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DECEMBER 4,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:05 P.M. ET:

FILM HISTORY – FROM FOX:  It’s not quite ancient history, but it’s still a blast from the past.
A plaster sphinx has been dug up by archaeologists in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in California, KETY reports. It was part of an Egyptian movie set built for Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 film, “The Ten Commandments.”  “The piece is unlike anything found on previous digs,” Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center executive director Doug Jenzen told the station. “The majority of it is preserved by sand with the original paint still intact. This is significant, and shows that we’re still learning unexpected facets to film historical movie production, such as the fact that objects in black and white films were actually painted extremely intense colors.”  I think that's great.  They should allow student volunteers to help.  Of course, today that movie would be called "The 46 Commandments," and include commandments on diversity, gender identification, and cultural appropriation.

A SEX CHARGE, HANDLED WELL – FROM FOX:  New York’s Metropolitan Opera suspended its longtime conductor, James Levine, 74, after three men came forward with accusations he sexually abused them decades ago when they were teenagers.  Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met, said the opera company was halting its four-decade relationship with Levine, and stopping the former music director’s upcoming conducting engagements, The New York Times reported.  The Met also said it’s hiring a former U.S. attorney to lead a “full and complete investigation.”  The accusations of sexual misconduct go back to 1968, according to The Times.  That is good procedure.  They didn't fire him.  They suspended him and launched a full investigation to get at the facts.  Looks like fairness to all parties, and much better than the stage-managed firings we've seen recently.

SUPREMES RULE – FROM AP:  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.  This is not a final ruling on the travel ban: Challenges to the policy are winding through the federal courts, and the justices themselves ultimately are expected to rule on its legality.  But the action indicates that the high court might eventually approve the latest version of the ban, announced by President Donald Trump in September. Lower courts have continued to find problems with the policy.  White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said the White House is “not surprised by today’s Supreme Court decision permitting immediate enforcement of the President’s proclamation limiting travel from countries presenting heightened risks of terrorism.”   Once you get outside the lower courts of the West Coast's 9th Circuit, you generally get wiser decisions.

December 4, 2017       Permalink

NIKKI – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:   If there is one clear star in the Trump administration, it is UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.   Tough, resolute, articulate, she is the voice of the president in an organization known for both ineffectiveness and corruption.  From The State:   

What does Nikki Haley have in common with Ashley Judd, Jordan Peele, Rachel Maddow and Robert Mueller among others?

The former South Carolina governor, currently serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, joins the other prominent public figures as members of the first Bloomberg 50.

It’s a group of difference makers – finance and politics to tech and entertainment – singled out by the media conglomerate for their impact on global business in 2017.

And...

Haley was named to the Bloomberg 50, for her role as the voice of President Donald Trump. Haley, a Republican from Lexington, served as South Carolina’s governor for six years before resigning to join the Trump Administration.

Haley has been one of the Trump administration’s most vocal members, taking a tough line on Russia and Syria and telling North Korea not to give the U.S. “a reason” to fight.

Haley’s stance on North Korea was singled out by Bloomberg writer Kambiz Foroohar.

“On Sept. 11, Haley pushed through a Security Council agreement to impose the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea, limiting the country’s oil imports and banning its textile exports, which will deprive Pyongyang of what Haley estimated is 90 percent of its export revenue.”

Beyond her tough talk on North Korea, Bloomberg was impacted by Haley throwing down the gauntlet ot the international community.

“On her first day at the U.N. in January, Haley warned other diplomats: ‘For those who don’t have our back, we’re taking names.’ Bold pronouncements have informed the rest of her tenure, too. At times, Haley has gone further than President Trump – she condemned Russia’s ‘aggressive actions’ in Ukraine and Syria, using harsher language than he did – but the ambassador nevertheless has become the White House’s trusted voice in opposing the Iran nuclear deal.

“It’s fair to say that, more so than any other Trump appointee, when she speaks, Haley is speaking for him.”

COMMENT:  We've had other great UN ambassadors – Daniel Patrick Moynihan comes to mind – but they've often been destroyed by a State Department bureaucracy that fears any blatant pro-Americanism.  Moynihan was shown the door rather quickly.

Haley remains.  Her job is secure.  Her future is bright. 

December 4, 2017       Permalink

COMMON SENSE –  QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  Many in the nation were stunned by the verdict in the Kate Steinle case.  I'm not sure why anyone would be stunned by a San Francisco verdict.  The tone of that city is to serve the illegal immigrant, not the victim.  One administration official is speaking out, with common sense.  From Fox: 

Tom Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), says he was "stunned" and "sickened" by the not guilty verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an illegal immigrant who had been deported multiple times, shot and killed Steinle while she was walking on a San Francisco pier in July 2015.

