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MAY 30,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

THE EYES OF TEXAS – FROM THE AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN:   U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, holds an 11-percentage point edge over U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, in the race at the top of the November ballot in Texas, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.  Half of Texas voters prefer Cruz in his re-election bid, compared with 39 percent for O’Rourke, the poll says.  That’s a substantially wider margin than in April 18, when another Quinnipiac University poll found Cruz with 47 percent to O’Rourke’s 44 percent.  Common sense is returning.  A great accomplishment for Cruz.  We hope he can maintain and increase his strength. 

FOX ROMPS – FROM FORBES.COM:  What happened to the rise of MSNBC? After showing historic growth–and a few months in 2017 when Rachel Maddow took the title of most-watched host in all of cable news, beating Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity–the just-released results of the May ratings period look very familiar: Fox News won–everything.  In ratings data released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research, FNC extended its run of consecutive months at number one to a staggering 197, while building hitting another impressive milestone: Fox News Channel has now beaten every other network in basic cable for 23 months straight, based on total day ratings, with an average total day audience in May of 1.4 million viewers.  In prime time, Fox News destroyed its competition, with an average total audience of 2.381 million viewers, compared to MSNBC's 1.384 million and CNN's 835,000. Among viewers 25-54, the group most coveted by advertisers, FNC shook off a challenge in recent months from MSNBC to claim a clear victory: 461,000 viewers, well ahead of MSNBC (329,000) and CNN (265,000).  I suspect that many viewers were turned off by the chronic, irrational Trump-bashing that passes for news on both MSNBC and CNN.

MITT IS GETTING SILLY AGAIN – FROM THE HILL:   Mitt Romney revealed Wednesday that when it came time to vote for president in 2016, he wrote in his wife Ann’s name.  "I wrote in the name of a person who I admire deeply, who I think would be an excellent president," Romney told the editorial boards of Utah's Deseret News and KSL. "I realized it wasn't going to go anywhere, but nonetheless felt that I was putting in a very solid name."  The former GOP presidential nominee and current Utah Senate candidate had not previously stated publicly for whom he had voted in the 2016 presidential election.  Romney, who has been endorsed by Trump in the former's Senate race, does not hide his contempt for the president, saying this week that Trump was not "a role model for my grandkids."  Not very gracious.  What is going on in Mitt's mind?

May 30,  2018     Permalink 

DISSENT IN REPUBLICAN RANKS – AT 3:44 P.M. ET:  The president has made a big issue out of his belief that the FBI planted a spy in his presidential campaign.  Other Republicans, though, including those whom we respect here, are not buying the story, at least not so far.  This is creating a serious rift in the ranks, and a potential danger to the president's credibility.  From The Hill: 

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) defended the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election during a Wednesday interview in which he took issue with President Trump's characterization of the FBI's use of an informant to gather information on some of his campaign aides.

“I don’t know what the FBI could have done or should have done other than run out a lead that someone loosely connected with the campaign was making assertions about Russia,” said Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“I think you would want the FBI to find whether or not there was any validity to what those people were saying,” Gowdy said during an interview with "CBS This Morning." 

COMMENT:  Gowdy is a serious man.  He could be wrong, of course, but the caution sign must go up at the White House.  The answer here might be the appointment of an outside counsel to investigate the president's stated concerns.  But the president cannot go on with these charges without producing more evidence to back them up.  He is losing, not gaining, support on this issue.

May 30,  2018     Permalink

THE PRESIDENT STRIKES BACK – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:   It was probably inevitable that Roseanne's blunder would get her fired.   She's a Trump supporter, so she was already a sinner in Hollywood.  But people have wondered how Mr. Trump would react.  We now have it.  From Daily Mail: 

President Donald Trump weighed in on the Roseanne Barr controversy with a complaint Wednesday that he never got an apology from ABC for the 'for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC.'

It was uncertain which statements from the TV network Trump was referring to although he could have been referring to a story from reporter Brian Ross that the network retracted or to his March twitter war with comedian Jimmy Kimmel.  

