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NOVEMBER 23,  2015

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

DEAR LEADER COMMANDS – From Breitbart:  This Thanksgiving, the Obama administration wants Americans to talk about why Congress won’t pass more gun control – but not about Obama’s foreign policy failures.  During the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest continued to press a narrative set up by gun control activists in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris.  Just remember that.  We'll be checking.  Names will be taken.

YOGA – THREAT TO CIVILIZATION – From Fox:   A yoga instructor who teaches at the University of Ottawa says she is fighting to keep her program alive after the school’s student body suspended it over concerns that “cultural issues” relating to the class could offend students.  Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering free weekly sessions at the university’s Center for Students with Disabilities since 2008, told the Ottawa Sun that she was informed in September that the program would not come back for the fall semester.  In an email exchange between Scharf and a representative of the university’s Student Federation — which was viewed by the newspaper — a student wrote that “while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students… there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice.  “Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced,” the email continues, and which cultures those practices “are being taken from.”  Have you noticed any controversy?  Where is this controversy?  And maybe it's time to have a major conversation about the value of a college education.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BUSINESS – From Fox:   Ahmed Mohamed is looking to strike it rich before the clock strikes midnight on the “clock kid” story.   Attorneys for Mohamed, 14, and his family want $15 million in damages and apologies from several officials stemming from Mohamed’s September 14 arrest, when he brought to school a homemade clock that a teacher flagged as a possible bomb.  “As American citizens, all of us -- even the ones with ‘Muslim-sounding’ names like Ahmed Mohamed -- are entitled to have public officials with whom we come in contact to respect our rights,” a letter addressed to Mohamed’s former school district states.  You'll recall that President Obama, who has nothing better to do, championed Ahmed's case and invited him to the White House.  But money talks and presidents walk.  This is about the bottom line.

AMERICA AT WAR – From the New York Daily News:   Airline and security officials at Kennedy Airport let 150 passengers arriving from an international flight leave the airport without going through customs, the Daily News has learned.  American Airlines Flight 1671 arrived at JFK from Cancun, Mexico, at 8:50 p.m. Friday.  When the plane landed, passengers walked out of the airport without having their passports or bags checked by Customs and Border Protection, sources told The News.  We are vigilant, as Obama defines the word.

November 23, 2015       Permalink

HOW PATHETIC – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:   Field Marshal Obama, fresh from victories only he sees, is warning we mere citizens about getting too upset over ISIS.   From AP:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Trying to reassure a nation on edge, President Barack Obama said Sunday the Islamic State group "cannot strike a mortal blow" against the U.S., and he warned that overreacting to the Paris attacks would play into extremists' hands. "We will destroy this terrorist organization," he vowed.

Ending a trip to Asia, Obama implored Americans not to let the specter of terror cause them to compromise their values or change the way they live.

"We do not succumb to fear," he said. "The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we're not afraid, to not elevate them, to somehow buy into their fantasy that they're doing something important," Obama said, using an acronym for the terrorist organization.

Since IS militants killed 130 in France nine days ago, Obama's strategy has come under repeated questioning. He dismissed the group's global prowess of IS and said, "They're a bunch of killers with good social media."

COMMENT:  What an inspiring commander.  They cannot strike a "mortal blow" against the U.S.?  What about a serious blow, like 3,000 dead, like 9-11?  Enough for you to notice, Mr. President?  Or are you bored?  Maybe another vacation is needed.

November 23, 2015       Permalink

WILL SHE BE THROWN UNDER THE OBAMA BUS? – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:  Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is a Democrat, one of the few in Congress who is also a grown-up.  She is challenging Obama on his view of ISIS.  I hope she watches her back.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein criticized the president's strategy against the Islamic State on Sunday, saying that the terrorist group has grown despite Pentagon claims that it has lost ground.

"What I'm saying is this has gone on too long now and it has not gotten better, it's gotten worse," Feinstein, D-Calif., said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The Pentagon has said that the Islamic State holds less territory in Iraq and Syria today than it did a year ago. While Feinstein said that may be true, "there's much more they have gained in other countries," pointing to recent terrorist attacks in Tunisia.

The Islamic State also recently demonstrated their ability to attack the West with a string of six attacks in Paris earlier this month.

The president has faced criticism, even from members of his own party, for doubling down on his strategy against the Islamic State in the days after the attacks.

"I don't think the approach is sufficient for the job," said Feinstein, a top ranking Senate Democrat who serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "I'm concerned that we don't have the time and we don't have years. We need to be aggressive now."

