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MAY 18,  2018

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

FASCINATING – FROM FOX:  The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating Yale University after a male student from another school filed a Title IX complaint in February, accusing the Ivy League institution of a “toxic environment against men.”  Kursat Chistoff Pekgoz, an English literature doctoral student at the University of Southern California who has no affiliation to Yale, filed the complaint after he singled out the Ivy League for its overall culture of anti-male discrimination by providing benefits exclusively for women, despite declining male enrollment. This is not the first time Yale has been accused of discriminating against men using Obama-era Title IX policies that have been pulled back under the Trump administration. But this complaint, unlike the others, is unrelated to sexual misconduct on campus.   This question of anti-male prejudice has come up on other campuses as well.  It goes with assaults on "whiteness" and, more recently, claims of "Christian privilege."  The Office of Civil Rights, under Obama, was an extension of the far left.  It has changed under Trump.  I'll be interested to see how far the change is carried.

THROWBACK TO THE 1960s – FROM AP:   BOSTON (AP) — Black students at Harvard University are organizing a graduation ceremony of their own this year to recognize the achievements of black students and faculty members some say have been overlooked.  More than 700 students and guests are registered to attend Harvard's first Black Commencement, which will take place two days before the school's traditional graduation events. It isn't meant to replace the existing ceremony, student organizers say, but rather to add something that was missing.  "We really wanted an opportunity to give voice to the voiceless at Harvard," said Michael Huggins, president of the Harvard Black Graduate Student Alliance, a campus group that is planning the ceremony. "So many students identify with the African diaspora but don't necessarily feel welcome as part of the larger community, and they don't feel like their stories are being shared."   They did this back in the sixties.  Can't think of a single positive result.  What happens when five other groups ask for the same thing?

FROM BRITAIN – TOMORROW'S ROYAL WEDDING ISN'T THE ONLY NEWS – FROM THE TELEGRAPH:   The last surviving serviceman to take part in the iconic Dambusters raid during World War Two has flown in a Lancaster bomber again.  Squadron leader George "Johnny" Johnson flew on board the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s (BBMF) Lancaster to mark the raid’s 75th anniversary.  Johnny flew in the bomb aimer’s position, the same position he had in 1943, as the aircraft flew over the dams of the Derwent Valley.  He described the experience as "wonderful," adding: "It’s surprising how 75 years just disappear.  "Over the Derwent Dam, the time was gone - just like that; I was back there …thinking about the times that we went there."  They were heroes.  While people are watching the British/American wedding about to take place, they might contemplate the men and women who saved both nations.

May 18, 2018       Permalink

THE ALLEGED SHOOTER – AT 2:31 P.M. ET:  Texas authorities have now released the name of the alleged school shooter, and basic information about him.  From Fox: 

The suspect accused of unleashing a hail of bullets inside one of his classes early Friday morning that left up to nine people dead has been identified, reports stated.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, was identified as the person in custody in connection to the shooting at Santa Fe High School, the Associated Press reported.

Explosive devices were found at the school, authorities said. 

The suspected shooter was taken into police custody and a second suspect has been detained. The suspect in custody and the suspect detained for further questioning were both students. 

From Daily Beast:

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspected gunman who opened fire at a Texas high school on Friday morning, apparently posted photos of neo-Nazi iconography online, according to social media accounts flagged by classmates and reviewed by The Daily Beast...

...Pagourtzis was identified by law-enforcement officials as the suspect to CBS News and the Associated Press. Two Santa Fe students also told The Daily Beast that Pagourtzis was the gunman and they confirmed a Facebook account with Pagourtzis’ name belonged to him. Attempts by The Daily Beast to reach Pagourtzis’ family were unsuccessful.

On April 30, Pagourtzis apparently posted a t-shirt with “born to kill” printed on the front, boasting that it was custom-made.

COMMENT:  Other reports indicate that the alleged gunman was well known at the school, wore trench coats even in summer, and was repeatedly bullied by coaches and students.  A fairly familiar pattern is starting to emerge. 

The governor of Texas has just said that materials found on the suspect's computer indicated he planned to commit suicide after the shootings.  In fact, he surrendered.

