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AUGUST 17,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:42 P.M. ET: 

GROSS IRRESPONSIBILITY – From Gateway Pundit:  "CNN broadcast a report Friday that showed the house, including the street number, of the Ferguson police officer who police say shot Mike Brown. The officer has been in hiding due to death threats since the shooting last Saturday. His name, Darren Wilson, was just released Friday morning.  Another news outlet apologized for broadcasting video of Wilson’s home while others have virtually drawn a map to Wilson’s house for those bent on vengeance."   I've just about given up on CNN.  I'd thought they were making an attempt to clean up their act and play it straight with news stories, but their reporting from Gaza, and now their clear bias in Ferguson, convince me that they're the same old leftish outfit.  Too bad.  That's the source of their low ratings.  They lose half their audience before they go on the air.

NEWS OTHER THAN FERGUSON – From NBC:  "Five people have been killed and at least 27 others wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago.  Police said a 16-year-old boy was found with a gunshot wound to the head around 1:15 a.m. Sunday in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.  Police were responding to a report of a person shot in the 900 block of North Karlov Avenue and found the teen on the sidewalk. He was transported in critical condition where he was later pronounced dead."  At last report neither Police Commissioner Barack Obama nor Chief of Detectives Eric Holder had shown any interest.

MAJOR COMMON-SENSE NEWS – From AP:  "MADISON, Wis. – Police say a California woman was cited after climbing into the giraffe exhibit at a Madison zoo and getting kicked in the face.  A police report says 24-year-old Amada Hall, of San Luis Obispo, California, climbed over one fence and almost got over the second fence encircling the giraffe enclosure at the Henry Vilas Zoo about 5:30 p.m. Saturday. A 2-year-old, 12-foot-tall giraffe named Wally gave Hall a lick, then turned and kicked her in the face.  Zoo staff told police that giraffes are capable of killing lions, so the woman was fortunate that her injuries were not life threatening."  She'll probably sue the zoo for admitting a buffoon like her.

August 17, 2014       Permalink

ANY INTEREST, BARACK? – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  This is what we're up against in the world.  Worse than al Qaeda.  From Israeli TV: 

In yet another harrowing chapter in the tragic plight of Iraq's Kurdish Yazidi population, eyewitnesses have described how girls raped by Muslim fighters from the "Islamic State" (formerly ISIS) committed suicide en-masse after returning to their families, as evidence of systematic rape by Islamists against non-Muslims continue to surface.

Among the tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees trapped in the Shingal mountains while fleeing IS's deadly advance through Iraq, several survivors told Kurdish Rudaw TV how a group of three girls were returned after being abducted and raped - only to hurl themselves off a cliff after being traumatized by their ordeal.

A Kurdish reporter said the mother of one of the girls had given an interview in front of the camera, but claimed Kurdish fighters from the YPG militia had seized the camera and erased the interview - possibly in an attempt to avoid sowing panic.

The mother reportedly told of how in their desperation the girls begged other refugees to kill them, but when no one would comply they killed themselves.

The YPG is the dominant Kurdish force in Syria and has taken control of some areas across the border in Iraq since IS swept away Iraqi forces earlier in the summer. It has been credited with putting up a stiff resistance against Islamist forces and helping to save many Yazidi and Christian refugees, but has also criticized as authoritarian by its opponents.

Another woman said she also witnessed what happened to the girls.

COMMENT:  Please notice the silence of so-called "women's" groups in the West and so-called "human rights" groups.  Nothing to see, just a little local dispute.

And the president, just a few days ago, said that his actions had averted a catastrophe in Iraq.  Guess he didn't get all the news. 

August 17, 2014       Permalink

AND IN FERGUSON – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  We don't even know all the facts about the original shooting that precipitated the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.  But things are out of hand, showing that even the introduction of "smart, sensitive" police tactics hasn't had its intended effect.  From Fox: 

Police fired smoke and tear gas canisters early Sunday in an effort to disperse several dozen protesters who defied a curfew in a St. Louis suburb where a black teenager was fatally shot by a white police officer last week.

