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JULY 1,  2015

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

MAJOR ART NEWS – From AP:  WASHINGTON — Want to take a picture inside the White House Blue Room? Well, it’s now OK to pull out your cellphone or camera and press “shoot.”  The White House on Wednesday ended a long-standing ban on tourists taking photos or using social media during public tours of the building. Michelle Obama made the announcement in a video posted on her Instagram account.
“If you’ve been on a White House tour, you may have seen this sign,” she says, holding up a placard that states “No Photos or Social Media Allowed.” “Well, not anymore,” she adds, and then dramatically rips the sign in half.  I am moved by the elegant manner in which this White House advances our artistic heritage.

KUWAIT ACTS ON TERROR – From AFP:  Kuwait's parliament, reacting to a suicide bombing last week that killed 26 people, adopted a law Wednesday requiring mandatory DNA testing on all the country's citizens and foreign residents.  The legislation, requested by the government to help security agencies make quicker arrests in criminal cases, calls on the interior ministry to establish a database on all 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents.  Under the law, people who refuse to give samples for the test face one year in jail and a fine of up to $33,000 (29,700 euros). Those who provide fake samples can be jailed for seven years.  Yes, yes, I know, there are privacy issues.  But having every citizen's DNA and fingerprints on record can have many, many positive benefits in law enforcement and even demographic research.  If privacy safeguards can be put in place, it is a good idea.

PHONINESS – From Newsday:   Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that his administration is reviewing the city's business relationships with billionaire developer Donald Trump, who is under sustained fire for his presidential campaign speech suggesting criminals were rife among Mexicans who enter the country.  "We are reviewing Trump contracts with the city. Donald Trump's remarks were disgusting and offensive..."  But the mayor breaks bread with the "Reverend" Al Sharpton, who described longtime white businessmen in Harlem as "white interlopers," among other rhetorical gems.  And the mayor is himself an admirer of Fidel Castro, who holds thousands of political prisoners.  I'm no fan of Trump, but he's a pussycat compared to the politically acceptable crowd on the left.

July 1, 2015       Permalink

OUR HILLARY, NOT INVITED – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  I am personally offended by the manner in which our former secretary of state was treated by the administration.  I mean, doesn't she deserve proper invitations?  It's upsetting.  From Reuters:   

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton struggled to fit into the government of President Barack Obama after being appointed Secretary of State in 2009, according to emails released by the State Department on Tuesday.

They showed Clinton turning up for meetings that had been canceled and worrying about how much time she had with her new boss, revealing growing pains in the relationship between her and former election rival Obama in the early months of her time as America's top diplomat.

In an email to two aides on June 8, 2009, Clinton was unsure if the White House had held a Cabinet meeting and whether she should attend.

"I heard on the radio that there is a Cabinet mtg this am. Is there? Can I go? If not, who are we sending?" Clinton wrote.

A State Department official wrote back that the government was holding a meeting, but not a full cabinet meeting that she needed to be at.

As Clinton sought to navigate her relationship with the Obama White House, she corresponded with several former aides and advisers to her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

They included Sidney Blumenthal, a former White House speech writer, Sandy Berger, the former National Security Adviser and Mark Penn, who served as a political adviser to both Bill Clinton and to Hillary Clinton's 2008 White House bid.

COMMENT:  She turned up for meetings that had been canceled?  She wasn't on the notification list?  Could she take a hint? 

We get the impression of a petty little administration, more a student government than a real one.

July 1, 2015       Permalink

IRAN UPDATE – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   President Obama put a little spine in his latest comments about Iran, but how stiff that spine is we'll soon find out.  From the Washington Times: 

The Obama administration and its negotiating partners blew through Tuesday’s self-imposed deadline for a major nuclear accord with Iran — prolonging for at least another week some 20 months of exhausting and convoluted closed-door talks that have capped more than a decade of brinkmanship between Tehran and the West.

While most analysts say the deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief remains in reach, the last-minute extension triggered fresh speculation that Iran’s leaders may be dragging out the talks for as long as the U.S. and its negotiating partners will allow before ultimately scuttling a final accord.

President Obama insisted again Tuesday that he was not wedded to an agreement at any cost and threatened outright to “walk away” if Iran reneges on the parameters of an April interim agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the so-called P5+1 negotiating group that also comprises Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany.

“There has been a lot of talk on the other side from the Iranian negotiators about whether, in fact, they can abide by some of the terms that came up in Lausanne,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a White House press conference with visiting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. “If they cannot, that’s going to be a problem because I’ve said from the start, I will walk away from the negotiations if, in fact, it’s a bad deal.”

