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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas last night.  It's here.

MARCH 26,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:23 P.M. ET: 

OBAMA DOWN AGAIN – From WaPo:  "The AP-GfK poll shows 59 percent of Americans now disapprove of Obama -- a point higher than the previous high set in December.  Obama's approval rating stands at 41 percent. That's the second-lowest figure the poll has ever found.  Part of Obama's problems appear to be related to foreign policy: The poll shows Americans disapprove of his handling of the situation in Ukraine 57-40 and disapprove of how he handles relationships with other countries 58-40."  And this was the redeemer who was going to reform the world. 

HUH? – Whatever happened to the sport of college football?  From Fox:  "In a ruling that could revolutionize college athletics, a federal agency ruled Wednesday that college football players at Northwestern University can unionize.  The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can create the nation's first college athlete's union..  The Evanston, Ill-based university argued college athletes, as students, don't fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. The school plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C."  Northwestern unfair to quarterbacks?  Wide receivers?  Can cheerleaders join the union?  Inquiring minds want to know.

THE WAGES OF LIBERALISM – From AP:  "NEW YORK (AP) -- New York state has the most segregated public schools in the nation, with many black and Latino students attending schools with virtually no white classmates, according to a report released Wednesday.  The report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles looks at enrollment trends from 1989 to 2010."  The study doesn't go to the heart of the problem, which is the absurd living costs in New York, and the equally absurd taxes.  There's little mobility.  Far from being dynamic, the state is stuck in neutral.  More people leave New York than any other state. 

THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT, NOT – From Breitbart:  "New Air Force documents show that the tab to taxpayers for recent trips President Obama and his family took to Africa and Honolulu was nearly $16 million – and that's just for the flights.  The documents obtained by activist group Judicial Watch show the Africa trip required 35.5 flight hours. At a cost of $228,288 per flight hour, the total cost was a staggering $8,104,224.  For the Obamas' Christmas vacation in Honolulu, starting in December 2013 and ending in January 2014, the documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show the first family accumulated 36.9 total flight hours. At a cost of $210,877 per flight hour, the flight costs alone for that trip totaled $7,781,361.30, according to the Air Force documents."  Lots of college scholarships could have been provided.

March 26, 2014       Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 10:04 A.M. ET:  Civilizations don't die.  They commit suicide.  Is ours next?  From The Washington Times: 

The head of U.S. Pacific Command believes America does not possess the capacity to conduct amphibious assaults in the wake of a crisis, as it did during World War II.

Adm. Samuel Locklear III, commander of U.S. Pacific Command gave his assessment of the deficiency in readiness on Tuesday, Stars and Stripes reported.

“We have had a good return of our Marines back to the Asia-Pacific, particularly as the activities in the Middle East wind down in Afghanistan. … But the reality is, is that to get Marines around effectively, they require all types of lift. They require the big amphibious ships, but they also require connectors (meaning landing craft and other amphibious vehicles). The lift is the enabler that makes that happen, so we wouldn’t be able to [successfully carry out a contested amphibious assault without additional resources],” Adm. Locklear said, Stars and Stripes reported.

The admiral’s comments come only weeks after Capt. James Fannell, the chief of intelligence of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said that he believes China is training for war with Japan.

“[We] concluded that the PLA has been given the new task to be able to conduct a short sharp war to destroy Japanese forces in the East China Sea following with what can only be expected a seizure of the Senkakus or even a southern Ryukyu [islands] — as some of their academics say,” the captain said in February after witnessing “massive” Chinese military exercises in the Pacific.

During the congressional hearing on Tuesday, Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of U.N. and U.S. forces in Korea, also questioned whether U.S. forces would be able to quickly counter a sudden large-scale offensive by North Korea, Stars and Stripes reported.

“I am concerned about the readiness of the follow-on forces in our theater,” Gen. Scaparrotti said. “Given the indications and warnings and the nature of this theater and the threat that we face, I rely on rapid and ready forces to flow into the peninsula in crisis.”

COMMENT:  Everything we read about the readiness of our armed forces is tilting negative.  Obama is doing a great job...for our enemies. 

