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SEPTEMBER 4,  2018

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

HOW LOW CAN YOU GET? – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A former clerk to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused by Twitter trolls of using a “white supremacist” symbol — even though the woman is of Mexican and Jewish heritage.  Zina Bash was attending Kavanaugh’s nomination hearing on Tuesday when cameras caught her resting her arm in a way that some construed as a controversial symbol used by the alt-right.  “What fresh hell is this!!!???” activist Amy Siskind wrote on Twitter about the image.  “Kavanaugh’s assistant Zina Bash giving the white power sign right behind him during the hearing? This alone should be disqualify!!!”  The odd allegation spread across the internet, but was quickly debunked by Bash’s friends and family.  As usual, the race card was played early.  It is really the only thing the left has.  It is the new McCarthyism.

ANOTHER CLOWN FOR THE CIRCUS – FROM FOX:  Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in a Democratic primary Tuesday in the latest shakeup of the House Democratic caucus by a far-left challenger.  Capuano conceded defeat to Pressley in the race to represent Massachusetts' 7th District approximately 30 minutes before The Associated Press formally called the race. With 69 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Pressley had the lead by 10,682 votes.  The media will make much of this, but we shouldn't.  The district is heavily minority, and Capuano, although a "progressive," is an old warhorse.  The issue is how far to the left Democrats want to go.  When they've tried this before, American voters sent them corrective messages. 

SOME EARLY POLLS ARE DEPRESSING – FROM NBC:   Democratic candidate and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum has a slight lead over U.S. Representative and Republican candidate Ron DeSantis in Florida's governor's race, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University.  The poll found that 50 percent of likely voters would vote Gillum, and 47 percent would vote DeSantis.  Men back DeSantis 52 to 45 percent, while women back Gillum 55 to 42 percent, according to the poll.  Not good, not good.  Gillum is a socialist, backed by Bernie Sanders and George Soros.  He presides over a city with the highest crime rate in Florida, and many voters apparently don't care.  Of course, this is only one poll, and the campaign has just begun.  Polls in some other places show equally depressing results, at least for now.  Midterms are usually turnout elections, dependent on which side can get its voters out.   It's time to fight.

September 4, 2018       Permalink

RAHM NOT RUNNING – AT 12:08 P.M. ET:  Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago just announced that he is not running for re-election.  

I don't  blame him.  Who would want to govern a city that doesn't want to be governed, and won't face the truth about its condition?  Emanuel was recently attacked severely for daring to say that morals might have something to do with crime in the city's minority community.  Didn't he know it was the gun manufacturers?  From NBC Chicago: 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unexpectedly announced Tuesday that he will not be running for re-election.

In a last-minute press conference, the mayor revealed he would not be seeking a third term after serving since 2011.

"This has been the job of a lifetime but it is not a job for a lifetime," he said. 

The upcoming race began to take shape, with potential candidates already throwing their hats into the ring, including former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, who was fired by Emanuel in the wake of the release of video showing the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

The mayor’s announcement takes place as Officer Jason Van Dyke’s trial begins in that case. 

Emanuel said he and his wife Amy, who was standing by his side during the announcement, decided to "write another chapter together" as their three children have left for college. 

COMMENT:  I have no doubt that the election for mayor will be all about race, gender, and ethnicity.  Nothing will be solved.  Nothing ever seems to be solved in this once-great city.

September 4, 2018       Permalink

IS THIS SERIOUS? – AT 11:38 A.M. ET:   At first I thought this was a joke.  Then I realized it wasn't, except maybe to the board of directors of the company involved.  From Fox: 

Nike shares fell Tuesday after the company selected the controversial former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the new face of the athletic wear company’s “Just Do It” campaign, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt,” Kaepernick, who has been with Nike since 2011, posted on Twitter on Monday afternoon. The athlete is currently a free agent and has not played on an NFL team since the 2016 season.

The now-free agent quarterback, who led the Niners to Super Bowl XLVII where they fell to the Baltimore Ravens, stirred up controversy when he began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem prior to NFL games, beginning in the summer of 2016, to protest racial injustices against the African-American community.

Many other players have joined the movement since it began, which eventually led to NFL owners voting to enact a national anthem policy for the 2018 season. Under the new guidelines announced in May, players and others associated with the NFL who are on the sideline must stand during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, while those who choose not to stand must remain in the locker room.

COMMENT:  A poor choice, in my view.  I mean, who is this for?  Nike's products are sold well beyond the African-American community.  And there is deep resentment toward Kaepernick's contempt for the flag.  He could have staged his protest on his own time, not on someone else's.

As far as this sacrificing everything, that's nonsense.  The man has made millions.

I don't think this will go down well.  There have already been scenes on TV of customers burning their Nikes.

September 4, 2018       Permalink 

CHAOS ON DEMAND – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  Hearings, or warfare, got underway this morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee, to examine the president's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. 

Democrats, showing they can be just as immature as their party's left wing, immediately tried to stop the hearings with demands for millions of documents and other demands to adjourn.  There were some demonstrators, obviously rehearsed and carefully selected for their high sense of showmanship, who joined in.

The Dems didn't get very far, and the ultra-experienced chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, continued the hearing. 

Expect to see much grandstanding, much anguish on the part of the Dems, predictions that the country will perish if the judge gets to the high court, and, ultimately, his approval by the committee on a party-line vote.

