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MARCH 22,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET:

McCAIN BLASTS OBAMA – John McCain nails who Obama really is.  From Fox:  "Sen. John McCain said Sunday that President Obama is letting his personal issues with newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affect his decision-making and shared policy goals.  'It’s time that we work together with our Israeli friends and try to stem the tide of ISIS and Iranian movement throughout the region, which is threatening the very fabric of the region,' McCain, R-Ariz., said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'  During the interview, McCain called out Obama and told him: 'Get over your temper tantrum, Mr. President.'  McCain went on to admonish the administration’s Middle East policies and said Obama’s priorities are 'so screwed up that it’s unbelievable.' He added that he was 'convinced' Obama was letting his personal feelings get in the way."  And that's a mild interpretation.  Obama, as we've said here before, is childlike, a glorified town councilman.  But he's also a soldier of the left, with contempt for America and a chilling respect for dictatorships. 

PROBLEM POLL – A new CNN/ORC poll is said to be bad news for Republicans, but isn't.   From Townhall.com:  "Email-gate may have dominated the headlines over the past few weeks, but evidently the scandal hasn’t trickled down to the grassroots level—at least not yet. And perhaps it never will. To wit, a newish CNN/ORC poll, which conducted head-to-head hypothetical matchups between Hillary Clinton and all the leading presumptive Republican hopefuls, is anything but positive news for the GOP. Though Jeb Bush (16 percent) leads the pack of Republicans, no candidate even comes close to defeating Hillary Clinton one-on-one (via Bill Kristol)."  Sorry, but a look at the poll's methodology paints a different picture.  It was taken among all adults, the least accurate respondent pool.  The next up in accuracy would be registered voters.  And the most accurate would be likely voters.  Surveys of likely voters almost always show the greatest Republican strength, as Republicans are more likely to vote.  Disregard the CNN/ORC poll.

MAJOR APOLOGY NEWS – From CNN:  "New Delhi, India (CNN)The North Korean ambassador in Bangladesh issued an apology after one of the embassy's diplomats was caught carrying 27 kilograms (59 pounds) of undeclared gold into the country's main airport in Dhaka, according to officials in Bangladesh.  North Korean officials could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, state media in the largely isolated communist country has not yet reported on the incident.  Kazi Muhammad Ziauddin, a top official in Bangladesh's customs agency, told CNN his officers discovered the gold on the afternoon of March 5th, after the diplomat arrived on a Singapore Airlines flight.  How do you hide 59 pounds of gold?  I'm relieved.  These people are more incompetent than I thought.

March 22, 2015       Permalink

DEPARTMENT OF MISEDUCATION – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Another great moment when good kids aren't allowed to be good.  From WHDH: 

LEXINGTON, Mass. (WHDH) - A debate over a themed dance is sparking controversy at Lexington High School.

Students said the administration canceled an "American Pride" dance because it excluded other nationalities, despite the theme getting the most votes from the dance committee.

School officials defended their decision and added they are willing to tweak the theme in order for everyone to be included.

“Given the diverse demography of our community it was suggested by the advisers that the students come maybe national pride theme so they could represent their individual nationalities,” Assistant Superintendent Carol Pilarski said.

"People consider America to be a melting pot, so the fact that it was even considered offensive is what people are a little surprised about," said student Sneha Rao.

The "National Pride" dance was rescheduled for late April and students can wear red, white and blue if they choose to.

COMMENT:  We have pathetic educators because we have pathetic colleges and universities that turn them out.  Maybe the parents of Lexington, one of the great names in American history, will rise up and end this nonsense.

March 22, 2015        Permalink

A FURTHER REMINDER – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:   Our people are in constant danger from Islamism.  Oh, excuse me.  They're in constant danger from people who misuse Islam, but who really aren't Islamic, and, however misguided they are, we must still understand their frustrations, brought about my American imperialism and and pharmaceutical companies.  So there.  From The Washington Times: 

A group affiliated with the Islamic State published a list of addresses purportedly belonging to about 100 U.S. service members late Friday night, calling for their beheadings.

The self-identified “Islamic State Hacking Division” claimed to have obtained the information by hacking into military servers, databases and emails, The Blaze reported Saturday.

The online document contains names and photos along with some of the addresses.

“[W]e have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers residing in America can deal with you,” the group warned, The Blaze reported.

“Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe,” the “Islamic State Hacking Division” added.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defense told the website that the U.S. military was investigating the matter but could not confirm that the list was authentic.

COMMENT:  Do not forget that a British soldier was executed on the streets of London.  Our service people are often in uniform, even when off base.  We should take this very seriously.  We had, in Little Rock, five or six years ago, the execution of a recruiting officer by an Islamist.  It's been forgotten, naturally.  But eternal vigilance must be practiced. 

