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OCTOBER 30,  2017

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

LATEST SOCIAL NEWS:  FROM DAILY CALLER:   Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was spotted Sunday hobnobbing with a person who is currently at the focus of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference into the U.S. presidential election.  Clinton hung out with Sidney Blumenthal and political consultant Tony Podesta this weekend at the former Democratic presidential candidate birthday bash. Podesta’s appearance at the party is awkward, considering he has become a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian influence in the election.  Not awkward for Hillary.  Nothing is awkward for Hillary.  She would have gone to Al Capone's birthday party if there was a contribution involved.

ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD – FROM PAGE SIX:  Talk about a messiah complex.  Disgraced Harvey Weinstein’s been telling what friends he has left that there’s a bigger reason he’s embroiled in his ever-widening sexual-harassment scandal: to “change the world,” sources tell Page Six.  “Harvey believes he is a savior,” a Hollywood insider says.  The source adds that the pervy former Weinstein Co. and Miramax big wheel has been telling confidantes “that he was born to take the fall for his behavior in order to ‘change the world.’ He is resigned to his punishment — as a martyr for social change.”   Soon to be a minor motion picture.

HALLOWEEN IN AMERICA, 2017 – FROM THE MERCURY NEWS:   SANTA CLARA — Thieves reportedly armed with Tasers assaulted and robbed patrons at California’s Great America, turning the amusement park’s 10th annual Halloween fest into a real-life fright for thousands of visitors and employees, park security and visitors said.  Santa Clara police estimated that about 100 youth were perpetrating the mayhem, which broke out about 10:30 p.m. Saturday at the Great America Haunt. About 20,000 visitors were in the park, police said.  Police arrested one juvenile on suspicion of theft, Santa Clara Police Lieutenant Dan Moreno said. Visitors reported seeing other perpetrators escape into waiting cars.  We must understand their frustration and sense of marginalization.  And we must admire their technical expertise in the use of tasers.

October 30, 2017       Permalink

FOCUS – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  Republicans in Congress are sending a very powerful message that they are determined to get a tax bill finished soon, despite major obstacles.  Clearly burned by their failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, GOP leaders know that they must produce a major tax cut in order to go into the 2018 election year on a winning note.  From The Hill: 

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that the indictments in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation wouldn't hinder congressional Republicans' goal of overhauling the tax code.

“Nothing’s going to derail what we’re doing in Congress,” Ryan said on WTAQ’s "The Jerry Bader Show."

Prosecutors on Monday announced indictments against Paul Manafort, former chairman of Trump's presidential campaign, and Manafort's former business partner Rick Gates. Separately, they also announced that former Trump campaign aide George Papadopolous had pleaded guilty last month to lying to investigators.

The new developments in Mueller's investigation come just days before Wednesday's release of a tax bill by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ryan said that lawmakers are focused on working on solving Americans' problems, which includes providing a remedy to the slow economic growth that has occurred in recent years. 

“Nothing derails us from focusing on that,” he said.

The speaker added that tax reform is "all about getting bigger paychecks, it’s all about fairness and simplicity.” 

COMMENT:  The indictments thus far, as we noted in our first post today, were less than bombshells.  Late reports from the tax-bill writers is that they've restored at least some of the deductions for state and local taxes that were originally in the bill, after protests from Republicans from high-tax states.  There seems a willingness to compromise and improve.

The key point in the tax legislation is that Congress must deliver the size tax cut that is promised.  People must see it in their paychecks, not just in the newspaper.  The GOP is promising an average $4,000 per year for middle-class families.  Republicans have to deliver that, or something close to it.  Remember that the party-line press will immediately emphasize what benefits are given to the top two percent, and compare them to the benefits given to middle-class Americans. 

It is very hard to predict how a tax bill passed by the House will fare in the Senate, where the GOP only has a two-vote majority.  That will be the key test, although both Senators Corker and Flake, devout Trump opponents, have said that their votes on tax legislation will not be influenced by their feud with the president.  I hope that's correct.

October 30, 2017       Permalink

NOTHINGBURGER? – AT 10:18 A.M.  ET:  Federal charges were filed this morning against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates.  From Fox: 

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates have been indicted by a federal grand jury Monday on 12 counts, according to the special counsel’s office.

The special counsel’s office told Fox News that the counts include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading Foreign Agent Registration (FARA) statements, false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign banks and financial accounts.

In addition, a guilty plea by former Trump campaign policy adviser George Papadopolous was announced by Mueller. He admitted to making false statements to FBI agents as part of the investigation. 

The cases were unsealed Monday, after Manafort and Gates were permitted to surrender themselves to the custody of the FBI, the special counsel’s office told Fox News.

Manafort and Gates face the first charges in the special counsel’s investigation. This is also the first time the special counsel's office has confirmed that a grand jury has been impaneled.

According to the indictment, reviewed by Fox News, between at least 2006 and 2015, Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents of the Government of Ukraine, the Party of Regions, a Ukrainian political party whose leader Victor Yanukovych was president from 2010 to 2014, and the Opposition Bloc. Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their work in Ukraine.

The indictment says that Manafort and Gates laundered the money through scores of the United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts in order to hide Ukraine payments from U.S. authorities.

COMMENT:  Stories about this alleged behavior surfaced during the Trump campaign, resulting in Manafort being fired.  In effect, these are old concerns.  They do not appear to involve the 2016 campaign in any way, and do not seem to relate to any concerns about collusion with Russia.  Thus, they may well be a relief to the Trump White House.

We await further details.  So far, no one has touched Trump on the "Russian collusion" front.

October 30,  2017     Permalink

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