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OCTOBER 17,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

THE BONKERS WATCH – FROM DAILYWIRE:  Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election was so massive that it was equivalent to the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks in which approximately 3,000 Americans died.  “I think there a lot more connections that have yet to come to light,” Clinton told an audience in London on Sunday, BuzzFeed News reported. “If I had been elected I would have called for an independent commission to get to the bottom of it.”  Clinton proceeded to compare her election loss to the 9/11 attacks, citing “intelligence veterans.”  There's a time when the men in the white suits come, they take you to a lovely place with trees and hills, and they feed you oatmeal and little tablets.  And you stay there, and you don't make speeches.  For one presidential candidate we know, that tîme has come.  The husband can visit.

UNEXPECTED – FROM FOX:   Republican Roy Moore, the anti-Republican establishment candidate, is tied at 42 percent apiece with Democrat Doug Jones in the U.S. Senate race in deep-red Alabama.  A Fox News Poll also finds that among just the 53 percent of Alabama registered voters who are extremely or very interested in the race, Jones has a one-point edge over Moore (46-45 percent).  The special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is December 12.  The competitiveness of the race is striking.  Donald Trump won Alabama by 28 points in 2016, yet the Steve Bannon-backed Moore defeated the president’s favored candidate, incumbent Luther Strange, in the GOP primary.  A stunning poll result.  This was assumed to be an easy win for the GOP.  But Moore is a difficult, controversial character.  He correctly condemns the liberal attempt to rip religion from public life, but may well go, even for conservative Alabama, too far in the other direction.

WHAA...? FOR BEING A CLOWN? – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:   As Halloween nears, many are considering clown pranks for fright night fun.  At least one sheriff’s office in the state says don’t even think of playing a creepy clown if your aim is mischief.  Volusia County Sheriff’s Office issued a stern warning on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon.  “Warning to evil clowns and anyone considering creepy clown activity: We will not be there to save you if your intended target defends himself or herself, and you may face other penalties as well,” the post read.  The warning was issued after an 11-year-old boy told deputies Monday that he was nearly attacked in DeLand by a man dressed as a clown, WESH 2 reported. The boy told deputy Justin Lococo he was riding his bicycle and as he approached Pine Ridge High School, a clown jumped from behind a light pole and bushes and tried to grab him.  The boy used his metal selfie stick to whack the clown multiple times, he said.  This is what it's come to.  Even clowns have become dangerous.  And I'm not talking about John Kerry.

October 17,  2017     Permalink

OUT THERE AND ACTIVE – AT 12:50 P.M. ET:   There are optimistic reports about ISIS being on the verge of defeat in Iraq.  But ISIS has several components, and a defeat in one place does not affect their other operations.  From London's Mirror: 

Islamic State terrorists have issued a chilling threat to attack the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

They have swamped social media with an image of a rifle-carrying Jihadi and a bomb bearing the regime’s infamous black flag.

It stands in front of Volgograd Arena in Southern Russia football stadium.

An official symbol of the finals is also included in the alarming promise to bring mayhem to the tournament.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be played across 11 cities in Russia from 14 June to 15 July, when the final will be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

COMMENT:  I'm sure the Russkies are taking the threat seriously.  Putin would punish any security officials who allowed a terrorist attack to occur. 

I just hope we're serious.  Under Obama we weren't.   Terrorist acts were called, as you remember, "man-made disasters" or "workplace violence."

October 17, 2017       Permalink

A REALLY GOOD IDEA – AT 10:57 A.M. ET:  Imagine – college students who disagree actually having lunch together, and...and...talking things through.  And not hating each other.  Is it possible?  Yeah, it is, and it's being done in an organized way.  This is good news.  From Daily Caller:   

Students will pair students of different political persuasions for lunch or coffee dates for a University of Virginia student initiative announced Friday.

Converge UVA will match interested students with diverging political views and use guiding questions to attempt to reach a common ground, according to The Cavalier Daily.

“Our Facebook feeds are algorithmically designed to reinforce our own views,” said Jack Wilkins, the UVA student who leads the program’s development, to The Cavalier Daily. “Oftentimes, our friends hold similar views as us so there’s not many avenues to expand beyond that — to challenge your own beliefs.”

Converge UVA’s conversation guider suggests that participants view the interaction as a dialogue instead of a debate and assume that their partner is speaking in good faith.

“It’s a good idea,” said Adam Kimelman, president of the school’s College Republicans. “I’ve done similar things with some of my friends…and it’s definitely a therapeutic way of going about [political conversation].”

