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OCTOBER 27,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

RON TRIUMPHANT – FROM BREITBART:   Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) touted Florida’s milestone of reaching the lowest coronavirus case rate in the nation on Wednesday, highlighting the “overreach” of vaccine mandates.  “Without mandates or lockdowns, COVID-19 cases in Florida have decreased 90% since August,” DeSantis said in a press release. “In addition to cases, hospitalizations have plummeted in our state.”  “This has been accomplished by making monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines widely available throughout our state while protecting Floridians from government overreach,” he added.  According to the latest numbers, over the past two months, Florida’s daily average has dropped to about eight cases per 100,000 residents (about 1,700 cases per day), a sharp turn from its numbers in August when it averaged 116 cases per 100,000 residents (about 25,000 cases per day). Hawaii, an island state with a strict entry policy, trails closely behind Florida with nine cases per 100,000 residents.  As Yahoo News noted, Florida’s case rates are now “roughly half of California’s current COVID rate and less than a quarter of Vermont’s,” both of which have vaccination rates over 70 percent. In other blue states, such as New York, the numbers are even worse.  Yes, those liberal states lecture the rest of the nation on their wonderfulness and their worship of science, but the results never match the boasts.  Typical.

October 27, 2021       Permalink

CHILLING.  GARLAND SINGS, AND IT'S NOT JUDY – OVERNIGHT:  The attorney general of the United States refuses to back down from his own absurdity, and we are the ultimate losers.  From Fox:

Attorney General Merrick Garland doubled down on his memo to Department of Justice employees addressing a federal response to violence and intimidation of school board officials — despite the National School Boards Association apologizing for the letter that inspired the memo.

Appearing on Capitol Hill for the second time in two weeks, Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the NSBA's second letter – which contained an apology for inflammatory language in the first one – had no bearing on the DOJ's stance.

"The letter that was subsequently sent does not change the association’s concern of violence or threats of violence. It alters some of the language in the letter … that we did not rely on and is not contained in my own memorandum," Garland said after committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked if he had "second thoughts" following the apology.

Garland claimed that the DOJ is not just concerned about school board officials, but a "rising tide" of violence against judges, prosecutors, election administrators, and others.

"The only thing the Justice Department is concerned about: violence and threats of violence," he said.

The committee's ranking member, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed that the DOJ memo had a "poisonous, chilling effect" on speech, as it specifically dealt with opposition to school board officials. When he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week, Garland acknowledged the influence of the NSBA's original letter, which cited instances including non-violent behavior that did not include threats, but that was deemed disruptive.

The NSBA had called for the use of measures including the PATRIOT Act, which is typically used to address terrorism. Their second letter said they "regret and apologize for the letter," stating that "there was no justification for some of the language" that they had used.

"I assume you’re going to revoke your extremely divisive memo that you said was instigated because of that letter?" Grassley asked.

Garland defended the memo, claiming that it was a response "to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct."

COMMENT:  Garland, once regarded as a capable federal judge, now appears to be little more than a political hack, doing the bidding of his party's left wing and the all-powerful teachers' unions.  His reputation could have remained intact had he not taken the job. 

He has become a threat to the whole notion of American freedom.  A parent going to a school board meeting and sounding off, even vigorously, about the education of his or her child, is as American as the proverbial apple pie.  Or cherry pie if you wish.  To politicize that ritual is unacceptable, and Garland's party should hear about it at the polls.  Parents of the world unite!

October 27, 2021       Permalink

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