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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

JULY 6,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

PATHETIC – From the Washington Free Beacon:   White House officials on Monday held a private conference call with liberal organizations to discuss ways of pressuring Democrats and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill into supporting a nuclear deal with Iran that is expected to be finalized in the coming days, according to an audio recording of that call obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.  The call, in which there were more than 100 participants, was organized by the liberal pro-Iran group Ploughshares Fund, which has spent millions of dollars to slant Iran-related coverage and protect the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts.  The White House officials described a nuclear deal with Iran as President Obama’s “signature foreign policy accomplishment” and urged liberal groups to launch an all-out lobbying campaign to pressure lawmakers, especially Democrats, to back the deal.  Please note that this pressure campaign is being planned before anyone has seen a final deal.  Who cares what's in it?  Who cares how many millions might die if it goes bad?  It's all about Barack, come to save us.

BRILLIANT MIND AT WORK, NOT – From the Star.com:   Jane Fonda used to be a Blue Jays fan.  “I loved them,” she says, perched cross-legged on a sofa at a downtown Toronto hotel. “Until I married somebody that owned another team.”  But Fonda’s not in town to revive her fandom or her past betrothals. The 77-year-old actor and activist comes with a solar-fuelled fire in her belly.  “The climate change problem is the issue of our civilization. It will affect everything about our lives if we don’t do something about it,” she says.  Touching down Friday night from Los Angeles, the two-time Oscar winner is part of a parade of celebrities and distinguished guests who are putting foot to pavement in Sunday’s March for Jobs, Justice and the Climate.  I guess Jane felt she'd been out of the news too long.  Watch for her new exercise tape featuring short group runs outside the offices of oil companies, all the while shouting green slogans.   Oh, also, I guess Jane was "touching down" in an airliner run on fossil fuels. 

DUSTIN SPEAKS – From Hollywood Reporter:   Two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman criticized the current state of cinema, saying it’s at the lowest point it has been in the half a century that he has been working.  “I think right now, television is the best that it's ever been, and I think it’s the worst that film has ever been — in the 50 years that I’ve been doing it, it’s the worst,” he said in an interview with U.K. newspaper The Independent.  He is correct on both scores.  The feature-film industry is essentially a sideshow, a shadow of what it was during it golden age, which ended about 50 years ago.  By contrast, there are many fine things to find on television these days, especially on the cable channels.

RUSSIAN RESET NEWS – From ABC:  As Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, four Russian long-range bomber aircraft flew close enough to the US shores that they were intercepted by military fighter jets. The first set of two bombers flew near Alaska and just 30 minutes later a separate set flew far off the west coast of California.  According to officials at NORAD the flights stayed within international airspace and at no time did any of the Russian bombers enter or get close to entering sovereign North American boundaries.  They're testing us, and reasserting Russian strength.  Obama probably thinks the worst part is that they're contributing to global warming.

July 6, 2015       Permalink

HILLARY!   COMING SOON TO A TV NEAR YOU – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:   In an act of presidential proportions, Hillary Clinton has apparently condescended to do more media interviews.  We praise our gracious queen for deciding to speak to us, the peasantry.  From Fox: 

Hillary Clinton has decided to make herself more available to the media and will begin doing national television interviews in the next week.

She reached this decision after an internal debate and the move is supported by many top campaign officials, along with her husband, Clinton insiders say.

“She’s all on board,” Jennifer Palmieri, the campaign’s communications director, told me in an interview. “America will see more of her.”

Palmieri played down the notion that the interviews, along with plans to take more questions from reporters on the trail, amount to a risky strategy. “She does fine,” Palmieri says. “That was not a concern.”

The danger, Clinton insiders tell me, is that in today’s Twitter culture, a single misstep or badly chosen phrase can be taken out of context and go viral, drowning out anything else that Clinton is saying. They are also worried that some reporters, given Hillary’s global fame, might try to boost themselves by creating a “gotcha” moment.

But a consensus has formed around the notion that allowing more routine access will drain the drama from each encounter. “The more media interviews you do, the less any one interaction matters,” Palmieri says.