March 26, 2014       Permalink

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – THREATS FROM SYRIA – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  The horror of Syria continues.  And it may well mark a direct threat to the United States.  From The New York Times: 

WASHINGTON — Dozens of seasoned militant fighters, including some midlevel planners, have traveled to Syria from Pakistan in recent months in what American intelligence and counterterrorism officials fear is an effort to lay the foundation for future strikes against Europe and the United States.

“We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaeda organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad,” John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director, told a House panel recently.

The extremists who concern Mr. Brennan are part of a group of Qaeda operatives in Pakistan that has been severely depleted in recent years by a decade of American drone strikes. But the fighters still bring a wide range of skills to the battlefield, such as bomb-building, small-arms tactics, logistics, religious indoctrination and planning, though they are not believed to have experience in launching attacks in the West.

Syria is an appealing base for these operatives because it offers them the relative sanctuary of extremist-held havens — away from drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan — as well as ready access to about 1,200 American and European Muslims who have gone there to fight and could be potential recruits to carry out attacks when they return home. Senior counterterrorism officials have voiced fears in recent months that these Western fighters could be radicalized by the country’s civil war.

New classified intelligence assessments based on information from electronic intercepts, informers and social media posts conclude that Al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Pakistan, including Ayman al-Zawahri, is developing a much more systematic, long-term plan than was previously known to create specific cells in Syria that would identify, recruit and train these Westerners.

COMMENT:  Very well reported.  We are asleep in America.  We are told by ludicrous journalists that we're "war weary," as if the average American actually did anything to fight the war on terror in the years since 9-11.  The military has been at war.  America has not been at war. 

We were told just recently that Inspire Magazine, which is an online Al Qaeda publication, has been urging followers in the West to conduct car-bomb attacks.

We will be awakened.  Democracies, sadly, are almost always awakened in the worst possible way.

March 26, 2014        Permalink

OBAMACARE FOLLIES, WITHOUT MUSIC – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Still more fiddling around with Obamacare.  From Fox: 

The Obama administration will grant extra time to Americans who say they are unable to enroll in health care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.

All consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.

"We are experiencing a surge in demand and are making sure that we will be ready to help consumers who may be in line by the deadline to complete enrollment -- either online or over the phone," Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman Joanne Peters told Fox News.

The Washington Post first reported that users will have a chance to check a box on the website indicating they tried to enroll before the deadline, though the government will not try to determine whether the person actually made an effort to sign up.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus pounced on the extension, calling it another delay for a "failed health care law."

COMMENT:  Has anything gone well?  As far as the "surge in demand" that the Propaganda Ministry talks about, remember that we're a nation of 318 million people, so registering five million is nothing. 

And wait until premiums skyrocket next year...after the midterm elections. 

March 26, 2014       Permalink

THE AIRLINER – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  We report, you weigh the significance.  From CNN:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- New satellite images provided by a French defense firm show 122 objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean, not far from other satellite sightings that could be related to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the Malaysian transport minister said Wednesday.
The objects were scattered over 154 square miles (400 square kilometers), acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Bin Hussein said.

Hishammuddin said he wasn't sure if Australian authorities coordinating the search for the plane had been able to follow up Wednesday on the new satellite images, which came from Airbus Defence and Space.

Searches resumed Wednesday after a one-day delay caused by poor weather. However, the last of 12 planes dispatched to the site returned to its base in Perth, Australia, late Wednesday without finding anything definitive, Australian officials said.

'Eventually something will come to light'

Search aircraft did spot three objects, but none were obvious plane parts, the Australian Maritime Safety Agency said.

The latest objects seen on satellite range from about 3 feet (1 meter) to about 75 feet (23 meters), Hishammuddin said. Some appear bright, indicating they may be solid, he said.

The latest images appear to be the most significant discovery yet in the hunt for the missing plane, which vanished March 8 with 239 people aboard, said CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

"There's a very good chance this could be the break we've been waiting for," he said.

COMMENT:  Well, we hope so.  We'll follow it.  On TV, the speculation continues, but I've tuned out to that.  Give me facts.

