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.

Wednesday's Angel's Corner is here.

MAY 2,  2015

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

ANOTHER ONE IN NEW YORK – From the New York Post:  "A city cop was critically wounded by a brazen gunman who blasted two bullets into his head on a Queens street Saturday evening — the fifth NYPD officer to be shot in as many months.  Plainclothes officer Brian Moore, 25, was in a medically induced coma after surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, law-enforcement sources told The Post."  He comes from a police family and was doing a dangerous job.  I wonder how much time CNN will devote to this.

THE LEFT STRIKES SEATTLE – From KOMONEWS:  "Police say black-clad May Day marchers hurled wrenches and rocks at officers and hit police with sticks as a Friday evening march through Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood turned violent, injuring three officers -- two seriously.  Police responded with pepper spray, pepper balls and flash bang grenades. Officers said several dozen vehicles were damaged. Windows were broken in neighborhood businesses.  Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said one officer had a dislocated shoulder, a second had a broken wrist, and a third had a burn injury to his leg and ankle. They're recovering at Harborview Medical Center.  'Thankfully, they’re all conscious,' O'Toole said. 'We talked to them. They’re in good spirits. Just happy the situation didn’t become more serious.'"  No, throwing wrenches and rocks at police officers isn't serious.  Of course not.  This O'Toole character sounds like a typical political police chief in a left-wing city.

WEIRD – From The Hill:  "A major fundraising website Friday blocked donations to a campaign seeking funds for the six Baltimore police officers facing criminal charges over Freddie Gray’s death.  GoFundMe.com deleted a page created by the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) that afternoon, The Baltimore Sun reported.  'GoFundMe removed the fundraising campaign created for the Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray,' company spokeswoman Kelsea Little said Friday.
'GoFundMe cannot be used to benefit those who are charged with serious violations of the law,' she said. 'The campaign clearly stated that the money raised would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is in direct violation of GoFundMe’s terms.'"  Seems to me those are silly terms.  Raising money for legal defense is an American tradition.  Being charged with a serious crime is not the same as being guilty of that crime.  Change the terms and let those who wish contribute to the officers' defense. 

May 2,  2015     Permalink

BALTIMORE – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:   Baltimore has calmed down since the state's attorney announced charges against five policemen and one policewoman in the death of Freddie Gray.  But many questions are being asked by lawyers, especially regarding the speed with which the charges were made, and the status of the state's attorney.  From Daily Caller: 

Marilyn Mosby, the Maryland state attorney for Baltimore who on Friday announced charges against six city police officers for the death of Freddie Gray, said last year that a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown “breaks [her] heart” and that a special prosecutor should have been appointed to handle the case.

The revelation comes as Mosby is being asked to recuse herself and appoint a special prosecutor to handle the case against six Baltimore police officers now charged with a range of crimes in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Baltimore’s Fraternal Order of Police slammed Mosby’s charging announcement, calling it a “rush to judgement.” The group said that Mosby should recuse herself from the case because her husband, Nick Mosby, is a city councilman whose district encompasses the area where Gray was arrested earlier this month.

The organization fears that Nick Mosby’s reelection chances will be hurt if his wife does not throw the book at the officers.

COMMENT:  Mosby's announcement of the charges seemed more a political statement directed toward the crowds of protesters than a legal statement.  She herself is a political activist.

That doesn't automatically mean that Mosby will act improperly, but her political status casts a pall over the case.  When similar questions were raised in Ferguson, Eric Holder's Justice Department stepped in and conducted its own investigation, which, ironically, cleared the officer involved in the killing of Michael Brown.  There is no indication of Justice Department intervention here.

The officers may well be guilty.  I don't know.  I wasn't there.  But process is critical in a well-run justice system, and the process in Baltimore is raising too many legitimate questions.

May 2, 2015       Permalink

PROVOCATION – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  One of the major changes that has occurred on Field Marshal Obama's watch is the dramatic growth in Russian military power.  Obama's fabled "reset" with Russia has only benefited Moscow.  From Fox: 

Two nuclear-capable Russian bombers reportedly intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week.

