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FIRST SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE OF 2015

(UPDATE – Results are pretty good, but we're still lagging behind previous drives.)

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MARCH 14,  2015

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

CONGRATULATIONS TO SARAH – From London's Daily Mail:  "Bristol Palin has announced she is engaged to her Medal of Honor recipient boyfriend Dakota Meyer.  The 24-year-old daughter of the former Alaska governor and failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin shared the news on her Instagram page on Saturday.  Alongside an image of her kissing the 26-year-old former marine, who received the Medal of Honor, she wrote: 'Truly the luckiest girl in the world, cannot wait to marry this man!!!!'"  Good luck to all.

UNDER THE BUS – From the Chicago Sun-Times:  "New York is where they’d rather be.  So let’s cut to the chase.  Sneed is told by impeccable sources that President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, want to live in New York when they leave the White House.  'They want New York, plain and simple,' said a top Sneed source who asked to remain anonymous — but has a relationship with the Obamas.  'It’s not an unusual decision,' added the source. 'The Clintons moved to New York after Bill Clinton left the presidency. It’s a happening place.'  'They love the vibe in New York and don’t plan to have their main residence in Chicago,' a second source said."  Obama has thrown plenty of people under the bus.  Now he's apparently throwing a whole city under the bus. 

WALKER CHARGES AHEAD – Hard-charging presidential contender Scott Walker is relentless, a quality that makes him one of the favorites for the GOP presidential nomination.  He's in New Hampshire now.  From WKOW, Madison, Wisconsin:  "CONCORD, NH (WKOW) -- Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) got a lot of applause and ultimately a standing ovation at a New Hampshire Republican Party training event Saturday morning, but most in attendance said they wouldn't make up their mind on who to vote for in the 2016 GOP primary for a long time.  Gov. Walker also indicated this will be the first of many visits to the Granite State this year, both by him and apparently his sons Matt and Alex. The two are college students at UW-Madison and Marquette University respectively.  'They've twisted our arms to maybe take part of a semester off next year, next fall and come to New Hampshire and come around the country and talk to young people themselves,' said Gov. Walker."  Walker has made some gaffes recently, but he's a very fast learner, and has a habit of winning elections.  Everything at this point is sheer speculation, but I'm guessing that it will eventually come down to Walker or Rubio.

March 14, 2015       Permalink

HATING COPS – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  One of the best writers on our side writing today is Heather MacDonald, who's associated with the conservative Manhattan Institute.  She is a superb researcher, who backs her opinions with solid facts.  She's now taken on the ugly cop-bashing going on in America today, with the support of the Obama administration.  We have seen two officers murdered in New York, and two more wounded this week in Ferguson, Missouri.  MacDonald confronts the haters.  From the New York Post: 

Government-fueled cop hatred has claimed more victims. Two St. Louis-area police officers were shot Wednesday night during a protest outside the Ferguson, Mo., police department, one in the face, the other in the shoulder.

Both are expected to survive, unlike the two New York City police officers assassinated in December.

Such violence is the sadly predictable outcome of the lies about the police that government officials and the media have stoked for the last year.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has done all he can to keep tensions at a boiling point in Ferguson.

This, though his own Justice Department demolished the hoax that a pacific Michael Brown was killed in cold blood by Police Officer Darren Wilson in August.

The Justice report on the Brown shooting, released last week, demolished every myth around the shooting.

It confirmed virtually everything Office Wilson had testified to, including that Brown had attacked Wilson, tried to grab his gun, then charged at Wilson after the officer exited his car.

Read the entire column.  It's well worth it, as is anything by Heather MacDonald.  She concludes:

By now, the media and politicians are on ample notice that their crusade against law enforcement carries deadly risks. There’s no more excuse for inflaming hatred against the police, especially when the allegations used to inflame that hatred are proven untruths.

Officers put their lives on the line every day to protect law-abiding members of poor communities. Increasingly, those officers are at risk not just from thugs but from the rhetoric emanating from the highest reaches of government.

COMMENT:  Well said.  No one is defending bad cops, and there are bad cops.  But the smears of the last months are well beyond reason, and they have put all cops at risk.  While the president and his outgoing attorney general issue the usual "there is no excuse for violence" statements after every incident, their own rhetoric fuels the violence.  Holder has, remarkably, called for a lower standard of proof in civil-rights cases, the better to get the results he wants, even if those results are not justified by the facts. 

March 14, 2015       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  The Republican establishment is wringing its hands.  It's always wringing its hands when some Republican gets an idea.  An idea?  Why the nerve.  How will this play at the country club?

We forget that the GOP establishment, in between treatments for hardening of the arteries, was panicked over the possible nomination of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  Establishment lords were do distraught that they tried to insert Gerald Ford onto the ticket as Reagan's vice president, to make sure that Reagan never did anything. 

