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JUNE 30,  2018

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

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez introduced former President Barack Obama as America’s “real president” at a DNC fundraiser Thursday night.  “Let’s give it up for the real president of the United States,” Perez said at Thursday’s fundraiser, Politico reported.  Obama reportedly then told the crowd of Democratic donors that they are “right to be concerned” about Trump’s presidency.  Perez’s false descriptor for Obama is just the latest instance of prominent Democrats abandoning political norms in order to undermine President Trump.  Soon we'll have a call to make Obama president for life.  Why not go all Third World?  It's so chic.

THE CONTINUING MADNESS – AND IT'S LED BY AUNTIE MAXINE – FROM BREITBART:  Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on Saturday told demonstrators in Los Angeles protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies that anyone who shoots at the lawmaker “better shoot straight.”  “No, we have members of Congress trying to intimidate me,” Waters began. “I have no fear. I’m in this fight. I know that there are those who are talking about censuring me, talking about kicking me out of Congress, talking about shooting me, talking about hanging me.”  “All I have to say is this, if you shoot me you better shoot straight, there’s nothing like a wounded animal,” she warned.  Waters claimed on Thursday she was forced to pull out of events in Alabama and Texas after she received death threats.  This is dangerous rhetoric.  I fear for the Trump family and for members of the president's Cabinet.  Where are the responsible black leaders?  Why will they not speak out against this kind of poison?

THE IMPACT OF THE LEFT – FROM FOX:  At least 41 cops have left the Seattle Police Department this year, many of them reportedly citing frustration with the city's politics and a perceived lack of support from local officials.  Though documents showed some officers left the force due to retirement, a source in the department told Q13 FOX some 20 officers left and sought employment at other law enforcement agencies.  The source also said younger officers "don’t feel appreciated" and the number of those leaving who felt “frustrated over city politics is higher than usual.”  “Worker bees on the street, they don't feel appreciated. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” the source told Q13 FOX.  The left doesn't care.  They run Seattle and see cops as the enemy, and criminals simply as protesters against injustice.  If things collapse in Seattle, will the governor send in National Guard units to keep order, or will he express sympathy for socialist politics?  It's becoming a serious question.

June 30, 2018       Permalink

ANYONE NOTICING? – AT 2:33 P.M. ET:  Iranians are restless.  There have been mass demonstrations against the Tehran regime since December.  Iranians living in other countries are also agitated.  Where are the "human rights" groups?  From the Jerusalem Post:

PARIS — Tens of thousands of people from across Europe and the US gathered on Saturday at the Paris suburb Villepinte Congress Center for the annual meeting of the Iranian opposition "Free Iran" movement.

Waving flags of Iran, supporters of the Iran Mujahedin kept chanting in Farsi ‘’We are ready,’’ and ‘’People are dying, we will take back Iran,’’ responding to the calls of the speakers to topple the Ayatollah regime.

Wearing a blue scarf and traditional attire, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran Maryam Rajavi addressed the crowd, saying ‘’the overthrow of this regime inevitably requires the willingness to pay the price, requires honesty and sacrifice, requires an organization and a strong political alternative, and requires resistance units and a liberty army.

‘’We call for the establishment of a society based on freedom, democracy, and equality, which has clear demarcations with despotism and dependence as well as gender, ethic and class discrimination. We have defended and will defend gender equality, the right to freely choose one’s attire, separation of religion and state, autonomy of nationalities, equal political and social rights for all citizens of Iran, abolition of the death penalty, freedom of expression, parties, the media, assembly, unions, associations and syndicates.’’

A large American delegation, headed by former Mayor of New York and prominent Republican Party member Rudy Giuliani, a long-time supporter of the movement, took part in the event.

Also present were former speaker of the House of Representatives Newton Gingrich and former US Ambassador Bill Richardson. The delegation was mostly comprised of neo-Conservative Republicans, but also by a few Democrat figures objecting to the Iranian nuclear agreement. Former Canada Prime Minister Stephan Harper headed the Canadian delegation to the event.

COMMENT:  There are sincere people who oppose the group that staged the rally, based on its alleged past support of some totalitarian regimes.  We can have that argument.  But the fact of a substantial Iranian resistance cannot be denied.

And yet, we hear so little about it in this country.  Gee, I wonder why.  It couldn't be the indifference of Barack Obama, could it?

June 30, 2018       Permalink

I CAN'T WAIT; SIGN ME UP – AT 1:50 P.M. ET:  I do want to be a better person, pure of heart and free of any unfair privilege.  Let me participate.  Choke.  From College Fix: 

Humboldt State University, in Arcata, California, is offering its students a series of workshops this summer designed to cultivate a “positive white racial identity” in its white participants.

Humboldt has already hosted the first two sessions of the five-part summer series titled “Building Stamina: Cultivating a Positive White Racial Identity that Supports Positive Participation in Conversations about Race.” The series is designed for “white folks who want to participate in conversations about race more productively” in the hope that they might “better understand whiteness and privilege.”

