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AUGUST 5,  2015

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

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOVES AGAINST PP – From Daily Caller:  New Hampshire legislators stripped the state’s six Planned Parenthood clinics of state funds Wednesday, deleting roughly one third of their public funding.  The state’s Republican-led Executive Council rejected a $639,000 funding contract with Planned Parenthood, reported local ABC affiliate WMUR9. The Council cited a series of undercover videos in the meeting, which show top Planned Parenthood doctors discussing and participating in the harvesting, dissection, and distribution of aborted fetuses.  The Center for Medical Progress plans to release more footage, and has alleged Planned Parenthood is illegally selling the aborted baby parts for profit. But Planned Parenthood maintains the fees it charges are legally legitimate and that they do not profit from the exchange.  Hard to know how this issue will develop.  Planned Parenthood's support is down since the videos surfaced, but not by much.  The organization is extremely powerful, with wide political support, especially on the feminist left.  But it has handled the videos arrogantly.  Let's see what the GOP candidates say about the subject in tomorrow's Fox debate.

ELEANOR WINS POLL FOR FIRST WOMAN ON BILLS – From The New York Times:   Eleanor Roosevelt, who spent 12 years in the White House as first lady and traveled the world as a human-rights advocate, is the front-runner for the new face of the $10 bill, according to a poll.  Released on Wednesday, results from a Marist poll show that 27 percent of those surveyed would choose Mrs. Roosevelt. Harriet Tubman, the African-American abolitionist, was the second choice, with 17 percent. Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who served as a translator and guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition, garnered 13 percent of the vote.  There were no numbers for Hillary Clinton  or Nancy Pelosi.  On balance, I think the respondents got it right.  Regardless of politics, Eleanor Roosevelt was a towering figure in American life until her death in 1962.  She was also a firm anti-Communist who worked to keep the ultra-left from controlling the Democratic Party.  She's the right person for the honor, although I would have loved to see Margaret Chase Smith, the great Republican senator from Maine, and Oveta Culp Hobby, the founding director of the WAC, in the running. 

JON STEWART OUTFOXED – From Hollywood Reporter:   As Jon Stewart's final Daily Show approaches, the comedian has mercilessly mocked Fox News Channel, even comparing Roger Ailes to Death. It’s almost like he’s daring the network’s chairman and CEO to respond. Now, he has.  "He’s been after us for years. Occasionally we pay attention. We think he’s funny. We never took it seriously and he never made a dent in us," Ailes told The Hollywood Reporter after being contacted on Wednesday.  The Fox News chief added: "As he faces the end of his career, he’s beginning to wonder: ‘Is this as popular as I’m ever going to get? Is this as much power as I’ll ever have? The one person I could never get rid of was Roger Ailes. I tried. I did everything I could.’ This was all a plea to his lefty friends. I think he’s disappointed that he didn’t accomplish that goal, and we, of course, supplied him with half of his comedy. It’s just a matter of disappointment."  Bye, bye, Jon.  You're a fairly funny guy at times, but don't start taking yourself seriously.  Then you'll truly see the end of your career.

OUTRAGEOUS – President Obama, showing his usual smallness, made a speech defending his Iran deal.  He made a number of ridiculous statements, but one in particular has outraged many.  From Gateway Pundit: Barack Obama pushed his Iranian nuclear deal today in a major speech in Washington DC.  During his speech he compared the Iranian “hardliners” to the Republican Caucus.  What an offensive remark. Indeed it was.  Obama, in the seventh year of his unfortunate presidency, still comes off as a minor Chicago politician with a golden voice. 

THE NEW YORK REVOLUTION BEGINS – From the New York Post:   Mayor de Blasio would be booted from City Hall if it were Election Day, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.  Forty-seven percent of New York City voters polled said de Blasio doesn’t deserve a second term, while 41 percent believe he does.  De Blasio also scored the lowest Q Poll approval ratings of his mayoral career, with a split of 44 percent giving him a thumbs down and 44 percent of voters saying he’s doing a good job. The rest were undecided.  That’s a 4-point increase in voters dissatisfied in his performance compared to earlier Quinnipiac polls this year.  His election was a fluke.  He's up for re-election in 2017, if he decides to run again.  He's proving a radical, unpopular mayor, anti-cop and pro-socialist, and he must go.  He won't get all that much support from his own party.  Governor Cuomo loathes him, and he refuses to endorse Hillary.  He can become mayor of Havana.

