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MARCH 7,  2015

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

BRILLIANCE IN ACTION – From The Smoking Gun:  "MARCH 6--An Ohio man called 911 to report that his wife had stolen his cocaine, according to cops who subsequently arrested him on drug and other charges.  Robert Collins, 39, dialed the police emergency line late Wednesday night to report the cocaine theft, according to an Alliance Police Department report that does not detail the whereabouts of Collins’s spouse or the cocaine.  When officers arrived at Collins’s residence, he apparently had a change of heart and 'refused to tell police why he called 911.'  Investigators reported that Collins, who 'had a pipe used to smoke marijuana in his possession,' was 'arrested and charged with misuse of 911 and drug paraphernalia.' He also had an active arrest warrant in connection with a 2013 criminal case."  With his sense of morality, he could soon be working for Hillary.

THEY PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE – From AP:  "Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram militants, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group in an audio recording released Saturday.  'We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi,' said the voice on the message, which was believed to be that of Shekau and was released through Boko Haram's Twitter account. Qurashi is better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the IS group which has proclaimed a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.  Shekau spoke in Arabic, but the message contained French and English subtitles."  What do we do in reply to an announcement like this?  Do we send flowers?  Hold an allegiance party?  I want to be sure we're culturally appropriate. 

THIS IS WHAT IT'S COME TO – From Daily Caller: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is facing accusations of racism and insensitivity for endorsing a white male U.S. representative to replace retiring Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski.  Major Democratic donor Steve Phillips, the founder of progressive group PowerPAC+, slammed the Nevada Democrat’s speedy, public endorsement of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is white, to replace the 78-year-old Mikulski, who announced earlier this week that she is stepping down. 'For Harry Reid to come out and endorse Van Hollen is insulting period,' Phillips told Buzzfeed. 'But to do it on the anniversary of the Selma 50th anniversary — to make an endorsement that would make the Senate less diverse — is outrageous and insulting.'"  I'm no fan of Harry Reid or Chris Van Hollen, but this is disgraceful.  What are we heading for, a quota system for the U.S. Senate? 

March 7, 2015       Permalink   

THE BIBI EFFECT? – AT 12:08 P.M. ET:   I've noticed several subtle changes since the prime minister of Israel spoke before Congress.  The administration's line on Iran has gotten tougher, and allies have now spoken more forcefully about their concerns over the proposed agreement. 

France, in particular, has made it clear that it is not satisfied with the agreement because it gives Iran too much.  The language used by France is remarkably similar to that used by Netanyahu.  And other European allies are reportedly grumbling about the U.S. taking over the negotiations with Iran and excluding them.

Secretary of State Kerry has just rushed around the Mideast, snubbing Israel, but going to several Arab capitals to assure nervous governments that the agreement with Iran will be a good one.  I don't see any smiling in these capitals.  From AFP:

Paris (AFP) - Top US diplomat John Kerry on Saturday sought to smooth differences with France over nuclear talks with Iran, agreeing with the French that there were still gaps to overcome in the "critical weeks" ahead.

The US secretary of state said it was up to Iran to prove its peaceful intentions to the world if it wants a deal on its nuclear programme ahead of the looming March 31 deadline.

He was speaking to reporters after a 20-minute meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris where they tried to iron out their differing views on the deal.

France has privately expressed concerns that the final agreement will not include enough iron-clad guarantees to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb.

"We want an agreement that's solid," Kerry said.

"We want an agreement that will guarantee that we are holding any kind of programme that continues in Iran accountable to the highest standards so that we know in fact that it is a peaceful programme."

Fabius emphasised that any deal to remove sanctions could not be thrashed out only between Iran and the US.

"These are multilateral negotiations and we are making sure our position is known," he said.

COMMENT:  Maybe the Europeans have gotten a little backbone from Bibi's speech.  They may not like him personally, but this isn't a popularity contest. 

In the end, though, the real decisions will be made by Town Councilman in training Barack Obama, and I think we all know where his sentiments lie.  He wants a legacy, at any cost.  He wants Iran to dominate the region, replacing Israel as America's most important ally.  It is up to Congress to block him.

March 7, 2015       Permalink

PATHETIC – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:  We're getting a first look at what a second Clinton administration will be like.  From Bloomberg: 

Hillary Clinton won’t be presiding over a soul-searching press conference or sitting down for a come-clean interview about her use of a private email address any time soon — at least if everything goes according to her team’s plan.

