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OCTOBER 23,  2016

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

TAKING CARE OF MAMA – FROM BOSTONTRIBUNE.COM:   Washington D.C. – First Grandma Marian Robinson, 79, will receive a lifetime 160K government pension when she leaves the White House next year, according to congressional budget statements.  According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Mrs. Robinson earned the lifetime pension for “services rendered as full-time/in-home caregiver” for granddaughters Malia, 18, and Sasha, 15, during President Obama’s two terms in office.  In January of 2009, it was reported that Mrs. Robinson was living in the White House full-time to tend to her granddaughters. She was the first live-in grandmother at the White House since Elivera M. Doud, the mother of Mamie Eisenhower, during the Eisenhower Administration.  What a racket.  A $160,000-a-year pension for doing what grandmas do all over America every day for nothing?  I guess appearances don't count any longer.

THE MAGIC OF THE CUBBIES – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Chicago Cubs fans are looking to swap one golden ticket for another.  Diehard Cubbies followers are trying to swap tickets for the Chicago run of “Hamilton” for National League Playoff and World Series tickets.  Jim O’Hara told Chicago’s WBBM-TV he wants to swap four December “Hamilton” tickets for two Series seats. His wife hasn’t signed off on the plan yet.  “I have floated the idea,” O’Hara said. “She thinks we’re still going to ‘Hamilton.’”  The first direct challenge to "Hamilton" that I've seen.  The Cubs haven't won a World Series in more than a century, so the excitement is deserved. 

PARTY OF THE PEOPLE – OH YEAH? – FROM FOX:   HINDMAN, Ky. – Jim Justice, a coal billionaire running for West Virginia governor, owes millions in back taxes to some of Appalachia's most impoverished counties, including one in Kentucky that is struggling to pay the debt on a new rec center and has turned the lights off in its parks and reduced hot meals for senior citizens, according to tax records and government officials.  Many of these counties have been devastated by the collapse of the coal industry over the past few years, and their financial struggles are not all Justice's fault. But county officials say things would be a lot easier if he paid up.  "It's just absurd that a billionaire wouldn't pay his taxes," fellow Democrat Zach Weinberg, the top elected official in Kentucky's Knott County, said as he thumbed through a folder of Justice's debts.  Justice, who is leading in the polls, makes no apologies for the debt owed by some of his coal companies, saying he is doing everything he can to keep his businesses running and workers employed while other companies go under.  Isn't the law going after him?  Well, I guess that law doesn't apply to billionaire Democrats.  I guess they're excused under the "has a good heart" regulations.

October 23, 2016       Permalink

GET USED TO THIS – AT 12:30 P.M. ET:   She'll probably be president, so we should get used to the Hillary Clinton style.  The scandal doctor is in.  From London's Daily Mail: 

A stone-faced Hillary Clinton refused to comment on an email a top aide sent calling a Clinton Foundation quid pro quo a 'mess' of the former secretary of state's own making.

'I have nothing to say about Wikileaks, other than I think we should all be concerned about what the Russians are trying to do to our election and using Wikileaks very blatantly to try to influence the outcome of the election,' Clinton said on Saturday.

Didn't Clinton try a "reset" with these same Russkies when she was secretary of state?  How did that work out?

The Democratic nominee was responding to a question posed by DailyMail.com during a media availability with reporters riding on her campaign plane.

Hacked emails revealed an internal disagreement among Clinton's aides about her desire to hold a conference in Marrakech, Morocco.

The country's king made a $12 million pledge to fund the Clinton Global Initiative conference - but only if the the likely presidential candidate attended.

Top confidante Huma Abedin bluntly wrote in a January 2015 email that 'if HRC was not part of it, meeting was a non-starter.'

Then she warned: 'She created this mess and she knows it.'

It was an uncharacteristic remark from Abedin, who is known for her abiding loyalty to Clinton over the years.

COMMENT:  The press gave Obama a pass on almost everything.  The result is an egotistical president who really believes he's transformed the nation.  All he's left is a train wreck.

Will Clinton get the same kid-glove treatment?  Or will the press wise up?  My optimism is under control.

October 23, 2016       Permalink

THE TRUMP STRATEGY – AT 11:56 A.M. ET:  The Trump forces are not giving up, despite the smug predictions of the media and the fact that Trump has had an awful two weeks.  From Fox:

The Donald Trump campaign said Sunday that it plans major TV advertisements in its fight to the finish against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton -- bolstered by recent national and state polls.

"This race is not over,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday.” “Many in the media say it’s over. For the 12th time they’re counting Donald Trump out.”

Despite polls indicating that Clinton leads Trump in battleground states such as Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia, Conway argued each are within closing distance for Trump and that Clinton has failed to cross the key 50-percent threshold in any of them, despite outspending the Trump campaign by millions.

"She’s still under 50 everywhere and she’s spent $66 million in ads, mostly negative … personal destruction ads against Donald Trump just in September,” Conway said. “So, with all that on the field, we’re just starting to increase some of our investments on the air.”

