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

DECEMBER 1,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:36 P.M. ET: 

EDITOR'S NOTE – One of the pleasures of writing and editing Urgent Agenda is getting to know the work of many of our remarkable readers.   One of those readers, and subscribers, is the distinguished military historian Will Stroock, author of many books and articles – non-fiction and fiction – that explore the world of the soldier.  Will is just out with his latest novel, "Israel Strikes:  War of the Red Sea," which can be found here, at Amazon.  Once again Will shows his mastery of the Mideast's leading militaries – how they fight, how they think, how they're lead.  It's almost as if you're reading battle reports on the desks of the major players.  The action never stops, and the plot twists show that there's nothing as unpredictable, or human, as modern warfare.  And as the last few pages prove, there'll always be another surprise.  Will we be ready?  Give "Israel Strikes" a good look.  The author is a first-class researcher, which is why the book has the power of authority, as well as solid story telling.

THE FUTURE OF BRITAIN – From London's Daily Mail:  "For years Muhammad has been racing up the chart of the country’s most popular baby names – and now he has been joined by his sisters Nur and Maryam.  The two girls’ names have been among the most popular of 2014, according to website BabyCentre.   The data shows a surge in Arabic names in the UK this year, with Omar, Ali and Ibrahim all entering the boys’ top 100 for the first time."  This is called the future electorate.  Future, as within 25 years.  The same thing is happening in France.  It isn't bigotry to point out the impact this will eventually have on European and British politics, including foreign policy.

BARKLEY TELLS IT LIKE IT IS – From Fox:  "Sir Charles has opinions, and he isn’t afraid to voice them. NBA great Charles Barkley undoubtedly lost some fans and gained some more recently, when he said the grand jury got it right in declining to indict Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown and labeled looters 'scumbags.'  'The true story came out from the grand jury testimony,' the Hall of Fame forward told radio host Mike Missanelli last week on Philadelphia’s sports radio station The Fanatic.  Noting that several black witnesses corroborated Wilson’s version of events, saying Brown attacked him and went for his gun, Barkley accused the press of using dubious information to inflame passions."  And he is correct.  There've been periodic rumors that Barkley intends to enter politics.  He should.  He could shake up black politics.  But the race establishment would probably destroy him.

READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UP – From Fox:  "The White House is pushing a multi-million-dollar program to encourage local law enforcement agencies to use body cameras, on the heels of the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.  At the same time, President Obama is not seeking to pull back federal programs that provide military-style equipment to local law enforcement.  The administration revealed details of a White House review after Obama met with members of his Cabinet about the situation. The president is pushing a three-year, $263 million program to expand training and resources for local police departments -- the biggest component would be a $75 million fund during that period to help purchase 50,000 body cameras. "   The cameras are a good idea, but hardly new.  We've had police dash-cams for years.  And New York has adopted a program of on-person cameras, possibly located in headgear, for officers.  Dash-cams have revealed improper behavior by police officers in dealing with the public.  They have also exonerated officers falsely accused of brutality.

December 1, 2014      Permalink

PROFOUND DISCUSSIONS, NO DOUBT – AT 10:58 A.M. :  The president considers the issues raised by Ferguson.  From CBS: 

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will discuss the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, Monday with his Cabinet, civil rights leaders, law enforcement officials and others.

The White House says Obama's Cabinet meeting will focus on his administration's review of federal programs that provide military-style equipment to law enforcement agencies.

The White House says the president will also meet with young civil rights leaders to discuss the challenges posed by "mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color." He'll then meet with government and law enforcement officials, as well as other community leaders, to discuss how to strengthen neighborhoods.

Protests have continued in Ferguson, but have been more muted than the violence sparked last week by a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

COMMENT:  These problems will never be solved unless the president, and others, finally confront the cultural pathologies in some communities.

Yes, there are problems in police departments.  That's why they have internal affairs divisions.  But most cops are good cops, and many are killed or injured each year, defending us.  However, far too little attention is being paid to the cultural collapse in some communities of color.  This problem accelerated dramatically in the 1960s, in part because of the influence of extreme leftist groups that latched on to the civil rights movement and taught black Americans that they were entitled to their "culture," no matter what it was, and that those who raised questions were racists.

America has paid a price for that twisted logic, and black America has paid the greatest price of all.

