Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

SEPTEMBER 23,  2017

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

THE ABSURDITY CONTINUES – FROM DAILY CALLER:  The woman who has won more grand slam titles is being banned from her tennis club. Margaret Court won 24 singles titles and since retiring she has become a pastor.  As a pastor, she is a big believer in traditional marriage between a man and a woman. It is 2017, so obviously her views have cost her some supporters, but this doesn’t come as much of a surprise.  The part that might come as a surprise is her membership to ‘Cottesloe Tennis Club’ in Australia where Court is from has been revoked.  Michael Roberts, chief executive of Tennis West said, “If you’ve got an opinion that’s very polarising, when you’re so firmly supportive or against something, then it’s going to have an impact on how you’re perceived in the community.”  What jerks.  A tennis club expelling Margaret Court is like a baseball club expelling Lou Gehrig.  Compare please to the way the trendies in America idolize football players who refuse to rise for the national anthem.

MORE HILLARY THAN WE CAN TAKE – FROM FORTUNE:   Hillary Clinton spoke about her thoughts on what she viewed as sexist comments by President Donald Trump and women who continued to support him.  "When I see women doing that, I think why are they publicly disrespecting themselves? Why are they opening the door to have someone say that about them in their workplace? In a community setting? Do they not see the connection there?" Clinton said in an interview on AM Joy.  She added that the fight against sexism is ongoing, even for women. She also pointed out that, while more women voted for her, she lost the white women's vote. However, she said progress was still made because she won more votes from white women than former President Barack Obama did.  "We had such a public and still an ongoing movement to expand civil rights. Again, I'm proud of the progress, but we still have a lot of problems we have to confront," Clinton told Joy Reid during the interview.  Isn't she married to a guy named Bill Clinton?  And she's lecturing other women?

LIBERAL JUSTICE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A hot-headed teen got a slap on the wrist Friday for slugging a Manhattan principal who told him to turn down his music.  Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson granted Luis Penzo, 19, youthful offender status and sentenced him to a conditional discharge — as long as he stays out of trouble for three years he’ll dodge prison and a criminal record.  “You made us very proud,” the judge said of the surly teen’s compliance with a family therapy program.  Penzo, who sauntered into Manhattan Supreme Court Friday wearing a white T-shirt and red gym shorts, offered no apology for the October 2016 beatdown of Principal Matthew Tossman.
He previously admitted to the attack on Tossman of the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising.
“He grabbed my Beats and was very aggressive so I lost control,” he confessed, according to court papers. “I hit him two times.”  When the principal asked him to turn down his music, Penzo dropped the headphones on the floor and left the music booming, prosecutors said.  Tossman reached for the device and Penzo pounced on him, leaving the educator with two black eyes and a laceration that needed seven stitches.  Not even considered a big story in liberal New York.  The child is probably misunderstood.

September 23, 2017       Permalink

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? – AT 1:38 P.M. ET:  It had to happen.  Elements of the hard left are showing sympathy for the leader of North Korea, AKA Rocket Man.  No shock here.  Stalin was pretty popular with the ancestors of this crowd.  From Daily Caller: 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is growing in popularity on America’s political left-wing as the despot engages in a war of words with President Trump.

Progressives have shown an increasing willingness to embrace the brutal dictator as a means of attacking Trump, and some in the media have given the brutal dictator friendly, celebrity-like coverage.

Left-wing activists, meanwhile, are eagerly spreading pro-North Korea propaganda and making excuses for the dictator’s murderous activities. 

Un’s public attacks on Trump on Tuesday prompted praise for the dictator by some in the media.

Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak fawned over Un in a column published Friday morning.

Dvorak was giddy about Un’s use of the word “dotard” to describe Trump. “Sorry, Trump, you were trumped,” she wrote of the insult. “Kim Jong Un insult level: Expert.”

Comedian and Women’s March speaker Chelsea Handler claimed Un’s rhetoric was “a little bit more sane” than Trump’s, and suggested the U.S. and North Korea “trade” leaders, adding that the “U.S. and Syria are the only two countries opposed to the Paris climate deal.” 

COMMENT:  It goes on and on.  I wouldn't be surprised to find Kim Jong Un invited to deliver the commencement address at some chic college.  Or maybe invited to a dinner honoring Maxine Waters.

The left never disappoints.  The party line is eternal.

September 23,   2017        Permalink

AND A LESSON FROM THE COLLEGE CIRCUIT – AT 12:47 P.M. ET:  Apropos of our post below on the politicization of sports, we note the same phenomenon on the college circuit, with the same sad result.  From Campus Reform: 

Amid ongoing fallout from the protests that rocked campus in 2015, the University of Missouri recently welcomed its smallest student body since 2008.

