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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

APRIL 28,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:58 P.M. ET: 

FEARLESS JOURNALISM AT WORK – From Fox:  "Producers behind a CNN documentary series on Rahm Emanuel -- a series billed as unscripted -- coordinated closely with the Chicago mayor's staff on everything from camera shots to storylines, according to a new report based on hundreds of internal emails.  The Chicago Tribune reviewed more than 700 emails pertaining to the making and filming of 'Chicagoland,' an eight-part series which finished airing last week."  CNN does some good work, and has some very good people, but its ratings continue to sag.  I believe that one reason is the feeling that CNN is a liberal network that gives us the news through a liberal filter.  This new revelation won't help erase that image. 

DANGEROUS WINSTON – From London's Daily Mail:  "A candidate in the European elections was arrested on suspicion of racial harassment after quoting a passage about Islam, written by Winston Churchill, during a campaign speech.  Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, made the address on the steps of Winchester Guildhall, in Hampshire on Saturday.  A member of the public took offence at the quote, taken from Churchill's The River War and called police.   The passage from the book, written by the wartime Prime Minister and first published in 1899, focuses on Churchill's observations about Islam while serving during the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of the Sudan."  That is truly chilling.  I suspect we'll be seeing it here before too long.  We see colleges restricting free speech all the time, preparing our young generation to live in the kind of totalitarian state that too many "intellectuals" favor.

ANOTHER WIN FOR TEXAS –  At a time when Texas Governor Rick Perry is considering another run for the presidency, he can chalk up one more economic victory for his state.  From the Dallas News:  "Toyota plans to start moving people to its new U.S. headquarters in Plano starting this summer.  The headquarters relocation – confirmed Monday afternoon – will bring about 4,000 jobs from California, Kentucky and New York.  The worldwide automaker said it will consolidate its three separate North American headquarters for manufacturing, sales and marketing, and corporate operations to a state-of-the-art campus to be built in Plano.
Toyota will also move its finance division headquarters to the new operation, which Dallas real estate brokers say will be located in the Legacy business park near the Dallas North Tollway and State Highway 121."  Another economic loss for my state of New York, which now is propped up largely by Wall Street deals.

GLOBAL WARMING WATCH – From Real Science:  "US temperatures through April 26 are third coldest on record, just barely behind 1899 and 1912. This week is forecast to be cold, and will likely push 2014 into the #1 spot."  Incredible.  And yet the mainstream media will not challenge the "consensus" on global warming.  Watch.  Al Gore will request a recall of all thermometers used to establish 2014 as potentially the coldest year on record.

April 28, 2014       Permalink

TERROR WARNING – AT 10:36 A.M. ET:   The mess in the Mideast is affecting our security at home, according to Homeland Security.  From CNS:

(CNSNews.com) - Syria has become a matter of homeland security, and we're very concerned about Syria foreign fighters, people who are going into Syria, being recruited by extremists there," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Johnson, worried that fighters trained in Syria could travel to Europe and even the United States, said the U.S. is "working together" with European governments to share information that could help track potential terrorists returning from Syria.

Asked if some of those individuals have been in the U.S., Johnson said, "We are continually monitoring the situation, and we are concerned, yes."

(Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also has identified Syria as the "largest and most significant threat" to U.S. security.)

Johnson said other terrorist threats include Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; and the "lone wolf, the independent actor," such as those who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon.

COMMENT:  Syria is becoming a great incubator for terrorist movements.  In addition, and one subject that is not discussed enough, is the increasing proliferation of high technology, including high-tech weaponry.  We still aren't sure where thousands of Libyan small surface-to-air missile systems have gone.  Just one launcher can bring down an airliner, and send a shock through the international airline system. 

The war on terror is far from over, but I wonder if, 13 years after the 9-11 attacks, we have lost the will to fight it.

April 28, 2014        Permalink

AMERICANA – AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  Gallup has completed a survey of what Americans think of their individual states.  From IBD:

A new Gallup Poll has discovered, among numerous revealing info nuggets on American tastes, that Illinois residents think their state is the worst possible one to live in. Bar none. They are the least trustful of state government. (Gee, why would that be with so many Illinois pols in prison?) And they are the most resentful of the tax burdens their elected leaders lay on them.

