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SEPTEMBER 28,  2015

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

REMEMBER THAT WAR? – From WaPo:   KABUL — Taliban insurgents fought their way into a major city in northern Afghanistan on Monday, driving back stunned security forces in a multi-pronged attack that also sent Afghan officials and U.N. personnel fleeing for safety.  The fall of Kunduz would be a huge blow to the Western-backed government in Kabul and would give Taliban insurgents a critical base of operations beyond their traditional strongholds in Afghanistan’s south. Afghan government leaders and the U.S.-led coalition here view the battle for Kunduz as a key test of the Afghan security forces in their continuing fight with the Taliban.  Someone nudge Field Marshal Obama and tell him about this.  Maybe draw some pictures.

OUR GREAT NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER – From Mediaite:   Donald Trump‘s Fox News boycott is apparently over. The network announced tonight that Trump will appear on The O’Reilly Factor Tuesday night after he angrily declared he’s boycotting Fox News and won’t be doing any more shows.
That was five days ago.  Trump announced his boycott after various rants against Megyn Kelly, Bill O’Reilly, and Megyn Kelly again.  Fox News fired back quickly against Trump with a blistering statement that declared, “When coverage doesn’t go his way, he engages in personal attacks on our anchors and hosts, which has grown stale and tiresome. He doesn’t seem to grasp that candidates telling journalists what to ask is not how the media works in this country.”  But the day after, Fox announced Roger Ailes would meet with Trump, and now Mediaite has independently confirmed a New York Times report tonight about Trump’s appearance with O’Reilly tomorrow night.  I'm glad to see them make up.  Fox is correct.  Candidates don't get to make up their own interview questions.  Obama never had that concern during campaigns because no one bothered to ask him a tough question.

NUTTINESS – From Fox:  An online petition has gathered more than 1,300 signatures on behalf of a popular Virginia high school teacher who was kicked out of the classroom earlier this month for using a racial slur.  The petition claims history teacher Lynne Pierce, who is white, did nothing wrong when she uttered the “N-word” during a discussion with her students at Heritage High School in Newport News about racism, derogatory terms and the nickname of the Washington Redskins. Heritage is 90 percent black.  “She is a history teacher, she cannot be censored for teaching terms and beliefs that people had throughout history,” the petition says.  She was simply using the word as an example of ugly terms used against people.  I'm glad to see that 1,300 people are fighting back against political correctness.  This apparently is an outstanding teacher who's chosen to teach in a predominantly black school.

September 28,  2015     Permalink

WATER FOUND ON MARS, BUT NOT IN CALIFORNIA – AT 11:25 A.M. ET:   It's a major scientific discovery, although the EPA will probably move in to declare the water unsafe for drinking by the Mars community.  From The New York Times:

Despite its reputation as a forebodingly dusty, desolate and lifeless place, Mars seems to be a little bit wet even today.

Scientists reported on Monday definitive signs of liquid water on the surface of present-day Mars, a finding that will fuel speculation that life, if it ever arose there, could persist to now.

“This, I think, gives a focus of where we should look more closely,” said Alfred S. McEwen, a professor of planetary geology at the University of Arizona and the principal investigator of images from a high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Dr. McEwen and other scientists identified waterlogged molecules — salts of a type known as perchlorates — in readings from orbit.

“That’s a direct detection of water in the form of hydration of salts,” Dr. McEwen said. “There pretty much has to have been liquid water recently present to produce the hydrated salt.”

By “recently,” Dr. McEwen said he meant “days, something of that order.”

COMMENT:  Maybe there are living things on Mars.  If so, Obama will invite them to emigrate to the United States, and get driver's licenses.

September 28, 2015       Permalink

OBAMA BLOWS IT AGAIN – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  So, Obama went to the UN today, and gave a kind of speech.  And he showed once more how awful he is.  Consider this, from CNBC:   

President Barack Obama called for a modern approach to the world's problems in his Monday address at the United Nations.

