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JUNE 19,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:50 P.M. ET: 

ADVISERS – That's what they're calling them.  President Barack "Tuffie" Obama announced that 300 American military advisers are being sent to aid the Iraqi military.  They will not have a direct combat role.  Inevitably, some pundits are comparing the move to the sending of American military advisers to Vietnam, which eventually grew into a huge fighting force.  The comparison is probably inaccurate, but what happens if any of those advisers is killed or captured.  You may be sure our enemies are planning a hostage situation.  This story is just beginning.

MORE ROMNEY – Well, as the guy in "Casablanca" said, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  The boomlet for Mitt Romney continues.  From the Boston Herald:  "The surprise early frontrunner in New Hampshire’s next GOP presidential primary is the loser of the last White House race – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who wipes the 2016 field by a more than 2-1 margin, a new Suffolk University-Boston Herald poll reveals."  Well, part of that is name recognition.  But another part is that Romney already has presidential stature, and much of what he said in the 2012 campaign has come true.  But he swears he won't run again.

AND THE BAD NEWS – The same poll that gave Mitt Romney a boost in New Hampshire has grim news for former Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.  From the Herald:  "The poll of 800 likely Granite State voters has less encouraging news for another ex-Massachusetts politician, former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown. He trails incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen by 10 points and is now viewed unfavorably by 46 percent of New Hampshire voters."  Even though Brown comes from a bordering state, he is probably seen as a carpetbagger by many New Hampshire voters.  Also, Shaheen is relatively popular.  Indeed, many Democratic senators are proving surprisingly tough in races that Republicans must win to take control of the Senate.  This won't be easy.

NEW APPROACH TO LATE NIGHT – We think of the late-night comedians as appearing on CBS, NBC, and ABC, and maybe a few cable channels.  But now Netflix, a subscription service, is getting into the game.  From Hollywood Reporter:  "Chelsea Handler is taking her late-night brand to Netflix.  Upon wrapping her long-running Chelsea Lately series on E! in late August, the outspoken comic will kick off a multi-tiered deal that includes a stand-up special, docu-comedy specials and the streaming service’s first-ever talk show. The latter, mere speculation until this point, is set to begin in early 2016, and will debut simultaneously in all Netflix territories."  Absolutely no way to predict how successful this will be, or even how we define success.  But Netflix has been successful with its original series, "House of Cards."  I suspect it's going for a kind of niche success with Chelsea Handler.  I'm certainly curious.

June 19,  2014     Permalink

NO RESPECT – AT 10:01 A.M. ET:  This is happening at a generally conservative school in a very conservative state.  Imagine what's happening elsewhere.  From the Daily Caller:

A veteran in the student government at the University of Wyoming has been denied in his quest to have meetings open with the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, reportedly out of the fear it would offend international students, Campus Reform reports.

Cory Schroeder, a six-year Army veteran who has served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, was elected in May to serve a year-long term as a senator on the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming, the university’s student legislative body. He told Campus Reform that he became upset when he attended meetings and discovered they did not open with the option to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Schroeder says that when inquired about opening meetings with the Pledge, he was told it was a “very touchy subject” because the Pledge might offend the body’s two international students.

How about courteously informing the international students that they're in America now, and that the pledge is meant for American students, with no disrespect toward anyone else.  That sounds easy, doesn't it?

Instead of opening with the Pledge, the body instead takes the time to read its mission statement, which aspires to “accurate representation, professional interaction with campus programs and organization [sic], and responsible effective leadership.”

Schroeder says he was promised time to speak about the matter during a future meeting, but that the issue never made it on the agenda before the school year’s end. He was also told he could author a bill seeking to insert 20 seconds for the Pledge into each meeting, but he said he disliked such a course of action because it would be a “long process” that would be picked apart by a “liberal standing committee.”

COMMENT:  I have no strong feelings about opening meetings with the Pledge.  It's voluntary, but it certainly should be permitted.  This line about "offending" foreign students is bogus.  It's just the old left doing the old left thing, and trying to explain it away.  They're so boring. 

Foreign students might actually have more respect for Americans if we showed a little pride in country now and then.

June 19, 2014        Permalink

GOP TARGETS WOMEN VOTERS – AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  The Republican Party shows signs of entering the modern world of politics.  Now it is starting to do what it should have done years ago, address the gender gap in elections.  From Reuters: 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican party officials are putting together a new election year messaging campaign to reach women voters on issues including Obamacare, jobs and education as they seek to gain an advantage in the Nov. 4 congressional elections.

About three weeks of internal polling and focus group research has identified jobs and household finances as the most important issues among 1,206 likely women voters, according to the Republican National Committee, which commissioned the surveys along with the National Republican Congressional Campaign.

