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MAY 28,  2017

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

I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED AT THIS – FROM REDALERTPOLITICS.COM:   Young America’s Foundation (YAF) released their annual survey of commencement addresses at the nation’s top colleges, and the results are staggering. In the first year of the Trump presidency, liberal commencement speakers outnumber conservative speakers 11-to-1, according to their survey.  “YAF’s Commencement Speakers Survey scrutinizes the commencement addresses given at the top 100 national universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. With 45 liberal speakers imparting progressive ideas and just 4 conservatives addressing graduates, the contrast in this year’s survey is stunning,” the YAF press release said.  This year’s ratio of liberals to conservatives is particularly high, a potential sign of academia’s reaction to the 2016 election. Last year, the ratio was four-to-one — 45 liberals to 12 conservatives. In 2015, the ratio was six-to-one; in  2014, the ratio was four-to-one; in 2013, the ratio was 3.5-to-1; and in 2012, it was seven-to-one.  This will change only when students and alumni demand greater balance.  Editorials from some brave, mature newspapers would help as well.

THE FATE OF CHICAGO – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:   Chicago was the only city among the nation's 20 largest to lose population in 2016 — and it lost nearly double the number of residents as the year before, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.  It's the city's third consecutive year of population loss. Chicago's population fell by 8,638 residents between 2015 and 2016, to 2,704,958. The year before, it declined by 4,934.  The population of the greater Chicago area, defined by the Census Bureau as the city and suburbs extending into Wisconsin and Indiana, is also declining. Numbers made available in March showed a drop of 19,570 residents in 2016 — the greatest loss of any metropolitan area in the country.
Illinois' population fell by more than any other state’s in 2016, down 37,508 people, according to census data released in December.  What a total disaster.  Years of bad government, and the terrible influence of Chicago politics, have led to this.   Chicago is Barack Obama's home city.  I wonder if he has any interest in what's actually happening there. 

SUPERB GUY, SUPERB ANSWER – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Secretary of Defense James Mattis, known for his frank quotes about the realities of war, offered up a line befitting his nickname, “Mad Dog,” during an interview airing Sunday.  “What keeps you awake at night?” CBS “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson asked Mattis.  “Nothing,” a stonefaced Mattis responded. “I keep other people awake at night.”  Nothing more need be said.

May 28,  2017     Permalink 

PATHETIC – AT 1:47 P.M. ET:   Please contrast this story with the sacrifices of our armed forces, which we note this weekend.  From Daily Caller: 

Well over one-third of America’s adult college students believe that campus “safe spaces” are “absolutely necessary” to assist grown adults who are psychologically traumatized by hearing opinions with which they disagree.

The data comes from a recent poll of 1,659 students currently attending U.S. colleges and universities conducted by LendEDU, a student loan marketplace website.

According to the poll, 36 percent of American college students agree with the proposition that “safe spaces” are “absolutely necessary” on campus.

Just slightly more students — 37 percent — oppose “safe spaces,” agreeing instead that such environments “are completely out of touch from reality.”

The rest of the students — roughly 25 percent — said they are “indifferent” to the concept of “safe spaces.”

The poll, conducted from May 5 to May 11, is based on answers — just the three of them — to the question: “Do you agree with college campuses establishing safe spaces?”

COMMENT:   At least we're seeing some pushback from the more adult students.  But the idea that 36 percent of college students go along with "safe spaces" is pretty discouraging.  So delicate.  So sensitive.  So immature.

May 28, 2017       Permalink

SHE SHOULD BE ASHAMED – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is getting delusions of grandeur.   She seems to think she should be running the world.  From AFP: 

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) – Europe “must take its fate into its own hands” faced with a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday.

“The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, southern Germany.
“We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands,” she added.

Of course, she'll probably expect us to finance that fate.

While Germany and Europe would strive to remain on good terms with America and Britain, “we have to fight for our own destiny,” Merkel went on.

Special emphasis was needed on warm relations between Berlin and newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron, she said.

The chancellor had just returned from a G7 summit which wound up Saturday without a deal between the US and the other six major advanced nations on upholding the 2015 Paris climate accords.

Merkel on Saturday labelled the result of the “six against one” discussion “very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory”.

COMMENT:  My, my, my.  How rude.  Germany doesn't even come close to the NATO requirement that members spend two percent of their budgets on defense, but she's lecturing us. 

And thank you, Ms. Merkel, for telling us that Germany will strive to remain on good terms with Britain and America.   We're so flattered.

I think she's way past her sell-by date.

May 28, 2017       Permalink

MEMORIAL DAY – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Do you get the sense that Americans are losing the meaning of Memorial Day?  Even the greeting, "Have a happy Memorial Day," is strangely disconnected from the reality of what the day means.  There's a good story running on just this theme.  From AP:

ANNVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Allison Jaslow heard it more than once as the long holiday weekend approached — a cheerful "Happy Memorial Day!" from oblivious well-wishers.

