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.

MAY 8,  2015

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

MENTAL HEALTH NEWS – We share his pain.  From Reuters:  "Mayor Bill de Blasio said New Yorkers don't appreciate his 'very special' accomplishments since he took office in January 2014, and criticized the actions of his predecessors and even President Barack Obama, according to a Rolling Stone interview.  De Blasio, who has fulfilled a campaign promise to establish universal pre-Kindergarten education and is pressing forward with other reform programs, was quoted as saying out-of-towners see his administration more clearly than his own constituents.  'A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than people in New York City,' de Blasio said in the interview, published online on Wednesday. 'But I'm convinced something very special happened here.'"  Who does this man talk to?

DOUBLE STANDARDS – From Fox:  "Critics say a newly-hired Boston University professor has crossed the line with recent tweets bashing whites, but the school says it’s simply free speech.  'White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges,' Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, tweeted in March.  In another tweet from January, she wrote: 'Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.'  In another, she called white males a 'problem population.'"  Can you just imagine a white professor saying the same thing about African-Americans?  They'd find a way, in about two minutes, to get rid of that professor.  Freedom of speech must be defended, as must academic freedom.  But academic freedom must be joined by academic responsibility.  And maturity.  And excellence.  I wonder if those words are used anymore.

WHOOPS – The new attorney-general of the United States, Loretta Lynch, has announced that her department will investigate the Baltimore police.  Gee, I'm a bit confused.  Just months ago the Obama administration was heaping praise on those same cops.  From IBD:  "Just two months ago, President Obama held up the Baltimore police force as a model of unbiased community policing. Now he's investigating it for civil-rights violations. What's changed?  In a March White House report on police reforms, Obama and his Task Force on 21st Century Policing praised Baltimore's force and its black chief for 'implementing national best practices for policies and training,' including 'use of force' reforms. His task force even quoted Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who said he changed 'outdated procedures' that 'put officers at odds with the community.'"  So exactly what is being investigated?  And why can't the city government make any needed changes without the exercise of federal power?

May 8, 2015       Permalink

THIS DAY – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:  This is the 70th anniversary of V-E Day,Victory in Europe day, the day World War II ended in Europe.   It is increasingly forgotten, as the World War II generation passes into history.  The youngest American World War II veteran would today be 87.  But there are commemorations today.  From AP:

PARIS — With quiet moments of memory or military pomp, leaders and ordinary citizens across Europe are marking 70 years since the Nazi defeat and the end of a war that ravaged the continent. But the East-West alliance that vanquished Hitler is deeply divided today.

Russia is celebrating Soviet wartime feats in a ceremony Saturday that is causing diplomatic tensions because of the country’s role in Ukraine’s conflict. Poland has held a ceremony meant as an alternative to Moscow’s.

Paris’s mile-long Champs Elysees was closed to traffic to make way for a procession of official motorcades and mounted military escorts that ascended the wide boulevard from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, site of France’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“The victory of May 8th wasn’t the supremacy, the domination, of one nation over another. It was the victory of an ideal over a totalitarian ideology,” President Francois Hollande said in a speech before arriving at the giant stone arch.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and the US ambassador to France joined French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to lay a wreath at the tomb, in a sign of appreciation for the American role in liberating France from German occupation.

It would have been nice for Obama to come, but I guess there's a golf game this weekend.

Photos taken 70 years ago show massive crowds of Parisians filling the Champs Elysees to celebrate the Nazi surrender, after nearly five years of occupation. May 8 is now a public holiday in France, but relatively few people turned out on the Champs Elysees Friday for the official ceremony.

Other ceremonies took place around Europe, including in Poland, where President Bronislaw Komorowski was joined by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the presidents of Ukraine and several Central European countries for a ceremony at the site where some of the first shots were fired by Germany against Poland at the start of the war on Sept. 1, 1939.

In Germany, top officials gathered at Berlin’s Reichstag parliament building for an hour-long commemoration of the end of the war in Europe.

COMMENT:  Who will remember in ten years?  Or in 13, when the youngest American veteran will be 100?
A giant generation is passing.

May 8, 2015        Permalink

GAS IN SYRIA – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  The issue of poison gas is back in the Syrian conflict, a conflict that is consuming hundreds of thousands of lives.  From Fox: 

Allegations are mounting that the Assad regime has returned to using chemical weapons against Syrian rebels and civilians, nearly two years after the government agreed to dismantle their stockpile.

The suspicions have the Obama administration calling for an immediate U.N. investigation into the "abhorrent acts" -- though it remains unclear what, if any, punishment Bashar Assad might face if formally blamed for the string of alleged chlorine gas attacks.

Yeah.  The Obamans are just the type to call for UN investigations. 