“Political party does not define who we are as human beings — our government and our citizens must always work in the pursuit of uplifting one another,” said Brett Curtis, president of UVA’s University Democrats. “Having a conversation, connecting with others over a meal is a great way to start.”...

...Converge UVA’s fall 2017 iteration will occur in late October and November.

COMMENT:  Now there's some common sense.  And I'm delighted to see that it's coming from students.  A well-known college professor said at a private meeting last year that the faculties in our colleges and universities were hopeless, too far gone to the fashionable left to be saved.  But the students were a different story.  Maybe we're starting to see that at UVA.

We'll keep you posted if there are further developments.

October 17, 2017       Permalink

MORE DECLINE FOR THE NFL – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  This is getting serious.  NFL TV ratings prop up the profits of broadcast networks and their cable counterparts, and presumably the companies that advertise during NFL games.  The ratings are tumbling.  From Deadline: 

It felt like a little bit of history was being made on Monday Night Football as the Tennessee Titans finally snapped their 11-game consecutive losses to the Indianapolis Colts last night.

However, as the Titans stopped the streak going to a clean dozen with a 36-22 win and social media sparked with ESPN not showing the playing of the national anthem, another type of history was also being made. Last night’s primetime broadcast of the NFL game stumbled to a season low with a 6.1 in metered market results.

In a season stained by overall ratings declines and political controversy, that NFL Week 6 rating is down 13 % from the early numbers of the much tighter October 9th match-up between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.

COMMENT:  The NFL owners will huddle in New York today to wring hands, slap backs, and contemplate what to do next.  Taking a knee might be a slick political gimmick, but it has the potential to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.  Viewers are turning off.  Advertisers are turning away.  The NFL brand is seriously tarnished, and trips to Stop and Shop to buy brass polish aren't doing any good.

You may be sure that part of any solution will be a major shakedown, money for silence.  It's one of the oldest games, and Al Sharpton will show the NFL just how it's done.

October 17,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 16,  2017

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

MORE NFL DAMAGE – FROM CNBC:  Declining NFL television ratings will lower CBS earnings, according to Credit Suisse.  The firm cut its third-quarter EPS estimates by 5 percent, citing CBS' softer Sunday NFL ratings. The media company reports on Nov. 2.  "We expect third-quarter network advertising to decline 3 percent (previously +1 percent), driven by soft ratings for both the summer schedule and for the start of the NFL season," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh. "With only one of the three content licensing deals we expected for the second half announced in third quarter, we also expect content licensing revenue growth to be skewed to the fourth quarter."  The NFL continues to be damaged by its indecisiveness and maneuvering over the anthem issue.  The TV networks will not put up with the farce much longer. 

SENIOR SENATOR FORMALLY CHALLENGED – FROM DAILY CALLER:  California Senate leader Kevin de León announced Sunday that he will be challenging fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her U.S. Senate in 2018.  De León, the state senate’s president pro tempore, framed his Senate run as a battle against President Donald Trump in an email to supporters.  “We’re overdue for a real debate on the issues, priorities and leadership voters want from their senator. I think California needs a senator not just fully resistant to Trump’s presidency, but who understands the issues most Californians face every day,” De León wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times.  “He disregards our voices. Demonizes our diversity. Attacks our civil rights, our clean air, our health access and our public safety. We can lead the fight against his administration, but only if we jump into the arena together.”  de Leon isn't well known outside Los Angeles, whereas Feinstein is an institution.  Still, Feinstein is in her mid-eighties, and Californians might be looking for a youthful face, and for a change.  If de Leon comes out on top, the California congressional delegation will move even further to the left.  Knowing the Republican Party, they will probably give up on the race and fail to field a first-class candidate.

IT HAD TO COME TO THIS – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:  WASHINGTON – Florida has a U.S. senator who once flew aboard the Space Shuttle.  A congressional candidate from Miami can go one better: Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera says she’s been aboard a spaceship too. But this one was crewed by aliens. As in extraterrestrials.  Three blond, big-bodied beings — two females, one male — visited her when she was 7 years old and have communicated telepathically with her several times in her life, she says. (Sen. Bill Nelson served as payload officer aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986. All seven people aboard were from Earth. As far as is known.)  This is nothing.  When one of those aliens runs for Congress, and becomes Speaker, then I'll be impressed.

