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MAY 13,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:41 P.M. ET: 

THE MADNESS WATCH – FROM FOX:   A California assemblyman vehemently argued against a bill that would adopt International Workers’ Day as a paid holiday.  The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D), would designate the third Monday in February "as a single school holiday to be known as 'Presidents’ Day.'"  "Are we in competition to become the laughingstock of the United States?" Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R) asked. "This is ridiculous. This is insane."  The bill would subsequently get rid of either George Washington or Abraham Lincoln's birthday as a holiday and designate May 1 as “International Workers’ Day."  International Socialist Workers' Day, or "May Day" had been observed in countries under Communist rule and was an official holiday of the Soviet Union.  "Seriously, the substitution of adding International Socialist Workers' Day? May Day? The day of parades in the Soviet Union?" Harper said.  "I'm aghast that a bill like this would be able to get through committee.”  As usual, the hard left is pushing too far.  But it's widely reported that a backlash against leftist extremism is building in many communities of California.

BEYOND THE MADNESS WATCH – FROM DAILYWIRE.COM:  A so-called "sexuality expert" and author became the subject of much-deserved mockery this week when she suggested parents and guardians ask for their baby's "consent" before a diaper change.  Deanna Carson appeared on an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News segment about "changing consent culture," when she was asked how young some of the children she works with are.  "We work with children from three years old, we work with parents from birth," she said.  "From birth?" the host reasonably inquired.  Here's where Carson turned up the insanity dial to 100: "Yeah, just about how to set up a culture of consent in their homes. So, 'I’m going to change your nappy now, is that ok?'"  What if the baby says no? 

YOU MEAN, SOMETHING WORKS? – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Westfield State University apparently used to have a hate crime epidemic. Not any more.  After the Massachusetts school installed 400 security cameras, the weekly rate of people reporting bias and hate crimes there dropped by a whopping 93 percent.  During an 11-week period during the fall 2017 semester there were 23 incidents reported. Since the cameras were installed, there have only been three complaints.  That according to a log kept by the university that is up to date, Tricia Oliver, a spokesperson for the school, told The College Fix.  On Dec. 4, installation began, and by the time students returned from winter break in January, nearly all cameras were positioned, Oliver said via email.  The vast majority of the incidents last fall were racist notes slipped under students’ doors or left in mailboxes, as well as racist vandalism and racial slurs “overheard” by others.  Hmm.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  Maybe some of those reporting "bias" crimes were faking it, and now know that they'd be caught in the act. 

May 13,  2018     Permalink

A WISE SUGGESTION – AT 7:31 P.M. ET:  The president will soon be negotiating with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, a negotiation that could result in an important agreement.  Senator Lindsey Graham makes a wise suggestion about how that agreement should be considered.  From The Hill: 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he would encourage President Trump to get Senate approval on any deal he negotiates with North Korea. 

“I would urge the president if he can negotiate an agreement with Kim Jong Un, that he takes that agreement and sends it to the Senate,” Graham said on CBS News's “Face the Nation.”

Graham's comments about a potential agreement with North Korea come as Trump prepares to meet with Kim on June 12 in Singapore. The meeting comes amid thawing relations between the two countries. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said if Kim agreed to fully dismantle his nuclear program, the U.S. could offer North Korea economic assistance in the form of sanctions relief and private capital.

“We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that can rival that of the South. It won’t be U.S. taxpayers,” Pompeo said Sunday.

Graham said he believes that if North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program, “there would be a lot of support in Congress to give North Korea a better life.”

"Provide aid, relieve sanctions with one condition: that you give up your nuclear weapons program in a verifiable way," he said. "When it comes to North Korea, I think there’d be a lot of congressional support."

COMMENT:  Thoughtful words from Graham.  Yes, submit any agreement to the Senate, as prescribed in the treaty clause of the Constitution.  That is the right way to do it, a contrast with Obama's going around the Senate and making the disgraceful Iran nuclear deal an executive agreement rather than a treaty.  The executive agreement didn't bind the United States to anything once the Obama administration ended.  A treaty has the force of law and the moral force of democracy – the people's representatives in the Senate having final say over whether an agreement is put in force or not.

