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JULY 21,  2018

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

THE JUDGE AND THE SENATOR – FROM POWERLINE:  A new poll of the West Virginia Senate race suggests that Sen. Joe Manchin is a shoe-in for reelection if he votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, but faces an extremely close race if he votes against confirmation. According to the survey, taken by the Trafalgar Group, West Virginia voters favor Manchin over Republican Patrick Morrisey by 29 points if Manchin votes for confirmation but by only two points if he votes the other way. The two point spread is within the poll’s margin of error.  Several other Democratic senators are in the same position, which makes me guardedly optimistic that Judge Kavanaugh will pick up some Democratic votes when the Senate votes on his confirmation.

IMPATIENT DOCS – FROM STUDYFINDS:   Ever feel like your doctor is in a rush to get you out the door when you come in for a visit? You’re not just imagining things. A new study finds physicians gives a patient an average of just 11 seconds to describe their issue before cutting them off.  Researchers from the University of Florida determined that for all the waiting we do after we arrive at a medical practitioner’s office, its the doctors who seem to have the least amount of patience. The study showed that just a third of physicians give patients adequate time to explain why they’re there.  Eleven seconds?  Not to worry.  That's eight seconds longer than it took Hillary Clinton to write her entire presidential election platform.

UNIQUE – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Alumni from the University of Wisconsin are engaging in a unique public relations tour to bolster the school’s image, driving around the state in an ice cream van in the hopes of educating people about the university’s merits.  The #GetTheScoop tour “is traveling to local events throughout the state to challenge common accessibility and affordability assumptions about UW Madison,” Inside Higher Ed reports.  The dessert-based tour was necessary, the alumni believed, because the University of Wisconsin has “earned a reputation among some Wisconsinites for being expensive, liberal and hard to get into.” That’s a myth, say the alumni—and one that they’re hoping to “bust.”  The alumni “generally have it set up where the truck is scooping out ice cream, and next to the truck we have a tent set up, and that’s where we do our myth busting,” Tod Pritchard, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Organization, told Higher Ed.  It is understood, of course, that the ice cream being scooped out represents diversity of flavor traditions and respects the flavor choices of marginalized peoples.

July 21, 2018       Permalink

CAN TRUMP BOUNCE BACK? – AT 3:30 P.M. ET:   It's been a bad week for the president, but he's rebounded before, and can do so again.  From the Washington Times: 

Analysis continues over President Trump’s summit with Russia President Vladimir Putin earlier this week. Mr. Trump will rebound following that controversial press conference, says Ford O’Connell, an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and a former presidential campaign adviser.

“Trump will ultimately rebound from this misstep for two reasons. First, when he makes a political miscalculation, you can usually count on his opponents becoming so unhinged and blinded by their hatred for the president that the White House is able to flip the script so that the bullseye is no longer on Trump’s back, but affixed squarely on his detractors,” Mr. O’Connell told The Washington Times.

“This time is no different. Within 96 hours of the Trump-Putin meeting, John Brennan, a former CIA director under Obama, labeled the president’s actions as ‘nothing short of treasonous,’ Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen from Tennessee seemed to promote a military coup to remove Trump from office and a former Watergate prosecutor and Carter aide has compared the president’s comments to Pearl Harbor and Kristallnacht. You can’t make this stuff up and the folks uttering these words are not exactly your run-of-the-mill loons,” he continued.

“Second, luckily for Trump there is a difference between words versus actions. Action-wise, Trump has been tougher on Russia than former president Obama or even Bush 43. From the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats following the poisoning in Britain, to the countless sanctions levied on Russia to the sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, to increased U.S. oil production, to calls for more NATO defense spending, Trump has been extremely tough on Russia. To say otherwise just isn’t true,” the analyst said.

 “The challenge for Trump is to drive home the second point, because polling indicates that the American public is largely unaware of the actions he has taken towards Russia in an effort to thwart Putin’s many transgressions. If Trump and his allies are successful on this front, the Trump-Putin summit will be a faint memory by the all-important 2018 midterm elections,” said Mr. O’Connell, who is also author of the book “Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery.”

COMMENT:  Well said, I think, but the president must execute that strategy and, most important, avoid future verbal gaffes.

July 21, 2018      Permalink

CHARLOTTE 2020 – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:  The Republicans have chosen Charlotte, North Carolina, as the site of their 2020 presidential nominating convention.  Charlotte is a southern city suffering under the influence of northern liberals, so the decision was not universally welcome.  From the Charlotte Observer: 

Charlotte won its second national convention in a decade Friday, kicking off two years of planning, fundraising and anticipation.