COMMENT:  I can't see how it can be a good deal, given the publicly stated positions of the Iranian mullahs.   Obama would be wise to walk away temporarily, putting serious heat on Iran, rather than the mush we've seen up to now. 

This will be a critical week in the talks.  If they blow past July 9th, Congress will, under law, have a full 60 days to examine any agreement.  If agreement is reached before July 9th, Congress will have only 30 days.

July 1, 2015       Permalink

THE MONEY RACE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:   Talk policy all we want, one of the biggest factors in electing a president is fundraising.  And Hillary, who is sagging in the polls, is going about it full blast.  From the Washington Times: 

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tremendous lead in the hunt for the Democratic presidential nomination didn’t stop her from frantically scratching for donations ahead of the first fundraising deadline of the campaign Tuesday.

After all, she’s got something to prove.

Despite early attempts to tamp down expectations for a fundraising juggernaut, Team Clinton set an ambitious goal of filing a $1 billion war chest for the race, which would require pulling in more that $150 million per quarter and generating an equal level of enthusiasm to President Obama’s two White House runs.

Clinton bundlers set the bar lower, saying they expected the tally to be about $30 million for the first quarterly report since Mrs. Clinton launched her campaign in April.

An impressive fundraising haul for the quarter that ended at midnight Tuesday would help dispel rumblings about the party’s dissatisfaction with its all-but-inevitable nominee.

For her Democratic competition, it’s a chance to prove they can tap a base of support.

COMMENT:  I'm not so sure anything will dispel the rumblings.  I mean, there's now a Draft Biden movement, and Joe doesn't even know there's an election.   What Hillary really has to overcome is the fact that she's disliked.  How do you overcome that after being a national figure for 25 years?

July 1, 2015        Permalink

CUBA AND THE U.S., TOGETHER AGAIN – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  We are about to restore diplomatic relations, but precisely what are we, and the Cuban people, getting out of this?  From Reuters:

HAVANA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba are set to announce the restoration of diplomatic relations on Wednesday, the result of a two-year courtship between former Cold War rivals who severed ties in 1961.

The chief of the U.S. interests section in Havana will report to Cuban foreign ministry around 9 a.m. (0900 ET) to deliver a letter from U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuban President Raul Castro.

Obama will then speak at 11 a.m. (1100 ET) from the White House's ceremonial Rose Garden. It was unknown whether Castro would reciprocate with comments of his own.

Following 18 months of secret negotiations brokered by Pope Francis and Canada, the two leaders announced separately but simultaneously last December that they planned to reopen embassies in each other's capitals and normalize relations.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected at a flag-raising ceremony in Havana later this month, when the so-called U.S. interests section will become a full embassy. Cuba's mission in Washington will undergo a similar upgrade.

The deal last December also included a prisoner swap and sought to relegate to history 56 years of recriminations that have predominated ever since Fidel Castro's rebels overthrew the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959.

Two years later, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower closed the U.S. embassy in Havana on Jan. 3, 1961, less than three weeks before President-elect John F. Kennedy was due to take office.

By April of that year, Kennedy would authorize the U.S.-organized invasion of Cuba by a force of Cuban exiles. The attack at the Bay of Pigs failed and reinforced Castro's standing at home and abroad.

In October 1962, Washington and Moscow nearly came to nuclear war over Soviet missiles stationed in Cuba.

COMMENT:  Some business interests are happy, and the American left, which has a soft spot for dictators who spout Marxism, is delirious.  But the Cuban people get nothing out of this agreement. 

We could have demanded much more from that great singing group, the Castro Brothers, but we didn't.  They need us far more than we need them.  For Obama, though, this is a great "progressive" moment.

July 1,  2015     Permalink

JUNE 30,  2015

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

SUCH BRILLIANCE – From the Washington Free Beacon: Former President Jimmy Carter referred to the United States as the most “warlike country on Earth” last week during an interview with the nonprofit Aspen Institute.  “I think the American superpower goal should be to the champion of peace, and to be the champion of human rights, and to be the champion of the environment and to be the most generous nation on Earth,” he said. “Those are the elements that I hope eventually the United States will set as goals. We are the most warlike country on Earth. We are laggard in addressing the problem of global warming, for instance, and we are now violating about ten of the 30 paragraphs in the universal declaration of human rights, so I think this is something we should look upon as our duties for the future.”  In the interview uploaded June 23, Carter also recommended the U.S. step back from what he called an “unquestioned domination” of world events.  “This may not be a good thing to say to a group of Americans, but I think the historical trend is for the United States to relinquish its unquestioned domination of the world’s politics and economy and cultural influence,” he said.  Yes, sir, we saw how Carter's policies worked out when he was president, and we're seeing how a policy of weakness and appeasement is working out under Obama. 

