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MARCH 20,  2017

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

SOMETHING'S UP – FROM REUTERS:   Passengers traveling on certain U.S.-bound foreign airline flights will have to check electronic devices larger than a cell phone once U.S. authorities formalize a new ban in response to an unspecified terrorism threat, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday.  The new rule is expected to be announced Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security, the officials said, adding that it had been under consideration since the U.S. government learned of a threat several weeks ago.  A source said the rule would cover around eight to 10 foreign airlines. A separate government official confirmed an Associated Press report that the ban will affect 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa.  There are no updates on this story.  We'll follow it tomorrow.  Obviously some very credible threats are involved.

FOX REPORTEDLY YANKS LONGTIME COMMENTATOR – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:   Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is being kept off the air indefinitely amid the controversy over his unverified claims that British intelligence wiretapped Trump Tower at the behest of former President Obama.  Fox News did not respond to inquiries about Napolitano’s status Monday. Napolitano was conspicuously missing from the network’s coverage of the confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch — an event in which he typically would have played a significant role. He has not been on the air since Thursday.  People familiar with the situation who could speak only on the condition of anonymity said Napolitano is not expected to be on Fox News Channel any time in the near future. Napolitano was not available for comment.  The judge is entitled to defend himself on the air.  Seems to me Fox may be making a premature judgment. 

DIZZY LIZZY – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has changed her media strategy amid low poll numbers in her home state by making herself more available to the press in Massachusetts.  Warren's "creative media-dodging habits are a running joke among her home-state press corps," Politico reported over the weekend. "Whenever the senator makes a public appearance, Massachusetts reporters know to keep one eye fixed on the exit doors."  Last week, however, the Massachusetts Democrat held three open-to-media events in her home state. Each event was followed by lengthy huddles with reporters.  This is what happens when a senator loses contact with her home state on her way to becoming a national celebrity.  Home staters resent it, and poll numbers follow.  She is vulnerable in next year's midterm elections, if Republicans can come up with an opponent who can excite Massachusetts.

March 20, 2017       Permalink

HEARINGS HERE, HEARINGS THERE, HEARINGS EVERYWHERE – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  The Hill is alive with the sound of...no, not music, but hearings.

They're grilling the FBI director about Russkie interference in our 2016 election.   And somewhere else on the Hill, Neil Gorsuch is in the first day of his confirmation hearings for the US Supreme Court.  We'll follow those hearings and tell you if there's any actual news.  So far, nothing surprising.  Comey said he had no information backing Trump's charges that Obama wiretapped him, but we knew Comey would say that.  In the Gorsuch hearings, Dems are exposing their delicate mental condition, suggesting that the judge, one of the most respected jurists in the country, is an extremist redneck nut.  They're making fools of themselves.  But that isn't news.

Oh, elsewhere, there's this little tidbit, from the Washington Free Beacon: 

A number of top Democratic lobbyist bundlers, who together pulled in millions of dollars for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and donated generously to Democratic leaders, personally represent or work at firms that have represented Russian interests in recent years, according to a review of foreign agent registration filings.

Several powerful lobbyists who have pushed millions of dollars into Democratic coffers have ties to foreign banks and governments.

Emanuel "Mike" Manatos, the senior vice president of Manatos & Manatos, a D.C.-based government relations firm, bundled tens of thousands for Clinton's campaign.

"Mike Manatos has orchestrated efforts that set numerous records in the policymaking process of the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Executive Branch as he moved clients’ issues forward," the company's website states. "This record of success for clients’ issues has attracted some of the world’s and America’s leading individuals and organizations to ask Manatos & Manatos to oversee the handling of their issues in Washington, D.C."

One of those clients was the VTB Group, a Russian financial group that includes the VTB Bank—a large financial institution that is majority-owned by the Russian government.

COMMENT:  Just thought you'd like to know.  Read the whole thing.  It's juicy.  The Dems are faking some new anguish about Russia.  But their backers don't seem to share the concern.  You know what talks, and what walks.

March 20, 2017       Permalink

AMERICA TAKES A STAND – AT 10:40 A.M. ET:  One of the most disgraceful things the Obama administration did was to put the U.S. into the UN's despicable Human Rights Council, a misnamed body containing many of the world's greatest human-rights violators.  That "council" has made a mockery of human rights, and spends most of its time condemning Israel, the only democracy in the Mideast.

