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MARCH 10,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:18 P.M. ET: 

HILLARY RIDES AGAIN – She appeared at a press conference today to try to explain why she used a private, insecure, e-mail system when she was secretary of state, instead of the State Department's own system.  She failed.  She came off as pompous, bothered and fraudulent – three qualities we certainly want in a president.  And the facts still speak for themselves.  From the Washington Times:  "Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton deleted nearly 32,000 emails she deemed private from her time in the Obama administration and refused Tuesday to turn over her personal email server, insisting she 'fully complied' with the law and that voters will have to trust her judgment.  Answering questions for the first time about her emails, Mrs. Clinton said she’s turned over to the State Department 55,000 pages of emails she deemed work-related, but said she got rid of the rest last year. She defended her decision to keep control of her emails by using a private account, saying previous secretaries did the same thing, and saying it was more 'convenient' for her this way.  'I wanted to use just one device for both personal and work emails instead of two,' she said in a hastily called press conference after she spoke at the U.N. Conference on Women."  She sent 32,000 private e-mails while she was secretary of state?  When did she work?

SHAMELESS – From the Daily Caller:  "Environmentalists are now using kids to 'school' lawmakers on the science behind man-made global warming.  On Tuesday, six high schoolers from states 'hard hit' by global warming will go to Capitol Hill to try and convince lawmakers skeptical of man-made global warming that it’s real and it’s impacting peoples’ lives today.  'What I know about climate change is that it’s real, it’s man-made and there’s scientific evidence to back it up,' Helen Winston, a high schooler from Nebraska, said in a video produced by the liberal campaign group Avaaz.  'Climate change impacts my life most directly through sea level rise,' echoed Jack Levy from Florida. He was joined by Georgia teen Jeremiah Thompson who said that 'human beings are a major cause in climate change.'"  Very Hitlerian.  Old Adolf asked Germany to give him the minds of its youth.  Germany complied.  Many of that "youth" lived very short lives.

COMES WITH A FORTUNE COOKIE – From London's Daily Mail:  "It has barely taken any time at all for Chinese counterfeiters to rip-off Apple's latest creation.   Fake versions of the Apple Watch can be bought for as little as £25 - despite the fact the real thing will set you back more than 10 times that.  The flagship new product was only launched in San Francisco yesterday but knock-offs are already available in China.  According to CNN Money, they can be found at Huaqiangbei electronics market in the southern city of Shenzhen, and others are being sold nationwide via popular e-commerce websites.  Right down to the digital crown, the fakes mimic the design and style of Apple's new offering."  Obama has threatened China with sanctions, but has offered a deal wherein they could produce some knockoffs for ten years, as long as they opened their factories and restaurants to inspections.

PRESCRIPTION-DRUG SPENDING SOARS – From Fox:  "The nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager says prescription drugs spending rose 13 percent last year, the largest annual increase since 2003.  Express Scripts says the gains were fueled by pricey specialty drugs that accounted for about 31 cents of every dollar spent on prescriptions even though they represented only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions filled.  Specialty drugs are advanced medications that treat complex or chronic conditions like hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis.  Express Scripts Holding Co. and several insurers have warned for more than a year about the growing financial impact from specialty drugs like Gilead Sciences' hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi."

March 10, 2015       Permalink

IN TALL COTTON – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  We knew that Tom Cotton of Arkansas would emerge as a major Republican figure in the Senate.  We just didn't know it would happen this fast.  Cotton, a Harvard Law graduate who left a thriving career to join the military and fight in Iraq, was the driving force behind a letter, signed by 46 Republican senators, cautioning Iran that any agreement on its nuclear program might not survive the Obama administration unless it had Congressional approval.

The administration went nuts over the letter, with Vice President Biden joining the chorus claiming that this was gross interference in the nation's foreign policy.  That is nonsense.  The Congress is a co-equal branch, and members of Congress deal with and meet with foreign leaders all the time.  But this is the age of Field Marshal Obama, and anything that offends the field marshal is considered a national crisis.

Now Tom Cotton is fighting back against the administration's hysteria and fainting spells.  From The Hill:

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is pushing back against criticism that a letter co-signed by 46 GOP senators to Iranian leaders is meant to undermine President Obama’s nuclear negotiations.

During an interview on Tuesday, the freshman senator cast the move as a necessary warning that future presidents and Congresses would overturn any negotiation that doesn’t completely dismantle Iran’s capacity to build a nuclear weapon.

“They’ve been killing Americans for 35 years, they’ve killed hundreds of troops in Iran, now they control five capitols in the Middle East,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“They are nothing but hardliners in Iran and if they do all of those things without a nuclear weapon, imagine what they would do with one.”