"I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known. And I will never hesitate to protect my country or our allies—unilaterally and by force—when necessary," he said. "But I stand before you today believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion—we cannot look backwards."

While also referencing Syria and China, Obama focused much of his address on Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

Criticizing Moscow's actions in the ongoing civil war in Ukraine, the U.S. president said the situation would be better for Russians and Ukrainians alike if Putin had pursued a peaceful strategy.

"Imagine if instead Russia had engaged in true diplomacy and worked with Ukraine and the international community to ensure its interests were protected—that would be better for Ukraine, but also better for Russia, and better for the World," Obama said, emphasizing that he had no wish to return to another Cold War.

COMMENT:  Whaa..?  Look, child, if you're going to make a threat, make the threat.  Or, as they say in diplomacy, if you say you're going to take Vienna, take Vienna.  Obama rattles the saber one second, then says, in effect, he didn't mean it.  He leads the most powerful military in history, he says, but we cannot return to the old ways of conflict.  In other words, he has no intention of using it. 

That has been the pattern of his presidency.  Talk tough, do nothing.  Talk tougher, do even less.  Look at the condition of the world.  Look at the Mideast.  When you show weakness, wars erupt.  When you create a vacuum, Russia...or ISIS...fills it.

The only thing of importance to report about this morning's address at the UN is that Christiane Amanpour, of CNN, has had a makeover.  Looks pretty good.  Unfortunately, they couldn't make over her brain. 

September 28, 2015       Permalink

THE CASE FOR BEN – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  We don't endorse candidates here, but, clearly, Ben Carson is making a dramatic impact on the Republican race.  Roger L. Simon, in PJ Media, argues that the case for him is growing: 

Early as it is, recent polls are beginning to tell us something about the 2016 presidential election.
For one thing, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Jeb Bush will be the Republican nominee. Not only is he a weak fifth (at 7%) in the just released NBC/WSJ poll, Republicans, as of now anyway, just don’t like him. In a new Fox News poll, he has a net favorability rating (like/dislike) among GOP voters of a measly one percent.

For comparison, favorability ratings for Trump are +12, Cruz +21, Fiorina +30, Rubio +35, and Carson an unprecedented +52. Almost everybody likes him. (I thought Republicans were supposed to be bigots.) Carson is also creeping up behind Trump over all, only one point behind in the aforementioned NBC/WSJ poll, 21-20. (Fiorina and Rubio are tied for third at 11.)

Perhaps more telling, in another just released poll of North Carolina voters by Elon University, in a hypothetical NC general election matchup we find Trump losing to Clinton by 7%, but Clinton herself losing to Carson by 11%. That’s a huge 18 percent swing! (I don’t think you’ll find Donald bragging about that one on Hannity.)

Something is clearly going on here, Mr. Jones. But what is it? First off, voters have liked Dr. Carson from the beginning for his life story and his authenticity. But lately he has shown more than that. His statement that he would not support a Muslim for president — and then giving his reasons, specifically that sharia law with its legislated misogyny and homophobia, not to mention immutable fusion of church and state, is in direct contradistinction to our Constitution — has highlighted issues for the electorate that no other candidate has thus far dared to raise, at least to the level that Carson has. And he has resonated with the public on the subject across party lines. (In one poll, 51% agreed with Carson and 28% disagreed.)

COMMENT:  Whether you agree or disagree, this is a column worth reading, and argues that Carson would demolish Hillary in a general election.  He's a quiet, thoughtful man, and people like him.

September 28, 2015       Permalink

WARNING TO JEB – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  It's becoming clear that Jeb Bush is in serious trouble.  I've even seen the "D-word" used...dropout.  He cannot seem to get any traction, he is declining in polls, and even his loyalists are getting nervous.  From the Washington Post:

Jeb Bush is entering a critical phase of his Republican presidential campaign, with top donors warning that the former Florida governor needs to demonstrate growth in the polls over the next month or face serious defections among supporters.