ABC said Tuesday that it was cancelling Barr's television show just hours after the comedian assaulted Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett on Twitter.

ABC released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, calling Barr's tweets 'abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values'.

The president's comment:

Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?

COMMENT:  The president is right.  He didn't defend Roseanne, and he should not.  But calling attention to the vulgar attacks on him at ABC is entirely appropriate.  He might, in the future, add the horrible, tasteless remarks made in the print press. 

May 30, 2018       Permalink

A REMARKABLE STORY – AT 12:20 P.M. ET:  This is quite a story of dissent...in Iran.  The fact that it's being reported in Iranian outlets is equally remarkable.  Maybe something is happening.  From AP:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian university students in a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered harsh criticism of the country's direction, local media reported Tuesday, an unusually frank discussion showing the concerns many feel over the Trump administration's pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran and Iran's battered economy.

One student in particular offered a list of problems confronting Iran and directly asked Khameni, whom hard-liners view as second only to God, how he would respond to them.

While concerns regularly come up during the annual audiences that Khamenei holds during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, the fact that these criticisms received publicized attention in Iran's tightly controlled media is telling. Already, farmers and truck drivers have been protesting and on strike in the country.

At Monday's audience with Khamenei, university student Sahar Mehrabi read a speech in which she recounted the "numerous crises" now facing the country.

Among them, she listed Iran's "intensified systematic inequality in social classes, the decline of public trust and the increase in environmental crisis and shantytowns." She also mentioned high unemployment, the challenges faced by minority groups and the way hard-line element's within Iran's judiciary and security system "fabricate security cases in a delusional way" to target activists.

"What answer does Your Excellency have in response to questions, criticisms and protests," she asked.

In his own speech, Khamenei acknowledged many of the shortcomings, saying that "removing problems is not as easy" as the students expect. He said one solution can be the "injecting of revolutionary, motivated and committed young people into the governmental apparatuses."

COMMENT:  There have been serious demonstrations in Iran since at least December.  We are hoping for a major uprising, which could cripple the regime. 

The last major uprising was in 2009, but it got virtually no support from that great international defender of freedom, Barack Obama.  This time would be different, with Trump in the White House.

May 30,  2018     Permalink

MAY 29,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

ROSEANNE – The major historical news of the day was Roseanne Barr tweeting a foolish, racially tinged message, then getting her show cancelled as a result.  She was also dropped by her agency.  She has a history of doing and saying foolish things, so the episode was not that shocking.  But there are red lines you cannot cross, and she crossed several.  However, a backlash is already building.  Plenty of people on social media are asking why she's fired, yet entertainers who say the most vile things about the president, his family, and conservatives, are kept on.  Of course, we know the answer.  Hollywood is left, and applies double standards as a matter of principle.  Roseanne's show, although successful, was an embarrassment, as it tilted conservative.  My own sense is that the A-list party crowd in Hollywood was looking for a way to get rid of her, and, unfortunately, she gave them the route. 

WHAT A WHOPPER – FROM VARIETY:   Netflix has inked a multiyear deal with the Obamas for original programming — but the content from the former First Couple will not have any political bias, according to chief content officer Ted Sarandos.  “This is not The Obama Network,” said Sarandos, speaking Tuesday at the Paley Center for Media in New York. “There’s no political slant to the programming.”
Sarandos was interviewed by journalist Ken Auletta at the event. Noting that the Netflix exec is a Democrat, Auletta asked what he would say to Republicans about Netflix’s seeming political push to the left — including the appointment of former Obama adviser Susan Rice to its board.  “Umm, wait for the programming,” Sarandos responded.  I can't wait.  I'm sure it will be inspirational and non-political.  Just like Obama's presidency.  Choke.

RESEARCH DOLLARS AT WORK – FROM BRITAIN'S TELEGRAPH:  It may seem merely a cliche born of centuries of educated people straining their eyes in dimly-lit libraries, but new genetic research suggests those who wear glasses really are more intelligent.  Researchers at the University of Edinburgh analysed the genetic data of more than 44,480 people.  They found that, overall, those who were more intelligent were nearly 30 per cent more likely to have genes indicating they require reading glasses than those who scored poorly. 