October 16, 2017       Permalink

BUT WILL THEY LISTEN? – AT 12:54 P.M. ET:  The Democrats smell blood.  Some believe they can retake both houses of Congress next year.  But one of the more adult Dems, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, is warning the party about doing exactly what it's doing.  From The Hill:   

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) predicted that Democrats would lose to President Trump again in 2020 if they are too liberal.

Durbin — the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate — said on local Chicago radio station WLS-AM on Sunday that Democrats shouldn't “overdo it” by acting too liberal in response to Trump.

The senator was responding to comments by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), who the host of the radio show Durbin was on said warned Democrats against moving too far to the left out of fear they could lose votes to Trump.

"We need to be balanced. She's right about that,” Durbin said.

“We don't give up on our values, but we better be sensitive, too, that there are people with more moderate views, and people who may disagree with some parts of the Democratic platform as they are presented. We've got to be open to that possibility," he said.

The host asked Durbin if Democrats could lose seats by “being too liberal.”

"You can," Durbin replied. "I think you can overdo it. We have to really appeal to that sensible center. It's a thin stripe now. It used to be a lot wider stripe, but it's an important and determining factor in most elections."

COMMENT:  Durbin is right, but I think he'll be ignored.  The Democrats have become more and more extreme.  And many of the extremists are violent or condone violence.  In addition, Bernie Sanders, himself a left-wing extremist, has attracted many people to Democratic politics who are absolute true believers.

There are moderate, thoughtful Democrats, but many moderates have been driven out of the party or marginalized.  I think Durbin realizes he's on the radical hit list, as is Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate.  Neither of these men has the necessary credentials for the new Democratic Party.  Think Barack Obama.

October 16, 2017       Permalink

NFL HOBBLES ALONG – AT 11:42 A.M. ET:   We wait for NFL football each week now, not necessarily to watch the game, but to count the number of empty seats.  From Breitbart: 

The NFL likely hoped for a return to normalcy for Week 6, especially after Commissioner Goodell’s call to “move past the anthem controversy,” and address the issue in detail at league meetings on Tuesday. Instead, what the NFL got was a return to what has become the “new normal” in the age of anthem protests: empty seats.

Throughout the league, stadiums could be seen with thousands of empty seats at kickoff, and, in some cases in the middle of the game.

Note, that the Jets played New England on Sunday, meaning there should have been a big crowd for that game. The Texans, Atlanta, and Baltimore are also very relevant teams with relatively loyal fan bases. Yet, thousands upon thousands of fans no-showed or didn’t buy tickets for those games.

COMMENT:  The NFL has now caved to the players, not handing down an edict requiring respect for the flag.

All kinds of "solutions" are being thrown around, including not televising the national anthem.  I suspect that will make things worse.

Fans are distancing themselves from the NFL, and the fans are right.  Sponsors are reportedly also looking around for alternatives.  I doubt if professional football will die, but it's possible the current damage, combined with increased sensitivity to the physical danger of the game, may produce permanent losses. 

Baseball used to be the "national pastime," but no one speaks of it that way today.

October 16, 2017       Permalink

A REMINDER OF THE WEIRD AGE OF OBAMA – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  We recall with embarrassment how Field Marshal Obama presented us with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, after he'd been released from enemy captivity in Afghanistan, along with Bergdahl's parents, including his terminally weird father. 

Why, it was a great moment, an American soldier coming home, Obama assured us.  Yeah, if you were a profoundly left-wing president, it sure was a great moment.  But the military saw Bergdahl very differently, not exactly the hero toasted by the president.  From Fox: 

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is set to plead guilty Monday to charges he endangered comrades by walking away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 -- the court case wrapping up just three years after a stunning Rose Garden spectacle in which former President Barack Obama, flanked by Bergdahl's parents, triumphantly announced the soldier's release from captivity.

Bergdahl was released in May 2014 after a highly-criticized deal in which five Taliban terrorists were set free. At the time, Obama administration officials said Bergdahl had "served with honor and distinction."

The U.S. Army said Bergdahl asked to enter his plea before the military judge at Fort Bragg. The Associated Press previously reported that he's expected to plead guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

It's not clear if Bergdahl, 31, has a deal with prosecutors to limit his punishment, or if he's simply pleading guilty in hopes of leniency from the judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance. The misbehavior charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, while the desertion charge is punishable by up to five years.

COMMENT:  Bergdahl's celebrated return was one of the lowest moments of the Obama administration.  And yet, I haven't seen a single word of criticism in the mainstream media.

October 16,  2017     Permalink