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SEPTEMBER 28,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:32 P.M. ET: 

NO KIDDING – FROM DAILY CALLER:   FBI director James Comey on Wednesday said that an FBI agent who operated a private email system similar to Hillary Clinton’s would be “in big trouble” at the bureau.  Comey was responding in a House Judiciary Committee hearing to an allegation from Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot that the decision to not charge Clinton with mishandling classified information showed a “double standard.”  Comey said that he disagreed with that characterization. But he added that she would not get off scot-free. “If we were to recommend she be prosecuted that would be a double-standard,” Comey said. “Because Mary and Joe at the FBI or some other place, if they did this, they would not be prosecuted.”  But they would be punished, Comey said.  Hillary is being punished by being put in the Oval Office.  Now that's a double standard.  Comey is fast losing prestige.

SERVES THEM RIGHT – FROM BREITBART:   For the third consecutive week, ratings for the National Football League (NFL) have plummeted, as players continue anti-American protests during the playing of the national anthem. This week’s drop-off also coincided with the Monday broadcast of the first presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.  Ratings for Sunday Night Football featuring the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys scored a 12.9 Nielsen rating, down from the game’s 13.7 rating last week. Week two, in turn, was down from week one’s 13.9 rating, according to Sports Business Daily. Ratings also dropped more than they did during week three a year ago for the slate of midday regional games, falling by 18 percent.  Maybe the league will wake up and realize that political demonstrations during football games are not popular fans, and do not have to be permitted.  The players are on someone else's property and on someone else's time.

DEMS BORED – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Uninspired by their choice for president, Democrats who "will definitely vote" in the fall election is at a 16-year low, according to a new survey.  Just 65 percent of Democrats plan to vote in the election, and it's just 47 percent among all voters aged 18-34, a trend that has the party worried about the lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Rodham Clinton...Republicans hold an 11-point advantage in those planning to vote, 76 percent to 65 percent, but the GOP vote is also at a 16-year low, but by three points compared to nine for the Democrats.  Not exactly a great advertisement for American democracy.  The parties will have to do much better in 2020, and they can begin with their nominating systems.  Repair work required. 

September 28,  2016     Permalink

UNINSPIRING – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  Even if Hillary Clinton is elected, and the odds are slightly in her favor,  her inability to inspire the American public, and the belief that she's dishonest, will weigh her down immediately.  Indeed, she'd enter office with the least amount of enthusiasm behind her of any modern president.  From the Politico:

MIAMI — To kill Donald Trump's chances of capturing the White House, Hillary Clinton needs to win Florida. And to do that, she needs a big minority turnout.

But Democrats are beginning to worry that too many African-American voters are uninspired by Clinton’s candidacy, leading her campaign to hit the panic button this week and launch an all-out blitz to juice-up voter enthusiasm.

Bill Clinton, once nicknamed the “first black president,” embarks on a North Florida bus tour Friday in an attempt to draw African-American crowds. At the same time, Clinton herself will host events in Broward and St. Lucie counties, which have black populations higher than the statewide average.

That follows the events of this past weekend, when black mothers who have lost children to gun violence hosted a Clinton organizing event in Jacksonville and a voter-registration drive in Opa-Locka, a majority black city near Miami. The group, Mothers of the Movement, includes Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, whose 2012 shooting death near Orlando became a flashpoint for racial division and gun violence.

Coming soon: President Barack Obama, who’s expected to campaign here at least twice before Election Day. First Lady Michelle Obama — more popular than her husband — will likely visit Florida as well, in addition to the ad she cut for Clinton that’s currently airing on Florida radio.

"Hillary Clinton's campaign is in panic mode. Full panic mode," said Leslie Wimes, a South Florida-based president of the Democratic African-American Women Caucus.

COMMENT:  What a miserable election year.  I have a feeling that, the minute the election is decided, the parties will start planning for 2020.  There has to be a better movie out there.

September 28, 2016       Permalink

TILTING TO HILLARY – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:   The first "scientific" post-debate polls are starting to come out.   One that showed a slight lead for Trump before the debate now shows a slight lead for Clinton.  From The Hill: 

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton saw a small bump following the first presidential debate, a new poll released early Wednesday shows.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll finds Clinton with 41 percent support among likely voters nationally and GOP nominee Donald Trump with 38 percent in a four-way matchup.

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson gets 8 percent support in that poll, while Jill Stein of the Green Party has 4 percent.

Before the debate, Trump had a 1-point lead in the same poll.

Nearly half of those surveyed also viewed Clinton as the winner of Monday night's debate.

Forty-nine percent said Clinton won, while 26 percent said Trump won. Eighteen percent of Republicans said Clinton won.

Of those surveyed, 72 percent watched the debate, and 55 percent of those viewers watched the entire thing, the poll finds.

Half of those polled said they would watch the debate again.