December 1, 2014        Permalink

DOUBTS GROW ABOUT HILLARY – AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  If there is one thing in American politics that's been consistent in recent weeks, it's the growing doubt that Hillary Clinton is electable in 2016.  There are even doubts that she'll win her party's nomination.  And there is some doubt that she'll make the run at all.  From Newsmax: 

Doug Schoen, former pollster for Bill and Hillary Clinton, isn't certain Hillary Clinton could win the presidency in 2016.

Appearing Sunday on "The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York, Schoen told host John    Catsimatidis he doesn't think his former boss has the "new car smell" that President Barack Obama last week said was needed for a Democratic candidate.

He also said 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney would be a "formidable opponent" to Clinton.

"We’re in a real barn burner," Schoen said. "The race hasn’t even begun, and it’s tied ostensibly between Hillary and Mitt Romney."

Schoen pointed to a Nov. 26 Quinnipiac Poll showing Romney ahead of Clinton 45 percent to 44 percent in a possible 2016 race. Former GOP Florida Gov. Jeb isn't far behind Clinton in the poll, which showed support for Bush at 41 percent and Hillary at 46 percent in a head-to-head matchup.

"We’re in a statistical tie here. It’s anyone’s to be won," Schoen said.

Still, he believes Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner by double digits, will seek the office.

"The real question is how does she separate herself from Obama, yet not get so far away from him that … she doesn’t alienate his base constituents?" Schoen said.

COMMENT:  The party favorite is really Elizabeth Warren, and my hunch is that she's Obama's favorite as well.  He doesn't want to be succeeded by Hillary Clinton.  The Obamas and Clintons don't get along.

At the same time, the Clintons have built up a tremendous network of supporters and hangers-on.  Warren would be starting from scratch.  Unless her poll numbers collapse completely, Clinton could probably win the party nomination on sheer muscle alone.  The election is a different story.  No voter is obligated to Hillary Clinton.

December 1, 2014       Permalink

STILL MORE CONCERN – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  Airliners at Christmas aren't the only thing our security people are worried about.  ISIS is believed to be targeting American military personnel within the United States.  From ABC:   

The FBI on Sunday issued the strongest warning to date about possible attacks by the ISIS terrorist group against the U.S. military inside the homeland, officials tell ABC News.

In a joint intelligence bulletin issued overnight by the FBI with the Department of Homeland Security, officials strongly urged those who serve in uniform to scrub their social media accounts of anything that might bring unwanted attention from "violent extremists" or would help the extremists learn individual service members' identities.

"The FBI and DHS recommend that current and former members of the military review their online social media accounts for any information that might serve to attract the attention of ISIL [ISIS] and its supporters," the federal bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies said, advising that troops "routinely exercise operational security in their interactions online."

Officials said they fear copycat attacks based on what happened in Canada last month, when two uniformed Canadian soldiers were killed in two separate incidents by young men who claimed they were ISIS followers.

COMMENT:  Americans must be reintroduced to the notion of the long struggle, like the Cold War.  President Kennedy used the term "twilight struggle."  Neither peace nor all-out war.  During the Obama years we've only been introduced to the notion of confusion. 

Let us not forget that this administration still lists the terror attack on American soldiers by an Islamist at Fort Hood as "workplace violence."  Do people know they're lying?

December 1, 2014       Permalink

NEW TERROR THREAT – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  If the report is accurate, terror groups are once again attempting to use their favorite tool...airliners.  From the New York Post: 

Terrorists are plotting to blow up five passenger planes flying between European cities as part of a Christmas “spectacular,” according to a British newspaper report.

“Everyone is expecting something catastrophic very soon,” a source told the Sunday Express.

“We’ve been told that five planes are being targeted in a high-profile hit before Christmas. They’ve been waiting for the big one.”

London authorities were the first to uncover the threat, which would involve midair bombings, a source told The Post.

“There is a credible threat that they’re concerned about,’’ another source said. “They’ve known about it for a while.”

Airport-security sources told the Sunday Express that Islamic radicals plan to smuggle bombs onto the planes in carry-on luggage.

“That’s a common theme that’s out there,’’ the first Post source noted.

Due to the threat, British airport officials may require devices such as smartphones and iPads to be placed in checked luggage.

Cellphones can be used as bombs or bomb triggers, and nonmetallic devices can be hidden inside of them.