August 5, 2015       Permalink

REAL TROUBLE – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton may be facing serious legal problems over her now famous e-mail server.  From the Washington Post: 

The FBI has begun looking into the security of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail setup, contacting in the past week a Denver-based technology firm that helped manage the unusual system, according to two government officials.

Also last week, the FBI contacted Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, with questions about the security of a thumb drive in his possession that contains copies of work e-mails Clinton sent during her time as secretary of state.

The FBI’s interest in Clinton’s e-mail system comes after the intelligence community’s inspector general referred the issue to the Justice Department in July. Intelligence officials expressed concern that some sensitive information was not in the government’s possession and could be “compromised.” The referral did not accuse Clinton of any wrongdoing, and the two officials said Tuesday that the FBI is not targeting her.

Kendall confirmed the contact, saying: “The government is seeking assurance about the storage of those materials. We are actively cooperating.”

COMMENT:  Scandal follows the Clintons.  They are sloppy and arrogant, and they have no class.  Other than that, they're wonderful. 

Despite all the assurances that the FBI is not targeting Clinton, the fact remains that the e-mail server was hers, personally.  She is responsible for it.

August 5, 2015       Permalink

OBAMA BEHIND POSSIBLE BIDEN RUN? – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:   It seems entirely logical, but I'd still chalk this up to informed speculation.  From Newsmax: 

President Barack Obama and those closest to him are "doing everything they can" to encourage Vice President Joe Biden to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, former New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Edward Klein tells Newsmax TV.

In a panel discussion Tuesday on "Newsmax Prime" with host J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan, the author of "Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas," said the push is coming from the president, First Lady Michelle Obama and Obama's senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett.

"[They] are doing everything they can at this point to encourage Joe Biden to throw in his hat," he said.

Klein said he also believes Clinton is in "a kind of race against time."

"Which is going to come first, is she going to be able to sew up the nomination by just throwing more money, more organization at the primaries so that she is unbeatable – or will a criminal indictment come down from the Justice Department [over her personal email system while Secretary of State] before that fact?" Klein said.

"And they're very concerned about which is going to come first."

Political commentator Dick Morris said if a possible Biden candidacy doesn't signal any animosity between the Obama and Clinton camps, "there sure will be if Biden runs, because the inevitable dynamos of the race are going to cause it, even if nobody wants it."

COMMENT:  The possible indictment of Queen Hillary is intriguing.  It would have to come from Obama's Justice Department, which is highly politicized.   Attorney-General Loretta Lynch is not going to move toward a Clinton indictment without an approving wink from the White House, and it may just come.  Clearly, Obama would prefer to be succeeded by his own vice president than by the Clintons, for whom he has no love. 

Absolutely fascinating presidential race, on both sides.  I love it, I love it.

August 5, 2015       Permalink

THREAT IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:   Relates to the post just below.  They are here.  From CBS: 

DENVER (CBS4) – An alert has been issued by the FBI to all law enforcement agencies in Colorado and Wyoming involving U.S. military families and concerns about who may be watching them.

The alert says Middle Eastern men are approaching families of U.S. military members at their homes in Colorado and Wyoming. It mentions Greeley and Cheyenne, Wyoming as the specific areas.

In one case last May the wife of a military member was approached in front of her home by two Middle Eastern males. The men stated that she was the wife of a U.S. interrogator. When she denied their claims the men laughed. The two men left the area in a dark-colored, four-door sedan with two other Middle Eastern males in the vehicle.

“The woman had observed the vehicle in the neighborhood on previous occasions,” the alert states.

Similar incidents in Wyoming have been reported to the FBI throughout June 2015.

“On numerous occasions family members of military personnel were confronted by Middle Eastern males in front of their homes.”