May 18, 2018       Permalink

CLOSE ONE IN FRANCE – AT 1:46 P.M. ET:   France says that it prevented a terrorist chemical attack.  From AP:

Police in France have foiled a suspected terror attack and arrested two brothers of Egyptian origin, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Friday.

“There were two young people of Egyptian origin who were preparing to commit an attack, with either explosives or ricin, this very powerful poison,” the minister said on BFMTV.

“They had tutorials that showed how to make ricin-based poisons,” Collomb said, adding that they had communicated via the Telecom encrypted messaging app.

The revelation came after a 29-year-old man was killed and five other people injured in a deadly knife attack in Paris last Saturday night.

Collomb did not indicate when they were arrested, but a source close to the inquiry said they were detained in the northern 18th Arrondissement of Paris on May 11, the day before Khamzat Azimov carried out his knife rampage.

COMMENT:  The working assumption here has to be that these two were either members of, or followers of, some very bad group.  We have to wonder how they got "tutorials" telling them how to make chemical weapons.

France has been a regular target of Mideast terror for many years, despite having a history of appeasing Muslim interests.  Shows that appeasement never works.

Obviously, we have no evidence of any link between the French arrests and the shootings today in Texas.  However, some of the explosive devices found near the Texas shootings were pressure-cooker bombs, or simulated bombs.  Pressure cooker devices were used in the Boston Marathon bombings. 

Not a good day.

May 18, 2018       Permalink

SHOOTING – AT 1:02 P.M. ET:  We are following the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.  Information is sketchy, but there up to nine reported fatalities.  Little is being said about the alleged shooter, even though he is in custody.  Some news outlets describe him as a 17-year-old, and some outlets say he used a shotgun.

I've been switching between Fox and CNN, and I thus far have found pretty straightforward reporting.  CNN has resisted the temptation to go all-out liberal, and scream for gun control. 

There are reports, confirmed by the police, that explosive devices have been found at the school and in the surrounding area.  We have no further information on that.  We'd want to know if these devices are operational or fakes, and whether they are linked to the shootings.

There was a school resource officer on duty at the school.  It is reported that he was shot and wounded.  From Fox: 

A Texas high school student unleashed a hail of bullets inside one of his classes early Friday morning, gunning down up to nine people, police said. 

Explosive devices were found at the school, authorities said. 

The suspected shooter was taken into police custody and a second suspect has been detained. The suspect in custody and the suspect detained for further questioning were both students. 

Police officers responded to Santa Fe High School around 8 a.m. CDT after reports that a shooter opened fire inside. 

The Santa Fe Police Department confirmed explosive devices were found at the campus of the high school and the "surrounding areas adjacent to the school." The school has been evacuated and the campus was cleared, the Santa Fe Police Department said.

COMMENT:  We'll follow this closely.  The explosive devices are of particular concern.  We don't know where in the town they were placed.

May 18,  2018     Permalink

MAY 17,  2018

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

GOOD FOR GINA – FROM FOX:  President Trump’s pick for CIA director Gina Haspel was confirmed Thursday by the Senate, with help from several Democrats who backed the nomination despite concerns over her role in post-9/11-era interrogation and detention practices.  The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Haspel, with a handful of Democrats voting in support. The vote came a day after Haspel was recommended in a 10-5 vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Haspel will be the first woman to lead the agency.  Haspel, who will replace now-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, served as the base chief at a black-site prison in Thailand in 2002, where techniques such as waterboarding were used on terror suspects. But Republican supporters accused Democrats of politicizing her nomination, and initially trying to derail an otherwise highly qualified nominee.  The Dems who voted for Haspel are at political risk because they come from generally moderate or conservative states.  Voting against such a qualified nominee might have meant certain death in the November midterms.

NUT – FROM AMERICAN ACTION NEWS:  Even though the tactic doesn't seem to be working for Democrats, Senator Debbie Wasserman Schultz today doubled down on earlier rhetoric calling the National Rifle Association "just shy" of a terrorist organization.  According to her recent interview with the Huffington Post, Wasserman Schultz is no fan of the gun rights organization, and she's not afraid to show it.  “The NRA is kind of just shy of a terrorist organization,” Schultz told the magazine. “They have done everything they can to perpetuate the culture of violence that we have in our country with the spread of assault weapons across the nation."  Please tell Debbie that there's honorable work available in various rehabilitation centers for people like her, and that the staffs are kind. 

