Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

JUNE 5,  2016

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

FINALLY, WE WIN ONE – FROM FOX:   At Ohio State University, a Chinese student took tests for Chinese classmates for cash last year, guaranteeing an A.  At the University of California, Irvine, some international students used a lost-ID-card ruse to let impersonators take exams in place of others.  At the University of Arizona, a professor told of Chinese students handing in multiple copies of the same incorrect test answers.  A flood of foreign undergraduates on America’s campuses is improving the financial health of universities. It also sometimes clashes with a fundamental value of U.S. scholarship: academic integrity.  A Wall Street Journal analysis of data from more than a dozen large U.S. public universities found that in the 2014-15 school year, the schools recorded 5.1 reports of alleged cheating for every 100 international students. They recorded one such report per 100 domestic students.  Maybe all is not lost with the young generation.

HILLARY WINS ANOTHER – FROM FOX:   Hillary Clinton on Sunday won the Puerto Rico Democratic Primary, inching closer to getting enough delegates to clinch the party’s presidential nomination.  After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the U.S. territory, Clinton is now 28 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count.  The results were slow to arrive on Sunday, as officials counted ballots by hand and focused first on releasing results tied to the island's local primary elections, said Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico's former Democratic National Committeeman.  "We just won Puerto Rico! ¡Gracias a la Isla del Encanto por esta victoria!" tweeted Clinton.  She'll essentially clinch the nomination on Tuesday, when California and New Jersey vote.  But that assumes the loyalty of the superdelegates pledged to her.  I wouldn't be surprised if Bernie Sanders, who's turning out to be the consummate homewrecker, tries to pry them away.

A LITTLE LATE – FROM THE HILL:  Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called for a stop to violence at Donald Trump's campaign rallies in an interview that aired Sunday, blaming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for setting a "very bad example."  "This has to end. He set a very bad example. He created an environment in which it seems to be acceptable for someone running for president to be inciting violence, to be encouraging his supporters," Clinton said on CNN's "State of the Union."  "Now we're seeing people who are against [Trump] responding in kind. It should all stop. It's unacceptable."  A recent Trump rally in San Jose, Calif., was marred with violence by anti-Trump demonstrators.   It can't be denied that Trump has made some very foolish statements in egging on his supporters at rallies.  And it's happening on other issues as well.  He has simply got to impose some discipline on himself.  His campaign right now, which should be setting the stage for a national effort based on major issues, is still in "destroy everyone" mode.  Many in the voting public are clearly turned off, and a late Reuters poll shows Hillary Clinton regaining her past, strong lead over Trump.  You have to know how to run for president.

June 5, 2016       Permalink

LAST MAJOR PRIMARIES ON TUESDAY – AT 1:08 P.M. ET:  California and New Jersey, two very important states, vote in two days.   From The Hill:   

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton holds a slim lead over rival Bernie Sanders in California ahead of Tuesday’s primary, according to a new poll.

Clinton leads Sanders 49 percent to 47 percent among likely Democratic primary voters in the CBS News Battleground Tracker Poll released Sunday morning.

The majority of Sanders supporters in California, 57 percent, said the main reason they are voting for him is to influence the party, even if they don't think he can get the nomination. Six in 10 Sanders supporters want him to fight on to the Democratic National Convention in late July.

And among California Democrats overall, 71 percent want Sanders to endorse Clinton and have a unified convention when the primaries are over.

Pollsters surveyed 1,187 likely California voters and 674 likely Democratic primary voters from May 31 to June 3. Their findings have a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points for likely voters and 5 points for likely Democratic voters.

Clinton has a wider lead over the Vermont senator in New Jersey, however, at 61 to 34 percent.

COMMENT:  Bottom line:  Clinton will probably come through Tuesday with enough votes to clinch the nomination.  Bernie will then have to decide whether to seek unity, or become a homewrecker.  I wouldn't be surprised either way.

June 5, 2016       Permalink

STATE OF THE NATION – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  This is a terrible political year.  Look at the choices we're being offered?  Is a third choice imperative?  From Greg Orman and Patrick H. Caddell at RealClearPolitics: 

There is a crisis of legitimacy threatening the 2016 election. As the primary process wraps up, it appears that the electorate will be offered the choice between two candidates who have the highest unfavorability ratings in the history of American presidential elections. With the middle class under siege from stagnant wages and rising costs of living, our entitlement programs on an unsustainable path, and systemic corruption infecting our politics, a majority of Americans are shaking their heads in disbelief that these are our only choices.

