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NOVEMBER 3,  2017

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

THIS WOMAN IS DISGRACEFUL – FROM PJ MEDIA:  WASHINGTON – Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) predicted that President Donald Trump will eventually resign from office to avoid impeachment by making up an excuse such as “somebody is trying to kill Barron” Trump, his 11-year-old son.  “We just have to, like the slogan says, stay woke; just stay woke, be careful, because I can see the wheels turning now…we’re marching toward impeachment, there’s no question about it. If that happens, are we prepared? Because it’s going to happen,” Wilson said Thursday at the annual Legislative & Policy Conference organized by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) on Capitol Hill.   This is the same "congresswoman" who exploited that military widow recently and tried to make President Trump seem unsympathetic.  A disgrace to the Congress.

THE POOR TASTE EXPRESS – FROM NEWSWEEK:   A Los Angeles Times columnist came under fire on Friday after calling White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a "slightly chunky soccer mom."  In the op-ed published on Wednesday, David Horsey says Sanders's appearance made her an unlikely candidate for the top White House position, being that President Donald Trump seems to prefer "sleek beauties with long legs and stiletto heels"—an aesthetic his daughter and wife embody to a T.  "By comparison, Sanders looks more like a slightly chunky soccer mom who organizes snacks for the kids' games," Horsey wrote. "Rather than the fake eyelashes and formal dresses she puts on for news briefings, Sanders seems as if she’d be more comfortable in sweats and running shoes."   Real class from the mainstream media.  If a Republican had written that, Washington would explode in righteous anger.  I'm sure this hack will keep his job.

SIGN OF THE TIMES – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:   In the arsenal of school-sponsored security measures, metal detectors, ID checks and security cameras are practically second nature. A bullet resistant backpack insert? Not so much.  At Florida Christian School, a private, nondenominational Miami-Dade school serving students from preschool to high school, that could be changing. The school has started offering parents the opportunity to buy a $120 piece of ballistic armor to turn students’ backpacks into potential lifesavers.  “It’s just a tool,” said George Gulla, the school’s head of security. “I’d rather be prepared for the worst than be stuck after saying ‘Wow, I wish we would’ve done that.’”  The school is acting to protect its students, which is fine.  But what a comment on what school-age kids face in some areas.

November 3, 2017     Permalink

FINALLY WAKING UP – AT 1:33 P.M. ET:  Republicans are finally waking up to the reality that the Trump administration may be destroyed, or seriously damaged, by out-of-control investigations.  It's happened before.  From Reuters:   

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Republican U.S. lawmakers called on Friday for Robert Mueller to resign as special counsel investigating Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, the latest in a series of conservatives’ criticisms of the FBI and Justice Department during the probe of how Moscow may have influenced the campaign.

Representatives Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs and Louis Gohmert accused Mueller of a conflict of interest because he was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation when former President Barack Obama’s administration approved an agreement allowing a Russian company to buy a Canadian company that owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies.

President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans have been calling for an investigation into the Uranium One deal, amid news of Mueller’s first indictments of Trump associates as the special counsel investigates allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

COMMENT:  Seems to me this is an easy call.  Mueller should clearly resign.  He has too many links to the questions under investigation.  He has also hired lawyers with direct links to the Hillary Clinton campaign, raising many eyebrows.  For the good of the country, he should go.

November 3, 2017       Permalink

WHAT? – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:   The Bowe Bergdahl case has apparently come to a stunning end.  Instead of paying a severe penalty for desertion, Bergdahl will simply receive a dishonorable discharge.  From Fox:

More than eight years after Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked off his base in Afghanistan -- and unwittingly into the clutches of the Taliban -- Bergdahl walked out of a North Carolina courtroom a free man on Friday.

Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to endangering his comrades, was fined, reduced in rank to E1 and dishonorably discharged -- but he received no prison time.

As part of the sentence, Bergdahl will forfeit his pay of $1000 per month for ten months.
Bergdahl was shaking and appeared emotional as the verdict was quickly read.

Prosecutors had requested a 14-year prison term following a week of emotional testimony from the survivors who were wounded during missions to find Bergdahl after he left the base in June 2009. Bergdahl's defense team has asked for no prison time.

Bergdahl faced up to life in prison for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Wearing a blue dress uniform, Bergdahl appeared tense during the short morning session. He clenched his jaw as if grinding his teeth, then grimaced and looked at the floor when he walked out of the courtroom.

