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NOVEMBER 9,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:15 P.M. ET: 

SPORTSMANSHIP – From Fox:   In a devastatingly critical report, a World Anti-Doping Agency panel accused Russia on Monday of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups by track and field athletes during the 2012 London Olympics and other major events, and said they should all be banned from competition until the country cleans up its act.  WADA commission leader Dick Pound says Russia seems to have been running a "state-supported" doping program, adding, "I don't think there's any other possible conclusion."  The commission's report said the London Games were sabotaged because track's governing body and Russia's anti-doping authority didn't take doping seriously enough and allowed runners to compete who should not have.  I'm shocked, shocked, to find out that the Russians, even after Hillary Clinton reset our relations with them, would do something like this.  It must be a mistake.

THE FRENCH HAVE THEIR STANDARDS – From AFP:  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be making state visits to Italy and France next week, becoming the first Iranian president to travel to Europe in a decade, the state news agency IRNA reported Monday...According to French media, a state dinner between Rouhani and President Francois Hollande to wrap up the visit was canceled following disagreement about the presence of alcohol during the planned meal. The French are notorious for consuming alcohol, generally wine, with their evening meals.  Iranian representatives asked for a halal menu, with food and drink according to Muslim dietary laws, which forbid alcohol, but were rebuffed by the French, who did not want to have to forgo their “traditions,” according to French radio outlet RTL.  A breakfast meeting was then suggested but scrapped by the Iranians who said it was “too cheap,” according to the report.  Every act of standing up to Iran counts.  I guess the French drew a wine line in the sand.

INCREDIBLE – From Fox:   A former San Francisco police chief and vocal supporter of a sanctuary cities policy is on a short list of candidates to become the new chief of the Border Patrol, according to sources.  As police chief, Heather Fong shielded illegal immigrants, including aliens who committed crimes, from deportation. In contrast, it is the job of the U.S. Border Patrol to catch and deport all illegal immigrants, including those with a criminal history.  "If they bring (a police chief) in for political purposes based on the sanctuary cities model, that politicizes the job and I think it completely undermines credibility and morale in the organization," House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News.  "If you have someone who is advocating for sanctuary cities, that's the opposite side. They welcome these illegal immigrants to stay in the country. And so I think it's at cross-purpose with the mission itself."  This would be like making Bill Clinton the head of the Girl Scouts. 

November 9, 2015     Permalink

MADNESS – AT 11:22 A.M. ET:  We're in a new era of racial agitation, much of it thoroughly misguided.  Young minority kids aren't being taught the things that will move them ahead.  They're being taught the things that will keep them where they are.  Get this, from the New York Post: 

In an online rant, a Bronx public school principal has likened standardized testing to slavery, redlining and crack cocaine in damaging the lives of minorities.

“Public school high-stakes standardized testing is a form of modern-day slavery, and it is designed to continue the proliferation of inequality,” Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School Principal Jamaal Bowman says in an Aug. 31 blog entry titled “The Tyranny of Standardized Testing.”

No, my friend.  Testing has been a means by which many groups have gotten a step up. 

“America was born of horror for black people and that horror continues today for brown and poor people as well. Slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, crack cocaine and now standardized testing were all sanctioned by the American government. All designed to destroy the mind, body and soul of black and brown people.”

Bowman blamed the US government for perpetuating a “legacy of oppression” — with the Obama administration adopting the Race to the Top program that prodded states to use student exam results to evaluate teachers and promote charter schools.

COMMENT:  So Obama isn't pro-black enough?  This is completely crazy, but it's the kind of logic that's spreading, much as it did in the 1960s.  You can only imagine the effect this has on minority students, who have to enter the real world thoroughly unprepared by so-called "educators."

November 9, 2015       Permalink

REPEAT AFTER ME:  "THERE'S NO BIAS IN THE PRESS" – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:   Only seven percent of journalists are Republicans.  Doesn't mean a thing, does it?  From the Washington Times:

A mere 7 percent of journalists identify as Republicans, and when they do give money to political campaigns they usually donate to Democrats, lending evidence to Republican presidential candidates’ claims that they are facing a hostile audience when they deal with the press.

As Republican candidates prepare for their fourth debate of the primary season Tuesday in Milwaukee, the people doing the questioning are increasingly in the spotlight, with their motives being questioned by the campaigns, voters and even by their fellow journalists.

