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AUGUST 28,  2016

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

GREAT MOMENTS IN BROADCASTING – FROM AP:   LONDON (AP) -- One of Britain's leading broadcasters has blacked out its programs for an hour in hopes of spurring viewers to get some exercise.  ITV shut down broadcasts on several of its channels Saturday morning as part of its effort to entice UK citizens to sports clubs, which are being opened for free this weekend as part of a national event called "I Am Team GB."   Many viewers lauded ITV's challenge to couch potatoes, describing on social media the activities they'd been inspired to do.  Others, predictably, stuck to their sofas and poked fun at the gesture, describing the blank screens as the best entertainment they'd ever seen on ITV. One viewer said his remote-control thumb had a good workout.  It's a great idea.   MSNBC could shut down for five hours a day and urge viewers to spend the time looking for honest journalism.  Maybe that'll take ten hours.

NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW – FROM THE SMOKING GUN:   A U.S. Postal Service employee stashed nearly 50,000 pieces of undelivered mail in her California home, according to a criminal information filed against the worker.  Federal investigators charge that Sherry Watanabe hid "approximately 48,288 pieces of United States mail" in her apartment. The mail was intended for delivery to customers along Watanabe’s route in Placentia, an Orange County city.  Watanabe, 48, was named in a one-count felony criminal information filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Watanabe has admitted to the mail hoarding.  According to the plea agreement, Watanabe was hired as a mail carrier in June 2006, and she began collecting “large quantities of such mail” in her Placentia residence in 2011. While the undelivered mail was seized by law enforcement agents in late-2013, court filings do not indicate why more than two years passed before Watanabe was charged.  It probably took that long for the charges to reach the courthouse via mail.

OVERPAID – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Furious San Francisco 49ers fans are burning Colin Kaepernick jerseys after he refused to stand for the national anthem as part of a racial protest.  One fan even played The Star-Spangled Banner as he set light to the Number 7 shirt, watching with his hand on his chest as it was reduced to ash.  Another, who uploaded a video to Instagram under the handle Nate3914, called the $19-million-per-year athlete an 'ignorant son of a b****.'   He has a perfect right not to stand, and the fans have a perfect right to judge him for it.  The right side will win out, believe me.

August 28, 2016       Permalink

NAACP FIGHTS AGAINST BLACK CHILDREN – AT 1:31 P.M. ET:   Why should we be shocked?  So-called "ethnic" interest groups often operate against the interests of their followers, and for the interests of their leaders and powerful associates.  This is a must-read, a devastating piece from The Wall Street Journal: 

Interest groups tend to care more about money and influence than the people they represent, but some sellouts deserve special attention. Here’s one: The outfit that helped end segregation in public education now works to trap poor and minority kids in dysfunctional schools.

Last month the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People introduced a resolution at its national convention in Cincinnati calling for a moratorium on charter schools, which are public but free from union rules and control. The measure also says the NAACP “will continue to advocate against any state or Federal legislation” that “commits or diverts public funding” to private or charter schools. The resolution must be formally adopted at a board meeting later this year.

Some 28% of charter-school students are black, which is almost double the figure for traditional public schools. A report last year from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that across 41 urban areas black students in charters gained on average 36 extra days in math learning a year and 26 in reading while Hispanic students gained 22 in math and six in reading. Black students in poverty notched 59 more days in math. This is the definition of “advancement.”

The NAACP didn’t bother to ask black parents what they think: A 2013 poll of black voters in four southern states by the Black Alliance for Educational Options found that at least 85% agreed that “government should provide parents with as many choices as possible.” No less than half in every state supported charter schools. Another sign of support is the hundreds of thousands of black students nationwide who sign up for lotteries for a seat at a charter.

COMMENT:  Eric Hoffer, the "longshoreman philosopher" of the 1950s, said that all causes become businesses, then they become rackets.  The NAACP, like many similar organizations, is taking that path.  It seems to exist primarily for special interests.  The "feminist" groups are equally bad.  They often appear indifferent to the real needs of woman, especially women living under Muslim regimes, but very sensitive to the needs of leftist party liners.

