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MARCH 18,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

DISGRACEFUL – From AP:  "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The second-ranking Senate Democrat on Wednesday accused Republicans of putting the president's attorney general nominee 'in the back of the bus' by delaying her confirmation.  Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois made the comment on the Senate floor as he criticized the GOP over its handling of Loretta Lynch's nomination. She would become the nation's first black female attorney general, replacing Eric Holder, the first African-American in the job."  That is an ugly playing of the race card.  Lynch's nomination is being delayed because the Senate has other pressing business.  Race has nothing to do with it, and Durbin knows it.

CRAZY – From the Washington Times:  "President Obama, whose party was trounced in last year’s midterm election due in part to poor turnout among Democrats, endorsed the idea of mandatory voting Wednesday.  'It would be transformative if everybody voted,' Mr. Obama said during a town-hall event in Cleveland. 'That would counteract [campaign] money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country.'  Mr. Obama raised the subject during a discussion of curbing the influence of campaign donations in U.S. elections. The president said he had never discussed the idea publicly before, but said Australia and some other countries have compulsory voting.  The president didn’t commit to pushing a mandatory voting initiative at the federal level but said, 'that may end up being a better strategy in the short term' than finding a solution to curbing campaign donations."  What a nutty idea – being forced to vote.  And what if millions don't?  Do they send out the Marines?  The right to vote should always include the right not to vote.  Dems would favor compulsion because most of the low-information non-voters would vote Democratic. 

CLASS AND NO CLASS – Not only did Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu on his re-election, he did it in Hebrew on Twitter, then provided an English translation.  That's class.  Compare please to President Smalltime, in the White House, a petulant child who is so annoyed that Netanyahu won that he has thus far refused to congratulate him.  We're told that the congratulations will come within days.  Smalltime treats dictators far better.  He's demonstrated little respect for democracy.

MAJOR RESEARCH REPORT – From dishwashers.reviewed.com:  "We've got it all wrong folks. A new study in the Chemical Engineering Journal has discovered the best way to load a dishwasher, and we weren't even close.  Digital Trends reports that it's all about what's on the dirty dishes, specifically proteins and carbohydrates. Dishes covered in carbs like pasta should be placed in a circle in the center of your dishwasher, following the rotating sprayer arms of the machine.  As for protein-covered dishes, they should stay along the edges of the dishwasher, where they can spend more time getting sudsed up. And don't even think about overloading your dishwasher. This inhibits water flow in the machine, preventing dishes from getting clean."  I'm so glad I know this.  Now I'm an educated man.

March 18, 2015       Permalink

SHIFTING SANDS – AT 10:51 A.M. ET:   Netanyahu's victory in Israel may permit him to make temporary alliances with Arab countries, like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, that have concerns similar to those of Israel, especially concerns about an Iranian nuclear weapon.  From Reuters: 

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu owes his election win to Israeli security fears, notably about Iran's growing regional influence, said an official of a Gulf Arab government wary of Tehran's progress towards a nuclear deal with world powers.

"With Iran emerging again, it was highly expected that Netanyahu would win," said the Gulf Arab official, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

"He's a man who believes strongly in protecting his people, and this is what Israel wants now."

The Gulf Arab states, led by dominant Gulf Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia, see Shi'ite Iran as their main regional rival and fear an atomic deal could lead to Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, or could ease political pressure on it, giving it more space to back Arab proxies opposed by Riyadh.

COMMENT:  There have been whispers, although loud whispers, about the possibility of a joint Israeli-Arab attack on Iran's nuclear facilities should the Iranian program be allowed to continue.  It would be very difficult with Obama still in office, but Obama won't be in office starting January 20, 2017, and that's not so far off.  I count the days.

March 18, 2015       Permalink

WHERE'S THE CANDIDATE? – AT 10:19 A.M. ET:  Democrats in early primary states are getting nervous about the absence of Hillary Clinton.  As the presumed Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, she should be out there showing the flag.  The only thing she's currently showing is a list of excuses and explanations.  From WaPo: 

In Iowa, Democrats want to see Hillary Rodham Clinton mingling in their neighborhood coffee shops, answering their questions and sharing laughs. In New Hampshire, they expect her on their living-room couches, listening to their tales of struggle. In South Carolina, they’re eager to hold hands with her and pray together.

