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MAY 19,  2017

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

A TRULY GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:   The Los Angeles Unified School District underwent a dramatic political shift Tuesday night, as the curtain dropped on what has been the most expensive school board election in the nation’s history.  The election has been a proxy war between wealthy charter school advocates and public employee unions. Charter supporters appeared to secure their first-ever majority on the seven-member Los Angeles Board of Education, a move that could accelerate the already-rapid expansion of charter schools across the city.  As a rule, charter schools are good.  They don't all work out, but most do, and improve the educations of inner-city kids.

AND A LESSER MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM AOL:  A professor at Orange Coast College in California barred members of a school club from attending Women's History Month events last March, advocating for a "safe space event."  OCC professor of sociology and gender studies Jessica Ayo Alabi reportedly emailed campus officials stating her intent to ban members of the school's Republican Club from attending an African American/Women's roundtable discussion this past March. According to the Washington Examiner, Alabi explained the event and defended her position to tell the Republican Club they "could not come" to the event in an email.  Apparently, the Republican Club is fighting back, and now making demands that the "professor" reverse her policy and that the school enforce free speech rights for all students.  Good for the Republican Club.  Fight the left-wing thugs!

SCARY INCIDENT – FROM BLOOMBERG:   Fighter jets escorted an American Airlines plane to Honolulu after a passenger attempted to breach the hardened cockpit door.  Based on initial reports, the man placed a laptop by the entrance and tried to get through the reinforced barrier required on airliners following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, said a person familiar with the matter. The Department of Homeland Security said it was prepared to help investigate the incident on Flight 31 from Los Angeles.  The incident added to fears about flight safety as the Trump administration has warned of a heightened risk that terrorists could use laptops to conceal explosives. Homeland Security is considering banning electronic devices larger than mobile phones from airline cabins on flights from Europe to the U.S. A prohibition was adopted in March for flights from 10 Middle Eastern and North African airports.  The unruly passenger was later described as Turkish.  We don't know yet whether this was a terrorist incident.

May 19, 2017       Permalink

UNDERCUTTING AMERICA – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:   Just as President Trump is flying off to build an alliance against Iran in the Mideast, disciples of the last president are working to undermine him.  From the Algemeiner (Israel):

As lawmakers prepare for an imminent debate over a new bill pressing further sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile development, human rights violations and other abuses, former senior Obama administration officials have mobilized in an effort to oppose it.

A draft of the legislation submitted by a bipartisan group of senators, entitled the “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 ,” instructs the US government to “impose sanctions with respect to Iran in relation to Iran’s ballistic missile program, support for acts of international terrorism, and violations of human rights, and for other purposes.” The legislation would further mandate the Treasury, Defense and State Departments, along with intelligence agencies, to report to Congress every two years on their strategy to counter destabilizing “Iranian activities and threats that directly threaten the United States and key allies in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.”

While the legislation would not change the status of the 2015 nuclear deal — to which the US remains formally committed — ex-Obama administration officials are insisting that its passage could lead to the burial of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action  (JCPOA) implemented in January 2016, which they argue has effectively blocked Iran’s weaponization of its nuclear program.

COMMENT:  What they argue is garbage.  The agreement only blocks the nuclear-weapons program for a finite number of years.  And that's assuming Iran doesn't cheat. 

It does not block the missile program, which is forging ahead.  When Iran finally does get a nuclear weapon, it will have the missiles to carry it.  What a wonderful success.

You'd think the previous administration would not try to interfere with the foreign policy of the new president.  But the Obamans don't play by the usual rules.

May 19, 2017       Permalink

YOU MEAN THE PRESS IS BIASED?  I AM SHOCKED – AT 10:53 A.M. ET:   It's so jolting to learn that my wonderful, pristine profession has flaws.  But a study at Harvard, no less, shows that my childlike illusions are gone with the wind.  From Heatstreet: 

A major new study out of Harvard University has revealed the true extent of the mainstream media’s bias against Donald Trump.

