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NOVEMBER 25,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

FIDEL IS DEAD – FROM CNN:  Fidel Castro, the Cuban despot who famously proclaimed after his arrest in a failed coup attempt that history would absolve him, has died aged 90.  Castro's brother, Raul, announced his death on Cuban TV.  At the end, an elderly and infirm Castro was a whisper of the Marxist firebrand whose iron will and passionate determination bent the arc of destiny.  "There are few individuals in the 20th century who had a more profound impact on a single country than Fidel Castro had in Cuba," Robert Pastor, a former national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, told CNN in 2012...No other nonroyal ruler clung to power as long as Castro did.  I can't wait for the grief that will come from American college campuses.  Memorial services maybe.  Or maybe a good flash-mob attack on an appliance store.  There are many ways to mourn.

THE GRAND KNIFE IN THE BACK – FROM THE HILL:   President Barack Obama called Hillary Clinton to persuade her to concede the White House on election night, according to a forthcoming book on Clinton’s defeat.  Authors Amie Parnes, The Hill's senior White House correspondent, and Jonathan Allen cite three Clintonworld sources familiar with the election-night request in the unreleased book from Crown Publishing.  “You need to concede,” Obama told his former secretary of State as she, her family, and her top aides continued to watch results trickle in from the key Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The latter state, called after 1:30 a.m. by The Associated Press, was the clear tipping point for the White House race, ensuring Trump would crest over the 270 electoral-vote threshold needed to win.
Clinton ultimately heeded Obama’s advice and called Trump to acknowledge her defeat in the early morning hours Wednesday.  The Obamas and Clintons never liked each other, and Obama's phone call, entirely unnecessary and unprecedented, was the extra blood on the floor.

SUDDEN INTEREST IN CLEAN ELECTIONS – FROM THE HILL:   Wisconsin will undertake a recount of its presidential election votes after two requests from third-party candidates.  Green Party nominee Jill Stein filed her request just before the deadline Friday afternoon, the Wisconsin Elections Commission announced. Reform Party candidate Rocky De La Fuente also filed for a recount.  “We are standing up for an election system that we can trust; for voting systems that respect and encourage our vote, and make it possible for all of us to exercise our constitutional right to vote,” Stein said in a statement.   “We demand voting systems that are accurate, secure and accountable to the people. This is part of a larger commitment to election reform that our campaign and the Green Party has long stood for, which includes open debates, an end to voter ID laws and voter suppression, and ranked choice voting."  The Wisconsin Elections Commission said it is working under a Dec. 13 deadline to finish the recount.   She's also trying to get recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.  Gee, when Republicans warned about corrupt elections, they were laughed at.  I don't hear any laughing now.  I guess it depends on who gets hurt.  There is, by the way, no evidence that the counts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are inaccurate.

November 25, 2016       Permalink

WORRY FOR TV EXECS ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND – AT 11:19 A.M. ET:   There's something wrong in TV land.  We saw viewership for the NFL drop earlier this season.  And now we learn that younger viewers are turning off to sports generally.  From Bloomberg: 

Young people are turning off sport on the box -- something that will strike fear into television executives who hoped live matches would be immune from the diversions of Netflix and video games.

European broadcasters like Sky Plc and Telefonica SA pay billions for sports rights and rely on the games' allure to attract people to their more expensive broadband and television bundles. Walt Disney Co., the owner of ESPN, and broadcasters including NBC also use sport to build audiences and sell advertising.

But there are signs it doesn't hold the same spell over young people as their parents. Viewers between the ages of 18 and 24 were the least interested in sport as a genre, according to a survey of 31,000 people across 10 countries carried out by research firm Ampere Analysis.

When asked what type of content they enjoy watching, young people express less enthusiasm for sport than other genres

The trend was most pronounced in the U.S. and U.K., the most advanced markets in terms of internet adoption and alternative sources of information and entertainment. In those countries, interest in sport among young people diverged the most from the average for the country as a whole. (France and Poland were the two exceptions, where young people are more interested.)

COMMENT:  Maybe they just get too upset when their team loses.   The TV companies should establish a "safe channel" for distraught viewers to go to if things just don't work out for their favorites.  Soothing music, films of past victories, the chance to be at one with other grief-stricken fans.  This is needed.

November 25, 2016       Permalink

THE AGE OF OBAMA – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:57 A.M. ET:  A perfect summation of Obama's sense of grandeur about himself, his own time in office, and his contempt for his successor.  Quote of the day, from American Thinker: 

To watch Barack Obama's pathetic final non-victory lap around the world this past week, one can't help but recall his stomach-churning "Apologize for America Tour" at the start of his administration. You'll recall that in April 2009, he went to Europe, which we sacrificed tens of thousands of American lives to liberate 70-plus years ago, and informed Europeans that America "has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" of Europe.