May 13, 2018       Permalink

MORE ON FRANCE – AT 2:06 P.M. ET:  We've gotten so used to terrorism that attacks disappear from the news in a day or so.  That's wrong.  Each attack tells us something about the worldwide threat of killing, which some day can turn into mass killing.  From AP:

PARIS (AP) — Investigators working to understand why a 20-year-old French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya went on a stabbing rampage in central Paris detained the dead suspect’s parents and a friend Sunday, French officials said.

Counterterrorism investigators want to know if the assailant, identified by Chechnya’s leader as Khamzat Azimov, had help or co-conspirators. The attacker killed a 29-year-old man and wounded four other people with a knife before police fatally shot him Saturday night.

The suspect was on a police watchlist for radicalism, a judicial official not authorized to speak publicly about the case told The Associated Press. But he had a clean criminal record and did not know his victims, Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle said.

The parents were detained in Paris’ northern 18th district and the friend was detained in the eastern French city of Strasbourg on Sunday afternoon, the judicial official said.

French media reported Sunday that Azimov had lived in Strasbourg, which is 492 kilometers (306 miles) from Paris. It was unclear if he was residing with his parents in the French capital when he carried out the attack.

Witnesses reported hearing the man shouting “Allahu akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is great,” during the attack that happened at about 9 p.m. in a lively area near the Opera Garnier.

The Islamic State group claimed the attacker was one of its “soldiers” three hours later, but provided no evidence to back the claim or details about his identity.

The assailant was listed in a nationwide database of thousands of people suspected of links to radicalism, according to the judicial official. Extremists behind multiple attacks in France in recent years have turned out to be on the watchlist.

The official said the suspect was born in November 1997 in the largely Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, where extremism has long simmered.

COMMENT:  Not exactly a "lone wolf," but someone who was probably radicalized years ago.  Foolish, shortsighted immigration policies have allowed many potential terrorists into France, but don't tell that to the 1930s-style French foreign ministry.

May 13, 2018       Permalink

SUPERB – AT 12:24 P.M. ET:  Sam Tanenhaus, former editor of The New York Times Book Review, has written a superb piece reminding Democrats of the aftereffects of Watergate.  The Dems love to think of the Watergate era as a sublime time, the time they brought down Richard Nixon, after failing to defeat him in an actual election.  Why, they saved the Constitution, and humankind, and...and, the Universe.

Not so fast, says Tanenhaus.  From Bloomberg:  

In the current debate, we’ve become used to these reminders that Watergate was a political story, not just a legal one. But the lessons are more numerous — and more deeply rooted — than we may think. While many Americans may be hoping for a Watergate-style salvation from Trump, think again: It helped Democrats for a total of four years but also set the stage for a powerful conservative backlash. America in 2018 looks a lot like America in the 1970s — divided, polarized, riven with tribal antagonisms.

Nixon was elected — and re-elected — in a time of bitter disagreements over wrenching issues like the Vietnam War and civil rights. His approach was to pit one group against another. This “positive polarization” exploited what his speechwriter William Safire called the “us-against-them syndrome.”

And...

... in fact there were two Watergates. One had come to an end when Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, assured the country: “Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.” This was the version later romanticized in the movie “All the President’s Men.” Its heroes were the intrepid reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. (Last year’s film “The Post” reiterated this theme.)

The second Watergate lived on for conservatives who believed it was really about what the revisionist Nixon scholar Joan Hoff has called “the insatiable desire to ‘get’ Richard Nixon on the part of a tiny group of New York and Washington reporters.”

Post-Watergate politics was, in effect, a referendum on these two competing versions. Liberals emphasized the rule of order, and the dangers of an increasingly imperial and corrupt presidency.

Conservatives argued that the country was under siege from the people who had brought Nixon down, a “new class” or “elite” who disdained the values and ideals of middle America.

And, finally...

Many of the “Watergate babies” in Congress came from affluent suburbs, where good-government issues, like campaign-finance reform, resonated. But they didn’t speak to a lot of voters, including blue-collar Democrats, who had voted for Nixon and then been slow to accept his guilt in Watergate — as had the three in four people who, in a poll published before the Senate Watergate hearings began, agreed with the statement “Nixon’s campaign people were no worse than the Democrats, except they got caught.” Carter too failed to connect with those voters.

