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Today's Commentary --- Back in business -- Thomas' wife under fire -- Ainsworth: Start-of-year prediction about Michelle Obama -- Happy New Year -- Fired -- Kim's speech -- Great moments in journalism -- Warren's announcement --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

The Red State Model

January 2, 2019

A new report from the Census Bureau shows that in the competition between the liberal “blue state” model and the conservative “red state” model, red states are winning big among people voting with their feet.
Now that Michelle Obama has been named “Most Admired Woman” for 2018, it’s time for me to make a prediction for 2019: The former First Lady will toss her hat in the ring for 2020, and she will get her party’s nomination.

Warren's announcement

January 2, 2019

Despite the embarrassment of a DNA test showing that Sen. Elizabeth Warren is about as much of a Native American as I am a Bernie Sanders voter, Warren seems determined to press ahead with a run for the White House.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2019

I was going to write a wrap-up of 2018, but then I realized that I’d already done that when I wrote a wrap-up of 2016. That’s because...
Today's Commentary --- Looking back at 2018 -- Comcast funds pro-abortion video -- 24/7 smear machine -- A deeper appreciation of Christmas -- A Baby Boomer's special Christmas memory -- Real gems -- NYT turning over every rock -- Richard Overton RIP --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Looking back at 2018

December 31, 2018

Today is New Year’s Eve, so I wanted to be the first to wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Today's Commentary --- "Huckabee" preview -- "Person of the year" -- "Love thy neighbor as thyself" -- From the mouths of babes... -- A unique Christmas experience -- "Feliz Navidad" -- A close encounter with the real Santa Claus --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Angel on high

December 29, 2018

A funny Christmas memory that’s taken on serious meaning over the years.
Today's Commentary --- Angel on high -- "Huckabee" preview -- A lifelong Christmas memory -- A deeper appreciation of Christmas -- A Baby Boomer's special Christmas memory -- Real gems -- "Feliz Navidad" -- A close encounter with the real Santa Claus --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse
Today's Commentary --- Hate wins -- Guess who "investigated" the Clintons? -- Potential for a real "bombshell" story -- The John McCain story -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- "A Wrinkle in Time" the movie -- My reaction to the WHCD -- A response to Laura Bush --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- RIP Penny Marshall -- Nancy Wilson RIP -- George H.W. Passes -- Remembering Billy Daily -- RIP Alan Bean -- Burt Reynolds -- Remembering John McCain -- Harlan Ellison RIP --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Dr. Seuss was right

December 26, 2018

This story shows us that Dr. Seuss was right: Christmas is not something that comes from a store.
Today's Commentary --- Above and beyond during the holidays -- Home for Christmas -- Not a great combination -- Merry Christmas -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Holiday notes -- Dr. Seuss was right -- A little child shall lead them --- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Home for Christmas

December 25, 2018

This story perfectly illustrates how nothing can keep us apart from the ones we love at Christmas.

Today's Commentary --- Merry Christmas -- Home for Christmas -- Not a great combination -- Christmas miracle -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Holiday notes -- Dr. Seuss was right -- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- "Huckabee" preview -- Home for Christmas -- The Chipmunk Song turns 60 -- Christmas miracle -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Starting today -- Holding reporters accountable -- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

Holding reporters accountable

December 24, 2018

Hats off to White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller for refusing to let the media get by with its habitual practice of repeating DNC talking points as if they were accepted fact.
Today's Commentary --- "Huckabee" preview -- The Shutdown -- The Chipmunk Song turns 60 -- Ainsworth: a different way to look at veterans -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Starting tomorrow -- Roberts sides with liberals on Court -- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse

The Shutdown

December 23, 2018

Well, the government (or certain non-essential parts of it) is shut down after Senate Democrats refused to pass a temporary funding bill because it included $5.7 billion to build a security wall on our Southern border.

Today's Commentary --- "Huckabee" preview -- Kisses without tips: the most baffling story of this Christmas season! -- Pray for Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- Ainsworth: a different way to look at veterans -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Warning -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse
How do you feel when you visit the hospital and walk down those long corridors crowded with people --- doctors, hospital staffers, patients who are mostly elderly?  Do you see the patients as they are today, fighting the ravages of age, injury or poor health, or do you sometimes imagine them as they might have been at an earlier time in their lives?