Forty-two percent said debate moderator Lester Holt was impartial. Another 27 percent said he was more favorable to Clinton, and 2 percent said he favored Trump.

COMMENT:  The consensus clearly is that Clinton won the debate, and I'm sure the Trump people know it.  Whether they can correct Trump's mistakes in time for the second debate is the big question.  The "old" Trump seems to be returning, and, while that will strengthen his base, it won't bring in the independents and minorities he needs for victory.

September 28, 2016       Permalink

ANOTHER OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING – AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  There's been another fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer.  The protests have begun.  From CNN:

El Cajon, California (CNN) A black man has died after police shot him in El Cajon, California, sparking protests in the suburb northeast of San Diego.

On Tuesday afternoon, El Cajon police responded to a 911 call regarding an African-American man in his 30s who reportedly was behaving "erratically" behind a restaurant at the Broadway Village Shopping Center, Lt. Rob Ransweiler said.

According to the call, the man was "not acting like himself" and had been walking in traffic in a manner that endangered himself and motorists, police Chief Jeff Davis said.

"When (officers) contacted him, he failed to comply with the directives that he was given," Ransweiler said.

Instead, Davis said the man kept his hands concealed in his pockets while pacing back and forth. As a second officer prepared a Taser, the man "rapidly drew an object," placed both hands on it "like you would be holding a firearm" and stood in a "shooting stance," according to police.

In response, one officer fired his gun at the man, while a second officer discharged his Taser, Davis said. It's not clear if the man was armed. According to Davis, investigators did not find a firearm at the scene of the shooting. Investigators did not say what object was found -- or if it was a weapon.

And...

In response to the shooting, CNN affiliate KUSI-TV said that about 200 people gathered Tuesday night near the scene in El Cajon, about 15 miles outside San Diego.

After El Cajon police held a news conference, protesters surrounded the entrance of the headquarters, carrying signs calling for an end to police brutality, KUSI reported. The crowd started to dwindle shortly after the news briefing.

COMMENT:  Once again, it is important to wait for the facts to come out, although I'm sure that will be too much of a requirement for CNN and like-minded "news" organizations. 

One thing I'd like to see discussed is the role of the Taser in these events.  Too many people think of the Taser as some kind of magic device that can prevent the need to use lethal force.  It is not.  It is a very uncertain device that only works part of the time.   It's useful in trying to stop an erratic subject who is no serious threat to the police.  It is not reliable as an ultimate self-defense weapon.

September 28,  2016     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 27,  2016

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

COMEY ADMITS – FROM BREITBART:   FBI director James Comey conceded that he is a “deeply flawed” person who failed to stop some terrorist attacks before they happened. Comey made the admission while being interrogated Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.  Comey faced pointed questions about recent terrorist shootings and bombings in the United States and about his failure to recommend indictment for Hillary Clinton in her private server scandal. Comey is under fire in the public for these failures, with Breitbart News recently reporting on his financial links to the Clinton Foundation.  Comey has enjoyed an enviable reputation as an honest, incorruptible public servant.  Sadly, that reputation has been damaged recently, but one wonders whether the damage came from Comey's own misjudgments, from pressure from the Obama administration, or both.  Another blow to his image would probably make it impossible for him to remain.

ABSURD – FROM BREITBART:   A United Nations-affiliated group in Geneva is calling for the U.S. to give African Americans reparations for the country’s history of slavery, according to a recent report by the group.  The group’s statement was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a group that reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights, The Washington Post reported.  The group of experts, made up of leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings about the link between the U.S.’s history of slavery and present injustices, such as the recent police shootings of African Americans to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday.  This is ridiculous, as the U.S. has had generous social-service programs for African Americans for generations.  It's standard UN left-wing stuff, but it will resonate on the American left as well, and among race hustlers.  Traditionally, reparations programs provide for direct victims or their immediate survivors. 

FOOLISHNESS – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:    President Obama nominated Jeffrey DeLaurentis on Tuesday to be the first United States ambassador to Cuba in over five decades.  DeLaurentis is a career diplomat who would be the first American ambassador to the communist island in 55 years, Yahoo News reported. He is no stranger to working with the Cuban government, serving as the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Havana since August 2014 to help normalize relations between the two countries. DeLaurentis also worked with Havana in two former jobs he held at the State Department.  Confirming DeLaurentis will likely prove to be difficult. A simple majority of the Senate must confirm a president’s nominee, but a single lawmaker can impose an anonymous hold to delay the process. The White House faces an uphill battle as many Senate Republicans who are against normalizing relations with Cuba have threatened to vote down any pick Obama may put forward.  Obama became the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years when he traveled there earlier this year.  The political prisoners in Cuba could not be reached for comment.

