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DECEMBER 9,  2014

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

GOOD MOVE – From the Washington Times:  "Law enforcement and lawmakers: 50 sheriffs arrive in the nation’s capital Wednesday to demand that Congress address porous, dangerous U.S. borders — and the woes that go with them.  'Never before in our nation’s history has it been so important for the American sheriffs to stand united and speak with one voice to secure our nation’s borders. No longer can we site idle while the inaction of our federal government marginalizes our ability to preserve public safety, enforce our laws and protect the Constitutional rights of all who legitimately reside and work in our communities,' declared Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson of Bristol County, Massachusetts, in an open invitation to fellow officers."  Sheriffs are elected, whereas police chiefs are appointed.  Sheriffs speak out on public issues all the time, as is appropriate.  We are facing an ideological onslaught from the political left, and sheriffs may be one of our first lines of defense.  Our borders are insecure.  Leftists don't care.  And the president will try to get his reckless immigration proposals through despite public opposition.  Our side organized well for the election, but seems to be falling back, as usual, into disarray.

MORE ON THE LEFTIST ONSLAUGHT – From The Wall Street Journal:  "The progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org is preparing to launch a campaign to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race.  MoveOn is conducting a one-day poll of its eight million members that, if they approve, would mark the beginning of a $1 million initial grassroots investment to convince the freshman Massachusetts Democrat to throw her hat into the presidential ring.  'There is too much at stake to have anything other than our best candidates in the debate. We are prepared to show Senator Warren she has the support she needs to enter—and win—the presidential race,' said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, in a release."  Well, she'd be a leftist ideal – a twofer...the first woman president and the first Native American president, even though there's no proof she's a Native American.  Who needs proof when you've elected Obama?  Unlike Obama, she's a poor campaigner.  More interesting than Hillary, though.

OUTRAGEOUS – From the New York Post:  "Mayor Bill de Blasio has an opening on his personal security detail — and the candidate has to be black, The Post has learned.  The head of Hizzoner’s protection unit — staffed by a racially diverse group — has been calling other commanders asking for recommendations, law enforcement sources said.  'A boss on his security detail is looking to recruit a new sergeant but they have to be the right racial makeup. He is looking for a sergeant but the sergeant has to be black,' a source told The Post.  'We all know where [the order is] coming from,' the source said, suggesting the security head was acting at the mayor’s behest. '"  The mayor has been exposing himself lately as the leftist he really is.  So the quota system apparently at work in his office should come as no great surprise.

THE LITTLE PROBLEM – From AP:  "LIMA, Peru (AP) — The current U.N. climate talks will be the first to neutralize all the greenhouse gas pollution they generate, offset by host country Peru's protection of forest at three different reserves, organizers say.  Now the bad news: The Lima conference is expected to have the biggest carbon footprint of any U.N. climate meeting measured to date.   At more than 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the negotiations' burden on global warming will be about 1 1/2 times the norm, said Jorge Alvarez, project coordinator for the U.N. Development Program.  The venue is one big reason. It had to be built."  Yeah.  I guess they couldn't find a building somewhere to hold the meeting, which will probably accomplish nothing.  What a fraud.

December 9,  2014     Permalink

SUCH HUMILITY – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:   Jonathan Gruber, the academic, and one of the architects of Obamacare, appeared before Congress today and immediately tried to walk back his comments insulting the American people.  From the Washington Times: 

Jonathan Gruber, the man at the center of Obamacare’s troubled public image, apologized to Congress for “glib” and “thoughtless” comments about the stupidity of the American voters and how the health overhaul passed, arguing he is no political expert and shouldn’t have posed as one in speeches around the country.

“It’s never appropriate to try to make oneself seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. I knew better. I know better. I’m embarrassed, and I’m sorry,” Mr. Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the House oversight committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican.

Mr. Gruber tried to walk back the imprint his comments, captured in YouTube clips that went viral and reignited many concerns about Obamacare, as Republicans prepare to take full control of Congress in the new year.