The warnings, expressed by numerous senior GOP fund­raisers in recent days, come as Bush and an allied super PAC are in the early stages of an aggressive television ad campaign they say will help erase doubts about his viability.

But Bush continues to battle against a steady decline in the polls, sinking to fifth place at just 7 percent in a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday and similarly languishing in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

The warnings from top donors come as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s exit from the race re­focused the battle within the GOP’s establishment wing as one between Bush and his former protege, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Right now, the momentum appears to be behind Rubio, who has jumped ahead of Bush in most polls. At least a third of the bundlers who signed up to raise money for Walker have switched their allegiance to Rubio, while a smaller number have gone with Bush, according to people familiar with the discussions...

...Party strategists said that Bush must find a way to recharge his campaign with a compelling message about his conservative governing record in Florida.

COMMENT:  I'm afraid it's true.  Jeb Bush is a good man.  He was a fine, conservative governor of Florida.  But he seems to be a running an indifferent campaign, and commits gaffes regularly.  He has the funds to stay in the race for months, but he's got to show some progress, and I can't see where that progress comes from.

September 28,  2015     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 27,  2015

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

DUPED – From The Times of Israel:   Iran has invited black Americans affected by police violence to a conference on discrimination in Tehran, the Telegraph reported Sunday.  “A large group of black Americans, including victims of police brutality and black activists are due to arrive in Iran for the conference,” an organizer told the Islamic republic’s Shargh newspaper, according to the Telegraph.  Sadly, some blacks are apparently being duped by this.  Iran's regime is racist and murderous.  It murders dissenters in the street.  Now some American blacks will see it as friendly, and the American left will help out in the hoax.

OUTRAGE IN BRITAIN – From Fox:  A British soldier was asked to move from a hospital waiting room last week because staff feared his uniform might offend other patients.  The family of Royal Air Force Sgt. Mark Prendeville said hospital workers told them “they didn’t want to upset people” and that the hospital has “lots of different cultures coming in,” according to the Guardian.  “To say I was incensed would put it mildly,” Prendeville’s father, Jim Prendeville, told the BBC.  The health system has now instructed hospitals to treat soldiers as they would any citizens.  That should not have had to be said.  Political correctness is very strong in Britain and Europe, and likely to grow stronger with the influx of Mideast refugees.

IDIOT – Looks like she's testing the waters for a presidential run.  From WaPo:   In a Sunday speech on racial inequality, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for broad policing reform — including de-escalation training and body cameras for all police officers — and likened the current Black Lives Matter movement to the civil rights movement that won black Americans the right to vote in the 1960s.  "None of us can ignore what is happening in this country. Not when our black friends, family, neighbors literally fear dying in the streets." Warren said. "This is the reality all of us must confront, as uncomfortable and ugly as that reality may be. It comes to us to once again affirm that black lives matter, that black citizens matter, that black families matter."  Not a word about the horror of black communities in which citizens are murdered by the busload by others in the community.  There are substandard cops, of course.  But the greater tragedy in black America is cultural breakdown.  If it is not confronted, nothing else will matter.

September 27, 2015       Permalink

I CAN'T WAIT – AT 1:49 P.M. ET:  They're letting Obama out of the White House again.  From The Hill:

NEW YORK -- President Obama will hold a bilateral meeting on Tuesday with President Raul Castro of Cuba, White House officials announced on Sunday.

The meeting, which comes in the midst of the United Nations General Assembly, will be the second time the two leaders have met since the U.S. restored diplomatic relations with the communist nation last year. Obama and Castro also sat down at the Summit of the Americas meeting earlier this year in Panama. The two men also chatted on the phone earlier this month.

Castro will be in New York to attend U.N. General Assembly, marking his first appearance at the assembly.

The White House also announced Sunday that Obama would also be meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.

COMMENT:  Someone restrain the president, please!  He may be tempted to give away more to Castro, just to get a photo of the two smiling.  Or, he may apologize for our rudeness during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Or for the Spanish-American War.  Or for Lucy's divorce from Desi. 

