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NOVEMBER 23,  2016

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

COWARD – FROM MEDIAITE:    Democratic Congressman and candidate for the next DNC chief Keith Ellison canceled an interview with The New York Times Tuesday after learning they planned to ask about his ties to controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.  Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, but his first congressional run in Minnesota in 2006 prompted questions about his ties to Farrakhan. While a student at the University of Minnesota Law School, he wrote several articles defending Farrakhan, and later worked with the Nation of Islam for eighteen months.  Farrakhan is a rabid anti-Semite, has accused Jews of being behind 9/11 and the slave trade, and once said that God was the one who “put them in the oven.” In addition, he teaches that white people are “a race of devils” created by a black scientist named Yakub 6000 years.   You'd think the Democratic Party would seek a wise, relatively centrist practitioner to rebuild the ranks.  But Ellison is the favorite.  The party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy is no more.

MAJOR EDUCATION NEWS – FROM DAILY CALLER:    Protesting students at George Washington University (GWU) claim forcing them to accept police protection during their marches is “violence,” because many police officers supported President-elect Donald Trump.  In a list of demands assembled by several progressive student groups, GWU protesters say school officials should find a way of guaranteeing their safety during marches that doesn’t involve police.  “The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the United States, has formally endorsed President-Elect Donald Trump,” the list says. “The FOP includes over 10,000 members in Washington D.C., many of which have jurisdiction over GW’s campus. Placing us in these officers’ care is an act of violence, especially for Black students.”  Elsewhere, the students call for GWU administrators to declare the school a “sanctuary campus” that will protect illegal immigrants from deportation.  These "students" have the intellectual maturity of 10-year-olds, placing them slightly ahead of the faculty.

STRIKING BACK AT MEDIA BIAS – FROM BREITBART:  Apple App Store and Google Play users are taking their displeasure out on CNN and other news sites by giving the companies’ mobile apps one star reviews, citing the outlets’ liberal bias.  According to Digiday, in the last few weeks CNN has been hit by a wave of one star reviews, with over half of these reviews accusing the company of having a liberal bias.    Other targeted publishers include Mic, Quartz, and USA Today, who have also been slammed by users upset over the companies’ biases, with two-thirds of reviews on USA Today citing its liberal leanings.  Due to the fact that CNN’s app is well established and has received thousands of reviews over a number of years, the negative reviews haven’t had a significant impact on the the app’s overall rating.  However, for recently released apps such as Mic’s, which was launched two weeks ago, the negative reviews are having a greater affect on the average rating.  “Low reviews affect the ranking of an app in the top charts, which decreases app discoverability and, in turn, means fewer downloads, which would continue driving them further down the top charts,” said Amir Ghodrati, a director of market insights at the app analytics business App Annie.  There are a number of ways that citizens can express their displeasure at the press.  This is one of the most modern.  The traditional method is to stop subscribing and stop viewing.

November 23, 2016       Permalink

OH PLEASE – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  The nerds are in revolt, and believe the presidential election should be recounted.  Not that they found anything wrong, just that they suspect.  And also, the wrong candidate won, and they're unhappy.  From CNN:

(CNN) Hillary Clinton's campaign is being urged by a number of top computer scientists to call for a recount of vote totals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to a source with knowledge of the request.The computer scientists believe they have found evidence that vote totals in the three states could have been manipulated or hacked and presented their findings to top Clinton aides on a call last Thursday.

The scientists, among them J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, told the Clinton campaign they believe there is a questionable trend of Clinton performing worse in counties that relied on electronic voting machines compared to paper ballots and optical scanners, according to the source.

The group informed John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, and Marc Elias, the campaign's general counsel, that Clinton received 7% fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic voting machines, which the group said could have been hacked.

Their group told Podesta and Elias that while they had not found any evidence of hacking, the pattern needs to be looked at by an independent review.

Neither Halderman nor John Bonifaz, an attorney also pressing the case, responded to requests for comment on Tuesday evening. Their urging was first reported by New York magazine.

