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FEBRUARY 9,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

STILL A FIGHTING FORCE? – FROM FOX:   National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the latest from the Pentagon on 'America Reports.'  The United States Department of Defense was blasted on social media after posting a tweet touting the need for "diversity" and "inclusion" in the military.  "NEWS: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Are Necessities in U.S. Military," the Department of Defense posted Wednesday along with an article outlining the many ways the military is pushing for diversity in its ranks and says that the "need for diversity, equity and inclusion to be a consideration or a part of all decisions in the military." "I would hope that as many leaders and members of the total force as possible see [diversity, equity and inclusion] efforts as a force multiplier," Bishop Garrison, the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for human capital and diversity, equity and inclusion, said in the article, which added that the diversity program can be a "way to make the U.S. military more successful in achieving critical missions and in making forces more lethal."The tweet immediately drew criticism from conservatives on Twitter who slammed the military for focusing on "woke" politics. "Does China have that in their military?" author Ryan Girdusky tweeted.  "Our enemies laugh at us," comedian Tim Young tweeted.  The emphasis should be on building the best force.  I'm not against diversity, or recruiting from a variety of groups, but the mission must never be compromised.  In this administration, I worry about that, and I am not alone.

February 9,  2022     Permalink

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HOW MUCH LOWER? – OVERNIGHT:  The president continues to chart downward.  What happens when they run out of numbers?  From Fox: 

Approval of President Biden's performance in the White House continues to weaken as the administration works to deal with the Ukraine border conflict, rising inflation, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and chaos at the Mexican border.

For the first time since taking office, Biden's approval rating — based on an accumulation of polling data — fell below 40%. A Real Clear Politics average of all the most recent national surveys measuring Biden’s standing put the president’s approval at 39% and his disapproval at 54%.

Biden has also found himself at the center of a Russia-Ukraine border conflict in Europe.

Last month, Biden predicted Russian President Vladimir Putin would advance into Ukraine, saying, "My guess is he will move in. He has to do something."

Biden continues to take heat from Americans over rising gas prices, leading his own party to introduce a proposal to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax in order to help blunt the financial pain of surging prices at the pump.

Other costs, including energy bills, are also having an impact on Americans. New York residents say their bills have doubled in the latest wrinkle to red-hot inflation.

Fox News reached out to the White House in an effort to see what factors may have contributed to Biden's sinking average polling numbers but did not receive an immediate response.

COMMENT:  What is just as bad is that the president's physical condition seems to have weakened.  It may simply be a perception, but Mr. Biden is sluggish, often appears unfocused, and generates the belief that "he's not all there."  This, as much as any policy matter, could destroy his presidency. 

And who's one heartbeat away from the Oval Office?  Why it's our Kammy, Kamila Harris, Not So Wonder Woman.  As it's being said in Washington, she's Biden's impeachment insurance.  Who would impeach him to get her?  It will be fascinating to see if the Dems put Kammy out on the campaign trail this year.  If Biden doesn't blow the whole thing, she's certainly capable of it.  It must be wonderful to have a specialty. 

February 9, 2022       Permalink

FEBRUARY 8,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, A STRUGGLIN' TOWN – OVERNIGHT:   The city, presumably America's urban crown jewel, is in terrible shape.  The ultra-rich who live here, many of whom are European, don't notice.  The real people do.  There is genuine fear that the city will never regain its former vitality.  And the overriding issue is crime.  From the New York Post:   Nearly every single city police precinct has seen spikes in crime so far this year — including five in which the rate has doubled, according to the latest troubling NYPD statistics.
“No neighborhood is safe,” one Brooklyn cop warned Tuesday. “At this rate, we will lose the city by St. Patrick’s Day.”  Seventy-two out of the Big Apple’s 77 police precincts saw crime rise, leaving just five at 2021 levels or dipping below their figures for the same period a year earlier.
The NYPD CompStat numbers show that the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst, Queens, has been battered by the highest jump in crime as of Sunday, with a more than 142 percent increase over last year.
The biggest percentage hikes in the precinct were for grand larcenies, with 197 incidents so far this year after just 43 at the same point in 2021; felony assaults, which rose to 59 from 28, and robberies, with 30 this year compared to 18 last year.  Local masonry contractor Luis Gutierrez blamed the crime spree on the dire economic situation in Corona — and said he’s had enough.
“It gets worse because the prices go up, the rent goes up, the diapers, everything goes up but the jobs,” the father of four told The Post on Tuesday. “My wife is too afraid, so we move to Suffolk [County], Long Island, next month.”  People are pouring out of New York, just as they are pouring out of California.  The political left controls both states, with predictable results.  The virus continues to instill fear.  This country's future increasingly appears tied to the South, the Southwest and the growing states in the heartland, like Tennessee.  Even New Yorkers are moving to places they'd never before considered.  I just hope they don't register to vote when they get there.

