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JANUARY 28,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

EDUCATION NEWS – We wanted to rush to bring you the latest advance in civilization.  From The Wall Street Journal:  "'Mr.,' 'Mrs.' and 'Ms.' are being shown the door at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In a new policy that has sparked debate among academics, school staffers have been advised to refrain from using gendered salutations in correspondence with students—and instead use a student’s full name, according to an internal memo sent out earlier this month.  The directive pertains specifically to administrators’ written interactions with students and prospective students, said Tanya Domi, a school spokeswoman. But the memo says the policy should be 'interpreted as broadly as possible' and was sent to all faculty at the Graduate Center."   I'll sleep more soundly knowing people are worried about things like this.

ANOTHER GENIUS HEARD FROM – From CNS:  "During a hearing on the nomination of Loretta Lynch to serve as Attorney General to the United States, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member, Senate Judiciary Committee seemed to suggest that the Justice Department spends too much money on incarcerating criminals and that such incarcerations don’t keep Americans safer.  'Nearly one-third of its budget goes to the Bureau of Prisons, draining vital resources from nearly all other public safety priorities,' said Senator Leahy. 'A significant factor leading to this budget imbalance is the unnecessary creation of more and more mandatory minimum sentences.'"  The senator might note that incarcerating more criminals, especially violent criminals, has led to a decline in the crime rate.

END OF AN ERA? – From Financial Times:  "One of the world’s most exclusive customers could be the last buyer of the aircraft that democratised long-haul air travel after the US defence department selected Boeing’s 747-8 to be the US president’s new Air Force One.  The fleet of presidential aircraft, due to enter service later this decade, could be among the very last passenger versions of the long-haul aircraft to be built because airlines increasingly favour two-engine long-haul aircraft over four-engine craft."  Could someone tell me why the president needs a new plane?  All this president needs is a plane that can land in Honolulu.

GRAND HOTEL – From Japan Times:  "NAGASAKI – A hotel with robot staff and face recognition instead of room keys will open this summer in Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki Prefecture, the operator of the theme park said Tuesday.  The two-story Henn na Hotel is scheduled to open July 17. It will be promoted with the slogan 'A Commitment for Evolution,' Huis Ten Bosch Co. said.  The name reflects how the hotel will 'change with cutting-edge technology,' a company official said. This is a play on words: 'Henn' is also part of the Japanese word for change.  Robots will provide porter service, room cleaning, front desk and other services to reduce costs and to ensure comfort.  There will be facial recognition technology so guests can enter their rooms without a key."  It's creepy.  Would you really want to go to a place like that?

January 28, 2015       Permalink

NEW MIDEAST ACTION – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Reports on this are just coming in.  From The New York Times: 

JERUSALEM — Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in a missile attack on a military convoy in a disputed area along the Lebanese border on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military, in what appeared to be the most serious flare-up in the area in years.

The military did not provide additional details. There may also have been some civilian casualties, according to the military, but the situation was not immediately clear.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that its Quneitra Martyrs Brigade carried it out at 11:35 a.m.

The attack was the latest in a string of recent events along Israel’s northern frontiers that have sharply escalated tensions between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and that have raised the risk of broader confrontation.

About an hour after the initial attack on the military convoy, several mortar shells were fired at Israeli military positions in the border area and on Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, without causing injury.

The Israeli military said it responded with combined aerial and ground strikes at what it called “Hezbollah operational positions” in Lebanon, and said that it might take further action.

COMMENT:  We're watching this closely because it could escalate rapidly.  There is a body of thought that holds that Hezbollah wants to draw Israel into ground combat to show its strength. 

It's a tinderbox.  There are also reports that a Spanish UN soldier, part of a force sent to the area to keep the peace, was also killed.

Stand by.

January 28, 2015       Permalink

SEEING THE REAL WORLD – AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  The Washington Post editorial page gives fits to true-believing liberals because the editors think for themselves, a practice not encouraged by the modern left.  Once again the Post gets it right in challenging Obama's adolescent approach to the battle against ISIS: 

U.S. OFFICIALS are celebrating a modest victory in the war against the Islamic State in Syria — the apparently successful defense of the Kurdish town of Kobane, on the border with Turkey. Under siege since early October, Kobane has little strategic value but came to be seen as a test of whether the United States and its allies could stop the expansion of the Islamic State and the humanitarian crimes that accompany it.