The former secretary of state and her advisers have decided to adopt a time-tested Clintonian approach: take a concrete step to ease the pressure, then wait out the storm, according to three sources with knowledge of her team’s approach.

Their theory is that her late Wednesday tweet asking the State Department to release the 55,000 pages of emails she provided to the agency would start to calm the media and political tempest, while giving her spokesman an easy answer to many journalists’ questions: ask State.

"It makes sense to settle in a little bit … people have very short memories."

Clinton and her team are aware that her tactics will only hold out for so long and that she’ll eventually have to answer questions about her e-mail practices, but she and her advisers are aiming to delay that moment, ideally until she formally announces she’s running for president. At that point, they hope, the controversy will have subsided to the point where her campaign launch will be a much bigger headline than her response to a month-old scandal. An added benefit to the approach: the potential for Republicans to overreach and overreact while Clinton stays silent.

Her Rose Garden tactics, time-tested as they are, pose substantial risk. The era is different than when last they were deployed. With Congressional committees probing and the constant stoking of Twitter, the furor may not be fully extinguished by simply sitting on it. Especially with new revelations—on her emails, the Clinton Foundation or something else—there's a danger she will be faced with questions so pressing they demand immediate answers or risk derailing her presidential ambitions.

COMMENT:  What a pathetic comment on a person who would be president.  I had assumed that the media would do the same favors for Hillary Clinton that they did for Barack Obama, come to save us.  I'm not so sure any longer.  Obama was a fresh face.  Clinton has more baggage than United Airlines.  And the American people, we hope, will not accept the kind of superficial reporting they saw during the last two presidential contests.

As I said, I hope.

March 7,  2015     Permalink

TERROR – AT 11:21 A.M.ET:  Suicide blasts in Nigeria.  From AP:

Police say four suicide bomb attacks Saturday killed at least 54 people and wounded 143 in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri that is the birthplace of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.

Police Commissioner Element Adoda said the blasts occurred over four hours in locations from a busy fish market to a crowded bus station.

Witnesses say a fifth explosion at a military checkpoint outside the city wounded three.

Boko Haram has attacked Maiduguri many times, with bombings and armed assaults since the insurgents were forced out of the city after a state of emergency was instituted in 2013.

Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state and the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, the heart of an Islamic uprising that has killed about 12,000 people in nearly six years.

COMMENT:   Nothing to see, nothing to see.  As our president told us, the war on terror is winding down.  We simply must understand the socio-economic conditions that lead to these deviations from Islam.

It is reported that Obama is rushing a fresh supply of unemployment compensation checks to Nigeria.

March 7, 2015       Permalink

MARCH 6,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

PAYBACK – Word spread through newsrooms today that Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who, though a Democrat, is Barack Obama's most formidable opponent on foreign policy in The Senate, will soon be prosecuted by the Justice Department for corruption.  Menendez is currently co-sponsoring legislation that would give Congress a major say in an Iranian nuclear deal.  And he has vocally opposed Obama's policy of moving closer to Cuba.  Now, you don't think this prosecution is just a coincidence, do you?  Would our president do that?  It's true that Menendez has been under investigation for some time, but the announcement of an imminent prosecution is intended to send a message to Dems who get out of line, and refuse to worship at the shrine of Barack.  Putin murders his opponents.  Obama throws them under the bus.  Menendez is doing great work.  He intends to fight back and has proclaimed his innocence.

SCHOLARS AT WORK – From Fox:  "Students at the University of California, Irvine have voted to make their school a more 'culturally inclusive' place by banning the American flag.  The Associated Students of University of California (ASUCI) passed a resolution March 3 that would remove the Stars & Stripes along with every other flag from the lobby of a complex housing the offices of the student government.  'Designing a culturally inclusive space aims to remove barriers that create undue effort and separation by planning and designing spaces that enable everyone to participate equally and confidentially,' read the resolution authored by Matthew Guevara."  Must be Che's nephew.

GREAT MOMENTS IN CHILD REARING – From CNS:  "Looking for something for the kids that’s more than just a play thing? One Brooklyn, N.Y., company hopes you’ll help them create a Hillary Clinton action figure so that children everywhere will – finally – have a 'positive female role model' - a 'role model' they are hoping will become the first female president of the United States.  Apparently, this same company made some money back in 2008 when they sold Barack Obama action figures. Now, they’ve raised about $5,000 of the $15,000 they hope to get on a Kickstarter website so that they can pump out plenty of the six-inch replicas of Hillary – a slightly chubby Hillary dressed in a frumpy blue pants suit and sensible gray shoes."  I can't wait to give one as a gift.  This is New York.  It would be seen as a very thoughtful and sensitive gift.  We used to build battleships here.  Now we build Hillary Clinton action figures.  This is how civilizations die.

