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FINAL SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE OF 2018

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NOVEMBER 14,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE– AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

FLAKEY FLAKE – FROM FOX:  Retiring Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake on Wednesday threatened to pull support for all federal judicial nominees -- including 21 pending in the Judiciary Committee and 32 awaiting a vote on the Senate floor -- unless the Senate's GOP leadership permits consideration of legislation to expand protections for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's job.  The dramatic move by Flake, considered a potential primary challenger to President Trump in 2020, came immediately after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked his effort to introduce the bill for consideration by unanimous consent, which requires the approval of all 100 senators.  McConnell said the legislation, also backed by Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, is unnecessary because Trump has not suggested he will fire Mueller.  Flake strikes me as a man who was probably a very bad prom date.

THIS WAS A RESEARCH STUDY? – FROM DAILY MAIL:   Children tend to have the same number of romantic partners that their mother had - whether they witnessed her relationships or not.  Researchers say the findings, based on longitudinal data of mothers and children in the US since 1979, show mothers pass relationship skills to their kids, which influence how they interact with everyone, including romantic partners.  There is no longitudinal data on fathers, largely due to the outdated but lingering view that mothers are the most important figure in a household.  Psychologists told DailyMail.com that fathers do have a very profound effect on their kids' relationships, but since mothers are still the main stay-at-home parent for most Americans, it is likely their influence could still be stronger for now.  I'm not sure the world could have survived without this data.  I wonder who paid for it.

TIRED OLD PARTY – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:  Likely Democratic voters in primary states are not eager for a third White House run by Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.  A 2020 primary survey conducted by TargetPoint Consulting revealed voter fatigue among Democrats with the two-time failed presidential candidate. The poll is the first to include Clinton among 2020 hopefuls, just as her former aides suggest she is gearing up for another presidential campaign.  The survey also reveals the top two most important issues to Democratic voters—securing single-payer health care and repeal of the Second Amendment.  Former vice president Joe Biden leads the field, but with just 29 percent of the vote. Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders is the only other candidate to crack 20 percent, while Clinton shares a distant fourth place with just 8 percent of likely voters saying they would support her in 2020. Oprah Winfrey also secured 8 percent of the vote.   Oprah, who is 64, is apparently the head of the youth movement.

November 14, 2018       Permalink    

BE OUTRAGED – AT 11:41 P.M. ET:   Readers know that we try to keep up with the madness and decline that have many of our colleges in a lock grip.  Immature professors compete with immature students for the coveted title of "dumb act of the year."  The awards ceremony is very moving, conducted in the dark, so no carbon energy is used.

This latest, from Berkeley (natch), should infuriate you.  From Fox: 

A student senator at the University of California, Berkeley, who was kicked out of her own party and is being pressured to resign or face a recall because of her religious views, says she won’t back down.

Isabella Chow, a daughter of Malaysian-Cambodian immigrants and a junior double majoring in business administration and music, told Fox News she abstained from a largely symbolic student vote Oct. 31 because she did not fully agree with certain clauses, not the majority of the pro-LGBTQ+ bills, which passed from the support of 18 of the 20 senators (another being absent). She was labeled “homophobic” and “transphobic” and within two days felt like the whole campus was against her.

Two weeks ago, the Queer Alliance Resource Center (QARC) reportedly asked the student body to condemn the Trump Administration’s “proposed definition of sex under Title IX” defining individuals as being male or female as fixed from birth. The student government bills argued the definition is “trans-exclusive,” rolling back the Obama Administration’s added protections for individuals who identify as transgender from “harassment, denial of access to the student’s preferred restroom, and requirements regarding medical documentation.”

Chow’s former party, Student Action, left her with the decision to fully support the bills and the LGBTQ lifestyle or get ousted.

“No matter how difficult this has been, if I don’t represent the Christian perspective – the minority perspective – there won’t be anyone to represent these views,” Chow said. “I’m doing this for the Christian community. I know that I was called for such a time as this…backing down is not an option, especially when backing down means giving in to political pressure and political correctness.”

In her statement, Chow said discrimination is “never, ever okay” and condemned Christian bullies and bigots, calling the LGBTQ community valid and loved, even if their views were different.

