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NOVEMBER 17,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

FORGET SOMETHING, BARACK? – FROM FOX:   President Obama, speaking at a press conference in Germany, passed up the opportunity Thursday to tamp down the anti-Donald Trump protests back home -- urging those taking part not to remain "silent."  The president fielded a question on the protests during a joint news conference in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  "I suspect that there’s not a president in our history that hasn’t been subject to these protests," he answered. "So, I would not advise people who feel strongly or who are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign, I wouldn’t advise them to be silent."  He added: “Voting matters, organizing matters and being informed on the issues matter.”  He could have said something about protesting peacefully and without obscenity. I think he's enjoying the protests almost as much as he enjoyed Hillary's loss.

VERDICT ON MEDIA BIAS – FROM NEWSBUSTERS:   RESTON, VA – The Media Research Center (MRC) announces the findings of a new post-election poll on what actual voters thought about the media’s influence on the 2016 presidential race. The MRC/YouGov poll was conducted on November 9 and 10. Key findings:  7 in 10 (69%) voters do not believe the news media are honest and truthful.  8 in 10 (78%) of voters believe the news coverage of the presidential campaign was biased, with nearly a 3-to-1 majority believing the media were for Clinton (59%) vs. for Trump (21%). Even 1/3 (32%) of Clinton voters believe the media were “pro-Clinton.”  8% of Trump voters said they would have voted for Clinton if they had believed what the media were saying about Trump.  97% of voters said they did not let the media’s bias influence their vote.  And what will the media do about this verdict?  Probably nothing.  Too many journalists believe they're on a mission to save the world, not to report the news.  Facts are unimportant.  Only the mission is important.

THE TROOPS ARE RESTLESS – FROM FOX:   Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan on Thursday became the first lawmaker to formally challenge House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for her post, a move that comes as the California power-broker faces growing unrest inside the Democratic caucus in the wake of last week’s election.  Ryan, who had been publicly considering mounting a leadership bid for days, announced his decision in a letter to colleagues.  He said he was “disheartened” by the election results and Democrats “must not let this opportunity for change pass by without a fight.”  Ryan wrote: “Over the last 18 years, Democrats have only been in the majority of the House of Representatives for two terms and last week’s election results set us back even further. We have lost over 60 seats since 2010. We have the fewest Democrats in state and federal offices since Reconstruction. At this time of fear and disillusionment, we owe it to our constituencies to listen and bring a new voice into leadership.”  Pelosi last faced a challenge in 2010 after the party’s midterm clobbering that cost them the House. Then-Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., ran and only got 43 votes.  Things might be different this time.  However, Pelosi still has enormous clout – she is a world-class fundraiser. 

November 17, 2016       Permalink

THANKSGIVING REPORT – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  An economic picture of the big holiday next week.  From CNBC:

Americans can thank a drop in the average price of turkey and general food deflation for bringing down the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Along with the turkey, other food items showing decreases this year are pumpkin pie mix, milk and a vegetable tray of celery and carrots, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual price survey of classic items found for the Thanksgiving feast. Among the biggest increases in holiday meal fixings this year were bread rolls, pie shells, cubed stuffing and fresh cranberries.

"The average cost of this year's feast for 10 is $49.87, a 24-cent decrease from last year's average of $50.11," the Farm Bureau said Thursday. The traditional holiday dinner's cost was down less than 1 percent this year from 2015 and it marks only the third time in a decade that the annual survey shows an overall price decline.

A 16-pound turkey — the biggest single ticket item in the meal — averaged $22.74 this year, or 1.3 percent below 2015. The survey was conducted in 40 states with price checks on roughly a dozen items.

COMMENT:  Reminds me of the true story of the old Tammany bosses in New York, in an age when there were high poverty rates in the city.  Each year they'd give families a Thanksgiving turkey so that family could have a happy holiday.  The precinct captains would make it known to the family that this might not continue if the opposition ever gained power.  Guess who won the elections?  It was one of the factors that kept people voting in the bosses year after year. 

November 17, 2016       Permalink

DRAINING THE SWAMP – AT 9:43 A.M. ET:  President-elect Trump is starting to make good on his pledge to drain the Washington swamp.  From the Daily Mail: 

Donald Trump's staff has announced a tough new anti-lobbying for all members of his transition team and all other officials who work for the President-elect.

People who work with Trump must sever all their ties to the lobbying industry, and they are not allowed to lobby on behalf of anyone for five years after they leave the Donald's side.

The ban also applies to the transition team members charged with helping to find, vet and hire for the incoming Republican administration, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said late Wednesday in New York.

