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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday, along with a D-Day veteran.  It's here.

SEPTEMBER 15,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:26 P.M. ET: 

NEW HAMPSHIRE DRAMA – This wasn't in the script.  Early polls showed Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen coasting to victory over former Republican Senator Scott Brown.  But Brown is charging.  From Hot Air:  "With approval ratings for Congress falling somewhere below used-car salesmen and three-card monty dealers, it’s not often one will see an incumbent underperforming their individual approval rating. Yet that’s just what Jeanne Shaheen is doing in her Senate re-election bid in New Hampshire. According to a new CNN poll of likely voters, Scott Brown has pulled into a 48-all tie with Shaheen, even though she has a majority favorable rating from the same pool of voters. The difference seems to be 'presidential drag.'"  Whatever the reason, I just want the votes.

STUNNING – It has been revealed that New York's new, "progressive" (ahem) mayor, Bill DeBlasio, doesn't have security clearance and never applied for it.  That means that in a terror emergency he would not have access to classified information that could save lives in the city, unless granted a waiver.  What this demonstrates is the contempt so-called "progressives" have for the security needs of their own country.  Or... it could mean that Mayor Bill doesn't want the FBI probing his extensively leftist background.

PROFESSIONAL FAKERERY – From NRO:  "How perfectly Clintonian:  'While a crowd of several thousand Democrats waited on a sloping, grassy field below, Mrs Clinton, her husband and Senator Harkin staged a mini-grilling of steaks for the press at a single barbecue grill in a fenced-off enclosure, framed by a handsome tree and a picnic table filled with some patient Iowans. Mrs Clinton gamely posed, pretending to grill a steak that had been pre-cooked for her.'"  If a reporter had asked, she probably would have replied, "What difference does it make?  It tastes the same."

OUR ALLIES – We may need the Saudis, but let's understand exactly who they are.  From London's Daily Mail:  "Islamist police in Saudi Arabia have stormed a Christian prayer meeting and arrested its entire congregation, including women and children, and confiscated their bibles, it has been reported.  The raid was the latest incident of a swinging crackdown on religious minorities in Saudi Arabia by the country's hard-line Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.   The 28 Christians were said to be worshipping at the home of an Indian national in the eastern city of Khafji, when the police entered the building and took them into custody. They have not been seen or heard from since, raising concerns among human rights groups as to their whereabouts."  Note please the silence of "human rights" groups.

September 15, 2014       Permalink

OH, THAT ONE AGAIN – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the doctor... The wreckage known as Obamacare is coming to the surface once more.  From Fox: 

Potential complications await consumers as President Barack Obama's health care law approaches its second open enrollment season, just two months away.

Don't expect a repeat of last year's website meltdown, but the new sign-up period could expose underlying problems with the law itself that are less easily fixed than a computer system.

Getting those who signed up this year enrolled again for 2015 won't be as easy as it might seem. And the law's interaction between insurance and taxes looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion.

For example:

-- For the roughly 8 million people who signed up this year, the administration has set up automatic renewal. But consumers who go that route may regret it. They risk sticker shock by missing out on lower-premium options. And they could get stuck with an outdated and possibly incorrect government subsidy. Automatic renewal should be a last resort, consumer advocates say.

--An additional 5 million people or so will be signing up for the first time on HealthCare.gov and state exchange websites. But the Nov. 15-Feb. 15 open enrollment season will be half as long the 2013-2014 sign-up period, and it overlaps with the holiday season.

-- Of those enrolled this year, the overwhelming majority received tax credits to help pay their premiums. Because those subsidies are tied to income, those 6.7 million consumers will have to file new forms with their 2014 tax returns to prove they got the right amount. Too much subsidy and their tax refunds will be reduced. Too little, and the government owes them.

--Tens of millions of people who remained uninsured this year face tax penalties for the first time, unless they can secure an exemption.

"It's the second open enrollment, but the first renewal and the first tax season where the requirements of the Affordable Care Act are in place," said Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people, and supports the law.

COMMENT:  Expect chaos.  Expect more government control.  The left is getting its dream, and we are getting our nightmare.

September 15, 2014       Permalink

A PROBLEM IN THE HEARTLAND – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  From Newsmax:   

U.S. law enforcement is investigating a new phenomenon of women from the American heartland joining Islamic State as President Barack Obama vows to cut off the militants' recruiting at home.

