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MARCH 18,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:

TRUMP ON MADDOW – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   President Donald Trump took aim at MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and her colleagues at NBC News, calling them ‘bad people’ for revealing his 2005 tax returns during an episode of The Rachel Maddow Show earlier this week.  Trump made the remarks in a taped interview with Fox News that aired on Saturday.  The president said that ‘there’s something wrong’ with Maddow and he also accused whoever leaked the tax returns of violating the law.  ‘They leaked them,’ Trump said. ‘It’s illegal to do what they did, I think.’  Maddow interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, who obtained a copy of the first two pages of Trump’s 2005 federal tax returns.
The 2005 tax documents aired by MSNBC and published by Johnston showed that Trump earned $153 million in income in 2005 and paid $38 million in taxes.  Okay, Donald, point made.  Now go back to focusing on policies that will benefit the American people.  The personal feuds are getting tiresome.

WHAA..? – FROM REUTERS:   MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has approved a proposal to launch an investigation into U.S. media organisations that operate in Russia, it said in a statement posted on its web site late on Friday.  The investigation, which will be conducted by the Duma's information policy, technologies and communications committee, will check whether CNN, the Voice of America, Radio Liberty and "other American media" are complying with Russian law.  The statement said the Duma backed the move on Friday evening after Konstantin Zatulin, an MP from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, proposed an investigation to retaliate for what he called a "repressive" U.S. move against Russian state-funded broadcaster RT.  He said he was referring to an initiative by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has introduced a bill to empower the Justice Department to investigate possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by RT.  Back to the Cold War.  It has that feel, doesn't it?

THE RIGHT THING TO DO – FROM THE HILL:   Donna Brazile says passing along a list of topics for a TV town hall event to Hillary Clinton’s campaign was “a mistake I will forever regret.”  Brazile, who was the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) interim chairwoman this summer and is a former CNN contributor, opened up about last year’s election in a Time magazine essay.  “My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen,” she wrote. “But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.”  Her apology is the right thing to do.  She should now be judged by her future behavior.  I'm afraid, though, that collusion between some news outlets and the political left will continue, and stain the face of journalism.

March 18,  2017     Permalink

TRUMP GETS A WIN AT THE G20 – AT 3:35 P.M. ET:  You gotta give Trump credit.  When it comes to economic policy, he's on a winning streak.  From Bloomberg: 

Finance chiefs of the world’s largest economies set aside a pledge to avoid protectionism and signed up to a fudged statement on trade instead, in response to the Trump administration’s call to rethink the global order for commerce.

Group of 20 nations said in a communique on Saturday that they are “working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies.” While the U.S. didn’t get all it wanted -- such as a explicit pledge to ensure trade is fair -- that’s a much pared-down formulation compared with the group’s statement last year, and omits a promise to “avoid all forms of protectionism.”

In two days of meetings in the German town of Baden-Baden, the argument by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in his first appearance at an international forum in the role, reflects claims by President Donald Trump that his nation has had a bad deal from the current global trade setup. That attitude pitched him against most other delegates, who favored a multilateral, rules-based system as embodied in the World Trade Organization.

“My view is that the Americans were doing what any new administration would do -- they were looking at the language through their lens,” said Bill Morneau, Canada’s finance minister, who made a last-ditch push for the compromise. “Their lens is: how can trade benefit the U.S.? Everyone else has the same lens, but every other country has the advantage of being at the previous meeting.”

COMMENT:  Get the patronizing attitude toward the United States.  We'll see more of that, especially from the global elites.  But, whether the snobs like it or not, America is asserting itself once again and making it clear we're not just an international ATM.

I'd love to hear all the apologies being made by Ivy League professors to their European counterparts.  ("Oh, he's just a temporary nuisance.")  Same thing happened under Reagan.

March 18, 2017       Permalink   

ABOUT THAT REFUGEE STREAM – AT 1:14 P.M. ET:   The image given us by the mainstreamers is a refugee stream from war-ravaged Syria, people in need of food, sleep and sympathy.  But there are indications that this is, partially at least, a false image.  And a dangerous one.  From Breitbart London: 

Eurostat has released figures revealing that just 28 per cent of asylum claimants in the European Union, plus Norway and Switzerland, are from Syria.

The Sun newspaper reports that 334,800 out of 1.2 million asylum seekers in 2016 were from Syria, with hundreds of thousands coming from countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria, and Albania.

The numbers may surprise some members of the public, given the heavy emphasis placed on migrants “fleeing war-torn Syria” by much of the Left-leaning media and politicians.

The true figure may be even lower, with European authorities having struggled to identify migrants posing as Syrians fraudulently for years.

At 1.2 million, total asylum claims for 2016 fell only 92,000 short of their previous record high in 2015, despite the conclusion of a 6 billion euro deal with Turkey to contain the flow of migrants through that country – a deal which is now being threatened by the Islamist government in Ankara.

