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DECEMBER 13,  2015

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

TRUMP DOES IT AGAIN – And I think people are tiring of it, his endless insults and degrading comments about any opponent.  From CBS:   With Texas Sen. Ted Cruz usurping Donald Trump's lead in Iowa polls, the billionaire is launching a new line of attack against his latest threat -- and this time, he's resurrecting a favorite insult usually saved for Democratic presidential candidates and mass shooters.  Speaking with Fox News Sunday, Trump said that he doesn't think Cruz is "qualified" to be president: "When you look at the way he's dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a -- you know, frankly, like a bit of a maniac. You never get things done that way."  The act is wearing thin.  Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandment instructed that one didn't speak ill of a fellow Republican.  Trump not only speaks ill, he degrades and demeans, and provides ammunition for the Democrats.  I think he'll start to fade.  The act wears thin.

I'LL SLEEP BETTER TONIGHT – Comforting words (choke) from our secretary of state.  From Newsbusters:   On today's Meet the Press, John Kerry told Chuck Todd that "for the most part" we know who's entering our country. Kerry's statement came after he boasted about the Obama admin's "huge process" for vetting visa applicants. Not huge enough to catch Tafsheen Malik. Knowing for "the most part" who is entering the US is dangerously insufficient, given the hundreds of thousands of "refugees" and other immigrants from Muslim lands that President Obama wants to admit.  Also troubling was Kerry's response to Todd's question, whether, given that Malik had posted her radical views online before being admitted, we will begin searching the social media of would-be immigrants,. Kerry said we are looking into "whether there are means and whether we should," examine social media. If Kerry can't give an emphatic "yes" to both questions, how can we continue to admit people who might be out to kill us?  A third suggested question:  How, Mr. Kerry, did a goofball like you get to be secretary of state?

THE NEUTRAL, UNBIASED PRESS – From the Washington Examiner:   Journalists appeared to erupt in cheers Saturday afternoon after representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed to adopt the Paris Agreement, a major accord vowing to fight global warming.  Before the climate change deal was announced formally by officials in Paris, members of the press reportedly gathered close to cover the event, watching anxiously from a large room on site to hear news of the final agreement.  "Watching [the Paris Agreement] close [with] other journos," the Economist's Miranda Johnson tweeted from the French capital.  She then compared the event to the suspense of watching a major 2002 soccer match between England and Brazil.  Then the moment of truth arrived: A representative announced that the deal had passed, and that 195 counties had agreed to work together to fight climate change.  The reaction from the journalists reportedly on hand was a mixture of excitement and unbridled jubilation, as a video Johnson uploaded to social media showed.
The lack of neutrality in the international press, and our own domestic press, is a serious threat to democracy.  Democracy requires that accurate, balanced information be transmitted to the citizenry.  But what if the purpose of the press is to propagandize rather than inform?  That's where we're going, and that violates the fundamental mission of a free press.

December 13, 2015       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 12:17 P.M. ET:   It comes from Muslim commentator Amir Tahiri, whom I had the privilege of hearing just a week ago.  He discusses a phenomenon he calls Islamophilia, an irrational love of Muslims on behalf of Western elites.  From the New York Post:

The Islamophilia crowd do a great disservice to both Western democracies and to Islam itself. They invite Americans and Europeans to sacrifice part of their own freedom in atonement of largely imaginary sins against Muslims in the colonial and imperialist era. They also invite Muslims in the West to learn how to pose as victims and demand the rewards of victimhood as is the fashion in Europe and America. To the Muslims world at large, the message of Islamophilia is that Muslims need no criticism although their faith is being transformed into a number of conflicting ideologies dedicated to violence and terror.

Never mind if Islamic theology is all but dead. To say so would be a sign of Islamophobia.

Never mind that God makes only a cameo appearance in mosque sermons almost entirely obsessed with political issues.

All that Western intellectuals or leaders need to do is stop flattering Islam, as President Obama has been doing for the past seven years, claiming that virtually anything worthwhile under the sun has its origin in Islam.

Many Muslims resent that kind of flattery, which takes them for idiots at a time that Islam and Muslims badly need to be criticized. The world needs to wake from its slumber and ask: What is going on?

COMMENT:  Wonderfully stated from a great and quiet man.  I love his line about Obama claiming that "virtually anything worthwhile under the sun has its origin in Islam."  Obama probably got that idea from the old Soviets, who'd claimed that everything good had been invented in the Soviet Union.   American comedians used to use that claim as a laugh line. 

Read all of Taheri's piece.  Wisdom well delivered.

December 13, 2015       Permalink

SCANDALOUS – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:   Our anti-terror screening procedures in action.  Better get some locks on your doors.  From Fox: 

Tashfeen Malik, who along with her husband killed 14 people in Southern California, reportedly passed three background checks by American officials before she moved from Pakistan to the United States and none of them found her social media posts about jihad.

The New York Times reports U.S. law enforcement officials discovered old and previously unreported postings as they investigated Malik and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook. Immigration officials don’t usually check social media posts as part of their background checks, according to the newspaper.

How brilliant of them.  I wonder if they still use quills.

