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

MARCH 9,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

GUTSIER THAN US – From Fox:  "A new proposal in Denmark could result in the Charlie Hebdo shooting and cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad being taught in schools.  The country’s opposition leaders are in agreement that the controversial cartoons first printed in Jyllands-Posten newspaper should appear in school textbooks, The Washington Post reports. Both the Conservative People's Party and Danish People's Party, the latter commanding the third-largest level of support in Denmark, have voiced their support for the idea.  'It would be natural for the cartoons to become part of the material that the teachers can choose to use,' Conservative People’s Party spokeswoman Mai Mercado told DR Nyheder."  Let's see how many "academic freedom" committees back this courageous stand.  I'm still waiting.

THIS IS IMPORTANT? – From the Houston Chronicle:  "Celebrated Texas politician Barbara Jordan could be the new face of the $20 bill, if a movement called Women on 20s gets its way.  The nonprofit selected Jordan as one of 15 finalists to be the new face on the $20 bill by 2020 – the year marking the centennial of women's suffrage. (Vote here.)  The Houston-born Congresswoman became the first southern black woman elected to Congress after Reconstruction in 1972. Six years earlier, she had become the first African American elected to the Texas Senate."  Look, I have no problem with honoring Barbara Jordan, if that's what people want to do.  But we're talking currency here.  We honor U.S. presidents and major statesmen.  True, there are no women currently honored with a picture on U.S. currency, but I'm sure appropriate candidates are available.  There have been great female American writers and scientists, and, in the political realm, one can mention Eleanor Roosevelt on the liberal side, and Margaret Chase Smith, a conservative.  I'm not sure Barbara Jordan is exactly in that league.

MAJOR COMPASSION NEWS – From CNS:  "CNSNews.com) - Many people are living longer, but not to age 112 or beyond -- except in the records of the Social Security Administration.  The SSA's inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 -- or older -- for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident.  The audit, dated March 4, 2015, concluded that SSA lacks the controls necessary to annote death information on the records of number-holders who exceed 'maximum reasonable life expectancies.'"  Turns out people are using these numbers for all kinds of fraudulent purposes.  I wonder how many of these numbers are attached to voters in Chicago.

WHEN IN TROUBLE, SEND OUT THE DAUGHTER – From The Hill:  "Chelsea Clinton says she respects her parents now more than ever.  The new mom, who gave birth to daughter Charlotte with husband Marc Mezvinsky last September, told 'Live with Kelly and Michael' hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan that caring for her daughter helped changed her view of her famous parents.  'I have always been so close to both my parents and I didn’t know that I could be even more grateful for them and respect them more, until I became a mom,' Clinton said Monday.  'I thought about all the times, particularly my mother, worried about me. And now, I’m so worried about Charlotte,' Clinton said, while appearing on the show to promote her work with her family’s Clinton Foundation gender equality initiative, called No Ceilings. The 35-year-old former first daughter said of baby Charlotte, 'She’s just rolling over and I’m like, "What if she like rolls all the way into the kitchen counter?" I mean I don’t even know how that would happen!'  On second thought, maybe it's better not to send out the daughter.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

OUR FLAG IS STILL THERE – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  Some students at the University of California at Irvine wanted the American flag taken down from a public space because it "upset" them.  And, of course, being upset is the worst thing that can happen to a college student.

So the flag came down, and upset disappeared.

But a lot of students were ticked.  There was a backlash.  And the flag went up again.  Chalk one up for our side.

But you will not believe the logic of those offended by the American flag.  From Breitbart:   

IRVINE, California — Students at the University of California Irvine (UCI) spoke to Breitbart News Sunday, sharing their shock and disappointment at recent legislation by six members of UCI’s Associated Students (ASUCI) to remove an American flag from their building’s lobby this past Thursday.

A student who spoke with Breitbart News on condition of anonymity that she heard a member of the ASUCI discussing “the [American] flag and how it triggered people.” She then said she believed a major line of reasoning behind the legislation to remove the flag could have been a “precautionary step” to prevent a trigger situation where if someone is an “illegal citizen or [they] have citizenship issues, it makes them feel bad.

“But me and my friends were like, ‘Dude, you’re in America. It’s the American flag,'” she added.

The issue, according to her, was that the flag was placed in a common space, and she felt that if it were placed in a private area like a personal office, it would not have been a big deal. “And then there were people who were like ‘the flag triggers me’ — that was their exact wording, too.”

