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MARCH 30,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:49 P.M. ET: 

SIGN OF OUR TIMES – FROM FOX:   Citing a disturbing trend of new soldiers lacking both proper discipline and physical fitness, senior U.S. Army leaders are calling for a tougher and longer basic training program to prepare troops for combat over the next decade.  “We have every reason to get this right, and far fewer reasons not to,” Secretary of the Army Mark Esper said at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force Symposium in Alabama on Monday. “That’s why we are considering several initiatives — from a new physical fitness regime to reforming and extending basic training — in order to ensure our young men and women are prepared for the rigors of high-intensity combat.”  While Esper didn’t divulge any details of what an extended Basic Combat Training (BCT) might look like, the Army has already floated the idea of adding two weeks to its 10-week program. A redesigned BCT is expected to be implemented by early summer.  Yes, our young people too often lack proper discipline and physical fitness.  You don't think that has anything to do with our educational system, do you?

TESLA ACCIDENT REPORT – FROM THE HILL:  Tesla revealed late Friday that the fatal crash in California last week occurred after the vehicle involved was placed on Autopilot.  The electric car company said in a press release after reviewing the Model X’s computer logs that the in-car driver, identified as Apple engineer Wei Huang, had been instructed to take control of the steering wheel but ignored the warning.  “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” Tesla said in its press release...The company said it stands by the use of Autopilot, saying that autonomous cars are 10 times safer than non-autonomous cars. Previous crashes involving Tesla vehicles operating on Autopilot have been investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.   We'll have to get used to reports like this because there'll be many more of them.  Driverless or computer-assisted cars where drivers simply monitor the operation are coming, as are autonomous trucks.  There will be accidents, especially at the beginning.  But I have no doubt that safety will be much greater in the long run.  After all, the computer won't be out drinking, or trying to text while driving. 

I CAN'T WAIT – FROM USA TODAY:  For the first time, an NFL team will have men as part of its official spirit squad.   Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies, named to the Los Angeles Rams squad this week, will be the first ones to perform the same routine as the female dancers. The Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts have men who perform stunts with female cheerleaders, but don't dance.  Peron and Jinnies are both classically trained dancers and have been performing their entire lives.  But what made them take this groundbreaking step?  "I thought, 'Why not me? Why can't I do this?' " Peron said in an interview Wednesday on ABC-TV's Good Morning America.   Well, okay, I have to admit that there have been male cheerleaders before, especially in colleges.  But couldn't they have given the women of football this one area to themselves?  The NFL has lost viewers this year, in part to their PC tolerance of players "taking a knee" to protest what they saw as injustice.  This just looks like more PC.

March 30,  2018     Permalink

WHAT A JERK – AT 12:35 P.M. ET:  It amazes me how many people, of both parties, get a chance to serve in a high position in government, and mess it up because of their own greed.  If it's someone on our side, we have to take the offense seriously and send that someone packing.  From the New York Post: 

EPA chief Scott Pruitt paid just $50 a night to crash in a condo co-owned by the wife of a lobbyist with clients regulated by his agency — a huge savings over the average price of a hotel room in Washington, DC.

Pruitt paid to rent the room in the two-bedroom condo only on nights when he actually slept there, Bloomberg News reported.

White House officials are freaking out about Pruitt’s living arrangement as well as his foot-dragging before handing over documents about his lease or payments, the news service reported, citing three sources.

According to the website statista.com, the average price for a room at a DC hotel is about $270 — but that includes a medley of lodgings, from one-star dumps to luxe, five-star digs.

The questions follow criticism of Pruitt for traveling first class on airline flights and catering to the energy industry and other big businesses during his first year in office.

In all, Pruitt paid $6,100 to use the room for roughly six months, according to copies of the checks reviewed by Bloomberg.

COMMENT:  The most important part of this story is that the White House is "freaking out" about Pruitt's alleged behavior.  I never saw anyone in the Obama administration freak out about anything involving their own people.  Remember that Obama said there were no scandals on his watch.  Of course he wasn't watching.  The fact that the Trump White House is on this is good.  Let's see if the media gives this alert White House any credit.