May 29, 2018      Permalink 

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE THE TERROR BUSINESS – AT 11:38 P.M. ET:  A lesson in how to clean up financially through the profitable world of moral sickness.  From the Algemeiner: 

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has amassed a net personal worth of around $250 million due to his organization’s illegal drug smuggling operations, Al-Ittihad, an Arabic language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, reported on Monday.

According to the report, which relies on senior Lebanese government sources, the scope of Nasrallah’s fortune was discovered within the framework of a US Drug Enforcement Administration investigation against Hezbollah – which aside from its designation as a terrorist organization also operates as one of the largest drug cartels in the world.

Due to economic sanctions the US has reimposed on Iran and the massive reduction of Tehran’s budget to Hezbollah, Al-Ittihad reported, compounded by the heavy financial toll exacted by involvement in the Syrian civil war, Nasrallah ordered an expansion of the organization’s drug-related activities – which resulted in extensive financial gains for Hezbollah and a personal windfall for Nasrallah himself.

Nasrallah, the report continued, appointed his most trusted associates to closely oversee the organization’s drug smuggling operations.

COMMENT:  A real humanitarian, right?  And some people look up to him as a great spiritual leader.   This kind of illegal profiteering goes on in a number of strife-ridden countries, and the press rarely notices.  Or cares.

May 29, 2018       Permalink

GETTING SERIOUS – AT 11:17 A.M. ET:  The Norks are sending one of their top guys here to help arrange the possible upcoming summit.  I have a feeling that this conference will actually come off.  From the New York Post: 

North Korea is sending its former spymaster to America in hopes of jump-starting the potential summit with President Trump, according to a report Tuesday.

Gen. Kim Yong-chol, former head of his nation’s spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, will soon travel to Beijing and Washington D.C. in the latest bid to reschedule the cancelled June 12 North Korea-US summit in Singapore, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim will fly to New York City before heading to Washington, Yonhap said

Kim is well-known in North Korea and represented his nation at this year’s winter Olympics in South Korea — a key moment in the thawing North-South relationship.

President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had been set to meet in Singapore on June 12 until Trump cancelled it this past Thursday.

Trump later said the meeting could potentially move forward as originally planned.

COMMENT:  An American team is already in North Korea.  The president is, essentially, already negotiating.  He is also being attacked regularly by Washington establishment types who are horrified that he's not doing things their way.  Before you listen to any of these yappers, check their histories to see if they ever succeeded in any negotiations.  It will be a brief answer.

May 29, 2018        Permalink

AGAIN – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  There has been an Islamic terror attack in Belgium, and three people, including two policewomen, have been killed.  From Reuters:

LIEGE, Belgium (Reuters) - A man killed two policewomen and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday before being shot dead in a gun battle at a school in what prosecutors are treating as a terrorist attack.

The man was named by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday. It said investigators were looking into whether he had converted to Islam and been radicalized in jail.

A public prosecutor told a news conference that the man attacked the policewomen from behind with a knife, described as a box-cutter by RTBF, around 10:30 a.m. (4.30 a.m. ET) on a boulevard in the center of Belgium’s third city, near the German border.

After stabbing the officers, prosecutor Philippe Duple said, the man seized one of their handguns and shot both women dead before walking down the street and shooting dead a 22-year-old man who was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car.

And…

La Lib re Oblique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted “Allah Ak bar” — God is greatest in Arabic.

COMMENT:  I'm sure the Islamist angle will be played down by the usual left-wing suspects in European governments.  Or, we will be told this is a "lone wolf." 

Europe and, yes, Britain, seem to be playing down Islamist attacks these days.  Wonder if it has anything to do with encouraging trade deals with the Islamic nation of Iran.  Just gaskin'.

May 29,  2018     Permalink