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SEPTEMBER 6,  2018

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

BACK TO REALITY – FROM THE HILL:  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) warded off a primary challenge on Thursday from political newcomer Kerri Evelyn Harris, throwing cold water on progressives’ hopes for another upset victory over a longtime incumbent.  Carper was projected as the winner by The Associated Press, winning with 64 percent of the vote after 72 percent of precincts had reported.  His triumph came two days after progressive Ayanna Pressley notched a stunning Democratic primary win over 10-term incumbent Rep. Mike Capuano (Mass.) in a Boston-area district.  Delaware ain't Massachusetts.  The "progressives" got a reminder of that tonight.

SHUT UP – FROM CNN:   Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, seizing on an explosive op-ed from an anonymous administration official, said Thursday that it's time to use constitutional powers to remove President Donald Trump office if top officials don't think he can do the job.  "If senior administration officials think the President of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren told CNN. "The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the President can't do his job. It does not provide that senior officials go around the President -- take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds ... Everyone of these officials have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It's time for them to do their job."  If Warren thinks Mike Pence is going to recommend removal of President Trump, she's nuts.  The president may be brash, crude and loud, but there is nothing in his leadership to approach 25th Amendment requirements.

FROM THE ROYAL PALACE – FROM THE DAILY STAR:   PRINCE Charles has issued a warning over the rise of robotics – namely the rise of “part human, part machine” hybrids.  The Prince of Wales made the Royal intervention in a GQ magazine interview marking his forthcoming 70th birthday.  Charles said he "utterly" objected to the trend of people somehow becoming "part human, part machine”.  He was presented with the Editor's Lifetime Achievement Award for services to philanthropy at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.  The heir to the throne’s comments come amid the increasing popularity of robotics in every industry – including military, domestic and sex.  Well, those comments will certainly change the course of civilization, won't they?  Wasn't he Diana's husband?

September 6, 2018       Permalink

REMEMBER NORTH KOREA? – AT 7:25 A.M. ET:  Pretty important story, we think.  But it's been off the front page because there was so little opportunity for Trump bashing.  But the story is back.  From Fox: 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula amid a growing standoff with the United States, his state-controlled media reported Thursday after a South Korean delegation met him to set up an inter-Korean summit.

The statement from the Korean Central News Agency wasn't new information — Kim has repeatedly declared similar intentions before — but allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track after the recriminations that followed Kim's meeting in June with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The impasse between North Korea and the United States, with neither side seemingly willing to make any substantive move, has generated widespread skepticism over Trump's claims that Kim is intent on dismantling his nuclear weapons program.

The South Korean envoys who met Kim on Wednesday finalized the dates for a summit later this month between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the current diplomacy. Moon is seen as eager to keep the nuclear talks alive in part so that he can advance his ambitious engagement with the North, which would need U.S. backing to succeed. The date of the talks, which will come on the eve of a gathering of world leaders at the U.N. at the end of September, was to be released later Thursday.

Kim was paraphrased in the statement by his propaganda specialists as saying that it was "his will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat."

COMMENT:   Well, we'll see.  At least we know we have a national administration that has a clear, stated objective, and will not agree to anything just to get a piece of paper.  Neville Chamberlain hasn't been in the White House for almost two years now.  Miss him?

September 6, 2018       Permalink

TODAY'S SURPRISE?  WELL, MAYBE – AT 7:15 A.M. ET:   The Delaware primary is today, and the hard left is all hot and bothered by the prospect of another upset victory.  From the Virginian-Pilot: 

As outbreaks of antiestablishment activism roil the Democratic Party nationwide, a veteran Delaware political leader who's never been beaten faces a primary election challenge from an insurgent who's never run for office.

Kerri Evelyn Harris, whose resume includes loading giant Air Force cargo planes, frying chicken at a convenience store chain and working as an auto body mechanic, is seeking in Thursday's Democratic primary to unseat three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, one of the most successful politicians in Delaware history.

"We absolutely are fighting for the soul of the Democrat Party," said Harris.

Carper, undefeated since 1976 when he was first elected state treasurer, is taking it in stride.

"It's not like I've never been primaried before," said Carper, who served five terms in the U.S. House and two as governor before being elected to the Senate in 2000.

Carper has a huge fundraising advantage, having raised more than $1.3 million this year as of mid-August, compared to a little more than $120,000 by Harris. He has far outspent her.