The FBI’s alert says Middle Eastern men attempted to gain personal information about military members and family members through intimidation. Those family members reported feeling scared.

COMMENT:  This is pretty chilling.  Service families have plenty of reason to feel apprehensive.  This is a new one.

There needs to be increased security in areas where service families are housed, and the schools their children attend must be hardened, and right now. 

This new threat should be investigated immediately by Congress, which should pass needed legislation mandating extra protection for service families.

August 5, 2015       Permalink

THE TERROR REALITY – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  We are not winning the war on terror.  From the Washington Times: 

There have been more U.S.-based jihadi terrorism cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11, according to a “Threat Snapshot” released Tuesday by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who asserted that U.S. officials must “do more to take the fight to the enemy overseas at its source.”

“Otherwise, we’re going to see the threat picture here at home steadily worsen,” Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican, said in a statement with the report, which maintains that the number of U.S.-based jihadi cases has increased three-fold over the past five years — from 39 in July 2010 to 122 at present.

Counterterrorism analysts outside the government caution against drawing broad conclusions from such statistics, but Tuesday’s report suggests the surge can be tied to the rise of the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and beyond.

COMMENT:  The danger to Americans is growing, not decreasing.  The Iran nuclear deal, which will result in the infusion of vast wealth into Iran, the world's largest terror sponsor, will not improve things.

It is only a matter of time before the next major terror attack within the United States.

August 5,  2015     Permalink

AUGUST 4,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

THURSDAY'S DEBATE LINEUP – From Fox: Fox News has announced the line-up for the prime-time Republican presidential debate this Thursday, and here's who qualified:  Real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich...But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and several others will not be on the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET stage. The seven who did not make the top 10 will be invited to a separate 5 p.m. ET debate. Aside from Perry and Santorum, this includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. Some of the candidates who didn't make the top tier, based on polls, are much more interesting than some of those who did – especially Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal.  Maybe enough people will watch the "junior" debate to boost some of its participants into the top tier.

BERNIE STILL BURNING HILLARY – From The New York Times:   Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont continues to tighten the race with Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a poll released on Tuesday.  The WMUR Granite State poll found that 42 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they would vote for Mrs. Clinton, while 36 percent said they supported Mr. Sanders. The survey considers that gap to be a statistical tie, but it shows that Mr. Sanders continues to show strength after months of negative publicity about Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.  Hillary is in serious trouble.  She is wounded.  But she still is the national Dem frontrunner by a large margin.  She may limp to the nomination, with little enthusiasm behind her, but the liberal press will then boost her in the general-election campaign.  She could rob a bank and the newsies will still support her.

THIS IS CRAZY – From Daily Caller:   The top U.S. immigration agency told a Senate subcommittee it’s working to blunt homegrown terrorism by marketing U.S. citizenship to immigrants.  “In furtherance of DHS’s mission to safeguard the homeland, [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] is committed to fostering integration and community cohesion,” the agency recently told the Immigration and the National Interest Subcommittee in records obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.  Oh, come on.  People bent on terrorism aren't going to be inspired by Abraham Lincoln.  What the immigration people are trying to do is get more probable Democratic voters on the citizenship rolls.  An old game.

POLITICAL REALITY – From the Daily Beast:   For some wealthy donors, it doesn’t matter who takes the White House in 2016—as long as the president’s name is Clinton or Bush.  More than 60 ultra-rich Americans have contributed to both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton’s federal campaigns, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by Vocativ and The Daily Beast. Seventeen of those contributors have gone one step further and opened their wallets to fund both Bush and Clinton’s 2016 ambitions.  After all, why support just Hillary Clinton or just Jeb Bush when you can hedge your bets and donate to both? This seems to be the thinking of a group of powerful men and women—racetrack owners, bankers, media barons, chicken magnates, hedge funders (and their spouses). Some of them have net worths that can eclipse the GDPs of small countries.  Happens in every election.  Donald Trump, now leading in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, has been very generous to Democrats in the past, including Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.  It's not a pretty sight, though, as it's obvious influence buying.