All the rest is a Broadway overture.

September 4,  2018     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 3,  2018

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

BUZZ COMES THROUGH – FROM DAILY MAIL:  Buzz Aldrin appeared to criticise Neil Armstrong biopic First Man for leaving out the planting of the American flag on the moon.  The 88-year-old, who was the second man to set foot on the moon after his late crew-mate, tweeted a picture of the flag planted after their landing in 1969.   He captioned the photo: 'Proud to be an American.' Aldrin also re-tweeted a photo of him saluting next to the same picture.  First Man – from the Oscar-winning director of La La Land Damian Chazelle – opened the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday to criticism that it deliberately downplayed American patriotism.  Starring Ryan Gosling as Armstrong, the film begins in 1961 as the US trails the Soviet Union in the space race and takes viewers up to the Moon landing in 1969.   But it came under fire for not including the moment the astronauts planted the American flag, with Gosling defending the decision by saying the achievement 'transcended countries and borders.'  The critics are correct.  It was an American moment.  It was our mission, our astronauts took the risks, and no one else participated.  Americans deserve to see their flag planted in the new movie.  Otherwise, no ticket purchase and no popcorn.

THE HYPOCRISY FLOWS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum on Sunday thanked billionaires George Soros and Tom Steyer for helping him score his upset win in last week’s Florida Democratic gubernatorial primary.  “I’ll tell you, I’m obviously deeply appreciative of Mr. Soros, as well as Mr. Steyer, both men whom I’ve known for some time,” Mr. Gillum said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  The Democratic megadonors and their associated groups directed millions to the campaign of Mr. Gillum, who edged out former Rep. Gwen Graham in the crowded Democratic primary. He faces Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis in the November election.  At the same time, Mr. Gillum insisted that his gubernatorial campaign was driven by small donations from “everyday folks.”  I wonder if the candidate knows the name of just one of those everyday folks. 

CUBA INTRIGUE – FROM FOX:  A team of scientists has singled out what it claims left U.S. diplomats in Cuba sickened by mysterious ailments and symptoms in recent months, according to a new report.  Douglas H. Smith, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times that microwaves, which can trick the brain into perceiving what seem to be ordinary sounds — known as the Frey effect, named after American scientist Allan H. Frey — most likely caused the trauma.  The Times reported that scientists have known for decades that the brain can perceive some microwaves as sound.  “Everybody was relatively skeptical at first, and everyone now agrees there’s something there,” Smith told the Times.  The State Department told Fox News that the investigation into the embassy attacks is still ongoing.  I'll never look at my microwave oven in the same way again.

September 3, 2018       Permalink

PARADISE LOST – AT 1:27 P.M. ET:  Medical care will be a big issue in the midterm campaigns.  And so, a word of warning to the new socialists of the Democratic Party, who will be pitching Sweden as an example of the little paradise they want for all of us.  Not so, not so.  This is a great article.  From AFP: 

Asia Nader didn't know whether to worry more about being diagnosed with a hole in her heart at the age of 21, or having to wait a year for Swedish doctors to fix it.

"I completely fell apart when I found out," she told AFP, remembering the long agonising months until she finally had her operation in June this year, one month before her 23rd birthday.

Sweden has the fifth-highest life expectancy in Europe and cancer survival rates are among the continent's highest, according to 2017 OECD figures.

But Swedes are frustrated over their universal healthcare, one of the main pillars of their cherished welfare state, with long waiting queues due to a shortage of nurses and available doctors in some areas.

"Swedes have little confidence that politicians will solve this," said Lisa Pelling, chief analyst at progressive think tank Arena Ide.

"There is a risk their faith in the welfare state will be eroded," she told AFP.

Swedes, who on average pay more than half of their income in tax, see access to healthcare as the most important issue in the September 9 general election, polls suggest.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's Social Democrats, the largest party, are on course for a record low score, after losing voters disgruntled over rising immigration putting a strain on the welfare system to the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Swedish law stipulates patients should wait no more than 90 days to undergo surgery or see a specialist. Yet every third patient waits longer, according to government figures.

Patients must also see a general practitioner within seven days, the second-longest deadline in Europe after Portugal (15 days).

Yet waiting times vary dramatically across Sweden's 21 counties responsible for financing hospitals.

COMMENT:  That's paradise?  I'll take the American health-care system anytime.   Its greatest strength is speed.  When you have a life-threatening illness, that's key.  Read the whole piece.

September 3, 2018       Permalink

**ONE-LINER:  John McCain's body was brought from Arizona to Washington on Air Force 2, the vice president's plane.  That requires presidential approval, but I have seen no thank-you from anyone for that presidential gesture.

PRESIDENT HOLDS – AT 12:45 P.M. ET:  The first poll to greet the new political season set to start tomorrow shows President Trump holding his approval.  Not great, but not bad either.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove. 

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the president is performing and 42% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -7.

And take this, CNN:

On Labor Day in 2010, President Obama’s second year in office, 45% approved, 54% disapproved of the job he was doing. His Approval Index rating was -20.

COMMENT:  What?  You mean that President Trump is actually more popular at this point in his term than was the sainted Barack (come to save us) Obama?  Looks that way, at least in the Rasmussen poll. 

Don't tell Anderson Cooper.

September 3,  2018     Permalink