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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

JANUARY 13,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:36 P.M. ET: 

WARNING ON IRAN – The UN's nuclear inspection agency warns that there's a gap in the interim nuclear agreement with Tehran that can prove deadly.  From Reuters:  "The U.N. nuclear watchdog's increased access in Iran to monitor a landmark agreement with world powers still falls short of what it says it needs to investigate suspicions that Tehran may have worked on designing an atomic bomb.  It is also a far cry from the wide-ranging inspection powers the International Atomic Energy Agency had in Iraq in the 1990s to help unearth and dismantle Saddam Hussein's clandestine nuclear program after the first Gulf war."  In other words, the interim agreement doesn't do the job.  Iran can still secretly develop a nuclear bomb.  And Obama yawns.

BLACKS SUFFER UNDER OBAMA – He was supposed to be "the brother."  He was supposed to be Barack, come to save us.  But the Obama administration has actually been a disaster for blacks.  From Gateway Pundit:  "Five years in to Barack Obama’s presidency, the number of African-Americans participating in the labor force has hit rock bottom.  The news media has ignored this stunning revelation from Friday’s monthly jobs report by the Labor Department."  And... "While black support for Obama is over 80%, some in the African-American community put their desire for a job ahead of their pride in the first black president in the 2012 election. According to Pew Research, 19% of young black men voted for Republican Mitt Romney—a loss of 14% for Obama from 2008."  There are some signs that black Americans are awakening to what their own leaders have done to them.  If that continues, it could have profound political implications.

MORE OBAMACARE HEADACHES – From The Politico:  "Just under a quarter of Obamacare sign-ups so far have been in the critical 18-to-35-year-old age range, the Obama administration revealed Monday, the first time officials have given demographic data about health plan enrollees.  The administration had set a goal of around 38 percent to 40 percent of the enrollees in that age bracket by the time the sign-up season ends March 31."  If the goal isn't reached, premiums for Obamacare will go up, possibly by dramatic amounts.  It's the payments from the young that are counted on to balance the greater services required of older participants.  It's pretty clear that, so far, the young aren't buying.  And we're not even sure if a number of young "enrollees" are actually going through with premium payments.  Mess.

NUTS – Chris Christie's current troubles have inspired a host of political theories as to what they mean for the future of the world.  Probably the nuttiest is this – that weakening Christie strengthens a potential presidential run for Donald Trump.  I'm not kidding you.  Some presumably serious people are saying that.  Yes, all over America there is a wanting for Donald.  Can you sense it?  Can you feel the beat?  If you find it, let me know.  You can send an anonymous e-mail.  I want to be sure to be the third person on the bandwagon, of three.

January 13, 2014       Permalink

THE OBAMA ECONOMY – A WAR ON MEN? – AT 10:42 A.M. ET:  Sometimes the coldness of economic statistics hides the human tragedy within.  Men in the prime of their working lives are being devastated by the employment crisis under President Obama.  From the New York Post: 

Quick question: What was the most startling element of the dreary December jobs report?

If you said it was that everyone seemed to have forgotten the fact that it tends to snow around Christmas, thus skewing the data — an idea supported by the White House — you’d be wrong.

The real shocker was the continued deterioration in labor participation by those who should be in the prime of their working lives — young and middle-age males.

While the labor-force participation rate dipped to a 36-year low, the trend for middle-age males was even more worrisome.

Just 71.8 percent of working-age men have a job or are looking for work — that’s a drop of more than 1 percentage point.

Although male workers were the hardest hit by the first blows of the Great Recession, their employment prospects bounced back in 2010 and early 2011.

But then things stalled.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research now estimates that 91 percent of women who lost their jobs in the wake of the housing bust have found new employment, while only 68 percent of US males can make the same claim.

The drop in the overall worker-participation rate, to 62.8 percent, is due solely to men, not women, dropping out of the job market.

The US numbers for men are resembling those in Spain and Italy.

COMMENT:  Barack Obama will leave this country, both domestically and in foreign policy, far weaker than when he found it.  But for his left-wing mentality, that's perfectly all right.

