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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas last night.  It's here.

OCTOBER 13,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:15 P.M. ET: 

ROBERTS GAINS IN KANSAS – In what has become, unexpectedly, a key test in GOP efforts to take the Senate, veteran Republican Senator Pat Roberts is closing the gap with an independent who became a sudden frontrunner.  From The Hill:  "Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has narrowed independent Greg Orman's lead in the Kansas Senate race according to a new Democratic poll that shows him consolidating the GOP base. The survey, from firm Public Policy Polling, gives Roberts 41 percent support to Orman's 44 percent support, with Libertarian Randall Batson taking 5 percent.  It marks a substantial improvement for Roberts from the last PPP poll, conducted a month ago, which gave Orman a 10-point lead over the senator. That gain for Roberts has come largely from a significant improvement with Republicans."  The base is coming home.  We'll need more to put this one away, but I'm hopeful that Roberts, who is lackluster, will squeeze by on election day.

NICE TO KNOW – From Buzzfeed:  "The extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group admits to and justifies the enslavement of hundreds of Yazidi girls and women as concubines in the fourth issue of its online English publication Dabiq.  In an article titled  'The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour,' ISIS says that enslaving families of the apostates such as the Yazidi and taking their women as concubines or sex slaves is a 'firmly established aspect of the Sharia.'"  We have yet to see "women's rights advocates" on the American left show the slightest interest.  It's scandalous.

OPENING FOR OUR SIDE? – Aside from Republican troubles in Kansas, another unpleasant surprise has been the tightness of the senatorial race in South Dakota, which the GOP candidate, former Governor Mike Rounds, was supposed to have put to bed easily.  But, as in Kansas, an "independent" has upset things.  Former Republican Senator Larry Pressler entered the race as an independent and is now within shooting distance of Rounds.  Pressler is a turncoat who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.  But he's now run into a problem.  From Buzzfeed:  "Following his tenure in the Senate, former Republican Sen. Larry Pressler sat on the board of a brokerage firm, Sky Capital, that defrauded investors of $140 million over an eight-year period, according to federal prosecutors.  Pressler, who is running for Senate in South Dakota as an independent, was on the board of Sky Capital from 2004 until he resigned in 2006, according to court documents and numerous news reports. Pressler served as non-executive director of the board.  Sky Capital was founded by Ross Mandell, who served as chief executive and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2012 for conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud.  Pressler was never accused of wrongdoing, but repeatedly vouched for the character of Mandell, who was at the center of the fraud operation."  The revelation can only hurt Pressler, and possibly stop his recent momentum.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS – The news from Iraq gets increasingly grim, but the statements from Washington continue to parrot, if only with caution, the official line.  From The Hill:  "Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Monday he is 'somewhat' confident that the Iraqi army can defend Baghdad from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).  'I believe the capability is there to defend Baghdad. ... But we'll have to see what plays out over the coming days,' he told reporters at the Association of the United States Army on Monday.  Defense officials are urging patience with the U.S. strategy against ISIS, even as the group makes gains in western Iraq and on the Syrian border town of Kobani.  ISIS appears to be advancing closer and closer to Baghdad, however, where at least several hundred American troops and civilians are stationed."  We hear about Kobani and Baghdad, but there are other areas of Iraq where ISIS is also advancing.  I can't see a good ending here.

October 13, 2014     Permalink

WELCOME – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Please take a moment to note that this is Indigenous Peoples Day in Seattle.  My Gawd, it's about time we abolished Columbus Day.  May the idea spread.

As we all know from our educational system, Christopher Columbus was a disoriented sailor who came to these shores on Carnival's "Discover America" Cruise.  It is well known that the indigenous peoples he found here were pressed into service as tour guides and personal trainers.

That's what we do with indigenous peoples.  Deal with it.  Face the truth. 

Imagine what this place would have been like had Columbus not gotten that last-minute half-fare deal, with an outside cabin?  All those forests.  All those wild animals.  No congested cities.  Can you live without Omaha?  Can you?  Do you really need interstate highways?  Or electricity?  Or running water?  For millions of years people lived without.  They had fun.  And I'll bet their TV programs were better.  Indigenous peoples shun reality shows.

I don't see where hospitals are any better than medicine men.  Did you ever hear of a medicine man being sued for malpractice?  Why can't we have a system like that?

