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NOVEMBER 27,  2015

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

TRULY BLACK FRIDAY – From Fox:  Two civilians and one police officer were killed Friday after a five-hour standoff at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood building that ended with the gunman's surrender.  The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs police department identified the officer killed as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey, a six-year veteran of the force.  Nine other people, including five police officers, were shot and are in good condition, police said.  Lt. Catherine Buckley of the Colorado Springs Police Department said the gunman, described as wearing a long coat and armed with a rifle, gave up after officers inside the building shouted at him. He previously had been firing at police who entered the facility.  We don't know what the gunman's motive was – opposition to Planned Parenthood, personal dispute, robbery, or what.  That hasn't stopped Hillary Clinton from tweeting her support of Planned Parenthood, immediately politicizing a tragedy.

NOT MY KIND OF TOWN – From Breitbart:   As of November 23, there had been 2703 shootings which resulted in 440 deaths year-to date in heavily gun-controlled Chicago.  That is an increase of approximately 400 shootings over the same time last year.  The Chicago Tribune reported these numbers as part of their broader coverage of the 11 people shot, five killed, over the course of last weekend alone. Half of those wounded were shot on November 22 “between about 12:25 p.m. and 8:40 p.m.” Three of those killed were shot on that same day, between those same hours as well.  It is worth noting that while this violence proves the impotency of gun control in general, it is especially damning when juxtaposed with some of the most recent gun control endeavors in particular.  The standard leftist line is to blame the gun manufacturers – the same manufacturers that supply guns to Vermont, with its remarkably low murder rate.  In Chicago politics you can't tell the truth about the role that inner-city culture plays, even though it is obvious. 

RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF MARS – From the New York Post:   Our moon might not be the only thing in outer space made of cheese.  Images taken by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover show that the Red Planet appears to have a mouse problem, according to an amateur astronomer.  The image looks like a “possible gigantic mouse or other rodent on Mars in Gale Crater sitting on a ridge plain as day,” Joe White writes on his YouTube channel, ArtAlienTV.  He quickly adds the more plausible explanation: that the object is “probably an optical illusion.”  Still, White insists, “other people including myself have found rodents up there before so it could be. Estimated size 2 – 3 feet.”  The Curiosity rover has spent more than three years studying the planet, and whether it can support life — rodent or otherwise.  Hillary Clinton is seeking endorsement from the Mars mouse.  She points to her years of service in support of other rodents.

November 27, 2015       Permalink

CALLING IT RIGHT ON OBAMA – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  The hypocrisy of this man is record-breaking.  From the Washington Times:

Republicans accused President Obama this week of “hypocrisy” after his administration sent threatening letters to states warning they could lose federal funding if they don’t cooperate with his plan to resettle 10,000 refugees this fiscal year.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that was stunning because the president has repeatedly refused to pull federal funding from locales that refuse to cooperate with federal deportation agents — so-called sanctuary cities.

In fact, Mr. Obama has threatened to veto legislation that would force him to withhold funds from sanctuary cities, saying it would “lead to mistrust” between the illegal immigrants and state and local police.

But at a time when Americans already deeply distrust his refugee program, his administration warned governors Wednesday that they could lose federal money if they don’t cooperate in helping resettle Syrians in their states.

“States that continue to use ORR funding must ensure that assistance and services are delivered without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex or political opinion,” the Office of Refugee Resettlement said in a stern warning.

COMMENT:  Yes, we are an immigrant society, but common sense is required to continue that tradition.  The Constitution, as it is said, is not a suicide pact. 

Our screening procedures are inadequate.  And we can certainly ask some of our Arab "friends" to take some refugees, at least temporarily.  We can also provide generous financial aid to make sure they receive proper health care, nutrition, and education.  But we are at war, whether Field Marshal Obama wants to see it or not.  Americans are asking for increased security, not for bigotry. 

The basis of Obama's policies is not compassion for refugees.  It is the doctrinaire ideology of the hard left, of which he is a part.  If the refugees were coming from Britain, he'd make them stand in line in a snowstorm.  Payback for colonialism, you know.

November 27, 2015        Permalink

COMMON SENSE – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  A former president of France speaks common sense following the attacks.  From Financial Times: 

Nicolas Sarkozy has a plan for national recovery after the deadliest Islamist terror attacks on French soil: bring back “eternal France”.

At the centre-right opposition leader’s first political rally since Isis assailants murdered 130 people in Paris earlier this month, the former French president told supporters in Alsace, eastern France, on Wednesday, that multiculturalism is what has made western democracies vulnerable to Islamist extremists.

“France is not a supermarket, it’s a whole,” Mr Sarkozy said to the overcrowded room in the small Alsatian town of Schiltigheim. “There is no French identity, no happy identity in a multicultural society.”