COMMENT:  So, when President Trump urges caution in dealing with the "refugee stream," he knows what he's talking about.  Extreme vetting is called for...if in fact any vetting can actually be done. 

There have also been disturbing reports about the makeup of the refugee stream.  Most refugee streams are made up largely of women and children, with the men coming later.  This one seems to have an inordinate number of fighting-age men.  It should be a legitimate source of concern.

Of course, anyone who raises questions is accused of Islamophobia, racism, militarism, colonialism, sexism, fascism, and Eurocentrism.  The McCarthyism of the left.

March 18, 2017       Permalink

AGAIN, IN PARIS – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  There has been another apparent attempt at Islamic terror in Paris.  From Fox:

The 39-year-old suspected attacker killed at Paris’ Orly airport on Saturday after trying to wrestle away a soldier’s weapon had already crossed authorities’ radar for suspected Islamic extremism.

Paris prosecutors said the suspect's house was among scores searched in November 2015 in the immediate aftermath of ISIS-led suicide bomb-and-gun attacks that killed 130 people in Paris. Those searches targeted people with suspected radical leanings.

The prosecutor's office said its anti-terrorism division was handling the investigation and had taken the attacker's father and brother into custody for questioning.

A French official connected to the investigation confirmed French media reports identifying the attacker as Ziyed Ben Belgacem.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the attacker assaulted three Air Force soldiers patrolling the airport. He said the soldier who was attacked managed to hold on to her rifle and the two soldiers she was with opened fire to protect her and the public.

COMMENT:  It's the old story.  The good guys have to be lucky every time.  The bad guys only have to be lucky once.  Sooner or later, there'll be another bad incident.

March 18,  2017     Permalink

MARCH 17,  2017

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

IT'S TIME TO GET OFF THE STAGE – FROM FOX:  SCRANTON, Pa. – Hillary Clinton said Friday she's "ready to come out of the woods" and help Americans find common ground.  Clinton's gradual return to the public spotlight following her presidential election loss continued with a St. Patrick's Day speech in her late father's Pennsylvania hometown of Scranton.  "I'm like a lot of my friends right now, I have a hard time watching the news," Clinton told an Irish women's group.  But she urged a divided country to work together to solve problems, recalling how, as first lady, she met with female leaders working to bring peace to Northern Ireland.  Common ground?  She's in for the shock of her life.  Her party has been taken over by the far left, which never seeks common ground with anyone...and the far left despises her.

REASONABLE CONCERN – FROM CNN:  Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) Palm Beach County officials, facing the prospect of paying millions of dollars in overtime costs associated with protecting President Donald Trump during his frequent visits to the tony Florida enclave, want either the federal government or Trump himself to foot the bill.  Protecting Trump while he is at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, primarily falls on the Secret Service. But when the President visits Florida, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is asked to assist in a variety of public and private ways. With Trump making his fifth trip as president to what he calls the "Winter White House," the costs are rising.  According to estimates provided to CNN by the sheriff's department, it costs about $60,000 in overtime every day Trump spends in Florida. Trump has spent, before this weekend, 14 days in Florida since taking office in January, meaning costs to the sheriff's department will likely top $1 million during this weekend's visit.  The concern is reasonable.  The federal government should pick up a portion of the tab, and Trump should volunteer to pick up the rest.

PT FOR LEFTIES – FROM POLIZETTE:   Coping strategies used by distressed liberals to deal with President Donald Trump’s November election victory are now being used to prepare activists to “resist” the Trump agenda.  Coddled college kids across the country tried group cry-ins, group hug-ins, coloring with crayons, and even finger-painting to deal with the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.  “Our breath is so precious,” Johnson continued, “and if it wasn’t so precious Eric Garner would be alive, rest in peace.”
Now adult snowflake activists are using breathing exercises to prepare for anti-Trump protests.  During a MoveOn.Org “Ready to Resist: Emergency Call” this week — part of a weekly teleconference organized by the Working Families Party that brings together leftist activists to discuss “the resistance” — Mark-Anthony Johnson, health director for a group called Dignity and Power NOW, led those on the call in a number of breathing exercises.  "Right now I'm going to ask everyone who's on this call to take a moment and just breathe with me," Johnson began. "This is a simple technique that you can use as we're in the tactics, as we're in the strategy, as we're in the back-to-back actions that we're going to be in we can take a moment to breathe," he said.  Next they might try asking everyone to take a moment to think...but that would be so 20th century.

March 17,  2017     Permalink

TV WEBS WOBBLY – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Is it only bad shows, or are Americans turning on the entertainment industry?  From Hollywood Reporter: 

The broadcasters have launched 17 new shows since Jan. 1 — with zero breakouts — as CBS signals an end to its wait-and-see strategy.

