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SEPTEMBER 13,  2017

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

MAJOR ADULTHOOD NEWS – FROM STUDY FINDS:  ST. LOUIS — Though many might never admit it publicly, a new survey finds that four in ten adult Americans still sleep with a teddy bear at night. And many of those bears are the same bears kept from childhood.  The popular custom teddy bear outlet Build-A-Bear Workshop commissioned a new survey with over 2,000 Americans to gauge their views on their furry friends, and came away with some surprising findings.  More than half of the survey participants indicated they currently owned a stuffed animal, and 40 percent indicated the toy joins them at bedtime. Perhaps most surprisingly, most of the plush toys out there are no spring chickens — 56 percent of those polled said that they’ve held onto their favorite stuffed animal from childhood for at least two decades.  But my question is, what teddy bear wants to sleep with Hillary?

MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL NEWS – FROM CBS LOCAL:   As fast food employees across the U.S. continue to protest for higher wages, a California chain restaurant has decided to hire a new staff member that works for free. The competition for the company’s low-wage workers: a burger-flipping robot named “Flippy.”  CaliBurger has announced they will be installing the high-tech replacement in 50 of their locations around the world. “Flippy,” the robotic kitchen assistant, was created by a California startup company called Miso Robotics and is expected to roll out in 2018.  Don't laugh.  Flippy might someday run for president, and win.

HIGHER NON-EDUCATION NEWS – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has named convicted felon and transgender activist Chelsea Manning as a visiting fellow at its Institute of Politics for the 2017-18 academic year.  Harvard's announcement of its incoming class of visiting fellows at the Institute of Politics celebrates Manning's inclusion as the program's "first transgender fellow."  The Kennedy School describes Manning in its press release as "a Washington, D.C. based network security expert and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst."  "She speaks on the social, technological, and economic ramifications of Artificial Intelligence through her op-ed columns for the Guardian and the New York Times," the announcement says. "As a trans woman, she advocates for queer and transgender rights as @xychelsea on Twitter."  This individual gave away the national secrets of the United States and served time in prison for it.  She placed Americans, and others, at risk.  Some may have died for what she did.  And they make her a fellow at Harvard.  For shame.

September 13, 2017       Permalink

TRUMP SLIPS BACK – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  This is probably inevitable, as the immediate crisis of the hurricanes passes, but President Trump's approval rating is slipping again.  From Rasmussen: 

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

The latest figures include 26% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 45% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19. 

COMMENT:  The president has dropped four points in a week.  I would not be shocked to see him hover at about 40%.  That's where he was on election day, and yet he won. 

What we're learning about this unique president is that disapproval numbers do not necessarily turn into rejection at the polls.  Some people may dislike him, or even disapprove of things that he's doing, but they will still vote for him, when they examine his competition. 

If Mr. Trump can get Congress to enact a tax cut, which is seriously needed, he'll do fine with the people. 

September 13, 2017       Permalink

GROSSLY WRONG – AT 10:25 A.M. ET:   The right to vote is a sacred part of American freedom.  It should not be treated cheaply.  But that's what's happening.  The latest offender is College Park, Maryland, naturally a college town.  From Fox: 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The College Park City Council has voted in favor of a measure that would allow city residents who are not U.S. citizens to vote in local elections.

College Park joins six other towns in allowing legal permanent residents and undocumented immigrants to vote in municipal elections.

The council's vote on this issue was supposed to happen back in August, but it was postponed due to threats made to council members over the proposal.

It was a very contentious debate inside College Park City Hall as almost two dozen people signed up to speak on the matter during Tuesday night’s meeting.

One man against the proposal came to the podium saying he was called a Nazi while waiting in line to voice his opinion.

“The reality is allowing all people to vote in municipal elections is going to make College Park more inclusive, and that has been the history of voting rights expansion in the United States and what has happened in our neighbors in Maryland who have expanded voting rights to non-U.S. citizens,” said Todd Larson, who is in favor of the proposal.