And...

Cotton and other Republican Senators sent an open letter to Iran on Monday that warns Tehran that the president doesn’t have the power to make a lasting deal without congressional approval. Criticism from Democrats has been scathing, as they accuse Cotton and others of trying to sandbag negotiations.

The Arkansas Republican denied those claims and said that the letter has even more support in Congress than the 46 signers.

“I talked with all Senate Republicans, we worked with many Senate Democrats, many senators didn’t sign for various reasons but many senators agree with my views even if they didn’t sign the letter,” he said.

He added on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday morning that he welcomes more lawmakers to join his open letter, even the prospective 2016 presidential candidates.

“We have four potential candidates in the U.S. Senate on the letter,” Cotton said.

“I welcome even Hillary Clinton to join us because I suspect she might have reservations about this ill-fated nuclear deal as well,” he added.

COMMENT:  Some chance of Hillary signing.  She doesn't dare cross Barack, if she wants his help in running to succeed him.

Cotton is a fighter.  He's articulate and informed, and bold.  A future president, perhaps.

March 10, 2015       Permalink

GUESS THE RESET DIDN'T WORK – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:   When Obama came into office, he told us, with the enthusiastic backing of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that he would "reset" relations with Russia.  The suggestion, of course, was that it was our fault that relations had deteriorated.  We've since learned that Obama believes it's always our fault.  Apparently, Obama's reset didn't make much of an impression.  From the Washington Post: 

MOSCOW — Thought the Soviet Union was anti-American? Try today’s Russia.

After a year in which furious rhetoric has been pumped across Russian airwaves, anger toward the United States is at its worst since opinion polls began tracking it. From ordinary street vendors all the way up to the Kremlin, a wave of anti-U.S. bile has swept the country, surpassing any time since the Stalin era, observers say.

The indignation peaked after the assassination of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, as conspiracy theories started to swirl — just a few hours after he was killed — that his death was a CIA plot to discredit Russia. (On Sunday, Russia charged two men from Chechnya, and detained three others, in connection with Nemtsov’s killing.)

There are drives to exchange Western-branded clothing for Russia’s red, blue and white. Efforts to replace Coke with Russian-made soft drinks. Fury over U.S. sanctions. And a passionate, conspiracy-laden fascination with the methods that Washington is supposedly using to foment unrest in Ukraine and Russia.

The anger is a challenge for U.S. policymakers seeking to reach out to a shrinking pool of friendly faces in Russia. And it is a marker of the limits of their ability to influence Russian decision-making after a year of sanctions. More than 80 percent of Russians now hold negative views of the United States, according to the independent Levada Center, a number that has more than doubled over the past year and that is by far the highest negative rating since the center started tracking those views in 1988.

Nemtsov’s assassination, the highest-profile political killing during Vladi­mir Putin’s 15 years in power, was yet another brutal strike against pro-Western forces in Russia. Nemtsov had long modeled himself on Western politicians and amassed a long list of enemies who resented him for it.

The anti-Western anger stands to grow even stronger if President Obama decides to send lethal weaponry to the Ukrainian military, as he has been considering. The aim would be to “raise the cost” of any Russian intervention by making the Ukrainian response more lethal. But even some of Putin’s toughest critics say they cannot support that proposal, since the cost is the lives of their nation’s soldiers.

COMMENT:  Apparently Obama isn't left-wing enough for them, or sympathetic enough to Moscow.  The reality is that Putin is returning Russia to the bad old Soviet days, and there is little that Obama is doing about it.  The Russians see America as increasingly weak, and that brings contempt, not respect.

March 10,  2015     Permalink

HAYDEN PUSHES BACK ON OBAMA AND KERRY – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  Gen. Michael Hayden (ret.), former director of both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, has bluntly advised Congress to ignore President Obama and Secretary Kerry when evaluating any nuclear-arms treaty with Iran.  This is pretty strong stuff, coming from a retired general.  From Newsmax: 

Before signing off on an agreement with Iran, Congress should heed the advice of officials at the Department of Energy and intelligence professionals — not President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry — about Tehran's "intentions and capabilities," according to Gen. Michael Hayden, the former director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency.

"We need to look at the deal in its entirety and frankly push the president's view on the deal aside, push Secretary Kerry's view on the deal aside," Hayden, a retired four-star Air Force general, said Monday on Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."

"I don't mean to be overly critical, but they've got a track record of saying things that are useful for the moment rather than reflecting the reality."

