Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

JULY 30,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

PANIC IN THE FRONTRUNNER'S CAMP – We're seeing more and more stories about panic among the Clintonites.  Here's the latest, from Fox:   Aides close to Hillary Clinton are getting increasingly nervous that Vice President Joe Biden may throw his hat into the 2016 presidential race later this summer, Democratic sources told Fox News.  The sources said that that eyebrows were raised recently at Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn when Biden’s chief of staff at the White House, Steve Ricchetti, was spotted having breakfast recently with major Democratic donor Louis Susman, a Clinton friend who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Obama.  After the breakfast, sources said word spread quickly inside Clinton’s camp that Biden’s team appeared to be sounding out top fundraisers about whether the vice president can raise the necessary cash to compete with the Democratic front-runner at this late date.  The real question is whether Biden remembers there's an election.  But the reality is that the Dem establishment is looking for a candidate to replace Hillary if she sputters out.  And she is sputtering loudly.

THE WEAKENING OF AMERICA – From Fox:  The U.S. Navy will not have an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf this fall for the first time in years, President Obama's nominee to be the Navy's top officer told Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday.  The gap in the Gulf -- expected to last two months -- would come at a time when the U.S. is not only launching sustained airstrikes against nearby Islamic State targets but trying to keep a check on Iranian aggression in the region.  Under questioning by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at his nomination hearing to be chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson acknowledged the Navy would pull the carrier and said this hurts U.S. capability in the region.  Even Obama's own picks are warning about American weakness, but the commander-in-brief doesn't seem to care.  In fact, weakening America's military resolve is part of his plan to give more power to the "third world" and the Muslim world, both of which he clearly favors.

TRUMP ROARING – I don't necessarily think this is a good thing, but Donald Trump's progress has simply been astounding.  If he shows staying power, the whole Republican race can be turned upside down.  From London's Daily Mail:   Billionaire Donald Trump is leaving the country on a high note, flying from New York to Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday night as a new poll gives him a commanding lead in the race for the 2016 U.S. Republican presidential nomination.  The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 25 per cent of GOP voters want to elect a President Trump, resulting in a double-digit advantage over his nearest rival Jeb Bush.  The former Florida governor trails with 12 per cent.  Trump told DailyMail.com during an interview on Wednesday morning that he planned to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday attending the Women's British Open golf tournament at his Trump Turnberry Resort.   'For four years I've looked forward to going to this,' he said. 'You know, they pick 'em four or five years in advance. And now what happens? Hah!'  The GOP primary debates start next week in Cleveland, and voters will have a chance to see Trump on the same stage with other candidates.  His personality may not wear well.  We'll see, and keep an open mind.  What I'd also like to see is Democratic debates.  Talk about weirdsville.

YIKES – Hillary Clinton was asked about her greatest weakness.  This is what she said:  "How much time do we have.  I am impatient and I sometimes come across as impatient, which is not always attractive, and I'll get really frustrated with people who don't understand what I think it's going to take to make our country great tomorrow just like we were yesterday."  Apparently she doesn't think we're too hot today.  What's remarkable is her arrogance.  All these people who don't "understand" her.  It's a candidate's job to make herself understood.  Don't blame it on the voters.

July 30,  2015     Permalink

FOLLOW-UP – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:  The president of the University of New Hampshire has now responded to the story – which went viral – of a speech guide published on his campus.  He comes to the right conclusion.  From Reuters: 

MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - The president of the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday distanced himself from a campus language guide discouraging faculty and students from terms it warns could cause offense, including "American."

The university's "Bias-Free Language Guide" also advises against using the term "poor," instead recommending the phrase "person living at or below the poverty line," drew criticism from conservatives in the state who called it an example of political correctness run amok.

The problem with using the word "American," according to the guide, is that it "assumes the U.S. is the only country in North and South America." It suggests using "U.S. citizen or resident of the U.S." as alternatives.

