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NOVEMBER 25,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:16 P.M. ET: 

OUR ULTIMATE WEAPON – From AP:   TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top leader said Wednesday the United States is using “money and sexual attractions” to try to infiltrate the Islamic Republic and warned Iranians not to fall into the “enemy’s trap.”  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Revolutionary Guard commanders that authorities should take concerns about “infiltration” seriously and political factions should not use the issue against each other.  “The enemy sets up a network within a nation and inside a country mainly through the two means of money and sexual attractions to change ideals, beliefs and consequently the lifestyle,” he said in comments posted on his website and broadcast on state TV.  Our national defense has been reduced to money and sex.  That Barack, what a genius.

GREAT MOMENTS IN SCHOLARSHIP – From the College Fix:   If you want tenure at Duke University, stay current on the latest microaggressions and zip your lips.  Valerie Ashby, the dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, told a campus forum on “bias and hate” earlier this month that it will be closely scrutinizing faculty in their annual reviews, The Chronicle reported:  "In addition, she noted that all faculty serving on search committees are required to undergo implicit bias training through the Office of Institutional Equity.  'We will evaluate the entirety of the person—you can’t be a great scholar and intolerant. You have to go,' she said."  Pretty chilling.  I'd love to know her definition of "intolerant."  I have a feeling it means any idea with which she disagrees.  Behavior like this requires a re-evaluation of federal aid, but that will only happen under a Republican administration.

FIELD MARSHAL OBAMA MAKES STRATEGY – From Daily Caller:    Former Deputy Director of the CIA Michael Morell suggested that Barack Obama didn’t order the bombing of ISIS’s oil transportation infrastructure until recently in part because he was concerned about environmental damage.  Morell also said the White House was concerned about destroying infrastructure that could be used by the Syrian people.  Appearing on PBS’s “Charlie Rose” on Tuesday, Rose pointed out that before the terrorist attacks in Paris, the U.S. had not bombed ISIS-controlled oil tankers.  Morell explained, “Prior to Paris, there seemed to be a judgment that … look, we don’t want to destroy these oil tankers because that’s infrastructure that’s going to be necessary to support the people when ISIS isn’t there anymore, and it’s going to create environmental damage. And we didn’t go after oil wells — actually hitting oil wells that ISIS controls because we didn’t want to do environmental damage and we didn’t want to destroy that infrastructure, right.”  “So now we’re hitting oil in trucks,” Morell then suggested. “And maybe you get to the point where you say we also have to hit oil wells. So those are the kind of tough decisions you have to make.”  Sherman said, "War is hell."  Obama says, "War is frustrating."  I prefer the former description.  Soon we'll be holding back because the noise might bother the goats.

November 25,  2015     Permalink

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:   Scott Johnson, at Powerline, nails Field Marshal Obama and his dynamic, heart-pounding style of leadership: 

As President Obama enters the stretch closing out his second term, he is dedicating himself to sealing his reputation as the worst president in American history. He long ago blew by President Carter. He’s blowing by President Buchanan. He’s taken the lead and he’s putting distance between himself and the rest of the field.

Yesterday he deepened his hold on the laughingstock element of his performance in office. How to combine suffocating arrogance with gut-busting stupidity? See the man doing his thing side by side with President Hollande who was looking for something better than this Bartlett’s-worthy laugh line (video below): “[N]ext week, I will be joining President Hollande and world leaders in Paris for the Global Climate Conference. What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be, when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children.”

COMMENT:  That will be the precise moment to strike ISIS, while its leaders are doubled over in laughter.  Yes, sir, "we'll fight in the clouds, we'll fight in the rainstorms, we'll fight in the drizzle and in the flurries.  We will never surrender to the great beast thermometer."

I'm weeping with pride already.  Get your Obama pins here.

November 25, 2015        Permalink

BETTER MAKE THAT DOCTOR VISIT NOW – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:   In story after story in recent weeks, we see a picture of Obamacare as a kind of medical Titanic.  It's hit the iceberg, and it's sinking.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Until recently, the insurance giants saw Obamacare as a cash cow. They are now finding the law's insurance marketplaces to be sickly quagmires causing billions in losses.

In response, the Obamacare insiders — the wealthy and powerful operatives who alternate between top government jobs and top industry jobs — are hustling to find more bailout money for insurers. Republicans, if they are able to hold their ground in the face of lobbyist pressure, can block the bailout of Obamacare and its corporate clientele.

United Healthcare, the nation's largest insurer, last week announced it was suffering huge losses in the exchanges. "We cannot sustain these losses" UHC's CEO said in a conference call, saying conditions for the insurer were "worsening." The company forecast $700 million in losses on the exchanges. Fellow insurance giant Aetna also said it expected to lose money on the exchanges, and other insurers said enrollment was lower than they expected.

