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OCTOBER 20,  2017

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

THIS JUST IN – FROM THE HARVARD CRIMSON:   Harvard will rescind the 2014 W.E.B Du Bois medal awarded to Harvey Weinstein, a movie executive whom more than 40 women have recently accused of sexual harassment and abuse.  The Executive Committee of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, a group of five professors that unanimously voted to award Weinstein the medal three years ago, voted Tuesday night to rescind the honor in the wake of the reporting detailing Weinstein’s behavior, according to Hutchins Center Executive Director Abby Wolf.  “We have voted unanimously to rescind the Du Bois Medal awarded to Mr. Weinstein in 2014. We stand with the women who have courageously come forward to fight for themselves and indeed for all of those who have experienced similar abuse,” the group wrote in a statement.   Well, now we certainly know that Harvard means business.  Just for reassurance, I want to see how Bill Clinton is received on his next visit.

SO, SPEAKING OF RIDICULOUS AWARDS – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Hillary Clinton didn't win the presidency, but she's in line for something almost as interesting -- the crown of "Wonder Woman."  The Women's Media Center, co-founded by feminist Gloria Steinem, told us that it is giving the latest Democratic presidential candidate its first "Wonder Woman Award" for her "extraordinary accomplishments" and public service.  "Like Wonder Woman, she seems to have superhuman strength, resilience, and courage," said the group in a reference to the famous comic and TV character.  "Hillary Clinton's actions have inspired and protected women and men on every continent," said Steinem. "She has battled negative forces and helped to maintain a fragile peace with her negotiating skill on behalf of this country and peace-seekers everywhere. She has handled all this with grace, grit, determination, integrity, humor and fortitude while remaining a steadfast feminist, advocate, activist, sister and tireless leader in the revolution. With this award, the Women's Media Center declares Hillary Clinton our Wonder Woman."   Oh yes, the grace, the humor, the integrity.  I hope they're praying that she doesn't get indicted.

THE EFFICIENT FIRST LADY – FROM FOX:  Melania Trump is embracing a more active and public schedule as first lady – but she still runs one of the leanest East Wing operations in recent history.  According to a Fox News analysis of White House personnel reports, Melania Trump has significantly reduced the number of aides on the first lady's office payroll in comparison to her predecessor, Michelle Obama.  During then-President Barack Obama’s first year in office, 16 people were listed working for Michelle Obama, earning a combined $1.24 million a year.  This year, just four people were listed working for Melania Trump as of June. Their salaries totaled $486,700.  Strange.  No one ever criticized the bloated first lady's office when Obama was in the White House.  And the media will give the current first lady no credit for her efficiency.

October 20, 2017       Permalink

ANOTHER WIDOW SPEAKS – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:   A gold star widow has released a recording of the phone call she received from President Trump.  I'm glad she did.  From Daily Caller: 

Gold star widow Natasha De Alencar released the audio of a phone conversation she had with President Donald Trump in April about the death of her husband who was killed in Afghanistan.

“I am so sorry to hear about the whole situation. What a horrible thing, except that he’s an unbelievable hero,” Trump told her in the call about her husband Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, which The Washington Post released.

“Thank you. I really, really appreciated it,” she said. “I really do, sir.”

Trump also told the widow if she is ever in Washington D.C. that she is welcome in the Oval Office.

“If you’re around Washington, you come over and see me in the Oval Office,” he said. “You just come over and see me because you are just the kind of family … this is what we want.”

“Say hello to your children, and tell them your father he was a great hero that I respected,” Trump said. “Just tell them I said your father was a great hero.”

The phone call was released after White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly pushed back against Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson’s criticism that Trump told a Gold Star widow “he knew what he signed up for.”

COMMENT:  Says it all.

October 20, 2017       Permalink

UNBELIEVABLE – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  Remember how the press viciously attacked President George W. Bush?  It was almost as bad as the attacks on Trump.  Bush was declared stupid, illegitimate, a warmonger, poorly informed, and privileged.  As opposed to Obama, the brilliant sage of Chicago, who came to save us.

However, this week, in what I thought was an awkward and inappropriate speech, former President Bush attacked President Trump.   Suddenly, the same media that savaged Bush has come to see his wisdom and greatness.  The hypocrisy flows.  From Newsbusters: 

Christmas came early for the liberal Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) on Thursday when former President George W. Bush spoke out against the Donald Trump administration. In a disgusting display of sudden respect for a long time political foe, the networks championed Bush’s hammering of the current president. And the icing on their anti-Trump cake was former President Obama doing the exact same thing too.

