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JULY 22,  2018

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

HELP WANTED – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:  The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student newspaper is looking to hire a reporter whose sole responsibility will be to cover stories related to “diversity, inclusion, and social justice.”  Earlier this month, The Racquet posted a solicitation seeking to fill two positions for the 2018-2019 school year: a “General Assignment Reporter” and a “Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Reporter.”  Both reporters will be expected to complete weekly story assignments, and are expected to conduct background research, identify and contact sources, and provide at least one photo.  According to the paper’s website, reporters earn $24 per week, plus an additional $12 per article, and may also request internship credit for the experience. I'm sure some of you may know a "diversity, inclusion, and social justice" reporter who wants a better job.  Just think of any adolescent on your block who was never seen shoveling the snow or cutting the grass, and who sued his parents for reducing his allowance. 

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS – FROM THE HILL:  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said Iran's leaders resemble "the mafia more than a government."  "The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government,” Pompeo said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.  During his remarks and the Q&A afterwards, Pompeo lambasted the Iranian regime and emphasized U.S. support for Iranian citizens, particularly those opposed to the government.  Pompeo offered support for the anti-government protestors that have been rallying across the country in recent months.   "The specific grievances differ," Pompeo said. "But all those voicing dissatisfaction share one thing: they have been ill-treated by a Revolutionary regime. Iranians want to be governed with dignity, accountability and consent."  Compare this please to Barack Obama's refusal to align himself with the Iranian resistance.  Of course, the press covered for him.  You don't challenge a demigod.

GOOD STUFF – FROM THE HILL:  President Trump will host an event showcasing U.S. products from all 50 states at the White House on Monday. The White House hosted a similar "Made in America" exhibition last year, but this year's event comes amid escalating trade battles with the European Union (EU), Mexico, Canada and China.   Trump will make remarks at the event, which will feature manufacturers and their products from across the country. Vice President Pence, several Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials will attend the event throughout the day, White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters confirmed to The Hill.  Great idea.  This is a remarkably innovative society, but we often forget it.  And many young people, according to polls, aren't impressed by innovation and invention, reflecting their drab, socialism-is-wonderful, educations.  We should celebrate innovation, and get back into space. 

July 22,  2018     Permalink

SCALISE THE VICTOR? – AT 2:30 P.M. ET:  We may well be looking at the next speaker of the House.  From the great Salena Zito, at the New York Post: 

A year ago, the Louisiana congressman was near second base at an early-morning baseball practice when the sound of shots pierced the quiet of suburban DC. A bullet zigzagged through his left hip, slicing muscle tissue, crushing his femur and mangling his organs.

Now, he is recognized by passersby as the man whose survival is nothing short of a miracle.

And...

Now the House majority whip is looking toward a bright future. He is considered the person most likely to replace Paul Ryan as the next speaker of the House if Republicans keep their seats in November.

Scalise, 52, and his wife and two children live not far from the very working-class neighborhood in Louisiana where he grew up. He caught the politics bug at college and without any experience he ran and won his first race for Louisiana state representative aged just 29. That race forged his reputation as a rebellious and likeable populist conservative, a not-yet identified faction of the Republican Party.

Later, in 2016, he was one of the early and few members of Congress to back presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“The appeal of Scalise is that he is an everyman. He is you, he is me. He is the guy who no one really notices until he shows up and wins when no one expects it,” said Charlie Gerow, a media specialist who’s at the Duquesne Club for a meeting between Scalise and local entrepreneurs.

Gerow said Scalise first proved his political skills when he came from behind and won the chairmanship of the conservative Republican Leadership Conference in 2012 and “then surprised the outside world when he became the majority whip in the same year.”

Both jobs, said Gerow, are like herding cats, “because every member comes from very distinct districts, and they have their very distinct needs that fit their district.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  Any piece by Salena Zito is worth reading because she truly gets to know her subject.  We hope to see Speaker Scalise, but first the GOP must hold the House, and that is a tough order.

July 22, 2018       Permalink 

SANE DEMS TAKE A STAND – AT 1:16 P.M. ET:  I don't know if they'll be able to hold off the surging socialists and their baby sitters, but they're determined to try.  From the Miami Herald: 

Leading moderate Democrats forcefully argued this week that their party can still nominate a presidential candidate who praises capitalism, downplays income inequality, and embraces only modest changes to the social safety net.

In other words, everything the empowered liberal base has spent a year and a half mobilizing against.

Democrats gathered here in Ohio’s capital city on Thursday and Friday in what was an opening salvo of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, part of a conference organized by the center-left think tank Third Way.

The longtime Washington-based group was unveiling the findings of a year-long assessment launched after the 2016 election, hoping to convince potential presidential contenders that they don’t have to adopt the hard-left agenda and style of a Bernie Sanders progressive.

Included in its report were policy recommendations — such as adopting a robust apprenticeship program and expanded unemployment insurance to help workers find new jobs — and encouragement to bypass talk of income inequality for an emphasis on creating opportunity.

Third Way officials even attempted to remove the “moderate” moniker from the event, encouraging those in attendance to call themselves “opportunity Democrats.” (The event itself was labeled “Opportunity 2020.”)

“Once again, the time has come to mend, but not end, capitalism for a new era,” said Jonathan Cowan, Third Way’s president, in a sweeping speech outlining his group’s study.

And...

Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, vice president for social policy and politics at Third Way, said a poll conducted by the group found voters — including many Democrats — responded more positively to a message that emphasized creating economic opportunity over income inequality. The opportunity message, she said, “trounced the other Democratic approaches on the table with the voters we need to win in a general election.”

COMMENT:   Well, we'll see.  The problem the moderates have is that they're up against immature fanatics who will literally fight to the death, and who have no connection to actual lives.  It's hard to defeat a well-financed fantasy machine, especially when it has the support of so many in the media.

The moderates have the better arguments and the greatest number of potential voters.  What they need now is an army of activists.

July 22, 2018       Permalink

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