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SECOND SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – 2014

Today we begin our second subscription drive of 2014.  This is a critical year for Urgent Agenda – perhaps the most important midterm election year in America's recent history.  But maintaining our daily, day and night, coverage of this year is costly.  It is subscribers and donators who keep us going.

Like all political sites, we face increasing competition each week as more bloggers join the internet.  As a site in our sixth year, we face the reality that some subscribers will drop out, and some will pass.  We've had several sad moments in the last few months.  Our retention rate is still spectacularly high, but there will still be a certain amount of slippage.

Please consider subscribing or donating by going to the right-hand column of this page, under SUBSCRIPTIONS.  You can subscribe through PayPal, or use several other methods that are listed.  If you wish to use regular mail, just let me know at service@urgentagenda.com, and I'll give you a traditional brick-and-mortar address.

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JUNE 24,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

FOR SOME EXTRA GROCERIES – From London's Daily Mail, naturally:  "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will collect a $225,000 speaking fee from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in October, it emerged on Tuesday.  The massive expense was confirmed just weeks after the university formalized a 4 per cent tuition increase for each of the next four years. Rate hikes have nearly tripled tuition costs there since 2004.  Clinton will deliver the keynote address at an invitation-only gala for philanthropists and other high-dollar donors who support UNLV. The university said private funds are being tapped to pay her speaking fee.
But students see a zero-sum financial gain in which that money could have chipped away at tuition increases."  Students just don't understand the price of private jets these days.

CAN'T FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE – From Fox:  "The consensus is: it’s no accident. More than three-quarters of voters -- 76 percent -- think the emails missing from the account of Lois Lerner, the ex-IRS official at the center of the scandal over targeting of conservative groups, were deliberately destroyed.  That’s according to a new Fox News poll.  That suspicion is shared across party lines, albeit to varying degrees. An overwhelming 90 percent of Republicans think the emails were intentionally destroyed, as do 74 percent of independents and 63 percent of Democrats."  The encouraging thing here is that people are following the story, even though the White House claims it's nothing.  Minor housekeeping problem.

MISSISSIPPI MUD – From Fox:  "Sen. Thad Cochran will successfully fight off a tea party-backed challenge by state Sen. Chris McDaniel to win the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Mississippi, CNN projects.  The two were forced into a runoff when neither candidate reached the 50% threshold to win the June 13 primary outright.  The Mississippi race has been one of the nastiest this election cycle with accusations of dirty politics thrown both ways and arrests for a bizarre break-in at the nursing home where Cochran's bedridden wife lives. Outside groups outspent the candidates' campaigns by a 2-1 ratio."  I think the state will stay in the Republican column come November.

SOME JUSTICE – From the Daily Signal:  "Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit.  The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment today, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival."

June 24,  2014     Permalink

WORRIES ABOUT U.S. TROOPS – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  President Obama is sending 300 American advisers to Iraq, with the prospect of more.  We have already expressed concern that in an unstable environment some of their advisers could be captured, and become hostages.  We recall the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.  And another concern is being expressed – that our own allies could turn on us and imprison those advisers.  From Fox: 

Members of Congress are voicing concern that the Obama administration has not gotten strong enough assurances that U.S. troops heading to Iraq to aid the beleaguered government will be immune from prosecution in Iraqi courts for any alleged offenses committed while serving there.

The inability to strike an agreement giving American troops immunity was one of the big reasons why a residual force did not stay behind after 2011. Now that hundreds of U.S. troops and military advisers are being sent back into Iraq to secure U.S. facilities and assist Iraqi security forces, some lawmakers wonder whether a "double standard" is being applied -- one that could potentially jeopardize American troops.

"If American servicemembers were not safe from legal prosecution in Iraq after December 31, 2011, they are not safe from legal prosecution today," Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., wrote to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a draft letter being circulated on Capitol Hill for signatures.

Both the Pentagon and White House claimed Monday that they have received "acceptable assurances" -- via "diplomatic note" -- regarding "protections" for U.S. personnel in Iraq.

"Specifically, Iraq has committed itself to providing protections for our personnel equivalent to those provided to personnel who were in country before the crisis," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. "We believe these protections are adequate for the short-term assessment and adviser mission our troops will be performing."

But the last time around, the Obama administration sought a more formal agreement -- asking Iraq's parliament to approve the legal protections for U.S. troops.

