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FEBRUARY 12,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

TODAY GERMANY, TOMORROW THE WORLD – OVERNIGHT:  Well, it sounds like that anyway.  AOC, or, as we call her here, Little Evita from the Bronx, is on one of her fantasy tours.  From Fox:   Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told a Texas crowd Saturday that it is inevitable that Texas will turn blue as she endorsed two candidates for Congress prior to the primary next month.  Ocasio-Cortez, who has had mixed results when endorsing candidates, was in San Antonio to support the campaigns of Jessica Cisneros and Greg Casar. MySanAntonio.com reported that Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd that the two have her backing because they back Medicare for all, unions and reproductive freedom.  "Here’s what’s exciting about Jessica’s race and Greg’s race…is that if we flip Texas, we flip the country. She continued, "Texas turning blue is inevitable. The only question is when. We are going to fight for a living wage, we are going to make sure we unionize the hell out of this state…and we’re going to make sure that not one dime is made exploitatively across any worker, especially the undocumented."  Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.  The New York representative is not the first politician to imagine a world where the Republican Party loses Texas’s crucial 38 electoral college votes, which is a nightmare for the party. In September 2019, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the state would be close in the 2020 presidential election. (Former President Trump carried the state, winning 52.1% to President Biden’s 46.5%).  No doubt Texas is competitive, but AOC seems not to have noticed a recent yet powerful trend – the movement of Hispanics to the right.  Let her learn about it on election day.

February 12, 2022       Permalink

JUST WHEN SHE THOUGHT WE'D FORGOTTEN WHO SHE REALLY IS – OVERNIGHT:  Hillary Clinton wants to be president.  She knows she can make it this next time.  Smile more.  Say nice things about Midwestern women.  Demonstrate some knowledge of how cars are made. 

But, gosh darn, things just get in her way, and they come out at the most inconvenient times.  Not her fault of course.  It's all those Republican woman haters out there.  From the New York Post:

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign paid an internet company to “infiltrate” servers at Trump Tower and the White House in order to link Donald Trump to Russia, a bombshell new legal filing alleges.

The Friday filing from a Department of Justice prosecutor tasked with investigating the origins of the FBI’s Russian probe served to throw cold water on Democrats’ longstanding allegations of collusion.

Special Counsel John Durham filed a motion related to potential conflicts of interests in connection with the case of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman, who is charged with lying to the feds, according to Fox News.

Sussman allegedly told the FBI he was not working on behalf of Clinton when he presented the agency with documents that supposedly linked the Trump Organization to a Kremlin-tied bank two months before the election.

The lawyer has pleaded not guilty to the charge of making a false statement to a federal agent.

Durham’s motion reportedly alleged Sussman “had assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two specific clients, including a technology executive (Tech Executive 1) at a U.S.-based internet company (Internet Company 1) and the Clinton campaign.”

Special Counsel John Durham’s filing alleges the Clinton campaign targeted servers in Trump Tower and the White House.

Records showed he “repeatedly billed the Clinton Campaign for his work on the Russian Bank-1 allegations,” which involved an investigative firm, a tech executive, cyber researchers and numerous employees at internet companies, the motion reportedly stated. 

COMMENT:  Of course, our Hillary knew nothing about this.  Her integrity is beyond reproach.  I mean, is there anyone more honest than Hillary Clinton?  You don't have to answer.

Let's see how the mainstream media goes to bat for her this time.

February 12, 2022       Permalink

FEBRUARY 11,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

OLYMPIC MESS – OVERNIGHT:  A scandal has erupted at the otherwise dull Olympics.  A Russian figure skater, regarded by some as the greatest figure skater in history, is involved in an alleged cheating incident.  How sad.  From Fox:  The International Testing Agency confirmed Friday that Russian figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance prior to her gold medal-winning performance in the team event over the weekend, but an expedited court ruling will now determine if the young skater will be allowed to compete for gold in the individual event on Tuesday.  The ITA, established by the International Olympic Committee in 2018 because of the Russian doping scandal at Sochi, released a lengthy statement on Friday confirming that the 15-year-old skater tested positive for trimetazidine at the 2022 Russian Figure Skating Championships in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Dec. 25.  "First, the ITA stresses that Ms. Kamila Valieva, a member of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) delegation in Beijing, is a minor and therefore a ‘Protected Person’ under the World Anti-Doping Code," the statement read. "Seeing that some in the media did not grant her the same protection and have reported widely on the basis of unofficial information following the postponement of the medal ceremony of the figure skating Team Event at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, the ITA acknowledges the necessity for official information due to heightened public interest."  According to the ITA, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency placed a provisional suspension on Valieva Tuesday, but she appealed the decision the following day and the committee ruled to lift the suspension that night, seemingly without explanation.  The ITA, on behalf of the IOC, immediately challenged the decision, calling for an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in Olympic sports, before Valieva’s next event.  One question is whether she took this drug on her own, or was forced to by the Russian powers.  I hate to see talent on her level destroyed, but the rules on doping must be followed, not only at the Olympics, but throughout sports.

February 11, 2022       Permalink

HOW CLOSE ARE WE? – OVERNIGHT:  The statements about Ukraine are grim, very grim.  We are on the brink of war.  Americans are being evacuated.  It is 1939.  We can't independently confirm that the dire talk is accurate.  But we can confirm that it is being taken seriously.  A recent briefing of members of Congress by the State Department left the listeners shaken.  The president has a phone talk scheduled with Putin.  We don't even know if it's last-minute negotiating, or stagecraft.  From AP: 

WASHINGTON — The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent.

US officials say the State Department plans to announce early Saturday that all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave the country ahead of a feared Russian invasion. The State Department would not comment.

The department had earlier ordered families of US embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave. But it had left it to the discretion of nonessential personnel if they wanted to depart. The new move comes as Washington has ratcheted up its warnings about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said a limited number of U.S. diplomats may be relocated to Ukraine’s far west, near the border with Poland, a NATO ally, so the US could retain a diplomatic presence in the country.

The Pentagon announced Friday it is sending another 3,000 combat troops to Poland to join 1,700 who already are assembling there in a demonstration of American commitment to NATO allies worried at the prospect of Russia invading Ukraine.

The additional soldiers will depart their post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, over the next couple days and should be in Poland by early next week, according to a defense official, who provided the information under ground rules set by the Pentagon. They are the remaining elements of an infantry brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Their mission will be to train and provide deterrence but not to engage in combat in Ukraine.

That announcement came shortly after Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, issued a public warning for all American citizens in Ukraine to leave the country as soon as possible. Sullivan said Russian President Vladimir Putin could give the order to launch an invasion of Ukraine any day now.

COMMENT:   There are informed observers who doubt that Russia will invade.  After all, the cost to Moscow in human lives and potential sanctions could be enormous.

On the other hand, there are some who believe that Russia has nothing to lose by invading – that the United States is too weak to impose a heavy sanctions regime, that allies won't join us for fear of antagonizing Moscow, and that the American people will never permit our troops to be used in combat.  A win-win-win for Putin. 

I have no independent information.  It's wait-and-see, with human life on the line.

February 11,  2022     Permalink