March 26,  2014     Permalink

MARCH 25,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:41 P.M. ET:

SUPPORT FOR VOTER I.D. – From Rasmussen:  "A federal judge last week upheld the right of states to require proof of citizenship before allowing someone to register to vote. Voters continue to overwhelmingly support such a requirement.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 78% of Likely U.S. Voters believe everyone should be required to prove his or her citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. That’s up from 71% a year ago. Just 19% oppose that requirement."  Common sense.

WILL BROOKLYNITES STILL CHEER? – From AFP:  "Moscow (AFP) - Russian billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball franchise, said Monday he was transferring its ownership to Russia.   As one of the richest Russians with assets abroad, Prokhorov could be vulnerable if the Western powers escalate economic sanctions against Russia over its takeover of Crimea.  'I am doing all that I can to own the basketball club through a Russian company,' Prokhorov told journalists, quoted by the Interfax news agency."  Sign of things to come?  Can we keep the Yankees?  Buffalo Bills?

EDUCATION REVOLT – From Fox:  "INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana has become the first of 45 states to opt out of the national education standard known as Common Core, and critics of the controversial K-12 program say the move could 'open the floodgates' for others to follow.  Growing criticism over costs imposed by the program, as well as fears that by setting a national education standard the program has already begun dictating curriculum, has made Common Core an increasingly polarizing issue. Although the program has both Republican and Democrat supporters, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence predicted his state will be the first of many to rethink participation.  "I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people," Pence said.  Good statement.  Be very concerned about national "standards," especially in subjects like history.

THEORY ON AIRLINER DISAPPEARANCE – From Reuters:  "The pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have deliberately crashed the jetliner into the Indian Ocean as part of a suicide mission, sources close to the investigation told the British newspaper Telegraph on Tuesday.  There is a growing belief within the team investigating the mysterious disappearance of the Boeing 777 that the plane was flown in a 'rational' manner and that it was not a technical or structural malfunction of the aircraft that led it to fall out of the sky, according to the Telegraph.  Analysts are basing the 'suicide mission theory' on the routing, signaling, and communications data transmitted from the aircraft. 'This has been a deliberate act by someone on board who had to have had the detailed knowledge to do what was done,' the Telegraph quoted a source close to the investigation as saying."

March 25, 2014       Permalink

OUR FOREIGN POLICY MESS – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  We are leaving Afghanistan this year.  And the Afghans are taking note.  From Fox: 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, already at odds with the U.S. over a vital security pact, snubbed western leaders once again by joining the likes of Syria and Venezuela in backing Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Karzai's office released a statement over the weekend saying Afghanistan "respects the free will of the people of Crimea to decide about their own future."

The statement said "we respect the decision the people of Crimea took through a recent referendum that considers Crimea as part of the Russian Federation."

Karzai weighed in on the Ukraine crisis shortly before President Obama flew overseas for meetings with European partners. The Obama administration and European allies have described the Crimea referendum, and Russia's decision to annex the peninsula, as "illegitimate."

Karzai, never much of an ally, knows which way the wind is blowing.

The Afghanistan statement, though, was yet another indication of how far the Karzai administration has drifted away from the U.S. as the Afghanistan war -- or the United States' involvement in it -- draws to a close, despite Washington's past support for his presidency. Karzai, in backing Moscow, was also aligning with actors who, under the Soviet Union, prosecuted a prior decade-long war in his country. The U.S. backed Afghan groups fighting against the Soviet-led forces in that war.

Karzai may now be seeking to court Russia, for its aid and general support, as American forces withdraw from the country.

Karzai, though, so far has refused to sign a security agreement that would provide for a residual force of U.S. troops to stay behind after the final withdrawal.

COMMENT:  Obama cannot point to a single foreign policy success, in mainstream American terms.  But in his terms, he is fabulously successful.

March 25, 2014       Permalink

WEIRD, MAN – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  When the term "brightest senator" is used in Washington, the name Barbara Boxer does not come immediately to mind.  She loves Obamacare.  From CNS:

(CNSNews.com) - "Never in my lifetime have I seen a law that is helping so many people be so vilified," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told a conference call on Friday.

She talked about the millions of people in her state who are benefiting from the law that Republicans have tried to repeal 54 times.