GOOD IDEA – FROM DEADLINE.COM:  EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio are in early discussions to re-team on an epic biopic of Ulysses S. Grant that DiCaprio and Appian Way partner Jeniffer Davisson are producing at Lionsgate. I’m told that Spielberg wants to direct DiCaprio in that role in their first collaboration since the 2002 drama Catch Me If You Can.  Lionsgate and Appian Way last November acquired movie rights to Grant, the bestselling Ron Chernow biography that is being adapted by David James Kelly. The writer just worked for Appian Way and Lionsgate on Robin Hood, the Otto Bathurst-directed that stars Taron Egerton in the starring role.  An excellent idea, if well executed and free of political correctness.  Grant was one of the most fascinating figures in American history – a failure in civilian life who achieved victory in war, and the author of a distinguished autobiography.  Even his presidency, once viewed as mediocre, is now getting a second look from historians.  I look forward to this. 

May 17, 2018       Permalink

AND NOW HILLARY? – AT 1:15 P.M. ET:   Wouldn't it be ironic if the focus of investigations in Washington switched from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.  From Fox:   

The completion of a long-awaited watchdog report on the FBI and DOJ’s Hillary Clinton investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign has put Washington on edge, as the clock counts down to its potentially explosive release. 

“We’re all anxiously awaiting this report,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News’ “Hannity.” 
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced the draft report was done in a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday. He did not say when the results of the review will be officially released to the FBI, DOJ and congressional committees.

But the inspector general said he has provided a draft report to the Department and the FBI, and requested that they review it to identify any information that should be protected from disclosure.

“Additionally, consistent with our usual process, we have asked the Department and FBI to provide us with any comments they wish us to consider regarding the report’s accuracy and completeness,” Horowitz wrote in his letter to lawmakers.

For more than a year, Horowitz has been reviewing the FBI and DOJ’s actions related to its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Horowitz’s investigation has looked at a variety of allegations, including whether it was improper for former FBI Director James Comey to make a public announcement about not recommending prosecution over the Clinton email arrangement.

COMMENT:  It's impossible to say whether the "review" by the FBI and Department of Justice will render the report toothless, or whether the IG will be able to tell the full story.  But this could be extremely volatile.  However, Hillary will make a profit on it by going on a book tour and declaring herself a victim of the old boys' network.

May 17, 2018       Permalink

WE'RE FOLLOWING EUROPE – AT 12:32 P.M. ET:  America's birth rate is becoming dangerously low.  This is critical if we expect to reproduce our civilization.  We must not follow the example of Western Europe, where some countries will simply disappear because of low birth rates.  From livescience.com: 

The number of babies being born in the United States continues to fall, with the birth rate reaching a new record low in 2017, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, about 3.8 million babies were born in the U.S., which is 2 percent lower than the number born in 2016, and the lowest recorded number of births in 30 years, according to the report.
What's more, there were about 60 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, which is 3 percent lower than the rate in 2016, and the lowest recorded rate since the government started tracking birth rates in 1909.

The decline in the U.S. birth rate from 2016 to 2017 was the largest single-year drop since 2010, the researchers wrote in the report, which was published today (May 17).

The teen birth rate fell 7 percent from 2016 to 2017, to a rate of 19 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. In addition, birth rates generally declined for women under 40, reaching record lows among women in their 20s, the report authors found.

Part of the reason for the decline in U.S. birth rates may be that people are in a general state of economic uncertainty, said Karen Benjamin Guzzo, associate director of the Center for Family & Demographic Research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Even though the Great Recession technically ended in 2009, people may still feel uneasy about their economic situation; they may be employed but working part time, or going to school and working, or trying to pay off student loans, Guzzo said.

"People feel just really uncertain about the future," Guzzo told Live Science. "And that generally does not bode well for having kids."

COMMENT:  Another reason is that having kids may not be that "in" amongst the millennials.  Whatever the reason, we must not go European. 

I don't know how we can, responsibly, create a higher birth rate.  Clearly, the tax system can be adjusted further to make it easier to have children, but I hate to think that households would have kids just because more money is available.

May 17,  2018     Permalink