COMMENT:  Oh Diannne, we hardly knew ye.  I doubt if Dianne will get much support from her party if she decides to run for another Senate term.  The California Democratic Party is slightly to the left of Lenin, and people with Feinstein's background and point of view just aren't wanted any longer.

But we do hear a lot of buzz that many Democrats are fed up with Obama and consider him a danger to the country. 

November 23, 2015        Permalink

HOW CHIC, HOW DARLING – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  Brown University, one of the Ivies, is showing just how trendy it can be.  But adults might have some questions.  From Reuters: 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Brown University has unveiled a $100 million plan aimed at boosting diversity on its Rhode Island campus over the next 10 years, including doubling the number of faculty members from minority and other underrepresented populations.

The plan is spelled out in a 19-page document that Brown President Christina Paxson posted on the Ivy League university's website earlier this week.

"Creating a just and inclusive campus community is key to Brown's ambitions as a university," Paxson. "Legacies of structural racism and discrimination in our society and on our campus undermine our goals of being a diverse, inclusive and academically excellent community."

The move follows a suspected assault earlier this month of a student visiting Brown for a Latino Ivy League conference by a university security officer.

It comes amid a wave of protests on U.S. college and university campuses including Yale University, the University of Missouri and Princeton University, over race issues.

The tumult is building on the Black Lives Matter movement that was sparked last year by the police killings of unarmed black men in U.S. cities including Ferguson, Missouri, Cleveland and Baltimore.

COMMENT:  Some questions:  What does "diversity" mean?  Who's included?  Who's not included?  Why is it that "diversity" only seems to apply to groups popular on the political left?  Are pro-life Catholic women included in "diversity"?  If not, why not?  Why are high-achieving groups never included, groups like Asian-Americans, who seem to need higher scores and grades than others to be admitted to some colleges?

Will colleges, under the codeword "diversity," have quota systems, restricting the number of white men and women, Asians, Jews, students with skills not considered "trendy"?   Will different standards be applied to different groups?

Oh, and why does diversity never seem to include diversity of opinion?

And what successful group in history ever demanded to be taught only by members of that group?  

Keep your eyes open.  And demand answers.

November 23,  2015     Permalink

NOVEMBER 22,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

PATHETIC – from London's Telegraph:   French patrol planes are scouring the seas off Scotland for a Russian submarine after Britain was forced to call on allies for help because it has scrapped its own sub-hunting aircraft.  A French Atlantique 2 maritime patrol plane has been searching for the submarine for at least 10 days, since the vessel was detected north of Scotland...Britain scrapped its own Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft after the cost cutting 2010 defence review, leading to warnings from defence chiefs that the country would be left reliant on others for aircraft to search its own waters.  Nothing like a nation advertising its weakness.

THE MAN WHO REALLY SHOULDN'T BE KING – From London's Telegraph:   Asked by Royal Correspondent Rhiannon Mills if there was a direct link between climate change, conflict and terrorism, the heir to the throne replied:  “It's only in the last few years that the Pentagon have actually started to pay attention to this. I mean it has a huge impact on what is happening. I mean the difficulty is sometimes to get this point across – that if we just leave it and say, well there are obviously lots of, there are endless problems arising all over the place therefore we deal with them in a short term way, we never deal with the underlying root cause which regrettably is what we're doing to our natural environment."  The Prince is expected to deliver a keynote speech at the United Nations climate change conference or COP21 in Paris next week. A nice fellow, but I hope his mommy lives a long time.

SIGN OF OUR TIMES – From Fox:   NEW YORK – Hundreds of emergency responders simulated a subway terror attack on Sunday, days before one of the city's biggest public events: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  The long-planned drill at a Manhattan station got a last-minute update in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris. Officials added an "attacker" wearing a suicide vest.  "In New York City, we are, at this time, very well-prepared and continually improving that preparedness," Police Commissioner William Bratton said outside the abandoned Bowery station in lower Manhattan.  It's getting a little creepy in New York.  I'd be happier if Rudy Guiliani were in City Hall.

PERSONNEL NEWS – From CBS:   ATLANTA (CBS News) — Lawyers have the lowest health and well-being among all white-collar workers, according to a new study.  The research also indicates that those working in law are the highest users and abusers of alcohol and nicotine, as reported by AFR Weekend.  The PsychSafe study looked at more than 800 professionals, including 370 lawyers from firms and the bar, and 170 lawyers who work in government or in-house counsel.  The findings suggest that lawyers who work in law firms have the lowest psychological and psychosomatic health and well-being. Researchers say this is likely attributed to stressful workloads, overtime, and pressure.  And also to defending people they really wouldn't want in their homes.