Of course that's absurd.  The name of the country is The United States of America, and we are the only people who actually call ourselves Americans.  I've never heard a Venezuelan call herself an American, or a Canadian for that matter. 

The publication was created in 2013, according to a university official, but generated controversy earlier this week when several conservative websites decried it as a flagrant example of political correctness at American universities.

"Sounds like a starting point for wasting taxpayer money," wrote blogger Steve MacDonald on the conservative website Granite Grok. He referred to the guide as a "politically correct starter kit."

The university's president, Mark Huddleston, said on Wednesday that the guide was not school policy.

"I am troubled by many things in the language guide, especially the suggestion that the use of the term 'American' is misplaced or offensive," Huddleston said in a statement. "The only UNH policy on speech is that it is free and unfettered on our campuses. It is ironic that what was probably a well-meaning effort to be 'sensitive' proves offensive to many people, myself included."

COMMENT:  Good statement.  We don't need speech guides or speech codes.  The best speech code ever written is the First Amendment. 

July 30, 2015       Permalink

FORMER NATO HEAD REJECTS IRAN DEAL – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:   While the usual suspects, led by The New York Times, line up to support the Iran deal, more thoughtful voices are showing just how bad the deal is.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Retired Admiral James Stavridis rejected key talking points used by the Obama administration to sell the Iran nuclear deal in an interview Wednesday.

Admiral Stavridis, who served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander and is now Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, told MSNBC’s Morning Joe the deal may not catch Iranian nuclear cheating if it occurs.

“I think the top [issue] is the verification regime, which is starting to roughly resemble Swiss cheese,” Stavridis said. “You can drive a truck through some of the holes. I am very concerned about that.”

Defenders of the deal, such as Secretary of State John Kerry, have insisted the deal’s verification measures are airtight.

Stavridis expressed concern over Iran’s side deal about inspections with the IAEA, which may allow Iran to take its own environmental samples from suspicious sites.

“We need to have access to it and understand it,” Stavridis said about the side deal. “Reportedly, it puts Iran in the position of actually procuring samples as opposed to having them taken by the IAEA.”

Stavridis said his biggest concern with the deal is its gift of hundreds of billions in economic activity and previously frozen assets to Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.

“The biggest problem here is the airdrop of $100 to $150 billion into their economy, which is only $350 billion to begin with,” Stavridis said. “That’s like the U.S. getting a $4 trillion insertion of capital. That’s the teeth of the alligator you just heard about.”

Under the nuclear deal, Iran would gain access to foreign businesses and key financial networks, which will generate the steady revenue necessary to revitalize Iran’s military and allies.

COMMENT:  And yet, proponents of the deal say it must be supported because it's the only deal we have, and better than nothing.  That reminds me of the old story about a guy who throws a 15-foot rope to a man who's drowning 20 feet out and shouts, "I'm meeting you more than halfway."

It's a terrible agreement.  It violates all the red lines that the administration itself publicized at the start of the talks.  It's about Obama's legacy, and little else. 

July 30, 2015       Permalink

SURVIVAL OF THE FIBBEST – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   Nothing to see, nothing to see.  From Fox:

Donations to the Clinton Foundation by Swiss bank UBS increased tenfold after Hillary Clinton intervened to settle a dispute with the IRS early in her tenure as secretary of state, according to a published report.

According to the Wall Street Journal, total donations by UBS to the foundation grew from less than $60,000 at the end of 2008 to approximately $600,000 by the end of 2014. The Journal reports that the bank also lent $32 million through entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs it launched in association with the foundation, while paying former President Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of corporate question-and-answer sessions with UBS Chief Executive Bob McCann.

COMMENT:  Oh dear, oh dear.  I'm shocked that anyone would suggest that our gracious queen was engaged in anything improper.  How could a grandmother do such a thing?  Stop laughing. 

