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MAY 19,  2018

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

OUR FUTURE LEADERS – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  A Gallup poll on Pomona College’s “Perceptions of Speech and Campus Climate” has been released, and if you’re a regular reader of The College Fix you’ll find the results not at all surprising.  As reported by the Claremont Independent, almost 90% of students surveyed said “the campus climate prevents them from saying something others might find offensive.” Nearly two-thirds of faculty feel the same.  When it comes to political ideology, 75% of conservative and moderate students strongly agree that the school climate hinders free expression — “nearly 2.5 times higher than very liberal students.”  In effect, they're living in a dictatorship, or learning to live in one.  The political left is creating this atmosphere, and thoroughly proud of it.

HEY MAN, DIG IT – FROM THE HILL:  Illinois senators this week overwhelmingly voted to allow sick children to bring medical marijuana with them to school, the Chicago Tribune reported.  The state Senate passed the measure 50-2 on Thursday, approving qualified students to consume medical marijuana on school premises.  Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) now has 60 days to act on the bill.  According to the bill, students would not be allowed to smoke medical marijuana on campus and school officials would have to ensure marijuana's usage wouldn’t disrupt other students, the newspaper reported.  Hip kids all over the country are applying to attend Illinois schools.  Parents are applying too.

EXPOSED – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A Cambridge professor with deep ties to American and British intelligence has been outed as an agent who snooped on the Trump presidential campaign for the FBI.
Multiple media outlets have named Stefan Halper, 73, as the secret informant who met with Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos starting in the summer of 2016. The American-born academic previously served in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations.  The New York Times line is that the good professor was simply checking out reports of Russian interference with our electoral process.  The Trump camp believes he was sent to get information that would be useful to Trump's competitors.  Great movie here. 

May 19, 2018       Permalink

GOP NOT IN BAD SHAPE – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  The Republican side is doing remarkably well in the latest polls, negating the conventional wisdom, enthusiastically peddled by the press, that it faces impending doom.  First, the president is at 50% in Rasmussen, which is the only daily tracking poll remaining:   

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-nine percent (49%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 33% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 40% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -7.

Don't be surprised if the president's number is a bit lower on Monday.  I've noticed a pattern – Mr. Trump declines between two and three points over the weekend, then makes it up during the week.  I have no idea why that is, but it may have something to do with the fact that the Monday number reflects weekend polling, which may be done using a slightly different sample than the weekday survey employs.

The generic ballot represents preference for party in the upcoming midterm elections.  Here again, Republicans, while behind, are in much better shape than they were several months ago.  See this, from RealClearPolitics.   The Dems lead by only four points, whereas several months ago their lead, in most surveys, was in double digits.

I suspect the reasons for the Dem decline are, first, that the president is doing better and bringing his party up with him, and, second, that the Democratic Party is a mess, provides no policy alternatives, and increasingly is seen as a left-wing lunatic bin. 

Of course, polls are snapshots in time.  The Dems can get their act together (unlikely), or the pro-left bias of the press can have a stronger effect.  Also, the first midterm election after a new president takes office usually produces a windfall for the opposition.  If that happens this year, it would be consistent with history.  If it doesn't, the Dems might need to be replaced by a real political party.

May 19, 2018       Permalink

REVOLT IN IRAN – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  You'd never know it from the mainstreamers, but there have been small revolts in Iran since December.  There are reports that some have been growing in recent days.  Now, our secretary of state is responding.  From Fox: 

As protests continued for a third day in the southern Iranian city of Kazerun, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted his support for the protesters in that country.

Pompeo, who is due to give his first major policy speech on Iran next Monday, tweeted, “We support the Iranian people who are demonstrating against an oppressive government. Three deaths and internet interruption show the regime’s true nature."

Following Pompeo’s tweet, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio followed suit.

Iran analyst Benham Ben Taleblu, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News that “Secretary Pompeo’s tweet is spot-on. At every juncture, the Islamic Republic continues to prove that it does not care about the interests or well-being of the Iranian people.”

Ben Taleblu continued, “I hope concrete actions in support of the freedom of communication for the Iranian people, and against the interests and assets of the regime, complement the Secretary’s tweet.”

Lisa Daftari, an Iran affairs expert and founding editor of The Foreign Desk, said it was significant that the secretary of state would tweet out such a message.

She said: “For almost four decades Iran’s people have believed that any political movement, including regime change, would have to be supported by the West. For that reason, statements made in support of recent protests, including Pompeo’s tweet, cannot be underestimated.”

COMMENT:   When the Iranian people rose up in 2009, it took Barack Obama four days to shuffle to a microphone and vaguely suggest some general support for democracy.  The press, of course, gave him a pass.  After all, revolts in Iran were beneath the great thinker.

Now times are different.  We look forward to Secretary Pompeo's Iran speech.  May the Europeans be thoroughly irritated.

May 19, 2018       Permalink

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