If the charges are true, and they appear to be, Pruitt must become history.

March 30,  2018     Permalink

TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  Russia is going beyond expelling diplomats in its new cold war with the West.  From Fox: 

A new intercontinental ballistic missile hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as being able to fly over the North or South Poles and strike any target in the world reportedly was test-launched for the second time Friday.

Russia’s defense ministry released a video purportedly showing the Sarmat ICBM blasting off in spectacular fashion from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in its northern Arkhangelsk province, the move coming just hours after the Kremlin announced it would expel 60 American diplomats and close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg in retaliation for U.S. measures taken in response to the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

The video shows the missile – dubbed “Satan 2” by NATO -- rising out of the ground and seemingly floating in the air for a brief moment before more flames erupt, kicking up massive clouds of smoke and snow.

COMMENT:  Ah, Field Marshal Obama certainly left President Trump a peaceful, serene world.  You see, this launch is Trump's fault!  Warmonger.  Tough guy. 

He...wait a minute, that's not the party line.  He colludes with Russia.  Putin has Trump in his pocket.  Right.  Russia won the election for Trump.  He's soft on...

Maybe I should stop and get the latest line from Nancy Pelosi.  Or CNN.  Or someone who knows.

March 30,  2018    Permalink     

MARCH 29,  2018

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

HOLLYWOOD SHOWS ITS TRUE COLOR - GREEN - FROM FOX:  The reboot of ABC’s “Roseanne” premiere on Tuesday drew a staggering 18.2 million viewers. Now, another well-known show could be making its way back to television.  According to TMZ, FOX is reportedly considering a reboot of Tim Allen’s “Last Man Standing.” The show was canceled last year following rumors that it had to do with Allen’s conservative-leaning beliefs.  The show ran 130 episodes between 2011 and 2017 and centered on the life of Mike Baxtor, a senior employee at a sporting goods store in Denver, Colorado.  In addition to “Last Man Standing,” the show most likely to be revived is “How I Met Your Dad.”  FOX is also reportedly considering reboots of “That 70’s Show” and “Malcolm in the Middle.”  And watch for The Donald Trump Story, with Jane Fonda as Melania.  In Hollywood, if it pays, it stays.

SOMETHING ELSE TO WORRY ABOUT – FROM ABC LOCAL:   A judge ruled that Starbucks and other coffee sellers in California must provide a cancer warning on their products for customers.  A nonprofit group sued several companies that sell coffee, including Starbucks, coffee distributors and retailers in 2010.  The lawsuit claimed those companies violated state law, which requires them to warn consumers about chemicals in the roasting process that may cause cancer. One of those chemicals is acrylamide, which is a carcinogen.  Attorneys for about 90 companies said the chemical is present in the process, but that it's at harmless levels and is outweighed by the benefits of drinking a cup of coffee.  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said in a proposed decision that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show the threat from that chemical compound was insignificant.   And coffee also is known to cause global warming.  All those home brewers.  They get hot, they get hot

OH REALLY? – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder speculated this week on what would incentivize him to run for president.  Holder was asked in an interview with the New York Times about running for the highest office in the land. The reporter asked, “If you were gonna do it, why would you do it. If you didn’t do it, why would you not do it?”  Holder said “If I were gonna do it, I’d do it because I would have concluded that maybe I could unify the country… help unify the country.” Holder said he could also “advance” and “repair” the country as president.  Holder said, “I had something to contribute, that would be the thing that would push me toward considering a run.”  I just hear the wanting of Holder, don't you?  It's a murmur, but it's getting louder.  I hear as many as three people.