One western U.N. diplomat told Fox News the situation has become "unacceptable" in Syria.

Yup.  Investigation required.

"There is mounting evidence of repeated chlorine attacks," the diplomat said.

Civilians, including children, allegedly have been injured and killed in the latest attacks. In a letter sent this week to the U.N. Security Council from the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, the group cited reports of chlorine gas attacks in the Idlib and Hama areas and urged the creation of a no-fly zone to protect the Syrian people.

"In the past two weeks alone, witnesses and medics on the ground in Idlib and Hama governorates reported at least nine separate instances of toxic chemical attacks -- several of them deadly," the group wrote. "... in each instance, barrel bombs loaded with poisonous chemical substances were deployed from Syrian regime helicopters."

COMMENT:  We're sure that the letter will be "studied," then "examined," then "analyzed."  There will then be "consultations."  And then there'll be nothing.  There will be no American leadership.

Syria is an ongoing tragedy.  Obama laid out red lines at one time, then ignored those lines when they were crossed.  There is no hope in sight.  Assad's forces are weakening, and Syria might finally slip under the control of terror groups. 

May 8, 2015       Permalink

TERROR WARNING – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:   Have we become immune to these warnings?  I hope not because they're getting more and more alarming.  From the Washington Times: 

Though much Islamic State rhetoric may be bluster, analysts say the terrorist group is sufficiently wealthy and has enough social media savvy that, if unchecked, it likely could execute a 9/11-scale attack in the U.S. a few years from now.

In the latest indication of U.S. counterintelligence difficulties with “lone wolf” attacks, the FBI director said Thursday that the agency warned local police and sent them an intelligence bulletin several hours before a Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest that a man with Islamist terrorist ties might show up there.

FBI Director James B. Comey insisted in a roundtable discussion with reporters that the bureau didn’t know that Elton Simpson and a fellow American Muslim planned to shoot up the event by an anti-Shariah group in Garland, Texas.

“What I’ve seen so far looks like we did it the way we were supposed to do it,” said Mr. Comey in his first public remarks since the Sunday gunfight in which Simpson and accomplice Nadir Soofi were killed. “We didn’t have reason to believe that he was going to attack the event.”

But the event already had been identified as a potential target for Islamist violence: Simpson had a conviction on terrorism-related charges, and his social media activity had brought him under investigation anew in recent months.

The Islamic State has capitalized upon and praised the Garland attack this week, posting another online threat against the U.S. two days ago, claiming it has 71 trained guerrillas in 15 states.

COMMENT:  Much of the news coverage of the attack centered on journalists vying with each other to denounce the event that was targeted – an event aimed at Islamism.  Too provocative, critics said.  Not nice, others said.  What a defense of free speech. 

May 8, 2015       Permalink

CONSERVATIVE MARGIN GROWS IN BRITAIN – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  As the vote count winds up, it appears the conservative victory in Britain's national election is even greater than originally thought.  No coalition government will be necessary.  From Fox: 

British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Tory party scored a decisive victory over the opposing Labour Party, left far-left and far-right parties in the dust and defied pre-election polls with a resounding election triumph he called "the sweetest victory of all."

Aided by the Scottish National Party's rout of Labour in Scotland, Cameron and the Tories left opponents on the right and left in tatters. The Labour Party lost 24 seats in Parliament according to early returns, and party leader Ed Miliband resigned from his role. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg resigned after acknowledging a "cruel and punishing defeat," in which his left-of-center part suffered its worst-ever defeat - dropping from 57 seats to just 8. On the right, UK Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage, a thorn in Cameron's side, failed to win a seat and resigned as party leader.

The resounding victory left Cameron and his party with a slim majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, meaning he won't need to form a coalition government and now has a mandate to implement the party's full agenda of cutting government, entitlements and taxes. With 643 constituencies counted, the Conservatives had 326 seats to Labour's 230.

"I think this is the sweetest victory of all," Cameron said. "There are so many things to be proud of in this result. The fact we held on in Scotland. The fact we extended our representation in Wales. The fact that candidates I have seen work so hard week in, week out, some of them year in, year out, have triumphed in so many seats."

Cameron went to Buckingham Palace Friday to inform Queen Elizabeth II that he had enough support to form a government. It would be the first time the Conservatives had won a parliamentary majority since 1992. Cameron is the first Conservative Prime Minister to win re-election since Margaret Thatcher.

COMMENT:  Kind of reminds me of last year's American election, when Republicans retook control of the U.S. Senate by a greater-than-expected margin. 

I have no doubt that Obama would have much preferred that the leftists win in Britain.  I'm glad he didn't get his way.  The next great international electoral test will come in October, when Canada votes.  That election will determine whether the great Stephen Harper, Canada's conservative prime minister, remains in power.  Polls this month show Harper heading for victory, but it's a long way to October.