Party officials said Obamacare was also a top issue, with 55 percent of women polled opposing President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy and 43 percent voicing strong opposition.

The findings show far more opposition than independent public opinion polls, including a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll that showed 43 percent of women and 48 percent of men opposed to Obamacare in May.

The research identified the phrase "start over" as a message that resonated with many women on Obamacare. The Republicans have been seeking to bridge the gap between loyal voters who want the healthcare law thrown out and those who favor retaining its consumer protections as part of a different reform environment.

A CNN/ORC International poll last month showed that 61 percent of Americans want Congress to leave the Affordable Care Act alone or make some changes to the law in an attempt to make it work better. Thirty-eight percent said the law should be either repealed or repealed and replaced with a completely different system.

The research, intended to help craft Republican campaign messages for the summer and autumn, comes as analysts say tightening races in Louisiana, North Carolina and other key states have highlighted the importance of attracting swing voters.

COMMENT:  Yes, we're seeing the term "tightening races" rather often, and it's generally not good news for our side.  Many Republicans thought Louisiana and North Carolina would be easy Senate pickups this year, but they're proving difficult.  Both states have large African-American and Hispanic populations that are loyal to the Democratic label.  Gaining control of the Senate will be difficult, but it is critical.

June 19, 2014       Permalink

HAYDEN ON IRAQ – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Former CIA Director Michael Hayden has always struck me as a stand-up guy.  Although he was part of the Obama administration, he speaks his mind, and I'm sure isn't welcome at too many Obama parties these days.  He says Iraq is gone as a nation.  From Newsmax: 

The country of Iraq is, for all intents and purposes, dead and has been replaced by three successor states, former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden told Newsmax TV Wednesday.

"The state of Iraq as we know it is gone, and it's not going to be reconstituted," he told "The Steve Malzberg Show."

And...

He said the only way out of the Iraq mess might be a science fiction-type scenario.

"[I'd] get in the way-back machine, go back three years and undo some incredibly unwise decisions that we made then. That's really the nub of the issue,'' he said.

"We've got three successor states there now," Hayden, a retired four star Air Force general added. "As much as we might look for opportunities to keep Iraq together, we need to be prepared for the reality that it's not going to stay together.

"Unwise" is exactly the word for this administration.

"This is all going to be very, very hard going forward, and we frankly may have to limit our objectives. In other words, seek to achieve things less than we would have thought to achieve had we made different decisions a few years back."

COMMENT:  Nothing like an indictment of the commander-in-chief.  We consistently say here that the mistakes this administration makes today will be paid for by our children.  But we'll be making the down payment, and the bill is coming due.

June 19, 2014       Permalink

IRAN TALKS IN BAD SHAPE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Let's not forget that the really big issue in the Mideast is the Iran nuclear program.  Negotiations to limit it are not going well, and that is a direct threat to the United States.  From ABC: 

Any thaw in relations between Iran and the United States under the pressure of Iraq's turmoil is unlikely to hasten progress in difficult negotiations seeking limits on Tehran's nuclear program.

Recent high-level U.S.-Iran talks that were meant to pave the way to a final nuclear deal only highlighted the two nations' huge differences, say two diplomats, further diminishing expectations that a July 20 target date for agreement will be met.

U.S. and Iranian officials are both concerned by the swift advance of radical Islamist forces in Iraq and officials from the two countries met here briefly Monday. But the nuclear talks, a senior State Department official said, are "its own process." The official demanded anonymity in line with State Department rules.

The two western diplomats told The Associated Press that last week's discussions between U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left major differences unresolved.

That leaves negotiators from Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, who began a new round in Vienna Tuesday, facing essentially the same problems that stalled last month's meeting.

The diplomats, who have detailed knowledge of the confidential talks, agreed to share new information on the differences with the AP but demanded anonymity because they are not allowed to discuss the negotiations publicly. The main disputes, as outlined by them:

Enriched uranium can range from low-enriched reactor fuel to the high-enriched core of a nuclear weapon. Iran insists it has no interest in such arms.

It wants to keep the almost 20,000 enriching centrifuges it now operates or has on standby. And it wants to ultimately expand the number to 150,000 — or replace them with advanced models that have that same output.

The U.S. demands that Iran run no more than a few hundred centrifuges, dismantle all on standby and agree to tight limits on how much enriched uranium it can stockpile.

"Unless the Iranians make a huge concession, it's very unlikely that there will be an agreement by the end of July," says Gary Samore, who left the U.S. negotiating team last year to work with Harvard's Belfer Center think tank.

COMMENT:  Sounds pretty grim.  We may well wind up without an agreement, meaning the possibility of military action, especially by Israel, to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

Obama has flashed weakness, and the Iranians may well believe they can get away with conceding nothing important.

