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JANUARY 26,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET: 

MAJOR FINANCIAL NEWS – From Fox:  "The U.S. Postal Service will increase the cost of a stamp on Monday to 49 cents from the current 46 cents.  The spike is a 6.5 percent jump, contrary to the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which states that stamp prices cannot increase faster than the rate of inflation, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Mounting financial losses forced the USPS to ask regulators to authorize an increase greater than the rate of inflation, which the agency was granted. But regulators refused to make it permanent, a move that upset Postal Service officials, according to the paper.  The 49 cent stamp price is guaranteed for two years."  Given the record of the Obama administration, that's longer than the United States is guaranteed.

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – From lajolla.patch.com:  "San Diego brewer Karl Strauss Brewing Company announced last week that will offer two scholarships to UC San Diego Extension's brewing program.  UC San Diego Extension’s brewing program is a part-time, evening and weekend program for entry-level brewing professionals. It can be completed in 18-24 months.  'When we started the industry here in San Diego 25 years ago, we had no idea the craft beer culture would expand into what it’s become today,' Matt Rattner, president of Karl Strauss Brewing Company said in a statement. 'We are looking forward to helping a new crop of San Diego brewers get their start with this amazing program at UC San Diego Extension.'"  Look, it's better than taking classes with left-wing history professors.

COMRADE BILL WEIGHS IN – New York's new mayor has an energy policy.  From CNS:  "(CNSNews.com) – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio weighed in on the hydraulic fracturing debate in his state during a press conference Thursday in Washington, D.C. 'The one thing I’m firm about is I don’t see any place for fracking,' de Blasio told reporters at the U.S. Conference of Mayors when CNSNews.com asked what his policy would be 'as far as developing oil, natural gas and other traditional energy sources in the state.'"  Gee, other states are booming because of fracking, and the ground isn't collapsing.  Maybe there's a reason I see so many moving vans in New York these days.

January 26, 2014       Permalink

OUR SAD STATE – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  The president delivers his State of the Union message Tuesday night.  Aren't you excited?   There is already, on the internet, a kind of informal pool wager on how many viewers Obama will attract.  His audiences have been steadily declining.  Soon he'll be introducing his speech by saying, "This is CNN."

The American people have already rendered their judgment on the state of the union.  From Powerline:

Harris surveyed 2,047 adults between January 17 and 21, 2014, on the current state of theAmerican union. The results, I think, are stunning. It would be interesting to compare the numbers to prior, similar surveys; I can’t imagine that there have been many times in our history when Americans have been so glum. Here are the key results.

Before you talk about poll responses, you have to be sure you know what the question was. Harris’s first question was: “At the end of the month, President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union to the American people. How would you rate the current state of the country?” The results:

Excellent: 3%
Good: 17%
Fair: 44%
Poor: 36%

These results are dismal: 20% positive, and 80% negative. That is grim; Americans think the country in terrible shape. So, does that mean that people will be tuning in to Obama’s State of the Union speech in search of hope and guidance? No. Harris finds that only 28% of respondents intend to watch the broadcast. 32% won’t touch it with a stick, and the remaining 40% are “maybes,” but I’m pretty sure nearly all of them will decide to tune out. Hardly anyone believes that after five years of failure, Barack Obama still has something important to offer.

COMMENT:  I would have to agree.  There is a terrible pessimism in the country.  I saw it in the late 70s under Carter.  The presidency is, in part, a spiritual office, a source of inspiration and national purpose.  Those who remember that, like Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan, have a chance at greatness.  Those who forget, or don't care, like Carter and Obama, have no chance at all.

January 26, 2014       Permalink

OH, SOMEONE FINALLY TOLD US – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:   We just signed a nuclear agreement with Iran.  The value of that agreement largely depends on our ability to detect precisely what Iran is doing with its nuclear program.   But a new Pentagon report casts very troubling doubt on our ability to do just that.   From the Washington Times:

American intelligence and security agencies are not currently capable of detecting when foreign nations are building nuclear weapons or ramping up their existing programs, according to a newly released Pentagon report that faults a range of U.S. agencies.

“The nation is not yet organized or fully equipped” to detect clandestine nuclear activities across the globe, and in most cases “current solutions are either inadequate, or more often, do not exist,” according to the report, which was compiled over three years by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board.

That is really scary.  Big time.

More nations than ever are pursuing nuclear arms. However, the United States does not have the mechanisms to detect and track these programs, according to the report.

Moreover, U.S. intelligence agencies are not doing enough to rectify the issue, according to the report, which called for a full-scale revamp in how agencies approach the issue of nuclear detection.

The United States “lacks a cohesive, long term, international engagement plan aimed at building cooperation and transparency,” the report warns.

