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MARCH 9,  2018

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

JUSTICE DONE – FROM FOX:  Kristian Saucier, the former U.S. Navy sailor who served a year behind bars for taking photos of classified areas in a nuclear submarine, has been pardoned, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday.  Saucier recently received a letter from the Department of Justice saying it was taking a new look at his request for a pardon. Although he was released from jail last year, he remained under house arrest.  President Trump had denounced the government’s handling of Saucier’s case, calling it a political move and saying it contrasted with the velvet-gloved response to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s mismanagement of classified information through a private server.  "The president has pardoned Kristian Saucier, a Navy submariner,” Sanders said in a press briefing Friday afternoon. “Mr. Saucier was 22 years old at the time of his offenses and has served out his 12-months sentence. He has been recognized by his fellow service members for his dedication, skill and patriotic spirit.”  Good, decent move by the president.

WOODWARD RAPS WAYWARD SCRIBES – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   Veteran journalist Bob Woodward criticized reporters on the right and left alike who were becoming too emotionally invested in their coverage of Donald Trump, calling them "unhinged."  "You’ve described the Trump presidency as being a "test" for the news media. Do you think the media is failing the test?" asked Newsweek.  The former Washington Post reporter—now an associate editor—responded journalists could always do better, including himself, but that he thought the media had not "failed" to date.  "But we have a lot of work to do," he continued. "A number of reporters have at times become emotionally unhinged about it all, one way or the other."   He's being mild.  The mainstream press is in danger of being sidelined in this country because of its left-wing bias.  Approval numbers for the press are ghastly, especially among moderates and conservatives.  Impartial journalism isn't even seen by many "journalists" as desirable.  One must "make a difference."

WISE WORDS – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:  Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said on Friday that the United States "must remain deeply skeptical" as it approaches a meeting with North Korea and should avoid granting "unilateral concessions" to the Kim Jong Un regime.  "The patterns of U.S.-North Korea crises are well-worn and North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities are obvious. A summit could possibly break those patterns and lead to the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Cotton said in a statement released in response to an announcement President Donald Trump and Kim will meet in the coming months.  The senator went on to caution against conceding to North Korea and conveyed skepticism about the intentions of the Kim regime.  He is perceptive, as usual.  Reagan quoted the old Russian proverb, "Trust but verify."  Cotton's words are in the same spirit.

March 9,  2018     Permalink

BUT WILL SHE HAVE A CAREER? – AT 1:08 P.M. ET:  Has a line been crossed?  Has history been made?  Or has a mortal sin been committed?  Erin Burnett, a CNN anchor, has now stated clearly, and before God and man, that President Trump may turn out to be an important president.  As of this morning, it's reported that she still had a beating heart.  And a company-provided telephone.  But you never know.  I hope she's escorted everywhere by two guys with Glocks.  From The Hill: 

CNN's Erin Burnett said Thursday that if President Trump can solve the U.S. problem with North Korea, he "would be going down as a great president."

The commentary from the "Outfront" host followed the White House announcement that Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would meet "by May" in an effort to negotiate the denuclearization of North Korea.

“Just an extraordinarily evening and of course opening the door to the big question, if President Trump can truly solve this problem, that would be going down as a great president. And there’s no way around that. That is the reality here," Burnett said at the end of her show.

Earlier in the show, a former adviser on the National Security Council under President Obama said there's "no way" Trump is ready for a direct meeting with Kim by May, as announced by South Korea's national security adviser on Thursday.

"There is no way that President Trump can be ready, by May, to have a high stakes negotiation on denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. It's just impossible," said Samantha Vinograd, who also serves as a CNN national security analyst. 

Trump expressed optimism around the meeting on Twitter Thursday night, stating that "great progress [is] being made" while cautioning that "sanctions will remain" against North Korea "until an agreement is reached." 

COMMENT:  The heretical remark has been uttered.  A great president?  Isn't he Hitler?  Most of the press, from what I can see, has been somewhat restrained in its approach to the announcement of the talks.  They despise Trump, but they don't want to be seen as opposing a peace conference.

Trump might succeed.  He may solve the North Korea problem.  If he does, though, I doubt he'd be given a Nobel Peace Prize, although Kim Jong Un might be given one.  The Nobel Prize is a leftist's prize.  No conservative peacemakers need apply.  Reagan never got one, although he brought the Cold War to a close. 

March 9, 2018       Permalink

BUT...A NUMBER TO WATCH – AT 10:40 A.M. ET:   As noted yesterday, the president's poll ratings are taking a hit this week.  He's down again in Rasmussen this morning: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

The president’s overall job approval ratings have been trending down at week’s end. Is the good will he appears to have generated with his conciliatory State of the Union speech at the end of January going away?

