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MAY 12,  2017

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

WRIGHT IS RIGHT – FROM FOX BUSINESS:   Former NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright said you don't have to look far to find examples of the mainstream media's bias against President Trump. "It's everywhere," Wright told the FOX Business Network's Stuart Varney. “It’s just unfortunate, but it doesn't seem to be hurting...he's accomplishing a great deal."   Wright pointed to the US trade agreement with China and the government’s budget surplus as examples of the administration’s achievements so far.  “I saw [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross this morning.  This trade agreement with China, that’s usually a four-year discussion to get something like that moving. Things that are happening, you know, hitting that surplus was just billions and billions of dollars.”  When Varney pressed Wright on whether he was correct that the media was going after Trump in a very extreme and personal way, Wright responded, “Of course you are.”  I'd like to see more veterans of the mainstream media speak out about the intense bias of the media.  It's a national disgrace.

A FOOD REVOLUTION – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A trip to Whole Foods may no longer consume your whole paycheck.  Faced with declining same-store sales in recent years, Whole Foods is transforming itself into a supermarket with lower costs and prices. That’s likely to be a boon for customers who have been enticed away from the high-end organic grocer by cheaper competitors like Trader Joe’s and Kroger, where prices on comparable products are as much as 15 percent lower. Indeed, Kroger has overtaken the high-end organic grocer as the largest seller of organic and natural food in America.  “There’s a lot of pricing pressure because their customers can get the same type of healthy food at lower costs at places like Walmart,” says Michelle Grant, head of retailing research at Euromonitor.  Most immediately, this means price cuts for frozen food and milk and butter are coming your way. In a recent conference call with stock analysts, Whole Foods execs said that they had been testing price reductions in the former category with “really great results.” It’s also launching a pilot program this summer to cut costs — and price tags — of dairy products.   Competitive free enterprise at work.  The customer benefits.

GONE? – FROM FOX:  “President Trump took on the media and James Comey in a string of fiery tweets Friday morning, warning the ousted FBI director not to leak details of their conversations while suggesting he could cancel future press briefings -- in response to the media uproar over his team's changing narrative on Comey's firing.   In doing so, the president also gave cover to his embattled representatives who have scrambled to reconcile the president's recent statements and the administration's original explanation.   “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!” Trump wrote. “Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???”  Not a bad idea, actually.  I've always thought most press briefings are a waste of time.  The questions often seem to be attempts by reporters to show that they're respectably liberal.

May 12, 2017       Permalink

BRILLIANCE IN GOVERNMENT – 9:14 A.M. ET:   I guess this is the equivalent of a kid taking his marbles and going home.  From Daily Caller: 

WASHINGTON — Democrats continued their efforts to slow down business in the Senate Thursday in order to pressure the Trump Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor for the Russia investigation and to give into other demands.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went to the floor and demanded that Attorney General Jeff Sessions not be involved in the search for former FBI Director James Comey’s replacement.

“Attorney General Sessions, who had to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, played a significant role in firing the man who was leading it. Not only that, the Attorney General is now reportedly leading the search to replace Mr. Comey,” Schumer said. “He’s helping select the next FBI Director who will be in charge of an investigation that he cannot oversee. What an irony.”

He added, “This Attorney General should not oversee the hiring process of the next FBI Director. His role will jaundice the entire process if it hasn’t already.”

That's absurd.  The attorney general oversees the FBI and will continue to do so.

And...

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins took to the floor Wednesday and vented her frustration that the Senate Aging Committee hearing had been shut down when Senate Democrats invoked the two-hour rule which can prevent committee hearings from happening.

“We have witnesses who have come here from four different states,” the Collins said. “How does that contribute to solving anything that has to do with Jim Comey’s firing? I mean, it’s just ridiculous.”

COMMENT:   Of course it's ridiculous.  The Democrats believe that democracy functions only when they win elections.  If they don't win, they declare the winner illegitimate, as they did with George W. Bush.

May 12,  2017     Permalink

HERE IT COMES – AT 8:18 A.M. ET:  This was inevitable – government by quota.  Coming soon to some institution near you.  From Fox: 

One of the U.S. Senate's newest members is proposing to shake up the chamber by mandating "diversity" quotas for everything from staffs to committees.

A proposal by Nevada’s freshman Democratic senator, Catherine Cortez Masto, could mimic efforts in corporate America. Large companies across the country, particularly those in Silicon Valley, have been under intense pressure to hire more minorities.

Cortez Masto thinks it should be a Congressional priority, too.

“We should be mandating diversity in our committees, mandating diversity in our hiring practices, mandating diversity throughout the United States Senate,” Cortez Masto told the podcast Women Rule. “You just have to walk in the room and look at the Senators that are there — the 100 Senators, right? You could see the lack of diversity.”

The senator said all members of Congress should make diversity a priority in hiring practices – whether it is staff members they are hiring for their office or staffers on Congressional committees.