Academics at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy analyzed coverage from Trump’s first 100 days in office across 10 major TV and print outlets.

They found that the tone of some outlets was negative in as many as 98% of reports, significantly more hostile than the first 100 days of the three previous administrations:

In America they analyzed CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

They also took into account the BBC, the UK’s Financial Times and the German public broadcaster ARD.

Every outlet was negative more often than positive.

Only Fox News, which features some of Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters and is often given special access to the President, even came close to positivity.

Fox was ranked 52% negative and 48% positive.

The study also divided news items across topics. On immigration, healthcare, and Russia, more than 85% of reports were negative.

On the economy, the proportion was more balanced – 54% negative to 46% positive.

COMMENT:  It's pretty clear that the mainstreamers see their job as bringing down Trump, whom they regard as an illegitimate president.  The left, of course, also regarded George W. Bush as illegitimate.  But Obama?  His legitimacy came from Heaven.  And suddenly the mainstreamers became believers.

May 19, 2017       Permalink

PRESIDENTIAL TRIP – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  The president leaves today on a historic and critical trip.  Let's hope the press behaves itself and reports fully on the trip, rather than emphasize the so-called "scandals" in Washington.  Don't hold your breath.  From Fox: 

President Donald Trump leaves the United States today for his first overseas trip as commander-in-chief, with a full itinerary of stops throughout the Middle East and Europe. 

His trip begins Friday with a stop in Saudi Arabia, followed by planned visits to Israel and the Vatican. Trump will later attend the 28th NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, and the 43rd G7 summit in Taormina, Italy. 

The president's travel comes on the heels of a number of highly publicized controversies, including the recent firing of FBI Director James Comey. 

Below is a look at what the president has lined up so far.

Saudi Arabia

Trump will arrive in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where there will be an arrival ceremony, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said at a news conference Tuesday.

He's slated to have coffee with King Salman, go to bilateral meetings with members of the royal family and attend a royal banquet, McMaster told reporters.

The president will also attend "a signing ceremony of several agreements that will further solidify U.S.-Saudi security and economic cooperation."

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will partake in an official dinner with the Saudi royal family that evening, according to McMaster. 

The next day, Trump will meet with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, McMaster said. That afternoon, Trump is slated to have lunch with leaders from dozens of Muslim countries, "where he will deliver an inspiring, yet direct speech on the need to confront radical ideology," according to McMaster.

Trump is also expected to later participate in "the inauguration of a new center intended to fight radicalism and promote moderation" as well as in a Twitter forum. 

COMMENT:  Read the rest of the article, and save it.  It's a good picture of what the president will be doing in Israel, the Vatican, and beyond.  This is a serious president doing serious things, but I can't wait to hear the mocking tone on CNN.

There will be attempts by some in the media, and the Deep State leakers, to destroy this trip, and show that President Trump can't govern.  I hope the White House is ready with major pushback.

May 19,  2017     Permalink

MAY 18,  2017

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

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM AP:  BOSTON -- While other Harvard University students were writing papers for their senior theses, Obasi Shaw was busy rapping his.  Shaw is the first student in Harvard's history to submit a rap album as a senior thesis in the English Department, the university said. The album, called "Liminal Minds," has earned the equivalent of an A-minus grade, good enough to guarantee that Shaw will graduate with honors next week.  They always said it was much harder to get into Harvard than to get out of Harvard.  Appears to be true.

