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AUGUST 30,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

DOIN' WHAT COMES NATURALLY – The New York Times is reporting that Democrats are now using the "Ferguson outrage" to register more black voters, in the hope that this can tip elections in key states.  The tactic may work.  It has been effective in the past.  The Democratic Party is a grievance party, and scare tactics are pretty standard.  It's not certain, though, whether the "Ferguson outrage" will last, especially if evidence comes out exonerating the police officer involved.

NEW U.S. AIR STRIKES – From Fox:  "U.S. warplanes carried out air strikes and dropped humanitarian aid Saturday to Shia Turkmen who have been trapped and besieged by Islamic State militants for two months in the town of Amirli, a U.S. senior defense official confirmed to Fox News.  Aircraft from Australia, France and Britain joined the U.S. in delivering the aid to the farming community about 105 miles north of Baghdad, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement. The aid came at the request of the Iraqi government, he said."  I fear this will all be too little, too late.  As one military expert observed today, the heart of the Islamic State is in Syria, not Iraq, and we're not attacking in Syria. 

THE UNMASKING – One of our astute readers took the time actually to examine the work of the League of Women Voters.  Historically, Americans have thought of the League as a nonpartisan organization devoted simply to the involvement of women in politics.  Our reader claims this is a myth, that the current League is a branch of the liberal establishment, and invites us to visit its webpage, which is here.  Our reader is correct.  This is liberal politics in a deceptive package.  The League has the tax status of a nonpartisan organization.  A good argument could be make for revoking that status.

August 30, 2014       Permalink

AND ANOTHER WARNING – AT 11:17 A.M. ET:   I've never seen a period where there are so many well-sourced warnings about terrorism coming at us.  From Fox: 

Social media chatter shows Islamic State militants are keenly aware of the porous U.S.-Mexico border, and are “expressing an increased interest” in crossing over to carry out a terrorist attack, according to a Texas law enforcement bulletin sent out this week.

“A review of ISIS social media messaging during the week ending August 26 shows that militants are expressing an increased interest in the notion that they could clandestinely infiltrate the southwest border of US, for terror attack,” warns the Texas Department of Public Safety "situational awareness" bulletin, obtained by FoxNews.com.

The three-page bulletin, entitled “ISIS Interest on the US Southwest Border” and dated Aug. 28 was released to law enforcement on Thursday.

“Social media account holders believed to be ISIS militants and propagandists have called for unspecified border operations, or they have sought to raise awareness that illegal entry through Mexico is a viable option,” states the law enforcement bulletin, which is not classified.

It notes no known credible homeland threats or specific homeland attack plot has been identified. That assertion was underscored by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who said Friday that DHS and the FBI are "unaware of any specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland" from Islamic State.

Despite assurances that no threat to American soil is imminent, the watchdog group Judicial Watch said Friday that Islamic State operatives are in Juarez, just across the border from Texas, and are planning to attack the United States with car bombs.

"Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat," Judicial Watch stated on its website.

COMMENT:  You don't have to identify a specific threat to be worried.  We knew in 1941 that the Japanese were planning something in the Pacific, but couldn't nail it down as Pearl Harbor.  The king of Saudi Arabia warned yesterday that terror groups in his region will reach Europe within a month, and America a month later.  While I wouldn't hang on the king's every word, I think it's telling that Saudi Arabia, historically one of the great sponsors of terror groups, is now warning us about terror.  They know the territory. 

September 11th is 12 days away.  I have no independent knowledge of any planned attack, of course, but I hope we are on high alert.  Benghazi occurred on September 11th two years ago. 

August 30, 2014       Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 11:02 A.M. ET:  A Winston Churchill he's not, but Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has put our president to absolute shame in his decisive, articulate, unyielding description of what we face in confronting radical Islam.  From Fox: 

British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to confront radical Islam "at home and abroad" and the United Kingdom raised its terror level to "severe" in the wake of new revelations about Islamic State's butchery in Syria and Iraq.

Cameron, speaking from 10 Downing Street, said Britain's problem with homegrown radical jihadists joining the bloody battle engulfing the Middle East and threatening attacks on the west must be addressed with tough action.