And self-proclaimed Democratic journalists outnumber Republicans by 4-to-1, according to research by Lars Willnat and David Weaver, professors of journalism at Indiana University. They found 28 percent of journalists call themselves Democrats, while just 7 percent call themselves Republicans — though both numbers are down from the 1970s. Those identifying as independent have grown.

Among Washington correspondents, the ones who dominate national political coverage, it’s even more skewed, said Tim Groseclose, author of “Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind.” More than 90 percent of D.C. journalists vote Democratic, with an even higher number giving to Democrats or liberal-leaning political action committees, the author said.

COMMENT:  That's pretty much what I'd expect.  It's always been the case that Democrats dominated the class of working journalists.  In the 1930s, the overwhelming majority of newspapers were Republican on their editorial pages, reflecting the beliefs of the owners.  But the reporters were mostly Democrats, making it possible for FDR to get a good break on the news pages, even as he was lambasted in the editorials.

November 9, 2015       Permalink 

THE MEETING – AT 10:05 A.M. ET:  Big meeting today between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  The two can't stand each other, and I think Obama's devotion to the security of Israel is about as great as his devotion to other American allies.  They all feel the chill.

The advance word is that the two antagonists will try to get beyond their bitter disagreement over the Iran nuclear deal.  You may be sure that Hillary is putting heat on the White House not to get into another scrap with Israel, as she needs the support of the pro-Israel community, which isn't completely sold on her.  From WaPo: 

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to move beyond the nasty public clash over the Iran nuclear deal and restore a more transactional approach to the U.S.-Israeli relationship — including delicate conversations about possible expansion of military aid — when they meet in Washington on Monday.

Though they have sharply differing views on how to handle the current geopolitics of the Middle East and a history of sour relations, Obama and Netanyahu both are looking to set a course for the last year of the Obama presidency, which will also represent another critical period for Israeli security.

The leaders plan to discuss how to counter Iranian aid to Hezbollah and Hamas; the Russian and Iranian efforts to prop up Syrian President Bashar ­al-Assad; and steps that might demonstrate Netanyahu’s commitment to a two-state solution even in the absence of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

The most tangible piece of the agenda, however, is a 10-year memorandum of understanding on military cooperation between the two countries that would budget aid and lock in a plan for new weaponry to deal with what the administration agrees is a “dangerous neighborhood.”

The two leaders are being propelled by different forces. By reaffirming support for Israel’s security, Obama is seeking to reassure Democrats who reluctantly backed the Iran deal despite their strong support for Israel and misgivings about the nature of the Iranian regime.

COMMENT:  Ever since the Iran deal was finalized, Iran has been on its worst behavior, with regular verbal attacks on the United States.  Some Democrats, facing election next year, are already distancing themselves from a deal they voted for. 

Netanyahu, highly regarded as a spokesman for Israel, and for freedom generally, is also a less-than-stellar diplomat.  Obama, of course, is no diplomat at all.  This should be a very interesting meeting.  It's made more interesting by the fact that Netanyahu spent his early years in the United States, whereas Obama spent his early years in Indonesia. 

November 9, 2015       Permalink 

OBAMA THE POL – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  A remarkable edition of "Meet the Press" yesterday exploded the myth of an all-powerful Obama political machine.  From the Washington Free Beacon:

Meet The Press host Chuck Todd and his Sunday panelists outlined the Democratic Party’s heavy losses under the Obama administration, with guest Marc Caputo saying the idea of the “Obama political machine” was a “lie” that couldn’t win without him on a ballot.

Under Obama, Democrats have lost 13 Senate seats and 69 House seats in Congress, and the results are even more staggering on a local level. Democrats have lost 12 governorships, including Kentucky last week with the election of Matt Bevin, 30 state legislative chambers and more than 900 state legislative seats. That’s the worst showing for an incumbent president’s party since the Richard Nixon years, due to the taint of Watergate.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said the Democrats were getting “smoked” by Republicans strategically, although she appeared to bring it all back to gerrymandering without actually saying it.

“What’s happening is the Democratic Party is getting smoked strategically by the Republican Party,” Maddow said. “They invested heavily, particularly in advance of the 2010 cycle, in winning state legislative seats all across the country that nobody in the national press cared about. They flipped enough of them to flip enough legislatures to flip the congressional map that locks it in for a decade, and the Republicans are thinking that way. Democrats just aren’t.”