The former Army captain and Iraq War veteran had a ready reply, telling them, matter-of-factly, that she considered it a work weekend. Jaslow will be at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She'll then visit Section 60, the final resting place of many service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You can see it in people's faces that they're a little horrified that they forget this is what the day's about," said Jaslow, 34, who wears a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen comrade. "Culturally, we've kind of lost sight of what the day's supposed to mean."

While millions of Americans celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start of summer — think beaches and backyard barbecues, mattress sales and sporting events — some veterans and loved ones of fallen military members wish the holiday that honors more than 1 million people who died serving their country would command more respect.

Or at least awareness.

"It's a fun holiday for people: 'Let's party.' It's an extra day off from work," said Carol Resh, 61, whose son, Army Capt. Mark Resh, was killed in Iraq a decade ago. "It's not that they're doing it out of malice. It just hasn't affected them."

Veterans groups say a growing military-civilian disconnect contributes to a feeling that Memorial Day has been overshadowed. More than 12 percent of the U.S. population served in the armed forces during World War II. That's down to less than one-half of a percent today, guaranteeing more Americans aren't personally acquainted with a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine.

With an all-voluntary military, shared sacrifice is largely a thing of the past — even as U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan and Iraq nearly 16 years after 9/11.

"There are a lot of things working against this particular holiday," said Brian Duffy, commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"It hurts," Duffy said. For combat veterans and Gold Star families especially, "it hurts that, as a society, we don't truly understand and appreciate what the true meaning of Memorial Day is."

Jaslow's group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, is trying to raise awareness with its #GoSilent campaign, which encourages Americans to pause for a moment of silence at 3 p.m. Monday to remember the nation's war dead.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  When I was growing up, everyone knew a service member, and most had service members in their family.  You could enter almost any home and find a mounted photo of a service member. 

Not so today.  And we've lost something.

May 28,  2017     Permalink 

MAY 27,  2017

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

BLUNDER – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   After facing a huge backlash for pulling ads from Fox News’s Sean Hannity, USAA announced that it will also be pulling ads from liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s show.  Earlier this week, The Gateway Pundit reported USAA, an insurance, bank and financial services company that caters to active duty military, veterans and their families, is getting slammed by members after announcing on Twitter Wednesday night the company was withdrawing advertising on the Sean Hannity show in response to pressure from liberal activists trying to silence Hannity by cutting off his advertising base. It was not stated by USAA if they advertised on Hannity’s Fox News Channel show or his nationally syndicated radio show.  It was dumb of USAA to pull ads from a conservative show, but at least the mistake is being balanced by a similar withdrawal from super-lib Rachel Maddow.

A TRUMP SHAKEUP? – FROM CBS NEWS:   The White House is preparing a plan to restructure communications and possibly staffing for when President Trump returns from his overseas trip, CBS News has learned.  It's unclear when exactly these proposals will be presented to Mr. Trump, but this is likely to take place shortly after he returns to Washington from his first foreign trip as president.   Mr. Trump will be presented with proposals to set up messaging teams both inside and outside the White House to deal with rapid response on all fronts. These teams will also hone the messaging on the Russia investigation, CBS News' Steve Chaggaris reports.  Mr. Trump will also be presented with a proposal to restructure his communications team, including the press office. There have been rumors around Washington that press secretary Sean Spicer's job is in danger, but the White House has denied these rumors. In an interview with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro earlier this month, Mr. Trump said Spicer has been "doing a good job but he gets beat up."  It's time Trump took some action.  He's not getting the communications help he needs, particularly at a time when the media is so overwhelmingly left wing.  And Trump must seal the leaks coming from his own people.  Prosecutions may be necessary.  People should be invited to leave if they can't play by the rules.

CONGRATULATIONS, MR. WOUK:    Herman Wouk, author of "The Caine Mutiny," "Marjorie Morningstar," and a host of other novels and non-fiction works, turns 102 this weekend, and he's still writing.  For my generation, he has been one of the great storytellers.  "The Caine Mutiny," one of the best novels to come out of the Second World War, introduced the term "paranoid schizophrenia" to the national vocabulary.  Humphrey Bogart's portrayal of Captain Queeg in the movie adaptation remains a screen classic.  "Marjorie Morningstar," the great coming-of-age novel of my youth, is used in college English classes as an example of...a coming-of-age novel.  "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" were turned into a major television series.  I hope that maybe, just maybe, we'll have another Wouk novel.  The man is a young 102.

