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JANUARY 9,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:01 P.M. ET:

INCREDIBLE – While Americans were riveted by the terror attacks in France, the president of the United States today still refused to use the term "Islamic terrorism."  In fact, he only made brief mension of the attacks, preferring to speak to audiences about his new proposal to provide free community-college educations for some students.  Nothing like a president with a sense of priority.

MITT? – We noted Jeb Bush's campaign launch a few days ago, and the fact that Mitt Romney wasn't doing much.  That has changed.  From WaPo:  "Mitt Romney forcefully declared his interest in a third presidential run to a room full of powerful Republican donors on Friday, disrupting the fluid 2016 GOP field as would-be rival Jeb Bush was moving swiftly to consolidate establishment support.  Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, has been mulling another campaign for several months, but his comments Friday mark a clear step forward in his thinking and come amid mounting tensions between the Romney and Bush camps."  Let them fight it out.  I have a gut feeling that the real emerging guy is Scott Walker, but that's just a feeling.

YIKES! – From The New York Times:  "The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison."  I would hope that Holder would decline to seek an indictment unless Petraeus's behavior was truly outrageous, which I seriously doubt.  The classified information, if the accusation is true at all, may well have been on a low level.  Petraeus has served his country well, and seeking an indictment can raise questions as to whether the charges have some political motivation.

THE OTHER SIDE SPEAKS – From The Times of India:  "MUMBAI: Two of three scientists at a session on climate change and society at the Indian Science Congress on Tuesday felt fears of man-made global warming were greatly exaggerated. Their presence at the conference was particularly significant in light of the current 'development-versus-environment' debates.  'While I agree that glaciers are melting because of global warming, if this is because of man, then what was the reason for the melting of the glaciers in the Gondwana period long before man arrived on the planet?' asked Dhruv Sen Singh, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow."  Yeah, lots of people finally asking questions like that.

January 9, 2015       Permalink

A WARNING – AT 10:19 A.M. ET:  We're getting a lot of terror warnings, and doing very little about them.  The president wants to talk about almost anything else.  From Reuters:   

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants in Syria are plotting attacks to inflict mass casualties in the West, possibly against transport systems or "iconic targets", the head of Britain's MI5 Security Service said on Thursday.

Speaking after gunmen killed 12 people in an assault on a French satirical newspaper, MI5 boss Andrew Parker warned a strike on the United Kingdom was highly likely.

"A group of core al Qaeda terrorists in Syria is planning mass casualty attacks against the West," Director General Parker said in a rare public speech at MI5 headquarters in London. His last public speech was in October 2013.

In the speech, planned before the killings in Paris, Parker said seasoned al Qaeda militants in Syria aimed to "cause large-scale loss of life, often by attacking transport systems or iconic targets" in the West.

Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people by attacking the United States with hijacked passenger planes on September 11, 2001. Militants inspired by the group killed 52 commuters in London on July 7, 2005 with suicide bombs.

COMMENT:  The world has a way of surprising American presidents.  Things are getting very tense all over, as we start to realize that the war on terror isn't over.  It's just starting.  This is a multigenerational conflict, as was the Cold War.  Someone tell the White House, and any number of college professors.

January 9, 2015       Permalink

BE CAREFUL! – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  When Republicans start talking about tax increases, we'd better look with two eyes.   From The Hill: 

Record-low gas prices across the U.S. have given rise to fresh talk in Washington of raising the federal gas tax for the first time in over 20 years, with leading Republicans now saying a hike must not be ruled out.

The GOP has long resisted calls from business leaders and others to boost the 18.4 cent-per-gallon tax as a way to pay for upgrades to the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges.

Yet in recent days, senior Senate Republicans have said they want to keep options open and that "nothing is off the table" when weighing the best mechanisms to pay to finance infrastructure projects.

"I just think that option is there, it's clearly one of the options," said Sen. Inhofe (R-Okla.), new chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the third-ranking Senate Republican, also said they were open to the possibility of raising the tax.

Democratic leaders in both chambers of Congress, meanwhile, declared this week that “now is the time” for an increase.

While major obstacles stand in the way — namely the House of Representatives —business groups believe there is a real chance to raise the tax in the final two years of the Obama administration.

