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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

MARCH 13,  2017

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

ARRIVAL – We are awaiting a huge blizzard here in New York.  I have done all the things I learned to do as a Boy Scout.  I've charged every battery.  I have a full tank of gas.  I've brought in an over-supply of nutritious, life-sustaining foods like popcorn and ice cream.  I have my Midland emergency radio turned on.  I'm at a window watching birds massing in the trees, which is what they apparently do during weather like this.  And I'm waiting for Al Gore to declare the blizzard a product of global warming.  Is there anything else I should be doing?  The Clintons live about 20 minutes from here, and it's rumored that Hillary will blame this storm for low voter turnout.

KIDS JUST WANT TO BE KIDS – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Faced with students who won't buy lunches low in salt and sugar and jacked up with bland-tasting grains, the nation's 54,000 school cafeteria workers are urging Washington to junk health-focused rules pushed by former first lady Michelle Obama.  Feeling that they have an ally on their side in the Trump administration, their lobby group, the School Nutrition Association, plans to press for less-strict restrictions on ingredients that taste good.  The reason is simple: Studies show that public school students aren't eating what cafeterias are serving, turning many operations into money-losers. While the school districts can opt out, doing so results in federal subsidy cuts for those programs.  I once had to debate a parent who wanted to ban hot dogs for a school class that was going to a Yankees game because they weren't nutritious enough.  Parents like that can destroy Americanism.

WHACKJOBS AHOY – FROM PJ MEDIA:   At a college in Illinois, students seemingly believe that the best way to effect social change is to go to sleep. No, seriously.  "The nap-ins are part of the internal journey to diversity," student coordinator Marissa Amposta, a senior studying art at Southern Illinois University (SIU), told the Daily Egyptian, the student newspaper. "All dreams start while sleeping."  Amposta is facilitating four two-hour sleep sessions in March for Women's History Month, setting up a safe space in the rotunda of Morris Library. She said the sessions are meant to "internally generate student dreams of diversity."   When I sleep tonight, I'm sure diversity will be the first thing that appears.  I can't wait.

March 13, 2017       Permalink

THE PHONY ISSUE – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:  So Trump fired a bunch of US attorneys.  So what?  It's done every time there's a change of administrations.  But this is Trump, so it has to be a scandal.  From Fox: 

Media outrage over the Trump administration’s decision to sack 46 federal prosecutors landed with a thud when they were quickly reminded that former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had done the same thing, but some in the press have pivoted with a new spin.

It’s outrageous, NBC’s Chuck Todd said, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who was summarily fired by President Clinton as a U.S. Attorney in 1993) fired Preet Bharara. After all, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York was on the cover of Time magazine in 2012 and has been touted as a fearless anti-corruption crusader.

“I think it's only getting more attention because of Preet Bharara, to be honest,” Todd said when his “Sunday Today” colleague, Willie Geist, asked him why the Trump administration’s move was any different from Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno, firing 93 U.S. Attorneys.

ABC’s David Wright noted that such prosecutor purges have happened before but, according to the Media Research Center, treated that fact as just a convenient excuse for the White House.

“One big difference is that the Trump Justice Department is already embroiled in controversy,” Wright said. “Investigating Russian meddling in the election. Including allegations, Trump campaign officials may have colluded. The attorney general himself is under scrutiny.”

CNN, in a Friday story headlined "Anger mounts over handling of US attorney firings," said the problem with Trump's move is that he didn't give the prosecutors adequate warning.

COMMENT:  There's no great issue here.  True, Preet Bharara is something of a star, and both the president and Jeff Sessions, during the campaign, indicated that they wanted him to stay on.  However, that wasn't a commitment, and Bharara may still be asked to return.  Bharara was the only US attorney who refused to resign, and had to be fired.  Bad form on his part.  A US attorney serves at the pleasure of the president, and resigns when requested.  Bharara's refusal was possibly seen by the White House as an act of rudeness, something Trump doesn't appreciate.