The Missouri Highway Patrol said that seven people were arrested and one man had been shot at the site of the protest in Ferguson, Mo. Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson said that the shooting victim was in critical condition and had been rushed to a hospital by protesters.

Johnson said the use of tear gas was precipitated by concerns about people who'd broken into a barbecue restaurant and taken position on the roof overlooking approaching police. Another concern involved a man flashing a handgun who appeared in the middle of the street as armored vehicles approached. Johnson says someone fired at a patrol car, but no officers were injured.

"I was disappointed in the actions of tonight," Johnson said.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who has taken part in demonstrations all week, told reporters that the police's tactics "were a lot better" than they could have been. French also said that he had attempted to convince people to honor the curfew, but some "didn't want to be told to leave."

French later tweeted, "I can tell you firsthand that some of the people that remained tonight were armed. Were ready for a fight. And wanted to injure police."

Hundreds of other protesters had left peacefully before the midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew took effect, but remaining protesters -- chanting "No justice! No curfew!" -- refused to leave the area.

As five armored tactical vehicles approached the crowd, officers spoke through a loudspeaker: "You are in violation of a state-imposed curfew. You must disperse immediately. Failure to comply may result in arrest."

Highway Patrol Spokesman Lt. John Hotz initially said police only used smoke, but later told The Associated Press that they also fired tear gas canisters. He said of police efforts: "Obviously, we're trying to give them every opportunity to comply with the curfew."

As officers put on gas masks, a chant from the distant crowd emerged: "We have the right to assemble peacefully." A moment later, police began firing canisters into the crowd. Protesters said their faces and eyes had been burned. Others screamed in pain.

Jayson Ross, who was leading the protesters toward police, said: "They got guns. We got guns. We are ready."

COMMENT:  Where is Eric Holder's Justice Department?  Why are the Justice boys not investigating whether these armed protests are organized?   I guess such an investigation isn't in the script.  It doesn't follow the party line.

August 17, 2014       Permalink

AMERICA 2014 – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  This is one of those stories that's hard to make up.  Talk about vote buying.  From Fox: 

Near-perfect weather and an abundance of "I voted" stickers haven't been enough to lure Los Angeles residents to the polls. Now some city officials are floating another idea: cash.

In a bid to boost turnout, Los Angeles's Ethics Commission has voted to recommend that the city consider offering cash, which might include a prize as high as $50,000, after fewer than a quarter of registered voters showed up for recent municipal elections.

The three-person panel unanimously voted Thursday to have a committee overseen by City Council President Herb Wesson consider offering the financial incentives.

A mere 23 percent of registered voters showed up for the 2012 mayoral election, down from the 37 percent that turned out in 2001. Even fewer voted in the city-attorney and -controller elections, and turnout was a low as 15 percent for district elections, city officials said.

"I would say our turnout is abysmal, and it's embarrassing," Mr. Wesson said.

The idea to boost voter participation involves a "lottery-type structure where there could be prize winners of some sort," said Mr. Wesson. The lottery would only be allowable in elections that don't include candidates for federal offices or federal measures.

The proposal is still in its earliest stages, and it was unclear if it might come to fruition or even how the lottery system would be structured.

COMMENT:  Absolutely disgraceful.  You know exactly who this is aimed at – low-information, low-motivation voters who can be counted on to vote Democratic when they vote at all.  It's a vote-buying scheme.  But it may actually be adopted. 

The vote is one of the symbols of democracy.  It is what soldiers have died for.  It is an honor to vote.  If people don't understand that, or appreciate it, I really don't think we should be giving them cash prizes to get them to the polls.

