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AUGUST 9,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:54 P.M. ET: 

TRAVEL NEWS – From CBS and AP:  "President Barack Obama finished a round of golf Saturday on Martha’s Vineyard and headed back to his vacation home for a night with his family.  Obama, however, wasted no time heading to the golf links after arriving on Martha’s Vineyard Saturday afternoon for a two-week summer vacation just as the U.S. is engaged in airstrikes against Islamic militant targets in Iraq."  That's the president of the United States, in the midst of an international crisis.  He is nothing more than a glorified town councilman, out of his depth and class.

CLOWN – More on Obama.  In his interview with the genuflecting Tom Friedman of The New York Times yesterday, Field Marshal Obama announced that he wasn't worried about Israel's survival.  I guess all those Israeli military men and leaders who do worry about Israel's survival are just shallow fools who don't understand the field marshal's higher thinking.  And, like many Americans, I worry about America's survival, even our physical survival, under the leadership of so reckless a president.

PROTECTING THE MONARCHY – From CNN:  "President Barack Obama was about to address the nation on Iraq Thursday night when the briefing was delayed because of a security breach on the North Lawn of the White House.  But this wasn't your normal breach, this was one of a pint-sized variety.  A toddler forced the president, the press corps and the nation to wait.  The little boy managed to squeeze himself between the bars of the White House fence, just before the briefing was expected to start. It forced a temporary lockdown.  It didn't take long to resolve the matter and he's now back with his parents.  'We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that he got a timeout and was sent on way with parents,' according to Edwin Donovan, spokesman for the United States Secret Service."  It's clear that global warming expanded those bars and trapped the child.  I'd blame the coal industry.

August 9, 2014       Permalink

THE REAL WORLD – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  I disagree with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, on a number of things, but she's one of the grown-ups in the Senate, especially on foreign policy.  I think she sees the reality of things, and she is blunt about what we face in Iraq.  This will not go down well with the leftist fringe in her party.  From The Hill: 

The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday said the extremist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) must be confronted forcefully by the U.S., though she stopped short of calling for boots on the ground.

“It takes an army to defeat an army, and I believe that we either confront ISIL now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

The group is “operating with military expertise, advancing across Iraq and rapidly consolidating its position,” she added.

“Inaction is no longer an option,” according to Feinstein.

The senior lawmaker also said it had “become clear” that the group is recruiting and training fighters from Western countries and possibly sending them back to cities in the U.S. and Europe in order to “attack us in our backyard.”

“We simply cannot allow this to happen,” Feinstein warned.

COMMENT:  Obama has just made a statement saying our air strikes in Iraq could go on for a long time, as the Iraq government tries to reorganize.  Maybe he's finally getting the picture – that this is serious, and that ISIS could destabilize the entire region and pose a threat to the United States.

One thing ISIS is doing is capturing large numbers of American weapons that were originally supplied to the Iraqi army.  These weapons could be used in both Iraq and Syria.  Jordan and Lebanon are also potentially threatened. 

Welcome to hope and change.

August 9, 2014       Permalink

INCREASED BELLIGERENCE – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:   Just as President Obama rediscovers Iraq, the old Russkies are getting increasingly belligerent.  This is from Russian news sources: 

MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Northern Fleet's anti-submarine forces have detected and forced out a US submarine from Russian boundary waters, a high-ranking source in Russia's Navy told RIA Novosti Saturday.

"On August 7, 2014, the patrol forces of the Northern Fleet detected a foreign submarine, supposedly a US Navy Virginia-class one, in the Barents Sea. A seaborne anti-submarine group, as well as an anti-submarine airplane Il-38, was sent to the region to search and track it down," the source said.

The Russian navy forced the submarine out of Russian waters after a 27-minute contact.

"This is far from being a single incident of finding foreign submarines in the Barents Sea lately. Similar behavior of NATO countries' submarines in the Barents Sea has caused dangerous navigational incidents many times," the source said.

In 1992, a US Baton-Rouge submarine clashed with the Northern Fleet's K-276 submarine in the Kolsky Bay. In 1986, UK's Splendid submarine clashed with the Northern Fleet's Typhoon.

COMMENT:   We ignore reports like this at our peril.  The Russians are rebuilding their military, and have the technical know-how to do it.  They're getting both stronger and more confident all the time.  This comes at a moment when the United States is shrinking its military and its military research and development.  It's like closing hospitals in the middle of an epidemic.

This president will do nothing about it.  He doesn't care.  His political class doesn't care.  We desperately need leadership change.  The 2016 election is turning out to be one of the most decisive in our history.

August 9, 2014       Permalink

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  The sky is indeed falling, as we always knew it would.  From the New York Post: 

The summer of 2014 has been one of the mildest on the books — and could be the first summer in a decade without a heatwave.

“It wasn’t clear if it was going to be a hot or a cool summer,” said National Weather Service meteorologist David Stark. “We started out the year very cool and it seems like we just continued that. It doesn’t look like we have any heat waves in the near future.”

Instead of searching for the skimpiest outfits to battle the sizzling sun, New Yorkers are reaching for their sweatshirts.

