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JANUARY 15,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:15 P.M. ET: 

JOB MARKET COOLS – From Bloomberg:  "More Americans unexpectedly filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating companies let go of seasonal workers following the holidays.  Jobless claims climbed by 19,000 to 316,000 in the week ended Jan. 10, the most since early September, from a revised 297,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 290,000."  Other economic indicators are also starting to slow.  What recovery?

WHAT A JERK – From Business Insider:  "The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets," Sharpton quipped in a statement released later in the afternoon.  Sharpton, a critic of the lack of diversity in Hollywood, also announced he was holding an 'emergency meeting' next week to address the issue.  'I have called an emergency meeting early next week in Hollywood with the task force to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards,' he said.  The prestigious awards ceremony was widely criticized after its nominees for best actor, best actress, and best director were all white. In the past two decades this has happened only one other time, according to The Hollywood Reporter."  The fact that it's happened only one other time destroys Sharpton's hustle.  There are plenty of minorities nominated for Oscars.  This year several lists came out as all white.  It will happen occasionally.  But what does Sharpton want?  Quotas?  The whole thing is ridiculous.

MAJOR LEGAL NEWS – From the Daily Beast:  "It may be the storied house of Eloise, but New York City’s legendary Plaza is being hawked like a pinky ring by its Indian owner to help pay for his $3 billion bail in New Delhi.  To make the situation all the more remarkable, he hawked the house of Eloise along with two other hotels to an investment group that includes a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and a noted New York sports agent.   Who would have guessed that Pras Michel of the Fugees would go on to become a record-breaking bail bondsman and help spring an Indian billionaire from a New Delhi hoosegow?"  Ah, there is good taste all around us, isn't there?  Yuch.

GOOD FOR CANADA! – Canada, one of our most reliable allies, has been regularly ignored and minimized by the Obamans.  Canada has apparently had enough, and is symbolically expressing its displeasure.  From the Washington Times:  "The White House confirmed Thursday that Canada has postponed the North American Leaders Summit scheduled for next month but would not say whether tension over the Keystone XL oil pipeline is the reason.  Canada, this year’s summit host, announced Thursday that the summit will be held later in 2015, though no exact date has been set. Some Canadian media outlets, such as the Toronto Sun, reported that the meeting was rescheduled because of President Obama’s continued indecision on Keystone, which the Canadian government strongly supports."  Maybe the Prince of Change in the White House will get the message.  But, even if he does, he won't care.

January 15, 2015        Permalink

WARNING ABOUT THE CDC – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  There is no greater gold-plated name in Washington than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  But it has been faltering, and that should have us worried.  From health-care authority Betsy McCaughey at the New York Post: 

With flu raging through 46 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking center stage, advising the public and physicians. But the agency increasingly isn’t up to its task.
Until last year, polls showed the CDC to be the most respected federal agency. But then it bungled its response to Ebola.

That was a wake-up call, because the CDC has been fumbling its most important jobs for several years. The agency has a severe case of mission confusion.

Domestic preparedness: After the 9/11 attacks, Congress instructed the CDC to launch a State and Local Preparedness program and build a Strategic National Stockpile to prepare for bioterrorism or a disease outbreak.

But the CDC has failed on both fronts, leaving us woefully unprepared, according to the Associated Press. “A mediocre outbreak” could overwhelm the system, said Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University.

When Ebola struck, the stockpile was already out of essential gear like waterproof gowns: The CDC had used up the supplies during the 2009 swine-flu threat, yet didn’t even order more until October 2014, with Ebola in full swing.

Since 2007, the CDC has cut domestic preparedness every year, reallocating the money to “urgent” causes like improving access to farmer’s markets.

Lab safety: The CDC had so many potentially lethal mishaps last year that outside scientists are now urging Congress to bar most of the 1,500 CDC labs from handling deadly bugs.

The agency mislabeled live anthrax and sent it to other labs, mixed up inactivated bird-flu specimens and lethal ones and exposed a scientist to incorrectly labeled Ebola specimens.
Sounds like the Centers for Disease Mix-Ups and Confusion. 

COMMENT:  This is pretty chilling stuff.  You'd think the Obama administration would do something about it.  But, oh, it's the Obama administration.

