Here are my observations and opinions of my selected news items of the day.

MULVANEY IS AN EXCELLENT CHOICE to be President Trump’s new chief of staff, or “acting” chief of staff, as it was announced for some reason. As a former member of the House Freedom Caucus, Mick Mulvaney has delivered for the president as his budget guru and head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The president likes people who deliver results.

And, understandably, he wants those close to him to be team players, who will promote his agenda. I think Mulvaney’s up to it.

THE MARKET’S VOLATIVITY is of concern to many investors, but it doesn’t seem to faze consumers. Holiday spending is up, the result of a strong job market and rising wages. And it doesn’t hurt that the price of gasoline at the pump hasn’t been a concern.

A DEM DREAM CANDIDATE? The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan wrote about recent presidential selections we’ve made in her column, “A Magic Pony Is the Wrong Horse to Back.” “Barack Obama, whatever else he was, was a magic pony. Donald Trump too.” Noonan writes as she opines that “Beto O’Rourke, who is so electrifying Democrats, (that he) also appears to be a magic pony.

“Messers. Obama and Trump represented a mood,” she writes, “Obama gleamed with hope and differentness. This shining 47-year-old intellectual – surely, he’ll turn things around. He’d been an obscure and indifferent state legislator who was only two years in the senate when the move to make him president began. It was all – a feeling. He was The One.

A FLASHBACK: In 2008, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that he could tell by the crease in Obama’s pants that he would make an excellent president.

“Mr. Trump’s election was driven by a feeling of indignation and pushback: You elites treat me like a nobody in my own country. I’m about to show you who’s boss.

“His supporters didn’t find it disqualifying that he’d never held office. They saw it as proof he wasn’t in the club and could turn things around. His ignorance was taken as authenticity,” Noonan recalls.

Now, as for that Democrat dream candidate – their Magic Pony. “Mr. O’Rourke, who’s shooting up in the polls as a possible Democrat contender, is sunny, friendly, even-keeled. He reminds some Democrats of Bobby Kennedy – soulful, able to see and summon the things you like best in yourself.”

Sorry Peggy … I just don’t think “Joe Six-Pack” will understand what that means.

SHEP SMITH DISSES COLLEAGUE – “We’re starting to think Fox News keeps Shep Smith around so when people claim that they only have right-leaning pundits and anchors on so they can point to him and say, ‘Nu-uh, we keep that guy around too,’” wrote Sam J. in Twitchy.

TONY SHAFFER, writing @T_S_P_O_O_K_Y said, “It’s clear that Shep Smith lives in some reality where he is willfully blind to the wrongdoing of Hillary Clinton – and now attacks Catherine Herridge for her factual and accurate reporting.”

Background: Fox News’ chief intelligence correspondent, Catherine Herridge, noted on Friday that some critics of Robert Mueller have argued Flynn was treated worse than Hillary Clinton – a comment that drew an eye-roll from Smith.

“Seriously?” Smith asked. “Yeah, that’s what critics point to,” Herridge said.

“Well, let them point,” Smith continued, “I mean Hillary Clinton, seriously?”

“The point with … “Herridge began. “The point with that was that investigation is over, and we’re onto a new one,” Shep concluded.

BRENDA NAVARRO, writing @bnavarrotx tweeted, “I turn the channel when he is on the air.” So do I, Brenda

BERNARD HALPRIN, had the best suggestion, writing @Bermeisternota tweeted, “Smith takes ANNOYING to a whole new level. Ship him over to MSNBC for a draft pick to be named later.”

KRAMERONTHERIGHT is a big fan of Catherine Herridge. A graduate of Harvard and Columbia School of Journalism, she has been an outstanding reporter on intelligence matters with Fox for more than 20 years.

KIMBERLY STRASSEL of the Wall Street Journal continues to stay on top of the DOJ/FBI mess. “Fascinating that the 302 referenced in the (Michael) Flynn filing is actually an August interview of Peter Strzok, recounting the Flynn meeting,” tweeted Strassel @KimStrassel. “Though this raises the question …where is the original Flynn 302? Did special counsel file it to judge (Emmet Sullivan)?

NOTE: For those of you who haven’t been following the minutia of the FBI investigation, a 302 is a report FBI agents file with information obtained during an interview.

Strassel noted that the 302 of the Strzok interview indicated that he was “primarily responsible for taking notes and writing the 302 after the Flynn meeting.” However, it appears there is no 302 of the Flynn interview.

By the way, the Strzok 302 revealed that both agents “had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.”

“We’re starting to think there is the biggest case of CYA ever going on with these people,” tweeted Sam J. at Twitchy.

A QUOTE WORTHY OF REPEATING – “Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.” – Jim Treacher @jtLOL

R.I.P. – The Weekly Standard is no longer, thanks to Bill Kristol.

 

                 May God bless the United States of America.