“That said, I cannot vote for this bill without compromising my values and my responsibility to the community that elected me to represent them,” Chow said. “As a Christian, I personally do believe that certain acts and lifestyles conflict with that is good, right, and true. I believe that God created male and female at the beginning of time, and designed sex for marriage between one man and one woman. For me, to love another person does not mean that I silently concur when, at the bottom of my heart, I do not believe that your choices are right or the best for you as an individual.”

COMMENT:  Whether you agree or disagree with Isabella Chow, her bravery and dignity must be respected.  She shows us what freedom of speech is really about, but she is paying the price.  She reports that friends walk her everywhere she has to go on campus because she is seriously afraid of a physical attack.

No student should have to live with that.

We don't need a First Amendment to protect popular speech.  I assure you that no one in human history has gone to prison for agreeing with his government.  We need the revered Amendment to protect the unpopular thought, the rejected opinion. 

The Daily Californian, which passes itself off as the campus newspaper, editorialized against Ms. Chow, then refused to allow her to answer the editorial.  The editors are contemptible cowards and should have the dignity to resign.  They won't.  Cowardice on the left is fully respected at places like Berkeley.

From the article above:  "Chow, who identifies as an independent moderate and has interned for Democratic representatives in Congress, said while it felt like everyone on campus was against her, she has received supportive messages from people across the country.

“'I’m reminded the rest of the world is not a bubble the way Berkeley is, and honestly that gives me hope,' she said."

November 14,  2018     Permalink

WOULD YOU PLEASE GO AWAY – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:   As the Georgia and Florida recounts continue, Hillary Clinton announces her presence by claiming that Stacey Abrams would already be governor of Georgia if the election were "fair." 

Let me explain:  In the Democratic Party dictionary, "fair" means "We won."  "Unfair" means "We lost."  Please practice that.  From Fox: 

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Tuesday questioned the legitimacy of Georgia’s gubernatorial contest, saying Democrat Stacey Abrams would have already won the uncalled contest if the election was fair.

“If she had a fair election, she already would have won,” Clinton said Tuesday night at the University of Texas at Austin, where she accepted an award.

Clinton, who may be considering another run for president in 2020, accused the “people on the other side” of “undoing” voting rights in the election. Supporters of Abrams have made accusations of voter suppression, long voting lines and other balloting problems.

“Stacey is really in the arena and she is fighting for the right to vote and have your vote counted,” Clinton said, praising Abrams “for continuing that fight."

During the 2016 contest, Clinton expressed worry that then-candidate Donald Trump wouldn’t accept defeat if she beat him in the election.

COMMENT:  One of the operational characteristics of the left is the attempt to de-legitimatize everyone else.  If you aren't for us, you're a (check one) 1) racist 2) sexist 3) imperialist 4) capitalist pig) or 5) religious extremist.   Or, of course, you could be an oil-company executive.  We are the good people.  If you vote for the other side, you're voting against our "values" and therefore your vote is illegitimate.

I have no doubt that there are attempts to suppress votes.  I also have no doubt that there are other attempts to "find" votes that mysteriously are found after elections.  And I've noticed that those "found" votes tend to be overwhelmingly Democratic.  Just sayin'.

Let the counting continue and winners be declared.  If Republicans win you may be sure that there will be many journalistic investigations of rigged voting.  If the Democrats win those investigations will disappear.

In the meantime, I wish Hillary Clinton would contemplate the joys of retirement.

November 14, 2018       Permalink

THAT CNN SUIT AGAINST THE WHITE HOUSE – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  You'd think the press was some kind of weak institution, with the need to sue the president over some minor grievance.  Bob Woodward speaks out about it, intelligently.  From the New York Post:

Famed Watergate journalist Bob Woodward blasted CNN for suing the Trump administration over its suspension of Jim Acosta’s press credentials, according to a report.

“Too many people for Trump or against Trump have become emotionally unhinged about this,” Woodward said at the Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida, on Tuesday, according to Fox News.

“The remedy [isn’t a lawsuit],” argued Woodward, whose explosive tell-all “Fear” described a White House in disarray. “It’s more serious reporting about what he’s doing.”

The cable news network filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Washington, DC, seeking to have the White House correspondent’s so-called “hard pass” restored after he was banned for tussling with an intern during a news conference with President Trump.

