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FEBRUARY 23,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

THE TRUTH OOZES OUT – FROM FOX:   Security officials testified Tuesday that they believe the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was a "coordinated attack" as they were pressed by senators over the circumstances leading to the security failure.  Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger and former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, as well as Metropolitan Police Department acting chief Robert Contee, appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, in the first Senate hearing to examine the "security failures" that led to the breach of the U.S. Capitol last month.  Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., questioned the officials over whether they felt there was coordination with regard to the attack.  "These people came specifically with equipment. You’re bringing climbing gear to a demonstration, explosives, chemical spray—you’re coming prepared," Sund testified. "The fact that the group attacked our West Front 20 minutes before the event at the Ellipse ended—they were planning on our agency not being at full strength at that time."  Gee, I thought it was all a result of President Trump's speech.   I guess I was just misinformed.

February 23, 2021       Permalink

MITT, IS THAT REALLY YOU? – OVERNIGHT:  Mitt Romney makes a prediction.  And it's making news.  From Fox: 

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said in an interview Tuesday that if former President Trump were to run again in 2024 he would likely win the Republican nomination.

"He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party," Romney told the New York Times's DealBook. "I don’t know if he’s planning to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he would win the nomination."

Romney noted that he’s not always good at making predictions and "a lot can happen between now and 2024," but he said in recent polls comparing Trump to other potential Republican candidates "he wins in a landslide."

He said if Trump runs again he would support a candidate who "more represented the tiny wing of the party that I represent."

He added that he hasn't voted for Trump in the past and wouldn't plan on doing so in the future.

Shortly after the November election, Romney told Meet the Press, "I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued. So yeah, he’s not disappearing by any means. He’s the 900lb gorilla when it comes to the Republican party."

The Utah senator is one of Trump’s more vocal critics in the party and was the only GOP senator to vote to convict Trump in both of his impeachments.

Trump will make his first major speech since leaving office at the conservative CPAC conference this weekend and has yet to say whether he plans to run in 2024.

During his speech, Trump plans to claim his place as the "presumptive 2024 nominee," and he is also expected to support primary challengers to some Republicans in the midterms, Axios reported, citing sources.

COMMENT:  Listening to Mitt Romney is like listening to an asterisk.   He is a more elegant man than Trump, which puts it mildly, but he never came up with the policies and dreams that excite an audience.

Political predictions at this point are more fun than visionary.  We should concentrate on taking back the Congress in 2022.  The 2022 campaigns will start at the end of this year.  Time is not long.  It is short. 

February 23, 2021        Permalink

BIDEN STARTS TO SLIP – AT 11:45 P.M. ET:  Who is Joe Biden?  Well, I guess it depends on who you ask.  But one thing is becoming clear:  Joe Biden is no great champion of human rights.  From Fox: 

President Biden has yet to declare reported atrocities by China against Uighurs in Xinjiang province to be genocide even after Canada’s parliament voted Monday to pass a nonbinding motion applying the classification and Europe increases pressure on the Chinese Communist government.

Biden, who vowed to be tough on China while on the campaign trail, has been careful not to classify the human rights abuses against the Uighurs since entering office -- despite the Trump administration declaring the actions by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as genocide one day before vacating the White House.

The left wing of the Democratic Party has no problem with China, and does not care much about genocide.  They're woke, you see.

The international community is taking an increasingly strong stand on human rights abuses committed against the Uighur Muslim population in northwest China.

The European Union Tuesday urged China to allow access by independent observers to investigate reports of secret detention camps, forced sterilization and political indoctrination Tuesday.

"Once again, we urge China to allow meaningful access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including High Commissioner Bachelet," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said to the United Nations Human Rights Council. "This is key to enable an independent, impartial and transparent assessment of the grave concerns that the international community has."

Turkey and Britain also called on the United Nation Human Rights Council earlier this week to address the growing reports of widespread abuse.

Though, like President Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not himself said that China's actions constitute genocide.

The White House did not respond to Fox News’s questions on whether the topic was addressed during the virtual meeting held between the two world leaders Tuesday.

Biden did not mention China’s human rights abuses in his remarks following their closed-door meeting, but he said the U.S. and Canada are coordinating "approaches to better compete with China and to counter threats to our interests and values."

COMMENT:  Biden has a long, embarrassing history of being wrong on the major foreign-policy issues of our time.  For example, he opposed the Reagan defense buildup, which was largely responsible for ending the Cold War on our terms.  And, as vice president, he supported the ill-fated Iran nuclear agreement, which had little support in Congress.  Bad choice, and he seems willing to repeat that choice today.

It would be sad if Europe turned out to be tougher on America's enemies than America is.  But that's where we're heading under Field Marshal Joe.

February 23, 2021       Permalink

FEBRUARY 22,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

MISERY IS GOOD! – FROM REDSTATE:   They’re never going to let you go.  The Biden administration is still coasting on the vaccine rollout developed by the Trump administration, but according to Joe Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki, we’re still in for “months and months” of suffering and sacrifice.  “We need to remain vigilant…It’s still going to be months and months of sacrifice, of work, of suffering, unfortunately, in order to get through the pandemic,” Psaki said during Monday’s press briefing.  As of this writing, the vaccination rate in America is 1.7 million a day, making it the world leader. This rate alone does not indicate “months and months” of suffering and sacrifice are needed in order to make sure Americans will be safe from the pandemic.  Moreover, the additional precautions such as the “mask mandates” Psaki said are coming down the line aren’t going to help the situation, especially when you have states like Florida showing up the rest of America with its thriving economy and a near-total absence of lockdown procedures or mask requirements. Meanwhile, states like California have nearly draconian measures and have a ruined economy and extensive infection rate.  I really do believe that the leftists love suffering, and poverty too, and surely high crime rates.  All these things require programs, the kind where government money is sent to local leaders, and tends to stay there.  The worse things get, the more programs are called for.  What a business.

