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 24,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:44 P.M. ET:   

VIEWERS AND PROTESTS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   “Are football fans voting with their TVs?” asks a new Rasmussen Reports survey. “As the NFL struggles to explain this season’s downturn in viewer ratings, 34 percent of American adults say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the growing number of protests by players on the field,” the poll reports, noting that 12 percent say they are more likely to watch, while half say the protests have no effect on their viewing decisions.  “Interestingly, there’s little difference of opinion on the protests and NFL viewing habits among whites, blacks and other minority adults,” the poll said.  We'll have to see the ratings for the next couple of weeks.  The "knee" effect seems to occur largely in football.    If NFL ratings take a further dive, and ticket sales go into decline, it would be reasonable to attribute at least some of the trouble to the knee.

NO KNEES WANTED – FROM DAILYWIRE:   Multiple NASCAR team owners indicated Sunday they will not tolerate drivers or crew members who kneel during the national anthem as unpatriotic protests plague the beleaguered National Football League.  Former NASCAR champion and legend Richard Petty, who owns Richard Petty Motorsports, told the Associated Press that he would fire any member of his team who chooses to kneel during the national anthem.  “Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period. What got ’em where they’re at? The United States,” Petty said.  So, we have the NFL supporting the protests by its players, and NASCAR hoisting the stars and stripes.  I'll bet NASCAR's attendance increases.

NEW TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS – FROM DAILY MAIL:  The United States will prohibit entry of citizens from North Korea to the nation as part of a sweeping new travel ban that also slaps restrictions on Iran, Chad, Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia, the Trump administration said on Sunday.
The bans and restrictions do not have any time limits; in effect, they are indefinite.   The new restrictions, slated to go into effect on October 18, resulted from a review after President Donald Trump's original travel bans were challenged in court.  Trump tweeted Sunday: 'Making America safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.'  The addition of North Korea and Venezuela broadens the restrictions from the original, mostly Muslim-majority list.  We have the right to protect ourselves.  These restrictions, pending better vetting, seem reasonable.

September 24, 2017       Permalink

GERMANY VOTES – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:   Germany goes to the polls today. Exit polls already project that Angela Merkel will remain as chancellor, but they also show large gains for a new, nationalist party, AfD, that has some people worrying about a return to the "old" Germany.  From BBC: 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term in federal elections, exit polls suggest.

Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany's parliament, according to the ARD poll.

Its outgoing coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, said it would go into opposition after winning 20%.

In a result which shocked many, the nationalist AfD was on track to win 13.5%, making it the third party.

Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel said she had hoped for a "better result" and talked about "extraordinary challenges".

She would listen, she said, to the "concerns and anxieties" of AfD voters in order to win them back.

And...

AfD's performance, better than forecast in opinion polls, means the right-wing party will have seats in the Bundestag for the first time.

Prominent AfD figure Frauke Petry said on Twitter (in German) that Germany had experienced an incomparable "political earthquake".

COMMENT:  A coalition government will have to be formed, and it's very unlikely that AfD, which is largely a response to Germany's immigration problem, will be asked to join.  But 13.5% of the vote is considerable, meaning the new party will be heavily represented in parliament. 

Germany is a proportional-representation country.  It's a bad system because rarely does the victorious party have enough votes to form a government of its own.  There are now six major parties.  Our system, with all its faults, is more efficient. 

September 24, 2017       Permalink

FIGHTING ON – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  The White House believes that the Senate plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is not dead.   I guess it depends on what dead means.  Will the proverbial rabbit be pulled out of a hat?  From Fox: 

The White House tried Sunday to garner public support for the Senate’s upcoming vote on Republicans’ latest plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, with a top adviser to President Trump saying the pending legislation is still alive and that a “vast majority of Americans” will benefit.

“It’s not dead,” Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, told “Fox News Sunday.” “Here we are, just days away from a final vote, and we’re trying to win over the support of the last couple of senators to get there.”

Like previous Senate efforts this year to repeal and replace ObamaCare, the latest measure, the Graham-Cassidy bill, appears a few votes shy of passage.

The GOP-controlled chamber has until Sept. 30 to pass the legislation with a simple, 51-vote majority, under so-called budget reconciliation procedures.

However, just 48 of the chamber’s 52 Republican senators appear to support the bill, which has no backing from Democrats.

“We need to make sure that we win over the last couple Republicans,” Short said. “That’s our path to victory.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Friday that he’ll vote no. And Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that she would have trouble envisioning a scenario in which she would “end up voting for the bill.”

Meanwhile, fellow Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, appear undecided.  

“We hope we can earn his support,” Short said about Paul, whom Trump tried to persuade Saturday in a tweet.

COMMENT:  It will be tough, but, if the two votes are found, it will be a political revolution.  Success in the House should be relatively easy, and a new, state-based health system will be introduced.  It's not the ultimate answer, but it's better than what we have now.

September 24, 2017       Permalink

THE BATTLE HEATS UP – AT 11:28 A.M. ET:  The battle between the president and the National Football League over on-field protests is growing.  Basketball players are involved.  A baseball player went down on his knee.  Team owners, including Trump friend Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, are denouncing the president.

It wasn't a battle the president needed, and the hypocrisy is flowing.  Of course team owners are denouncing the president.  There's a racial overtone to the protests, and team owners must show at least some solidarity with black players...or else.  From Daily Mail: 

Scores of NFL players have started kneeling during the national anthem in defiance of President Donald Trump just hours after he urged fans to boycott the league in his growing feud with athletes.

Players from both the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars took a knee ahead of their game at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday.

Those who didn't kneel linked arms in a show of solidarity as the national anthem rang out through the stadium.

No players were kneeling during the playing of God Save The Queen - the British national anthem.  

Trump had earlier called for fans to boycott the NFL if players didn't stop 'disrespecting' the US by kneeling during the national anthem. 

Trump had earlier denounced the protests by NFL players and rescinded a White House invitation for NBA champion Stephen Curry in a two day rant that targeted top professional athletes and brought swift condemnation from league executives and star players alike on Saturday.

Early Sunday morning, Trump continued his Twitter tirade and called for an NFL boycott.

'If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!' Trump tweeted.

'...NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S.'

Jaguars owner Shad Khan joined his players on the field on Sunday and was spotted linking arms with them in a show of unity. Khan was among the owners who donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration.

COMMENT:  The president is right and the players are behaving like immature brats.  They "take a knee" while our national anthem is played.  There are men and women their age, in the armed forces, who aren't taking knees.  They're taking bullets.  The president might note that.

Let's see if Americans vote with their dollars.   I think many will.

A big deal is being made over the players'  "First Amendment rights."  It's a phantom.  We all, as citizens, have those rights on our own time.  But these players are working for private organizations, wearing the uniforms of those organizations.   Private organizations can make reasonable rules that may forbid political activity on company time.  Even private universities have no obligation to extend the protections of the Bill of Rights to their students.

September 24,  2017     Permalink

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