GOODBYE, DON'T COME BACK – From the Washington Times:  Zandria Robinson, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Memphis, has parted ways with the university after she came under fire for a number of tweets in which she blasts “whiteness” and even equates it with terrorism.  By Tuesday evening, Ms. Robinson’s Twitter account was set to private and her faculty page was deleted from the University of Memphis website.  “Zandria Robinson is no longer employed by the University of Memphis,” the university tweeted Tuesday.  The professor first raised ire when she wrote Wednesday to her 2,820 followers that the Confederate flag is “more than a symbol of white racial superiority. It is the ultimate symbol of white heteropatriarchal capitalism.”  I'm sure the screams of "academic freedom" will now be heard, but freedom comes with responsibility, and this "scholar" clearly has none.

DEMS LACK ENTHUSIASM – From the Christian Science Monitor:  Washington — Democrats believe they have a winning agenda heading into the 2016 presidential election. And for the first time, the “base” of their party – unmarried women, people of color, and young voters – represents a majority of voting-eligible citizens, according to survey data released Monday.  But none of that matters if Democrats don’t turn out. As of now, 16 months before Election Day, that’s the challenge for them: The Democratic Party faces a big enthusiasm gap with the Republicans, according to a poll sponsored by Democracy Corps and Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund.  Among Republicans, 67 percent reported the highest level of interest in the 2016 elections – rating it a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 – compared with 52 percent of Democrats. Among the so-called rising American electorate (unmarried women, minorities, and Millennials), only 48 percent responded with a 10.  I guess it's just too hard even for fanatical Democrats to get worked up over Hillary, which is like getting worked up over a 1992 Pontiac.

June 30, 2015       Permalink

CHRISTIE IN – AT 11:06 A.M. ET:  I don't know why, but Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey today enters the race for the Republican presidential nomination.  He's the 1,279th candidate in the race.  From The New York Times:

LIVINGSTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose dazzling rise as a national Republican in his first term was matched only by his spectacular loss of stature at home in his second, enters the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday morning bearing little resemblance to the candidate he once expected to be.

The economic recovery he promised has turned into a cascade of ugly credit downgrades and anemic job growth. The state pension he vowed to fix has descended into a morass of missed payments and lawsuits. The administration he pledged would be a paragon of ethics has instead conspired to mire an entire town in traffic and the governor’s office in scandal.

Just three and a half years ago, Mr. Christie seemed so popular, compelling and formidable, such an antidote to all that ailed the Republican brand, that senior figures in the party pleaded with him to run for president as a substitute for their eventual nominee, Mitt Romney.

But today, a staggering 55 percent of Republican primary voters say that they cannot envision voting for Mr. Christie, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll, a remarkable deficit from which to embark on a national campaign. The only candidate less palatable: Donald J. Trump, the bombastic developer-turned-reality television star.

COMMENT:  Well, okay, that's a New York Times story, and no GOP candidate can find much love at The Times.  But, bottom line, it's not wrong.

Christie is in a poor position.  He's not a fresh face any longer, has no experience in foreign policy, and he's losing popularity at home.  He faces a GOP field of far more attractive candidates.  I suspect he's getting in because he knows there'll never be another chance.

June 30, 2015       Permalink

WEEKEND THREAT – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  It's becoming clear that federal authorities are taking very seriously the chance of a terror attack this holiday weekend.  From Fox:   

The FBI is establishing command centers around the country to monitor any potential terrorist threats around the July 4 weekend, a federal law enforcement source told Fox News.

The source said while there is no specific, credible threat surrounding the holiday, its symbolic nature offers a potential target for terror groups like ISIS. Authorities are particularly concerned about soft targets like shopping malls and other areas where there are large gatherings of people and rather light security, according to the source.

Information from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies will be sent to the command centers so officials can gauge the threat level and respond quickly.

Another law enforcement source told Fox the FBI’s strategy has shifted toward getting ISIS supporters off the streets as soon as possible, given that it’s hard to predict when one might go operational. This could include arresting individuals on lesser charges and then building a broader case once that person is in custody.

COMMENT:  One reason authorities make public plans like this is to create a deterrent effect – to convince terror groups that they won't get away with it, that they'll either be stopped or caught.  I've noticed that terrorists rarely if ever strike when there's this much advance warning by law enforcement.  They like the element of surprise. 

But, sooner or later, we'll be hit again.  Will Americans respond with the same determination they showed after 9/11?  Or will they be Obamafied, find blame in their own country, and "move on"?