At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may have tried to join Islamic State, said community leader Abdirizak Bihi. He said that while the reasons for their disappearance were unclear, he had told the families to contact police.

In a separate case, a 19-year-old American Somali woman from St. Paul snuck away from her parents on Aug. 25 saying she was going to a bridal shower. Instead, she flew to Turkey and joined IS in Syria.

Home to the biggest Somali community in the United States, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota has been plagued by terrorist recruiting since the Somali group al-Shabaab began enlisting in America around 2007.

This year, law enforcement officials say they learned of 15-20 men with connections to the Minnesota Somali community fighting for extremist groups in Syria. They included Douglas McAuthur McCain, a convert to Islam, who was killed in battle this summer.

The St. Paul woman is the first case of an area female joining IS that has been made public although her family have asked for her name to be kept private because it fears retaliation from Islamists.

Greg Boosalis, FBI division counsel in Minneapolis, said law enforcement was investigating the possible recruitment in the area by Islamist extremists of other females, as well as males, but refused to comment on specific cases.

"We are looking into the possibility of additional men and women travelers," he said.

COMMENT:  To be fair, some news outlets gave given attention to this development, but the attention is scattered.  In Britain the issue is taken much more seriously.  It will take a major event, a large attack, to wake us up.  And even then, as we saw with 9-11, there will be those voices on the left who'll scream "racism" or "Islamophobia" at anyone wishing to take effective action.

September 15, 2014       Permalink

A WARNING – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  This is typical of the warnings we're getting from military experts over Obama's half-policies in the Mideast.  From The Hill:

A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday that an air campaign alone probably will not destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS.)

“The only way we can think about destroying ISIS in this particular strategy is that the forces on the ground will have to do the destroying,” Gen. James Cartwright said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“And we'll provide the air cover and the ability to allow them to maneuver, give them protection, but an air campaign alone probably will not destroy it,” he added.

Cartwright said strikes in Syria would probably target the terror group’s logistic capabilities, including training areas, ammunition dumps and “any place where there’s a large aggregation of these forces.”

“When you move south, then the targets will change. In the south, what we'll be looking for is supporting the Iraqi forces, in particular, and giving them air cover so they can maneuver,” he added.

Cartwright also said the risk of flying through Syrian airspace has been lessened due to “poor maintenance and poor operations."

“But you also always have to treat it as if it's capable,” he added.

Cartwright said ISIS now is laying the groundwork for a “stranglehold” on Baghdad.

“What they're doing is they're basically taking control of the water -- the dams, the ability to flow south, creating the opportunity for a stranglehold on Baghdad,” he said.

“When we think about ISIS they're not small groups like you'd see in Yemen or Somalia or places like that -- shoe bombers, underwear bombers, things like that. They are not quite military either. So they're somewhere in between,” he said.

COMMEND:  As we reported, Lindsey Graham said yesterday that it's ludicrous to think we can win without a ground presence.  And if we refuse a ground presence, and lose?  The impact on our foreign policy, and our status in the world, will be catastrophic.  Even now we're having trouble maintaining alliances because so many doubt Obama's will and ability.  Imagine what a military loss would bring.

September 15, 2014        Permalink

THE POLITICS OF OBAMAN POLICY – AT 8:04 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, in a fine piece, notes that Obama is being forced to frustrate his core constituency, and that this will have an impact at the polls, when many of them stay home.  From the Washington Examiner: 

In the late 1960s Democrats switched from being the more hawkish of our two parties, more likely to support military interventions and commitments, to being the more dovish. Visceral opposition to military action, and suspicion that even the most limited such action will lead to massive war, is deeply implanted in many Democratic voters.

You can expect, therefore, a skittish reaction to Obama’s announcement of a military escalation from senatorial and congressional candidates in states with dovish Democratic electorates like Colorado and Iowa. We also may also see depressed turnout of Democratic doves all over the country in November.

And...

On immigration Obama has found himself again forced to disappoint a core constituency. On June 30 he met with immigration advocates — that is to say, heads of groups that favor legalization of large numbers of illegal immigrants.

He let them know, and authorized his aides to let the world know, that he intended to issue by summer’s end an executive order legalizing perhaps as many as 10 million. He did so even though there’s videotape of him telling Univision in March 2011 that such an order would “ignore” laws passed by Congress and to “ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president.”