This crisis of legitimacy isn’t confined to the presidential election. Grassroots Americans are challenging the competence, legitimacy, and performance of its governing elite. Some three-fourths of the American people believe that the government in Washington no longer operates with the consent of the governed. There is no way that the current status quo establishment, which did not even perceive the gathering storm before it arrived, can reform, revive, and restore the country.

And...

Only a new movement, which offers not a singular savior but a candidacy around which the American people can rally, will be able to start the process of healing our country. Only a new movement that empowers Americans from every segment of society to bring a new energy and sensibility to our politics will allow us to chart a course that lifts up every American who is willing to work for the American Dream. It would be more than a single candidate. It would be a ticket of partners and a leadership team driven by a broad movement of grassroots supporters.

And...

Who can make this happen? Those of you who are reading and agree with this essay. Those who could help fund an effort both to secure ballot access and to publicly inform and give exposure for this effort to the millions of Americans who wait in hope. Those who could join the effort to secure the necessary signatures. Those who would be willing to give their time and energy to bringing a campaign for such a candidacy to light. And the final and most important: an American or two who are in a credible position to step forward -- as a candidate or a ticket -- in service to the cause of America.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  The piece is well argued.  But, at the end, we're still left with the reality of a presidential election in five months.  And we're left without a candidate.  Without that name, all the talk of a third party is meaningless.  It's the old story:  You can't beat somebody with nobody.

I agree that we have terrible choices.  And we have no Eisenhower to step in, as he did in 1952.  And there is no Reagan, as in 1980.

If you know anybody, write to me.

June 5, 2016       Permalink

A NATION OF LAWS? – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  A stunning investigative report by, remarkably, the very liberal Boston Globe: 

They were among the nation’s top priorities for deportation, criminals who were supposed to be sent back to their home countries. But instead they were released, one by one, in secret across the United States. Federal officials said that many of the criminals posed little threat to the public, but did little to verify whether that was true.

It wasn’t.

A Globe review of 323 criminals released in New England from 2008 to 2012 found that as many as 30 percent committed new offenses, including rape, attempted murder, and child molestation — a rate that is markedly higher than Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have suggested to Congress in the past.

The names of these criminals have never before been made public and are coming to light now only because the Globe sued the federal government for the list of criminals immigration authorities returned to neighborhoods across the country. A judge ordered the names released in 2013, and the Globe then undertook the work that the federal government didn’t, scouring court records to find out how many released criminals reoffended.

COMMENT:  Praise goes to the Globe.  Read the whole piece.  We are supposed to be a nation of laws.  Under the Obama regime we have become a nation of laws that the Obama crowd likes.  The other laws are ignored.

June 5,  2016     Permalink

JUNE 4,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

INSANITY – FROM DAILY CALLER:    Charlotte Marine veteran Allen Thornwell, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was fired by Time Warner Cable for lowering the company’s flag to half-staff on Memorial Day. Thornwell was employed in technical support after serving as a radio operator in the Marine Corps from 2005-2014.  A manager at the veterans placement company who arranged the job for Thornwell said Thornwell’s “passion for the flag and political affiliation” disturbed Time Warner. The company confirmed to the Charlotte Observer Thornwell was “no longer under contract” but declined any further comment.  In response to the incident Thornwell told the Charlotte Observer, “I’m not even mad right now” elaborating “I don’t know what kind of moral compass you need to fire a veteran on Memorial Day for lowering the flag.”  I hope this Marine veteran gets a load of job offers.  I hope Time Warner gets a load of letters.

KNOWLEDGE EVERYONE NEEDS – FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:   People don’t take hurricanes as seriously if they have a feminine name and the consequences are deadly, finds a new groundbreaking study.  Female-named storms have historically killed more because people neither consider them as risky nor take the same precautions, the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes.  Researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University examined six decades of hurricane death rates according to gender, spanning 1950 and 2012. Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the female-named hurricanes produced an average of 45 deaths compared to 23 deaths in male-named storms, or almost double the number of fatalities. (The study excluded Katrina and Audrey, outlier storms that would skew the model).  Why do I think the truth here lies somewhere else?  I mean, how stupid do they think people are?  Have you ever heard anyone minimize a hurricane's threat because it's named Linda?  Call me skeptical.

IT'S ABOUT TIME – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   US and Cuban officials are reportedly discussing an exchange that could bring New Jersey cop killer Joanne Chesimard back to American soil.  The talks between the two countries, which have normalized diplomatic relations, could also send notorious Cuban spy Ana Montes back to the Caribbean nation, according to NBC.  “Cuba has been a haven for US fugitives,” a federal law-enforcement official told NBC.  Chesimard, a former Black Panther and an aunt of hip hop legend Tupac Shakur, escaped prison in 1979 after she was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper. She has been hiding out in Havana since the mid-1980s.  Getting Chesimard back should have been achieved before we agreed to normalize relations.  We got nothing from that agreement.

