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MARCH 3,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET:

OBAMA THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZER – From CNS:  "(CNSNews.com) - President Obama said his Task Force on 21st Century Policing has presented him with 'a very specific set of recommendations,' including the need for police officers to be 'seen as enhancing the life of the community beyond law enforcement.'  To build trust, Obama's task force suggests that police officers 'be engaged with the community, not just in a (police) stop but also in a school, also working with children, also being seen as enhancing the life of the community beyond law enforcement.'"  I'm sure this will deeply impress the gang bangers.  Just what they've always wanted, cops teaching volleyball. 

BRAVE NANCY FIGHTS THROUGH THE TEARS – From The Hill:  "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hammered Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday, saying the Israeli prime minister's speech to Congress was an 'insult' to the country.  'The unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel are rooted in our shared values, our common ideals and mutual interests,' Pelosi said in a statement just after the speech.  'That is why, as one who values the U.S. — Israel relationship, and loves Israel, I was near tears throughout the Prime Minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States as part of the P5 +1 nations, and saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran and our broader commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation.'"  I suspect that what really drove Nancy to tears was the realization that Netanyahu blew Obama away.  What Congress saw was a real leader, not the imitation brand in the White House.

A NEW DAY – Earlier today we quoted a Saudi columnist praising Netanyahu's appearance before Congress.  In fact, there's more support from Bibi coming in from the Arab world.  From Truth Revolt:  "Even the Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya English believes that when it comes to Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right and President Obama is wrong. Faisal J. Abbas, whose leftist credentials are impeccable (he blogs for the Huffington Post) said that in a recent ceremony to thank IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, Netanyahu correctly estimated the threat. Abbas wrote on Al Arabiya, 'The Israeli PM managed to hit the nail right on the head when he said that Middle Eastern countries are collapsing and that 'terror organizations, mostly backed by Iran, are filling in the vacuum.'"  Abbas continued, 'In just a few words, Mr. Netanyahu managed to accurately summarize a clear and present danger, not just to Israel (which obviously is his concern), but to other U.S. allies in the region.'"  I hope that, over at the White House, Captain Ridiculous read those comments.

PETRAEUS ENTERS PLEA – From The New York Times – "WASHINGTON — David H. Petraeus, the best-known military commander of his generation, has reached a plea deal with the Justice Department and admitted providing his highly classified journals to a mistress when he was the director of the C.I.A.  Mr. Petraeus has agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, a misdemeanor. He is eligible for up to one year in prison, but prosecutors will recommend a sentence of probation for two years and a $40,000 fine.  The plea deal completes a spectacular fall for Mr. Petraeus, a retired four-star general who was once discussed as a possible candidate for vice president or even president. He led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was the architect of a counterinsurgency strategy that at one time seemed a model for future warfare."  I cannot prove it, but I've always felt there was something suspicious about the way Petraeus has been pursued, as if this administration wanted to hold something over him because they saw him as a political threat.  But I have no documented evidence. 

March 3, 2015       Permalink

THE BILL IS IN THE MAIL – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:   The cost of "higher" education is now in the realm of madness.  Get this, from AP: 

Duke University students will pay higher tuition bills next fall, with undergraduates paying 4 percent more and those seeking graduate or professional degrees seeing similar increases.

The Durham school's Board of Trustees on Saturday approved the higher costs for the next academic year.

Undergraduate tuition will be nearly $48,000. The total cost including room, board and fees will be almost $63,300. Duke gives half its students some kind of financial help. The private university expects to spend more than $130 million on undergraduate financial aid.

Tuition for Duke's graduate and professional schools will go up an average of 4.4 percent next academic year. Pursuing a master of divinity degree will cost $21,500 and an MBA nearly $61,000.

A year of law school will cost $56,500 and medical school nearly $54,000.

COMMENT:  Please note that only half the students receive financial aid.  That means that the other half will pay about a quarter of a million dollars for an "education." 

Will someone please account for these outlandish prices? 

Will someone do some real reporting, or are journalists completely intimidated by their alma maters and their dream of someday receiving honorary degrees or invitations to give commencement addresses?

I'd imagine the middle class is being devastated by these numbers.  The rich can pay, and the poor, which often includes groups prized by the academic left, are subsidized.  It's the people in the middle who'll be squeezed out.

March 3, 2015       Permalink

THE MARCH OF LIBERALISM – AT 10:14 A.M. ET: As night follows day, crime follows liberalism.  After two decades of dramatic crime reduction under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, New Yorkers elected the hopelessly leftist Bill de Blasio, who immediately took on the police, who had been heroic in driving the murder rate down 80%.  Now, murder is back.  From the New York Daily News:   

The murder rate in New York City has spiked an alarming 20% in the first two months of the year, prompting NYPD brass to rethink strategy to curb the deadly trend.