January 15, 2015       Permalink

OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  Leslie Gelb, an old foreign-policy hand, argues dramatically at the Daily Beast that Obama has his last chance to improve his foreign policy.  This is a rather dramatic statement from a careful writer:   

The failure of Obama or Biden to show up in Paris made clear that most of the president’s team can’t be trusted to conduct U.S national security policy and must be replaced—at once.
Here’s why America’s failure to be represented at the Paris unity march was so profoundly disturbing. It wasn’t just because President Obama’s or Vice President Biden’s absence was a horrendous gaffe. More than this, it demonstrated beyond argument that the Obama team lacks the basic instincts and judgment necessary to conduct U.S. national security policy in the next two years. It’s simply too dangerous to let Mr. Obama continue as is—with his current team and his way of making decisions. America, its allies, and friends could be heading into one of the most dangerous periods since the height of the Cold War.

Mr. Obama will have to excuse most of his inner core, especially in the White House. He will have to replace them with strong and strategic people of proven foreign policy experience. He’ll also need to seed the Defense and State Departments with new top people serving directly as senior advisers to the secretaries. And he also will need to set up regular consultations—not the usual phony ones—with the two key Senate leaders in this field, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, two people who can really improve his decisions and bolster his credibility. Many will be tempted to dismiss these crash solutions as several bridges too far, as simply unrealistic. But hear me out. It can be made much more plausible than it seems at first blush. What’s more, if Mr. Obama doesn’t do something along the lines of what’s proposed here, he and we are in for unmanageable trouble.

Before I continue, I have to tell you that I’ve never made such extreme and far-reaching proposals in all my years in this business. I’ve never proposed such a drastic overhaul. But if you think hard about how Mr. Obama and his team handled this weekend in Paris, I think you’ll see I’m not enjoying a foreign policy neurological breakdown.

It was an absolute no-brainer for either Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden personally to show the American flag on the streets of Paris. Of course every senior staff person should have recommended it three seconds after the news of the Parisian horrors. So far as we know, none did. Sure, this was an inexplicable and utter staff failure, but the president and the vice president shouldn’t have required anyone to tell them what to do in this situation. It was, after all, about terrorism, the main issue of the era. If all these top officials blew this obvious decision, shudder at how they’ll handle the hard ones.

COMMENT:  Read the entire piece.  It's worth it.  Finally someone with a heavyweight reputation, who is not a Republican partisan, says what needs to be said.  We are in serious trouble.  Gelb ends this way:  "Mr. "Obama will not be a lesser man but a greater man if he recognizes what’s at stake and accepts the help he must have to ensure our survival. End of story."

January 15, 2015       Permalink

AND ON THE ECONOMY – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  Another poll result.  Despite apparent improvements in the economy, most Americans really aren't buying the deal.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Americans are in general agreement that the nation’s economy is improving, but not their own personal situation, a depressing reality that the administration can’t shake the country out of no matter what it does.

A big reason: They just don't believe the president and his team's boasting about the economy, with 52 percent in a new poll believing that there are more people unemployed than the president says.

The latest Economist/YouGov poll found that the “positive assessment has yet to become part of most Americans daily conversations about the economy. And Americans are far more likely to credit themselves and American business — and not the president or Congress — for whatever economic improvement there has been.”

For example, while majorities believe that unemployment is improving and the economy is getting better, they don’t credit Washington. Business first, and consumers second, get the credit. President Obama and Congress follow in the poll.

COMMENT:  And the majorities are right.  Indeed, Obama has fought against a number of the things that are actually helping the economy.  He fought tooth and nail against fracking and the ambitions of the oil companies, yet those companies are making us energy independent.  And who is taking public credit?  Why, it's that self same Barack Obama.

We have a way to go before Americans believe their own situation is better. 

January 15, 2015       Permalink

WAKE-UP CALL – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  Before the president wields his veto pen, he might look at the latest poll from Fox: 

Most Americans of all political stripes support construction of the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, and want President Obama to sign legislation approving it, according to a new Fox News poll.

The pipeline would transport oil from Canada to refineries in the United States.

A 65-percent majority says Obama should sign the Keystone legislation, according to the poll. That includes 82 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 52 percent of Democrats.

Overall, only 22 percent of voters think the president should veto it -- which he has threatened to do.

The U.S. House passed a bill approving the pipeline Friday. The Senate is now considering Keystone legislation, but there won’t be a final vote this week.

