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JANUARY 18,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

WOW! – "American Sniper" continues to clean up at the box office.  From USA Today:  "Clint Eastwood's American Sniper ignited the holiday weekend box office, leaving January records behind as it made a stunning $90.2 million in three days.  The total easily topped the previous January high, James Cameron's Avatar at $68 million in 2010. Warner Bros. estimates that American Sniper will make $105 million over the four-day Martin Luther King weekend, which would be another record.  'This is staggering. It's blockbuster numbers in January, the sort of numbers usually reserved for summer films and superhero movies,' says Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for Rentrak. 'No one saw this coming. The film has been building an audience and blasting any projections all weekend.'"  I'm glad to see a patriotic movie do this well.  People can have different reactions to it, of course – I had some criticisms myself – but it is pro-American.  How refreshing!

TALES OF ACCOMPLISHMENT – From Timesonline.com:  "CENTER TWP. — A woman is accused of leading police on a high-speed chase Wednesday night in pursuit of their own vehicle — with her hands cuffed behind her back.  Center Township Police Chief Barry Kramer isn’t sure how she managed to drive through at least six communities in two counties in a stolen police car, but he said 27-year-old Roxanne Rimer will face charges as a result of the incident."  If she can just convince authorities that she's "oppressed," she'll be offered college scholarships as someone who shows great imagination and dedication to success.  Watch it happen.

CLIMAGE CHANGE FOLLIES - ANOTHER "OOPS" – From London's Daily Mail:  "The NASA climate scientists who claimed 2014 set a new record for global warmth last night admitted they were only 38 per cent sure this was true.  In a press release on Friday, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) claimed its analysis of world temperatures showed ‘2014 was the warmest year on record.'  The claim made headlines around the world, but yesterday it emerged that GISS’s analysis – based on readings from more than 3,000 measuring stations worldwide – is subject to a margin of error. NASA admits this means it is far from certain that 2014 set a record at all.  Yet the NASA press release failed to mention this, as well as the fact that the alleged ‘record’ amounted to an increase over 2010, the previous 'warmest year,' of just two-hundredths of a degree – or 0.02C. The margin of error is said by scientists to be approximately 0.1C – several times as much."  Oh, that explains it.  Now do you see why so many thoughtful people are skeptical about the statements of climate "scientists"?

January 18, 2015       Permalink

THE REPUBLICAN RACE – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:   The race for the Republican presidential nomination is a free-for-all.  Already the better-known candidates are picking up endorsements.  Problem is, not too many people have heard of the endorsers.  From Fox: 

The recent announcement by former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney that he is considering a third White House run in 2016 has resulted in several early Capitol Hill endorsements.

The flurry of public endorsements, including several during this week's GOP congressional retreat, is largely split between Romney and former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who last month said he was seriously considering a presidential run.

“I think Romney checks three boxes,” said Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who backed Romney in 2012. “He’s well-vetted. We know exactly what we’re going to get. … And he is one of the few people that can raise the $1 billion it’s going to take to beat Hillary Clinton.”

Chaffetz said recent history shows Romney in his 2012 bid against incumbent Democratic President Obama was right on several issues, including his foreign policy position that Russia was the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

Earnest speculation about another Romney run started last week when he told a group of donors that he was interested in running again, which was followed by news reports that he and wife Ann were trying to contact former aides and donors.

And on Friday, Romney gave a campaign-style speech in San Diego before those gathered there for a Republican National Committee meeting.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, also reportedly got an early endorsement on Tuesday from Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.

COMMENT:  Romney is a decent man, but I really wonder if he hasn't worn out his welcome.  Jeb Bush is also a decent man, but his enthusiasm for conservatism has come under some question.  The traditional Republican way is to nominate the next guy in line, even if he is dead.  But with all the young, dynamic talent around – symbolized by Scott Walker – I think we should be patient about endorsing, and should be looking over the entire field.  The party has an embarrassment of riches.

January 18, 2015       Permalink

SICK PROSPECT – AT 11:06 A.M. ET:  The voters of New York City elected a radical leftist government, and they're getting paid back for their ignorance.  From Fox: 

In top-secret talks to settle federal lawsuits against the NYPD for monitoring mosques, the city is weighing a demand that it scrub from its website a report on Islamic terrorists, The New York Post has learned.