August 17,  2014     Permalink

AUGUST 16,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:58 P.M. ET:

PERRY FIGHTS BACK – Governor Rick Perry fought back today against his indictment, which even some Democrats say appears to be without merit, by a grand jury.  From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  "AUSTIN — A defiant Rick Perry went on the offensive Saturday, a day after being indicted on accusations of abusing his power with a controversial veto, denouncing the charges as 'outrageous' political theatrics and predicting he will prevail over 'those who would erode our state’s constitution and laws purely for political purposes.  I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto and will continue to defend this lawful action of my executive authority as governor,' Perry told reporters at a packed six-minute news conference near his office on the second floor of the Capitol.  'We don’t settle political differences with indictments in this country.'"  Indeed we don't...or shouldn't.

HILLARY'S NEEDS – From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:  "Hillary Rodham Clinton likes to travel in style.  She insists on staying in the 'presidential suite' of luxury hotels that she chooses anywhere in the world, including Las Vegas.  She usually requires those who pay her six-figure fees for speeches to also provide a private jet for transportation — only a $39 million, 16-passenger Gulfstream G450 or larger will do.  And she doesn’t travel alone, relying on an entourage of a couple of 'travel aides,' and a couple of advance staffers who check out her speech site in the days leading up to her appearance, much like a White House trip, according to her contract and supporting documents concerning her Oct. 13 speech at a University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation fundraiser. The documents were obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal through the state public records law."  This will not play well in heartland America, but it'll be just fine in Beverly Hills.

CURFEW IN FERGUSON – Common sense.  After a Friday night filled with looting, not stopped by the police, the governor has imposed a curfew on Ferguson, Missouri.  From The New York Times:  "Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri on Saturday imposed a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew in this small city, declaring a state of emergency after violence flared anew after a week of street protests over the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.  'This is not to silence the people of Ferguson, but to address those who are drowning out the voice of the people with their actions,' Mr. Nixon, a Democrat, told reporters and residents at a Ferguson church. 'We will not allow a handful of looters to endanger the rest of this community. If we’re going to achieve justice, we must first have and maintain peace.'  Mr. Nixon added: 'This is a test. The eyes of the world are watching.'"  The big mistake was allowing looting last night, with the police making no arrests. 

August 16, 2014       Permalink

TREASONABLE TREES – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  These trees, I never trusted them.  They've never gotten with the global-warming party line.  Trees are just unpatriotic.  You know, that's why George Washington chopped down a cherry tree.  From CBS Pittsburgh, which is clearly on to tree treason: 

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)- Pittsburgh is dealing with one of the coldest summers in history, and it’s having an effect on the trees.

Friday morning temperatures fell into the 40s in Western Pennsylvania.

Meteorologists say these cold temperatures are leading to trees changing colors in the middle of August.

“This is extraordinary for August, and certainly is a reflection of the prevalence of cool weather,” KDKA Meteorologist Dennis Bowman said.

Right now Pittsburgh is on pace for the 9th coldest summer since record keeping began in 1871.

A KDKA weather viewer took these pictures of the leaves already starting to change colors on the South Side of town, and other residents have noticed the same thing happening on the North Shore.

Al Gore is said to be heartbroken.  He always liked trees.  But there's always the knife in the back.

Bowman says it is odd to see the golden yellow and red leaves already showing up.

The Polar Vortex pattern that we saw in January, also caused cold temperatures in July.

“There has been a frequency of cold fronts this summer, and the weather for June, July, and August has been substantially below normal,” Bowman said.

COMMENT:  Don't worry.  Global warming will be back next year, or the year after that, or...no comment.  The science is settled.

August 16, 2014        Permalink

THE PERRY INDICTMENT – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  As we noted last night, Governor Rick Perry of Texas was indicted by a grand jury in notoriously Democratic Travis County, accused of misuse of his office.

The charge, which sounds like something trumped up in some third-world country, is that Perry made misuse of his veto power by denying funds to a local office because the public had lost faith in the head of that office, a district attorney who'd been guilty of driving while intoxicated and resisting officers.  Sounds like a responsible gubernatorial action to me.

