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FEBRUARY 27,  2016

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

HILLARY ROMPS – From Fox:   Hillary Clinton cruised Saturday to an easy victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, taking back the momentum from Bernie Sanders heading into Super Tuesday – though Sanders will keep his foothold in the race as he continues to rack up delegates and contributions.  The Democratic front-runner won largely on the strength of her support from black voters – her so-called “firewall” that, in the end, held up.  Exit polls showed nearly nine in 10 black voters supported Clinton in the Palmetto State, and she hopes that bloc will carry her over her rival as the race heads deeper into the South. With a Nevada and South Carolina win now under her belt, Clinton is working hard to shake off her big loss to Sanders earlier this month in New Hampshire.  “Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” Clinton declared at her victory rally in Columbia, S.C.   She'll probably get the nomination unless the FBI derails her, but her dependence on the black vote could create some uneasiness, especially among other minorities who feel they're being elbowed out.   Minorities do not necessarily love each other or work well with each other.

MIRACLE – From money.cnn.com:   For the first time in nearly 97 years, the price of a stamp is set to go down.  On April 10, a first-class stamp will cost 47 cents, down from its current 49-cent price.  The reduction is part of a pre-arranged agreement with Congress. The Post Office got to increase the price of stamps by 3 cents in 2014 to help it raise $4.6 billion in revenue. But the price hike was only set to last two years. (It gets to keep one cent of the increase to keep up with inflation).  The Post Office is practically begging Congress to let it keep stamps at 49 cents. It says rolling back prices to 47 cents will cost the already badly bleeding Post Office $2 billion a year.  I'll get the Post Office will eventually get its way, and we'll be paying 49 cents again. 

MY HEART BREAKS – From CNN:  MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry is refusing to host her show this Saturday due to weeks of pre-emptions that she says have left her "silenced."  In an email to her staff that was posted on Medium, Harris-Perry said she felt "worthless" in the eyes of NBC News executives after consecutive weeks in which her show was replaced by general news programming.  The letter, which began "Dearest Nerds," read, "Here is the reality: Our show was taken — without comment or discussion or notice — in the midst of an election season. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced."  A committed leftist, Harris-Perry will probably not be returning to MSNBC, according to late reports.  She is straight party line, and preaches to the choir.  MSNBC, hurting in the ratings, is apparently trying to shake its image as a left-wing sandbox.  That will take time, and talent.

February 27, 2016       Permalink 

THIS IS AWFUL – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:   Must we racialize everything in this society?  We are talking about the United States Supreme Court, and, once again, we have a demand based, not on character or quality, but on race.  From The Hill:   

Black lawmakers in Congress are urging President Obama to make history by nominating Attorney General Loretta Lynch to the Supreme Court.

Lynch, if confirmed, would become the first African-American woman to serve as a justice. She would also be the first African-American appointed by a Democratic president since Thurgood Marshall, an influential liberal who retired in 1991.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) argue the court’s only African-American justice, Clarence Thomas, who was nominated by George H.W. Bush in 1991, doesn’t represent the interests of their constituents.

“I would love to see him appoint Loretta Lynch. She’s already been vetted. She meets the criteria that he’s laid out. She would certainly be my recommendation,” said Elijah Cummings, a senior member of the CBC.

Cummings noted that African-American women voters helped Obama win the presidency.

“African American women have played a major role in our electoral process. They vote at a high rate,” he said.

COMMENT:  Talk about crass appeals.  By the majority of accounts, Loretta Lynch is a fine woman, respected on both sides of the aisle.  To the best of my knowledge, she has no judicial experience, which is a clear deficit.

There are many groups that are unrepresented on the Court.  Ironically, if Lynch is nominated and confirmed, she would be the only Protestant on the Supreme Court.  But there are no Asian Americans, and no pro-life Catholic women.  I could go down a whole list of the "unrepresented."

It's silly.  How about appointing the best candidate available?  Is that such a radical idea?

