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NOVEMBER 27,  2018

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

SET YOUR RECORDERS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  Al Gore will host a 24-hour broadcast special on climate change next month featuring an array of celebrities and musical performances by artists that include Moby and the Goo Goo Dolls.  The former vice president on Tuesday announced the eighth annual “24 Hours of Reality: Protect Our Planet, Protect Ourselves,” which will be televised in more than 125 countries and streamed live online at 24HoursofReality.org, according to a news release.  The special will include performances by Moby, the Goo Goo Dolls, Sting & Shaggy, Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, among others, as well as celebrity appearances by Jaden Smith, Bill Nye, Téa Leoni, Claire Danes and Cody Simpson.   I hear the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra is right up there with Glenn Miller. 

LATEST CAMPUS SICKNESS – FROM THE COLLEGE FIX:  Students at the Georgia Institute of Technology have launched a protest against the upcoming appearance of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the keynote speaker at the school’s upcoming December commencement ceremony.  Her pending visit has prompted a group of progressive students to pepper the campus with anti-Rice fliers and launch a campaign against the first African American woman to hold the post of Secretary of State.  A petition headlined “Say No to Condoleezza Rice” is now making the rounds. It was created by Georgia Tech’s Young Democratic Socialists chapter and decries Rice’s legacy as one of “deceit, torture, imperialism, illegal warfare, and other appalling human rights violations.”  What are nuts like this doing at a leading engineering school?

SHE'S BACK – FROM REUTERS:   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nancy Pelosi was expected on Wednesday to become the Democratic nominee for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving her the inside track to reclaim the House’s top job in January, when critics in her own party may seek to block her.  The 78-year-old San Francisco liberal, a frequent target of Republican critics, faces a small faction of Democrats who are refusing to back her for the post in which she made history from 2007 to 2011 as the first woman speaker.  Pelosi critic Representative Kathleen Rice said on Tuesday that while the rebels could not stop Pelosi from getting the Democratic caucus’s nomination for speaker at a closed-door party meeting on Wednesday, they could block her election on Jan. 3 when Pelosi must win a majority of the whole House, both Republicans and Democrats, to become speaker.  The party is a mess.  At least Pelosi has some experience.  Now all they need is ideas. 

November 27, 2018      Permalink

BULLETIN – AT 10:28 P.M. ET:  Republican US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has won the Senate runoff election in Mississippi, thus keeping the seat in Republican hands.  The new Senate will be 53 Republicans versus 47 Democrats (or independents who caucus with the Dems.)

With 73% of the vote in, Hyde-Smith has 56.1% versus 43.8% for Dem challenger Mike Espy.  It wasn't even close, despite the pre-election hype that an upset was very possible.  I wonder where the hype came from, or was it wishful thinking by liberal journalists.

The Senate is where judges are confirmed.  That is critical.  President Trump is reshaping the federal judiciary along conservative lines.  He already has put in place two new Supreme Court justices.  It's probable he'll have a third chance, although we certainly don't wish ill on any sitting justice. 

November 27, 2018       Permalink

OH, I JUST CAN'T WAIT – There are just things that send a tingle down my leg.  Isn't it true with you as well?  I bring you this with great excitement.  From The Hill: 

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said Monday that he would not rule out a run for president in 2020, backtracking on recent statements that he would not seek the White House.

O’Rourke, who rocketed to national fame with his campaign to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), indicated Monday that he and his wife are discussing the possibility.

“Amy and I made a decision not to rule anything out,” O’Rourke told reporters after a town hall in El Paso, according to The Washington Post.

Cruz defeated O’Rourke in a surprisingly close race in deep-red Texas, but the El Paso Democrat’s loss immediately sparked widespread calls for him to challenge President Trump.

During his Senate campaign, he pushed aside calls for him to run for president, saying on MSNBC: “I will not be a candidate for president in 2020. That’s, I think, as definitive as those sentences get.”
The progressive star, a three-term congressman, has drawn comparisons to former President Barack Obama.

O'Rourke's wife, Amy O’Rourke, said that the couple has not spoken with any political strategists, and said that the possibility of her husband running a presidential campaign was flattering and “scary.”

“To me that just seems like you have to give up so much,” Amy O’Rourke said, according to The Post. “I don’t know if this is a line that I or we really want to cross.”

O’Rourke would be entering a crowded field of Democrats hoping to take on Trump in 2020, with many speculating that former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) could all throw their hats in the ring.