Conway said the campaign’s path to victory still includes Florida, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina and possibly Nevada while securing traditionally Republican states Arizona and Georgia.

She also argued that races in still-contested states “can turn around in the next two weeks,” before Election Day on Nov. 8.

COMMENT:  Kellyanne is excellent and experienced.  Her problem is her candidate.  This could have easily been a major Republican year, but the party blew it, and knows it.

October 23,  2016     Permalink

WEIRD – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  According to the mainstreamers, the election is over and Donald Trump has been deported.  But it's a strange thing – some very respected polls tell a very different story.  From IBD: 

The IBD/TIPP poll — a collaboration between Investor's Business Daily (IBD) and TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence (TIPP) — has been the most accurate poll in recent presidential elections.

Day 5 Results: Oct. 23:

Trump Up 2 Points Nationwide, While Clinton Campaigns As If The Race Is Already Won — IBD/TIPP Poll

                   Clinton    Trump  Johnson  Stein  Other   Not sure
OVERALL:   40.8%    42.6%    7.2%    3.3%    1.9%    4.2%

COMMENT:  We must stress that this poll is an outlier, and yet has an excellent record of accuracy.  Both Rasmussen and the Los Angeles Times also have the race as very close, and must also be considered outliers.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls, as of this morning, has Clinton up about six.  It also shows the Dems picking up four seats in the U.S. Senate, which would be enough to capture the Senate if a Democratic vice president, acting as president of the Senate, breaks ties.

October 23, 2016       Permalink

OCTOBER 22,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

DID THE CUBAN PEOPLE APPROVE THIS? – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:   With little fanfare, the U.S. government recently amended regulations to allow Cuban government officials and members of the Communist Party to benefit from the softening of sanctions, including receiving cash remittances and other perks.  The new beneficiaries include members of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT), the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCC) and other branches of the Cuban government.  The change is part of the new round of regulations announced last week by the Obama administration. Along with measures that attracted widespread attention — such as the removal of the restrictions on the purchase of rum and tobacco by American travelers — this more discreet provision debunks a long-standing policy of prohibiting U.S. transactions with most members of the Cuban government, its political organizations and defense system.  Another advance for human freedom.  Choke.

THE PRICE OF THINGS – FROM FOX:   Looking for a salty snack that will really knock your socks off?  This potato chip may do just that—and leave a gaping hole in your wallet.  Bet you can't eat just one. But you can't afford more than that.   St. Erik’s Brewery in Sweden says it's crafted the world’s most expensive potato chip. Of course, it pairs perfectly with their signature India Pale Ale, but they’re meant be savored—not inhaled like a can of Pringles.  The chips were made in partnership with the Swedish National Culinary Team as a project to create “the world’s most exclusive chip.” And one box of just five crunchy chips will set you back $56.  I thought Sweden was the socialist paradise.  That's the kind of snack only Hillary could afford, after she delivers a speech.

DYLAN DALLIES – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Just one day after finally acknowledging his Nobel Prize win on his website, Bob Dylan has deleted the brag.   The folk singer won the award for his book 'The Lyrics 1961-2012'. In typical Dylan fashion, the elusive musician refused to make a public statement after the honor was announced last week.   It seemed that he had finally acknowledged the win though on Thursday, when a sentence was added to a description of the book on his website, saying - in all capital letters - that the book was the 'WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE'.   Come Friday though, the sentence was bizarrely removed without any explanation.  They named the wrong guy.  Had they given Donald Trump the Nobel Prize in – something – he would have treated all of Stockholm to dinner.  You gotta know how to celebrate. 

October 22, 2016       Permalink 

OUR PATHETIC FOREIGN POLICY – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:   Barack Obama thankfully leaves office in less than three months.  But he will leave behind the wreckage of American foreign policy.  Walter Russell Mead, one of the best commentators writing today, describes the reality in The American Interest: 

Hillary Clinton has swept her debate series with Donald Trump, and voters seem to like Trump less the harder they look at him. But as Clinton surely understands, even as she approaches the White House, the global scene is getting darker.

This morning, we saw a glimpse of that world, as one of America’s longest-standing allies in Asia turned its back on the United States and embraced China:

In a state visit aimed at cozying up to Beijing as he pushes away from Washington, the Philippine President announced his military and economic “separation” from the United States.

“America has lost now. I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow,” he told business leaders in Beijing on Thursday. “And maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way.”

As usual, the Obama administration was caught off guard and flat-footed. John Kirby, the spokesman for the State Department, said the move was “inexplicably at odds” with the U.S.-Philippine relationship. “We are going to be seeking an explanation of exactly what the president meant when he talked about separation from us,” Kirby said. “It’s not clear to us exactly what that means and all its ramifications.”

