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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

MAY 30,  2017

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

USAA BACK ON HANNITY – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   The USAA financial services firm will reinstate ads on conservative Fox News host Sean Hannity's primetime show after receiving backlash from military members and veterans, the Associated Press reports.  Hannity came under criticism for pushing an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory on his show that stated Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered because he leaked information to WikiLeaks. Fox News retracted the story from its website last week, and Hannity announced he would not discuss the Rich story on his show, but would continue seeking the truth. Hannity is set to return to his show on Tuesday after taking a brief vacation.  USAA had originally pulled its commercials after liberal watchdog Media Matters for America launched a campaign to pressure Hannity's advertisers.  The Seth Rich story was simply a pretext for the crazy left to launch a campaign to get Hannity off the air, as it had with Bill O'Reilly.  This campaign has failed, and USAA has done the right thing.

TALK ABOUT SPIN – FROM USA TODAY:   CHICAGO — The grim tally of 49 shot over Memorial Day weekend, historically one of the most violent times of the year here, is oddly the latest sign the city may be turning a corner in the fight against gun violence.  Five people were killed and 44 wounded in shootings between Friday evening and Monday night, an improvement over last year's total of 7 killed and 61 injured.  The decrease highlights the slow progress police say they’ve made in the first five months of the year to reduce Chicago’s stubbornly high murder rate through technology that helps commanders better deploy street cops.  As of Tuesday morning, Chicago has recorded 235 murders so far this year, compared to 244 for the same time period in 2016. Shooting incidents have dropped more significantly to 1,047 compared to 1,222 last year, according to police department data.  What an improvement!  Why, Chicago is practically
crime free!  And remember, you can keep your doctor under Obamacare.

SIGN OF OUR TIMES – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Crime may be down, but cops aren’t taking any chances — they’ve actually put ATMs in station houses in some of the city’s worst neighborhoods to combat robberies, The Post has learned.  Instead of boosting foot patrols around existing dough dispensers, the NYPD has put machines in five station houses: three in Brooklyn — the 73rd in East New York, 67th in East Flatbush and PSA 2 in Brownsville — one in the 33rd in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and another in the 100th in Arverne, Queens.  The plan is to eventually install them in all 98 station houses so that officers can offer residents “additional safe locations to utilize ATMs,’’ according to the department.  Watch – the ATM's in the station houses will be robbed, and the socialist mayor will blame historic oppression.

May 30,  2017     Permalink

MATTIS MAKES IT CLEAR – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:   President Trump said he would destroy ISIS.  His secretary of defense is making it clear that destruction is indeed the mission.  From Fox: 

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday the U.S. has switched to “annihilation tactics” against the Islamic State and is focused on completely surrounding the militants instead of moving them from place to place.

“Our strategy right now is to accelerate the campaign against ISIS. It is a threat to all civilized nations. And the bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot,” Mattis said in a televised interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

He said the goal was to take out the militants before they could flee to neighboring countries.

“Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We’re not going to allow them to do so. We’re going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate,” Mattis said.

COMMENT:  A grim subject, but a breath of fresh air.  We haven't had that kind of resolve in this country in years.  Destroying ISIS, not simply moving it around, clearly should be the goal. 

And it will send the right kind of message to other would-be builders of the caliphate.

May 30, 2017       Permalink

A HUNDRED YEARS – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:   John F. Kennedy was born a hundred years ago yesterday, on May 29, 1917.  We didn't note it yesterday because it was Memorial Day and I didn't want to mix the two commemorations.

President Kennedy was assassinated 54 years ago.  If we assume that a child becomes aware of a president at, say, ten years of age, only those over 64 have any direct memory of him.  And yet he remains a firm part of the American consciousness.  I suspect that's because of his youthfulness, the attractiveness of his family, and the tragedy of his assassination.  It's also because he was the first "television" president, and we have so much film and tape with which to keep the memory alive.

As readers know, I was able to experience Kennedy up close.  In 1960, when he was elected president, I was a campaign aide to U.S. Senator Paul H. Douglas of Illinois, a great and distinguished senator and honored Marine Corps combat veteran.  We were with Kennedy often as the future president campaigned in Illinois. 

Many people today are surprised to learn how controversial Kennedy was.  When he was nominated in Los Angeles during the summer of 1960, there was a collective letdown in a large part of the Democratic Party.  It had little to do with his Catholic religion, although that was a factor in the campaign.  It had more to do with the setting in which this 43-year-old senator appeared.  A campaign is a play, and you have to set the stage.

In 1960 we had millions of Americans still in their thirties who had served in World War II, and tens of millions who had been involved in war work.  The incumbent president was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had risen to five-star-general in that war.  By contrast, Kennedy had been a lieutenant.  Eisenhower was the wise, aging father, while Kennedy was the new generation, seen as perhaps too young, too inexperienced, too undeserving.  Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the wartime president, openly questioned whether he was ready for the White House.  Getting Kennedy simply to look mature was a struggle, and it was almost lost.  His victory in November was razor-thin.

