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AUGUST 16,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

PATHETIC – From The Hill:  The nation’s most powerful symbol of strength and deterrence on the high seas won’t be in the Persian Gulf as much in the near future.   Although the Navy has maintained at least one aircraft carrier in or near the Gulf for the last seven years, it is planning longer periods where there will be no carriers there at all.  The reduced presence is happening as the U.S. prepares to enter into a nuclear deal with Iran. White House and defense officials assure lawmakers, critics, and allies that the military will keep up military pressure on the regime.  In fact, if the nuclear deal makes it past Congress, it could enter into effect during a two-month gap without a carrier in the Persian Gulf. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is scheduled to leave the region sometime in October, and its replacement, the USS Harry S. Truman, won’t arrive there until later in the winter.  What a pathetic way for a superpower to act.  What a signal this sends to our allies.  But it's Obama's dream – a weak United States, stronger Muslim states.  How will we explain this to our children? 

SOCIAL NEWS – From London's Daily Mail:   America's two foremost Democratic families - the Obamas and the Clintons - mingled on Saturday night as politics mixed with summer repose on swanky Martha's Vineyard.  US President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Sasha and Malia, and former president Bill Clinton and his wife, the Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, were star guests at the 80th birthday party for their mutual friend Vernon Jordan.  So important was the event deemed to be that Hillary broke off from her campaign to fly 1,300 miles from Iowa State Fair, where she had been speaking earlier in the day.   Other guests at the party for civil-rights activist Jordan included Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and former Baltimore Orioles player Brian Roberts.  Although the party was private, guests could be heard rocking out to the Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson dance hit Uptown Funk.  Wonder what Hillary felt, in the presence of a president who might have to decide whether to prosecute her or not, or give her a presidential pardon.  I'm sure she smiled and told jokes, and mentioned her love of Africa.

CRIME SOARS IN D.C. – From WaPo:  Authorities are grappling with the District’s escalating homicide count. As of Sunday there were 93 so far this year, a 23 percent increase over the 72 at the same time last year. One challenge for police is that the violence has not been contained to any particular part of the city.  Although some areas that have been persistent pockets of crime continue to see shootings, the uptick in violence also has affected many neighborhoods key to the city’s growth and revitalization. Residents in Northwest are complaining about more gunfire, from Columbia Heights to Petworth, from Park View to Logan Circle.   Amazing.  Everyplace Obama lives becomes a shooting gallery.  Chicago.  Washington.  I have no doubt he'll blame the gun manufacturers, Republicans, and the Israel lobby.  That is, if he can take enough time away from his next party to notice.

August 16, 2015       Permalink

AND NOW FOR SOME COMMON SENSE – AT 2:56 P.M. ET:   Some people who know stuff are finally suggesting that Hillary Clinton is just plain unqualified to be president.  From Daily Caller: 

Hillary Clinton’s email scandal should disqualify her from the Oval Office.

At least so says former CIA operative and CNN national security analyst Bob Baer, who is not known for being a political partisan.

“If this was on her server and it got into her smart phone, there’s a big problem there,” Baer said during an appearance on CNN International Saturday, noting that the sensitivity of the information reportedly found on Clinton’s private server was likely more secret than what Edward Snowden pilfered.

“Seriously, if I had sent a document like this over the open Internet I’d get fired the same day, escorted to the door and gone for good — and probably charged with mishandling classified information,” Baer said.

“If this in fact were on her hand held [phone] — was sent to her or she forwarded it in any way — I wonder whether she is capable of being president,” he added.

Pressed by the host as to whether he really thought this situation was a “deal breaker” for Clinton’s presidential candidacy, Baer said, “As a national security employee, a former one, yes.”

“I can’t tell you how bad this is,” he went on. “A lot of things get talked about, a lot of gossip, but having documents like this sent across the Internet, it could be hacked very easily and probably were hacked, is a transgression that I don’t think the president of the United States should be allowed to, you know, have committed.”

COMMENT:  I'm glad someone said it.  David Petraeus was punished for mishandling classified information.  Why shouldn't Clinton receive the same punishment?