November 22, 2015       Permalink

LOWER GAS PRICES FOR THANKSGIVING – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:   This will probably help the Democrats, but it's a pleasant development anyway.  Lower gas prices for the holidays.  From CNN:

Driving over the river and through the woods will be quite a bit cheaper this Thanksgiving, thanks to rapidly falling gas prices.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is $2.13 according to AAA, down 75 cents from a year ago. That decline means consumers will save about $7 billion on gas during the 37-day period between now and Christmas, or about $40 a driver.

And prices are expected to keep falling.

Gas is already below $2 a gallon at 44% of stations nationwide, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at both GasBuddy and the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks prices for AAA. Prices are below $1.59 a gallon in states such as Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma, according to GasBuddy.com.

Kloza expects most stations in the U.S. will be below $2 by the weekend, and that the national average will break the $2 mark by Christmas or early January. The average price of gas hasn't been that cheap since 2009.

Oil prices fell below $40 a barrel for the first time since August on Wednesday, and are near a six-year low. The slide has been caused by a glut of oil thanks to record U.S. production, sluggish demand in Asia and Europe due to economic weakness, as well as a strong dollar.

COMMENT:  There's a downside to this, besides the help it will give to Dems in the campaign.  Low prices mean less funding available to oil companies for new exploration and development.  We hope this nation will be energy-independent by 2020, but that goal can be set back if oil production is cut because of low revenues.

November 22, 2015       Permalink

THE GOP RACE – AT 11:56 A.M. ET:  Very interesting numbers from Fox:

GOP front-runner Donald Trump widens his lead in the nomination race, while Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz threaten to overtake Ben Carson for the number two spot.

Those four once again constitute the top tier in the latest Fox News national poll on the 2016 election.

In addition, Rubio joins Carson as the only candidates at least half of voters say are honest and trustworthy -- though Carson’s honesty rating has taken a hit. More on that later.

First, here’s how the GOP race stands: Trump remains in the top spot with a record 28 percent support from Republican primary voters. He was at 26 percent in the last Fox poll, which was completed before the last debate and the Paris attacks (November 1-3, 20att15).

Carson drops from 23 percent to 18 percent in the new poll. Cruz and Rubio are both up three points and garner 14 percent each.

All others are in the low single digits: Jeb Bush gets 5 percent, while Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Mike Huckabee each get 3 percent. John Kasich and Rand Paul receive 2 percent a piece.

COMMENT:  What we may be seeing here is the triumph of conventional wisdom.  Conventional wisdom holds that the two "outsiders" – Trump and Carson – will fight it out for "outsider champ."  Then the two leading office holders – Rubio and Cruz – will battle for "insider champ."  Then the outsider champ and insider champ will battle each other for the nomination.

Makes sense to me.

I think Trump will easily win the "outsider" title.  Carson is stumbling badly, and that's showing up in the polls.  Trump himself has made some progress, but nowhere near enough to assure nomination.

Cruz and Rubio are the fascinating ones.  I believe Rubio is far more electable than Cruz, but Cruz is dazzlingly brilliant.  Both men could defeat Hillary Clinton in a debate, but Cruz would have her for lunch.

Trump vs. Rubio or Trump vs. Cruz for the nomination?  Who will win?  The conventional betting is on Rubio or Cruz defeating Trump...but possibly at a brokered convention.  Who will be the nominee?  If the scenario just presented plays out, the conventional betting is on Rubio, because the GOP establishment will work overtime to stop Cruz, whom it despises. 

But never assume the conventional wisdom will prevail.  And this is a weird campaign.

November 22, 2015      Permalink

TERRORISM WAY UP AS ELECTION ISSUE – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  Obviously, this can change over the coming months, depending on events, but terrorism is once again a major political issue.  From ABC News: 

Terrorism suddenly rivals the economy as the single most important issue to Americans in the 2016 presidential election -- and a year out, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds more people paying close attention to the contest than at this point in any race back to 1988.

After years of dominating the political landscape, the economy now has company. Given the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, 28 percent of Americans now call terrorism the top issue in their choice for president, compared with 33 percent who cite the economy. Nothing else comes close.

Attention, moreover, is focused as never before. Three-quarters of Americans say they are closely following the 2016 race, including three in 10 who are following it very closely. That’s the highest level of attention at this point in a presidential race in polls back nearly 30 years.

COMMENT:  Caution – don't assume that concern for national security will favor the Republicans.  It will depend on who the GOP candidate is, and his or her approach to the issue.  Outbursts and sound bites are not enough.  Voters must have confidence in the candidate.  And the role of the media will be to build up confidence in Hillary Clinton and destroy confidence in her Republican opponent.  That's the way the game is played.

November 22,  2015     Permalink