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LAST SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE OF 2016

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DECEMBER 9,  2016

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

RUDY OUT – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Rudy Giuliani has withdrawn his name from consideration for any position in the upcoming Trump administration, the former New York City mayor announced Friday.  Giuliani at one point was considered the favorite to be secretary of state.  The announcement of the withdrawal came just hours after CNN reported he was no longer a serious contender for the post.  “I decided that the whole thing was becoming kind of very confusing and very difficult for the president-elect. My desire to be in the Cabinet was great — but it wasn’t that great,” said Giuliani.  According to the Trump campaign, Giuliani notified the president-elect that he wanted to remain in the private sector during a meeting on Nov. 29.   Rudy was a superb mayor of New York, and showed the nation that crime could dramatically be reduced.  But his public campaigning for the post of secretary of state was awkward, and he reportedly ruled out other appropriate posts, like secretary of Homeland Security.  A major loss.  The country could use his talents.

HUH? – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:  Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has emerged as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s top choice to become secretary of state, according to a person with direct knowledge of the search process.  The news is the latest turn in what has become the most extended drama of Mr. Trump’s transition effort, with a rotating cast of seeming front-runners to become America’s top diplomat. Choosing Mr. Tillerson would add to a long list of wealthy businesspeople in high-ranking Trump administration posts.  As Exxon’s top official, Mr. Tillerson has extensive experience working with foreign leaders. Some of his foreign relationships, especially those with Russia, could come under particular scrutiny during a Senate confirmation hearing.  I dunno.  I'm not so sure this would be a wise choice.  Representing a company intrnationally is one thing; representing a nation is quite another.  I don't want to prejudge, but Trump may be looking for trouble here.  There are many superb candidates for the post, candidates with real foreign-policy experience

REMARKABLE – FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE:    For several missions in the Korean War, the United States Marine Corps had one of the nation’s greatest ever baseball players flying alongside one of its (soon to be) greatest astronauts.  John Glenn, who died on Thursday at the age of 95, once led Red Sox great Ted Williams into battle. Williams, so often the dominant personality, was awed by Glenn.  “John Glenn? Oh … could he fly an airplane,” Williams once told the Chicago Tribune‘s Bob Greene. “Absolutely fearless. The best I ever saw. It was an honor to fly with him.”  Williams, who like Glenn also served in World War II, was called up as a reservist during the war in Korea. He was randomly assigned to be Glenn’s wingman...In one especially difficult moment, Williams recalled how Glenn offered advice that helped Williams fly back to base safely. After getting hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, Williams’s F9F Panther jet was ablaze. Glenn flew next to his wing and pointed up. Flying higher into thinner air, the fire was extinguished, allowing Williams to fly back to base.  No "safe spaces" for them.

December 9, 2016       Permalink

HAS THE LEFT REALLY HAD IT? – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  You'll get quite a debate on this, especially given the dogged resistance by the left in the media and on college campuses.  But Michael Barone believes it may be time to write the obituary.  From the Washington Examiner: 

It's been a tough decade for the political left. Eight years ago a Time magazine cover portrayed Barack Obama as Franklin Roosevelt, complete with cigarette and holder and a cover line proclaiming "The New New Deal." A Newsweek cover announced "We Are All Socialists Now."

Now the cover story is different. Time has just announced, inevitably though a bit begrudgingly, that its Person of the Year for 2016 is Donald Trump. No mention of New Deals or socialism.

It's not surprising that newsmagazine editors expected a move to the left. The history they'd been taught by New Deal admirers, influenced by the doctrines of Karl Marx, was that economic distress moves voters to demand a larger and more active government.

There was some empirical evidence in that direction as well. The recession triggered by the financial crisis of 2007-08 was the deepest experienced by anyone not old enough to remember the 1930s. Barack Obama was elected with 53 percent of the popular vote—more than any candidate since the 1980s—and Democrats had won congressional elections with similar majorities in 2006 and 2008.

Things look different now, and not just because Donald Trump was elected president. It has been clear that most voters have been rejecting big government policies, and not just in the United States but in most democratic nations around the world.

Leftist politicians supposed that ordinary voters with modest incomes facing hard times would believe that regulation and redistribution would help them. Evidently most don't.

The rejection was apparent in the 2010 and subsequent House elections; Republicans have now won House majorities in ten of the last 12 elections, leaving 2006 and 2008 as temporary aberrations. You didn't hear Hillary Clinton campaign on the glories of Obamacare or the Iran nuclear deal, and her attack on "Trumped-up, trickle-down economics" didn't strike any chords in the modest-income Midwest.

Republican success has been even greater in governor and state legislature elections, to the point that Democrats hold governorships and legislative control only in California, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island. After eight years of the Obama presidency, Democrats hold fewer elective offices than at any time since the 1920s.

COMMENT:  And still, the Dems can't figure out what's wrong.  The party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy is gone, replaced by the party of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.  Americans don't like the new model.  The old ones were built better.