The city joined a small group of cities that will have held both major party gatherings after the Republican National Committee on Friday formally awarded the 2020 event.

The vote capped a dramatic week in which the Charlotte City Council agreed to host the convention Monday by a single vote. Four Democrats joined two Republicans in support. Five Democrats voted no.

“We could not be more excited,” North Carolina GOP Chair Robin Hayes said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the strong leadership in Charlotte that has followed a long North Carolina tradition of putting the needs and opportunities of our people before politics.”

But politics was behind the contentiousness surrounding the council decision.

More than 100 people debated the convention publicly and passionately before Monday’s council vote. Through it all, Democratic Mayor Vi Lyles championed the event and urged people to put partisanship aside.

Asked Friday if she would have started the bidding process had she known the opposition it would spark, she said she would have. She said the city would have had the same debate, even if the outcome may have been different.

“I think we would have done exactly what we did,” she told reporters. “The outcome I can’t project.”

COMMENT:  The Democratic mayor set a good example.  Other Democrats did not.  They believe that only people they agree with should meet in Charlotte. 

We can reasonably expect mass demonstrations, some of them violent.  We may well see a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, which was surrounded by violent demonstrators trying to move the party well to the left, something at which they eventually succeeded.

July 21, 2018       Permalink

FIGHTING BACK –AT 11:41 A.M. ET:  We see so many discouraging stories about the state of our universities.  It's good to know that some of our brethren and sistren are fighting back against liberal bigotry and campus oppression.   From College Fix: 

Several members of the University of Colorado Board of Regents are pushing to prioritize diversity of political thought on campuses statewide, and it’s an effort that’s being praised — and joined — by conservative students who say they’ve faced silencing, backlash and more in the classroom.

Take Maddison Meeks, who spoke to the board recently about what she’s faced at CU Boulder, and in particular an experience she encounter after the Parkland school shooting.

“One day after the shooting, we were talking about the NRA in my political parties and interest groups class and a member of my class said that the NRA is a terrorist organization and all of its members are to blame for mass shootings,” Meeks told the board. “This hit me hard because I am now an NRA member … and I also strongly support the fight against terrorism.”

“I responded to their statement by telling them that I am a member and that the purpose of the NRA is not to perpetuate fear, as the definition of terrorism states, but it is to educate its members on safety, self-defense, and the right to freedom set forth by the Constitution. To this, the student responded that I am just a brainwashed conservative who doesn’t want her assault weapons taken away. I tried to speak again to defend myself and my values, but instead was silenced by the professor, while every other student, who just so happened to all be pro-gun control, were given the chance to speak and give their points,” Meeks (pictured above left) said in her speech, given at an April board of regents meeting.

COMMENT:  Read the whole story.  It's good to know there are people willing to fight the good fight, but their number is still too small.  Conservative students and faculty are intimidated, some quite openly, on many campuses.  Alan Dershowitz, a liberal who defends the civil rights of conservatives as well as liberals, said a few years back that, after he gives a speech, he gets phone calls from professors thanking him for saying what they can't say at their own schools.

One of the great lies is that intellectuals love freedom.  Some do, and some definitely don't.  Universities, both here and abroad, have often been breeding grounds for the most totalitarian ideas.  It's been said that all genocides begin on college campuses.  We've seen the totalitarians on our campuses get the upper hand, and that must be reversed if our schools are to perform a public service, rather than be public disgraces.

July 21,  2018     Permalink   

JULY 20,  2018

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

APPROPRIATE – FROM PAGE SIX:  Fox News’ “The Five” co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle exited the network on Friday under unclear circumstances — with Fox confirming only, “Fox News has parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle.”  In the months before she left, we hear, network staffers had grown tired of the drama and publicity surrounding her high-profile relationships — first with Anthony Scaramucci and then Donald Trump Jr. Sources said that in recent weeks, colleagues were complaining about having to deal with a disproportionate amount of work generated by Guilfoyle.  Reports have said she’ll join Trump Jr. on the campaign trail and that she has joined the pro-Trump super PAC America First.   It was inevitable.  You can't date the son of the president and do Fox political shows at the same time. 