“Comments this week from Sens. Inhofe, Hatch and Thune signal a growing recognition that the gas tax is a fair and consistent way to fund our infrastructure needs,” Association of Equipment Manufacturers spokesman Michael O’Brien said in an interview on Thursday.

Democrats have typically been more open to the idea of hiking the gas tax, but it’s the shift in Republicans' tone that is drawing more attention to the possibility.

COMMENT:  Okay, taxes go for stuff we sometimes need.  These are the things I want to know:  If the tax is raised now, will it automatically be lowered if gas prices rise?  And...how can I be sure that the tax increase will go specifically to infrastructure spending?  How do I know that a good chunk won't be siphoned off for Democratic "social" programs that help no one except the people running the programs?

When those questions are answered, we'll talk.   I hope Republicans have enough spine to ask them.

January 9, 2015       Permalink

MORE ON PARIS – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  This is Fox's latest.  There may be some repetition in these reports, but that's okay.  From Fox: 

Two people were reportedly dead in a second hostage situation in Paris, 25 miles south of a printing plant where police had the suspects Wednesday's massacre at a Paris satirical magazine holed up, authorities said.

The hostage takes in the second case, at a kosher grocery store in eastern Paris, were identified by police as Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene, a couple suspected in the murder Thursday of Paris Police Officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe as she conducted a routine traffic accident in the city. Authorities believe the case is related to Wednesday's attack, which 12 people, including two cops, dead at the publication Charlie Hebdo, which has angered Muslim radicals by publishing images of Prophet Muhammed.

The Islamist brothers suspected of killing 12 people in an attack on a French satirical magazine were holding at least one hostage inside a printing house surrounded by police northeast of Paris Friday morning, and at least two people were reportedly dead in a separate, but likely related hostage situation in Paris.

Hundreds of French security forces backed by a convoy of ambulances streamed into Dammartin-en-Goele, a small industrial town 25 miles outside the capital in a massive operation to seize the men suspected of carrying out France's deadliest terror attack in 54 years. The suspects reportedly told police negotiators they were ready to "die as martyrs."

COMMENT:  Every American must be asking the same question this morning:  How long will it be before this happens here? 

We'll add a question:  When it does happen here, what will the reaction of Barack Hussein Obama Jr. be?  This hopeless administration still will not use the term "Islamic terrorism."

January 9, 2015        Permalink

CHAOS IN FRANCE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  There is chaos in Paris this morning.  There are two hostage situations.  This is incomplete, from CNN:

Dammartin-en-Goele, France (CNN)Two intense standoffs with gunmen were underway in and around Paris early Friday afternoon -- one involving the two brothers wanted in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the other a hostage situation at a kosher grocery store near eastern Paris' Porte de Vincennes.

It was not immediately known if the two situations were related, but both underscored France's nightmare and anti-terrorism fight.

UPDATE:  It is now believed the two are related.  The two perps in the grocery store are believed to have been involved in the fatal shooting of a policewoman yesterday, and, in turn, to be linked with the perpetrators of the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

The hostage situation spurred police anti-terror units and the French internal security directorate, known as the DGSI, to race to the scene in eastern Paris, the city's prosecutor's office said. Hostages were taken after a shooting there or nearby.

CNN affiliate France 2 aired live video of police tactical teams getting into position at the scene of the standoff.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officers had also surrounded a building about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast in the town Dammartin-en-Goele.

Authorities have expressed a high degree of certainty that they have surrounded the Kouachi brothers -- the suspects in Wednesday's killing of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo -- in Dammartin-en-Goele, which is northeast of Paris and a few miles from Charles de Gaulle Airport. Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre Henri Brandet tweeted that it's not confirmed whether or not the brothers are holding anyone hostage.

COMMENT:  This is developing.  Both Fox and CNN are covering live, continuous.

