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JANUARY 16,  2015

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

IS THIS HILLARY? – Hillary has groveled to the left wing of her party recently, with no results.  Leftists support leftists like Bernie Sanders, period.  Now Hillary is starting to sound centrist, perhaps believing that the left is lost but that moderate Democrats will assert themselves and hand her the nomination.   She welcomed today's announcement of Iran's release of U.S. prisoners and the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, but with centrist-sounding caveats.  From Weekly Standard, quoting Hillary:   But we shouldn't thank Iran for the prisoners or for following through on its obligations. These prisoners were held unjustly by a regime that continues to threaten the peace and security of the Middle East....The treatment of our Navy sailors earlier this week was offensive, including the release of a demeaning and provocative video. Iran is still violating UN Security Council resolutions with its ballistic missile program, which should be met with new sanctions designations and firm resolve.  So we can't take our eye off the ball. As President, my approach will be to distrust and verify. I will vigorously enforce the nuclear deal as part of a comprehensive strategy that confronts all of Iran's negative actions in the region and stand side-by-side with our ally Israel and our Arab partners.  "Distrust and verify."  Good language from Hillary.  Tougher than either Field Marshal Obama or Grand Admiral Kerry.   We'll watch Hillary this week and see if this tone continues.

SCARY – From London's Express:  Free-thinking artificial-intelligence robots could end up destroying mankind or even completely change what it means to be human if we let them think for themselves, a scientist has warned.   We don't need robots.  We have liberals for that.

HOW PATHETIC – How low does it go?  From the Washington Times:   The White House said Friday it was not troubled by Iran’s exploitation of a video showing captured U.S. sailors blindfolded and kneeling at gunpoint by Iranian forces.  “I don’t think there’s any reason for anybody to be embarrassed,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “We’re pleased that our sailors were released promptly and unharmed.”  Mr. Earnest said Iran’s showing of the video does not violate the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the exploitation of prisoners of war, because the U.S. and Iran are not at war.  Then why were our sailors forced to kneel, with their hands behind their heads?  This White House is disgraceful. 

ECONOMIC SIGN – From The New York Times:   Walmart, whose supercenters once transformed the way Americans shop, announced on Friday that it would close a record number of stores in the United States and overseas, as it fights to hold its ground in a retail landscape under siege by the behemoth Amazon.  The giant retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., said in a statement that it would shutter 154 stores in the United States, or about 3 percent of its locations, as well as 115 stores overseas. It will also end its Walmart Express small-store format, which failed to catch on in urban areas. As many as 10,000 employees could lose their jobs in the United States and 6,000 elsewhere, it added.  How do you like the economic recovery?

January 16,  2016     Permalink

HILLARY WOBBLY – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton's campaign appears to be stalling, in the face of a challenge by an elderly socialist from Vermont who honeymooned in the old Soviet Union.  You can't make this up.  From Fox: 

New national polling is showing Bernie Sanders gaining ground on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, casting into doubt Clinton as the inevitable nominee for the party, and recalling the 2008 race where Clinton was eventually beaten by underdog Barack Obama.

Despite a 30 percent-plus lead over Sanders in the summer in many polls, Clinton's lead has shrunk drastically in recent months as she continues to be dogged by doubts about her candidacy, while Sanders continues to gain strength in key states and across the U.S.

With key votes in Iowa and New Hampshire just weeks away, Clinton's apparent firm hold on the nomination seems to be slipping away.

Polls now show Sanders with a comfortable lead in New Hampshire. A Fox News Poll released last week showed Sanders with a commanding 13 point lead in the Granite State, with a 50-37 point margin. The poll shows a stunning increase for Sanders, who was only one point ahead in a similar poll in November.

Meanwhile in Iowa, Clinton's once solid lead is dwindling and it seems the Hawkeye State is up for grabs. The Real Clear Politics average shows Clinton with a four point lead, with some polls showing the two tied and a recent Quinnipiac poll actually showing Sanders with a five point lead.

Should Sanders win the coveted prizes of both Iowa and New Hampshire, it would hand him momentum going into trickier states such as South Carolina, and would raise serious questions about Clinton's ability to secure the nomination.

