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NOVEMBER 4,  2016

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

AND ANOTHER – FROM FOX:    One NYPD officer was killed and another wounded in a shootout in the Bronx Friday afternoon following a 911 call to report a home invasion. The gunman also was killed.  New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio identified the dead officer as Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year veteran of the force and father of two young children.  "The city is in mourning, the whole family of the NYPD is in mourning," De Blasio said.  The gunman was identified as Manuel Rosales, 35, who had 17 prior arrests.  Seventeen priors and still out on the street.  Insanity.  The number of  police officers murdered is up 48% this year.  I have to believe it's related to the war on police generated by the political left.

DON NEEDLES HIL – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Donald Trump attracted an estimated 11,000 people to a Pennsylvania hockey arena Friday night, and quickly boasted that unlike Hillary Clinton he didn't have to share top-billing with a singer to lure in the crowds.  'We are gonna win Pennsylvania big!' he said as he surveyed the nearly packed house in the famed chocolate town of Hershey. 'Look at this. I hear we set a new record for this building!'  'And by the way, I didn't have to bring J-Lo or Jay-Z – the only way she gets anybody,' the Republican presidential nominee boasted. 'I'm here all by myself. Just me. No guitar, no piano, no nothing.'  'But you know what we do have? And it's all of us. It's all the same. We have great ideas and great vision for our country.'  After we get through the bragging, we realize he's right.  Clinton needs major names to bring in the crowds.  Trump needs himself, and his crowds are much bigger.

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Most universities just give celebrities honorary degrees, but three years ago, Emerson College actually renamed its School of Communication after the mustachioed blowhard Ron Burgundy from the Anchorman movies.  The occasion was an appearance by actor Will Ferrell as his Burgundy character to promote the second installment of the series. (Emerson also offers a comedy minor.)  Some things have changed since then – the School of Communication is no longer prefixed by Burgundy (it was a one-day stunt), and Emerson College now has no tolerance for the word “anchorman.”  Sexist, it is claimed.  A list of forbidden words was published, a common practice at many notoriously politically correct colleges.  Not exactly great preparation for the adult world.

November 4, 2016       Permalink

ON THE TRAIL WITH MR. HOPE AND CHANGE – AT 10:33 A.M. ET: We note that the Supreme Leader has been away from the job a great deal, and campaigning for someone he probably despises, Hillary Clinton.  The great Andrew Malcolm comments on the show, in our quote of the day: 

Not everybody notices, but Barack Obama is having a blast these last 11 weeks of political relevance. Sure, one cheeky trick-or-treater confronted the president dressed as a duck with his arm in a sling. Get it, lame duck?  

And never mind ISIS, which he vowed to defeat, and ObamaCare, which he vowed would save everyone $2,500. Neither is happening. But Obama is in his natural habitat, accepting campaign crowds’ adulation.

Obama’s many failures are smothered as media and much of the country endure these last frantic campaign days with polls, charges and say-anything-because-no-one-cares-about-truth-anymore.

So the aging pol is out there fundraising and campaigning, allegedly to help his one-time rival Hillary Clinton. Not really. He’s helping Clinton help him. Her election is the only way his tarnished legacy, such as it is, can survive.

And since WikiLeak’s disclosures re-opened the self-inflicted Clinton email scandal that never ends and revealed the dirty Democrat conspiracy to engineer Clinton’s nomination, her success doesn’t seem quite so inevitable anymore. Hello, 2008.

“I know it’s hard to view me as objective here,” Obama told North Carolina students this week, “but I’m about to leave. So I’m just lettin’ you know the truth.”

The truth? From the man who promised 36 times you could keep your doctor, who was going to end Washington’s bitter partisan divide, who’s vowed swift justice to many terrorists while releasing many others to rejoin the fight.

COMMENT:  Wonderfully stated.  Obama's approval ratings have risen recently, based on nothing but the fact that he seems at times more likeable that the people running.  He isn't, but it seems that way.

Two and a half more months of this nonsense.  Then, if Hillary is elected, four more years of it. 

November 4, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP GAINS IN STATES, BUT CLINTON STILL HAS THE EDGE – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:   We'll be concentrating more on state polls as we approach election day.  We vote by state.  The electoral vote decides.  From The Hill:

Several battleground states that were leaning toward Hillary Clinton have shifted in recent days to become toss-ups, a Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project reported Friday.