Now, under Donald Trump, America is saying, "Enough!"  It's about time.  From Fox:   

The Trump administration said Monday that it is boycotting a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, amid growing concerns by the administration over the U.N.’s anti-Israel stance.

The boycott, first reported by The Washington Free Beacon, comes as the council was expected to adopt a number of anti-Israel resolutions Monday. The council has long been criticized as one of the U.N.’s most anti-Israel bodies.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that one particular agenda item -- "Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories” – was “yet another reminder of that body's long-standing bias against Israel.”

“As an expression of our deeply-held conviction that this bias must be addressed in order for the Council to realize its legitimate purpose, the United States decided not to attend the Council's Item Seven General Debate session,” Toner said, adding that the U.S. will vote against every resolution under the agenda item, and encourage other countries to do the same.

The council was set up in 2006 as a successor to the Human Rights Commission -- which was also criticized for its anti-Israel stance. The Bush administration refused to join the new body, but the Obama administration applied for membership, arguing it could better influence the council from the inside.

Another concern for the U.S. is the makeup of the 47-member council – which includes countries with poor human rights records, such as China, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

COMMENT:  I suspect that the real reason Obama joined the Council was that he really had no problem with its biases and its makeup.  Obama was never much of a champion of human freedom, and got along quite well with dictatorships, Muslim and otherwise.  Recall that he normalized relations with Cuba but never made any human-rights demands of the Castro boys. 

Our ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is doing a spectacular job, and is a far cry from Obama's errand girl, Samantha Power.  I'm guessing that Ambassador Haley will be on a Republican national ticket someday.

March 20, 2017        Permalink

WILL BERNIE BE THE HOMEWRECKER AGAIN? – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  The troops of the Sanders collective are getting restless.  They want blood, and the first available supply will appear during the 2018 election campaign.  What will Bernie do?  From MSM: 

With Democrats facing tough prospects in the midterm elections, will they also have to worry about primary challenges from their left flank?

During his presidential campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders never quite decided whether his "political revolution" could coexist with the Democratic Party or needed to overthrow it. Now, Sanders is one of the most popular political figures in the country and the activists he galvanized have gone on to start new groups, join old ones, or run electoral campaigns.

The path of Sanders's former staffers reflects the split in his movement, and the some are already galvanizing for the 2018 elections — and setting their sights on their own.

Rep. Keith Ellison, one of Sanders' most prominent allies, preached unity during his bid for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee and is now the party's deputy chairman.

But the more radical strain, which led hundreds of Sanders delegates to walk out of the Democratic National Convention in protest last summer, is still present on the left and emboldened by the loss of Hillary Clinton and their belief that "Bernie would have won."

Some are betting that the disaffected left is as or more interested in remaking the Democratic Party as it is in fighting President Donald Trump.

While they've yet to prove they are capable of being any kind of a force to be reckoned with, a handful of groups that grew out of the Sanders movement have already begun issuing primary threats against Democratic incumbents.

One called #WeWillReplaceYou has warned specific members of congress it may challenge them. But it promises to use discretion in targeting only those Democrats it feels have strayed from the party.

Another new group staffed by ex-Sanders aides, Justice Democrats, has less clear plans. While their audacious talk isn't backed up at the moment, they have an innovative model that could be used to run a large slate of candidates on the cheap against possibly dozens of incumbents.

This week, Justice Democrats merged operations with another anti-incumbent group founded by former Sanders aides, Brand New Congress, which started last year.

"The point is we've watched this party over the last decade lose over 1,000 seats, lose a national election to least popular nominee in history, Donald Trump, and now we've seen poll after poll showing the Democratic Party less popular since election day," Brand New Congress' Corbin Trent said in an interview. "What we think is the American people are ready for a new direction."

COMMENT:  They're delusional, as leftists usually are.  They actually believe Americans are yearning for someone to the left of Barack Obama.

However, never underestimate the ability of the Republican Party to lose elections.  If Republicans, including the man at the top, mess up in the coming year, it could provide an incentive for an energized Sanders camp to try to take over the Democratic Party, in anticipation of the 2020 presidential race.

And never underestimate the role of a leftist press in advancing a true leftist insurgency.  Look what they did for Obama.

March 20,  2017     Permalink

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