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SEPTEMBER 2,  2017

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

SHELLEY BERMAN DIES – FROM USA TODAY:  NEW YORK (AP) — Comedian Shelley Berman, who won gold records and appeared on top television shows in the 1950s and 1960s delivering wry monologues about the annoyances of everyday life, has died. He was 92.  Berman died Friday at his home in Bell Canyon, California, from complications from Alzheimer's disease, according to spokesman Glenn Schwartz.  Berman was a pioneer of a new brand of comedy that could evoke laughter from such matters as air travel discomforts and small children who answer the telephone. He helped pave the way for Bob Newhart, Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and other standup comedians who fashioned their routines around the follies and frustrations of modern living.  A great talent and innovator.  Sadly, he flamed out too early, and others forged ahead of him.  But he and Mort Sahl were perhaps the most important new comics of the late 1950s.

THE WANTING OF CLOONEY – FROM THE HILL:  George Clooney joked about being president during a press conference for his new film "Suburbicon" at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.   “Would I like to be the next president? Oh, that sounds like fun,” Clooney said, according to a report in Variety.  Fellow actor and Trump critic Matt Damon reportedly interjected, “Can I just say that I’d like anybody to be the next president of the United States. Right away, please.”  While Clooney, who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, is not likely to launch a bid for the Oval Office anytime soon, he has not shied away from ripping Trump in the past.   The media would, of course, call Clooney another Reagan, but Reagan had  been a two-term governor of our largest state, and also knew where Oklahoma was.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY – FROM DAILY CALLER:    A new report on diversity among library employees at America’s four-year colleges and universities has concluded that there are entirely too many white librarians.  Ithaka S+R, an academic research firm, released the “Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity” report on Wednesday.  As a group, librarians “are over three quarters white and nearly 90 percent white in leadership roles,” the Ithaka S+R report reveals.  The lack of “library employees of color” is a “shortcoming” in the academic library industry, the report also says.  “The library community considers diversity to be a core value. But the academic library sector has struggled with addressing equity, diversity and inclusion.”  Academic libraries have struggled with an excess of white employees for decades, notes Inside Higher Ed. Maybe African Americans would prefer some other line of work.  Did anyone think of that?

September 2, 2017       Permalink

HOW POPULAR IS TRUMP? – AT 2:20 P.M. ET:  Are the polls right at placing his approval rating at about 39%?  Or are the polls missing something, as they were just before the last election?  Salena Zito, one of the sharpest political writers around today, clearly thinks it's the latter.  From the New York Post: 

Ruffs Dale, Pa. — Hunched over in his workshop, Leon Moyer slices through a board with a miter saw, its hum piercing the air. It’s the sound of business for Moyer, who has run a sign making company in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, since 1984.

A few feet away lies a stack of signs blaring “President Donald Trump” and a pile of bumper stickers bearing the legend “CNN Sucks.” Almost a year after America sent The Donald to the White House, Moyer is still selling pro-Trump signage. Homes and businesses all over this county, which is mostly registered Democrat, continue to declare their allegiance to the Republican outsider.

“Last year, when people were asking me to make [signs] for them, I was fairly surprised. Republican political signs really aren’t a big thing for me, and, well, this is a big Democrat area. The signs were everywhere, and everyone wanted one.”

So far, Moyer estimates he’s sold “thousands” of pro-Trump signs.

How many people ordered signs for Hillary?

“One. That would be one person. Which kind of surprised me given how Democratic this area is,” he said. Moyer said he had requests for oversized Trump signs, small ones, individualized ones: “You name it, people were asking for them.”

“They still ask for them,” he added. “Not much has changed in the sentiments here for Trump.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's fascinating.  The point is made that voters can disapprove of some of Trump's policies, as reflected in polls, but still support him, even enthusiastically.  And sometimes, of course, they can express disapproval because they think he's not Trumpish enough.

Further, one of the oldest lines in politics tells us that you can't beat somebody with nobody.  What Democrat can beat Trump after the rough-and-tumble of a real campaign?  The question remains unanswered.

September 2, 2017       Permalink

THIS DAY – AT 12:14 P.M. ET:  September 2nd, 1945, isn't as famous as December 7th, 1941, or September 11th, 2001, but its symbolism is still great.  It was on this day in 1945, some 72 years ago, that World War II came to its official end.

The place was Tokyo Bay.  The ship was the battleship USS Missouri, supposedly chosen for the occasion because it was named for the home state of America's new president, Harry S. Truman.  The event was the signing of Japan's formal surrender.

The ceremony was routine, but the atmosphere was not.  The Japanese delegation that came aboard could not help but notice – one of the young diplomats later wrote about it in amazement– the lack of vindictiveness or mean-spiritedness on the part of the representatives of the victorious Allied nations.  Thus began a remarkable episode in American history.  General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, a man not without controversy, ran the occupation of Japan in an enlightened, thoughtful manner, helping to build Japan into a democracy, an ally of the West, and an economic power. 

