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MAY 16,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:40 P.M. ET: 

ZIPPED UP – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  The White House told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Monday that Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes won't be testifying on Tuesday about his controversial comments on the Iran deal.  In a letter to Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Neil Eggleston, counsel to President Obama, said it would raise "constitutional concerns" if Rhodes were to testify. He also said Congress has been consulted enough.  Yeah, Congress was certainly consulted on the Iran deal.  The U.S. Senate wasn't even allowed to vote on it.  Great consultation.

MISUNDERSTANDING? – FROM FOX:   An item in the Milwaukee Public Schools' proposed budget listing $471,073 for Black Lives Matter has critics fuming, but district officials said Monday it is all a misunderstanding.  Although the budget draft lists the controversial activist group, whose members have called for attacks on police officers, as the recipient of the funds, school officials said much of the money would go to hiring and training three social studies teachers.  “No funding is going to any Black Lives Matter organization,” Tony Tagliavia, a spokesman for Milwaukee Public Schools told FoxNews.com in a statement. "The specific expenditures, which are also outlined in the budget proposal, are for three social studies teachers and staff development for other employees.”  So why is it listed as Black Lives Matter?  Who makes an error like that?

IT BEGINS –  FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:   A Dallas woman was questioned about her gender by a man who followed her into a bathroom because he said she was “dressed like a man.”  Jessica Rush told KXAS-TV she filmed the last seconds of the encounter on her cell phone Thursday afternoon at the Baylor Medical Center in Frisco, Tex.  “My first thought was ‘I’m about to be attacked’ just because I am 5 [foot]3, female,” Rush said. “I understand one thing if you are like a cop of the Dallas Police Department, but just some random guy coming in I think is absolutely absurd and inappropriate.”  Rush, who is not transgender, was receiving treatment for an injured arm at the hospital Thursday as so-called “bathroom bills” prompt debates about the use of public restrooms by transgender people.  Incidents like this are going to multiply because of all the publicity given to the issue. 

May 16, 2016       Permalink

AN IMPORTANT REVISION – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:   Anyone with common sense knows that crime is increasing in America, and that police reluctance to enter controversial situations (the "Ferguson effect") is part of the problem.   Obama, that great expert on law enforcement, doesn't agree, but now a scholar who originally denied the Ferguson effect is changing sides.  From Hot Air: 

University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist Richard Rosenfeld published a paper last June which argued that the “Ferguson Effect” was not real. Rosenfeld’s take on the matter was picked up by media outlets around the country.

All of these stories from 2015 rely on Rosenfeld’s analysis at least in part. But Rosenfeld has recently announced that he has changed his mind. The Guardian reports:

Looking at data from 56 large cities across the country, Rosenfeld found a 17% increase in homicide in 2015. Much of that increase came from only 10 cities, which saw an average 33% increase in homicide.

“These aren’t flukes or blips, this is a real increase,” he said. “It was worrisome. We need to figure out why it happened.”

All 10 cities that saw sudden increases in homicide had large African American populations, he said. While it’s not clear what drove the increases, he said, he believes there is some connection between high-profile protests over police killings of unarmed black men, a further breakdown in black citizens’ trust of the police, and an increase in community violence.

“The only explanation that gets the timing right is a version of the Ferguson effect,” Rosenfeld said. Now, he said, that’s his “leading hypothesis”.

Rosenfeld’s statement is very similar to what FBI Director Comey said last October, “It’s the one explanation that, to my mind, explains the calendar and the map and makes the most sense.” The new analysis has not been made public yet but should be out next month. Will the media be as eager to embrace Rosenfeld’s new hypothesis?

COMMENT:  I doubt if the media will go along with the latest research because it violates the party line of the political left, as parroted by the White House. 

But at least some people are showing some spine, and pointing out the facts – that when you constantly condemn the police, even good officers will pull back, rather than getting involved in a situation that can result in their being charged with some offense.

May 16, 2016       Permalink

THE TRUMP MYSTIQUE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  You can dislike him, as I do, and yet follow his every move, fascinated by a man who is a presumptive presidential nominee, and yet a man who has broken every rule.  Will Rahn, at  CBS News,  has an excellent analysis of the appeal of Donald Trump, one of the best I've read:     

There are plenty of factors that went into Trump becoming the presumptive GOP nominee, and the incessant media coverage of his every utterance and movement probably contributed to his sky-high negatives. But it's unserious, not to mention smug, to assume that Trump has been playing all of his Republican supporters for dupes. You don't need to worship Trump to vote for him. You don't even have to like him, or think he's always honest, because these are not the factors at the heart of Trump's appeal.