COMMENT:  That's a drop of six points in a week.  Does it involve tariffs?  Reports of Trump's affair with a porn star?   

I'm hoping that the positive news this week will reverse the sudden, alarming trend.  If it continues, though, the White House will have to do some internal polling to find out why.  The president needs the highest poll numbers he can achieve to help his party in the November elections. 

The president is at his best when he speaks over the heads of the reporters, as Reagan did, and directly to the American people.  We need more of that.

March 9, 2018       Permalink

EGADS!  DON'T TELL NANCY PELOSI – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  There is fever, there is pain, in liberal ranks this morning.  Added to the White House announcement of dramatic progress on the North Korea front, there is the jobs report.  The deplorables are coming back to work!  What will happen to political correctness?  From CNBC: 

The economy added 313,000 jobs in February, crushing expectations, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, according to a Labor Department report Friday that could help quell inflation fears.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had been expecting nonfarm payroll growth of 200,000 and the unemployment rate to decline one-tenth of a percent to 4 percent.

An increase in the labor force participation rate to its highest level since September 2017 helped keep the headline unemployment number steady, as the number of those counted as not in the workforce tumbled by 653,000 to just over 95 million.

The total counted as "employed" in the household survey surged by 785,000 to a record 155.2 million.

A separate measure that takes into account those out of the workforce and the underemployed — sometimes referred to as the "real" unemployment rate — held steady at 8.2 percent.

Stocks surged following the report, with the Dow industrials opening more than 150 points higher after being slightly negative before the news.

COMMENT:  Who are these outrageous fools who want to work?  Can't they be satisfied with a Democratic welfare program?  What has happened to our leftist values?

The Democratic answer will probably be to move further left.

March 9,  2018     Permalink

MARCH 8,  2018

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

DEMS ON THE BRINK? – The dramatic announcement that President Trump will meet North Korean chieftain Kim Jong-un (AKA Rocket Man) to talk peace has hit Washington, Manhattan, and Beverly Hills hard.  It is reported that a long waiting list has been established for Democrats at leading psychiatrists, and not-so-leading ones.  The Dems want to know when Trump stopped being a warmongering, fanatical, racist superpatriot pig.  They want to know if this is another sinister expression of Trumpism.  Is he really planning to join Kim in an all-out attack on trans people and vegetarians?  Will Kim be brought in as the next White House chief of staff?  The Dems are confused and hurt.  They said that Ronald Reagan was a warmongering destroyer of all living things, and that didn't work out either.  Some Dems are even hinting at developing ideas for governing, despite their aversion to thought.  They want answers from shrinks.  Either that, or they want safe spaces. 

OH, SAVE US – FROM THE HILL:   Former President Barack Obama is reportedly in talks with Netflix about producing a series of shows, including some highlighting inspirational stories.  Obama and former first lady Michele Obama are in talks to receive compensation for producing exclusive content for the streaming service, The New York Times reports.  “President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire,” Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president, told the Times.  “Throughout their lives, they have lifted up stories of people whose efforts to make a difference are quietly changing the world for the better. As they consider their future personal plans, they continue to explore new ways to help others tell and share their stories.”  So, Trump is now president and Obama will be a reality star.  Ain't life funny? 

NOW WE'RE TALKIN' AMERICA – FROM DAILY CALLER:  President Donald Trump announced during a Thursday cabinet meeting that NASA is “bringing back that whole space flight” program and would be sending “something very beautiful to Mars in the very near future.”  Before pivoting to Mars, POTUS praised the recent work of Elon Musk and SpaceX on the Falcon rocket program. “Before me are some rocket ships. You haven’t seen that from this country in a long time,” Trump stated. “Many the jobs we’re doing, Mike Pence is the chairman, many of these jobs we are doing are privately financed. We’re letting them use the Kennedy Space Center for a fee. Rich guys, they love rocket ships. And that’s good. That’s better than us paying for it. And I notice the prices of the last one, they said it cost $80 million. If the government did it, the same thing would’ve cost probably 40, 50 times that amount of money.”  Obama told his NASA head that a major objective of the agency was Muslim outreach.  No it ain't.  The objective of NASA is making dreams come true. 

March 8, 2018       Permalink

YOU CANNOT MAKE IT UP – AT 4:39 P.M. ET:  Some educators and journalists say they're starting to see a slow return to reason and maturity on college campuses.  But the problems of spoiled bratism, identity politics, childlike minds, and professors to match are still the dominant features in too many places.  From reason.com: 

One year after Middlebury College students shut down a planned debate between the American Enterprise Institute's Charles Murray and Professor Allison Stanger—injuring Stanger in the process—the student newspaper decided to print a retrospective photo of Murray taken at the aborted event.