"This is a huge success, this law. I'm saying that. We had a terrible rollout, it slowed us up, but it's all falling into place now and the Republican answer is very, very simple -- let's repeal it and take away all these benefits from people. And that's just gonna wind up to be very bad for them at the end of the day."

Joining Boxer on the conference call, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) noted that the Republicans' "original mantra" was "repeal and replace."

"Well, they voted to repeal it 54 times. They've never voted to replace it with the exception of one slap-dash plan offered by three Republican senators a few weeks ago. In the four years since the bill was signed, there has been absolutely no effort to articulate what they would do differently.

"And so the Republican's plan is simply to take away all of these benefits that have now transformed the lives of millions of Americans," Murphy said.

COMMENT:  I think Barbara got to keep her own psychiatrist.

March 25, 2014       Permalink

RUSSIA IN THE AMERICAS – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  It appears Russian ambition doesn't stop in Eurasia.  From The Hill:

Away from the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is quietly seeking a foothold in Latin America, military officials warn.

To the alarm of lawmakers and Pentagon officials, Putin has begun sending navy ships and long-range bombers to the region for the first time in years.

Russia’s defense minister says the country is planning bases in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and just last week, Putin’s national security team met to discuss increasing military ties in the region.

“They’re on the march,” Gen. James Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command said at a Senate hearing earlier this month. “They’re working the scenes where we can’t work. And they’re doing a pretty good job.”

Kelly said there has been a “noticeable uptick in Russian power projection and security force personnel” in Latin America.

“It has been over three decades since we last saw this type of high-profile Russian military presence,” Kelly said at the March 13 hearing.

The U.S. military says it has been forced to cut back on its engagement with military and government officials in Latin America due to budget cuts. Kelly said the U.S. military had to cancel more than 200 effective engagement activities and multi-lateral exercises in Latin America last year.

With the American presence waning, officials say rivals such as Russia, China and Iran are quickly filling the void.

Iran has opened up 11 additional embassies and 33 cultural centers in Latin America while supporting the "operational presence" of militant group Lebanese Hezbollah in the region.

“On the military side, I believe they're establishing, if you will, lily pads for future use if they needed to use them,” Kelly said.

China is making a play for Latin America a well, and is now the fastest growing investor in the region, according to experts. Although their activity is mostly economic, they are also increasing military activity through educational exchanges.

The Chinese Navy conducted a goodwill visit in Brazil, Chile and Argentina last year and conducted its first-ever naval exercise with the Argentine Navy.

COMMENT:  Remember that we have two and a half more years of Hussein Obama before there is any chance for improvement.  And if another Democrat gets sent to the White House, who knows if he (or she) will actually improve things...although I think Hillary might actually strengthen American defense to make herself appear tough. 

We are in the soup.  Sometimes I wish we had a parliamentary system, wherein a president could be removed more easily than through impeachment.

March 25, 2014        Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  As the world gets more and more dangerous, Field Marshal Obama is determined to make America weaker and weaker.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs that experts say have helped the U.S. Navy maintain military superiority for the past several decades.

The Tomahawk missile program—known as “the world’s most advanced cruise missile”—is set to be cut by $128 million under Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and completely eliminated by fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents released by the Navy.

In addition to the monetary cuts to the program, the number of actual Tomahawk missiles acquired by the United States would drop significantly—from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The number will then drop to zero in 2016.

The Navy will also be forced to cancel its acquisition of the well-regarded and highly effective Hellfire missiles in 2015, according to Obama’s proposal.

The proposed elimination of these missile programs came as a shock to lawmakers and military experts, who warned ending cutting these missiles would significantly erode America’s ability to deter enemy forces.

“The administration’s proposed budget dramatically under-resources our investments in munitions and leaves the Defense Department with dangerous gaps in key areas, like Tomahawk and Hellfire missiles,” said Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.), a member of House Armed Services Committee.

“Increasing our investment in munitions and retaining our technological edge in research and development should be a key component of any serious defense strategy,” he said.

COMMENT:  There are times when you have to think that weakening America is one of Obama's real goals, as part of the left-wing agenda of his party.  Weakness invites conflict.  The price will be paid long after Obama leaves office and becomes secretary-general of the UN.

March 25,  2014     Permalink