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DECEMBER 18,  2016

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

HOPE FOR HILLARY – FROM CBS:   MASVINGO, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 in February, was endorsed on Saturday as the ruling party’s candidate in a national election scheduled for 2018.  The ruling ZANU-PF party announced its support in the southeast town of Masvingo, where the party’s youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule for life with broad powers.  Opposition groups have described such adulation as a sign that Mugabe and his loyalists are out of touch with the desperation of a nation that is suffering massive unemployment, cash shortages and company closures.  A perfect example of the cult of personality.  When you see huge posters saying "Hillary 2020, 2024, 2028," you'll know the malady has come here.

TRUDEAU STUMBLES – FROM REUTERS:    OTTAWA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points in the last three months amid rising dissatisfaction with the economy and concern about pipeline approvals, a public opinion poll released on Friday showed.  Still, Trudeau remained far more popular than his two political opponents and more popular than any recent prime minister, with 55 percent of Canadians expressing confidence in his performance, the Angus Reid poll showed.  That was down 10 points from the 65 percent approval rating Trudeau enjoyed in September, according to the survey, which carried the headline "Is the honeymoon ending?"  "While this level of approval may well be the envy of prime ministers past and future, it also represents the lowest approval he has recorded at any point since his Liberal Party won a majority mandate in last October's election," Angus Reid said in the poll.  Canada tried what we tried – put a kid in office and hope for the best.  But hope is not enough, as Americans have painfully learned.

BLAME EVERYONE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  The Hillary Clinton campaign and its allies, rallying behind the contention that cyberwarfare played a role in swinging the presidential election for Donald Trump, are now taking parting shots at the Obama administration, the intelligence community and the media for failing to treat the Russian hacking threat with sufficient urgency.  Many Clinton confidants place blame for the Electoral College defeat squarely at the feet of FBI Director James B. Comey, arguing that his letter to Congress 11 days before the election reopening the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s private email server turned the tide decisively in favor of Mr. Trump.  But Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said Sunday that the FBI is also culpable for negligence in response to suspected Russian meddling in the democratic process.  Mr. Podesta said the agency did not contact him about the hack into his personal email account until after WikiLeaks began publishing his emails by the thousands on Oct. 7.  People are getting tired of this.  It's like a baseball manager blaming global warming for the loss of the seventh World Series game.  The Clintonistas should blame themselves for falling out of touch with the American people.

December 18,  2016     Permalink

A GREAT THING – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:   Remembering those who have served, during this holiday season.  I hope the ACLU has no objections.  From the Washington Times: 

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Tens of thousands of volunteers will fan out across Arlington National Cemetery to set hundreds of thousands of donated wreaths at the headstones of those laid to rest there.

The Wreaths Across America project has become an annual tradition at Arlington. It began in 1992 when a Maine wreathmaker donated 5,000 surplus wreaths to the cemetery.

Last year, more than 70,000 volunteers helped lay the wreaths, which arrive from Maine via motorcade.

COMMENT:  I hope the sponsors involve college students in this noble effort.  I'm sure many students would love to get away from the stifling political correctness of our mediocre college campuses, and feel like Americans again.

Every American who can should visit Arlington.  It is remarkably inspiring, and reminds us that freedom has a cost, and that all lives matter.

December 18, 2016       Permalink

A DECENT MAN – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:   RealClearPolitics runs an extraordinarily fine piece on the smear campaign being mounted against Senator Jeff Sessions, who is President-elect Trump's choice to be attorney general:

Let’s stipulate upfront that the Senate battle over Jeff Sessions’ nomination for U.S. attorney general is not about Jeff Sessions. Everybody knows this. Everybody also knows the Senate is going to confirm Sessions. No, the opposition to Alabama’s senator is about two things: One, the left’s reflexive opposition to all things Donald Trump. Two, the left’s prep work for the next confirmation battle over Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The fight over Sessions’ confirmation to head the Justice Department is spring training, a preseason tune-up for the regular season, i.e., the confirmation showdown with Senate Democrats over Trump’s pick for the high court.

Everybody knows this, because most everybody in the Senate knows Sessions. He’s been there for 20 years. He hasn’t used – is not using – the Senate as a steppingstone to something greater. He has a record. His colleagues have worked with him. He gets along with most of them, Republican and Democrat. Consider, for example, Sessions’s work on behalf of crime victims. As law professors Paul Cassell and Steven Twist recently pointed out, Sessions worked with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy in this important area.