June 4, 2016       Permalink

WHAA..? – AT 1:52 P.M. ET:  Donald Trump is trying to make up for a blunder.  From the Santa Fe New Mexican:   

In a stunning reversal of rhetoric and tone, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday said he respects New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and wants her endorsement. Trump’s comments in a phone interview with The New Mexican came just days after he castigated Martinez in front of 8,000 people in Albuquerque, saying her job performance was so poor that he might have to run for governor of New Mexico.

Trump’s criticisms of Martinez turned to praise Thursday, signs of their monthslong war thawing to a détente.

“I’d like to have it,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked if he wanted Martinez’s support. “I respect her. I have always liked her.”

Trump’s attack on Martinez, the nation’s only Latina governor, became a national story, both because he denigrated the chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association and because Martinez is part of demographic groups with which Trump support is especially weak — women and Hispanics.

Martinez, in turn, has been critical of Trump. She publicly chided him for making sweeping, negative comments about Mexican immigrants. Later, while she was at a private fundraising event for Republican governors at the Florida home of billionaire David Koch, Martinez slammed Trump for his campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

Trump phoned a reporter for The New Mexican after learning from his press staff that Martinez earlier in the day had maintained her pattern of keeping open the possibility of endorsing Trump but again declined to do so.

COMMENT:  There really is a limit to how many of these antics Trump can pull.  I'm being harsh on him because he deserves it.  His true believers may accept anything, but Trump's job now, as we've noted earlier, is to get the support of the great American middle.  Tactics more familiar to New York real estate than presidential politics won't cut it.  You can't destroy a governor's reputation one day, then say how much you like her the next.  Even Hillary couldn't get away with such a Hillaryism.

June 4, 2016       Permalink

NEW THREAT – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  I would take this seriously.  They've been credible before.  From Bill Gertz at the Washinton Free Beacon:

The Islamic State is urging jihadists in the United States and Europe to carry out terror attacks during what a group spokesman promised would be “the month of conquest and jihad.”

A U.S. government advisory warned that ISIS attacks, either directly sponsored or simply inspired by the group’s rhetoric, could be carried out during Islam’s month of Ramadan that begins June 5.

The threatened attacks were announced in an ISIS video made public May 21.

In the video, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani called on jihadists to “get prepared, be ready … to make it a month of calamity everywhere for nonbelievers…especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America.”

A report by the State Department-led Overseas Security Advisory Council said the threat could be credible because three deadly terror attacks took place last year shortly after Adnani issued a similar call to arms.

“According to Islamic practice, sacrifice during Ramadan can be considered more valuable than that made at other times, so a call to martyrdom during the month may hold a special allure to some,” the report said.

COMMENT:  Eternal vigilance, as they say, is the price of liberty.  If an attack occurs here, it will be just before the national conventions.  Inevitably, there could be a devastating political impact.  It could make Donald Trump president, if he is seen as the strong leader who can handle the situation.  Or, very important, it can ruin him if he responds like a small-time neighborhood bully.

I'm concerned.  We should all be concerned.

June 4, 2016       Permalink

IS CLINTON SURGING? – AT 11:36 A.M. ET:  We stress that national polls at this stage are not indicative of future findings.  But a new poll indicates what I think many are sensing, that Donald Trump, after a fast run upward, has begun to stall.  From The Hill:

Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by double digits in a hypothetical general election match-up, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday.

Forty-six percent of voters say they'll back Clinton, a Democrat, while 35 percent say they'll vote for Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Nineteen percent said they won't vote for either candidate.

The poll surveyed 1,421 voters between May 30 and June 3.

Trump had been quickly gaining ground and in some cases overtaking Clinton in polls over the last few weeks. The most recent RealClearPolitics average, not including the Reuters poll, puts her up by just 1.5 points.

COMMENT:   Hard to know if the poll is accurate or an outlier.  However, I do sense that Trump's big mouth and boorish manner are having a negative effect on voters outside his base.  He has now said he has no intention of changing his manner, a big mistake.  The American people expect a presidential style in a presidential candidate.  Even Nixon could fake it. 

Yesterday, while the government was releasing devastating job-creation figures, which should be a major issue for Trump the businessman, he was talking about a personal legal case and attacking the judge.  That kind of misjudgment, and ego-based drifting, can cost Trump the election.  One of Trump's arguments is that he's a "big guy."  Big money.  Big thinking.  In fact, he often comes off as a petulant, thin-skinned little man, and someone has got to read the riot act to him.

June 4,  2016     Permalink