridiculed Mr. Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.  After all, the Iranians are abiding by it.  Yes, Christy, they are...because it's a one-sided deal in their favor.  Get that, Ms. British accent? 

The Singapore conference will be one of the most important foreign meetings an American president will have had in years.  It's all business.  All negotiations.  Mr. Trump said today that he will know within two minutes if the conference has a chance at success.  He isn't bragging.  A skilled negotiator knows how to read his opponent.  The president is making it clear he expects progress, and will outline what that progress must be.  His example will be Ronald Reagan, who walked away from an arms control deal with the Soviet Union because it wasn't good enough. 

There are some in the Democratic Party who are probably wishing that the president will fail.  Most Americans wish him success.

We do.

June 9, 2018       Permalink

STILL THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE – AT 11:34 A.M. ET:  Occasionally it's delightful to start on a positive note.  A new survey by Rasmussen shows that, despite the militant efforts of the hard left in education and journalism, Americans are still mighty proud of their country and its past: 

Americans overwhelmingly are proud of their nation and its past.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 85% of American Adults are proud to be an American, little changed from previous surveys. Just nine percent (9%) say they are not proud to be an American.

The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on June 5-6, 2018. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

COMMENT:  The leftist academy and press will always emphasize the dissenters, and dissent is important.  But we should remember that people respond, not only to educators and journalists, but to what they see around them, and to their own family histories.

America is a continuing revolution.  Not all results are good.  But, as Churchill said about the United States, we will try everything and eventually get it right.  We get it right, sometimes after years of debate and anguish, because most Americans care about getting it right.  That cannot be said of every country.  In too many, including our "enlightened" allies in Europe, getting it right means getting by for another day.

As the Reagan revolution put it, it's always morning in America.  It's what we do with the rest of the day that will make the difference.

June 9,  2018     Permalink

JUNE 8,  2018

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

AND NOW THE COMEBACKS – FROM PAGE SIX:   Charlie Rose will attend Allen & Co.’s high-powered Sun Valley, Idaho, gathering of masters of the universe next month, along with Shari Redstone, CBS honcho Les Moonves, Mark Zuckerberg, Bob Iger and Brian Roberts, according to Vanity Fair.  The mag says that Rose — who was fired from CBS and PBS after a #MeToo scandal — “is likely to bring a cloud of radioactivity to the weeklong retreat, known for its off-the-record gab sessions, pristine hiking trails and, above all, the potential for furtive deal-making.”  Page Six previously reported that, according to Tina Brown, some producers were pitching a new talk show as a Rose comeback vehicle.  There is also talk of Bill O'Reilly making a comeback.  Successful comebacks are actually quite rare in TV and Hollywood, but they've happened.  Frank Sinatra's in the early fifties, was possibly the greatest comeback of all time.  Don't expect anything close among the current crop of "Me too" graduates.

GOOD MOVE – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   President Donald Trump met with reporters this morning before departing to the much anticipated G7 meetings in Canada this weekend.  Before boarding Marine One President Trump told reporters he is likely to support ending the ban on marijuana.  President Trump also asked the NFL kneelers to recommend to him the names of people they believe have been unfairly prosecuted and imprisoned.  This may be the solution to the anti-US kneelers who continue to insult veterans, and patriots by kneeling during the National Anthem at ballgames.  Okay, the president has welcomed the kneelers' recommendations.  Will he get any?  I'm guessing he won't.  Then the ball, and the kneel, will be in the kneelers' court. 

GREAT TO SEE THIS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A Bronx teen made the stunning journey from a homeless shelter to a full ride at MIT — and is crediting Success Academy for lighting his path.
Moctar Fall, of The Bronx, is one of 16 members of the charter school network’s first graduating high-school class — all of whom nabbed spots at four-year colleges ranging from Barnard and Tufts to Stony Brook and Emory.  “There were hardships in my life,” Fall, 17, told The Post. “There was stress that got in the way of getting my work done and staying positive. But that’s when the discipline helps to push you through.”  Fall’s mother, Ndimou Ndiaye, began to weep Thursday when she spotted Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz in a hallway and embraced her.  “This school saved my family,” she told The Post. “This school is saving lots of families.”  They're African immigrants.  Good kid, good parents, good school.  You can't beat that combination. 