All of which makes the left’s opposition to this good and decent man ultimately counter-productive for Democrats. The efforts to cast Sessions as some kind of closet KKK admirer who also opposes the nation’s disabled children is just so predictable. Their ritualized “Borking” has lost its sting. The public has become inoculated to it. “In Jeff Sessions’ America …” We’ve been there, done that over these last ugly decades.

COMMENT:  Sessions, a serious man, will make a fine attorney general.  And we hope he de-politicizes a Justice Department that has been a political hotbed during the Obama years.

December 18, 2016       Permalink

SMART MOVE – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus shows how the pros do it in handling the issue of Russian hacking.  From Fox:

Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus suggested Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump will accept that Russia is behind the hacking of Democrats' email accounts during the 2016 White House election if the leaders of the U.S. intelligence community draft a report with that consensus agreement.

“I think he would accept the conclusion if they would get together, put out a report and show the American people they are on the same page,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump won the presidential race in an upset victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whose campaign was hurt by a raft of emails hacked from campaign chairman John Podesta’s personal account, then released by WikiLeaks.

The Trump campaign has suggested the effort to tie Russia to the leaks is an attempt to delegitimize his victory.

“There’s no evidence that shows the outcome of the elections was changed by a couple of dozen John Podesta emails,” Priebus, who is still chairman of the Republican National Committee, also said Sunday.

He added that the intelligence community is “almost there” on a consensus finding about Russia’s involvement.

“I think they’ll get there,” he said.

COMMENT:  A reasonable approach, with Priebus wisely adding that there's no evidence the e-mails actually changed the outcome of the election.

If truth be told, foreign nations regularly try to influence our politics and, by extension, our elections.  The Brits had a huge influence program in the U.S. just before World War II, trying to influence American opinion.  There are many foreign lobbies.  We have the Foreign Agents Registration Act to try to keep track of them.

The only difference now is the method – hacking.  Is it wrong?  Sure.  And Russia should be sanctioned over it.  But we now know that President Obama was aware of the hacking long before election day, and did virtually nothing about it. 

I find it amusing that suddenly the Dems are concerned about Russian influence – something new for the modern Democratic Party which applauded the "reset" with Russia put in motion by President Obama and announced, ironically, by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Electoral College meets tomorrow.  Donald Trump will win.  He'll be president.

On the other hand, Trump's relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin is an entirely appropriate matter for discussion.  I'm concerned about it, and it should be monitored and explored.  But it's an issue separate from the hacking story, and more important.

December 18,  2016     Permalink

DECEMBER 17,  2016

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

HOW DEMOCRATS MOURN – FROM LONDON'S EXPRESS:  Hillary Clinton's post-election holiday party has been compared to a "wake" by an attendee of the event.   The party, which provided an opportunity for Clinton to suck up to top-tier donors whose money was squandered on a disastrously failed election campaign, took place at New York's Plaza Hotel on Thursday.  Donors at the gathering included investment guru Alan Patricof and hedge fund manager Marc Lasry, who have a combined net worth of nearly £1.6billion ($2 billion).  Among the VIP guests were Clinton advisors John Podesta and Robby Mook, designers Vera Wang and Tony Burch. Clinton's ageing husband Bill and their daughter Chelsea were also seen.  But despite the glitzy guests, one person there likened the event to "group therapy".  They said: "It was like a wake with a band.  "It was a little bit of group therapy and a lot of love."  And I trust all came out with a soft and glowing feeling.

THE LAST MANEUVER – FROM CNN:  (CNN) Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the world-famous Heimlich maneuver to save people from choking, died Saturday at age 96, his family said.  The news was confirmed by the Episcopal Retirement Services, which owns and manages Deupree House, where Heimlich lived in Cincinnati.  Heimlich died at Christ Hospital after suffering a massive heart attack at home Monday.  "We are deeply saddened at his passing," said Laura Lamb, the incoming chief executive of Episcopal Retirement Services. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. It was an absolute pleasure serving Dr. Heimlich. He was very kind and caring, and was respected by all."   Everyone at the funeral will get a free squeeze.

WISDOM OF THE AGES – FROM CBS LOCAL:   CHERRY HILL, NJ (CBS) — A woman in Cherry Hill, New Jersey is celebrating a milestone birthday.  Concetta Talucci turned 102-year-old on Friday.  Family and friends threw a big party for her at a Cherry Hill assisted living community.  Talucci was born in 1914 and says the secret to her longevity is “just don’t diet!”  She continued, “Eat! Eat everything you see… but not overeat.”  Talucci said earlier in life she worked as a glass blower and also in the emergency room of a hospital.  Her 99-year-old younger sister joined her at her party.  If you're a married man with notoriously bad eating habits, show this article to your wife for reassurance.