It isn’t just in the vital states of Iowa and New Hampshire where Clinton’s lead is narrowing – polls are showing Sanders gaining ground nationally.

The latest Fox News Poll showed Clinton with a 15 point lead nationally. That’s down from a 25 point advantage as recently as two months ago, suggesting the race is tightening and that Sanders may be a serious concern for the Clinton camp.

COMMENT:  Conventional wisdom holds that Sanders is strictly a northern candidate, and that Clinton will catch up and defeat him as the primaries move south, into states, like South Carolina, which have large black populations.  Sanders currently has little standing among African Americans.

But there is the matter of that FBI investigation into Clinton's activities at the State Department.  If that turns out badly for Hillary, Dems will look around urgently for an alternative.  I doubt if they'll look closely at Bernie.  More likely, as we've noted here before,  they'll turn to Joe Biden, at Obama's insistence. 

What is striking is Hillary's weakness.  The stories picturing her as dishonest and greedy have taken their toll. 

January 16, 2015       Permalink

AND MORE TERROR – AT 11:52 A.M.  This time in the west African nation of Burkina Faso.  But remember, it has nothing to do with the teachings of any group.  From CNN:

(CNN) Attackers raided a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso overnight, opening fire and seizing hostages in an hours-long siege that ended with at least 23 people dead.

An al Qaeda-linked terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault at Splendid Hotel -- a popular meeting place for Western diplomats in the capital, Ouagadougou.

The attack began Friday night and dragged on under the cover of darkness. Security forces circled the perimeter to assess the situation before they stormed in hours later.

"Everyone was panicked and was lying down on the floor. There was blood everywhere, they were shooting at people at point blank," said Yannick Sawadogo, who survived the siege.

Security forces entered the hotel early Saturday and freed 126 hostages, half of whom were hospitalized, said Alpha Barry, the nation's foreign minister.

The 23 people killed were of 18 nationalities, according to security minister Simon Compaore.

At least four attackers were killed, including two women, he said. It was unclear whether their deaths were included in the figure of 23 people killed.

The French Foreign Ministry, whose troops helped in the rescue operation, said 27 people died.

COMMENT:  Have you noticed how relentless terror has been recently?  One attack after another, in many different countries.  A number of intelligence experts, especially in France, are warning of a bad 2016.

And we will have Obama "leading" us for another year.

January 16, 2015       Permalink 

IRAN RELEASES AMERICAN HOSTAGES – AT 11:25 A.M. ET:  It is a happy event, but we should also be revolted.  We are being played like a violin by the Iranian regime.  But Obama will take the credit, and be given the credit by an obedient press.  From the Washington Examiner:

Iran released four prisoners Saturday, including jailed Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian.

All four of those released are Iranian-American dual nationals, including Rezaian. He has had been in Iranian custody since July 2014.

The release was apparently part of a prisoner swap with the United States, according to several reports.

Rezaian was convicted of espionage against the Iranian state and "propaganda against the establishment" in October 2015. In November 2015 he was sentenced to a prison term of undisclosed length.

The prisoner release caps a harrowing week for U.S.-Iran relations. Iran temporarily captured of 10 U.S. sailors Tuesday. The Iranian nuclear deal set to be formally put into place in the coming days.

Iran's Fars News Agency reported that in addition to Rezaian, the freed prisoners are former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and a fourth American-Iranian national.

Robert Levenson, an American who reportedly went missing in Iran, was not part of the exchange, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

The Washington Post's David Ignatius stated regarding Rezaian's release, "Relief...and anger he was ever held."

COMMENT:  How we are played.  These prisoners should have been released as a condition for holding nuclear talks with Iran in the first place.  Instead, they're being released now, on the weekend when the Iran nuclear deal will be implemented, to show "good will" by Iran.  Earlier this week Iran showed its "good will" by taking American sailors prisoner, humiliating them, then releasing them, showing "good will."

Just a few weeks earlier, Tehran tested two ICBM's.  ICBM's exist only to carry nuclear warheads, the very warheads Iran pledges it will not develop under the nuclear agreement.  Our response to the tests has been almost nothing.

They must be laughing in Tehran.  They've been laughing in North Korea for years.

