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DECEMBER 24,  2015

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

MAJOR CHRISTMAS ETIQUETTE BULLETIN – Please pass this on to loved ones.  From the Denver Post:   Santas-in-training in Australia have been warned by a recruitment firm that "ho-ho-ho" is no longer politically correct.  The Daily Telegraph reports that Westaff - which supplies hundreds of Santas across Australia - is telling trainees that the signature catchphrase could frighten children and be derogatory to women.   They suggest "ha-ha-ha," instead.  Some Santa hopefuls have dropped out of the course in protest. Name one child who's been frightened by "ho-ho-ho."  I dare you.

FOOD LADY OFFERED HER JOB BACK – We reported the beginning of this story at last night's "Short Takes."  The saga continues.  From Mediaite:   Pocatello Chubbuck School District’s heart grew three sizes this week after angry parents and internet strangers protested the firing of a middle school cafeteria lunch lady who offered a hungry student free lunch.  Irving Middle School originally fired Dalene Bowden for “stealing” after she gave a 12-year-old girl without lunch money a hot meal for free...A petition demanding the school district change its policy and re-hire Bowden garnered over 80,000 signatures in less than two weeks. “This kitchen aid deserves to keep her job,” the petition reads. “Lunch room policies should prioritize kindness and making sure kids receive a nutritious lunch so they can be ready to learn.”  In a statement, the school district said it “does not and has not ever taken negative employment action against any food service worker due to a singular event of this nature.”  But, the statement continued, “in the spirit of the holidays” the school district “has been in communication with Ms. Bowden, extending an opportunity for her to return to employment.”  Maybe the "educators" have learned a lesson.  Educators often need further education.

AND AFTER THE CHRISTMAS MEAL – From London's Telegraph:  A cure for sugar cravings is a major step nearer after scientists identified a hormone that suppresses a "sweet tooth".  Researchers say their findings, published online in the journal Cell Metabolism, could improve the diet and help patients who are diabetic or obese.  While sugar cravings are common, particularly at this time of year, the physiological mechanisms that trigger our "sweet tooth" were not well defined until now.  But the new study in mice shows that a hormone produced by the liver, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), suppresses the consumption of simple sugars.  The researchers say that FGF21 is produced in the liver in response to high carbohydrate levels. The hormone then enters the bloodstream, where it sends a signal to the brain to suppress the preference for sweets.  I'm sure it's a great medical advance, but, once again, evil conspirators are taking all the fun out of things.  You can pretend you didn't read the article.  Enjoy the Christmas pie.

December 24, 2015        Permalink

CHILLING – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  Even Christmas travelers aren't safe from rabid ideologists.  From  AP: 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Mall of America was used as "a decoy" to start a protest that quickly moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and blocked a terminal on a busy holiday travel day, one organizer of the demonstration said.

Access to one of two terminals was closed after more than 100 protesters gathered inside and blocked roads leading to the airport Wednesday, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. He said the protest caused some flight delays but no cancellations.

Protesters hoping to draw attention to the police shooting last month of a black man in Minneapolis had described in advance their plans to target the mall, but not the airport. They started at the shopping mecca in suburban Bloomington, where there was a heavy police presence, then took a light-rail train to the airport.

"The mall was a decoy," said Black Lives Matter organizer Miski Noor, who protested at the airport. "I think it was really effective."

COMMENT:  The recklessness is appalling.  Airports are critical facilities, and facilities that must be reached quickly in the event of an accident.  The right to protest is enshrined in American law and tradition, but that right is not absolute.  Shutting down or blocking an airport, especially when that blockage begins as an act of deception, is not part of the deal.

December 24, 2015       Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:  It has come to this.  From the Jerusalem Post: 

Authorities in the southern French city of Montpellier this week arrested a young woman in possession of a fake pregnant stomach accessory, in fear that it could be used to conceal explosives in a suicide attack, French media reported Wednesday.

The plastic prosthesis, ordered via the Internet by the suspect, could be attached to the torso to give the illusion of pregnancy.

The accessory was found hollowed out and covered in aluminum foil, and security forces were investigating whether the suspect intended to conceal a bomb under the appendage.

