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APRIL 8,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

AIRLINER – The Australian team running the search for the missing Malaysian airliner has just announced that the Australian ship Ocean Shield reacquired the "pinger" sounds heard over the weekend, and that analysis of these "pings" indicate that they are consistent with those sent by a flight data recorder carried by airliners.  The impression given is that the aircraft has been located within a specific search area.   There will now be an attempt to narrow that area.  After that, search equipment is expected to be lowered to scan the ocean floor for aircraft debris.

SPINE IN WASHINGTON? – Hard to believe it, but the Obama administration is actually showing a little spine in responding to Iran's choice for its new UN ambassador.  From AFP:  "WASHINGTON — The United States said Tuesday it had told Iran the selection of a UN ambassador who is allegedly linked to the 1979 American embassy hostage crisis was 'not viable.'   The disclosure from the White House came a day after the US Senate passed a resolution that would deny the diplomat, Hamid Aboutalebi, a US visa. 'The US government has informed the government of Iran that this potential selection is not viable,' White House spokesman Jay Carney said."  I hope they'll now refuse to give the guy a visa, and not cave in.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH NEWS – From London's Daily Mail:  "New York researchers say they have found a link between people likely to forgive themselves for mistakes and damage to their bodies caused by stress.  The key to a long and happy life, they say, is to 'cut yourself some slack.'"  Based on this research, Obama will probably go to 120.

SOMEONE'S BEEN THERE? – From SFGate.com:  "A NASA camera on Mars has captured what appears to be artificial light emanating outward from the planet's surface.  The photo, beamed millions of miles from Mars to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., was taken last week, apparently by one of two NASA rovers on the red planet."  Watch.  The Environmental Protection Agency will send a rocket up there to be sure they're using energy-efficient bulbs.

April 8, 2014       Permalink

NOTHING TO SEE, NOTHING TO SEE – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  I'm so glad our president has declared the war on terror over, aren't you?   Oh, of course there's a bit of bother here and there.  From AP:

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — FBI officials say they've arrested a Moroccan national in Connecticut in an alleged plot to fly bombs on drone-like devices into a school and a federal building.

Authorities say they arrested 27-year-old El Mehdi Semlali Fahti on Monday and found wires and tools in his Bridgeport apartment. The Connecticut Post (http://bit.ly/1lHz2Y8 ) first reported the arrest.

Fahti hasn't been charged with terrorism, but authorities say that could come later in the investigation. He's charged with immigration-related crimes for allegedly staying in the U.S. for seven years after his student visa expired after flunking out of Virginia International University.

The FBI says Fahti targeted an out-of-state school and a federal building in Connecticut. The exact locations weren't released.

Fahti is detained without bail. His public defender declined to comment Tuesday.

COMMENT:  We will of course be told that he's a lone wolf.  No threat, no threat.  Just like the guys who inflicted havoc on last year's Boston Marathon.

In fact, real terror experts are warning that the threat is actually increasing, and Al Qaeda itself is publishing articles on its website urging jihadists to engage in car-bomb attacks in the United States.

April 8, 2014       Permalink

SOME GOOD NEWS? – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We're always glad to report good news, if we can find it.  I went to a lecture last week by the truly distinguished Middle East and Islam expert Walid Phares, who noted that many Muslims, especially young Muslims, are starting to turn away from radicalism because they see that it leads nowhere for them.  From The New York Times:

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Last September, ultraconservative Islamic groups telegraphed their power, railing against an international beauty contest until the government ordered it to be staged entirely on the Hindu resort island of Bali. In 2012, radical Islamic groups known for their violent tactics and religious conservatives raised enough of a fuss that Lady Gaga canceled a concert here in the Indonesian capital. And hundreds of local governments in recent years have passed rules on morality and dress inspired by Shariah, or Islamic law, and instituted bans on alcohol.

