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FEBRUARY 17,  2018

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

OH, THE EXCITEMENT! – FROM AP:  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden is tiptoeing toward a potential presidential run in 2020, even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides.  Huddled in his newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began a planning meeting for his new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room. He said he was keeping his 2020 options open, considering it a real possibility. He insisted he had made no decision, and didn't need to yet, according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did.  Biden is a decent man, and people sympathize with him because he's had a very tough private life.  But, bottom line, he has exhibited horrible judgment in foreign policy and would be a real danger if he became president.

ABSURD – FROM THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL:  PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Tuition, room and board and fees at Brown University will rise to $70,266 starting in fall 2018, an increase of 4 percent.  But 45 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, and Brown meets 100 percent of every undergraduate's demonstrated financial need through a combination of grants, scholarships and work-study programs, according to Brown spokesman Brian Clark.  The university's budget, approved over the weekend by the Corporation of Brown University, also expands undergraduate financial aid by nearly 11 percent, to $135.4 million, according to the university.  There are two key issues:  1)  How much of the money is going to the diversity racket, to pay off every aggrieved group with a "center" or "Institute for the study of..." and 2) How is financial aid being used to shape the student body, keeping out some and preferring others? 

THIS IS SUCH A RELIEF – FROM AP:   A story claiming that Fidel Castro was the father of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not true. The Canadian government denied it, Cuba has never claimed it and Trudeau's parents never visited Cuba until several years after Justin Trudeau was born.  The Feb. 1 suicide of Castro's oldest son, Fidelito, spurred the most recent report on several sites, claiming that Fidelito left a suicide note referring to Justin Trudeau as his half-brother. A theory that Castro was Trudeau's father was also shared widely on social media after Castro's death in 2016, when Trudeau caused an uproar over remarks praising the late Cuban leader.  The Canadian government denied the reports this week. Justin Trudeau was born on Dec. 25, 1971, to the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret.  I'm so glad this is settled.  It was really keeping me up at night. 

February 17, 2018       Permalink

McMASTER WARNS – AT 3:30 P.M. ET:  Are we forgetting Iran?  Some of our European allies, with their substantial business interests in Iran, would like us to.   But it's hard to forget the world's largest sponsor of terror, which is rapidly developing ICBM's, and will eventually have the nuclear warheads to top them.  The president's national security adviser is sounding a hard line on Iran, and it is entirely appropriate.  From Reuters: 

MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster called on Saturday for more forceful action to halt Iran’s development of what he said was an increasingly powerful network of proxy armies in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

McMaster accused Iran of escalating a campaign to increase its influence in the Middle East by building and arming “Hezbollah-style” proxy armies in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere as it has done in Lebanon.

The goal was to weaken Arab governments and turn the proxy forces against those states if they pursued policies that ran counter to Tehran’s interests, he said.

“So the time is now, we think, to act against Iran,” he told the Munich Security Conference, calling on U.S. allies to halt trade that was helping underwrite the expansion of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military and economic force in the Islamic Republic.

Note the phrase, "The time is now..."  Mere words?  Or are specific actions coming?

The United States deems Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

“What’s particularly concerning is that this network of proxies is becoming more and more capable,” he said.

Iran has denied accusations that it meddles in the affairs of its Middle East neighbours and has dismissed suggestions it stop supporting groups such as Hezbollah.

McMaster also railed against the 2015 nuclear accord signed by Iran and six other countries, saying investments made by German firms and others were helping fund Iran’s missile program and its other activities in the Middle East.

A remarkable statement.  It's time Germany was called out publicly.  Only the Trump administration is doing it.  The United States sent tens of billions of dollars to Iran, under Obama, as part of the nuclear deal.  We recall that we sent scrap iron to Japan before World War II.  It came back to us in the form of bullets.

Echoing President Donald Trump’s view, he said it was time to address “serious flaws in the Iran deal and counter Iran’s destabilising activities including its development and proliferation of missiles.”

COMMENT:  That is a serious speech, and McMaster is a serious man.  An Iranian proxy recently sent a military drone into Israel, crossing a red line that had never been crossed.  The Iranians are on the move, and the Europeans are just cashing in.