With the help of Kurdish ground forces, the extremists were turned back. But perhaps the most significant fact about Kobane is that it consumed 75 percent of the nearly 1,000 airstrikes carried out by allied planes throughout Syria since September, according to The Post.

That astonishing share reveals the absence of a U.S. military strategy for Syria outside of preventing the fall of a single border hamlet that attracted the attention of international media. In the rest of the Syrian territory it controls, including its capital of Raqqa, the Islamic State faces little pressure from Western airstrikes and is growing stronger rather than weaker.

Mr. Obama still speaks of fostering a Syrian rebel force that could fight the Islamic State. But the initiative is pathetically underresourced and moving at a snail’s pace. Similarly, a CIA program to help rebel groups has been so limited that many fighters have defected to more militant Sunni groups, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Behind this feckless effort is a cluster of mistaken notions. Mr. Obama has convinced himself that it’s not possible or desirable to create a Syrian force that could defeat the regime of Bashar al-Assad; that the only alternative to his policy is an Iraq-style invasion by U.S. troops; and that the Islamic State can somehow be defeated in Iraq without tackling its Syrian birthplace and stronghold.

And...

Mr. Obama’s passivity and false hopes are contributing to the steady worsening of the humanitarian and strategic situation in Syria, and the postponement of steps required for an acceptable outcome. These include military action to weaken the Assad regime and a concerted effort to create a new Syrian army and government. Kobane’s relief, while welcome, won’t alleviate the mounting catastrophe.

COMMENT:  Well said.  I wonder if the Post's editorial-page editors still get invited to cocktail parties in Georgetown.

I suspect that Obama's "strategy" is to make a bad nuclear deal with Iran in exchange for Iran helping us against ISIS.  That will fail as Iran will never help us.  The backup strategy will be to kick the can down the road and let the next president handle it.

January 28, 2015       Permalink

CONVENIENT TIMING – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  Hearings are about to begin on the nomination of Loretta Lynch to succeed Eric Holder as attorney general.  There are serious questions about Lynch's experience and judgment, so a new decision raises eyebrows.  It seems directed at smoothing Lynch's path.  From Fox:   

Sometimes, not violating the law can get you in trouble with the law.

Just ask the Hirsch family, from Long Island, New York.

Or, better yet, ask Loretta E. Lynch, the U.S. attorney who could be the nation's next attorney general.

After nearly three years of legal battles, the federal government last week dropped its case against the Hirschs, who own a distribution company that serves convenience stores on Long Island. The government agreed to return more than $446,000 in assets and cash seized by the Internal Revenue Service in 2012 under federal civil asset forfeiture laws, even though the Hirsch family was never charged with a crime.

"This is a significant victory not only for the Hirsch brothers, but for property owners around the country," said Larry Salzman, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, which joined the Hirsch's case in 2014. "No American should lose their bank account or other property to law enforcement without even being charged with a crime."

Why was the IRS interested in the Hirsch Family in the first place?

Under federal law, all bank deposits of more than $10,000 must be reported to the IRS. The Hirschs never deposited more than the legal limit, but the officers who investigated the family wrote in an affidavit that daily deposits ranging from $500 to $9,000 were suspicious enough to seize their bank account.

After cleaning out the family business, the IRS never filed criminal charges against Jeff Hirsch, or his two brothers who co-own the business.

And...

The case was handled, and last week officially dropped, by Lynch, President Obama's pick to be the nation's next attorney general, pending approval by the U.S. Senate.

COMMENT:  I hope this nomination will be looked at with serious eyes.  I doubt that it will.  It will go through.