And yet Kennedy had served 14 years in Congress, a number of those on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  He had written or co-written two serious books, one on British foreign policy, the other, "Profiles in Courage," written with Ted Sorensen, on American history.  He was a legitimate war hero, wounded when a Japanese destroyer cut his PT boat in half in the Pacific.  But for a generation used to gray-haired leaders, he was an exception.  Many Americans did not buy the exception.  His opponent, Richard M. Nixon, was, after all, vice president of the United States.

Senator Douglas knew Kennedy well.  In a conversation we had in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago, he described him as "brilliant but cold."  I think it applied.

Jack Kennedy served less than three years.  Whether one agreed or disagreed with him, he brought vigor and vitality to the White House, and inspired a new generation to enter politics.  For many, his administration was the last optimistic time, before the chaos and ugliness of the late sixties.  It took 17 years from the time of Kennedy's death before Ronald Reagan was elected and restored the national morale.

Kennedy, with his centrist policies and powerful devotion to national defense, could not come anywhere near a presidential nomination in today's Democratic Party.  He might not even be a member of that party.  It's hard to see where he'd fit in.  How sad.

May 30, 2017       Permalink

A SLIGHT SHIFT? – AT 10:17 A.M. ET:  I may be imagining things, but I did see a slight shift this morning in CNN's coverage of the Jared Kushner saga.  I sensed that the network is becoming slightly more guarded, perhaps sensing that it may be getting way ahead of the story, if there's any story to get ahead of.

Or, maybe CNN got burned by a Fox report debunking the widely reported leak that Kushner suggested, in a talk with a Russian diplomat, using Russian equipment to open a back channel between the White House and the Kremlin.  Fox reports from its sources that the suggestion actually came from the Russian diplomat, a big difference.

This morning CNN did appear to go out of its way to give the White House version of events and to caution that no actual evidence of Trump team collusion with Russia has actually appeared.  This restraint and sudden maturity may only last a day, of course.

What does remain is the steady drip, drip, drip of leaks.  CNN seems to get a leaked story every day.  The timing is not coincidental.  There are people out to destroy this president through a series of well-timed, regular leaks.

Which leads me to a suggestion:  Journalism must establish new standards for dealing with leaks.  We must professionally insist that news organizations, when employing leaks, caution the reader or viewer that the act of leaking is a violation of law, and that the motive of the leaker may not be known.  It may be public service, but it may also be a personal grudge.  Such a notice would also remind journalists of the serious nature of leaks, and the damage they can do. 

I doubt if such a standard will soon be established, but it should be.  Classified information is the property of the American people.  We entrust it to elected officials and their appointees.  We do not entrust it to the press.  Leaks can serve a valuable purpose if there is wrongdoing and the leaker is a true whistleblower.  But do not underestimate the potential for harm.

May 30,  2017     Permalink

MAY 29,  2017

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

BOND, JAMES BOND –  There's a new academic journal available.  I'm not kidding.  From
JamesBondStudies:   The International Journal of James Bond Studies is an academic peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing interdisciplinary scholarship on all aspects of Ian Fleming’s James Bond franchise.   The journal aims to develop contemporary critical readings of Ian Fleming’s James Bond across literary, filmic, and cultural history, and offers broader criticism of the popular appeal of Fleming’s creation and its relation to the spy genre.  That is an actual quote from the Journal's website.  I want to see "Feminist and Misogynist Interpretations of the Bond Girls, from an LGBTQ perspective."  Someone write it, quick.

OUR GREAT NATIONAL STRESS IS SOLVED – FROM USA TODAY:   President Trump’s election and the political cacophony that followed are driving waves of people to yoga and meditation, seeking a respite from the roller-coaster ride but also trying to recharge and build energy for a political pushback.  Yoga and mediation coaches say they are seeing increased enrollment and fewer dropouts from the annual "New Year's resolution" wave of signups. Part of this is stress relief — the American Psychological Association reports that stress nationwide is on the rise for the first time in 10 years.
But part of it is also meditation as resistance: Liberals see yoga as a place to reflect and recharge batteries for the political fights outside.  Well, I guess it keeps liberals out of trouble for 45 minutes.  A great contribution.