The shooting sparked a national debate over sanctuary cities, which refuse cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing U.S. immigration law.

Homan noted that Zarate, a multiple-time felon, was released from a San Francisco jail about three months before the shooting, despite a federal request that he be held for deportation.

"This isn't the America I grew up in," Homan said. "For a city to knowingly release a public safety threat back into the public is just ridiculous.

He noted that sanctuary cities are fighting a legal battle with the Justice Department, which is trying to withhold federal funding from cities that don't cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

"They want to fund sanctuary cities to keep illegal aliens in, but they don't want to fund the border wall to keep them out. To me, that's backwards," Homan said.

COMMENT:  The sanctuary-city crowd regularly does some serious judge shopping to find judges, usually in the 9th Circuit on the West Coast, who will affirm the legality of their schemes.  It is part of the Obama legacy.

Congress is considering legislation that will require enforcement of federal law in so-called sanctuary cities.  If the legislation is passed and signed, there will surely be a Constitutional challenge from the left, and the Supreme Court will ultimately decide.

December 4, 2017       Permalink 

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE? – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  The Dems are getting all hot and bothered over the belief that Mueller is building a case for obstruction of justice against President Trump.  That would be an impeachable offense.  Not so fast, says a prominent law professor, himself a Democrat.  From Fox: 

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz disagreed with claims that there is an obstruction of justice case building against President Donald Trump, calling it "hope over reality" from some Democrats.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on "Meet the Press" that a Senate investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election has revealed possible obstruction.

"I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House, the comments every day, the continual tweets. And I see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of Director Comey, and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation. That’s obstruction of justice,” Feinstein said.

On "Fox & Friends," Dershowitz countered that Trump had the constitutional power to fire FBI Director James Comey and to tell the Justice Department who to investigate and who not to investigate.

"If Congress were ever to charge him with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, we'd have a constitutional crisis," Dershowitz said.

He explained that Congress would have to demonstrate "clearly illegal acts" on Trump's part, such as former President Richard Nixon paying "hush money," telling people to lie and destroying evidence in the Watergate scandal.

"There's never been a case in history where a president has been charged with obstruction of justice for merely exercising his constitutional authority. That would cause a constitutional crisis in the United States," Dershowitz said, adding that he hopes Special Counsel Robert Mueller understands that before he considers bringing an indictment or recommending that the matter be referred to Congress.

"And Sen. Feinstein simply doesn't know what she's talking about when she says it's obstruction of justice to do what a president is completely authorized to do under the Constitution."

COMMENT:  I have no doubt that Dershowitz is right, but I wonder if the Democrats care.  If they win the House in November, I believe they'll impeach the president and force a trial in the Senate, simply because they want Trump out of office.  Impeachment according to the rules of CNN.

December 4,  2017     Permalink

DECEMBER 3,  2017

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

NFL CONTINUES TO FUMBLE – FROM BREITBART:  Week 13 doesn’t appear to be the National Football League’s lucky number as photos of stadiums across the league still show an awful lot of empty seats. Meanwhile, the sad in-person attendance mirrors the continually plummeting TV ratings.  With last week’s Thursday Night Football and Monday Night Football broadcasts closing out Week 12 with new lows in metered markets, and despite the nearly $90 million in social justice spending for players to end their constant, anti-American protests during the national anthem, Week 13 began with tens of thousands of empty seats in stadiums everywhere.   The damage may be permanent.  The image of professional football has been badly damaged.  All they need now is a sexual harassment scandal, which is almost inevitable. 

NO CLASS – FROM BREITBART:  Birmingham, ALABAMA — An organization partnered with a George Soros-financed group and led by a radical leftist who is the half-brother of the infamous controversial Rev. Al Sharpton has been diligently working over the past few weeks to register convicted felons across Alabama.  The aim of the effort has been to get as many felons as possible on the roster before last Monday, the deadline to register in order to vote in Alabama’s Dec. 12 senate special election that pits Republican Roy Moore against Democratic challenger Doug Jones.  The man spearheading the campaign has stated outright that his effort is meant to ensure a Democratic victory in Alabama.  What a sad way to win an election...although the modern Democratic Party has not exactly embraced law and order.