Mr. Issa played the clips on large TV screens in the hearing room prior to testimony.

In one, Mr. Gruber said the health care bill was written in a “tortured” way to ensure the Congressional Budget Office didn’t score the individual mandate as a tax, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld the mandate as constitutional under Congress’s taxing power.

“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Mr. Gruber said. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass.”

COMMENT:  I don't know how you really walk back comments like that.  And no one can really believe that this arrogant, self-satisfied man is truly serious.  I don't think Mr. Gruber will be in great demand by the political class.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

THE WAR GOES ON – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  This cannot be verified, but there's a certain logic to it.  From the Washington Free Beacon:   

An alleged weapons maker for the Islamic State (IS) claimed that a “radioactive device” has been smuggled into an undisclosed location in Europe, according to an intelligence brief released Monday by the SITE Intelligence Group.

“A Radioactive Device has entered somewhere in Europe,” according to Twitter user Muslim-Al-Britani, who claims to be a freelance jihadist weapons maker now working alongside IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS), according to tweets captured and disseminated by SITE.

BREAKING NEWS# WARNING A Radioactive Device has entered somewhere in Europe. pic.twitter.com/9GKHjz7ugs

— Muslim-Al-Britani (@TNTmuslim) December 6, 2014

The claim by Al-Britani comes just days after reports emerged that IS could have in its possession a dirty bomb, the elements of which were obtained via earlier IS raids on a university research facility in Mosul that contained uranium. Al-Britani is also responsible for the flurry of reports on the dirty bomb.

Al-Britani, who has disseminated on his Twitter feed “weapon instructions and manuals,” claimed on Nov. 23 that the “Islamic State does have a dirty bomb. We found some radioactive material from Mosul university,” according to the tweets reproduced by SITE.

While it is difficult to assess the veracity of Al-Britani’s claims, U.S. officials have expressed concern about IS potentially smuggling nuclear and radioactive material out of Iraq.

U.S. and Iraqi officials inked a pact in September meant to step up efforts to combat this type of smuggling, which the United States deemed a “critical” threat.

COMMENT:  It's an entirely legitimate fear.  Any terror group would want to have radioactive material, if only to enhance the group's fear factor.   We'll be debating the Senate intelligence report while the real terrorists keep moving ahead.  Brilliant.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

PUSHBACK – AT 9:36 A.M. ET:  The battle against the Senate report on "torture" has begun.  From Michael Gerson at the Washington Post:

So the Feinstein report would come in the middle of a war, targeting many Americans who are still engaged in it. It would be an act of exceptional congressional recklessness. Democratic senators on the Intelligence Committee interviewed none of the key figures in the program, yet fought for months to make it easier to identify the targets of their report. “Those personnel,” said (soon to be former) Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), “if they have that worry, can be given some legitimate security.” This is clearly what some committee members intended: exposure and a bodyguard.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the outgoing chair of the committee, was thought to be more responsible. But her legacy may be a massive dump of intelligence details useful to the enemy in a time of war. And she knows the likely results. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the concerns of allies about increased violence. A National Intelligence Council report warned of threats to embassies, installations and individuals, and explored how partners would react to the disclosure.

So why has Feinstein donned her Guy Fawkes mask? Tension with the CIA? Simple stubbornness? The main reason, I suspect, is different. Democrats who approved of enhanced interrogation at the time (such as Feinstein) must now construct an elaborate fantasy world in which they were not knowledgeable and supportive. They postulate a new reality in which they were innocent and deceived — requiring a conspiracy from three former CIA directors, three former deputy directors and hundreds of others.

Occam would indicate a different answer: guilt, hypocrisy and betrayal.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  We are watching an act of craziness and self-service.  This country will not be helped by this indulgence.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

MADNESS – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Right in the middle of the war on terror, as American troops are once again engaged in Iraq, and the stationing of American troops in Afghanistan is extended, a group of rabid Democrats in the Senate are releasing a report today condemning their own country for the use of "torture" during the Bush administration.