She added: “Everything can be a trigger. How far is it going to go? If everyone says something bothers them about a shared space then that could be a problem because then there will be nothing on any walls.”

UCI student Matthew Guevara, who sits on the Student Association board, authored the resolution (R50-70) to ban the U.S. flag from the association’s lobby wall. The resolution passed narrowly on Thursday in a 6-4 vote in favor, with two abstentions, but was overturned and vetoed on Saturday during a private meeting held by the Associated Student’s Executive Cabinet by a 4-1 vote.

UCI administrators also issued a statement on Saturday following the vote to ban the flag, stating that they do not endorse what they described as a “misguided decision” by a political minority that they claim is not representative of the school nor the broader student body.

COMMENT:  Just read the whole thing.  I'm glad there was pushback on this, and that the flag is back up.  It may only be a symbol, but symbols are important to the culture of a society.

I'm also glad the university administration issued a vigorous statement opposing the banning of the flag.  Maybe some educators are entering the world of adulthood.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

AMERICANS BLEAK ON RACE RELATIONS UNDER OBAMA – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  It's sad, but the American people feel race relations under Obama have deteriorated rather than improved.  Chalk this up to Obama's utter incompetence in executing anything.  From Andrew Malcolm at IBD: 

As two presidents gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of a major civil rights turning point, a new poll reveals that only 15% of Americans say the country's race relations have improved under Barack Obama, who promised just that.

Another 39% of adult Americans say the nation's abiding racial divide has worsened under the first black chief executive, according to the CNN/ORC Poll. That includes 45% of whites and 26% of blacks. Even among Democrats, only 20% say race relations have improved under Obama.

Indeed, Obama's frequent early career talk of a post-racial America has been added to the lengthy list of unfulfilled promises by the man who entered office with so much hope and an approval rating above 60%. He now sits in the mid-forties and in Alabama earned barely 15% of the white vote in 2012.

By contrast, in the early months of Obama's presidency, only 6% thought race relations had worsened in the United States, while 32% said they had already seen improvements.

COMMENT:  It is perfectly reasonable for Obama to draw attention to unfinished business in confronting racism.  But, as the first black president, he has a great deal of credibility in speaking frankly to the black community about its own cultural problems, and what they are doing to black progress.  He only touches on that rarely, and I think many whites resent it.

We've said it many times here:  Obama knew how to run for president, but doesn't know how to be president.  Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, did a better job of advancing race relations than Obama has.  This is what happens when you have a president with no real preparation for the job.

March 9, 2015         Permalink

MORE HILLARY HYPOCRISY – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  The New York Times again comes down hard on Slick Hilly.  I doubt it's because The Times has gone pure in its journalism.  More likely it's because the paper prefers a Democratic presidential candidate well to Hillary's left.  Now The Times notes Clinton's phoniness on women's rights. 

MIAMI — It was supposed to be a carefully planned anniversary to mark one of the most important and widely praised moments in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s political career — and to remind the country, ahead of a likely 2016 presidential campaign, about her long record as a champion for the rights of women and girls.

Instead, as Mrs. Clinton commemorates her 1995 women’s rights speech in Beijing in back-to-back events in New York, she finds herself under attack for her family foundation’s acceptance of millions of dollars in donations from Middle Eastern countries known for violence against women and for denying them many basic freedoms.

This was not how she intended to reintroduce herself to American voters.

Mrs. Clinton’s glide path to a likely April announcement that she will seek the presidency was built around women’s issues. Advancing women has been her central life’s work, as she and her admirers say proudly; she made it a priority as secretary of state and focused on it as a philanthropist. But that focus also allowed Mrs. Clinton, who played down her gender in 2008, to frame her second attempt at the White House in what could be one way to make it special and new: as a shot at history for her and for all women.

COMMENT:  There have been reports for years of serious money paid to Bill Clinton or the Clinton Foundation by Arab countries with vast women's rights problems.  Apparently Hillary doesn't believe that rights for Muslim women should be part of her agenda.

Saudi women, in prison because of some trumped-up religious offense, could not be reached for comment.

March 9, 2015       Permalink

REMARKABLE – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Senate Republicans are showing some backbone.  They're communicating directly with Iran, refusing to be cut out of the nuclear arms agreement by Field Marshal Obama, who never read the Constitution, or had it read to him by Valerie Jarrett.  From Bloomberg: 

A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran's leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama's administration won’t last after Obama leaves office.

Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”

Arms-control advocates and supporters of the negotiations argue that the next president and the next Congress will have a hard time changing or canceling any Iran deal -- -- which is reportedly near done -- especially if it is working reasonably well.

The problem is that it has no chance of working reasonably well if it is full of holes and Iran is still full of mullahs.

Many inside the Republican caucus, however, hope that by pointing out the long-term fragility of a deal with no congressional approval -- something Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also noted -- the Iranian regime might be convinced to think twice. "Iran's ayatollahs need to know before agreeing to any nuclear deal that … any unilateral executive agreement is one they accept at their own peril,” Cotton told me.

COMMENT:  Iran will never agree to a deal that will give the United States, and other Western powers, true security.  But we would be helped diplomatically if Kerry and his negotiators demand such a deal, forcing the Iranians to be the ones who turn it down.  I think that's what the GOP senators are working toward.

March 9,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 8,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:22 P.M. ET: 

A NEW DEFINITION FOR "DUMB" – From Fox:  "Two American tourists now have a criminal record in Italy after they were caught carving their names into Rome's Colosseum, according to The Guardian.  The visiting Californians snuck away from their tour group on Saturday and began scratching their initials into the amphitheater walls using a coin, The Guardian reported.  Police caught the pair but not before they managed to carve a 'J' and an 'N' around 3 inches high into the Colosseum wall. The paper also reports that the women took a selfie with their carvings.  The young women, aged 21 and 25, were cited for 'aggravated damage to a building of historical and artistic interest,' according to The New York Post."  Had they carved "Barack," the US Embassy would have come to their aid. 

POOR CHOICE – The Chicago politicians are at it in the White House again.   Robert Malley, a US negotiator at the 2000 Camp David talks on the Mideast, has been named to head the Mideast desk at the National Security Council.  Problem is, Malley is known for his anti-Israel positions.  I guess the payback for Bibi's speech has already begun.  It's the way small timers operate.  Had Obama been a real American president, rather than a student-government president, he would have appointed someone in whom our Israeli ally had confidence, to show that he could rise above his personal disputes with Netanyahu and reaffirm the alliance.  Petty man, this Obama, a cross between Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon.

TREY ON THE CASE – From the New York Post:  "WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Benghazi Committee said 'there are huge gaps' in the Hillary Clinton emails turned over to his committee investigating the deadly attack that killed four Americans on Sept. 11, 2012.  For instance, there were no emails on Oct. 18, 2011, the day of the iconic picture of the Secretary of State clad in sunglasses and bracing her Blackberry on a plane to Libya. In fact there were no emails from that entire trip.  'We don’t have all of them,' said Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), whose committee unearthed the existence of Clinton’s exclusive personal accounts.  'It strains credibility to believe that if you’re on your way to Libya to discuss Libyan policy, that there’s not a single document that’s been turned over to Congress. So there are huge gaps,' said Gowdy, who has requested emails related to Libya, before, during and after the attack."  The future for Hillary looks suddenly "iffy."

March 8, 2015       Permalink

IRAN ARMS – AT 11:44 A.M. ET:   While America cuts its defense budget, Iran continues to build its missile program.  Strikingly, that program is not part of the current nuclear negotiation with Iran.  That has left many observers in dismay, since the program includes ICBM's, which are only built to carry nuclear weapons.  But Barack is on the case.  From AFP:

Tehran (AFP) - Iran on Sunday unveiled two new missiles and two new drones it said have been added to its arsenal, in a ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani.

The Ghadir (Mighty), with a range of 300 kilometres (185 miles), is a ground-to-sea and sea-to-sea missile, the official IRNA news agency said.

It is in the same family as the Ghader or Qader cruise missile, which has a range of 200 kilometres.

The other missile unveiled on Sunday, the Nasr-e Basir (Clear Victory), is equipped with a seeker homing head. Its range was not given.

The new Karar-4 (Striker) drone can track and monitor enemy aircraft, the agency said, while the Mohajer-4 (Migrant) drone is designed to perform photographic and mapping missions.

Iran has developed a major missile programme in addition to producing different types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including attack drones.

The United States, whose Fifth Fleet is based in Sunni-ruled Bahrain across the Gulf from the mainly Shiite Islamic republic, has repeatedly expressed concern about these two programmes.

