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.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

SECOND SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – 2016 – DAY FIVE – URGENT!

(Sluggish again yesterday, more help needed!)

We've started our second subscription drive for 2016.  Subscriptions are the lifeblood of Urgent Agenda.  Without the assistance of our subscribers and donators, we'd be gone.  We need new subscribers.  But if you're already one, please consider additional support.

This year has been especially draining.  Covering a presidential election requires greater resources and briefings for us, and they are expensive. 

Most subscribers join to support our work.  But there are also benefits.  Subscribers and donators receive a private e-mail, the Angel's Corner, twice a week.  The Angel's Corner contains our Forum, where members can write on any subject they wish, at any reasonable length.  It is our most popular feature.

To subscribe or donate, just go to SUBSCRIPTIONS, on the right-hand column of this page, opposite these words, and follow the instructions.   You can assist us through any of the methods, including PayPal, but we especially recommend SENDINC, which has become a hit with our audience.  You open a free Sendinc account, which takes a minute, and send us the information we list through the ultra-secure Sendinc system.  It's the same info you'd give any merchant.  We process your payment here, destroy your information, and remind you when your subscription expires. 

With any method you choose you can even give a gift subscription.

Please subscribe or donate.  You'll feel good about yourself, just like a liberal. 

JUNE 17,  2016

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

MAJOR POLICY NEWS – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   Secretary of State John Kerry this week acknowledged twice that the Islamic State and the threat of terrorism around the world is a bigger threat than climate change, even though he has insisted in past years that climate is the bigger threat.  Kerry revealed his subtle change of thinking during his trip to Europe, where he twice indicated that when it comes to global threats, terrorism is first, and climate change is a very close second.  Does this mean the Democratic Party will charge him with heresy?

FEELING SAFE TONIGHT? – FROM AP:   High-tech hackers brought in by the Pentagon to breach Defense Department websites were able to burrow in and find 138 different security gaps, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.  The so-called white-hat hackers were turned loose on five public Pentagon internet pages and were offered various bounties if they could find unique vulnerabilities. The Pentagon says 1,410 hackers participated in the challenge and the first gap was identified just 13 minutes after the hunt began.  Overall, they found 1,189 vulnerabilities, but a review by the Pentagon determined that only 138 were valid and unique.  Hillary must be ecstatic.  Y'see?  Everyone's doin' it, doin' it, doin' it.

REBELLIONS? – We sometimes wonder who's won the Democratic nomination.  Bernie Sanders won't give up, and his influence seems to be everywhere.  Example:  Elizabeth Warren, as hard left as Sanders, is now being seen everywhere, and the buzz is that she's at the top of the list for vice president.  She even dropped in at Hillary's Brooklyn headquarters today.  Hillary must be thrilled.  I'm sure she'd prefer someone who could actually help her, like the moderate Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.  But it does appear Bernie is calling the shots.  And on the GOP side, there is more and more buzz about a possible delegate rebellion against Donald Trump.  It's possible, but unlikely, unless Trump continues to sink in the polls.

June 17,  2016     Permalink

WARNING! – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  While our attention was elsewhere, Iran was arranging to buy a huge number of aircraft from Boeing.   We want our workers to get the jobs, but not at the expense of national security.  Republicans, normally very pro-business, are issuing warnings.  From Fox: 

Top House Republicans are raising red flags about Boeing's potential sale of roughly 100 commercial jets to Iran, warning it could end up benefiting Iran’s military, as well as terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

While the talks have not drawn objections from the Obama administration, Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, fired off a letter Thursday raising concerns about Tehran's history of using commercial planes to support "hostile actors."

“We strongly oppose the potential sale of military-fungible products to terrorism’s central supplier. American companies should not be complicit in weaponizing the Iranian Regime,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg.

Whether Iran could or would use the aircraft for such purposes is unclear but the letter, obtained by FoxNews.com, seeks more information about the national security implications of the pending deal -- as well as the status of negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday a tentative agreement had been reached between the American aviation giant and Iran for about 100 jets. Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi also said an agreement was close and would be announced “in the coming days.” One source told The Washington Post the deal could be worth more than $17 billion.

If agreed, the deal would be one of the most significant since the easing of trade sanctions on the country in January as part of the Iran nuclear deal signed last year.

But Roskam and Hensarling reminded Boeing in their letter that the State Department recently branded the country “the foremost state sponsor of terrorism.” They note Iran’s commercial aircraft are commonly used for military purposes and to back terrorist groups.

COMMENT:  Some of us may recall 9-11, when airliners were used as military weapons.  And, of course, airliners during wartime are pressed into service as military transports.  Even in "peacetime," airliners and airlines can be used to transport terrorists and terrorist squads. 

The problem, of course, is that Iran will get these airliners from some source.  If not Boeing, it would be Airbus.  If not Airbus, it would be a Russian manufacturer.  At least, if Boeing is involved, the United States could control the pipeline of spare parts. 