If you’re my friend Bill Sanner, a submariner and veteran of the U.S. Navy, this is the VA hospital, and for some reason your mind has decided to play that trick on you.  You suddenly find yourself in a time machine of sorts.

Bill tells me that walking down one of those long halls during a recent hospital visit, he suddenly saw the older vets in a different time, when they were very young, in their late teens or early twenties, all looking sharp and crisp in their uniforms or jungle fatigues.  (As he relates it, it sounds to me like an episode of the old Rod Serling TWILIGHT ZONE.)  The soldiers and sailors were walking briskly, not needing wheelchairs and canes at that young age, unless, of course, they’d been wounded in service to their country and were perhaps facing months or years of recovery.

Going back in time like that and seeing those who served as they were during their years of service gave Bill a different perspective on the lives of his fellow veterans.  They were in their youth, with their whole adult lives ahead of them, yet they were risking their entire future to serve their country.  They had no idea what their fate would be, but they gave it up to God or destiny.  Bill saw their lives as reflecting a true patriotism and a sense of honor that are very much diminished in the present day.

What do younger folks who have never served their country see when they walk down a busy hospital corridor among veterans like these?  Are they touched by the lingering sense of honor and patriotism and willing sacrifice, or do they just see sick old people whose care costs a lot of money?

Bill points out that those younger individuals who don’t appreciate such attributes are themselves advancing towards the same ultimate fate as their elders, though they no doubt manage to keep from thinking about it very much.  But Bill himself is very much aware of being on the same path, and he feels great pride as he travels down that same long corridor with his fellow vets.

…………….

Bill Sanner and I co-wrote a book about his experiences as a U.S. Navy submariner during the 1970s; it’s called THE SUB-PAR ADVENTURES OF SNAKEBITE & STONEFINGER.  (Bill’s nickname was “Snakebite”; "Stonefinger" was his best friend.  Through working on this book, I have been “adopted” by the submariners and now go by “Songbird.”)  Our book tells of the dual existence a sailor has, first while on patrol and then while at home with his family.  It manages to be informative and funny at the same time and even won an award, so if you’d like to check it out, you can find it on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Sub-Par-Adventures-Snakebite-Stonefinger/dp/1517655420
Today's Commentary --- General Mattis to retire-- Ainsworth: VOGUE trashes Christmas portrait of First Couple -- The Shutdown battle -- GoFundMe Border Wall -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Good recap -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition -- Daily Verse
Today's Commentary --- Fake news at Der Spiegel-- Ainsworth: VOGUE trashes Christmas portrait of First Couple -- Bump stocks -- Kavanaugh update -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Asylum seekers -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Venuzuela & gun control

December 20, 2018

Venezuela is providing a chilling lesson in how wrongheaded is the leftist dismissal of the Second Amendment as a bulwark against tyranny.

Fake news at Der Spiegel

December 20, 2018

The major German newspaper Der Spiegel revealed that one of its most renowned reporters, Claas Relotius, has been making up news for years.

Today's Commentary --- Making some sense out of Gen. Flynn's "sentencing" hearing -- Criminal justice reform passes -- Trump charitable foundation is being dissolved-- Left exploits death of an innocent child -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Funny animal story & video -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Trump Foundation to dissolve

December 19, 2018

President Trump’s charitable foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, is being dissolved following a court decision allowing a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General’s Office to move forward

RIP Penny Marshall

December 19, 2018

(This story is from “Huckabee” writer and our resident pop culture guru, Pat Reeder.  Check out his hilarious book “Hollywood Hi-Fi” and its Facebook page, where he’s currently sharing rare celebrity Christmas records, at http://www.facebook.com/hollywoodhifibook )

We're all sad to hear of the death of comic actress/director/writer/producer Penny Marshall.  She died Monday night at her Hollywood Hills home at 75, from complications of diabetes. 

