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LAST SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE OF 2016

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

DECEMBER 5,   2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

INCREDIBLE – FROM THE DETROIT NEWS:   One-third of precincts in Wayne County could be disqualified from an unprecedented statewide recount of presidential election results because of problems with ballots.  Michigan’s largest county voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but officials couldn’t reconcile vote totals for 610 of 1,680 precincts during a countywide canvass of vote results late last month.  Most of those are in heavily Democratic Detroit, where the number of ballots in precinct poll books did not match those of voting machine printout reports in 59 percent of precincts, 392 of 662.  Voter fraud?  Did anyone say voter fraud?

ONCE A NUT, ALWAYS A NUT – FROM AP:   House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is calling the decision to tap Ben Carson as head of Housing and Urban Development a “disconcerting and disturbingly unqualified choice.”  Pelosi says the country deserves someone with “relevant experience” to protect the rights of homeowners and renters.  In her statement released Monday, she says “there is no evidence that Dr. Carson brings the necessary credentials to hold a position with such immense responsibilities and impact on families and communities across America.”  Oh let's see.  He grew up in the ghetto, worked with urban children as a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, takes an active and personal interest in changing the culture of the inner city.  What could a person like that possibly know?  But Carson is a black conservative, and, like Clarence Thomas, will be worked over pretty hard by Congressional liberals who consider him a group traitor.

IS SHE SERIOUS? – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are throwing a party at the Plaza hotel on Dec. 15 to thank those who donated millions to the campaign.  The party will be held in the Grand Ballroom on the third floor, to honor the Hillary for America finance leadership council.  Guests expected are big bundlers including Harvey Weinstein, Anna Wintour, Alan Patricof, Tory Burch and Marc Lasry.  One insider said, “Hopefully there’s no balconies so nobody can jump.”  Unusually, Kaine is throwing his own holiday celebration in NYC earlier the same day.  The insider mused, “Is he trying to keep the donor network alive for a presidential run?”  I guess this is the way the top Democrats are reconnecting with the average American. 

December 5, 2016       Permalink

SUICIDE – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:   Is the Democratic Party truly trying to commit suicide?  It looks that way.  The Dems appear to have learned nothing from the recent shellacking they took, from the top of the ticket to the bottom.  Now they are poised to elect one of the most radical members of Congress to the exalted post of party chairman.  From Daily Caller:

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, widely considered a frontrunner to be the next Democratic National Committee chair, says House Democrats will do nothing but “vote no” in the coming years under the new Trump administration.

Ellison, who has faced questions over whether he can juggle both working in Congress and rebuilding a depleted Democratic Party, defended himself at a party meeting on Friday by suggesting that working as a Democratic congressman won’t require much effort.

“I’m in the process of deciding this issue of whether I can perform both roles,” Ellison said, according to the New York Times. Referring to his work in the House, he said that “All there is to do is to vote ‘no’.”

Ellison then promised that “every other moment” not spent voting “no” will be devoted to his work for the DNC.

Is this man serious?  What an advertisement for the role of congressman!  I guess he comes from a safe district, and is guaranteed re-election to the end of his days. 

Whether Ellison can efficiently work both jobs is just one of several concerns raised about the Minnesota Democrat.

Ellison’s past is littered with radical positions that he has since attempted to walk back. (

In 2009, Ellison campaigned on behalf of a Libyan-born Muslim who called for Palestinians to embrace “the jihad way.”

Ellison once advocated for American blacks to have their own nation and called the U.S. Constitution “best evidence of a white racist conspiracy to subjugate other peoples.”

While speaking to an atheist group in 2007, Ellison compared the September 11 terrorist attacks to the Reichstag fire in Germany and stopped just short of suggesting that George W. Bush played a role in the attacks.

COMMENT:  Just what the Democratic Party needs – an irrational, reckless bomb thrower!  An inclusive, positive guy!

The Bernie Sanders leftists love Ellison.  Imagine, a Muslim!  Isn't that multicultural?

Many Republicans are saying they hope he gets the job because it will make the Republicans' job easier.  I don't agree.  An extremist like Ellison, who has absolutely no experience at running anything, can do enormous harm to the two-party system.  I don't like to see nutbags gaining prominence in either party, although the Democrats have specialized in advancing their very considerable corps of whackjobs.  They are truly an equal-opportunity employer.

