Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

JUNE 28,  2015

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

GREEK SALAD – From Fox: ATHENS, Greece – Greece's five-year financial crisis took its most dramatic turn to date Sunday, with the cabinet deciding, after an 8-hour session, that Greek banks would remain shut for six working days and restrictions would be imposed on cash withdrawals.  The Athens Stock Exchange would also not open on Monday, financial sector officials confirmed.  A decree published in the official Government Gazette stipulates banks will not open Monday morning and will remain closed through Monday, July 6. The finance minister could decide to short or extend that period.  Withdrawals from ATM with credit or cash cards will be capped at 60 euros ($66) daily. The decree said ATMs would be working at the latest 12 hours from its publication, meaning cash machines would open by early afternoon, at the latest.  We also had a "bank holiday" when Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1933.  It did help to stabilize the banking system which was being hit by massive withdrawals, but the Great Depression went on until World War II.

CHILLING MESSAGE FROM ISIS – From Fox: Islamic State is marking its first year as a self-proclaimed caliphate by calling on sympathizers around the world to take up arms and commit acts of terror.  It was on June 29, 2014 that the terrorist army then known as ISIS announced it had established a government run by a medieval version of strict Islam in territory that spanned northern Syria and Iraq.  Since then, the group has metastasized throughout the region, recruiting locals and foreign fighters alike and blazing a trail of death and misery. With the beginning of Ramadan on June 17, the terrorist organization has issued a call for stepped up attacks in the Middle East and around the world.  And, as we reported earlier today, American authorities are deeply concerned about possible attacks coinciding with our July 4th weekend.

GREAT MOMENTS IN SCHOLARSHIP – New York City is now entering a new "progressive" era under the ludicrous leadership of its Fidel-loving mayor, Bill de Blasio.  Strange, but this seems like something the city tried in the past, with catastrophic results.  From the New York Post:  "How do you fix a failing high school?  Change the grades.  Under pressure to boost student achievement, the state-designated “out of time” Automotive HS has resorted to rigging Regents exam scores.  The failing scores of five students who took the Regents in January were switched to passing scores of 65 or higher on their transcripts, the city Department of Education has confirmed.  One junior saw his scores upped to pass two exams required for graduation — Living Environment (biology) and algebra — even though he had failed both classes. The student insisted he deserved a break on the exams because “I studied my ass off.”  In 2011, the state banned “scrubbing” — the practice of re-scoring tests that fall just short of passing. In 2013, the DOE tried to fire a teacher who raised the scores of five students on a Regents physics exam. In 2014, city scores plummeted after a new rule barred teachers from grading tests given at their own schools.  Now, the city has sanctioned it.  Ah, back to the sixties, that wonderful era of chaos and crime. 

June 28, 2015        Permalink

IRAN TALKS DOWN TO THE WIRE – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:  The Iran nuclear talks are scheduled to end in two days, presumably with some agreement.  But the sides are still well apart, and the betting is that the talks will go into overtime. 

There is substantial fear in Washington, even among some diplomats who have worked for Obama, that he will cave in just to get an agreement, erasing still more red lines that he's drawn in the past.  Obama sees an Iran nuclear deal as part of his left-wing legacy.  I doubt if he cares much about the fact that Iran will eventually get the bomb anyway.  From Fox: 

The U.S., Iran and world powers started the final round of nuclear talks on Saturday in Austria, with diplomats expressing optimism that a deal could be reached while addressing serious issues that still need to be resolved.

The group has cited a June 30 deadline for completing more than 18 months of diplomacy aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions.

The Wall Street Journal reports senior officials involved in the Vienna talks said Saturday they anticipated the diplomatic process would likely need to be extended beyond next Tuesday, due to the complexity of issues involved in the negotiations.

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for 90 minutes Saturday morning and the two diplomats held a second negotiating session in the afternoon for an additional hour. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also arrived in Vienna Saturday and was expected to meet with Kerry as well.

“We’re determined to do everything we can in order to be able to make this important milestone, Kerry said. “But that depends on a lot of things and we’re going to work on them.”

Saturday’s talks focused around Iran’s willingness to send tons of enriched uranium to another country for sale as reactor fuel, diplomats told The Associated Press. While Iran has repeatedly said it doesn’t want nuclear arms, it has more than eight tons that could be turned into the fissile core of a dozen or more atomic bombs if the material was further enriched to weapons-grade levels.

COMMENT:  I have no confidence in this administration's intentions.  I hope I'm proved wrong.

Congress will get a chance to vote on an agreement, but, since it is not a treaty, Obama could veto any Congressional objection.  It is unlikely that Congress would override his veto, as that would require Democratic votes, and party discipline "on behalf of Barack's legacy" would be enforced.

June 28, 2015       Permalink

TERROR WARNING – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  American authorities are worried about an ISIS attack in the United States over the July 4th weekend.  From PJ Media: 

Federal authorities have warned local law enforcement officials across the country about a heightened concern involving possible terror attacks targeting the July 4th holiday, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

While there was no specific or credible threat of attack, the official said the intelligence bulletin prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI alerted local colleagues to the ongoing threats posed by the Islamic State and other homegrown extremists. The official was not authorized to comment publicly.