Obama’s breathtaking willingness to signal an intention to violate his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the law drew some unfavorable but muted attention. But it gained more attention as tens of thousands of underage (and adult) illegal migrants from Central America started streaming across the Rio Grande.

That vast movement undercut the argument that legalizing one group of illegals would not create incentives for more to cross the border. Now Obama says he won’t act till after November’s election, if then, leaving legalization advocates “bitterly disappointed in the president and Democrats.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole piece.  Lincoln once said that he didn't move history, history moved him.  Obama is no Lincoln, but history is moving him, and it's moving him away from the powerful McGovern branch of his party.  In 1968 enough of that wing stayed home to allow Richard Nixon to become president. Now it is being asked whether, in 2016, some McGovernites might stay home rather than vote for a "hawkish" (comparatively) Hillary Clinton. 

That doesn't mean our side can relax.  The Dems can win by default if the Republicans run still one more yawning campaign or put up zeroes as candidates.

September 15,  2014     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 14,  2014

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

SALUTE – From Reuters:  "Australia became the first country to detail troop numbers and aircraft for a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, as Washington drums up support for global action to counter the terrorist threat.  Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday a 600-strong force comprising some 400 airforce personnel and 200 special forces soldiers would be deployed to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates."  It's really time that the United States thanked Australia publicly for being such a remarkable ally over the decades.  The Aussies are always there for us.  But this administration would rather thank Turkey, which knifes us in the back whenever possible.

HILLARY IN IOWA – She pretty much made clear her current intentions.  From The New York Times:  In a speech that was her most overtly political since she left the State Department last year, Mrs. Clinton repeatedly hinted at her intentions. She laced her remarks with all manner of pregnant references to the state that kicks off the presidential nominating process and veiled asides about her plans.  “Hello, Iowa, I’m back!” she exclaimed upon taking the microphone, stretching out the “a” in “back” as she smiled in front of hay bales, an American flag and a John Deere tractor."  Wait a second.  Wasn't "I'm baaack" a line from a horror movie?  Yeah, it was.  And this is the sequel.

THIS IS NEWS? – From The Hill:  "President Obama recently vowed to retaliate against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if Syrian forces shoot at U.S. military planes, according to The New York Times."  When it's news that an American president will retaliate for the targeting of American planes, we're really in trouble.  Or, considering who's president, maybe we should be thankful for small blessings.

September 14,  2014     Permalink

WAR ON WOMEN – NOT – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  One of the basics of the Democratic coalition is the women's vote.  Dems have depended on women to build solid majorities.  But, wait, something is happening.  From The Wall Street Journal:   

Democrats have a lot to worry about in the midterm elections but one of their sturdiest bulwarks against a GOP rout in the fall has been support among women. They have held significant leads over Republicans among women by a number of polling measures.

But the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll has some warning signs for Democrats who are counting on women to help them weather a tough political climate.

An important bellwether is the question of which party voters would prefer to control Congress, and it has long been the case that men prefer a Republican Congress and women favor a Democratic Congress.

But the poll conducted Sept. 3-7 found that women’s Democratic preference had shrunk to a 47%-40% margin — down from 51% -37% a month earlier. The swing was especially sharp among white women, who gave Democrats a 4 point edge in August; in the new poll, Republicans enjoyed 48%-40% advantage.

It is hard to assess what accounts for that shift but, if it proves a durable trend, the stakes are high. GOP pollster Bill McInturff said that maintaining support among women is critical for Democrats in the midterm elections, or else “a difficult cycle becomes a really terrible cycle for Democrats.”

The poll also found that women’s feelings about the Democratic Party have soured, as 39% expressed positive feelings toward the party, down from 44% in June. And their support for Obama is also eroding — especially on foreign policy, with only 33% approving of his handling of foreign policy compared with 46% a month ago.

Jeff Horwitt, a Democratic pollster who worked with Mr. McInturff to conduct the poll, said those findings invite comparison to the 2010 midterm elections, when Republicans won the House majority and exit polls showed the GOP winning a rare victory among women (49%-48%).

“The results among women in this poll should be a cautionary tale for Democrats,” Mr. Horwitt said. “What we don’t know is if this is a trend or a blip.”