So, if you run into someone today who looks even vaguely indigenous, hug him, or her.  Apologize.  Say you regret your ancestors and will take their pictures off your walls. 

And then go back where you came from.  And tell the Muslim immigrants there that you're indigenous.  It'll feel so good.  No more guilt.  Free at last.

October 13, 2014        Permalink

AND GOOD HEALTH TO YOU, TOO – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:  Obamacare marches on, right off a cliff.  The bill, as they say, is in the mail.  From The Politico:   

Obamacare premiums aren’t rising everywhere. They just have a way of finding the states with the biggest Senate races. And that could be very bad timing for Democrats in two of the party’s key contests.

Double-digit rate hikes for individual health insurance plans have become an issue in the Louisiana and Iowa Senate races over the past week, where the Republican candidates are hammering their Democratic opponents for the steep premium increases on the way next year for some customers under the Affordable Care Act.

In Louisiana, Rep. Bill Cassidy called the double-digit increases for some insurers — including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana — “another hurdle for families and businesses already struggling under the demands of Obamacare” and blamed Democrats for “false promises” that premiums would go down. In Iowa, Senate candidate Joni Ernst used the sharp rate increases for two insurers to blast the Democratic candidate, Rep. Bruce Braley, for supporting the law, charging that “thousands of Iowans are paying for it.”

COMMENT:  Yes, we confess:  In some states premiums are rising at an only average rate, and in a small number of states are actually going down.  But not everyone lives in the "lower rate" states.  Louisiana, Iowa, and Alaska, where major Senate races are going down to the wire, are being hit hard.  Republicans are capitalizing.  And Americans have not yet seen the full brunt of increases under Obamacare.  As we used to say in Brooklyn, wait 'til next year. 

But you can get coupons for free abortions.  I got mine last week.

October 13, 2014       Permalink 

THE KENTUCKY DERBY – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  One of the major Senate races is in Kentucky, where Dems are trying to knock off Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who dreams of being Senate majority leader next January.   It's close, and the Dems are writing checks.  From Fox: 

Even as most polls show Mitch McConnell holding the lead against challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes, the prospect of knocking off the Senate's top Republican is proving too much for Democrats to resist.

Senate Democrats' campaign arm, in the closing month of the Kentucky race, is making a major bet on the contest. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) recently threw $1.4 million behind their candidate -- this, on top of the half-million reportedly already spent on the race.

The party clearly is hoping for a game change. The two candidates will meet for their only debate on Monday night. But outside of that, the race largely will play out on the airwaves across Kentucky.

The $1.4 million from the DSCC funded an ad buy painting McConnell as a Washington insider who is abandoning Kentucky...

...The race is close, but a Real Clear Politics average of recent polling has McConnell up by 3 points. And although a Bluegrass Poll last week had Grimes edging McConnell by 2 points, a Fox News poll the same week showed McConnell leading 45-41 percent.

Political forecasters still think McConnell has a good shot at keeping his seat. The Rothenberg Political Report lists the race as "lean Republican," which is in line with most other predictions from similar outfits.

COMMENT:  Grimes has hurt herself in the last week by refusing to stay if she voted for Obama.  She cited the "sanctity of the ballot box."  I'm so impressed.

Grimes is benefiting, though, from the anti-incumbent mood, which is hurting candidates of both parties.  We'll look for a nail-biter.  Too close to call at this point.

October 13, 2014       Permalink

THE ABSURD STRATEGY – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  The Islamic State is at the gates of Baghdad.  There is intense fighting this morning in Kobani, on the Syrian-Turkish border.  But what of American strategy?  It does not appear to be working...at all.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

Chief NBC foreign correspondent Richard Engel said that there were “enormous contradictions in the U.S. strategy” against the Islamic State and that IS (also ISIS or ISIL) was “not degraded at all.”

Engel said the Obama administration’s strategy of suddenly “inspiring” the Iraqi army to fundamentally change was “completely unrealistic.”

“The Iraqi army is in no better shape now than when it collapsed,” Engel told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. “The new government is not instilling confidence in the people. It’s not instilling confidence in the armed forces. The U.S. spent years and years and billions of dollars to build the Iraqi army only to watch it collapse and hand over so many of its weapons.”

Reporting from Irbil, Engel noted that coalition airstrikes forced IS militants to “shift gears” temporarily to focus on Kurdistan, but now the terrorist army is once again marching toward Baghdad as they were in the beginning of the summer of 2014.