COMMENT:  Oh yes, oh yes, there is a wanting of Beto on the part of "progressive" (read that "regressive") Democrats.  So what if he lost his most recent election?  So what if he has the mind of a child?  So what if he comes from a rich family and tries to hide it?  So what if his name isn't Beto, but Robert Francis, and that he took on "Beto" to sound Hispanic?  So what if he doesn't have one qualification to be president? 

Beto, or Robert Francis, is a personality, little more.  The press loves him because it loves a show, and it loves shallow personalities.  Recall one Barack Obama, who was sold to us as a savior for the nation.  Beto will be formidable, as he was in the recent Texas Senate election.  He will make news.  He will become a fashion icon, with his closely cut jeans, and the public will be "reminded" of the Kennedys, whom he's tried to mimic.

And he could be elected.  Talk about a tingle down your leg.  That could send a chill up your spine.

November 27, 2018       Permalink

PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 11:38 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen is back after the Thanksgiving holiday, and reports that the president's approval rating is essentially unchanged from before the holiday.  From Rasmussen:

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

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 40% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -5.

COMMENT:  We stress, always, that a poll is a snapshot in time.  Rasmussen tends to show higher numbers for the president than other polls, but it also polls likely voters, for a more accurate result.  It is also the only daily tracker left, and we use it to observe trends, not just specific numbers.

Other polls show the president in the mid-forties, which still isn't bad.  Pretty much where Obama was, or better. 

On a related matter, the number of House seats won by the Dems this past election keeps growing, one by one, as final results and recounts are tallied.  But what does that mean?  The fact that it has taken weeks to nail down final numbers in a group of races tells us how close those races were.  Many seats were flipped to the Dems by the narrowest of margins, and can be flipped back in 2020.  It was not a particularly great victory for the Democrats, but it is being sold as a blue wave by the compliant press.

November 27,  2018     Permalink

NOVEMBER 26,  2018

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

SO NOW WE KNOW – FROM BIZPACREVIEW:   Barbra Streisand insulted millions of women who voted for President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, suggesting that they couldn’t think for themselves.
“I love my country,” Streisand told The Daily Mail. “And it’s painful to see democracy being assaulted, institutions being assaulted and women being assaulted.”  In a show of how the left never strays far from the reservation, she then regurgitated Hillary Clinton’s talking point earlier this year about how Republican women vote to please their husbands.  “A lot of women vote the way their husbands vote; they don’t believe enough in their own thoughts. Maybe that woman who’s so articulate, so experienced and so fit for the presidency was too intimidating,” Streisand said, referencing Clinton’s failed run in 2016.  Rabidly anti-Trump, the 76-year-old iconic recording artist targeted the president in a song on her latest album.  She should stick to singing.  She's a classic New York liberal, absolutely intolerant, and thoroughly believing in her own wonderfulness.

THE CHILD SPEAKS AGAIN – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for comparing Central American asylum seekers in the migrant caravan to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during WWII.  “I recommend she take a tour of the Holocaust Museum in DC,” Graham, a Republican from South Carolina tweeted Monday. “Might help her better understand the differences between the Holocaust and the caravan in Tijuana.”  Graham was responding to a tweet sent by Ocasio-Cortez, in which she compared previous refugee groups — including Jews during WWII — to the current migrants fleeing Central America.  The child – we call her little Evita from the Bronx – is already tiresome, and she hasn't even been sworn in yet as a congresswoman.  If the Democrats were smart – a dubious proposition – they'd put her on the back bench and zip her lip.

THE HEAD OF THE MOST POLITICALLY CORRECT STATE PARTY IN THE COUNTRY APPARENTLY HAS A BIT OF A PROBLEM – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  The California Democratic Party announced Monday that chairman Eric Bauman will take a leave of absence until an outside investigation concludes examining allegations of sexual misconduct against him.  The decision was made after Bauman used the “the holiday weekend to consider the most constructive path forward for the work of the California Democratic Party,” according to California Democratic Party spokesperson Mike Roth.  "Chair Bauman believes this decision is the best way to ensure the independence and integrity of the process," Roth said in a statement. "The Party is confident that the procedures in place will allow for all parties to come forward freely and provide for a thorough and complete review."  The second-vice chair of the California Democratic Party Daraka Larimore-Hall sent a letter to the party last week claiming that Bauman “sexually harassed, and in some cases sexually assaulted, individuals during Party functions,” but did not share specific details.  Does Bauman have to present himself for execution? I guess so.  Maybe hard labor would correct him.  You just watch the political correctness emerge from this case.