The key question will be whether Obama's Justice Department aids in her downfall, or tries to prevent it, and that will depend on the feelings of the president.

August 16, 2015       Permalink

LATEST POLL – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  Fox News released this morning its latest presidential poll:

Businessman Donald Trump still leads the field for the Republican nomination. He gets 25 percent among GOP primary voters. He was at 26 percent before the debate. Trump’s support among women went from 24 percent two weeks ago to 21 percent now. He mostly held steady among men (28 percent)...

...Next in the GOP race is Carson, who garners 12 percent. That’s up five percentage points since the debate and puts him in double-digits for the first time since mid-June. Cruz captures 10 percent, up four points.

Bush has dropped to nine percent. That’s down six points -- and puts him in single digits for the first time since April. That’s likely a result of his debate performance, which was judged subpar by those who watched. Bush does well on other measures -- he’s seen as both likeable and qualified.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee held steady at six percent. Walker slips to six percent -- down three points and the lowest support he’s received for more than a year.

Fiorina garners five percent support (+3 points), with Kasich (+1) and Rubio (-1) both at four percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Paul each get three percent. The remaining candidates are at one percent or less.

On the Democratic side, Clinton drops below 50 percent for the first time, while Sanders keeps climbing. She leads among Democratic primary voters by 19 points (49-30 percent). Two weeks ago Clinton was up by 29 points (51-22 percent). A month ago she had a 40-point advantage (59-19 percent).

Vice President Joe Biden, who is undeclared, receives the backing of 10 percent.

COMMENT:  Some pundits are arguing today that Clinton's problems are temporary.  I'm not so sure.  Added to the criminal investigation surrounding her, being conducted by the FBI, is the fact that Clinton is personally unpopular with millions of voters.  The more they see of her, the more they dislike her.

I'm convinced that 2016 can be a Republican year...unless the GOP messes it up, and it is expert at that.

August 16, 2015       Permalink

HILLARY, WE BARELY KNOW YE – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  The Washington Times is reporting that Hillary Clinton's problem with improper handling of classified information is ballooning:

While media coverage has focused on a half-dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal emails containing sensitive intelligence, the total number of her private emails identified by an ongoing State Department review as having contained classified data has ballooned to 60, officials told The Washington Times.

That figure is current through the end of July and is likely to grow as officials wade through a total of 30,000 work-related emails that passed through her personal email server, officials said. The process is expected to take months.

The 60 emails are among those that have been reviewed and cleared for release under the Freedom of Information Act as part of a open-records lawsuit. Some of the emails have multiple redactions for classified information.

Among the first 60 flagged emails, nearly all contained classified secrets at the lowest level of “confidential” and one contained information at the intermediate level of “secret,” officials told the Times.

Those 60 emails do not include two emails identified in recent days by Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III as containing “top-secret” information possibly derived from Pentagon satellites, drones or intercepts, which is some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

And....

As the number of suspect emails grows and the classification review continues, it is clear that predictions contained in a notification Mr. McCullough sent Congress this summer is likely to hold true: Mrs. Clinton’s personal emails likely contained hundreds of disclosures of classified information.

COMMENT:  It is true that "confidential" applies to low-level stuff, but it still denotes classified information, the release of which could be damaging or at least embarrassing to the U.S. government. 

Hillary Clinton's reply to the budding scandal is to shout that she will not make national security into a partisan matter, a thoroughly deceptive, dishonest, and cynical comment typical of the Clintons generally.  It was her behavior, after all, that generated the scandal in the first place.

August 16,  2015     Permalink

AUGUST 15,  2015

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

FLAKE COMES THROUGH – Jeff Flake, the eccentric Republican senator from Arizona, who had favored negotiations with Iran, has just announced that he will vote against the Iran nuclear agreement.  This means that no Republicans in the Senate have come out for it, and none are expected to.  The Obamans had hoped for at least a show of bipartisanship on the issue, but the GOP isn't buying into the deal.  We don't know yet if there will be Republican unanimity in the House.  Some Republican members haven't yet announced their decision.