THE MAYOR OF PARIS GETS IT RIGHT – FROM AFP:  Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Sunday called for a black feminist festival in the French capital to be banned, saying it was "prohibited to white people."  The first edition of the Nyansapo Festival, due to run from July 28 to 30 at a cultural centre in Paris, bills itself as "an event rooted in blackfeminism, activism, and on (a) European scale."  Four-fifths of the festival area will be set aside as a "non-mixed" space "for black women," according to its website in French.  Another space will be a "non-mixed" area "for black people" regardless of gender. Another space would be "open to all."  The English version of the site does not use the word "non-mixed," but "reserved."  Hidalgo, a Socialist, said on Twitter that she firmly condemned the organisation "of this event, 'prohibited to white people'."  "I am asking for this festival to be banned," Hidalgo said, adding she also reserved the right "to prosecute the organisers for discrimination."  Smartest thing a socialist has done in years.

May 29, 2017       Permalink

WOODWARD SPEAKS ON JOURNALISM AND TRUMP – AT 2:45 P.M. ET:  Bob Woodward, the more thoughtful half of the Woodward/Bernstein Watergate team, has been cautioning his journalist friends for some time now to calm down.  They should take his advice, and take Zoloft as well.  From The Hill: 

Legendary reporter Bob Woodward urged reporters this week to "calm it down and listen more" when covering the Trump White House.

Woodward also cautioned those in the media broaching Watergate and impeachment in speaking about investigations into the Trump campaign and possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign. 

"In Watergate, when Nixon fired the special prosecutor (Archibald Cox), there was a mountain of evidence against him," said Woodward in a message to the media recorded in a video by The Atlantic.

"We are not at the Watergate level yet by any means."

The video echoes comments he made in recent weeks. The 74-year-old Washington Post associate editor also said Trump's "thermonuclear war" with the media serves either side no purpose.

Trump has a approach avoidance toward the media, criticizes, calls us fake. I think it serves no one, the media, or Trump, to have a thermonuclear war with each other."

The 18-time New York Times bestseller's final advice was directed at media members directly during a time when trust from the American people is at an all-time low.

"We need to calm it down and listen more," he said. "Be on the surface respectful, but never stop the inquiry.”

And...

"I worry, I worry for the business, for the perception of the business, not just Trump supporters, they see that smugness… I think you can ride both horses, intensive inquiry, investigation, not letting up… at the same time, realize that it's not our job to do an editorial on this."

COMMENT:  Good, sound advice.  I worry about journalism as well.  A free press has the potential to save a society and protect democracy.  It also has the potential to destroy a society and corrupt the minds of its citizens.  Witness the use of the press in Nazi Germany.

The American press right now is deteriorating rapidly.  Some organizations, like CNN, have become editorial pages with reporters attached.  They will learn that it can take as much as a generation for a news outlet to regain its credibility...if indeed it even tries.

May 29, 2017       Permalink 

VETERANS BACK TRUMP – AT 1:40 P.M. ET:  The president's approval ratings continue to languish among many American groups.  But one group backs him rather solidly.  From Townhall:

Pew Research Center highlighted findings Friday that President Trump’s job approval is higher amongst U.S. veterans than the overall public.

In April, 54 percent of military veterans approved of the president’s job performance compared to just 39 percent job approval among the American public according to the same April survey, conducted using Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel.

Pew notes that “Both younger and older veterans gave higher approval ratings for Trump than did younger and older adults overall. Nearly half of veterans ages 18 to 49 (46 percent) approved of Trump’s job performance, compared with only 31 percent of all adults younger than 50. Among those 50 and older, nearly six-in-ten veterans (58 percent) supported Trump, while about half of all older adults (49 percent) said the same.”

The polling center also noted that Trump held a wide 60-34 percent advantage over Clinton among veterans, according to a national exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool.

COMMENT:  Veterans have seen the real world, not the quad at Evergreen State University.  We should take their opinions seriously.

May 29, 2017       Permalink

MEMORIAL DAY – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:  Occasionally, a number of readers will send us a link to the same article.  That happened today with a piece called "Reflections of an Army Widow," published by Fox.  It is written by Wesley Bauguess, widow of Army Major Larry Bauguess, who had been deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, and was killed in a side mission to Pakistan.  She writes: 

So, this Memorial Day, enjoy the pool. Enjoy the beach trip. Relish in the fact that the school year is almost over and summer is right around the corner. But, please, remember those intrepid Americans who, for decades and decades, have given that last full measure of devotion. Remember those who have given their lives to provide the blanket of freedom that allows us to live free. Never forget their sacrifice. Pray for the families left behind. And always remember that, though it absolutely is worth fighting for, freedom isn’t free. 

COMMENT:  Please read the whole thing.  It's well worth it.  We use the term "military family" casually, but those are real people, and they make real sacrifices. 

After the Vietnam War, some returning soldiers were spat at by members of the fringe left.  That doesn't happen anymore, but we still have a long way to go to restore the closeness between civilian and soldier that existed at the end of World War II.  How many Americans today know a soldier?   The answer to that question is a sad commentary on the values of our society.

May 29,  2017     Permalink