Even the Obama administration knows that this release can lead to a catastrophe.  From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — American embassies, military units and other U.S. interests are preparing for possible security threats related to the release of a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The report from the Senate Intelligence Committee will be the first public accounting of the CIA's use of what critics call torture on al-Qaida detainees held at "black" sites in Europe and Asia. The committee on Tuesday was expected to release a 480-page executive summary of the 6,000-plus-page report compiled by Democrats on the panel.

"There are some indications that the release of the report could lead to a greater risk that is posed to U.S. facilities and individuals all around the world," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday. "The administration has taken the prudent steps to ensure that the proper security precautions are in place at U.S. facilities around the globe."

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said "there is certainly the possibility that the release of this report could cause unrest" and therefore combatant commands have been directed to take protective measures.

U.S. officials who have read the report say it includes disturbing new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding. It alleges that the harsh interrogations failed to produce unique and life-saving intelligence — a conclusion disputed by current and former intelligence officials, including CIA Director John Brennan.

COMMENT:  There will be major pushback from the intelligence community.  This has the potential to further divide the American people at a critical time, and a time when our national leadership is so weak.

Maybe the Dems are releasing the report now to divert attention from their recent electoral catastrophe.  Maybe they still haven't finished their war against Bush.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

DECEMBER 8,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

NOT A GOOD SHOW – From Newsbusters:  "According to retired ABC News journalist Ann Compton, Barack Obama launches into 'profanity-laced' tirades against the press in off-the-record meetings with reporters. In a C-SPAN interview, Compton also derided the President for leading 'the most opaque' administration of 'any I have covered.' The journalist, who retired in August after a 40-year career, revealed to C-SPAN's Brian Lamb: 'I have seen in the last year Barack Obama really angry twice. Both were off-the-record times. One, profanity-laced where he thought the press was making too much of scandals that he did not think were scandals.'"  Incredible that the president would behave that way in front of journalists.  Maybe they're onto him.  Amateur.

OH, I'M SO RELIEVED – From USA Today:  "Natural weather patterns, not man-made global warming, are causing the historic drought parching California, says a study out Monday from federal scientists. 'It's important to note that California's drought, while extreme, is not an uncommon occurrence for the state,' said Richard Seager, the report's lead author and professor with Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. The report was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report did not appear in a peer-reviewed journal but was reviewed by other NOAA scientists.  'In fact, multiyear droughts appear regularly in the state's climate record, and it's a safe bet that a similar event will happen again,' he said."  Al Gore could not be reached for comment.

FANATICS – The big event coming up tomorrow (Tuesday) is the release by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee of a report detailing "torture" of terrorists by the Bush administration.  It is being made public despite repeated warnings that its release could trigger the murder of Americans around the world.  Hey, what's a few deaths when compared to a chance to attack BUSH (!!) and CHENEY (!!!!)?  We'll have more on this after the release.   The intelligence community is furious, and it has a right to be.  We are at war with terror groups, and since when do you release reports like this in the middle of a war?  The main inquiry into Pearl Harbor occurred after World War II.

OBLIVION – From Breitbart:  "Despite the best efforts of Jennifer Lawrence, two big family films, some horrible bosses, and The Mighty Christopher Nolan, according to Deadline, the weekend's box office collapsed to a 16-year-low.  Box Office Mojo reports the weekend earned just $70.4 million, which Deadline says is the worst post-Thanksgiving weekend, going all the way back to 1998. Mojo adds that this weekend was the second-worst of the year and somewhere around a 20% drop over this same weekend last year."  Why is it surprising?  The movie industry (it's not Hollywood anymore) has done everything possible to drive away its audience.  Nice to see it succeeding at something.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

COMING SOON TO A SCHOOL DISTRICT NEAR YOU – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  There are frightening stories coming out of Britain about the attempted takeover of schools by militant Muslim groups.  It's remarkable that this politically incorrect story made it into The New York Times.  Must've gotten by the commissars:

BIRMINGHAM, England — As a Sikh and second-generation Briton running a public school made up mostly of Muslim students, Balwant Bains was at the center of the issues facing multicultural Britain, including the perennial question of balancing religious precepts and cultural identity against assimilation.

