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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas.  It's here.

OCTOBER 19,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THE FIGHT FOR NEW YORK – OVERNIGHT:  A critical battleground that will affect who runs the Democratic Party.  From the New York Post:  Gov. Kathy Hochul would handily win a five-way hypothetical Democratic primary for governor that includes her disgraced predecessor Andrew Cuomo, state Attorney General Letitia James, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to a new poll released Tuesday.  Hochul would lead former three-term Gov. Cuomo who resigned in a sexual harassment scandal in August — 31 percent to 17 percent in the Siena College survey of 419 registered Dems.  Cuomo left Albany under the threat of impeachment after an investigative report by AG James’ office concluded he sexually harassed or mistreated multiple women.  James collected just 14 percent in the five way contest.  Williams followed with seven percent support and de Blasio was in the back of the pack with 6 percent.  With Cuomo excluded from the mix, Hochul gets 39 percent of the vote of registered Democratic voters. James 20 percent, de Blasio 10 percent, and Williams eight percent.  In a head-to-head match-up, Hochul leads James with 47 percent backing to 31 percent with the rest undecided.  Public Advocate Jumaane Williams filed to form an exploratory committee to run for governor.  Why is this important?  The hard left  may well make its most dramatic stand in New York, historically a powerful Democratic stronghold and the home of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, leader of the militant left in the House of Representatives.  Next year, New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer is up for re-election.  He is the majority leader of the U. S. Senate, the most powerful senator, with the kind of seniority that gives New York extra influence.  The political gossips here suggest that Ocasio-Cortez may challenge Schumer in a primary, setting up the kind of clash that can fatally split the Democratic Party.  Having a strong, moderate Democratic governor in office is key to preventing the insane ones from moving forward.  True, Hochul has done some things recently to pacify the nuts, but she is at base a member of the moderate majority in her party.  We are going to see, here in New York, serious political bloodshed.

October 19, 2021       Permalink 

AH COURAGE!  HOW RARE IT IS – OVERNIGHT:  One college president is fighting back against the WOKE machine.   It is, naturally, Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, former governor of Indiana, Reagan administration official, outstanding public servant.  We are starting to see other figures in education finally trying to stand up to the mob.  It isn't easy.  From College Fix: 

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels has no plans to cancel a New York University engineering professor’s lecture.

Professor Steven Koonin is set to speak tonight at the Indiana public university “for an hour-long conversation on the proper role of science in advancing knowledge and informing public opinion.” He accepts that climate change is primarily driven by human activity, but is more skeptical of what will happen in the next century with climate change. He also urges more debate on the subject.

“Steven E. Koonin is a genuine example of someone daring to challenge a prevailing orthodoxy,” Daniels wrote in a recent opinion piece for the Washington Post. “Impeccably credentialed both scientifically (New York University physics professor; National Academy of Sciences member; chief scientist for BP, focusing on alternative energy) and politically (undersecretary for science in the Obama Energy Department), Koonin has written probably the year’s most important book,” Daniels said.

“Koonin stipulates firmly that Earth’s climate is changing and becoming warmer, and that human influence is playing a role,” Daniels said. “He is eager to identify and advocate actions that will address these changes effectively.”

“But he is deeply troubled — ‘appalled’ is one of his terms — by the misuse of science, his life’s work, to persuade rather than inform, and by the near-hysterical pressure to stifle and vilify any deviation from the dogma of the day,” the Purdue president and former Republican governor of the Hoosier State said.

But Koonin’s comments and writings should not be heard at Purdue, according to some.

“In his book, ‘Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t and Why it Matters,’ Koonin argues the consensus on climate change is less clear than commonly thought,” the campus paper said. Koonin’s invitation has been “has been criticized by climate scientists and university students,” the Purdue Exponent reported.

“Purdue choosing this speaker is dangerous misinformation,” one student, Daphne Hulse said. “When an institution of higher education that’s known for the leadership on STEM is inviting a debate on climate science, it sends a message of uncertainty to the public.”

Her and Nathan Miller lead the Citizens Climate Lobby chapter at Purdue and plan to circulate an open letter against Koonin. The College Fix messaged Hulse on Facebook on Tuesday morning to ask for a copy of the letter but did not receive a response. She has not posted it on her Twitter page either.

Koonin’s skepticism of the scientific consensus and the community’s approach to publishing is backed up by fact, Daniels said.