COMMENT:  This looks ridiculous.  There isn't even an analysis of how these areas traditionally vote.  Some elements of the press will make a big deal out of this story, but they shouldn't do a thing until digging deeper to see if there is anything of substance here.

November 23, 2016       Permalink

AND ANOTHER – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:  It's now five officers shot in one week.  From Fox: 

A Michigan college police officer was released from surgery and is fighting for his life after being shot in the head while on patrol near campus Tuesday night and a person of interest was arrested.

The Wayne State University officer was identified as 29-year-old Colin Rose, a five-year veteran of the department who works in the canine unit. Detroit Police Chief James Craig was on duty when he radioed to say he was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from cars and SUVs, and was about to speak to someone apparently on a bike.

Officers who arrived on the scene found the officer injured on the ground, Craig said...

...A woman who witnessed the shooting told Fox 2 Detroit it happened while Rose was attempting to apprehend someone.

"The officer was trying to get him to put his arms behind his back." the woman said. "And I'm assuming he didn't want to and he just shot him. We heard one shot and we looked, and the officer was down."

COMMENT:  Let's see if the mainstream media, which is whining over criticism it received from President-elect Trump, will make anything of this.  It's five officers shot in one week, with one dead.  As we've noted, shootings of police officers are up dramatically since last year.

The officer who died had been a member of the San Antonio, Texas, force.   The president-elect phoned his family.

November 23,  2016     Permalink

NOVEMBER 22,  2016

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

INTRIGUING CHOICE FOR THE UN – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  President-elect Donald Trump has picked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be US ambassador to the United Nations, according to a report in The Post and Courier of Charleston, SC. The Palmetto State governor accepted the diplomatic position and a formal announcement was expected to be made on Wednesday morning, according to The Washington Post.  Haley is best known nationally for talking state lawmakers into taking down the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina State House grounds after last year’s Charleston church shootings, which killed nine.   A fine appointment.  Nikki Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India.  She is a woman of color and a solid Republican governor.  She did not support Trump for the nomination, and her selection symbolizes the new president's openness.  The press, of course, will give Trump no credit. 

AND DR. BEN – FROM FOX:   It appears the doctor is in.  Former Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is close to accepting the position of secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet, a GOP source with knowledge of the offer told Fox News late Tuesday.  The source said Carson would consider Trump's offer over the Thanksgiving holiday before making a final decision.  On Tuesday, Carson told Fox News' "Your World with Neil Cavuto" that the HUD position was "one of the offers [from Trump] that is on the table."  "Our inner cities are in terrible shape," Carson said. "And they definitely need some real attention. There have been so many promises made over the last several decades and nothing has been done, so it certainly is something that has been a long-term interest of mine."  At first Carson had said he didn't want to join the government.  That has clearly changed.  He came from a ghetto background and, with his mother's encouragement, became an eminent physician and surgeon. 

THE LEFT NEVER LEARNS – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Hampshire College in Massachusetts has announced that it will no longer fly the U.S. flag at all in response to an incident where the flag was taken down and burned. The president of the college says that by getting rid of the flag the school will be able to focus on other issues like halting Islamophobia and promoting gay rights.  The mess for Hampshire College started a week and a half ago, after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election. The school responded to Trump’s victory by keeping the U.S. flag at half-staff, as if in mourning, which upset some community members. Then, on the night before Veterans Day, somebody took the flag down and set it on fire. While the motive isn’t known, there have been many examples of students burning U.S. flags to protest Trump’s electoral victory.  While the flag was replaced in time for a Veterans Day commemoration, Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash has announced the school won’t be flying the flag at all anymore.  “We will not fly the U.S. flag or any other flags at Hampshire for the time being,” Lash said in a campus-wide email, according to Campus Reform.  Really brilliant, isn't it?  Bow down to the mob.  Hampshire is one of the country's most left-wing colleges, and proves it constantly.