November 26,  2018     Permalink

MISSISSIPPI VOTES TOMORROW – AT 3:44 P.M. ET:   A special runoff election in Mississippi tomorrow will decide whether the GOP holds on to a seat in the US Senate, or loses it, in an upset, to a Democrat.  If the Republicans hold, fine.  That will mean a plus two result in the recent Senate elections, strengthening the party's hand in confirming judges.

But if the Republican candidate is upset, that will mean a gain of only one seat for Mitch McConnell's majority.  Not exactly a triumph.  From CNN:

The Mississippi Senate runoff was expected to be a quiet finale to the 2018 election season but instead has turned into a nationally watched affair.

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's comments about attending a "public hanging," along with a series of other controversies, have led to critical media coverage and several companies publicly disavowing her.

But while her statements and actions may make Tuesday's special Senate election a closer affair than it might otherwise have been, make no mistake: she is a heavy favorite against Democrat Mike Espy.
Mississippi is as red as they come. It hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976. The last Democrat elected to the Senate was John Stennis in 1982. The last Democrat elected governor was Ronnie Musgrove in 1999.

Mississippi's redness showed no sign of abating when voters went to the polls earlier this month. Republicans Hyde-Smith and Chris McDaniel combined for 58% of the vote in the jungle primary, while Democrats Tobey Bartee and Espy combined for 42%. That doesn't look very different from Republican President Donald Trump's 18-point 2016 victory in the state.

It shouldn't be too surprising that there wasn't much movement off the 2016 baseline. Mississippi Democrats seem to have a low ceiling in Senate elections. No Democrat has come closer than 8 points to a Republican in the last 30 years. Only two Democrats have come within single digits.

COMMENT:  We can be guardedly optimistic.  The president is in Mississippi today, and clearly his intent is to drive Republicans to the polls.  We'll get the verdict tomorrow night.

November 26, 2018       Permalink

SUCCESSFUL! – AT 3:12 P.M. ET:   The spacecraft "InSight" has landed on Mars.  Perfect.  From Fox: 

NASA’s announced that its Mars InSight lander landed successfully on the surface of the Red Planet, ending a journey that lasted nearly six months and more than 300 million miles.

The InSight lander entered Mars's atmosphere just shortly after 2:40 p.m. EST on Monday and touched the surface at approximately 2:54 p.m. EST. The last part of the journey was the most harrowing, with NASA calling it "seven minutes of terror" due to the agency's inability to control the landing of the spacecraft, which cost $828 million. Scientists determined that no additional changes were needed to the algorithm that will guide the spacecraft to the Martian surface.

COMMENT:  It was great to watch on TV.  Like the old days of the space program, where the emphasis was on pushing the envelope, discovery, and science.  Not a word about politics this time.

I did see, however, numerous NASA scientists embracing and hugging after the landing.  I assume that Kamala Harris and Cory Booker will immediately launch an investigation into whether any of the women involved were hugged without their written consent.  I want the truth to come out.  No due process. 

November 26, 2018       Permalink

KEEP FINGERS CROSSED – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  Today, we hope, will be a great one in the history of America's space program.  From Fox: 

NASA’s InSight Lander is close to making its historic touchdown on Mars after an epic journey of just over 300 million miles.

The Lander is expected to reach the Martian surface around 3 p.m. ET Monday.

When it reaches the Red Planet, the probe will have traveled 301,223,981 miles at a top speed of 6,200 mph, according to NASA. The final stage of its descent, however, is fraught with difficulty — NASA engineers characterize landing on Mars as “seven minutes of terror.”

"We can't joystick the landing, so we have to rely on the commands we pre-program into the spacecraft. We've spent years testing our plans, learning from other Mars landings and studying all the conditions Mars can throw at us,” said Rob Grover, InSight's entry, descent and landing (EDL) lead, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in a recent statement. And we're going to stay vigilant till InSight settles into its home in the Elysium Planitia region."

On Sunday NASA engineers successfully tweaked the probe’s trajectory, steering the spacecraft within a few miles of its targeted entry point over the Red Planet.

"While most of the country was enjoying Thanksgiving with their family and friends, the InSight team was busy making the final preparations for Monday's landing," said Tom Hoffman of JPL, InSight's project manager, in a statement released Sunday. "Landing on Mars is difficult and takes a lot of personal sacrifices, such as missing the traditional Thanksgiving, but making InSight successful is well worth the extraordinary effort."

COMMENT:  We will be watching.  Remember when President Obama said that the mission of NASA was "Muslim outreach"?  Americans gasped.  Gasp no more.  We're back.

November 26,  2018     Permalink