Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

JANUARY 11,  2015

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

GROWING OUTRAGE – The internet is now filled with rising anger over the absence of President Obama from the anti-terror march in Paris today, indeed the absence of any high government official.  Even Eric Holder, who was already in Paris and was expected to attend, dropped out.  The revulsion is across the board.  I didn't see a single defense of Obama or his crowd.  In fact, there was a march in Washington itself, especially to honor the French police officers who died in the terror attacks.  It ended at the police memorial, where an honor guard of policemen waited.  No senior administration officials showed up.  The New York Daily News said it best in a message to the president on its front page:  "You let the world down."  We'll soon learn whether this affects Obama's approval ratings.  I hope it does.

SICKENING – From Reuters:  "KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds in southern Afghanistan rallied to praise the killing of 12 people at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdomad, calling the two gunmen 'heroes' who meted out punishment for cartoons disrespectful to Islam's prophet, officials said Saturday.
The demonstrators also protested President Ashram Ghana's swift condemnation of the bloody attack on the satirical newspaper, according to the officials in Uruguay province.  The rally came after worshippers left Friday prayers at a local mosque in Chopra district and swelled to several hundred people, said Chora police chief Abdul Qawi."  This is what these people are taught in some mosques, but the West's elites avert their eyes.

PRESIDENT CHRISTIE? – From AP:  "GREEN BAY, Wis. -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took his orange sweater to Lambeau Field on Sunday to cheer his beloved Dallas Cowboys. But it did not go the governor's way with Green Bay winning 26-21.  Fellow Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, clad in Packers gear along with his family, needled Christie on Twitter.  'Do you need a hug now?' he tweeted, referencing Christie's much-mocked awkward hug last weekend with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after Dallas beat Detroit."  We've warned from the start of the now much-subdued Christie craze that he wasn't presidential material, and he seems to want to prove it daily.  Christie is becoming a caricature of himself.  He's a good local politician, a personality, but a president he is not.

January 11,  2015     Permalink

PETRAEUS – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  Many are stunned by reports that elements in the Justice Department and FBI want to prosecute David Petraeus, the most prominent military officer of his time, for unauthorized disclosure of classified information.  There is a lot of skepticism about the real motive here.  From ace national-defense reporter Eli Lake, at Bloomberg:   

With the news that U.S. prosecutors and FBI officers are seeking to charge former CIA director David Petraeus with felony violations for mishandling classified information, it’s a good moment to reflect on the lengths to which the Obama administration has gone to protect state secrets.

While Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 to bring more transparency to government, his administration has been a fierce defender of official secrecy. In 2012, his Justice Department secretly seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters for disclosing details of an al Qaeda terrorist plot originating in Yemen. More U.S. officials have been charged with leaking secret information under Obama’s presidency than any other modern president. Obama’s Justice Department has also invoked the state secrets privilege in a string of civil lawsuits brought on behalf of detainees who have been sent to third-world jails.

And now some department lawyer are looking to charge Petraeus for leaking secrets to Paula Broadwell, his biographer and one-time mistress. The classified documents were reportedly found on Broadwell’s personal computer at her home.

It’s possible the FBI has dug up more serious criminal activity than this. But that seems doubtful. As Josh Rogin and I reported last month, Petraeus has retained his security clearance and even has served as an unofficial adviser to the White House on Iraq and Syria while the FBI’s investigation remained open. If Petraeus was such a risk to disclose state secrets, then why is he allowed to retain access to them while the FBI conducts a probe that has lasted now for more than two years?

What’s more, Broadwell herself was writing a second book on Petraeus. When Broadwell -- a graduate of West Point -- was writing her first biography of him, she was given access to top secret information covering the period in which Petraeus commanded allied forces in Afghanistan. This arrangement is common in Washington for established authors. Sources for Bob Woodward, whose books often disclose classified information that is provided to him through semi-official leaks, are not investigated for betraying state secrets.

COMMENT:  Something does seem funny here.  Is there a vendetta against Petraeus?  Are they holding prosecution over his head to shut him up on some subject, like Benghazi?  Is there an element trying to humiliate the American military?

Read the whole story.  Eli Lake really knows his stuff on this, and puts the Petraeus case into perspective.

January 11, 2015        Permalink

BRITAIN ALARMED – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  Britain is considered a prime target for Islamic terror.  The country is taking action.  From London's Express:   

SAS troops are patrolling the streets of Britain to prevent a Paris-style terrorist outrage.

The elite Special Forces have joined counter-terror police and 1,900 Army personnel in the biggest security operation since the 2012 London Olympics.

The news comes as Al Qaeda warned that France was only its third preferred target after Britain and the US.