Additionally, neither the transition advisers nor incoming officials are permitted to be registered federal or state lobbyists, Spicer said. He described the measures as helping to ensure people won't be able to use government service 'to enrich themselves.

COMMENT:  I wonder what The New York Times and CNN will say about this.  They'll probably find a way to call it racist, sexist, anti-gay. 

It's a positive move, and sets the right tone.  However, there could be negatives – removing from government service some extremely talented people.  There should be some way in which waivers can be granted in special circumstances.

November 17, 2016       Permalink

WARNING FROM EUROPE – AT 9:24 A.M. ET:  Gee, doesn't some of this sound familiar?  Is this Trumpism?  From Reuters: 

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union is in danger of breaking apart unless France and Germany, in particular, work harder to stimulate growth and employment and heed citizens' concerns, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in the German capital on Thursday.

Valls said the two countries, for decades the axis around which the EU revolved, had to help refocus the bloc to tackle an immigration crisis, a lack of solidarity between member states, Britain's looming exit, and terrorism.

"Europe is in danger of falling apart," Valls said at an event organized by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "So Germany and France have a huge responsibility."

He said France must continue to open up its economy, not least by cutting corporate taxation, while Germany and the EU as a whole must increase investment that would stimulate growth and job creation, as well as boosting defense.

As Britain seeks to negotiate its post-Brexit relationship with the EU, hoping to restrict immigration from the EU while maintaining as much access as possible to the EU single market, Valls said it must be prevented from cherry-picking.

"If they are able to have all the advantages of Europe without the inconveniences, then we are opening a window for others to leave the European Union," Valls said.

COMMENT:  Maybe there are some people in Europe, perhaps stimulated by political trends in the United States, who are starting to understand the decline of the West, and what must be done to halt it.

November 17,  2016     Permalink

 NOVEMBER 16,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:

ALMOST FORGOTTEN – FROM CNS:   (CNSNews.com) – Republicans added to their historic 2014 gains in the nation’s state legislatures with the addition of five state House chambers and two state Senate chambers in last week’s election, while Democratic control was reduced to levels not seen since the Civil War.  Republicans are now in control of a record 67 (68 percent) of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the nation, more than twice the number (31) in which Democrats have a majority, according to the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).  “That’s more than at any other time in the history of the Republican Party,” according to NCSL. “They also hold more total seats, well over 4,100 of the 7,383, than they have since 1920.”  That gives the GOP great redistricting power, as well as solid state organizations.  The Democratic Party is in terrible shape.  I guess Obama won't list that as part of his legacy.

TRUMP RATINGS RISE – FROM GALLUP:  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults say they are "more confident" in President-elect Donald Trump's ability to serve as president based on his statements and actions over the past few days. The percentage "more confident" in Trump a few days after his election is similar to ratings when Bill Clinton and George W. Bush won their respective elections in 1992 and 2000.  The fact that similar percentages of Americans say they have more confidence in Trump in the days after his election as did so for Bush and Clinton is notable, given that Trump is much less popular as president-elect than they were. Trump's favorable rating measured 42% in the Nov. 9-13 survey, compared with Bush's 59% and Clinton's 58% after they were elected.  Trump is rising, but knows he must still prove himself, a difficult task given the unrelenting press hostility that he faces. 

THE HOUSE VOTES ON IRAN – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   The House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to extend an Iran sanctions law for another 10 years, amid growing worries that the U.S. needs to keep some leverage over Iran as it pushes for that country to implement the nuclear agreement.  Lawmakers voted 419-1 in favor of extending the Iran Sanctions Act, the foundation of a range of U.S. sanctions against Iran.  The only vote against the bill came from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.  The vote is a sign the bill should easily pass the Senate. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said passage shows that Congress is ready to take a tougher stance on Iran than that of President Obama. While Obama has moved to ease sanctions against Iran, Republicans and even some Democrats say the U.S. needs to impose tougher measures to ensure Iran's compliance.  Obama might veto this measure, but Trump certainly won't.

November 16, 2016       Permalink

WELL, WHADDAYA KNOW? – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Despite the best efforts of some news outlets to paint the incoming administration as racist, many African-Americans are apparently willing to give Trump a chance, which is the constructive attitude.  It will drive their leaders crazy.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

This may come as a shock to the political left, but not everyone who opposed Donald Trump is as angry or despondent as the demonstrators who grabbed headlines nationwide over the past week or the pundits who intellectualized the Democratic hissy fit.

