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FEBRUARY 24,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:47 P.M. ET: 

RAHM COMES UP SHORT – From The Hill:  "Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) is headed to a runoff despite outspending his opponents and muscling out his strongest opposition, the Associated Press projected Tuesday.  With roughly 84 percent of precincts reporting, the President Obama’s former chief of staff was hovering at 45.5 percent of the vote. His closest challenger, Cook County Commissioner Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, had 33.9 percent.  Emanuel and Garcia will now campaign for another six weeks as they head toward the runoff vote in April. It is the first time since the 1990s that Chicago has had a mayoral runoff, WBEZ reported."   They don't fix 'em as well as they used to.  As we pointed out earlier, Hillary needs Rahm in the mayor's chair to help guarantee that Illinois goes Democratic in 2016. 

"AMERICAN SNIPER" KILLER GUILTY – From CNN:  "Eddie Ray Routh has been found guilty of murder in the killings of two men, including 'American Sniper' author Chris Kyle.  Kyle and Chad Littlefield, also a veteran, were killed at a gun range in Texas on Feb. 2, 2013. The two men had reached out to the troubled former Marine to try to help him.  No one disputed that Routh shot and killed the two men. Routh's attorneys argued Routh suffers from psychosis, paranoia and schizophrenia. Prosecutors argued Routh is a 'troubled man' who struggles with a 'personality disorder,' not insanity."  The fact is that the insanity defense is rarely successful.  Sentencing comes next.

TRUTH TELLIN' – From CNS:  "CNSNews.com) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing that the U-6 unemployment rate--which includes people who are working part-time for economic reasons and those who are marginally attached to the labor force--'definitely shows a less rosy picture' of employment in the country.  People 'marginally attached' to the labor force 'are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for one work sometime in the past 12 months.'"  About time someone at a high level noted that little complication.  You'd think, listening to Obama, that we were booming.

BRIAN, WE HARDLY MISS YE – From deadline.com:  "Sighs of relief from the direction of 30 Rock: NBC Nightly News Minus Brian Williams posted week-to-week gains in total viewers (up 7%, translating to 673,000 viewers), the news demo (11%, or 262,000 viewers), and among 18-49 year olds (up 9%, or 147,000 viewers) the week of February 16."  My guess is that Brian Williams is headed for some made-up job at NBC News like "roving correspondent in Siberia."  If ratings are higher without him, we'll see just how money talks.

February 24, 2015        Permalink

THE GREAT SOWELL – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  With all the hoopla about Rudy's comments on Barack Obama, you'd think the former mayor of New York had said something unusual or shocking.  Not so says the distinguished African-American economist and writer Thomas Sowell, who clearly indicates what side he's on.  From Townhall: 

Anyone who simply looks at the factual evidence as to whether Obama loves America, or does not, will find remarkably little to suggest love and a large amount of evidence, over a long period of years, showing his constant close association with people fiercely hostile to this country. Jeremiah Wright was just one in a long series of such people.

Barack Obama's campaign promise to "fundamentally change the United States of America" hardly suggests love. Nor did his international speaking tour in 2009, telling foreign audiences that America was to blame for problems on the world stage.

President Obama's record in the White House has been more of the same. Among his earliest acts were offending our oldest and closest allies, Britain and Israel, and betraying the country's previous commitments to provide anti-missile defenses to Poland and the Czech Republic.

Obama's refusal to let Ukraine have weapons with which to defend itself from Russian invasion was consistent with this pattern, and consistent with his whispered statement -- picked up by a microphone that was still on -- to tell "Vladimir" that, after the 2012 election was over, he would be able to "have more 'flexibility.'"

Conceivably, these might all have been simply blunders. But such a string of blunders would require someone very stupid, and Barack Obama is by no means stupid. The net effect is that in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, America's allies and America's interests face far more setbacks and dangers today than when Obama took office.

And...

Whoever is president has the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, and the fate of a nation, in his hands. It is those millions of people and that nation who deserve the benefit of the doubt. We need to err on the side of safety for the people and the country. Squeamish politeness to an individual cannot outweigh that.

We need to keep that in mind for the next president, and for all future presidents. We might have been better off if the question of Obama's patriotism had been raised before he was first elected. Never should we ignore so many red flag warnings again.

COMMENT:  What a wonderful writer.  And such clear thinking.  Yes, we have to go back and look at the red flags that were ignored.  And we have to take a good look at who ignored them.  Hint:  They have names like The New York Times and CNN.