Hayden said he has several concerns with the deal currently on the table, including the number of centrifuges (6,500) that seems to be the agreed upon number, as well as "the Iranians not being forced to come clean on a nuclear path," such as what weaponization activity have they undertaken.

This is a critical point.  To what degree have they weaponized their nuclear program already?  This isn't even being discussed. 

"They're stiffing the IAEA, the international inspectors, on those questions and I'm still concerned about what's the fine print with regard to the Iranian facilities at Fordow, where they've got a reactor hall inside a granite mountain, and in Iraq, where they've got a plutonium reactor under construction," he said. "So there's a lot to be checked here."

COMMENT:  I wasn't aware of the reactor in Iraq.  And even the IAEA may not be aware of all of Iran's nuclear facilities. 

At least people are now coming out with serious questions.  Polls show Americans don't trust Obama on Iran, and those same polls show Americans are deeply concerned about Iranian nukes.  France is openly expressing it discontent with the deal being considered, believing it gives too much to the Iranians.  Israel's negative views were made will known by Netanyahu's speech to Congress last week.

There is an informal March 31st deadline for a deal.  There is no guarantee that it will be met.

March 10, 2015       Permalink

EGYPT'S PRESIDENT – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  Egypt is the most important country in the Arab world.  Its new leader, who has had the guts to take on radical Islam, want to be an ally of the United States, but is getting the cold shoulder from Obama, who kind of likes those Islamist types.  Witness his cozying up to Iran and his high comfort level with the anti-American, anti-Semitic Muslim Brotherhood.  Now Egypt's president is speaking out, this time to Fox: 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, appealed to the U.S. to play a greater role in helping his country fight terrorism -- as he urged the creation of an "Arab ready force" to confront the Islamic State and similar groups.

The Egyptian leader spoke with Fox News' Bret Baier in an extensive interview conducted in Cairo. He addressed the need for what he called a religious "revolution," urging moderate Muslims around the world to "stand up" against terrorists twisting their religion.

But in the short term, he said more military might and funding will be needed to confront the extremist threat and questioned whether the U.S. was doing enough for Egypt.

El-Sisi, speaking mostly through a translator, said that while the U.S. has helped Egypt for decades, Egypt needs that help "more than ever," and wants to see a "big response from capable countries."

He said the suspension of U.S. equipment and arms to his country has sent a "negative indication to the public opinion that the United States is not standing by the Egyptians."

El-Sisi -- who eventually took power after former President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in 2013 -- was referring to aid and shipments that have been held up in the wake of Morsi's ouster.

Though the U.S. continues to deliver nearly $1.5 billion a year in mostly military assistance, some high-profile shipments have been halted since the military leadership overthrew Morsi -- and particularly since the military's crackdown on Islamist groups. This includes holding back on deliveries of F-16 fighter jets, M1A1 tanks and Harpoon missiles.

In fact el-Sisi was subsequently elected, following the overthrow of the unpopular Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.  And it's curious that Egypt is being punished for its crackdown on Islamist groups, since these are the very groups that sponsor terror against the United States.  That is the country that Barack Obama heads, isn't it?  Maybe I'm wrong.

In December, the Pentagon delivered a previously stalled shipment of 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt.

El-Sisi told Fox News the need for weapons and equipment remains "dire," and Egyptians "would like to feel that the United States is standing by them."

Kind of the same thing we hear from other American allies, isn't it?

Asked directly how he and other Arab allies view U.S. leadership in the region, he answered briefly in English: "Difficult questions."

He addressed his country's campaign against terrorism weeks after the Islamic State released a video showing 21 Egyptian Christians being beheaded. That video triggered Egyptian airstrikes on ISIS targets in Libya -- airstrikes that, according to the Pentagon, the Egyptians did not notify the U.S. of in advance.

At the time, even the top Pentagon spokesman acknowledged the U.S. and Egypt have a "complex relationship."

COMMENT:  And it's interesting that the same administration that turns its nose up at Egypt tried to organize a boycott of the recent speech before Congress given by Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, our strongest ally in the region.  What a remarkable president.  He treats our enemies better than he treats our friends. 

March 10,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 9,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

GUTSIER THAN US – From Fox:  "A new proposal in Denmark could result in the Charlie Hebdo shooting and cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad being taught in schools.  The country’s opposition leaders are in agreement that the controversial cartoons first printed in Jyllands-Posten newspaper should appear in school textbooks, The Washington Post reports. Both the Conservative People's Party and Danish People's Party, the latter commanding the third-largest level of support in Denmark, have voiced their support for the idea.  'It would be natural for the cartoons to become part of the material that the teachers can choose to use,' Conservative People’s Party spokeswoman Mai Mercado told DR Nyheder."  Let's see how many "academic freedom" committees back this courageous stand.  I'm still waiting.