On Monday I took a stroll around New York City’s Harlem neighborhood and asked a couple of dozen black residents to respond to the election and subsequent protests. I didn’t come across any Trump voters—or at least any who admitted it—but many told me they had expected Hillary Clinton’s defeat. No one thought it was the end of the world.

“Hillary wasn’t strong enough. She didn’t fight enough,” said a gentleman leaving a drugstore, who introduced himself as Pace. “People saw her as weak and thought she’d be weak in the White House.” He also faulted Mrs. Clinton’s message. “She was talking about what she did in other countries as secretary of state. I can understand the situation around the world, but we live here.” Mr. Trump, in contrast, “was talking about the people who live here—the poor, the veterans.”

When I asked Pace, who retired from a job in dress manufacturing several years ago, if he thought Mr. Trump would ever win him over, he responded: “He said he’d protect Medicare. I can go along with that. He said he’d get rid of the Bloods and the Crips and the gangs—get them out of here. I like that. If he does those two things, he’s my man.”

At a nearby hair salon, the proprietor, a 30-something West African woman who asked me not to use her name, said Mrs. Clinton lost because the country “didn’t want a female president, wasn’t ready for it.” Still, she’s optimistic about a Trump administration. “I think things will be different in a good way. He might surprise us. I don’t think he’s a bad person. It’s just the way he talks. He was real and people like that. I don’t think he’ll do the really crazy things like deporting everybody.”

Derrick, an off-duty police officer, told me that he considers Mr. Trump a con artist who tricked people into voting for him and won’t come through, especially on his promise to bring back manufacturing jobs. “But I’ll give him this,” he said. “She was not talking about securing this country, and that’s what he was talking about. People are watching people get blown up by these terrorists, and they’re scared, and she was talking about an open border. She didn’t emphasize scrutinizing the people who are coming in, and he did.”

COMMENT:  Wouldn't it be incredible if Trump did come through and broke the stranglehold the left has on minorities?  I'd love to see it.  It could transform America in ways that Obama could never understand.

November 16, 2016       Permalink

IS THIS SERIOUS? – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  The Obama administration isn't done, and it is being pressured to take drastic action in its last days.  From the Washington Times:   

Illegal immigrants are preparing to ask President Obama to pardon some 750,000 Dreamers, saying such a move is their last, best hope to stave off what they fear will be a wave of deportations once Donald Trump takes the Oval Office.

Community leaders have planned a rally in New York on Wednesday to make the request.

“Millions of law abiding undocumented immigrants are fearful of what will happen when the new Administration takes control in January,” the group of New York state lawmakers and immigration advocates said in a statement announcing the rally. “However, President Obama has the power of pardons that he can use to protect all DACA enrollees.”

As of September, more than 740,000 illegal immigrants had been approved for Mr. Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a minor amnesty that grants young adult illegal immigrants a two-year stay of deportation and issues them work permits, entitling them to driver’s licenses and some taxpayer benefits.

Mr. Trump has signaled that he would cancel that order, leaving Dreamers out of status when their work permits expire. That puts Mr. Obama in a bind because he has expressed an interest in helping illegal immigrants but also has acknowledged limits on power.

COMMENT:  Look, we need a new immigration policy, and it must be one of President Trump's first priorities.  Tension over the issue is very high, with demagogues floating in and out, and appearing on every side.

This issue will test President-elect Trump's negotiating skills.  Let's see if he's as good as he claims.

November 16, 2016        Permalink

AT LEAST IT'S A START – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:   Some journalists are starting to realize the extent of their disconnect from the American people.  From lifezette: 

Just how surprised was the media when Republican Donald Trump won the White House?

They were so surprised that they soon realized they did not know anyone who voted for him.

Republicans are as new to Florida newspapers as the wild python population in the Everglades.
In Palm Beach County, Florida — where Donald Trump actually lives part-time — the Palm Beach Post has put out a call for the Trump voters of South Florida to come educate them.

The Post put out the request out on its Facebook page on Tuesday: “Did you vote for Donald J. Trump to become President of the United States? Are you willing to sit down with the The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board and tell us why? Please, email Editorial Page Editor Rick Christie at rchristie@pbpost.com.”

Florida is probably the most Republican state with such a liberal newspaper sector: the Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, the Orlando Sentinel. There are a few conservative editorial boards, but generally the newspapers have not kept pace with the growing Republican segment of the Sunshine State population. Republicans are as new to them as the wild python population in the Everglades.

COMMENT:  Excellent idea, although it's hard to know if the editors would actually make any changes in their approach to the news.  The New York Times did a bit of a mea culpa last week, but the paper's antagonism to Trump, on its news pages, continues.

November 16,  2016     Permalink