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JUNE 18,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:29 P.M.  ET: 

MAJOR FASHION CRISIS – FROM FOX:   A man is accusing a Chicago pizza joint of racial discrimination after he was denied entry because his pants were apparently “too street.”  The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that Antar Jackson and his wife Christina Jacobson were looking for a place to watch the second game of the NBA Finals back on June 5. The couple settled on Parlor Pizza, but was eventually turned away because an employee told Jackson his pants were “too street.”  The couple told the paper that the pants were black herringbone wool trousers made by the Vince fashion brand. The couple claims they were victims of racial discrimination.  Parlor Pizza said in a statement Thursday that the dress code policy is displayed at the facility’s entrance and on their website. They said the policy is enforced “uniformly.”  It is high time our president spoke out against Pantsgate, a scandal of our time.

UH, I KINDA WONDER – FROM THE COLLEGE FIX:   If your son went to prison for rape, you as a parent are responsible for rape culture, or something.  That’s the muddled message peddled by protesters at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, Minn., a campus where 97 percent of undergraduates are women, the Star Tribune reports.  They blasted the school’s “toxic rape culture” at a Monday protest where they marched with signs including “Rape culture is here” and “We will not be silenced.”   A toxic rape culture at school were 97 percent of the undergrads are women?  At what point do we demand some maturity in discussing this important issue?

REMARKABLE, AND GOOD – FROM FOX:   The Orlando terror massacre has members of the LGBT community around the nation coming out – for Donald Trump and the Second Amendment.  Some among the reliable Democratic constituency were not persuaded by President Obama’s post-attack call for new gun control measures and renewed warning against painting Islam in a negative light.  Trump’s counter message that Americans – including those in the LGBT community - must protect themselves against the hatred of radical Muslims struck a chord with Stephen Zieman.  “I knew I had to fully support Trump because he called out the threat for what it was -- radical Islamic terrorism,” the 23-year-old from Schaumburg, Ill., told FoxNews.com. “He stood up for the LGBT community and called himself a friend. It's something we all needed and he was there — Hillary was not. She was making excuses for the religion and calling for gun control, which is not what I needed to hear.”  Fascinating.  I don't know if this is just a small boomlet, but you never know.  I've always wondered how long traditional Democratic constituencies will put up with being sold out.  There's a story there.  Don't look for it in The New York Times.

June 18,  2016     Permalink 

REQUIRED READING – AT 12:46 P.M. ET:   Britain votes this week (the 23rd) on whether to leave the EU.  In the runup to the vote, the Brits have been threatened by assorted trendies that leaving the European Union would have dire consequences.  Our own make-believe president lectured the Brits that they would go to the end of the line in trade deals if they dared trying to be British again.  The great British historian Andrew Roberts replies to that weirdness in The Wall Street Journal: 

On June 23 the British people will be going to the polls to choose whether they want to continue with the present system whereby 60% of British laws are made in Brussels and foreign judges decide whether those laws are legitimate or not, or whether we want to strike out for independence and the right to make all of our own laws and have our own British judges decide upon them.

It’s about whether we can recapture the right to deport foreign Islamist hate preachers and terrorist suspects, or whether under European human-rights legislation they must continue to reside in the U.K., often at taxpayers’ expense. The European Union is currently experiencing migration on a scale not seen since the late 17th century—with hordes of young, mostly male Muslims sweeping from the southeast into the heart of Europe. Angela Merkel invited them in and that might be fine for Germany, but why should they have the right to settle in Britain as soon as they get a European passport?

Surely—surely—this is an issue on which the British people, and they alone, have the right to decide, without the intervention of President Obama, who adopted his haughtiest professorial manner when lecturing us to stay in the EU, before making the naked threat that we would be sent “to the back of the queue” (i.e., the back of the line) in any future trade deals if we had the temerity to vote to leave.

Was my country at the back of the line when Winston Churchill promised in 1941 that in the event of a Japanese attack on the U.S., a British declaration of war on Japan would be made within the hour?

Was Great Britain at the back of the line when America was searching for allies in the Korean War in the 1950s?

When America decided to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War in the early 1990s, was Britain at the back of the line when we contributed an armored division that fought on your right flank during Operation Desert Storm?

And...

Winston Churchill was warned repeatedly by the Treasury that it was bankrupting Britain to continue her lonely and seemingly doomed struggle against the power that utterly dominated the entire European Continent in 1940 and 1941, but he treated all such warnings with his characteristically coruscating ire. That is what people do who love their country, and that is what I hope my countrymen will do on June 23.