"Illinois," Gallup reports. has the unfortunate distinction of being the state with the highest percentage of residents who say it is the worst possible place to live. One in four Illinois residents (25%) say the state is the worst place to live, followed by 17% each in Rhode Island and Connecticut."

Oh, look! All three states are governed by Democrats.

Now, for the good stuff. Gallup has completed a massive, six-month survey of at least 600 residents in all 57 of Obama's states. It asked everyone if their residence was "the best possible state to live in," "one of the best possible states to live in," "as good a state as any to live in," or "the worst possible state to live in."

Tied at the top at 77% for the best/one of the best states are Montana and Alaska. Something else Sarah Palin was right about. They're followed by Utah at 70% and Wyoming at 69%.

Oh, you say, that's just because the top four are among the least-populated states. Wrong, crowded city-dweller.

Texas is No. 5 with Hawaii at 68% atop New Hampshire (67%), North Dakota (66%), Colorado (65%) and Minnesota, Oregon and Vermont at 61%.

Do you see the pattern there? Eighty-percent of the most popular states are West of the Mississippi River.

Just as 80% of the bottom ten best/one of the best states are East or partially East of the Mississippi: Rhode Island (18%), Illinois (19%), Mississippi (26%), Louisiana (27%), Michigan, New Mexico and New Jersey at 28%, Maryland and Missouri at 29% and Connecticut at 31%.

Although Texas on average ranked fifth overall, it had the highest percentage of residents who said it was the single best place to live. After 18 years of Republican governors and legislatures, it remains the country's top job-creating state and one of its fastest-growing in population. And it has a balanced budget and no state income tax. Probably just coincidences.

Typical of many of the top-tier states are large landscapes (or oceans), beautiful geographies, world-class winters and in the case of Montana and Alaska, borders with Canada, which has better beer.

COMMENT:  One of the glories of our state system is that people can actually make comparisons, then vote with their feet. 

The results of Gallup's survey don't surprise me. 

April 28, 2014       Permalink

A NOTHINGBURGER – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  President Barack ("Tuffy") Obama has just announced new sanctions on some Russians for their country's behavior in Ukraine.  Looks like the international equivalent of "Go stand in the corner for 20 minutes, Vladimir."  From the Chicago Tribune: 

MANILA / SLAVIANSK, Ukraine — President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against some Russians on Monday to stop President Vladimir Putin from fomenting the rebellion in eastern Ukraine, but said he was holding broader measures against Russia's economy "in reserve."

I'm sure Putin is impressed by "in reserve."

On the ground, pro-Moscow rebels showed no sign of curbing their uprising, seizing public buildings in another town in the east. Interfax news agency reported that the mayor of a further major eastern city, Kharkiv, had been shot and was undergoing an operation. It gave no details of the shooting.

Germany demanded Russia act to help secure the release of seven unarmed European military monitors, including four Germans, who have been held by the rebels since Friday.

The new U.S. sanctions, to be outlined in detail later on Monday, will add more people and firms to a list announced last month of figures whose assets are frozen and who are denied visas to travel to the United States.

That'll show Mother Russia!  Frozen assets!  Visa denials!  Why, we're going nuclear!

The European Union is also expected to add targets to its Russia sanctions list on Monday.

Ambassadors from the 28 EU states met in Brussels and an EU diplomat said they were expected to add around 15 new names.

COMMENT:  What kind of a farce is this?  Everyone knows that putting some new sanctions on individuals and businesses will not move Putin an inch.  Besides, it's widely reported that the Europeans don't even favor further sanctions because they have business interests in Russia, and their economies are stressed. 

Putin will get what he wants in Ukraine, unless the West toughens up substantially, which is unlikely to happen.  Obama must be praying that any major Russian action to seize part of Ukraine is delayed until after our midterms.

April 28, 2014       Permalink

THE CLIMATE SCANDAL – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Thoughtful skeptics of global-warming theories have long suspected that there is some real malpractice involved in this issue.  Now a serious charge becomes public.  Oh, I haven't read this in mainstream American reporting.  Wonder why.  From London's Daily Mail: 

A top US academic has dramatically revealed how government officials forced him to change a hugely influential scientific report on climate change to suit their own interests.