Rouhani on Sunday sought to allay such fears.

"Iran has no intention to interfere in, dominate or attack other countries or plunder their resources," he said in a speech broadcast on state television, adding that the country's military doctrine was defensive.

"But at the same time we will stand up to any aggression," he added.

COMMENT:  Recently the Iranians produced a video showing a simulated attack on an American aircraft carrier.  Clearly, they have our navy in mind when developing these missiles.   The Iranians are not stupid, they're not backward, they're not Third World. They're becoming an advanced nation with a fanatical regime, and they are a serious threat.  With nuclear weapons, that threat will be magnified many fold.

March 8, 2015       Permalink

DARK HORSE? – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:   Hillary is getting wobbly.  Yes, she's still well ahead of anyone else for the Dem nomination, but reports across the web indicate that many Democrats are becoming uneasy with her "inevitability."  They're almost getting used to waiting for the next scandal, the next explanation, the next plea to "move on." 

If Hillary falters, the Dems have no obvious replacement.  Hillary set herself up as the queen-to-be, with no other contenders welcome.  But a few faces are starting to emerge.  Whether they'll last the week is another story.  From Fox: 

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is emerging as a potential challenger to Hillary Clinton for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination but appears unwilling, at least for now, to mount a head-on challenge to the front-running Clinton.

O’Malley on Friday night at a Democratic fundraiser in key voting state New Hampshire declined to discuss two Clinton controversies -- donations to the Clinton Foundation and her use of a private email accounts -- much less use them to his political advantage.

“I like Hillary Clinton. I respect Secretary Clinton. I am not here to talk about Secretary Clinton," O’Malley said when asked after his speech about the foundation accepting large donations from foreign countries in the two years since Clinton left her post as secretary of state.

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have long been supportive of O’Malley, who reportedly got Hillary Clinton’s blessing to run for the White House as far back as 2013.

You need her blessing?

O’Malley’s speech Friday at the Merrimack County Democrats fundraiser in Concord, N.H., marks his first visit to the state since the midterm elections. He last visited New Hampshire in October to campaign on behalf of Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who won re-election.

Clinton, also a former New York senator, has been the presumptive Democratic 2016 presidential nominee since polling started as far back as 2012, though she has yet to announce whether she is running.

With roughly 44 percent of the potential vote, formidable fundraising might and campaign infrastructure, Clinton has essentially cleared the field of potential primary challengers.

COMMENT:  O'Malley has kept his name before the political press for years, always with a hint that the presidency is in his sights.  But, aside from Hillary standing in his way, he has two major problems.  First, the Democratic Party is now a party of groups.  It has bought into the whole race, gender and ethnicity game, and the party is ready to nominate a woman.  There'll be a great sense of dismay among much of the base if it turns to another white guy.

Second, O'Malley committed one of the great sins of politics.  He wasn't able to elect is anointed successor.  Maryland is one of the most Democratic states in the Union, but now has a Republican governor, who succeeded O'Malley just recently.  That is no feather in O'Malley's cap.  It will be held against him. 

Other than that, the guy is in great shape.

March 8,  2015     Permalink

GRIM FORECAST – AT 10:02 A.M. ET:  The ranks of ISIS are growing, and are filling with Europeans.  From the Jerusalem Post:   

Europeans swelling the Islamic State group's ranks could reach 10,000 by the end of 2015, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls suggested on Sunday in an interview with French television, AFP reported Sunday.

"There are 3,000 Europeans in Iraq and Syria today. When you do a projection for the months to come, there could be 5,000 before summer and 10,000 before the end of the year," Valls warned, addressing the near three-fold increase of foreign born Islamic State militants.

"Do you realize the threat this represents?" he asked. "There have already been nearly 90 French people who have died out there with a weapon in their hand, fighting against our own values."

Different organizations have provided various estimates of how many fighters have joined the Islamic State and other groups like it.

According to the Tel-Aviv-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, approximately between 6,000 and 7,000 fighters have traveled to Syria alone in order to fight the Assad regime. Meanwhile, the US State Department has suggested that as many as 20,000 fighters from one hundred different countries have passed through both Syria and Iraq.

COMMENT:  This recruiting will only stop when ISIS is handily defeated, and potential recruits realize it's a losing cause.  No one wants to join a losing cause.  But how do you win when "victory" is a dirty word in the Obama administration?

March 8, 2015        Permalink