And if we do vote to leave the EU on Thursday, I hope that Americans with a sense of history, Americans with a sense of tradition who honor friendship past and future, above all Americans who know what self-government means to a free people, will rally to the cause of an independent Britain.

COMMENT:  Terrific piece, a real rebuke to the Obama mentality. 

June 18, 2016       Permalink

CLINTON'S LEAD SLIPS POST-ORLANDO – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  Not much of an indicator, except that the polls are not rigid, and are likely to change many times before the election.  From The Hill:

Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump with voters nationwide is eroding after Sunday’s mass shooting, according to a new poll.

Clinton’s edge over Trump has dropped 3.6 points since the massacre in Orlando, according to the Reuters survey out Friday.

Friday’s results found that 10.7 points separate Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, from Trump, her GOP counterpart.

Reuters said Clinton boasted a 14.3-point gap last Sunday, the day of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Pollsters found 45.5 percent of voters now support Clinton, while 34.8 percent back Trump and 19.7 percent pick neither.

Clinton last Sunday registered 46.6 percent before the bloodshed at Pulse nightclub, versus Trump’s 32.3 percent.

Reuters also reported rising enthusiasm for Trump’s temporary ban on Muslim emigration into the U.S. since June started.

Forty-five percent back that measure after last weekend’s attack, versus 41.9 percent who supported it at the start of the month.

Reuters added that 70 percent of Americans now crave at least moderate gun control regulations, up from 60 percent in similar surveys between 2013 and 2014.

COMMENT:  I wouldn't get too enthusiastic about this mini-trend.  Trump is proving to be a very problematical candidate.  If he were more credible, he would be much closer to the highly unpopular Hillary.

June 18, 2016       Permalink 

A REMINDER OF REALITY – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  Action in Belgium reminds us that the terrorist threat is ongoing and real.  From NBC:

Twelve people suspected of planning new terror attacks were arrested in Brussels after police raided dozens of homes overnight, prosecutors said Saturday.

Forty people were taken in for questioning and 152 car ports were also searched, the Belgium Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

The results of the investigation "necessitated an immediate intervention," it said. "In the interest of the investigation, currently no further details can be given."

Belgium is still under a "level three" terror alert — the second highest — in the wake of the March 22 attacks on the Brussels subway and airport that killed 32 people.

The terror level implies a threat of an attack "is possible and likely." The maximum level indicates an imminent threat of attack.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Saturday the terror level would remain where it was and said the situation was "under control."

COMMENT:  I'm so disappointed that Belgian authorities, unlike our president, doesn't understand that this is a gun-control issue, and one of domestic violence.  These Belgians.  So simplistic.

No, they've seen reality.  Right now the Europeans, strangely, are more realistic about terror than we are.  A new poll shocks us by pointing out that the great majority of Democrats see Orlando as an example of domestic violence, not Islamic terror, despite the clear history of the shooter.  Obama has done his work for the hard left very well.

June 18,  2016     Permalink

JUNE 17,  2016

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

MAJOR POLICY NEWS – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Secretary of State John Kerry this week acknowledged twice that the Islamic State and the threat of terrorism around the world is a bigger threat than climate change, even though he has insisted in past years that climate is the bigger threat.  Kerry revealed his subtle change of thinking during his trip to Europe, where he twice indicated that when it comes to global threats, terrorism is first, and climate change is a very close second.  Does this mean the Democratic Party will charge him with heresy?

FEELING SAFE TONIGHT? – FROM AP:   High-tech hackers brought in by the Pentagon to breach Defense Department websites were able to burrow in and find 138 different security gaps, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.  The so-called white-hat hackers were turned loose on five public Pentagon internet pages and were offered various bounties if they could find unique vulnerabilities. The Pentagon says 1,410 hackers participated in the challenge and the first gap was identified just 13 minutes after the hunt began.  Overall, they found 1,189 vulnerabilities, but a review by the Pentagon determined that only 138 were valid and unique.  Hillary must be ecstatic.  Y'see?  Everyone's doin' it, doin' it, doin' it.

REBELLIONS? – We sometimes wonder who's won the Democratic nomination.  Bernie Sanders won't give up, and his influence seems to be everywhere.  Example:  Elizabeth Warren, as hard left as Sanders, is now being seen everywhere, and the buzz is that she's at the top of the list for vice president.  She even dropped in at Hillary's Brooklyn headquarters today.  Hillary must be thrilled.  I'm sure she'd prefer someone who could actually help her, like the moderate Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.  But it does appear Bernie is calling the shots.  And on the GOP side, there is more and more buzz about a possible delegate rebellion against Donald Trump.  It's possible, but unlikely, unless Trump continues to sink in the polls.