 

Your first thought of her might depend on which phase of her remarkable career you came of age in.  After playing a number of bit parts in ‘60s comedies, she landed her breakthrough role in the sitcom version of “The Odd Couple” as Oscar Madison’s schlumpy secretary Myrna, a part that Jack Klugman insisted she be cast in.  Most fans will instantly think of her with an “L” embroidered on her blouse as Laverne DeFazio, one of two plucky brewery workers with big dreams in the ABC mega-hit, “Laverne and Shirley.”  But younger readers might first recall her for the hit movies she directed, such as “Big,” “A League of their Own,” “Awakenings” and “The Preacher’s Wife.”   

 

https://www.westernjournal.com/l/kim/penny-marshall-star-laverne-shirley-dead-age-75/

 

There will be a lot of tributes and obituaries for her in the news, so instead of repeating all the things they’ll say, here are some cool trivia bits about her that you might not know:

 

 

She was the kid sister of legendary sitcom writer/producer Garry Marshall, but she wasn’t handed stardom through nepotism.  She barely knew Garry when she moved to Hollywood, and he gave her some advice and introductions.  But as a divorced mom, she worked as a secretary to support herself and her daughter while studying acting and going to auditions. 

 

Her first TV role was in a Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo commercial, in the rather humiliating part of the golden-tressed Farrah Fawcett’s Plain Jane roommate.

 

She auditioned for the role of Gloria on “All In The Family,” but was rejected.  But her then-husband, Rob Reiner, got the part of Mike.   

 

The “Happy Days” spin-off “Laverne & Shirley” debuted at #1, and in its first two years, beat “All In The Family” in the ratings.  It ran for eight years and was so popular it once pulled a 60 share in the ratings.  Penny said, “That doesn’t happen except for the Academy Awards or things like that, like the Super Bowl.”  It was sold into syndication for the then-record price of $50,000 an episode and is still being enjoyed by new generations.

 

Producer Garry Marshall said, “People were dying for someone that didn’t look like Mary Tyler Moore, a regular person. My sister looks like a regular person, talks like a regular person.”

 

Despite its popularity, “L&S” was repeatedly snubbed by the Emmy Awards.  Neither Penny nor co-star Cindy Williams was ever nominated for Best Comedy Actress.  The show received only one Emmy nomination, for Best Costume Design.

 

At the height of its popularity, two albums were released: “Laverne & Shirley Sing” and “Lenny and Squiggy Present Lenny & The Squigtones,” featuring the comedy rock tunes of supporting cast members Michael McKean and David Lander.  Their band included Christopher Guest under the alias Nigel Tufnel, making this the earliest incarnation of the satirical, fictional rock band, Spinal Tap.

 

After making the leap to directing, she seldom acted again.  It’s very unusual for a TV sitcom star to become a major motion picture director.  Ron Howard is also such a rarity, and by a weird coincidence, he starred in “Happy Days,” which begat “Laverne & Shirley.” 

 

Penny Marshall was only the second woman in history to direct a film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (“Awakenings.”)  She’s one of seven women to do that without getting nominated for Best Director.

 

She was a lifelong Yankees fan (she used to skip school as a kid to attend their games) and a supporter of the Lakers and Clippers.  You’d be more likely to spot her courtside at a basketball game than at a chic showbiz party. And she was a major sports memorabilia collector who owned everything from Michael Jordan’s jersey to rare vintage baseball photos from Cuba.  “A League of Their Own” was a dream project for her because she wanted the world to know about the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

 


Today's Commentary --- Reader comment re: Flynn, and an absolute MUST-READ! -- NY AG vows to target Trump and his family -- Russian influence -- Miracles really still do happen -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Perfect response -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- For Monday's testimony, 20 questions for James Comey -- Gun shooting truth exposed -- Lyme disease up in New York -- Be skeptical of what Mueller says about Flynn -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- President Trump to review Taliban bomb maker murder case -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- More investigating...and proof that there IS a Trump witch hunt -- "Huckabee" preview -- Obamacare unconstitutional -- Be skeptical of what Mueller says about Flynn -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Reminder: socialist policies destroy everything they touch -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- More investigating...and proof that there IS a Trump witch hunt -- "Huckabee" preview -- Pelosi cuts a deal -- Public Safety Commission report on Parkland shooting released -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Trouble for the Boy Scouts -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Trouble for the Boy Scouts

December 14, 2018

The all-too-common hashtag on the Internet for stories of businesses that cave to leftist pressure groups and alienate their customers is “Get ‘woke,’ go broke.”
Today's Commentary --- Gen. Flynn case reveals hypocrisy, lack of "process" at FBI -- AOC for President -- KFC Firelogs -- Nancy Wilson RIP -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- From the “You’re Doing This All Wrong” Desk: -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

President Trump is understandably “trump-eting a story in The Daily Signal by former Federal Election Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky.  It’s headlined “Trump’s Ex-Lawyer Didn’t Violate Campaign Finance Laws, and Neither Did the President” and makes the case that Trump is in the clear, saying that “the Cohen guilty pleas are likely irrelevant to the fate of President Trump.”