The year 2017 hasn't been forgiving to the broadcast networks. With a whopping 17 scripted launches since Jan. 1, nearly all new series are languishing with low ratings, even by today's modest standards. But that may not be entirely the new shows' fault: The root of midseason's problem, some say, is the middling fall that preceded it.

"In the past, midseason success was typically built on the foundation established in the fall," says Sam Armando, lead investment director at MediaVest-Spark, noting all but NBC (and sports-lifted Fox) are down this year. "Since only This Is Us popped in the fall, there just aren't any coattails to ride on."

Even Fox's Super Bowl-launched 24: Legacy, a seemingly safe bet, can't crack a live 1.0 rating in the key demo on Monday nights. Spinoffs are stumbling elsewhere, with The Blacklist: Redemption essentially DOA on NBC, though the network does seem to have a solid player with Dick Wolf's fourth installment in his Windy City franchise, Chicago Justice.

The writing also is on the wall for TV's time-travel trend, with neither ABC's Time After Time nor Fox's Making History making an impression on Sundays.

What's interesting is CBS' reaction to its poor performers. With one struggling freshman shipped off to Saturdays (Training Day) and another axed after just two episodes (Katherine Heigl starrer Doubt), the network potentially is signaling a shift away from the wait-and-see attitudes that have displeased some advertisers in recent seasons.

COMMENT:  Network TV just ain't where it's at.  And the constant, unrelenting, political messages from Hollywood turn off a good chunk of the audience before they even turn on their TVs.

I don't know what model the networks will turn to in coming years, but what they're doing now is failing.  Maybe some of the "creative" types should make cross-country trips in their SUV's and talk to some actual viewers.  It's an education they need.

March 17, 2017       Permalink

THE RELIGION OF PEACE REACHES OUT AGAIN – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:   Nothing to fear, nothing to fear.  All cultures are equal.  It's all our fault.  From Heatstreet: 

Teachers at a primary school in Sydney, Australia have been threatened with beheading and other violence from young Islamic students, prompting one of them to quit her job.

Students as young as those in Year 5, according to the Daily Telegraph, are making the violent threats and pressuring others to read the Koran at Punchbowl Public School in Sydney.

Documents given to the newspaper allege that three staff members have taken a leave of absence owing to stress, received counselling and been awarded compensation after bullying from Islamic students.

One female teacher reportedly quit her job after it got too much for her. She claims she quit after receiving death threats to her family from her year 5 and 6 students, with some saying they would behead her.

The teacher also said she made numerous complaints back in 2014 about the extraordinary behavior in the class. For example, she said, she was abused by students after she stopped them from hanging a Syrian flag in the classroom.

In another example, she claimed she was pushed into a corner by students who began marching around her chanting the Koran.

The bullying wasn’t restricted to teachers. The woman also reported an incident where children bullied other students by saying that someone had “betrayed his religion” by “not going to Muslim scripture”. In another incident, she said a “group of boys had stood around a girl and called her horrible names like dog”.

COMMENT:  It is remarkable how violence, and the threat of violence, is infiltrating Western education, whether it's coming from religious extremists or leftist extremists, as was the case recently at Middlebury College.

Threats of beheading are, I would suggest, things to be taken seriously.  But educators are generally not heroic, and prefer to bury these incidents or call them cases of cultural misunderstanding.

March 17,  2017     Permalink

BLUNTNESS – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson continues his verbal campaign against North Korea with a level of bluntness and truth that is refreshing, considering the mush that emerged from the mouth and limited brain of his predecessor, John Kerry.  From Bloomberg:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is considering “all options” to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat while criticizing China over moves to block a missile-defense system on the peninsula.

In some of his most detailed comments yet on North Korea, Tillerson ruled out a negotiated freeze of its nuclear weapons program and called for a wider alliance to counter Kim Jong Un’s regime. He also left the military option on the table if the North Korean threat gets too large.

“If they elevate the threat of their weapons programs to a level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table,” Tillerson told reporters on Friday on a trip to South Korea when asked about the possibility of a military strike. He ruled out talks with North Korea until it commits to giving up its nuclear weapons.

The remarks were some of the most forceful yet from President Donald Trump’s administration and signaled the U.S. was closing the door on a more conciliatory approach as it looks to curtail Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. With the range of North Korea’s missiles getting closer to North America, Tillerson is seeking a new approach as part of a trip to Japan, South Korea and China.

“Let me be very clear: this policy of strategic patience has ended,” Tillerson said. “All options are on the table. North Korea must understand that the only path to a secure, economically prosperous future is to abandon its development of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other weapons of mass destruction.”

COMMENT:  Diplomacy has failed with North Korea.  If Hillary Clinton had been elected, we would have simply continued the same diplomacy. 

The North Koreans are being sent a powerful message.  Field Marshal Obama is no longer in the White House.  How the North responds to our message may well turn out to be one of the most important stories of our time.

March 17, 2017       Permalink