June 8, 2018       Permalink

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED – AT 11:22 P.M. ET:   You mean, Iran may have had some involvement in the 9-11 attacks?  We don't have a smoking gun, but a new story suggests that the gun is heavily loaded.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives who eventually went on to fly commercial airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City, according to new remarks from a senior Iranian official.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in Iran's judiciary, disclosed in Farsi-language remarks broadcast on Iran's state-controlled television that Iranian intelligence officials secretly helped provide the al Qaeda attackers with passage and gave them refuge in the Islamic Republic, according to an English translation published by Al Arabiya.

"Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However their movements were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence," Larijani was quoted as saying.

The remarks represent the first time senior Iranian officials have publicly admitted to aiding al Qaeda and playing a direct role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks.

COMMENT:  It's hard to assess what impact this information will have.  I hope President Trump uses it to reinforce his belief, accurate, that Iran is truly a bad international actor, and has been for some time.

But our European "allies" will be unmoved.  There's money to be made in Iran, and that seems to be their main interest.  And I'm sure Christiane Amanpour will be there to bless each deal.

June 8, 2018       Permalink

BETTER TELL THE DEMOCRATS – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:   The radical Democratic Party has hooked its future to sanctuary city policies, which essentially allow illegal immigrants to move in without any fear of local authorities turning them over to federal law enforcement.  In effect, it's protected illegality.  But the public doesn't go along.  From Investors Business Daily: 

Nearly two-thirds of the public oppose "sanctuary cities." Less than a third say they back the policy, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll.

The IBD/TIPP poll asked about support for a policy in which "some cities in the U.S. do not report illegal immigrants who commit crimes to federal immigration authorities."

It found that 64% oppose the policy, with just 31% supporting it.

More interesting, while just 16% strongly support sanctuary cities, 45% strongly oppose the policy.

Every one of the 41 demographic groups broken out by the IBD/TIPP poll opposes this policy, except for Democrats (only 44% oppose) it, liberals (38% oppose) and those between 18 and 24 (48% of whom oppose this policy).

The strongest opposition comes from investors (71%), married women (70%), conservatives (79%), Gen-Xers (74%) and young boomers (72%).

Even Hispanics oppose this policy by a 57% to 39% margin.

COMMENT:  And yet, the Democratic Party shows no inclination toward changing its stance on sanctuary cities.  The party is today run by a radical, left of liberal, core.  It will not change its "principles" to suit public feeling.  These core Democrats consider themselves quite a bit better than we deplorables, and shout "racist" at anyone who disagrees with them.

The future of sanctuary cities is in the hands of the voters and the courts.  A mini-revolt in California against sanctuary cities has the potential to vote out public officials who support the practice.  The Supreme Court is likely to rule on specific aspects of sanctuary-city policies. 

June 8,  2018     Permalink

TRAGEDY – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Charles Krauthammer, the most effective conservative commentator of our time, is dying.  In letter to Fox news colleagues and viewers, he revealed his fate.  From Fox: 

Charles Krauthammer, the beloved and brilliant Fox News Channel personality who gave up a pioneering career in psychiatry to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning political analyst, on Friday revealed the heartbreaking news that he is in the final stages of a losing battle with cancer.

The 68-year-old’s incisive takes on politics of the day have been missing from Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” for nearly a year as he battled an abdominal tumor and subsequent complications, but colleagues and viewers alike had held out hope that he would return to the evening show he helped establish as must-viewing. But in an eloquent, yet unblinking letter to co-workers, friends and Fox News Channel viewers, Krauthammer disclosed that he has just weeks to live.

“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,” the letter began. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.”

Krauthammer, who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975 despite a first-year diving accident that left him a quadriplegic, explained that he had a malignant tumor removed from his abdomen last August. Although a series of setbacks left him in the hospital in the ensuing months, he believed until recently that he was on the road to recovery.

"However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned,” Krauthammer wrote. “There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.”

COMMENT:  To say he will be missed is a major understatement.  He is the best, and he has always carried himself with style and elegance, and true intellect.  I never heard him raise his voice, or mount a vicious attack.  Krauthammer has shown us what a quality analyst can be.

There is a cynical old French saying that the graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable men.  That may be true, but Charles Krauthammer comes as close to being truly indispensable as any man I've seen.

June 8,  2018     Permalink