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OCTOBER 30,  2016

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

ANOTHER BRIGHT SPOT GONE – FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:  The days of cheap gas in New Jersey are coming to an end.  A major increase in the gas tax in the Garden State will go into effect Tuesday, raising the tax from 14.5 cents per gallon to 37.5 cents.  Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic-controlled Legislature agreed to the hike because the state had run out of cash to pay for transportation projects.  The 23-cent jump is the first increase in New Jersey’s gas tax since 1988. It had the second lowest fuel tax in the nation after Alaska, but will now have the sixth-highest.  Why do I think this isn't progress?  New Jersey has been a gasoline Mecca.  The market worked and brought plenty of people over the state line to buy gasoline, and then maybe check out other New Jersey shops and malls.  Now that will be destroyed.   Many businesses will go with it.  Good government at work.

THE PRESIDENT'S HOME TOWN – FROM CBS LOCAL:    CBS) — At least 14 people were killed and 38 others have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.  The weekend’s latest homicide happened about 3:15 a.m. Sunday in the Old Town neighborhood on the Near North Side. Two 17-year-old boys were standing outside in the 1300 block of North Hudson, when a dark-colored vehicle drove by and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police.   One teenager was shot in the chest and back and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The other boy suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and head and was also taken to Northwestern, where he was listed in critical condition.  About 15 minutes earlier, a 19-year-old man was killed and a 40-year-old man was wounded in a Near West Side shooting.   And no one seems interested.  What a comment on our society.

"HIGHER" EDUCATION – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   An NYU professor crusading against political correctness and student coddling was booted from the classroom last week after his colleagues complained about his “incivility,” The Post has learned.  Liberal studies prof Michael Rectenwald, 57, said he was forced Wednesday to go on paid leave for the rest of the semester.  “They are actually pushing me out the door for having a different perspective,” the academic told The Post.  Rectenwald launched an undercover Twitter account called Deplorable NYU Prof on Sept. 12 to argue against campus trends like “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings” and other aspects of academia’s growing PC culture.  He chose to be anonymous, he explained in one of his first tweets, because he was afraid “the PC Gestapo would ruin me” if he put his name ­behind his conservative ideas on the famously liberal campus.  What an example to set for our children.  The stench of fascism is in the air.  It would be nice to see some outrage over this in the mainstream media, but don't hold your breath.

October 30, 2016       Permalink

A KEY PRIZE – AT 1:16 P.M. ET:  Florida is one of the major prizes in this year's election.  Donald Trump has gotten some good news about his prospects there.  From the New York Post: 

Donald Trump is beating Hillary Clinton by four points in the crucial battleground state of Florida, according to a newly released poll.

The New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll shows Trump receiving the support of 46 percent of likely Florida voters, while Clinton is at 42 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is at 4 percent, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein is at 2 percent.

The poll shows Clinton leading women by a 7-percentage point lead (previously she had a ten point lead), while Trump has grown his lead among men to 18 points (previously it was 9).

Among white voters, Trump has a massive lead, 58 percent to Clinton’s 29 percent. But Clinton has a significant edge with black voters (81 percent to 11 percent) and Hispanics/Latinos (59 percent to 30 percent).

“Both Trump and Clinton continue to hold tremendous leads with voters from their own party but self- identified independents have moved from leaning to Trump by two points to now giving the Republican a twelve point advantage as support for Johnson has been cut in half,” said Siena College pollster Don Levy.

COMMENT:  This election is clearly turning into a horse race, although we still have more than a week to go, and we don't know what new bombshells will burst...on either campaign.  But there are clear indications of progress for Trump.  Now the question is whether he can be disciplined as the campaign winds down.

October 30, 2016        Permalink

SILLY! – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:   The Dems are out claiming, in tones approaching hysteria, that FBI Director James Comey should be drawn and quartered because he broke Justice Department protocol Friday by commenting on an ongoing investigation, and sending a letter to Congress revealing that new e-mails had been found that might relate to Clinton World, which is not a vacation getaway in Florida.  But wait.  Did Comey actually break protocol?  No, says John Hinderaker at Powerline:

More to the point, however, Comey did not, in the first instance, make public comment on a pending investigation. While the investigation was going on, the FBI remained silent. It was when the investigation was over and the decision had been made not to charge Mrs. Clinton that Comey publicly explained, and then was called before a Congressional committee to testify about, his rationale.

That action, which was publicly applauded by the Democrats, led directly to Thursday’s communication with Congressional committee chairmen. Comey wrote to tell them that his testimony, under oath, that the Clinton investigation had been concluded was no longer accurate, in view of the newly-discovered emails.