Here’s the Readers Digest version of why the payments weren’t violations:  “FECA (the Federal Election Campaign Act) specifically says that campaign-related expenses do not include any expenditures ‘used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign...Given Trump’s celebrity status, the potential liability to these women existed ‘irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign’...Just as important...How can Cohen or anyone else involved in these payments be charged with a ‘knowing and willful’ violation of the law by facilitating these payments when numerous campaign finance lawyers, federal election commissioners, and the Federal Election Commission itself have all publicly opined that such payments do not violate the law in the first place?  It seems pretty clear that the Federal Election Campaign Act wasn’t meant to cover what Cohen pleaded guilty to, which is why the [John] Edwards prosecution failed.”

 

If you’d like to get into the weeds on this, I recommend the original article in the Daily Signal.  Von Spakovsky echoes what FOX legal analyst Gregg Jarrett has been saying all along:  that Cohen was induced to plead guilty to non-crimes.  The assumption in Cohen’s case that these were crimes is not in any way binding on President Trump.  In von Spakovsky’s words, even if Trump told Cohen to make the payments, “it would be impossible for Trump to have violated campaign finance law by directing Cohen to take a perfectly legal action.”

 

https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/11/cohen-didnt-violate-campaign-finance-laws-and-neither-did-trump/

 

On the other hand, Judge Andrew Napolitano, offering his opinion on FOX News with Bret Beier, said it still appears campaign laws were willfully broken, noting that the “sophisticated, deceptive subterfuge” employed by Cohen to hide what he was doing shows that he didn’t just make an honest mistake.  Napolitano said the judge in the case seems to think the payments were made by Cohen to help the campaign and were not reported.  Now, I’m not a lawyer, but what Napolitano said doesn’t necessarily mean that Trump was thinking of the payments that way.  Even if Cohen says he was, I would think that Cohen, after being induced by prosecutors to implicate Trump to save his own skin, and after having been revealed as thoroughly unethical and dishonest, is not by any stretch of the imagination a trustworthy witness.  (Not sure what’s going on with Napolitano these days, but whatever it is has made him a weirdly welcome afternoon guest for Shepard Smith.)

 

Since making payments as part of non-disclosure agreements is not criminal (even if it happens to be taking place during a campaign), it seems to me that if Cohen was trying to hide the nature of these payments from the FEC, he was simply acting by reflex but doing something unnecessary.  It seems likely that, at least regarding these payments, the one thing Cohen is really guilty of is “acting guilty.”

 

I would add one other thing that absolutely puts the final nail in the coffin of Cohen’s trustworthiness as a witness:  He’s now facing a three-year sentence, with the understanding that IF HE CONTINUES TO COOPERATE, that sentence may be reduced.  So prosecutors are not through with Cohen.  Once he actually reports to prison in March and finds out what it’s like in there, it will be very much in his own interest now to “sing” --- or to “compose.”  In fact, he recently said that he’s going to tell “everything he knows” about Trump. (He showed long ago that he had no ethics when it came to attorney-client privilege.)  What could be more convenient for witch-hunters?

 

Eli Lake of Bloomberg Opinion, who, like me, admits that he is not a lawyer, pointed out that this process is primarily a political one, and that “this is not going to be something that you can impeach him for.”  This is not collusion with Russia, and the political case can only be made with “hard-core partisans.”  Agreed, but that doesn’t mean the hard-core partisans won’t do whatever they have to do to make it happen.  Democrats can impeach him for anything they want; it will be the political equivalent of a frivolous lawsuit.  And when the Senate gets it, they can essentially treat it just like one of those.