Obama should, in fact, start making demands on the Brothers Castro for the release of political prisoners.  No chance.

September 27, 2015       Permalink 

SOME GOOD EDUCATION NEWS, FOR A CHANGE – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:   It has finally occurred to educators that "zero tolerance" policies for school discipline aren't working and are often grievously unfair.  From Fox: 

So-called “zero tolerance” is out and grownup discretion is back in at schools around the country, after years of policies that punished children for everything from playing cops and robbers at recess to chewing a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun.

Educators from New York to Los Angeles and at numerous districts in between are rethinking policies intended to render classroom justice blind, but which produced dozens of cases in which kids as young as kindergarten paid dearly for behavior that would have been addressed by a simple scolding in a different era.

“We need discretion in imposing punishment,” said Elizabeth Rose, longtime New York public high school teacher and author of the memoir “Yo Miz!: 1 teacher + 25 schools= 1 wacky year.”

“Zero-tolerance policies forbid persons in authority, like teachers and school administrators, from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances, she added. “Basically, you are taking the authority away from trained education professionals and the people who know their students best.”

Among the cases of educators imposing punishments that did not seem to fit the crime that made national headlines in recent years:

In 2013, a fifth-grader in Fawn Grove, Pa., was suspended for pretending to shoot an imaginary bow and arrow.

Also in 2013, a 6-year-old boy from Canon City, Colo., was accused of sexual harassment and suspended for kissing a girl on the hand.

In 2012, a 7-year-old boy in Anne Arundel County, Md., was suspended for gnawing his Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun.

“Zero tolerance policies expose the totalitarian ambitions of school administrators,” said Cevin Soling, director of the documentary “The War on Kids” and author of “The Student Resistance Handbook.”

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner last month signed into law a comprehensive revision of disciplinary policies, banning fines and fees for transgressions in public schools. New York City’s Department of Education has also moved to curtail automatic school suspensions for minor violations.

COMMENT:   A move in the right direction.  Obviously, we have to be careful.  Removal of "zero tolerance" could turn into an assault on all discipline.  I am suspicious of changes in New York City, where the dream of the current mayoral administration is to return to the failed educational policies of the 1960s. 

We'll follow this.  I can't wait for the pushback from special-interest groups.

September 27, 2015       Permalink

HOT GOP RACE – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  New NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows a Trump-Carson horserace, with Rubio and Fiorina gaining.  From NBC News: 

Donald Trump and Ben Carson are running neck and neck in the national Republican presidential horserace, while Carly Fiorina is now tied for third place with Marco Rubio, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

And on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has lost ground to Bernie Sanders — she leads him by just seven points with Joe Biden in the race, and 15 points without the vice president. That's down from Clinton's 34-point lead over Sanders in July and her whopping 60-point lead in June.

In the GOP race, Trump is the first choice of 21 percent of Republican primary voters — followed by Carson at 20 percent and Rubio and Fiorina tied at 11 percent each.

And...

In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton is the first choice of 42 percent of primary voters, Sanders is in second at 35 percent and Joe Biden third at 17 percent. No other Democrat gets more than 1 percent...

...When Biden - who is still mulling a campaign - is removed from the field, Clinton's lead over Sanders grows to 15 points, 53 percent to 38 percent, which suggests that Biden's entry would hurt Clinton more than Sanders.

Back in July, Clinton held a 34-point lead over Sanders, 59 percent to 25 percent. And in June, it was 60 points, 75 percent to 15 percent.

COMMENT:  The sense I get is that Trump is losing momentum.  This seems to be confirmed by other polls, as Carson, Rubio and Fiorina come up.

And...in the Dem race, Queen Hillary has gone from 75% to 42% in only three months.  Sanders and Biden together get 52%.  I wouldn't say Hillary is toast, but the toaster-oven is clearly set to "warming."  If she continues this downward spin she'll be looking for work as an MSNBC commentator.

September 27,  2015     Permalink