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MARCH 22,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE – FROM DAILYWIRE.COM:    Cigna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers, has allegedly told employees not to hire white men as part of the company’s broader critical race theory campaign.   According to an internal chat log obtained by the Washington Examiner, a hiring manager at Cigna dismissed a white candidate because he did not fulfill the company’s diversity standards. In the chat, an employee suggested the company interview a man with extensive experience for an open position. The hiring manager allegedly told the employee that the man could not be interviewed because he is white.   In a separate chat log, a hiring manager dismissed another candidate who he assumed to be white. The candidate was a racial minority. After learning of the candidate’s accurate skin color — and little else — the hiring manager allegedly reversed course and hired the candidate.  Is this progress?  Of course not.  It simply sets group against group, race against race.  Dr. King's dream of an individual being judged by the content of his (or her) character is out the window, and with it any intelligent understanding of fairness. 

YES, THERE ARE MODERATE DEMOCRATS – FROM THE HILL:   Moderate Democrats are urging party leaders not to meddle in a contested Iowa House race, warning that the potential benefit of flipping a seat in their favor this cycle isn’t worth the long-term political damage it would cause in the next.  Democrats had fought tooth-and-nail against President Trump’s attempt to reverse the outcome of November’s presidential contest, accusing Trump of abusing his powers in an effort to nullify the will of voters.  While the situation in Iowa is far different — and the results drastically closer than those delivering Trump’s defeat — centrist Democrats are wary that even the best-faith effort to reexamine the outcome in Iowa’s 2nd District would be overwhelmed by the terrible optics of the majority party using its powers to flip a certified seat to its side.  “It strikes me as remarkably hypocritical and a dangerous precedent at a time we need to be repairing precedents,” said one moderate Democrat, who requested anonymity to speak on a delicate topic.  I doubt that the party, now heavily controlled by leftists, will listen to this thoughtful advice.  The race in Iowa has been recounted and certified.  The Democrats should let the Republican victory, if by only six votes, stand, and fight harder the next time.

March 22, 2021      Permalink

WHY HAVE WE SUSPECTED THIS? – AT 11:45 P.M. ET:  Who is the president of the United States?  Joe Biden?  Kamala Harris?  Grover Cleveland?  None of the above?  Some would say "none of the above?  There is a strong feeling, especially on our side of the political aisle, that the real president is Barack Obama.  People look at the current administration and find it loaded with former Obama officeholders.  More important, they look at the policies coming out of the Biden White House, and find them chillingly similar to those of Barack Obama.  The question must be asked:  Is this Obama's third term?  From Fox: 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said that President Biden maintains "regular" communication with Barack Obama on a number of issues.

Psaki was asked by a reporter whether Obama had visited the White House and how often the two speak, to which she responded that Obama and Biden have a relationship that is not defined as president and vice president – instead, they are "friends."

"They consult and talk about a range of issues and I would expect that continues through the course of President Biden’s presidency," Psaki said. "That can be done over the phone it turns out, and I think if President Obama had been here, you would all know."

Psaki declined to give an exact number of times that the powerful pair had spoken, but said they "keep in regular touch" and their respective teams also were in regular touch "about a range of issues."

Psaki added that given Obama’s work on the Affordable Care Act, which Biden has committed to strengthening and expanding, that is one issue they will talk about.

Funny, I wasn't aware of any work Obama did on the Affordable Care Act.  It was actually all done in Congress. 

She pointed questions as to what else Obama would specifically be involved in to his team.

Biden has tapped a number of individuals who previously served in the Obama administration to join his team, including chief of staff Ron Klain, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Despite the longstanding friendship, Obama drew interest from the media after he waited until late in the campaign cycle to formally endorse Biden

Meanwhile, Biden drew criticism throughout the campaign from Democratic contenders who accused him of running on Obama’s legacy.

During one 2019 debate, for example, Julián Castro, who served as Obama’s housing secretary, said Biden wanted to take credit for the Obama administration’s victories – but did not want to answer for any potential shortcomings.

"My problem with Vice President Biden … every time something good about Barack Obama comes up, he says, ‘Oh, I was there, I was there, I was there, that’s me, too,’" Castro said. "And then every time somebody questions part of the administration that we were both part of, he says, ‘Well, that was the president.’ I mean, he wants to take credit for Obama's work, but not have to answer to any questions."

COMMENT:  In my view, Obama was one of the most mediocre presidents of our time, and did lasting damage by weakening our foreign policy and letting our military strength erode.  After all, how many times have you heard anyone say, "I wish Barack Obama were still president"?

But what we are seeing thus far in the Biden presidency are policies that seem to track the Obama model, and that is frightening.  We are likely to have serious confrontations with both China and Iran, two countries that Obama went out of his way to appease.  Appeasement never leads to peace.  It leads to war.  We are likely to see a continuation of the racial tensions and violence that Obama has done nothing to cool.  Indeed, Obama, with the press averting its eyes, made it as clear as possible that he doesn't much like his own country.