February 17, 2018       Permalink

SALENA DELIVERS – AT 1:40 P.M. ET:   Salena Zito is a journalistic gem whose work was discovered after the recent presidential election.  Based in Pittsburgh, she was one of the few reporters who actually went out and talked to voters in the rust belt, and understood what they were saying in their votes for Donald Trump.   Now Salena is examining the loss of respect in this country for people of faith.  As usual, she talks to real people who haven't served on the faculties of Ivy League colleges.  From the New York Post: 

CUMBERLAND, Md. — Last week Joy Behar, co-host of the ABC show “The View,” did something that has become an escalating trend in our popular culture over the past 10 years — she mocked religiosity.

In a segment about Vice President Mike Pence and his belief that he hears the voice of God, Behar quipped: “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you. That’s called mental illness, if I’m not correct . . . hearing voices.”

The audience of “The View” clapped and laughed along with her.

But outside the entertainment bubble, in places like Cumberland, ordinary folk were horrified.

“I am not sure what shocked me the most, that Behar mocked one of the core beliefs of Christianity or the reaction of the studio audience,” said Tim McGregor, pastor at the Lighthouse of Hope, a non-denominational Christian church here in western Maryland.

“It is troubling to me how much they responded to her. They were affirming it with laughter and clapping, and I’m like ‘What are you people.’ I mean, “What do you believe in?” McGregor said.

She concludes: 

This country was built on tolerance towards all peoples, including religious ones. The cultural elite should remember that mocking them is no different from mocking someone because of their race, gender or sexual persuasion — groups they so fiercely and rightly work to protect.

COMMENT:   Read the entire story.  There are very few writers dealing with this subject, especially in print.  Salena Zito deserves the Pulitzer Prize for her body of work.  Don't hold your breath.

February 17, 2018       Permalink

THIS IS THE NEWS – OR IS IT? – AT 12:46 P.M. ET:  Readers may have noticed that we've been publishing a little later in the day recently.  It will not be a permanent practice.  I've simply found that, in the last weeks at least, there have been very few stories published in the early hours that warranted that much attention.

Are they "fake" news?  No, not really.  They're no news.  News outlets must publish or broadcast, but consumers of news should not hang on every word.  Many "stories" are just "second day angles" of other stories, often going nowhere.  Others are filler.   Others are "trend" stories, and we take them very seriously, if we start to notice that the trend is continuing.  I have a whole store of stories about college campuses, and will use them if they continue to have merit.

I've noticed that Americans are being self-vaccinated against two story areas:  the so-called "Russia investigation" to the president's alleged collusion with Russian agents, and stories about the president's vivid lifestyle, or at least the lifestyle he maintained before becoming president.  The details of the former are presented to us endlessly by CNN, and not many Americans seem to care.  As president, Mr. Trump has not exactly turned the country over to Moscow.

As to the president's character, and lifestyle, we knew what we were getting.  No one expected an angel, or a eunuch.  Recent reports of presidential affairs with Playboy playmates or similarly skilled personnel have gone nowhere.  We watch the Rasmussen tracking poll here, and have not noticed any change at all after "bombshell revelations" breathlessly reported on CNN.

So, we may publish at different times of the day, depending on what I think is important.  It is the selection of material that is the heart of Urgent Agenda, and that can take some time.

February 17,  2018     Permalink

FEBRUARY 16,  2018

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

NOT A HIT SHOW – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Some 42,000 students attend UCLA, and whether many of them think “toxic masculinity” is a pressing concern is unclear, if the attendance at a recent campus forum on the subject is any indication.  When the UCLA Intergroup Relations Program recently hosted an event to allow the campus community to discuss “toxic masculinity,” 10 students showed up.  The discussion, held Tuesday, was billed as a way to allow students a chance to discuss “the silence surrounding toxic masculinity, emotional repression, locker room talk, and broader social norms,” according to organizers.  I guess most students don't think masculinity is toxic.  The tiny attendance is indicative of subtle changes we're starting to see on college campuses – mature, sane students fighting back against, or ignoring, the flip-out radical left.