One can agree or disagree with Comey’s course of action, but to denounce it as unprecedented meddling in politics, in violation of DOJ policy, is, in my view, silly.

COMMENT:   Yes, it is silly.  The director acted appropriately.   Just as important, he acted independently.  We now see the value in the statute that gives the FBI director a ten-year term, not subject to political interference.

The story is still developing.  This will be a fascinating nine days, culminating in a presidential election.

October 30, 2016       Permalink

THE IMPACT – AT 11:22 A.M. ET:  We're starting to see the first impact of the FBI story on the presidential campaign.  From The Hill: 

Donald Trump has surged to within 1 point of Hillary Clinton in a national poll released Sunday morning.

Clinton leads Trump, 46 percent to 45 percent, in a four-way race including Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein in the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll. Johnson has 4 percent support, while Stein has 2 percent.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, led Trump by 12 points in that poll, 50 percent to 38 percent, early last week.

Clinton leads Trump, the Republican nominee, by 3 points in a head-to-head matchup in the new poll, 49 percent to 47 percent.

About a third of all likely voters said they are less likely to support the Democratic nominee in light of news that the FBI is investigating more emails connected to Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State, ABC News noted. Seven percent of Clinton supporters say the new review makes them less likely to support her.

More than half of likely voters, 60 percent, expect Clinton will become the next president. She is seen as more qualified than the billionaire by an 18-point margin. She has a narrower 8-point edge over Trump on the question of which candidate has a stronger moral character.

The candidates are separated by only 3 points when likely voters are asked which candidate better understands “the problems of people like you,” with 46 percent of likely voters saying it’s Clinton and 43 percent selecting Trump.

The poll of 1,160 likely voters, conducted Oct. 25–28, has a margin of error of 3 points.

COMMENT:  Please note the dates of the poll.  The announcement by FBI Director James Comey that new e-mails possibly relating to the probe into Hillary Clinton have been found was made on the 28th, Friday.  So that announcement impacted only one day of the three-day poll.  It's possible that greater impact will be seen in poll results announced over the next two or three days.

October 30,  2016     Permalink

OCTOBER 29,  2016

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

NOTHING TO SEE, NOTHING TO SEE – FROM CBS CHICAGO:   CHICAGO (CBS) — Susie Sallee was buried in 1998. Yet records show she voted in Chicago 12 years later.  Victor Crosswell died in 1994, but records show he’s voted six times since then.  And then there’s Floyd Stevens. Records show he’s voted 11 times since his death in 1993.  “It’s crazy,” Sharon Stevens Anderson, Stevens’ daughter, tells CBS 2’s Pam Zekman. “I don’t see how people can be able to do something like that and get away with it.”  Those are just a few of the cases CBS 2 Investigators found by merging Chicago Board of Election voter histories with the death master file from the Social Security Administration.  In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.  And I say their citizenship should be praised.

HUMA AT HOME – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   One day after Hillary Clinton's campaign was rocked after the FBI sensationally reopened its investigation during its probe of Anthony Weiner sexting a 15-year-old girl, his estranged wife was huddled up at her New York City apartment.  Huma Abedin remained home on Saturday, after the online sexting habits of her husband, Anthony Weiner, upended her longtime boss's presidential campaign.   A solemn-looking Abedin could be seen inside her Gramercy Park apartment in loungewear as she spent time with her mother and sister.  On Friday, the FBI revealed that it had found government-related emails on a laptop Abedin shared with her disgraced, former Congressman husband Weiner.  Detectives had seized the laptop, which contains 'tens of thousands of emails', in a separate investigation involving alleged sexts Weiner sent to a 15-year-old, first exposed by DailyMail.com.  A quiet New York weekend planning her legal defense.  How liberal.

COMMON SENSE – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:   Bucking the free-speech zone trend, Kansas State University is telling students they are legally permitted to demonstrate or protest anywhere they want for any cause they want.  “The whole campus is a free speech area,” the K-State Office of General Counsel states in its October legal briefing, noting that as a public university, the school cannot and will not require anyone to register with the university prior to having a public demonstration or protest.  “As a general rule, there is no right to not be offended.”  Even when the speech in question is “controversial or offending,” such as a speaker shouting derogatory remarks at passersby, the school’s attorneys declare emphatically that only behaviors rising to the level of criminality are subject to intervention.  “As a general rule, there is no right to not be offended,” they point out, arguing that “if the government started shutting down speech that is offensive to some, it would end up shutting down all speech, because virtually everything can be offensive to some.”  “As the U.S. Supreme Court stated in 1989 in Texas v. Johnson: ‘If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because it finds it offensive or disagreeable,’” the briefing notes.  A rare moment of clarity in the academic world.