But in January, Mr. Bains stepped down as the principal of the Saltley School and Specialist Science College, saying he could no longer do the job in the face of relentless criticism from the Muslim-dominated school board. It had pressed him, unsuccessfully, to replace some courses with Islamic and Arabic studies, segregate girls and boys and drop a citizenship class on tolerance and democracy in Britain.

“I suppose I was a threat, giving these children more British values, for them to be integrated into society,” Mr. Bains said in his first interview since the controversy over his departure.

His experience has helped bring to life the often deeply emotional and highly contentious conflicts unearthed by a British government investigation this year into whether organized groups of conservative Muslims were having undue influence on public schools.

The topic has become especially sensitive at a time when Britain is concerned about the radicalization of young Muslims in the country and their involvement with jihadis in Syria and Iraq. The investigation was prompted by an anonymous letter, sent last year to local officials in Birmingham, alleging an organized Islamic takeover of British schools in Muslim neighborhoods.

COMMENT:  The question is not whether some Muslim groups try to take over schools and school systems.  The question is, who's helping them?  If you look closely, I'm sure you will find the hand of the political left.  Leftists often work with Muslim extremists to tear down western societies. Ideologically, the leftists have nothing in common with Muslims, but it doesn't matter.  The main objective is to destroy.  After the destruction, leftists believe they'll pick up the pieces and replace capitalism with their version of life.

After the subway bombings in Britain in 2005, an American magazine did a study of groups supporting Muslim political activity in the United Kingdom.  It found startling examples of leftist groups working hand in glove with Muslim groups, despite vast ideological differences.

Look for the same here.  On college campuses, the most radical Muslim groups – who would relegate women to a third-rate status in society – are often given aid and comfort by the old Marxists, who then march for free abortion on demand.  Same logic applies:  bring it down, bring it down!

December 8, 2014       Permalink

OBAMACARE DISASTER – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Some of the destruction wreaked by Obamacare is obvious – people losing their plans, dramatic increases in costs for the middle class, loss of ability to choose your doctors.  Other effects are longer term, but could be just as devastating.  From AP:

MIAMI (AP) — When Olivia Papa signed up for a new health plan last year, her insurance company assigned her to a primary care doctor. The relatively healthy 61-year-old didn't try to see the doctor until last month, when she and her husband both needed authorization to see separate specialists.

She called the doctor's office several times without luck.

"They told me that they were not on the plan, they were never on the plan and they'd been trying to get their name off the plan all year," said Papa, who recently bought a plan from a different insurance company.

It was no better with the next doctor she was assigned. The Naples, Florida, resident said she left a message to make an appointment, "and they never called back."

The Papas were among the 6.7 million people who gained insurance through the Affordable Care Act last year, flooding a primary care system that is struggling to keep up with demand.

A survey this year by The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients.

At the same time, insurance companies have routinely limited the number of doctors and providers on their plans as a way to cut costs. The result has further restricted some patients' ability to get appointments quickly.

One purpose of the new health law was connecting patients, many of whom never had insurance before, with primary care doctors to prevent them from landing in the emergency room when they are sicker and their care is more expensive. Yet nearly 1 in 5 Americans lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the number of doctors entering the field isn't expected to keep pace with demand.

COMMENT:  Ah, the march of progress.  See how wonderful liberalism is.  You may be sure that one proposal that will be made to increase the supply of physicians will be to lower standards.  And that notion may well begin with a demand for greater "cultural representation" in medicine.