THE ROAD TO NOTHING – From Fox:  "Parents at a New York City elementary school are outraged by a decision to eliminate homework assignments and instead urge kids to play, DNAinfo.com reported.  Teachers at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street in Manhattan have stopped giving take-home math worksheets and essays, and are encouraging students to instead read books and spend more time with their families, according to the website.  The announcement was reportedly made by school principal, Jane Hsu, in a letter sent home to parents last month.  'The topic of homework has received a lot of attention lately, and the negative effects of homework have been well established,' Hsu reportedly wrote in her letter. 'They include: children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities and family time and, sadly for many, loss of interest in learning.'   Some parents have threatened to pull their students from the school over the new homework policy."  A good educator can find a balance between homework and play.  But a good educator probably won't be wanted in a "progressive" school system.

March 6, 2015       Permalink

AS AL GORE SAYS, SETTLED SCIENCE – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  We report on past predictions about, er, global warming.  Or is it climate change?  Or will it be something else next year?  From Daily Caller: 

It’s hard to imagine that just 30 years ago, government scientists were predicting that global warming would make New York City resemble Daytona Beach, Florida — which does not get snow.

In 1985, the New York Times reported that ‘federal climate experts have suggested that within a century the greenhouse effect could turn New York City into something with the climate of Daytona Beach, Fla.”

“Beginning in a decade or two, scientists expect the warming of the atmosphere to melt the polar icecaps, raising the level of the seas, flooding coastal areas, eroding the shores and sending salt water far into fresh-water estuaries,” the Times reported. “Storm patterns will change, drying out some areas, swamping others and generally throwing agriculture into turmoil.”

Three decades later, and New York City does not remotely resemble Daytona Beach — even if some resident wished it did on winter days like this. On Thursday, New York City’s temperature stood at 28 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Weather Channel, while Daytona Beach was a balmy 75 degrees Fahrenheit. This winter, in fact, New York City experienced its coldest recorded temperature ever for Feb. 2nd just this year when thermometers in Central Park dipped below 7 degrees Fahrenheit – shattering a previous 65-year record for the coldest Feb. 2nd set in 1950.

And...

“In an October 1983 report, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the sea level could rise as much as 11 feet by the end of the next century – or as little as 2 feet,” the New York Times reported. “It settled on 5 to 7 feet as the likely range. The higher figure would put substantial pieces of Florida and Louisiana under the waves and flood parts of some coastal cities.”

“Even the lower figure would cut away chunks of shoreline. Experts estimate that a one-foot rise in the ocean could erode 100 to 1,000 feet of sand beach all along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts,” the Times reported.

Sea level rise, of course, has not been as dramatic as EPA predicted in 1983. According to the U.S. National Climate Assessment, global sea level rise from 1992 to 2010 was only 3.2 millimeters per year — meaning sea level only increased 0.19 feet over this period.

Extrapolate that out and sea level rise by 2100 will only be 1.18 feet above 1992 levels — far less than the 5 to 7 feet predicted by EPA in 1983.

COMMENT:  But remember, it's settled science.  You must not question.  You must not ask.  If you do you're a "flat Earther" or a "science denier."  You must go along.  Al says so.

March 6, 2015       Permalink

WHAA..?  IS HE BACK?  I DON'T BELIEVE IT – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  I thought he was off building windmills, or taking everyone's temperature, or somethin'.  Al Gore is going to Iowa, as Hillary falters.  The excitement builds.  From Weekly Standard: 

As reporters and members of Congress begin to dig into the Clinton email scandal, former Democratic presidential candidate has announced an upcoming visit to Iowa. He'll be in the important caucus state from May 5-7, as part of a training sessions for the Climate Reality Project, of which he's chairman.

"During the training, you’ll hear from The Climate Reality Project Chairman and founder, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, as well as world-class scientists, strategists, communicators, and technical specialists about the science of climate change and the direct cost impacts are having on communities around the world. Most importantly, you’ll learn about the solutions that are available today. You will also learn a twenty-first-century skillset in storytelling, public speaking, social media networking, and media engagement from successful grassroots organizers who will share best practices for positive impact," reads a description of the program.