Hours after UHC's dire announcement, the Obama administration issued an interesting statement of its own — that it would find a way to get insurers the bailout money congressional Republicans had voted to deny them.

COMMENT:  Who's helping the fat cats now?  The Dem hypocrites pound the tables as they advance class warfare, then conspire to help those at the top, expecting campaign donations in return.  As Ira Gershwin wrote, "Nice work if you can get it."

November 25, 2015       Permalink

OH, JUST SAYIN' – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  So what's new with the Iran nuclear deal?  Uh, seems there are some loopholes, some little problems.  But nothing to see, nothing to see.  From NRO: 

President Obama didn’t require Iranian leaders to sign the nuclear deal that his team negotiated with the regime, and the deal is not “legally binding,” his administration acknowledged in a letter to Representative Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) obtained by National Review. “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document,” wrote Julia Frifield, the State Department assistant secretary for legislative affairs, in the November 19 letter.

Frifield wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned and wondered if the administration had given lawmakers the final agreement. Frifield’s response emphasizes that Congress did receive the final version of the deal. But by characterizing the JCPOA as a set of “political commitments” rather than a more formal agreement, it is sure to heighten congressional concerns that Iran might violate the deal’s terms.

“The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose — and ramp up — our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments,” Frifield wrote to Pompeo.

COMMENT:  Would you hire those lawyers?  That deal is a mess.  Iran has laughed at it openly since it was signed, er, ratified, er, agreed to.  Well, maybe someone shook hands.

In the midst of the current terror offensive, let's not forget that Iran is still the major enemy in the Mideast region, and that Iran has a substantial nuclear infrastructure. 

November 25,  2015     Permalink

NOVEMBER 24,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

THIS IS SERIOUS – From CBS:   WASHINGTON -- Security at home will be tighter as millions of Americans head out for the holiday.  Police at Los Angeles International Airport today are armed with automatic weapons. This Thanksgiving week -- amid ISIS threats -- there will be a larger police presence than usual in New York.  "I think it quite clear what we're advocating, seriously, is don't be afraid, be aware. It is part of the new world we live in," said New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.  A new intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement around the country warns there could be copy cats looking to replicate the Paris attacks in the U.S.  Obama would probably describe them as misguided but still welcome newcomers.

GAFFE – Does Obama get anything right?  In hustling for his immigration program, standing alongside the president of France, he naturally quoted from the poem by Emma Lazarus displayed at the Statue of Liberty, and he got it wrong.  Obama, as noted in USA Today:

Give me your tired, and your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free ...
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The actual poem:

Give me your tired, your poor.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

But, as Hillary would say, what difference does it make? 

TRIBUTE – There's not much I like about the music business today, but every now and then someone steps up and shows us how it's done.  Celene Dion delivered a magnificent tribute to Paris at the American Music Awards this week.  It's here, and I hope you watch it.  She has always been an accomplished singer, but I think this was her best performance, and obviously heartfelt.  It made a stunning impression on an audience that is usually served a diet of lesser things. 

November 24, 2015       Permalink

BIG TROUBLE – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  Turkey has shot down a Russian military plane.   Not a good moment.  Messin' with Putin has its consequences.  From Sky News: 

The shooting down of a Russian jet by Turkey is a "stab in the back" committed by "accomplices of terrorists", Vladimir Putin has said.

The Sukhoi Su-24 was warned 10 times before being downed near the Syrian border by two Turkish F16 jets for violating the country's airspace, according to the Turkish military.

A Turkish official said two Russian planes approached the Turkish border and were warned before one of them was shot down, adding their information shows Turkish airspace was repeatedly violated.

Both of the pilots are dead, say Sky sources.

A rebel group has said it shot dead the two pilots as they tried to land safely in northern Syria after ejecting from the jet.

Video sent to Reuters appears to show one of the pilots immobile on the ground. "A Russian pilot," a voice is heard saying, as men gather around the man on the ground. "God is great," is also heard.

The Russian leader said the jet "did not in any way threaten Turkey" and the incident will have "serious consequences" for relations between the two countries.

Mr Putin said the aircraft was shot by a missile from a Turkish jet over Syria around 1km (just over half a mile) away from the Turkish border, which he described as a "stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices".

COMMENT:  Putin is already furious about the bombing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai several weeks ago.  Russia will retaliate, but it is also learning about the madness of the Mideast.

November 24, 2015       Permalink

REAL CLASS – AT 1:31 A.M. ET:  With all the obnoxious behavior going on at our "elite" colleges and universities, it's a pleasure to report that we do have some young adults at these institutions who know how to conduct themselves with some dignity and class.  From Powerline: 

A group of sensible Princeton students is standing up to the mob, and demanding that Princeton’s president Eisgruber do the same. The whole statement deserves to be seen:

The Legislative Committee of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition has sent the following letter to President Eisgruber:

Dear President Eisgruber,

We write on behalf of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition to request a meeting with you so that we may present our perspectives on the events of recent weeks. We are concerned mainly with the importance of preserving an intellectual culture in which allmembers of the Princeton community feel free to engage in civil discussion and to express their convictions without fear of being subjected to intimidation or abuse. Thanks to recent polls, surveys, and petitions, we have reason to believe that our concerns are shared by a majority of our fellow Princeton undergraduates.