In fact, bottom line, I think Hillary is starting to look like toast.  Her numbers are fading, the party is turning on her, and, despite the fact that she's still the frontrunner for the Dem nomination for president, she suffers an enthusiasm gap that makes some Dems yearn for Michael Dukakis.

And we're just starting the campaign season.

July 30, 2015       Permalink

WEAK ECONOMIC GROWTH – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  The American economy rebounded a bit during the second quarter, but our overall economic growth is weak.  From the Washington Examiner: 

U.S. economic output accelerated to a 2.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, slightly short of the expectations of government officials and investors who were hoping for a strong rebound from the economic contraction during the winter.

The gross domestic product number reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis was below the 2.9 percent seasonally-adjusted annualized growth rate expected by Wall Street.

It as a significant improvement, however, from the first quarter, which saw revised growth of 0.6 percent.

Before the revisions included in Thursday's release, the Bureau had estimated that the economy shrunk at a 0.2 percent rate in the beginning of the year.

COMMENT:  Not very impressive, especially as we head into a presidential election year.  And wage stagnation continues.  A story yesterday reported that Americans are starting to feel the pressure of increasing prices for everyday goods, especially food. 

July 30,  2015     Permalink

JULY 29,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

MAJOR CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY – Let's push back against Indian waiters.  From the New York Post:   An Indian waiter in an Indian restaurant — imagine that!  City bureaucrats slapped a $5,000 fine on a Midtown Indian restaurant for trying to hire a server who is Indian, according to official documents.  Following an inquiry by The Post, the city’s Commission on Human Rights — which cited the eatery two years ago — said it’s assessing its practices.  Commission staffers have been trawling Craigslist to ensnare unwary restaurant owners who violate the law for things like seeking a “waitress” instead of a “wait-person.”  That’s gender discrimination by the city’s reckoning and could lead to a four-figure fine.  They hit the jackpot in October 2013, when Shalom Bombay on Lexington Avenue placed an ad for an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.”  It might make common sense that an Indian restaurant would try to hire a server familiar with its cuisine, but to the city’s enforcers it was a glaring red flag.  This is a great victory for all the black, Latina and transgendered waitpersons who dream of working in an Indian restaurant.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR PAPER – Even stationery may make a comeback.  From the Washington Post:   Wistful paper executives remember. They’ve watched e-mail, annotatable PDFs, digital calendars and paperless billing diminish more than a third of the copy- and writing-paper business in recent years, spurring mill closures and eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs.  But now paper and packaging — still a $132 billion industry but absorbing a 5 percent loss in office- and writing-paper revenue each year — is fighting back.  Aided by the same USDA program that helped milk companies produce the “Got Milk?” ads, paper and packaging manufacturers have launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to remind the digitally revolutionized how paper can, as the marketing verse puts it, “solve problems,” provide “an outlet for our creativity” and “connect us in personal, meaningful ways.”  I'm rooting for them.  Paper is good.  I mean, think of the Declaration of Independence as an e-mail attachment, or the Iwo Jima flag raising as a JPEG.  Defend paper!  And make a paper airplane today!

TROUBLING – From Fox:   LOS ANGELES – A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers. The group is the same one that previously released three covertly shot videos of a Planned Parenthood leader discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research.  The Los Angeles Superior Court order issued Tuesday prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of three high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant in May. It appears to be the first legal action prohibiting the release of a video from the organization.  I'm sure the Center for Medical Progress will fight back.  The First Amendment, which is involved here, is pretty important.

July 29, 2015       Permalink

HILLARY THE ABSURD – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  Even liberal journalists are turning away from Hillary Clinton, as she continues to fade in the polls and to make ridiculous statements.  From Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post: 

Here's Hillary Clinton's "answer" to a question about whether she supports or opposes the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at a townhall in New Hampshire today.

"If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question," Clinton said. "This is President Obama's decision. I'm not going to second-guess him."

Er, what?