January 13, 2014       Permalink

MORE ABOUT OUR NEW IRANIAN FRIENDS – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:   Why, they're just well-meaning and misunderstood.  But Barack, come to save us, will bring us together with our Iranian brothers and sisters.  And all will be joyous.  From Business Week:

A former engineer for defense contractors was charged with trying to ship military documents to Iran, including materials related to the U.S. Air Force’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter program and jet engines.

Mozaffar Khazaee, 59, was arrested yesterday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey as he attempted to fly to Tehran, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut said in a statement.

Khazaee, a native of Iran who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1991, formerly lived in Manchester, Connecticut, and recently moved to Indianapolis, prosecutors said. He was arrested after arriving from Indiana and before he was able to board a connecting flight to Frankfurt.

Federal agents began probing Khazaee, also known as Arash Khazaie, in November when U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Homeland Security Department inspected a shipment he had sent to Long Beach, California, from Connecticut, bound for Hamadan, Iran, prosecutors said.

While documents accompanying the shipment indicated it contained household goods, a search revealed boxes of documents, including technical manuals, specification sheets and other materials related to the Joint Strike Fighter program and jet engines, according to court filings.

COMMENT:  I didn't see this in any mainstream paper, and didn't see it covered on TV.  I guess it isn't as important as Chris Christie's bridge problem. 

Iran is an enormous threat.  As we weaken our position in the Mideast, Iran is poised to step right in.  Obama doesn't care because he clearly has no problem with Islamist regimes.  I think he rather admires them.  But our children will care when their world is affected.

January 13,  2014     Permalink

GROWING DOUBTS ABOUT THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:   It is announced by the relevant parties that the interim nuclear deal with Iran will go into effect January 20th.  But many people remain unconvinced that it's a good thing.  From the Washington Times:

A preliminary deal designed to halt Iran’s nuclear program will take effect next week, the White House said Sunday, but some U.S. lawmakers and analysts have little faith that the Middle Eastern nation will comply.

In exchange for about $7 billion in economic sanctions relief, Iran on Jan. 20 will stop enriching uranium beyond 5 percent — a level high enough for energy purposes but not nuclear weapons — and will begin to dilute its existing stockpile of 20 percent uranium. Iran also has pledged not to construct more centrifuges and will submit to rigorous inspection of its facilities, though it does not have to shutter any existing centrifuges.

And...

The Obama administration touted the deal as a key victory that averts potential military action by Israel or others and vindicates the notion that diplomacy, combined with tough economic sanctions, can bring real change inside Iran.

Analysts, however, say key problems with the deal remain. Chief among their concerns is that international inspectors will have access only to Iran’s declared facilities.

“In theory, they should be able to monitor the declared facilities, assuming the Iranians don’t obfuscate and cheat and play their usual games,” said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “But there’s a still a big blind spot with respect to their covert facilities. They’ve always had a covert nuclear infrastructure that they’ve never admitted. We don’t know if they exist or where they are. That’s a huge concern.”

Many lawmakers have blasted the deal because it allows Iran to continue enriching uranium up to 5 percent. Critics of the agreement believe Iran should have to cease all uranium enrichment and take apart its existing nuclear facilities, though Iranian leaders surely would have rejected a proposal with such demands.

COMMENT:  It's a rotten deal.  Obama says that if negotiations for a permanent agreement break down, sanctions can then be reimposed.  That is a joke.  As we've pointed out here, the corporate interests are lining up in Tehran to do business again with Iran.  If anyone believes that sanctions can be reimposed once the money flows, they're delusional.  The Europeans will refuse, and Obama might well raise the specter of "lost jobs" to justify "continued negotiations."

We've been beaten.  Congress is clearly worried.  Obama doesn't care. 

January 13, 2014       Permalink

JUST ANOTHER NON-POLITICAL INVESTIGATION – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  The Dems are really piling on, with the help of the press, to destroy Chris Christie as a presidential candidate.  Maybe their efforts are a bit too ham-handed and obvious.  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- Just days after dismissing two top advisers for their roles in the George Washington Bridge scandal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing questions over the use of Superstorm Sandy relief funds.

CNN has learned that federal officials are investigating whether Christie improperly used those relief funds to produce tourism ads that starred him and his family.

CNN claims it has this information exclusively.  Not surprising.  CNN is friendly to the Obama administration, which apparently is returning the favor.