February 27, 2016       Permalink 

TALK ABOUT SCARY – AT 12:08 P.M. ET:  As readers know, my enthusiasm for Donald Trump is under control.   One reason for my hesitation is his vindictiveness, his utter hatred of any opponent.   Now Trump is going after the media, one of my favorite targets as well.  Maybe I should be cheering him, but what he's saying chills me to the bone.  This is not legitimate criticism of a biased, lazy press.  This is totalitarianism, plain and simple.  From AP:

Washington (AP) — Donald Trump said Friday he will weaken First Amendment protections for reporters as president, making it easier for him to sue them.

The celebrity businessman turned Republican presidential front-runner said he wants to “open up” libel laws at a rally in Fort Worth, Texas. The changes envisioned by Trump would mean that “when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” he said.

Huh?  Don't journalists have the right to create negative articles?  There are plenty of bad and biased journalists and plenty of bad reporting.  This is not the way to deal with the problem.

Trump added that, should he be elected, news organizations that have criticized him will “have problems.” He specifically mentioned The New York Times and The Washington Post. Trump last month threatened to sue the Post after the newspaper wrote an article about the bankruptcy of his Atlantic City casino. On Twitter, Trump has routinely criticized reporters who cover him and their news organizations, including The Associated Press.

First Amendment advocates condemned Trump’s suggestions.

“His statement shows why we need libel protections,” said Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Trump gets offended, he gets upset and he wants to sue to retaliate. That’s not a good reason to sue someone.”

Libel law in the United States generally makes it difficult for public figures to sue reporters or other people who criticize them. To win such a case, the plaintiff must demonstrate that factually incorrect statements were made with actual malice or a reckless disregard for the truth.

Trump said he would like to lower that standard. “We’re going to have people sue you like you never got sued before,” he said.

COMMENT:   Trump is typical of moguls of his class – on the phone with his lawyers too much of the time.  He is symbolic of the lawsuit society. 

His comments are very threatening to the Constitution.  Bad journalism is a serious problem in this society, but lawsuits will only destroy some journalists and intimidate others.   Journalists will hesitate to conduct investigations of powerful figures for fear that they'll be hauled into court.  The main beneficiaries of Trump's changes will not be people who are improperly attacked in the press, but people, some of them probably very bad people, who have the money to pursue lawsuits.

By the way, I believe there is a proper place for lawsuits against news organizations.  But Trump's vindictive sledgehammer doesn't qualify.

February 27, 2016       Permalink 

SOUTH CAROLINA VOTES TODAY – AT 11:56 A.M. ET:  (Sorry to get started so late.  There was a mass of material to read this morning, much of it very, very good.)  The Democratic primary in South Carolina is held today.  Polls show Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead, due mostly to the large African-American community in the state. 

Super Tuesday is Tuesday.  Clinton also appears to have a substantial lead in the states that will participate.

However, national Democratic polls show Clinton and Bernie Sanders very close.  The fact is that Clinton is not very popular.  And the fact is that the Democratic Party, under Obama, has shifted to the left.  Clinton is seen as center-left.  Even if she wins the nomination, she may be the last candidate of that description to be nominated by the once-great Democratic Party.  This ain't the party of Roosevelt and Truman, and Jack Kennedy couldn't get a seat at the convention.

We've said repeatedly that the 900-pound gorilla in the room is the FBI investigation hanging over Clinton's head.  If it turns south for her, it might force her out of the race, or lower her numbers to the point where her nomination is in jeopardy.  In that case, I don't think the party will turn to the outsider, Bernie Sanders, but to Joe Biden, who would be Obama's pick.