The Washington Free Beacon, citing defense officials, reports the tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the zone on April 22, but no U.S. jets were dispatched to intercept them.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for NORAD, declined to confirm the incursion to The Times, but said that no jets were dispatched to intercept intruding aircraft.

The incident was the first Russian bomber incursion of a U.S. or Canadian air defense zone this year. It likely signals the start of Russia’s long-range aviation training cycle, officials said.

U.S. and Canadian jets intercepted Russian bombers at least six times last year, while intruding Russian long-range aircraft were detected on 10 occasions, Davis said.

Senior military officials have said that Russia has increased bomber flights near U.S. coasts as part of a strategic messaging and influence operation.

Northern Command commander Adm. William Gortney told reporters earlier this month that Russia is developing a more capable military than the former Soviet Union. Both flight missions and numbers of locations for the flights “have gone up,” Gortney said.

COMMENT:  Putin is determined to rebuild Russia into a superpower, and he's succeeding.  In this he has the considerable help of the very indifferent Barack Obama, and a Democratic Party that has turned its back on its national-defense legacy.  He also has the help of some Republicans, who are more interested in budgets and taxes than in defending the nation, and have been co-conspirators in allowing our defenses to grow weak.

A price will be paid, but by that time Obama will be back organizing the community in Chicago.

May 2, 2015       Permalink

THE SINKING SHIP – AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  A new poll ratifies the feeling that Hillary Clinton's ship has hit an iceberg and is slowly sinking.  And we were told this ship was unsinkable.  From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans appear to be suspicious of Hillary Rodham Clinton's honesty, and even many Democrats are only lukewarm about her presidential candidacy, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

Is she strong and decisive? Yes, say a majority of people. But inspiring and likable? Only a minority think so.

Clinton's struggles to explain her email practices while in government, along with questions about the Clinton Foundation and Republican criticism of her openness, wealth and trustworthiness seem to have struck a nerve in the public's perception of the dominant Democratic figure in the 2016 campaign. In the survey, 61 percent said "honest" describes her only slightly well or not at all.

Nearly four in 10 Democrats, and more than six in 10 independents agreed that "honest" was not the best word for her.

Even so, she is viewed more favorably than her potential Republican rivals, none of whom are as well-known as the former secretary of state, senator and first lady.

With Clinton facing little competition on the Democratic side, Republicans are trying to make questions about her integrity central to the early 2016 campaign. They paint her as a creature of Washington who flouts the rules to get ahead.

COMMENT:  She still leads GOP rivals because everyone knows her and few know them.  As the race builds, Americans will see the quality of many of the GOP candidates. 

Hillary has been a national figure for a quarter of a century, about the same time frame in which FDR was nationally known.  There is probably nothing more positive to know about her.  But there probably are plenty of negatives out there.  She's a frontrunner about whom there is almost no enthusiasm.  If she's given a real race by an attractive candidate like Marco Rubio, I think Rubio would win.

May 2, 2015       Permalink

MAY 1,  2015

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

BALTIMORE – There is rejoicing on the streets of Baltimore tonight at the news that six police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray are being charged with serious crimes.  We don't have all the facts of the case, but the highly politicized announcement of the state's attorney, and the subsequent celebrations, gave us a very good picture of what mob rule is like.  The state's attorney said she heard the cries for justice in the streets.  Bad statement.  She's only supposed to hear the evidence.

DERSH'S VIEW – Alan Dershowitz is one of the finest appeals lawyers in the United States, and he has never hesitated to criticize bad policing.  But his comments on today's charges in Baltimore were blunt.  From Breitbart:  "'This is a very sad day for justice in the United States, in Baltimore and in Maryland,' Dershowitz said. 'Today had nothing to do with justice. Today was crowd control. Everything was motivated by a threat of riot and a desire to prevent riots. There is no plausible, hypothetical, conceivable case for murder under the facts as we now know them. You might say conceivably, there is a case for manslaughter,' he continued  He added, 'My prediction—they have overplayed their hand. It is unlikely they’ll get any convictions in this case as a result of this and if they do there is a good possibility they will get reversed on appeal.'" 