January 28, 2015       Permalink

CAVE-IN – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  This is awful, from Fox: 

Jordan has agreed to demands from ISIS that it release a female jihadist held since 2006, in a move that could free a Jordanian pilot captured in Syria last month and possibly a Japanese journalist who pleaded for his life in a video released by the terror group on Tuesday.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said in a statement the nation was prepared to free Sajida al-Rishawi, who was convicted of taking part in a deadly hotel bombing, if the Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is released unharmed. His comments were carried by Jordan's official Petra news agency. Although he made no mention of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, a hostage audio message released by Islamic State a day earlier tied Goto's fate to that of Al-Rishawi, as well.

Al-Rishawi was sentenced to death in Jordan for her involvement in a 2005 terrorist attack by Al Qaeda on hotels in Amman that killed 60 people. Jordan is reportedly in indirect talks with the militants through religious and tribal leaders in Iraq to secure the hostages' release. The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Jordan's parliament, Bassam Al-Manasseer, has been quoted as saying that Jordan and Japan would not negotiate directly with the Islamic State group and would not free al-Rishawi for the Japanese hostage only.

COMMENT:  This is disgraceful.  It is a death sentence for people in the future.  Imagine what this must feel like for the families of the 60 innocents killed in those Amman hotels.

Jordan is an ally of the United States.  I wonder if that nation consulted us before agreeing to this reckless deal.  But why should they?  We're releasing prisoners from Guantanamo, aren't we?  If we can be weak, why shouldn't they?

ISIS will now seek to capture others.  Crime pays.

January 28,  2015     Permalink

JANUARY 27,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:47 P.M. ET: 

MR. MODESTY – From PJ Media:  "President Obama, speaking to an audience of mostly young people celebrating India’s Republic Day in New Delhi on Tuesday, told the crowd, 'I realize that the sight of an American president as your chief guest on Republic Day would have once seemed unimaginable. But my visit reflects the possibilities of a new moment.' He pointed out that he was the first American president to participate in the country’s Republic Day and boasted, 'And I’m the first American president to come to your country twice!'  The president went on to refer to himself an astonishing 118 times in the short 33-minute speech, touching on injustices in the United States and in his own personal life."  All about Barack.  He sees himself on Mount Rushmore.  Or on his own mountain.

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE EVER – From Ahramonline:  "When Michelle Obama joined US President Barack Obama on his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, many Saudis on Twitter focused on the fact that she was not wearing a headscarf rather than the outcome of the diplomatic visit.  The couple were visiting to offer condolences after the death of the late King Abdullah, and strengthen US ties with his successor King Salman. Members of the US delegation crossed party lines and included former Bush-era officials, according to AFP.  On Twitter, Saudis launched the hashtag #Michelle_Obama_NotVeiled in criticism of the first lady for not covering her hair.  In contrast to Saudi women, who are required to dress head-to-toe in black, Michelle Obama wore dark slacks and a blue top with her hair uncovered, reported AFP."  Does this mean World War III?

INSPIRING CONFIDENCE – From The New York Times:  "WASHINGTON — It was 42 degrees and raining lightly around 3 a.m. on Monday when an inebriated off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency decided it was a good time to fly his friend’s drone, a 2-foot-by-2-foot “quadcopter” that sells for hundreds of dollars and is popular among hobbyists.  But officials say the plan was foiled, perhaps by wind or a tree, when the employee — who has not been named by the Secret Service or charged with a crime — lost control of the drone as he operated it from an apartment just blocks from the White House.  He texted his friends, worried that the drone had gone down on the White House grounds, and then went to sleep. It was not until the next morning, when he woke and learned from friends that a drone had been found at the White House, that he contacted his employer, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He then called the Secret Service and immediately began cooperating with an investigation into the incident."  Please sleep well tonight knowing that an inebriated intelligence agent who flies drones onto the White House lawn is keeping you safe. 

DECLINE OF THE WEST – From AFP:  "Dubai (AFP) - Dubai airport has soared ahead of London's Heathrow, riding a boom in long-haul flights between Asia and the West to become the world's top international travel hub, it said Tuesday.  Traffic at the airport increased 6.1 percent last year to 70.47 million passengers, Dubai Airports said, adding that it expected a further surge in traveller numbers in 2015.  Dubai International is home to Emirates, the Middle East's largest carrier, which along with Abu Dhabi's Etihad and Qatar Airways has seized a significant portion of travel between the West, Asia and Australasia."  All dictatorships.  How sad.