But the idea of so many new planes in the hands of the world's chief sponsor of terrorism should unnerve any rational soul.  I said rational.  In short supply.

June 17,  2016     Permalink

HOW WE GET OUR NEWS – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  More proof of the decline of the American newspaper.  How much of this is the new technology, and how much is loss of confidence in an increasingly biased press?  From the Washington Examiner: 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been charting the demise of newspapers, and its latest numbers reveal what many in the industry have been witnessing. Newspaper employment, as of March, had dropped to 183,200, compared with 197,800 working in "Internet publishing and broadcasting."

An analysis by the Nieman Journalism Lab charts the beginning of the end of newspapers to the dawn of the Internet Age in 1990. That year, newspaper employment hit a peak of 457,800. It is down 60 percent.

Some print publications are dumping paper and going online while keeping many of their reporters, editors and administrative staff.

Said Nieman, "It's safe to assume that newspaper jobs will continue to evaporate. Most small and mid-sized metro papers are struggling to find new revenue as print advertising and circulation decline and online advertising fails to make up the difference."

COMMENT:  I can't see much future in print publishing.  However, it would have more of a future if readers felt it provided some compelling service.  But the decline in objectivity, agenda-driven journalism, and a kind of cultural arrogance, have combined – with technological change – to drive readers away.

While the death of newspapers has been announced before – in the early sixties, for example – I'm afraid this time the burial will actually follow.

June 17, 2016       Permalink

STUNNING – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Something is brewing inside the Obama administration.  Just yesterday we learned that Obama's own CIA director, not known to be particularly hawkish, explicitly contradicted the president's view of ISIS in open Congressional testimony, and painted a much grimmer picture.  And today this, from The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war.

The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.”

Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administration’s approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Obama has plans to change course. Mr. Obama has emphasized the military campaign against the Islamic State over efforts to dislodge Mr. Assad. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, have all but collapsed.

But the memo, filed in the State Department’s “dissent channel,” underscores the deep rifts and lingering frustration within the administration over how to deal with a war that has killed more than 400,000 people.

COMMENT:  That is a revolt.  Usually you get the anti-military crowd arguing against military action.  Here you have diplomats arguing for it. 

I hope this becomes a major story.  And, while it does, please keep in mind that 400,000 death toll.  Where are the "anti-war" activists?  Where are the "human rights" activists?  The silence is deafening.

June 17, 2016     Permalink 

JUNE 16,  2016

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

NOT SURPRISING – FROM FOX DENVER:   DENVER -- Gun sales are surging in the wake of Sunday’s deadly mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. The tragedy is generating new debate over gun control reform and the right to bear arms.  Gun shops typically see a spike in customers after mass shootings. But this time, many are seeing shoppers they’ve never really seen before: More gays and lesbians.  George Horne, the owner of The Gun Room, Denver’s oldest firearms dealer, said Tuesday business is booming at  his store.  "For this time of year I’d say its three to four times what we normally have," he said.  Background checks that once took minutes can now take hours. It's a sales surge similar to what happened after Sandy Hook and the Aurora theater shootings...The Pink Pistols is a national gun club for gays and lesbians. It saw its membership soar from about 1,500 members on Saturday to 3,500 on Monday.  Common sense tells people that they want to protect themselves.  Why can't our current administration understand that?

OPRAH SPEAKS, AND WHO CARES? – FROM ET:  Oprah Winfrey is throwing her support behind Hillary Clinton.  Winfrey spoke with ET's Nancy O'Dell at the premiere of her new OWN drama, Greenleaf, and the media mogul opened up about the possibility of America electing its first female president.  "I really believe that is going to happen," said Winfrey, 62. "It's about time that we make that decision."  "Regardless of your politics, it’s a seminal moment for women," she continued. "What this says is, there is no ceiling, that ceiling just went boom! It says anything is possible when you can be leader of the free world."  Who cares about Hillary's crooked history of failure, and her accepting millions from some of the worst dictatorships on Earth?  This is about race, gender, and ethnicity.  We watch as the United States declines further.

FASCINATING – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:   Lady Gaga is ready for her big-screen close-up.  The singer is in talks to star opposite Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, the remake that Cooper also will direct.  The movie, based on the 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, centers on a movie star who helps an aspiring young actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral. It was subsequently remade in 1954 by director George Cukor, with Judy Garland and James Mason starring, and again in 1976, with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson headlining.  Fascinating.  Great movie, with a long history.  Don't underestimate Lady Gaga.  Beneath all the tacky publicity, she's really very talented.  I look forward to her rendition of "The Man That Got Away," by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, originally sung by Judy Garland in the 1954 version.

