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JULY 4,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT – From CNN:   The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) announced through its website on Wednesday (July 1) the promotion of Filipina-American ballerina Stella Abrera to principal dancer of the company.  Abrera's promotion makes her the first Filipino-American principal in the company's 75-year history.  Born in Manila, Abrera first started studying dance at the age of five and in 1995, she received the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dancing's Adeline Genée Awards in London.  Abrera first joined ABT as a member of its corps de ballet in 1996 and was named a soloist in 2001.  Asian Americans often get short shrift in news media, despite their record of accomplishment.  This outstanding woman deserves special mention, as American Ballet Theatre is one of the world's most prestigious ballet companies.

SHOCKING CULTURAL NEWS – From the New York Post:  Lindsay Lohan isn’t being deluged with starring roles in Hollywood blockbusters — but she still has enough pride to turn down a humiliating Burger King commercial.  The flame-haired actress was asked to wear a Spicy Chicken Fries box, smoke a chicken fry like a cigarette, and vamp a “spicy” monologue.  “We were gob-smacked. It was making fun of her issues,” an insider told me.  Lohan and her managers at Untitled Talent suggested some alternate concepts to no avail.  If the signers of the Declaration of Independence only knew...

DON'T LAUGH, THE MAN CREATED AN INDUSTRY – From The New York Times:   Lawrence R. Herkimer, who elevated cheerleading into an aspirational goal for generations of youths and a highly successful business for himself, organizing camps for would-be cheerleaders and selling the clothing and gear they would need, died on Wednesday in Dallas. He was 89.  The cause was heart failure, his grandson Michael Dewberry said.  Mr. Herkimer was often called the grandfather of modern cheerleading and Mr. Cheerleader. Not only did his enterprises achieve sales of $50 million a year, he also patented the pompoms that have become a staple of cheerleading and invented a leap known as the “Herkie jump” that is widely used by squads across the country.  Sis-boom-bah.  I've always had a soft spot in my heart for pompoms.

July 4, 2015       Permalink

PROGRESS? – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  There are some tentative reports of progress at the Iran nuclear talks.  But there enough caveats to fill a page.  We can't really confirm this, but many news organizations are reporting it.  From CNN:   

(CNN) Experts from the countries involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations have reached a tentative agreement on language dealing with sanctions relief, a source familiar with the talks told CNN on Saturday.

This is the first noticeable sign of progress in these discussions, which have been slow-going. However, the source said there is a lot of work to do and this language still has to be presented to the foreign ministers of the countries involved in the talks, meaning this is far from complete.

Earlier, a senior administration official told the pool traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry that "Even if and when issues get resolved at an experts level, there will remain some open issues that can only be decided by ministers."

A source directly involved in the talks said the sides would declare at a deal signing that sanctions are lifted, allowing Iran to claim at home that they got immediate relief. But the sanctions would only be lifted over time as Iran meets its various obligations, allowing the West to stick to its commitment to conditional relief.

COMMENT:  Let's see what happens when this "agreement" reaches the next level.  There is a long way to go in these talks, and they won't be finished on Tuesday, which is the new deadline.  If they go to Thursday, the 9th, that triggers a provision in American law that would give Congress a full 60 days to examine any agreement that might be adopted. 

July 4, 2015       Permalink

BERNIE ROMPS – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  Bernie Sanders had another triumph yesterday, this time in Iowa.  If I were Hillary, I'd be worried.  It's not that Bernie will get the nomination, although it's a long-distance possibility, it's that Hillary arouses so little enthusiasm.  From WaPo: 

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Another day on the presidential campaign trail, another crowd of eye-popping size for Bernie Sanders.

The independent senator from Vermont attracted more than 2,500 people to a convention center here on Friday night as part of his continued quest to lead a "political revolution" and win the Democratic nomination in a field that also includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It was by far the largest draw in Iowa, the nation’s first caucus state, by any White House hopeful this cycle — though there were plenty of Sanders fans in the crowd who came across the river from Nebraska.