Colin Kahl, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East from 2009 to 2011, wrote in Politico last week that administration lawyers determined the protections had to be approved by the parliament "for any agreement to be binding under the Iraqi constitution" -- though Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was willing to sign a "memorandum of understanding" offering the same assurances. Parliament did not approve the deal, and U.S. troops withdrew.

A Lamborn aide told FoxNews.com that no such demand is being made here, yet hundreds of servicemembers are returning to the country.

"They're using a different standard now," the aide said.

COMMENT:  I'll bet they are.  And it's a weak standard.  When one contemplates the Obama administration, the word "competence" does not come immediately to mind.  I'm worried about those advisers.  We recently saw how we traded five dangerous terrorists from Gitmo to get back, in Afghanistan, one American soldier of dubious pedigree.  This can happen again, on a much larger scale.

June 24, 2014       Permalink

FREE SPEECH UNDER THREAT – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  The political left is on the march in America, helped by Barack Obama, who is a leftist, not a liberal.  The leftists call themselves "progressives," which they definitely aren't.  There is nothing progressive about supporting or excusing dictators, which is their norm.  Nor is there anything progressive about their regular assaults on free speech.  David Keene, at the Washington Times, has some superb thoughts on this subject:

Liberal progressives have in recent years all but abandoned the American belief in free speech and the First Amendment in favor of shutting down those with whom they disagree. The president pointedly announces that critics of Obamacare or his climate-change policies ought to shut up because “the debate is over.” His supporters in Congress are actually proposing amending the Constitution to eliminate First Amendment protection of political speech and the Internal Revenue Service not only to harass those with whom they and their president disagree, but urges the Justice Department to prosecute those who voice a different view.

Last week Hillary Clinton, a prospective candidate for the presidency, told an interviewer who asked about gun control that “we cannot let a minority of people hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people.” This is a dangerous, but unexceptional statement coming from a 21st century liberal progressive. She, like the president she hopes to succeed, begins by describing the facts as she wishes they were and then attempts to dehumanize and demonize those with whom she disagrees as terrorists whose ability to express views contrary to her own shouldn’t be tolerated lest they mislead others.

And...

This hostility toward the free-speech guarantees written into our Constitution and the Founders’ concern for the rights of minorities as well as majorities may be traceable to the fact that they are the philosophical sons and daughters of the French rather than American Revolution and the belief that minorities should be allowed only to the extent that majorities decide not to send them to the guillotine.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's well worth it.  We are in trouble as a nation, as our basic values are under assault from one of our two major parties. 

About ten years ago a true civil-liberties lawyer (there are some left) told me how worried he was by what was being taught on American college campuses.  He feared that a generation of college students was being taught to have contempt for free speech, and that they would be the leaders of the country in 20 years.  It's now ten years on, and we can already see the changes. 

By the way, when this lawyer tried to protest a free-speech violation at the college his son attended, he was labeled "an outsider."   Kind of like the way segregationist governors in the old days called civil-rights workers "outside agitators."  Hmm.  So similar.

June 24, 2014       Permalink

SHARYL ATTKISSON DISSES MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  And for good reason.   She appeared on CSPAN to discuss her problems at CBS and her departure from that network.  She has signed with a startup online service called the Daily Signal, which is a production of the conservative Heritage Foundation.  I have not heard any reports of any mainstream outlet seeking her excellent services.  From Newsbusters: 

Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson -- who recently left CBS News and accused the outlet of a reticence to criticize the Obama administration -- appeared on C-SPAN's Q&A Sunday evening to discuss her forthcoming book Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington.

Attkisson, who recently joined the Heritage Foundation's Daily Signal website as a senior independent contributor, explained that between an opaque Obama administration and timid "powers that be" in corporate liberal media outlets, journalists like her interested in doggedly pursuing the truth have a rougher go at things than before.

Attkisson told Lamb she left CBS because there was "no longer a market for investigative reporting." She argued that what she enjoys doing is reporting on "under-reported" stories, but those stories often faced a lot of push-back because "it goes after the powers that be." The CBS alum cited political and financial connections between corporations and networks as the cause for the decline in investigative reporting.

Throughout the hour-long discussion Attkisson informed Lamb of the challenges journalists face today. She made it clear they are not new challenges, but rather have increased greatly during the Obama presidency:

"Freedom of information process has become a joke. It was already well on its way before the Obama administration. This administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the redaction, the excuses."