March 22, 2015       Permalink

A REMINDER – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  The temporary American president has been in full appeasement mode recently, groveling to the thugs who run Iran while bashing the re-elected prime minister of Israel.  It's a pathetic sight.  And this is the result.  From AP and AFP: 

Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei called for “Death to America” on Saturday, a day after President Barack Obama appealed to Iran to seize a “historic opportunity” for a nuclear deal and a better future, and as US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed substantial progress toward an accord.

Khamenei told a crowd in Tehran that Iran would not capitulate to Western demands. When the crowd started shouting, “Death to America,” the ayatollah responded: “Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of this pressure.

“They insist on putting pressure on our dear people’s economy,” he said, referring to economic sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear program. “What is their goal? Their goal is to put the people against the system,” he said. “The politics of America is to create insecurity,” he added, referring both to US pressure on Iran and elsewhere in the region.

Khamenei’s comments contrasted with those of Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who said “achieving a deal is possible” by the March 31 target date for a preliminary accord.

Khamenei is the boss of bosses.  He decides.  Has Obama figured that out?

Kerry was more circumspect, as he spoke to reporters after six days of negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne. The talks, made “substantial progress,” he said, but “important gaps" remain.

COMMENT:  It would be better at this point if the talks collapsed.  Then we could clearly see the fantasy of a "moderate" Iran, spread by Obama, his Iranian-born guru, Valerie Jarrett, and journalistic front operators like Iranian-born Christiane Amanpour.  My fear is that Obama will collapse, make any concessions to get a piece of paper, than drag out his Neville Chamberlain umbrella and do a chorus of "Singin' in the Rain."

March 22,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 21,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET: 

FEWER AND FEWER – From AP:  "IOTO, Japan (AP) — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II.  More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island's Japanese defenders in early 1945."  The youngest veteran of World War II would today be 85.  Pretty soon, they will almost all be gone, and our direct link with that magnificent generation will be lost.  We are not doing enough to teach young people what they sacrificed, and accomplished. 

A REAL STAR – From Bloomberg:  "John Urschel, an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, recently co-authored a paper in the Journal of Computational Mathematics. It is titled 'A Cascadic Multigrid Algorithm for Computing the Fiedler Vector of Graph Laplacians' and apparently includes 'a cascadic multigrid algorithm for fast computation of the Fiedler vector of a graph Laplacian, namely, the eigenvector corresponding to the second smallest eigenvalue.' I understand close to none of the words in that sentence, which comes from the paper's abstract. I probably never will. The rest of the study is similarly accessible."  Pro football player.  Published mathematician.  How about giving some publicity to this outstanding African American?  It won't happen because the Al Sharpton crowd, and his leftists pals, fear and despise success of any kind.  Goes against the cult of victimization, which keeps them in business.

RIGHT CAUSE, WRONG METHOD – From Fox:  "PATNA, India – About 600 high school students in eastern India have been expelled for cheating on pressure-packed 10th grade examinations this week, education authorities said Friday.  The incident has received widespread attention after Indian television footage showed parents and friends of students scaling the outer walls of school buildings to pass cheat sheets to students inside taking exams.  More than 1.4 million 10th graders are taking the tests at more than 1,200 high schools across the state. They face tremendous pressure because they must pass the exams to continue their education.  Teachers and state education department officials supervising the examination caught hundreds of students who had smuggled in text books or scraps of paper for cheating."  The passion for education is wonderful, the cheating is not.  But at least the parents care.

March 21, 2015     Permalink

THE RECKLESS PARTY – AT 12:02 P.M. ET:  Once again the Washington Post shows that, while its editorial page is generally liberal, it is also independent and often fearless.  Compare please with the party-line editorial page of The New York Times, which is getting closer and closer to the maturity level of the Weekly Reader. 

Today the Washington Post nails the deterioration of the Democratic Party: 

DEMOCRATS WHO have been filibustering the Senate’s consideration of legislation to combat human trafficking cited concerns with language they claimed would greatly expand the reach of Hyde Amendment restrictions on abortion. But when John Cornyn (R-Tex.), chief sponsor of the trafficking bill and Senate majority whip, offered a compromise that would seem to answer their stated objections, it was rejected out of hand. Perhaps Democrats thought they could score political points, or maybe they didn’t want to anger their traditional allies in the abortion rights lobby. Either way, it became depressingly clear that what they weren’t thinking about was the needs of vulnerable people, mostly young women and girls, who are the victims of sex trafficking.