The groundbreaking, 92-page report, titled “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat,” angers critics who say it promotes “religious profiling” and discrimination against Muslims. But law-enforcement sources say removing the report now would come at the worst time — after mounting terror attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris, Boston, Sydney and Ottawa.

Here in New York, Zale Thompson, a man who heeded online calls by ISIS for jihad, attacked two NYPD officers with a hatchet in October.

“The harm is that it sends the message that the NYPD is going to back down on its counterterrorism effort in the name of political correctness,” said a former NYPD official. “Shame on the NYPD if they do.”

COMMENT:  The political left doesn't care about the consequences.  It doesn't believe terrorists are terrorists.  They are simply "oppressed peoples." 

New York City has led the nation's cities in counter-terrorism.  It has a remarkable record of preventing attacks.  It would be tragic if, under the onslaught of the left, the city backed down and New Yorkers, or anyone else, paid a tragic price.

January 18, 2015       Permalink

PROBLEMS FOR HILLARY – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  The more we read, the more we see difficulty ahead for Hillary Clinton.  From The Hill: 

A former adviser to President Bill Clinton predicts “a tough road” for Hillary Clinton as she prepares to possibly announce a 2016 presidential campaign in coming months.

Top Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said President Obama won't let the Clintons retake control of the Democratic Party because “no one likes to get off the stage,” in an interview on "The Cats Roundtable," host John Catsimatidis's Sunday radio show on New York AM 970.

"For the last eight years it's been the Obama Party, it hasn't been the Clinton Party for quite some time and there's certainly a rivalry between the Clintons and the Obamas. The question is does Obama give it up and allow Hillary to be elected president? Likely not."

He added that Clinton will also face pushback to win the presidency because other major powers in the Democratic Party are not committed to her.

Obama has made “it a lot more difficult for Democrats to get into power again” because of his inability to confront the threat of radical Islam, he added.

Sheinkopf predicted that Clinton would likely face off against Republican presidential hopeful and former Florida governor Jeb Bush for the 2016 ticket, who recently announced he's actively exploring a 2016 run.

COMMENT:  I think that's true.  If there's one person whom Obama doesn't want to succeed him, it's Hillary Clinton.  The Clintons and Obamas despise each other, and I suspect Obama would prefer a Republican successor to Hillary.  Hillary will outshine him, although that isn't difficult these days.

Fascinating two years ahead.  The Republicans have so many top presidential prospects.  The Dems have one, and she carries more baggage than American Airlines.  Such fun.

January 18,  2015     Permalink

JANUARY 17,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:33 P.M. ET:

HIT – From Deadline.com:  "Warner Bros. is reporting Friday at $30.5M for American Sniper - not only a January opening day record, but more than any Clint Eastwood film has ever made in a weekend. With a new batch of projections released this AM, studio B.O. analysts are seeing Warner Bros.’ American Sniper clearing $80M by Monday."  It's a patriotic movie, and it's good to see that there's still a market for patriotic films.

COMMON SENSE – From Fox:  "Duke University has abandoned its plan to transform the bell tower on the Methodist school’s neo-gothic cathedral into a minaret where the Muslim call to prayer was to be publicly broadcast.   'Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,' university spokesman Michael Schoenfeld said in a statement. 'However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.'  The first adhan, or call to prayer, had been scheduled to be broadcast on Jan. 16. University officials said, the Islamic chant, which includes the words 'Allahu Akbar' would have been 'moderately amplified' -- in both English and Arabic."  There was a major backlash.  The call to prayer is very public, and would not be matched by anything that public for any other religion.  And modifying a church did not seem right to many people.  (What if Duke had tried to modify a mosque.)  There are ways of respecting a religion without being so intrusive.

AVIATION NEWS – From Times of India:  "CHENNAI: A Chennai-Delhi Air India flight was delayed by more than two hours after pilot and aircraft engineer had a difference of opinion which ended up in a fight inside the cockpit on Saturday. The aircraft engineer was injured and was admitted to a private hospital while the pilot Captain Manik Lal has been grounded till investigations are completed."  Do you get the feeling that there may be some problems in Asian aviation?  Most safety experts frown on fistfights in the cockpit.  They are disruptive and rude.

January 17, 2015       Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 11:57 A.M. ET:  What is happening to America?  What is happening to New York City?

If you think pro-Sandinista and pro-Castro Mayor Bill de Blasio is bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet.  Introducing the speaker of the New York City Council, the second highest official in the city.  She makes de Blasio look like Ronald Reagan.  It's important because New York City, a huge media center, influences other cities around the country.  From the New York Post:   

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on Tuesday eulogized a convicted terrorist and sponsor of political violence against the United States, calling the late Isabel Rosado Morales “our icon and national patriot.”