March 13, 2017       Permalink

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:   German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be meeting the president tomorrow.  Trump has had a number of very successful meetings with foreign leaders since taking office.   He is reportedly very good in one-on-one situations.  Merkel might be a problem, though, as Germany has, in recent years, developed an inflated view of itself.  From Bloomberg: 

President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Germany’s Angela Merkel at the White House on Tuesday will test the power dynamic between the West’s two pre-eminent leaders, one struggling for credibility on the world stage while the other fights for political survival at home.

Some raised eyebrows here.  I really don't think Merkel qualifies as one of West's "two pre-eminent" leaders.  First, no one comes close to the president of the United States in pre-eminence.  Second, I'd put Britain's Theresa May ahead of Merkel, as Britain is far more symbolic of the West than is Germany.  Third, I'd also put Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Merkel, as he is vastly more creative. 

For months, Trump has accused Merkel of “ruining” Germany by accepting refugees and predicted voters would overthrow her, even while describing her as a great world leader. Merkel has reluctantly emerged as the main defender of the liberal global order that Trump has vowed to upend, as he unsettles European allies with protectionist threats, calls for higher defense spending and praise for the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.

Trump clearly believes Merkel is behind the times.  And I think he's right, especially on the refugee issue.  Germany's culture is being changed by the refugee stream, and a nation doesn't have to die culturally to show kindness.  As we say in America, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. 

“This is one of the most important moments early in the Trump presidency,” carrying major ramifications for Trump’s relations with Europe and Russia’s ambitions, said Nicholas Burns, a Harvard professor and former U.S. undersecretary of state.

The two are stylistic opposites, the U.S. president a flamboyant former reality-television star who is guided by instinct and thrives on unpredictability, the German chancellor a physicist by training who’s known as methodical and persistent.

Oh please.  Trump, whether one likes him or not, as a vastly accomplished executive and negotiator.  Calling him a reality-television star is like calling Ronald Reagan a warmed-over movie actor.

Merkel, an 11-year veteran of global summitry sitting at the table with her third U.S. president, has prepared by poring over old comments and videos of the real estate magnate. She can quote interviews Trump has given from memory, according to a German official.

When Merkel hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a private dinner last month in Berlin, she quizzed him for details about his Trump visit days earlier, according to a Canadian government official. In her hunt for insights, Merkel was struck by a Playboy magazine interview Trump gave in 1990 where he said he’d only run for president if he saw the U.S. “continue to go down the tubes.”

“She’s the kind of person who can turn on the persuasion in a one-on-one talk,” said Juergen Hardt, the German government’s coordinator for trans-Atlantic relations. “Her tone with Trump will be friendly.”

COMMENT:  The key point for Merkel is to be sure not to turn Trump into an enemy.  She should treat him with the respect due a man who convinced the American people to give him the presidency.  She will find him a sound and informed negotiator, and it will be clear who the leader of the Free World is.

March 13, 2017        Permalink

A THUMBS UP FOR DONALD – AT 9:24 A.M. ET:  We are getting close to the two-month mark in the Trump presidency.  It's been a rough, but vigorous, beginning, and respected observer Andrew Malcolm gives Trump a thumbs up.  From McClatchy:

Elements of Donald Trump’s presidential style are already emerging and they must be discouraging to his critics.

It’s easy to miss things that do not happen. But perhaps you too have noticed a decline of trivial Trump tweets, starting spats and news cycles many mornings.

Last week — are you sitting down? — Trump canceled a couple of media availabilities. He turned down ESPN’s invitation to provide his own NCAA tournament brackets, a free PR ride on basketball fever annually seized by President Barack Obama.

When reporters yell questions at Trump now, he usually goes deaf, turning away to converse with others. Avoiding opportunities to use or fight with media has not been a Trump trademark since he launched his hopeless presidential campaign 21 months ago, or his public persona decades ago, for that matter.

During the campaigns, Trump was quite successful creating media distractions to change the topic or detract from opponents’ successes and self-destructively some of his own. Not anymore.

Yes, such recent behavior negates the need to respond to WikiLeaks’ newest document dump, the latest Michael Flynn lie or a goofy new Nancy Pelosi plaint.

But it also allows, or perhaps forces, media to focus on the crucial launch of the House Obamacare replacement policies, which Trump has endorsed. And on Trump’s ongoing stream of executive orders starting the fulfillment of numerous campaign promises. And on his impressive debut address to Congress. How did the boastful Trump respond to all that overnight praise? He simply tweeted, “THANK YOU.”

