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OCTOBER 29,  2017

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

SPORTS NEWS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.— Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell has been arrested after a female food delivery person alleged he pointed a gun at her. Maxwell was the only player in Major League Baseball this year to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.  Scottsdale police said officers went to Maxwell’s home Saturday night after getting a call about a person with a gun. Maxwell was booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct.  Instead of taking a knee, he should have taken a Zoloft.

THE NEW AGE – FROM ARKANSAS ONLINE:  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. customers in a few Arkansas stores will soon cross paths with robots roaming the aisles.  The Bentonville company said it will begin using autonomous devices in about 50 stores next month that are programmed to scan store shelves and identify things like out-of-stock items or products incorrectly priced or placed in the wrong spaces. Wal-Mart stores in Searcy, Sherwood and Pine Bluff will be among the first to introduce the robots beginning in early November, according to the company. A Wal-Mart store in Rogers will have a robot early next year.   I wonder how many customers will strike up conversations with the robots...and get answers.

CHILLING – FROM FOX:  ISIS fanatics have made a chilling threat against Prince George saying: "Even the Royal Family will not be left alone," it has been claimed.  The barbarous extremists allegedly posted a picture of the future king on encrypted instant messaging app Telegram with the horrifying message.  A picture of the young royal outside his $24,000-a-year school in Battersea, South London, was also reportedly shared on the app along with the school's address and the comment "school starts early."  I would take this very seriously.  I assume the prince has heavy protection, but never underestimate the sickness of ISIS.

October 29,  2017     Permalink 

GETTING JUICY – AT 5:15 P.M. ET:   The whole "Russia thing" in Washington is coming to a head, and President Trump has no intention of being quiet about it.  From Fox:

President Trump on Sunday said the lack of investigation into the Clinton campaign spending a reported $12 million on a dossier crafted during the 2016 presidential race to smear him has sparked unprecedented “anger and unity” among fellow Republicans.

“Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),” Trump said first in a series of tweets.

The president tweeted after South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that he's concerns about Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign purportedly paying a law firm at least $10 million for the dossier, which was to be used as Trump opposition research.

“I’m interested in that … laundering money through a law firm,” Gowdy said.

COMMENT:  Expect major combat.  Gowdy disappointed us with his Benghazi probe, which often seemed lackluster.  He seems more focused this time.

The Dems, under lunatic Congresswoman Maxine ("Auntie Maxine") Waters, are gearing up to try for impeachment.  There will be nothing boring in the months ahead.  The potential criminal charges are much more serious than Watergate.

October 29,  2017     Permalink

THE STATE OF THE UNION – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  Salena Zito has emerged as the best journalistic interpreter of the Trump revolution.  Based in Pittsburgh, not Washington or New York, she detected early the anger in the homes of American workers.  She deserves a Pulitzer Prize, but probably won't get it. 

She reviews today what has happened to our country.  From the New York Post:   

Populism is being invested in the concerns of “ordinary” people. But it can also be a sweeping rejection of all things big — institutions like government, or cultural entities like the NFL. And it can be a strong desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves, which is a distinctive American trait (especially given the diversity of our backgrounds and how parochial we can be about where we are from).

Hollywood has been mocking Middle America for 20 years; every awards show is a debutante ball of shame and scold directed at half of the country

I would argue that it is one of the things that was missed in the last presidential election, when the political class understood it to be that everyone who voted for Donald Trump was angry. But that was only a fraction of the situation.

In that sweeping diagnosis, they missed that the majority of his voters were inspired by his aspirational message, Make America Great Again.

I’m With Her? Not so much.

At the core of all of this is the sense that Americans don’t feel that they are part of each other because of the division via politics and culture — they don’t trust anyone to be authentic and sincere anymore.

Furthermore, most of the decision-and image-makers in this country — in culture, politics and power — live in the 10 wealthiest counties in the country.

While we have long been a country of city mice and country mice, the balance of power and influence between the two areas has never been this lopsided.

New York has always been the center of wealth; Washington, its own brand of power. But the heartland was where things were made; steel, iron, energy, lumber — which meant cars, buildings, bridges, homes. Not to mention the fuel needed to make all those things for everyone.

We were better at navigating our contributions because they were all equally important to our country. We were all part of something bigger than ourselves.

COMMENT:  I think she nails it.  We may be better connected to other Americans today electronically, but in no other sense.  The very fact that the coastal elites refer to those in our heartland as "the flyover people" tells the story.

Trump, no matter what you may think of him, sensed what was happening.  Sadly, he's a very flawed messenger.  But the message is true.

Please read Salena Zito's entire piece, and send it around.

October 29, 2017       Permalink

FIRST ARREST TOMORROW? – AT 12:46 P.M. ET:  Mr. Mueller will presumably drop his first bombshell tomorrow morning.  Let's see if it explodes, or fizzles.  From NBC: 

A federal grand jury in Washington has approved the first criminal charges in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference, two sources told NBC News, marking a significant milestone in an inquiry that has roiled Donald Trump’s presidency.

Mueller's Special Counsel's Office will make public an indictment on Monday, a U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the process confirmed to NBC News, without disclosing the name of the target or the nature of the charges. The timing was confirmed by a second source familiar with the matter.

CNN was the first to report on Friday that the grand jury approved charges, citing multiple sources. The network added that the charges remain sealed by order of a federal judge.

Peter Carr, a spokesperson for Mueller, declined to comment Friday night.

COMMENT:  I'm far from sanguine.  District of Columbia grand juries are notoriously liberal.  And Mueller has hired a number of lawyers who were financial contributors to the Clinton campaign.

Mueller is also a close friend of former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired.