But now, just ahead of Wednesday’s national legislative elections, polls and analysts suggest that Islamic-based parties are poised for what could be their worst showing since Indonesia’s democratic era began in 1999. At least two of the parties are polling so low that they might lose any presence in the House of Representatives.

“You’re looking at a substantial drop for them,” said Paul Rowland, a Jakarta-based political consultant. “They are not a significant factor.”

The slide in popularity, first noticed in the 2009 elections, appears to be worsening despite studies showing that Indonesians are becoming more pious.

Why political Islam has not taken deep root on a national level in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country — where about 90 percent of people are among the faithful — is a complicated question. The reasons lie in Indonesia’s history as a secular nation and in the Islamic parties’ own recent record.

COMMENT:  We also saw, last weekend, a very successful election in Afghanistan, showing that democratic gains have been made there, on our watch.  Sadly, President Obama is withdrawing from Afghanistan this year, and those gains might be lost.  Not that he cares.

And the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown in Egypt.  Against Obama's will.

Many Muslims may finally be learning the cost of being kept in the tenth century.  But as they are, they are getting precious little help from the likes of Barack Obama and other "sophisticates" and "multiculturalists" in the West, whose interest in human freedom is marginal at best.

April 8, 2014       Permalink

MADNESS – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  The Obama administration continues its march of appeasement, which will get worse after the November midterms, when Obama's political obligations to his party end.  From the great Michael Ledeen at PJ Media: 

Somebody on Twitter posted an upbeat message saying the US delegation to the latest round of talks with Iranian officials was quite optimistic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a born optimist and I love optimism, but I’d rather revel in victory than hope for good news, and the Iranians have every reason to revel. The Obama crowd has just ok’d something the Tehran tyrants have desperately wanted since the eighties: spare parts for their long-grounded American passenger aircraft. Boeing and General Electric were given export licenses by the Treasury Department and everyone involved has been chanting “we take aircraft security very seriously,” in order to cloak this latest gift to the Khamenei-Rouhani regime in humanitarian hues.

Frankly I’d rather they took national security very seriously. Iran uses its commercial aircraft for military purposes (one of the reasons that eery flight between Tehran and Caracas is so worrisome), and the mullahs have been limited by the degradation of the national fleet. The Boeing planes and GE engines date to the 1970s, and very few of them are in service. Back in the mid-eighties, when I spent quite a bit of time with Iranian officials, they repeatedly asked for spare parts, both for the passenger planes and for the aging military craft, the F4s and F5s. Secretary of Defense Weinberger of course vetoed any such discussions, and the embargo has held until just now.

Now we’re arming Iran.

COMMENT:  Why shouldn't we arm Iran?  After all, didn't we sell scrap iron to Japan before World War II, and see it come back to us in the form of shells?

History doesn't repeat itself.  It's the psychology of history that repeats itself.  And the psychology of appeasement is all the rage in "progressive" circles right now.  The appeasers, to cite Churchill's observation, are feeding the alligator in the hope that they'll be eaten last.

April 8, 2014       Permalink 

UKRAINE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Let us not forget this critical crisis.  From The Hill:

The White House accused Moscow on Monday of stirring up trouble in Ukraine, as pro-Russian demonstrations provoked fears that President Vladimir Putin might mount a second invasion there just weeks after annexing Crimea.

The administration said demonstrators who seized government buildings in the cities of Lugansk and Donetsk were not locals, and were part of a carefully orchestrated campaign backed by the Kremlin.

State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the demonstrations were “not a spontaneous set of events,” and White House spokesman Jay Carney said evidence suggested some protestors were paid.

A further Russian incursion “either overtly or covertly” would seriously escalate the crisis, he added.

“We call on President Putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine, and we caution against further military intervention,” said Carney, who warned that the U.S. would retaliate by targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy.

Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia to “publicly disavow” the activity by separatists in Ukraine.

