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OCTOBER 26,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT

MADNESS STRIKES AGAIN – FROM FOX OVERNIGHT:   Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., blamed police for the recent rise in crime in Minneapolis, accusing the city's officers of not fulfilling their oath of office.
"What we must also recognize is that the reduction in policing currently in our city and the lawlessness that is happening is due to two things," Omar said during a town hall event Saturday in Minneapolis.  One of them, she said, is that "the police have chosen to not fulfill their oath of office and to provide the public safety they are owed to the citizens they serve."  The lawmaker's comments come as violent crime has surged in Minnesota over the last year, rising 17% in total while setting records for murders.  Omar's approach to crime includes backing a Nov. 2 ballot measure to replace the entire Minneapolis police department with a "Department of Public Safety." The measure would remove the requirement that the city have a minimum number of officers based on the city's population.  This woman, an immgrant from Somalia, had a chance to go to Congress and become a role model.  Instead, she turned against the country that gave her safety, and has become a disgrace.  She is the queen of the "defund the police," movement, she makes anti-American speeches, and is openly anti-Semitic.  Not exactly a model citizen, yet she's in Congress.

October 26, 2021       Permalink   

BACK TO THE REAL WORLD – OVERNIGHT: Remember the Afghanistan disgrace?  The way we withdrew in chaos, like an army in full retreat?  We'd better remember it, for the main players are readying for a repeat performance.  We ignore this warning at our peril.  From Reuters:

The US intelligence community has assessed that Islamic State in Afghanistan could have the capability to attack the United States in as little as six months, and has the intention to do so, a senior Pentagon official told Congress on Tuesday.

The remarks by Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, are the latest reminder that Afghanistan could still pose serious national security concerns for the United States even after it ended its two-decade-old war in defeat in August.

The Taliban, which won the war, are enemies of the Islamic State and have seen its attempts to impose law and order after the US pullout thwarted by suicide bombings and other attacks claimed by Islamic State.

They include bombings targeting the minority Shi'ite sect and even an Islamic State beheading of a member of a Taliban militia force in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kahl said it was still unclear whether the Taliban has the ability to fight Islamic State effectively following the US withdrawal in August. The United States fought the Taliban as well as striking groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda.
"It is our assessment that the Taliban and ISIS-K are mortal enemies. So the Taliban is highly motivated to go after ISIS-K. Their ability to do so, I think, is to be determined," Kahl said, using an acronym for Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Kahl estimated Islamic State had a "cadre of a few thousand" fighters.

Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the new Taliban government has said the threat from Islamic State militants will be addressed. He also said Afghanistan would not become a base for attacks on other countries.

Kahl suggested al Qaeda in Afghanistan posed a more complex problem, given its ties to the Taliban. It was those ties that triggered the US military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 following al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Taliban had harbored al Qaeda leaders.

Kahl said it could take al Qaeda "a year or two" to regenerate the capability to carry out attacks outside of Afghanistan against the United States.

Democratic President Joe Biden, whose supervision of the chaotic end to the war last summer has damaged his approval ratings, has said the United States will continue to be vigilant against threats emanating from Afghanistan by carrying out intelligence-gathering operations in the country that would identify threats from groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State.

COMMENT:  And look who's leading us.  Fightin' Joe Biden and Killer Kamala Harris.  Don't you feel confident?  We thought that going into Afghanistan would largely disrupt the terrorist enemies lined up to fight us.  But Afghanistan failed, and now we must contemplate our fate at the hands of another enemy based in Afghanistan.  I'm glad World War II wasn't fought this way.

October 26, 2021       Permalink

OCTOBER 25,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

VIRGINIA TIED, NEW JERSEY CLOSING – A new Emerson poll shows the Virginia governorship race tied at 49-49.  Remember, Virginia has been trending Democratic in recent years, and Biden took the state by ten points in 2020.  The fact that a Republican candidate for governor, Glenn Youngkin, can deadlock the race is remarkable in itself.  We're hoping for an upset victory next Tuesday, November 2nd, that will demonstrate just how far the Democratic Party has fallen.

At the same time, the New Jersey governorship race, which had been called an easy win for Democrats by the usual pundits, has tightened considerably.  A month ago incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy had a 13-point lead over little-known Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli.  That lead has been cut to six points.  While Jack is still a long shot, his rapid progress is attracting attention.  The election, as in Virginia, is a week away.   While New Jersey is considered a reliable Democratic state, the fact is that it sometimes elects Republican governors, like Chris Christie. 

We can dream of a double upset – Virginia and New Jersey. 

October 25, 2021       Permalink

INFLATION?  WHAT INFLATION?  – OVERNIGHT:  You mean there's inflation, and people have to work on it, with all the social justice and climate problems we have?  Say it ain't so.    From the Washington Times: 

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers’ criticism that the Federal Reserve and other central banks are too focused on “woke” social issues reflects a growing concern that policymakers aren’t paying enough attention to inflation.

The argument from Mr. Summers, a Democrat, also comes as Senate Republicans are trying to prevent congressional Democrats and President Biden from pressuring the Fed to install regional directors who would devote some of their duties to climate change and racial equity. They describe it as a dangerous case of “mission creep” from the central bank’s traditional role of ensuring maximum employment and price stability.

All 12 Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee fired a warning shot this month at the Fed’s regional offices in Boston and Dallas, which are seeking new presidents.

“Several Regional Federal Reserve Banks, including yours, have embraced politically-charged social causes outside of the Federal Reserve’s historical mission and statutory mandate,” the senators wrote to the Boston office. “This mission creep threatens the credibility and independence of the Federal Reserve. The role and purpose of the Regional Federal Reserve Banks is to limit the concentration of power in D.C. and represent the economic interests of their respective regions, not to engage in partisan politics.”

Mr. Summers sounded the alarm earlier this month while speaking to a virtual conference organized by the Institute of International Finance.

“We have a generation of central bankers who are defining themselves by their wokeness,” said Mr. Summers, who is now a professor at Harvard University. “They’re defining themselves by how socially concerned they are. We’re in more danger than we’ve been during my career of losing control of inflation in the U.S.”

He said the problem is even worse in Great Britain and Europe.

Ludovic Subran, the chief economist at the Germany-based insurer and asset manager Allianz SE, said Mr. Summers chose a “media savvy” way of raising concerns about the expanding role of central banks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial crisis of 2007-08.

COMMENT:  Summers is right.  Wokeness is a folly that can crush the very people it claims to be helping.  Inflation is growing.  Anger about it can change the balance of power in Congress, but by then it may be too late to prevent serious damage to the American family.

October 25,  2021     Permalink