Last week, Mr. Obama could not resist the urge to dis his country once again, telling the "global community," again from a foreign shore, that in the age of the internet, nationalism (read: Donald Trump) is rearing its ugly head. "Faced with this new reality where cultures clash, it's inevitable that some will seek a comfort in nationalism or tribe or ethnicity or sect," he informed us from Athens. He reassured his audience that "American democracy is bigger than any one person." (Wink, wink, Donald.) Fittingly, he then went on to tour the ruins of ancient Greece, before flying off to Berlin to cry on the shoulder of his globalist soul mate, Angela Merkel, another leader looking at a potential uprising by her constituency, frightened by her insane immigration policies.

The choice of debt-ridden Greece, Europe's worst economic basket case, was oddly appropriate as the location for the start of the swansong tour of the U.S. president who has produced as much American national debt in eight years as all previous American presidents had produced over a span of 220 years combined. One must wonder if Mr. Obama views pauper Greece as the model America should emulate.

These two globetrotting tours by the man-child president expressing disdain for both his own country and the choices of its people seem the perfect bookends to Obama's presidency.

COMMENT:  Brace yourselves for the media's farewell to Obama, coming soon to a flat screen near you.  I am waiting for the first "observer" to say, breathlessly, "I think he's ready for Mount Rushmore."  And then watch the nodding heads.  There will be a major movement to give him something useful, or destructive, to do.  Maybe a special office can be created – Chief Demigod of the Universe.  I kind of like that, as long as he provides his own car.  And lunch.

November 25, 2016        Permalink

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED – AT 10:29 A.M. ET:  You mean, Iran is not playing it straight with us?  I can't believe that.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

The Obama administration has given clearance to Western airline manufacturers to sell planes to Iran at the same time the Islamic Republic is using commercial airliners to smuggle weapons and other illicit arms to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, according to new intelligence and congressional communications obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The disclosure of this new intelligence, which shows that Iran has been using its commercial airline company to smuggle advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and terrorists operating in Syria, has placed renewed focus on a congressional inquiry that has been stymied by Obama administration officials since early October.

Senators, led by Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.), have been pushing Obama administration officials to explain why they are helping airline manufacturers Boeing and AirBus sell planes to Iran, despite clear evidence that Tehran is using its commercial airline as cover for its continued terrorist operations across the region.

As with multiple other congressional investigations into the Obama administration’s efforts to roll back economic sanctions and conduct secret dealings with Iran, officials have stonewalled Perdue, refusing to answer key questions about the motivation for aiding Tehran’s pursuit of planes that could be used to further its terrorist enterprise.

COMMENT:  Money talks.  Those aircraft contracts are worth a mint.  Airbus has already gotten a large contract from Iran. 

Perdue is correct and courageous, but I suspect the Iranians will get the planes they want, either from Europe or America.  It's like selling scrap metal to Japan right before World War II.  It came back to us in other forms.

November 25,  2016     Permalink

NOVEMBER 24,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

TERROR PLOT BLOCKED IN FRANCE – FROM AFP:   A jihadist terror ring was planning to attack Paris on December 1 and had researched sites including a Christmas market and Disneyland outside the capital as potential targets, a police source said Thursday.  Seven suspects were arrested in police raids last weekend in the eastern city of Strasbourg and Marseille in the south following an eight-month investigation by security services, although two were later released.  The source said investigators found the suspects had made internet searches on sites including the Christmas market on the prestigious Champs-Elysees avenue, the Disneyland Paris theme park, cafe terraces in the northeast of the capital, the Paris criminal police headquarters and a metro station.  Five of the suspects have had their custody extended under legislation covering investigations into an imminent terror attack.   They only have to be lucky once.

ANOTHER POINTLESS DEMONSTRATION – FROM PJ MEDIA:   Black Lives Matter agitators plan to disrupt Black Friday shopping in at least two cities this year in an attempt to draw attention to what they call unjustified police shootings. Organizers in Chicago and Seattle are planning demonstrations that they hope will attract thousands of protesters.  In Seattle, as many as 2,700 people may attend a Black Lives Matter protest downtown on Black Friday, according to a Facebook page set up by the "Black Freedom Front of Seattle."  And yet, when black children are murdered in Chicago, this "movement" has nothing to say.  The "statements" it puts out are often right out of the Marxist playbook.  BLM is going nowhere, and does not have the skills of successful movements – including a building of support.