Malik’s path to the U.S. immediately highlighted the U.S. government’s immigration vetting practices after she was identified as one of the attackers in San Bernardino, Calif. The Obama administration is reviewing the program, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday. He didn’t specify what changes were going to be made.

Johnson said it was too soon to tell if the government missed signs that Malik may have been radicalized before she was approved for her visa.

COMMENT:  They always say it's "too soon."  Why is it too soon?  The facts are becoming obvious.  And why do I think the Obama administration's "review" will go on until this president is safely out of office?

December 13, 2015       Permalink

TRUMP AND CRUZ DUKE IT OUT – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal shows Donald Trump ahead in the GOP race nationally, but Ted Cruz on his heels.  From The Hill:

Trump now has the support of 27 percent of Republican primary voters, according to the poll, a portion of which was conducted after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

Actually, he called for a temporary shutdown, but facts are so boring.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) moved into second place with 22 percent, gaining 12 points.

Cruz benefited from the fall of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, pollsters say.

He also benefited from his own brilliance as a speaker and debater. 

Carson dropped 18 points in the poll, released Sunday morning, falling to fourth place in the crowded GOP presidential field. Carson was atop the last NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late October. Carson now is the first choice of 11 percent of GOP primary voters.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has 15 percent support, up 4 percent, to hold the third spot in the new poll.

There's a widespread belief that the contest will ultimately come down to Trump, Cruz and Rubio, and ultimately to Trump vs. either Cruz or Rubio.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with 7 percent support, and former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina, with 5 percent, round out the top six.

COMMENT:  Carson's fall is the result of his own blunders, especially his confused reaction to the Paris attacks and the rise of ISIS.  I think Carson, who was riding high only a month ago, is now pretty much out of it. 

But predictions are almost silly at this point.  The election is 11 months away, about 20 lifetimes in politics.

December 13,  2015     Permalink

DECEMBER 12,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:43 P.M. ET: 

HYPOCRITES – From the Washington Examiner:   The Democratic National Committee drafted a resolution, expected to pass Saturday, which accuses the Republican presidential candidates of engaging in "anti-Muslim rhetoric."  The resolution, according to CNN, says the DNC is "sickened by the vile personal attacks that denigrate Islam" from the GOP candidates. It says the candidates have "incited disturbing levels of fear mongering and demagoguery against racial, ethnic and religious minority communities."  I hadn't noticed the DNC passing any resolutions denouncing anti-Christian rhetoric, which is commonplace on the political left.  Maybe that page fell out.

TED ROMPS IN IOWA – From the Washington Examiner:   A new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, the most respected survey in Iowa politics, has Ted Cruz with a solid lead in the first-voting state. The Texas senator has 31 percent in the new survey, to Donald Trump's 21 percent, Ben Carson's 13 percent, Marco Rubio's 10 percent, and Jeb Bush's six percent.In the last Register poll, in mid-October, Cruz was at 10 percent, meaning he has more than tripled his support in the last eight weeks.  "From the beginning of this campaign, we've talked about uniting courageous conservatives to reignite the promise of America and keep our nation safe," said Cruz Iowa State Director Bryan English in an email statement. "We have more work to do, but we can definitively say the message is working. We have the right candidate, motivated supporters and the financial strength to take us to the nomination and the White House."  I'd be careful about reading too much into early polls and primaries, no matter who wins.  They are not necessarily indicative of the political winds to come.

TERROR ARRESTS IN SWITZERLAND – From CNN:   (CNN) Swiss police have arrested two people with Syrian passports and found traces of potential bomb-making chemicals in a car as security remains high around Geneva amid a terrorism alert and a hunt for suspects, authorities said Saturday.  Authorities have been looking for at least two people with indirect links to suspects in the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks. It was not immediately clear whether Saturday's arrests were linked to the attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed.  The two were arrested Friday and charged Saturday, according to a statement Saturday from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.  They were arrested on suspicion of the manufacture, concealment and transport of explosives or toxic gases, as well as on suspicion of violating the prohibition of groups such as al Qaida, ISIS and similar organizations.  I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding.  Maybe Obama should just invite them to live here, out of the way of obnoxious stares.

SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS – From Breitbart:  President Barack Obama is not scheduled to attend any of the funerals for the victims of the San Bernardino terror attack nine days ago, Breitbart News has learned. He has yet to visit the town in the wake of the deadliest terror attack since 9/11.  The White House did not return a request for comment about the president’s schedule.  It is unknown to the public whether he will attend any funerals, the first of which took place on Thursday for victim Yvette Velasco...Obama delivered the eulogy at the memorial service this year for the victims of a racist mass murder at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Obama used his remarks to push for gun control.  Small-time president.  No class.

December 12, 2015       Permalink

THE CHAIRMAN – AT 11:55 A.M. ET:   Today is the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra, generally ranked as America's finest male popular singer.  (On the female side I think the honor is shared by Ella Fitzgerald and Jane Froman.) 

Bing Crosby, noting that Sinatra's was a voice that appeared once in a lifetime, asked, "Why did it have to be my lifetime?"