Harvard professor Robert Stavins electrified the worldwide debate on climate change on Friday by sensationally publishing a letter online in which he spelled out the astonishing interference.

He said the officials, representing ‘all the main countries and regions of the world’ insisted on the changes in a late-night meeting at a Berlin conference centre two weeks ago.

Three quarters of the original version of the document ended up being deleted.

Prof Stavins claimed the intervention amounted to a serious ‘conflict of interest’ between scientists and governments. His revelation is significant because it is rare for climate change experts to publicly question the process behind the compilation of reports on the subject.

Prof Stavins, Harvard’s Professor of Business and Government, was one of two ‘co-ordinating lead authors’ of a key report published by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this month.

His chapter of the 2,000-page original report concerned ways countries can co-operate to reduce carbon emissions.

IPCC reports are supposed to be scrupulously independent as they give scientific advice to governments around the world to help them shape energy policies – which in turn affect subsidies and domestic power bills.

Prof Stavins said the government officials in Berlin fought to make big changes to the full report’s ‘summary for policymakers’. This is the condensed version usually cited by the world’s media and politicians. He said their goal was to protect their ‘negotiating stances’ at forthcoming talks over a new greenhouse gas reduction treaty.

COMMENT:  Investigations anyone?  Will the fashion plates of American journalism take notice?  Will Congress?  How about the Republicans? 

This could be a decisive moment in the debate over climate change, and one in which real questions are asked about the integrity of some of the "research."   I suspect the moment will pass rather quietly.  At we see a Harvard professor with the courage to speak out.

April 28,  2014     Permalink

APRIL 27,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

REAL ESTATE NEWS – From Reuters:  "NEW YORK/SYDNEY (Reuters) - For the first time, the Chinese have become the biggest foreign buyers of apartments in Manhattan, real estate brokers estimate, taking the mantle from the Russians - whose activity has dropped off since the unrest in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russia by the United States.  Wealthy Chinese are pouring money into real estate in New York and some other major cities around the world, including London and Sydney, as they seek safe havens for their cash and also establish a base for their children to get an education in the West."
The whole character of New York has changed in the last 25 years.  The once imaginative and creative city has turned into one big cash cow.  The dreamers are being driven out.  All that counts is how many bills you can stuff into a suitcase.  Lots of glitter, little substance.

ANYONE LISTENING? – From Reuters:  "DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, particularly Americans, who could then be exchanged for jailed jihadists including a blind Egyptian cleric convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack the United Nations and other New York landmarks."  Remember, our fearless president has said that the war on terror is over.  Pay no attention to these threats.  Probably mistranslations.

MAINE POLL – From The Hill:  "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the clear winner in the Maine Republican Party's straw poll on Sunday.  The tea party senator, representing the libertarian wing of the party, came away with 176 of the 690 votes cast in Bangor, Maine, according to multiple reports. That was good enough to beat out his colleague Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who came in second place with 98, as well as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who received 70, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who pulled in 60 votes.
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a potential sleeper candidate for the GOP in 2016, pulled in 62 votes. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) got 57, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each got fewer than 50 votes."  When the winner only gets 176 of 690 votes, I say the poll is meaningless.  These polls are really just for fun.  If there's any news, it's that Scott Walker came in so high – third place.  We've said that he's the sleeper candidate, and he appears to be awakening.

April 27, 2014        Permalink

THE IRAN ILLUSION – AT 3:48 A.M. ET:   There's all kinds of jumping around in Washington over the prospect of a permanent nuclear deal with Iran.  With the jumping comes the illusion that we can "normalize" relations with that country.  Kinda like the reset with Russia, which, as you've seen, has gone so well.  But Iran is a pretty hideous place.  From the Jerusalem Post: 

The world powers’ negotiation with Tehran over its nuclear military work has overshadowed the Islamic Republic’s deteriorating human rights situation and outbreaks of social protest. Just last week, Iranian men and women posted pictures on social media of themselves with shaved heads to promote solidarity with beaten political prisoners in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. Prison authorities conducted, according to Iranian diaspora and reform websites in the country, a massive assault on Evin’s Ward 350 – the section used to incarcerate political dissidents.