And in each of the early presidential primary and caucus states, Democratic activists are asking the same question: Where is Hillary?

As Clinton slow-walks her way into the 2016 presidential race, many of the Democratic front-runner’s most active supporters are concerned that she’s not yet doing the kind of face-to-face politicking that is well underway by a cast of a dozen or more likely Republican candidates.

Clinton’s absence has stoked unease among her impatient supporters, who also worry about her reputation as someone uncomfortable with the nitty-gritty of retail campaigning.

“They’re anxious because so many Republican candidates are coming here, they’re flowing in, and it’s like a parade on the other side,” said New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, a top Clinton backer in 2008. “Obviously she’s going to run. They’re hoping she’s going to be here so they can actually see her and engage with her and reinvigorate the campaign.”

COMMENT:  Some of these folks seem unaware that Hillary was been preoccupied with the Clinton family business – scandal.  And I suspect that some astute political observers are just waiting for the next scandal to hit, or for one of the current ones to blow up.

Will Hillary actually run?  All indications are that she will.  The general Clinton strategy when dealing with scandal is to let time pass, in the hope, usually correct, that the scandal will disappear from the media.  This time, though, that strategy may fail.  A presidential candidate is in a category all its own, and Clinton does not have the same appeal that candidate Obama did. 

There are also an apparently increasing number of "progressive" Democrats who are trying to drum up support for an Elizabeth Warren campaign.  But Warren knows that if she runs, and loses, the Clintons will finish her politically.  I doubt if Lizzie will take the plunge unless Hillary either drops out or is convicted of grand larceny. 

March 18, 2015       Permalink

ATTACK IN TUNIS – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Details on this are just coming in.  From the BBC:

At least seven foreign tourists and a Tunisian have been killed after gunmen targeted a museum in the Tunisian capital, officials say.

British, Italian, French and Spanish nationals were among those taken hostage, local radio reported.

The shooting happened at the Bardo Museum, which is next to the parliament building in central Tunis.

At the time of the attack deputies were discussing anti-terrorism legislation. Parliament has now been evacuated.

"A terrorist attack [targeted] the Bardo Museum," interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told journalists.

He said that the attack involved "two or more terrorists armed with Kalashnikovs".

Most tourists were evacuated but some were still believed to be inside, Mr Aroui said, adding that security forces had entered the museum.

COMMENT:  Attacking tourists is an old terrorist technique.  Countries like Tunisia are heavily dependent on the tourist trade.  If tourists are frightened off, the economies of these countries can suffer substantially.

We'll follow this.  We don't yet know what group is responsible.

March 18, 2015       Permalink

THE ISRAELI VOTE – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  There are rumors from Washington that President Obama required medical assistance and psychological counseling after learning that Bibi Netanyahu won a decisive victory in yesterday's Israeli elections.  Al Sharpton may have to be called, and maybe even Reverend Wright.

Editors at The New York Times have required similar treatment.  They were seen waving their Obamacare cards as they rushed to nearby hospitals and even abortion clinics (simply to show solidarity).

CNN went almost crazy last night.  You'd think Israel had elected the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.

It's all nonsense.  Netanyahu was elected for a variety of reasons, mostly his tough stand on the defense of his country.  In the end, Israeli voters made it clear that they did not trust Barack Hussein Obama Jr. to protect them, or be the kind of ally Israel (and other friends of America) expect from an American president. 

The hystericals in the press are making much of Bibi's comment, in the closing days of the campaign, that he would not permit a Palestinian state on his watch.  I would suggest that the statement is meaningless, and nothing more than campaign rhetoric designed to get his people to the polls.  All Bibi has to say, if the Palestinians start negotiating in the real world, is that "conditions have changed," and his campaign line will go away, joining, "If you like your current health plan, you can keep it" in the junkyard of history. 

At least the European Union had the graciousness to congratulate Netanyahu on his stunning, come-from-behind victory.  No such congrats have come from the glorified town councilman in the White House, whose pettiness is on its usual display.  A White House aide congratulated Israel on its democracy, but said nothing about the victor.