The plot, the newspaper said, is believed to involve smuggling bombs on planes bound for European cities.

“The threat is aimed at Europe,” the Sunday Express reported, adding, “The US has improved their security over the summer, but we have not.’’

COMMENT:  We cannot prove that the story is accurate, but it has the feel of reality.  It's entirely logical.  Sooner or later, a major plot is going to succeed.  And Obama will blame the Republicans.

December 1,  2014     Permalink

NOVEMBER 30,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:09 P.M. ET: 

I'M CRUSHED – From the Washington Examiner:  "Narrowing the field of potential Democratic presidential contenders even further, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick took himself out of the running for the 2016 race Sunday.  'I've thought about it, but no, I can't get ready for 2016,' he told NBC on Sunday. He said he didn't view governorship as a stepping-stone to a higher office. 'I didn't run for the job just to get another job.'  Patrick, 58, is stepping down after two terms and was considered an outside possibility to run. However, the buzz surrounding him diminished after the Democratic Party's nominee to succeed him, Martha Coakley, was defeated by Republican Charlie Baker in this fall's election."  Well, there goes our chance at greatness.  I could feel the wanting of Deval all over the country.

SOMEONE WANTS THE JOB? – From The Hill:  "Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Saturday said he is 'open' to replacing outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.  'I'm open to it, but I don't anticipate being asked,' Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told KIRO-TV in Washington.
'I like the job I have,' he added. 'I love representing the 9th District. If it came to that, it would be a difficult decision.'  Smith said he had not been contacted by the Obama administration about the position.  Smith’s name was one of several to emerge following last Monday’s announcement that Hagel would step down after less than two years as the Pentagon chief."   Also emerging are a cab driver in Davenport and a movie usher in Dallas.  Neither has indicated interest in the job unless lines of authority are worked out.

THANKSGIVING BUST – From The New York Times:  "Have Americans finally had enough of Black Friday madness?  Sales, both in stores and online, from Thanksgiving through the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11 percent, to $50.9 billion, from $57.4 billion last year, according to preliminary survey results released Sunday by the National Retail Federation. Sales fell despite many stores’ opening earlier than ever on Thanksgiving Day."  The decline will be reversed when Barack Obama gets his goodbye gift for Chuck Hagel.

November 30, 2014       Permalink

IF TRUE, TROUBLE – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:   London's Daily Mail is reporting on claims that ISIS has enough nuclear material for a dirty bomb.  A dirty bomb isn't an "atomic bomb," but a conventional explosive wrapped in radioactive material that contaminates a wide area if exploded:

Islamic State fanatics claim to have constructed a dirty bomb after stealing 40kg of uranium from an Iraqi university.

Militants boasted of the device on social media, with one even commenting on the destruction such a bomb would wreak in London, four months after the chemical was reported missing from Mosul University.

Among extremists making online threats to the West is British explosives expert Hamayun Tariq, who fled his home in Dudley, West Midlands, for the Middle East in 2012.

Using the Muslim name, Muslim-al-Britani, he posted on Twitter: 'O by the way Islamic State does have a Dirty bomb. We found some Radio active material from Mosul university,' the Mirror reports.
He continued: 'We’ll find out what dirty bombs are and what they do. We’ll also discuss what might happen if one actually went off in a public area.

'This sort of a bomb would be terribly destructive if went off In LONDON becuz (sic) it would be more of a disruptive than a destructive weapon,' before having his Twitter account suspended.
Other jihadis echoed the claims a destructive 'dirty bomb' had been made, with one writing: '
'IS has confirmed that we have acquired a dirty bomb from radioactive material from Mosul Uni! Mashallah #IS'.

COMMENT:  Can't confirm it, but it's entirely logical that extremist groups can acquire extremely dangerous materials in an unstable region.  A dirty bomb can contaminate many blocks in a big city.  It could paralyze financial districts or sports venues.  It's only a matter of time.

November 30, 2014       Permalink

FASCINATING CASE – AT 10:11 A.M. ET:   The Supreme Court is about to take up a case that will test the limits of speech on the internet.  These are hard cases, often close calls, but they are critical to building our democracy.  From AP: 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthony Elonis claimed he was just kidding when he posted a series of graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent.

But his wife didn't see it that way. Neither did a federal jury.