June 19,  2014     Permalink

JUNE 18,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:07 P.M. ET: 

HILLARY NO HIT – From Mediaite:  "Hillary Clinton sat down for two heavily-promoted interviews on cable news Tuesday evening, but they did not deliver the blockbuster ratings CNN and Fox News were likely expecting — or at least hoping for.  Clinton’s town hall-style event with Christiane Amanpour was a distant second place at 5 p.m. and dropped to third when it re-aired in primetime at 9 p.m. And while her joint interview with Fox’s Bret Baier and Greta Van Susteren did keep Fox News in first place at 6 and 7 p.m., the numbers paled in comparison to the rest of Fox’s evening lineup."  The "narrative" now growing on the internet is that Hillary is fading rather than growing.  It's very hard for a political figure to live that down.  Ms. Inevitability may not be inevitable at all.

SO SORRY – From The Politico:  "Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources.  'We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,' said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, in a brief hallway interview."

POWER GRAB? – "The House panel overseeing trademark law is considering a probe into the Patent and Trademark Office’s decision on Wednesday to revoke the Washington Redskins trademark.  Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on Intellectual Property, told The Hill on Wednesday that the panel would make a decision after the NFL team goes through the formal appeals process."  A good move.  It's chilling that a government agency could have the power to enforce political correctness through the use of trademarks, patents, or copyrights.  A real threat to our freedoms.

DECLINE OF PRINT – From the Washington Examiner:  "The decade-long devastation of the print news business, crushed by the sagging economy, the evaporation of classified and display advertising, and a reader shift to digital media, has cost at least 54,200 newsroom jobs in newspapers and magazines alone, according to Pew Research.  That figure, buried in a new Harvard University study about the troubles non-traditional reporters have getting congressional, White House and other official press passes to cover news events, is the highest calculation of job losses in American journalism yet."  Still, the press refuses to learn that its own self-indulgences and biases have contributed mightily to this result.

June 18, 2014       Permalink

THIS IS CREEPY – AT 12:41 P.M. ET:   No matter how you feel about the name "Washington Redskins," this should make you uneasy.  From The Politico: 

In a major blow to the Washington Redskins, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday canceled six federal trademarks of the Washington Redskins team name because it was found to be “disparaging” to Native Americans.

“We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,” the patent office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board wrote in a 2-1 decision.

The Redskins team name has become a divisive political issue over the last few years, with even President Barack Obama saying the club should consider changing the name. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats also have pressed owner Dan Snyder to change the name. On the other side, conservatives have either defended keeping the name, arguing that it isn’t a slur, or been silent on the uproar.

COMMENT:  As a writer, I'm familiar with the importance, and the power, of copyrights and trademarks.  In this case the federal government seems to be using the power of the trademark to enforce a political view, in particular a politically correct view.  Where does that power end? 

Will we have books and newspapers reviewed for their content before a copyright is granted?  I don't know, but I can worry, can't I?

June 18,  2014     Permalink 

ANOTHER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ACHIEVEMENT – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  Have you filled up at the pump recently?  If you're in a bad mood, put it off.  From Bloomberg:   

Gasoline in the U.S. climbed this week, boosted by a surge in oil, and is expected to reach the highest level for this time of year since 2008.

The pump price averaged $3.686 a gallon yesterday, up 1.2 cents from a week earlier, data posted on the Energy Information Administration’s website late yesterday show. Oil, which accounts for two-thirds of the retail price of gasoline, gained $2.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the same period and $4.88 in the month ended yesterday.

The jump in crude, driven by concern that the crisis in Iraq will disrupt supplies, may boost pump prices by 10 cents a gallon at a time when they normally drop, according to forecasts including one from the EIA.

“If things deteriorate even more, the spike could be even bigger than that,” Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, said by telephone. “If it weren’t for the situation in Iraq, gasoline would be coming down by now. This will probably keep it elevated all summer. It’s really disappointing.”

Iraq?  Did someone say Iraq?  Get this, just in, from MarketWatch: 

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark pushing back toward $107 a barrel after militants in Iraq attacked the country's biggest oil refinery, underlining worries about potential threats to export facilities in the south.

Nymex WTI crude oil for July delivery CLN4 +0.11% picked up 34 cents, or 0.4%, to $106.73 a barrel, partly recovering from a 54-cent loss on Tuesday. WTI crude is also taking a cue from expectations for tighter domestic supplies in the U.S.

The European benchmark, Brent oil for August delivery UK:LCOQ4 +0.25% , which is the most sensitive to developments in Iraq, rose 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $113.63 a barrel. Nymex crude last week topped $107 a barrel as the conflict in Iraq heated up, while Brent had briefly topped $114.