Four years later, the Republicans roared back, led by Nixon’s staunch defender, Ronald Reagan.
In heartland districts like Michigan’s Macomb County, outside Detroit, “Reagan Democrats” rejected their old party. It happened again in 2016, when Macomb voters who had helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 switched over to Trump.

None of this is lost on Trump, who returned to Macomb for a rally on the same night that beltway journalists gathered in tuxes and evening gowns for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

This is the Watergate legacy that Democrats fear, and they have every reason to do so.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's well worth it...one of the best articles I've read recently.

May 13,  2018     Permalink

MAY 12,  2018

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

HILLARY, SHUT UP ALREADY! – Why can't she simply retire gracefully?  From Fox:  Hillary Clinton recently took another trip abroad where she discussed her 2016 election loss to Donald Trump.  Speaking in Melbourne, Clinton asked in jest that the audience "forget that I got three million more votes -- it's over," in reference to her popular vote win, as compared with her Electoral College loss.  "There is still a very large proportion of the population that is uneasy with women in positions of leadership," said Clinton, who previously visited India to discuss the election.   There probably are some people, both men and women, who are uneasy with female leaders, But to suggest that this was a major factor in Clinton's defeat is deceptive.  Women have held any number of Cabinet positions, including secretary of defense and attorney general.  There have been a number of female governors, including Nikki Haley and Sarah Palin.  Women have run and are running major corporations.  Hillary should just get off the subject of her defeat, which was caused by her, and speak with some dignity about issues of concern.  We might not agree with her, but we would welcome the change.     

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE...FROM FOX:  John F. Kennedy’s only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, showed off his acting chops on Friday’s season finale of CBS’ crime series “Blue Bloods.”  Schlossberg, 25, the son of Caroline Bouvier Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, played Officer Jack Hammer on the popular crime drama, People reported. He took to his Instagram to share the news of the gig, which he called a “dream come true.”  "I don't make the rules, I just pretend to enforce them — Catch me tonight on season 8 finale of 'Blue Bloods' my dream come true!! Best show in the entire world," he wrote in the Instagram post. The post also included Schlossberg dressed as a police officer posing with his mother and “Blue Blood” cast members Will Estes and Vanessa Ray. The show’s executive producer, Kevin Wade, was also featured in the photo.  Acting to politics?  Well, it's been done before.  If you see young Jack watching tapes of Ronald Reagan, you'll know he's serious.

MORE COLLEGE MADNESS – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Early last month, the UCLA and Fresno State Army ROTC detachments held a training in which their “enemy” was garbed in “civilian clothes from Arab countries.”  You can probably guess what followed.  The Daily Bruin reported that “professors and students at UCLA said the clothing is inaccurate and contributes to a misinformed understanding of Muslims and Arabs in the United States.”  History professor James Gelvin noted the clothing “is not worn by any group that the United States is currently in conflict with,” while law prof Khaled Abou El Fadl added “associating Muslims with violence creates a toxic environment for Muslim students and Muslim community members.”  “A lot of (Muslims) that want to practice their faith and assert their religious identity constantly feel under siege and under suspicion, and this definitely doesn’t help,” El Fadl said. “It reaffirms all these Hollywood images of the bloodthirsty, stupid, Muslim terrorist. What is the difference between these images and the Hollywood images that we see? Nothing. It’s very sad.”  Sorry, but American troops are deployed right now to Muslim nations, and for a reason.  There is a political agenda within some parts of Islam, and that agenda found its expression on September 11, 2001.  It is certainly important to point out that the great majority of Muslims are not terrorists.  However, much of the terrorism in the world today originates in political Islam, and we have a right to identify it and oppose it.

May 12, 2018       Permalink  

TERROR IN PARIS – AT 11:09 P.M. ET:  The terror attack in Paris today is now being attributed, in press reports, to an Islamic extremist.  I am so shocked.  From Reuters: 

PARIS - An assailant shouting "Allah Akbar" killed a passer-by in a knife attack that also wounded four others in the heart of Paris late on Saturday before he was shot dead by police, French authorities said.

French prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the police's anti-terrorism unit would launch an investigation, given the aggressor's "mode of operation."

French President Emmanuel Macron praised officers for "neutralizing the terrorist." France "will not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom," Macron said on Twitter.