Trump remains underwater in terms of job approval, but Gallup just found a clear majority believe he will restore prosperity.

COMMENT:  Excellent piece, with fine insight from Andrew.  Read the whole thing.  Trump is a president-in-the-making,  He has great potential, and he's developing it, with some visible mistakes along the way.  Obama never developed his potential because he was incapable of believing he could ever make a mistake.

There is a wonderful story about Dwight D. Eisenhower that is instructive here.  In retirement at his Gettysburg farm, Eisenhower was visited by General Harold Johnson, the chief of staff of the Army.  Both Ike and Johnson loved history, and they discussed Plutarch, in the presence of Eisenhower's young military aide.  Afterward, Eisenhower mentioned to the aide that Johnson had made some mistakes.  "President Eisenhower," the aide asked, "why didn't you correct General Johnson?"  Eisenhower replied, and this is an approximate quote, "Young man, I got to where I got by hiding my ego."  Good thought.

March 13,  2017     Permalink

MARCH 12,  2017

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

OH – FROM THE HILL:   Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in an interview Sunday that the Russian ambassador who met with Trump campaign officials also met with “people working in think tanks advising Hillary or advising people working for Hillary.”  “Well, if you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that he had lots of meetings of that kind,” Dmitry Peskov told CNN “GPS” host Fareed Zakaria. “There are lots of specialists in politology, people working in think tanks advising Hillary or advising people working for Hillary.”  Peskov said it is the job of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to meet with officials on both sides to talk about “bilateral relations.”  This won't make a bit of difference to the anti-Trump asylum.  He was influenced by the Russians, and that's the line.  Period.

THE LEFT HAS DISCOVERED...TELEVISION! – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:   There is a new safe space for liberals in the age of President Trump: the television set.  Left-leaning MSNBC, after flailing at the end of the Obama years, has edged CNN in prime time. Stephen Colbert’s openly anti-Trump “Late Show” is beating Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight” for the first time. Bill Maher’s HBO flock has grown nearly 50 percent since last year’s presidential primaries, and “The Daily Show” has registered its best ratings since Jon Stewart left in 2015.  Traditional television, a medium considered so last century, has watched audiences drift away for the better part of a decade. Now rattled liberals are surging back, seeking catharsis, solidarity and relief.  And they will get it.  One Oscar show should satisfy them for a year.  It confirms once again that the left is reactionary.  They're even flocking to an old medium.  At least sitting on a couch will keep them out of trouble.

A DESERVED HONOR – FROM FOX:   Some retired Marines in California want the Navy to name a warship for the photographer behind the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo.  Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo shows Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi on the Japanese island on Feb. 23, 1945. The picture became the model for the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, known officially as the Marine Corps War Memorial.  The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday that the campaign to honor Rosenthal includes an online petition that has gathered more than 1,300 signatures.  “Joe Rosenthal took one of the greatest photographs in history, and yet he has been bypassed by history,” campaign organizer Tom Graves told the paper.  Graves belongs to the Marine Corps Correspondents Association in San Francisco and wants to collect thousands of more names before submitting them to the Navy.  It would be appropriate, as the Iwo Jima photo has come to symbolize the Marine Corps.  Also, Rosenthal took the risks of a combat photographer, a number of whom were killed in World War II and subsequent wars.  Honoring him would honor them.

March 12, 2017       Permalink

THE TRUMP ECONOMY – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  Like him or loathe him, there's really no doubt that there's a "Trump effect" that's boosting the American economy dramatically.  Our quote of the day from American Greatness: 

It’s the economy, stupid. We’ve heard the phrase so many times over the past 25 years that it has descended into cliché if not outright parody. But it’s been repeated so often because it highlights a basic truth about politics: jobs matter. And since the election, the job growth has been extraordinary.

It’s been so strong that it prompted Jamie Dimon, president and CEO of Chase, the nation’s largest bank, a registered Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter, to back President Trump’s economic agenda. Dimon declared it has “woken up the animal spirits” in the United States. His comments came in the midst of a spate of good economic news released this week.