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – FROM THE COLLEGE FIX:   An elite Ivy League business school will soon begin admitting students based in part on their level of “niceness,” with the school informing applicants that students there are expected to “invest generously in one another’s success.”  The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University recently announced that its admissions criteria will be adding four attributes that administrators will consider: smartness, accomplishment, niceness and awareness.  The new criteria are intended to make the application process easier and less stressful, according to admissions director Luke Anthony Peña.  “There are four attributes that our students consistently demonstrate. We’re now intentionally highlighting those four qualities for prospective students and inviting them to imagine themselves here,” Peña told the Tuck Business School’s communications office.  Watch.  There'll be private tutoring in how to fake niceness.

INTOLERANCE OF LIBERALISM – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:   Students are demanding that Lee University in Tennessee cancel an upcoming appearance by Vice President Mike Pence because they disagree with Pence’s political positions.  The petition, started by student Cedes Harris, argues that Pence’s political views are directly at odds with the values of the Christian institution, asking on behalf of "concerned students, faculty, and alumni" that school administrators cancel the his scheduled appearance at Pangle Hall on July 21.  "There are students who don’t feel comfortable nor safe with Pence or America First Policies stepping onto our campus."   It offers seven reasons for why the event should be cancelled, three of which relate to Pence’s affiliation with America First Policies, a political advocacy group created to promote President Trump’s agenda.  “Both his involvement with the America First Policies organization and his exhortation of its values defy and ignore the following Christian values,” the list of complaints begins, citing Bible verses about caring for the poor and being hospitable to foreigners.  Tolerance in the form of intolerance.

July 20,  2018     Permalink

TRUMP REVISES ON RUSSIA – AT 8:22 A.M. ET:  The damage control is well underway, and I don't underestimate Trump's ability to get himself out of trouble.  He's had to do it many times.  But he'll have to make a major effort, and avoid unforced errors, which are his curse.  From CNBC: 

President Donald Trump vowed Thursday that if his dealings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin don't "work out, I'll be the worst enemy he's ever had."

Trump made the statement during an interview at the White House with CNBC's Joe Kernen that will air in full Friday at 6 a.m. ET on "Squawk Box."

In the same interview, Trump blasted his predecessor, President Barack Obama, for having been a "total patsy" for Russia — while claiming he has been "far tougher on Russia than any president in many, many years."

"Maybe ever," Trump added.

But Trump also said he valued the opportunity to improve the United States' relationship to Russia, even after American intelligence agencies have said that Russia repeatedly tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

""Getting along with President Putin, getting along with Russia, is positive, not a negative," Trump said.

COMMENT:  Perfectly reasonable, but statements earlier in the week, one of them suggesting that the president believed Putin rather than his own intelligence chiefs, were not reasonable, and got Mr. Trump into severe trouble.

His comments about Obama were dead on, and simply highlight the media's disgraceful deference to Obama, and the casualness with which Trump haters lie. 

July 20, 2018       Permalink

WILL DEMS GO ALL THE WAY? – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  The Democratic Party is plunging all the way to the left.  And now another issue has emerged as a litmus test for the "progressives" taking over a party that desperately needs a victory.  From Fox:

Liberal lawmakers and pundits, emboldened by bipartisan outrage over President Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, have kicked up calls to pursue impeachment -- indicating the issue quickly could become the next litmus test for Democratic candidates.

The discussion follows the recent political frenzy over calls to "abolish" Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That effort briefly served as a similar litmus test in the wake of Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy that led to family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The GOP-controlled House countered with a vote on a resolution Wednesday expressing support for ICE, effectively daring Democrats to go on record opposing the agency. The measure passed, with a total of 133 Democratic representatives voted "present" -- amounting to a procedural refusal to take a position despite weeks of heated anti-ICE rhetoric from party leaders.

But where abolishing ICE fizzled for now as a progressive cause, the impeachment controversy could have legs. At the least, it has forced Democratic leaders to confront and carefully manage the pressure from the base.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., on Tuesday charged that President Trump's remarks in Helsinki were "nothing short of treason" and marked a "dark day" in American history.

Hoyer characterized impeachment, though, as a "distraction," while still keeping the door open in the future. "There will be time enough to deal with other issues and oversight of the president’s performance when we take back control of the House of Representatives," he said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, toed the same line on Monday.

“I think that’s premature at this point — we should do all we can to make sure that he’s held accountable, that we conduct the investigations the Republicans have been unwilling to do,” Swalwell said in an interview with The Hill.

COMMENT:  I was wondering whether the Democrats have any ideas about how to govern the country.  If I wrote a letter asking, would I be called a fascist interloper?  Maybe I shouldn't write.

July 20,  2018     Permalink