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MAY 26,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:04 P.M. ET: 

IRAN DEAL DELAYED? – From AP:  "France’s ambassador to the US said Tuesday that world powers and Iran will probably miss an end-of-June deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, as his German and British counterparts warned the sanctions against Tehran could crumble if no deal was reached.  Gerard Araud said it’s 'very likely' there will be no deal in the next five weeks, or even afterward.  He said much technical work remains, meaning any understanding reached could just be 'fuzzy air.'"  The Iranians really have us.  As each week goes by without an agreement, they will do what they wish in terms of developing nuclear weapons.  Yet, if we sign a week agreement, the only kind the Iranians will allow, it will provide a route for them to have the bomb anyway.  Nice going, Barack.

THE PARTY LINE – We reported this morning on the carnage in both Chicago and Baltimore over the Memorial Day weekend.  Together, the cities accounted for 21 homicides.  Now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced, apparently after deep thought, that what Chicago needs to stem the violence is...more gun control.  The city already has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, but they haven't done a thing to control the violence.  Of course, as usual, the people who pulled the trigger are never blamed.  That would be insensitive to the "community."

MOGUL NEWS – From CNN:  "A new billionaire was created almost every week in China in the first quarter of 2015, according to a report by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Wealth creation is booming for the Chinese -- supported by strong economic growth and robust capital markets -- and it's all happened in the last 15 years, said Francis Liu, a managing director at UBS Wealth Management.  They're primarily pulling in the big bucks from real estate, technology, healthcare and other consumer industries, he said.  In 2014, there were about 200 billionaires in China, versus 570 in the U.S., according to UBS."  I'm glad we're still ahead in something.

MORE MOGUL NEWS – From the College Fix:  "Arizona State University gave $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation for hosting a Clinton Global Initiative University event on the Tempe campus in 2014, The Arizona Republic reports.  Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton all headlined the three-day meeting, which encourages student attendees to pledge themselves to causes such as education, climate change, human rights, poverty, and public health, the initiative’s website states.  'Student attendees had the opportunity to attend … working sessions and other special events covering topics across CGI U’s five focus areas and allowing them to network with their peers, build skills, and identify potential partnerships,' the initiative’s website states. 'Youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities joined students at the CGI U meeting to help them gain the skills and knowledge needed to take action.'  ASU spokesman Mark Johnson told The Arizona Republic in an e-mailed statement that the money used to pay for the event did not come from publicly funded coffers, but rather other parts of the university’s budget, such as tuition, private donations and grants."  I'm sure the students paying their parents' incomes in tuition are just thrilled at this use of funds.  That $500,000 would have paid for 50 students getting $10,000 merit scholarships.

May 26, 2015       Permalink

UTTERLY CHILLING – AT 11:47 A.M. ET:   This is an expansion of our earlier report of claims by ISIS that it could soon acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.  The additional detail is chilling.  There is no independent reporting to back up these claims, but, given the history of ISIS, I'd take the claims very seriously.  From PressTV of Iran: 

The ISIL terrorist group claims that it has enough money to buy a nuclear weapon from Pakistan and carry out an attack inside the United States next year.

The group said in an article in its English-language online magazine Dabiq that the weapon could be smuggled into the United States via its southern border with Mexico.

British journalist John Cantlie wrote in the article ISIL “has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah (Province) in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.”

“The weapon is then transported overland until it makes it to Libya, where the mujahidin move it south to Nigeria,” the journalist said.

He added that “drug shipments from Columbia bound for Europe pass through West Africa, so moving other types of contraband from East to West is just as possible.”

Cantlie continued the weapon and accompanying radicals would then move up through Central America and Mexico before entering the US.

"From there it's a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and hey presto, they're mingling with another 12 million 'illegal' aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk," he wrote.

"Perhaps such a scenario is far-fetched but it's the sum of all fears for Western intelligence agencies and it's infinitely more possible today than it was just one year ago,” Cantlie said.

Cantlie is a photojournalist who was abducted in Syria by ISIL in November 2012. He has appeared in several videos since his abduction and criticized Western powers.

COMMENT:  Nice, huh?  And yes, despite the propagandistic tone of the article, it is more realistic today than last year.  And in five years it will be very realistic. 

But still, our borders are porous, and we have a president who is indifferent at best.