August 4,  2015     Permalink

BALTIMORE ON THE ROPES – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  Probably one of the worst-run cities in America.  Crime is now out of control.  From Fox:

Baltimore's police and civic leaders launched a two-month partnership Monday that will see ten federal agents embed with the city's homicide detectives in the latest bid to curb a surge in violent crime that has not been seen in decades.

Under the program, two special agents from each of the federal government's five crime-fighting agencies (the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service and the ATF) will help investigate cases for the next 60 days. The city's acting police commissioner, Kevin Davis, told reporters that the agents met with officers Monday to discuss cases where officers have identified suspects, but need additional evidence to file charges.

The homicide rate in Baltimore began to skyrocket in May, when the city saw 42 homicides in a single month. There was a brief dip in June, with 29 killings, however the number shot up to 45 in July, breaking a record set in 1972. The uptick comes after rioting in the spring over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who was critically injured while in police custody.

In total, the city has recorded 192 homicides so far this year, according to The Baltimore Sun. By contrast, 208 murders were committed in all of 2014. The three-month total of 116 homicides for May, June, and July is the highest since at least 1970.

Adding to the urgency of Baltimore's violence is the relatively low "clearance rate" of closed homicide cases. Last week, Davis said the city police department's "clearance rate" was at 36.6 percent, down from the department's mid-40s average.

COMMENT:  New York was able to lower its homicide rate by 80% during the Giuliani-Bloomberg years, but the press does handstands to avoid mentioning that spectacular record.  Crime is rising again in New York under ultra-progressive Mayor Fidel, or Bill, de Blasio.

Baltimore's city government is interested only in race, and the result is obvious.

August 4, 2015       Permalink

MADNESS IN WASHINGTON – AT 10:06 A.M. ET:  Will the White House help terrorists defeat Americans?  Maybe.   After all, it's the age of Obama.  From Fox: 

The Obama administration has signaled it may intervene next week in a civil lawsuit in which 11 American families won a potential billion-dollar judgment from the Palestinian leadership over a series of bombings and shootings that killed or wounded dozens of U.S. citizens, a move that critics say would find the government siding with terrorists over its own citizens.

The families won a $218.5 million judgment in February after a seven-week trial in Manhattan Federal Court in which a jury found the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority were responsible for a string of attacks from 2001 to 2004 that killed 33 and injured hundreds. A 1992 law that requires damages in such cases to be tripled, as well as interest on the award, would push it to as much as $1.1 billion. The judgment, which the Palestinians are appealing, would equal nearly a third of the Palestinian Authority’s annual operating budget.

Late last month, the Department of Justice, which had previously not been involved in the 11-year-old case, informed the court it was considering filing a “statement of interest” in the case by Aug. 10, but officials would not elaborate. A source said the Department of Justice was working with the State Department on the matter.

“As the filing states, the United States is considering whether to submit a Statement of Interest in the [Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization] matter,” a DOJ spokeswoman told FoxNews.com. “Any filing would be made on behalf of the United States, not on behalf of any other party.”

And...

John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Fox News contributor, said the administration would be wrong to assert a diplomatic role in the case.

“Palestine is not a state, and is therefore, not entitled to be treated like a state,” Bolton told Fox News. “It does not enjoy sovereign immunity and it would be wrong for the United States government to argue otherwise in federal court.”

COMMENT:  We'll be watching this.  Apparently, the administration wants the terrorists treated more gently.   And the Obama crowd is arrogant enough to go up against American families that have lost loved ones to terror.  After all, who are we to question other cultures?

August 4, 2015       Permalink

THIS IS NOT PROGRESS – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Field Marshal Obama's non-strategy for defeating ISIS appears to be non-working.  What a surprise.   From USA Today: 

WASHINGTON — In a sign of its resilience, the Islamic State appears to have recruited new fighters to offset 15,000 militants killed in a U.S.-led airstrike campaign approaching its first anniversary, U.S. military and intelligence estimates show.