The bulletins are frequently issued in advance of major U.S. holidays out of an abundance of caution and concern that operatives may exploit the timing to generate greater attention.

The warning comes as federal investigators have worked to disrupt a number of Islamic State-inspired plots, including a planned assault earlier this month on police officers in Boston. In that case, authorities fatally shot Usaamah Rahim as he allegedly planned to attack police with military-style knives.

COMMENT:  It's only a matter of time before ISIS pulls off an attack in the United States.  You may be certain that the Obama administration will blame President Bush. 

Polls show Americans are very concerned about terror, and have lost confidence in Obama's ability, or will, to deal with it.  We have no idea what Hillary Clinton's views are about fighting terror, as she expresses no views on anything these days unless she can gain some political points.

June 28, 2015       Permalink

APOLOGIES?  PROBABLY NOT – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  There are apologies all around.  The Confederate flag is coming down.  People are apologizing for things they never did.  And, of course, the usual suspects are looking with moral fervor at the Republican Party.  Racists!  Bigots!   "Racist, sexist, anti-gay, GOP go away!"

But Scott Johnson at Powerline asks a pertinent question.  When is the Democratic Party going to apologize for its own past? 

In an open letter to DNC Chairman Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, Jeffrey Lord provides a readout of the tangled history of the Democratic Party with slavery, segregation, lynching, and the Ku Klux Klan. Lord draws on the Democratic Party platforms of 1840, 1844, 1856 and 1860. He adds that, as the Civil War drew to a close, the Democrats opposed the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment (ending slavery), and proceeded afterwards also to oppose the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Lord has more, all in the spirit of the moment; Lord calls on Schultz to apologize on behalf of the party.

Lord might have added that prominent Democrats also opposed the Republican president’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and 1864; they sought Lincoln’s rescission of the proclamation. Lincoln replied: “[T]he promise being made must be kept.”

Lincoln liked the thought so much that he repeated it, with commas the second time around: “[T]he promise, being made, must be kept.” Thank God Lincoln ignored the Democrats.

The Republican Party wasn’t founded until until 1854. In 1856 its first national platform opposed the extension of slavery to the territories and frankly asserted the party’s opposition to the “twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.” Suffice it to say that it remains timely today.

COMMENT:  The leftist lecturers might also reflect on their own awful human-rights record, from indifference to genocide in Africa, to coddling up to murderous Iran in the Mideast.

Of course, many liberals cut their political teeth on the "anti-war" movement of the 1960s, which wasn't anti-war at all, just anti any war America had a chance of winning.  The effect of their "movement" was to deny to South Vietnam any chance at democracy.

And then there's Obama's opening to Cuba, which was done without asking anything in return on behalf of the enslaved Cuban people.  What a record!   What hypocrites.

June 28,  2015     Permalink

JUNE 27,  2015

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

HILLARY NO GREAT DRAW – From Daily Caller:   Virginia Democrats were offered free tickets Friday to the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Virginia, Hillary Clinton’s first campaign stop in the critical swing state.  In an email leaked to Business Insider, supporters of Clinton’s campaign in Virginia were given a chance to forego the $30 price for tickets to the event, as long as they provide the code included in the email. The event was intended to support democratic fundraising for the state, but Clinton’s appearance and speech are geared toward garnering support among East Coast Democrats.  An operative for a 2016 Republican candidate took a shot at the Democratic frontrunner, referencing the irony surrounding her previous PR disaster of her speech prices.  “How bad is it out there for Hillary?  She’s gone from paid speeches to paying people to hear her speeches.”  The only good weeks for Hillary are those when she's out of the news.

MORE HILLARY, NOT GOOD – From Powerline:  Rich Lowry says that a “plugged-in lefty” tells him he believes that Bernie Sanders will defeat Hillary Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire. This scenario may sound far-fetched, but polling data suggests it could come to pass.  A new WMUR/CNN Granite State Poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center from June 18 to 24, puts Sanders within 8 points of Clinton, 43-35 (with a margin of error of 5.2 percent). In Iowa, reportedly, a Suffolk University poll and a Morning Consult survey put Sanders within 10 points and 12 points, respectively, of Clinton.  Bloomberg’s polling is considerably more favorable to Clinton. However, it shows that her margins are shrinking.  I believe that all it will take to start a real backlash against Hillary in the Democratic Party is one more scandal.  Hillary's operating margin is very slim at this point.  Even her supporters don't seem to have much passion.

