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MARCH 5,  2017

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

A SECRET REVEALED – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:   "Barbra Streisand says Donald Trump is making her gain weight. The singer tweeted on Saturday that news involving the president affects her morning routine.  "Donald Trump is making me gain weight. I start the day with liquids, but after the morning news, I eat pancakes smothered in maple syrup!" the singer tweeted on Saturday.   Her comments come after Trump recently claimed the Obama administration wiretapped into his Trump Tower phones during the 2016 presidential election. The White House asked Congress to investigate the matter on Sunday.  "Trump just accused Obama of tapping his phones. Seriously crazy times," added Streisand. "Time for more pancakes."  I think the president should change his policies just for Barbra, don't you? 

A COMMIE CRISIS – FROM BBC:   Russian officials are coming under pressure to check if Disney's new film Beauty and the Beast breaches the country's law against "gay propaganda".  Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said action would be taken after the checks while an MP described the film as "shameless propaganda of sin".  The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast features Disney's first ever gay character and love scene.  A Russian law prohibits the spreading of "gay propaganda" among minors.  The 2013 legislation, which has angered human rights activists and the international gay community, describes homosexuality as "non-traditional sexual relations".  Oh, can you imagine the anguish amongst the reds on Western college campuses?  How to explain this?  What to do?  The motherland has abandoned them!

PENCE TO CARRY THE FLAG – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:   Mike Pence will be the first U.S. vice president to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, which traditionally invites the president during his first year in office.  “It is fitting that in the 175th year of our founding on Indiana soil that Notre Dame recognize a native son who served our state and now the nation with quiet earnestness, moral conviction and a dedication to the common good characteristic of true statesmen,” Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins told Notre Dame News...The selection process was nonetheless contentious, with preemptive petitions and protests demanding that the university withhold its traditional invitation from Donald Trump.  Trump would have been disrupted by the adolescent left.  Pence was wise to accept the invitation, giving the new administration a banner to carry at an iconic institution.  I hope he mentions President Trump favorably in his speech, despite the probable boos.

March 5,  2017     Permalink 

EDUCATION MARCHES ON – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:   There isn't a day that goes by without a story like this.  Today's children may turn out to be the worst educated in modern history.  It's bad in the U.S., but it's worse in Britain and Europe.  From Heatstreet: 

Cardiff University in the UK has told students and staff to avoid gendered words like “sportsmanship” and “manpower,” also saying that “first name” or “forename” is preferable to “Christian name.”

The inclusive-language guidelines, which have been in place for a few years but were first reported by the Telegraph Thursday, are an effort to “promote fairness and equality through raising awareness about potentially discriminatory vocabulary.”

Cardiff takes the policy one step further than similar ones recently rolled out at other Western schools: Most colleges say their inclusive-language guidelines are merely recommendations. But at Cardiff, students who use banned words and phrases could face discipline under the university’s bullying and harassment policy, while employees may also face repercussions, the Daily Mail reported.

The Welsh school’s guidelines offer a litany of advice, warning students and staff to avoid gendered language. It specifically mentions dozens of words to avoid, also offering broad guidelines about how to talk about disabled or transgender people.

“Don’t be too anxious about the use of language, though,” the policy says. “Blind people do use terms like ‘see you later’ and being too careful can make conversation painful for both parties.”

COMMENT:  We hope each day that this kind of madness will soon end, that it's just a trend that will exhaust itself.  I'm not so sure.  The West generally has become remarkably immature, and convinced of its own inferiority.  The colleges of today are producing the teachers of tomorrow.  Only a concerted backlash by more mature, more reasoned people – and there is a backlash building – can reverse the catastrophic trends that we see building.

March 5, 2017       Permalink

ANOTHER PEACEFUL BERKELEY PROTEST – AT 12:35 P.M. ET:   I guess there were some anti-Trump people out there just exercising their First Amendment rights.  From Breitbart: 

Ten people were arrested in Berkeley, California on Saturday following an anti-Trump protest that sought to counter a march in support of President Trump.

“A total of 10 people were arrested, including five for battery, four for assault with a deadly weapon and one for resisting arrest,” reported The Marin Independent Journal on Saturday. “Police reported items confiscated among the combatants were: ‘metal pipes, bats, 2x4s and pieces of wood. A group with bricks was detained, and their bricks confiscated.'”