May 26, 2015       Permalink

JAPAN GETS READY – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  For decades Japan tried to avoid greater involvement in military affairs.  With the rise of China and the weakening of America, that is no longer possible.  Japan is now rising, once more, as a military power, although it remains discreet in its public acknowledgment of the change.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Japan will join a major U.S.-Australian military exercise for the first time in a sign of growing security links between the three countries as tensions fester over China’s island building in the South China Sea.

While only 40 Japanese officers and soldiers will take part in drills involving 30,000 U.S. and Australian troops in early July, experts said the move showed how Washington wanted to foster cooperation among its security allies in Asia.

The Talisman Sabre biennial exercises, to be held in locations around Australia, will encompass maritime operations, amphibious landings, special forces tactics and urban warfare.

“I think the U.S. is trying to get its allies to do more,” said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

“There is an obvious symmetry between Japan as the upper anchor of the Western Pacific alliance and … Australia as the southern anchor.”

All three nations have said they were concerned about freedom of movement through the seas and air in the disputed South China Sea, where China is creating seven artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, a vital shipping corridor.

COMMENT:   This year Japan will place in service a large helicopter carrier.  It is expanding its submarine fleet.  Some expansion of its military may require changes in the constitution of the country, imposed on Japan after World War II to prevent it from becoming a threatening power again. 

May 26, 2015       Permalink

AIR FORCE WARNING – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  I guess this member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will get in trouble, but we're grateful for his warning.  From Fox: 

Will US continue to have air superiority over its enemies?

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gen. Mark Welsh, the head of the U.S. Air Force, warns that severe defense budget cuts will impact U.S. air superiority against enemies that the nation may not be thinking about right now.

“China and Russia are two good examples of countries who will be fielding capability in the next three to five years; if they stay on track, that is better than what we currently have in many areas,” Welsh said during a three-day visit to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

“Fighter aircraft in the next three to five years that have more capability than what we currently have sitting on the ramp. The F-35 will stay a generation ahead of them. F-22 will, too. Everything else we have will not stay ahead. The gap has closed.”

And...

“By 8 to 10 years from now, we could be facing as many as 50 countries who use Russian and Chinese top-end fighters today,” Welsh said. When asked how much of Russia and China’s innovations in fighter jet technology is based on stolen U.S. technology, Welsh just smiled.

"When you look at pictures you go, ‘man -- that looks familiar,’" Welsh said during the interview with Fox.

And budget cuts have trimmed more than planes.

“We are 200,000 people fewer in the active component. That's 40 percent less than we were during the first Gulf War. It's a dramatically different Air Force," Welsh explained.

“We have to stop this drawdown and build a red line right now in the size of the active force.”

COMMENT:  The numbers are scary.  They reflect the general weakening of this country in many areas.

If Democrats win the White House again, the weakening will continue.  Those who control the Democratic Party want to see defense cut to the bone, the money shifted into "social programs" that rarely work.  And I must point to Republicans here as well.  A disturbing number of Congressional Republicans seem to be remarkably indifferent to our weakening defense, focusing instead on budget cuts and tax policy.  The age of Reagan is fading.

May 26, 2015       Permalink

A WEEKEND – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  It was a Memorial Day weekend for most of us, but Silvio Canto Jr. refers us to news dispatches showing that, in Chicago and Baltimore, it was a weekend of the usual combat.  From CBS Chicago: 

Twelve people were killed and at least 43 — including a 4-year-old girl — were wounded in shootings across Chicago this Memorial Day weekend, police said.

The 4-year-old, identified by her family as Jacele Johnson, was shot about 8 p.m. Friday in the West Englewood neighborhood. She and her 17-year-old cousin Romare Wilson were inside an SUV in the 7000 block of South Justine when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to their family and Chicago Police.

The girl was shot in the head and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, authorities said. She has since been upgraded to fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday morning.

The teen was shot in the chest and grazed by a bullet in the neck. He was in serious condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. A 15-year-old girl standing on a sidewalk nearby was shot in the forehead and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition stabilized, police said.

The weekend’s most recent fatal shooting happened Monday night in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, police said. About 7:50 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot in the back and the leg in the 4900 block of West Erie, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died. The Cook County medical examiner’s office could not confirm the death Monday night.

And from CBS Baltimore: 

BALTIMORE (WJZ) – It’s the deadliest month Baltimore has seen in more than 15 years. More than two dozen shootings over the holiday weekend alone have city police working around the clock.