In Florida and North Carolina, Donald Trump and Clinton are now reportedly tied. The two candidates are also neck-and-neck in Ohio.

In Michigan, Clinton's lead over her Republican rival has decreased, they say, and the state is too close to call.

Still, the States of the Nation project is predicting the Democratic nominee has about a 90 percent chance of winning the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure the presidency.

Last week, it gave the Democratic nominee a 95 percent chance.

In the past week, Trump's support has increased in 24 states and decreased in 11. In comparison, Clinton's support has grown in 13 states and decreased in 22.

The States of the Nation project surveys about 15,000 people every week in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

COMMENT:  There are a number of indications in the polling of the last few days that Trump's momentum has stalled.  We are looking for a close election, one in which turnout will be all-important.  Who will vote?  Who won't?  Who's enthusiastic?  Who isn't?

Virtually all observers give the edge to Clinton, just as they gave the edge to President Dewey in 1948.

November 4, 2016       Permalink

TERROR WARNING – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  CBS News has learned of a terror warning for Monday, the day before the election:

NEW YORK -- CBS News has learned about a potential terror threat for the day before the election.

Sources told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that U.S. intelligence has alerted joint terrorism task forces that al Qaeda could be planning attacks in three states for Monday.

It is believed New York, Texas and Virginia are all possible targets, though no specific locations are mentioned.

U.S. authorities are taking the threat seriously, though the sources stress the intelligence is still being assessed and its credibility hasn’t been confirmed. Counterterrorism officials were alerted to the threat out of abundance of caution.

A senior FBI official told CBS News, “The counterterrorism and homeland security communities remain vigilant and well-postured to defend against attacks here in the United States. The FBI, working with our federal, state and local counterparts, shares and assesses intelligence on a daily basis and will continue to work closely with law enforcement and intelligence community partners to identify and disrupt any potential threat to public safety.”

Intelligence about potential threats always increases during holiday seasons and when big events are approaching.

As Election Day nears, federal law enforcement is planning for several worst-case scenarios.

COMMENT:   Rarely does a known threat ever materialize, but one never knows.  Eternal vigilance is required.

November 4,  2016     Permalink

NOVEMBER 3,  2016

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

NICE TO KNOW - FROM THE HILL:    Newly discovered emails that the FBI initially said may be "pertinent" to its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server do relate to her tenure as secretary of State, a source told CBS News Thursday.  A U.S. official told CBS News that the emails are not duplicates of documents previously reviewed during the investigation into Clinton's private email server. They were reportedly found on the computer of Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin.  It is unclear how many new relevant documents were retrieved from the computer and how significant they are to the investigation.  Other news outlets have reported that the new review of discovered emails will likely not be completed before Nov. 8.  And if Hillary is elected Tuesday. the investigations are expected to continue indefinitely.  Not a good way to become president.

A SIGNIFICANT DROP – FROM THE HILL:   The University of Virginia's Larry Sabato is now predicting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will win the White House with 293 electoral votes.  That number includes 272 " 'hard' Safe or Likely" electoral votes and 21 additional electoral votes that are leaning toward the Democratic nominee in Nevada and North Carolina, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball.  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is predicted to now have 214 electoral voters and is not seen as having a "clear path" to getting the remaining 56 electoral votes that would be necessary to clinch the presidency.  In an analysis, Sabato's team wrote that Clinton picked an "awful time to hit one of the rough patches that has plagued her throughout the campaign."  "Now with just days to go until Election Day, there’s added uncertainty about the outcome," the analysis said.  If Trump can get three more points by Tuesday, he might pull it out.  That's not a fantasy.

DISGRACEFUL – FROM BREITBART:   President Barack Obama wants people in North Carolina to vote for Hillary Clinton, so he’s warning them that Donald Trump would tolerate the support of the Klu Klux Klan if he’s elected president.  “If you accept the support of Klan sympathizers — the Klan — and hesitate when asked about that support, then you’ll tolerate that support when you’re in office,” he said.  Obama added that Trump would “disrespect” the Constitution as president, citing the Republican nominee’s vow to put Hillary Clinton in jail.  This is disgraceful campaigning.  It's designed to appeal to the worst fears of blacks.  Obama probably knows better, but he won't do better.  At heart he's a local Chicago politician.