The country has been on high alert amid a series of attacks, commissioned or inspired by the Islamic State militant group, over the past three years that has killed dozens of people.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in post via its Amaq news agency, but provided no proof for its claim.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an "odious" attack. It took place in the heart of the French capital in an district renowned for the Paris opera and many landmark retail stories.

COMMENT:  This will, of course, be a one-day story, as we don't want to upset the terror community, with its understandable sensitivities and legitimate grievances.

But the incident reminds us that terror can be committed without guns or explosives.  Knives are now becoming a weapon of choice in homicides in London.  Apparently we must add Paris to the list. 

We don't yet know what affiliations, if any, the Paris knifer had.  But please don't be misled by the term "lone wolf," if it is employed by the press.  There is no such thing as a lone wolf.   A terrorist is radicalized by someone, even if it's an online messenger.  And that someone is usually part of a movement.

May 12, 2018       Permalink

HASPEL MOVES CLOSER – AT 1:22 P.M. ET:  A second Democrat in the Senate has announced support for confirming Gina Haspel as CIA director, moving her closer to having the job.  Haspel is superbly qualified, and would be the first female director of the agency.  She is, of course, opposed by the usual suspects on the Democratic side.  From Fox:   

A second Democrat on Saturday said he would vote to confirm Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for CIA director, moving the agency veteran a significant step closer to confirmation.

Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said he would support her after a “tough, frank and extensive discussion,” with Haspel, making him the second Democrat to back her nomination after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.

Democrats have expressed concern about Haspel’s involvement in the post 9/11-era interrogation and detention programs. In her confirmation, while she refused to criticize colleagues for their conduct, she pledged that there would be no return to those programs under her leadership.

“Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership on my watch CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program,” she said.

Haspel was chief of a base at a black-site prison in Thailand in 2002, where techniques such as waterboarding were used on terror suspects. Democrats have also complained that the agency has been selective in its declassification of information about her.

She came under particular fire from Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who scolded her for what she saw as her evasiveness in questioning.

"You also, in this hearing, have a responsibility to answer the questions being asked of you," she told Haspel. Harris has since said she will vote against Haspel’s confirmation.

COMMENT:  She's great, and has support from officials of both the Bush and Obama administrations.  As for Kamala Harris, I watched her grill Gina.  Harris has the obnoxiousness of Hillary Clinton combined with the ego of Barack Obama.  A truly dreadful package.  She wants to be president, and I can't wait for her to go up against Donald Trump.  That's entertainment.

May 12, 2018       Permalink 

THE REVOLT? – AT 12:37 P.M. ET:  We've run several pieces on the possible signs of a conservative revolt on some college campuses.  There have been a number of cases recently of conservative or moderate students fighting back against what they see (correctly) as the oppressive atmosphere created by political correctness and leftist orthodoxy.  Is the revolt growing?  Consider this, from the Washington Examiner: 

I have a college speaking tour called “Make Campus Great Again!”

Admittedly, my audience often skews Right and my invitations to campus are usually from conservative and libertarian groups. The crux of my speech is to encourage right-leaning campus activists to play offense instead of defense in the era of Trump.

Recently, I’ve noticed a growing number of left-leaning students at my events — and not to protest as you might assume. Instead, self-avowed Marxists and DACA-supporting students have been showing up to hear what I have to say. These students are starving for diverse ideas.

Timidly, they’ll admit to me after my speech that they can’t get along with their leftist peers. They’re too emotional in their arguments and aren’t interested in deep, challenging discussion, they tell me.

Their professors aren’t much better, so they say. Frustrated, they find themselves in a classroom, listening to a 25-year-old Trump supporter talking about how to make campus great again.

I find this both incredibly sad and highly laudable.

It's sad because students should encounter varying viewpoints on campus every day. It's laudable because some students are recognizing that their universities are failing them, and they’re seeking out alternative means of education.

You may be shocked to hear, but many of the leftist students I speak with find free speech zones and safe spaces to be an affront on their civil liberties, progressive values, and academic merits.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's worth it.  We're now starting to see the appearance of the post-millennials on college campuses.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of them are less ideological, less immature, and more open to ideas than the students they're replacing.  Let us hope.

May 12,  2018     Permalink