“Today, the 43rd President made no mention of the 45th, but his focus was clear,” touted White House Correspondent Margaret Brennan during CBS Evening News. “He suggested that an America first mindset is distorting our democracy.” She highlighted Bush’s call for “journalists to uphold their integrity for the sake of the republic.”

With an air of righteousness, Brennan reported how Obama “appearing at a Democratic rally in New Jersey, he urged young voters to fight back.” “President Bush said he believes the American spirit will ultimately prevail,” she added before quipping about how the former presidents went against political norms, but ‘oh, well.’ “It is a standard rule for presidents not to criticize their successors. But, perhaps, this is another example where the standard rules no longer apply.”

On ABC’s World News Tonight, Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl began his report by fawning over Bush’s comments. “George W. Bush has avoided politics since leaving office, but today, the former President seemed to throw down the gauntlet, warning of the rise of, quote, “bullying and prejudice” in America,” he hyped.

COMMENT:  The left is so good at political resurrections.  Suddenly Mr. Bush is the wise statesman.  In fact, the Bush family probably despises Trump for Trump's attacks on Jeb Bush during the last campaign.  And yes, those attacks were often over-the-top and typical of the current president's crudeness.

But Bush still should have been more careful.  He should have included the violent, pathetic left in his denunciations, but he did not.  He should have denounced the deceptions of the Obama years, but he did not.   He failed, and he'd best be silent unless he has more to add.

October 20, 2017       Permalink

IT IS SICKENING – AT 10:12 A.M. ET:  Now the degenerate left is going after General John Kelly, the president's chief of staff, a combat veteran whose own son was killed in the war on terror.  Apparently, nothing is sacred on the left.  From Fox: 

For a stunning and emotional 18 minutes on Thursday, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly cut through a nasty debate over condolence calls to Gold Star families, appealing to the political class to allow at least this one thing to remain “sacred.”

Instead, Democratic lawmakers and operatives and allies in the media immediately turned on Kelly – himself a Gold Star father – branding him a liar and an “enabler” of President Trump, even suggesting his criticism of a black Democrat who publicized one of those calls was racist.

“Kelly isn't just an enabler of Trump. He's a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest. Don't be distracted by the uniform,” Hillary Clinton’s former spokesman and CNN contributor Brian Fallon tweeted.

“I am stunned by John Kelley's lies about a black woman who he called an 'empty barrel,'” MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell tweeted.

During his appearance in the White House briefing room on Thursday, Kelly tried to reset – and resolve – the unseemly weeklong political war over presidential calls to families of dead American soldiers.

President Trump effectively started that debate after questioning earlier this week whether former President Barack Obama made those phone calls. But Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., escalated the fight when she criticized Trump’s call to the widow of a soldier killed earlier this month in Niger.

COMMENT:  On the Democratic Party left, it is always "race, gender and ethnicity."  General Kelly has conducted himself with a grace and dignity seen rarely in the Washington swamp.  For his trouble he is called a liar and a racist. 

The Democratic Party used to be the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy.  It used to be the national defense party at a time when the Republicans were still wedded to head-in-the-sand isolationism.

Look at the Democratic Party today.

October 20,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 19,  2017

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

PRESIDENT DOWN – FROM RASMUSSEN REPORTS:  The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 41% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-seven percent (57%) disapprove.  The latest figures include 25% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 47% who Strongly Disapprove.   Trump was at 46% in the Rasmussen poll just two weeks ago.  Obviously, there's been slippage, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly why.  Mr. Trump will never catch a break from the media, and he must avoid the unforced errors, especially in public statements, that add to his problems. 

A DISGRACEFUL IDIOT – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Democratic Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson is laughing and bragging after White House chief of staff John Kelly said he was “stunned” Thursday that Wilson criticized President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of a dead soldier.  “You mean to tell me that I’ve become so important…that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That’s amazing. That is absolutely phenomenal. I’ll have to tell my kids that I’m a rock star now,” Wilson told Miami Fox affiliate WSVN-TV, while laughing.  What a total jerk.  She's talking about the death of an American soldier.  But it's all about her.