November 22, 2016       Permalink

THE DEM DISASTER – AT 11:47 A.M. ET:   Democrats are holding a variety of head sessions to try to figure out what went wrong.  Actually, some of these meetings seem intelligent.  The adults in the party, both of them, are coming to terms with reality.  From Reuters: 

MONTPELIER, Vt. (Reuters) - Still sifting through the wreckage of the Nov. 8 election, Democratic leaders nationwide are struggling to find a new message to claw back support and avoid years in the political wilderness.

Not only do Republicans control the White House and both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, they now hold 33 governor’s offices.

New England, long considered reliably Democratic, is a prime example of the party's demise.

Republican Phil Scott won in Vermont over Democrat Sue Minter who was criticized, like presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for failing to develop an economic message that resonated with voters worried about good-paying jobs.

Considered a liberal bastion, Vermont has a tradition of sometimes choosing a Republican governor to keep one party from having too much control.

Elsewhere, Republican Chris Sununu will replace a Democratic governor in New Hampshire while Maine and Massachusetts already have Republican governors.

“We lost the governorship of freaking Vermont,” lamented Washington-based Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis. “We didn’t just lose an election. This was a national rebuke. This was biblical.”

Republicans also command 32 state legislatures and have full control -- meaning they hold the governor’s office and both legislative chambers -- in 24 states, including swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. When President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, they controlled just nine.

“There are more Republicans at the state legislative level than there have ever been,” said Tim Storey, an analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Republicans scored a major coup when they seized the Senate in traditionally liberal Minnesota, giving it full control of the legislature, and they gained full control of next-door Iowa.

COMMENT:  Many Americans still don't understand the full extent of the Democratic disaster.  There is so much attention paid to the presidential race that many news organizations give skimpy coverage to the "down ballot" races.  That is where the Republican Party has cleaned up in recent years.  It's hard to find any great victories for the Democrats.  Obama was the exception, not the rule.

Read the whole piece.  Well reported, with the exception of a few snide remarks.

November 22, 2016        Permalink

IRAN WARNING – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:   Former CIA chief Michael Hayden has issued an unusually blunt warning about our softness toward Iran.  Obama won't listen.  Trump should.  From The Hill: 

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said early Sunday that the Obama administration is held hostage by the Iran nuclear agreement.

“We don’t push back on Iran in a whole lot of other places,” Hayden told ABC’s “This Week.”
Hayden, a critic of the Iran deal, said United States foreign policy in the next administration should push back against Iran in Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf states.

“If the Iranians want to walk away from the deal, fine,” he added.

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to get rid of the Iran nuclear agreement.

Hayden has been a critic of Trump, saying in a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month that the president-elect is a "useful tool" of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

COMMENT:  Hayden speaks his mind, and, yes, he is right in saying that Trump must be confronted on his overly friendly attitude toward Putin.  Remember that Obama had the same attitude until reality set in.  As did Hillary Clinton.

But Hayden is also right about Iran.  That country laughs out loud at us, and the laughter has increased since the nuclear deal, a deal in Iran's favor.  Let's see Trump put his policy where his mouth has been.

November 22, 2016       Permalink

ALERT ABOUT EUROPE – AT 8:25 A.M. ET:  Our own State Department has now put out a terror alert on Europe.  Note carefully.  From Reuters: 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department on Monday issued an alert to U.S. citizens about a heightened risk of terrorist attacks throughout Europe, particularly during the holiday season.

"U.S. citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets," it said in a statement, adding that there was credible information that Islamic State, al Qaeda and their affiliates continued to plan attacks in Europe.

The department noted extremists had carried out attacks in Belgium, France, Germany and Turkey in the past year, and said it remains concerned about the potential for attacks throughout Europe.

"U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when attending large holiday events, visiting tourist sites, using public transportation, and frequenting places of worship, restaurants, hotels, etc.," the statement said.

The travel alert expires on Feb. 20, 2017, it said.

COMMENT:  I fear we're asleep again, to be wakened only by the next tragedy.  And remember, America itself is especially vulnerable during times of presidential transition.  Our political class is handing over power, new people are learning their jobs, a festive inauguration is planned.

"Eternal vigilance," the founders said.  Good words.

November 22,  2016     Permalink