THE NERVE – From Reuters:  China accused the United States on Friday of being “haunted by spreading guns” and racial discrimination, in its annual tit-for-tat rebuttal to US criticism of China’s human rights record.  In a lengthy report carried by the official Xinhua news agency, China’s State Council Information Office said the United States “violated human rights in other countries in a more brazen manner, and was given more ‘red cards’ in the international human rights field”.  “The US was haunted by spreading guns and frequent occurrence of violent crimes, which threatened citizens’ civil rights,” the report said.  The China section of the annual US State Department report on human rights conditions globally, released on Thursday, said that “repression and coercion were routine” against activists, ethnic minorities and law firms that took on sensitive cases.  I'm sure the Chinese statement will be studied with approval in elite academic circles in the United States.

June 27, 2015       Permalink

IRAN TALKS DOWN TO WIRE – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:   From The Hill:

Secretary of State John Kerry said “very tough issues” remain as international negotiators hold what could be their final round of talks to get a deal over Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters in Vienna on Saturday, Kerry said both sides are “hopeful” to reach an agreement.

“We have a lot of hard work to do. We have some very tough issues, and I think we all look forward to getting down to the final effort here to see whether or not a deal is possible,” Kerry said.

“I think that everybody would like to see an agreement, but we have to work through some difficult issues,” he added.

Kerry’s Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, struck a similar note.

“I agree maybe not on the issues, but on the fact that we need to work really hard in order to be able to make progress and move forward,” he said.

“We’re determined to do everything we can in order to be able to make this important milestone, but that depends on a lot of things and we’re going to work on them,” according to Zarif.

Iran and Western powers have given themselves until Tuesday to strike a bargain that would curb Tehran’s nuclear effort in exchange for sanctions relief.

COMMENT:  We have the worst negotiators.  We really do.  They're appeasers, working under an appeasement president.  We should pull out of the talks.  The Iranians need this agreement to get rid of sanctions.  If we pull out, the heat is on them to make some concessions and return to the bargaining table.  But Obama doesn't think that way. 

We'll see if anything is decided by Tuesday.  If not, they'll go into overtime.  No agreement at this stage could be a good one for us.  The Iranians are making clear they will not agree to our basic demands. 

June 27, 2015       Permalink

GOP PLEDGES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PUSH – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  An intelligent, thoughtful approach might well produce good results.  From The Hill:

Senate Republicans are pledging to protect religious freedom after a Supreme Court ruling Friday legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

In a 5-4 decision, the court said there is a right to same-sex marriage in all 50 states, handing a historic win for gay rights.

Sen. John McCain said in the wake of the ruling that he is "committed to upholding the religious freedom protections afforded to all of us under our Constitution."

The Arizona Republican, who is up for reelection next year and could face a primary challenge, added that "while I have deep respect for Americans on all sides of the issue, I disagree with today's decision."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) criticized the Supreme Court for "imposing the views of five elected judges on a country that is still in the midst of making up its mind about marriage."

Lee, who is also up for reelection, said he would work on getting his legislation passed, the First Amendment Defense Act, which he says would "prevent the federal government from discriminating against anyone who believes that marriage is a union between one man and one woman."

Meanwhile, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said that he will "continue to work to protect the First Amendment rights of those who, based on their religious convictions, oppose same-sex marriage."

COMMENT:  These are important measures.  If carefully drawn, they might pass Constitutional muster, even with this Supreme Court.   The Court has ruled gay marriage a right in all 50 states.  But that does not mean that vendors, such as photographers, should be forced to participate in a religious ritual of which they disapprove.  They should not. 

June 27, 2015       Permalink

TERROR LATEST – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  We are only now starting to realize the extent of yesterday's terror attacks, especially in Tunisia.  We are being told by Obama Central that there is not yet proof that they were coordinated, but that is deceptive.  ISIS put out calls for individual attacks around this time to commemorate a Muslim holiday.  From, surprisingly, Britain's left-wing Guardian:

Here are the latest updates on what we know on all three attacks.

We’ll be shutting down the live blog for now, but keep checking back for more coverage on The Guardian.

More than 60 people have been killed across three continents, during three separate attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait. These attacks are not believed to be coordinated

At least 38 people have been killed in a terrorist attack on a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia and 36 wounded (eight in critical condition).The British Foreign Minister confirmed 5 Britons were among the dead, as was one Irish woman

Guests at the Imperial Marhaba hotel, barricaded themselves in hotel rooms throughout the day. British holidaymakers are being flown back to the UK on Friday night to Gatwick, Doncaster and Manchester airports.

Tunisia’s president said the attack was “worse than terrible” and has called for a unified international response to terrorist threats

The Tunisian interior ministry said a gunman was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces.There were conflicting reports over whether there was another gunman, and, if so, whether he was still at large.

In France, police have arrested four people – including the main suspect Yassin Salhi – after a decapitated body was found following an attack on a factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, south of Lyon. The suspect had reportedly tried to blow up the factory belonging to a US gas company

The three attacks come just days after after an Islamic State (Isis) spokesman urged jihadists to make the holy month of Ramadan “a time of calamity for the infidels … Shias and apostate Muslims”.

COMMENT:  In the U.S., the FBI is arresting more ISIS suspects than ever before.  There is a real fear that ISIS will soon strike here.  I'd imagine that fear is justified.

June 27,  2015     Permalink