OH DEAR, WHAT DOES A TRENDY CLIMATE GUY DO? – FROM LONDON'S TELEGRAPH: Antarctic sea ice had barely changed from where it was 100 years ago, scientists have discovered, after poring over the logbooks of great polar explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.  Experts were concerned that ice at the South Pole had declined significantly since the 1950s, which they feared was driven by man-made climate change.  But new analysis suggests that conditions are now virtually identical to when the Terra Nova and Endurance sailed to the continent in the early 1900s, indicating that declines are part of a natural cycle and not the result of global warming.  It also explains why sea ice levels in the South Pole have begun to rise again in recent years, a trend which has left climate scientists scratching their heads.  Head scratching is good.  It leads to truth.

November 24, 2016       Permalink

THE DEMOCRATS' THANKSGIVING – I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:   What do today's Democrats do to prepare for Thanksgiving?  Why, they teach their relatives to debate Republicans, that's what they do.  You've gotta read this.  From Powerline: 

Those Democrats sure know how to have a good time. While the rest of us are looking forward to family reunions and delicious turkey dinners, the Democratic Party is coaching its faithful on how to win political arguments. This is from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a “Guide to Thanksgiving With Your Republican Relatives.”

Click to enlarge:

It's best to go to the link to read this adolescent stuff.

It isn’t worth the trouble to fact-check this whole mass of talking points, but I note that it requires some nerve to allege that “Under Trump, it’s estimated that the national debt would rise by $5.3 trillion over the next decade,” when we have just seen the debt rise by more than $9 trillion in less than eight years of the Obama administration. What they’re saying is that the increase in the debt would be slowed under Trump’s policies by more than 50%.

One of the things I am thankful for this year is that there won’t be anyone at our Thanksgiving dinner who comes armed with partisan talking points in hopes of winning arguments with his or her relatives.

COMMENT:  A Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers, including Democrats and saboteurs.  Even Hillary.

November 24, 2016       Permalink

SECURITY IN NEW YORK – AT 11:40 A.M. ET:  The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is underway.   Always a wonderful show.  But this year there is extra security, reminding us that some people in this world see Thanksgiving as a holiday of infidels.  From Fox: 

NEW YORK – Fans of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade who come to see the soaring SpongeBob and Snoopy balloons may get a far less heartwarming sight this year: giant dump trucks filled with sand.

More than 80 city sanitation trucks will be used at intersections and other strategic spots along the 2 ½ mile parade route to create an imposing physical barrier to terror. The trucks weigh about 16 tons empty and up to twice that with sand.

"You can ram a New York City Sanitation Department sand truck with a lot of things, but you're not going to move it," said John Miller, the New York Police Department's top counterterrorism official.

While the trucks have been used like this before — most recently to protect Trump Tower — the New York Police Department says they will play a bigger role at this year's parade in the wake of the cargo truck attack in Nice, France, that killed more than 80 people and a recent posting in an English-language Islamic State magazine that called the parade "an excellent target."

COMMENT:  One of the things President-elect Trump will have to deal with is the rise of new terror threats.  Who will be the new ISIS?  And where will the old ISIS strike next?  And which terror group will be the first to use weapons of mass destruction?

The battle is far from won, and our efforts under Field Marshal Obama have been lacking.

November 24, 2016       Permalink

MICHIGAN IN – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  Many people don't realize it, but Michigan has, until now, been counted as "undecided" in the presidential race.  We think that's now over.  From Detroit Free Press:

In the closest race for president in Michigan's history, Republican Donald Trump is hanging on to a 10,704 vote win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Michigan Secretary of State posted results Wednesday that were submitted by the state's 83 county clerks on Tuesday after the votes were reviewed and certified by each county.

Before that compiled count, Trump held a 13,107 lead over Clinton. But after each county certified its results, the lead shrunk to 10,704, with the biggest chunk coming from Wayne County, which showed that Clinton had gotten 565 more votes than originally tallied by the county.

The state's Board of Canvassers will officially certify the results on Nov. 28. The electoral college in all the states, including Michigan's 16 electors, will cast their votes on Dec. 19.

"Many people have asked about Michigan’s process for counting ballots and certifying election results. Please be aware that all 1,521 Michigan cities and townships completed ballot counting and reported unofficial results by the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 9," according to a statement on the Secretary of State's website. "The county canvassing boards, as they do after every election, then began their work to review and certify the results from each precinct."

COMMENT:  This should settle Michigan, although there are now attempts by die-hards to recount Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, claiming that voting machines were hacked.  No evidence given.

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, has been raising money for recounts, and has raised millions.  Kind of the ultimate conspiracy theory. 

November 24,  2016     Permalink