The former president and first lady, as well as campaign chairman John Podesta and others, are said to recognize that keeping the press at arm’s length has damaged her campaign. They concede that her long periods of silence in the face of swirling questions about her private email, speaking fees and Clinton Foundation favor-seeking have hurt her on the crucial issue of public trust.

COMMENT:  Bottom line, it's all about electoral strategy, not the good of the country or respect for its people.  Clinton, Inc. has simply made a business decision.  Let's see what the stockholders say...if we can figure out from the financial statements who the stockholders really are.

July 6, 2015       Permalink

THE SCHISM – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  The Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states is causing the expected schism, the same kind of divide we saw after Roe v. Wade. This can get very bitter.  From The Hill:

Congressional Republicans are coming under pressure to respond to the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage when they return to Washington next week.

Religious organizations aligned with the GOP are concerned the government will punish them for opposing same-sex marriage, and want lawmakers to put in place new protections for people with faith-based objections.

The groups are putting their lobbying energy behind the First Amendment Defense Act, a bill that would prohibit the government from retaliating against churches, schools and adoption agencies that only recognize heterosexual marriage.

"Regardless of where you come down on the issue of same-sex marriage, we shouldn’t allow the federal government to punish religious institutions for their beliefs about marriage,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who introduced the legislation shortly before the Supreme Court ruling.

A number of GOP presidential candidates are backing the bill, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) is sponsoring the same legislation in the House.

Groups such as the Family Research Council, Heritage Foundation, and National Organization for Marriage are pushing for votes on the bill, calling it a commonsense response to the high court’s ruling.

“It doesn’t change the definition of marriage,” said David Christensen, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council. “It simply protects those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman.”

COMMENT:  Gay marriage proponents would have been wiser to wait for state legislatures to work the matter out, in true democratic fashion.  By getting a decision from the Supreme Court, they went the Roe route, indifferent to the controversy that would erupt. 

Surely people of good will can work out some formula under which freedom of religion would be protected, and the faithful not constantly be attacked as "bigots." 

July 6, 2015       Permalink

KEEPING US SAFE, THE DIVERSE WAY – 7:52 A.M. ET:  We see grave threats, including potential nuclear threats, emerging all over the world.  But our CIA may not be ready to confront them.  Why?  It's obvious:  lack of diversity.  There is a diversity crisis at the CIA.  This may be the end of our Republic as we know it.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

The Central Intelligence Agency is once again mired in crisis. CIA Director John Brennan finds himself “deeply concerned.” The spy agency he runs suffers from an affliction that he says has “persisted despite repeated efforts by Agency leaders to address it.”

What is ailing this vital guardian of national security? The CIA’s upper echelon, Mr. Brennan said on Tuesday, does “not reflect the diversity of the Agency workforce or of the nation.”

Mr. Brennan was commenting on the “Director’s Diversity in Leadership Study,” an unclassified report released that day. The study comes to the “unequivocal conclusion,” he said in a statement, that there has been a major failure at the agency in the “crucial” area of diversity and inclusiveness.

The CIA director commissioned the study last year, convening a panel of experts to perform a comprehensive assessment of diversity in the agency’s workforce. The study is partly based on the results of an “Agency-wide instrument”—in non-spy-speak, “instrument” means questionnaire—developed in conjunction with research psychologists attached to the CIA’s Office of Medical Services. It also draws on hundreds of formal and informal interviews and 28 focus groups, including not only spies based at headquarters in Langley, Va., but also agents working incognito in a dozen undisclosed locations out in the cold.

COMMENT:   So the director is "deeply concerned."  Have you ever noticed how the Washington crowd is always "deeply concerned" about something?  Never "mildly" concerned or just "concerned," but always "deeply concerned."  Have you ever wondered how deep?  I don't think very deep.

We all know that "diversity" is a codeword for groups popular on the political left.  That's what is wanted here.  Gone forever is the notion, which we were sold many years ago, that we are to judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  Too bad.  That was a great idea.

July 6, 2015       Permalink 

THUMBS DOWN ON JOURNALISM – AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  Americans are on to press bias, but I see very little inclination on the part of the press to do anything about it.  From the Washington Examiner:

Nearly three quarters of Americans believe the news media reports with an intentional bias, according to a new survey.