For Mr Sarkozy reviving la France de toujours goes well beyond emergency powers for the police or tough border checks, as instigated by socialist president François Hollande. It means everything from fighting “cultural conformism” caused by unbridled globalisation to restoring homework, standards and discipline to schools.

Squeezed between a rebounding Mr Hollande and a resurgent National Front (FN), the anti-immigration party led by Marine Le Pen, Mr Sarkozy has opted to veer to the right. It is a strategy reminiscent of his presidential campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by Mr Hollande.

Ten days before the first round of regional elections in which the FN is expected to make a historic breakthrough — and 18 months before the next presidential poll — Mr Sarkozy’s speech highlights his struggle to project a distinctive voice at time when the entire French political scene has shifted to the right.

COMMENT:  In the United States we still have a president who is far to the left and refuses to budge.  The left to the Reverend Obama is a religion. 

The left in France will wait a bit, then try to fight back, going right back to the old, stale, and failed ideas. I'm not sure it will work this time.

November 27, 2015       Permalink

FBI ON THE CASE, BUT IS IT ENOUGH? – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  The issue here is resources.  The FBI is tracking a number of possible ISIS followers in the U.S.  But experts on ISIS claim there may be many more.  From Fox: 

With as many as 1000 active cases, Fox News has learned at least 48 ISIS suspects are considered so high risk that the FBI is using its elite tracking squads known as the mobile surveillance teams or MST to track them domestically.

“There is a very significant number of people that are on suspicious watch lists, under surveillance," Republican Senator Dan Coats said.

Coats, who sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, would not comment on specifics, but said the around the clock surveillance is a major commitment for the bureau. "The FBI together with law enforcement agencies across the country are engaged in this. It takes enormous amount of manpower to do this on a 24-7 basis. It takes enormous amount of money to do this," Coats explained.

These elite FBI teams are reserved for espionage, mob violence and high priority terrorism cases, like a joint terrorism task force case last June, where a 26 year old suspect Usaama Rahim, was killed outside a Massachusetts CVS. When a police officer and FBI agent tried to question him, the Boston Police Commissioner said Rahim threatened them with a knife, and was shot dead.

With at least a dozen agents assigned to each case, providing 24/7 coverage, this high level of surveillance reflects the severe risk associated with suspects most likely to attempt copycat attacks after Paris.

COMMENT:  The law of averages tells us that some operatives have probably evaded the FBI screen, no matter how good it is.  Also, terror groups change tactics when they know they're being watched.

Remember the old notion that we have to be lucky every time.  Terrorists have to be lucky only once.

November 27, 2015     Permalink

NOVEMBER 26,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:31 P.M. ET: 

THE PURITY OF SPORT – From The New York Times:  When they checked into their rooms at the Grand Hyatt in São Paulo, Brazil, just before last year’s World Cup, global soccer officials were greeted with leather gift bags from the country’s soccer federation. Each bag contained tourism books, a key ring, a Brazil jersey — and, in a small velvet pouch, a wristwatch worth $26,000.  Some realized that the watch, by the Swiss brand Parmigiani, was more than a trinket and turned it in to FIFA, the sport’s global governing body. But many officials accepted the watch, establishing it as a symbol of the largess enjoyed by soccer’s leaders.  Less than a year later, FIFA was brought to its knees when United States prosecutors unsealed corruption and bribery charges against 10 soccer officials from nine countries. Among them was the president of the Brazilian federation that gave out the watches last year, José Maria Marin.  Do sports have anything to do with athletes anymore?  I'll bet the officials who turned in their watches are considered the pariahs, not the officials who accepted theirs.

TIME TO GROW UP, CHILD – From the Independent:  Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister broke down into tears as she announced the Government’s U-turn over the refugee crisis to reduce the number of people fleeing war and persecution from seeking asylum in Sweden.  More than 190,000 refugees were expected to enter Sweden this year after the Government announced its open door policy in response to the refugee crisis earlier this year.  On Tuesday, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said this policy would be reduced to bring it in line with the EU minimum, meaning many would only be granted temporary residence permits. Mr Löfven said the country needed “respite” from accepting such a large intake of refugees. “It pains me that Sweden is no longer capable of receiving asylum seekers at the high level we do today,” he told the conference. “We simply cannot do any more.”  Åsa Romson became visibly emotional as she announced the U-turn on asylum policy at the conference.   Sweden is a classic example of what happens when you run out of other people's money, and other people's space.  Leftism is a religion in Sweden, and the governments love to lavish affection on immigrant groups.  But there's a price, and Swedes increasingly are resisting the price, including the loss of their culture, their right to walk the streets safely, and their economy.  Maybe the "generous" governments should lavish some affection on Swedes.