More than 5,500 airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria that began Aug. 8, 2014, have forced the extremist organization to disperse its fighters into smaller groups, making them less of a threat to seize large chunks of territory, according to the military estimates. Despite the lethal strikes, the group continues to attract new recruits and replace leaders, highlighting the difficulty of fighting a movement that draws support from Muslims around the world.

A year ago, the CIA said it believed the Islamic State had between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria. The estimate remains the same this year, according to a U.S. intelligence official, who asked not to be named since he was not authorized to discuss the issue.

The U.S.-led coalition confirmed the 15,000 casualty number but would not discuss it publicly. The deaths are tracked as part of daily battle damage assessments and coalition efforts to avoid civilian casualties. Aerial surveillance is used to assess the impact of airstrikes, including enemy casualties.

One reason the military does not trumpet enemy death estimates is lingering embarrassment from the Vietnam War, when the Pentagon announced daily enemy death figures as a sign of military progress. Yet those counts proved to be exaggerated and U.S. troops ultimately withdrew from Vietnam, having failed to defeat the army of communist North Vietnam.

COMMENT:  That last paragraph is complete garbage.  We now know that the United States was actually doing quite well against the North Vietnamese.  How do we know?  Because they admitted it in their own official history, a written history largely ignored in the United States.  We withdrew because of political pressures at home, not because of battlefield failures.  Once we withdrew, the South Vietnamese army took over and acquitted itself very well.  We ultimately failed because a peace treaty was torn up by the enemy, and the United States, tired of the war and suffering from some very distorted reporting by major news organizations, cut off aid to the South Vietnamese.  President Gerald Ford called the aid cutoff an act of dishonor, and he was correct.

Compare please to South Korea, where we stayed the course, maintained a troop commitment even after the Korean War ended, and showed patience.  There's a free and vibrant South Korea.  There's no longer a South Vietnam.

August 4, 2015       Permalink 

AMERICANS REJECTING IRAN DEAL – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  Polls continue to show an increase in the percentage of Americans rejecting the Iran nuclear agreement.  From The Hill: 

A majority of Americans opposes a recently reached international accord lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on its nuclear program, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

Nearly six in 10 Americans, or 57 percent, oppose the nuclear deal, while 28 percent voice support for it in the national poll released Monday, in a 2-to-1 margin against the deal.

Republicans strongly oppose the deal brokered by the Obama administration, 86 to 3 percent, while Democrats support the top second-term foreign policy agenda item for President Obama, 52 to 32 percent.

A majority of Americans disapprove the way Obama is handling the situation in Iran (56 percent), compared with 35 percent who approve. A majority (58 percent) also thinks the deal makes the world less safe.

The Obama administration has worked to sell the deal, reached between the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China with Iran, to a deeply skeptical American public and Congress.

An ABC/Washington Post poll out July 20 found that 56 percent support the deal and 37 percent oppose it, while a Pew Research Center poll released the following day found that a plurality of Americans familiar with the deal oppose it, 48 to 38 percent.

Another CNN/ORC International Poll released late last month found that 52 percent of Americans say Congress should reject the deal, compared to 44 percent who said it should be approved.

The latest survey from Quinnipiac was commissioned amid testimony on Capitol Hill from Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in favor of the deal.

COMMENT:  This is an issue where common sense can easily be applied.  If the deal were so good, so beneficial to the nations surrounding Iran, or threatened by Iran, why does John Kerry have to go to these nations and beg for their support?  If the deal were good, they'd be cheering.

But the deal isn't good.  It's terrible.  It guarantees us nothing but the ability to somewhat annoy Iran.  The Europeans like the deal because it means they can open business with Iran, which is their only goal.  The Europeans, to use Churchill's example, are people who feed the alligator in the hope that they'll be eaten last.

But the deal will go through.  Our Congress may reject it, but Obama has promised to veto the rejection.  It's unlikely that enough Democrats will defect to override the veto.  And so one of the most momentous agreements in modern diplomatic history will go into effect without the support of the American Congress, which I believe is unprecedented.

The problem is that Obama doesn't care.  He sees his legacy more in terms of what "the world" thinks than what America thinks.

August 4,  2015     Permalink