COMMENT:  Come on, it's over.  No one takes the Obama administration seriously.  There are increasing "pro-Russian" activities in Eastern Ukraine.  It's a chilling reminder of events in the late 1930s, when Germany demanded that those of German origin in nearby countries be "protected."  It's the international protection racket.  Germany moved in to do the "protecting."

Expect things to get worse.  Russia paid no penalty for annexing Crimea.  Why should they fear?

April 8,  2014     Permalink

APRIL 7,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:41 P.M. ET: 

FLORIDA – A new poll shows Republican Governor Rick Scott edging ahead of the terminally obnoxious former Governor Charlie Crist in this year's gubernatorial race.  Crist, as you'll recall, was a Republican who is now a Democrat, largely because he's no longer welcome in his own party.  Scott is only slightly ahead, but the trend is in his favor.  Most of his new support is coming from Republicans who are catching on that Crist is no longer one of them.

WHAT'D HE DO? – From The Hill:  "President Obama will speak next month at a gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of a Holocaust history foundation established by director Steven Spielberg.  The USC Shoah Foundation, created by Spielberg after he completed the film 'Schindler's List,' will honor Obama with its Ambassador to Humanity Award at an event in Los Angeles on May 7."  Yup, you read it right.  The guy who got the Nobel Peace Prize after two days in office now gets an "ambassador to humanity" award.  I guess no examples of his humanity had to be given.  The corpses in Syria are cheering. 

BAFFLING – From Fox:  "Al Sharpton on Monday dismissed a report portraying him as a one-time mob informant for the FBI, calling the claims old news and a 'crazy' attempt to discredit him.  'I don’t see this as news,' Sharpton told FoxNews.com.  'This has been brought up three or four times now. I don’t understand. It’s crazy.'  TheSmokingGun.com story describes in detail how Sharpton in the mid-1980s secretly recorded Mafia bosses and other underworld figures for an FBI-NYPD crime task force.  The 12,196-word story -- in which he is referred to as CI-7, short for confidential informant #7 -- says investigators got Sharpton to 'flip' after getting him close enough to agreeing to broker a drug deal connected to boxing promoter Don King that they could threaten him with charges."   It is an old story, but very probably a true one.  I can understand Sharpton denying it.  The Hudson River is very deep and very cold.

SHAZAM! – Reader and military historian Will Stroock first alerted us to this weeks ago.  From the San Diego Union-Tribune:  "This summer, San Diego will host the public unveiling of a military weapon that the Navy’s chief scientist calls a Star Wars-like technology that is nevertheless now viable.  In July, the Navy will hold a static display of its $500 million electromagnetic railgun prototype program at San Diego Naval Base, aboard the Joint High Speed Vessel Millinocket. It’s the same ship on which the Navy will perform the first maritime firing test of the weapon in 2016.  'The American public has never seen it,' said Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research, in a recent telephone press conference."  The gun can fire a projectile 100 miles.  I hope Obama's defense cuts don't destroy it.

April 7, 2014       Permalink

A HOLLYWOOD WEEK – AT 9:43 A.M. ET:   The single most frequent request I get from readers is to write more about show business and popular culture.  I promise to do so, and then I break my promise.  But I promise to stop breaking my promise. 

Hollywood saw two milestones within the last week.  First, Doris Day turned 90.  For those of a certain age, Doris Day is an iconic figure.  First, she was one of the most famous singers of the 1940s and 1950s.  In fact, she was one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.  Her sultry rendition of "Sentimental Journey" in 1945, with its reminder of soldiers returning home, made her a star. 

She was a torch singer, meaning there was a sensual sizzle in her delivery.  But her peachy-cream, all-American looks attracted Hollywood, which launched her on a second career to film stardom.  This transition from torch singer to "the girl next door" led Oscar Levant, one of the great wits of the time, to remark, "I knew her before she was a virgin."

Doris Day starred in a number of films during the waning years of Hollywood's golden age, but may best be remember for starring, with James Stewart, in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much."  That movie also launched what came to be her signature song, "Que Sera, Sera (whatever will be, will be)." 