This decision was apparently controversial: an apologetic note from The Middlebury Campus's editor-in-chief revealed that "most of the section editors, and the managing editor" thought it would be inappropriate to print a photo of Murray. A photo.

According to Ethan Brady, the editor-in-chief:

I wish to explain the photograph on page A1 to the readers. I recognize that it may be especially jarring, particularly for students of color who feel that Charles Murray's rhetoric poses a threat to their very humanity. I also recognize that Murray's visit to campus last March is an open wound for a campus trying desperately to move forward from it.

During a heated debate in the newsroom on Tuesday night, most of the section editors, and the managing editor, said that running this photograph would be inappropriate. Though I deeply respect the input of my editors, I decided to run the photograph anyway. I take full responsibility for this decision. It was mine alone, and any criticism should be directed at me alone.

This photograph is not meant to troll, or to cause pain, but to ask how that protest still lives with us today, one year later. For many, this image is burned in our collective memory. As much as we try to distance ourselves from that moment, we are made from it.

Even if one accepts the claim that Murray's rhetoric somehow constitutes a literal attack on marginalized students—a ridiculous claim, to be sure—a mere picture of him is not an expression of violence. Wouldn't it be useful to show a photo of Murray, even if the only point was to criticize him? This is verging into He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named territory.

COMMENT:  We commend the editor for taking responsibility.  That is the adult thing to do.  As for his reasoning and his explanation...well, he's young and part of the snowflake generation.

Maybe we shouldn't have published pictures of Hitler during World War II.  Too upsetting.  Maybe we shouldn't have printed photos, or shown video, of the towers falling on 9-11.  How stressful.

We hope that grown-ups will reassert themselves.

March 8,  2018     Permalink

THE SENATE – WILL REPUBLICANS GAIN? – AT 11:43 A.M. ET:  We always stress that polls are snapshots in time.  However, they can be useful snapshots in following trends.

Axios has just published a report on Senate polling in generally conservative states with Democratic senators who are up for re-election in November.  The polling as of now points to danger for many of these senators.  From Axios:   

A series of 10 state polls for Axios by SurveyMonkey finds that President Trump isn't a drag on the Republican brand in key Senate races, despite his historically high national disapproval ratings.

• Trump’s approval is higher than Democratic senators up for reelection in six of the states (Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia).

• Trump's approval is higher than his national approval rating in all 10 states.
Axios' Alexi McCammond dives in ...

Five Senate Democrats would lose to a Republican candidate if the election were held today and three have approval ratings under 50%, according to new Axios/SurveyMonkey polls. 

• Why it matters: Democrats are defending 10 Senate seats in states Trump won in 2016. In six of those states Trump's approval is higher than 50% (compared to 43% nationally). These numbers underscore how hard it will be for Democrats to pick up the two seats needed to win the majority despite Trump’s troubles. 

The three most vulnerable senators in the 10 states are Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana and Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Each of their approval ratings is under or around 50%, while Trump's is well above that in all three states.

COMMENT:  Well, as they say, the election isn't being held today.  It's being held in November.  And do not underestimate the ability of Republicans to lose elections.  They work hard to destroy safe seats, as they did recently in Alabama.  Already there are reports that some of the GOP challengers this fall have personalities that even a mother couldn't love.

Still, Republicans have a great chance to retain control of the Senate, even to add a few seats.  That has profound implications for Supreme Court confirmations, confirmations of other judicial nominations...and foolish impeachment attempts.  Only the House can impeach a president, but the Senate must try him, and a Republican Senate would make conviction all but impossible.  They'd have to literally catch Trump strangling a CNN reporter.

March 8, 2018        Permalink

IS THIS TROUBLE? – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  The president has slipped five points in the Rasmussen poll in the last ten days.  This is not good.  It's not a panic situation, but it's not good.  He had hit 50%, a headline in Drudge...and then came his call for tariffs.

I can't be sure that tariffs are the entire answer.  There's been a lot of turmoil in the White House in the last week, and the positive impact of tax cuts on paychecks was last month's news.  It's the old question in politics:  What have you done for me lately?  It's possible that a percentage of the electorate want to see something new.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 45% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.
The latest figures include 30% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 45% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15.

COMMENT:  This president has some terrific moments, but the pattern that's emerged shows that he then steps all over himself.  Also, if he has a terrific moment, the vast anti-Trump press gets going, and does everything it can to ruin it.

It is eight months to midterms.  Mr. Trump has to be at his best to help his party retain control of Congress.

March 8,  2018     Permalink