Harris is among a wave of young activist Democrats, emboldened by the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. They have sent shock waves through the party establishment around the U.S., starting in June with a New York primary victory by 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, 39, riding an insurgent wave, scored a stunning victory last week in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary. And on Tuesday, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley beat longtime Rep. Mike Capuano in a closely watched Democratic primary.

Now, it's the 38-year-old Harris' turn in the spotlight, a place she never expected to be.

Born in New York to a biracial couple, Harris attended high school in California before joining the Air Force. She worked as a loadmaster at Dover Air Force Base until 2008, when she was medically retired after suffering an adverse reaction to the anthrax vaccine. She then worked a variety of jobs and served on the state Human Relations Commission before becoming a political organizer.
Last year, after trying unsuccessfully to find someone to challenge Carper, she took on the job herself.

"This is a fight to prove that we are a party of the people," said Harris. She has painted Carper, 71, as an out-of-touch career politician doing the bidding of corporations and their political action committees.

Carper, meanwhile, sees himself as a centrist able to work in a bipartisan way.

COMMENT:  We'll be watching the returns tonight.  Most of the cases where "progressives" have unseated moderates have had extenuating circumstances that made the victories possible.  If a hard leftist can win in Delaware, that would be big news.  Odds are against it.

September 6, 2018       Permalink

YOU CAN BET ON IT – AT 7:05 A.M. ET:  They're already betting on who "anonymous" is, the presumed "senior administration official" who penned the hit piece against President Trump for The New York Times.  From the New York Post: 

Vice President Mike Pence – and “the field” – lead offshore bookmaking picks as the White House mole behind the anonymous bombshell New York Times op-ed blasting President Trump.

Pence was listed at 2-to-3 odds on the site My Bookie as the fifth column official who claims to be working behind the scenes to stop some of Trump’s policies that they find wrongheaded.

The biggest favorite, at 1-3 odds, is “the field,” someone not listed among the 18 administration officials listed by the Costa Rica-based operation.

“What tipped us off was `lodestar,’“ MyBookie head oddsmaker David Strauss said of Pence. “When you search members of the administration (who have used that word) only one name comes up – and that name is Mike Pence. He’s used in multiple speeches this year.”

The other 17 named potential moles, listed by MyBookie, are: Education Secretary Betsy Devos (2-to-1), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (4-to-1), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (4-to-1), chief of staff John F. Kelly (4-to-1), Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (5-to-1), Attorney General Jeff Sessions (5-to-1), Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (6-to-1), Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue (6-to-1), Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (7-to-1) Labor Secretary Alex Acosta (7-to-1), HHS Secretary Alex Azar (8-to-1), HUD Secretary Ben Carson (8-to-1), VA Secretary Robert Wilkie (8-to-1), Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (10-to-1), Ivanka Trump (12-to-1) and Jared Kushner (12-to-1).

COMMENT:  So the whole Pence thing revolves around the fact that the word "lodestar," a rarely used word, appears in the hit piece, and is also used in speeches by Pence.

I really have serious doubts.  But, hey, you never know.  And there's also Pence's speechwriter. 

There are forensic software programs that compare writing styles.  I'd imagine they're being heavily used today. 

September 6,  2018     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 5,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:15 P.M. ET: 

I CAN'T WAIT – FROM THE WEEK:   NBC has just announced what sounds like the most depressing Law & Order series yet: Law & Order: Hate Crimes.  Deadline reports that the network has ordered 13 episodes of this new show, which will be based on New York's actual Hate Crimes Task Force. The characters from Hate Crimes will first be introduced during an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, making this a spinoff of a spinoff.  Hate Crimes is co-created by Warren Leight, the former showrunner of SVU. He'll work alongside Dick Wolf, the creator of the entire Law & Order franchise. Per Deadline, Wolf said that he wants to "depict what’s really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail."  I can just imagine the pomposity at the first awards ceremony.  And, of course, every respectable actor or actress will want to play one of the victims, and to be interviewed to tell "my personal story."  Quick, my pills!

HEARTENING NEWS – FROM BLOOMBERG:   (Bloomberg) -- The number of people facing hunger in the U.S. declined last year to the lowest since 2007 as unemployment fell, a key data point as Congress debates changes to food-aid programs as part of farm legislation.  About 40 million people were "food insecure" in 2017, meaning that at some point in the year their ability to obtain adequate food was in question, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an annual study released Wednesday. That represents a 2.8 percent decline from 2016. Hunger was most prevalent in New Mexico, with 17.9 percent of households affected, while Hawaii’s rate of 7.4 percent was the lowest in the nation.  The number is still too high, but Trump's economy is making a difference.