And don't be shocked if nurses are asked to take over some of the functions normally reserved for physicians.  That may not be a bad thing at all.  There are many superb, well-trained nurses.  But we'll be spreading things awfully thin.

And you also may be sure that voices will be heard demanding full socialized medicine, with medical colleges run by the government.  After all, doesn't nanny know best? 

Some will say these are just the growing pains of a new, national health system.  But Obamacare was sold as a means of solving problems, not creating them.  Yes, there are people who now have health insurance who depended on emergency rooms before.  But how many Americans have lost insurance, or can't pay for new policies?  We're not given a full story by the mainstream media.

December 8, 2014       Permalink

NOT SO FAST – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  Already the 2016 spin machine has been plugged in.  We're being told that the Democrats will almost certainly retake the Senate that year because Republicans will face as difficult a map as Democrats faced in 2014.  Not so fast says ace political reporter Michael Barone: 

Even as Republicans are about to regain a majority in the Senate after eight years in the minority, the conventional wisdom around Washington is that Democrats are likely to win back that majority again in 2016. That’s certainly possible, but it’s short of a slam dunk.

Superficially, the field of Senate seats up in 2016 looks as unfavorable for Republicans and the field of Senate seats up this year looked for Democrats. Of the 36 seats up in 2014, Democrats were defending 21, including seven in states carried by Mitt Romney. Of the 34 seats currently up in 2016, Republicans will be defending even more, 24, including seven in states Barack Obama carried in 2012.

In a nation that increasingly votes straight ticket, there is a high correlation between voting for president and voting for Senate. Harry Enten and Dhrumil Mehta of fivethirtyeight.com calculate that “it explained over 75 percent of the variation in results across the [Senate] races this year. That’s the highest ever.”

But...

However, Republicans don’t face the peril in 2016 that Democrats faced in 2014. Six of the seven Democratic seats up this year in Romney states were in states where Obama lost by double-digit margins. Only North Carolina was close, and Republican Thom Tillis won there by the same 2-point margin by which Romney carried the state in 2012.

In contrast, six of the seven seats Republicans will be defending in 2016 are in states which Obama carried with between 50 and 52 percent of the vote — states that are no more heavily Democratic than Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and Virginia, where Republican non-incumbents were competitive this year.

In three of these Obama states, Republican incumbents have shown a capacity to run well ahead of their party — Charles Grassley in Iowa (52 percent Obama), Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire (52 percent) and Rob Portman in Ohio (51 percent). They may well do so again.

Three others would not have to run much ahead of party lines to prevail — Marco Rubio in Florida (where Obama got 50 percent), Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania (52 percent) and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin (52 percent).

COMMENT:  Nothing like a little good news to get the week started.  Of course, Barone is writing from today's perspective.  However, we don't see anything on the horizon to suggest that Democratic/Obama policies will be any more popular in 2016 than they are now.

December 8,  2014     Permalink

DEM DESTRUCTION – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  We are learning more and more about the weak state of the Democratic Party, following this year's election.  From the Washington Examiner: 

A new post-election map proves that many more Americans now live in states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures than all-Democratic-run states.

Americans for Tax Reform produced the map showing that 146 million Americans live in all-GOP states compared to 49 million in all-Democratic states. Another 112 million live in states where the party of the governor and legislature are different.

What’s more, ATR President Grover Norquist told Secrets that all-Republican states outnumber all-Democratic states by a whopping 24 to 7.

“This is the demographic of the future of America,” he said.

COMMENT:  Well, that may be optimistic, but we can dream, can't we?  Look at the map.  Republicans have never had the opportunity they have now to reshape the country and put the brakes on the rampant leftism of Barack Obama.

The question, though, is whether they'll use that opportunity or succumb to the traditional Republican tendency to pull back on conservative beliefs and just go along with the Georgetown cocktail crowd.  Already there are signs that Speaker Boehner wants no part of a vigorous, muscular response to Obama.  Republicans have learned well the depressing art of playing for crumbs.

December 8, 2014       Permalink