Today's leftist Democratic Party is an elitist institution whose intellectual leaders refer to the former base of the party as "the flyover people."  I wonder how many of these leaders have ever handled a set of tools, or even seen a cow.  A real cow.  The moo kind. 

The Dems will never solve their problem unless they identify it.  This they refuse to do.  Nancy Pelosi actually said last week, with a straight face, that the Democrats don't want change.  She's right.  In their decline they feel morally pure.  They're also boring and irrelevant.

December 9,  2016     Permalink

DEATH OF A HERO – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  We used to have heroes.  We still do, but the smug set goes out of its way not to recognize them.  So middle class, you know.

John Glenn, who has just died, was a hero, and one of the most heartfelt tributes came from his fellow Ohioans.  From the Columbus Dispatch: 

His legend is otherworldly and now, at age 95, so is John Glenn.

An authentic hero and genuine American icon, Glenn died this afternoon surrounded by family at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus after a remarkably healthy life spent almost from the cradle with Annie, his beloved wife of 73 years, who survives.

He, along with fellow aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright and moon-walker Neil Armstrong, truly made Ohio first in flight.

“John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio’s ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve," said Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich. "As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation.

"Though he soared deep into space and to the heights of Capitol Hill, his heart never strayed from his steadfast Ohio roots. Godspeed, John Glenn!" Kasich said.

COMMENT:  I recall the early days of the space program and electric feelings it brought to America.  I recall how crowds would stand in Grand Central Station in New York to watch, on a huge screen, as Americans, including John Glenn, were launched into space.

When Obama took office he reportedly told the head of NASA that his main job was Muslim outreach.  No previous president thought that way.  And I hope no future president does.

Public interest in our space program has faded over the years.  I hope President Trump can relight the fire, and that a new generation of John Glenns can become the new American heroes.

December 9, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP ALREADY CLICKING – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  He isn't even president, but already Trump is having an impact on the country.  And it's good.  From CNBC:

The election of Donald Trump has brought with it a surge in optimism in the United States over the economy and stocks not seen in years.

The CNBC All-America Economic Survey for the fourth quarter found that the percentage of Americans who believe the economy will get better in the next year jumped an unprecedented 17 points to 42 percent, compared with before the election. It's the highest level since President Barack Obama was first elected in 2008.

The surge was powered by Republicans and independents reversing their outlooks. Republicans swung from deeply pessimistic, with just 15 percent saying the economy would improve in the next year, to strongly optimistic, with 74 percent believing in an economic upswing. Optimism among independents doubled but it fell by more than half for Democrats. Just 16 percent think the economy will improve.

COMMENT:  The Democrats are becoming a joke, a gang of adolescents going through their stages of political grief.  If they don't improve, I suggest there might be a new party in four years. 

The surge in confidence is appropriate.  Trump is already dominating the news, and he has handled his transition with the skill of a seasoned pro.  The Carrier deal was a master stroke.  It signaled that Trump is a man of action, not words. 

Obviously, he has to carry through after inauguration.  Wouldn't it be remarkable if this man, ridiculed across the political spectrum, turned out to be great?

December 9,  2016     Permalink

DECEMBER 8,  2016

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

MAJOR HILLARY WORSHIP NEWS –  FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Thursday his family's pet chicken named Hillary died right before the election. McAuliffe, a Democrat and a top Clinton ally, was asked about his four chickens in an interview with the Atlantic.  "I hate to say this, one chicken died," he said. "About a month before the election, Hillary died."  "We've got Hillary, Jr. now," he added. "She is bright and fluffy and making a lot of noise and healthy as an ox."  Ah, the change of generations.  How moving and spiritual.

HILLARY FINDS ANOTHER REASON WHY SHE LOST – FROM THE HILL:    Hillary Clinton on Thursday decried the spread of fake news online, calling it an “epidemic” that Congress should take action against.  “The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year — it’s now clear the so-called fake news can have real-world consequences,” Clinton said during a speech on Capitol Hill.  Some Democrats have argued the spread of anti-Clinton fake news online contributed to her electoral loss to Donald Trump.  The issue has received renewed attention this week after a gunman entered a pizzeria in Washington that was at the center of a false viral conspiracy theory that alleged it was home to a pedophilia ring operated by Clinton and her inner circle.  “This isn’t about politics or partisanship,” Clinton continued during her speech Thursday at a ceremony honoring retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).  Fake news has been going on since before this Republic was founded.  It's gone under many labels, including yellow journalism.  So far, Clinton has blamed everyone but herself for her loss.  Watch – she'll blame a girlfriend of Bill's that we don't even know about.

OUTRAGEOUS – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   The Ohio State University student who allegedly ran over several students and stabbed others to defend Islam should not have been shot by police before he could hurt more people.  That’s the explicit message coming from the OSU Coalition for Black Liberation, which added Abdul Razak Ali Artan’s name to a list of every person of color that has been killed by police since October, The Lantern reports.  The group periodically reads from the list in public, and it gave a “eulogy” for each name and held a moment of silence on Wednesday.  These people are sick.  Nothing more need be said.