MELANIA ACES IT – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:  Far-left actress Issa Rae told Glamour magazine she would cancel her HBO show if beautiful first lady Melania Trump liked it.  In an interview with Glamour, the HBO star, 33, recalled former first lady Michelle Obama raving about the Season 2 finale back in 20…Then came the thought: What if the current first lady Melania Trump enjoyed the show as much?
“If Melania [Trump] said that to me, I would be like, ‘Well, I guess it’s canceled. We’re not making this show. It’s not ours anymore,’” she said.  On Wednesday lovely Melania Trump called her bluff.
The First Lady’s spokesperson tweeted out that Melania loves Issa’s show.  Back to you, Issa.  Another Hollywood phony, like the ones who said they'd leave the United States if Trump were elected. 

September 5, 2018       Permalink 

**ONE-LINER:  I've been spot-checking the confirmation hearings.  Judge Kavanaugh is holding up very well against the Dem onslaught.  They can't touch him.

CONFRONTING THE ISSUE – AT 12:53 P.M. ET:  Many of us who have tried to support the president, and believe he has some superb ideas, and note that he has actually accomplished important results,  are nevertheless troubled by his personal style and the way it detracts from his administration.

Andrew Malcolm, a solidly conservative commentator whom I deeply respect, is tackling the issue.  From McClatchy:

Every commander in chief makes revealing mistakes, of course. Barack Obama thought his nation’s motto was E Pluribus Unum and Austrians speak Austrian.

But Donald J. Trump is taking this to a whole new level. He seems to confuse headstrong with decisive. And he is so certain of his own keen judgment and skills that he regularly rejects the advice of the skilled professionals he’s hired to advise him.

The latest of many such instances involves the late Sen. John McCain. We hire politicians to grease the wheels of our democracy, to help with the sticky problems we cannot solve by ourselves. Not to make new ones to distract us from yesterday’s problems.

I’ve worked for politicians who absolutely could not stand another individual in public life. Detest is the word. But the public never knew it. In fact, even the other person may not have known it.

Because the best politicians have the self-discipline to work with or around others to get results.

Frustrating for media, of course, which thrives on conflict. But such behavior avoids totally unnecessary fights and troubles, if only out of mutual self-interest. They might need each other at some future time.

Clearly, Trump and McCain disliked each other. Trump attended a military prep school and received numerous draft deferments. McCain descended from a long line of military family members and graduated from the Naval Academy albeit, he would joke, at the bottom of his class.

Back during his presidential campaign, Trump said McCain was no hero for getting shot down over North Vietnam and serving nearly six torturous years as a POW. It was a needless shot. They weren’t competing.

Do you remember McCain’s reply at the time? Neither do I. There was none.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  Andrew sums up our anguish very well.  The president has made needless enemies, even in his own party.  If the Dems win the House and impeach him, he will need friends. Nixon needed friends, and couldn't find them.  I fear we may see a repeat. 

What a tragedy.  We finally have a president who asks the right questions and disturbs the comfortable establishment, and his own flaws may sink him.  Never underestimate the mean-spiritedness of the Democratic Party in trying to hound a president from power.

September 5, 2018       Permalink

IT CAN'T BE DENIED – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  We have a problem on our side.  There has been a sudden, unexplained drop in support for a Republican Congress and for the president in the last two weeks.  The polls are aligning.  The generic ballot shows Dems ahead by an average of 11 points.  It was much less at the start of August.

And the president is clearly losing support.  Today's Rasmussen tracker has him at 44%.  He had reached 50% in Rasmussen only a few weeks ago.  Other polls have him as low as 38%.

What is the reason?

I don't know.  No one does.  But we are not starting this fall campaign in a good position.  Clearly, that can change.  We have had the McCain funeral, with all the Trump bashing.  We've had advance word on the Woodward book, and we've had the emergence of young, attractive, but hard-left "progressive" candidates.  Maybe these things aligned.

Or maybe people are tiring of the president's personal antics.

Or maybe the polls will reverse soon, as the GOP gets going. 

The clear need is for our side to fight hard, get the voters out, and make the argument.  We'll follow the polls to see if there's improvement, but don't be shocked if we go down before we go up. 

September 5,  2018     Permalink