“They do not seem to be degraded at all,” Engel said. “Now ISIS is once again focused on Baghdad. [The airstrike campaign] is having an impact in that it has forced ISIS to change their target somewhat, but it’s certainly not slowing down the group.”

COMMENT:  Many military experts predicted that ISIS would adapt to the air strikes, as military forces always do.  There really is no precise or well-thought-out American strategy for actually defeating ISIS.  Field Marshal of the United States Barack Obama really isn't that interested.  He simply wants to avoid political damage to himself by appearing "tough" right before the midterm elections.  I suspect our whole position will fall apart in Iraq and Syria, and Obama will blame Bush, Cheney, Bibi, and Moses.

October 13,  2014     Permalink

OCTOBER 12,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:45 P.M. ET: 

MY HEART BREAKS – From The New York Times:  "Rachel Maddow, the biggest star on the MSNBC cable network, just posted her lowest quarterly ratings results ever.  'Morning Joe,' MSNBC’s signature morning program, scored its second-lowest quarterly ratings, reaching an average of just 87,000 viewers in the key news demographic group.  And 'Ronan Farrow Daily,' the network’s heavily promoted new afternoon show, which stars a 26-year-old Rhodes Scholar with a high-profile Hollywood lineage, has been largely a dud.  Though it has mostly happened quietly, which may be a comment on the cable network’s larger status in the media landscape, MSNBC has seen its ratings hit one of the deepest skids in its history, with the recently completed third quarter of 2014 generating some record lows."  I weep and wail.  This is a nutty, left-wing "network." awash in angst and feeling the pain of the allegedly downtrodden.  A little adult reporting might help.

IS HE STILL AROUND? – From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  "Albany – Democrat Jason Carter’s campaign for governor has unleashed a weapon that’s long been waiting in the wings: Former President Jimmy Carter.  The 90-year-old former president has helped his grandson raise millions of dollars and provided him behind-the-scenes counsel. But the Georgia native’s appearance Sunday morning at a black church in Albany marked his official debut on the campaign trail for his grandson’s bid to oust Gov. Nathan Deal.  The elder Carter urged congregants to cast their ballots – early voting starts Monday – to help his grandson 'make Martin Luther King’s dream come true.' And he accused Republicans of seeking to deny them voting rights.  'Twelve years ago in Georgia, we had a change in governmental attitude toward the Voting Rights Act, and the right of all people to vote,' said Carter, who said when he was Georgia governor in the 1970s he signed a law that designated all high school principals as voter registrars."   Some people stay too long.  Jimmy Carter was an embarrassing president, and his Carter Center is financed largely by funds from Arab dictators.  Any appeal he still has is to low-information voters.

A DELIGHTFUL CONSPIRACY THEORY – From The Hill:  "Political strategist Dick Morris accused Hillary Clinton of conspiring with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in his stinging critique of President Obama's foreign policy. 'I think Hillary put him up to it,' Morris said during an interview on John Catsimatidis's radio show to air Sunday on New York's 970 AM. 'What Panetta is doing is a hit – a contract killing – for Hillary. Panetta at core is a Clinton person, not an Obama person. By accurately and truthfully describing the deliberations in the [Obama] cabinet, he makes Hillary look better, and he makes Obama look worse … And I think he’ll get his reward in heaven.'"  I have no idea whether this is true.  Morris, after all, has a track record that is less than stellar.  But it's such a juicy conspiracy theory that I just had to report it.  Fun is important in life.

October 12, 2014       Permalink

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  Sometimes things just don't work out the way they're supposed to.  Or is it that some people just don't care.  From William Jacobson's great College Insurrection website: 

Isn’t it strange how the “Affordable” Care Act is making college less affordable?

Valerie Richardson of the Washington Times reported.

College students overwhelmingly swung for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, but they’re now finding their on-campus work hours cut back, thanks to Obamacare.

The latest example comes from the University of Colorado Boulder, where administrators posted an online notice last week informing students that their university-provided employment would be capped at 25 hours per week as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Under Obamacare, employers must provide health insurance coverage to employees working 30 hours or more per week or face fines.

“After the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the campus took the opportunity to examine the number of hours student employees were working per week and has established a policy which sets the maximum number of hours a student employee can work during a bi-weekly pay period,” said the Sept. 30 notice on the university website.

