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OCTOBER 12,   2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:   

JOE BIDEN'S "TITANIC" MOMENT – FROM DAILY MAIL:    President Joe Biden's approval rating is 10 points behind President Barack Obama's at this point in Obama's presidency, as Biden's numbers have been battered by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues.   The Real Clear Politics polling average for Obama on October, 11 2009 stood at 53 per cent approval and 40 per cent disapproval, while Biden currently stands at 43 per cent approval and 52.3 per cent disapproval.  A new Axios/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that Americans are getting more pessimistic about the pandemic, and losing trust in Biden at the same time.   The poll found that currently 42 per cent of Americans surveyed trusted Biden a great deal or a fair amount on COVID-19.   That number, however, represents a seven per cent drop from last month and a 10 per cent drop from six months ago.   It was 16 points higher when Biden was sworn-in in January. 
Biden is also losing ground among members of his own party.    While 81 per cent of Democrats surveyed said they trusted Biden a fair amount, only one in three said they trusted the Democratic president 'a great deal.'   In June 45 per cent of Democrats said they trusted Biden on COVID-19 'a great deal.'   Generally, Americans believed returning to their 'normal, pre-COVID life,' is getting farther away, the Axios/Ipsos poll found.  A nation in gloom.  It reminds me of the Jimmy Carter period, when the pundits spoke of a great national malaise.  Of course, Carter was a big part of that malaise.  It seemed to end when he departed Washington and Ronald Reagan moved in.  I'm not so sure that the current malaise can end on Biden's watch, or on Kamala's.  The country is ripe for another Reagan, but I don't see him.   

October 12, 2021       Permalink

THE DEATH OF THE CITY BY THE BAY – OVERNIGHT:  San Francisco was, until recently, seen as one of the nation's gems.  The city by the bay, the elegant town sung about by Judy Garland and Tony Bennett, a symbol of rebirth after the 1906 earthquake, a place known to thousands of GI's on their way to the Pacific theater in World War II.  But that is not the city we see today, after years of leftist leadership and ruin.  It is so sad.  From Fox Business: 

Walgreens said Tuesday that it will be closing another five San Francisco locations, citing the ongoing rampant theft plaguing the city.

"Due to ongoing organized retail crime, we have made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco," a Walgreens spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement. "Each store will transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location within a mile radius and we expect to place the stores’ team members in other nearby locations."

"Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that," the spokesperson continued. "Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment."

The stores closing in the coming weeks are at 2250 Ocean Ave, 4645 Mission Street, 745 Clement Street, 300 Gough Street and 3400 Cesar Chavez Street.

Walgreens has shuttered at least 10 of its stores in the city since the beginning of 2019, according to the San Francisco Gate.

Over the summer, the California Retailers Association reported that San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento have some of the highest organized retail crime in the nation. 

Critics blame a referendum California passed in 2014, which downgraded theft of property to a misdemeanor as long as its value is $950 or less. 

COMMENT:  San Francisco also has a Soros-funded ultra-progressive D.A., a sure formula for increased crime.  And the city is plagued by homeless vagrants.

It's hard to see how the city can get out of its mess, especially since the state of California is governed by the same mentality that laid San Francisco low. 

The city needs to have new, practical government.  And a crusading newspaper, to the right of Karl Marx, would also help.  Neither is in prospect. 

October 12,  2021     Permalink

OCTOBER 11,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THE INTELLECTUALISM OF KAMALA HARRIS – FROM FOX:   Vice President Kamala Harris is getting roasted on social media after appearing in a NASA video for kids while the Biden administration’s approval ratings continue on a downward slide.  Harris, who serves as chair of the National Space Council, talked to kids about her fixation with the "craters on the moon" during a NASA video on YouTube honoring World Space Week.  In the video, the vice president hosted the kids and gave them life advice at her official residence in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Naval Observatory is located.  "You know, one of the most important pieces of advice that I can offer you guys, and I want you to really remember this: Never let anybody tell you who you are, you tell them who you are," Harris said in the video. "Never let anybody suggest to you that you are what they think you should be, you tell them who you are and who you know you are, and what you intend to be. Got that?"  Harris also talked about her own passion for science and "exploring the unknown," as well as what the kids could expect during their trip to the observatory.  "You’re gonna literally see the craters on the moon with your own eyes!" Harris exclaimed. "With your own eyes! I’m telling you, it is gonna be unbelievable."  Someone tell the vice president that we were seeing craters on the Moon decades ago, and some of her fellow Americans actually walked in some.  Yikes!  Unbelievable!

October 11, 2021       Permalink

A TRULY GREAT MOMENT – OVERNIGHT:  Cancel culture can be defeated, sometimes overwhelmingly.  We've just seen a great moment at Princeton.  From Fox: 

Cancel culture seemed to have backfired in one instance, as thousands have registered to attend a guest lecture at Princeton University by a geophysics professor whose initial speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was canceled amid pressure from campus activists.

"I'm delighted to report that we've expanded the Zoom quota for Dr. Dorian Abbot's Princeton lecture – the one shockingly and shamefully canceled by MIT – and literally thousands of people have registered," Princeton professor Robert P. George tweeted on Monday.

The lecture, titled "Climate and the Potential for Life on Other Planets," is scheduled to take place via Zoom at 4:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 21 – the same day it had been scheduled to take place at MIT.

George, who is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, wrote in a follow-up tweet Tuesday, "I extend a special invitation to those MIT students, faculty, and alumni who believe in truth-seeking and understand that its indispensable conditions include freedom of thought, inquiry, and discussion, to Zoom into Dr. Dorian Abbot's Princeton lecture. #solidarityintruthseeking."

Dr. Dorian Abbot, a geophysical sciences associate professor at the University of Chicago, was slated to deliver the John Carlson Lecture, which is billed by MIT as an annual lecture meant to communicate "exciting new results in climate science to the general public," in light of his research on climate change. But MIT retracted his invitation, not because of the content of his planned lecture, but instead after activists and MIT academics took issue with Abbot's past comments arguing academic evaluations should be based on merit, not on race or ethnic identity.

Abbot, and his colleague, Ivan Marinovic, had criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by universities and some employers in an August opinion piece for Newsweek titled "The Diversity Problem on Campus."

After MIT announced it had canceled Abbot’s participation in the lecture, the geophysicist wrote a piece on the "Common Sense with Bari Weiss" substack noting that, "a small group of ideologues mounted a Twitter campaign to cancel a distinguished science lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because they disagreed with some of the political positions the speaker had taken."

"I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter," Abbot wrote. "This is not a partisan issue. Anyone who is interested in the pursuit of truth and in promoting a healthy and functioning society has a stake in this debate. Speaking out now may seem risky. But the cost of remaining silent is far steeper."

COMMENT:  The fact that thousands have registered is inspiring.  It also directs us to a new path around cancel culture on college campuses.  If a speaker is cancelled because of the pressure of the mob, find another way for that speaker to speak to the same audience.  Clearly, that takes us to online programs, either through Zoom or other venues. 

We can defeat the thugs.  We're now seeing a real parents movement growing up in America, to fight back against the takeover of school boards by the political left.  Is this the counter-revolution we'd been waiting for?   I hope it is.  It would be helped mightily if the Republicans take over Congress next year. I sense the momentum.

October 11, 2021       Permalink