Clinton went on to note that she was in a position unique among the 2016 field due to her time as secretary of state. "I'm in a different position than any other candidate," Clinton said. "I was there. I put this process together. I oversaw it for four years." (Because the pipeline would begin in Canada, its approval -- or not -- is in the hands of the State Department.)

Uh huh.

Look. When you are running for president -- whether or not you served in the current administration -- you are going to be asked to take positions on issues that the current president is dealing with. As long as we hold elections that begin two years (or more) before the current president is set to leave office, that's going to be a thing candidates need to contend with. If Clinton's position is that she can't take a public stance on any issue that has some sort of pending business before this White House, then she's not going to be able to take a position on, well, anything.

And she's already shown that on some issues, she is willing to take a position. Clinton came out in favor of the Iran deal, for example, despite the fact that its fate remains up in the air in Congress.

COMMENT:  Hillary is increasingly looking like a failed candidate.  Her poll numbers are heading into the deep South.  Her statements are laughed at.  There is almost no enthusiasm for her, except among Manhattan feminists of a certain age.  "Loser" is written all over her.

And she's really the only one they've got.  The Democratic Party in decline.

July 29, 2015       Permalink

WHAT ARE THEY TEACHING OUR CHILDREN? – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:   We hear regular stories about the degree to which political correctness has taken over our institutions of "higher education."  But you have to read this to believe it.  You may not realize how far the disease has progressed.  From Campus Reform: 

“American,” “illegal alien,” “foreigners,” “mothering,” and “fathering” are just a handful of words deemed “problematic” by the University of New Hampshire’s Bias-Free Language Guide.

According to the university’s website, the guide “is meant to invite inclusive excellence in [the] campus community.”

What a farce.  You're "included" only if you go along with the game.

Terms also considered problematic include: “elders,” “senior citizen,” “overweight,” “speech impediment,” “dumb,” “sexual preference,” “manpower,” “freshmen,” “mailman,” and “chairman,” in addition to many others. Tweet This

The guide defines words such as “homosexual” as “problematic,” offering “Same Gender Loving” as a more inclusive substitute. Similarly, a lack of gender-neutral bathrooms is, according to the university, “ciscentrism.”

The university defines “ciscentrism” as “[a] pervasive and institutionalized system that places transgender people in the ‘other’ category and treats their needs and identities as less important than those of cisgender people.”

“Ciscentrism,” according to the university, “includes the lack of gender-neutral restrooms, locker rooms, and residences.”

Get this one:

Saying “American” to reference Americans is also problematic. The guide encourages the use of the more inclusive substitutes “U.S. citizen” or “Resident of the U.S.”

The guide notes that “American” is problematic because it “assumes the U.S. is the only country inside [the continents of North and South America].” (The guide doesn’t address whether or not the terms “Canadians” and “Mexicans” should be abandoned in favor of “Residents of Canada” and “Residents of Mexico,” respectively.)

I will continue to call myself an American. 

The guide clarifies that saying “illegal alien” is also problematic. While “undocumented immigrant” is acceptable, the guide recommends saying “person seeking asylum,” or “refugee,” instead. Even saying “foreigners” is problematic; the preferred term is “international people.”

Using the word “Caucasian” is considered problematic as well, and should be discontinued in favor of “European-American individuals.” The guide also states that the notion of race is “a social construct...that was designed to maintain slavery.”

The guide also discourages the use of “mothering” or “fathering,” so as to “avoid gendering a non-gendered activity.”

COMMENT:  The University of New Hampshire is a state-supported university.  You'd think the state legislature would want to look into this kind of madness.  They're paying for it.  But I doubt if anything will happen.  The lure of cocktail parties in Boston may be too great.