America’s inability to detect rogue nuclear programs could be particularly problematic in the case of Iran, which has built many clandestine and underground nuclear facilities. The U.S. has a history of being caught flat-footed when it comes to detecting foreign nuclear programs.

COMMENT:  I hate to spoil your day, but that's a spoiler.  Obama has pledged to the American people that he will never let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.  Now we learn from the Pentagon itself that we really have no way of determining when and if they do. 

How much attention do you think the mainstream media will pay to this report?  Don't hold your breath.

January 26, 2014        Permalink

ARROGANCE – AT 10:01 A.M. ET:  Edward Snowden still fancies himself a whistleblower, a kind of patriot – the kind who gives secrets to enemies and then accepts asylum in Russia while trying to arrange for it with Venezuela.  Yeah, a real Yankee Doodle Dandy.

What sickens me is the number of Americans who have bought his line, including, I'm sorry to say, "libertarians" on the right who don't seem to care about the enormity of the damage he's done, and the people who might die as a result.

Now our new incarnation of Benedict Arnold announces that he has no intention of returning.  From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden on Thursday said he cannot come back from Russia because "there's no chance to have a fair trial" and urged the United States to strengthen its protections for whistleblowers.

During an online question-and-answer session, Snowden also denied that he stole the passwords of National Security Agency co-workers, condemned threats to his life made by unnamed U.S. intelligence officials in the news media and decried "indiscriminate mass surveillance" by governments.

Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia after stealing and disclosing U.S. government secrets on surveillance programs and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he was granted at least a year's asylum.

His comments, made on a "Free Snowden" website, came as Attorney General Eric Holder said in Virginia that the U.S. government would not consider clemency for him.

"If Mr. Snowden wanted to come back to the United States, enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers. We'd do that with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty," Holder said.

COMMENT:  I don't normally agree with Eric Holder, but he's right on this one.  Snowden is no whistleblower, and, based on an unstable past, should never have received security clearance. 

January 26,  2014     Permalink

JANUARY 25,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:46 P.M. ET: 

GIGANTIC SOCIAL NEWS – From AFP:  "French President Francois Hollande on Saturday told AFP he has split with his longstanding partner Valerie Trierweiler after his affair with an actress nearly 20 years his junior. The announcement came after a day of rumours in the French media that Hollande would formally announce the rupture on Saturday, on the eve of a visit by Trierweiler to India for charity work."  So you announce the split, and then she lands in New Delhi and the Indians say to themselves, "But she's not the first lady anymore.  What do we do?"  Not too classy.   Valerie tweeted, "I extend all my gratitude to the fantastic Elysee staff. I will never forget their dedication nor the emotional farewell."  Now that's style.

THE CHEAP SEATS – From ESPN:  "Two hungry fan bases and the wealth of the New York metropolitan area had some guessing that Super Bowl XLVIII would turn out to be the most expensive ticket in Super Bowl history.  However, judging from the reaction of the resale ticket market in the past 24 hours, it could turn out to be one of the least expensive.  On Friday, nine days before the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks meet at MetLife Stadium, the cheapest ticket to buy for the Super Bowl was $1,779 on NFL Ticket Exchange, the league's official resale site. That's $409 cheaper than it was on the site with this many days left last year and $809 cheaper than the year before."  Are we serious here?  Are they saying that $1,779 is a disappointingly cheap price?  What has happened to professional sports in America?  There used to be a time when a kid could go to a baseball game for $1.25.  Now Yankee Stadium is filled with corporate skyboxes.  The spirit has gone out of sports.

EMBARRASSING ENDORSEMENT – From The Daily Caller:  "A dating service that pairs wealthy 'sugar daddies' with 'sugar babies' for 'mutually beneficial dating arrangements' has endorsed Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.  SeekingArrangement.com’s Friday announcement followed a recent report in the Dallas Morning News which detailed a number of discrepancies in Davis’s personal narrative, including that she left a man 13 years her senior the day after he made the last payment for her Harvard Law School education."  Not a good endorsement for Wendy, who has become the Democratic Party's poster child for unrestricted abortion.  Why do I think she's wrong for Texas?

January 25, 2014      Permalink

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  The lefties are fighting in my once-beloved state of New York.   Governor Andrew (Crazy Andy) Cuomo and New York City Mayor, Comrade Bill de Blasio, who apparently despise each other, are having a delightful philosophical disagreement.  From the New York Post: 

The clash between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio over pre-K funding is turning into an all-out brawl, with allies of the governor claiming the mayor is pushing higher taxes to fund new contracts for his labor buddies, sources told The Post.

