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FEBRUARY 24,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

SAD, ISN'T IT? – FROM DAILY MAIL:   A public school system in New York has introduced a new curriculum to teach that 'all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism', and show kindergarten classes videos of black children shot and killed by police, instructing them about the dangers of police brutality.  Buffalo's schools are expected to follow lesson plans devised by Fatima Morrell, the associate superintendent for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives.  Morrell's lesson plans, obtained by City Journal, teach pupils and their teachers how to be, in her words, more 'woke.'  The youngest pupils read a series of texts under the heading 'Woke Kindergarten', which are described as being 'digital culturally responsive and sustaining easy reader books'.  The texts help children with their 'learning for liberation' and tell the stories of children 'that we have lost to racist police and state-sanctioned violence.'  Six young people killed by police, including Trayvon Martin, 17; Tamir Rice, 12; and seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, are imagined telling their stories on video.   What an awful thing to teach black children.  What will happen to these kids in the real world?  Where will they go with this poison in their brains?

THE CUOMO CRISIS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a “criminal sexual predator” who “must immediately resign” over a former aide’s detailed sexual-harassment allegations, a member of Congress from upstate New York said Wednesday.  Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Glens Falls) also said that “any elected official who does not immediately call for his resignation is complicit in allowing a sexual predator to continue leading the great state of New York.”  Stefanik’s remarks came after Lindsey Boylan, now a Democratic candidate for Manhattan borough president, published an online essay in which she accused Cuomo of kissing her “on my lips” without warning following a 2018 meeting in his Manhattan office.  Cuomo is in big trouble, but the mainstream media doesn't seem to care much.  He may yet survive.

February 24, 2021       Permalink

AND SO IT BEGINS – OVERNIGHT:  Little by little we see the return of the Obama foreign policy dealing with Iran.  An American ally now caves, apparently encouraged by Washington.  From i24: 

Iranian assets worth an estimated $7 billion locked in South Korea will shortly be released following consultations with the United States, after Tehran announced Monday that it has reached a deal with Seoul over how to transfer the funds, reported the Korea Times.

The agreement was reportedly reached during a meeting between Iran’s Central Bank Gov. Abdolnaser Hemmati and South Korean Ambassador to Iran Ryu Jeong-hyun.

For months Tehran has been pressuring Seoul to unblock the assets held in two South Korean banks due to US sanctions. Seoul has been in talks with Washington on ways to release the money without violating the sanctions, including expanding humanitarian trade with the Middle Eastern country, according to the Korea Times.

“Our government has been in talks with Iran about ways to use the frozen assets, and the Iran side has expressed its consent to the proposals we have made,” the foreign ministry said, without providing further details of the proposals.

“The actual unfreezing of the assets will be carried out through consultations with related countries, including the United States,” the ministry said.

Seoul has apparently been finalizing talks with Washington over the last few weeks regarding using some of the frozen assets to pay Iran’s United Nations arrears — to which Tehran acquiesced.
Since the dying days of former President Donald Trump’s administration and the start of his successor US President Joe Biden’s, Iran has attempted to leverage its way out of US sanctions.

Although Tehran has denied that its seizure of a South Korean oil tanker and its crew in early January had anything to do with the frozen assets, this latest news would appear to indicate that its massive gamble may just have paid off.

COMMENT:  And the mullahs know there's a lot more cash out there, and that they will get a pile of it...as long as Barack Obama is pulling the strings.

February 24, 2021        Permalink

LET'S SUPPORT THE GIRLS – AT 10:15 P.M. ET:  This issue has not been given enough attention.  Political correctness is wrecking the dreams of thousands of female athletes across the nation.  And the Biden administration is siding with the wreckers.  Unbelievable.  From Fox: 

Connecticut high school track athlete Alanna Smith told Fox News Wednesday she was "disappointed" after the Biden Justice Department withdrew its support for her lawsuit seeking to prevent transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

The Justice Department had backed Smith's case last year during the Trump administration.
Smith, who is fighting the rule after placing below a transgender runner in a meet, told "Fox News Primetime" that she and other female athletes "have worked really hard to get our stories out there to get people to realize that fairness needs to be restored in our sport and in all other women’s sports."

Smith hopes people will "realize that a lot of biological females have missed out on making it to meets that really matter...and the transgender athletes have taken spots on the podium that belong to biological females.

"We train for so many days a week, so many hours to be able to be the best in our state and the best in our region, and these biological males are just taking it away from us and we really deserve it."
Smith's attorney, Christiana Holcomb of the Alliance Defending Freedom, vowed the case will go ahead and called the DOJ's decision "politically motivated."

"What is even more concerning is this effort took gut legal protection for women is not just isolated to what we see in Connecticut," she said. "Even now, the Biden administration is pushing for the so-called Equality Act, which ignores the physical differences between men and women and threatens women’s privacy, women’s homeless shelters, and yes, even women's sports on a national level for female athletes like Alanna."

"Title IX was designed to ensure that girls like Alanna have a fair and level playing field," Holcomb concluded, "We want to move forward and we want to see women’s sports protected across the country."

COMMENT:   Absolutely right.  The Biden crowd, which is really the Obama crowd, is leading this country into the cold tunnels of the Marxist left.  Naturally, the mainstream press doesn't care.  Even female "journalists" are silent.  And leading "feminists," fearing they'll be left out of the latest trendy thinking, aren't touching the story. 

So sick.

February 24,, 2021       Permalink

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