January 9,  2015     Permalink

JANUARY 8,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:45 P.M. ET: 

THE AGONY, THE PAIN – From the New York Post:  "Hillary Clinton is 'furious' at husband Bill Clinton, according to Washington insiders, after his name came up in the latest sex scandal involving his disgraced former pal, Jeffrey Epstein.  Sources at the funeral of Mario Cuomo also said they saw a peevish-looking Hillary angrily 'storm' past the former president after he dutifully waited for her by the door of St. Ignatius Loyola Church.  'Talk in Washington is that Hillary is furious with Bill about all this new information on Jeffrey Epstein,' said a DC insider familiar with both Epstein and the Clintons.  Bill’s name has popped up in 2011 court documents relating to Epstein after a woman said to be Virginia Roberts filed a bombshell suit alleging she was Epstein’s teen 'sex slave' and paid $15,000 to bed Epstein’s pal, Britain’s Prince Andrew."  Well, Hillary, to advance your career you decided to stay with the jerk after Monica and all the other stuff.  This is the thanks you get.  Surprised?

HOW CAN WE SURVIVE? – From the Washington Post:  "Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that she will not seek reelection in 2016, the first retirement announcement from a Democratic senator ahead of the 2016 political cycle, which will spark a major political contest in California.  Boxer made the announcement in a video co-starring her grandson, who played the role of reporter."  It's an acting family.  She played the role of a serious person for years.  No Oscar.  No Tony.  Lots of laughs.  I started thinking of her accomplishments, to list here.  Still thinking.  Check me tomorrow.

MAJOR ART NEWS – From Entertainment Weekly:  "Under Discovery Channel’s new regime, fake shark movies and man-eating anaconda stunts are out.  In an apparent response to viewer dismay over ratings-grabbing stunts that went against Discovery’s science-and-nature brand, the cable channel’s new president, Rich Ross, said he will avoid such content under his leadership.  Appearing at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour in Pasadena on Thursday, Ross was first asked about bogus nature documentaries, like last year’s Shark Week movie 'Megalodon: The Monster Shark Live's – a fictional film about a 'serial killer of the seas' disguised as a legitimate documentary. The project was slammed by fans of the annual programming stunt and is part of a line of programs that includes Discovery sister channel Animal Planet’s notorious mermaid films."  I feel uplifted by this change. 

WE'RE THIS VULNERABLE? – From USA Today:  "The year 2015 will have an extra second — which could wreak havoc on the infrastructure powering the Internet.  At 11:59 p.m. on June 30, clocks will count up all the way to 60 seconds. That will allow the Earth's spin to catch up with atomic time.  The Earth's spin is gradually slowing down, by about two thousandths of a second per day, but atomic clocks are constant. That means that occasionally years have to be lengthened slightly, to allow the slowing Earth to catch up with the constant clock.  But last time it happened, in 2012, it took down much of the Internet."  The spin doctors in Washington could fix this in...a second.

January 8, 2015       Permalink

JEB ON THE OFFENSIVE – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  There are more and more indications that Jeb Bush is running for president, leaving talk of Mitt Romney behind.   From The Politico: 

Jeb Bush is wasting no time taking on Hillary Clinton, even though neither party’s potential 2016 standard-bearer has officially committed to a presidential bid.

Speaking at a closed-press fundraiser in Connecticut on Wednesday night, Bush suggested to potential donors that the former secretary of state would have to explain President Barack Obama’s foreign policy mistakes, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Thursday.

The outlet, anonymously citing attendees who heard Bush’s remarks, reported that the former Florida governor took another not-so-subtle jab at Clinton.

“He said, ‘If someone wants to run a campaign about ’90s nostalgia, it’s not going to be very successful,’” Hearst Connecticut Media reported, citing another person present at the event.

Bush spoke to the crowd of 175 people for about 30 minutes, and spent another 30 minutes taking questions. The event, a fundraiser for his new Right to Rise PAC, was held at the home of former Goldman Sachs executive Charles Davis.

Bush also dismissed broad comparisons to his famous family, according to an attendee.

“He said, ‘Do you have a father? Do you have a brother? Are you the same person?’” the unnamed source told Hearst.

A Bush spokesperson declined to comment, citing the closed-press nature of the event.

COMMENT:  Bush would probably prefer Clinton as an opponent because it negates the "dynasty" issue.

I think his getting started early is the right thing to do.  After a time, people get tired of the number of Hamlets out there who can never decide whether to run for president.  That's what doomed the late Mario Cuomo. 

It's getting fascinating already.  And the question of course is, "What will Hillary do?"  She wants it, but the lack of enthusiasm for her on the left wing of the Democratic Party is apparent.  And Elizabeth Warren is sounding more and more like a candidate. 