Now, leaders hope community members come forward to help stop the violence.

From West Baltimore, to the East Side, Govans, to Reservoir Hill–a spike in weekend violence is plaguing all parts of the city. Over the Memorial Day Weekend alone– city police report 28 shootings and 9 homicides.

Baltimore Police say they responded to 6 shootings on Friday night, 7 on Saturday, 5 on Sunday and 10 by night fall on Monday.

One of those include a double shooting in which a 9-year-old boy was found shot in the leg and a man who suffered a grazed wound to his head.

COMMENT:  Where is the passion?  Where is the anger?  Despite the news media's trying to avoid the issue of race, it's obvious from other sources that these are largely, possibly completely, black-on-black crimes, leaving innocent African-American children dead in the streets.

Perhaps the attorney-general of the United States will demonstrate some interest.

Maybe the mayor of Baltimore, who shot off her mouth regularly over the recent police incident, might take some action.

I thought black lives mattered.  They apparently matter only when they're politically useful.  It is a typical approach of the political left – a human being is only a political object.  Recall please the slogan, "The personal is political."  You're seeing it played out.

May 26,  2015     Permalink

MAY 25,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

APPROPRIATE? – Michelle Obama gave an address at Oberlin College in Ohio today, delivering a fairly standard liberal message.  Oberlin is one of the most reliably left-wing colleges in the country.  What struck me, though, was that Oberlin's graduation was held on Memorial Day.  Entirely inappropriate, in my view, but the kind of insensitivity we've come to expect from liberals.  I'm sure the trendy college could have given out diplomas on some other day.

HOLLYWOOD DIVES – From showbiz411:  "This weekend’s box office will be the worst for a Memorial Day since 2001. 'Tomorrowland,' a bad movie, narrowly edged out hold over 'Pitch Perfect 2.' An unnecessary remake of 'Poltergeist' was a close third. Surprisingly, 'Mad Max: Fury Road' has not proven to be a blockbuster, although it’s doing ok. Theaters are living on the dribs and drabs of 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' and 'Furious 7' for audiences.  The movie business is now consumed with Marvel and DC comics movies. And sequels to things no one liked in the first place. Instead of the potentially great new filmmakers being encouraged to make new films, brave new worlds, the money is entrapping them in this stuff. What a shame. What happened to originality? The studios are too scared to get involved in it. And the movie audience has other things to do, apparently."  Good analysis of a fading industry. 

NO BRAVE NEW ROAD – From Daily Caller:  "President Obama’s promise to have 1 million electric or hybrid cars on the road by 2015 has been an abysmal failure, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg, as private and government purchases of such vehicles have only reached 31 percent of the president’s original goal.  Obama made his promise in 2009, but as it became clear electric and hybrid car sales would never reach one million units the president scaled back his ambitions in March. Though, Obama has failed to even meet his scaled back goals, according to Bloomberg.  'The U.S. bought about 24,816 electric and hybrid vehicles during Obama’s presidency, or about 7 percent of government purchases in that time,' according to government data obtained by Bloomberg. 'U.S. consumers bought about 286,814 of those models from 2009 to 2014, or 3 percent of overall sales.'"  Watch.  They'll try to make it mandatory for us. 

May 25, 2015       Permalink

THE DOCTOR IS IN – AT 12:15 P.M. ET:  I'm amazed at Ben Carson.  I don't think he'll get the Republican presidential nomination, but his guts and idealism are something to behold.  And he makes an impression.  Vice president perhaps?  From The Politico: 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ben Carson won the straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference on Saturday, demonstrating his popularity among conservative activists at one of the party’s traditional presidential cattle-call events.

Carson, a former surgeon who formally launched his underdog campaign this month with an appeal to the GOP’s tea party wing, finished with 25 percent. He was followed by Scott Walker, who received 20 percent, and Ted Cruz at 16 percent. Chris Christie and Rick Perry tied at 5 percent. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal and Rand Paul each received 4 percent.

The straw poll victory doesn’t necessarily represent a breakthrough for Carson. Carson and Cruz, both middle-of-the-pack candidates in the early 2016 polls, mounted serious efforts to win the straw poll, but most candidates did not compete. They hoped it would give them badly needed momentum as they compete against a sprawling field of better-known and better-funded rivals. Four years ago here, Mitt Romney notched a narrow, one-vote win over Ron Paul.

