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JUNE 25,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

THE MALAYSIAN AIRLINER – Remember that one?  It was all the rage on CNN for weeks, until it was realized there was no new information, and all the conspiracy theories had been exhausted  It was also realized that "experts," who became our new TV fast friends, had nothing to say.  The only late word we have is this, from Emirates247.com:   "A new Sunday Times reports states that the official police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has reportedly identified the plane's captain as the prime suspect.  According to the report Malaysian cops discovered that married dad of three Shah, 53, appeared to have made no social or work commitments for the future, unlike other members of his crew.  The report also claims that a probe found that he had programmed a flight simulator with drills practicing a flight far out into the southern Indian Ocean and landing on an island with a short runway."  I have nothing to add or subtract.  We'll await further "news," if we can call it that.

GRADUATES OF THE COMMON CORE – From the Washington Times:  "The White House press office misspelled the name of President Ronald Reagan twice in an email announcing President Obama’s Wednesday schedule.  'Later in the evening, the President will deliver remarks at the League of Conservation Voters Capital Dinner at the Ronald Regan (sic) Building and International Trade Center. This event is open to pre-credentialed media,' the email said, The Weekly Standard reported.  The email again misspelled 'Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center' in the 7:10 time slot on the president’s schedule.
The White House’s online post of the president’s schedule also remained misspelled as of Wednesday afternoon.'"  Hey, it's just spelling.  Who needs to spell the way the dominant culture spells?  This is the new world, I mean whirld.

FROM FOX – Compassion, yes.  But let's be careful about symbols.  From Fox:  "The federal government has found a place in New Mexico to help house the tide of humanity pouring in from Mexico: The Border Patrol Academy, the very facility where agents are supposed to be trained to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S.  The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, a sprawling campus in the arid dirt plains of western New Mexico known for oil and dairy farms, could soon house hundreds of children and families that have crossed the southwest border. Tens of thousands of immigrants have crossed in through Mexico primarily from Central America, where they appear to have been led to believe that once in the U.S., they will be allowed to stay. The government is scrambling to accommodate them, but some critics say putting them up in the academy turns government policy on its head."  It's not the best signal to send, but the Obama administration's signal sender ran out of batteries long ago.

AND AGAIN – From The Hill:  "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the IRS share a problem: officials say they cannot provide the emails a congressional committee has requested because an employee’s hard drive crashed.  EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy confirmed to the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that her staff is unable to provide lawmakers all of the documents they have requested on the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, because of a 2010 computer crash. The revelation came less than two weeks after IRS officials told Congress that Lois Lerner, the official at the center of the controversy over the targeting of conservative tax-exempt groups, also suffered from a hard drive crash that makes it difficult to comply with records requests.  The committee suspects that Phillip North, who worked for the EPA in Alaska, decided with his colleagues to veto the proposed Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay in 2009, before the agency even began researching its potential impacts on the environment."  I dunno.  I have computers.  I have backup systems.  Never lose e-mails.  But, of course, I have nothing to hide either.

June 25, 2014       Permalink

DEM BLUNDER – It's a given that the modern Democratic Party is a house of hypocrisy – members of the elite slumming among the common folk, whose pain they pretend to feel.  But there's no point in a party advertising its phoniness.  Even Democratic operatives are up in arms about this one.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Senior political officials on Wednesday are scheduled to host a mega-donor with plans of making a nine-figure investment in the 2014 midterm elections.

No, Washington Republicans aren't meeting with Charles and David Koch, the deep-pocketed energy titans -- and public enemy No. 1, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and many Democrats.

Instead, the White House, which has repeatedly bemoaned the influence of big money in politics, will open its doors to Tom Steyer, the environmental activist who has pledged to spend up to $100 million on November's elections to promote his climate-change agenda. Steyer is also a high-profile opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project the Obama administration is still reviewing.

Although progressives were unwillingly to publicly condemn the White House for the Steyer gathering, multiple Democratic sources on Capitol Hill privately said that President Obama looked like he was playing the same political game he so actively criticized.

"If a Republican president did the same thing with the Koch brothers, we would skewer them," a House Democratic lawmaker told the Washington Examiner. "If you're going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk."

"That's probably the last person I'd like White House officials to meet with," added a senior aide for a centrist Senate Democrat in a tough re-election fight.