Still, by any measure, it was impressive gathering and the latest to underscore the strength of the Sanders phenomenon. Earlier this week, 10,000 people showed up in Madison, Wis., to hear Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, decry the "grotesque level" of income inequality in the country and the influence of the "billionaire class" on its politics.

His message was much the same Friday, as Sanders laid out priorities that include guaranteeing family leave and sick time for workers and making health care a national right, as well as fighting climate change and providing public financing for elections.

Among the enthusiastic supporters who turned out was William Pugh, a retired journalist and teacher who lives across the river in Omaha.

"He's the only truth-speaker out there," Pugh, 62, said of Sanders. "He calls the system for what it is. It's broken, it's corrupt, and it's an oligarchy. ... If he's not electable, there's no hope for this country."

COMMENT:  I disagree, of course, with most of what Bernie is saying, but I have to agree that he's a breath of fresh air in the hopelessly deteriorating Democratic Party.  At least the man speaks his mind and has opinions.  He comes off as a kind old uncle who really does care about his country...although his prescriptions hardly have a great track record.

Hillary has yet to fight back against Bernie, but she'd better start.  He is landing body blows that may do serious damage to the queen, even if she wins the nomination.

July 4, 2015       Permalink

THE MEANING OF THE DAY – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  In an era when the nation's founders are often called "dead white men," we are reminded of how extraordinary those men were.  The authors of the Declaration of Independence, the document we celebrate this day, pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and they meant it.  Many suffered terribly during the war that followed the proclamation of the Declaration.   Many lost everything.  Some lost their lives. 

Scott Johnson, at Powerline, reminds us of their vast accomplishment, as described in an eloquent speech by Calvin Coolidge, our quote of the day:

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

COMMENT:  And that is why this day is important.

July 4,  2015     Permalink

JULY 3,  2015

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

DID SOMEONE SAY THAT LIVES MATTER? – From Breitbart: The city of Chicago is gearing up for a violent Independence Day holiday, and already on Friday, 12 were shot and five killed before evening even fell.  The violence began Thursday evening when several were shot and killed on the city’s South Side.  Several more were killed on Friday morning, and by Friday afternoon, ten were shot and four killed.  Please notice the deep interest of the leftist intellectuals.

WHAT A JOKE – More hollow words from Iran's mouthpiece in Geneva.  From Fox:  Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif urged world powers in a video message Friday to stop the “coercion and pressure” at the nuclear talks, suggesting a favorable agreement could open the door to cooperation on fighting extremism in the Middle East.  Though Zarif didn’t mention the U.S. by name, the seemingly bilateral talks between the two sides make his words clearly directed at the Americans, who have been the primary drivers of the crippling economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.  Any deal would result in an end to the sanctions, but with the July 7 deadline approaching, talks remain bogged down.  Let us celebrate Independence Day by showing some real independence and walking away from these ridiculous talks.  The Iranians might just get the message.  But I'm afraid that's not the message Field Marshal Obama wants to send.

AMERICANS INCREASINGLY SKEPTICAL OF COURTS – From Fox: Likely Americans voters are warming to the idea that individual states should have the right to turn their backs on the federal courts in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Obamacare and gay marriage. A third of likely U.S. voters now believe that states should have the right to ignore federal court rulings if their elected officials agree with them according to a Rasmussen Reports survey released Friday.  There’s a partisan divide: 50 percent of GOP voters now believe states should have the right to ignore the federal court rulings, compared to 22 percent of Democrats and 30 percent of unaffiliated voters.  “Interestingly, this represents a noticeable rise in support among all three groups,” the poll stated.  No, we don't have the right to ignore federal courts, but we do have the right to express our dismay when courts become legislatures and start making laws instead of interpreting them.  The Supreme Court is being sent a message.  Social policy is reserved for the people's representatives.

July 3, 2015       Permalink

CUTTING OFF THE RUMOR MILL – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Some of the usual suspects are trying to stir up stories of the burning of black churches in the South.  There have, of course, been arson incidents involving black churches, but a "burning" scare some years ago turned out to be false.  Now, when a black church has a fire, the media seems to be more careful in reporting.  From CNN:

(CNN) Lightning, not arson, caused the fire that gutted a traditionally black church in South Carolina this week, federal and state investigators have concluded.