COMMENT:  Whatever happened to the concept of hiring by qualifications, by ability, by talent?  Well, I guess it's a very old-fashioned idea.  Senator Masto's proposal will eventually be accepted, and the result will be the equality of mediocrity.

Of course we should try to be inclusive.  But I don't want critical government functions run by people selected by a quota system.  It's madness.  In the end, it's fatal.

May 12, 2017       Permalink

GREAT MOMENTS IN JOURNALISM – AT 8:11 A.M. ET:  Lester Holt, liberal enforcer from NBC News, interviewed President Trump.  I have no idea why Trump still agrees to these interviews.  They are nothing more than ambushes.  From Breitbart: 

NBCNews.com on Thursday posted a two minute and 34 second preview clip of anchor Lester Holt’s exclusive sit-down with President Donald Trump. The clip features Holt conducting an interrogation-like interview in which the NBC personality interrupted Trump nine times and spoke over the president on many of those occasions.

The short clip is part of a 31-minute White House interview set to air Thursday night on NBC Nightly News.

In the clip, Holt can be seen questioning almost every statement made by Trump.
In one instance, Holt asked Trump about his May 9 letter ousting F.B.I Director James Comey in which Trump wrote, “I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation.”

Holt asked Trump, “Why did you put that in there?”

Trump replied, “Because he told me that. I mean, he told me…”

Before Trump could finish his sentence, Holt interrupted, asking, “He told you you weren’t under investigation regarding the Russian investigation?”

“Yeah, and I’ve heard that from others. I think…” Trump began to respond before Holt interrupted again.

“Was it in a phone call? Did you meet face-to-face?” Holt interjected, speaking over Trump.
“I had a dinner with him. He wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. We had a very nice dinner at the White House…”

Holt spoke over Trump again, interrupting this time by asking, “He, he asked for the dinner?”
“A dinner was arranged. I think he asked for a dinner.”

Holt interrupted Trump again when Trump was explaining he knew that he wasn’t under investigation both from Comey three times and from a “committee level.”

COMMENT:  That's what they call great journalism at NBC.   Any one of you could make a list of the vital subjects that Holt won't ask about.  The dream of today's liberal journalists is to bring Trump down, to get him impeached and removed.

Some journalists are already starting to ask members of Congress about impeachment.  (Over what, nobody knows?)  The standard Dem answer right now is that impeachment is a long way off.  But you can see the glint in their eye.  

May 12,  2017     Permalink

MAY 11,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 5:25 P.M. ET: 

FAKE NEWS – FROM SINCLAIR:   WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he's not quitting, nor did he threaten to quit over his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey.  When asked by Sinclair Broadcast Group's Michelle Macaluso about reports that claim otherwise, he stated "no, I'm not quitting."...The Washington Post reported Wednesday night that "Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey," citing an unnamed source close to the White House.  Beware fake news.  It's all over the place.  The press has had a collective nervous breakdown over the Comey firing.  Facts don't seem to be important.

THE MADNESS GOES ON – FROM DAILY CALLER:   The University of Rochester’s student government has decided that participation in single-gender organizations is a form of “discrimination.”
The ruling from Rochester’s All-Campus Judicial Council (ACJC) applies to 37 student organizations, spanning from club sports and a cappella groups to Greek life, reported Campus Reform Tuesday.  While several student government representatives tried to exempt Greek life from the ruling, arguing the groups do not receive funding from the school’s Student Association, Rochester’s ACJC said they could still be subjected to the ruling since they use resources funded by the Student Association.  Rochester’s student government identified phrases like “any and all women” and “men of principle” as potentially violating the Friday ruling.   The stench of fascism is in the air.  The people who will be most hurt by this will be women.  No more women's basketball or soccer.  No more women's song groups.  A gray world comes, in which everyone must be the same.

OBAMACARE FADES – FROM FOX BUSINESS:   Health insurance company Aetna (AET) announced Wednesday it will completely withdraw from the ObamaCare marketplace in 2018, a decision Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price perceived as a sign of continued instability in the health care sector under the Affordable Care Act.  In April Aetna said it would not participate on the state exchanges in Virginia next year and last week committed to pulling out of Iowa.  In 2016 the insurer sold plans across fifteen states. It trimmed that position to just four states at the outset of 2017, citing financial losses.  Obamacare was always a sham.  Even when it was originally adopted critics noted that the benefits came first, and the bills came later – a way to guarantee the plan's popularity before the bills came due.  Crass and cynical.

May 11,  2017     Permalink 

FBI MOVES FORWARD – AT 11:50 A.M. ET:  No, contrary to rumor, Trump hasn't sold the FBI to Putin.  Please put that out of your mind:  From ABC News:   

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are interviewing candidates to take over the FBI as interim director, after James Comey's firing Tuesday.

Four candidates are being interviewed today, fielded from senior FBI and Justice Department officials and the heads of FBI field offices across the country, according to a Justice Department official.