May 8,  2015     Permalink

MAY 7,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 5:17 P.M. ET: 

HELL FOR HILL – She's behind in New Hampshire.  From The Hill:  "Hillary Clinton trails three of her Republican challengers — former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) — in a new WMUR Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire.  Bush staged an 18-point turnaround since February. He now leads Clinton by a margin of 47 percent to 41 percent, after Clinton led in February by a margin of 51 percent to 39 percent.   Paul also turned around his fortunes from February, when he trailed by 10 percentage points, and now leads Clinton 47 percent to 43 percent.  Rubio leads Clinton by 5 percentage points, 47 percent to 42 percent, while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ties her with 44 percent each."   It's still early, but already there are signs that Clinton is in trouble.  Maybe Americans are finally taking character seriously.

WHAT A SURPRISE – From The New York Times:  "The Justice Department will investigate whether the Baltimore Police Department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing, law enforcement officials said on Thursday, a day after the mayor asked for an inquiry.  The request by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake came days after the state’s attorney for Baltimore filed criminal charges against six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died April 19 after being injured while in police custody, setting off large demonstrations, arson and looting."  Obviously, this was a setup.  You may be sure that the Justice Department either asked to be asked, or the mayor got assurances before making her public request that the reply would be affirmative.  Baltimore seems to have classic Democratic hack leadership, with nary a Republican in sight.   Dems have been in power for decades, and only now are they expressing concern about "unconstitutional" policing.  Not terribly impressive.

LATEST BRITISH RESULTS – Confirming our earlier bulletin, actual vote counts are showing a major Conservative tide.  Labour did far worse than expected.  Its leader, Ed Miliband, will now be sent to the great backbench in the sky.  Similarly, the Liberal party, which is actually part of the current governing coalition, was all but wiped out, going from 57 seats to an estimated 10.  Its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, may barely hang on to his seat in Commons.  Prime Minister Cameron will still need votes from other parties to have the parliamentary majority needed to form a government, but it's expected he will get them easily.  We hope this is an omen for this side of the Atlantic come 2016.

BULLETIN:  Exit polls show conservatives ahead in Britain.  From Sky News:  "An exit poll carried out for the major broadcasters forecasts the Tories will be the largest party after the General Election.  The poll put the Conservatives on 316 seats, Labour on 239, the Scottish National Party on 58, the Liberal Democrats on 10 and UKIP on two.  The Greens are predicted to win two seats, Plaid Cymru four and others 19, according to the survey.  There are 533 parliamentary constituencies in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.  The parties are therefore trying to get 326 seats to command a majority."

UPDATE:  Other exit polls are now showing similar results.

May 7, 2015       Permalink

IT BEGINS TO UNRAVEL – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:   There was something seriously wrong with that grandstanding press conference held last week by the Baltimore state's attorney who announced serious charges against the police officers involved in the Freddie Gray case.  Her comments seemed more political than legal, and one wondered how she could have so quickly reached the conclusions she claimed to have reached.  Major legal scholars, like Alan Dershowitz, raised grave questions about her behavior and words.   Now, only days later, it appears that her case is starting to wobble.  From CNN:

Baltimore (CNN)  The Baltimore police investigation into the death of Freddie Gray doesn't support some of the charges, including the most serious, filed by the Baltimore City State's Attorney, potentially allowing lawyers representing the police officers the opportunity to undercut the prosecution, according to officials briefed on the separate probes conducted by the State's Attorney and police.

Already, defense attorneys are filing motions seeking to exploit differences between the separate state attorney and police investigations.

Lawyers for two officers have challenged a key finding of State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's case: that a knife found on Freddie Gray was legal in Maryland and therefore the officers didn't have a right to arrest Gray. The police investigation found that the knife is illegal under Baltimore city code.

Officials familiar with the probes also say the homicide investigation run by police investigators at most contemplated a manslaughter charge, not second degree murder as Mosby charged one of the officers, Caesar Goodson. To win conviction for murder, prosecutors must prove intent to kill. Manslaughter relates to unintentional killings.

COMMENT:  This case is only beginning.   Responsible people will seek only the truth.  Irresponsible people will seek victory for their side, regardless of the truth.

May 7, 2015       Permalink

CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:  What is sad is that there are serious, important issues involving policing and police/community relations.  Every good police commissioner knows that.  Those issues are being drowned or distorted by false claims, rhetoric, and political correctness, and chickens are coming home to roost.  From London's Daily Mail: 

A key witness to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has been arrested on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest.

Dorian Johnson, best known for falsely claiming that Brown, 18, called out ‘hands up, don't shoot' before Officer Darren Wilson opened fire on him in August 2014, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson was arrested on Acme Avenue in St Louis at around 3.20pm along with his two brothers.