We'll see in coming weeks how things shake out.  For now we must tend to the emotional injury suffered by our leftist friends.  We must be kind and generous, and give them the names of the nearest trauma centers.

March 18,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 17,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

BIBI ROMPS – The Israeli election produced a huge upset.  Bibi Netanyahu's Likud Party, expected to come in second, won a smashing victory, with Bibi almost guaranteed to form and lead the next government. 
From the Jerusalem Post:  "The Israeli elections took a dramatic turn in the early morning hours on Wednesday as official tallies from nearly all precincts indicate that Likud has opened up a significant lead over Zionist Union, a far cry from the virtual dead heat that television exit polls had reported Tuesday evening.  With 99 percent of precincts reporting before dawn on Wednesday, the Likud has emerged as the clear, undisputed victor in the elections."  Barack Obama will lose a night's sleep.  We'll have more on the Israeli elections in the morning.

FREE SPEECH WINS – From Breitbart:  "The University of Missouri students association confirmed that a campus screening of American Sniper would continue as originally scheduled after a Muslim student had protested the showing of the film earlier this month, calling it 'blatant racist, colonialist propaganda.'  According to the Missourian, the film is scheduled to be shown on April 17 and 18 at the campus’s Wrench Auditorium as part of a regular campus film series.  However, in a March 3 letter to University of Missouri newspaper The Maneater, Farah El-Jayyousi wrote that Clint Eastwood’s film “dehumanizes Arabs and Muslims and encourages racism in society,” and referred to the film’s protagonist, Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, as a “killer with no regard for human life.”  Let the film be shown.  Students can criticize it all they want after seeing it.  Chris Kyle fought for their right to do so.

MAJOR RETAIL CRISIS – From the New York Daily News:  "You can design your dream space in Ikea — but just don’t hide in the showroom.  The Swedish furniture giant has asked thousands of Dutch shoppers to stop playing hide-and-seek inside its stores, calling the customer-organized games a safety hazard.  Things started off in July when about 500 Ikea lovers flocked to a Belgian store for the inaugural match. When players started organizing more games in stores throughout the Netherlands, Ikea swiftly shut down the childish fun.  'It’s hard to control,' Ikea Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg. 'We need to make sure people are safe in our stores, and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.'"  I feel their pain.  Unauthorized hide-and-seek is one of the unspoken tragedies of our time.

THE WAR ON CLEANLINESS – From the Washington Free Beacon:  "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants hotels to monitor how much time its guests spend in the shower.  The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to 'modify their behavior.'  'Hotels consume a significant amount of water in the U.S. and around the world,' an EPA grant to the University of Tulsa reads. 'Most hotels do not monitor individual guest water usage and as a result, millions of gallons of potable water are wasted every year by hotel guests.'"  How would they know it's wasted? 

March 17, 2015       Permalink

LATEST GOP POLLS – AT 11:56 A.M. ET:  Andrew Malcolm, at IBD, examines recent polling on the Republican presidential field.  Yes, it's really too early, but it's fun:   

Speculating about election results 602 days before voting is sure folly -- especially when the Republican field is so large, young and largely unknown and the Democrat field is one, old and, well, well-known as susceptible to serious stumbles.

But mining the data within two recent surveys by well-respected polling outfits does provide revealing peeks at how the would-be GOP candidates are viewed right now by their base.

And those results actually create a fresh list of somewhat surprising front-runners.

No Republicans have actually announced anything beyond "exploring," except Mitt Romney to say he will not be a candidate.

However, Gallup surveyed 653 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, combining how well-known they are and their favorable ratings.

That poll found that two former state chief executives, Jeb Bush (76%) and Mike Huckabee (72%), were the best known in the field, which averages 47 years of age. (The Democrat candidate averages 67 years of age.)

Huckabee, who's been a TV show host since his second-place finish in 2008, had a slightly higher net favorable rating, although his favorable standing is concentrated among conservatives. Bush is seen favorably by a much broader cross-section of party members.