KRAUTHAMMER'S VIEW – Charles Krauthammer has weighed in on the Baltimore charges.  From National Review:  "The problem in evaluating, says Charles Krauthammer, is that we know nothing. 'We don’t know if she has the evidence because the report has been given to her confidentially,' Krauthammer said on Friday’s Special Report. 'So we don’t know what happened inside the van. We don’t know what she was told happened inside the van. . . . We will know when the evidence is out, we will know at trial, we will know looking back, if this is warranted.  But I must say,' Krauthammer continued, “'hat the way that she spoke at the very end, in which she essentially said to the mob, "I will speak on your behalf, I will bring you justice, and now you will bring peace," — she doesn’t speak for the mob, and her job is not to bring peace. Her job is to adjudicate these issues without consideration for what’s going to happen outside.  It looks like appeasement of the mob,' said Krauthammer."

REAL CLASS – In the midst of all the depressing news, we are reminded that we still have examples of real class.  From The Hill:  "Former President George W. Bush kicked off an annual 100-kilometer (about 62-mile) bike ride at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Thursday to highlight support for wounded veterans.  Bush and around 20 service members are taking part in the fifth annual bike ride, which lasts three days on his 1,583-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch and part of the Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative. 'I’ll be riding across the deserts of Texas with wounded warriors to show the unbelievable character of our men and women in uniform,' Bush said in a statement, describing the ride as a way 'to herald people who were dealt a severe blow and said, "I’m not going to let it tear me down.""  We look forward to Barack Obama's next vacation.

May 1, 2015       Permalink

THE REAL WORLD – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  Protesters in Baltimore are getting a taste of the real world of racial politics, and they're learning it isn't about them.  From the New York Post: 

BALTIMORE — Protesters in Baltimore criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton and other national civil rights leaders Thursday for turning them away from a meeting about the community.

“I wanted to give my voice,” Shamar Gordon, 17, said after being blocked from the summit at the New Shiloh Baptist Church.

After Sharpton discussed protests in Baltimore and New York with Mayor Bill de Blasio, he met at the Baltimore church with the presidents of the NAACP and the National Urban League and “Charm City” Mayor Stephanie Williams-Blake at what was billed as a summit to “support the city of Baltimore” and “improve community-police relations.”

But when a dozen youths and other residents showed up, they were told the meeting was invitation-only.

“Reverend Sharpton?” Gordon said. “Al Sharpton need to roll out!”

After a tense hallway discussion, leaders let the group in and a community representative spoke at the end.

COMMENT:  Chumps, it's never about you.  It's about the leadership and how they can get their TV time and enhance their careers. 

BULLETIN:  We just learned that Baltimore police officers will be "charged" in the Freddie Gray case.  We wait for details and make no judgments, but it seems awfully early to be charging people, without a full investigation first.  We do know that the state's attorney is claiming that Gray was illegally arrested.  That may be very difficult to prove...depending on who's on the jury.  Stand by.

May 1, 2015       Permalink

MARCO vs. SCOTT – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:    It's really too early to make definitive statements, but there are signs that the race for the GOP presidential nomination may well come down to a battle between Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, two fine candidates.  From The Politico: 

ANKENY, Iowa— Republican insiders in early-voting states say a crucial battle is emerging in the 2016 presidential race between Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, competing to establish themselves as the party’s “bridge” candidate who can appeal to both the establishment and grass-roots activists.

As it has become increasingly apparent that they are key rivals, the men have started taking regular, subtle but unmistakable, shots at one another. Walker talks about the need to nominate someone who is not from Washington and implicitly compares Rubio to Barack Obama. Rubio suggests that there is “no way” a governor like Walker is prepared to deal with global crises facing the United States.

Dozens of interviews on the ground in the early states, backed up by recent polling, find many Republicans torn between Walker and Rubio.