Always be careful about "leaders" who say they love you.

August 28, 2016       Permalink

OH, THE EMBARRASSMENT – AT 12:15 P.M. ET:   Of course, we're not supposed to judge public figures by the company they keep.  That's guilt by association, isn't it?  Yes, indeed.  And let's do it anyway.  From the New York Post: 

As secretary of state, women’s-rights champ Hillary Clinton not only spoke at a Saudi girls school run by her top aide Huma Abedin’s ­anti-feminist mother, but Clinton invited the elder Abedin to participate in a State Department event for “leading thinkers” on women’s issues.

This happened despite evidence at the time that Saleha M. Abedin had explored the religious merits of sexual submissiveness, child marriage, lashings and stonings for adulterous women, and even the circumcision of girls.

The elder Abedin, whose daughter helps run Clinton’s presidential campaign, did take a pro-gender-equality stance on at least one issue: Muslim women’s right to participate in violent jihad alongside men.

As The Post first reported, Huma’s mom edits the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, which has suggested that America had 9/11 coming to it, because of “sanctions” and “injustices” the US allegedly imposed on the Muslim world.

The journal also opposed women’s rights as un-Islamic, arguing that “‘empowerment’ of women does more harm than benefit.”

But that’s not all.

In 1999, Saleha translated and edited a book titled “Women in Islam: A Discourse in Rights and Obligations,” published by the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Written by her Saudi colleague Fatima Naseef, the book explains that the stoning and lashing of adulterers, the killing of apostates, sexual submissiveness and even female genital mutilation are all permissible practices under Sharia law.

COMMENT:  Perhaps the Democratic candidate can explain this to her public.  Perhaps she can explain it to so-called "women's" groups, which often seem mighty silent when women's rights are really in jeopardy.  Mustn't interfere, after all, with the leftist party line. 

Wake me when you see one national journalist asking Hillary about this. 

August 28, 2016       Permalink

THE TREND AGAINST HILLARY – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  Each individual poll is independent, but there does seem to be a trend – of uncertain duration – against Hillary Clinton.  From The Hill, this morning:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump has been halved in one week in a new national poll.

Clinton leads Trump by 3 points, 43 percent to 40 percent, in a head-to-head match-up in the Morning Consult poll released Sunday morning.

One week ago, Clinton led Trump by 6 points, 44 percent to 38 percent.

Voters view both candidates unfavorably, pollsters found, with 58 percent holding a negative view of Trump and 57 percent saying the same about Clinton.

Clinton has the support of 79 percent of African-Americans, compared to 5 percent of black voters who back Trump.

Trump also trails Clinton among women, 44 percent to 35 percent.

The new poll of 2,007 registered voters, conducted Aug. 24–26, has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

COMMENT:  Care must be taken.  This is a national poll, and we vote by states.  Indeed, I think it's quite possible that Trump will catch Hillary in the national polls, but lose the election in the electoral college.  It happened to Al Gore. 

It's also possible for Hillary or Trump to win by getting far below 50% in the vote.  Happened to Bill Clinton in 1992. 

I was intrigued by one number in this one poll – that Hillary is only getting 79% of the black vote.  That's not great for a Democrat.  It may be verified by Trump's own internal polling, which may be why Trump is now going all out to reach black voters.  If he can cut into the black vote, he can win the election.  Ditto the Hispanic vote, which the Republicans have thrown away in recent years.  Trump has much to say to Hispanics about employment and education, but he has botched the job thus far with his confused, overheated rhetoric about immigration.

We've reported that the Democratic strategy appears to be to run out the clock, to have Clinton "sit on her lead."  The election will be held in two months and a week and a half.  That's a long time to sit on a lead.