In closing arguments, defense attorneys argued that Bergdahl already had suffered enough confinement during five years of brutal captivity by Taliban allies. They asked the judge for a dishonorable discharge and no prison time. Their argument for leniency also cited harsh campaign-trail criticism by Donald Trump and Bergdahl's mental disorders.

Capt. Nina Banks, a defense attorney, said it wouldn't be justice to rescue Bergdahl from the Taliban "only to place him in a cell" now.

COMMENT:  It seems to me that fairness toward other soldiers, and those wounded or even killed in the search for Bergdahl after his desertion, required him to serve at least some prison time.  Berdahl's crimes were profound, among the worst a soldier can commit.

As for Bergdahl's mental disorders, I can offer no informed opinion.  But the end of the case leaves me with an empty feeling. 

November 3,  2017     Permalink

WEEKEND TROUBLE – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  Our dear friends on the far left are planning some stuff for this weekend.  You may want to plan for indoor "rainy day" activities, like Monopoly or poker.  From Fox: 

Will the so-called "Antifa apocalypse" come with a bang or a whimper?

A series of anti-government, leftist rallies set to descend on major cities nationwide Saturday is drawing the attention of local officials, who, like the organizers themselves, fear the events could be hijacked by violent masked anarchists.

The left-wing "Refuse Fascism" group is using Nov. 4 as its kickoff for demonstrations in nearly two dozen U.S. cities, protests it says will continue "day after day and night after night ? not stopping ? until our DEMAND is met."

The "DEMAND" is the removal of President Trump and Vice President Pence.

The gatherings are being described as a kind of "Antifa apocalypse" on right-wing media, according to The Washington Post. Several sites are expressing particular alarm about the loosely-defined left-leaning group, which preaches a version of ferocious anti-government chaos that often uses "domestic terrorist violence," according to a recent FBI report.

Among the 20 cities where rallies are set to occur are Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.

The anarchist group, whose name comes from term "anti-fascist," made news earlier this week for allegedly harassing a female reporter at Columbia University and for seven arrests at California State University, Fullerton, amid reports of head-punching and pepper-spraying.

COMMENT:  Let us hope the whole thing is a flop.  Antifa operates best around college campuses, where its antics are appreciated by the adolescents within.  If they get out onto the real mean streets, they may encounter construction workers, veterans, and real cops.

November 3,  2017     Permalink

NOVEMBER 2,  2017

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

ANOTHER DEM POWERHOUSE EMBARRASSED – FROM BLOOMBERG:   The Service Employees International Union, the second-largest labor union in the U.S., has fired a senior staff member and accepted the resignation of another following allegations of workplace harassment at the organization.  “These personnel actions are the culmination of this stage of the investigation which brought to light the serious problems related to abusive behavior towards staff, predominantly female staff,” an SEIU spokeswoman said in an email.   Kendall Fells, one of the top national leaders of SEIU’s "Fight For 15" campaign, has resigned, according to a person familiar with the actions. Fells declined to comment. Detroit leader Mark Raleigh was fired, the person said.   One of the most powerful forces in the Democratic Party.  LIke 'ol man river, the hypocrisy keeps rolling along.

A SMALL VICTORY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Bowing to criticism from the Bruin Republicans and a legal threat from the Alliance Defending Freedom, UCLA has withdrawn its demand that the student organization pay unspecified security fees for its Nov. 13 event with conservative pundit and alum Ben Shapiro.  The dispute was an unwelcome distraction for the University of California System right as it announced plans to open the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at its internship center in Washington, D.C.  UCLA had warned the BRs that if students, faculty and staff didn’t make up at least 70 percent of the 600-person audience, the club would have to pay security fees. The BRs claim the 70-percent clause has been used four times in eight years – twice against its events.  Remember the old notion that the power to tax is the power to destroy?  On college campuses the power to impose security fees is that same power to destroy.    

OH, GO AWAY – FROM FOX:   Former first lady Michelle Obama explained Wednesday at a summit in Chicago that she believes men are “entitled,” and that women protect them too much.  Speaking at the first Obama Foundation international summit, Obama -- one of the event’s headliners -- said that men are essentially babied and protected by women, while women are raised to be “strong.”  “It’s like the problem in the world today is we love our boys, and we raise our girls,” Obama said. “We raise them to be strong, and sometimes we take care not to hurt men -- and I think we pay for that a little bit.”  She might take a walk through Arlington sometime and meet all the protected men.  They no longer need protection.