December 5, 2016       Permalink

BEN CARSON TO HUD – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, will be nominated by President-elect Trump to be secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  From The New York Times:

Ben Carson, who took Donald J. Trump on a tour of blighted neighborhoods in Detroit during the presidential campaign, including his boyhood home, has been chosen by Mr. Trump to oversee one of the government’s main efforts to lift American cities as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was an early endorser of Mr. Trump after ending his own presidential bid.

“Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Mr. Trump said in a statement Monday morning. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.”

“Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans,” he added. “He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”

With no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy, Mr. Carson, 65, publicly waffled over whether to join the administration. He will oversee an agency with a $47 billion budget, bringing to the job a philosophical opposition to government programs that encourage what he calls “dependency” and engage in “social engineering.”

He has no expertise in housing policy, but he did spend part of his childhood in public housing, said a close friend, Armstrong Williams, and he was raised by a dauntless mother with a grammar-school education. In his autobiography he stressed that individual effort, not government programs, were the key to overcoming poverty.

COMMENT:  Carson is an inspirational figure.  He will need top-quality administrators to assist him in running a department whose actual track record isn't very good.  It's a good appointment because it brings a high-profile figure into the controversial area of government urban policy.

Carson is a black conservative, so look for him to be targeted as a "sellout," and other nice things.  He'll need more than a surgeon's gentle hands.  He'll need a thick skin, for he's now about to tackle the entrenched black establishment.

December 5,  2016     Permalink

DECEMBER 4,   2016

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

ITALY SAYS NO – FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  ROME—Italian voters on Sunday rejected constitutional changes backed by the government, prompting Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to announce his resignation and handing populists a victory in the heartland of Europe.  With virtually all the votes counted early Monday, 59.6% were “no,” according to Italy’s Interior Ministry, marking a stinging rebuke to Mr. Renzi’s plan to overhaul Italy’s legislature to make it easier to pass laws, including measures meant to make the country more competitive.  Mr. Renzi said he would go to Italian President Sergio Mattarella Monday afternoon to tender his resignation...The result means uncertainty in Italy, the European Union’s fourth-largest economy, as the bloc struggles to revive growth and define its future. Mr. Renzi’s resignation could clear the way for the formation of a caretaker government and, possibly, new parliamentary elections next year.  Among the biggest winners from Italy’s vote is the antiestablishment 5 Star Movement, which campaigned against Mr. Renzi and his agenda, saying more radical change is needed. The party has called for a nonbinding referendum on Italy’s euro membership. It also wants to abandon EU budget strictures and has said it might favor printing a parallel currency.  It was a vote against the elites, a protest vote.  It's happening in many places, and the trend poses a threat to the centralized authority and standing of the European Union.

MAJOR HEALTH CRISIS – FROM LONDON'S TELEGRAPH:  It is that time of year when your guests tend to over-indulge and imbibe more than is good for them, leaving their hosts to pick up the pieces.  But pets are also likely to succumb to alcohol poisoning during the festive period, as a result of them sneaking a sip of any drink left lying around the house - with potentially dire consequences.  And with more people now drinking at home than in pubs the problem is likely to get worse.  Vets have warned that because pets such as cats and dogs are naturally inquisitive, they are likely to sniff out and taste any liquids left in glasses on the floor and because of their size it takes very little to make them drunk.  The drunken dog crisis will soon reach America, and we'd better be ready for it.  Do not let your dog drive a car unless first given a breathalyzer test. 

NO SERVICE CONTRACT – FROM BREITBART:  The Russian-made jeep carrying the ashes of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro broke down in the middle of his funeral procession on Saturday, forcing soldiers to push the vehicle until it could be repaired.  Nearly every major news website buried the news, though it was perfectly symbolic of the Cuban regime’s economic failures, and those of socialism in general...The Associated Press seemed to ignore the news almost entirely, except in photo captions of the incident: “The Russian jeep carrying the ashes of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro broke down and had to be pushed for a period on Saturday.”   President Obama rushed his favorite auto mechanic, John Kerry, to Cuba to address the situation.  The president also blamed Fox News for the breakdown.

December 4, 2016       Permalink

VIVA FIDEL?  HARDLY – AT 12:40 P.M. ET:   The old dictator is gone.  And while the left weeps and wails, another crushing blow after Hillary's defeat, others have another, more mature point of view.  From College Fix: 

Fidel Castro’s crimes against humanity “dwarfed” those of Augusto Pinochet, yet which Latin American dictator was arrested in London and which was greeted in Spain with “ample fanfare, unmolested,” around the same time in 1998?