October 29, 2016       Permalink

MORE TROUBLE AT JUSTICE – AT 1:48 P.M. ET:  The e-mail probe is not the only issue pressing on the Justice Department.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch has another problem, potentially just as explosive.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration’s secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has “pleaded the Fifth” Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) initially presented Lynch in October with a series of questions about how the cash payment to Iran was approved and delivered.

In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynch’s behalf, refusing to answer the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages from Iran.

The response from the attorney general’s office is “unacceptable” and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen to “essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” Rubio and Pompeo wrote on Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained by the Free Beacon.

COMMENT:   This administration believes it's above the law.  It is making arrangements with Iran that could involve the fate of millions of people in years ahead, and yet it is totally unaccountable.  Naturally, not too many in the mainstream media have any problem with this behavior.   Barack's legacy is much more important.

October 29, 2016       Permalink

WEIRD, MAN – AT 12:08 P.M. ET:  As readers know, and for which some of you have criticized me by e-mail, my enthusiasm for Donald Trump has been limited.   But I must report something really spooky, and Trump must be given credit for his instincts.  From Fox: 

The FBI announced Friday it had uncovered news emails related to its investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton‘s handling of classified information while conducting a separate investigation into the pervy sexting habits of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner of course is the estranged husband of Hillary’s closest aide, Huma Abedin who herself figures prominently in Clinton’s email scandals.

The FBI announced Friday it had uncovered news emails related to its investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton‘s handling of classified information while conducting a separate investigation into the pervy sexting habits of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner of course is the estranged husband of Hillary’s closest aide, Huma Abedin who herself figures prominently in Clinton’s email scandals.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump saw this coming from a mile away, fingering Weiner as a potential national security threat all the way back in August of 2015. “It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary’s private illegal emails,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Huma’s PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world.”

Abedin recently announced the couple’s separation after Weiner became embroiled in a new series of embarrassing online sexting scandals, including one allegedly involving an underage girl that prompted the FBI to investigate.

One month earlier, Trump said he didn’t like the thought of “Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets.”

Trump was sounding the alarm about Weiner as early September 2013, when he wrote that Huma should “dump the sicko Weiner” because he was “a calamity who is bringing her down with him.”

COMMENT:  Gotta give Trump credit.  He nailed it early. 

October 29, 2016       Permalink

YIKES! – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:   What else do you say?  FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress yesterday informing the legislative branch that new e-mails relating to the Bureau's probe of Hillary Clinton had turned up, is truly the proverbial "bombshell," which some cheer, and others dread, toward the end of a presidential campaign.

It is a bombshell because it puts a negative focus back on Clinton at the time she least needs it.  According to the mainstream media, she was cruising to victory.

But was she?

A bombshell's impact is made much greater when it reinforces a feeling that is already there.  Those who doubt a candidate become more doubtful.  Those who lean toward the opposition candidate lean further.

And we have now the stunning results of the Washington Post tracking poll, done before the bombshell even exploded.  From The Hill: 

Donald Trump has closed to within reach of Hillary Clinton nationally, one tracking poll has found.

Clinton has 47 percent support to Trump’s 45 percent, according to the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll released Saturday morning.

Clinton led the poll by 12 points as recently as last weekend. Since that time, Clinton has lost three points while Trump has gained seven points.

The poll was taken entirely before Friday’s revelation that the FBI is taking “appropriate investigative steps” after discovering more emails pertaining to its investigation into Clinton’s private email server.

Trump delighted in the agency’s announcement, while those close to Clinton expressed anger and disbelief.

The poll was conducted Oct. 24-27 among 1,148 likely voters. It has a margin of error of three points.

COMMENT:  If the poll is accurate, Hillary Clinton was in near collapse during the week.  Apparently, from other reporting, we learn that the poll detected shifts in the definition of who the likely voters were.  We have, during this campaign, wondered who would actually vote.

And Trump had an unusually good week, giving several well-received, serious speeches.

The election is a week from Tuesday.  We have yet to measure the impact of Comey's letter.  It may have no impact at all.  It may, though, reinforce previous doubts about Clinton.  Or...there may be a sympathy backlash, drawn from the belief that she's being treated unfairly.

It is ugly stuff.  But what looked like a relatively easy win for Hillary Clinton may not be so easy after all, and may not be a win.

October 29,  2016     Permalink