February 24, 2015       Permalink

RAHM GOES FOR TWO – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  No one ever called Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel "America's mayor," or even Chicago's mayor.  He's more like the machine's mayor or Obama's mayor.  Today he goes for a second mayoral term in a city that remains in deep trouble.  From Andrew Malcom at IBD: 

Legend holds that Chicago's mayoral elections are held at this time of the winter every four years because no one in their right mind would venture outside to the polls unless they were loyal Democrat machine voters whose precinct captains were taking attendance.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel may be the beneficiary of that likely apocryphal story today as for some reason he seeks a second term atop the nation's third-largest city with its crumbling infrastructure, high taxes, corruption, poorly performing schools, unbearable pension costs and gun violence.

The former machine go-fer, Clinton money collector, House member, pal of imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Obama chief of staff faces a couple of no-names and Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia.

In Chicago's rigged political system that produced Barack Obama and his sidekick Valerie Jarrett, none of them should have a snowball's-chance-in-Hawaii of winning. And they don't. However, it is possible if Hispanics turn out big-time today that Garcia could hold Emanuel's vote total below the 50%-plus one he needs to avoid a two-man runoff on April 7.

Then, a stream of Emanuel's notorious profanity would likely be heard as far away as Springfield. In 2011, Emanuel avoided a runoff, earning 55% of the vote.

A coronation delay this time would be embarrassing for the pugnacious 55-year-old Emanuel, the 55th mayor, and the first Jewish one, in the long, sordid political history of Chicago, which appropriately enough is an Indian word for a smelly wild onion once found in the area.

Taking a page from Obama's smearing playbook in 2012, Emanuel has been going after the under-funded Garcia for months with much of the incumbent's $15 million cash from a relatively small circle of wealthy donors. Emanuel knows money, having been Bill Clinton's first finance chair.

COMMENT:  As even the BBC points out today, the election has national and international repercussions.  Hillary needs Rahm Emanuel in the mayor's chair to help her win Illinois in 2016.  And winning Illinois, as we've learned from history, often involves creative interpretation of voting laws and artistic use of numbers.  We revere those who do it well.

February 24, 2015       Permalink

HILLARY UNDER ASSAULT – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:   The issue is foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, some of which have come from countries hostile to the United States.  The subtext, of course, is the history of Clinton sleaze.  From CBS News:

American Crossroads, a conservative political action committee founded by Karl Rove, targeted Hillary Clinton in an ad released Monday, raising questions about whether it's appropriate for Clinton's family foundation to accept money from foreign governments.

And in a curious piece of strategic jiu-jitsu, the group used the words of a staunch progressive - Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts - to make its case.

"Powerful interests have tried to capture Washington and rig the system in their favor," intones Warren's voice in the 30-second ad. "The power of well-funded special interests tilts our democracy away from the people and toward the powerful...Action is required to defend our great democracy against those who would see it perverted into one more rigged game where the rich and the powerful always win."

As the ad concludes, the text onscreen reads, "Powerful Foreign Governments are Ready for Hillary. Are We?"

COMMENT:   That is a great ad.  Hillary, thy name is mud.

February 24, 2015        Permalink

AGAIN – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  There has been another abduction of Christians by ISIS.  Anyone in the White House interested, or will Field Marshal Obama lecture us on the Crusades?  From Reuters: 

(Reuters) - Islamic State militants have abducted at least 90 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria, a monitoring group that tracks violence in Syria said on Tuesday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds.

Syrian Kurdish militia launched two offensives against the militants in northeast Syria on Sunday, helped by U.S.-led air strikes and Iraqi peshmerga.

This part of Syria is strategically important in the fight against Islamic State because it borders territory controlled by the group in Iraq, where it last year committed atrocities against the minority religious Yazidi community.

Many Assyrian Christians have emigrated in the nearly four-year-long conflict in which more than 200,000 have people have been killed. Before the arrival of Kurds and Arab nomadic tribes at the end of the 19th century, Christians formed the majority in Syria's Jazeera area, which includes Hasaka.

COMMENT:  My fear is that we will become immune to the atrocities and, as the left loves to put it, "move on" to other things.  The Mideast is aflame.  We will pour gasoline on the fire by making it possible for Iran to continue its nuclear program.

And yet, when Rudy Giuliani speaks truths about Barack Obama, it's Rudy who gets slammed by the press.

February 24,  2015     Permalink

FEBRUARY 23,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

A DATE TO REMEMBER – It was on this date, February 23rd, 70 years ago that five U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman planted the American flag on Mount Suribachi, on the island of Iwo Jima.  The photograph of the flagraising, by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal, is one of the most reproduced photos in history.  It electrified the American people and inspired the Marine Corps memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.  The original negative is still maintained under climate-controlled conditions at AP headquarters in New York.  A color motion picture of the flagraising was taken by Marine photographer Bill Genaust, who was killed on Iwo Jima, and whose body was never found.