It is rare for anyone to be a major star in two media for the 20-30 years that Doris Day stayed at the top.  But the audience loved her, and made her.  At 90, she still gets film offers.

She is an animal-kindness advocate who has stayed with her cause for years.  No flash-in-the-pan activist is she.  She also is fiercely independent and a bit eccentric.  She was offered the Kennedy Center Honors, but turned the offer down because she refuses to fly. 

If you aren't that familiar with Doris Day's work, listen to her recordings and see her movies.  Her appeal is instant.

And another milestone:  Mickey Rooney has died at 93.   He was one of the last remaining actors to have achieved stardom in the 1930s.  In fact, I can think of only one other who is still living, and that is Olivia de Havilland, who starred in "Gone With the Wind" in 1939, and is now 97.  Rooney was never a particularly beloved figure, but he stayed famous for more than 70 years.  His fame was built largely on his early "Andy Hardy" films, made with Judy Garland.  A tiny man, he was also noted for marrying eight women, including the radiant Ava Gardner. 

He was an accomplished actor, probably underestimated because he was tagged as a "child star." 

I was able to watch Mickey Rooney in rehearsal, with the great dancer Ann Miller, when they were doing "Sugar Babies" on Broadway, in the 1970s.  He struck me as completely professional, very devoted to the show.  It's hard to think of him as gone.

Doris still lives.

April 7, 2014       Permalink

BROWN IN – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  Scott Brown is about to jump into the Senate race in New Hampshire.  From The Hill: 

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) will announce he's running against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire on Thursday, The Hill has confirmed.

Brown's planned entrance into the race gives the GOP another pickup opportunity in a swing state, further expanding the map for the party as it looks to take back the Senate.

He has long been expected to run. Brown has flirted with a bid for months, moving from Massachusetts last year. He has been on a month-long "listening tour" in which he's publicly discussed a challenge to Shaheen, and said last week that he would definitely run against her.

Shaheen has led in most public polls by a high-single digit margin.

COMMENT:  I think this will be a very tough one.  First of all, Brown previously was a senator from neighboring Massachusetts, and was defeated for re-election by the flimsy Elizabeth Warren, now a spiritual darling of the trendy left.  To some in New Hampshire, Brown's bid will appear a mixture of desperation and opportunism.

Second, Shaheen is relatively popular.  She's not one of the knee-jerk Democrats who wait in line to kiss the ring of Barack Obama. 

Third, New Hampshire is in the Boston media market, which is emphatically liberal.  That has its effect. 

Fourth, Brown is an attractive candidate, but his one term in the Senate did not produce any stunning accomplishments, and in today's media rush he may be seen as old news.

Fifth, he is very well known, and people have already formed an opinion.   Making Shaheen's solid lead evaporate will not be easy.

I want Brown to win.  That would be one more vote toward GOP control of Congress.  But, if there is a heartbreaker for us in this year's midterms, it may well be in New Hampshire.  Fight, Scott, fight.

April 7, 2014       Permalink

A LESS THAN BURNING BUSH – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  Jeb Bush is a very calm, reasoned guy, not given to bursts of high emotion.   He was an effective governor of Florida, and has shown considerable personal appeal.  Whether this translates into a presidential candidacy is another matter.  We'd have to see more of him.

But Bush's name has been all the rage recently, with powerful Republicans lining up to support him financially, the better to keep the party out of the hands of Rand Paul.  And Bush is now responding by discussing a candidacy openly.  He has also made a very controversial statement on illegal immigration.  From Fox: 

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has said that he would make a decision on whether to run for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination before the end of this year and said that some immigrants who enter the United States illegally do so as an "act of love" for their families.

Bush made the remarks in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday" while attending a celebration of the 25th anniversary of his father's inauguration at George H.W. Bush's presidential library in College Station, Texas.

