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SEPTEMBER 19,  2016

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

WHAT IS THIS? – FROM CBS MIAMI:    MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) — Three men have been arrested after creating a security scare atop a Miami Beach penthouse.  Mohamed Azab Youssef, 39, Artur Schaback, 28, and Ivan Suhharev, 28, were apprehended by Miami Beach Police Friday, September 17th.  Police said Schaback and Suhharev were witnessed aiming an AR-15 rifle off the penthouse balcony at 1100 Collins Avenue, including Schaback wearing a mask over his face.  One caller told 911 they were pointing the firearm towards the busy street at citizens and tourists walking by.“I did see a handful of different officers with rifles, pistols, shotguns, the whole nine,” said witness Chris Clayborne. “It was the real deal.”  Imagine arriving to your vacation spot and that’s what you’re greeted with.  We'll try to get more on this.  I wonder if it was a dry run.  Things are getting creepy.

EMMY FLOP – FROM AP:   NEW YORK (AP) — Facing tough competition, the Emmy Awards telecast on ABC reached a record-low total of 11.3 million viewers.  The Nielsen company said Monday that the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted awards show had the smallest audience for any Emmy Awards since records have been kept. Last year's Fox telecast had 11.9 million viewers.  In a simpler age, rivals wouldn't compete aggressively, reasoning it didn't make sense to distract from a show that celebrated television. That's changed: NBC's Green Bay-Minnesota NFL game had 20.5 million viewers, Nielsen said. Also, CBS had 10.3 million viewers for a two-hour special on the JonBenet Ramsey murder mystery.  The 11.3 million figure represented how many people were watching the Emmys during average minute. Nielsen estimated that nearly 26 million people tuned in to at least some of ABC's telecast.  I guess many viewers just got tired of hearing attacks on Donald Trump and tributes to inclusion, as long as the inclusion didn't include conservatives.

SMILING ON TRUMP – FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:    Donald Trump is enjoying his strongest position in the presidential race since immediately after his nominating convention and, for the first time, has started to significantly close the gap with Hillary Clinton on the question of which candidate voters expect will win — a shift that could boost turnout on both sides.  The nominees have moved up and down in polls over the summer and into the fall, but until now, large majorities of voters, regardless of whom they supported, expected to see Clinton win.  That’s now changed, according to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll of the election. Although Clinton still holds an edge on that question, Trump has narrowed it to the point that the results are within the poll’s margin of error.  The voter expectations question is important because it often — although not always — has proved a more accurate way to forecast elections than asking which candidate a person plans to vote for. The expectations question has an especially good track record when an election remains a ways off — seven weeks in this case.  Things have changed, but Monday's debate will hold the key.

September 19, 2016       Permalink

BULLETIN:  AT 11:52 .M. ET:  Ahmad Khan Rahami, subject of our first post this morning, and wanted by the FBI in connection with the terror incidents in the New York and New Jersey region in the last two days, has been capured in Linden, New Jersey, after a shootout.

A CLINTON FAIL – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:   There are reasons why Hillary Clinton is slipping in the polls.  Here's one of them.  From CBS, Philadelphia: 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – John McNesby, the President of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, discussed their endorsement of Donald Trump for President over Hillary Clinton and criticized the Democratic nominee for not engaging with them in their selection process.

McNesby, who was a member of a three person committee who made the recommendation to the national organization on their choice, told Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that the Clinton campaign showed no interest in winning their support.

“They didn’t care. Their attitude, then, back in July, during the Democratic National Convention, was they were going to win this thing anyway, so who cares? Now, I think the tides have turned a little bit and she’s on her heels. As many times as we’ve tried to…have it a fair process and an open process, the emails back were that they’re not interested and no thanks. Just snide things like that.”

He stated his local chapter will heed the recommendation for Trump, who he met with personally in New York.

“We’re falling in line with the national FOP and, basically, she just disregarded and blew the police off. You can’t go in and expect to get respect when you didn’t give it to us. We gave a very fair process, we thought. We put out a questionnaire and she absolutely refused…outright refused, with a nasty campaign rebuttal to why she wouldn’t. Simple as that, we went in and we participated with the candidate that cooperated. He filled it out. We met with him.”

COMMENT:  She refused because she's indebted to the Black Lives Matter movement, which is hostile to the police.  Can you imagine a president of the United States who's hostile to police officers?  Oh wait.  We already have one.  No imagination needed.

Another reason why Hillary Clinton should not be president. 

September 19, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP ON TERROR – AT 10:45 A.M. ET:   It may be vulgar to talk politics at a time like this, with bombs going off, but we are in the midst of a presidential campaign with only a week to go before the first debate.   The candidates are talking terror, and Donald is coming out way ahead.  From Fox: 

Donald Trump revived his calls for tightening immigration following a rapid-fire succession of terror attacks involving foreign-born suspects spanning from Minnesota to New York and New Jersey, describing the threat as “cancer from within.”

