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JULY 24,  2016

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

NEW BOMBING IN GERMANY – FROM CNN:   (CNN) An explosion in the southern German city of Ansbach was a suicide attack, according to the region's interior minister. The bomber died in the blast.  A device was exploded by a 27-year-old Syrian national outside a music festival. He had been denied entry into the event due to the lack of a ticket, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said during a news conference early Monday.  Twelve people were injured.  This is the third attack in Germany this week.  They're getting routine, aren't they?  This is the way we live now. 

TRUMP GAINS IN BATTLEGROUND STATES – FROM THE HILL:   Support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ticked up across battleground states following the Republican National Convention last week, according to the new CBS News Battleground Tracker Poll.  Trump now has 42 percent support across the 11 battleground states surveyed — up from the 40 percent he had last week before the convention. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has 41 percent support, unchanged from last week's poll.  The key will be the polls taken right after this week's Democratic National Convention.  If Hillary gets a bump, it will probably wipe out any Trump advantage.  If she doesn't, she might want to cancel the moving van.

THE UNREADY OLYMPICS – FROM AFP:   Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - The Australian Olympic team will not move into the athletes village in Rio after it was condemned as "not safe or ready" by the country's chef de mission on Sunday.  Team chief Kitty Chiller said problems include blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean.  She claimed that water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring.  "Due to a variety of problems in the Village, including gas, electricity and plumbing I have decided that no Australian Team member will move into our allocated building," she said in a statement.  "We were due to move into the Village on July 21 but we have been living in nearby hotels, because the Village is simply not safe or ready."  Absolutely incredible.  What else isn't ready?  How about security, for the athletes and the public?  And where is the legendarily arrogant International Olympic Committee in all this?  The games start in less than two weeks, and we have every right to wonder what really is going on. 

July 24,  2016     Permalink

KOBE GETS IT RIGHT – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:  Out of the mouth of a champion basketball player.  From the Daily Wire: 

Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant accidentally stumbled on the major problem of the Democrat Party: Not only do endless government handouts and entitlements not work fiscally, they act to create a culture of dependence, squashing individuals' "growth" while stifling their own "dreams and ambitions."

In other words, endless handouts and entitlements are morally wrong.

In a letter to his 17-year-old self, published in the Player’s Tribune, the 37-year-old former Laker advises his younger self on the cusp of achieving his dreams to “invest” in the futures of those around him, not “give” them free stuff.

When your Laker dream comes true tomorrow, you need to figure out a way to invest in the future of your family and friends. This sounds simple, and you may think it’s a no-brainer, but take some time to think on it further.

I said INVEST.

I did not say GIVE.

By giving away unearned monetary and material gifts to his family and friends, the hoop star explains that he was only “holding them back.”

“But the day will come when you realize that as much as you believed you were doing the right thing, you were actually holding them back,” wrote Bryant.

And...

Of course, everything Bryant is warning against is exactly what the Democratic Party stands for. Democrats are the party of Big Government, handouts and entitlements. The prescriptions of limitless public assistance to able bodies, "free" healthcare, "free" college, "free" birth control, and so on, only act to stifle independence and crush personal ambitions and dreams, just as Bryant figured out first hand with his family.

But Democrats won't take note. Why would they when their votes depend on this morally bankrupt platform?

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's well worth it, and a great lesson in life.

July 24, 2016       Permalink 

THE DIVIDED DEMS – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:   We started noting this in "Short Takes" last night.  The Democratic National Convention begins tomorrow, and I'm sure Ms. Hillary hoped for a smooth affair, culminating in her crowning.  She's not getting it.  From Fox: 

PHILADELPHIA – Democratic National Committee boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz reportedly has been sidelined from a speaking role at her party’s convention, as Sen. Bernie Sanders amplified his criticism Sunday of his arch-political nemesis – and doubled down on calls for her to resign.

The Vermont independent is himself set to speak on the opening night of the Democratic convention, securing an A-list position after a hard-fought, ideological primary battle with Hillary Clinton.

But he hasn’t forgiven Wasserman Schultz for an alleged pro-Clinton bias during the campaign. He repeated those claims in the wake of WikiLeaks’ release of roughly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails -- including some that suggested the group indeed tried to undermine Sander’s insurgent campaign.

“I think [Wasserman Schultz] should resign. Period. And I think we need a new chair who is going the lead us in a very different direction,” Sanders told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

Sanders said “these emails reiterate that reason why she should not be chair.”