According to the online event description, no experience talking about whiteness is necessary. Only “a willingness to listen, learn, and have what you know questioned is required.”

University officials declined to comment on the workshop. Reached via email, campus spokesman Grant Scott-Goforth only provided The College Fix with a link to the publically available event description.

The staff contact listed on the event itself, Meredith Oram, failed to respond to numerous email requests for comment. Reached twice by phone, she stated both times that she was too busy to talk and indicated that she would call back at a later date, which she did not.

The school has already hosted two sessions of the workshop series. The most recent session featured a screening and discussion of MTV’s video “Why Does Privilege Make People So Angry?” The video, hosted by comedian and television personality Franchescha Ramsey, states that “everyone has” privilege, but states that, in the context of discussions about privilege, “no one wants to be the bad guy.”

“Talking about privilege is not meant to make you feel guilty,” Ramsey says in the video.

“Acknowledging it isn’t about shame, it’s about challenging the system that perpetuates inequality.”

COMMENT:  I think back on my immigrant grandparents – many of you probably have similar histories – and the struggles and disease they experienced in coming to this country and building a life.  What exactly was their white privilege?  The privilege to work 12 hours a day in a sweatshop? 

I think of all the hundreds of thousands of men, most of them white (but certainly including those of color) who lie in our military cemeteries, dead at 22...or younger.  Yes, it was a privilege to serve their country, but the privilege of leading a full life was denied them.  What was their white privilege? 

I'm tired of hearing about white privilege.  Of course certain groups have it easier.  And others have to work harder.  President Kennedy reminded us that life is unfair.  Some men go off to war and are killed, and others are never called it all.  The answer to privilege is accomplishment, and education in respecting others and rejecting prejudice. The greatest antidote to racism is being needed.  It is not endless classes in "white privilege."

I don't think minorities will benefit at all from this craze, and whites will just get more and more angry.

June 30, 2018       Permalink

WHAT IS THIS?  IS THIS ALLOWED? – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  President Trump's approval among Hispanics is rising.  Late-night comedians are already meeting on the crisis.  From RealClearPolitics: 

In a new Harvard/Harris poll released this week exclusively to The Hill, President Trump’s overall approval rating rose to 47 percent, just two points shy of the highest level of his presidency, per that survey. The main driver of his growing popularity now: a stunning 10 percent rise in Trump approval among Hispanics.

That growing support among Latinos would surely surprise many Trump critics in Washington and the legacy media, who remain fixated on border issues. So intense is their hysteria regarding border enforcement that people like former CIA Director Michael Hayden compared our detention policies to the Auschwitz concentration camp in a tweet and MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch proclaimed on “Morning Joe” that ALL Trump voters are essentially Nazis.

Amid that media madness, Main Street America focuses not so much on concocted controversies but on bread-and-butter kitchen table issues like rising wages and soaring confidence among small businesses and consumers.

Hispanics, by definition, are primarily a working-class demographic, as we on average own only a tenth of the household wealth of white families. Thankfully, President Trump’s policies of tax cuts and regulatory relief point to a brighter economic future for all wage earners, including Hispanics.

For example, an incredible 2 million Americans have dropped off food stamps since Trump was elected. In the most recent government jobs report, wages for non-managerial workers rose at a 2.7 percent annual clip, the highest in a decade. The jobless rate for non-college graduates just hit the lowest level since 2001. These gains are highly beneficial to hard-working Hispanics, as Trump’s policies continue to lift the economic underdogs.

Moreover, in contrast to the assumptions of the leftist identity-politics hucksters, Hispanics are far from uniform on immigration issues, and actually take a very moderate and pragmatic approach to the border and enforcement. In fact, per Zogby Analytics exit polling from 2016, twice as many Hispanics believe immigration enforcement is too lax versus too stringent. Regarding the recent border issues, an Economist/YouGov poll found that only 20 percent of Hispanics support the previous policies of “catch and release” where families entering the country illegally are not detained but summoned to report back for a later hearing – at which many never show up.

COMMENT:  Great piece.  Hispanic Americans, like other Americans, don't want a revolution.  They want in.  They want to participate in this growing economy.  They want to build businesses.  And the overwhelming majority came to this country legally.

June 30,  2018     Permalink

JUNE 29,  2018

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

WAS ALMOST PRESIDENT – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rejected calls of civility in a recent interview, calling for “strength and resolve” to resist President Trump.  The Guardian reports that when asked about some on the left becoming “uncivil” recently, she responded:  “‘Oh, give me a break,’ she erupts, eyes widening into indignation. ‘Give me a break! What is more uncivil and cruel than taking children away? It should be met with resolve and strength. And if some of that comes across as a little uncivil, well, children’s lives are at stake; their futures are at stake. That is that ridiculous concept of bothsideism.'”  Clinton also mocked people who call for civility in political discourse, imitating, “Well, you know, somebody made an insulting, profane remark about President Trump, and he separated 2,300 children from their families, that’s both sides, and we should stop being uncivil — oh, and, by the way, he should stop separating children.”  Hillary performs an important public service in constantly reminding us that we were right to keep her out of the Oval Office.