December 17, 2016       Permalink

THE TRUMP WAY – AT 1:49 P.M. ET:  Like him or not, you have to admire the fact that Donald Trump is not afraid to surround himself with powerful, assertive men and women.  From Reuters: 

With more than 20 nominees now selected, Donald Trump’s cabinet appears much like the president-elect himself: mostly older, white males, many of them wealthy, who see themselves as risk-takers and deal-makers and prize action over deliberation.

Trump, who says Washington is "broken" and controlled by special interests, has largely eschewed technocrats with long government experience. Instead, he has built a team of bosses.

Trump's roster of agency heads and advisers conspicuously lacks intellectuals, lawyers, and academics of the sort sought by some past presidents. In their place are titans of business and finance from the likes of Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs and no fewer than three retired generals in key positions.

Many of them are people used to getting their way but will now have a boss to answer to - Trump - while navigating the sometimes frustrating and sprawling bureaucracy of the U.S. government. The incoming Trump administration is poised to undo as much of President Barack Obama's accomplishments as possible, while also attempting to advance a conservative policy agenda in areas such as taxes and healthcare.

A former senior U.S. official who knows Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO who is Trump's nominee for secretary of state, and Marine General James Mattis, Trump's pick for defense secretary, predicted a massive clash of egos in the cabinet.

COMMENT:  No doubt the clash will occur.  But I like the fact that Trump has picked a team known for accomplishment rather than contemplation.  I think we'll know within three months how well it can do.

What an exciting time.

December 17, 2016       Permalink

ANOTHER BULLETIN – THE KEY TO SAVING MEN FROM THEMSELVES – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  An Australian researcher has found the magic means to our salvation.  Please pass on to all men.  We've been waiting for this for centuries.  From Heatstreet:   

Cats are the solution to toxic masculinity, claims one Australian feminist professor.

Dr. Heather Fraser, who teachers at Flinders University, has been researching “feline masculinities,” which basically means she’s spent a ton of time looking at men and their cats on Instagram.

(You heard that right: That’s a job someone has. Now look at your life, look at your choices.)

In the past, “aspects of orthodox masculinity” stopped men from being too expressive about any affinities for cats, Fraser told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. That same orthodox masculinity, she said, has been correlated with misogyny and violence.

But now, a growing number of men are posting photos of themselves snuggling with beloved kittens, and “that’s a beautiful thing,” Fraser said.

“I like to see men defying the narrow straight-jackets of the ‘he-men’ of the past. In amongst all this, it’s also fun, it’s good. And it allows boys that are growing up to have better relationships with cats and, by extension, other kinds of creatures,” she told the Australian national news service.

COMMENT:  Cats are fine, but I love dogs.  I won't admit that any longer, though.  I don't want to be classified as a violent warmonger.  You do understand, don't you?

December 17, 2016        Permalink

BULLETIN:  ALL HOPE IS GONE – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:  Michelle Obama has officially announced that we no longer have hope.  From the New York Post: 

Her husband campaigned on a promise to restore “hope,” but now that he’s turning over the White House to Donald Trump that’s evaporated, according to Michelle Obama.

“We feel the difference now. See, now, we are feeling what not having hope feels like,” the first lady told Oprah Winfrey in an interview airing Monday.

“Hope is necessary. It’s a necessary concept and Barack didn’t just talk about hope because he thought it was just a nice slogan to get votes. He and I and so many believe that. What else do you have if you don’t have hope.”

A snippet of the interview was shown Friday on “CBS This Morning.”

Michelle Obama — who campaigned for Hillary Clinton while disparaging Trump — took an indirect swipe at the president-elect by claiming her husband is a “grown-up” who inspires confidence.

“I feel like Barack has been that for the nation in ways that people will come to appreciate. Having a grown-up in the White House who can say to you in times of crisis and turmoil, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK. Let’s remember the good things that we have,” she told Oprah.

COMMENT:  The pomposity of those statements is overwhelming.  Of course, the Obama administration was about Obama, and now we have pretty firm confirmation from the first lady. 

Her message should have been exactly the opposite – that some may be disappointed in the outcome of the election, but there's always hope in America. 

As far as there having been a grown-up in the White House these last eight years, I hadn't noticed.  Who would that person be?  I invite a submission of names.

December 17,  2016      Permalink