Over the years Japan built a small self-defense force, and never developed nuclear weapons.  Today it is involved in a critical, soul-searching debate over whether to substantially increase that force and go nuclear, in response to the threat from nearby North Korea. 

The USS Missouri survives as a museum ship, docked at Pearl Harbor very close to the remains of the battleship USS Arizona, sunk by the Japanese on that December 7, 1941, thus starting the American phase of World War II.  Both ships were built at the New York Naval Shipyard, more popularly known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which no longer exists.  

September 2, 2017       Permalink

CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  The market works.  Colleges are now feeling the backlash from parents, applicants and taxpayers over their indulgence of leftist snowflakes and faculty clowns.  From Fox:

Both the University of Missouri and Evergreen State College have been rocked by left-wing demonstrations, some of which administrators in both schools allowed. Now both have had to deal with falling enrollment and a decline in funds - and there are fears the situation could spread to other schools.

The defining issue is whether parents and donors see administrators as capable of containing clashes and responding firmly when protests get out of control, experts say.

Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a nonprofit that advocates for a variety of higher education issues, told Fox News that how a college handles freedom of expression matters greatly to prospective students, their parents and donors.

“When they look to what college to pick, parents and students are thinking of the largest investment their family is likely to make beyond the purchase of a home,” Pfeffer Merrill said. “Across the political spectrum, one of the most essential assets is [the opportunity] to be exposed to a wide range of views.”

There is increasing concern, she said, “about a lack of openness to having a full conversation” amid a growing intolerance of views that are different or considered offensive.

“It’s senior leadership at the colleges that sets the tone,” she said.

And...

One school that has resisted the kinds of demands Missouri and Evergreen gave in to is the University of Chicago.

In the summer of 2016 incoming freshmen at the University of Chicago received a welcome letter that made the institution’s commitment to the free and open expression of ideas clear:
“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”

COMMENT:  This year will be critical.  The left feels empowered by violent demonstrations it has mounted throughout the country.  But the backlash against violence and censorship on college campuses is also gaining strength.

Congress and state legislatures must be prepared to cut off funds from colleges that do not meet basic standards of freedom and peaceful assembly.  Some will have the courage to act.  Others will not.

September 2,  2017     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 1,  2017

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

THE NERVE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Activists are discouraging Hurricane Harvey donors from giving to the American Red Cross and urging them instead to contribute to left-wing causes, some of which are advocacy groups engaged in little if any emergency relief work.  Linda Sarsour, a prominent Muslim and feminist activist, sent out a tweet encouraging donors to give to the Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, which conducts “direct action organizing, grass-roots lobbying and electoral organizing led by working families in Texas.”  “TOP is one of many organizations on this list you can choose to support,” Ms. Sarsour said in a Wednesday tweet that included the #NoRedCross hashtag. “Grassroots orgs on ground. Long term needed.”  The Texas Organizing Project, which has fought Texas voter ID laws and supported sanctuary-state status, is part of the Hurricane Harvey Community Relief Fund, a coalition that includes labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union as well as Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.  This is awful.  Sarsour is a front operator for radical Palestinian causes, and is a darling of the hard left.  She knows nothing about relief operations.  This is subversion at its worst, exploiting the misery of people on behalf of hidden political causes.

ANOTHER DISGRACE – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Two weeks ago, the leader of a high-ranked international affairs school suggested that students who want to intern in the Trump administration shouldn’t ask for his help.  George Washington University has refused to clarify his comments or make him available for an interview since then.  Reuben Brigety, dean of GWU’s Elliott School, labeled President Donald Trump a “Nazi sympathizer” in a stinging Foreign Policy essay that called for members of Trump’s cabinet to denounce him or resign in protest.  A professor at nearby universities before serving in various State Department roles in the Obama administration, Brigety denounced Trump for having “spontaneously reiterated his support for white supremacist protesters” following the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville that left one counterprotester dead.  The president did nothing of the kind.  This is another example of the corruption of the academic left.  This man should be sent packing.

JOURNALISTIC COURAGE – GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE – FROM FOX:  Washington Post writer Fredrick Kunkle on Friday ripped the newspaper’s owner Jeff Bezos in a scathing op-ed, accusing the Amazon founder of mistreating workers within his business empire.  Kunkle, who writes for the Washington Post’s Metro desk and serves as co-chair of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, challenged Bezos for expressing a desire to increase his philanthropic efforts despite a record of "treating [his employees] poorly." In the op-ed, he writes that Bezos “should remember that his vast wealth came in part from labor.”  “As the owner of an institution that’s critical to democracy, he should go out of his way to set a tone of progressive stewardship toward employees in all his businesses,” Kunkle wrote in an op-ed published by the Huffington Post.  “Instead, Bezos has shown that he views his employees as parts in a high-tech machine, that income inequality is someone else’s problem, and that modern corporations owe little more to their employees than a paycheck.”  Even though Kunkle is somewhat shielded by his union position, he shows courage in writing what he did.  There are many forms of retaliation open to Bezos. 