“It’s been so much colder this summer,” said Susan Vartholomatos, 51, who broke out her bikini for a beach day Friday afternoon. “In the morning, when I go out to my terrace, I need a sweatshirt.”
Vartholomatos said she wishes it was hotter, adding “I’d take heat and humidity over snow any day.”

Only four days have hit 90 degrees this summer, three in July and one in August, with the hottest temperature on the books clocking in at 91.

The last time the city went without a heat wave – classified as three consecutive days of temperatures higher than 90 degrees – was in 2004.

The cooler temps aren’t just affecting people looking to get a good tan. Beach businesses at Coney Island say they’ve taken a hit this season.

“This is the coldest I’ve experienced in a while,” said Ahmad Hussian, whose father owns a store called Sun & Fun on Surf Avenue. “Not a lot of people are coming here at all, but I have sold a lot of hoodies.”

COMMENT:  It is being reported that Al Gore has sought political asylum on Jupiter.  I hope it's granted, and graciously.  The Jupes are fine people, and have nice snowsuits. 

But I really think the global warmers have some explaining to do.  The number of years without global warming is extending.  When it reaches 20, what will these people say?  They've asked nations to expend trillions of dollars on a theory that's coming apart.

Maybe the media will eventually get the message, but, with careers involved in global warming, I doubt it.

August 9,  2014     Permalink

AUGUST 8,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:41 P.M. ET: 

HISPANICS RANK IMMIGRATION LOW – This will come as a surprise to some politicians.  From Breitbart:  "Immigration is only the 6th-most-important issue for Latino voters in California when casting a vote for a candidate for U.S. Senator or for U.S. Congress, according to a statewide survey conducted by Univision.   When registered Latino voters were asked to name their most important issues, the results, in order, were: education (21%), jobs (16%), government spending and the deficit (15%), social security (13%), "how what they do will affect my wallet" (10%), health care (9%), immigration (8%), and crime and personal safety (5%).  An overwhelming 86% of those surveyed support comprehensive immigration reform. However, a majority--53%--of registered Latino voters in California also answered that they believe that, “…we should require borders to be secured before providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants."  Furthermore, when asked, “Which of the following is your major concern or complaint about the Republican Party?” only ten percent of those surveyed named Republican opposition to immigration reform."  White liberals will now denounce Hispanics as not liberal enough.

GRIM IN IRAQ – From Fox:  "BAGHDAD – Hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants with 'vicious plans,' an Iraqi official said Friday, further underscoring the dire plight of Iraq's minorities at the hands of the Islamic State group.  Kamil Amin, the spokesman for Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said hundreds of Yazidi women below the age of 35 are being held in schools in Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. He said the ministry learned of the captives from their families."  Please note the silence of "women's rights" groups.  Unless something is done by a Western democracy, they're just not interested.  I just think that many of these groups, which are usually dominated by the militant left, have lost any credibility.

OUR LIMITED STRIKES – The United States did launch some air strikes today against limited targets in Iraq.  However, a growing number of experts and pseudo-experts are warning that these are pinpricks against ISIS, a powerful and skilled military force representing the worst of Islamic extremism.  Our planes were carrier-based, from the USS George H.W. Bush, which is our newest operational carrier.  The very newest is the USS Gerald Ford, the first ship of her class, which is under construction.  Commentators are wondering if Field Marshal Obama has a strategy here.  He says his first objective is to stop a genocide and protect American training cadres on the ground.  What then?  Do we withdraw our aircraft and let ISIS run all over Iraq?  There doesn't seem to be any long-term objective, which is what got us into trouble in Iraq in the first place.  Islamic extremists of all kinds are watching carefully, planning for our exit from Afghanistan.

August 8, 2014       Permalink 

LAMAR TRIUMPHS – AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  Veteran Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has defeated his Tea Party primary opponent and will have the Republican nomination when he runs for a new term in November.  From ABC:

Incumbent Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander won his primary tonight, defeating tea party challenger state Rep. Joe Carr in the Republican primary. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Alexander bested Carr 49.7 percent to 40.5 percent, according to the Associated Press. This was a tighter than expected final outcome. Self-funding candidate and Memphis radio station owner George Flinn came in with 5.2 percent and there were four other lesser-known challengers.

This race marked the tea party’s last best chance to beat an incumbent senator and with Alexander’s victory, it marks the end of months of trying, as well as millions of dollars spent, to oust a sitting senator by an insurgent intra-party challenger. They tried in Kentucky, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, and earlier this week in Kansas, but came up short each time.

Despite the effort and dollars spent, this will be the first cycle since 2008 when no incumbent GOP senator has lost a re-nomination fight. Unlike many of those other races, this one didn’t get the support of several outside conservative groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund, which pledged to toss out incumbent senators in other races but were unsuccessful.

COMMENT:  Now the Tea Party should unite behind the Republican candidates, show that it is a team player, and that it wants to be an asset, not a spoiler.  It can come back to fight another day, but only if it doesn't damage Republicans in their fight against Democrats.