JOE GOES ROGUE – Joe Biden used words normally forbidden by the Obama administration at a memorial service for the servicemen killed in Chattanooga.  From AP:  CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee — Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday called the slaying of four Marines and a sailor at a Chattanooga reserve center the act of a “perverted jihadist.”  Biden’s comments came at a memorial to the five servicemen killed in a shooting rampage by Kuwait-born Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.  “These perverse ideologues, warped theocrats, they may be able to inspire a single lone wolf to commit a savage act, but they can never, never threaten who we are,” Biden said. “When this perverted jihadist struck, everyone responded.”  The vice president’s strong words contrast with the official comments of investigators who have not yet been able to determine a motive behind the attack. The FBI has said it has not been able to determine whether the 24-year-old Abdulazeez was “radicalized” before the July 16 attacks and has been treating him as a homegrown violent extremist.  Biden is showing some common sense in going off the reservation and calling things as they are.  Running for president?

CRIME?  WHAT CRIME? – From Newsbusters:   All you need to know about the Associated Press's interest in accurately reporting current developments in the investigations into 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server is this: A search at its national site on "Hillary crime" (not in quotes) returns nothing.  Ken Thomas's coverage of the former Secretary of State's "forceful defense" last night in "a speech before influential Iowa Democrats" is all too typical: Mrs. Clinton gets to say that all of this is "partisan games" involving "playing politics." All I see is substance-free whining. "My opponents don't like me" is not a defense.   It's Hillary being Hillary, and the amen corner in the press being the press.  Hillary is in serious trouble, but, as we've said before here, if she's the nominee the media will get behind her – even if the inauguration is held in a jail cell.

A REAL QUEEN VERSUS A MAN WHO THINKS HE'S KING – From Townhall.com:   LONDON, United Kingdom – Today HM The Queen attended a memorial service in central London to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan in World War II. She was guest of honor despite the media having uncovered a plot to blow up the event and kill her.  Her attendance at St Martin-In-The-Field church was in sharp contrast to President Barack Obama, who did not appear to be commemorating American efforts to defeat the Japanese. Instead he chose to release a list of his favorite songs on the music website Spotify, a move that is likely be seen as disrespectful by veterans.  The President's Twitter account was silent for most of today, and he was reported to have been in Martha's Vineyard yesterday. At the same time, British Police were tightening security at the commemoration in London because of the terror threat from the Islamic State.  Elizabeth showed Barack how it's done, but Barack has no intention of doing it.  A little man in the White House.

August 15,  2015     Permalink

CAUGHT! – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  The phoniness of liberalism, on full display.  From Pink News:

Liberal news outlet Huffington Post has defended its Arabic edition – claiming that openly homophobic columns “represent” people’s views.

The US news outlet has struck a decidedly gay-friendly tone in English, launching ‘HuffPost Gay Voices’ to focus on LGBT issues – but things are rather less open on its new Arabic offshoot, Huffington Post Arabia.

A number of openly homophobic columns were found on the site earlier this month – with one columnist naming the selfie as a symptom of “the diseases and the viruses of the Western world” seeping into Arabic culture, while another savaged the Egyptian government for allowing “a press conference for gays in the heart of Cairo”, referring to gay people using derogatory words.

In a new US edition editorial, HuffPost’s Washington chief Ryan Grim conceded that many find the comments “absurd” and “deeply offensive” – but added they “represent the views of a sizeable number” in the area, “and we gain nothing by suppressing it”.

The post says: “Liberals are appalled by homophobic and anti-modern blog posts and warn that the whole thing is a vehicle for the Muslim Brotherhood, and religious conservatives are hitting us from the other side.

“What all of the critics are missing, though, is just how vital it is today more than ever to give our full-throated support to press freedom and diversity in the Middle East.”

It continues: “Launching HuffPost Arabi presents a unique journalistic question: Mainstream opinion in the Middle East is in many ways different from that in the U.S. on some key social and foreign policy issues, so how does an Arab-focused but Western-affiliated outlet handle opinions that are common in the region but offensive back home?”

COMMENT:  Why is press freedom any less important in the United States?  What next?  Will Huff Post Arabia be publishing Holocaust denial pieces?  How about "death to America" pieces?  Maybe the "editors" simply see too much upside sales potential to maintain the taste standards they allegedly maintain here.