THIS IS IMPORTANT? – From the Houston Chronicle:  "Celebrated Texas politician Barbara Jordan could be the new face of the $20 bill, if a movement called Women on 20s gets its way.  The nonprofit selected Jordan as one of 15 finalists to be the new face on the $20 bill by 2020 – the year marking the centennial of women's suffrage. (Vote here.)  The Houston-born Congresswoman became the first southern black woman elected to Congress after Reconstruction in 1972. Six years earlier, she had become the first African American elected to the Texas Senate."  Look, I have no problem with honoring Barbara Jordan, if that's what people want to do.  But we're talking currency here.  We honor U.S. presidents and major statesmen.  True, there are no women currently honored with a picture on U.S. currency, but I'm sure appropriate candidates are available.  There have been great female American writers and scientists, and, in the political realm, one can mention Eleanor Roosevelt on the liberal side, and Margaret Chase Smith, a conservative.  I'm not sure Barbara Jordan is exactly in that league.

MAJOR COMPASSION NEWS – From CNS:  "CNSNews.com) - Many people are living longer, but not to age 112 or beyond -- except in the records of the Social Security Administration.  The SSA's inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 -- or older -- for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident.  The audit, dated March 4, 2015, concluded that SSA lacks the controls necessary to annote death information on the records of number-holders who exceed 'maximum reasonable life expectancies.'"  Turns out people are using these numbers for all kinds of fraudulent purposes.  I wonder how many of these numbers are attached to voters in Chicago.

WHEN IN TROUBLE, SEND OUT THE DAUGHTER – From The Hill:  "Chelsea Clinton says she respects her parents now more than ever.  The new mom, who gave birth to daughter Charlotte with husband Marc Mezvinsky last September, told 'Live with Kelly and Michael' hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan that caring for her daughter helped changed her view of her famous parents.  'I have always been so close to both my parents and I didn’t know that I could be even more grateful for them and respect them more, until I became a mom,' Clinton said Monday.  'I thought about all the times, particularly my mother, worried about me. And now, I’m so worried about Charlotte,' Clinton said, while appearing on the show to promote her work with her family’s Clinton Foundation gender equality initiative, called No Ceilings. The 35-year-old former first daughter said of baby Charlotte, 'She’s just rolling over and I’m like, "What if she like rolls all the way into the kitchen counter?" I mean I don’t even know how that would happen!'  On second thought, maybe it's better not to send out the daughter.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

OUR FLAG IS STILL THERE – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  Some students at the University of California at Irvine wanted the American flag taken down from a public space because it "upset" them.  And, of course, being upset is the worst thing that can happen to a college student.

So the flag came down, and upset disappeared.

But a lot of students were ticked.  There was a backlash.  And the flag went up again.  Chalk one up for our side.

But you will not believe the logic of those offended by the American flag.  From Breitbart:   

IRVINE, California — Students at the University of California Irvine (UCI) spoke to Breitbart News Sunday, sharing their shock and disappointment at recent legislation by six members of UCI’s Associated Students (ASUCI) to remove an American flag from their building’s lobby this past Thursday.

A student who spoke with Breitbart News on condition of anonymity that she heard a member of the ASUCI discussing “the [American] flag and how it triggered people.” She then said she believed a major line of reasoning behind the legislation to remove the flag could have been a “precautionary step” to prevent a trigger situation where if someone is an “illegal citizen or [they] have citizenship issues, it makes them feel bad.

“But me and my friends were like, ‘Dude, you’re in America. It’s the American flag,'” she added.

The issue, according to her, was that the flag was placed in a common space, and she felt that if it were placed in a private area like a personal office, it would not have been a big deal. “And then there were people who were like ‘the flag triggers me’ — that was their exact wording, too.”

She added: “Everything can be a trigger. How far is it going to go? If everyone says something bothers them about a shared space then that could be a problem because then there will be nothing on any walls.”

UCI student Matthew Guevara, who sits on the Student Association board, authored the resolution (R50-70) to ban the U.S. flag from the association’s lobby wall. The resolution passed narrowly on Thursday in a 6-4 vote in favor, with two abstentions, but was overturned and vetoed on Saturday during a private meeting held by the Associated Student’s Executive Cabinet by a 4-1 vote.

UCI administrators also issued a statement on Saturday following the vote to ban the flag, stating that they do not endorse what they described as a “misguided decision” by a political minority that they claim is not representative of the school nor the broader student body.

