SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:46 P.M. ET: 

OCCASIONALLY THE YOUNG DO SOMETHING INTELLIGENT – From the Jerusalem Post:   BERLIN -- A public row over stopping Iran’s nuclear program has caused the youth organization of the second largest opposition party in the Bundestag, The Greens, to criticize its leaders for ignoring Tehran’s threats to Israel’s existence, deteriorating Iranian human rights conditions, and their complicity in preserving Iran’s atomic program. In a public letter to senior Green MPs, youth group Grüne Jugend wrote that the “deal legitimizes an Iranian atomic program without addressing the human rights situation or that [Iran] retract questioning of Israel’s right to exist. It is for us incomprehensible that the Greens, in such a manner, withdraw criticism of the atomic deal.”  There have been disturbing currents in German public opinion recently.  This is refreshing. 

MAJOR ISSUE ADVANCES – From The Hill:   President Obama announced Saturday he is proposing a new ban on the sale of “virtually all ivory across state lines.”  In his first visit to Kenya as president, Obama told reporters that he is planning to crack down on ivory trafficking to protect the country’s wildlife from poachers.  The proposed rule would ban the sale of ivory from African elephants, which have long been targeted by poachers for the U.S. and Asian markets.  There will be some exemptions, as with previous U.S. rules on ivory. Antique items like musical instruments, furniture pieces and firearms that have small amounts of ivory can continue to be sold.  The U.S. remains the second-largest markets for ivory, behind China, despite existing regulations.  I love elephants.  Elephants are friends of mine.  They are guests in my home often.  But I just find it odd that elephants would be a major presidential issue at this moment.  Lame ducks maybe.  But elephants?  Well, here's to the elephants and their survival.

JOB OPENINGS, COMRADES – From the College Fix:   New Jersey union activists are savaging Kean University because its China campus, run jointly with Wenzhou University, is advertising job openings that give preference to Chinese Communist Party members:  “Membership in the Chinese Communist Party is preferred” for the Specialist for Residence Life and Specialist for Student Conduct positions. These positions involve close, daily contact with students. For example, the Specialist for Student Conduct would, according to the job posting, manage the student code of conduct and violation process as well as “student profiles and archives.”...The listings also require applicants to complete an application form that asks them for their “political status” – a practice that “could be found illegal and discriminatory” in the United States, and which raises “serious concerns about the existence of academic freedom at Wenzhou,” the union said.  It said that Kean has informed the local American Federation of Teachers chapter on campus that it’s “actively planning” up to 30 staff layoffs on top of the 12 it cut four years ago.  I'm sure the Obama administration will have no problem with the Chinese employment standards.  After all, who are we to criticize another culture?

July 26, 2015