February 8,  2022     Permalink 

MAN BATTLE STATIONS – OVERNIGHT:  HINTS FROM DIPLOMCATIC CIRCLES TELL US THAT A NEW IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL MAY BE NEAR.  THE FEAR AMONG THE SANE PEOPLE IS THAT BIDEN, INFLUENCED BY THE OBAMA FACTION IN HIS ADMINISTRATION, MAY GO FOR A PEACE-AT-ANY-PRICE AGREEMENT, JUST TO PACIFY HIS PARTY'S LEFT.  REPUBLICANS ARE ALREADY INSISTING THAT THEY WILL HAVE NONE OF THIS.  COULD BE A MAJOR BATTLE BREWING.  FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: 

As talks to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear deal restarted in Vienna Tuesday, US President Joe Biden was reminded of another obstacle, this time at home, to a smooth return to the agreement.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter dated February 7 to Biden emphasizing that the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act requires the administration to submit within five days any new nuclear agreement to Congressional oversight.

“We are committed to using the full range of options and leverage available to United States Senators to ensure that you meet those obligations, and that the implementation of any agreement will be severely if not terminally hampered if you do not,” read the letter, co-signed by 32 of Cruz’s Republican Senate colleagues.

“The submission of such materials then triggers a statutorily-defined review process, and includes the possibility of Congress blocking implementation of the agreement,” the senators wrote.

The letter also warned that any agreement that is not a Senate-ratified treaty could be reversed by a new president in January 2025.

A treaty, which is far more difficult to pass or rescind than an executive order, is required by the US Constitution to be approved by two-thirds of the Senate, an unlikely scenario in a chamber with 50 GOP senators. The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), notably, is not a treaty, which enabled former president Donald Trump to unilaterally withdraw from the deal in 2018 without consulting Congress.

President Barack Obama signed INARA into law in May 2015, giving Congress the opportunity to review any nuclear deal with Iran, and prohibiting sanctions relief for the 30-day review period.

“Unless the administration is prepared to defy the statute, its only alternative for avoiding congressional review of its policy will be to unilaterally lift sanctions and trust Iran to reciprocate by coming back into full compliance itself,” explained former assistant secretary of state Stephen Rademaker last year.

In the event that the US and Iran do reach a deal in the coming weeks, INARA would further require Biden to submit certification of Iran’s compliance every 90 days. Without the certification, Republicans in both houses could call floor votes on reimposing sanctions on Iran.

COMMENT:  I have a sense that the Congressional Republicans are dead serious about this.  We really could have a clash between the legislative and executive on the Iran nuclear issue.  Obama accepted an awful agreement in 2015, and excluded Congress by refusing to cast it as a treaty.  The more recent legislation cited in the above article requires at least Congressional review. 

I doubt if we'll get any kind of good deal out of Iran.  Tehran knows it's dealing with a weak American administration, and our negotiating team is led by the same man who led Obama's, the ever-appeasing Robert Malley, a former employee of a guy named George Soros. 

Congress will step forward, an opportunity for Republicans to shine, and point the way ahead in foreign policy. 

There will be nothing boring about 2022.

February 8,  2022   Permalink