KOREA WARNING – FROM BRITAIN'S EXPRESS:  Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has warned that the rising tensions between the the US and Kim Jong-un’s corrupt regime means preparations for war need to be taken.  The member of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned the US was “running out of time” to prepare itself for war when speaking on CBS yesterday.  He said: “I want the Pentagon to stop sending dependents and I think it’s now time to start moving American dependents out of South Korea.
“We're getting close to a military conflict because North Korea is marching toward marrying up the technology of an ICBM with a nuclear weapon on top that can not only get to America, but deliver the weapon.  “We’re running out of time.”  Lt. Gen. Herbert McMaster, the president's national security adviser, issued a similar warning over the weekend.  This is getting very critical, but many in the media are only interested in how they can bring down Trump.

December 3, 2017       Permalink

TRUTH TELLIN' – AT 12:45 P.M. ET:  The brilliant independent journalist Claudia Rossett, one of the best investigative reporters around, sets the record straight about the 2016 presidential campaign.  From Daily Caller: 

Claudia Rosett, an award-winning journalist who worked for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years and known for her groundbreaking reporting on UN corruption, picks through the nuances of despots and dictators around the world.

Rosett sat down with The Daily Caller News Foundation and said the message from the 2016 election had nothing to do with Russia, but everything to do with shrinking paychecks, vanishing jobs and over-regulation.

The Democrats’ rhetoric about Trump’s supposed Russian collusion does not match the degree of enthusiasm and flexibility that former President Barack Obama actually displayed to Russia for his entire two terms, Rosett says in this video interview.

She cites: when Obama was caught on a hot mic promising flexibility to Vladimir Putin, shelving missile defense for Europe in a phony “reset” with our dangerous adversary, inadequate pursuit of Edward Snowden who is still hiding in Russia, the imaginary “red line” with Syria that opened the door to Russia being emboldened in the Middle East, the Iran deal that advantaged Russia and their allies on the world scene and the weak response of the U.S. when Russia annexed Crimea, which belonged to Ukraine.

COMMENT:  Take that, CNN.  Read the whole piece.  Rosett is crystal clear, and actually knows something.  A rarity.

December 3, 2017       Permalink

PROPER PREPARATIONS – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  The Trump administration is looking to harden defenses on America's West Coast.  This is the right thing to do.  It demonstrates resolve, capability, and signals that this administration takes the protection of the American people seriously.  From Reuters: 

SIMI VALLEY, Calif  (Reuters) - The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack.

West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack.

The accelerated pace of North Korea’s ballistic missile testing program in 2017 and the likelihood the North Korean military could hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear payload in the next few years has raised the pressure on the United States government to build-up missile defenses.

On Wednesday, North Korea tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can fly over 13,000 km (8,080 miles), placing Washington within target range, South Korea said on Friday.

Congressman Mike Rogers, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and chairs the Strategic Forces Subcommittee which oversees missile defense, said the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was aiming to install extra defenses at West Coast sites. The funding for the system does not appear in the 2018 defense budget plan indicating potential deployment is further off.

COMMENT:  I'm sure some of the political fashion plates on the West Coast will oppose this deployment, based on their need to be accepted on the cocktail-party circuit.  But I suspect the real humans in West Coast states will be pleased with the extra protection.

December 3, 2017       Permalink 

THIS COULD BE MAJOR – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:   It seems that our unease over the government's handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal may have been well placed.  From Fox: 

EXCLUSIVE –  Two senior Justice Department officials have confirmed to Fox News that the department's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the role played in the Hillary Clinton email investigation by Peter Strzok, a former deputy director for counterintelligence at the FBI who was removed from the staff of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III earlier this year, after Mueller learned that Strzok had exchanged anti-Trump texts with a colleague.

A source close to the matter said the OIG probe, which will examine Strzok's roles in a number of other politically sensitive cases, should be completed by "very early next year." 

The task will be exceedingly complex, given Strzok's consequential portfolio. He participated in the FBI's fateful interview with Hillary Clinton on July 2, 2016 – just days before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was declining to recommend prosecution of Mrs. Clinton in connection with her use, as secretary of state, of a private email server. 

As deputy FBI director for counterintelligence, Strzok also enjoyed liaison with various agencies in the intelligence community, including the CIA, then led by Director John Brennan.

COMMENT:  Let's see if Jeff Sessions can oversee this and make sure it's done right.  The role of the FBI in the failure to prosecute Hillary Clinton is critical.  If it was compromised by Strzok, the public must know, Congress must know, and the issue must be pursued further...and vigorously.

December 3,  2017     Permalink