Now the establishment whines again.  It seems that some Republicans are actually taking action.  They are actually bringing the fight to Barack Obama and his media cronies.  They are...they are...upsetting things.  But I'm glad to see some gutsy Republicans come alive.  Bill Kristol, at Weekly Standard, has it right: 

If you’re an establishment Republican, ripples of doubt are intruding on your normal placid contentment.

A special House committee to investigate Benghazi? Gee, is the public still interested in that? Isn’t it time to move on? And isn’t the chairman, Trey Gowdy, close to .  .  . shudder .  .  . the Tea Party?

An invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress? Isn’t he kind of a polarizing figure? Couldn’t he lose his own election next week? Then how will we look? And wasn’t the protocol of the invite sort of mismanaged?

An open letter to the leaders of Iran on the nuclear deal? Isn’t that a touch unseemly? A tad presumptuous? A distraction from the serious debate we’re carefully teeing up for a few weeks or months from now? And look at all those attacks on Tom Cotton! Why didn’t they listen to the cooler conservative heads and grayer Republican beards whose advice has been so helpful in the past?

If brow-furrowing were thinking, the Republican establishment would be geniuses. If hand-wringing were prudence, GOP politicians would be exemplars of Aristotelian virtue. If tongue-clucking were eloquence, conservative elites would be orators for the ages.

But of course Trey Gowdy, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Tom Cotton have done more for conservative principles and Republican prospects in the last few weeks than the brow-furrowers, hand-wringers, and tongue-cluckers have done in years.

COMMENT:  It isn't that all the Republican moves are perfectly executed.  There has been some awkwardness.  But Republican actions have brought the debate over our disgraceful Iran policies front and center.  The public is engaged. 

And it is engaged on Hillary Clinton, finally, perhaps, understanding that Benghazi was the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and needs to be explored. 

Democratic response to Republican action has been predictable:  Who are these people who dare to question the wisdom of Barack?  They're us.

March 14,  2015     Permalink

RUBIO RISING? – AT 9:43 A.M. ET:  There has been a marked rise in support for Marco Rubio within the ranks of active Republicans.  He may be the flavor of the month, of course.  (Last month it was Scott Walker), but Rubio's rise could be very real. 

He is an extremely effective public speaker, knowledgeable, and relentless.  He is also Hispanic, a Cuban-American, and this a plus with today's electorate.  From Eliana Johnson, a rising voice in conservative journalism, at National Review: 

Everybody’s talking about Rubio.”

So says a top Republican operative who’s been in touch with nearly every potential presidential campaign, as well as with several top donors.

Jeb Bush’s announcement in December launched both a fundraising juggernaut and an aggressive hiring spree, and Scott Walker’s speech in Iowa the following month lifted Walker to the top of national polls. But a little more than a month later, says the operative, “The Jeb boom is over and people are having second thoughts about Walker.”

The beneficiary in terms of buzz is Marco Rubio, who now has many of the party’s top donors looking at him in a way they weren’t even a month ago. Though Rubio hasn’t made as much noise as his competitors as the 2016 campaign has gotten underway in earnest, his knowledgeable presentations and obvious political talent are nonetheless turning heads or, at least, enough of them. Rubio hasn’t made a big splash, neither building a “shock and awe” campaign like Bush nor delivering a marquee speech like Walker (who afterward seemed almost to be caught off guard by his rapid ascent). Instead, Rubio appears to be gambling on the idea that, in what is sure to be a long primary with a crowded field, a slow-and-steady approach will prevail.

COMMENT:  I agree with that.  I'm a Scott Walker fan, strongly so, but Scott has a bit of a Rick Perry/Sarah Palin problem – not really up on the national issues.  He's a quick learner, though, with a fine record, and I think he can recover some of the loss of momentum he's suffered because of unforced errors – gaffes – when the spotlight turned to him.

But Rubio is polished.  He knows his issues thoroughly.  We'll sense if he's being taken seriously very soon.  Watch for negative articles about him in The New York Times.  If The Times starts to dig up things on Rubio, the way it did when Walker made some noise, we'll know Marco is rising.

I've always liked Rubio, in part because I think he's electable.  He's a candidate of the future, a young, dynamic child of immigrants.  Contrast please with Hillary Clinton, a voice, and a face, from the past.

Rubio's youth will, of course, be used against him.  So was Jack Kennedy's.  In the end, Kennedy overcame it with a dynamic campaign.  Rubio can do the same.