The news couldn't come at a worse time for the scandal-plagued Republican, who is facing two probes into whether his staff tied up traffic near the country's busiest bridge to punish a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse his successful re-election bid.

Is this all a coincidence?  Christie is the leading GOP candidate for president in 2016.  Destroying him is a top Dem priority. 

If the Sandy inquiry finds any wrongdoing, it could prove even more damaging to Christie's national ambitions. His performance during and after the superstorm has been widely praised and is a fundamental part of his straight-shooting political brand.

In the new probe, federal auditors will examine New Jersey's use of $25 million in Sandy relief funds for a marketing campaign to promote tourism at the Jersey Shore after Sandy decimated the state's coastline in late 2012, New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone told CNN.

In an August letter, Pallone asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general to look into how Christie chose to spend the marketing money approved by the department.

Pallone is a powerful Dem congressman and Obama ally.  This whole thing smacks of pure politics.  Obviously, we have to wait for the investigation to conclude, but my suspicions run high.  After all, this is an administration that seems in no hurry to investigate the misuse of the IRS to go after conservative groups.  And it has resisted a formal inquiry into Benghazi.  But it has the time and money to probe Chris Christie.  And the press is immediately interested.

January 13,  2014    Permalink

JANUARY 12,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:20 P.M. ET: 

MAJOR ROMANTIC NEWS – From Toronto's Globe and Mail:  "The woman considered France’s first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, has been admitted to hospital following reports of an affair between President François Hollande and an actress, but will be discharged on Monday, sources said on Sunday.  Daily newspaper Le Parisien said on its website earlier that Ms. Trierweiler, 48, had been taken to hospital after being shaken by a celebrity magazine’s reports of a liaison between her partner Mr. Hollande and French actress Julie Gayet."  That must have been some shake.  She should take a hint from Michelle.  All she has to do is frown when Barack is flirting with the Danish prime minister, and Barack shrivels.

PATHETIC – When he was elected, the president was called "no drama Obama."  In his new, devastating memoir, Bob Gates says that Obama was, in fact, passionate about a few things.  From Fox:  "Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates sharply questions President Obama's 'passion' for military matters in his forthcoming memoir, and claims that practically the only time he saw that in the president was during his push to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell.'"  Tells me pretty much what I want to know, but I think we've all known it.  Obama is a leftist, a "post-American" president, and feels uncomfortable with the American military.  The results are pretty obvious.

WHEN YOU'RE UP FOR RE-ELECTION – From The Hill:  "Democratic senators are pleading with President Obama to abandon his proposal to trim Social Security benefits before it becomes a liability for them in the midterm elections.  The president proposed a new formula for calculating benefits in his budget last year, in hopes that the olive branch to Republicans would persuade them to back tax increases in a broader fiscal deal.  But Democratic lawmakers say Obama should shelve the idea now that they are facing a difficult midterm election where they need to turn out the liberal base to preserve their Senate majority."  All politics all the time.

January 12, 2014      Permalink

GLAD THEY NOTICED – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  It is announced that the president and first lady will hold a White House conference on college costs.  I'm so grateful that our dear leaders have discovered that college is expensive.  But their approach is absurd.  From The Hill:

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will host an event on college affordability next Thursday at the White House.

Okay, now let's see the fine print.

...Carney said the daylong conference would focus specifically on helping “young people from disadvantaged backgrounds” get into and complete college.

Oh, so that's what it's about.  I would suggest they concentrate on getting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to excel in high school.  There are plenty of opportunities for them if they do that.   They might also concentrate on the culture of failure that often grips disadvantaged communities.  Change the culture, you change the outcome.  But it is forbidden to ask cultural questions, so they won't go there. 

Also, typical of liberals, the conference apparently will talk about college costs, but not about how those costs became so inflated.  Who will have the courage to note that the University of California system, over the last decade, has hired more administrators than educators?  Who will note the proliferation of special-interest departments created to satisfy political demands?  Yessirree, we really do need another department studying the history of left-handed poets in Micronesia.  I can't wait for the textbooks. 

Want college affordability?  Cut the amount that colleges spend.

This conference will probably amount to nothing.  The Obamans are good talkers, little else.