January 27,  2015     Permalink

OUTRAGEOUS – AT 10:40 A.M. ET:  As you know, there's a bit of a dustup over House Speaker Boehner's invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.  Something about breaking traditional protocol because the White House wasn't consulted.  Well, speaking of protocol, nobody breaks it better than Barack Obama.   The hypocrisy just flows.  From Breitbart: 

Just days after the Obama White House accused House Speaker John Boehner of “breaking protocol” by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, a team of up to five Obama campaign operatives has reportedly arrived in Israel to lead a campaign to defeat the Israeli Prime Minister in upcoming national elections scheduled for March 17.

The anti-Netanyahu, left wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports a group called “One Voice,” reportedly funded by American donors, is paying for the Obama campaign team. That group is reportedly being led by Obama’s 2012 field director Jeremy Bird.

As Jerusalem Post columnist and putative Knesset candidate Caroline Glick reported on her Facebook page, “Obama won’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington when he addresses the Joint Houses of Congress in March because of Netanyahu’s visit’s proximity to the Israeli elections. And Obama, of course believes in protocol and propriety which is why he won’t get involved.” And yet, Glick adds, “He’s just sending his 2012 field campaign manager to Israel to run a campaign to defeat Netanyahu.”

For all the harsh accusations of foreign interference currently being leveled against GOP Speaker John Boehner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, reports of Obama operatives actively working to unseat a democratically elected leader of a strong U.S. ally is hardly the news it might appear to be.

The Obama White House has aggressively worked to defeat allied leaders it has not liked and to elect or re-elect foreign leaders it does like. As the Times of Israel recently reported, the list of Obama Administration meddling in foreign elections is a long one.

COMMENT:  Let's see if anyone in the White House press corps has the guts to ask Obama about this.  I'll bet he'll say he didn't know.  Choke.

January 27, 2015       Permalink

WHOOPS – AT 10:29 A.M. ET:   Again.  Another wildly inaccurate weather forecast for the New York metropolitan area.  I know the huge storm is hitting New England hard, but New York City and its surroundings were spared the worst.

In our area we were told to expect 20 inches of snow.  I look out and see traffic moving, people walking, the black in the roads showing.  We were told to expect high winds, power lines down, catastrophe.  I barely heard the wind.  What I see outside are the remnants of a routine snowstorm.  No blizzard here.

I'm not complaining.  Well, yes, I am.  We've had too many of these false alarms, and each one costs tens of millions of dollars to city governments.  Average citizens, especially those on fixed budgets, spend on extra food, fuel, batteries and shovels they never turn out to need.  People who are paid only when they work stay home.  And it's happened time and time again.  It's always the same pattern - forecasting a far worse storm than we actually get.

Am I being paranoid when I say I suspect that some of this over-hype is intentional, that it covers the butts of the forecasters, who'd be skewered if they'd underpredicted a storm?  Am I completely nuts in wondering why TV news outlets never investigate these overwrought predictions?  Hey, they drive the ratings sky high.

At least this time the National Weather Service provided a bit of an apology: 

The storm has moved further east and will be departing faster than our forecasts of the past two days. The result is much less snow than previously predicted for the western half of our region. The heaviest of the snow will be over Long Island and southern Connecticut with lighter snow elsewhere through the morning hours.

The science of forecasting storms, while continually improving, still can be subject to error, especially if we're on the edge of the heavy precipitation shield. Efforts, including research, are already underway to more easily communicate that forecast uncertainty.

Rapidly deepening winter storms are very challenging to predict, specifically their track and how far west the heaviest bands will move. These bands are nearly impossible to predict until they develop. Our science has come a long way, but there are still many moving parts in the atmosphere which creates quite the forecast challenge. The heaviest snows have struggled to move west of the Hudson River. We have updated our storm total forecast. Highest totals when the event is over Tuesday night will be across Long Island and southern Connecticut.

COMMENT:   Think of that explanation the next time "climate experts" tell us they can predict global warming 50 years from now.  Maybe they should concentrate on predicting storms 50 hours from now.