"This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles away that we can hope to ignore," the Conservative Party leader said. "The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the UK. And that is in addition to the many other Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist groups that exist in that region. The first ISIL terrorist attacks on the continent of Europe have already taken place."

"We cannot appease this ideology," the Conservative Party leader said. "We have to confront it at home and abroad. To do this we need a tough, intelligent, patient, comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist threat at its source.

COMMENT:  Compare please to the mush put out by the Obama administration, which came to office trying to redefine terrorism as "man-made disasters," and which called the Islamist attack at Fort Hood "workplace violence."

Britain raised its alert level to "severe."  Obama will probably change ours to, "Well, you never know."

Already Cameron is being sniped at by the journalistic left, which apparently is appalled by the truth.  It's so upsetting to have the party line questioned.

But hail to King David.  He made Obama look like the child he is.

August 30, 2014       Permalink

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT? – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  This, just in from Times of Israel, AP, and AFP: 

Seventy-five UNDOF peacekeepers in the Golan Heights fled Syrian territory for the Israeli-controlled Golan on Saturday after their positions were attacked by rebel forces.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a number of UN peacekeepers entered Israel. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Channel 2 said 75 UN troops had crossed the borders, after two UN positions on the Syrian side of the border were targeted by al-Nusra rebel forces.

Earlier in the day, the Philippine defense chief said that Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan Heights were attacked by Syrian rebels, who are also holding dozens of Fijian troops hostage.

Clashes continued in the area through Saturday.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters Saturday in a series of text messages that Filipino troops manning one UN encampment had been “extricated,” while soldiers in another encampment were “now under attack.”

Asked if there was a fresh firefight Saturday, Gazmin replied: “Yes.”

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala later told AFP that “there is still an ongoing standoff but there was a firefight earlier today.”

COMMENT:  So, 1) the UN "peacekeeper" were so weak that they couldn't keep the peace, even in their own little sector and 2) the UN "peacekeepers," representing one of the most anti-Israel bodies in the world, fled to Israel at first sign of danger.

I doubt if Israel will be thanked for its hospitality, any more than our own country has been thanked for saving endless numbers of Muslims over the years. 

Watch the way this little piece of history is rewritten.

August 30,  2014    Permalink

AUGUST 29,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

SOCIAL NEWS – Please write this down.  I don't want to have to repeat it:  From Breitbart:  "President Obama has a busy Labor Day weekend planned as he leaves on Air Force One for New York later this afternoon.  Once in New York, President Obama is scheduled to attend two Democratic National Committee fundraisers in the area at private homes.  One of the fundraisers will be a Labor Day Barbecue, hosted by ex-UBS CEO Robert Wolf, who also golfed with the president on Martha's Vineyard during their vacation.
He will then travel abroad Air Force One to Newport, Rhode Island for a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.  The Rhode Island fundraiser will be held at the home of former Nortek CEO Richard Bready and Betty Easton. Obama is scheduled to be in Rhode Island for less than three hours, before returning to Westchester where he will spend the night.
Saturday, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are expected to attend the wedding of MSNBC’s Alex Wagner to his personal White House Chef Sam Kass."  All this while defeating the Islamic State.  What a guy!

MAJOR JOURNALISM NEWS – From People:  "Chelsea Clinton says she's stepping out of her correspondent job as she looks forward to taking on mom duties  After not quite three years as a special correspondent for NBC News – and with just a little while until she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are expected to become parents – the former first daughter is now leaving that position, she tells PEOPLE in a statement, 'to continue focusing on my work at the Clinton Foundation and as Marc and I look forward to welcoming our first child.'  Having specialized in feel-good stories of 'remarkable people and organizations making a profound difference,' Clinton, 34, says the highlights of her job included meeting people like Annette Dove, whose TOPPS program in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 'continues to fill the hunger, education and safety gaps for kids of all ages in her community.'"  This is the end of our hopes for a new, elevated journalism.