January 12, 2014        Permalink

SNEAKING UP ON US – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  President Obama is all hot and bothered about moves in Congress to impose new threats of sanctions on Iran.  He has threatened a veto.  We must not upset the boys in Tehran while "negotiations" are ongoing.

Well, it seems the boys in Tehran didn't need the US Congress to get them upset.  All it took was their own government negotiating with the West.  Get this, from Reuters: 

BEIRUT - Iran will have no choice but to step up its uranium enrichment if a bill now moving through parliament is approved, even though it has no current need for such highly-enriched uranium, its nuclear chief said on Saturday.

The bill has received expressions of support from at least 218 of parliament's 290 members and, if passed, could threaten progress toward a resolution of Iran's long-running row with the international community over its nuclear program, on which a landmark interim agreement was struck last November.

The parliament is much more hawkish than Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani on the nuclear issue, although some see the proposal, put forward last month, as a response to a bill introduced by conservatives in the U.S. Senate that would impose new sanctions on Iran.

Iran has stockpiles of uranium enriched to 5 percent fissile purity, sufficient for nuclear power stations, and 20 percent, of great concern to major powers because it is a relatively short technical step from weapons-grade.

COMMENT:  Do you get the feeling the Iranians are laughing at us?  Why not?  Everyone else is.  Iran won a substantial victory with the interim agreement it made with the West to limit its nuclear program while a permanent agreement is negotiated.  The interim agreement does nothing to stop the Iranian nuclear program.  Now Iran's parliament may actually order an expansion of that program, and Obama is more concerned about the U.S. Congress, which clearly is worried over what we're giving away.

Most readers probably know the term "Kryptonite."  In the Superman legend it's the material which, if put near Superman, robs him of his strength.  Well, we have a President Kryptonite.  Put him near any American institution, and it's immediately weakened.  Just look at foreign policy.

January 12, 2014       Permalink

DESPERATION AT CNN – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  CNN has some fine reporters, and does some good work.  But it has been hampered all these years by the impression that it is, at base, just another liberal news organization, which it is. 

That image is not being helped by its chief, Jeff Zucker, who has been struggling to get the network out of the ratings basement.  Why would Zucker want to confirm the image that has kept CNN low?  From Breitbart:

CNN Chief Jeff Zucker might not be very good at getting ratings for his Nielsens-challenged network, but he’s great at hurling insults. On Friday, Zucker tried to diminish both the Republican Party and Fox News by alleging that the GOP is being run out of Fox.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was having none of it, firing back at Zucker to let him know that Fox News is not the GOP's mouthpiece. "Hey Jeff Zucker, we're the Republican Party and we speak for ourselves, pal," Priebus tweeted. "Have a great weekend."

At a Television Critics Association event on Friday, Zucker alleged that "the Republican Party is being run out of News Corp. headquarters masquerading as a cable news channel" without acknowledging that he runs a network that accused former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of being responsible for the attempted murder of Gabby Giffords without any evidence whatsoever. CNN has been repeatedly called out for its left-leaning biases that masquerade as "objective" news, which is why the network's primetime ratings hit a 20-year low last year.

It’s an interesting strategy Zucker has: trash the Republican Party and, by extension, all Republicans.
Though Zucker tried to paint Fox as a network that shills for Republicans, Americans do not think so, as more Democrats and independents watch Fox News than CNN and MSNBC. In addition, though Americans once went en masse to CNN to get information about breaking news, that is not the case anymore. Fox News regularly outpaced CNN in ratings when breaking news or tragedies--like the Boston Marathon Bombing--consumed the news cycle last year.

Indeed, it’s little wonder that CNN is no longer the go-to place for breaking news, now that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has proven to be the hottest show on the channel. If you want big news on the local cuisine of Bolivia, CNN is on it. But if you want news about, well, news, try Fox. Meanwhile, as we know, MSNBC is now All About Rachel Maddow; no news there, either.

These factors led The Hollywood Reporter to declare that Roger Ailes and Fox News had won the cable news wars.

COMMENT:  Zucker is a smart guy, and I cannot imagine why he's committing slow suicide.  He needs to make CNN what he claims it is.  He's gotten too close to his own problem.

January 12,  2014     Permalink