By the way, CNN is also notorious for covering a story one way for domestic viewers and another way for its "international" viewers, especially where the Mideast is concerned. 

August 15, 2015       Permalink

ANOTHER ONE – AT 11:44 A.M. ET:  Another Democratic senator has announced his support of the horrible Iran nuclear deal, just as a veterans' group is starting to run ads opposing the agreement.  From USA Today: 

WASHINGTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown announced Friday he will support the Iran agreement, a multilateral deal aimed at preventing that country from getting a nuclear weapon.

The Ohio Democrat's decision is significant because it puts President Obama closer to thwarting GOP efforts to kill the agreement.

Brown said the deal, brokered by the United States and five other countries, is "the only viable option" to curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"I have studied the details, listened to Ohioans on all sides of this issue, and consulted with nuclear experts," Brown said in a statement Friday. "This deal is not about trusting the Iranian regime, but instead working with our allies on comprehensive, verifiable restrictions to block Iran's pathways to a nuclear bomb without precipitating another war in the Middle East."

Brown is the 20th Senate Democrat to publicly endorse the deal, which will keep Iran from producing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years.

COMMENT:  Brown is one of the most left-wing senators, and his comments simply reflect the White House talking points.  I'm guessing, judging by the shallowness of his remarks, that he gave the subject about ten minutes of thought. 

His announcement is important.  There is a "narrative" floating around that the Iran deal will fail in legislation passed in both the Senate and House, but that Obama will veto the legislation, thus allowing the deal to go through.  That is probably true in the House, but "iffy" in the Senate.  In the Senate the deal will never win a majority, but opponents must get 60 votes to head off a Democratic filibuster.  If they don't get the 60, the bill will fail and will never reach the president's desk.  Right now opponents only have about 55 votes, and I'm far from certain they'll reach 60.  If would mean peeling off Democratic senators.  Thus far the only Democrat to announce opposition is Chuck Schumer, although Bob Menendez of New Jersey will probably follow.  Other Democrats will be more difficult, and one Republican, flakey Jeff Flake of Arizona, may go with Obama.

August 15, 2015       Permalink

ANOTHER GREAT AMERICAN FOREIGN-POLICY SUCCESS – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  With all the concern over Iran, we sometimes forget North Korea, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and a country that broke an agreement to curtail its nuclear program.  From AFP: 

North Korea on Saturday threatened South Korea with "indiscriminate" military strikes unless it halts cross-border propaganda broadcasts, and issued fresh nuclear weapons warnings against the United States.

The threats came amid escalating military tensions on the Korean peninsula following a landmine attack South Korea blamed on the North and ahead of a major South Korea-US joint military exercise condemned by Pyongyang.

They also coincided with celebrations in both Koreas to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula's 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

The North Koreans were liberated from Japanese rule, only to have the Japanese replaced by the Soviets.

Initially there were hopes the anniversary might be an opportunity for some sort of inter-Korean rapprochement, but instead ties have spiralled downwards to the familiar accompaniment of angry rhetoric and mutual recrimination.

After three landmine blasts maimed two South Korean soldiers on border patrol, Seoul this week resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the heavily-militarised frontier, using batteries of loudspeakers that had lain silent for more than a decade.

Pyongyang rejected accusations that it was behind the mine incident as "absurd," and its frontline army border command on Saturday demanded the broadcasts be halted immediately.

Failure to do so would trigger "an all-out military action of justice to blow up all means for 'anti-North psychological warfare' in all areas along the front," the command said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

COMMENT:  We've heard this kind of rhetoric before, and it usually dies down.  But "usually" is not much of a guarantee.  The North Korean regime broke its nuclear treaty and now is a nuclear power.  It could easily miscalculate and launch an attack, plunging the United States into a bitter war. 

Its threats against the United States should be taken seriously.  We don't know what a desperate government, under intense pressure, might do with nuclear-tipped missiles.  Countries have launched wars just to rally their own populations.  Or, a country like North Korea, sensing American weakness, might attack us, believing we would not retaliate.

August 15,  2015     Permalink