The 2015 State of the First Amendment Survey, conducted by the First Amendment Center and USA Today, was released Friday. It shows that only 24 percent of American adults agree with the statement that "overall, the news media tries to report the news without bias," while 70 percent disagree.

When the question was asked last year, 41 percent agreed, a 17-point difference.

"These are discouraging results for those of us who have spent our careers in journalism," Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, wrote in an op-ed for USA Today on Thursday. "In 23 years in newsrooms, I saw consistent and concerted efforts to get stories right. Clearly, the public's not convinced."

The survey suggests that controversies this year that engulfed national news anchors Brian Williams of NBC and George Stephanopoulos of ABC may have had a deep impact on public trust in media. It also floats the idea that the public has had a negative reaction to news coverage of the racially-charged events in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, Md.

COMMENT:  One problem here is that many young journalists believe that presenting the news from a liberal viewpoint is lack of bias.  Liberalism is truth.  Anything else is deviance.  Another problem is that many journalists don't see their role as reporting the news, but, rather, see their role as "making a difference," and it's always a liberal difference.

Some of the reporting from Baltimore and Ferguson was over the top, and I suspect that millions of Americans were repelled, especially by constantly having the word "racism" thrown at them. 

July 6,  2015     Permalink

JULY 5,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:05 P.M. ET: 

IRAN TALKS DOWN TO THE WIRE – From Fox: Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. and Iran are closer to reaching a final nuclear deal but expressed uncertainty about hitting their 48-hour deadline, saying negotiations “could go either way.”  Kerry made his comments during a break in one-on-one talks in Vienna with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.  The fate of millions might well depend on the soundness of this agreement, and they're negotiating it like a labor contract for a fast-food chain.  I can't imagine an outcome that can satisfy serious, mature people.

YIKES – From The Wall Street Journal:  ATHENS—Greek voters were set to resoundingly reject the terms of an international bailout on Sunday, an outcome that would set the country on a collision course with the rest of the eurozone.  With more than 87% of votes counted, preliminary results showed more than 61% of voters had cast ballots against creditors’ demands in the historic referendum—a heavier-than-expected victory for the “no” campaign against the austerity policies demanded by Greece’s lenders: the rest of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.  We'll have much more about this.  A major economic development that could seriously impact Europe and might even affect Obama's vacation schedule and ice-cream time-outs.

MAJOR FINE-DINING BULLETIN – From the Chicago Sun-Times: Nine-year-old Shreya Patel of Schaumburg will be among the young winners of Michelle Obama’s “healthy lunchtime challenge” who’ll get to dine with the first lady at the White House later this week.  Her garam masala quinoa burger with raita was chosen as the winning recipe entered from Illinois, winning her a spot at the awards luncheon Friday. Entries had to be healthy, affordable and tasty.  Shreya wrote in an essay accompanying her entry that she’s been cooking since she was 3 and said she loves to “mix, measure, chop and even clean up afterwards.”  I'll take it only if it comes with fries and a chocolate shake.

July 5, 2015       Permalink

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  This weekend we celebrate the birth of America, and its democracy.  But the practice of democracy in our country is sometimes a bit odd.  Don't you think?  From Fox: 

Campaign aides for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Saturday roped off reporters from the candidate as she walked and talked with potential voters during a July Fourth parade in New Hampshire, sparking frustration from the press corps and outrage from the state Republican Party.

“Hillary Clinton continues to demonstrate her obvious contempt and disdain for the Granite State’s style of grassroots campaigning,” New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn said in a statement. “The use of a rope line at a New Hampshire parade is a sad joke and insults the traditions of our first-in-the-nation primary.”

Reporters were reportedly allowed to get close to Clinton but were later herded away by campaign aides concerned about crowd control.

“Spectacle of Clinton as candidate -- press being pulled along with a rope,” tweeted New York Times presidential campaign correspondent Maggie Haberman.

The campaign responded to the outrage, telling CNN: “While the GOP might want to spin a good yarn on this, let’s not get tied up in knots. We wanted to accommodate the press, allow (Clinton) greet voters (sic.) And allow the press to be right there in the parade with her, as opposed to preset locations.”