”More than 30 prisoners were injured and at least four inmates were taken to a hospital outside the jail because they were bleeding or sustained fractures,” according to the Iranian website Kaleme.

In response to the violence, Iranians launched a shaved head protest. “Activists both inside and outside the country are posting their photos on a Facebook page titled ‘With the Political Prisoners of Evin’s Section 350,’” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Wednesday.

Prompting the creative action was a photograph of human rights lawyer Abdolfatah Soltani that showed him last week with a shaved head. He was held in Ward 350 and reported to have been a victim of the assault.

The protesters are using the Persian hashtag “sarfaraz,” or “proud,” to spread their campaign, noted Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that a “rare public protest” took place with roughly 150 people in front of President Hassan Rouhani’s office.

COMMENT:  What happens if these protests grow?  In 2009, when the Iranian people went into revolt, Barack Obama made his lack of support clear.  What happens if we're about to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran and the streets are filled with protesters?  My guess is that Obama, enthusiastically supported by European appeasers and business interests, will once again turn his back on the freedom fighters. 

What a legacy.

April 27, 2014       Permalink

OUR BLUNDERING POLICIES – AT 3:22 A.M. ET:  One of Obama's worst foreign-policy mistakes was not leaving behind a security force in Iraq, something we've had in South Korea for more than six decades.  A small American force could have added to stability and discouraged foreign adventurers.    Obama was warned that by taking every soldier out of Iraq, we left the country vulnerable.  He wasn't interested. 

Now we are taking at least some action to counter the rise of extremist violence in the country.  From Reuters: 

(Reuters) - The United States is quietly expanding the number of intelligence officers in Iraq and holding urgent meetings in Washington and Baghdad to find ways to counter growing violence by Islamic militants, U.S. government sources said.

A high-level Pentagon team is now in Iraq to assess possible assistance for Iraqi forces in their fight against radical jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group reconstituted from an earlier incarnation of al Qaeda, said two current government officials and one former U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The powerful ISIL, which seeks to impose strict sharia law in the Sunni majority populated regions of Iraq, now boasts territorial influence stretching from Iraq's western Anbar province to northern Syria, operating in some areas close to Baghdad, say U.S. officials.

Senior U.S. policy officials, known as the "Deputies Committee," met in Washington this week to discuss possible responses to the deteriorating security outlook in Iraq, said a government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.

COMMENT:  I almost want to ask, why bother?  We know that anything effective will be vetoed by Obama, who has messed up every policy he's pursued in the Mideast.  Does anyone in the region care what he says anymore?

April 27, 2014       Permalink

TALES OF THE IVY LEAGUE – AT 3:15 A.M. ET:  It gets worse and worse in America's "elite" colleges, which are busy preparing their students to be children.  From the Daily Caller: 

Another ridiculous politically-correct brouhaha has broken out at Dartmouth College, America’s most hopelessly and disturbingly fragile Ivy League school.

This time, the fracas is over a fundraiser for cardiac care that the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity and the Alpha Phi sorority had planned to jointly sponsor, reports Campus Reform.

Problems arose because a single student, junior Daniela Hernandez, was offended by the party’s theme of “Phiesta.”

As a result, the soiree, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been canceled by the presidents of the respective Greek organizations.

Had the party happened, it would have included a live band as well as virgin piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris. There would also have been burritos, chips and salsa, and guacamole.

The cash raised at the event would have gone to benefit cardiac treatments.

However, Hernandez’s deep offense about racial insensitivity was enough to call it off.

The self-proclaimed “Mexican-born, United-States-raised, first-generation woman of color” declared in an angry email that “there are various problematic structures and ideologies regarding a Cinco de Mayo-inspired event,” according to Campus Reform.

COMMENT:  Perhaps the "Mexican-born, United-States-raised, first-generation woman of color" should seek out some poor heart patients and apologize for the funds they won't receive as a result of her adolescent anger.

What is outrageous is that college "administrators" and "scholars" go right along with this nonsense, effectively turning their institutions of higher education into nursery schools.

April 27,  2014     Permalink