OH DEAR, ANOTHER ONE – From Fox:  "Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald has admitted that he lied about serving in the special operations forces in a conversation with a homeless veteran that was caught on camera earlier this year.  McDonald made the claim in January while he was in Los Angeles as part of the VA's effort to locate and house homeless veterans. During the tour, a homeless man told McDonald that he had served in the special operations forces. 'Special forces? What years?' McDonald responded. 'I was in special forces.' The exchange was broadcast on 'The CBS Evening News' Jan. 30. McDonald's misstatement was first reported by The Huffington Post."  Some investigation is due here before a final judgment is made.  It turns out he was a graduate of the Ranger school, but never served in a special ops unit.  Was this a bit of an exaggeration or an outright lie?  Whatever it was, it isn't good, especially for a West Point graduate.  He may have to go.

KEYSTONE – Congress has completed approval of the Keystone pipeline and has sent the legislation to the president, who has promised a veto.  The pipeline has great public approval, would please our nearest ally, Canada, and will provide jobs.  But Obama is more interested in the approval of the environmental fanatics who oppose it.  It has taken years to get to this veto, and I doubt if Obama has the slightest interest in any of the "studies" that have been done along the way.  Disgraceful.

A WRIGHT HAS WRONGED – From Gateway Pundit:  "In September 2013, Jeri Wright, daughter of Reverend 'God Damn America' Wright, and 12 other Democrats were charged with embezzling $16 million in Federal health grants that should have gone to AIDS charities and other programs for the poor and needy.  More than one of the defendants had direct ties to President Barack Obama.  In March 2014 Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s daughter Jeri was found guilty on eleven counts that included money laundering and lying to federal agents.  This week US District Judge Sue E. Myerscough sent Jeri Wright to prison."  The rev should have spent more time one his daughter and less on hate crusades.

February 23, 2015       Permalink

THE PC POLICE – AT 11:26 A.M. ET:  No police department in America has been more successful than the NYPD.  It has reduced the murder rate in New York, over the last two decades, by 80%.  It has saved thousands of lives, most of them black.  When it comes to "black lives matter," the NYPD can point to a proud record.

But still, there are elements on the political left who despise the NYPD.  First, these elements have no problem with high crime rates.  In fact, they rather like them.  High crime rates confirm their corrupt view of society.  Second, Rudy Giuliani, who initiated the anti-crime programs that actually worked, refused to bow down before black "leaders" who want a cut of any action, and have little interest in improving the lives of their constituents.  Third, there have been some mishaps and errors that have been vastly exaggerated by the left in its anti-cop crusade. 

As the great African-American writer Thomas Sowell has said, if you eliminate every killing of a black by a police officer nationally, the number of murders of blacks would decline by less than one percent.

Now, though, New York has a radical leftist mayor, and he's determined to put the brakes on the police.  And this is one of the results.  Prepare to laugh.  From the New York Post:

Cops should “take a deep breath’’ — and close their eyes — when dealing with angry people, according to the NYPD’s new “retraining’’ program.

The potentially dangerous advice is part of a $35 million “smart policing’’ primer by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton that most of the cops who have gone through it say is completely useless.

One cop who sat through two full-day programs called them “not realistic’’ and “pretty silly.”
At one point during the lectures, the cop said, those in attendance were given breathing exercises to learn how to calm down — even when facing someone who could pose a threat to their safety.

“They said if you find yourself in a situation that’s getting heated, take a step back, close your eyes and take a deep breath,” he said.

“That’s pretty funny — that I would close my eyes in a tense situation.”

Another cop called the lectures “smoke and mirrors” to appease the public.

“They want you to stop and think about everything before you do anything, but a lot of times cops have to make a split-second decision, and they don’t have the luxury of stopping and thinking,” the cop said.

The officer said he was paid overtime to attend the retraining program. Other cops have been going to training sessions instead of their regular shifts, sources said.

Both cops said they — and everyone they know — gave the lectures low marks on surveys they filled out after the program.

The Post reported exclusively on Sunday that many cops have been falling asleep in their seats as they listen to the lectures at the brand-new, $750 million Police Academy in Queens, and that about 80 percent gave the program negative reviews afterward.

COMMENT:  As they say, you can't make that stuff up.  I assume that this training program will fade into history, although Obama may hire it for the U.S. military.

February 23, 2015       Permalink

BRILLIANT – AT 10:45 A.M. ET:   Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of the Washington Post, has written a superb piece on President Obama's lack of credibility in international affairs.  This is a must-read.  From WaPo:

Can President Obama sell an Iran deal at home?

If his negotiators strike an agreement next month, we already know that it will be far from ideal: Rather than eradicating Iran’s nuclear-weapons potential, as once was hoped, a pact would seek to control Iran’s activities for some limited number of years.

Such a deal might be defensible on the grounds that it is better than any alternative, given that most experts believe a military “solution” would be at best temporary and possibly counterproductive.