On the other hand, Mueller doesn't want to blunder, or be seen as a partisan hack.  He has his own reputation to worry about.

We'll see tomorrow.  We, on our side, have to keep our eye on the ball, and demand investigations of the Obama administration's strange ties with Russia.

October 29,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 28,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

MADNESS – FROM FOX:    Leaders at the church that George Washington attended decided that a plaque honoring the first president of the United States must be removed.  Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia will take down a memorial marking the pew where Washington sat with his family, saying it is not acceptable to all worshipers.  “The plaques in our sanctuary make some in our presence feel unsafe or unwelcome," leaders said, a reference to the fact that Washington was a slaveholder.  "Some visitors and guests who worship with us choose not to return because they receive an unintended message from the prominent presence of the plaques.”  I guess we'll tear down the Washington Monument next, and replace it with a statue of Jane Fonda. 

AND THE VERDICT PLEASE – FROM CNBC:  Former President Barack Obama will serve on a jury in Cook County sometime next month, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.  Chief Judge Tim Evans told county commissioners this week that although Obama resides in Washington, D.C., the former president will report for duty next month, the publication reported.   Obama is registered to vote in Illinois.   They probably won't pick him to serve, as the first words out of his mouth are likely to be, "The cop is always guilty."

BUSH 41 GETS UNWANTED HEAT – FROM THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD:  The number of women accusing former President George H.W. Bush of groping them has grown to five, with two of them saying he did so during photo shoots in Maine.  The women include two actresses, a Pennsylvania journalist, a best-selling author raised in Bangor and a former Maine Senate candidate.  Amanda Staples, a former Republican state Senate candidate from Standish, wrote in an Instagram post that Bush fondled her in 2006. Staples, who was 29 at the time and running for the Kennebunkport area’s Senate seat, visited the former president at Walker’s Point when he “grabbed my butt and joked saying ‘Oh, I’m not THAT President,’ ” Staples wrote alongside a picture of her standing next to Bush.  I don't defend what Bush is alleged to have done, but can someone tell me why Bill Clinton continues to receive a pass from the very people who are so "outraged" by that kind of behavior? 

October 28, 2017       Permalink

IF DONE WELL, AN EXCELLENT IDEA – AT 3:18 P.M. ET:   From Breitbart:  

The University of California, once the home of the Free Speech Movement, announced Thursday that it will launch the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement to study First Amendment issues and educate students about them.

The center will be based in Washington, DC.

“Our nation needs an outlet to grapple with the questions of free speech on college campuses — and what it means for free speech in America more broadly,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a video for the new center’s website.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Napolitano said: “There have been more serious issues about the 1st Amendment on campuses today than perhaps at any time since the free speech movement.

The students themselves are raising questions about free speech and does it apply to homophobic speech, does it apply to racist speech? We have to consider the student concerns but return to basic principles about what free speech means and how do we better educate students about the extent of the 1st Amendment.”...

...So far, the center’s advisory board includes former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA); New York Times columnist Bret Stephens; Anne Kornblut, director of strategic communications at Facebook; Geoffrey R. Stone, a First Amendment scholar and professor at the University of Chicago Law School; and Washington Post columnist George Will. Both Stephens and Will have been subject to efforts at “dis-invitation” from liberal campuses.

COMMENT:  I could do without Barbara Boxer, but, overall, the selections are reasonable for a first effort.  Napolitano herself is a liberal, but a sane one. 

If Napolitano can avoid contamination from the extreme left, and the usual demands for every aggrieved group to be represented, she might actually accomplish something.

October 28, 2017     Permalink

AND NOW FROM THE GROWN-UPS – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  While CNN tries to whip us into hysteria in its drive to get President Trump tossed out of office, things are happening in the real world.  From AP: 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday the threat of nuclear missile attack by North Korea is accelerating.

In remarks in Seoul with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo at his side, Mattis accused the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programs — and vowed to defeat any attack.

Mattis said North Korea engages in “outlaw” behavior and that the U.S. will never accept a nuclear North.

He added that regardless of what the North might try, it is overmatched by the firepower and cohesiveness of the decades-old U.S.-South Korean alliance.

COMMENT:  Pretty serious stuff.  Don't expect much reporting on it in the MSM.  There are more important things to do. 

Actually, we haven't seen a North Korean nuclear test or missile launch for a time.  Is American pressure, under Trump, working?  We certainly hope so.

The president is about to travel to Asia.  His trip has been well prepared by his defense people.  We have three carrier groups in the region.  The message is sent.

October 28, 2017        Permalink

THE TIMING IS ODD – AT 11:50 A.M. ET:  First charges are being filed under the auspices of Robert Mueller.  Gee, as soon as national attention is shifted to possible crimes by the Democrats, and their relationship to Russia, charges are filed against Republicans.  The timing is precise.  From CNN, which seems to get its information on this right from the inside:

Washington (CNN) A federal grand jury in Washington on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.
The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.

A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment. The White House also had no comment, a senior administration official said Saturday morning.

Mueller was appointed in May to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight over the Russia investigation, would have been made aware of any charges before they were taken before the grand jury for approval, according to people familiar with the matter.

COMMENT:   Ah, the sanctity of the legal system.  All this secret stuff comes out...through CNN, a major branch of the Democratic Party.  I wonder what other secret information we'll be told.

David Gergen, once a respected analyst and now a CNN hack, is already saying that the dam is about to break on the Trump administration.  That will be the party line.

Much came out this week about the Democrats' collusion with Russia.  One journalist already boasted that all that will now be pushed aside to make way for Mueller.

So goes the fate of the nation.

October 28,  2017     Permalink