Sanders will be joined Monday night on stage at the Wells Fargo Center by first lady Michelle Obama and several other speakers, according to the Democratic National Committee.

COMMENT:  This is going to be bitter.  Sanders will get a tumultuous ovation tomorrow night from the convention floor, which will be filled with the leftist true believers who are taking over the Democratic Party. 

I look forward to the rationalizations that will be put forward by the Hillaried press. 

The fact is, neither party is in such great shape.

July 24, 2016       Permalink

OLYMPIC DECISION – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  There has been a chance that Russia would be entirely banned from the upcoming Rio Olympics because of a doping scandal.  That would have made the games far less interesting and the awards less meaningful.  Russia is an athletic powerhouse.

It looks like the problem has been dealt with, although one has the feeling that Moscow got a glorified slap on the wrist.  From BBC: 

Russia will not receive a blanket ban from Rio 2016 following the country's doping scandal.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will leave it up to individual sports' governing bodies to decide if Russian competitors are clean and should be allowed to take part.

The decision follows a report in which Canadian law professor Richard McLaren said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.

The Rio Games start on 5 August.

Competitors from Russia who want to take part in the Games will have to meet strict criteria laid down by the IOC.

Any Russian athlete who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for next month's Olympics.

COMMENT:   The Olympics are a great spectacle, but behind the spectacle there has always been a hefty level of ugliness – big money, international politics, and assorted scandals in judging. 

Add to that deep concerns about terrorism and possible spread of disease, and the Rio Olympics, the first ever in South America, are being approached with both hope and understandable apprehension.

July 24,  2016     Permalink

JULY 23,  2016

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

DEMS AT WAR – FROM CNN:   (CNN) The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party's convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort "to keep the peace" in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails.  I love it.  Even the national chairwoman gets purged to save Bernie's feelings.  When do we see the guillotine?

GRAND ADMIRAL KERRY DEFENDS THE NATION – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   Secretary of State John Kerry said in Vienna on Friday that air conditioners and refrigerators are as big of a threat to life as the threat of terrorism posed by groups like the Islamic State.  The Washington Examiner reported that Kerry was in Vienna to amend the 1987 Montreal Protocol that would phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, from basic household and commercial appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, and inhalers.  You may see an air conditioner or refrigerator operating this week.  Call the police!  If you see something, say something!

JOHN, SHUT UP –  FROM THE HILL:   Ohio Gov. John Kasich says Donald Trump will have trouble winning the key battleground Buckeye State in November.   "Ohio's a snapshot of the country. People in Ohio want to see a positive agenda, a positive way to move forward," Kasich told Philly.com, calling Trump a “divider.”  "My position is, I'd like to see Donald become a unifier and positive. We just have some fundamental disagreements including a few areas: trade, immigration, foreign policy," he added.  Kasich, who mounted his own GOP presidential run, has not endorsed Trump, the Republican nominee for president. He did not attend last week’s Republican Nacional Convention in his home state.  "Without an endorsement, I thought it would be inappropriate for me to go in there and make some kind of a talk," he said.  "There will be no way that I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton. As for what I do in the end, I don't know," he added.  Remaining silent might be helpful, John.  If you want a political future, don't knife your party's nominee in the back.

July 23, 2016       Permalink

HORROR IN AFGHANISTAN – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:  The relentlessness of terror attacks is stunning.  One right after the other.  And the Olympics start in two weeks.  From AP:

KABUL, Afghanistan – At least 80 people were killed and another 231 wounded in the Afghan capital on Saturday, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed clothing among a large crowd of demonstrators, officials and witnesses said.

In a statement issued by its news agency, Aamaq, the group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on a protest march by Afghanistan's ethnic Hazaras. The marchers were demanding that a major regional electric power line be routed through their impoverished home province. Most Hazaras are Shiite Muslims, while most Afghans are Sunni.

Waheed Majroeh, the head of international relations for the Ministry of Public Health, confirmed the death toll and said it was likely to rise "as the condition of many of the injured is very serious."

Footage on Afghan television and photographs posted on social media showed a scene of horror and carnage, with numerous bodies and body parts spread across the square.

Other witnesses said that after the blast, security personnel shot their weapons in the air to disperse the crowd. Secondary attacks have been known to target people who come to the aid of those wounded in a first explosion.

Road blocks that had been set up overnight to prevent the marchers accessing the center of the city or the presidential palace hampered efforts to transfer some of the wounded to hospital, witnesses said. People took to social media to call for blood donations.