Carlos Eire, Yale professor of history and religious studies, scolds the “many intellectuals, journalists and educated people in the First World” who enabled the Cuban strongman by falling for his lies, which were “beautiful and so appealing,” in a Washington Post op-ed.

Castro “imprisoned, tortured and murdered thousands more of his own people than any other Latin American dictator,” yet reminding Western elites of his real record was “usually futile,” says Eire.

Their defense of Castro had the intensity of “religious convictions."

And...

Castro was the “spitting image of Big Brother,” Eire says – persecuting gays, trying to eradicate religion, censoring “all means of expression,” creating an “apartheid society” where only foreigners had rights, delivering “inferior health care” to the masses, wiping out the middle class and jailing a greater share of his countrymen than even Joseph Stalin had done.

COMMENT:  I often get the feeling that the left is more of a distorted religion than a political program.  It is absolute belief, belief on faith.  Dissent is discouraged.  And there is an assurance of a kind of political Heaven, where you go if you've followed the party line.

The left controls American education.  But if the recent election is any indicator, a large contingent of Americans is turning against it.  Lack of results matters.

December 4, 2016       Permalink

ITALY VOTES – AT 11:54 A.M. ET:  And the result could be momentous.  From Reuters: 

Italians were voting on Sunday in a referendum on constitutional reform that will decide the political future of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has promised to resign if he loses.

Financial markets and Europe's politicians fear victory for the opposition 'No' camp could cause political instability and renewed turmoil for Italy's battered banks, pushing the euro zone toward a fresh crisis.

About 51 million Italians are eligible to vote on Renzi's plan to drastically reduce the role of the upper house Senate and claw back powers from regional authorities.

By noon, 20 percent of citizens had voted, the Interior Ministry said, more than the 17 percent who had cast ballots by the same time in May 2014 for the European Parliament election.

Italians living abroad have voted by post over the past days and the ballots flown to a hangar on the outskirts of Rome.

With all the opposition parties lined up against the reform, a victory for Renzi would be a surprise and represent an enormous personal triumph for Italy's youngest prime minister who often appeared to be fighting the campaign single-handed.

Renzi, 41, voted mid-morning in his Tuscan home town of Pontassieve, but made no comment.

All surveys published in the month before a blackout was imposed on Nov. 18 put the 'No' camp ahead. Private polls have continued to be conducted in the last two weeks and bookmakers say 'No' remains the clear favorite to win.

COMMENT:  If "no" wins, it will be another blow to the establishment, and could lead the way for other European countries to vote against the European order.  The question then would be whether the EU can survive.  Europe's future looks very unstable, and the massive flood of immigrants from the Mideast, a region that hardly practices Western values, isn't helping matters.

December 4, 2016       Permalink

TAKING IT SERIOUSLY – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  The appointment of a secretary of state is clearly becoming a major problem for the president-elect.  Each of the leading candidates has important negatives – Mitt Romney's history of vicious anti-Trump remarks, Rudy Giuliani's "tough guy" image and undiplomatic demeanor (despite his record as a great public servant), David Petraeus's legal and personal mistakes, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker's position as a major Republican legislator, something the party doesn't want to give up.   From The Hill: 

President-elect Donald Trump is expanding his search for secretary of State, according to former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.

“I think there'll be additional interviews with other candidates for secretary of State and other Cabinet positions and deputy...positions as well,” Conway told pool reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower Sunday morning.

On Saturday, The Associated Press reported that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) is under consideration to be the nation’s top diplomat.

Conway said Trump “continues to talk to different people."

“It is true that he's broadened the search and the secretary of state is an incredibly important position for any president to fill and he has, he's very fortunate, to have interest among serious men and women who, all of whom need to understand that their first responsibility as secretary of State would be to implement and adhere to the president-elect's 'America First' foreign policy, if you will, his view of the world,” she said.

Last week, Trump’s transition team confirmed it had narrowed the field down to four candidates: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Communications adviser Jason Miller did not say who the other two potential picks were, but retired Gen. David Petraeus and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) are reportedly being considered for the position.

COMMENT:  Huntsman is a thoughtful, creative man, who was also ambassador to China.  An interesting choice.  We're standing by on this one.

December 4,  2016     Permalink