Since Jan. 1, 54 murders have been recorded in the city, up nine from the same period a year ago, according to the grim stats released Monday.

Shootings have also climbed 20% — with 149 so far in 2015 compared with 126 in the first two months of 2014.

But overall, crime has dropped 11% in most major crime categories, including burglary, robbery, rape, grand larceny and auto theft.

Murder is the indicator.  It always tells the story.

The bump in killings came despite a 12-day span over the first two weeks of February when no murders were recorded.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said the rise in killings and shootings should not be taken as indications of “the bad old days roaring back.”

COMMENT:  That is a huge murder increase.  We won't pre-judge, and New York is not yet back to the bad old days.  We'll watch to see if the trend continues.  In that case de Blasio might have a hard time getting re-elected.

William Bratton was actually Giuliani's first police commissioner and did a fine job.  De Blasio brought him back, probably to ease fears that the new mayor would be soft on crime.  But de Blasio's anti-police attitude has had its impact, and I'm not sure Bratton is really allowed to do his job.   If not, he should resign.

March 3, 2015       Permalink

REMARKABLE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:59 A.M. ET:  When a Saudi columnist applauds the prime minister of Israel, we know that something is changing in the Mideast.  There is this extraordinary quote from Ahmad Al-Faraj, in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah:

Since Obama is the godfather of the prefabricated revolutions in the Arab world, and since he is the ally of political Islam, [which is] the caring mother of [all] the terrorist organizations, and since he is working to sign an agreement with Iran that will come at the expense of the U.S.'s longtime allies in the Gulf, I am very glad of Netanyahu's firm stance and [his decision] to speak against the nuclear agreement at the American Congress despite the Obama administration's anger and fury. I believe that Netanyahu's conduct will serve our interests, the people of the Gulf, much more than the foolish behavior of one of the worst American presidents. Do you agree with me?

COMMENT:  Yup, we agree with you.  And we believe that many Arab leaders are cheering Netanyahu this morning.  On Iran, he speaks for them. 

We may be seeing the start of some new alliances in the Mideast.  They may just be alliances of convenience, but they can move the region in the right direction.

Obama would probably oppose that, too.  We learned just days ago that he has been withholding critical intelligence information from Arab and European nations, as these nations confront the Russians in Ukraine and ISIS all over the Mideast. 

What Rudy Giuliani said about Obama several weeks ago is what millions of Americans are thinking – that he's a man of strange loyalties.  Millions more are probably thinking it today.

March 3, 2015       Permalink

THE SPEECH – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  The prime minister of Israel makes his controversial speech to Congress today.  The number of Democrats who plan to boycott the address has now ballooned to almost 60, and includes Elizabeth Warren.

It is absolutely disgraceful.  Whether one agrees or disagrees with Bibi Netanyahu, his country is one of America's closest allies, and the only nation in the Mideast that shares our culture and values.  The walkout by the spineless Dems is clearly the work of the White House, in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus, which has led the rudeness.

I truly believe that this walkout symbolizes the end of the Democratic Party as we once knew it.  The party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy is gone.  Now we have the party of George McGovern, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, a party built upon the blind worship of the current president.  Imagine:  the prime minister has come, by invitation of the speaker of the House, to address some of the most critical issues of our time, and almost 60 members will refuse to hear him, serving instead the greater glory of Barack.  The little town councilman from Chicago has once again shown his pettiness. 

As for the 60, many come from safe Dem districts or states, so they probably won't be punished.  But they deserve to be shamed.

March 3,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 2,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

NOW WE KNOW THE TRUTH! – From Britain's hopelessly left-wing Independent:  "Climate change was a key driver of the Syrian uprising, according to research which warns that global warming is likely to unleash more wars in the coming decades, with Eastern Mediterranean countries such as Jordan and Lebanon particularly at risk.  Experts have long predicted that climate change will be a major source of conflict as drought and rising temperatures hurt agriculture, putting a further strain on resources in already unstable regimes."  Sounds like a plea for more government grants to "climate" researchers, and of course that's exactly what it is.

ANOTHER SCANDAL, ANOTHER SHOW – How will Hillary get out of this one?  From The New York Times:  "WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record.  Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act.  It was only two months ago, in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, that Mrs. Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal emails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department. All told, 55,000 pages of emails were given to the department. Mrs. Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013.  Her expansive use of the private account was alarming to current and former National Archives and Records Administration officials and government watchdogs, who called it a serious breach."  Do the Clintons ever follow the rules, or is that just for the little people?