COMMENT:  I guess the Obama administration is studying the attack to determine the "motivation" of the attackers. 

ISIS may be losing land in the Mideast, but it is gaining in its terror offensive.  And it is encouraging its followers, and followers-to-be, all over the world.

July 23, 2016        Permalink

CAN TRUMP DENT THE YOUTH VOTE? – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  This is fascinating.  Is it possible for Donald Trump to neutralize Clinton's hold on the youth vote?  From the Boston Herald: 

CLEVELAND — Donald Trump can close the massive gap among young voters that sank Republicans’ chances at the White House in 2012 and take advantage of Hillary Clinton’s ongoing problems connecting with millennials, the real estate mogul’s newly hired pollster told the Herald.

“Yes, definitely,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican strategist who now works for Trump. “President Obama won 66 percent of young people in 2008. He won 60 percent of them in 2012. And Hillary Clinton has a hard time getting there and staying there in most of the national polls” and in swing-state surveys.

Conway said she thinks Trump can attract millennials who supported Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primaries and still don’t accept Clinton, as well as those living in rust-belt states, where Trump is hoping to attract blue-collar Democrats.

“The Trump-Pence ticket actually saves the Republican Party from veering dangerously close to becoming the party of the elites, where it was headed, and on to the party of the working class,” Conway said. “And that appeals to lots of millennials.

“For millennials,” she added, “a big economic and national security message is, do you feel as safe, do you feel as prosperous as either your parents did at this stage in their lives or as you think you deserve to be? The answer for many of them is no.”

Attracting young voters was a huge problem for Republicans in 2012. Former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney only captured 37 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds, according to exit polls.

Trump has a lot of room to make up. This week’s Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll showed Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 8 points among millennials ages 18-24 and by 22 points among 25-34 year olds.

Facebook Global Politics and Government Outreach Director Katie Harbath told the Herald the number of people 18-34 who have been engaging in political discussions on the social media platform has been climbing since the beginning of 2015, and she expects it to translate into a large voter turnout among that demographic on Nov. 8.

COMMENT:  Okay, but the only way Trump can win is by being self-disciplined and on-message, and that is where he messes up...regularly.  He did it yesterday again.  His advisers really have to sit down and explain the world to him.

And he can use Ivanka among the millennials.  Star quality always counts.

July 23, 2016       Permalink

OH DEAR.  NOT QUITE MR. CLEAN – AT 11:24 A.M. ET:  Seems like Virginia's Tim Kaine, Hillary's choice for vice president, has been on the receiving end of dubious "favors."  Certainly not in Clinton's league, but worrisome nonetheless.  From The Politico:

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine took advantage of the state’s lax gift laws to receive an $18,000 Caribbean vacation, $5,500 in clothes and a trip to watch George Mason University play in the NCAA basketball Final Four during his years as lieutenant governor and governor, according to disclosures he filed.

Now a leading contender to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Kaine reported more than $160,000 in gifts from 2001 to 2009, mostly for travel to and from political events and conferences, according to disclosures compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. The givers included political supporters, a drug company that soon after bought a facility in Virginia, and Dominion, the state’s biggest provider of electricity.

While legal under Virginia’s unusually permissive ethics rules, the gifts could become attack-ad fodder after similar presents led to corruption charges for Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose conviction the Supreme Court overturned Monday. Republicans could also use the records to portray Kaine as part of the self-dealing establishment in a cycle animated by hostility toward the political class.
Kaine’s staff and other defenders are quick to note that his gifts did not contain any suggestion of a quid pro quo trade for official favors — a major difference from the McDonnell case, and the key difference between an act of friendship and an act of corruption. And Kaine’s long career in Virginia politics, capped by a stint as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, contained no allegations of corruption.

“During his eight years as lieutenant governor and governor, Sen. Kaine went beyond the requirements of Virginia law, even publicly disclosing gifts of value beneath the reporting threshold,” a spokesperson said. “He’s confident that he met both the letter and the spirit of Virginia’s ethical standards.”

But Virginia’s standards are widely perceived as too permissive, especially in the wake of the McDonnell case. And even the appearance of lower standards could become an issue in the national spotlight.

COMMENT:  As the late Gilda Radner used to say, "It's always something."  I'm sure the Republicans are already doing their research on Kaine.

By the way, Kaine is labeled a "moderate" by some, but in fact was one of the most zealous Senate supporters of the Iran nuclear deal.  Not a recommendation.

July 23,  2016     Permalink