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MARCH 19,  2018

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

A MODERN BLACKLIST – FROM FOX:   Support for the current president of the United States forced two Chicago music store owners to close their business because of threats and negative publicity they were receiving.  Suzzanne Monk and Alexander Duvel own "Worlds of Music Chicago" but will be shuttering their brick-and-mortar business in April because of extenuating circumstances, they told "Fox & Friends Weekend."  Monk said she visited the University of Illinois-Chicago to attend the infamous Trump rally that was ultimately shut down by protesters last summer, and she and her husband later posted about the experience online...Since then, she and Duvel have received online threats and a decline in business, and that word of the duo's political beliefs have led customers to be fearful of recommending or even visiting their shop...Monk said that even people the two have known for a long time have "decide[d] we're white supremacists, we're xenophobes, not out of any evidence... only evidence that we have voted for Donald Trump."  This is modern McCarthyism, nothing less.  Yet, notice the silence of so-called "civil libertarians."  What hypocrites.  What phonies.

BUT SOME STRIKE BACK – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A Philadelphia man is suing a New York City cocktail lounge over allegations the bartenders refused to serve him because he was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, the New York Post reported.  Accountant Greg Piatek said he was visiting "The Happiest Hour" near Greenwich Village after a tour of the 9/11 Memorial with some friends, when he took a seat at the bar wearing President Donald Trump's signature campaign hat.  The first bartender served him a beverage, but when he called for a second he was ignored, Piatek, 30, said.  One of Piatek's friends got a bartender's attention and asked that he be served, only to be asked whether the man's hat was "a joke." "I can't believe you would support someone so terrible and you must be terrible as a person," another bartender yelled at him.  "Don't even try to order from me," Piatek said she told him.  The bar's owner reportedly told Piatek that "anyone who supports Trump... is not welcome here, and you need to leave right now because we won't serve you."  I don't know what the law is on this, but I hope Piatek finds a way to win his suit.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   West Virginia University-Parkersburg stopped giving students placement exams for math and English this year, as well as eliminating remedial math and English courses altogether.  The hope is that a less challenging workload will raise the rate at which WVUP students stay in school and eventually graduate, which might burnish WVUP’s reputation more than it benefits students.  I wonder if the "educators" asked potential employers what they think of this.

March 19,  2017     Permalink

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – AT 1:29 P.M. ET:  The University of Maryland, a public university, joins the trendies.  From Fox:   

The University of Maryland is facing backlash from some conservative groups because they are creating an “undocumented student coordinator” position.

Advocates for strict enforcement of immigration laws say the university’s move is putting politics ahead of the law and at the taxpayers’ expense.

The decision follows a campus group, ProtectUMD, who issued 64 demands of university officials. One of those demands calls for “a full-time undocumented student coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented students.” In the 2017 debate over immigration reform, one person's “undocumented immigrant” is another person's “illegal immigrant.”

Bob Dane, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says Maryland’s move is about advancing a political agenda on campus and one that is opposed to the reforms the Trump administration wants.

“It's about politics and this protest isn't legitimate. A university can disagree with the law, but that doesn't give them the right to aid and abet and harbor illegal immigration, which is really what all of these sanctuary policies and those at the University of Maryland are all about,” said Dane.

COMMENT:  Our universities are increasingly embarrassing, although, in truth, there's always been quite a bit of embarrassment coming from the halls of "higher education," both here and abroad.  Maybe the public will get fed up with how tax money is being spent.

March 19, 2017        Permalink

THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  It wasn't a city under siege.  But today Paris, because of terrorism, is gaining a reputation as a dangerous place.  Yesterday, an Islamist terrorist was shot dead trying to grab a gun from a police officer.   From London's Express: 

The latest incident could not have come at a worse time for tourism chiefs still reeling from the impact of the attacks on the Bataclan theatre in Paris and in Nice.

They will be worried that even more visitors will be scared off from booking Easter breaks in Paris.

However, they will be delighted that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge posed for heart-warming pictures at the Eiffel Tower before travelling to the Stade de France to watch Wales take on France in the Six Nations rugby match yesterday.

The message the royal couple sent to potential visitors hours after yet more violence on the streets was unmistakable – don’t give in to the terrorists and don’t be put off visiting one of the greatest countries on earth.

It won’t take long for France’s tourism chiefs to see if that powerful message got through as they constantly check the all-important visitor numbers to assess the cost of terror on the economy.

A recent report said that terror attacks, strikes and floods cost the Paris region tourism industry £644 million in the first six months or so of last year.

As the region gets 13 per cent of its gross domestic product from tourism the huge losses are having an effect on people’s lives and lifestyles.

Last year an estimated 85 million people visited France, generating seven per cent of the country’s GDP, but the country needs millions more to boost a flagging economy.

COMMENT:  That's a good message for those, like Field Marshal Obama, who keep telling us that terrorism is exaggerated.  The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize, and that's exactly what has happened in France, which has been hit many times.  There's no indication that Paris has seen the last of it.  In fact, the threat seems to be growing.  It has a devastating effect...the spreading of fear.

March 19, 2017       Permalink

COMING SOON TO A TV SCREEN NEAR YOU – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  Confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump, begin tomorrow.  He's one of the most qualified nominees we've ever seen, but expect some silliness from Dem senators eager to prove to their base that they're loyal to "the resistance," whatever that is these days.  From Fox: 

President Trump's choice to sit on the Supreme Court will get his turn in the political spotlight Monday after laying low for weeks. But what has traditionally been a high-profile confirmation fight is approaching with barely a whimper from the opposition party.

While Democratic leaders have revived their public criticism of Neil Gorsuch in recent days, liberal advocacy groups have all but abandoned efforts to defeat his nomination through public opinion -- with scant paid issue advertising or public rallies.

Many progressives lament Democratic senators have been distracted by other ideological fights.

A group led by NARAL Pro-Choice America recently sent a blistering letter to Senate Democrats slamming lawmakers for not putting up more of a fight against Gorsuch ahead of Monday's confirmation hearing.

"Democrats have failed to demonstrate a strong, unified resistance to this nominee despite the fact that he is an ultra-conservative jurist who will undermine our basic freedoms and threaten the independence of the federal judiciary," said the letter. "We need you to do better."

The justices themselves hope the arrival of Gorsuch will end what court sources say has been a tense 13-month period since Justice Antonin Scalia's sudden passing. The current 4-4 ideological divide has kept the court off its internal workplace rhythms -- operating in something of a judicial vacuum, reluctant to tackle hot-button issues that would lead to precedent-setting impact.

Despite the criticism from some on the left, the Senate minority promises tough questions for the nominee.

"If he shows in his answers that he is out of the mainstream as his opinions indicate he very well may be," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., "I will use every tool available, including the filibuster, to oppose him."

COMMENT:  Gorsuch will almost certainly be confirmed, as Republicans have the power to invoke the "nuclear option," requiring only 51 votes to break a filibuster and proceed to a confirmation vote.  Normally it would take 60 votes to break the filibuster.

I don't expect many fireworks during the hearings, which will be televised, but maybe we shouldn't underestimate the Democratic Party's penchant for useless stagecraft.

March 19,  2017     Permalink

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