JULY 9th – FROM CBS NEWS –  President Trump said he is interviewing six or seven people and plans to announce his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9. Among the candidates he's considering are two women, and he told reporters that he might meet with candidates over a golf weekend.   CBS News has learned that the two leading contenders right now are D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh and 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Mr. Trump is also considering 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Amul Thapar, who would become the first Indian American to serve on the Supreme Court if selected.   Aboard Air Force One on the way to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, the president also said it was inappropriate to discuss whether he was looking for a justice who would be willing to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court 1973 case legalizing abortion.  Trump has got to dance around Roe because two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, are committed to maintaining it. 

MADNESS – FROM POWERLINE:  A poll by YouGov shows that half of Democrats think it was “fair” to kick Sarah Sanders out of that restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. Only a third of Dems think it was unfair.
These numbers are, within a one percentage point, the reverse of what Americans as a whole believe about the incident. No wonder the Democratic establishment frets about the unhinged left. Arguably, it should be freaking out.  When Bill Clinton broke the Republicans' near stranglehold on the presidency, he did so by presenting himself as a center-left candidate who stood up to the radical fringe of his party. The Sister Souljah moment was key for him.  As I said yesterday, though, it’s doubtful that this kind of moment is available to Democrats who seek the presidency now. Indeed, the YouGov poll, among other developments, suggests that “Sister Souljah” Democrats may outnumber the Bill Clinton kind.  However, the rest of America doesn’t seem to have shifted dramatically leftward. Hence, the fretting of the Democratic establishment.  The Democratic left has gone nuts, but that's not the way the mainstream media reports it.  As always, the mainstreamers protect their "progressive" friends.

June 29, 2018       Permalink

WHO GAINS? – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  The debate has begun over who gains in November from the vacancy on the Supreme Court.  The Court, in the last half century, due to decisions involving segregation, school prayer, and abortion, has become a major political issue.  From the superb John Fund, at Fox: 

So who will benefit most from the debate over Justice Kennedy’s retirement?

“This is every Democrat candidate’s worst nightmare, as it changes the game on turnout,” GOP pollster Chris Wilson told the Washington Examiner. “It doesn’t just close the enthusiasm gap, it injects rocket fuel into the evangelical base that helped Trump win swing states.”

Democratic pollster Geoff Garin took a different approach, claiming that the injection of a court vacancy into the midterm campaign will only fuel anti-Trump fervor.

“The stakes for Democratic voters in this election already were extremely high, and the Supreme Court vacancy supercharges all of that,” Garin told the Washington Post.

Some more neutral observers believe that while both sides will use the court battle to boost turnout, the advantage will go to the Republicans. The key races that will determine who controls the Senate next year will largely be fought in 10 states that Donald Trump carried in 2016 but that currently have Democratic incumbents up for re-election.

“More Democrats voting in already liberal New York over the Supreme Court doesn’t change anything,” Democratic pollster Doug Schoen told me.

But a Supreme Court vacancy may energize turnout among evangelical Christians and other social conservative voters. In 2016, fully 81 percent of self-identified white, evangelical Christians told exit pollsters they voted for Trump – while just 16 percent went for Clinton. Trump’s huge margin with these voters exceeded the victory margins they gave GOP presidential candidates George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Trump was able to pile up such big margins in part because he told evangelical voters that the 2016 election would decide the direction of the Supreme Court. He went so far as to release a list of his possible nominees before the election to reassure conservatives he would pick a reliable conservative and to reinforce how importantly he viewed the decision to fill any vacancy.

The effort paid off.

COMMENT:  I'm guessing that it will pay off again.  To the right, the Supreme Court is the protector of the Constitution.  To the left, it's the home of Roe v. Wade and race-based admissions policies.  I think the right has the more popular argument. 

Some news outlets reported this morning that the president wants to name a replacement for Anthony Kennedy by July 9th, which would be a week from Monday.  So get set for a major story that will dominate that week.

June 29, 2018       Permalink

WHERE THE PRESIDENT STANDS – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  There are some initial signs that the president's dip in the polls, probably caused by missteps over immigration, is being reversed.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  That's a two-point gain in two days.  Other polls are starting to reflect a comeback as well.  Harvard-Harris also has Trump at 47%. 

If the trend continues, the president should be back in the high forties next week.  He's pretty much where Obama was at this point in his presidency, but you may be sure that CNN will continue to call him an unpopular president.

We face reality – he is not loved by most of the people.  But he's really no more unpopular than many presidents at this point.

June 29,  2018     Permalink