February 27,  2016     Permalink

FEBRUARY 26,  2016

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

ENDORSEMENT – Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump today, which is like Bonnie endorsing Clyde.  These are two professional tough guys who don't exactly enhance the level of political rhetoric.  I suppose Christie can get something out of this, like a cabinet post, but if Trump loses he is vulnerable to the charge of opportunism and helping to cost the GOP a presidential election.  The fact is that most Republicans are not for Donald Trump, and he's got to push over that 50% mark to show that he's truly in control.  Trump is expected to sweep most of the Super Tuesday states this coming Tuesday, but I think predictions of anything beyond that are foolish.  This is a very unusual election year, and most predictions have fallen flat.  Let's just watch the actual returns.

HIGH CONTROVERSY – From the College Fix:   The notion of requiring students to take two courses in Western Civilization to earn a diploma is so controversial at Stanford University that a recently launched petition that calls for as much has propelled the school into a heated debate complete with name-calling, intimidation tactics and more.  On one side is the editorial board of the conservative-leaning Stanford Review, which introduced the petition Sunday asking peers to sign on, saying “Stanford University, an institution purportedly at the pinnacle of higher education, fails its students.”  But the requirement, if approved, would help change that, as “students would immerse themselves in the writings of Homer, Plato, Locke, Douglass, and de Beauvoir,” states a manifesto that accompanies the petition. “The scientific revolutions hundreds of Stanford students use would gain historical context. We would lament the horrors of slavery and oppression – and applaud those who fought for freedom.”  As it stands, Stanford students are only required to take a one-quarter “Thinking Matters” humanities class that is so broad in scope it can be met with courses such as “Breaking Codes, Finding Patterns” and “Food Talks: The Language of Food,” according to the manifesto, titled “The Case for a Western Civilization Requirement at Stanford.”  It probably will never happen.  Stanford, like the others, has gone PC.   

IRAN VOTE – From ABC News:   Reformists and moderate conservatives were leading in parliamentary elections according to early results Saturday, an indication President Hassan Rouhani may face a more friendly house to pursue his domestic agenda.  Early returns from Friday's polls show that none of the three competing political factions will win a majority in the 290-seat parliament. But reformists seeking greater democratic changes are heading toward their strongest presence since 2004 at the expense of hard-liners. Officials are yet to release early results but reports in the semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies and a  count conducted by The Associated Press show that hard-liners are the main losers of the vote.  Friday's election for Iran's parliament and a powerful clerical body known as the Assembly of Experts was the first since Iran's landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year.  Read stories like this with two eyes.  "Moderate" in Iran isn't like "moderate" in the U.S.  An Iranian moderate is just a little less fascist than the hardliners.

February 26, 2016       Permalink

RETURN OF PERRY? – AT 10:42 A.M. ET:  Former Governor Rick Perry of Texas did not have a good presidential primary in 2012, when he was knocked out of contention because of a disastrous debate performance.  He did not have a good presidential primary in 2015, when he was unable to shake the image from 2012.  But now, with the GOP in a kind of crisis, he's thinking of getting back in.

The main issue here is not whether Rick Perry, a good man, gets back into the race, but that so many Republicans are speaking of unusual alternatives, including the possibility of an open convention, which would become a free-for-all after the first ballot.  From Newsmax:   

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry Thursday would not rule out his re-entering the Republican presidential race if a brokered convention occurred in Cleveland in July.

"The fact of the matter is I think this campaign, if there is an odd twist to it, it will be that no one gets enough of the nomination, gets enough of the delegates to get the nomination, and you go to a brokered convention," Perry, who dropped out of the nomination sweepstakes in June, told Erin Burnett on CNN. "At that particular point in time, it's a whole new ballgame for everyone."

"That could be a new ballgame for you," Burnett said.

"Everyone," Perry responded.

Perry, the 14-year governor who now supports Ted Cruz for the nomination, was responding to a Twitter post from conservative talk-radio host Erick Erickson, saying that he would support a third-party bid by Perry.

COMMENT:  I'm hoping for an open convention because I just don't think we can have a unified, effective party without the convention making its own choice.  There's too much bitterness, and Trump, who is favored for the nomination right now, is not the guy to end bitterness.