Sanctions on the country are about to be lifted.  The mullah regime will have an estimated $150-billion to put into their military and terror programs. 

Meanwhile, Republicans in the US will be made to look small as they try to warn Americans that the nuclear agreement about to be implemented is a very bad deal.   The Iranians work on the Leninist model – two steps forward, one step back.  The children running the U.S. Government, and the European Union, only notice the step back, calling it "good will." 

Trade will now flow between Iran and Europe, and even between Iran and the United States.  When money flows, politicians listen.  There will be increasing reluctance to hold Iran to the terms of the nuclear deal, weak as they are.  Profits matter.

We await Iran's next humiliation of the United States.  They can learn the steps from their North Korean friends.

January 16,  2015      Permalink

JANUARY 15,  2015

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

MARCH TO OBLIVION – And now even Fox has joined in.  From Breitbart: In the name of racial diversity, another major TV network has announced that it will exclude white actors from participating in the casting process of a major series reboot.  Entertainment Weekly reports Fox network is developing a spinoff of the hit show 24, and producers have ruled out replacing former leading man Kiefer Sutherland with another white actor, according to Fox Television Group co-CEO Dana Walden.  Speaking to reporters Friday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Los Angeles, Walden confirmed the network has ordered a pilot for 24: Legacy in an attempt to revive the hit show, which previously starred Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer.  This kind of thing is ugly, insulting to minorities, and contemptuous of the audience.  Casting should be based on the character, not political correctness or a desire to be invited to A-list Hollywood parties.

HIDING? – From Fox:   Once again, a Democratic debate is being held on the weekend, and this one could have a slimmer audience than usual -- coming on the same day as two NFL playoff games, not to mention "Downton Abbey."  The Sunday night debate in South Carolina, hosted by NBC News, is the latest in a series of weekend Democratic bouts. The timing has fueled allegations from Hillary Clinton's rivals that party leaders are working behind the scenes to minimize her exposure.  This Sunday's debate is in a particularly rough slot -- forcing NFL fans and period drama lovers to choose between politics and pastimes.  Rumor has it that the next Dem debate will be held in the Witness Protection Program.  Hillary will be seen only in silhouette, and her voice will be electronically distorted. 

REALITY – From AP:   BERLIN (AP) — A town in western Germany has banned male refugees from a swimming pool after complaints of harassment from female bathers and staff — news that comes as a national poll Friday showed that Germans are becoming increasingly concerned about the country’s ability to integrate the huge numbers of asylum-seekers who arrived last year.  Markus Schnapka, who heads the social affairs department in Bornheim, said other visitors had complained of sexual harassment by men living in a nearby shelter for asylum seekers. He said none of the complaints were on the criminal level, and the pool had agreed the ban would end once social workers confirmed the men “got the message.” The price of blind multiculturalism.  Immigration has to be pursued intelligently, not according to the leftist agenda.

January 15, 2016       Permalink

JOURNALISM IN ACTION – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  NBC News goes after the big story!  See the result!  Hear the action!   From Daily Caller:

NBC News journalists — including veteran reporter Andrea Mitchell — conducted interviews last week with Juanita Broaddrick, the Arkansas woman who says Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, but decided not to go forward with a story, claiming that there was not “anything new” to report.

“When Juanita Broaddrick went public last week, NBC News sent an associate producer to Arkansas to see if there was anything new in her story. We established there was not, and decided not to pursue it any further,” an NBC spokesperson told Buzzfeed News.

Broaddrick, a 73-year-old retired nursing home administrator, spoke out on Twitter last Wednesday after 17 years of silence about the alleged rape.

“I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73…. it never goes away,” Broaddrick wrote in a tweet that has been shared 13,000 times.

Broaddrick, who is one of numerous women who have accused Clinton of sexual violence or harassment over the years, had first talked publicly about the 1978 incident in a 1999 interview with NBC’s “Dateline.” She said during that interview that she met Clinton when she went to volunteer at the Little Rock headquarters of his gubernatorial campaign. She said she and Clinton later met for coffee at a hotel where she was staying but that the politician asked to carry on their discussion in her room. There, Broaddrick says Clinton raped her.