INTELLIGENT LIFE IN FRISCO? – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  San Francisco has made a stunning about-face, walking back a controversial decision to scrub 44 “racist” names from its schools — including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — after the move drew nationwide ire and was criticized for being based on flawed information without insight from historians.  “I acknowledge and take responsibility that mistakes were made in the renaming process,” the president of San Francisco’s School Board Gabriela López wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Reopening will be our only focus until our children and young people are back in schools. We’re cancelling renaming committee meetings for the time being.”  In late January, the school board voted 6-1 to rename schools honoring “racist” historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Paul Revere and replace them with people who didn’t aid or abet slavery, genocide or human rights abuses.  The move was widely criticized as a symptom of cancel culture and for being based on misinformation and “casual Google searches” without the input of historians.
Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco was set to have its name changed.  The board was also widely panned for focusing on renaming when kids were still attending remote school with no end to virtual learning in sight.  Let's see how long this lasts.  Apparently, some grown-ups stepped in.  But they are in short supply in San Francisco politics, so we shouldn't be sure the battle is won. 

February 22, 2021       Permalink

OUTRAGEOUS – OVERNIGHT:  The lack of respect by public officials for the glorious freedoms of this country is becoming alarming.  Weren't these people elected to do something else?  From Daily Mail: 

Two Democratic lawmakers sent letters Monday to a dozen cable, satellite and video streaming companies, including Amazon and Hulu, urging them to drop right-leaning news networks they claim pushed 'misinformation' in the 2020 election.

Representatives Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerny, both of whom represent California and sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee, claim it's the responsibility of these companies to address media outlets 'disseminating misinformation to millions' through their airwaves.

In the letters, Eshoo and McNerny accuse the right-leaning outlets Fox News, One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax of serving as 'misinformation rumor mills and conspiracy theory hotbeds that produce content that leads to real harm.'

Recipients of the letter include Alphabet – the parent company of Google – AT&T, Verizon, Roku, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Charter Communications, DISH and Altice.

In the text of the letter, the California lawmakers claim these cable, streaming and satellite companies played 'a major role in the spread of dangerous misinformation that enabled the insurrection of January 6th and hinders our public health response to the current pandemic.'

The companies have so-far declined to comment or did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Specifically, the letter states that the three aforementioned outlets 'aired misinformation about the November 2020 elections.'

COMMENT:  How sick.  It is becoming clear that an important part of the "woke" movement does not believe in true freedom, only freedom for itself.  Ronald Reagan warned that we're only a generation away from losing our liberties.  Are we in the generation now?  I hope we're not, and I still believe we have a core population that values America and its history, and will not let the country down.  But hopes and beliefs may not turn into reality.  The continued existence of the United States of America is not guaranteed by contract or written in stone.  Two of our most important institutions – our press and our educational system – are already in a state of collapse.  One of our two major political parties is slipping toward socialism, or worse.

February 22, 2021       Permalink   

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM BIDEN IS NEGOTIATING – AT 8:33 P.M. ET:  Our new president, and the Obama groupies around him, think they can deal with these creatures.  Read this and make your own judgment.  From Alliance of Iranian Women:

The woman hanged in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj last Wednesday had already suffered a fatal heart attack before her turn to be hanged.

According to Zahra Esmaili’s lawyer, she witnessed 16 prisoners hanged before her eyes, and while waiting her own turn, she had a heart attack. Omid Moradi reported that after suffering the fatal coronary, prison authorities hanged the lifeless body of his client anyway.

“Today, I saw Zahra Esmaili’s death certificate. They claimed the cause of death was heart failure,” Omid Moradi noted on February 19, 2021 on his Facebook page.

Zahra Esmaili was hanged at dawn on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, at Gohardasht (a.k.a. Rajaiishahr) Prison in Karaj. She was 42 and had two children.

According to some reports, Zahra Esmaili claimed responsibility for murdering her husband to save her teenage daughter from execution. Alireza Zamani was one of the directors of the Ministry of Intelligence who allegedly abused his wife and children and intended to rape his daughter. He is said to have routinely taken women with whom he had sexual relations, to his family home. Eventually, in 2019, their daughter, with the help of her younger brother, kill their father, with his own handgun.

In his Facebook posting Omid Moradi also added: “Alireza Zamani’s mother, Fatemeh Assaal-Maahi, brought a stool and sat and watched for a while, gloating while her daughter-in-law’s body was hanging.”

COMMENT:   I'm sure that the appeaser-in-chief, in the Oval Office, will tell us that, while we don't approve of such behavior, it's an old cultural problem and shouldn't get in the way of returning us to that great Iran nuclear deal.  John Kerry, who negotiated the original Iran nuclear agreement, will nod his head in deeply intellectual agreement, and fly off in his private jet.

February 22, 2021       Permalink