Four other potential GOP candidates had net favorable ratings, but were less-known -- Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Dr. Ben Carson.

Although New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is almost as well-known as Bush, he came out with the lowest net favorable ratings of any Republican tested. Not far from there at the bottom was ex-Sen. Rick Santorum.

Here's a potentially key finding: Santorum, Cruz and Rubio are almost equally familiar to survey respondents. But the difference in the bilingual Rubio's favorable-unfavorable rating is huge; 47% think of him favorably while only 8% negatively. 

This contrasts with Santorum, for example, who has a favorable rating of 35% but an unfavorable of 21%.

Remember that Rubio likability. Because the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll finds -- tah dah! -- the Florida senator tops a list of 14 Republican possibles with 56% of respondents saying they could support him. Will a fractured party unite around the least-disliked candidate?

That poll's results found Huckabee and Walker virtually tied about four points behind Rubio. They're followed by Bush, Rand Paul and Gov. Rick Perry.

COMMENT:  Bottom line, it's more good news for Rubio, at least for the present.  Now that he's rising, watch the mainstream media, led by The New York Times, go after him. 

We still have more than a year before the national conventions.  Polls taken now won't even be remembered.

March 17,  2015     Permalink

DEMS SCARED BY HILLARY'S STUMBLES – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:   She really is the only candidate the Democrats have got.  And she's kind of starting her presidential campaign under a cloud, where you usually find the Clintons.  From Breitbart: 

National Journal Senior Political Columnist and Editorial Director Ron Fournier said that Democrats are “scared to death” over the scandals regarding donations to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s emails on Monday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.

“Don’t buy the spin, they [Democrats] are scared to death. And there’s a lot of them who are already starting to think ‘is she really the best candidate for us?’…Their bench, compared to the Republican bench is awfully, awfully thin. And there’s a lot of Democrats, by the way, who are saying ‘follow the money.’ A lot of Democrats are really worried about the Foundation, that’s what they’re really worried about” he stated.

Earlier, Fournier said that the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of Chinese donations is “a big issue. There’s a lot of other ways the Chinese government, and the Saudis, and the [Qataris] — there are other ways that they can help the world if that’s what they want to do. They’re giving their money to the Clinton Foundation for a reason. They want something out of it. So I know, what I really want to see in these e-mails is any e-mail that mentions the Foundation and mentions one of the donors.”

Fournier also commented on James Carville’s defense of Clinton, arguing that “what Carville did is give up the goods. What he admitted there was that this was not a matter of convenience, which is what the Secretary said. He admitted that the reason she did this was so she didn’t have to comply with the oversight of the House, and –and with the natural laws of transparency. He gave up the goods. He sold her out.”

COMMENT:  As Cindy Adams used to say, so many scandals, so little time.  Hillary is still the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic Party's nomination, and she still leads all other Republicans in most polls.  But her numbers are in decline.  And since those numbers are powerfully helped by name recognition, they may well fade much more as Republican candidates become better known.

The fact is that the Democratic Party is in terrible shape.  It has lost control of both House and Senate, and most state governments.  If it loses the presidency, it may also lose control of the Washington dinner-party circuit.  And that is the worst cut of all.

March 17, 2015        Permalink

HOW NICE TO KNOW IT – AT 9:44 A.M. ET  Even as we deepen our negotiations with Iran, and make one concession after another, Iran's human-rights record gets worse and worse.  From Fox: 

Iran has violated the rights of women, Christians and members of other religious groups and ethnic minorities on a massive scale, even as it seeks to negotiate with the West, according to a new UN report that details an explosion of executions, including state-sanctioned killing of juveniles.

Imprisonment and executions of Christians has continued -- even at an accelerated pace -- since the election of self-proclaimed moderate President Hassan Rouhani, according to Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations special rapporteur on Iran. Nearly 100 Christians are currently imprisoned "due to their Christian faith and activities," Shaheed wrote. Christians who converted from Islam and are active in the underground house-church movement often come in for the most severe prosecution, he said.

“Authorities reportedly continued to target the leaders of house churches, generally from Muslim backgrounds," Shaheed wrote. "Christian converts also allegedly continue to face restrictions in observing their religious holidays.”