“Although you come up here and you say that there are hundreds of citizens and residents of College Park that are for this charter, I can tell you that there are thousands against it,” said Beth Debrosky, who is against non-citizen voting. “Voting is a right of the citizens. It's plain and clear. It's constitutional. It's also written at the state level and it also belongs at the local level.”

COMMENT:  And she is correct.  Voting is an honor.  It has been fought for, and bled for, in battle after battle.  Awarding the right to vote to someone who broke the law by coming here illegally, and has never taken the oath of citizenship, is an insult to the concept of a nation of laws.

I suspect that, what's really behind this proposal, is the belief, and it's probably true, that illegals will vote Democratic.  But the whole idea is an abomination.

September 13, 2017       Permalink

EMBARRASSING – AT 9:50 A.M. ET:  With each passing, agonizing day, Hillary Clinton's book tour becomes more and more embarrassing.  There comes a point where family should simply sit down with her and suggest that some time with the grandchildren might be time better spent.  All she's doing now is destroying whatever legacy she has left.  From Breitbart: 

During an interview with Vox on Tuesday, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton argued that without FBI Director James Comey, she could have picked up a point or two more among white women and that Comey allowed husbands and boyfriends to tell their wives and girlfriends that Clinton would end up in jail.

Clinton began by saying that white voters have been leaving the Democratic Party since Lyndon Johnson predicted they would. She added that gender isn’t “the motivating factor that race was for President Obama.”

Clinton then cited research that Sheryl Sandberg discussed with her about women become less likeable the more professionally successful they become and women being seen unfavorably when they advocate for themselves.

She then stated, “Now, I believe, absent Comey, I might have picked up 1 or 2 points among white women.” Clinton then cited her polling in the Philadelphia suburbs before the Comey letter compared to how she did in the election in those suburbs. She continued, “It stopped my momentum. And it hurt me, particularly among women. And I have so much anecdotal evidence for this. And now, researchers are starting to pull some of this together. You know, all of a sudden, the husband turns to the wife, ‘Pshh, I told you she’s going to be in jail. You don’t want to waste your vote.’ You know, the boyfriend turns to the girlfriend and says, ‘She’s going to get locked up. Don’t you hear? She’s going to get locked up.’ I mean, all of a sudden, it becomes a very fraught, kind of conflictual experience. And so, instead of saying, ‘I’m taking a chance. I’m going to vote,’ it didn’t work.”

COMMENT:  Of course, Trump was given such an easy ride.  He only had 90 percent of the press against him.

I don't think I've ever seen a defeated candidate behave the way Hillary is behaving.  Maybe Jimmy Carter, to some degree.  And John Kerry tried to blame rigged voting machines in Ohio.  But nothing like this.  Even Nixon was absolutely gracious in defeat in 1960, although there were legitimate questions about who really won Illinois.  He refused to challenge the election, believing it was bad for the country.  Hillary is shameless.,

September 13,  2017     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 12,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

NEW YORK WEIRDNESS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Mayor de Blasio cruised to an easy victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, trouncing little-known former City Council member Sal Albanese and other long-shot hopefuls in a race that was never competitive.  De Blasio, who garnered 74.6 percent of the votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting, was declared the winner less than 20 minutes after polls closed. Albanese trailed far behind, with 15.2 percent in the five-way race.  Hizzoner will now face off against GOP mayoral nominee Nicole Malliotakis on Nov. 7.  “This city has been great over generations because it was a city for everyone. It was never meant to be a city just for the real-estate developers or just for the landlords or just for the titans of Wall Street. It was meant to be for everyone,” de Blasio told a crowd of about 200 supporters and staffers at Roulette Intermedium, an event space in Downtown Brooklyn.  I calculate that fewer than 400,000 voters cast ballots in a city of eight million.  Which means five percent of the citizens made this decision.  This is New York democracy.