Most of the Special Forces will be wearing civilian clothes, while some have donned police uniforms to accompany police officers who visit the homes of persons of interest in response to intelligence leads by MI5.

The security operation was rolled out after the Paris atrocities, in which 17 people, including three police officers, were killed as Islamic gunmen ran amok across the French capital over three days.

The bloodshed, masterminded by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, sent shockwaves around the world.

COMMENT:  There is almost universal agreement among counter-terror people interviewed by the press that the Paris attacks will be duplicated.  Field Marshal Obama has told us that the war on terror must wind down, and must end, as all wars end.  Well, fella, wars normally aren't ended when one side wants to continue to fight.  Terror may now be entering a new phase, with small groups, trained in the Mideast, carrying out attacks than can paralyze a city.

Obama may take up the matter during his next vacation.

January 11, 2015       Permalink 

OUR EMBARRASSMENT – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  I just watched the massive anti-terror rally in Paris, attended by many of the world's leaders.  It was a remarkable sight.

It was also an embarrassing sight.  Absent was the president of the United States.  Our only representative was outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.  And it now turns out that he was already schedule to be in Paris, so he wasn't even sent as a representative to the rally.

As usual, Obama's actions were vulgar.  As Bridget Johnson of PJ Media notes, "President Obama has nothing on his weekend schedule, and Vice President Joe Biden is in Wilmington, Del., with no events scheduled. Obama welcomes the San Antonio Spurs to the White House on Monday."  I'm sure Barack is excited about the Spurs.

Silvio Canto Jr pointed out earlier today that Obama, if he didn't want to go himself, could have asked former presidents to go.  Bush 43 and Clinton come to mind.

I have never seen a president act this badly on the international stage.  Obama proved once again that he is a small-time politician with a golden voice.  We must believe that his absence was duly noted by all the other leaders there, not that any of them take him seriously any longer.

It is up to the Republicans, who now have majorities in both houses of Congress, to point and and emphasize this president's littleness, his incompetence, his pettiness.  Are the Republicans up to it?  We'll see within a few days.

January 11,  2015     Permalink

JANUARY 10,  2015

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

NO SHOW – There will be a mass rally against terrorism tomorrow in Paris.  At least 30 world leaders will attend, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.  Guess which leader won't be there.  Hint:  He takes a lot of Hawaiian vacations and refuses to use the term "Islamic terrorism."  Not only will Obama not be there, he isn't even sending the vice president or the secretary of state.  He's sending outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.  Please note that Obama attended Nelson Mandela's funeral personally.  The man has no sense of his office, and, really, no sense at all.

THERE, HE SAID IT – From The New York Times:  "PARIS — Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared Saturday that France was at war with radical Islam after the harrowing sieges that led to the deaths of three gunmen and four hostages the day before. New details emerged about the bloody final confrontations, and security forces remained on high alert." Perhaps the French prime minister can send the text of his statement to "Barack, the White House, Washington."  It'll get there, and maybe the chief resident and partygiver will realize that the world won't end if he, too, used the term "radical Islam."

LATEST ACADEMIC NEWS – From the New York Post:  "A wacky former MIT professor took cinema verite to a whole new level by robbing a Manhattan bank and recording the heist, authorities said.
Joseph Gibbons, 61, a filmmaker and 'visual artist’ who taught for a decade at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, has gone rogue, robbing banks as part of his latest 'art' project.  Gibbons was charged on Friday with robbery after allegedly making off with $1,000 from a Capital One branch at Bowery and Grand Street in Chinatown.  While waiting for his arraignment, the eccentric academic boasted to fellow inmates that his crime was for art’s sake."  The fact is that MIT has the best bank robbery program in the country, especially at the Ph.D. level.

January 10, 2015       Permalink

REMINDER OF HISTORY – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:  Representative Mike Rogers reminds us that yesterday was a day in American history that needs to be remembered.  From the House: 

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, made the following statement today congratulating the U.S. Navy and Naval Reactors program on the 60th anniversary of the USS Nautilus being underway with nuclear power.

“Today we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the USS Nautilus first being underway under nuclear power. That day marked the beginning of a new era for the U.S. Navy and we remember not only that historic achievement, but also the 60 years of unparalleled nuclear safety, technical brilliance and operational excellence in our Naval Reactors program and nuclear Navy. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Admiral Greenert, Admiral Richardson and the many thousands of men and women who have contributed to this tremendous success.”

COMMENT:  The message, "Underway on nuclear power," was one of the most important in the nation's history.  It ushered in a power revolution for the US Navy and signaled the start of a new age of deterrence.