MORE FIGHTING BACK – FROM DEADLINE.COM:  Hours after being pink-slipped from Amazon’s "Transparent," Jeffrey Tambor today took aim at series creator Jill Soloway and the Jeff Bezos-run streaming service for its handling of investigating sexual harassment claims against him last last year.  “I am profoundly disappointed in Amazon’s handling of these false accusations against me,” the Emmy-winning actor said Thursday. “I am even more disappointed in Jill Soloway’s unfair characterization of me as someone who would ever cause harm to any of my fellow cast mates.”  He added: “In our four-year history of working together on this incredible show, these accusations have NEVER been revealed or discussed directly with me or anyone at Amazon."  He may well be guilty and deserving of punishment, but, like any American, he is entitled to defend himself, face his accuser, and have his day in court.  He got none of these things, and it is appropriate that he fight back.  What we're seeing today is a left-wing version of McCarthyism.

PRESSING THE "POWER OFF" BUTTON – FROM DEADLINE.COM:  Team USA has a total of eight medals so far at the XXIII Winter Games but another gold in slalom for Mikaela Shiffrin was not destined to be one of them last night in NBC’s primetime coverage as the network hit a new 2018 low in the ratings.  Like Sochi 2014 winner Shiffrin and to some extent snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis’s efforts, Day 6 of official competition at the PyeongChang games had all the elements of victory but not the execution, despite the marquee names.  With a 13.0/22 in metered markets on combined coverage on NBC and NBC Sports Network, the Comcast-owned outlet was far off the podium on the first Thursday of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Not only is this a low for these games, which have slipped and slid repeatedly, but last night’s numbers took a face plant from both Sochi 2014 and Vancouver 2010.  If you take the NBC/NBCSN not-so-happy meal of last night and compare it to the comparable, the 2018 Olympics are down 10% in the early ratings.  I think there's a general revulsion toward the way sports have been covered recently, with political remarks by commentators and all-around indifference to the audience.  I see very little excitement about the Olympics.  No one seems to care.

February 16, 2018       Permalink

DEVELOPING – AT 1:48 P.M. ET:  There are indictments in the "Russia matter" in Washington.  This story is just developing, and there will be deeper analysis as more facts are known.  But the president does not appear damaged at all by today's events.  From Fox:

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on Friday indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities accused of interfering in U.S. elections. 

They are accused of having a “strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election.”

The 37-page indictment was signed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

They are accused of spreading derogatory information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, denigrating Republican candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio -- and supporting Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and then-Republican candidate Donald Trump. 

It says the defendants spread derogatory information about various candidates throughout the 2016 campaign and by “early to mid-2016” were supporting Trump’s presidential campaign.

The indictment said the defendants purchased political advertisements on social media in the names of U.S. persons and entities. It also accuses them of staging political rallies inside the United States while posing as U.S. grassroots groups.

According to the special counsel, the indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.

COMMENT:  The key point is that, as of now, we don't know of any Americans who were involved.  There is no mention in the indictment of collusion with the Russians by American citizens.  If that ultimately proves to be true, many journalists will be eating multiple servings of crow. 

But there's much, much more to come.  We make no predictions.

We should note that the Russkies have been trying to influence our elections since the Russian revolution of 1917.  Other nations routinely try.  The Brits had a professional operation in the U.S. before World War II, trying to get America to back Britain.  There were large Nazi propaganda operations, even depicted in movies like "The House on 92nd Street." 

We should be prepared, but not shocked. 

February 16, 2018       Permalink

WISDOM – QUOTE OF THE DAY – Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, of the United States Supreme Court, rarely speaks in public.  But when he does, he always has something to say, and remember.   From Daily Caller: 

Justice Clarence Thomas decried the contemporary culture of victimhood during remarks Thursday, telling an audience at the Library of Congress that constant aggrievement would exhaust the country.

Ever a touchstone for controversy on racial issues, the justice related a story from a recent trip to Kansas, where a black college student told him she was primarily interested in school work, and less interested in the political tumult gripping college campuses.

“At some point we’re going to be fatigued with everybody being a victim,” he said.

Thomas has struck similar chords throughout his public life. He appeared on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News program in November 2017, and suggested contemporary activists could benefit from the example of his grandparents, who exhibited quiet fortitude during the heady days of white supremacy.