On Monday, anti-terrorism forces arrested the suspect, identified by French media only by first name as Camille, after searches of her home.

According to the reports, the 23-year-old suspect had converted to Islam and became "radicalized."

The suspected reported told investigators that the device was intended to be used for shoplifting.

Authorities placed in custody both the young woman and her husband.

COMMENT:  The excuse that the device was for shoplifting, while possible, raises doubts because the woman had become radicalized.  Too much of a coincidence.  Terror groups are becoming increasingly inventive.  Remember – they only have to be lucky once.

December 24, 2015       Permalink

A CHRISTMAS GIFT THAT WILL BENEFIT MILLIONS – AT 9:25 A.M. ET:  There is political upheaval in Latin America, and for once the good side is winning.  From AP: 

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- After a decade on the advance, the left in South America is in retreat.

Just in the past month, voters in Argentina elected a conservative businessman president over the chosen successor of Cristina Fernandez and Brazil's congress launched an impeachment probe against President Dilma Rousseff, whose approval ratings have been languishing in single digits.

In perhaps the biggest turnabout, voters in Venezuela, where the region's leftward shift began, handed the opposition a landslide victory in congressional elections - its first nationwide legislative win since the U.S.-bashing Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1998.

The backlash comes amid an economic storm of the likes the region hasn't seen in decades. While all political dynasties are paying the price for broken economies and unchecked corruption, most of South America's governments are run by leftists who came to power as China's economy was taking off over the past 15 years, fueling demand for the region's raw materials.

Now that the Asian giant is struggling, prices for the region's copper, soy beans and oil have plummeted along with its currencies, taking with them the aspirations of millions of families that rose into the middle class on the back of the economic boom. At the same time, U.S. interest rates are rising again for the first time in seven years, adding pressure on borrowers already struggling to pay back dollar loans.

COMMENT:  The changes are good news, but realism is in order.  The left still holds pockets of power in Latin America, and the left is a religion.  It does not change nor give up.  In Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela, conservative reformers still must deal with entrenched leftists in parliaments.  And the Castros still run Cuba.

But change is in the air.  We hope that once Latin Americans get a taste of real democracy and economic freedom, they will not want to go back.

December 24,  2015     Permalink

DECEMBER 23,  2015

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

ANOTHER GREAT EDUCATIONAL DECISION – From Fox:  A cafeteria worker at an Idaho middle school gave a free lunch to a 12-year-old student who said she was hungry, but the school district fired her Monday for her actions, the Idaho State Journal reported.  Dalene Bowden said the Irving Middle School student didn’t have any money to pay for the hot lunch. The cost: $1.70.  The Pocatello/Chubbuck School District reportedly placed Bowden on leave Dec. 15 before deciding to fire her. She said she offered to pay for the lunch herself, but her supervisor said no.  “This just breaks my heart, and I was in the wrong, but what do you do when the kid tells you that they’re hungry, and they don’t have any money? I handed her the tray,” Bowden told the Journal...Tens of thousands of people rushed to her defense. A petition supporting Bowden racked up more than 38,000 online signatures as of Wednesday.  We'll follow this and see how it turns out.  I'm sure the kindhearted Ms. Bowden will be offered many jobs.  As far as the "educators" at district headquarters, they need a common-sense transplant.

FAITH IN POLICE REBOUNDS – From Powerline:   2015 was a bad public relations year for the police. It was hammered by the Black Lives Matter movement and other leftists. President Obama did his bit stating, “You know as well as I do, that the tensions in some communities, the feeling that law enforcement isn’t always applied fairly, those sentiments don’t just come out of nowhere.”  But even with all the bad PR, trust in the police increased this year according to a Gallup poll. 56 percent of those polled rated the honesty and ethical standards of police officers “high” or “very high” (and only 14 percent said “low” or “very low”). ...Herein lies the most interesting aspect of the survey: the rebound was driven mostly by African-Americans. In 2014, less than one-fourth of them believed in the honesty and ethics of police officers. This year, 40 percent do.  Ray Kelly, New York City's former police commissioner, got a standing ovation every time he appeared at a black church.  The parishioners understood how the police were protecting their community every day.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD MESSES UP AGAIN – When will even liberals realize that there's something wrong over there?  From the Federalist:   International Planned Parenthood Federation, of which Planned Parenthood Federation of America is an official affiliate, maintains it is a person’s “human right” not to tell their sexual partners they are HIV positive if they don’t want to.  It’s all laid out in International Planned Parenthood Federation’s booklet for HIV-positive youth entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” It says, “Young people living with HIV have the right to decide if, when, and how to disclose their HIV status.” It continues: “Sharing your HIV status is called disclosure. Your decision about whether to disclose may change with different people and situations. You have the right to decide if, when, and how to disclose your HIV status.”  Planned Parenthood thinks it’s your human right to risk exposing other people to a potentially deadly disease without telling them.   Planned Parenthood receives federal funds.  A congressional committee is presumably investigating some of the group's operations.  This booklet and its catastrophic advice should be included in the probe. 