Indeed, as Business Insider reports, even major Democrats are skeptical of this strange indictment: 

Although some Democrats are calling for Texas. Gov Rick Perry's (R) resignation after he was indicted by a grand jury on Friday, a number of left-leaning observers immediately panned the allegations as unimpressive.

Perry, an expected presidential candidate in 2016, is accused of "abuse of official capacity" and "coercion of [a] public servant" by publicly threatening to zero out a state prosecutor's funding and then actually doing it. Several pundits, including former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod, Clinton and Obama administration alum Jonathan Prince, Vox's Matt Yglesias, and New York magazine's Jonathan Chait, wrote on Twitter they couldn't see what the big deal was.

"Unless he was demonstrably trying to scrap the ethics unit for other than his stated reason," Axelrod argued, "Perry indictment seems pretty sketchy."

"Have to say Perry indictment seems nuts. Gov has constitutional power to veto. Gov uses power. Grand jury indicts bc they don't like reason?" Prince asked.

"Hard for me to imagine these Rick Perry charges sticking," Yglesias wrote, adding, "Does anyone think this Perry indictment makes sense?"

"My *very* preliminary reaction to the Rick Perry news: I don't understand what law he broke," Chait opined.

COMMENT:  I understand from some of the early discussion that Perry can request a trial within 90 days.  Surely his attorneys can ask for swiftness.  The appearances here are awful – the indictment of a potential presidential candidate by a grand jury seated in a stronghold of the opposition party.

I have a feeling Perry will be exonerated, but the damage to him in the interim can be politically fatal, which is the intent.

August 16, 2014       Permalink

OH, THIS IS REALLY BRILLIANT – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  The liberal media has been hailing the new, intelligent, so sensitive approach to the tension in Ferguson, Missouri.  Yeah, right.  Here is the result of this new approach.  From Fox: 

Looters in Ferguson, Mo., were met with little police resistance Friday night and store owners say they were forced to protect their businesses with their own guns, Fox2Now.com reported.

"I think the first message is to remind all law enforcement that they are hired to serve and protect and if they’re going to sit back and watch looting, they're not serving us; they’re not protecting us," Pastor Robert White told the station.

A reporter from the station tweeted that police cars were seen driving past some of the stores being looted and did not respond. It rained in Ferguson Friday night and protesters could be seen outside until 6 a.m.

Two store owners, standing outside their business holding guns, told Fox2Now.com that when they called 911, they were sent from one police agency to another, and got no response.

One of the owners, with a large black gun resting on his shoulder, told the station that police were lined up blocks from the looting, and did not engage looters making off with large boxes from these stores.

"There's no police," he said. "We trusted the police to keep it peaceful; they didn't do their job."

Just before midnight, some in what had been a large and rowdy but mostly well-behaved crowd broke in a convenience store that police accused 18-year-old Michael Brown of robbing minutes before he was fatally shot by an officer, and began looting it, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson.

Some in the crowd of about 200 began throwing rocks and other objects at police, Johnson said. One officer was hurt but details on the injury were not immediately available.

Johnson said police backed off to try and ease the tension. No arrests were made.

"We had to evaluate the security of the officers there and also the rioters," Johnson said. "We just felt it was better to move back."

COMMENT:  Maybe it's time for the authorities to do their jobs, and stop playing to CNN which, between its Gaza reporting and Ferguson reporting, has re-established itself as a liberal TV network, as if there were any doubt. 

Captain Johnson cuts a great image and is a thoughtful officer.  But he's forgetting the truth of what Pastor White said – the police are there to serve and protect.  Johnson's strategy reminds me of the approach of David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York City, who once ordered police to let black protesters "vent," leading to chaos.  He was voted out of office, replaced by Rudy Giuliani.

August 16,  2014     Permalink