The Republican presidential nominee, in an interview Monday morning with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” pointed to the latest threat in doubling down on his criticism of his Democratic opponent wanting to boost refugee admissions.

“Hillary Clinton wants to allow hundreds of thousands of these same people,” Trump said.

Trump has called for “extreme vetting” for U.S.-bound immigrants and for a temporary suspension of all immigration from certain countries with a history of terror – proposals his critics have blasted as overly broad.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, wants to boost the total number of refugees to the U.S. next year to 110,000, a nearly 30 percent increase. Clinton specifically wants to increase the number of Syrian refugee admissions from 10,000 to 65,000.

Trump questioned whether refugees can be property vetted.

Clinton also addressed the attacks, speaking to reporters Monday on the tarmac at Westchester Airport in New York.

“This threat is real, but so is our resolve,” Clinton said.

She said she supports “tough vetting” but noted that millions of “law-abiding” Muslims and other naturalized citizens are in the country. “Let us be vigilant, but not afraid,” she said.

COMMENT:  Trump has proposals, no matter how controversial.  Clinton speaks in clichés.  The polls should be very interesting this week, in light of the resurfacing of terror.

September 19, 2016       Permalink

THEY'RE GETTING THERE – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  Pretty much as many expected, there appears to be an international connection to the terror events of recent days.  From Fox:

Authorities released the name and photo of an "armed and dangerous" Afghan-born man wanted in connection with bombings in New York City and New Jersey, as raids and detentions in the metropolitan area pointed toward a terror cell being behind the series of weekend attacks.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, is being sought for questioning regarding the Saturday night blast in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, an explosion in Seaside Park on Saturday morning and a foiled bomb attack Sunday night near a train station in Elizabeth, NJ.

Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth, and the FBI had launched a raid at the apartment, located above a fried chicken restaurant, on Monday morning. Elizabeth is the city where investigators discovered five suspicious devices -- one of which exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it -- near a train station on Sunday night.

"Today I believe we're going to find out that [the bombing] was influenced by foreign sources," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday on"Fox & Friends."

COMMENT:  This is going well beyond a local story.  And we have to ask how many terrorists or potential terrorists are out there. 

President Obama speaks to the UN tomorrow in New York.  I wonder if he'll mention this little terrorism issue, or leave it to the little people.

September 19,  2016     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 18,  2016

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

TERROR – At least one suspicious package was found in Elizabeth, New Jersey tonight, and a robot reportedly detonated an explosive device within the package.  At the same time, the FBI detained a vehicle in New York, reportedly with five men inside, in connection with Saturday night's bombing in Manhattan.  Some sources say the five were in Arab dress, but that is not confirmed.  It is also reported, but not officially confirmed, that the men were headed to Kennedy International Airport.  They apparently are from Elizabeth, New Jersey.  This whole series of events is clearly very suspicious.  There was, as readers know, an explosion along the route of an anticipated Marine race in New Jersey on Saturday.  And there was the stabbing of eight people at a mall in Minneapolis by a man making references to Allah.  We cannot report these events with 100% certainty, but reports from various news organizations are starting to align.  I can't deny my concern that authorities in Washington might intervene to minimize the possible threat to Americans, a fairly common tactic by the Obama administration.

OBAMA ON HIS FAVORITE SUBJECT – HIMSELF – FROM AP:   WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of his last major appearances on the world stage, President Barack Obama will try to define how his leadership has made the planet safer and more prosperous when he gives his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.  Obama’s challenge at the annual gathering of world leaders is to cast the past eight years as ones of overall progress, without glossing over the profound problems that have eluded his diplomacy. His successes in galvanizing action on climate change and encouraging democratic changes in Cuba and Myanmar are tempered by crises across the Middle East and North Korea’s nuclear threat, which has only strengthened.  Obama’s UN ambassador, Samantha Power, said that when Obama came into office in early 2009, the US was isolated. She said Obama had told fellow leaders he planned a “new era of engagement” that recognized countries must address common threats together.  “I think it’s hard to overstate the transformative effect that this approach has had,” Power said.  What a crock.  We're losing everywhere, but we're engaged, and we should feel good about ourselves.  And by the way, I didn't notice in 2009 that we were isolated.  These characters have only four more months left in office.  I count the days.