The four candidates: FBI Executive Assistant Director Paul Abbate, who leads the agency’s cyber and criminal branch; National Counterintelligence Executive William Evanina; Special Agent Adam Lee, who runs the Richmond field office; and Special Agent Michael Anderson, who runs the Chicago field office.

A new FBI director is expected to be chosen and announced within the next 24 to 48 hours.

"The president is in the process of evaluating individuals who will be able to fill that spot, lead the FBI and restore the confidence in the American people,” Vice President Mike Pence said today on Capitol Hill.

COMMENT:  It is also expected that the president will visit the FBI within the next few days for a morale-building talk.

The story says that a new FBI director will be announced within the next 24 to 48 hours.  I'm assuming that's accurate and that the writer didn't mean to say "interim director."  Even if a new, permanent director is announced, it will still take weeks or months to get him or her confirmed by the Senate.

May 11, 2017       Permalink

OH THE DREAMS, THE DREAMS – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  The Democratic Party, which has the collective maturity of a 12-year-old, dreams of impeaching President Trump.  I have no doubt they'll try.  Then they'll write rap songs about it.  From McClatchy:   

Democratic leaders aren’t calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

But they’re getting closer.

To one Democratic congressman, the president’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey reminded him of the “doomsday clock,” a symbol that warns about the likelihood of nuclear war.

“We should maybe have an impeachment clock,” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said on Wednesday. “And if we did, I think yesterday moved us about an hour closer to having that need.”
Pocan said he had thought Democrats in the House of Representatives needed to use the threat of impeachment as a “tool” to make the administration follow the law.

“I would argue this has got to still be on the table as an option, especially if, indeed, there was obstruction of justice by the firing of the FBI director,” said Pocan, first vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

COMMENT:  What dolts.  Even if the House impeached Trump, which simply means to make a formal change, the Senate would have to try him, as it did Bill Clinton.  A two-thirds vote to remove the president would be required to send Trump packing.  Where are you going to get two thirds?  It would take evidence of a high crime.  No president has ever been removed. 

The Dems tried to impeach Nixon over Watergate, but he resigned before action was taken.  The GOP did impeach Clinton, but he was not removed by the Senate.

And let's say Trump were removed.  Pence would succeed him.  He is more conservative and more accepted by the Washington establishment.  What would the Dems prove?

The Democratic world is a fantasy world.  But such fun for the media.

May 11, 2017       Permalink 

COMEY – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We are in day three of the GCC, the Great Constitutional Crisis, brought about by the firing of James Comey.

Do you sense the country collapsing around you?  Do you see those men in pickups heading for the countryside with their shotguns to fight the traitors?  Do you notice the "not taking new patients" signs on the offices of psychiatrists, their schedules overfilled with distraught liberals?

I don't know how we'll survive this.

Scott Johnson of Powerline says it perfectly:

We await the definitive account of the reasons behind President Trump’s firing of Comey. It is reasonable to doubt that the reasons proffered in the Rosenstein memo prompted the termination. It would be a mistake to take them at face value without more. Even so, one can reasonably conclude (as many Democrats and Republicans believed) that Comey’s termination was warranted. If so, Trump’s termination of Comey was proper if not desirable.

The media hysteria over Comey’s firing is almost unbelievable. It is certainly insufferable. The media are like five-year-olds whose crying compounds upset each other until it reaches a crescendo of wailing and lamentation. The hyseteria of the media, however, is not without point. It amplifies the talking points of the Democratic Party protesting Comey’s firing, which Democrats were of course more or less demanding up until Trump pulled the trigger. As for the Democrats, hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to opportunism.

In firing Comey, Trump exercised his unquestioned constitutional prerogative as president. How this can be converted into a “constitutional crisis” or a “coup” — as both the Democrats and their media adjunct assert — is a mystery beyond rational explanation. As in all earthly matters, they believe because it is absurd.

COMMENT:  There are perfectly legitimate reasons to criticize Trump's action.  Like many of Trump's moves, it was abrupt and ham-handed.  The president could have gotten the same result by quietly giving Comey the chance to resign "for the good of the Bureau."  He has inadvertently provided cannon fodder for his opponents, who always look for it.  CNN is in a state of bliss as strong as its state of journalistic decline.

But the Constitution is intact.  Trump is preparing for a major trip to the Mideast, which will attempt to firm up resistance to Iran and restart the Arab-Israeli peace process.  Let's see if the Democratic Party will give him some breathing space for this important mission.

We must again note the contrast between the treatment of President Trump by the media and the treatment accorded Saint Barack of Chicagoland.  Obama is traveling around the world making enormous amounts of money selling the presidency.  He is apparently planning to break precedent by interfering in American politics right after leaving the White House.  Any cricitism by the press concerning this new Obama ego adventure?  I hear only silence.

May 11,  2017     Permalink