He made his Thursday remark in the context of a broader discussion about his childhood. Thomas was born in Georgia’s coastal lowlands among impoverished Gullah-speakers, and spent his childhood working his grandfather’s farm. He likened his upbringing to Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel “The Help” as most of the women in his life, including his mother, were domestics in white households.

Given the few options open to blacks in the Jim Crow south, Thomas’ family felt they had no choice but to do the best with what they had. The justice detects the hand of providence in those select opportunities open to him, like parochial education and Savannah’s Carnegie library, which served the black population.

“You always have to play the hand you’re dealt,” he said. “If you’re dealt a bad hand, you still have to play it.”

As detailed in his 2008 memoir, he inherited these sensibilities from his grandfather. Thomas was sent to live with his grandparents after a fire ravaged his mother’s home during his childhood.

By Thomas’s telling, his grandfather was the defining figure of his life. When he joined the Supreme Court in 1991, his wife commissioned a bust featuring his grandfather’s favorite quote.

“His favorite quote was ‘Old Man Can’t is dead. I helped bury him,'” Thomas said.

COMMENT:  A role model for today's "I don't feel safe" generation.  But the sad fact is that Justice Thomas doesn't get much respect from those who make up speaker lists at the nation's most "prestigious" colleges.  Those students could mightily gain from what he has to say.

February 16, 2018       Permalink

AFTERMATH – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:  We are now experiencing the aftermath of the horrible shootings in Florida.  The usual suspects are coming out of the woodwork to advocate policies to which they have never given a moment's thought.  It's all about them and their pseudo-grief.

But there is also some good reporting going on.  What is being learned is stunning.  Florida and federal authorities had been repeatedly warned about the alleged killer.  Even students had openly speculated that he would do something drastic.  From Fox: 

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people at his former Florida high school, had scores of run-ins with law enforcement dating back to 2010 -- with one report saying sheriff’s deputies responded to his home more than 35 times in just six years.

Broward County Sheriff’s deputies received at least 36 emergency 911 calls from 80th Terrace St., in Parkland – the suburban address where the teenager lived with his younger brother, Zachary, and their adoptive mother, Lynda, BuzzFeed reported.

The calls – dating as far back as 2010 and continuing until November 2016 – shed a light on two erratic and violent boys who repeatedly “threw items,” were “out of control” and fought with their mother and each other on an apparently regular basis.

Despite the repeated calls to authorities, Cruz was never arrested – and was basically cleared as being “no threat to anyone or himself,” as one therapist said in a police report from Sept. 28, 2016.

In that particular call, the sheriff’s office said Nikolas and his mother were fighting over paperwork needed for him to get an ID card

In their report, deputies detailed how the teen had been harming himself and had talked about buying a gun.

“He had been cutting his arms, his mother said, to get attention, as he learned it from an ex-girlfriend,” deputies said. “He has mentioned in the past that he would like to purchase a firearm.”

The therapist on scene, Jared Bienenfeld with Henderson Mental Health, and the deputies concluded there were “no signs of mental illness or criminal activity.”

And much like the calls before – which were placed due to reasons ranging from the brothers beating each other to Cruz, at the age of 12, threating his mother and calling her a “useless b****” – law enforcement left without taking any further action.

On the FBI, from Daily Caller: 

Revelations that the FBI had been warned about Florida high school shooter Nikolaus Cruz fit an all-too-familiar pattern, in which apparent law enforcement errors have preceded mass murders.

The FBI was warned about Cruz after he posted on YouTube saying he was going to become a “professional school shooter.” The agency said they couldn’t identify the user who made the threat, despite Cruz posting under his own name. Five months later, Cruz pulled the fire alarm at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and began shooting his former classmates with his AR-15.

COMMENT:  The media would like the emphasis to be on gun control, although it is hard to see how any gun-control plan could have prevented a deranged, determined man from getting a firearm.  But the immediate emphasis should be on how the shooter slipped through so many loops.  An equal emphasis should be on how security systems in place at the target school failed.  Hardening schools, making them less vulnerable to active shooters, has been a strategy embraced, according to reports, by about half the nation's school districts.  But the hardening has to work at the critical moment. 

February 16,  2018     Permalink