Why does Sinatra remain important?  Why are so many commemorating his centennial?  Even CBS ran a Sinatra TV special this past week, although Sinatra died 17 years ago.  His importance as a singer can be understood just by listening to any of his mid-career recordings.  The kid from Hoboken, who'd been a teenage heartthrob, had developed into a mature singer who respected the songs he sang and those who created them.  (He would even credit the arranger when announcing his songs at a live appearance.)  His voice was mellow and pure, his interpretation of the lyric unsurpassed.  Sinatra studied English grammar in the 1950s, the better to understand what words meant.

He was also important because he came along during the years when the Great American Songbook was being written.  Opinions on dates will differ, but the Songbook consists of songs written from roughly 1911 through the early 1960s.  The Songbook was pushed aside by the music industry in favor of rock 'n roll and some of the later forms, but it was never replaced.  Sinatra remained true to the great tradition.  He refused to go along with the latest trend, and yet retained his audience.  He constantly taught America what a great song sounded like, that melody was key, and that lyricists could be minor poets.

He was also important because he symbolized, musically, the World War II generation.  When he died in 1998, I genuinely believed it marked the passing of that era, an era of greatness.  Sinatra was part of the golden age of American music, the golden age of Hollywood, and the golden age of television.  Not much gold today. 

So we celebrate 100 years of Frank Sinatra.  He is still with us.  The Sirius XM satellite radio service has a channel called "Siriusly Sinatra."  I listen every time I'm in my car.

December 12, 2015       Permalink

MAJOR ADVANCE...OR HOAX? – AT 11:17 A.M. ET:   A "climate change" agreement has apparently been reached in Paris, subject to approval by the nations participating in an international conference.  Aren't we lucky?  From Fox:

An accord negotiated at climate talks in Paris will be a “historic turning point” if the final draft is adopted by delegates from 190 nations, France’s foreign minister said Saturday.

The deal on climate change will limit warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), Laurent Fabius said, according to Sky News.

“The world is holding its breath, it’s counting on all of us,” the minister added.

I haven't seen too much breath holding.

If adopted, the pact known as “the Paris agreement” would take effect in 2020 and strive to limit global temperature even more, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

We are reminded by some skeptical scientists that there hasn't been any global warming in about 18 years, so maybe the "goal" is more achievable than we'd thought.

Sky News reported that countries most vulnerable to climate change had lobbied for the 1.5C limit while big polluters such as China, India and Saudi Arabia preferred 2C.

Why are certain countries more "vulnerable" than others?  Or is that a codeword for "gimme money"?

Negotiators had a few hours to analyze the draft before going into a meeting for possible adoption. French President Francois Hollande, who joined the meeting Saturday to underscore the deal’s importance, urged approval.

A few hours to analyze the draft?  Isn't this worth a little more time?

“The decisive agreement for the plant is here and now,” Hollande said. “France calls upon you to adopt the first universal agreement on climate.”

France is trying to take most of the credit.  It's Hollande's legacy, as he probably won't be re-elected.

The agreement sets a goal of limiting global gas emissions to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb them by the second half of the century.

A top climate scientist who was critical of draft negotiation texts on Friday has praised the final draft as being consistent with science.

John Schellnhuber, director of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, says that "if agreed and implemented, this means bringing down greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero within a few decades."

COMMENT:  The most interesting fact I've read is that the draft is written in such a manner as to not require approval by the U.S. Senate.  In other words, like the Iran agreement, this won't be submitted as a treaty.

It's hard to determine without further analysis what this will cost us, or whether it will cost us anything at all.  It's also hard to determine whether it will have any actual effect.

What isn't hard to determine is that there's a great deal of money involved.  Already we're seeing reports that some of Hillary's largest contributors are getting into the "green energy" business.  Translation:  they will be applying for federal grants. 

Follow the money.

December 12, 2015       Permalink

OBAMA TO TAKE CROSSTOWN CAR TRIP!! – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  Our dynamic leader, Field Marshal Barack Obama, will risk it all in a hazardous crosstown car trip to the Pentagon to take personal command of the nation's destiny.  There's Mount Rushmore talk.  From The Hill:

President Obama is making a rare trip to the Pentagon on Monday, to meet with his top national security advisers to discuss the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

But don't expect any serious reevaluation of the current strategy against ISIS, the White House said Friday.

"At this point ... it is an update," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

However, the last time the president went to get such an update at the Pentagon in July, it led to a decision to send about 50 U.S. special operations forces into Syria, among other steps to intensify the campaign.

During that meeting, the president "reaffirmed to all of us in the room that he was willing to hear all options of doing more in Iraq and Syria, as long as they would produce strategic success not just tactical success," a senior defense official told Pentagon reporters during a background briefing on Oct. 30, after the White House announced the new steps.

COMMENT:   There is really no strategy for success, and even Obama's own hand-picked military leaders are expressing deep concern over our non-course.  Should there be another attack here, Obama's first response will be 1) to warn Americans about stereotyping and 2) to see it as another opportunity to push gun control. 

December 12,  2015     Permalink