POSSIBLE UPSET – FROM THE HILL:   Alabama Democrat Doug Jones is running just a few points behind his potential Republican opponents for a Senate seat in the deep-red state, according to a new poll.  The poll from Emerson College finds former Alabama state Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore leading Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) by a 14-point margin ahead of the GOP's special election primary runoff on Sept. 26.  But both Republicans would hold only a slim advantage over Jones, according to the poll — Moore leads Jones by 4 percentage points, while Strange leads him by 3 points.   The poll is a surprisingly strong result for Jones, who was expected to have no chance in the December general election for the rest of Attorney General Jeff Sessions's Senate term. Alabama voters traditionally back Republicans in statewide elections, with President Trump winning the state by nearly 30 percentage points in 2016.  This is alarming, and a wake-up call to Republicans.  Clearly, the Republican candidates in Alabama aren't very attractive.  A loss in Alabama would be devastating to GOP attempts to retain control of the Senate next year.  Are you listening, Mitch McConnell?

THE CANADIANS ARE NUTS, TOO – FROM THE WRAP:   The indigenous peoples of Canada were thanked at every gala screening to play the Toronto International Film Festival this year.  Gala screenings are starry affairs with long red carpets, held at Toronto venues like Roy Thompson Hall and the Princess of Wales Theater. This year, before audiences got to see names like Margot Robbie or Jake Gyllenhaal introduce their movies, festival executives read the following statement:  “To begin, we would like to acknowledge the Mississaugas of New Credit, the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat, the original keepers of this land, for hosting us today and for hosting TIFF on their land every day.”    Wait a second.  Why is it their land?  Maybe there was someone there before them.  I mean, like Brooklyn Dodger fans.  It is so phony.  We really aren't sure who the real indigenous peoples were, going back in history.  Why don't these phony liberals just admit that migration is a fact of life all over the world, and that new people move into old territories, and sometimes become majorities.  I really have never seen any of these intellectual frauds give up his swimming pools to an "indigenous" teenager.

September 12,  2017     Permalink   

ARE YOU SURPRISED? – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  The American media continues its bashing of the president, losing its credibility in the process.  From Newsbusters: 

The broadcast network evening newscasts remain as hostile as ever towards President Trump and his agenda, although the networks appear to be easing up on their obsessive wall-to-wall coverage of the administration.

Since Inauguration Day (January 20), Media Research Center analysts have reviewed every mention of President Trump and top administration officials on ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, including weekends. As of August 31, coverage of the administration has totaled nearly 74 hours (4,418 minutes) of airtime, or about 39 percent of all evening news coverage.

For comparison purposes, coverage of the Obama administration in all of 2015 and 2016 totaled 59 hours (3,544 minutes), or roughly 10 percent of the available broadcast airtime. In other words, Trump has already received more coverage in his first 224 days in office than Obama received in his final two years as President.

Analyzing the networks’ spin makes it clear that the goal of all of this heavy coverage is not to promote the President, but to punish him. In June, July and August, broadcast evening news coverage of Trump was 91 percent negative — worse than the astounding 89 percent negative spin we calculated during the first three months of the administration, usually a traditional honeymoon period for new presidents.

COMMENT:  When news organizations lose their credibility, it takes years to get it back.  Some never do.  Current polls show that most Americans have lost confidence in the media.  And yet, the news organizations don't seem to care.  They are on a mission to purify the nation and uplift its deplorables.

I never thought that's what freedom of the press was about.  I guess I was misinformed.

September 12, 2017       Permalink

TRUMP TO UNVEIL NEW IRAN POLICY? – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  There have been whispers about this for a long time, that President Trump intends to leave Obamaville and pursue a much tougher line on Iran.  From Reuters: 

President Donald Trump is weighing a strategy that could allow more aggressive US responses to Iran's forces, its Shi'ite Muslim proxies in Iraq and Syria, and its support for militant groups, according to six current and former US officials.