As Campus Reform has repeatedly reported, the embattled university has taken hit after hit, starting with a $32 million budget shortfall and a five-percent budget cut, followed by a seven-percent drop in freshmen enrollment heading into last school year.

More recently, Mizzou shuttered seven residence halls due to a drastic drop in enrollment, renting some of the vacant rooms out to sports fans to help make up for the school’s many financial woes, and cut 474 jobs.

Now, The Dothan Eagle reports that the university is facing the lowest levels of enrollment since 2008, with official numbers showing that enrollment is down 12.9 percent.

Additionally, the Eagle notes that, with the exception of the senior class, every incoming class is smaller than last year’s, and even international enrollment fell by 12.1 percent.

COMMENT:  You may be sure that the protesters who destroyed the university have no regrets.  They've earned their stripes as professional activists.

But those students left behind, including many minority students, are dealing with reduced educational opportunities.  They may also have to endure an influx of less qualified students, to make up the budget shortfall, meaning a lowering of the university's reputation. 

And, eventually, someone will blame Trump.

September 23,  2017     Permalink

NFL BLUES – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  I love football, but the NFL is becoming a pain.  The viewing audience is turning on it.  It is a league in trouble.  And a lot of the trouble starts with politics.  The president had no trouble at all attacking the NFL last night in an Alabama speech, and the crowd cheered.  From Daily Caller:   

NFL ratings are in an absolute free fall after week two of the season.
Viewership for the league is down to its lowest point since 1998, according to Sports Media Watch.

From Sports Media Watch:

The Week 2 NFL singleheader window delivered an 8.4 rating and 14.5 million viewers on CBS Sunday, down 24% in ratings and viewership from last year on FOX (11.0, 19.2M) and down 14% and 13% respectively from 2015 on CBS (9.8, 16.7M). The 8.4 rating is the lowest for the Week 2 singleheader since at least 1998. The first two NFL windows on CBS this season have both declined double-digits to multi-year lows.

This is the least surprising news I’ve heard in a long time when it comes to sports. The writing has been on the wall since last season when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem. People have grown tired of the NFL becoming a political side show, and it’s exhausting getting lectured about the problems with society during games.

On the other hand, college football has no problem getting viewers. Plenty of unimportant games are still garnering at least a million viewers, which is a pretty clear indication that it’s not football itself that’s becoming unpopular.

COMMENT:  Well said.  And President Trump has picked up the theme.  He made clear his feelings about players who engage in political protests on the field:  "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, `Get that son of a bitch off the field right now! Out. He’s fired! He’s fired.'"

The president also disinvited championship basketball player Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, who said he would oppose his team being honored by the Trump White House.  The president said, correctly, that being invited to the White House is an honor. 

When you're invited to the White House, you go to show respect for the office of the president, not for the person who holds that office.  The president invites many people who disagree with him, and most accept the invitation.

The politicization of sports is, of course, a dream of the political left, which believes everything is political.  A number of "journalists" seem to agree.  ESPN, the leading sports network, has become an advocate for liberal causes.

The impact on sports, and on viewership, is entirely predictable.  When most viewers tune in to watch a football game, they're not interested in having a political speech thrown in their faces.

September 23,  2017      Permalink

SEPTEMBER 22,  2017

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

GO AWAY, GO AWAY – FROM ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:  Bill Clinton has landed a major TV series deal.  The former president and bestselling author James Patterson have selected Showtime to adapt their upcoming thriller, The President Is Missing.  The novel, set to be published in 2018, tells the story of a sitting U.S. president’s mysterious disappearance with the level of detail that only someone who has held the highest office can know.  The president is missing because the first lady, whose name is Hillary, has locked him in the White House basement and is running the country.

FADING – FROM REUTERS:  Time Inc (TIME.N) said on Friday it was looking to sell several assets, including Time Inc UK, and warned it experienced more-than-anticipated softness in both print and advertising revenue during the current quarter.  The publisher, which said in April that it would not sell itself, said assets identified for sale include Time Customer Service and a majority stake in the Essence magazine.  The assets marked for divestitures represent about $488 million, or 17 percent of total revenue for the 12-months ended June 30, the company said.  A sale may be announced as early as the fourth quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. bit.ly/2xkudm5.  The internet and the 24-hour TV news cycle have, for many people, rendered weekly or monthly magazines obsolete, and expensive.  I still think they have value, but the public increasingly disagrees. TIME was once a mighty empire, and the Time-Life Building in New York a center of power.  A sad fadeout.