Kirby is right that the outlook in the Philippines is murky; lots of Filipino officials are as appalled by their president’s remarks as anybody in Foggy Bottom. But what isn’t murky at all is that President Obama’s faltering foreign policy has taken another serious hit. It is hard to think of another American president whose foreign policy initiatives failed as badly or as widely as Obama’s. The reconciliation with the Sunni world? The reset with Russia? Stabilizing the Middle East by tilting toward Iran? The Libya invasion? The Syria abstention? The ‘pivot to Asia’ was supposed to be the centerpiece of Obama’s global strategy; instead the waning months of the Obama administration have seen an important U.S. ally pivot toward China in the most public and humiliating way possible.

COMMENT:  Read the whole piece.  Has Obama had a single important foreign-policy success?  I don't think so.  The world is a more dangerous place than it was eight years ago, when he was taking office.  America's position in the world is weaker.  Obama doesn't seem to care.  His "legacy" will be carefully guarded by left-wing academics and journalists.  He is Barack, come to save us. 

Except he hasn't saved anyone. 

October 22, 2016       Permalink

THE MARCH OF UN-FREEDOM – AT 12:22 P.M. ET:   If you worry about the future of human freedom, read this.  You'll worry more.  From Climate Depot:

The United Nations has rejected the media credentials of three journalists from a conservative news outlet in Canada to the upcoming UN climate summit in Morocco in November. Nick Nuttall, a UN official, admitted in an October 18 CBC interview that The Rebel news outlet is being banned from attending the UN summit because of its skeptical reporting of the UN’s climate claims.

Nuttall tried to justify the UN media ban by noting that The Rebel TV host Ezra Levant has called UN promoted climate change fears a “crock.”

“What does [calling climate change a ‘crock’] add to the public’s understating?” Nuttall asked the CBC.

The UN’s Nuttall told the CBC, “I don’t see what he is actually reporting, you know, as being particularly helpful.”

But much to the shock of the UN official, the warmist Canadian Broadcasting Corp’s (CBC) Carol Off was having none of it. The CBC’s Off openly challenged the UN’s censorship of the media outlet.

“Do people have to prove that they’re helpful in order to be accredited journalists?” Off, who hosts the ‘As it Happens’ program on the CBC, asked the UN’s Nuttall.

A clearly flustered Nuttall responded, “Well, what do you think journalism is about?”

The CBC’s Carol Off tersely responded “reporting.”

As the Nuttall continued to dig himself deeper into a media hole, Off demanded an answer.

“I am just wondering again about he subjectivity of rejecting the credentials of The Rebel,” CBC’s Carol Off asked again.

COMMENT:  What is frightening is that this kind of censorship is becoming more and more popular on the left.   Our own president recently suggested that the internet needed some kind of filter to eliminate "crazy" ideas.  In his view, all those ideas are on the right. 

And too many news outlets, including the venerable New York Times, seem to have decided that slanted news is fine, as long as it is slanted in a "progressive" direction.  So when more and more people say in polls that they doubt the truthfulness of the media, they have a very clear point.

Read the whole article.  Well worth it.

October 22, 2016       Permalink

IS THIS POSSIBLE? – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  The new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Hillary Clinton's lead cut in half in the past week.   From Reuters: 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gained on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton among American voters this week, cutting her lead nearly in half, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling released on Friday.

The polling data showed Trump's argument that the Nov. 8 election is "rigged" against him has resonated with members of his party.

"Remember folks, it's a rigged system," Trump told a Pennsylvania rally on Friday. "That's why you've got to get out and vote, you've got to watch. Because this system is totally rigged."

Clinton led Trump 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the Oct. 14-20 Reuters/Ipsos poll, a 4-point lead. That compared with 44 percent for Clinton and 37 percent for Trump in the Oct. 7-13 poll released last week.

An average of national opinion polls by RealClearPolitics shows Clinton 6.2 percentage points ahead at 48.1 percent support to Trump's 41.9 percent.

Trump is slated to give a speech Saturday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, best known as the site of a decisive Civil War battle and cemetery, and the place where Republican President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address.

Aides told reporters on Friday night that Trump would make his closing argument to voters in his speech, and preview what he would do in his first 100 days in the White House.

"I think this site is fitting in terms of understanding a positive vision for the Republican party," an aide said.

COMMENT:  Again, with polls, it's hard to know which ones are accurate.  There are a few polls that even show Trump ahead, but by narrow margins.  State polls, at least the ones we're getting, show a decisive Clinton win in the electoral college.

We're already getting the usual Democratic hype about a mandate, a Clinton "win" too large to ignore.  In my view, Clinton won't win anything.  She's not capable of winning anything.  It will be the Republicans who will lose, having run a terrible campaign.  In some election campaigns one can say that a candidate won by overwhelming an opponent.  That was the case when Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter in 1980, having trailed Carter at the start.  In other elections a candidate simply loses, as the confused George McGovern lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972, even though there was no great enthusiasm for Nixon in the country. 

If Hillary "wins," she will still have to prove to the country that she's a true winner, not simply someone who capitalized on a weak opposition.  It will be a very tough task.

October 22,  2016     Permalink