The CBS alumna has requested information repeatedly via Freedom of Information requests but has found herself waiting years that by the time she does receive anything it’s either had information redacted or no longer newsworthy. Often times the information is withheld and the only way to get the full story would be to file a lawsuit.

COMMENT:  She's right, of course, and maybe some journalists will wake up and realize what's happening to their own profession.  In some cases, collaborating journalists themselves are at fault.  (See the disgraceful coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.)

Read the whole piece.  I don't know how long Attkisson will last.  But, with a little bit of luck, and maybe a hiring by The Wall Street Journal or Fox, she can become the next Dorothy Rabinowitz. 

June 24, 2014       Permalink

BARONE ON HILLARY – AT 8:42 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, one of our very best political analysts, predicts trouble for Hillary Clinton's quest for the presidency.  From Newsmax: 

Hillary Clinton could face an uphill battle in her presumed quest to become president — from her own party, says Michael Barone, senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner.

"She faces a certain amount of quandary in the Democratic primaries even though she starts in with support from a majority of voters,'' Barone told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

'The problem she faces, on the one hand, it's clear that she would be better off in the general election running for the third Clinton term rather than the third Obama term.

"But it's also clear that the rising tide of sentiment in the Democratic Party is on the left,'' he said Monday.

Barone — author, with Chuck McCutcheon, of "The Almanac of American Politics: 2014," published by the University of Chicago Press — added:

"We've seen that that could hurt the Democrats as it did in 2000 when Ralph Nader got 3 percent of the vote rather than going to Al Gore."

COMMENT:  It's possible that Hillary could face a challenge from the left within her party.  But who would do the challenging?  Only Elizabeth Warren is popular enough on the nutty left, and I'm not so sure she'd risk it unless Hillary runs into serious polling trouble or has a medical breakdown.

Yes, it's also possible for Hillary, if nominated, to face a third-party challenger in the general election, a Ralph Nader type.  But so could the Republican nominee.  Indeed, I think it's likely that, if a candidate not acceptable to the Tea Party gets the GOP nod, a Tea Party candidate may emerge as a general-election spoiler.

The key question still continues to be:  Will Hillary actually run?  I'm really not sure at this point.  If she has another month like the last one, she may just stay home and be grandma.  Frankly, I think that would be bad for the country.  With all her horrible faults, she's far better qualified for the presidency than the fringe operators on the Democratic left. 

June 24,  2014     Permalink

JUNE 23,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

GOVERNMENT MARCHES ON – From CNS:  "CNSNews.com) -- Since President Barack Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued 2,827 new final regulations, equaling 24,915 pages in the Federal Register, totaling approximately 24,915,000 words.  The Gutenberg Bible is only 1,282 pages and 646,128 words. Thus, the new EPA regulations issued by the Obama Administration contain 19 times as many pages as the Bible and 38 times as many words."  The difference is that the Bible recounts the parting of the Red Sea.  The EPA regulations recount the fines for doing just that.

THIS ONE, TOO? – Now that her mother has made a fool of herself, Chelsea Clinton shows she can do it, too.  From the New York Daily News:  "Hillary Clinton insists she isn’t 'well-off' and now daughter Chelsea, according to a recent interview, claims she couldn't care less about money.  'I was curious if I could care about (money) on some fundamental level, and I couldn’t,' she told Fast Company in an interview that ran in the magazine's May edition, explaining why she gave up lucrative gigs to join her family’s philanthropic foundation.  Comparing her experience to the average millennial, the 34-year-old former first daughter defended jumping around to different careers — from consulting to a hedge fund to academia to journalism — before finding her true calling working with her parents."  Not interested in money?  Is that why she married an investment banker?  Is that why she lives in a multi-million dollar co-op in Manhattan?  What is it with these Clintons?

OUR NEW WORLD – From International Business Times – "Its social media savvy has made Isis a 'terror brand' to rival al-Qaida, with supporters worldwide following the brutal exploits of the Islamist group through its Twitter updates or even downloading the group's own app.  Now supporters can show their loyalty to the group by sporting a T-shirt or hoodie emblazoned with the group's black and white jihadist logo, after the items went on sale on Facebook.  The T-shirts, which are being sold on Indonesia-based websites, cost as little as $7 to $13, and have been on sale for several months, reports Vocativ.  With more than 9,000 likes on Facebook, retailer Zirah Moslem on its website calls itself a purveyor of 'Islamic style' and sells clothing that promotes a range of Islamist groups."  Religion of peace.