March 14, 2015       Permalink

MARCH 13,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

A WOMAN WITH STANDARDS – From Fox:  "An Indian bride has walked out of her wedding ceremony after her groom-to-be failed to solve a simple math problem, police said Friday.  The bride tested the groom on his math skills and when he got the sum wrong, she walked out.  The question she asked: How much is 15 plus six?  His reply: 17."  Can you imagine any bride trying that here, given the state of American education?  She'd be told that a wrong answer isn't really wrong, just an expression of an alternative narrative.

HYPOCRITE KERRY – From Daily Caller:  "Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hammered John Kerry in 1985 for interfering in diplomatic negotiations with Nicaragua’s Marxist government as a Massachusetts senator.  Thirty years later, Kerry is skewering Senate Republicans for their open letter to the Iranian leadership warning that any nuclear deal with the United States without the advice and consent of the U.S. Congress would not last beyond President Obama’s term.  Kerry and then-Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin visited Nicaragua in 1985 to cut a deal with the Sandinista government, which was close to the former Soviet Union. President Ronald Reagan, however, was already set on overthrowing the Marxist government in Nicaragua by sending aid to a group of Nicaraguan rebels — the contras."  And Kerry was actually negotiating with a foreign country.  The Senate Republican letter simply informed another government of the American system.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – From Breitbart:  "President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were both in California at the same time yesterday, but the pair took separate flights for two different television appearances.  Yesterday, President Obama traveled aboard Air Force One to California for a TV appearance with comedian Jimmy Kimmel. The First Lady, however, flew on a separate plane to California for a TV appearance with Ellen...The First Lady flew back to Washington D.C. separately, while the president will fly back to Washington D.C. this afternoon."  We are paying for this extravagance.  I wonder how many college scholarships could have been given for the cost of these TV appearances.

A NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY – From Breitbart:  "Wednesday at the White House the First Lady celebrated Nowruz, which White House Dossier describes as the 'Iranian festival of spring that marks the beginning of the Persian new year.'  There is absolutely nothing wrong with honoring the many events celebrated within this magnificent e pluribus unum melting pot of ours. The problem is that this is not about honoring a group of people who make up less than 1% of our population. When the Obama White House celebrates the Amish holiday of 'Old Christmas' be sure to fire me up a flare.  That spectacle wasn’t about anything other than kissing up to the women-oppressing, homosexual-murdering Islamic theocrats in Iran who have only three goals: 1) Get a nuclear weapon. 2) Use that weapon to wipe out Israel. 3) Jump into a pile of 72 virgins."  I can't wait for Obama to be introduced as the Grand Ayatollah.

March 13, 2015       Permalink

ANOTHER BORDER CRISIS – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  Our southern border is constantly in the news, usually because it is the crossing point for most illegal immigrants.  But there are others who might cross that border, and they aren't coming to improve their lives.  From the Washington Post: 

About 100 people have joined the Islamic State militant group from countries in the Caribbean and South America, and existing human smuggling networks are in place that could allow them to infiltrate the United States if they return, said a top U.S. general on Thursday.

Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, chief of U.S. Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the networks are “so efficient that if a terrorist or almost anyone wants to get into our country, they just pay the fare.”

“No one checks their passports,” the general said. “No one, you know, they don’t go through metal detectors. No one cares why they’re coming. They just ride this network.“

More than 15,000 foreign fighters have poured into the Middle East to join the Islamic State, traveling primarily to Syria. Kelly, who oversees U.S. military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean, acknowledged that the number of fighters coming from his region is small, but said that the countries involved don’t have the ability to monitor those returning well.

“I would suspect … that while they’re in Syria they’ll get good at killing and they’ll pick up some real job skills in terms of explosives and beheadings and things like that,” Kelly said. “Everyone is concerned, of course, if they come home because if they go over radicalized, one can expect that they’ll come back at least that radicalized, but with really good job skills.”

COMMENT:  A small number of infiltrators can do devastating damage.  Recall that only 19 hijackers produced the 9-11 attacks. 

Also, weapons of mass destruction, broken down into components, can be smuggled across our border as well.  We should not judge the enemy only by his numbers, but by his capability, and by the weapons he's given. 

March 13, 2015       Permalink

MYSTERY IN MOSCOW – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  Vladimir, we hardly knew ye.  There is a juicy mystery being played out in Moscow.  Vladimir Putin, the star of the show, hasn't been seen in a week, and the wonderin' is starting.  From The New York Times: 

MOSCOW — Where’s Putin?

It was the question preoccupying Moscow and much of Russia on Friday, as speculation mounted about why President Vladimir V. Putin had not been seen in public since last week.

He canceled a trip to Kazakhstan; postponed a treaty signing with representatives from South Ossetia who were reportedly told not to bother to come to Moscow; and, unusually, was absent from a meeting of top officials from the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic intelligence service.

The last confirmed public sighting was at a meeting with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy on March 5 — although the Kremlin would have citizens think otherwise.