August 28,  2016     Permalink 

AUGUST 27,  2016

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

HIGHER EDUCATION – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  A University of Iowa professor is asking the athletics department to make the university’s mascot, Herky the Hawk, display friendlier facial expressions, arguing that his angry grimace is traumatizing students.  “I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages,” Resmiye Oral, a clinical professor of pediatrics, wrote Tuesday in an email to athletic department officials, obtained by the Iowa City Press-Citizen.  “And our campus community is doing a great job in that regard when it comes to words. However, Herky’s angry, to say the least, faces conveying an invitation to aggressivity and even violence are not compatible with the verbal messages that we try to convey to and instill in our students and campus community,” she argued.  Ms. Oral told the Press-Citizen that she has been concerned for some time about Herky the Hawk’s lack of emotional diversity.   School mascots are definitely a threat to the peace and to civilization.  I'm shocked that so little has been done to ease this menace thus far.  We are barbarians.

BRING BACK GERSHWIN – FROM FOX:   An Oregon school district has discussed reversing its ban on rap music on buses after allegations of racism.  The Oregonian reported Wednesday that Portland Public Schools had ordered its bus drivers to stop playing hip-hop music after it deemed rap “inappropriate.”  Teri Brady, the senior director of transportation in the district, sent a memo to bus drivers in March ordering them to stop playing “religious, rap music or talk show programs.” The only acceptable music to play was pop, country and jazz, according to The Oregonian.  The paper reported that a parent, Colleen Ryan-Onken, obtained a copy of the directive and began to send it around to parents this month. Parents’ outrage over the memo forced the district to walk back on their order.  "We regret the way this was communicated. Our intent is to limit student exposure to religious teachings, profanity and violent lyrics," Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Courtney Westling said in a statement. “The transportation department will be revising its guidance to bus drivers shortly to be more inclusive of different genres of music."  The school system should stand its ground.  It is not racism to screen out violent or obscene lyrics.  Those who say it is are reflecting badly on African-Americans.  There are plenty of black performers, composers and lyricists whose work is perfectly fine. 

THE DEATH OF CHICAGO – FROM REUTERS:   In a city with as many as 90 shootings a week, homicides this year are on track to hit their highest level since 1997.  Chicago's murder clearance rate, a measurement of solved and closed cases, is one of the country's lowest, another sign of problems besetting police in the third biggest city in the United States.  Over the past 10 years Chicago has consistently had one of the lowest clearance rates of any of the country's 10 biggest cities, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Chicago Police Department...The number of detectives on the Chicago police force has dropped to 922 from 1,252 in 2008. One detective who retired two months ago said investigators are overwhelmed. Not all of the detectives are assigned exclusively to homicide cases.  "You get so many cases you could not do an honest investigation on three-quarters of them," he said in an interview. "The guys ... are trying to investigate one homicide and they are sent out the next day on a brand new homicide or a double."  The president's home city.  Utterly pathetic. 

August 27,  2016     Permalink 

LATEST ACADEMIC FIND – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:   I rushed to get this to you as soon as possible.  I can't see how we did without it.  From Heatstreet: 

The sociology department of the University of Pennsylvania is tackling only the most important issues of our time.

It has a paper in the most recent issue of Social Psychology Quarterly examining the various ways zoos are cesspools of dangerous gender stereotypes that parents (intentionally or inadvertently) reinforce with their kids. You’ll have to pay to read the full article (or have a subscription to Social Psychology Quarterly), but you can get the gist of the paper from its abstract.

The study says that adults seem to want to characterize zoo animals according to “binary” gender terminology, forcing the camels and penguins and elephants of this world to conform to either “male” or “female,” even though those particular zoo animals haven’t truly examined whether they would like to identify as their birth gender. Although zoology does allow for checking the actual sex of an animal, adults should, apparently, refrain from referring to zoo animals as a “girl” or a “boy,” unless they’ve asked the said animals.

Another problem: Parents tend to use zoo exhibits to model traditional family roles. The study says “adults mobilize zoo exhibits as props for modeling their own normative gender displays.”

Talking about “mother” and “father” animals, then, forces children to believe in traditional, gender constructs, which could harm their psyches as they grow older. Children will question whether their parents will love them even if they don’t fit a typical gender definition—all because that giraffe was characterized as male or female.