MADDOW SURGES – FROM VARIETY:  For the first three nights of this week, Maddow’s 9 p.m. broadcast on MSNBC was the most-watched on cable-news in primetime – a position that had long been enjoyed by the 8 p.m. hour in the Fox News schedule, where O’Reilly had a roost for more than two decades,and where Tucker Carlson now holds court.  Maddow’s recent gains are part of a viewership surge at the NBCUniversal-owned network that comes as a chaotic White House has driven viewers to MSNBC in ways the executives really haven’t seen since the days of Keith Olbermann.  Last week, MSNBC’s primetime schedule was tops in the demographic most coveted by advertisers – people between 25 and 54 – for the first time since the week of December 29, 2008. MSNBC’s  “Maddow,” “The Last Word” and “11th Hour” are all leading in that viewership category for the month to date, according to data from Nielsen.  This is really not surprising.  A crisis, even a manufactured one, always results in audience shifts, but they may be temporary.  Don't be shocked, by the way,if a new, conservative network is born.  Fox is coming under the control of younger members of the Rupert Murdoch family, and they are liberal.

IRAN VOTES – FROM REUTERS:   ANKARA  - Iranians vote for president Friday in a contest likely to determine whether Tehran's re-engagement with the world stalls or quickens, although whatever the outcome no change is expected to its revolutionary system of conservative clerical rule.  Seeking a second term, pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, 68, remains the narrow favorite, but hardline rivals have hammered him over his failure to boost an economy weakened by decades of sanctions.  Many Iranians feel a 2015 agreement he championed with major powers to lift sanctions in return for curbing Iran's nuclear program has failed to produce the jobs, growth and foreign investment he said would follow.  The normally mild-mannered cleric is trying to hold on to office by firing up reformist voters who want less confrontation abroad and more social and economic freedom at home.  Sounds like a free election, but it isn't.  All candidates must receive permission from the government to run.  We'll follow the results, which will come in just as President Trump heads for the region.

May 18,  2017     Permalink

GOOD COPS – AT 11:46 P.M. ET:  We mentioned last night that the upcoming Puerto Rican Day parade in New York would honor a convicted terrorist.  This didn't much appeal to Hispanic police officers.  From the New York Post: 

Outraged Hispanic police groups are boycotting the Puerto Rican Day Parade next month because the event will celebrate a pardoned terrorist linked to one of the deadliest groups ever to target New York.

The NYPD Hispanic Society and the Rafael Ramos Foundation have pulled out of the June 11 Fifth Avenue march after it was announced that former FALN kingpin Oscar Lòpez Rivera will be honored as a “National Freedom Hero” at the event.

Rivera, 74, had his 70-year sentence commuted by outgoing President Barack Obama in January. He had spent nearly 36 years in prison on conspiracy charges for his ties to the Puerto Rican nationalist group, which was responsible for more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and ’80s — including a 1982 blast at NYPD headquarters that left an officer maimed and a 1975 attack that killed four at Fraunces Tavern in the Financial District.

Supporters of Rivera — who was released Wednesday from house arrest in Puerto Rico with New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on hand — note he was never directly linked to any bombings and they considered him a political prisoner.

But the NYPD groups can’t forgive him for being a high-ranking member of the terror group.

“We support the NYPD members who were seriously injured and the families of the innocent people who lost their lives during these attacks throughout the United States and in our city,” the NYPD Hispanic Society said in a statement. “We took an oath to protect and serve the people. Unfortunately, this year’s views and values of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade committee do not conform with the society’s mission of promoting peace and unity.”

COMMENT:  Three cheers for these Hispanic officers.  And a major thumbs down for the speaker of the New York City Council.   She's a hard leftist, as is Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was a supporter of Fidel Castro.  The left has taken over New York City government.  How lucky we are.

May 18,  2017     Permalink 

PRESIDENT MIKE? – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  Oh, the buzz is underway.  It was inevitable.  President Mike Pence, taking over for the wounded Donald Trump.  From The Politico:

Not since the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Donald Trump bragged about groping women by the genitals, have some conservatives thought so seriously, if a bit wistfully, about two words: President Pence.

The scandals clouding Trump’s presidency — including, most recently, his firing of FBI Director James Comey, his alleged leak of classified information to Russian officials, and reports that he urged Comey to drop an investigation into a top aide — have raised once more the possibility that Trump could be pushed aside and replaced by Vice President Mike Pence.