January 8, 2015       Permalink

HAS HE LEARNED NOTHING? – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:   We report on Mayor de Blasio of New York because New York City policies have an effect on policies in other cities, because New York is a huge media center with outsized influence, and because de Blasio is an unabashed leftist, not a traditional liberal.

And, like most leftists, he never learns anything.  A few days ago he reappointed a judge who had been especially lenient toward defendants accused of threatening the lives of police officers.  And now this, from the New York Post: 

A Manhattan judge known for being tough on criminals has been booted from the bench by Mayor Bill de Blasio — even against the advice of his own vetting team, law enforcement sources told The Post on Tuesday.

The move comes on the heels of de Blasio’s reappointment of Brooklyn Judge Laura Johnson, who set free without bail two men who threatened to kill cops just days after a double police assassination.

The booted judge, Diana Boyar, “was fair, knowledgeable and ran the courtroom professionally,” a stunned source said.

Another source added of Boyar, “She is a fair, very smart and respected judge who’s known for being tough, and Legal Aid doesn’t like her for it.”

Boyar is being seriously considered for a job as a special court “referee,” courthouse sources said.
Boyar could not be reached for comment.

COMMENT:  The American left at work.  I get the feeling that judgeships have to be approved by Al Sharpton, or at least Sharpton's allies.  It's a pathetic situation.

It's gotten so bad in New York that there are now serious suggestions that only former President Clinton can mediate the tensions between the mayor and the city's police force.  He might be asked.

And the Republicans in New York City?  I have no doubt they're getting ready to concede the next mayoral election.  It's the stylish thing to do, you know.

January 8, 2015       Permalink

PARIS LATEST – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  The action in France is far from over.  From Sky News: 

A major police operation is under way in France as tensions remain high across the country after yesterday's terror attack in Paris.

Several armed officers were at the scene of another fatal gun attack this morning in the south of the capital.

A female police officer was killed after she was called to reports of a traffic accident involving a grey Clio at around 7.15am.

A street sweeper was wounded in the shooting, which is also being treated as a terrorist act by the French authorities.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said police with heavy armour were seen in Porte de Chatillon shortly afterwards and TV news crews were being pushed back from the area, which was sealed off with tape.

Meanwhile, officers are still hunting for suspects in the deadly gun attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Two men matching their description are said to have robbed a petrol station about an hour's drive northeast of Paris.

COMMENT:  I note that the left-wing mayor of New York has largely dismantled the intelligence system set up by former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, leaving New York more vulnerable to a Paris-type attack.  After all, we must not offend other cultures.

I also note that the Obama administration still will not call the Paris attack Islamic terrorism.  Why tell the truth when a lie works just as well?

January 8, 2015        Permalink

TERROR – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  We might disagree with him on some other issues, but Lindsey Graham has been a stalwart on national defense in the U.S. Senate.  He lays it on the line about Obama's terror policies and how they endanger us.  From the Washington Times: 

Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks are likely a drop in the bucket of what’s to come — and especially so under the policies of President Obama.

“I fear we can expect and must prepare for more attacks like this in the future,” Mr. Graham said in a statement reported by The Hill. “Through a combination of poor policy choices made by the Obama administration regarding detention and interrogation policies, and budget cuts approved by the Congress with President Obama’s support, I believe our national security infrastructure designed to prevent these types of attacks from occurring is under siege.”

Mr. Graham also pointed to the nation’s “eroding” intelligence capabilities as problematic — and his criticisms were shared by others in the Republican Party.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte said Mr. Obama’s pledge to close Guantanamo Bay is a “real risk,” Fox News reported. And Rep. Peter King from New York said on CNN: “We have to make it clear that Homeland Security — at a time we saw this massive attack in Paris — that we can’t be cutting funding or programs which would protect Americans from a terrorist attack.”

COMMENT:  Leftists hope that memory of attacks like the one in Paris fades quickly, and that they can go back to their other failed policies.  Sadly, they're often right.

Republicans now control Congress.  They have a chance to reverse Obama's reckless defense policies by forcing the White House into compromise positions.  Will they really try?  That question may determine the future of the Republican Party.

January 8,  2015     Permalink