The proposal was prepared by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials, and presented to Trump at a National Security Council meeting on Friday, the sources said.

It could be agreed and made public before the end of September, two of the sources said. All of the sources are familiar with the draft and requested anonymity because Trump has yet to act on it.

In contrast to detailed instructions handed down by President Barack Obama and some of his predecessors, Trump is expected to set broad strategic objectives and goals for US policy but leave it to US military commanders, diplomats and other US officials to implement the plan, said a senior administration official.

"Whatever we end up with, we want to implement with allies to the greatest extent possible," the official added.

The White House declined to comment.

The plan is intended to increase the pressure on Tehran to curb its ballistic missile programs and support for militants, several sources said.

"I would call it a broad strategy for the range of Iranian malign activities: financial materials, support for terror, destabilization in the region, especially Syria and Iraq and Yemen," said another senior administration official.

The proposal also targets cyber espionage and other activity and potentially nuclear proliferation, the official said.

The administration is still debating a new stance on a 2015 agreement, sealed by Obama, to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program. The draft urges consideration of tougher economic sanctions if Iran violates the 2015 agreement.

COMMENT:  We await the fine print.  Given the number of Obama holdovers hanging around Washington, the print may be very fine indeed.  When the story says that implementation will be left to US military commanders, diplomats and other officials, I get a bit of a chill.  That's fine if they're all on the same page.  But what happens if the Trump page falls out of their policy books?  I understand the rings in those notebooks are very weak. 

Trump can go any number of ways.  There is enormous pressure from Deep State to keep him following Obama's policies, with maybe a little bit of intermittent tough talk to keep the deplorables happy.  We expect better, and I think Trump does too.

September 12, 2017       Permalink

THE DETAILS – AT 9:50 A.M. ET:  We began this story in "Short Takes" last night.  Here are the details of the sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council last night.  There is no guarantee that nations will abide by these sanctions, and sanctions have never stopped the Norks from expanding their nuclear and missile programs.  From France 24: 

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea, slapping a ban on textile exports and restricting shipments of oil products to punish Pyongyang for its sixth and largest nuclear test.

With backing from China and Russia, the council adopted a US-drafted sanctions resolution just one month after banning exports of coal, lead and seafood in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

And...

During tough negotiations, the United States dropped initial demands for a full oil embargo and a freeze on the foreign assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in a bid to win support from China and Russia.

The resolution instead bans textile exports, cuts off natural gas shipments to North Korea, places a ceiling on deliveries of refined oil products and caps crude oil shipments at their current level.

It bars countries from issuing new work permits to North Korean laborers sent abroad and seeks to phase out the practice by asking countries to report on the date for ending existing contracts.
Some 93,000 North Koreans work abroad, providing Kim's regime with a source of revenue to develop its missile and nuclear programs, according to a US official familiar with the negotiations.

Under the measure, countries are authorized to inspect ships suspected of carrying banned North Korean cargo but must first seek the consent of the flag-state.

Joint ventures will be banned and the names of senior North Korean official and three entities were added to a UN sanctions blacklist that provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban.
It was the eighth series of sanctions imposed on North Korea since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006.

'Big mistake' to avoid talks

The United States and its allies argue that tougher sanctions will pile pressure on Kim's regime to come to the negotiation table to discuss an end to its nuclear and missile tests.

Russia and China are pushing for talks with North Korea, but their proposal for a freeze on Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests in exchange for suspending US-South Korean military drills has been rejected by the United States.

COMMENT:  The sanctions look impressive, but really aren't.  A full oil embargo would have been jolting, but we had to drop it.

And that's the problem.  The things that might work will never be approved by Russia or China.  Now we'll see if these new sanctions are actually applied, and what effect they will have.  It is the policy of North Korea to pursue its dreaded weapons programs, regardless of economic damage to the country.  So don't expect much.

We await the next North Korean missile test or nuclear explosion.  What will Trump do?

September 12,  2017     Permalink