SILLY – The amateurs at the White House, beginning with the top guy, can't even get their fibs straight.  From Business Insider:  "The White House is insisting the U.S. is not at war with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, despite an aggressive air campaign and previously labeling the jihadist group an 'imminent threat to every interest we have.'  'Before getting into the strategy, though, there seems [to be] a fundamental, existential question: Is the United States presently at war with ISIS — yes or no?' MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked President Barack Obama's top spokesman, White House press secretary Josh Earnest, on Thursday.  Earnest went with 'no.'"  Must not upset the far left.  Problem is, the Islamic State is at war with us.

August 29, 2014       Permalink

REMEMBER, IT WAS ONLY WORKPLACE VIOLENCE – AT 7:46 A.M. ET:   Remember Major Hasan, the misunderstood Army psychiatrist who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 while screaming a radical Islamic oath?  He has a new request.  From London's Daily Mail: 

The former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in the 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood has said it would be 'an honor' to join the caliphate in a letter to ISIS, it has been reported.

Nidal Hasan has apparently requested to be made a 'citizen soldier' of the caliphate in the letter to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Hasan opened fire on his fellow servicemen and women on November 5, killing 13 and injuring 30 others.

He was shot and paralyzed from the waist down in the resulting gunfire and was sentenced to death last year.

Earlier this year FBI Director James Comey testified that he believed the shooting carried out by Hasan at Fort Hood in Texas was inspired by al-Qaeda.

The federal government has termed the attack an incidence of 'workplace violence,' saying that the home-grown Hasan didn't meet the legal definition of an international terrorist.

What a farce.

In an undated letter, obtained by Fox News, Hasan reportedly requests to be made a 'citizen' of the Islamic State.

He goes on to say it would be 'an honor for any believer to be an obedient citizen soldier to a people and its leader who don't compromise the religion of All-Mighty Allah to get along with the disbelievers.'

COMMENT:  No, I think not.  Unless Obama goes completely batty, which is a distinct possibility, Hasan will probably have to face the music for what he did.   But, you know, the Islamic State could probably benefit from his psychiatric services.

Is it really possible that no one noticed this man's proclivities before he shot up Fort Hood?  Or were they not encouraged to notice by the Obama administration? 

August 29, 2014       Permalink

AN ALTERNATIVE CULTURAL NARRATIVE – AT 7:24 A.M. ET:  Rarely has brutality been on display as blatantly as it is with the Islamic State.  From London's Daily Mail: 

Islamic State have released a new decapitation video, threatening America for the second time and urging the Kurds to break from their alliance with the West against the caliphate.

Just hours after Islamic State released shocking footage of the mass execution of 300 Syrian national army soldiers in the Syrian desert, Islamic State have issued a second warning to the United States.

The grainy video, accompanied by the hashtag '2ndAmessagetoAmerica', shows the vicious beheading of a Kurdish soldier, who was part of a group of 15 fighters likely to have been captured by Islamic State during the fighting in Iraq.

The group's first warning ten days ago was entitled 'A Message to America' and showed the decapitation of American journalist James Foley.

In the latest video, the captors first issue a warning they will continue to decapitate prisoners should America continue to support the Kurds in their fight against the Islamic State.
They then behead one of the captives on a sandy roadside in Iraq, where the Great Mosque of Mosul can be seen in the background.

Kurdish forces have been in fierce fighting with Islamic State since June and their militias have been beginning to receive considerable amounts of armaments from Western powers including the USA and UK.

It is the latest front line in a brutal power struggle taking place through Syria and Iraq as the Islamic State attempts to extend its influence and impose Sharia law across the region.

COMMENT:  And what does our leader, Field Marshal of the United States, Including the South Side of Chicago, Barack Obama, have to say about this?  He told us yesterday that we don't have a plan yet for defeating the Islamic State.  Earlier in the week we learned that the United States has been studying this movement for four years.  Well, you know, that's very little time to develop a strategic plan that would satisfy the needs of a godlike president.  True, we won World War II in three years, eight months, but we were so crude about it.  The field marshal has much higher standards, including his brilliant concept of leading from behind. 