ARTISTIC NEWS – From Entertainment Weekly:  "Clinton: The Musical will make its New York stage premiere as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The show description: 'It’s hard enough being president by yourself. Bill Clinton’s problem is that there are two of him. Literally. Clinton follows two Bill Clintons and Hillary on their quest to save their presidency, change America and prove that ‘politics is show business for ugly people.’  The show, which will run July 18-25 at the Pershing Square Signature Center, was presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it earned a nomination for best new musical, and subsequently transferred to King’s Head, London. Theatermania reports lots of ’90s-era Clinton figures make an appearance in the two-hour show, including Newt Gingrich, Kenneth Star, and Monica Lewinsky."  Why do I think I'd prefer a revival of Guys and Dolls?

June 23,  2014     Permalink

I'M AFRAID THIS IS THE VERDICT – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:   We've been reporting here that the foreign ministries of allied countries are starting to wonder about the value of their alliance with the United States, with Barack Obama in the White House.  But rarely has that doubt been expressed as bluntly as in this, from Breitbart: 

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish magazine said Sunday it has obtained recordings of a private conversation in which the foreign minister says Poland's strong alliance with the U.S. was worthless and "even harmful because it creates a false sense of security."

In a short transcript of the conversation, a person identified as Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski also allegedly criticized Poles as naive in a conversation with a former finance minister — in the latest recorded revelation from magazine Wprost to rattle Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government.
The Foreign Ministry declined comment, but did not deny that Sikorski made the remarks.

Government spokeswoman Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska said officials would only comment after the recording is published in full.

Wprost has only provided a transcript of excerpts of the conversation, which it said was recorded in the spring. The magazine has said the sound files will be published on Monday or Tuesday.

Using vulgar language and expletives, Sikorski argued that the Polish-U.S. alliance could alienate two key neighbors of Poland, Russia and Germany.

"The Polish-American alliance isn't worth anything. It is even harmful because it creates a false sense of security for Poland," the person said.

COMMENT:  I'm making the assumption that the identification of the foreign minister is accurate.  His views sound very much like those that we've heard from foreign officials in light of Obama's clear indifference to America's traditional allies. 

Not exactly change we can believe in...unless we want to provoke a war launched by someone who thinks we're weakening.

June 23, 2014       Permalink 

THE HILLARY PROBLEM – AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  From undisputed frontrunner and almost-crowned queen of the universe, Hillary Clinton is slipping rapidly to the level of problematical candidate.  The Dems really have no one else, although there are pretenders to the throne.  She has performed poorly in her book tour, with gaffe after gaffe.  There are new, serious questions about her health.  And she is declining in the polls.  There are also doubts that Barack Obama will give her any help.  Other than these things, she's in fine shape.

One thing that's really starting to dog her, is her and Bill's wealth.  Very unbecoming for "public servants."  Dems are worried, and their worries are making it into the liberal media.  From WaPo: 

When Hillary Rodham Clinton said this month that she was once “dead broke,” it was during an interview in which she led ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer through her $5 million Washington home, appointed like an ambassador’s mansion. Mahogany antiques, vibrant paintings and Oriental rugs fill the rooms. French doors open onto an expertly manicured garden and a turquoise swimming pool, where Clinton recently posed for the cover of People magazine.

On her current book tour, the former secretary of state has traveled the country by private jet as she has for many of her speaking engagements since stepping down as secretary of state last year. Her fee is said to be upwards of $200,000 per speech; the exceptions tend to be black-tie charity galas, where she collects awards and catches up with friends such as designer Oscar de la Renta and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Such scenes reveal a potentially serious political problem for Clinton as she considers a 2016 presidential run: She and her husband are established members of the 1 percent, leading lives far removed from the millions of middle-class voters who swing elections.

And...

Some influential Democrats — including former advisers to President Obama — said in interviews last week they fear that Clinton’s personal wealth and rarefied, cloistered lifestyle could jeopardize the Democratic Party’s historic edge with the middle class that powered Obama’s wins.