“We’re hearing chatter from people that de Blasio wants to raise the income tax on the rich to use it any way he wants — including paying for labor contracts and raises,” said a Democratic Party insider close to Cuomo.

“The people who are pushing this are from the Working Families Party. De Blasio is married to them.”

The Cuomo ally noted the WFP is basically run by the most leftist leaders in the labor movement — the Transport Workers Union, the Communication Workers of America and United Federation of Teachers, among others.

"Leftist" is a euphemism. 

It’s the same coalition, the source familiar with Cuomo’s thinking said, that opposes the governor’s $2 billion proposal to cut property, business and estate taxes as he seeks re-election.

De Blasio is pushing to raise city income taxes on those earning $500,000 or more to generate $530 million a year to cover pre-kindergarten classes for all kids.

To head off a tax hike Albany would have to approve in an election year, Cuomo on Tuesday offered the mayor a deal he thought he couldn’t refuse — having the state pick up the tab.

But de Blasio did refuse.

He maintained that Cuomo’s offer of $2.2 billion statewide for five years was both inadequate and unreliable.

The mayor’s office insisted there’s no secret agenda for the added tax revenues.

COMMENT:  Yeah, right.  Here's a mayor who's offered state aid for pre-K education and turns it down.  He wants his own tax revenues.  I can't wait to see how New York kids will benefit.  And since de Blasio has a history of being pro-Sandinista and pro-Castro, I can't wait to see those lovely, military-style school uniforms.

January 25, 2014       Permalink 

SOCHI UPDATE – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:   Silvio Canto Jr. refers us to ace defense writer Eli Lake's report that the U.S. was blindsided by a Russian terror warning.  From the Daily Beast:   

A Russian police bulletin seeking a female terrorist near the Sochi Games came as news to U.S. security officials, as Moscow continues to leave Washington out of the loop.

When Russian state police this week issued a “be on the lookout” advisory, or BOLO, for an alleged “black widow” terrorist ahead of the Sochi Olympics, it came as a surprise to many in the press. It was also news to U.S. diplomatic security, despite a series of high-level meetings between Washington and Moscow to coordinate security for the Winter Games.

Speaking to reporters Friday, a senior Obama administration official acknowledged that U.S. diplomatic security learned of the warning about Ruzanna “Salima” Ibragimova when the media did.

“We have been aware for some time that is a type of attack that has been used before,” the official told reporters. “I don’t think it surprised us. The specifics of the Russians putting out a BOLO—we got that the same time the press got it.”

The acknowledgement goes to the heart of a disagreement in the run-up to the Olympic Games. Republicans like House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul have complained that the Russians are not sharing enough information on threats with the United States.

The FBI’s legal attache in Moscow between 2011 and 2012 told the Washington Post that the Russians were suspicious of U.S. efforts to help provide counterterrorism assistance in Sochi. Foreign Policy reported last month the U.S. Olympic Committee was taking no special precautions for the Games.

COMMENT:  We hope, of course, that the fears are exaggerated, and that the games go off perfectly.  And, of course, some terror groups might be deterred by all the emphasis put on security.

However, I can't deny that I remain very worried.  One serious incident could ruin the Olympics, and some of the Islamic groups have stated publicly that this is their intention.

January 25, 2014       Permalink

GOOD JOURNALIST – DON LEMON NAILS IT ON CNN – AT 10:37 A.M. ET:  CNN is the butt of much criticism, some they do have some fine journalists.  One is Don Lemon, a gay African-American who is one of the best, and most neutral, interviewers on TV.  I always know I'll get a good interview when I watch him.  From Mediaite:

In a recent interview, President Obama called out both Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for putting enough pressure on congressional Republicans to keep them from having a dialogue with them, but CNN’s Don Lemon wanted to know Friday night why exactly the President of the United States is taking shots at conservative media outlets when he should really be above the fray, and, more importantly, whether Obama can “really blame Fox News for his troubles?”

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen argued that everything Obama says is always “blown out of proportion” in the right-wing media, but Lemon pointed out, “Isn’t the president above that? Like, you don’t punch down.”

Rosen defended Obama as just being frustrated, while Reihan Salam pointed out that plenty of people who work with Obama say he’s difficult to work with and “sometimes wants to shift blame to other people.”

Neither Limbaugh nor Fox News have taken kindly to Obama’s comments, taking shots at him this week for going after them again.

COMMENT:  As we've said before, the president of the United States is a glorified town councilman, and acts the part.  The last one we had like this was Jimmy Carter.  Obama is also Nixonian in his secrecy and suspicions.  Gee, what a team – Nixon and Carter, together again.  What a road act. 

But Don Lemon gave us a good interview.  Give him a try.

January 25,  2014     Permalink