All of this makes the search for one’s place on the gender spectrum a difficult journey, apparently. No doubt, the UPenn sociology department would recommend that signs in zoos be changed to reflect a more fluid approach to wild animal sexuality.

COMMENT:  Please memorize and discuss at the next liberal cocktail party you attend...if you can get an invitation. 

August 27, 2016       Permalink

GUESS WHO CAME TO BREAKFAST – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:   Hillary Clinton, late of the Clinton Foundation and author of "E-Mail for Dummies," was in our fair city of White Plains, New York, a couple of hours ago, getting a classified national-security briefing.  (Given her history, I hope it stays classified for more than an hour.)  As I understand it, she was at the FBI office across the street from Bloomingdale's.  Maybe she dropped into the store for a new frock.   Perhaps she'll favor something with deep pockets, for both cash and smart phones.

In the meantime, the political knives are out, and pointed in her direction.  From Daily Caller:

A liberal journalist who has moderated forums hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative offered a brutal takedown of the organization, describing it as “creepy,” “disgusting” and “gross.”

Adam Davidson, who hosts a show for NPR and has written for New York Magazine, also said during an appearance on Slate’s “Political Gabfest” podcast this week, that the Bill and Hillary Clinton-controlled group’s events are “all about buying access.”

And later in the podcast, he said that the Clinton Foundation has made the Clintons “beholden to scumbags.”

Davidson’s harsh critique comes as Hillary Clinton faces accusations that her family charities are massive pay-for-play schemes. An AP investigation found that more than half of the private individuals Clinton met with as secretary of state were Clinton Foundation donors.

The pressure over the apparent conflicts of interest forced the Clintons to pledge to start limiting who can donate to the Clinton Foundation and other affiliated groups if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

Davidson was relentless in his critique of the Clinton-controlled entities.

“And there is a real creepy vibe, to me, personally, at the Clinton Global Initiative,” Davidson said during the podcast, IJ Review notes.

COMMENT:  It's drip, drip, drip.  And you get the feeling that the gun is starting to smoke.  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said this past week that he has more information on Hillary that he'll be releasing.  We also believe that the U.S. Attorney's office in New York is probing the Clinton Foundation.

The Clinton strategy, as it was described by insiders in recent days, is to run out the clock, hoping to hold on to the candidate's lead until the election is won.  It's a risky strategy, especially as that lead appears to be shrinking.

August 27, 2016       Permalink

IS TRUMP CLOSING THE GAP? – AT 11:22 A.M. ET:  We must ask it as a question because the polls are so uncertain this year.  There are polls out showing Clinton with a double-digit lead, and others that show essentially a deadlock.  The latest, from Reuters, shows a tightening race: 

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads her Republican rival Donald Trump by 5 percentage points among likely voters, down from a peak this month of 12 points, according to the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on Friday.

The Aug. 22-25 opinion poll found that 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, while 36 percent supported Trump. Some 23 percent would not pick either candidate and answered “refused,” “other” or “wouldn’t vote.”

Clinton, a former secretary of state, has led real estate developer Trump in the poll since Democrats and Republicans ended their national conventions and formally nominated their presidential candidates in July. Her level of support has varied between 41 and 45 percent during that period, and her lead over Trump in the tracking poll peaked this month at 12 percentage points on Tuesday.

COMMENT:  It's clear that the chronic controversies surrounding Clinton are having their effect.  It's also clear that the lopsided favoritism toward Clinton in the mass media may be backfiring, or at least written off by many voters.

But the main event starts next week – the post-Labor Day fall campaign.  All the current polls will be forgotten.   We have two unpopular candidates running.  Which one will prove the least objectionable to the voters?

Also, we'll begin to see state polls in the critical U.S. Senate races.  If Hillary is elected, and the Dems can regain the Senate, Hillary's Supreme Court nominees will have easy sailing.  Not so if the GOP holds on to the Senate.

August 27,  2016     Permalink