THE HYPOCRISY TRAIN ROARS ON – FROM PAGE SIX:  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — having removed Harvey Weinstein — is now under pressure to boot Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and other members who have been charged with and/or convicted of serious crimes.  While Weinstein has denied ever forcing himself on women and has not been arrested for anything, Polanski was convicted in 1977 of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.  The academy proceeded to nominate Polanski for Best Director two more times and gave him the Oscar in 2003 for his Holocaust film, “The Pianist.”  Cosby, accused by more than 50 women, was tried for sexual assault earlier this year in Pennsylvania. The trial ended with a hung jury, but he faces a retrial next spring.   It's so phony.  If these men deserved punishment, they deserved it years ago.  Why were they not punished by the industry?  Because there was no pressure to do so.  Now the heat is on.  Next year the heat will be off.  And the creeps will come back out of the woodwork.  I've worked in Hollywood.  There are many fine people in the business, but there too many who'd lie about what they had for lunch. 

October 19, 2017       Permalink

MAJOR ADVANCE IN EDUCATION – AT 2:31 P.M. ET:  We announce a major breakthrough in protecting students from undue stress.  From the Independent: 

Academics have criticised "trigger warnings" after Cambridge University students were warned about "potentially distressing topics" in plays by Shakespeare. 

English literature undergraduates were apparently cautioned that a lecture focusing on Titus Andronicus and The Comedy of Errors would include "discussions of sexual violence" and "sexual assault". 

According to The Telegraph, the trigger warnings were posted in the English Faculty's 'Notes on Lectures' document which is circulated to students at the university. 

Academics have expressed concern that colleges trying to protect young adults from certain issues may render them incapable of dealing with real life when they graduate. 

Supporters of trigger warnings say they serve to help students who may be upset if a text reminds them of a personal traumatic experience. 

However critics such as Mary Beard, a Professor of Classics at Cambridge, say allowing students to avoid learning about traumatic episodes of history and literature is "fundamentally dishonest".

Beard said previously: "We have to encourage students to be able to face that, even when they find they're awkward and difficult for all kinds of good reasons."

COMMENT:  At least there are some thoughtful professors fighting back against political correctness, but there aren't enough of them.,

October 19, 2017       Permalink

A NEW, SHARP WARNING – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  Severe terror warnings are being issued by Britain and the United States.  From the Telegraph: 

Islamic State and other terrorist groups are planning to target aircraft as they aim to carry out another major attack on the scale of 9/11, a top US security official has said. 

Elaine Duke, acting US Homeland Security Secretary, said the groups were using smaller attacks to raise money and “keep their members engaged”.   

“The threat is still severe,” she said in London after meeting Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

“The terrorist organisations, be it Isis or al-Qaeda or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11. They want to take down aircraft, the intelligence is clear on that."

Britain and Europe have seen a string of crude attacks, from the ramming and stabbing attack on London Bridge to the homemade bomb in Manchester. 

“In the interim they need to keep their finances flowing and they need to keep their visibility high and they need to keep their members engaged, so they are using small plots and they are happy to have small plots,” Ms Duke said. 

“Creating terror is their goal. A bladed weapon attack causes terror and continues to disrupt the world but that does not mean they have given up on a major aviation plot.”

Ms Duke said the US and Britain would push social media firms at a meeting of G7 interior ministers this week to do more to tackle online militant material.

COMMENT:  It's not if, but when.  Are we ready?  Probably not.  Democracies are almost never ready.  If the Democrats get control of the federal government again, we certainly won't be ready.  And any terror attack will never be described honestly if the Dems are in power.  Remember that the terror attack at Fort Hood, carried out by a Muslim Army doctor, was described by the Obama administration as "workplace violence."   That's the party line.

We must prepare for another 9-11.  We must also prepare for the probability that terror groups in the future will have weapons of mass destruction.

October 19, 2017       Permalink

GETTING HOT – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  The economy is heating up.  If good tax legislation is passed, it will get even better.  From Bloomberg: 

Filings for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level since 1973 as workers affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma continued to return to their jobs, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.

The larger-than-projected decrease in claims probably reflected difficulty adjusting for the Columbus Day holiday. At the same time, the report showed further declines in claims in hurricane- affected states. The storms initially led to a spike in applications in Texas and the southeastern U.S. in late August and early September.

The latest period also encompasses the reporting week that the Labor Department surveys for its October employment figures. Claims are at the lowest level in more than four decades, indicating employers have little desire to cut staffing levels amid a shortage of qualified workers.

COMMENT:  That's good.  It reflects confidence in the economic environment.  Despite Trump's relative unpopularity, business people – those who do the hiring – seem to have confidence in his economic leadership. 

A good tax bill will work wonders.  So will demonstrated success in bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.

October 19,  2017     Permalink