“I don’t know whether it’s just that she’s been ‘Madam Secretary’ for so long, but she’s generating an imperial image,” said Dick Harpootlian, who recently stepped down as Democratic Party chairman in South Carolina, which hosts an early presidential primary.

Harpootlian, who backed Obama over Clinton in 2008 and is a longtime ally of Vice President Biden, added: “She’s been living 30, going on 40 years with somebody bringing your coffee to you every morning. Is it more ‘Downton Abbey’ than it is America?”

COMMENT:  Ouch!  That is not a remark steeped in kindness.  And note that Harpootlian backed Obama.  As has been widely reported, there is no love lost between the Obamas and the Clintons.  Clinton is running into trouble.  If she starts walking backward, she may run into a knife.

June 23, 2014       Permalink

SICKENING – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   One of the things that enrages our readers the most, if messages to Urgent Agenda are any indication, is the trendiness of the press.  An important story appears, and just fades away when it's no longer trendy, no longer part of a temporary fad.  Do you remember the Nigerian girls who were kidnapped not many weeks ago?  Remember all those phony politicians holding up cards saying, "Bring back our girls?"  Where are those trendies today?  Any new cards?  And where are the girls?  Any politicians care?  From Fox:

The Nigerian government is reporting that 219 kidnapped schoolgirls remain unaccounted for two months after Boko Haram extremists stormed their secondary school in a brazen abduction that sparked global condemnation.

A special fact-finding committee created to look into the kidnapping issued a final report that said the group took 276 girls, but 57 escaped either as the trucks drove away or soon after, Voice of America reported.

The chairman of the panel, Brigadier General Ibrahim Sabo, said the investigation included interviews with four girls who escaped.

“The four girls were hesitant to discuss full details of their experience, citing fears of possible reprisal from the Boko Haram elements,” Sabo said, according to VOA. “In fact, parents of the other girls who escaped were hidden from public glare, also because of fear of reprisals.”

The girls were abducted from their school in the Village of Chibok on April 14.

Sabo submitted the committee’s final report Friday to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan who again vowed to find the girls and crush Boko Haram.

Sabo recommended that the report remain confidential to avoid impeding the hunt for the girls, VOA said.

COMMENT:  Maybe some "feminist" group will find the time to express renewed interest.  I'm not holding my breath.  Not enough in it for them.

The "longshoreman philosopher," Eric Hoffer, said in the 1950s that all causes become businesses, and then they become rackets.  So true, so true.

June 23, 2014       Permalink

OBAMA LEAST POPULAR AMONG LIVING PRESIDENTS – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  The polling numbers for President Obama continue to decline, with nothing in prospect to reverse them.  From Breitbart: 

A new poll from Gallup indicates former U.S. President George W. Bush is six points higher in favorability than U.S. President Barack Obama.

The poll, the findings of which were released Saturday, show former President Bill Clinton has the highest favorability of all living former and current U.S. presidents, with 64 percent favorable opinion and 34 percent unfavorable.

Next up was the senior George Bush with a 63 percent favorable opinion and 31 percent unfavorable opinion. The younger Bush had 53 percent favorable and 44 percent unfavorable, Jimmy Carter was at 52 percent favorable and 32 percent unfavorable and finally Obama had 47 percent favorable and 52 percent unfavorable.

Obama was the only president that had a more unfavorable than favorable opinion.

COMMENT:  Now it is true that it's tough to measure a sitting president, whose decisions have immediate impact, against former presidents, who exist in the haze of nostalgia and memory.  But it is also true that Obama hasn't been above 50% in favorable ratings for some time.  In fact, this new Gallup poll ranks him a bit higher than virtually all other polls, which have him hovering in the low 40s.

Other presidents, when in office, have ranked lower, and some have done well in historical terms.  Truman was in the 20s when he departed the Oval Office, but is now ranked as one of our great or near-great presidents. 

The problem is that a sitting president must struggle in the here and now, and Obama has not only lost political support, he's lost personal support.  Many who were previously for him simply liked him.  They now realize he isn't that likable, and recent press reports and books attest to that.  Also, the notion of the first black president has worn thin.  Had Jackie Robinson performed poorly when he become the first black to play in the majors in 1947, the crowd would have turned on him.  But he performed superbly.  Barack Obama is performing miserably, and there doesn't appear to be a road back.

June 23,  2014     Permalink