Support for Keystone has held steady for years: 68 percent of voters backed it at the end of 2014, 70 percent in 2013 and 67 percent in 2012.

COMMENT:  Walter Russell Mead recently argued that liberal institutions, which campaign against projects like Keystone, are losing their influence with the public.  We see the truth of that in poll after poll.

January 15,  2015     Permalink

JANUARY 14,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:59 P.M. ET: 

TRENDIES AT WORK – From Breitbart:  "In a new initiative to promote religious pluralism, Duke University will broadcast the Muslim call to prayer every Friday on campus. The call to prayer—also known as 'adhan'—will be chanted by the Duke Muslim Student Association.  The prayer itself is set to start this Friday at 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast and amplified from the Chapel bell tower on campus.  As campuses continue to foster political correctness, they use it as a way to favor religions seemingly at war with Western Civilization and Judeo-Christian beliefs."  Considering the Paris attacks, Duke's timing isn't exactly elegant.  But I wonder if the worthies at Duke are even aware of the Paris attacks.  I also wonder whether "Silent Night" would be approved for broadcast while students prepared for Christmas vacation.  Don't hold your breath.

NUT CASE – From Britain's Daily Mail:  "The President of Turkey has suggested French security forces are to blame for the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week, since the culprits had recently served prison sentences.  Recep Tayyip Erdo?an accused the West of 'playing games with the Islamic world', warning fellow Muslims to be 'aware'.  Erdogan said Muslims are 'paying the price' for the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish kosher supermarket in Paris last week."  This man heads a country that is in NATO.  Maybe it's time we reconsidered that.  NATO members get classified information.

DAVID COMING – From Financial Times:  "David Cameron will seek Barack Obama’s support this week for a push to improve co-operation between intelligence agencies and technology companies such as Twitter and Facebook, warning the president that public safety is at stake.  The prime minister is traveling to Washington on Thursday for what is intended to be his final overseas trip before the UK general election, hoping that two days of meetings and photo calls with the US president will give him an electoral boost."  It's clear that our main allies have lost confidence in Obama, and feel that he lacks the spine to fight a real war on sacred terror.  Actually, he lacks the interest.

BACK TO REALITY – From Fox:  "An alleged sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group was arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after authorities learned that he was plotting a shooting and bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol.  Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, considered members of Congress as 'enemies' and planned to travel to Washington to kill employees and officers working in and around the U.S. Capitol, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities said he had two semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition, and planned to build and detonate pipe bombs at and near the U.S. Capitol."  I'm glad we stopped this one.  We won't always be this lucky.

January 14, 2015       Permalink

BULLETIN:  AL QAEDA CLAIMS CREDIT FOR PARIS ATTACKS – AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  Will the White House continue to claim that the term "Islamic terrorism" is "inaccurate"?  From CNN:

(CNN) Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility Wednesday for last week's rampage that killed 12 people at France's Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper.

The attack was years in the making, AQAP claimed.

In a video, the group said the late Anwar al-Awlaki masterminded the attack. The U.S.-born Muslim scholar and cleric was spokesman for AQAP before his death in 2011.

The group did not claim responsibility for Friday's deadly siege at a kosher grocery store in Paris, but praised it.

The claim surfaced as Charlie Hebdo's new issue -- featuring the Prophet Mohammed on the cover -- sold all 3 million copies, in a sign of defiance against the terrorists. More copies are coming, the magazine said.

The claim for the Charlie Hebdo attack came in a video showing AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, with pictures of the two dead Paris gunmen -- brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi -- in the background.

"When the heroes were assigned, they accepted. They promised and fulfilled," al-Ansi said.

He praised the attack, saying it was revenge for Charlie Hebdo's depictions of Mohammed.

Al-Ansi blamed not only Charlie Hebdo, but also France and the United States in his statement.

"It is France that has shared all of America's crimes," al-Ansi added. "It is France that has committed crimes in Mali and the Islamic Maghreb. It is France that supports the annihilation of Muslims in Central Africa in the name of race cleansing." ("Islamic Maghreb" refers to North Africa.)

COMMENT:  France has actually been one of the most pro-Muslim countries in Europe.  But it doesn't matter.  Crazed fanatics have their own view of reality.