December 23, 2015       Permalink

THEY ARE HERE – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  And let's not forget it.  From the New York Post: 

A Pennsylvania teenager was indicted on Tuesday after investigators said he tried to help individuals travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State, the Justice Department said.

Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz, 19, of Harrisburg, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Scranton on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the militant group, the Justice Department said in a statement.

When Aziz was arrested on Thursday, prosecutors said he had used at least 57 Twitter accounts to advocate violence against Americans, disseminate Islamic State propaganda and post the names of US military members that he said should be targeted.

Aziz is scheduled to appear in a Harrisburg court on Wednesday for a detention hearing and arraignment, the statement said.

COMMENT:  He is innocent until proved guilty, of course, but you wonder how much of this is going on, and how much we don't know about. 

ISIS has proved to be a well-financed, smart, and quick terror organization, far more advanced than Al Qaeda.  I have to believe they're planning major operations in the United States, as we are the "great Satan."  Meanwhile, the president refuses to identify them correctly as a radical Islamist group.  That's like refusing to say that the German armies of World War II had anything to do with Nazism.

December 23, 2015       Permalink

NOW WE'RE TALKIN' – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Looks like the herd will be thinned in time for the next GOP debate.  We're getting some realism.  From The Hill:

As few as six candidates could make the next GOP presidential debate stage in January, as Fox Business Network's new criteria could drastically shrink the field less than a month before the Iowa caucuses.

Fox Business Network announced three separate avenues to make the main stage, but those pathways are more restricted than in previous debates. Participants in the main stage debate on Jan. 14 must hit the top six in an average of five recent national polls, or top five in an average of recent polls from Iowa or New Hampshire.

The rest will qualify for another undercard debate, provided that they earn at least 1 percent in one of the qualifying polls.

Last month's CNN debate also relied on early state polling, but set a 4 percent threshold instead. Nine candidates made the network's main event.

Fox Business Network, as in the past, hasn't announced which polls it would use. But using current RealClearPolitics averages, Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ben Carson, former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.), and Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) currently sit in the national top six.

COMMENT:  We're making progress.  And the debate after that should feature the top four.  Voters would get a dramatically clearer picture of each candidate if there were fewer contenders onstage.

December 23, 2015       Permalink

TRUMP ACES NEW CNN POLL – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  It's baffling.  The Republican Party is reputed to be the party that puts a higher premium on good behavior.  But Trump overcomes every flap and keeps gaining ground.  From The Hill:

Donald Trump added 3 points in a new CNN/ORC International poll released early Wednesday to expand his commanding lead over the GOP field.

Trump now has the support of 39 percent of Republicans independents who lean Republicans.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) strengthened his second-place standing, adding 2 points since a similar poll in early December. He currently has 18 percent.

Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who both saw their support fall in the new national poll, are tied for third with 10 percent apiece.

No other GOP contender had more than 5 percent support.

And...

The poll also found that Trump's support is largely comprised of non-college-educated voters. Among those without a degree, 46 percent back Trump, while only 27 percent of graduates said they support his candidacy.

COMMENT:  That last point tends to confirm that Trump has become the protest candidate of largely white working-class people who feel they've been bypassed and demeaned by the current rulers in Washington.  It's fascinating that the Democratic Party, once the home of the working class, is now seen as the party of the elites.

December 23,  2015     Permalink