“If what the [New York Times] reported is true, Pence is probably rehearsing,” one House Republican who asked not to be named quipped Wednesday. “It’s just like Nixon. From the standpoint that it’s never the underlying issue, it is always the cover-up.”

The still far-fetched proposition of removing Trump from office has increasing appeal to Republicans who are growing weary of defending Trump and are alarmed by his conduct in office. But such whispers are cringe-worthy for Pence and his aides, who have made an art of not upstaging the mercurial president. Pence’s press secretary declined to comment for this article.

COMMENT:  Ah, such political fun.  I doubt if Trump will ever be impeached because it doesn't appear he's committed any impeachable offenses.  Besides, impeachment (meaning, to charge) is done by the House which, at least for now, is under Republican control.

But he could resign, as Nixon did, if he's cornered or simply gets disgusted.  Then, what happens?

Pence becomes president, certainly not a happy outcome for Democrats.  Mike Pence is one of the most capable, attractive political figures around.  And he's only 57.

How long could Pence serve?  That's a fascinating question.  Most people probably believe that he could only serve out Trump's term and run once again – the "two-term maximum" rule laid down by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Not so fast, readers.  The 22nd Amendment has a loophole that might allow Pence to serve out the remainder of Trump's term, then run for an additional two terms.  Here is the Amendment:

"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term."

So it appears that Pence could run twice again if he takes over the presidency after the halfway (two-year) mark of Trump's term.

There's a warning here for Democrats wishing for Trump's early political demise:  Be careful what you wish for.

May 18, 2017       Permalink

ROGER AILES DEAD AT 77 – AT 9:50 A.M. ET:  Roger Ailes, arguably the most important news executive of our time, is dead at the age of 77.  From CNBC:

Media titan Roger Ailes, who resigned from his positions as chairman and CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network amid sexual harassment allegations last year, has died at age 77.

Ailes resigned from Fox in summer 2016 in the wake of former Fox News Channel Host Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Ailes had denied the allegations from Carlson, who claimed she was fired last year after she refused to have a sexual relationship with the executive.

Ailes founded Fox News and helped shape the modern cable news landscape in the process. Before that, he worked as a producer and also worked in politics as a consultant. In the early 1990s, he served as president of CNBC, which he left to create Fox News.

In a statement, his wife Elizabeth Ailes said, "I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning surrounded by his beautiful family. Roger was my best friend, the most wonderful loving husband and father to our son Zachary, He was a loyal friend to so many. Roger was a patriot, grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise-and to give back. During a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment, in politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions."

No cause of death was given.

COMMENT:   Ailes built Fox News by giving the audience an alternative to the blatant liberal bias of mainstream journalism.   What he built was solid – opinion shows that were clearly conservative, and gained fame as such, but news programs that usually represented fine journalism.  Many of the Fox reporters he hired remain among the best in the business.

He was regularly smeared.  There are those so intolerant that they don't believe that a network that presents "the other side of the story" has any place in journalism.

As the obituary above noted, Ailes was brought down by a sexual harasssment suit, not by any assessment of his work.  I cannot attest to the truthfulness of the charges against him, but Fox accepted that they were true.  There have since been a number of other sexual harassment charges made against Fox figures, including Bill O'Reilly, the highest-rated personality in cable news, who was fired as a result.  It is widely reported that both Ailes and O'Reilly were hurried out the door by the young sons of the Rupert Murdoch family who are far more liberal than their father, and want to remake Fox into a liberal operation, and thus gain a certain respectability on the Washington/Los Angles/New York circuit.

I'd be interested to see what is said about Ailes today by the news organizations he defeated in competition for viewers.  What should be said, and conceded, is that he won on the basis of his journalism, and not on anything else.  In a way, he gave a voice to the voiceless, to those cut out of the mainstream.

Controversial, yes.  Consequential, no doubt,.

May 18,  2017     Permalink