We do hope the president of the United States takes time out from the important work of watching football reruns and examines the AQAP video.  The White House can make copies for a small fee.

January 14, 2015       Permalink

HILLARY GETTING STARTED? – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  Jay Leno last week said that Hillary Clinton looked old and slow.  Pretty devastating stuff, even coming from a comic.  But there are signs that the Democratic Party's great hope for 2016 is starting to move.  From Fox: 

Counselor to the President John Podesta will take on a senior role in Hillary Clinton's as yet undeclared Presidential campaign when he departs the White House next month, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing three people with the matter, reported that Podesta has sat in on informal meetings of Clinton aides that have have discussed a potential presidential campaign in 2016. The former secretary of state and senator from New York has not yet formally announced her candidacy. However, the Journal reports that Podesta's planned move is seen as the clearest sign yet that she will run.

It is.  Podesta is a political heavyweight.  It's unlikely he'd give up a White House job, with free use of the gym, unless Hillary is definitely running.

It remains unclear what role Podesta would play in a presumptive Clinton campaign, the Journal reported that he would likely become campaign chairman.

Podesta served as White House chief of staff for the final 27 months of former President Bill Clinton's second term in office. He became Counselor to President Barack Obama at the beginning of 2014, and has played a key role in advising the president on energy policy.

Podesta initially told Reuters last week that he would depart the White House "in early February," a few weeks after Obama delivers the State of the Union address Jan. 20. When discussing a possible role in a Clinton campaign, he said, "If she decides to run, I told her I'd do anything I can to help her."

COMMENT:   The next six months should make clear whether Hillary will be seriously challenged for the nomination, and whether her general lead in the polls holds up.  If her lead starts to dwindle, I'd expect some kind of challenge, whether it's a candidate coming forward or the start of a "draft Elizabeth Warren" campaign. 

January 14, 2015       Permalink

DISGRACEFUL, DISHONEST – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  The White House is doubling down on its refusal to call last week's attacks in Paris "Islamic terrorism."  Apparently, there are rumors that the attacks were carried out by penguins.  Radical penguins.  From Gateway Pundit:   

Last week the Obama White House refused to call the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo newspaper an act of terrorism. The Obama administration was “waiting for an investigation.”

Today White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said it was “inaccurate” to use the phrase “radical Islam.”

“I’m describing a reason why we have not chosen to use that label because it doesn’t seem to accurately describe what had happened.”

COMMENT:  This comes right from the top, from Barack Hussein Obama Jr.  For the first time in American history, the United States Government will not permit accurate identification of an enemy that has already killed thousands.

I can understand separating the Islamists from the mass of Muslims.  But it's absurd to suggest that the Islamic world bears no responsibility for the rise of sacred terror. 

Gee, when Obama and Holder went after cops recently, they called them cops, not "misguided uniformed individuals."  I wonder what the Obama crowd will say after France completes the "investigation" the White House is awaiting.

January 14, 2015       Permalink

EUROPE ON THE EDGE – AT 7:53 A.M. ET:  The more we learn, the more frightening the European condition is.  From Reuters: 

LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The head of Europe's police organization Europol said on Tuesday the continent was facing its greatest security threat in more than a decade, with as many as 5,000 Europeans who have joined fighting in Syria posing a risk to their homelands.

Please note the great concern on the part of European leftists.  They're still hating Ronald Reagan.

Europol Director Rob Wainwright also echoed warnings from spy chiefs and some political leaders in the wake of last week's deadly attacks by Islamist militants in Paris that European security agencies faced a "capability gap" which could leave their countries at risk.

"It is certainly the most serious terrorist threat Europe has faced since 9/11," Wainwright told a British parliamentary committee, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Many European countries are on high alert following last week's attack by Islamist gunmen on a satirical journal and a kosher supermarket in Paris which killed 17, with France planning to deploy 10,000 soldiers.

European security officials have long warned that radicalized fighters returning from Syria pose a threat and Wainright said 3,000-5,000 EU nationals could come back with the intent to carry out operations similar to the Paris attacks.

COMMENT:  That 5,000 number is staggering.  How do you trace that number of people, especially when they're trying to disappear?  Look what a handful of operatives did last week? 

And still, our government seems not to exhibit a high sense of urgency.

January 14,  2015     Permalink