A FUTURE FOR THE SHACK? – From the New York Post:   After a brush with near-death this year, RadioShack has some ideas for surviving the holidays.  The 94-year-old retailer — once the go-to for staples like batteries, gaming accessories and cable connectors — hopes to compete with heavyweights like Amazon and Best Buy by selling offbeat tech gadgets and by teaming up exclusively with wireless provider Sprint.  Looking for a 3D pen, a drone the size of a silver dollar or a wearable speaker? RadioShack has it.  “You’ll see us take a stand on technology,” said Michael Tatelman, chief marketing officer of the retailer.  Owned by General Wireless, which bought the Radio­Shack trademark and 1,733 stores out of more than 4,000 at a bankruptcy auction in April, the scrappy retailer is emerging from a lean period in which it didn’t have the cash to buy inventory.  I love tech stuff, but Radio Shack fell way behind other retailers.  It had no identity, no flair, no identification with a breakthrough technology.  There are only so many batteries and cans of electronic cleaner that you can sell.  Let's see what the new boys do.  This is an adventure in capitalism.

November 26,  2015     Permalink

THIS DAY – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:  It is Thanksgiving, and we wish you all the most pleasant and reflective of days.  As usual, we will be driving to Virginia to celebrate the holiday with our family's Southern wing.  Okay, they don't fly the stars and bars or lament the "lost cause," but they're Southern just the same. 

We have much for which to be thankful, but I worry.  I worry that in ten years we might not be celebrating Thanksgiving at all.  No, Americans won't have their freedoms taken away.  We are not about to repeal the Bill of Rights.   I worry that we will simply give up our freedoms as we bow at the altar of political correctness.  Will we be "embarrassed" to celebrate Thanksgiving ten years hence, told that the holiday is evil, a symbol of oppression and European colonization?  Some people will yield to that absurd notion, as we watch their eyes switch from side to side, eager to learn whether their obeisance to the left will win them an invitation to a desired cocktail party. 

Americans are becoming more and more aware of political correctness, something that used to be called "the party line," and they are becoming aware of its costs.   On this day let us be thankful that we have the right to fight back against this new form of mind control, to defeat it, to commit it to the dustbin of history, where it belongs.

Exercise that right.

November 26, 2015       Permalink

DEMS BOLT ON CLIMATE CHANGE – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  What?  Could this be?  Democrats with brains?   Yes, it is happening.  Observe, please.  Show your children.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Hundreds of Democrats from 32 states are aligning against the centerpiece of President Obama's climate change agenda, the Clean Power Plan, which they say will cause unnecessary economic harm from increased reliance on renewable energy.

"As Democrats committed to a prosperous America and a healthy environment, we believe the United States has a unique opportunity to lead the world in addressing the global climate challenge, and yet do so, as we must, without unduly burdening the American economy or the American people," the Democratic coalition called CoalBlue said in a letter sent Tuesday to Obama.

The group joined with hundreds of Democratic officeholders and state, local and party officials in telling Obama that the Environmental Protection Agency's emission rules for power plants pose "serious and overriding concerns," representing the wrong approach to the problem of climate change.

"If we are going to provide real leadership in the world community on climate, we cannot begin by implementing policies that have no hope of succeeding outside of the United States, or possibly even within the United States," said the group's chairman, former U.S. Rep. Zack Space of Ohio. His state is one of 27 suing the EPA over the Clean Power Plan.

COMMENT:  When Barack starts losing Democrats, he might make some phone calls to his EPA administrator.   "Climate change" has become a religion, a doctrine, not a scientific principle.  We need far more study, and solutions, if required, that reflect common sense – two words the Democratic Party doesn't want to hear.

November 26, 2015       Permalink

ESCALATION – AT 8:06 A.M. ET:  Russia re-entry into the Mideast is turning out to be bumpy.  And it is escalating tensions in the region.  From Fox: 

Russia ramped up the threat of a military confrontation between Turkey and Moscow Wednesday – a day after a Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey – by announcing that a state-of-the-art air defense missile system will be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria and that all its bombers will now be escorted by fighter jets on their missions.

Russian President Vladmir Putin ordered the S-400 missiles sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia, just 30 miles away from the border with Turkey, are capable of striking targets within a 250-mile range with deadly precision. The military also moved the navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defense system.

"It will be ready to destroy any aerial target posing a potential danger to our aircraft," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with military officials. He also announced the severance of all military ties with Turkey and said that from now on, Russian bombers will always be escorted by fighters on combat missions over Syria.

COMMENT:   Turkey is a member of NATO, which makes the situation that much more serious.  A clash between Russia and Turkey could suck in the Western nations, including the United States.

And it's so odd:  the Turkey of today is not the Turkey that originally joined NATO.  That was a secular Turkey.  Turkey today is Islamic, and no longer covets association with the West.  I'd hate to be sucked into a conflict to defend the Turkish regime, although Obama might not mind.

November 26,  2015    Permalink