COMMENT:  Next they'll be running a benefit so Hillary can pay for her health insurance.  Lots of tone deafness in this White House.  Tom Steyer is a loose cannon, which can easily be pointed right at Democrats.  If I were a Dem operative, I'd keep a discreet distance.  Apparently, no one down there is taking my advice.

June 25, 2014       Permalink

FINALLY? – We're getting some indications that House Republicans may finally take legal moves against Barack Obama's usurping of power, and his assault on the U.S. Constitution.  From Roll Call:

Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told Republicans Tuesday he could have an announcement within days on whether the House will file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, challenging the executive actions that have become the keystone of the administration.

The lawsuit could set up a significant test of constitutional checks and balances, with the legislative branch suing the executive branch for ignoring its mandates, and the judiciary branch deciding the outcome.

Boehner told the House Republican Conference during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning that he has been consulting with legal scholars and plans to unveil his next steps this week or next, according to sources in the room.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said further action is necessary because the Senate has not taken up bills passed by the House targeting executive actions. The House has passed a bill expediting court consideration of House resolutions starting lawsuits targeting executive overreach and another mandating that the attorney general notify Congress when the administration decides to take executive action outside of what has been authorized by Congress.

“The president has a clear record of ignoring the American people’s elected representatives and exceeding his constitutional authority, which has dangerous implications for both our system of government and our economy,” Steel said. “The House has passed legislation to address this, but it has gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate, so we are examining other options.”

It remains unclear which executive action or actions the House would challenge, but Obama has given Congress ample targets. In the last several years, he has issued executive actions halting deportations of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the country as children, extending the family and medical leave benefits to gay couples and raising the minimum wage for federal contractors. He has also worked around legislative deadlines for enacting provisions of the Affordable Care Act and issued other executive actions relating to the environment and the gender and race pay gap.

COMMENT:  Go guys go!  It's about time Obama was hauled into court to answer for his actions.  The American system is based on a system of checks and balances, and they are being violated by an administration that thinks it's above the law.

I assume that any legal action will also be directed at Eric Holder, who's one of the authors of the mischief.

June 25, 2014       Permalink

UGLY – As we noted last night, Republican Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi won a bitter primary victory, probably guaranteeing that he will remain in the U.S. Senate.  But apparently it's not entirely finished.  His opponent may mount a legal challenge, and ugly talk about race is taking over the analysis.  From Breitbart: 

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) survived the most intense challenge he’s ever faced in his 41-year political career, winning a runoff against conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

The Associated Press called the race for Cochran, who is up 6,880 votes with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting.

A source close to McDaniel told Breitbart News that he is considering legal challenges over ballots. Democrats who voted for Cochran on Tuesday but voted three weeks ago in the Democratic primary in the state were not allowed to vote in Tuesday’s election.

Election results indicate Cochran's late appeal to Democratic voters paid off, with the incumbent senator picking up sizable vote totals in precincts with heavily black populations. Partisanship in Mississippi is largely polarized on racial lines, and Cochran allies paid key Democratic operatives to help turn out the vote.

COMMENT:  This can get very nasty, and the racial imagery can damage the Republican brand nationally.  It is time for wise Republican heads to have a pow-wow (are we allowed to say that?) and bury whatever hatchets need burying.  There's an election to be won in November.

June 25, 2014       Permalink

SETBACK IN IRAQ – It's understood that, unless the Iraq government expands to represent more groups within the country, the new civil war there will continue and the country will likely break up.  A few days ago Secretary Kerry announced that the prime minister of Iraq had agreed to such an expansion.  Not so fast, John.  From BBC:

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has rejected calls for a national salvation government to help counter the offensive by jihadist-led Sunni rebels.

Such calls represented a "coup against the constitution and an attempt to end the democratic experience", he warned.

The US has led appeals to the country's political leaders to rise above sectarian and ethnic divisions.

Government forces have been unable to recapture the territory seized by the rebels this month.

Almost half of the 300 US military advisers assigned to help the Iraqi security forces have arrived and are to start work on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Iraq is being discussed by Nato leaders meeting in Brussels. They have been joined by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has just returned from a two-day visit to Baghdad and Irbil.

COMMENT:  So, about 150 U.S. advisers are already in the country, with the government rejecting all appeals for change, and the rebels, who are linked with Syrian Islamist groups, taking more territory each day. 

What a wonderful situation for us.  And there are actually die-hard Dems out there trying to blame Bush.

June 25,  2014     Permalink

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