Politico reporter Marc Caputo said the idea of the Barack Obama political machine was nonsense.

“The Barack Obama political machine and oh, we’re big data? It’s a lie,” Caputo said. “The Obama political machine without Obama is no machine. They don’t win. That was a largely personality-based campaign in two different cycles.”

Also, Caputo said, Obama simply is not very popular.

COMMENT:  I hope they're right.  Republicans have done very well in state and district elections.  It's the presidency that is tough for them, and that's the greatest prize.  Obama has been elected twice.  Before that, Republican George W. Bush barely won the 2000 and 2004 elections.  Before that was the Democratic Clinton era.  The only time in recent history in which Republicans had a decisive grip on the White House was the age of Reagan. 

Right now, I don't see a Reagan-like candidate emerging.  Add to that the bold press bias that any Republican will face.  It won't be easy next year, but it can be done, if Republicans nominate a solid candidate and stop fighting with each other.

November 9,  2015    Permalink 

NOVEMBER 8,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

OBAMA AND THE REAL PEOPLE – From the Washington Times:  President Obama’s relationship with blue-collar unions has hit an all-time low, with several powerful labor groups ripping into the administration — and the Democratic Party as a whole — for its rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and its promotion of the highly controversial trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Mr. Obama’s decision to reject Keystone on environmental grounds, which he announced Friday after a review process that lasted nearly seven years, deeply angered the president’s traditional supporters in the labor movement.  In addition to unprecedented verbal criticism of Mr. Obama — including from the Laborers' International Union of North America, which branded the president “cowardly” and his actions “shameful” — other unions hinted that they may rethink their support for Democrats in 2016.   This could be a serious problem for Hillary – the return of the Reagan Democrats.  Or, it could provide stimulus for the emergence of an independent candidate.  The Democratic Party has been traditionally contemptuous of many of its own voters.  Some of the voters have noticed.

YA THINK? – They're experimenting again in LaLa Land, trying to show how humane the schools are.  Yeah, right.  Humane for whom?  From AP:   LOS ANGELES — Teachers in the nation's second largest school district say a new policy aimed at reducing suspensions is also having another effect: More unruly students in their classrooms.  Los Angeles Unified School District was the first to ban suspending students for defiance in California and began instituting restorative justice policies that emphasize counseling and conflict resolution.  Teachers now blame LA Unified for failing to provide the necessary staff and training to effectively implement those policies, the Los Angeles Times reports.  Superintendent Ramon Cortines said he agrees: While he supports the discipline policy pushed through by his predecessor, Cortines said the initiative has been poorly executed.  Crime is rising again because the liberals are in charge, and they yearn, with great passion, to return to the wonderful years of the 1960s.  Ah, for the golden days of mass riots and chaos in the schools.  Who could ask for anything more? 

A GOOD RETURN TO THE PAST – Sometimes we use the word "obsolete" too loosely.  There's a phenomenon going on in the music business – the return of vinyl records.  From NBC News:   The entertainment industry always loves a good comeback story, and music's latest resurgence is no exception. Despite an explosion in digital and streaming music — including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and Tidal — consumers are spending more money on vinyl records, and more vinyl buyers are millennials.  In 2014, more than 13 million vinyl long-playing albums, or LPs for short, were sold in America. And the first half of 2015 is showing similar sales strength with more than 9 million LPs sold, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.  The association says the last time it has seen such high LP sales was a quarter century ago, in 1989. At that time, nearly 35 million LPs were sold. Then in 1990, compact disc sales took off, and vinyl sales fell by the wayside.  The current surge in LP sales is partly being driven by younger consumers. Industry researcher MusicWatch reports half of vinyl record buyers are under 25, and men are more likely to buy LPs than are women.  Great.  I'm an old audiophile, and I love vinyl.  There is nothing that sounds as good as a well-made vinyl record.  There is a warmth to the music, and a subtlety, that you can't yet get in digital.  And young people love the large record jackets, the jacket copy, and the art. 

November 8, 2015        Permalink

TRUMP DELIVERS – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Love him or loathe him, Donald Trump does deliver.   He always says he gets the highest ratings, and he proved it last night with his appearance on "Saturday Night Live."  From Entertainment Weekly:

Trump is still bringing the bump.

With Donald Trump hosting, Saturday Night Live jumped to its biggest overnight rating since 2012.