COMMENT:  So NBC News decides there's not "anything new."  That's like saying that we're dropping a murder story because the victim is still dead.  The issue here is not whether Ms. Broaddrick has some new twist.  The issue here is that Hillary Clinton, a self-described fighter for women's rights, apparently tried to silence and destroy women who made credible charges of sexual impropriety against her husband.  That issue doesn't require "newness," only investigation.  Hillary Clinton is now a presidential candidate and should be held to account by the news media.  Don't hold your breath.

January 15, 2016       Permalink

THE CAPTURE – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  The story of Iran's capture of ten American sailors, and their two modern patrol boats, is not going away.  Some enterprising journalists are still trying to work through the contradictions in the official versions.  (I am assisted in this post by the fine talk-show host Mike Scully, who passed on the notes of an ex-Navy man experienced in small-boat operations.)

Did the two boats actually suffer mechanical failure?  Probably not.  Maybe one boat did.  In that case, why did the operational boat not simply tow the disabled boat away from Iranian waters?

Did our sailors notify home base?  Why not?  If they did, why was help not sent?  Don't we have a single plane in the area?

Why have we not expressed official outrage about the videotaping of our sailors, kneeling in POW position, and the spreading of that tape across the Mideast?  That is a violation of international law.

Why did Grand Admiral Kerry, the idiot secretary of state, thank the Iranians for returning the sailors?  That's like thanking a thief for returning stolen property without calling him a thief.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Obama administration officials have said their initial determination is that the 10 sailors were treated well and with respect after Iranian forces detained their two small Navy boats in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday. But the videos depicted questionable actions by Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Geneva Conventions, which govern military conflicts, ban the practice of parading prisoners for purposes of “insults” and propaganda. The State Department said Wednesday afternoon that U.S. officials were looking into the videos and would respond if the U.S. determined that the sailors were treated inappropriately.

COMMENT:  Yes, I'm sure they'll "respond," as they have responded to all the other Iranian outrages.  Yup, we eagerly await our "response."

Of course we all know what this is about.  The Iran nuclear agreement is about to be put into place, and nothing must be permitted to interfere with that awful pact because it is part of the legacy of the minigod, Barack Obama.  It is Obama's dream to have a Muslim country, Iran, as America's principal partner in the Mideast, replacing Israel.  It is a pipe dream.  While the pact was being negotiated, Iran's supreme leader was holding "death to America" rallies.  Obama and the grand admiral pretended not to notice.

The overall term for our policy is "appeasement," the granting of favors to an enemy in the hope that it can be turned into a friend.  I don't recall it ever working.  I do recall the hundreds of thousands of American graves that testify to the failure of that policy in decades past.

January 15, 2016        Permalink

STATE OF THE OFFICE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  Charles Krauthammer, perhaps the leading political commentator working today, gives a brilliant summation of the Obama presidency, now entering its last year.  From NRO:

President Obama’s Tuesday-night address to Congress was less about the state of the union than about the state of the presidency. And the state of this presidency is spent.

The signs of intellectual exhaustion were everywhere. Consider just three. After taking credit for success in Syria, raising American stature abroad, and prevailing against the Islamic State — one claim more surreal than the next — Obama was forced to repair to his most well-worn talking point: “If you doubt America’s commitment — or mine — to see that justice is done, just ask Osama bin Laden.”

Really? Five years later, that’s all you’ve got?

Indeed, it is. What else can Obama say? Talk about Crimea? Cite Yemen, Libya, Iraq, the South China Sea, the return of the Taliban?

“Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office,” Obama boasted.  Surveys, mind you. As if superpower influence is a Miss Universe contest. As if the world doesn’t see our allies adrift, our enemies on the march. and our sailors kneeling, hands behind their heads, in front of armed Iranians, then forced to apologize on camera. (And our secretary of state expressing appreciation to Iran after their subsequent release.)

COMMENT:  So well said, from Dr. Krauthammer.  If Obama were a successful president, we'd know it by the spirit of the American people.  That spirit is all but gone.  Our confidence is shot through.  There is rising anger.

Obama and his crowd came to office shouting "Smart power!"  Yeah, really smart.  Historians will no doubt report their College Board scores.  And little else.

January 15,  2016     Permalink