July 29, 2015        Permalink

MEDIA DISHONESTY – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  There seems to be so much of it these days.  Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, or somewhere in between, one has to be appalled by the way major news organizations are ignoring the Planned Parenthood videos.  It demonstrates, if we needed proof, that many journalists today don't believe it is their role to give us the news, but, rather, to "make a difference."  From Newsbusters: 

On Tuesday night, the decision by the major broadcast networks to erase the Planned Parenthood scandal from their newscasts continued with the release of a sickening third video by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) that again discussed the selling of body parts from aborted babies.

As the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC were ignoring this third video, the trio spent six minutes and 26 seconds teasing and reporting on the "outrage" surrounding the shooting death of a high-profile African lion in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.

While reporting on the lion’s death may be all fine and good, it certainly says something about the networks when they neglect to even mention a horrifying video about aborted babies.

With the English networks, Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univison, and PBS appearing to have deleted this scandal from their airwaves, the Fox News Channel (FNC) newscast Special Report led with the story and spent six minutes and 40 second on both the third video and the move by Planned Parenthood to remove the list of corporate donors from their website.

Off the top of the show, host Bret Baier explained that the “very bad summer for Planned Parenthood is a lot worse tonight” with “pro-life groups gathering across the nation demand an end to federal funding of the organization” in addition the “third and most graphic undercover video” that’s “shocking even hard-core abortion foes.”

Covering the video’s release, chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream reported that the third video from “the Center for Medical Progress shows a tissue procurement buyer inside a clinic talking to a doctor about pricing for parts and organs from a fetus that was just over 11 weeks into a pregnancy.”

On the heels of the CMP video, Bream mentioned that there were pro-life rallies “[i]n more than 60 U.S. cities” that “call[ed] for investigations into recent allegations regarding Planned Parenthood's harvesting and transfer of aborted fetal remains along with pressure on lawmakers to follow through on pledges to defund the organization.”

COMMENT:  For years certain news organizations have ignored the major pro-life rallies that take place in Washington annually.  It's as if they never happened. 

And part of the Planned Parenthood story is the attempt by some political factions to investigate the filmmakers who made the videos, rather than Planned Parenthood.  You would think that journalists would be sensitive to this attempt to shut down a news source, but many journalists are only sensitive to assaults on news gathering if the assaults are directed at people they agree with. 

July 29, 2015       Permalink

PATHETIC – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Jon Stewart is retiring from the Daily Show.  That's a big story in media circles, but the implications are wider.

Stewart is a liberal.  Fine.  Most media types are.  But what we didn't know during this stewardship of the show, and what he never felt the need to tell us, is that he had a direct, active relationship with the administration.  From Newsbusters: 

Politico’s Darren Samuelsohn reports that throughout Obama’s presidency, liberal comedian Jon Stewart was “summoned” to the White House for “secret...visits” with the president, an example of how the administration took “unusual steps to cultivate Daily Show comic.”

In the piece, Samuelsohn tries to soften Stewart’s far-left politics as merely being “center-left” mixed with a “populist streak heavy on fiscal responsibility, good government and fighting for the little guy.”

The Politico reporter goes on to promote how Obama’s meetings with the liberal comedian “speaks volumes about Stewart and his reach, which goes well beyond the million or so viewers who tune into The Daily Show on most weeknights.”

Samuelsohn never questions the appropriateness of Obama’s private meetings with the liberal comedian especially when he is known for his unwillingness meet with members of his own party and the press, and instead uses the meetings as an opportunity to promote Stewart’s allegedly powerful influence in the policymaking process.

COMMENT:  It's not the first time a comedian has had a direct relationship with an administration.  Bob Hope had a close relationship with the Nixon administration and the Republican Party, but the relationship was open and reported. 

Stewart kept his relationship a secret, which was entirely inappropriate, and violated basic standards of broadcasting.  The relationship partly explains Stewart's usual adherence to Obama talking points.

Stewart is a talented guy, but one who never struck me as particularly intelligent, incisive or mature.  But he influenced the young generation without revealing his collaboration with a presidential administration.  For that he should be denounced, but won't be inside the media bubble.

July 29,  2015     Permalink