A Public Policy Polling survey this week shows Walker and Rubio in first and second place in Iowa. “The key to Walker’s success is that he’s winning both among voters who are most concerned about electability in the general election and among voters who are most concerned with having the most conservative candidate,” the Democratic firm said in a release explaining the numbers. Rubio and Walker tied in the poll for being the most frequent second choice of voters.

COMMENT:  Jeb Bush is also in the running, and John Kasich is getting ready to take the plunge.  We have a good field. 

Compare please to what used to be the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy.  They have:  one zillionaire corruptionist who won't explain her finances; a shrieking senator from Massachusetts who can't get her "native American" background straight; a former governor of Maryland who just got booed on the streets of Baltimore over his failures; and a 75-year-old socialist from Vermont. 

Great slate...if this were Russia.

May 1, 2015       Permalink 

OH DEAR, IT'S MAY DAY – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:   People in most areas won't notice.  But in very specific places in Amerika – the preferred spelling for May Day celebrants – there may be disruptions.  As a public service, Urgent Agenda hereby posts information for residents of the People's Democratic Republic of Seattle, a nation-state and paradise out west.  From king5.com: 

SEATTLE -- Seattle police are warning drivers that May Day means they should be prepared for rolling slowdowns and heavy traffic from planned marches.

May 1 is International Workers' Day. A number of events are scheduled to take place in Seattle.

A Black Lives Matter event is the first of the day, scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at MLK Memorial Park.

At 1 p.m., a rally for Farm Workers is being hosted by Students for Farm Worker Justice at Casa Latina.

The Marcha Y Manifestacio Anual del 1o de Mayo is a rally and march for worker and immigrant rights that begins at 2 p.m. in Judkins Park.

The march will depart from St. Mary's Church at 3:00 p.m. and end with a rally at the Federal Courthouse at 700 Stewart Street in Downtown Seattle. Those taking part in the rally for farm workers also plan to join this march.

Finally at 6 p.m., the May Day Anticapitalist March is scheduled to start from Seattle Central College. The college has elected to end classes early for the day and will close at 5 p.m.

The Black Lives Matter group plans to join the International Workers and Immigrants Day rally and march as well as the later anti-capitalist march.

Seattle police say they are ready for May Day. In previous years, marches and riots have ended in destruction to local businesses and arrests. In 2014, officers arrested 17 people over the course of the evening...

...Other events are set to take place in Western Washington cities on Friday, including Occupy Bellingham peace vigil set to start at 4 p.m.

COMMENT:  Be there.  Names of those who don't show up will be duly noted.

May 1, 2015       Permalink

AMERICANS BACK DRONE STRIKES – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  Americans sense the dangers that we face...more than many pundits do.  From The Hill:

A survey released on Friday revealed that nearly 75 percent of U.S. voters favor the use of targeted drone strikes against Americans who have joined terrorist groups overseas.

More than half approve of the use of unmanned aerial aircraft against terrorists in general, according to the Associated Press/GfK poll.

Another 13 percent oppose the use of drones strikes, while 24 percent expressed no opinions either way.

Some 47 percent of those surveyed would back drone strikes where law-abiding Americans were possible collateral damage. Less than half of those who would initially favor using the devices, in fact, would keep the same opinion should they risk innocent American lives.

The AP poll comes after President Obama’s admission on April 23 that drones had inadvertently killed two innocent hostages during strikes on suspected terrorists. In that incident, a strike against al Qaeda accidentally killed Warren Weinstein, an American, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian citizen.

The White House revealed that the incident also resulted in the unplanned death of Ahmed Farouq, a U.S. citizen who had joined the terrorist organization.

The poll additionally found that overall approval of drones as a counterterrorism strategy remains bipartisan.

Nearly 60 percent of Democrats approve of the strikes, it found, while only 16 percent were opposed. Seventy-two percent of GOP respondents back using drones, with 10 percent opposed.

Independents’ support of the vehicles was more measured, the survey found. Of those voters, 45 percent were in favor and 12 percent were opposed. An additional 37 percent remained neutral on the issue.

COMMENT:  Despite occasional wobbling, Americans still want serious action against terror bases, even if there are risks.  That is usually the case in polls about military action.

May 1,  2015     Permalink