December 8,  2016     Permalink

MICHIGAN FOR TRUMP – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  The Michigan recount, instigated by the overwhelmingly popular Jill Stein, has been canceled.   From Fox: 

DETROIT – A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots.

The ruling seals Republican Donald Trump's narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton for Michigan's16 electoral votes.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed with Republicans who argued that the three-day recount must end a day after the state appeals court dealt a blow to the effort. The court said Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, didn't have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isn't an "aggrieved" candidate.

"Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court's ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term 'aggrieved,' plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount," Goldsmith said.

It was the judge's midnight ruling Monday that started the recount in Michigan. But Goldsmith's order dealt with timing — not whether a recount was appropriate. More than 20 of 83 counties already were counting ballots again. They reported minor changes in vote totals, although many precincts couldn't be examined for a second time for a variety of reasons.

Earlier Wednesday, the Michigan elections board voted, 3-1, to end the recount if Goldsmith extinguished his earlier order.

State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Attorney General Bill Schuette said it's a victory for voters and taxpayers. Stein now is left with asking the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene, which is a long shot.

"Jill Stein, who received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt," McDaniel said.

Stein got about 1 percent of the vote in three states where she's pushed for recounts — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won all three.

COMMENT:  Hillary Clinton could have stopped any of these ridiculous recounts by going into court and accepting the results of the election.  Or, at least she could have made a statement to that effect.  Instead, she took the tacky route and went along.  No class.  Why am I not shocked?

December 8, 2016       Permalink

A UNIVERSITY GETS IT RIGHT – AT 8:16 A.M. ET:  Purdue University is now run by Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana and a man many Republicans believed should have run for president.   Daniels gets it right in the debate over free speech on campus.  And other besieged colleges are noticing.  From College Fix: 

Indiana’s Purdue University is making a strong play for best public university in the country, based on its demonstrated commitment to free speech.

And now it’s getting interest in taking that approach to other schools, whose leaders may be tiring of giving in to student demands to censor and punish students, faculty and staff for their speech and nonthreatening behaviors.

The university has been approached by NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) to present the “methodology” for its “free speech orientation program” – the first of its kind in the nation – at an upcoming conference, Director of Student Success Programs Dan Carpenter told the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

FIRE has a big glowing profile on Purdue’s first such orientation, which was created at the direction of President Mitch Daniels, the former Republican governor and longed-for presidential candidate:

Carpenter said NASPA was interested in a presentation featuring model methodologies for how universities can navigate the tricky process of teaching students to honor all of those values.

How did Purdue do it? By presenting scenarios that students are likely to encounter on campus so they are prepared to encounter diverse and conflicting ideas without freaking out, FIRE says.

More than 6,000 incoming students “voluntarily” attended the program, which included “a combination of skits inspired by real-life events at Purdue, a faculty panel discussion, and video clips.”

Those student-performed skits included “encountering an inflammatory campus preacher, dealing with objectionable symbols displayed in residence halls, handling an in-class disruption, and protesting an invited speaker.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  This is a well-thought-out program guided by the wise hand of Mitch Daniels.  But stand by for the usual suspects to come forward and call Daniels a racist, or a misogynist, or a generalized pig who probably wanted to be a cop.

December 8, 2016       Permalink

WILL MATTIS MAKE IT THROUGH? – AT 8:06 A.M. ET:  No nomination made so far by President-elect Trump has met with as much approval as the selection of James Mattis for secretary of defense.  A highly respected retired Marine Corps general, Mattis is just the man to raise the morale of our forces and oversee their expansion. 

But there is a problem.  Under law, Mattis must have been retired from the military for seven years to serve as secretary of defense, unless Congress grants a waiver.  It was done only once, for George Marshall, in 1950.  Now the Dems are threatening to block Mattis, hilariously citing their fear that a waiver would put civilian control of the military at risk.  Right.  Two waivers in 66 years, and we're told we risk a coup.

John McCain is worried that the Dems might succeed, and prevent this outstanding American from serving his country further.  From the Washington Examiner:

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain said Tuesday he is concerned about the looming confirmation process for retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, who President-elect Trump says he will nominate to become the next secretary of defense.

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters in the Capitol he is "very worried" about Mattis' confirmation process. Mattis will have to receive a waiver allowing him to serve in a civilian position less than seven years after retiring from the military.

"I'm very worried about it," McCain said when asked about receiving a waiver for Mattis. "We have to work on it."

Mattis left active service in 2013 after concluding his time as commander of Central Command, forcing the need for a waiver. George C. Marshall, who received one in 1950 in order to also become secretary of defense, is the only person to have received one in the past.

"I was active in helping move that process forward as quickly as possible. The Democrats should do the same for us," McCain continued. "And when they don't, and we have to resort to parliamentary action to force them to, then that's disgraceful because we're talking about defending our nation.

COMMENT:  The Dems are in their own world, and national defense is not a major part of it.  If they block Mattis they satisfy their leftist base, but the Trump administration will have the people on its side.

December 8,  2016     Permalink