August 8, 2014       Permalink

THE INDISPENSABLE NATION – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  Europe saw American strength with George W. Bush.  There was much whining, and complaining, especially from the fashionable European left.  One German politician compared Bush to Hitler.  In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair was called "Bush's poodle."   With Obama's election, Europe felt vindicated.  Here was Barack, come to save us.  Peaceful, culturally appropriate Barack.

So now they've seen Barack in office, and the rethinking has begun.  The Europeans and Brits look around and wonder who has their back.  This is American weakness, and, y'know, a strong America doesn't look so bad after all.  From Dan Hodges, a loyalist of the Labour Party, in London's Telegraph.  He gets in the usual leftist stuff, but the overall message is clear:   

God bless America. Following the announcement last night by Barack Obama that the United States is about to resume military operations in Iraq, it appears the Yazidi will not now be killed with their families. There is also hope that Iraq’s other minorities may face some form of protection from their persecutors.

It’s an announcement that won’t be welcomed by everyone. The old charges of US adventurism and imperialism will be trotted out. And with some historic justification. Iraq is after all the scene of the United States most catastrophic foreign policy misjudgement.

“It’s not the job of the US to act as the world’s policeman,” some people will cry. Again, with some legitimacy. Chile, Cuba, Panama, Vietnam, Iraq. The post-war Pax Americana casts a long shadow.
But if events of the past few months have shown us anything, it’s surely this. There is only one thing worse than the United States acting as the world’s policeman. And that’s the United States not acting as the world’s policeman.   

COMMENT:  And that's a lefty point of view, believe it or not.  The saner voices on the right probably came to that overall conclusion a long time ago.  

And, you may be sure, the left will return to its usual America-bashing before the end of next week.  The party line is always preserved.

The results of a strong America were clear to see when the Berlin Wall came down.  We're seeing the results of a weak America right now.

August 8, 2014       Permalink 

SOME TRUTH TELLIN' – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:   Newt Gingrich, who's still one of the smartest guys around, appeared on TV this morning to engage in the telling of the truth.   This is not always welcome in the mainstream media.  But here he is, from Mediaite, in our quote of the day:

This morning on New Day, Newt Gingrich came on to discuss Barack Obama‘s proposal to combat ISIS in Iraq — and, judging by his response, thinks that Obama isn’t recognizing that this is a problem of “radical Islam.”

“Nobody wants to tell the truth,” he complained. “The truth is this is a radical Islamist group. They say openly if you don’t convert, we’ll kill you. It turns out they actually mean it. There’s no complexity…The president couldn’t even honestly describe ISIS last night because it goes against his ideology.”

And, just to be clear, that ideology is that ISIS “has a very clear religious background, just as Hamas does, just as Boko Haram does. There’s a war against Christians across the region, and the fact is that we’ve got to be prepared to be honest about this,” he told CNN’s New Day.

“Nobody in the American State Department, nobody in the White House, not just Obama, but for three or four administrations, we’ve not had the courage to confront how bad this is, and it’s getting worse.”

COMMENT:  Newt is correct.   Too many people prefer not to see, and it extends beyond liberals.   The Bush family is well connected to Saudi Arabia.  It has been widely reported that the Clintons derive income from some of the Gulf states.

And of course our college-trained journalists are drunk on multiculturalism.  After all, who are we to question other cultures? 

We've not been well served.  As Newt says, the problem of radical Islam is getting worse.  And, still, too many won't speak the truth.

August 8, 2014       Permalink

A NEW REALITY – AT 9:04 A.M. ET:  A funny thing happened to President Obama on his way to a second Nobel Peace Prize.  He got back into Iraq.  Once again, the wisdom of the faculty lounge failed him.

Last night he announced humanitarian aid to trapped Christians in Iraq – finally noticing that there are trapped Christians in the world.  He also said there would be some air strikes, when needed, to protect American training personnel in Iraq and to protect, to some degree, Iraqis.  These actions come a year too late.  From CNN, just in: 

U.S. military aircraft have conducted a strike on ISIS artillery that had been used near Irbil, Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Friday on Twitter.

President Barack Obama on Thursday gave authorization to launch "targeted airstrikes" if needed to protect U.S. interests from fighters with the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS.
The U.S. military could also use airstrikes to intervene in a humanitarian crisis that the Islamic State is inflicting on a religious minority.

The Islamic State moved closer to U.S. interests in Iraq's Kurdish region in the north this week, taking towns from the Kurdish fighting force, known as the Peshmerga.

Before the Islamic State's onslaught, the region had been the most stable in Iraq and a cooperative ally of the United States. U.S. military advisers and consular personnel are stationed in the Kurdish capital, Irbil.

COMMENT:  The administration announced there would be no U.S. troops on the ground, another blunder.  Why tell an enemy what you're not going to do?  But this administration puts politics first, and Obama was protecting his political base.

Obviously, we hope that some good comes of this.  There is terrible oppression of Christians in the Muslim world, but this is the first time Obama has chosen to notice.  The question is whether we will do enough to make a difference, or engage in tokenism, only to see our friends overrun in the end.

We go out of Iraq badly, under the direction of Field Marshal Obama.  This is what we've gotten.  The whole world is watching.

August 8,  2014     Permalink