COMMENT:  What candidates are shooting for right now on the GOP side is poll standing, which will determine whether they're included in the opening presidential debates.  There are something like 19 possible candidates, and no debate is possible with that number.  The powers, both TV and political, are now determining a formula for deciding who will be in, and who won't make the cut.

I fear that we may miss out on some real gems, like Dr. Carson, simply because of poll standing.  It's a reflection of the Republican Party's embarrassment of riches. 

May 25, 2015       Permalink

BUSH DID NOT LIE – AT 11:44 A.M. ET:  One of the most wrenching things about Memorial Day is thinking that some of the men and women who have died for us may have died in vain...because of deception.  We have, for example, been told by certain observers that President George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction to get us involved in Iraq.

But Bob Woodward, who has been remarkably independent in his journalistic career, has done the journalistic research, and now assures us that Bush did not lie.  Two Congressional committees, bipartisan, came to the same conclusion, but the Democrats have persisted over the years in spreading the myth.  From Newsmax: 

Former President George W. Bush did not lie about the presence of weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq War, journalist Bob Woodward said Sunday.

The argument has been used for years by Democrats and other detractors, but Woodward said on "Fox News Sunday" that his own 18-month investigation showed that Bush was actually skeptical that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had WMDs as Saddam claimed.

Though plenty of mistakes were made in the invasion of Iraq, Bush actually told CIA Director George Tenet, "Don’t let anyone stretch the case on WMD," Woodward said.

The reason the United States went into Iraq was "momentum," he said.

"That war plan kept getting better and easier, and finally at the end people were saying, 'Hey, look, it'll only take a week or two.'"

Though it can be argued the war was a mistake, Woodward told host Chris Wallace, "there was no lie in this that I could find."

As for President Barack Obama's decision to leave no residual force behind when American troops left Iraq in December 2011, Woodward indicated it would have been better to have left 10,000-15,000 troops behind as "an insurance policy" as military commanders suggested.

"We have 30,000 troops or more in South Korea still, 65 years or so after the war," Woodward said. "When you’re a superpower, you have to buy these insurance policies, and he didn’t in this case. I don’t think you can say everything is because of that decision — but clearly a factor."

COMMENT:  I very much like Woodward's use of the term "insurance policies."  That's exactly what our troop commitments around the world are.  The insurance policies we took out in Europe, Korea and Japan have paid off very handsomely.  I'm not so sure the current administration realizes or respects past successes.  Obama's chaotic withdrawal from the Mideast, and his indulgence of Russian President Putin, indicates that our insurance policies are being cashed in, for very little return.

May 25, 2015        Permalink

MEMORIAL DAY – AT 11:24 A.M. ET:  We don't celebrate Memorial Day.  We observe it.  And I do believe, despite all the cynicism, that there are millions of Americans of all ages who do understand the meaning of this day.

I was particularly struck by comments of a Medal of Honor recipient, Ryan Pitts, invited to give the commencement address at the University of New Hampshire, his alma mater.  I was, first of all, surprised that a soldier would be asked to deliver a commencement address without a revolt by the faculty.  Maybe Pitts's alumnus status immunized him.  He spoke appropriate words: 

“Valor was everywhere that day,” he said Saturday, before drawing a moral for young people about to embark on their careers: “Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to move forward in the face of it. There is beauty in this definition, because courage can exist in the decisions we make every day. Courage exists in the individual who accepts who they are and openly lives the life they want in the face of rejection. Courage exists in those who challenge their own perceptions in the face of accepting they are not infallible. Be courageous and appreciate courage in others who take action in the face of fear.”

He closed by saying: “The last thought I will leave you with is more a matter of character. Never forget those who helped you reach where you are.”

Then he named the men who died that morning, eight on Topside and one in the village of Wanat: “ Sergio Abad, Jonathan Ayers, Jason Bogar, Jonathan Brostrom, Israel Garcia, Jason Hovater, Matthew Phillips, Pruitt Rainey and Gunnar Zwilling. The advice here is simple: Appreciate the contributions of others and the impacts they make in your life. That’s it.”

COMMENT:  We still have great men and great women, and, if challenged again, they will rise to the challenge.  Even the age of Obama will not deter them.

May 25,  2015     Permalink