May 27, 2017        Permalink   

GONER – AT 1:58 P.M. ET:   We don't like to pile on, but Hillary Clinton is getting terrible reviews for her commencement speech yesterday at Wellesley, her alma mater.  She deserves them.  She sounded more like a patient on a psychiatrist's couch than a presidential candidate, former or future.  From Breitbart: 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued her “sore loser” tour on Friday, telling Wellesley seniors that they were graduating “at a time when there is a full-fledged assault on truth and reason,” and likening the Trump administration to “authoritarian regimes throughout history.”

History, evidently, is not Clinton’s best subject. She likened President Donald Trump to Richard Nixon, whom she said had been impeached. In fact, Nixon resigned.

After that glaring error — compounded by the fact that Clinton’s husband was only the second American president to be impeached — Clinton then went on to accuse the Trump administration of “defending themselves by talking about ‘alternative facts.'”

She then presented some more “alternative facts” of her own, calling Trump’s new budget “an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable among us” and “a trillion-dollar mathematical lie.”

She never explained what she meant — and she did not have to. Clinton was on friendly territory: her alma mater, a liberal arts college, a largely female audience.

But there was something more than politics in her remarks. There was a desire to settle scores.

She even mentioned “Pizzagate,” a conspiracy theory alleging that Clinton associates were running a pedophilia ring. And she dinged Trump for disputing “the size of crowds” at his inauguration.

It was a petty, petulant performance. Clinton dwelled on the past, on an occasion devoted to the future. In a bitterly divisive speech, she accused Trump of fomenting division. America had disappointed her, and so young Americans had to bear the burden.

She tried to conclude on an inspiring note: “[I]t’s often during the darkest times when you can do the most good,” she said.

It was a reminder of how much darker these times would have been had she won.

COMMENT:  The speech was delivered on Memorial Day weekend, but she never mentioned it.  Probably never occurred to her.  Who are those people with the funny helmets on?

May 27, 2017       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT DEPARTS – AT 12:36 P.M. ET:  President Trump is returning to the United States after his first presidential trip abroad.   He is properly ending his trip by addressing American troops.  From Fox: 

President Trump on Saturday in Italy thanked overseas U.S. troops, in concluding his trip through the Middle East and Europe in which NATO, radical Islamic terrorism and climate change emerged at key issues.

“I think we hit a homerun no matter where we went,” said at Naval Air Station Sigonella, in Sicily. “And now we’re getting on that very big plane and heading back to Washington. I can think of no better way to conclude our first foreign trip than to spend time with you. … We will always support you. And we will never, ever forget you.”

Trump also said he leaves amid new hope among nations on “eradicating the terrorism that plagues humanity.”

Earlier in the day, Trump declined to join six other world powers Italy in affirming the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

COMMENT:  The Mideast leg of the trip went spectacularly well.  And American negotiators have now returned to the Mideast to continue the work the president started.

In Europe Mr. Trump clearly ran into trouble.  Europeans despise him and still love Obama, even though Obama showed major disrespect for them.  He was just, ah, so trendy, so with it, so great for conversations on the cocktail circuit, so properly contemptuous of ordinary people.  What a guy! 

If anything, Trump's visit showed that Western Europe is growing in insignificance.  Many of its countries can't even reproduce their populations.  They will essentially fade away.  Many have come down with the socialist disease.  Their citizens live their lives "expecting" something from their government.  The thinking of Europe, to the extent that it exists, does not much influence us any longer.   

And 68 years after the founding of NATO, the alliance's commanding general is still an American.  They still depend on us, while sneering at us.

The Mideast leg was far more important.  The Europeans can be handled, as they dream of Elizabeth Warren as president.  Dream on.

May 27,  2017     Permalink

KELLY LAYS IT ON THE LINE –  AT 11:45 A.M. ET:  We feel it around us – the terrorists are extremely active, and are striking repeatedly.  Britain is practically an armed camp, following the recent Manchester attack.  From The Hill:  

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Friday said the terror threat is worse than most realize, saying some people would "never leave the house" if they knew the truth.  “I was telling [Fox host] Steve [Doocy] on the way in here, if he knew what I knew about terrorism, he’d never leave the house in the morning,” Kelly said on “Fox & Friends.”  He noted there were four major terror attacks in the last week — in England, Egypt, the Philippines and Indonesia — "by generally the same groups."  “It’s everywhere. It’s constant. It’s nonstop. The good news for us in America is we have amazing people protecting us every day. But it can happen here almost anytime.”  Masked gunmen opened fire on a group of Coptic Christians driving to a monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 26 and injuring 25 more.

COMMENT:  We will only wake up when it actually happens.  That's almost in the nature of democracies, at least some democracies.  Other democracies never wake up.  They just start to die.  Paraphrasing Churchill, they feed the alligator with the hope they'll be eaten last.

A British election in less than two weeks will tell us which way the UK is heading.  The bad guys are moving up in the polls.

May 27, 2017       Permalink