Police sources told St Louis Post Dispatch Johnson tried to get rid of narcotics and 'interfere' with officers as they were trying to arrest one of his brothers on a drug charge.

His other sibling was arrested on a warrant related to an armed robbery.

Johnson himself was taken into custody for resisting arrest, even though police sources said the young man 'was not combative and did not physically confront officers,' according to Fox 2 Now.

He is also accused of discarding narcotics. Police said Johnson was in possession of a drug-laced cough medicine, which he hurled to the ground.

Dorian Johnson is expected to be formally charged as early as Thursday.

COMMENT:  He is, of course, innocent until and unless proved guilty in a court of law.  But the rush to judgment in Ferguson, especially by CNN and other outlets, produced horrible reactions in the streets.   So, too, in Baltimore, where six cops face serious charges based on a quick "investigation" that seems designed more to satisfy the mob than to satisfy justice.

May 7, 2015       Permalink

THE FRAUD – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:   Is there any limit to Hillary Clinton's deception and dishonesty?  If sos, I'd like to know where it is.  From Fox: 

Hillary Clinton, just three weeks after blasting "unaccountable money" and calling for a campaign finance overhaul, reportedly met with potential donors to a super PAC backing her White House campaign Wednesday -- the first such face-to-face meetings held by a Democratic presidential candidate.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton met with a small group of potential donors to Priorities USA Action Wednesday in San Francisco. Campaign officials told the paper that she will take part in more such meetings, including one planned to take place in Los Angeles on Thursday.

News of Clinton’s meetings with would-be donors was first reported by The New York Times.

They come after Clinton last month made campaign finance reform a centerpiece of her newly launched campaign. She called for getting "unaccountable money out of [politics] once and for all -- even if it takes a constitutional amendment." The remark was widely seen as a reference to the 2010 Supreme Court cases that opened the door for super PACs.

Jeff Bechdel, spokesman for the conservative America Rising PAC, said in a statement about the former secretary of state's super PAC meetings that "Clinton's hypocrisy knows no bounds."

COMMENT:  Even if "unaccountable money" is taken out of politics, the Clintons will figure out a way to put it back in.  It is incredible that Hillary Clinton, with her ethical challenges, is still the leading candidate for president.  Have we come down that far?

In 1952 Richard Nixon went on television, in his famous "Checkers" speech, to explain a small slush fund that he'd been given by donors.  The fund, a tip by today's standards, almost cost him the vice-presidential slot on Dwight Eisenhower's presidential ticket.  Nixon survived.

The Clintons have made tens of millions of dollars from their publicly paid careers.  The Democrats don't care.

May 7, 2015       Permalink

BRITAIN VOTES – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  Britain votes today in a national election that can have a profound effect on British foreign policy.  From Fox: 

Polls opened across the United Kingdom Thursday as British voters were due to make their choice in a parliamentary election that is likely to be the closest in decades -- and is unlikely to produce a clear winner.

Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives and Ed Miliband's Labour Party are running neck and neck, with most opinion polls showing the parties tied or separated by one or two percentage points. That means neither party is likely to win a majority of Parliament's 650 seats.

That in turn could set up days or even weeks of backroom dealing before a coalition government is crafted. The incumbent Cameron has experience of that. When the dust settled from the last election in 2010, the Conservatives sat 20 seats short of an outright majority. However, within five days, Cameron had brokered a deal with the centrist Liberal Democrats, led by current Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Much has changed in five years. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are projected to lose seats, though just how many is unclear. The past year-and-a-half has also seen the rise of the anti-immigration, anti-European Union United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which currently sits third in opinion polls, though Britain's electoral system means it can win at most a handful of seats. However, those seats will likely come by stealing Conservative voters.

Miliband's Labourites have not had it all their own way, either. Last fall's Scottish independence referendum, which ended in defeat for the separatists, has nonetheless resulted in increased power for the Scottish National Party (SNP), led by Nicola Sturgeon. Some pre-election polls have projected a near-total wipeout for Labour in its traditional stronghold north of the border, with the Daily Record newspaper projecting that the SNP could end up with 52 seats in Parliament. That's an increase of 46 seats over 2010, 34 of which would be taken from Labour Members of Parliament.

If the SNP end up as the third or fourth-largest party in Parliament after this election, that would put pressure on Miliband to agree to a coalition government with Sturgeon in order to become Prime Minister. Miliband has said that such a deal is off the table, but Conservatives have warned that a Labour premiership would inevitably resulted in the Scottish nationalists having undue influence over British politics.

COMMENT:   We await results.  I have a vision of Obama praying for a Labor victory.

May 7,  2015     Permalink