“Some anti-Trump protesters threw things at Trump supporters. Berkeley police made occasional forays into the crowd, but mostly held back,” they continued. “Protesters spilled out into Martin Luther King Junior Way and were fighting in the middle of the street, and there were people punching each other on the sidewalks. Some people had bloody faces. One pro-Trump supporter was apparently sprayed in the face with Mace.”

COMMENT:  Nothing to see, nothing to see.  We must understand the frustration of the protesters, who are so upset at losing an election.  We must respect their sense of cultural vulnerability and lack of privilege.

We note with satisfaction that ten people were arrested, although, since it's Berkeley, they'll probably be released and given college credit for time spent in jail. 

March 5, 2017       Permalink

THE RIGHT MOVE – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  The White House is asking for a Congressional probe into charges that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.  From Fox: 

The White House on Sunday called for congressional investigations into its claims the Obama administration meddled in the 2016 election cycle in an attempt to gather information on then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in the statement.

“President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”

The statement follows an explosive allegation Saturday by Trump that former President Barack Obama ordered phones wiretapped at Trump Tower and also states that nobody in the administration “will comment further until such oversight is conducted.”

Trump’s wiretap allegations, in a series of tweets Saturday, and the ensuing White House statement are the latest developments in the ongoing story about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential race -- particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin trying to influence the election for Trump over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

COMMENT:  Trump is taking the right step.  I only hope that Republicans on Capitol Hill are awake enough to pounce, and grant the president his wish. 

We're getting all kinds of conflicting stories this morning on Trump's charge.  James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, asserted that there was no wiretapping, but hedged his statement by saying that there was none that he knew of, in his area of the government.  Not much of a denial.

Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that Trump's charge was likely accurate, but that the impetus for the wiretapping probably came from the Justice Department.

We will get answers only through a thorough, public investigation.  The press is already siding with the president (shock of shocks), but experienced, determined lawyers and political operators can speak over the heads of the press.

March 5,  2017     Permalink

MARCH 4,  2017

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

THIS DATE:  March 4th plays a special role in presidential history.  With the exception of George Washington's first inaugural, all presidential inaugurations were held on this date until FDR's second inaugural, which was held on January 20th, 1937.  All scheduled inaugurals since then have been held on January 20th.  Of course, presidents have been inaugurated on other dates due to death or resignation of their predecessors.  The March 4th date worked well in times when transportation to and from Washington was slow, and could take weeks from distant locales.  But with the advent of train, automobile, and especially air travel, the March 4th date passed into history. 

CARRYING THINGS A BIT FAR – FROM HEATSTREET:   A Vegan woman in Georgia was arrested for taking out her anger on the world of meat by slamming her car into a truck carrying chicken.  The woman was identified as 26-year-old Judith Moriah Armstrong. Police were able to track her down, but she refused to leave her house until they produced a warrant. She did, however, speak to them through different windows in the house.  After originally telling police it was an accident, she admitted to hitting the truck on purpose. She claimed she did it because she was a vegan. The driver of the truck says she hit the truck once from the side and then rammed it again after he slammed the brakes, causing his truck to spin out. The driver called 911 to report the color of the car, but Armstrong had already fled the scene.  I will call for new defensive measures at all hot-dog stands.  This vegan  aggression must stop.  This is how Hitler got started.

SOME AMERICANS ARE JUST SO UPSET – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   A new Fox News poll found more than nine-in-10 Democratic voters are "nervous" about the state of U.S. politics, while just more than one-quarter of Republicans feel the same way.  The Feb. 11-13 survey concluded 92 percent of liberals and progressives are worried about the country with President Trump in the White House, while just 29 percent of conservative voters do. Those numbers have changed significantly from last March when eight-in-10 people of both parties said they were anxious about current political affairs.  So nervousness is now the subject of pollsters?  What's next?  Anxiety?  Apprehension?  Butterfly stomachs?  The softness of our society is on full display.

March 4,  2017     Permalink

THE WEIRDNESS MARCHES ON – AT 8:51 P.M. ET:  Former President Obama has sorta, kinda, maybe denied the current president's charge that Obama wiretapped him.  The wording of the denial reflects the true art of the machine politician.  From Breitbart: 

A number of ex-Obama officials appear to suggest that the Obama administration may have actually wiretapped the Trump campaign, but that if they did it would have been justified by a court and part of an investigation by the Justice Department—not led by or ordered from the White House or the former president himself.