June 16,  2016     Permalink

SOMEONE TELL BARACK – AT 10:17 A.M. ET:  The CIA director and the president can't seem to get their lines together.  From Fox: 

CIA Director John Brennan, in a chilling warning on the Islamic State’s growing influence, told lawmakers Thursday that U.S.-led efforts to strike at the terror group have not hampered its “terrorism capability and global reach” – a message that stands in stark contrast to President Obama’s more upbeat assessment earlier this week.

Brennan, testifying in a rare open hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said ISIS likely will “intensify” terror attacks around the world even as its core fighters come under pressure in Iraq and Syria, including by deploying operatives for further attacks on the West.

“The group is probably exploring a variety of means for infiltrating operatives into the West, including in refugee flows, smuggling routes, and legitimate methods of travel,” Brennan said.

The testimony offered unnerving context to Obama's comments on Tuesday. The president said the anti-ISIS campaign “is firing on all cylinders” and the group “is under more pressure than ever before,” while conceding they’re gaining traction elsewhere.

COMMENT:  I'd go with Brennan on this one.  Field Marshal Obama has rarely been right on anything in foreign policy.  He botched our withdrawal from Iraq, misjudged Russia, drew red lines in Syria and then let them melt away, abused our allies, including Israel, and allowed China to grow in power in Asia and the Pacific.  Oh, he also cozied up to the dancing Castro Brothers in Cuba.  Other than that, he's a diplomatic genius.

June 16, 2016       Permalink

OUR RIDICULOUS COLLEGES – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   The statistics don't lie.  Our colleges and universities have become the fever swamps of the left.  From Campus Reform:

Panelists for the American Enterprise Institute agree that American universities are driving away much-needed conservative intellectuals because of their liberal policies.

An AEI panel discussion last Wednesday, titled “The Close-Minded Campus? The Stifling of Ideas in American Universities,” focused on the scarcity of conservative professors and students in the social sciences, with the panelists noting that conservatives are outnumbered in the field even by self-proclaimed Marxists.

“[S]ome university should declare itself a safe space for open debate . . . and dispense with trigger warnings." Tweet This

The event featured professors Joshua Dunn of the University of Colorado, Jon A. Shields of Clermont McKenna College, and Steven Teles of Johns Hopkins University; and AEI scholars Frederick M. Hess and Christina Hoff Sommers.

Dunn and Shields, authors of the book Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University, revealed that their study, conducted in preparation for the book, showed that the close-mindedness of university toward conservative ideas depended on the field of study.

“Among undergraduates, for example,” said Shields, “the politics of undergraduates is among the best predictors of their major. So, conservatives tend to gravitate into the natural sciences or into economics, and liberals tend to gravitate toward the humanities and social sciences.”

About 18 percent of social scientists in the United States self-identify as Marxists, compared to only about 5 percent who identify as conservatives, Dunn and Shields reported.

The panel believes that this is a great loss for conservative students and professors.

“That’s work conservatives need to do more of,” Teles said of the field of sociology. “I think this is another case where the absence of conservatives in sociology is very deeply problematic for conservatives because a lot of those kinds of methods and insights definitely improve the quality of conservative thought and analysis.”

The problem, they said, is that liberal policies are driving away both conservative professors and students from American universities.

Moreover, as conservative students face opposition like violence and censorship on college campuses, the university atmosphere has made it difficult for such students to concentrate on their academic studies.

Sommers elaborated on that point, referencing the “culture of paranoia” that has been growing on liberal campuses because administrators have “empowered some very neurotic people on campus, and risk-averse lawyers and deans are going along with it.”

COMMENTS:  Many colleges and universities now charge up to $60,000 a year.  That's an academic year.  As one truly distinguished educator told me, the kids are home more than they're in school.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan used the phrase, "defining deviancy down," a situation wherein people get used to low standards and bad behavior.  I'm afraid that's what we see in our schools today.  It may well get worse.  Unless action is taken, it may never get better.

June 16, 2016         Permalink

RUMBLE IN DALLAS TODAY? – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  Donald Trump goes to Dallas today, and the police feel the need for special training.  From NBC: 

Dallas police staged demonstration and riot drills Wednesday at Fair Park, the day before a large demonstration is planned against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

About 600 Dallas officers participated in the training with riot helmets and shields. There was smoke to simulate tear gas and scores of police recruits playing the role of unruly demonstrators, all of it in hot weather conditions similar to what the officers could face.

"In our country everyone has a privilege to assemble and give voice, and the Dallas Police Department's role in that is to protect everyone," Deputy Police Chief Jeff Cotner said.

Cotner refused to speak directly about anyone involved in possible demonstrations during Trump's visit, but he acknowledged recent events elsewhere.

"There have been incidents recently across the nation in which these situations have gone violent, so the department is taking steps to prepare our officers," Cotner said.

COMMENT:  I suspect there'll be trouble.  Let's see if our news outlets will tell us the straight story about who causes it.

June 16,  2016     Permalink