Consider this from Michael Cooper, a writer, attorney, and liberal Democrat who lives in rural North Carolina. "My Republican friends are for Trump. My state representative is for Trump," he wrote in U.S. News in March. "People who haven't voted in years are for Trump. He'll win the primary here on March 15 and he will carry this county in the general.

His supporters realize he's a joke. They do not care. They know he's authoritarian, nationalist, almost un-American, and they love him anyway, because he disrupts a broken political process and beats establishment candidates who've long ignored their interests."

This, I think, nicely sums up the core of Trump's support. Yes, there is a cult of personality around the candidate, and some of his backers do seem to think of him as a man who can do no wrong. But the breadth of Trump's support alone indicates that we're dealing with more than just full-fledged #TrumpTrain devotees. We're also dealing with the people Cooper writes about, the ones who aren't so enthralled with the man himself but recognize him as a change agent.

And the truth is that a President Trump would, of course, be a change agent. A Hillary win would likely take us to something like the pre-Trump status quo ante, which is one reason why so many D.C. and Wall Street Republicans will wind up supporting her -- they'll still know how to play the game in a second Clinton presidency.

COMMENT:  Well stated.  Very often people who are angry will overlook defects in the candidates they support because they have an overriding objective – changing the system, even smashing it to the ground.  I'm not saying this is healthy, but I think it explains why a clearly flawed man like Trump is getting so much traction.

May 16, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP FIGHTS BACK – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  I'm not a Trump fan, in part because he's often so coarse, but I rather liked his reply to an attack by the diplomatically challenged new mayor of London, who is a Muslim.  From Britain's Mirror:

Donald Trump today launched an astonishing fresh attack on "nasty" Sadiq Khan and admitted he may not have a "good relationship" with David Cameron after he vowed to ban Muslims from the US.

The billionaire Republican hit back after London's first Muslim mayor warned his "ignorant" views on religion will make the world less safe if he becomes President.

David Cameron also said Mr Trump's plan for a temporary border ban was "stupid, divisive and wrong".

Yet in an interview with Piers Morgan, Mr Trump said he was offended by Mr Khan's "ignorant" remarks and even challenged him to an IQ test.

"He doesn't know me, hasn't met me, doesn't know what I'm on about," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain host.

"I think they're very rude statements and frankly tell him I will remember those statements. They're very nasty statements.

"I think it's ignorant for him to say that."

He added: "We have a tremendous problem with radical Islamic terror. Look at it worldwide. The world is blowing up and it's not people from Sweden that's doing the damage, OK?"

COMMENT:  Right on, Donald.  Sometimes it takes a blunt guy to tell the truth.

May 16,  2016     Permalink

MAY 15,  2016

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

NUTBAGS – From The College Fix:   Students in the country illegally and their allies at Georgetown University are angry over the school’s decision to host Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson as a keynote speaker at an upcoming graduation ceremony, saying his presence makes them feel unsafe and uncomfortable and that he must be disinvited.  Johnson is set to be the speaker at the commencement for Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service on May 21.  Instead of a degree, these children should be given elementary-school diplomas.

NOTHING TO SEE, NOTHING TO SEE – From Fox:   The latest issue of Al Qaeda’s online magazine Inspire released Saturday calls on would-be jihadis to undermine the American economy by targeting business leaders and entrepreneurs, according to analysts who monitor web chatter from the jihadist organization.  The newest edition obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) features a cover with the headline “Professional Assassinations” and the subhead “Home Assassinations,” which the depiction of a hooded killer watching an upscale home from the outside.  We're sure they're just kidding.   They're such practical jokers.  Choke.

IS THIS PRESIDENTIAL? – From the L.A. Times: –   Attending a rally for Bernie Sanders usually involves long lines and security screenings, but that wasn’t the case at an intimate, informal event Friday evening supporting the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign in a park here.  Instead of metal detectors, entrance required burning ceremonial sweetgrass.  Participants were “smudged,” meaning the smoke from the sweetgrass was wafted over them before they could enter the sacred circle and begin a Wiccan ritual to support Sanders ahead of Oregon’s primary on Tuesday.   Sanders is nailing down the Wiccan vote.  Hillary must be panicking.  Those are her people.