September 27,  2016     Permalink

CRIME SURGES – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  Despite what the Obamans say, violent crime is on the rise.  The FBI said yesterday that murder is up 11% nationwide.  We feel it around us.  A fine analysis was presented by IBD: 

War On Cops: The number of violent crimes jumped last year by 4%, a sad indictment of eight years of President Obama's policing and prison-sentencing "reforms" and further bolstering the argument that the so-called "Ferguson Effect" is largely to blame for the upsurge in criminal violence.

If you don't think this rise in violent crime, especially murder, is strange, consider this: While violent crime is soaring — murder and manslaughter in 2015 rose almost 11% from a year earlier — property crimes fell 2.6%, marking the 13th-straight year of decline, according to the latest crime report by the FBI.

That divergence between violent crimes and property crimes comes after eight years of President Obama suggesting that our criminal justice system — from street-level police to our courts to our jails and prisons — is just too hard on criminals.

Worse, over his two terms, Obama has joined with the left-leaning media and progressive intelligentsia to poo-pooh the notion that letting violent criminals out of prison, pulling back from aggressive, "broken-window" policing, and pushing a false narrative that police are engaged in a "war" on young black men have any impact on crime.

The result of this denial, sadly and predictably, has been more crime.

As the data show, the long, steady decline in violent crime rates that took place in the 1990s and into the 2000s has ended. The nation today is increasingly violent and racially divided, in large part thanks to Obama's refusal to rebuke rioters in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore or, most recently, Charlotte, N.C.

This refusal has made it much harder for police to do their jobs, turning what once were routine police contacts in minority neighborhoods into highly fraught confrontations that can turn violent in an instant — and often do. Police are pulling back from aggressive crime control in troubled areas, letting criminals, many freshly out of prison, take advantage of the lack of police presence to commit crimes — most often, with minority citizens as their victims.

Meanwhile, Obama, along with liberal officials at the state level, has promulgated sentencing reforms that led to 400,000 felons being released from state and federal prisons from 2009 to 2014. This has only added fuel to the fire.

COMMENT:  Both Obama and Hillary Clinton live in the 1960s.  Ah, wasn't it a time?  Sure it was:  High crime, low standards, the turning of the nation's back on its greatest generation.

And we may get four more years of it.

September 27, 2016       Permalink 

AND THE POLLS – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Tough to tell because we don't know the methodology of all the polls, but Trump, to my surprise, seems to have the edge.   From London's Daily Mail, which does excellent political reporting on the United States: 

CNN awarded Hillary Clinton an overwhelming victory in the first presidential debate - but most snap polls show Trump emerged victorious.

Trump and Clinton tangled over the economy, her use of a private mail server and his unwillingness to release his income tax returns on Monday night.

They engaged in a vigorous back-and-forth on the debate stage at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, as polls showed them locked in a tight race.

However, after the debate's end, polls conducted by a number of media websites showed their readers felt the real estate mogul came out on top.

Trump acknowledged the result, tweeting: 'Wow, did great in the debate polls (except for @CNN - which I don't watch). Thank you!'

CNN/ORC's snap poll, gave Clinton the win with 62 per cent to Trump's 27.

It was the biggest, and fastest, exercise conducted by an opinion polling firm.

The poll of 521 registered voters who watched the debate was a sample which the network warned leaned more Democratic than the average - starting the night with Clinton ahead 26 per cent among the sample.

And while it handed the victory overwhelmingly to Clinton, it was more mixed on whether the debate will make a difference, with 47 per cent saying it would not affect their vote, 34 per cent saying it moved them towards Clinton - and 18 per cent towards Trump.

Online polls carried out afterwards gave a different outcome - handing the title to Trump.
Such polls are self-selecting, and more likely to pick up the views of those who vote, although CNN's study also reflected a similar bias.

COMMENT:  The real tracking polls will start to show reaction to the debate in a day or so.  Those are the ones to watch. 

September 27, 2016       Permalink

THE DEBATE – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  I don't care.  The only thing important about that debate is who won. 

My own sense is that Hillary got the better of it – better prepared, better poised, more skillful, even marginally likeable.  But a voter watching might not agree.  Let's see what the polls say.

Mitt Romney handily defeated Barack Obama, an incumbent president, in the first debate of the 2012 campaign, but Obama came back swinging in the next outing and won the election.

Some say presidential debates don't matter, but they do.   They can provide reassurance that a candidate about whom doubts have been raised is really up to the job, and actually the best in the race.  John F. Kennedy came into the first ever televised presidential debate in 1960 with the image of a young, unready office seeker.  But, in the view of those watching, he bested Vice President Richard M. Nixon and substantially advanced his cause.  (Those who listened on radio thought Nixon won.)  In 1980, Ronald Reagan, defined by a hostile press as a warmed-over movie actor, overwhelmed incumbent small-timer Jimmy Carter and dramatically helped his successful run for the Oval Office. 

I don't think Donald Trump helped himself last night.  He reminded me of a telegram sent by the playwright George S. Kaufman to an actor:  “Am in the rear of the theater watching your performance. Wish you were here.”

September 27,  2016     Permalink