Nuclear-powered ships could, from that time on, operate for months at a time, sometimes years, without refueling.  The eventual nuclear missile submarines, a key component of the deterrent strength that contributed heavily to ending the Cold War, could operate under the seas for months, without having to surface. 

And the safety of nuclear power was proved. 

So remember this day, and reflect on the importance of scientific and technological development to this nation's progress and defense.

January 10, 2015       Permalink

HERO – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  Occasionally we get a college professor, or even a retired college professor, willing to reveal corruption in the academic world.  We have waited, usually in vain, for academics to demand higher standards in the study of "climate change."  We have a new hero, although a retired one.  He must be heard.  From College Fix:   

While much of the debate over climate change surrounds whether or not it is occurring, one glaciologist and retired professor says the real issue is that the topic is being used as a political pawn to siphon money and votes.

Dr. Terry Hughes, in an interview with The College Fix, said researchers want to keep federal funding for climate change alive, and politicians want to earn environmentalist votes, and both predict global pandemonium to that end.

Hughes, a professor emeritus of earth sciences and climate change at the University of Maine, said for years his colleagues urged him to be in lockstep with former Vice President Al Gore – “the drum major in the parade denouncing global warming as an unmitigated disaster,” he told The College Fix.

But Hughes – who believes global warming is actually a good thing because more carbon dioxide is good for the environment in many ways – said he does not want to march to that beat.

“Too many (the majority) of climate research scientists are quite willing to prostitute their science by giving these politicians what they want,” he said.

Hughes – who worked for 35 years at the Department of Earth Sciences and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine – said climate cycles overlap with election cycles, which helps politicians “get electoral visibility by pounding the panic drums.”

But what he wants people to understand is that climate change researchers and politicians collude to create fear of a disaster that will never happen.

"You will never read or hear any of this from the scientific and political establishments,” he said. “I’m now retired, so I have no scientific career to protect by spreading lies.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  There are plenty of people benefiting from the climate-change panic.  Some are "green energy" companies that produce little or no benefit.  Others are grant recipients. 

If a Republican becomes president in 2017, I hope he or she will impanel a presidential commission to look into the climate-change matter and determine 1) what we know; 2) what we don't know; and 3) what we need to know.  The global-warming "community" (I love that term) is asking for trillions of dollars to cure a problem that may actually not exist.  We'd like some unvarnished information.

January 10, 2015       Permalink

AFTERMATH – AT 10:31 AM. ET:  What will the impact of the days of terror in Paris be?  One possible impact is itself chilling – the recruiting of new fanatics.  From AP:

BEIRUT (AP) — The chatter spread like wildfire. Within minutes of news breaking about the deadly terror attack on a Paris newspaper this week, supporters of extremist Islamic groups extolled the suspects in the massacre as “lions of the caliphate” and praised the killings on social media.

Loyalists of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group alike described the assault on Charlie Hebdo’s offices that killed 12 people as revenge for the French satirical publication’s mockery of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and France’s military involvement in Muslim countries.

Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi became icons in the terror-sphere.

Many terrorist supporters organized under the Arabic hashtag #Parisattack and #Parisisburning, with some calling the newspaper assault a holy attack by the “lions of the Khalifa,” or caliphate.

Over and over, Twitter users who identified with the Islamic State group or al-Qaeda posted pictures and videos of a black-clad gunman — presumably one of the brothers — shooting a French policeman in the head as he lay on a Paris sidewalk before fleeing the scene in a getaway car.

“Watch how a brother kills a French policeman,” some wrote. Others described the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo as a “heroic” and “joyous” event.

The Kouachi brothers’ military-style assault — and their death as “martyrs” in a hail of bullets on Friday after police raided the building where they had holed up with a hostage north of Paris — undoubtedly resonates with extremists’ repeated calls for attacks in France, echoing chilling images from their slick propaganda videos.

Though it is impossible to gauge in any tangible way the effect the attack will have on recruitment by extremist groups — and there is no evidence so far that it is mobilizing large numbers of would-be jihadis — experts believe the perceived professionalism of the brothers’ assault and their subsequent showdown with police could rally more supporters to jihadist ranks.

“It is that quality to such operations that helps recruitment,” said Aymenn al-Tamimi, a UK-based expert on Syrian and Iraqi extremist groups. The obviously well-planned attack in the heart of Paris serves “as an example to would-be operatives,” he said.

COMMENT:  Even if these Paris attacks recruit 100 jihadis, that is 100 too many.  Paris was terrorized by three or four operatives.  Imagine if three operatives attacked each of five American cities on the same day.  That's 15 operatives typing up New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas, to name five.  Imgine if 15 more did the same thing in five other cities the next day. 

The purpose of terror is to terrorize.  They're perfecting the techniques.

January 10,  2015     Permalink