May 15, 2016       Permalink

REPUBLICAN TROUBLES – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  There really is a war going on inside the Republican Party.  It's the Trump people versus the anti-Trump people, and it's getting vicious.  It threatens to consume some of the party's best people.  From Breitbart: 

From Kyle Cheney writing at Politico:

Sen. Ben Sasse’s outspoken rejection of Donald Trump is roiling Nebraska Republican politics, and the discord is threatening to boil over at the state’s GOP convention Saturday.

A prominent Nebraska political operative — who is the nephew of senior GOP Sen. Deb Fischer — is behind a move to publicly rebuke the anti-Trump movement. Sam Fischer has issued a proposed resolution — set for a vote at the convention — declaring that the state party will refuse to support any Republican officeholder who opposes the GOP presidential nominee or agitates for a third-party candidate.

Though the measure doesn’t name Sasse, the junior senator is clearly the target. He has become the most prominent elected Republican to embrace the “#NeverTrump” movement and call for a conservative candidate to join the field. He recently reiterated his support for a February Facebook post in which he shredded Trump as ill-suited to be president and said he’d refuse to support him as the nominee.

COMMENT:  This is sad.  Sasse is one of the most outstanding young Republicans in Congress.  He is a possible future president.  It would be tragic to see him consumed by the Trump issue, an issue that will be resolved either by Trump becoming president, or by him being defeated, and fading from politics in half a second. 

There are always little civil wars within parties.  This threatens to become a big one, but the Republican National Committee did some very good work this week in bringing Trump together with party leaders.  That work must continue through the convention.

May 15, 2016       Permalink

A FINE MAN SPEAKS – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  It's college commencement time.  Many speeches will be given.  Most are forgettable.   A few are memorable.  Always count on Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas for wisdom.  From the Washington Examiner:   

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged college graduates who seek to "preserve liberty" to do so by fulfilling the duties of their daily vocations rather than attempting to achieve sweeping political goals.

"At the risk of understating what is necessary to preserve liberty in our form of government, I think more and more than it depends on good citizens, discharging their daily duties in their daily obligations," Thomas said Saturday during a commencement address at Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in Michigan.

Thomas lamented various aspects of contemporary society, especially with regard to colleges and universities. He diagnosed what he regards as a contemporary tendency to take pride in having "grievances rather than personal conduct" and to focus on individual rights as citizens, rather than responsibilities. "Hallmarks of my youth such as patriotism and religion seem more like outliers, if not afterthoughts," Thomas said.

He added, "Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness."

COMMENT:  Wonderful thoughts from a fine man.  Hillsdale College, where Justice Thomas spoke, is a conservative school that puts a premium on students understanding the Constitution.  I doubt if Clarence Thomas gets many invitations from so-called "prestigious" colleges.  They go for the trendies.

May 15, 2016       Permalink

WHAT A GREAT DEAL WE GOT – AT 10:07 A.M. ET:  I marvel at the American diplomacy that got us the Iran nuclear deal.  Why aren't we peasants more appeciative?  From The Times of Israel:

Iran is enhancing its nuclear activities, and has improved its capacity to enrich uranium, Iran’s nuclear chief told a gathering of his country’s diplomats in Tehran on Saturday.

“We are enhancing the industrial section of Iran’s nuclear activities technologically with modern systems and machines,” said Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran who was a key figure in the negotiation of last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and the US-led P5+1 world powers.

Salehi spoke of advances in enrichment capability, asserting that the quality of process of uranium enrichment in Iran is also progressing, according to the Tehran Times.

Iran’s IRNA state news agency reported: “Salehi said that Iran’s nuclear program is on the right path naturally and compatible with the strategic plans of the country in a transparent way based on international factors.”

He also told the envoys, at a conference that focused on the nuclear deal, that Iran is establishing itself as an exporter of nuclear products, including heavy water. “We have improved the country’s situation in the field of the civilian nuclear energy,” Salehi said, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

COMMENT:  And in ten or so years, when the nuclear agreement expires, Iran will be well positioned to build atomic bombs.  By that time Obama will be secretary-general of the UN, and will be glad to welcome Iran as a major power. 

And we'll be left with targets on our backs.

May 15,  2016     Permalink