Woodward said that CNN was taking the president’s “bait” by hiring high-profile attorney Ted Olson to pursue the federal case.

“This is a negative,” he said. “Trump is sitting around saying, ‘This is great!’”

CNN’s lawsuit alleges that the White House violated Acosta’s First and Fifth Amendment rights by penalizing him for the content of his speech without providing notice or due process.

The White House maintains that Acosta was punished solely because of his behavior. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described CNN’s lawsuit as “grandstanding.”

“The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

Woodward has cautioned journalists covering the president, once telling The Atlantic that people “see the smugness” of some in the media and that “following the facts” objectively is one way to help regain the trust of the public, The Hill reported.

COMMENT:  He's certainly right about the smugness.  And the public does indeed see it, as polls have pointed out.

About the case, I think it's ridiculous, but I am not a Constitutional scholar.  Some legal experts are supporting CNN on First Amendment grounds, and I'm sorry to see that Fox News is throwing its support behind its rival as well.

I think it would be best for the country if the case were thrown out, and the two hotheaded parties sat down in the back room of a second-rate restaurant and worked out a solution.   I wonder, though, whether the rulers of CNN want it settled.  If they lose, they become martyrs.   If they win, they become heroes of the left.  Not a bad place to be in, if you think like CNN.

November 14,  2018     Permalink

NOVEMBER 13,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

BACK TO BUSINESS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Senators returned to Washington Tuesday and immediately picked up where they left off — processing President Trump’s judicial nominees, over the objections of Democrats.  The Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Paul B. Matey, nominated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and for four district court picks.  Mr. Matey’s nomination is particularly controversial because it marks another round in the fight over Senate traditions and courtesies and their abuse in the era of Mr. Trump.  Mr. Matey is slated to fill a seat on the appeals court that’s traditionally ascribed to New Jersey. But that state’s senators, both Democrats, object to the president’s pick, and have withheld their “blue slips” to signify their opposition.  “To say that my objections to this judge is just because he's conservative is just not fair,” Sen. Cory Booker said, arguing he wasn’t properly consulted on Mr. Matey’s nomination. “Nobody has asked me what my objections might be.”  And, given that he's Cory Booker, who really cares?  The only question he ever seems to ask is, "What's good for Cory Booker?"

IT'S SO RUDE TO ASK A LIBERAL TOUGH QUESTIONS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Seema Nanda, CEO of the Democratic National Committee, couldn’t give an answer Tuesday about how Democrats planned to pay for a single-payer health care system many of them campaigned on known as “Medicare for All.”  “I don’t think we’re there yet,” Ms. Nanda told Yahoo Finance at its “All Markets Summit: America’s Financial Future” in Washington.  During the discussion, Ms. Nanda was asked how Democrats planned to pay for the multitrillion-dollar plan that many of them supported ahead of the midterm elections. Dodging a question on whether Democrats planned to raise taxes in order to pay for it, Ms. Nanda pivoted the discussion to “skyrocketing deficits” caused by President Trump.  The Dems had better come up with an answer to that question.  Otherwise, they'll be even more of a laughingstock than they are now.  Wait, that's impossible.

THE ROAD TO MEDIOCRITY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Looking for the best and the brightest is no way to hire. It harms minority groups.  This message is promoted by the Office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas-Austin, which was launched last month to tackle “the income inequality gap for overlooked communities.”  It’s intended to facilitate entrepreneurship among “underrepresented founders” so that “new for-profit sustainable ventures can be launched that will uplift communities.”  In order to do this, companies must move away from a “meritocratic way of hiring,” which is a “problem."  Yeah, getting the best is a real problem.  This stuff is taught to students.

November 13,  2018     Permalink 

LOWERING THE STANDARD – AT 1:45 P.M. ET:  Former presidents and first ladies are well advised to stay out of the affairs of their successors.   Why an exception is made for the Obamas, I do not know.  From Bizpacreview: 

Former first lady Michelle Obama, who plays the role of victim well and is quick to take offense over the actions of others, has a real knack for grating on our nerves.