 

Tom Bevan, political analyst sand executive editor of Real Clear Politics, called the campaign finance kerfluffle the same thing I do:  “a pretext for impeachment.”  Anything will do.  This is just going to be “an exercise in poltics,” he said, because the Senate, without a reason for “mass defections,” will not vote to convict.  Gosh, he sounds like me.

 

Napolitano observed that it’s the New York prosescutors who seem especially aggressive towards Trump.  It’s hardly surprising that they are.  Trump’s from New York himself and has a long history of doing business there.  In fact, on Wednesday, Letitia James, the new attorney general for New York State stood on the courthouse steps and proclaimed to eager reporters that her office plans to launch “sweeping investigations” into President Trump, his family and “anyone” in his circle who may have violated the law.  “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions, and those of his family as well."  To do this, she says she’s enlisting the help of prosecutorial heavy-hitters like...Loretta Lynch.

 

Can you say “witch hunt”?  Trump may be prone to exaggeration, but in this case he isn’t exaggerating at all.

 

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/12/new-york-ag-announces-plans-to-weaponize-office-to-target-political-opposition/#more-157686

 

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Pelosi cuts a deal

December 14, 2018

Voters are already learning that everything Democrats said to get Americans to vote for them was a lie: of course, they’re going to launch endless, money-wasting, vindictive partisan investigations of political enemies...

AOC for President

December 14, 2018

“Democratic” Socialist Rep-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has complained how unfair it is for the media to depict her as dumb for her public statements...

Nancy Wilson RIP

December 14, 2018


We’re sad to report that one of the 20th century’s finest musical artists, platinum-selling Grammy winner Nancy Wilson, has died at 81 after a long illness that forced her to retire from touring in 2011.

Today's Commentary --- Only one possible conclusion: Gen. Flynn was railroaded -- Ainsworth: My take on the Gen. Flynn case, plus important updates -- Guess who "investigated" the Clinton Foundation? -- Not even a crime -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- NYT Writer: There is a new axis of evil -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

A Tale Of Two Trump Voters

December 12, 2018

Today, class, we’re going to “compare and contrast” the expressed views of two 2016 Trump voters who have both been following the special counsel spectacle with extreme frustration.

Today's Commentary --- Guess who "investigated" the Clinton Foundation? -- A Tale Of Two Trump Voters -- Recommended reading: excellent essay on special counsel mess -- The truth about Michael Cohen's plea -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- NYT Writer: There is a new axis of evil -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- Impeachment: keeping our heads while others are losing theirs -- Reader comment of the day -- Ainsworth on the case: Anti-Trump hatred now infests detective novels -- Kavanaugh votes no -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Adventures in Double Standards, Part II -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- Comey and (especially) Cohen: what all this means for Trump -- This Is Spinal Tap II -- Community Standards -- Ocasio-Cortez misquotes the Constitution -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Adventures in Double Standards, Part II -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- Extraordinary week in Washington -- So much breaking news -- Teacher Fired -- A Tale of Two Standards -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Baby names -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse
It’s been an extraordinary week in Washington, watching so many political rivals of both parties set aside partisanship to honor the late President George H.W. Bush.

A tale of two standards

December 8, 2018

I think this proves how unfair it is to accuse the left of having no ethical standards. In fact, they have so many ethical standards, it’s enough to make two completely different sets.

Today's Commentary --- A Tale of Two Standards -- "Huckabee" preview -- New chief -- No champion of women -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Student silliness -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse
Today's Commentary --- Evidence of criminality within the Clinton Foundation -- Pearl Harbor Day -- Latest Dispatch from the Cutting Edge of PC Lunacy -- New low -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Drives me crazy -- Best gift book of Christmas -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse
Today's Commentary --- President Trump declares a national day of mourning -- Climate alarmism -- "The rise of the machines" -- Sad story -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Drives me crazy -- Liberal church sparks controversy: -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse

Today's Commentary --- President Trump declares a national day of mourning -- Revealing new poll -- Mueller releases "sentencing memo" on Gen. Michael Flynn -- Follow President Bush's example -- The Baltic Experience 2019 -- Must see video -- “The Pence Effect”: -- Evening Edition - The Scroll -- Daily Verse