MR. INDIFFERENCE – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   Will New Yorkers care that the president of the United States headlined a fundraiser in their city 24 hours after 29 people were wounded by a pressure cooker bomb packed with ball bearings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and said nothing about the attack?   That’s what happened Sunday night when President Barack Obama spoke at a high dollar fundraiser at the home of restaurateur Danny Meyer, owner of Shake Shack.  Pool reports from the event show no comment from Obama about the attack that was actually two pressure cooker bombs set four blocks apart.  This lack of caring isn't new.  We are mere subjects, he is our monarch.  We must learn to know our place. 

September 18,  2016    Permalink

BACKLASH – AT 11:47 A.M. ET:   I think we see a consensus building about football players who refuse to rise for the national anthem before a game.  The consensus seems to be that that we respect their right to protest, but that their manner of protest, showing contempt for their country in a stadium where they're representing a team and a community, is in poor taste.  From CBS4, Miami: 

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Dolphins will open up with their first home game of the season next week against the Cleveland Browns. The question is will the Broward Sheriff’s Office be escorting them to the game?

The controversial protest by Miami Dolphins players to not stand during the national anthem took another turn Friday as Broward County’s deputies take a stand of their own against the hometown team.

“We’ve asked the deputies and the Broward Sheriff’s Office not to do the details anymore,” said Jeffery Bell, the president of the International Union of Police Associations, Local 6020.

BSO deputies’ union is asking for team-sponsored police escorts to stop until the team forces players to stand for the anthem.

“I respect their right to have freedom of speech. However, in certain organizations and certain jobs you give up that right of your freedom of speech temporary while you serve that job or while you play in an NFL game,” Bell said.

The demands come as Dolphin players have come under fire, literally. A group of fans burned team gear on Thursday.

COMMENT:  The players engaged in this "protest" should realize that they're doing more harm than good, that they're hurting their own cause.  If they want to protest on their own time, fine with me.

September 18, 2016        Permalink

ON THE OTHER HAND – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:   We've said before that any respectable Republican candidate other than Trump could have put this race away by now.  A new Fox poll confirms that thinking.  This should be a change election.  From Fox: 

Half of likely voters think the country is in such deep trouble that a completely different kind of leader is needed to come in and shake things up.

That sounds like good news for Donald Trump. Yet the latest Fox News Poll also finds a majority of voters don’t think Trump is qualified to be president -- and doesn’t have the right temperament to serve.

“While the race is tight, some underlying attitudes about the candidates heavily favor Hillary Clinton, such as temperament and experience,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Republican pollster Daron Shaw. “These will likely become larger factors as Election Day gets closer and voters start visualizing the candidates in office.”

The poll, released Sunday, finds six-in-ten likely voters think Clinton is qualified to be president (61 percent) and has the right temperament to serve (59 percent). It’s the reverse for Trump, as majorities say he lacks the qualifications (54 percent) and temperament (59 percent).

On other traits, ratings of the candidates are closely aligned. For instance, only 34 percent think Clinton is honest and trustworthy (64 percent disagree). Trump does a bit better, but he’s still in negative territory: 39 percent say he’s honest vs. 58 percent dishonest.

COMMENT:  Trump was doing very well in changing his image until about three days ago, when he started making off-the-cuff, reckless remarks.  Now we're seeing a number of articles wondering whether the "old" Trump is back.  If he is, we're looking at President Hillary. 

Clearly, the significance of the first debate looms large.  Americans will get a good chance to gauge Trump, standing on the same stage with Hillary.  Will he be presidential?  Or amateur?

One factor to look at is the impact of an increasingly biased, almost hysterical press.  I'm getting a sense that millions of Americans are ignoring the media, that they're on to the game.  I hope so.

September 18, 2016        Permalink

COULD THIS BE? – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  Is it possible that Donald Trump is making major gains among African-Americans?  From the New York Post:

Donald Trump is gaining support among African-American voters — whose enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton is eroding, a tracking poll released Saturday revealed.

Trump saw a 16.5 percentage-point increase in backing from African-American voters in a Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California tracking poll, up from 3.1 percent on Sept. 10 to 19.6 percent through Friday.

Meanwhile, the same poll showed Clinton’s support among that group plummeting from 90.4 percent on Sept. 10 to 71.4 percent.

Clinton’s nearly 20-point crash began Sunday, said Dan Schnur of USC. Sunday was the day Clinton was recorded collapsing while entering a Secret Service van at a 9/11 event.

The survey, which spanned through Friday, included the days in which Trump reignited the divisive “birther” issue — which critics contend is a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the country’s first black president.

COMMENT:  We'll wait for confirming polls, but, if true, this could be the ball game.  We'll also wait for the first debate, a week from tomorrow. 

If the numbers are anywhere near accurate, they could mean that African-Americans, like many other Americans, are getting tired of being told how to vote, how to think, and how to live. 

September 18,  2016     Permalink