COMMENT:  Women haven't done well economically under this administration, and I suspect that many American women no longer identify with a party whose leaders believe women get up every morning thinking about abortion.  The Democratic Party's approach to women's interests is stuck in the sixties.  The nation has moved on.

September 14, 2014       Permalink

SPEAKING TRUTH TO NO POWER – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  Lindsey Graham is one of the GOP's leading spokesmen on national defense.  His bluntness on the current situation is to be admired.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Sen. Lindsey Graham said President Obama’s plan in Syria “won’t even come close to defeating" the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"It’s delusional," the South Carolina Republican said.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday" just after Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough, Graham said that “when the president and the president’s chief of staff says ‘we mean what we do and we do what we say,' no one believes that anymore.

“There is no way in hell you can form an army on the ground in Syria to kill [the Islamic State] without a substantial American component ...

At least Graham has the guts to say it. 

“They’re pushing a master religion, not a master race like the Nazis … this president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back home.”

COMMENT:  Rather direct, not smooth, entirely true.  One of the striking facts about reaction to Obama's Wednesday night speech is the lack of support and enthusiasm.  The man's credibility is shattered.  He is our Jimmy Carter sundae, with a generous topping of George McGovern.  It is hard to take seriously a man whose first instinct in a crisis is to tell our enemies exactly what he won't do. 

It's also hard to take seriously a man who won't tell the truth about what we face.  FDR, in his first inaugural address, told us that "the only thing we have to fear it fear itself."  He then proceeded to give a blunt, stark picture of the condition of the United States.  It was painful to hear, but Americans knew that at least the man was living in the real world.  Obama is resting in the faculty lounge.

Churchill told England:  "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."  Obama tells America, hey, I can offer Obamacare, withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq, lower defense budgets, and cash for clunkers.  I guess men lead in different ways.

September 14, 2014       Permalink

CAMERON – AT 10:04 A.M. ET:  It strikes me that the most eloquent statements about the crisis in the Mideast are coming from Britain's David Cameron.  He has a backbone.  Physicians are still trying to locate one in our president.  X-ray reports are coming soon.  David Cameron's statement of determination, in the face of the beheading of a British captive by ISIS, bears noting.  From The Guardian: 

"We are a peaceful people. We do not seek out confrontation, but we need to understand we cannot ignore this threat to our security and that to our allies. There is no option of keeping our heads down that would make us safe. The problem would merely get worse, as it has done over recent months, not just for us but for Europe and the rest of the world. We cannot just walk on by if we are to keep this country safe. We have to confront this menace.

"Step by step, we must drive back, dismantle and ultimately destroy Isil [Isis] and what it stands for. We will do so in a calm and deliberate way, but with an iron determination. We will not do so on our own, but by working closely with our allies, not just the United States and in Europe, but also in the region because this organisation poses a massive threat to the entire Middle East."

Listing five things the government will do, Cameron said the UK would back the Iraqi government and arm the Kurds, work with the UN to mobilise against Isis, support the US air strikes, continue with humanitarian aid and protect UK citizens against terrorism at home.

His remarks did not appear to represent a change of strategy, but he appeared to have increased his rhetoric against Isis, keeping open the option of joining air strikes. UK Tornados are currently helping with surveillance and intelligence-gathering.

Cameron said: "This is not about British combat troops on the ground, it is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat. As this strategy intensifies, we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with this threat and keep our country safe."

The British prime minister is under pressure to join the US military action from some within his party, including former defence secretary Liam Fox. However, other Tory MPs are more reluctant to see Britain get caught up in war in Iraq once more.

COMMENT:  Cameron is in an especially difficult position.  He understands the problem, but Britain has become a welfare state with a vast fifth column of Muslim immigrants.  The political left, including the more leftish "conservatives" have no interest in fighting in the Mideast, no matter how great the threat.  And there is wariness about allying with an America increasingly seen as unreliable.

I wish Cameron had more power, and I wish Britain would give its Ministry of Defence the tools to do a larger job.  Islamic militants look at a West that is lazy, decadent, and run by people who see their main mission as buying votes with social programs.  In the end, it is the United States that must lead, and David Cameron is looking at President Zero and Secretary of State Minus Fifteen.

September 14,  2014     Permalink