And the verdict...

While Gore has not expressed presidential ambitions in some time, some Republicans cannot help but wonder about the timing of the trip. Especially as the Clinton email scandal begins to grow.

"When it comes to politicians visiting Iowa, I don’t believe in coincidences," one experienced Republican hand says.

"Al Gore, like Hillary Clinton has spent most of his life in politics. Running for office is something that’s in his blood, and he probably thinks that the waters for a potential bid are getting a little, shall we say, warmer."

COMMENT:  Oh dear, what a prospect.  A primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Al Gore.  Bring back Michael Dukakis!

March 6, 2015       Permalink

CLINTON'S HONESTY RATING DROPS – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Is anyone shocked?  It's one of the results of the massive Fox News Poll reported this week, published before the latest uproar over Clinton's secret e-mails went public.  Other results involve the candidates prepping for 2016.  From Fox: 

Overall, there’s general agreement that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (+54 points), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (+40), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (+34) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (+24) are patriotic. For comparison, those margins all beat President Barack Obama’s (+11) on this measure.

On the other hand, “strong leader” is not a trait that lots of voters see in the GOP candidates tested. More voters perceive Clinton as a strong leader (+16 points) than Walker (+11), Rubio (+7) and Bush (-1). And many more see her as a strong leader than say the same of Obama (-12).

I suspect that the Republican ratings will improve once Americans become familiar with the leading GOP candidates

More self-identified Republicans think “strong leader” describes Walker (+35 points) than Rubio (+33) and Bush (+18).

“Walker is in a nice position right now,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Republican pollster Daron Shaw. “Republicans who know him overwhelmingly think he is a strong leader, and there are very few in the base who hold negative opinions toward him.”

While Clinton performs well on leadership, she’s underwater on honesty (-8 points). Just 44 percent say the label “honest” describes her, while 52 percent disagree. A year ago, by a 54-42 percent margin, voters said Clinton was “honest and trustworthy” (April 2014).

That rating suggests recent revelations about Clinton -- especially concerning the activities of the Clinton Foundation -- may be taking a toll. Sixty-one percent of voters say if recent allegations are true and the foundation accepted contributions from foreign governments while Clinton was secretary of state -- it was the wrong thing to do.

COMMENT:  Hillary's troubles appear to be increasing dramatically.  The fact is that she's not all that popular with the leftist Democratic base.  That may be why even some liberal papers are asking some tough questions.  The New York Times, itself increasingly leftist, would probably prefer Elizabeth Warren. 

There's been much speculation, some of it informed, that Clinton will announce her candidacy in April.  If she delays, we can probably surmise that she's reconsidering.  If I had to bet, I'd bet on her eventually entering the race.  But it may look less like a presidential campaign than a fire sale.

March 6, 2015       Permalink

GOOD JOBS REPORT? – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  The new jobs report, out this morning, is getting raves.  The mainstream media is in ecstasy.  But wait a minute.  What does it really say?  From CNN: 

The U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs in February, which crushed expectations. That beat the estimate from CNNMoney's survey of economists, who predicted 235,000 job gains.

February's job growth shows how far the economy has come in a year. It's the 12th straight month that the economy has gained over 200,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5%.
That's the lowest unemployment rate since May 2008 -- before the financial crisis. Unemployment has come a long way from a year ago when it was 6.7%.

Oh but wait.  A little problem.  Just a little problem:

As more Americans return to work, the question now is when will wages pick up. Average weekly wages only rose 2% in February compared to a year ago. In a healthy economy, wages gains are between 3.5% and 4%. The snail-pace wage gains are a key reason why many folks still aren't feeling off better during this recovery.

Wages are quickly becoming the focal point for the economy's health. The Federal Reserve wants to see better wage growth before it raises its key interest rate, which will have a big impact on the economy and markets.

If job growth continues, wages should speed up too, many economists argue. But February's jobs report told the same tale: excellent job gains in recent months with lackluster wage growth.

COMMENT:  And that's the real issue.  Look inside the "jobs" report and you find that the leader in job creation is the retail sector, which tends to be low-wage.

A country can have a third-world economy and still have 100% unemployment.  The problem right now is that we're replacing high-wage jobs with low-wage or part-time jobs.  Sure, there are more jobs available, if you want to be paid of what you were paid in your last job.

March 6,  2015     Permalink