Elonis, who's from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was convicted of violating a federal law that makes it a crime to threaten another person.

In a far-reaching case that probes the limits of free speech over the Internet, the Supreme Court on Monday was to consider whether Elonis' Facebook posts, and others like it, deserve protection under the First Amendment.

Elonis argues that his lyrics were simply a crude and spontaneous form of expression that should not be considered threatening if he did not really mean it. The government says it does not matter what Elonis intended, and that the true test of a threat is whether his words make a reasonable person feel threatened.

One post about his wife said, "There's one way to love you but a thousand ways to kill you. I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts."

The case has drawn widespread attention from free-speech advocates who say comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media can be hasty, impulsive and easily misinterpreted. They point out that a message on Facebook intended for a small group could be taken out of context when viewed by a wider audience.

"A statute that proscribes speech without regard to the speaker's intended meaning runs the risk of punishing protected First Amendment expression simply because it is crudely or zealously expressed," said a brief from the American Liberties Union and other groups.

But so far, most lower courts have rejected that view, ruling that a "true threat" depends on how an objective person perceives the message.

COMMENT:  And the lower courts are right.  When a man threatens his estranged wife that way, I really don't think it can be called free speech. 

And I'm amused by "free speech" advocates who scream their devotion to the First Amendment, yet who have no problem with "speech codes" on college campuses that restrict speech that offends any politically popular constituency. 

November 30,  2014     Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – THE MYTHS SURROUNDING FERGUSON – AT 10:05 A.M. ET:  There is a whole narrative being built by the left about Ferguson, about how police departments "oppress" African Americans.  According to this narrative, even the black crime rate is fiction, a creation of the "oppressor" forces.

But many, including many in the black community, are having none of it.  African-American columnist Larry Elder exposes the hypocrisy by quoting the police chief of Milwaukee, Edward Flynn.  From the Washington Examiner:

Ironically, in Wisconsin just three weeks ago, Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn was being criticized for inappropriate and disrespectful behavior. Flynn, during a police commission meeting related to an officer-involved shooting, was on his cell phone. Didn't he appreciate the gravity of this hearing? Later, at a press conference, he was asked why he was rude.

The chief said: "Well, I was on my phone, yes. That is true. I was following developments with a 5-year-old girl sitting on her dad's lap who just got shot in the head by a drive-by shooting. If some of the people gave a good goddamn about the victimization of people in this community by crime, I'd take some of their invective more seriously.

"The greatest racial disparity in the city of Milwaukee is getting shot and killed -- hello! Eighty percent of my homicide victims -- every year -- are African-American; 80 percent of our aggravated assault victims are African-American; 80 percent of our shooting victims who survive their shooting are African-American.

"Now, they know all about the last three people who have been killed by the Milwaukee Police Department over the course of the last several years. There's not one of them that can name one of the last three homicide victims we've had in this city. ... But this community is at risk all right, and it's not because men and women in blue risk their lives protecting it. It's at risk because we have large numbers of high-capacity, quality firearms in the hands of remorseless criminals who don't care who they shoot.

"Now I'm leaving here to go to that scene. I take it personally, OK? We're going up there, and there's a bunch of cops processing a scene of a dead kid. And they're the ones that are going to be out there patrolling and stopping suspects that may have guns under the front seat. They're the ones that are gonna take risks to their lives to try to clean this thing up, all right?

"We are responsible for the things we get wrong, and we take action. We've arrested cops, we've fired cops and so on. But the fact is, the people out here, some of them -- who had the most to say -- are absolutely MIA when it comes to the true threats facing this community. It gets a little tiresome, and when you start getting yelled at for reading the updates of the kid who got shot, yeah, you take it personally, OK?"

COMMENT:  Nothing like telling it like it is.  One of the tragedies of black America is incompetent, dishonest, ambitious leadership, that feeds myths to the people to stay in power.  These "leaders" really don't care about black progress.  In fact, they despise it.  They prefer that their people be kept down, poor and misinformed, the better to have a consistent constituency. 

Even worse, are the white "allies," the loudest of whom are old reds and red allies.  They egg on the most irresponsible elements in the black community.  Why, it's a revolution.  Didn't you know?  Isn't it romantic?

And the man in the White House makes it worse with his provocative comments condemning America.

November 30,  2014     Permalink