Academic discourse consists of reasoned arguments. We simply wish to present our own reasoned arguments and engage you and other senior administrators in dialogue. We will not occupy your office, and, though we respectfully request a minimum of an hour of your time, we will only stay for as long as you wish. We will conduct ourselves in the civil manner that it is our hope to maintain and reinforce as the norm at Princeton.

This dialogue is necessary because many students have shared with us that they are afraid to state publicly their opinions on recent events for fear of being vilified, slandered, and subjected to hatred, either by fellow students or faculty. Many who questioned the protest were labeled racist, and black students who expressed disagreement with the protesters were called “white sympathizers” and were told they were “not black.” We, the Princeton Open Campus Coalition, refuse to let our peers be intimidated or bullied into silence on these–or any–important matters.

COMMENT:  Read the entire letter.  You'll be proud that these are American students.  I'm sure we have many of them, but they normally don't get much publicity.  The bigmouths are the ones in front of the cameras.

November 24, 2015        Permalink

BRITAIN ON ALERT – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Now Britain is dramatically increasing its defenses against terror groups.  Prime Minister Cameron, far more a leader than Field Marshal Obama, is going back to Parliament to ask for permission to launch air strikes in Syria, a permission Parliament previously denied him.   Also, Britain is concerned about a terrorist missile threat.  From London's Express: 

BRITAIN is to boost its defences against ballistic missiles amid warnings of a growing terrorist threat, chiefs revealed yesterday.

The missiles can be used to deliver payloads from conventional explosives through to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Now the Strategic Defence and Security Review has warned that terrorists “are now acquiring ballistic missile technology”.

The news came as David Cameron announced that spending on defence equipment will be boosted by £12billion to £178billion over the next decade.

The Prime Minister also said that 10,000 troops could be deployed in the event of a Paris-style terror attack on a UK city.

The SDSR warned that ballistic missiles pose a threat to the UK, the UK Overseas Territories and military bases.

COMMENT:  And a threat to the United States.  A ballistic missile can be launched from a truck.  It can be launched from a craft offshore.  It can be launched from a rooftop...right into a neighborhood in an American city.

But Obama cautions us against being overly concerned.  He lectures the press against spectacular reporting.  After all, we all know that the real problem is gun manufacturers.  Choke.

November 24, 2015       Permalink

CRUZ SURGES IN IOWA – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  The man of the hour in the GOP Iowa race is Ted Cruz.  The Iowa caucuses are set for February 1st, with the New Hampshire primary a week later.   From Quinnipiac: 

Donald Trump gets 25 percent of Iowa likely Republican Caucus participants in a too-close-to- call race with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who is at 23 percent, double his support from four weeks ago, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Dr. Ben Carson has 18 percent, with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 13 percent.

This compares to the results of an October 22 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University showing Carson at 28 percent, with 20 percent for Trump, Rubio at 13 percent and Cruz at 10 percent.

One thing that hasn't changed is the poor showing for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who goes from 5 percent October 22 to 4 percent today.

Today, Sen. Rand Paul is at 5 percent, with Carly Fiorina at 3 percent. No other candidate tops 2 percent, with 2 percent undecided.

Among Iowa Republican Caucus-goers, 26 percent say they "would definitely not support" Bush, with 23 percent saying "no way" to Trump.

"Last month, we said it was Dr. Ben Carson's turn in the spotlight. Today, the spotlight turns to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The Iowa Republican Caucus has become a two-tiered contest: Businessman Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson lead on the outsider track, and Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lead among party insiders," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

"The other candidates will need miraculous comebacks to crack the top tier with slightly more than two months before the voting begins."

COMMENT:  Carson has been stumbling badly recently, and at times seems to be on another planet.  Still, people like and respect him, for good reason.

The Cruz surge is serious.  There will be a battle between Cruz and Rubio for "king of the insiders."  It's quite possible that Cruz could win the Iowa caucuses.  But Iowa winners don't have a great record of going on to the nomination. 

Late polls show Trump well ahead in New Hampshire at 32%, with Rubio pushing into second place, but only at 13%.  Cruz is back with 10%. 

There are reports that establishment Republicans are organizing a "stop Trump" effort, and it's understandable.  Trump's outlandish statements will come back to haunt him in a general-election campaign.  Can he win against Hillary?  He's actually leading against her in some polls, but I still feel that, ultimately, his bomb-throwing style will wear thin.  I worry that the GOP may throw away a golden opportunity to take the White House.

November 24,  2015     Permalink