Tuesday's fire at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville was caused by lightning, and there was "no criminal intent," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Thursday on Twitter.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division concurred, releasing a statement Thursday saying that the fire is "best classified as natural" and that investigators found no indications of wrongdoing.

The Greeleyville fire drew attention because there have been fires at least five other black churches since the June 17 racist killings of nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church.

Senior FBI officials said as early as Wednesday that lightning might have caused the Greeleyville fire, citing heavy storms that were in the area when it started. They also said investigators at the scene found no accelerants, which would have been an indicator of arson.

A forensics report by CNN meteorologists showed four lightning strikes in the church's immediate vicinity at 7:18 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Tuesday's fire was the Greeleyville congregation's second devastating one in 20 years. Arson destroyed a previous Mount Zion AME church building in 1995.

Two white men who reportedly said they were members of the Ku Klux Klan pleaded guilty to starting the 1995 blaze and another at a separate black church. They were sentenced to serve prison sentences of almost two decades.

COMMENT:  We don't know what caused the fires at the other black churches recently, but we don't know of any clearly determined arson cases either. 

July 3, 2015       Permalink

INDEPENDENCE WEEKEND IN NEW YORK – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  And the security is more intense than ever, with fear of a lone-wolf attack stimulated by ISIS.  From WABC: 

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There is heightened security for the Fourth of July celebrations in New York City and surrounding areas.

There is no specific threat, but the NYPD, after recent arrests of alleged ISIS sympathizers in our area and the attacks overseas, is ramping up security more than usual.

"Is there an enhanced initiative this year? There is," Police Commissioner William Bratton said.

The NYPD is working to make sure the only explosions heard on the Fourth of July will be those launched from the five barges carrying fireworks in East River.

"This may be the most complex counter-terrorism overlay for this event ever. Again, this is not driven by any information or particular threat as much as it's driven by the unfolding world events," said Deputy Chief John Miller, NYPD Intelligence & Counter-Terrorism.

Spectators should already be familiar with checkpoints to the viewing areas, like those in Times Square on New Year's Eve, but the enhanced presence will be things most people can't see.

"Radiation detection, which will range from everything from the radiation detection pagers that our police officers wear on their belts, to our radiation detection boats that will be out in the harbor scanning traffic leading up to this event and during this event, to our air assets that have the same capability," Miller said.

In addition they will have bomb sniffing dogs, thousands of uniformed and plain clothes officers, and monitoring of the city's 7,000 surveillance cameras and social media.

COMMENT:  At least localities are taking this seriously.  Obama is getting bad marks, even from some of his former national-security staff members, for his seemingly casual approach to the threat of ISIS and terrorism generally.

July 3, 2015       Permalink

IRAN TALKS NEAR THE END, WE THINK – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  And there is no guarantee of a deal.  From Reuters:

VIENNA - A year and half of nuclear talks between Iran and major powers were creeping towards the finish line on Friday as negotiators wrestled with sticking points including questions about Tehran's past atomic research.

Iran is in talks with the United States and five other powers - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - on an agreement to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

"We are coming to the end," said a senior Western diplomat, who added there was no plan to carry on for long past next Tuesday. "Either we get an agreement or we don't," he said, adding that the process "remains quite difficult."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian state television that "a lot of progress has been made, but still various technical issues remain that need the other party's political will."

Still, all sides say a deal is within reach. U.S., European and Iranian officials, including U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Iranian deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takhteravanchi, held a six-hour negotiating session that ended at 3 a.m. on Friday, a senior U.S. official said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Zarif were due to hold a bilateral session on Friday, though that meeting was delayed several times.

COMMENT:  My great fear is that Obama, who really controls our side, will cave at the end, or that European business interests will prevail and force the Europeans to cave.

The best outcome would be for us to walk away for a time, rattling Iran's cage.  They need this pact more than we do.  If finally convinced of our seriousness – and I'm not convinced at all – maybe they'd start to get real.

July 3,  2015     Permalink

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