November 2, 2017        Permalink

REPUBLICANS UNVEIL TAX BILL – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:  Finally, some progress, but expect this bill to go through many revisions.   From Fox: 

House Republicans on Thursday unveiled their long-awaited tax bill which preserves the popular 401K retirement account, lowers rates for many individual households but trims deductions for state and local taxes.

A summary of the plan, which was made available to reporters ahead of its public release, would also reduce the cap on the popular deduction to interest on mortgages to $500,000 for newly purchased homes. The current cap is $1 million.

The plan also limits the deductibility of local property taxes to $10,000 while eliminating the deduction for state income taxes. Republicans in high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey had come out strongly against it.

“I view the elimination of the deduction as a geographic redistribution of wealth, picking winners and losers,” New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said. “I don’t want my home state to be a loser, and that really shouldn’t come as any surprise.”

Called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the GOP plan would also leave the top individual tax rate at 39.6 percent.

The child tax credit will rise to $1,600 from $1,000, though the $4,050 per child exemption would be repealed.

The legislation is the first major revamp of the U.S. tax code in three decades and has been a top legislative and political priority of Republicans.

COMMENT:  Now the real combat begins.  The key news reporting will involve analyzing how the typical "family of four" will fare under the plan.  No two analyses will result in exactly the same figures.

You may be sure that the authors of the bill allowed plenty of wiggle room for negotiations.  Republicans know that this is make-or-break for them.  If they can't pass a tax bill, they're doomed.

November 2, 2017       Permalink

VIRGINIA CLOSE – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:   The quality of news reporting  being what it is, we're hearing very little about next Tuesday's elections, which include the mayoralty election in New York and the governorship choice in Virginia.

The New York election is a foregone conclusion.  As usual, the almost invisible Republican Party has barely run a campaign, giving hard leftist Mayor Bill de Blasio an automatic second term.  No one can remember anything he did during his first.

The Virginia race is major.  Virginia is currently governed by Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat and old Clinton hand.  The Dems would love to hold onto the governor's office in a state that went for Clinton by about five points last year.  But the election is unexpectedly close.  From WaPo: 

One week from Election Day, Democrat Ralph Northam’s lead has narrowed to five percentage points in the Virginia governor’s race, with Republican Ed Gillespie closing a motivation gap and consolidating support among conservatives and supporters of President Trump, a new Washington Post-Schar School poll finds.

Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, leads among likely voters 49 percent to Gillespie’s 44 percent, a margin that is not statistically significant. The Democrat was up by 13 points in a Post poll earlier this month. Libertarian Cliff Hyra is at 4 percent, enough to play spoiler if the race remains tight through Tuesday.

COMMENT:  A few polls show Gillespie ahead, but other polls show Northam ahead.  Turnout will be the key.  If Republicans can turn Virginia, it will be a major political event.  This is by far the most important contest next Tuesday.

November 2, 2017       Permalink

THOUGHTS THAT MATTER – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas appeared on Laura Ingraham's new Fox show, and, as usual with him, said some things worth noting.  From lifezette.com: 

Ingraham asked Thomas about what he said in the fall of 1991, when Democrats brought a witness, Anita Hill, before the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse him of sexual harassment. Ingraham played the footage.

"No job is worth what I have been through," said Thomas in 1991. "No job."

Yet Thomas won confirmation, and as a conservative, helped shape law for America. Thomas told Ingraham the struggle of veterans help him see it was indeed worth it.

"I think we are called to do certain things," said Thomas. "When we do Wounded Warriors events or ... Wreaths Across America, what do you tell the widows, the families of the fallen? That you were too afraid to go through a little bit of uncertainty, a little bit of difficulty, to do a job like this? When they actually were in harm's way? What do you tell the young man who is a double amputee, because of war? That you were afraid to go through that? I don't think anyone would choose to go through unpleasantness, but if it has to be that, to do what is right, then so be it."

COMMENT:  Wonderful words from a great man, who has always carried himself with dignity and lack of anger.  He towers above his critics. which have always included the phonies and frauds of Hollywood.

Read the rest of the piece.  It's worth it.

November 2,  2017     Permalink