But making that kind of lesser-evil defense would be challenging in any circumstances. Three conditions will make it particularly hard for Obama to persuade Congress and the nation to accept his assurances in this case: the suspicious, poisonous partisanship of the moment here, with Israeli politics mixed in; worries that he wants a deal too much; and the record of his past assurances.

Hiatt then goes into a devastating report on Obama's actual record, a record filled with false assurances and failure.  One phony assurance after another.  He concludes: 

That record includes successes, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden, warming ties with India and a potentially groundbreaking agreement with China on climate change. By most measures, though, the world has not become safer during Obama’s tenure. Islamist extremists are stronger than ever; democracy is in retreat around the globe; relations with Russia and North Korea have worsened; allies are questioning U.S. steadfastness.

COMMENT:  Wonderfully stated.  Please read the whole thing and send to friends.  This is the best summary of Obama's abysmal record that I've seen published.

February 23, 2015       Permalink

MORE DISGRACE – UKRAINE – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  The cease-fire in Ukraine, which was supposed to go into effect more than a week ago, never got off the ground.  Not too many people seem to care.  We are back in the late 1930s, with some of the same actors.   From The Hill:

Sen. John McCain on Sunday said he is “ashamed” of the U.S., President Obama and himself for not arming Ukraine’s military in its fight against Russian-backed separatists.

“I believe that the German chancellor and the president of France legitimized for the first time in 70 years the dismemberment of a country in Europe. It's shameful,” McCain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Vladimir Putin has not paid any price. Even the ceasefire was violated.”

McCain said that “Ukrainians aren't asking for American boots on the ground.”

“That's not the question here. They're asking for weapons to defend themselves. And they are being slaughtered. And their own military's being shattered,” he said.

“This is a shameful chapter. I'm ashamed of my country, I'm ashamed of my president, and I'm ashamed of myself that I haven't done more to help these people,” he added. “It is really, really heartbreaking.”

McCain said the U.S. should give the Ukrainian military “weapons with which to defend themselves.”

“There are Russian tanks in eastern Ukraine that they have no weapon to fight against. Some of the best Russian special forces are there. And they will continue this aggression for as long as they can get away with it. And it's not just the military side,” he said, adding that Ukraine is on the verge of collapse economically as well.

“Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine not to be part of Europe. And he is succeeding in doing so. He's put enormous pressure on the Baltics, not to mention Moldova and continued occupation of Georgia as well. This is really a dark chapter in the history of our alliance.”

COMMENT:  I love the way McCain takes personal responsibility.  It's McCain at his best.

I know there are some conservatives who don't care for John McCain, and he did run a poor campaign in 2008.  But on national defense he is a treasure, and I fear the day when he retires. 

February 23, 2015       Permalink

THIS IS APPALLING – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Some outlines of a possible deal with Iran are emerging, and they are deeply troubling.  From AP:

GENEVA (AP) — The United States and Iran are shaping the contours of a deal that would initially freeze Tehran’s nuclear program but would allow it to slowly ramp up activities that could be used to make nuclear arms over the last years of the agreement’s duration.

Officials from some of the six-power talks with Iran said details still needed to be agreed on, with US and Iranian officials meeting Monday for the third straight day ahead of an end-of-March deadline for a framework agreement. US Secretary of State John Kerry joined the negotiations after arriving Sunday.

A breakthrough was not expected before Kerry returns to Washington later Monday. But Western officials familiar with the talks cited long-awaited progress on some elements that would have to go into a comprehensive deal. They described the discussions as a moving target, however, meaning changes in any one area would have repercussions for other parts of the negotiation.

The idea would be to reward Iran for good behavior over the last years of any agreement, by gradually lifting constraints on its uranium enrichment program imposed as part of a deal that would also would slowly ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Why would anyone want to lift constraints, especially if the current crowd is in power?  This is fantasyland.

Iran says it does not want nuclear arms and needs enrichment only for energy, medical and scientific purposes, but the US fears Tehran could re-engineer the program to its other potential use — producing the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.

The US initially sought restrictions lasting for up to 20 years; Iran had pushed for less than a decade.

Iran could be allowed to operate significantly more centrifuges than the US administration first demanded, though at lower capacity than they currently run. Several officials spoke of 6,500 centrifuges as a potential point of compromise.

COMMENT:  This is awful.  The article notes the need for constant inspections, which can be disrupted by the Iranian regime, which has been disrupting inspections all along.

Obama might well buy this, and other reporting this morning points out that there are forces in the State Department and elsewhere that are pressuring him to establish a "special relationship" with Iran, even though Iran is a major sponsor of terror and murders its own citizens.  These things don't bother a certain class of "sophisticates."  There may also be commercial interests involved.

We are heading for serious trouble.  It is time for Congress to raise its voice loudly.  It is time for the media to wake up.  Congress may act.  I don't think the media will.

February 23,  2015     Permalink