September 1, 2017       Permalink

WHEN EVEN THE FRENCH ARE WORRIED, THAT IS NEWS – North Korea is our main foreign-policy worry right now.  President Trump isn't the only one warning that time is running out.  From AFP:   

PARIS — France’s foreign minister warned Friday that North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe “within months.”

Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang “extremely serious” and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiraling tensions.

“We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow,” Le Drian told RTL radio.

“In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon, the situation will be explosive.”

Early on Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to say that “all options” were on the table in an implied threat of preemptive military action.

COMMENT:  Some are arguing for more talks with North Korea.  Talks about what?  They've broken every agreement.  And yet the military option involves ghastly choices.

This is the place where Mr. Trump must lead.  He must pursue a policy, of his own making, that actually produces results, something Barack Obama never understood.

The ball is in our court, and I wonder about the advice Trump is getting.

September 1, 2017       Permalink

THE UGLINESS – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  The hatred of the president within the Democratic Party is so great that it may consume some of the party's more responsible leaders.  All four of them.  From the Los Angeles Times:   

At a time when the Democratic base is more restive than it has been in decades, Sen. Dianne Feinstein ignited a firestorm earlier this week when she refused to back the impeachment of President Trump and instead called for “patience” over his presidency.

The statements — provocative in Democratic circles and near-heretical in her hometown of San Francisco, where she made them — reflected a moderation and pragmatism that have been hallmarks of Feinstein’s career. But these qualities, after proving politically advantageous for decades, could become an albatross because of the state’s shifting demographics and political leanings as the 84-year-old decides whether to seek a sixth term.

Potential rivals are already circling.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León lashed out at Feinstein’s remarks hours after she made them Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club, saying that women, children, people of color, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community had little time for patience in the face of the president’s policies.

COMMENT:  Yeah, there it goes.  Let's all just be part of little groups.  And let's list them all in every speech.  Feinstein is known as one of the grown-ups in the Senate.  She has her origins in the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy.  But the new party doesn't have any use for that history.  It is only interested in grievance and identity politics.  Every citizen has a hyphen. 

In California, trashing a wise elder is easy.  The state is now so heavily Democratic that the party could elect a turkey sandwich as U.S. senator.  The recently elected Kamala Harris is 1) a woman, 2) part black, and 3) part Asian.  Isn't that wonderful?  A three-fer.  Does anything else count?  Harris has largely made a fool of herself in her opening months in Congress, acting rudely toward other senators, and obsessing over gender issues.  She often comes to committee hearings unprepared for anything else.  And yet she's already traveling the country as a possible 2020 presidential candidate.  Dianne Feinstein commented, "She just got here."  Sorry, Dianne, it's a new age. 

I still recall Eleanor Roosevelt rising in 1960 to question publicly whether John F. Kennedy was qualified to be president.  Kennedy had been in Congress 14 years, was on the Foreign Relations Committee, had been wounded in World War II, and had been author or co-author of several serious books, not books about himself.  And yet there were still questions.  Compare please to standards today, particularly in the Democratic Party.  Anyone can be president, as long as you've got the right set of grievances.

September 1, 2017       Permalink

THE PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  The last Rasmussen report before the Labor Day weekend indicates that the president's support is holding.  However, there was no upward bump reflecting his good work in responding to Hurricane Harvey.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 27% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 44% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him an improving Presidential Approval Index rating of -17.

COMMENT: Mr. Trump's overall approval rating runs from high thirties to low forties, depending on the poll, with a few outliers.  But that's pretty much where he was last election day, and he was elected.  Or, to put it another way, Hillary lost. 

We can make a cautious assumption that Trump underpolls, and has broader support than the polling indicates.  But that is only an assumption.  He needs a period with some legislative victories, and a lack of self-inflicted wounds, to move upward.

When Labor Day weekend is over, the nation will move to the start of the 2018 midterm campaigns.  My own sense is that this will be one of the most brutal political seasons in memory.  Everyone is angry.  Hating Trump is a pastime for the Democratic Party.  The Republican Party is divided, with some of its leaders apparently praying for the president to go away.  Meanwhile, our media reminds us of a national tabloid that can't make it into supermarkets.

I do not expect too much elevated discussion.

I do expect talk about whether both parties need to be replaced.

And I do expect that the 2018 campaigns will be partially overshadowed by rising activity by potential 2020 presidential contenders, not one of whom looks particularly strong at this stage.  By contenders, I have to include Clinton, Biden and Sanders, who cling to the limelight. 

And yes, I do expect serious chatter about whether Trump will give up on the Republican Party and form his own third force, threatening to run as an "independent Republican" in 2020.  I think the chances of that are actually pretty strong.  It would feed Trump's ego and throw American politics into tornado conditions, which he likes.

Fun.

September 1,  2017     Permalink