The stalemate over the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 has now occupied two weeks, and with the Senate next set to take up the budget, it’s unclear when — or how — the impasse will be resolved. At issue in the legislation, which had been expected to glide through the Senate with bipartisan support, is a provision — backed by Republicans and initially overlooked by Democrats — that would prohibit a new trafficking-victims compensation fund from being used for abortions save for exceptions covered by the Hyde Amendment. Democrats didn’t like the application of Hyde restrictions to funds that are not taxpayer dollars — the compensation fund was to be drawn from criminal fines — and they objected to the anti-abortion provision being in place for five years.

Mr. Cornyn responded by offering to create the compensation fund with an annual congressional appropriation drawing on the fines. Since all such appropriations are already covered by the Hyde Amendment, there would be no change in the political status quo on abortion. “Can they take yes for an answer?” asked Mr. Cornyn on Thursday, contending, “We’ve made a proposal to them to give them what they’ve asked for.” The answer was no.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's worth it.  The once-great Democratic Party has become a joke, a party that today wouldn't let Roosevelt, Truman or Kennedy in its front door.   It's become a party of petty interest groups, each protecting its own turf, and to hell with the nation.  What a comedown.

March 21, 2015       Permalink

ANOTHER FAMOUS VICTORY – AT 11:15 A.M. ET:  Chalk it up to the brilliance of Field Marshal Obama.  The last American troops are leaving Yemen, which the field marshal described last September as a great success story.  They aren't exactly leaving.  They're essentially being driven out by the violent chaos that has descended on Yemen.  From CNN:

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN)  The U.S. military is in the process of evacuating about 100 Special Operations forces members from the Al Anad airbase in Yemen due to that country's deteriorating security situation, sources in the region familiar with the situation told CNN.

Those being evacuated are the last American troops stationed in the Arab nation, which is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist group also known as AQAP. The United States closed its embassy in Sanaa last month, after Houthi rebels took over the Yemeni capital.

For years, the U.S. military has worked closely with Yemen's government to go after AQAP, together carrying out numerous attacks like the 2011 drone strike that killed prominent al Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki. And U.S. President Barack Obama has hailed this cooperation as a pillar in his anti-terrorism campaign.

"Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or a island of stability," Obama said in January, promoting the policy of "partnering and intelligence-sharing with that local government" as the best approach in a bad situation.

"The alternative would be for us to play whack-a-mole every time there is a terrorist actor inside of any given country," the President said.

But while there have been drone strikes as recently as last month, these cooperative efforts have been hampered by Yemen's growing difficulty in maintaining unity and peace. These include the rise of the Houthis, their battles with forces loyal to ousted President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and the presence of not only al Qaeda fighters but other militants.

On Friday, for instance, ISIS purportedly claimed responsibility for bombings at two mosques in Sanaa what, if true, would mark that group's first large-scale attack in Yemen. The claim came in a statement posted on a site that previously carried ISIS proclamations, but couldn't be immediately authenticated by CNN.

COMMENT:  Maybe the president could take time out from his anti-Israel campaign and concentrate on America's enemies.  It would be change we could believe in.

March 21, 2015        Permalink

FRANCE BUCKING NUCLEAR DEAL – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  France, like Israel, is not pleased with the nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran.  We see that Israel is already paying a price.  We wonder what price France will pay.  Valerie Jarrett will think of something.

But we hope France remains brave.  The deal under discussion, as leaked to the press, is no deal at all.  It will lead to Iran getting the bomb, and may simply delay that step for a time.  From Reuters: 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - France's foreign minister said on Saturday that his country wanted an agreement over Iran's nuclear program that was sufficiently robust to guarantee that Tehran could not acquire an atomic bomb.

"France wants an agreement, but a robust one that really guarantees that Iran can have access to civilian nuclear power, but not the atomic bomb," Laurent Fabius told Europe 1 radio.

Iran and six world powers suspended negotiations on a nuclear agreement on Friday and are set to meet again next week to break a deadlock over sensitive atomic research and lifting of sanctions.

France has been demanding more stringent restrictions on the Iranians under any deal than the other Western delegations, officials said.

Earlier this week French diplomats questioned the optimism expressed by Iranian officials that negotiations over its nuclear program have neared a critical breakthrough.

Iranian Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi’s assertion that 90 percent of technical issues in the talks have been agreed upon is “not correct,” one European official told journalists in Lausanne on Thursday.

Fabius has been the most vocally critical of the state of talks in recent days.

“Contrary to what many think, that we are only discussing one issue, it is not correct,” the diplomat told reporters. “We are discussing many issues and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

He said research and development on centrifuges is one of many issues still log-jamming the talks.

COMMENT:  I suppose there'll be some threats directed at France by the Obama White House.  Please recall that Obama was the only Western leader not to show up at the anti-terror march in Paris. 

I believe that Obama thinks that his place in history will be protected by left-wing historians in the universities.  He may well be right, at least in the short term.  But I fear that our children and grandchildren will pay a terrible price for this administration.

March 21,  2015     Permalink