March 29, 2018       Permalink

SAME OLD STORY – AT 2:14 P.M. ET:  The Russkies have now retaliated for President Trump's expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats.  Some of our people will be coming home.  I don't know if they get frequent-flyer miles.  From Bloomberg: 

Russia is expelling 60 U.S. diplomats and ordering the closure of the American consulate in St. Petersburg, mirroring the expulsion of Russian diplomats by the U.S., Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Lavrov announced the retaliatory measures to reporters in Moscow on Thursday. In addition, he signaled a similar response to European countries that are kicking out Russian diplomats over a nerve-agent attack in England.

“As far as the other countries go, it will all be mirrored in terms of the numbers of people who will leave the Russian Federation from the diplomatic missions’ staff,” Lavrov said.

COMMENT:  This will go on for a time, but I suspect that Putin, who's a shrewd tactician, will realize that his antics are producing negative results.  What we may see is a classic, Russian, charm offensive, and increased collaboration with leftist groups in the West.  Even at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had its cadres in the West, many on college campuses.  Expect to see the same thing again.

Russia is playing hardball with an increasingly strong military, but a weak economy.  However, the Soviet Union fought World War II with a third-world economy, and made mincemeat of Nazi forces.  Never underestimate the Russian bear.

March 29, 2018       Permalink

MAJOR STEPS – AT 12:53 P.M. ET:   There is movement in the Korean situation.  This must be attributed to the pressure President Trump has expertly applied to North Korea.  From CNN:

(CNN)  The leaders of North and South Korea will meet on April 27 for the first time since 2007, the two countries announced Thursday after high-level talks.

The landmark meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un will be held at Freedom House on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), according to the joint statement issued after the talks.

Officials from both sides will hold working-level talks on April 4 to prepare for the meeting and agree on security and media arrangements, it added.

The summit will be seen as a victory for Moon, who has long been pushing hard for diplomatic relations with North Korea. He said at his swearing-in ceremony in 2017 "for peace on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything that I can do."

The last Inter-Korean summit was held in October 2007, when then President Roh Moo-hyun met Kim's father, Kim Jong Il.

The confirmation of the summit is the outcome of weeks of hurried diplomacy, after a surprise thaw in relations on the Korean peninsula earlier this year.

In January, the North Korean government unexpectedly resumed communications with South Korea and agreed to talks, sending a team to South Korea's Winter Olympics.

COMMENT:   President Trump is expected to meet with the North Korean dictator, whom he correctly labeled "Rocket Man," in May.  Obviously, caution is called for.  Mr Trump is taking a gamble that he can negotiate Kim Jong Un into an agreement that will end, or at least freeze, North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.  The problem, of course, is that we've tried that before, without success. 

This time, though, may be different.  Trump is not Obama.  He understands the word "results."  He is not afraid to back away from a bad deal.  To Obama, almost any piece of paper was a good deal. ( I understand he will soon be given the Neville Chamberlain Award for negotiating excellence.)

Dramatic days ahead.  President Reagan liked to quote the Russian proverb, "Trust, but verify."  Good advice.

March 29,  2018     Permalink

SUPERB – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  The economic signs are getting stronger, especially in employment, something real people, as opposed to liberals, feel every day.  From Bloomberg: 

U.S. filings for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level since January 1973, further evidence that the labor market remains tight, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.

Claims at the lowest level in 45 years underscore a persistent shortage of qualified workers that has made employers reluctant to fire staff. Applications for jobless benefits below the 300,000 tally are typically considered consistent with a healthy labor market.

Other aspects of the job market remain robust, with payrolls continuing to exceed expectations and an unemployment rate near the lowest since late 2000. Steady employment will help to sustain consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy.

The report reflects the annual revision to seasonal adjustment factors for initial and continuing claims from 2013 to present.

COMMENT:  Last week's application number fell to about 230,000.  The employment picture is robust, although the media will now go to work to prove it ain't so. 

This situation, however, does not guarantee a Republican victory in the midterms.  Many factors go into how people vote.  The year 2000, under Clinton, was also a good economic year, but a Republican, George W. Bush, squeezed by to win the presidency.

There is talk in Washington of another tax cut.  Bring it on.

March 29,  2018     Permalink