January 27, 2015       Permalink

OUR NEW FRIENDS – SMILE FOR THE CAMERA – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  The collapse of the pro-American Yemen regime is bad news for grown-ups, who understand the implications.  But what about the kids in American journalism, for whom every story must reflect the greater glory of Barack.  The New York Times rewrites the news to tell us things really aren't so bad.  From PJ Media: 

The New York Times launched some weapons-grade stupidity on Sunday with an article by Rod Nordland and Eric Schmitt citing “experts” claiming that the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen that have swept though critical parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa, are not just moderates, but possible U.S. counter-terrorism partners.

Because of the ongoing Houthi offensive, Yemen’s information minister admitted last week that the government had lost effective control of the country.

Thankfully, the Times is here to assure us that when the Houthis shout “Death to America” they really don’t mean it:

At first glance the official slogan and emblem of the Houthis, who are now the dominant force in Yemen, does not offer much hope to American policy makers.

It includes the words “Death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews.” Houthis shout it when they march, wear it on arm patches, paint it on buildings and stick it onto their car windows. When pictured, those words are rendered in red, framed by “God is great” and “Victory to Islam” in green, on a white background.

Sometimes the red words are shown dripping blood.

But for all their harsh sloganeering, the Houthis may be a lot more moderate than it suggests, according to many diplomats and analysts who have followed them closely. They say it would be premature to dismiss them as Yemen’s Hezbollah, despite their alliance with Iran.

And...

In fact, they could be U.S. counter-terrorism partners if they only dropped their “Death to America” sloganeering (!!) the “experts” continue:

April Alley, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Sana, said: “Theoretically there is quite a bit of common ground in Yemen between the Houthis and the U.S., particularly when it comes to security issues and Al Qaeda. But so far it’s not been enough to overcome the obstacles. The Houthis have their own limits in which they can engage the Americans given the political narrative they have propagated.”

It should be noted that last week a U.S. Embassy vehicle carrying U.S. personnel was shot up at a Houthi checkpoint.

COMMENT:  The illusions continue.  Barack's fantasies must be protected.  The left must be protected.  Our collapsing foreign policy must be protected.

And the president of the United States won't call Islamic terrorism by its real name.  Even Tom Friedman of The New York Times is appalled.  When you've lost Friedman...

January 27, 2015       Permalink

TERROR ATTACK IN LIBYA – AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  But remember, we have no right to judge other cultures.  From London's Telegraph: 

Islamist gunmen have stormed a hotel in Libya used by foreigners, killing at least three guards and taking a number of hostages, it was reported today.

The attack on the five-star Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli was carried out by fighters from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), according to a US-based intelligence monitoring organisation that quoted a message put out on Isil's Libyan Twitter feed.

Details of the attack were still unclear, but according to security sources at the scene, four armed men had detonated a car bomb in front of the hotel, killing a guard, before rushing inside.

The men, who were wearing masks and bulletproof vests, then began firing randomly at staff in the lobby. It is understood that a number of hostages have been taken, but the nationalities were unclear.
Security forces have now surrounded the building, while residents fled out of emergency exits.

Security forces have now surrounded the building, while residents fled out of emergency exits.
Related Articles

One member of staff said the hotel had Italian, British and Turkish guests, but the hotel was largely empty at the time of the attack. Other reports said that the claims of hostages having been taken were not yet confirmed.

Another report, from The New York Times: 

TRIPOLI, Libya — An affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an armed assault on a luxury hotel that killed as many as five people here on Tuesday, the most significant in a string of terrorist attacks against Western interests and government institutions in the capital since the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi more than three years ago.

Four or five gunmen stormed the hotel, the Corinthia, in the early morning, firing their guns into the lobby, battling guards, and shooting a Filipino woman and possibly other civilians, according to news reports and people in contact with associates inside the hotel.

COMMENT:  We're still piecing together details.  This occurs on the same day that President Obama visits Saudi Arabia.  Welcome, Mr. President.  Nothing to see in the Mideast, nothing to see.

January 27,  2015     Permalink