The Biden/Obama marriage, or dating situation, must be examined as long as Joe Biden is in the White House.

March 22, 2021       Permalink

MARCH 21,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

MIKE POMPEO SPEAKS – A GREAT SECRETARY OF STATE, NOW A GREAT PUNCHER FOR THE OPPOSITION – FROM BREITBART:  On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted to the exchange between American and Chinese officials earlier in the week and said that Chinese officials “mentioned Black Lives Matter as part of the reason they think American democracy is in decline."  Pompeo said, “I would have called it out for exactly what it is, this idea somehow that America isn’t a beacon of democracy around the world, that’s just nonsense and it is crazy for them to make that attack. … They mentioned Black Lives Matter as part of the reason they think American democracy is in decline.  Those are running buddies of Marxist-Leninists all around the world. And so, when they see a Democrat Party that is so deeply tied to the Black Lives Matter movement, I think they sense that America may well be in decline. I would have made clear that America stands for protecting its own. I would have reiterated our views about America first. We would have talked about the greatness and the exceptionalism of our nation, and we would have called them out for what they did to the world with this virus that has destroyed millions of lives. We’ve lost millions of lives and billions of dollars worth of wealth. It is unacceptable that the administration didn’t push back in that way.”  Yippee.

THE TRUTH COMES OUT – FROM FOX:   Former Operation Warp Speed health adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui claimed that 90% of the current administration’s coronavirus vaccine rollout plan is the same as what the Trump administration had laid out – despite claims that Biden inherited "no plan."  President Biden’s chief of staff has insisted that the previous administration had no plan to roll out vaccines. CNN released a much-criticized report that Biden’s team was "starting from scratch," but Dr. Anthony Fauci immediately dismissed such claims.  Slaoui joined Fauci in debunking those same claims, instead insisting that the Biden plan is essentially the same plan that the Trump administration laid out.  "I do think we had plans," Slaoui told CBS’s "Face the Nation" on Saturday. "In fact, 90% of what is happening now is the plan that we had."  "Of course, the first thing was to accelerate the development of the vaccine," Slaoui explained. "We contracted, specifically, 100 million doses of the vaccine, but built into the contracts options to acquire more vaccines once we knew they were effective."  CNN will never believe it.  Facts are so last generation.

March 21, 2021      Permalink

STUNNING AND ALARMING – AT 9:45 P.M. ET:  I would take this report very seriously.  Remember that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and radical Islamists attacked us on 9-11, in part because we didn't take warnings seriously enough.  From AP: 

Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army base in the nation’s capital, and against the Army’s vice chief of staff, two senior U.S. intelligence officials said.

They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors.

The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss national security matters and spoke on condition of anonymity. The base, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin’s official residence.

The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington’s bustling newly developed Waterfront District.

City leaders have been fighting the Army’s plan to add a buffer zone of about 250 feet to 500 feet (75 meters to 150 meters) from the shore of the Washington Channel, which would limit access to as much as half the width of the busy waterway running parallel to the Potomac River.

The Pentagon, National Security Council and NSA either did not reply or declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

As District of Columbia officials have fought the enhanced security along the channel, the Army has offered only vague information about threats to the base.

At a virtual meeting in January to discuss the proposed restrictions, Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of the Military District of Washington, cited “credible and specific” threats against military leaders who live on the base. The only specific security threat he offered was about a swimmer who ended up on the base and was arrested.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s sole representative in Congress, was skeptical. “When it comes to swimmers, I’m sure that must be rare. Did he know where he was? Maybe he was just swimming and found his way to your shore?” she said.

Jones conceded that the swimmer was “not a great example there, but our most recent example” of a security breach.

He said the Army has increased patrols along the shoreline, erected more restricted area signs and placed cameras to monitor the Washington Channel.

Puzzled city officials and frustrated residents said the Army’s request for the buffer zone was a government overreach of public waterways.

COMMENT:  Israeli intelligence officials, quoted anonymously in the Israeli press, regard these reports as valid, and they are well familiar with Iranian techniques.  Of course, officials in our own capital city of Washington are expressing skepticism, as they are mostly aligned with the WOKE community and its disdain for the defense of the United States.

There is a body of thought in some enemy nations that if you strike America, America will not fight back but will look for the first chance to negotiate a peace.  In the past that has been a significant misconception, as some enemies learned the hard way.  But I don't know about today.  Our vastly inferior educational system, combined with an often clueless, lurching-to-the-left media, have left us unready for the bitter and dangerous battles that the Chinese and Iranians almost certainly have in mind.  Add to that the vast economic losses and federal debts of the last two years, and we are probably more vulnerable than we've been since the days before World War II.

March 21, 2021       Permalink