August 29, 2014       Permalink 

MORE ABSURDITY – AT 6:43 A.M. ET:  The New York Times isn't dying.  It's committing suicide.  Earlier this week it had the nerve to give an accurate description of Michael Brown, who was killed by police bullets in the Ferguson incident.  But the political left erupted at any description of Brown that suggested he was less than perfect, the same kind of eruption we had in 2008 if anyone dared ask a serious question of Barack Obama.  Now the Times is crawling and begging forgiveness for printing impolite thoughts.  From John Hinderaker at Powerline: 

Michael Brown was a very large young man, 6’4″ and 292 (sometimes reported as 300) pounds. He used his size aggressively to rob a convenience store and shove aside a store clerk just ten minutes before his fatal encounter with a police officer. Brown’s height and weight are obviously relevant to the police officer’s claim of self-defense, which we assume will eventually be forthcoming.

Yet these basic physical facts are too hot for the New York Times to handle. In a column by Kyle Massey, an assistant news editor, the Times says that it regrets describing Brown as “burly” and will no longer do so. Why? Because the word “burly” is “racially charged.” That’s news to me; I have sometimes described my son as burly, although he weighs more than 100 pounds less than Brown. Evidently I will have to stop, even though the Merriam-Webster dictionary merely defines “burly” as “strongly and heavily built.”

So how will the Times describe Brown from now on? Svelte? Diminutive? I don’t suppose so. The paper’s real problem is that it doesn’t want readers to know that Brown was such a big guy. They just want to keep saying that he was “unarmed,” as though that precludes any necessity for self-defense. 6’4″ and 292 pounds clouds that narrative just a bit. So from now on, the Times will draw a discreet veil over the stature of the burly Mr. Brown.

COMMENT:  On the political left, justice is defined as getting the result you want.  Whether it is just or corrupt is of no consequence.  It reminds us of the definition of "truth" by Herbert Marcuse, one of the left's leading philosophers in the 1960s:  Truth, he said, is what supports progressive causes. 

The Times is simply going with the flow.  Many of its "sophisticated" readers just don't care, or are happy to go along with this new fascism, as long as they can be invited to the proper cocktail parties in Manhattan. 

August 29, 2014       Permalink

SICKENING – AT 6:35 A.M. ET:  Jimmy Carter is more than a public embarrassment.  He is a disgrace to the American presidency.  From Newsmax: 

Former President Jimmy Carter will headline a fundraising convention for Hamas, a group which has been recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Breitbart News reports that Carter, 89, long known as a supporter of Hamas in its struggle with Israel, will be welcomed this weekend to the Detroit event by members of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), implicated by the Justice Department in a scheme to funnel $12 million to Hamas.

Expected to speak at the meeting at Cobo Hall are unindicted co-conspirators Jamal Badawi, named in 2007 in the Holy Land Foundation Trial, and Siraj Wahhaj, listed for his involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U.S., and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim member of Congress, also will speak.

Carter's involvement may be in violation of the law, U.S. Code 2339B, Section 18, which makes it a crime for any U.S. citizen to provide material support to any group designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

Constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz stressed that Carter's actions, in raising funds for the ISNA, place him "very close, if not across the line," of criminal behavior.

COMMENT:   One of the great lies about Carter is that he's a human-rights activist.  In fact, his support for human rights, and basic democratic rights, is very selective.  You never hear him arguing for human rights in, say, Saudi Arabia.  I am speculating, but I wonder what size check it took to shut Carter up on that score.

When he was president he lectured this nation about its "inordinate fear of Communism," essentially ridiculing the notion that Communist nations were a threat to our way of life. What a great crusader for human rights!  Compare please to Ronald Reagan, who inspired the refuseniks and others fighting for freedom in the Soviet Union. 

He was given the Nobel Peace Prize for nothing, which is why it's usually given.  He contributed nothing to peace.  Indeed, one of the Nobel big shots said at the time that Carter was awarded the prize as a "kick in the shins" to George W. Bush, who had the gall to defend his country.

Carter is getting more eccentric and more mean-spirited with age.  Even his grandson, who is running for governor of Georgia, has distanced himself from him.  Some men don't know when to get off the stage.

August 29,  2014      Permalink