In 2014, 753 people were executed in the country, the most state-sanctioned killings since 2002. The grim tally includes the execution of 25 women and 13 juveniles.

Notice the silence of so-called "women's groups" in the United States.  I guess there's nothing in it for them.

Roughly half of the executions were for drug-related crimes and, according to Shaheed, fail to meet the international standard of “most serious crimes” required for use of the death penalty.

"The report is a sober reminder that Iran's government, which exports terrorism and seeks nuclear weapons, is also an egregious human rights violator," U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told FoxNews.com. "Far from being moderate, the Iranian regime persecutes women, Christians, Baha'is, and other ethnic and religious minorities, and systematically denies its citizen many freedoms that we take for granted."

Notice also the silence by Barack Obama about the murder of Christians, even though he claims to be one.

Shaheed has aggressively chronicled Iran's abysmal human rights record, even as the U.S. and Western nations negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear weapons program.

“With every report that Dr. Shaheed releases, it becomes more and more evident how systematic human rights violations are structured under the Iranian dictatorship,” said Saba Farzan, executive director of Foreign Policy Circle, a strategy think tank in Berlin. “The world community with leadership by the Obama administration has thrown human rights under the Persian rug -- literally. Democracy promotion has been sacrificed for the sake of talking endlessly to those who oppress Iranians terribly."

COMMENT:  Well said.  One of the most disgraceful aspects of the Obama administration, and the list is long, is its indifference to human rights.  In fact, the left generally has become increasingly cold to democracy itself. 

This is not really surprising.  There was always a gap between "the left" and "liberals."  For years we had great, true liberals who championed democracy, while the left championed the Soviet Union.  Now true, traditional national-defense liberalism has faded away within the Democratic Party, and the left has risen.  We see it in the Iran negotiations and in the so-called "reset" with an increasingly despotic regime in Moscow. 

Obama just doesn't seem to care.  And the media will not hold him accountable.  Not good for careers.

March 17, 2015       Permalink 

ISRAEL VOTING – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  We've been monitoring today's Israeli election.  Polls are open now, and will close at 10 p.m. Israel time, which is 4 p.m. Eastern time in the United States.  (Ordinarily the time difference is seven hours, but Israel's switch to daylight savings time occurs later this month.)

The election is critically important for the future of the region and for the faltering American presence in the area.

Early indications are that voting is heavier than in the recent past.  Fox News estimates that between 60% and 80% of eligible voters will cast ballots.  Eleven parties are competing.  As we explained here last night, the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, will examine the results, determine who is more likely to succeed in putting together a coalition government, and ask that person to do so.  The choice will almost certainly come down to the sitting prime minister, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, and his main challenger, the representative of the center-left, Isaac Herzog.

As is the case in most elections in democratic countries, it is economic issues that dominate.  The main complaint against Netanyahu is not related to Israel's critical security situation, but rather that he has failed to improve the average Israeli's standard of living.  At the same time, every Israeli knows that the country is in constant danger, and will weigh the capacity of the parties to defend the nation and deal with a hostile Obama administration.

Obama is in fact playing a role.  As the old Soviet Russkies liked to put it, it is no secret that Obama operatives are in Israel working for Netanyahu's opponents.  Obama despises Netanyahu, and vile, anti-Bibi comments are regularly leaked from the White House.  Bibi's crime is that he won't go along with Obama's appeasement policies.  Is is also alleged – and this will be investigated by Congress – that the State Department has financed a group that is working to defeat the prime minister.  If true, it is a gross, possibly illegal use of public funds, and certainly would constitute inappropriate interference in a foreign election. 

We should note that, even when President Rivlin anoints someone to form a government, that someone might not succeed and Rivlin might find it necessary to name a replacement.  Polls show that Herzog's party is ahead of Bibi's.  But observers point out that Bibi might be better able to form a coalition government.  That is exactly what happened after the last national election.  Bibi's party came in second, but he succeeded in forming a government. 

So stand by.  We'll only have the basic voting results tonight.  Then the horse trading begins.

March 17,  2015     Permalink