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – From London's Telegraph:  "Kanye West told a packed lecture theatre of Oxford University students on Monday afternoon that had he pursued a career in fine art, he would have liked to 'become Picasso or greater.'  The 350-strong crowd gave the American rapper a standing ovation as he entered the room at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.  West, who had been invited to speak by The Oxford Guild Society, told the students that he had 'the best reputation in the building.'  At the start of his address, the 37-year-old rapper told students to ask him questions so that he could just 'riff off.'  He then spoke for around half an hour about the themes of 'aesthetic' and 'progression' which he said he picked out from the first question."  I'm sure Oxford students were culturally uplifted.

APPROPRIATE – From AP:  "House Speaker John Boehner plans to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bust of Winston Churchill when he speaks to a joint meeting of Congress about the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.  The gift was chosen because Netanyahu and the former prime minister of Britain are the only foreign leaders who have addressed Congress three separate times."  I'm supposin' there was another reason:  Do you recall that one of the first things Obama did as president was to send the bust of Churchill that sat in the Oval Office back to Britain?  It was considered an insult to Britain and to the memory of a man revered in America.  I suspect Speaker Boehner is needling the president, and good for Boehner!

March 2, 2015       Permalink

WILL STROOCK – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:   Will Stroock is not only one of Urgent Agenda's founding readers and subscribers, he's also a leading military historian.  A new release from Will is absolutely timely, given the news out of the Mideast and Bibi Netanyahu's dramatic speech to Congress tomorrow.

Will's "Israel at War," now out on Amazon's Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/Israel-at-War-Her-Enemies-ebook/dp/B00T6Q7Y08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425313654&sr=8-1&keywords=Israel+at+War+Stroock) is the best history I've read on Israel's wars with its Arab opponents.  There are important insights here that help explain why Israel has been successful, and why Arab military organizations so often fail.

I consider this required reading for anyone interested in the Mideast and in military affairs.  Highly recommended.

March 2, 2015       Permalink

CENTRIST DEMS COME ALIVE? – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  There aren't too many left, and maybe, after meeting in a closet, they've concluded that they're in danger of winding up in museums.  From The Hill: 

Centrist Democrats are gathering their forces to fight back against the “Elizabeth Warren wing” of their party, fearing a sharp turn to the left could prove disastrous in the 2016 elections.

For months, moderate Democrats have kept silent, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) barbed attacks against Wall Street, income inequality and the “rigged economy” thrilled the base and stirred desire for a more populist approach.

But with the race for the White House set to begin, centrists are moving to seize back the agenda.

The New Democrat Coalition (NDC), a caucus of moderate Democrats in the House, plans to unveil an economic policy platform as soon as this week in an attempt to chart a different course.

"I have great respect for Sen. Warren — she's a tremendous leader,” said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), one of the members working on the policy proposal. “My own preference is to create a message without bashing businesses or workers, [the latter of which] happens on the other side."

Peters said that, if Democrats are going to win back the House and Senate, "it's going to be through the work of the New Democrat Coalition."

"To the extent that Republicans beat up on workers and Democrats beat up on employers — I'm not sure that offers voters much of a vision," Peters said.

Warren’s rapid ascent has highlighted growing tensions in the Democratic Party about its identity in the post-Obama era.

Caught in the crossfire is the party’s likely nominee in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose husband took the party in a decisively centrist direction during his eight years in office.

Former President Bill Clinton’s rise within the party had been aided by groups such as the Democratic Leadership Council, which believed that previous presidential nominees including Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis had run on platforms that were too far to the left, resulting in crushing defeats.

But the tensions from those long-ago fights are now tangible again. Progressives distrust Hillary Clinton and are pushing Warren to challenge her from the left in the presidential election, though Warren has repeatedly rebuffed their pleas.

COMMENT:  The problem for the centrists, besides pure lack of numbers, is that the so-called "progressives" dominate the nominating process and are the majority at national conventions.  And they are in control of the black vote, without which Dems cannot win a national election.

We wish the centrists luck.  All six of them.

March 2, 2015       Permalink

RUBIO TO RUN? – AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  Despite all his activity, Florida's Marco Rubio has not formally entered the 2016 race for president.  That may be about to change.  From AP: 

PALM BEACH, FLA. — Marco Rubio isn't quite ready to say he's running for president, yet admits it sure does look like he will seek the White House in 2016.

"I think that's reflected in both our travel and some of the staffing decisions that we've made," the Florida senator told The Associated Press. "We — if in fact I make that final decision on a run — want those elements to be in place."

The message that his decision is still pending is one Rubio delivered again this past week on stage, both at the Conservative Public Action Conference outside Washington and at the conservative Club For Growth in Palm Beach. But allies of the first-term senator and former speaker of the Florida House who have spoken with him about his plans fully expect that he will run for president, rather than a second Senate term.

He's made it clear he would leave the Senate if he got into the presidential race.  It's a tough decision for him for he's far from the favorite for the presidential nomination. 