Cutting student work hours is increasingly becoming the standard at universities as they move to comply with the ACA’s rules on insurance coverage, but students aren’t the only ones affected. Adjunct faculty and graduate assistants are also seeing their hours reduced in response, according to Campus Reform.

COMMENT:  This problem has been known for some time, but goes unaddressed by an administation claiming to be "sensitive" to education and the economic plight of students.  Yeah, right.  They've got the backs of students who have to work their way through college – and they're regularly plunging knives right into those backs.

But Barack understands.  And he'll take care of this right after he defeats ISIS and returns from Martha's Vineyard.

October 12, 2014       Permalink

IRAQ PLEADS FOR GROUND TROOPS – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  The situation on the ground is desperate.  From London's Telegraph: 

Iraqi officials have issued a desperate plea for America to bring US ground troops back to the embattled country, as heavily armed Islamic State militants came within striking distance of Baghdad.

Amid reports that Isil forces have advanced as far as Abu Ghraib, a town that is effectively a suburb of Baghdad, a senior governor claimed up to 10,000 fighters from the movement were now poised to assault the capital.

The warning came from Sabah al-Karhout, president of the provisional council of Anbar Province, the vast desert province to the west of Baghdad that has now largely fallen under jihadist control.

The province’s two main cities, Fallujah and Ramadi, were once known as “the graveyard of the Americans”, and the idea of returning there will not be welcomed by the Pentagon.

But were the province to be controlled by Isil, it would give their forces a springboard from which to mount an all-out assault on Baghdad, where a team of around 1,500 US troops is already acting as mentors to the beleaguered Iraqi army.

Iraqi government officials claim that while international attention has been focused in recent weeks on the Syrian border town of Kobane - where Kurdish fighters are still battling to keep advancing Isil gunmen at bay – Anbar province has been on the verge of collapse.

Government forces in the provincial capital Ramadi were holding out against the Isil offensive on Saturday, but US officials have warned that the city was in a “tenuous” position.

“I think it’s fragile there now,” said one senior US defence official, speaking to the AFP news agency. “They are being resupplied and they’re holding their own, but it’s tough and challenging.”

COMMENT:  Obama's entire strategy for Iraq has been politically driven.  He wanted to prove that he could "wind down" a war.  He certainly wound it down, didn't he? 

A moment of truth is approaching.  That doesn't mean we'll get truth from our commander-in-chief.  And while most of the mainstream media will still cover for him, an increasing number of reporters are starting to ask the tough questions that should have been asked during Obama's 2008 campaign.

One thing to watch for – some dramatic steps by the administration in domestic and immigration policy, following the midterms.  Obama may well try to draw attention away from the Mideast, even if it means controversy at home.  Iraq may collapse.  He'll tell us it was inevitable, considering the mistakes of...
George W. Bush.

October 12, 2014      Permalink

POSSIBLE? – AT 8:20 A.M. ET:  Could there be a senatorial upset in Virginia?  Well...maybe.  From the Weekly Standard: 

There are signs that the U.S. Senate race in Virginia, previously considered a long-shot for Republicans and a safe seat for Democrats, could get interesting in the final weeks of the campaign. The incumbent, Democrat Mark Warner, has had a large lead in the polls over his Republican opponent Ed Gilespie since the beginning of the race. But the lead has shrunk in recent weeks from about 20 points to about 10, and the Gillespie campaign is now up with TV ads in the swing Northern Virginia market outside Washington, which Warner had previously had to himself.

A popular former governor, Warner has cultivated a reputation of moderate bipartisanship—despite the fact that he's voted with President Obama 97 percent of the time.

But a scandal touching Virginia's current Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, may also implicate Warner. Several Democratic figures in the Old Dominion are involved a federal investigation looking into the circumstances of the resignation of a former Democratic state senator. The Washington Post has the scoop that federal investigators have been told of Warner's supposed involvement in offering that senator and his family political favors in exchange for his staying in the legislature.

COMMENT:  It's still a long shot, unless something truly scandalous comes out in the final weeks of the campaign.  That Northern Virginia area is a Democratic stronghold, and filled with government workers.  I'm not so sure how much penetration Gillespie can achieve there.

But miracles happen.  I'd love to see Virginia come through for us.  It's my second home.

October 12,  2014     Permalink