COMMENT:  Just read the whole thing.  I'm glad there was pushback on this, and that the flag is back up.  It may only be a symbol, but symbols are important to the culture of a society.

I'm also glad the university administration issued a vigorous statement opposing the banning of the flag.  Maybe some educators are entering the world of adulthood.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

AMERICANS BLEAK ON RACE RELATIONS UNDER OBAMA – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  It's sad, but the American people feel race relations under Obama have deteriorated rather than improved.  Chalk this up to Obama's utter incompetence in executing anything.  From Andrew Malcolm at IBD: 

As two presidents gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of a major civil rights turning point, a new poll reveals that only 15% of Americans say the country's race relations have improved under Barack Obama, who promised just that.

Another 39% of adult Americans say the nation's abiding racial divide has worsened under the first black chief executive, according to the CNN/ORC Poll. That includes 45% of whites and 26% of blacks. Even among Democrats, only 20% say race relations have improved under Obama.

Indeed, Obama's frequent early career talk of a post-racial America has been added to the lengthy list of unfulfilled promises by the man who entered office with so much hope and an approval rating above 60%. He now sits in the mid-forties and in Alabama earned barely 15% of the white vote in 2012.

By contrast, in the early months of Obama's presidency, only 6% thought race relations had worsened in the United States, while 32% said they had already seen improvements.

COMMENT:  It is perfectly reasonable for Obama to draw attention to unfinished business in confronting racism.  But, as the first black president, he has a great deal of credibility in speaking frankly to the black community about its own cultural problems, and what they are doing to black progress.  He only touches on that rarely, and I think many whites resent it.

We've said it many times here:  Obama knew how to run for president, but doesn't know how to be president.  Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, did a better job of advancing race relations than Obama has.  This is what happens when you have a president with no real preparation for the job.

March 9, 2015         Permalink

MORE HILLARY HYPOCRISY – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  The New York Times again comes down hard on Slick Hilly.  I doubt it's because The Times has gone pure in its journalism.  More likely it's because the paper prefers a Democratic presidential candidate well to Hillary's left.  Now The Times notes Clinton's phoniness on women's rights. 

MIAMI — It was supposed to be a carefully planned anniversary to mark one of the most important and widely praised moments in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s political career — and to remind the country, ahead of a likely 2016 presidential campaign, about her long record as a champion for the rights of women and girls.

Instead, as Mrs. Clinton commemorates her 1995 women’s rights speech in Beijing in back-to-back events in New York, she finds herself under attack for her family foundation’s acceptance of millions of dollars in donations from Middle Eastern countries known for violence against women and for denying them many basic freedoms.

This was not how she intended to reintroduce herself to American voters.

Mrs. Clinton’s glide path to a likely April announcement that she will seek the presidency was built around women’s issues. Advancing women has been her central life’s work, as she and her admirers say proudly; she made it a priority as secretary of state and focused on it as a philanthropist. But that focus also allowed Mrs. Clinton, who played down her gender in 2008, to frame her second attempt at the White House in what could be one way to make it special and new: as a shot at history for her and for all women.

COMMENT:  There have been reports for years of serious money paid to Bill Clinton or the Clinton Foundation by Arab countries with vast women's rights problems.  Apparently Hillary doesn't believe that rights for Muslim women should be part of her agenda.

Saudi women, in prison because of some trumped-up religious offense, could not be reached for comment.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

REMARKABLE – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Senate Republicans are showing some backbone.  They're communicating directly with Iran, refusing to be cut out of the nuclear arms agreement by Field Marshal Obama, who never read the Constitution, or had it read to him by Valerie Jarrett.  From Bloomberg: 

A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran's leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama's administration won’t last after Obama leaves office.

Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”

Arms-control advocates and supporters of the negotiations argue that the next president and the next Congress will have a hard time changing or canceling any Iran deal -- -- which is reportedly near done -- especially if it is working reasonably well.

The problem is that it has no chance of working reasonably well if it is full of holes and Iran is still full of mullahs.

Many inside the Republican caucus, however, hope that by pointing out the long-term fragility of a deal with no congressional approval -- something Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also noted -- the Iranian regime might be convinced to think twice. "Iran's ayatollahs need to know before agreeing to any nuclear deal that … any unilateral executive agreement is one they accept at their own peril,” Cotton told me.

COMMENT:  Iran will never agree to a deal that will give the United States, and other Western powers, true security.  But we would be helped diplomatically if Kerry and his negotiators demand such a deal, forcing the Iranians to be the ones who turn it down.  I think that's what the GOP senators are working toward.

March 9,  2015     Permalink