"I assume he's running," said Wayne Berman, a veteran Republican fundraiser who was chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential fundraising in 2008. "He will help the party turn the page, politically, to the next generation."

Nearly a dozen people close to Rubio, including GOP officials, fundraisers and his advisers, say Rubio has told them he is in the final stages of planning the launch of his presidential run and will formally join the crowded field of Republican hopefuls as early as April. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their private conversations with Rubio.

Berman said he is working to line up donors to finance that national campaign. Among the donors who have signed on: former Rep. Bill Paxon, now with law firm Aiken Gump's Washington offices, Dallas investor George Seay and Goldman Sachs' Joe Wall. Their goal is to raise $50 million before next year's Iowa caucuses, according to four donors who have spoken to Rubio about the likely campaign's budget.

"Marco's best asset is Marco," said Scott Weaver, a former Capitol Hill staffer who organized a recent dinner for potential Rubio donors. "If you can get Marco in front of people, he sells himself. It's been an easier sales process than we thought at this point."

COMMENT:  That last statement is true.  Rubio is a great campaigner.  He's also Cuban-American, which, political writers assume, will attract Hispanic voters.  His problems at this point are to become better known, and to convince Republicans that he has the weight to be president.

The hot candidate at the moment is Scott Walker, who is relentless.  But Walker has made some gaffes, and some doubt that the brilliantly successful governor of Wisconsin is ready for a national campaign, where every sentence will be scrutinized.  Another obstacle is Jeb Bush, who was Rubio's mentor in Florida politics.  Bush may be offended by Rubio's entering the race, and could do some damage.

I hope Rubio gets in.  He is solid on foreign policy, and 2016 may turn out to be a foreign-policy election.

March 2, 2015        Permalink

AMERICANS WARY OF IRAN – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  Gallup reports that Americans continue to view Iran unfavorably, but Republicans are far more harsh than Democrats.  From Gallup:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the United States and several other nations continue to negotiate what would be a landmark agreement to limit Iran's production of nuclear weapons, more than eight in 10 Americans view Iran unfavorably (84%). Only 11% have a favorable view of the country. Despite this potential thaw in Iranian-U.S. relations, Americans' views on its long-time foe have remained unchanged for 26 years.

I'd love to meet some of those 11 percent. 

Iran's historical favorable average of 11% is the lowest of 22 countries Gallup asked about in this year's World Affairs poll, conducted Feb. 8-11 -- a list that includes such prominent U.S. adversaries as Russia, Syria and North Korea.

And...

...the vast majority of Americans (77%) say the development of nuclear weapons by Iran is a "critical threat," perhaps underscoring the importance of these talks. Another 16% say the threat is important, but not critical. Since 2013, a preponderance of U.S. adults have identified possible Iranian nuclear weapons as a critical threat and the issue has ranked highly compared with other possible threats facing the U.S.

But as the prospect of an agreement -- though still far from certain -- increases, Democrats are notably less likely to classify the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb as a critical threat compared with Republicans or even with Democratic responses in prior years. Today, 68% of Democrats say Iranian nuclear weapons would be a critical threat, compared with 91% of Republicans. This formidable 23-percentage-point gap, among the highest for the eight threats measured in the Gallup survey, was virtually nonexistent last year, when 86% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats viewed this as a critical threat.

In 2013, the gap between the parties was also a less pronounced one, at 12 points.

COMMENT:  This simply demonstrates the Democratic Party's move to the left, under Obama.  The party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy is long gone.  And I don't see any signs that it's coming back.

March 2, 2015       Permalink

WARNING ON IRAN – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  One day before Bibi Netanyahu makes his historic and controversial speech to Congress on the dangers of Iran, he was given new, powerful ammunition from the UN nuclear monitor.  From Reuters: 

VIENNA - The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Monday Iran had still not handed over key information to his staff, and his body's investigation into Tehran's atomic program could not continue indefinitely.

"Iran has yet to provide explanations that enable the agency to clarify two outstanding practical measures," chief Yukiya Amano told the body's Board of Governors in Vienna, echoing a report seen by Reuters last month.

The two measures relating to alleged explosives tests and other measures that might have been used for bomb research should have been addressed by Iran by last August.

"The Agency is not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," Amano said.

The West fears Iran wants to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

The Agency remains ready to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues, he added, but "this process cannot continue indefinitely."

COMMENT:  And remember that the Iranian missile program continues, with Iran developing a missile with a range of 6,000 miles.  The only reason a nation develops intercontinental ballistic missiles is to deliver nuclear warheads.  Those missiles are useless with conventional explosives.  The Iranian missile program alone is proof that the country's nuclear program is military, not peaceful.

March 2,  2015     Permalink