Mrs. Obama harrumphed in an interview with ABC anchor Robin Roberts that her successor, first lady Melania Trump, never sought her great and wise counsel. When asked by CNN for a comment, Mrs. Trump’s press secretary Stephanie Grisham said her boss is “a strong and independent woman.”

And that’s where CNN’s inherent bias against the Trump White House took over.

Obama is peddling her new memoir and Roberts asked about a passage where she wrote that her predecessor, Laura Bush, told her she was “a phone call away” should she need help, before explaining that she extended the same offer of help to Trump.

Asked by Roberts if Trump has taken her up on the offer, Obama was succinct in her reply: “No.”

When asked for comment, Grisham told CNN that “Mrs. Trump is a strong and independent woman who has been navigating her role as First Lady in her own way. When she needs advice on any issue, she seeks it from her professional team within the White House.”

COMMENT:  What strikes us is the smallness of the issue.  There are serious problems to be solved, but CNN, which seems determined to destroy itself, wastes time on this, the personal hurts of Michelle Obama.

What CNN might highlight occasionally is the remarkable performance of Melania Trump in representing this country, despite the hatred for her husband that is regularly displayed by the press.  She is a class act, routinely slighted and demeaned, and yet she has not taken the bait.

November 13, 2018       Permalink

THE CHILD GOES TO WASHINGTON – AT 12:50 P.M. ET:   She's little Evita of the Bronx, and she won a Democratic primary that brought a turnout of 15%.  But now she's a national celebrity,  This is getting very weird.  Will someone tell her that there's a difference between a student government and a real one?  From ntknetwork: 

Democratic socialist and Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-CA) spent her first day in Washington, D.C. as an incoming freshman by joining climate protestors in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office.

Dozens of protestors with the groups Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats were staging a sit-in and greeted Ocasio-Cortez with raucous applause when she entered the office.

Ocasio-Cortez took time to high-five some of the protestors in the room before briefly addressing the crowd.

“I just want to let you all know how proud I am of each and every single one of you. For putting yourselves and your bodies and everything on the line to make sure we save our planet,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez then talked about her own experience protesting climate change.

“We don’t have a choice. We have to get to one hundred percent renewable energy in 10 years. There is no other option,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

COMMENT:  Last week she told us that she doesn't have enough money to pay her rent.  So, after she saves the planet, she might try to address that.

I'm sure she means well, but she is a child who never researches anything but knows everything.  She is one of the new faces of the Democratic Party.  We are in trouble.

November 13, 2018       Permalink

ARE WE SERIOUS HERE? – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  CNN is suing the White House because the president wasn't nice to Jim Acosta.  From USA TODAY: 

WASHINGTON – CNN filed Tuesday a lawsuit against the Trump administration in federal court, demanding that the White House return correspondent Jim Acosta's press credentials, the cable news network announced Tuesday. 

"The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acosta’s First Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process," the network said in a statement posted to its website.

The network said it was seeking "an immediate restraining order" forcing the White House to return Acosta's White House press credentials and that it "will seek permanent relief as part of this process." 

"While the suit is specific to CNN and Acosta, this could have happened to anyone," the statement reads. "If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials." 

The administration pulled Acosta's credentials last week after a heated exchange with President Donald Trump during a White House news conference, in which the president called the CNN reporter a "rude, terrible person." Trump went after Acosta because he persisted in asking a question about the investigation into Russian election meddling after Trump called on another reporter. 

COMMENT:  Oh please.  We have freedom of the press, but we also have freedom from the press.  No American, including the president, has any obligation to talk to a reporter or answer questions.  There is no law requiring a president to hold news conferences. 

There was a time when reporters were not permitted to quote the president directly.  The White House had to grant permission.

President Eisenhower had a wonderful technique of garbling his syntax so as to avoid giving a coherent answer.  Did the press run to the courts?

President Kennedy banned the old New York Herald-Tribune from the White House.  Did he go to prison for it?  Was the Supreme Court asked to intervene? 

When a president calls a reporter and gives an exclusive interview, do other reporters run to the nearest judge for relief?

And yet, you may be sure that CNN will do a little judge shopping and possibly find a judge who thinks he or she can "make a difference" by siding with CNN.  That would be a dark day. 

Turning reporters into dictators is not a good thing.

November 13,  2018     Permalink