Without ever officially entering the race, Bush has emerged as a tantalizing Republican candidate. The Washington Post reported last week that some prominent Republican party officials and donors had launched a campaign to draft him into the race as an alternate to scandal-hit New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and libertarian-leaning Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

On Sunday, Bush said all the speculation about his candidacy is actually getting him more attention than if he had already entered the race.

Bush, who served two terms as Florida governor between 1999 and 2007, described the state of politics as "crazy right now," and added that one factor in his decision will be whether he can deliver an optimistic, hopeful message without getting drawn into a political "mud fight." He says the other main factor in his decision will be whether it's OK with his family if he ran.

And, on illegal immigration:

"It's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family," Bush said. "I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime. There should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families."

COMMENT:  Obviously, that is a statement that will enrage some conservatives.  But it may be a brilliant political stroke.  We know that we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.  We know that some path to their staying here legally must be found.  We also know that if the GOP can make a dent in the normally Democratic Hispanic vote, it could sail to victory in 2016. 

Jeb Bush is married to a Hispanic woman.  His children, as he likes to say, are brown.  By taking a stand on illegal immigration that combines both penalty and compassion, he may be heading for the only practical course open to the nation.  If his stands start showing dramatic poll results, he moves closer to a presidential nomination.

I'm certainly not saying that Bush is the best candidate, or would make the best president.  We should look over the whole bunch of prospects.  I'm saying that he's maneuvering, and he maneuvers well.  I have no problem with a presidential candidate being a shrewd politician.

April 7, 2014        Permalink

THE AIRLINER – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  I watched the remarkable press conference given late last night by the head of the Australian team searching for the missing airliner.  One was struck by the carefulness and precision of his words.  This is the way professionals perform.  From CNN:

Malaysian officials said Monday that they were "cautiously hopeful" for decisive developments in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 hours after the Australian search coordinator said that a search ship had detected more signals consistent with those emitted from aircraft cockpit voice and flight data recorders -- so-called "black boxes" -- in an area of the Indian Ocean nearly three miles deep hundreds of miles off the western coast of Australia.

Malaysian defense minister Hishamuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that he hoped the mystery of the plane's disappearance would be solved "in the next few days, if not hours."

Retired Australian Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston told reporters in Perth Monday that the latest detection of signals was "very encouraging" and "the best information we have.

"We've got a visual indication on a screen and we've also got an audible signal," Houston said, "and the audible signal sounds to me just like an emergency locator beacon."

However, he also stressed that the new findings did not constitute discovery of the plane, which disappeared early on the morning of March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing.

"We have not found the plane," said Houston, who added that it may take days to confirm whether signals picked up by the Australian ship Ocean Shield are indeed from the flight recorders. Houston said the position of the noise needs to be further refined and an underwater autonomous vehicle can be sent in to investigate.

"In very deep oceanic water," Houston said, "nothing happens fast."

The Ocean Shield had been using a U.S. Navy towed pinger locater when it detected the sounds on two occasions over a period totaling more than two and a half hours in the northern part of the defined search area. The first ping was detected for approximately two hours and 20 minutes, and the second for 13 minutes on the ship's return trip over the same area.

If the Ocean Shield manages to pick up the signal again, the crew will launch a Bluefin-21 autonomous sub that can dive to about 14,800 feet and scan for wreckage. Given the fact that the sea floor in the area is approximately 14,800 feet deep -- and even deeper in some spots -- the sub will be operating to the limits of its capability, Houston said.

COMMENT:  It's hard to believe this can be anything else but the missing airliner.  However, I'm not a technical expert, so we'll wait and see.  But what a difference between the flow of information now and the earlier "announcements" from Malaysia, and other sources, that turned out to be nothing more than speculation.

Even if the plane is found, that will not tell us why it is thousands of miles off course, and how it came to crash without a single distress call.  This is truly one of the great aviation mysteries of the age.

April 7,  2014     Permalink