February 26, 2016       Permalink

HILLARY READY TO POUNCE – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:   Whether you like Donald Trump or not, one has to be worried over what the Democrats will do to him in a general-election campaign.  The Democrats are vicious, far more so than the Republicans.  Unfortunately, Trump gives them a great deal to be vicious about.

Donald Trump is a New York real-estate mogul.  Real estate is to New York what oil is to Texas.  It's the controlling industry, and making it in real estate is not for the faint of heart.  The boys fight hard, and there are more secrets housed in those buildings than tenants.  The Dems have a rich canvas on which to work.  From the conservative Washington Examiner: 

Donald Trump has failed again and again as a businessman, and he has avoided losing his own money by shoving the losses onto the people who put their trust in him.

If Trump is the nominee, disaffected voters supporting Trump in the presidential campaign will be the ruthless billionaire's next victims.

Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party will make that abundantly clear once Trump is the nominee. It won't be hard — they will just set up a camera, sit down with Trump victims and let these ordinary Americans tell the tale of how Donald Trump is a charlatan who enriched himself at the expense of ordinary people.

Democratic super PACs are already lining up Trump's victims for such a purpose, you can be totally sure. That's why any poll numbers suggesting Trump can beat Hillary should be doubted — they don't take into account the brutal campaign Hillary will wage on Trump.

"There's a mountain of *#*# the Democrats are going to dump on him if he is the nominee," says Liz Mair, a Republican operative running an anti-Trump super PAC called "Make America Awesome."

COMMENT:  Yes, that worries me.  The "oppo" research (opposition research) on Trump will be spectacular.  Just begin with clips of his obscenities, comments about women, wild attacks on anyone who criticizes him.  And you may be sure that Democratic lawyers are going through the records of his many, many lawsuits. 

Donald Trump is talented.  He clearly has tapped into the public's frustration.  He may even make an outstanding president.  But getting there will be brutal, and will make the primary campaign look like a badminton match. 

The public really knows very little about Trump.  The Democratic attack to come will be a major factor in shaping our perceptions.  Thus far Trump has held up very well.  He hasn't met the Clinton operation in practice. 

February 26, 2016       Permalink

IRAN VOTES – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Today is a critical day for international policy.  Iran elects a new parliament.  The question:  Will it tilt toward the so-called "moderates" (a term that has to be defined carefully), or toward the hardliners?  Both groups are happy to shout "Death to America," but the hardliners are more likely to carry out the threat sooner.  From Reuters: 

Millions of Iranians voted in high-stake elections on Friday that could shift the balance of power within the hardline-controlled Islamic elite by ushering in a reformist comeback or help conservatives tighten their grip on power.

The contest is seen by some analysts as a make-or-break moment that could shape the future for the next generation, in a country where nearly 60 per cent of the 80 million population is under 30. tmsnrt.rs/20VK0vG

There were early signs of enthusiastic participation in the first polls since a nuclear deal last year led to a lifting of sanctions and deeper diplomatic engagement abroad.

Long queues formed at polling stations in the capital and state television showed throngs of voters in Ahvaz and Shiraz. It was unclear how the turnout might shape the outcome.

"Whoever likes Iran and its dignity, greatness and glory should vote. Iran has enemies. They are eyeing us greedily," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after casting his ballot, in a reference to Western powers.

"Turnout in the elections should be so high to disappoint our enemies ... People should be observant and vote with open eyes and should vote wisely."

At stake is control of the 290-seat parliament and the 88-member Assembly of Experts, the body that has the power to appoint and dismiss the supreme leader, Iran's most powerful figure. Both are currently in the hands of hardliners.

During its next eight-year term it could name the successor to Khamenei, who is 76 and has been in power since 1989.

COMMENT:  I'd like to see the "moderates" win because any improvement is better than none at all.  But Khamenei will remain in power.  Don't expect Iran to suddenly become Canada.

February 26,  2016     Permalink