June 17,  2016     Permalink

WARNING! – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  While our attention was elsewhere, Iran was arranging to buy a huge number of aircraft from Boeing.   We want our workers to get the jobs, but not at the expense of national security.  Republicans, normally very pro-business, are issuing warnings.  From Fox: 

Top House Republicans are raising red flags about Boeing's potential sale of roughly 100 commercial jets to Iran, warning it could end up benefiting Iran’s military, as well as terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

While the talks have not drawn objections from the Obama administration, Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, fired off a letter Thursday raising concerns about Tehran's history of using commercial planes to support "hostile actors."

“We strongly oppose the potential sale of military-fungible products to terrorism’s central supplier. American companies should not be complicit in weaponizing the Iranian Regime,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg.

Whether Iran could or would use the aircraft for such purposes is unclear but the letter, obtained by FoxNews.com, seeks more information about the national security implications of the pending deal -- as well as the status of negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday a tentative agreement had been reached between the American aviation giant and Iran for about 100 jets. Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi also said an agreement was close and would be announced “in the coming days.” One source told The Washington Post the deal could be worth more than $17 billion.

If agreed, the deal would be one of the most significant since the easing of trade sanctions on the country in January as part of the Iran nuclear deal signed last year.

But Roskam and Hensarling reminded Boeing in their letter that the State Department recently branded the country “the foremost state sponsor of terrorism.” They note Iran’s commercial aircraft are commonly used for military purposes and to back terrorist groups.

COMMENT:  Some of us may recall 9-11, when airliners were used as military weapons.  And, of course, airliners during wartime are pressed into service as military transports.  Even in "peacetime," airliners and airlines can be used to transport terrorists and terrorist squads. 

The problem, of course, is that Iran will get these airliners from some source.  If not Boeing, it would be Airbus.  If not Airbus, it would be a Russian manufacturer.  At least, if Boeing is involved, the United States could control the pipeline of spare parts. 

But the idea of so many new planes in the hands of the world's chief sponsor of terrorism should unnerve any rational soul.  I said rational.  In short supply.

June 17,  2016     Permalink

HOW WE GET OUR NEWS – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  More proof of the decline of the American newspaper.  How much of this is the new technology, and how much is loss of confidence in an increasingly biased press?  From the Washington Examiner: 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been charting the demise of newspapers, and its latest numbers reveal what many in the industry have been witnessing. Newspaper employment, as of March, had dropped to 183,200, compared with 197,800 working in "Internet publishing and broadcasting."

An analysis by the Nieman Journalism Lab charts the beginning of the end of newspapers to the dawn of the Internet Age in 1990. That year, newspaper employment hit a peak of 457,800. It is down 60 percent.

Some print publications are dumping paper and going online while keeping many of their reporters, editors and administrative staff.

Said Nieman, "It's safe to assume that newspaper jobs will continue to evaporate. Most small and mid-sized metro papers are struggling to find new revenue as print advertising and circulation decline and online advertising fails to make up the difference."

COMMENT:  I can't see much future in print publishing.  However, it would have more of a future if readers felt it provided some compelling service.  But the decline in objectivity, agenda-driven journalism, and a kind of cultural arrogance, have combined – with technological change – to drive readers away.

While the death of newspapers has been announced before – in the early sixties, for example – I'm afraid this time the burial will actually follow.

June 17, 2016       Permalink

STUNNING – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Something is brewing inside the Obama administration.  Just yesterday we learned that Obama's own CIA director, not known to be particularly hawkish, explicitly contradicted the president's view of ISIS in open Congressional testimony, and painted a much grimmer picture.  And today this, from The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war.

The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.”

Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administration’s approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Obama has plans to change course. Mr. Obama has emphasized the military campaign against the Islamic State over efforts to dislodge Mr. Assad. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, have all but collapsed.

But the memo, filed in the State Department’s “dissent channel,” underscores the deep rifts and lingering frustration within the administration over how to deal with a war that has killed more than 400,000 people.

COMMENT:  That is a revolt.  Usually you get the anti-military crowd arguing against military action.  Here you have diplomats arguing for it. 

I hope this becomes a major story.  And, while it does, please keep in mind that 400,000 death toll.  Where are the "anti-war" activists?  Where are the "human rights" activists?  The silence is deafening.

June 17, 2016     Permalink