According to NBC, SNL had a whopping 6.6 household rating on Saturday night, easily beating the season’s previous high: the 41st season premiere last month, hosted by Miley Cyrus and with a guest appearance by none other than … Hillary Clinton. In fact, Trump’s overnight rating was 47 percent higher than the Miley/Hillary episode.

The previous high was held by an episode that aired Jan. 7, 2012, hosted by Charles Barkley with musical guest Kelly Clarkson.

Saturday night marked the Republican presidential hopeful’s second time hosting the iconic late-night series. He previously acted as host in 2004 when Trump was still the host of NBC’s The Apprentice.

Trump was pretty confident he’d boost SNL’s numbers. “I get the best ratings,” he reportedly said when asked about the appearance.

The actual number of SNL viewers will be available later in the week. But for point of comparison, the season premiere delivered 6.3 million viewers, so Trump’s episode could be close to 10 million.

Trump, who continues to lead the GOP primary polls, previously fueled an August debate on Fox News Channel to a record 24 million viewers. A September debate on CNN drew an also impressive 23 million viewers.

COMMENT:  It may have just been audience curiosity, but Trump draws them in.  I still resist the idea of him as president – the coarseness of the man turns me off – but he has drawn a great deal of attention to the Republican contest.

November 8, 2015       Permalink

THE BEST MAN – AT 11:26 A.M. ET:  Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is the best man, the best person I should say, in the Obama Administration.   Given his quality, and independence, I have no idea how he got the job.  Maybe Obama had a rare intelligent day. 

Is Carter going rogue?  His comments are far more blunt than those of Field Marshal Obama or Grand Admiral Kerry.  They could easily be made by a Republican secretary of defense.  From Fox: 

Defense Chief Ash Carter on Saturday slammed Russia, saying it's endangering world order through its incursions in Ukraine and loose talk about nuclear weapons, and said the U.S. defense establishment is searching for ways to deter Russian aggression to protect U.S. allies.

Carter, speaking to the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, also expressed concern about China’s expanding influence and growing military might. National security experts and defense officials attended a gathering at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Carter said Russia is undertaking "challenging activities" at sea, in the air, in space and in cyberspace.

"Most disturbing, Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling raises questions about Russian leaders' commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to the brandishing of nuclear weapons," he said.

His remarks were perhaps the strongest he has expressed about America's former Cold War foe.

"We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot, war with Russia," he said. "We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake; the United States will defend our interests, our allies, the principled international order, and the positive future it affords us all."

COMMENT:  Recently, the White House took FBI Drector James Comey to task for daring to suggest that police officers around the country are reluctant to do their jobs fully because of anti-cop agitation in some communities.  Will Carter be next?  Will he be called to one of those White House meetings to "clarify" his views?  I wouldn't be surprised.

November 8, 2015       Permalink

NEAR CERTAINTY – AT 10:50 A.M. ET:  I have the sense that the Americans involved in investigating the presumed bombing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai are getting some pushback from the Obamans in the White House.  Mustn't upset the Muslim extremists, after all.  Obama himself said only it was only a "possibility" that the plane was bombed.  British Prime Minister Cameron was, as usual, far more assertive.  No one takes Obama very seriously any longer.  And the experts on our side are having their say.  From CNN:

(CNN) The United States appears to be increasingly confident that a terrorist bomb brought down the Russian passenger jet that broke apart over Egypt.

The growing belief was indicated by several senior U.S. officials in the intelligence, military and national security community who spoke to CNN on Saturday.

One official said it was "99.9% certain," another said it was "likely."

The remarks are stronger than those made by President Barack Obama Thursday when he said there was "a possibility" a bomb was on Metrojet Flight 9268, which disintegrated over the Sinai Peninsula October 31, killing all 224 people aboard.

The view also contrasts with the cautious stance taken by Egyptian officials, who are in charge of the main investigation into the air crash and insist that no conclusion has been reached yet.

"All the scenarios are out on the table," Ayman al-Muqaddam, the head of the investigation, told reporters Saturday. "We don't know what happened exactly."

COMMENT:  Even the Egyptians have moved on this.  At first they said it was definitiely a mechanical failure that brought the plane down.  But news leaks from France, which is heavily involved in the probe, say that the explosive sound heard in the last seconds of a normal flight was not that of a mechanical breakdown.

November 8,  2015     Permalink