November 3, 2016       Permalink

WHERE IT STANDS – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:   Not much change from yesterday.  Indeed, there are some small – repeat small – hints that Trump's surge is slowing down.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls is unchanged, with Clinton up 1.7 points.

Rasmussen has Trump up three, 45-42, breaking a tie that had held for two days.

L.A. Times has Trump up five, a tiny drop from yesterday, statistically insignificant.

However, IBD/TIFF has it tied 44-44.

Washington Post/ABC now shows Clinton ahead, 47-45, after a multi-day dip for Clinton.  The pollster claims the enthusiasm of Clinton voters has now returned.

New York Times/CBS has Clinton up three, 45-42.

CRITICAL:  In the vote that counts, the race for electoral votes, RealClearPolitics estimates Clinton with 273, three more than needed to win, and Trump with 265.  This assumes no toss-ups, with toss-ups assigned according to the best judgment of the pollster. With toss-ups included, it's Clinton 226, Trump 180.

Including today, there are five more days of campaigning.  We don't know what surprises may be in store.  We also don't know the extent of voter fraud.

A week from today we'll be speculating on the new president's Cabinet choices.

November 3, 2016       Permalink

ANOTHER CLINTON IMPLOSION? – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:  We've wondered for months whether there really is an FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation.   According to a new report by Fox, there is, and it's deadly serious.  From Fox: 

The FBI's investigation into the Clinton Foundation that has been going on for more than a year has now taken a "very high priority," separate sources with intimate knowledge of the probe tell Fox News.

FBI agents have interviewed and re-interviewed multiple people on the foundation case, which is looking into possible pay for play interaction between then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. The FBI's White Collar Crime Division is handling the investigation.

Even before the WikiLeaks dumps of alleged emails linked to the Clinton campaign, FBI agents had collected a great deal of evidence, law enforcement sources tell Fox News.

"There is an avalanche of new information coming in every day," one source told Fox News, who added some of the new information is coming from the WikiLeaks documents and new emails.

FBI agents are "actively and aggressively pursuing this case," and will be going back and interviewing the same people again, some for the third time, sources said.

COMMENT:  And if the agents hit the jackpot?  What then?  Will the case go forward, or will it be stopped by Loretta Lynch's Justice Department?  And if Hillary Clinton is elected?  Will the FBI dare to confront a president-elect?

You know, this could easily lead to a Constitutional crisis.  It could also raise the most profound questions about whether we have two systems of justice in this country – one for the Clintons and another for everyone else. 

The story is far from over. 

November 3, 2016       Permalink

REMARKABLE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:10 A.M. ET:   There are some news organizations that remain a credit to journalism.  They are dwindling, but they're there.  The Daily Commercial, a Florida paper, has apologized for the bias it has shown during this campaign.  Here is part of the paper's apology, our quote of the day:

Has the media been biased against Trump? Yes, we believe so, especially lately. Trump's every utterance, no matter how innocuous, is now parsed, analyzed and criticized by a litany of political pundits. The wire services that the Daily Commercial subscribes to churn out stories almost daily that fact check Trump, which is warranted given his penchant for exaggeration and duplicity. Yet those same services turn out so few stories that fact check Clinton, who also has a strained relationship with the truth.

And while hundreds of stories have attempted to shed light on Trump's feelings about women, minorities, his business dealings, his taxes and more, so little has been written about some of Clinton's questionable decisions as secretary of state, her emails and the fact that she and Bill have somehow amassed incredible wealth during their political careers. That certainly deserves scrutiny.

Here's the mea culpa: The Daily Commercial hasn't done enough to mitigate the anti-Trump wave in the pages of this paper. We've tried to be circumspect about the stories we run, the headlines we put on them, the political cartoons we publish (we recently abandoned our usual cartoonists in favor of a service that is not so unrelentingly anti-Trump). Our editors have even re-edited some wire stories that we thought used loaded language to describe Trump. But in retrospect, we haven't gone far enough.

To be clear, this is not an endorsement of Trump, a candidate whose brutish, sometimes childish antics are responsible for his sizable deficit in the polls. Rather, it is a recognition that you, the voter, deserve better than we in the media have given you.

You deserve a more balanced approach to the coverage of elections and other weighty issues.

COMMENT:  Very well said, and deserving of applause.  We dare some of the bigger guys, including The New York Times, to do the same.  Don't hold your breath.

November 3,  2016     Permalink