Trump himself tweeted, “Great Again: +235,000” after the Labor Department reported a higher than expected 235,000 new jobs were created in February. This came on the heels of a report earlier in the week from ADP and Moody’s Analytics showing 298,000 new private sector jobs in the same month. Better yet, the Labor Department report showed strong wage growth and that 340,000 workers who sensed better prospects came off the sidelines and re-entered the workforce. This addresses a key critique of the weak Obama era recovery after the 2008 financial panic: namely, that the low reported unemployment rate was misleading because of the large number of working age Americans who stopped looking for work and were therefore not counted in official government unemployment statistics.

COMMENT:  If Trump can keep this going, add a needed tax cut, build our defenses and run a decent foreign policy, he can become, to use Henry Kissinger's term, a "substantial" president.  He could also force the modern Democratic Party deeper into the shadows and even drive it out of existence, to be replaced by a new, more responsible liberal party.

Pipe dreams?  I'm not so sure. 

March 12, 2017        Permalink

REAL ESTATE NEWS – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:   There is news about future places to move.  From Britain's Independent: 

Thousands of people could be living in floating space colonies orbiting the Earth in 20 years’ time, according to the head of a project by the British Interplanetary Society (BIS).

And, while life in space might sound unappealing to some, Jerry Stone believe it could actually be healthier than planet Earth, enabling people to live longer and, eventually, grow taller.

Mr Stone, author of the book One Small Step about the moon landings, and other members of the BIS have been updating research carried out in the US in the 1970s into how humans could start living in space in large numbers.

In a speech in Aberdeen as part of British Science Week, Mr Stone will claim humanity is now close to the point where such colonies could be built using material taken from the Moon and asteroids.

COMMENT:  Oh, do I have a list of people I'd like to see living up there.  President Kennedy's space objective was to land a man on the Moon and bring him back safely to Earth.   Urgent Agenda's objective is to send liberals to space colonies and leave them there.  We start with Nancy Pelosi, if she's still around, and she probably will be.  We branch out to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and we scoop up any liberals with zip codes in Manhattan or Beverly Hills.  We reserve a special plot of land in the space colony for Barack Obama, with a bedroom for Valerie Jarrett.

Any other suggestions?

March 12, 2017       Permalink

SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT EDUCATION – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:  It's very rare, so cherish this piece by George Will.  Frame it.  Send it to friends.  From the Boston Herald: 

TEMPE, Ariz. — Encouraging developments are as welcome as they are rare in colleges and universities that cultivate diversity in everything but thought. Fortunately, state legislatures, alumni and philanthropists are planting little academic platoons that will make campuses less intellectually monochrome. One such, just launched, is Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.

A primary mission of institutions of higher education should be the transmission of civilization’s intellectual patrimony. With the permeation of academia by progressivism, however, the mission increasingly is liberation from this patrimony in order to further progress, understood as movement away from the principles of the American founding. One notable progressive knew better. Something Woodrow Wilson actually got right was that a university should be a “seat of vital memory” and an “organ of recollection,” lest we risk “becoming infantile in every generation.”

During the national fragmentation of 1861, Abraham Lincoln said that “the better angels of our nature” would be summoned by “the mystic chords of memory.” But democratic nations, which rest on the shiftable sand of opinion, are forgetful, so memory needs to be nurtured. In his novel “Mr. Sammler’s Planet,” Saul Bellow wrote:

“It is sometimes necessary to repeat what all know. All mapmakers should place the Mississippi in the same location, and avoid originality. It may be boring, but one has to know where he is. We cannot have the Mississippi flowing toward the Rockies for a change.”

Arizona State, in announcing the new school, said:

“The mission of the school will be to introduce students to the great philosophical debates across centuries through classic texts, and to use those texts and debates to prepare them for civic-minded leadership in the future,” said Patrick Kenney, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

COMMENT:  Great idea.  I hope it isn't destroyed by radicals at Arizona State, and they are there in force. 

At one time it was understood that "civics" would be taught to every student in America.  That time is long past.  Now what kids get is a kind of "anti-civics," devoted to, as George Will put it, "liberation" from America's founding.

Maybe we're starting to see some points of light.

March 12,  2017     Permalink