June 30, 2015       Permalink 

ON DEADLINE – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  Today is the theoretical deadline for reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran.  It will not be met.  Talks are being extended, if only for a few days.  That is not in itself worrying.  What is worrying is the agreement that appears to be taking shape.   It is shocking to many in Washington who watch this issue.  Our worst nightmares may be coming true.  From The Politico: 

Days away from a potential nuclear deal with Iran, senior Republican senators are plotting a strategy to undermine the multilateral accord just as the Obama administration tries to sell it to a skeptical Congress.

For weeks, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Republicans on his Foreign Relations Committee have gleaned fresh intelligence from classified briefings with senior administration officials and policy experts — information they intend to use against the White House when it pitches the plan to lawmakers.

Corker has told President Barack Obama it’s “breathtaking” that his administration has allegedly backed off its insistence on aggressive inspections of Iran’s nuclear plants, a key outstanding issue in the talks. Along with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Corker has ratcheted up demands for disclosure of a classified document articulating the long-term future of Iran’s nuclear development program.

In a private conversation this spring, Corker told Secretary of State John Kerry he can define his legacy by walking away from a “bad deal.” And Republicans including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are calling on Kerry and the Obama administration to suspend the talks in light of the stated insistence by Iranian leaders that sanctions be lifted immediately after an agreement is reached and that inspectors be barred from military sites.

If and when a deal is inked, GOP leaders are weighing a legislative strategy that would force Congress to vote on a motion of approval, a move that would be designed to show that only a minority of lawmakers back the nuclear plan. That could embarrass the president, even if he persuades 34 Senate Democrats to help him sustain a veto and keep the accord alive.

For Obama, the activity points to a treacherous road ahead in Congress if his administration manages to strike an accord in the coming days. Republicans are attacking the potential agreement as dangerous to national security, and GOP presidential candidates are vowing to abandon it if they win.

COMMENT:  This could be the Republican hour, the hour when the Republican Party asserts itself as the instrument of national defense and national strength.  If Obama were smart, and he is not, he would do a Reagan and walk away from the talks himself, saying to the Iranians, "When you're serious, we'll meet again."  He'd come out a national hero.

But Obama doesn't want to be a national hero.  He wants to be a hero of the international left, and a hero to Islam.  And it is becoming obvious that he is serious about his goals.

June 30, 2015        Permalink

DEFINING OUR CULTURE – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  Much talk this past week about America's culture, with the liberal left celebrating the "rapid" changes.  The Washington Post breathlessly asked whether the Republican Party can keep up with the changes.  Nothing like a little bias to start us off.

But, in fairness to the Post, it is also chronicling another aspect of our culture, a shameful one, and that is the mass marketing of the Clintons.  They are in the influence business, and selling their influence by selling themselves is part of the racket.  The thought that this family should return to the White House should sicken anyone with a moral compass.  From WaPo: 

When the University of Missouri at Kansas City was looking for a celebrity speaker to headline its gala luncheon marking the opening of a women’s hall of fame, one name came to mind: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But when the former secretary of state’s representatives quoted a fee of $275,000, officials at the public university balked. “Yikes!” one e-mailed another.

So the school turned to the next best option: her daughter, Chelsea.

The university paid $65,000 for Chelsea Clinton’s brief appearance Feb. 24, 2014, a demonstration of the celebrity appeal and marketability that the former and possibly second-time first daughter employs on behalf of her mother’s presidential campaign and family’s global charitable empire.

More than 500 pages of e-mails, contracts and other internal documents obtained by The Washington Post from the university under Missouri public record laws detail the school’s long courtship of the Clintons.

Chelsea Clinton, second from left, appears with her parents and husband, Marc Mezvinsky, at mother Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign kick-off rally June 13 in New York City. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

They also show the meticulous efforts by Chelsea Clinton’s image-makers to exert tight control over the visit, ranging from close editing of marketing materials and the introductory remarks of a high school student to limits on the amount of time she spent on campus.

The schedule she negotiated called for her to speak for 10 minutes, participate in a 20-minute, moderated question-and-answer session and spend a half-hour posing for pictures with VIPs offstage.

As with Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches at universities, Chelsea Clinton made no personal income from the appearance, her spokesman said, and directed her fee to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

COMMENT:  Oh yes, the Foundation.  That's the place that gets funding from a lot of strange foreign sources, all of whom are sincerely interested in improving the world (choke). 

It's sickening.  It really is.  And the soldiers of the left, who tolerate this kind of thing among their own, are the first to decry the influence of "big money" in American politics.

June 30,  2015     Permalink