“Scientific research has already suffered serious self-inflicted wounds over recent decades. The discovery that as many as half of all published papers cannot pass the basic test of replication has yet to be meaningfully addressed,” Daniels wrote. “Researchers’ deep financial ties to foreign funding sources raise the specter of compromised security and integrity of results.”

“An ethical and responsible scientific community, including those who strongly disagree with Koonin’s findings or conclusions, would welcome his book as the latest contribution to an important debate,” Daniels said.

COMMENT:  Wonderful action, wonderful words, by Mitch Daniels.  This is a man mentioned in the past as a possible presidential candidate.  I wish he had run.

October 19, 2021       Permalink

OCTOBER 18,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

GOOD PARENTS FIND A WAY – OVERNIGHT, From bizpacreview.com:    New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio may have inadvertently started a religious revival in the Big Apple after announcing the elimination of the Gifted & Talented (G&T) program for the city’s schools.  The Diocese of Brooklyn, which serves 1.2 million Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens, noted that their Catholic elementary schools’ enrollment grew by 2.4 percent for the current school year, according to a report by the New York Post.  The increased interest in religious education comes after more than a decade of decline in enrollment for parochial schools in New York.  But this year the tables are turned as public schools in the city have been plagued by low attendance and steep declines in enrollment with nearly 18 percent of New York City school children failing to show up on the first day of instruction. A risqué drag queen performance at a 2017 New York City elementary school talent show probably didn’t help enrollment numbers either.  “The families that came to us last year stayed with us,” Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, superintendent of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s schools explained. “This is a positive time for Catholic education within the diocese […] It is an alternative for families.”  In particular, pre-kindergarten enrollment has skyrocketed with a 20 percent increase in students this year. Chadzutko is hoping to keep 50 to 70 percent of the new enrollees in the diocesan system, which would boost enrollment in future years for elementary and high schools.  Many were enthusiastic about those clamoring to exit the government-run school system, with one person exclaiming, “Awesome! Make America God Again!”  That's good news, and another argument for school choice, with parents applying tax credits to choose the schools they wish for their children.  Anything anti-American about that?  Nope.

October 18, 2021       Permalink 

IN OUR OWN COUNTRY – OVERNIGHT:  I THOUGHT WE THE PEOPLE OWN THIS COUNTRY.  APPARENTLY, I WAS MISINFORMED.  WE'RE JUST NOT THE RIGHT PEOPLE  FROM FOX: 

Planeloads of underage migrants are being flown secretly into suburban New York in an effort by President Biden’s administration to quietly resettle them across the region, The New York Post has learned.   The charter flights originate in Texas, where the ongoing border crisis has overwhelmed local immigration officials, and have been underway since at least August, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Last week, The Post saw two planes land at the Westchester County Airport, where most of the passengers who got off appeared to be children and teens, with a small portion appearing to be men in their 20s.

Westchester County cops stood by as the passengers — whose flights arrived at 10:49 p.m. Wednesday and 9:52 p.m. Friday — got off and piled into buses.

Some of them were later seen meeting up with relatives or sponsors in New Jersey, or being dropped off at a residential facility on Long Island.

A Post analysis of online flight-tracking data suggests that around 2,000 migrants nabbed after sneaking into the US from Mexico have arrived at the airport outside White Plains on 21 flights since Aug. 8.

Records show some of the planes touched down between midnight and 6:30 a.m. — when a voluntary curfew is in effect — with two arriving from Houston at 2:13 a.m. and 4:29 a.m. on Aug. 20.

The clandestine nature of the operation raises questions about how the White House is dealing with a surge in unaccompanied minors.

The most recent figures from US Customs and Border Protection show that just during July and August, 37,805 unaccompanied minors were caught entering the US from Mexico — sometimes after being abandoned by professional smugglers known as "coyotes."

Video shows some children dropped over the border wall or abandoned in remote areas.

A source familiar with the operation at the Westchester airport said the underage migrants typically arrive carrying backpacks and are bused to locations including The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, upstate Newburgh and Bridgeport and Danbury in Connecticut.

On Friday night, one bus left the Westchester airport and barreled down the Hutchinson River Parkway — which is off-limits to commercial vehicles — at speeds greater than 75 mph before crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge.

COMMENT:  Is this any way to run a country?  Urgent Agenda is written in Westchester County.  I know well the locations mentioned in the story.  We never associated them with government smuggling operations.  I guess we were misinformed. 

It is not right.  Immigration should have law and dignity on its side, not secrecy.  This national administration is a disgrace.

October 18, 2021       Permalink