The refinery, located in the northern city of Baiji, is the biggest producer of refined fuel for Iraq’s domestic markets. The attack doesn’t affect production or exports from the country’s main oil fields and facilities in the south. The attack, however, underlined concerns over the situation in the country.

COMMENT:  We are nearing a midterm election.  Gasoline may start to soar.  Consumer prices were up dramatically last month.  Our foreign policy is collapsing.  We are replacing good jobs with bad jobs.

I'm not sure this is change we can believe in.

June 18, 2014       Permalink

BRINGING IT HOME – AT 9:30 A.M. ET:  There is a great deal of worry, in a number of Western countries, that individuals are leaving these countries to fight as jihadists in the Mideast, and will then bring their "skills" back home to commit acts of terror.  This is an American example.  From Minnesota Daily: 

Agents from the Minneapolis office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are collecting information from Cedar-Riverside residents as part of an ongoing investigation spurred by recent allegations of American citizens joining Syrian rebels overseas.

Rumors that neighborhood residents are illegally fighting in conflict overseas prompted agents from the FBI to ramp up their already-existing presence in the neighborhood earlier this month, said Minneapolis FBI spokesman Kyle Loven.

He said agents are actively interviewing residents and informing them about the allegations, while also trying to figure out if anyone in the community is involved.

“We’re looking for information that would indicate that someone intends to travel to a country where there’s armed conflict,” Loven said.

Since Somalian military forces invaded Ethopia in 2006, Loven said at least 22 Somali immigrants — who were mostly young men — have left Minnesota to join al-Shabaab, a Somali terrorist organization. He said the FBI is continuing investigations into those incidents.

“Our information and history here in Minneapolis indicates that these recruitment efforts are being directed primarily at young people,” Loven said.

Citizens are allegedly joining rebel forces in going against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Minneapolis FBI kicked off its investigation into potential Syrian ties in the Cedar-Riverside area earlier this month when two FBI agents met with community members at the Brian Coyle Center. Loven said the FBI will continue to work with city and state Somali groups in an attempt to gain a better understanding of what might be attracting young men to foreign countries.

“Our liaison … met with leaders to determine as many facts as they could,” Loven said.

The meeting followed a notice posted on the Minneapolis FBI’s website, which was shortly after the first death of an American suicide bomber acting on behalf of a militant group in Syria, late last month.

COMMENT:  There will be the usual cries of fascism, violation of civil liberties, racism, Islamophobia, and the rest of the checklist.  But this kind of surveillance must be done.  I'm not sure, though, how successful it will be, since the "community" is already alerted to an FBI presence.

I wonder if the Bureau is permitted to use census data to determine if anyone has gone bye-bye. 

There's going to be more about this concern in the future.  Remember the Boston Marathon attack.

June 18, 2014       Permalink 

IS OBAMA OVER? – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  Increasingly, we hear that question.  Is the Obama administration essentially history?  Is he the lamest of lame ducks?  Chuck Todd of NBC, who has not been unsympathetic to Obama, says that this is a grim moment in the president's history.  From Mediaite: 

Discussing a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that shows President Barack Obama hitting his lowest foreign policy number in the history of the poll, NBC News White House correspondent Chuck Todd said on Morning Joe Wednesday morning that the poll reflected the public making a damning verdict about Obama’s presidency.

“This poll is a disaster for the president,” Todd said. “You look at the presidency here: lowest job rating, tied for the lowest; lowest on foreign policy. His administration is seen as less competent than the Bush administration, post-Katrina.” (Here came some awkwardness, as Nicolle Wallace, former Bush communications director at the time of Katrina, was sitting at the table.)

“Then on the issue of do you believe you can still lead, and a majority believe not,” Todd continued. “Essentially the public is saying, ‘Your presidency is over’ by saying a number like that. 54% saying he no longer has the ability to lead and solve problems. That’s one of those things, you’re sitting at the White House going, ‘Wow.’”

COMMENT:  I never believe that any presidency is over because events can lead even the weakest of presidents to do new, possibly more popular, things.  Clinton was declared irrelevant after the 1994 congressional elections, but he fought back, won a second term, and, undeservedly, ended his administration with high approval numbers.

Lincoln thought he was through in 1864 and would lose the presidency to George McClellan.  But General Sherman won in Georgia and Lincoln kept the presidency.

Harry Truman was regarded as a joke until he whistlestopped his way to a victory in 1948 that almost no one had predicted.

And Ronald Reagan faced very low approval numbers and a hostile press during a good part of his first administration.  He's now climbing Mount Rushmore. 

It's true that Obama is different.  He seems to be self-destructing.  Only he can save himself, and I do wonder, in this case, whether he has the skills or the drive.

June 18,  2014     Permalink