Morales died in Puerto Rico earlier Tuesday at 107.

She’d been imprisoned three times for seditious acts, the final time in 1954, for her involvement in a plot that culminated in an attack on Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists. Firing from the House gallery, they shot and wounded five US congressmen.

Morales was apprehended the next day in San Juan, after a two-hour gun battle in which she took vigorous part, at the home of Pedro Albizu Campos, the “Maestro” of the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Tried and convicted for her role in the assassination attempt, Morales was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

And...

For most of her first two terms on the council, Mark-Viverito stood for, but did not recite, the Pledge of Allegiance. Asked about it, a staffer said that she was “unfamiliar” with the tradition and its 31 words.

Council Member Karen Koslowitz disputed this claim, recalling that that Mark-Viverito told her specifically that she opposed saying the Pledge on ideological grounds.

“She wanted Puerto Rico to be independent,” Koslowitz says. “She was looking for Puerto Rico to take its independence.”

COMMENT:  In fact, Puerto Ricans themselves have overwhelmingly voted against independence, but hard leftists like Mark-Viverito don't care.  To them, democracy only exists if they win, no matter how they do it.

And that's New York City today.  You can't make this stuff up.

January 17, 2015       Permalink

THE NERVE – AT 11:28 A.M. ET:  Barack Obama has been president for six years, and has learned very little.  Even at a press conference with Prime Minister Cameron of Britain, Obama refused to use the term "Islamic terrorism."  Maybe the Costa Ricans are behind it.

And Obama, one of the most divisive presidents we've ever had, started lecturing the Europeans about ethnic integration.  From AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Friday urged European governments to try to better assimilate their Muslim minority populations as they respond to extremist attacks like last week’s shootings in Paris.

At a White House news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, his first foreign guest since last week’s Charlie Hebdo massacre, Obama said the allies would stand by France.

But he also warned that the answer to the recent violence must not simply be a security crackdown.

“I know David joins me when I say that we will continue to do everything in our power to help France seek the justice that is needed, and that all our countries are working together seamlessly to prevent attacks and to defeat these terrorist networks,” Obama said.

Obama said the Paris attacks “underscored how terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) are actively trying to inspire and support people within our own countries to engage in terrorism.”

The US leader said the 2013 Boston marathon bombing showed that the United States was not entirely safe from Islamic militant cells, but suggested that it had had more success than others in integrating minorities.

“Our biggest advantage, major, is that our Muslim populations feel themselves to be Americans and there is this incredible process of immigration and assimilation that is part of our tradition,” he said.

“There are parts of Europe in which that’s not the case... it’s important for Europe not to simply respond with a hammer and law enforcement and military approaches to these problems.”

COMMENT:  Thank you, oh great scholar.  Weren't you the guy who declared the war on terror over about two years ago?  Did it ever occur to you that many of the Muslim populations of Europe don't want to integrate, don't want to assimilate? 

Notice that Obama never blames Islam or Islamic groups for the horrors.  It's always someone else's fault.  And terrorists?  Why, they have nothing to do with Islam.  Well, of course we know that most Muslims aren't terrorists.  But the responsibility for curtailing the dangerous brand of Islam that is out there lies predominantly with Muslims themselves. 

January 17,  2015     Permalink

LET IT BEGIN – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  Republicans are already scheduling their presidential debates.  From Fox: 

The Republican National Committee announced Friday that Fox News will host the first 2016 GOP presidential primary debate, from Ohio, in August.

The announcement came during the RNC’s winter meeting in California this week.

In all, there will be nine scheduled debates. Five will be held in 2015 and will take place in Ohio, California, Colorado, Wisconsin and Nevada. In 2016, there will be debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

The GOP will officially nominate its presidential candidate in July 2016 during the party’s national convention. Naming a nominee in July -- a full month earlier than in previous presidential election years -- will give the GOP nominee more time to campaign and the party more time to rally behind their candidate.

COMMENT:  Good planning by an RNC that has become increasingly sharp, as witness its record in the recent election.

It's a good idea to start debates in 2015, which will allow the field to be narrowed, and have only four in the election year.  In 2012 the GOP had too many debates, and they became boring toward the end.

January 17, 2015       Permalink