However, the optics of reporters being corralled along at the event, in Gotham, N.H., did not look good and added to the criticism that Clinton, unlike other 2016 presidential candidates, is shielded from reporters and their questions and as a public figure is cloaked in secrecy.

COMMENT:  I should point out that this is not an exclusively Hillary issue.  Barack Obama has been one of the least accessible presidents in modern history.  In fact, democratic practices themselves are not particularly popular on the left, which is becoming increasingly contemptuous of the open American style.  If you actually look at the record, the Democratic Party, especially in foreign policy, but more and more in domestic affairs, is becoming a party run by elites who regard democracy at best as a nuisance, and at worst as a threat to their power. 

July 5, 2015       Permalink

DEMS GAINING ON GOP – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  We've watched this trend recently, with some alarm.  From respected political reporter Dan Balz at WaPo: 

The Gallup organization reported its latest findings on party identification late last week, and the report contained good news for the Democrats and a flashing yellow for Republicans.

The Democrats “have regained an advantage” over the GOP in party affiliation, Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones wrote in an accompanying analysis. Republicans, he added, “have seemingly lost the momentum they had going into last fall’s elections.”

The current numbers don’t mean Republicans can’t win the White House in 2016. The Democrats’ advantage is not as large as at other points in the past, for example. But the findings add to a series of data points that underscore the challenges ahead for a party trying to keep pace with a rapidly changing country.

The latest numbers essentially mark a reset that returns party affiliation to its modern historical norm. Democrats long have enjoyed the advantage over Republicans in Gallup’s measures.

In those few periods when the GOP drew even or slightly ahead (after Republicans took control of Congress in 1994 or after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001), the party has been unable to hold that ground for long.

COMMENT:  I don't see this as a major crisis, but I do view it with concern.  As Balz points out, the Dems usually have an advantage in party affiliation, but that hasn't prevented the elections of Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, or the two Bushes.  Presidential elections often defy party labels, depending on the quality of the candidates.

The Republican National Committee is now in good hands.  It must focus on increasing the approval of its brand, and that starts with good policies that are sensitive to the needs of people, and good candidates to represent the party at the polls.  The job won't be easy, but the country's future may depend on it.

A Democratic presidential victory next year would impact the Supreme Court for a generation.  A Democratic president would need to replace only one of the four safe conservative votes on the Court to have a working liberal majority.  Since liberals regard the Court as a political instrument, the outcome for the United States could be grim indeed.

July 5, 2015       Permalink

SCALIA COMPARES SUPREMES TO THE BRITS OF 1776 – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  It's July 4th weekend, and Justice Scalia's comments, prompted by recent decisions of his colleagues, are particularly appropriate.  From Breitbart: 

In his scintillating and sometimes raucous dissent from last month’s horrendous same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell vs. Hodges, Justice Antonin Scalia warned a pre-Fourth of July nation that what the Court’s majority had done to them was worse than anything the British perpetrated prior to the Revolutionary War.

In his brief history lesson, Scalia underscored the gravity of the Court’s action by comparing it to England’s treatment of the American colonies that ignited the movement for American independence. The justice said that in its hubris, the majority decision had carried out a more serious offense than the one that sparked the Boston Tea Party and later the American Revolution itself.

Indeed, wrote Scalia, “to allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.”

The citizens living in the 13 original American colonies, in fact, had no direct representatives in the British parliament, and therefore could not vote on how they would be taxed or who would represent them. When the British began abusing this already precarious situation, the colonists rebelled. In 1773, the Sons of Liberty boarded ships of the East India Tea Company and proceeded to dump the entire shipment of tea into Boston Harbor, an event that escalated into the war of independence.

When the Supreme Court ceases acting like a judicial body and instead usurps the power to enact legislation, as it did in its infamous June 26 ruling, it radically oversteps its mandate and is worthy of nothing but scorn.

“The strikingly unrepresentative character of the body voting on today’s social upheaval would be irrelevant if they were functioning as judges,” Scalia continued. “But of course the Justices in today’s majority are not voting on that basis.”

“Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court,” he said.

The problem with independence and self-rule is that they are always fragile, and if not defended, can just as easily be lost. Something to ponder on the Fourth of July.

COMMENT:  Well said.  Nothing to add. 

July 5,  2015     Permalink