Given that the Kremlin borrows all manner of items from the Soviet playbook these days, there appeared to be an attempt to doctor the president’s timetable to show that all was well.

The daily newspaper RBC dug into Mr. Putin’s schedule as reported on the usually reliable presidential website, Kremlin.ru. The newspaper reported that a meeting with the governor of the northwestern region of Karelia, depicted as taking place on Wednesday, actually occurred on March 4, when a local website there wrote about it. A meeting with a group of women shown as having occurred on Sunday actually happened on March 6, RBC said.

On Friday, the Kremlin released video and posted a still picture of Mr. Putin meeting with the president of Russia’s Supreme Court, but since the video was not live, questions lingered.

The simplest explanation appeared to come from an unidentified government source in Kazakhstan, who apparently did not get the memo, and told Reuters “it looks like he has fallen ill.”

Since half of Moscow seemed to be suffering from a particularly devastating strain of flu that knocks people on their backs for days at a time, that seemed the most likely explanation.

But there also appeared to be a certain reluctance to concede that Russia’s leader, who cultivates a macho image of being in good health at age 62, might have been felled like a mere mortal.

COMMENT:  Let us not forget that Putin has an advanced degree in Political Explanation from the Hillary Clinton Institute, so anything is possible here.  We'll follow the story and let you know if Mr. Putin shows up...or, more interesting, if he doesn't.

March 13, 2015       Permalink

DANGER SIGNS – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  The Obamans tell us that the economy is doing just fine, recovering after six years, and that soon we'll have tofu in every pot and two Macs in every home.

Not so fast, Barack.  There are several major economic indicators that have gone wobbly, and retail sales – what people actually buy every day – is one of them.  From The Hill: 

U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February, a drop potentially driven by cold weather.

The 0.6 percent drop followed up January's 0.8 percent fall in retail sales, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Car dealers and retail and food stores were among the sectors to see falling sales in February, according to the Commerce data.

Consumer spending adds up to about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, and analysts had expected a slight increase in retail sales in February. The drop comes as the Federal Reserve is also considering a potential interest rate increase, its first in nine years.

COMMENT:  Well, cold weather might have some effect.  But that should have been countered by higher employment, if the Obama propaganda ministry is to be believed.

A common comment about the economy is that positive statistics don't seem to be reflected in what people see around them every day.  Most people I speak with really don't think the economy is improving.  Yes, there are jobs being "created," but what kind of jobs?  People are working for less, their dreams destroyed.  College graduates can't get jobs.  Many young people starting out in life can't afford to live in the towns where they grew up.  Jobs are insecure.   The list goes on.  Things are not good, and they're not likely to get better until we can make this economy boom again.  And that isn't happening.

March 13, 2015       Permalink

DEVASTATING – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  There's a theory floating around that much of the negative information on Hillary Clinton is coming from the White House.  I believe that theory has great credibility.

Yes, Obama would want Hillary to win a presidential election against any Republican because she'd defend the programs put in place during Obama's years in office.  But, in his heart, Obama would probably prefer another Democrat, someone like Elizabeth Warren, to be the Democratic nominee.  There's bad blood between the Clintons and Obamas, and Obama could legitimately fear that Hillary, with all her faults, would outshine him. 

Now come statements from the Obama White House that are devastating to Hillary.  From The Politico: 

With so much on the line, with so much time to prepare, she’s back to classic Clinton? She’s flubbing a campaign kickoff eight years in the making because she somehow thought that no one would ever care that she set up a secret email server? That anyone would then accept her word that it was OK that she deleted 30,000 emails even though the State Department had been asking for some of them? And then go silent again?

After all, 2008’s “Change you can believe in” campaign slogan wasn’t just a reference to George W. Bush. It was also about her, and the uneasy feeling many people had that with Clinton, something else was always going on.

Obama aides had had that feeling themselves, even after she joined the administration and their staffs tried following Obama’s and Clinton’s leads in building mutual trust, almost to the point of suspension of disbelief.

“You never feel like you’re quite getting the full story, because everyone’s got some side deal or some complicating factor,” said one former Obama aide, reflecting on dealing with Clinton and her circle. “I don’t think there was a conscious effort to watch out for scams. It was more just, you know who you’re dealing with.”

COMMENT:  What an endorsement of the woman who would be president.  This could eventually take its toll.  It's clear many Democrats are exasperated over the "same old, same old" when Hillary is in action.

But who else?  In 1960 the Democrats had a race for the nomination that featured Jack Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington, Henry Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, and Adlai Stevenson.  Look at the party today.  They have no bench at all. 

I point out that the titular head of that party for the last eight years has been Barack Obama.

March 13,  2015     Permalink