THE INSANITY OF SOME EDUCATORS – FROM FOX:  A patriotic parent in Mesa, Ariz., got her fourth-grade child moved to a different class after finding out the teacher had students recite a gender-neutral version of the Declaration of Independence.  Parent Elizabeth Vaillencourt, whose child attends Salk Elementary School, shared a photo on Facebook, showing the unidentified teacher displayed a copy of the declaration in the classroom, with "all men are created equal" changed to "all humans are created equal," KGUN-TV reported.  After Vaillencourt spoke with school officials, her child was moved to a different class. But school officials told her that her social media post had "hurt the teacher's feelings," the television station reported. Vaillencourt told the station that the school superintendent’s office informed her that the teacher’s actions were against school policy.  A teacher should never change an original document.  That is academic malpractice.  The proper approach is to teach from the original, and then perhaps open a discussion on whether a change would be made if the document were written today.

September 22, 2017       Permalink   

BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  And it is serious, even though it's about laughter.  One of our truly funny men sounds off on political correctness, and its damage to comedy. 

This is important.  Humor is important.  When humor dies, what do we have?  We have the grim, gray world that the far left plans for us.  I've always felt that the state of a nation's comedy tells us much about the state of the society.  From The Telegraph: 

Society's "stupidly politically correct" sensibilities will lead to the "death of comedy", the veteran Hollywood comedian Mel Brooks has warned.

Brooks, known for his plethora of acclaimed comedy movies, said political correctness was becoming a stranglehold on comedians.

"It's not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks," he said.

"Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king's ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour."

The producer and director said that his iconic western parody Blazing Saddles could not be made in today's political climate.

The 1974 comedy western starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder featured a black sheriff in a racist town.

Brooks said it was the racial prejudice portrayed within the film that was the mechanism behind its cultural significance. 

"Without that the movie would not have had nearly the significance, the force, the dynamism and the stakes that were contained in it,” he said.

COMMENT:  Comedians, when they're good, are the best commentators.  As Brooks said, comedy is that lecherous little elf, whispering the truth.

Other comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld, have also expressed their frustration with political correctness, and some have stopped playing colleges.  Political correctness is killing comedy, and the human spirit.

September 22, 2017       Permalink

POLL EXPOSED – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  This is excellent journalism – breaking down the internals of a recent poll just to show how phrasing the questions can dramatically change the result.  From Dailywire: 

A new survey from NBC News/Wall Street Journal is the perfect example of the utter worthlessness of public polling as it relates to the implementation of government policy.

In the poll, which covers numerous political topics, one question stands out: “Would you favor or oppose a single-payer health care system in which all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan that is financed by Taxes?”

To this question, 47% said they “favored” such a system, 46% said they “opposed,” and 7% said they were “not sure.” However, when pollsters added a bit of specificity to the question, the results changed rather dramatically.

To those who said they favored a single-payer health care system, a follow-up question was asked: “And, if you learned that virtually all health care costs would be covered, but it would eliminate employer-provided health plans and there would be only one government plan, would you favor or oppose a single-payer health care system?”

This more specified question changed the results by more than ten points. The final results are as follows: 36% said they would “favor” a single-payer plan, 55% said they would “oppose,” and 9% were “not sure.”

COMMENT:  Definitely read the rest of this excellent piece, then look at polling more skeptically.  We note that Donald Trump was hovering at about 40% in the polls on election day.  Obviously, pollsters were missing something.   They often miss something, as the late President Dewey might have told us.

September 22, 2017        Permalink

TRUMP AND ROCKET MAN CLASH AGAIN – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  The rhetoric is escalating.  We must hold firm.  From Fox: 

Amid new North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime's leader would be "tested like never before."

Trump, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, warned the U.S. would "totally destroy" North Korea if Pyongyang continued its provocative actions, leading North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to up the ante by calling Trump "deranged." North Korea escalated the situation further when the nation's foreign minister revealed Pyongyang could conduct the H-bomb test, and, between tweets about healthcare and "The Russia hoax," Trump fired back.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" Trump wrote.

Trump has previously derided Kim Jong Un as "rocket man," both on Twitter and during his U.N. speech. But on Friday, Trump didn't use the playful moniker.

The Yonhap news agency reported Thursday on the hydrogen bomb threat from North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ri framed the possible new nuke test as a response to Trump's U.N. speech.

"This could probably mean the strongest hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean. Regarding which measures to take, I don't really know since it is what Kim Jong Un does," Ri said.

Such a test would be considered a major provocation by the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Ri was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, a day later than previously scheduled.

COMMENT:   Some "experts" are warning against the rising rhetoric.  These are the same "experts" who've been kicking the can down the road on North Korea for more than two decades.  They were dead wrong, but, as a famous comedian once observed, few in America ever resign in shame.

September 22,  2017     Permalink