On Saturday, former President Obama’s spokesman Kevin Lewis denied that the former White House or the former President himself would have given such an order to wiretap Trump Tower—or any other type of surveillance in any case—but that such an order would have come from an “independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.”

“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Lewis said. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Lewis’ statement on the former president’s behalf came in response to the explosive charges from President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Saturday morning that the Obama team conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the campaign and afterward...

...Interestingly, however, a number of other former Obama administration officials do not deny that such a wiretap existed. They just deny that the White House or Obama himself would have approved it or ordered it, and say that the Department of Justice would have sought it in consultation with a foreign intelligence surveillance, or FISA, court.

Obama’s former speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted that he would warn reporters against saying there was no wiretap.

COMMENT:  Oh please.  Does anyone reading this believe that Obama's attorney-general, Loretta Lynch, would have approved the wiretapping of a presidential nominee without running it by Obama?  Given the politicization of the Justice Department under Obama, it's highly unlikely.

This is just beginning.  Lindsey Graham, who heads a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this morning that he wants to get to the bottom of things.  I'm sensing that we may be in for a new edition of the Watergate committee, or the Army-McCarthy hearings. 

Lots of fun.

This could be Trump's revenge.

March 4,  2017     Permalink

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:   They're coming faster than ever – the attempts to make colleges into sandboxes and playpens...at $60,000 a year.  From the College Fix:

Star Wars Stormtrooper costumes have been banned from an upcoming Princeton University alumni reunion party, with organizers telling their fellow 2012 grads the costumes would just be too upsetting for some.

“The Class of 2012’s costumes for an upcoming reunion were changed after a classmate raised concerns about the origin of the term ‘storm trooper,’” Lindy Li, a spokeswoman for Princeton’s class of 2012, said in a Facebook post obtained by the Daily Caller. “The costumes were vetted by over 50 classmates who did not make this connection and never had any intention of referring to the World War II era.”

“Out of an abundance of caution and sensitivity, and in an effort to guarantee all classmates feel comfortable and welcome on campus, we decided to change our design to another character in the Star Wars universe.”

According to an email to alumni explaining the decision over their reunion party, slated for June, the issue is the “origin of this word and its connections to early- to mid-20th century Germany.”

COMMENT:  I understand the concern, but isn't this carrying things too far?  Star Wars has nothing to do with Nazi Germany. 

Last night, at Middlebury College in Vermont, conservative scholar Charles Murray was roughed up, and a female professor escorting him was sent to the hospital, by a violent crowd protesting Murray's appearance.  The college stood firm in its commitment to free speech, but so far we have heard of no arrests of the mob, or expulsions from Middlebury.  You may have seen this story on TV last night.  We'll follow it to see if there are any consequences for the mobsters.

There are terrible things happening on our campuses.  Some brave educators are speaking out, but the mob still has the advantage.

March 4, 2017       Permalink

A MAJOR CHARGE – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   President Trump this morning made one of the most serious charges we've seen a political figure make in recent history.  He charged that the Obama administration was wiretapping his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign.

If true, this could be Watergate times ten.  If not true, it could bring down the Trump administration.  From Fox: 

President Trump made a startling claim Saturday that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower phones tapped in the weeks before the November 2016 election.

In early Saturday morning tweets that began at 6:35 a.m., the president said the alleged wiretapping was “McCarthyism” and “Nixon/Watergate.”

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism,” Trump wrote.

“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he said in another tweet.

Trump also tweeted that a “good lawyer could make a great case of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”

COMMENT:   When confronted with a grave charge like this, the nation depends on a free and independent press for answers.  But what happens when that press has destroyed its own credibility to grovel to Barack Obama and his political cronies?

That's what has happened.  Indeed, the Washington Post, in reporting the story above this morning, already tried to cast doubt on its veracity.  But this time the liberal press may not get away with it.  If Trump has the goods, we could be in for some explosive months, and even the possibility of the former president testifying before a grand jury or the Congress of the United States.  If Trump's charge is false, he could be toast.

My hunch, only a hunch, is that Trump has the goods.

March 4,  2017     Permalink