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MARCH 28,  2015

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

ARMY WARNS TROOPS – From the Washington Times:  "The U.S. Army has issued a worldwide urgent 'security awareness message' to soldiers on how to protect their social media accounts, and their homes, from attacks by the Islamic State terrorists or other extremists.  The message lists over a dozen safety steps, including making sure personnel check the door peephole before letting someone in their homes, fortifying doors, holding family meetings on security and toning down social media postings so terrorists do not know personal connections or daily comings and goings.  The Army issued the warning on Friday in reaction to the Islamic State, also called ISIL and ISIS, publishing the names of 100 U.S. military personnel as targets for assassination."  And yet the Pentagon still lists the terror attack at Fort Hood as "workplace violence."

QUESTIONS ABOUT HILLARY'S HILLARY – From Fox:  "Senate Republicans are renewing efforts to learn why Huma Abedin, a top assistant to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was allowed to keep working at the agency under a special, part-time status while also being employed at a politically-connected consulting firm.  The new requests are being made by Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, following revelations that both women used a private Internet server and email accounts for State Department correspondence.  Grassley says the earlier requests to the department have been largely ignored, so the new ones have gone to the department’s inspector general and to Secretary of State John Kerry, seeking their involvement."  Abedin has been close to Clinton for years.  She's married to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.  She is also said to have connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.  I want to know how much influence she has.

DEFECTION – From London's Telegraph:  "A close media aide to Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, has sought political asylum in Switzerland after travelling to Lausanne to cover the nuclear talks between Tehran and the West.  Amir Hossein Motaghi, who managed public relations for Mr Rouhani during his 2013 election campaign, was said by Iranian news agencies to have quit his job at the Iran Student Correspondents Association (ISCA).  He then appeared on an opposition television channel based in London to say he no longer saw any 'sense' in his profession as a journalist as he could only write what he was told.  'There are a number of people attending on the Iranian side at the negotiations who are said to be journalists reporting on the negotiations,' he told Irane Farda television. 'But they are not journalists and their main job is to make sure that all the news fed back to Iran goes through their channels.'"  Let's see if our mainstream news organizations show the slightest interest in this man.  Don't hold your breath.

March 28,  2015     Permalink

NOT TOO STERLING – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:  This went under the radar, or whatever the mainstream media calls story selection, but it's important.  The nation's economic growth, which appeared pretty healthy some months ago, is slowing dramatically again.  From CNS: 

CNSNews.com) - The U.S economy slowed in the fourth quarter of 2014 as real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, according to the “third” estimate released by the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Real GDP is adjusted for inflation and represents “the value of the production of goods and services in the BEA. “In the second estimate, the increase in real GDP was also 2.2 percent.”

Wall Street Journal economists predicted an upward revision of 2.4 percent growth.

The fourth quarter real GDP of 2.2 percent, which includes performance from October, November and December of 2014, was lower than the third quarter real GDP estimate of 5.0 percent, which included months July, August and September. It was also lower than the second quarter estimate of 4.6 percent.

COMMENT:  Pretty anemic.  Maybe that's why Americans don't sense the "recovery" that the Obamans have been talking about. 

March 28, 2015       Permalink

RUBIO TO ANNOUNCE? – That's the knowledgeable speculation circulating today.  It appears April 13th may be the day.  From the Miami Herald: 

Marco Rubio has reserved the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami for an undisclosed event April 13, which appears to be a potential, if not likely, spot for Florida’s junior senator to announce his candidacy for president.

A Rubio adviser stressed nothing has been nailed down for any kind of announcement, but the timing makes sense: Likely presidential candidate Rand Paul is expected to make things official April 7, followed by a five-day, five-state announcement tour, so Rubio presumably would not want to share the spotlight during that period.

All-but-announced candidate Jeb Bush appears to be in no rush to shift more formally into campaign mode, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made his announcement this week, and Democrat Hillary Clinton is expected to make her campaign announcement in April as well, though nothing has been set.

Rubio, 43, has been preparing for a potential presidential run for at least a year. While behind in most early polls, he has generated considerable buzz as a top-tier contender who offers the party a fresh face, foreign policy experience, charisma and substance.

The Freedom Tower is apparently one of several venues under consideration by Marco Rubio, but it could be an ideal postcard setting to kick off a presidential campaign promoting the promise and greatness of America by the son of Cuban immigrants.

COMMENT:  I believe that Rubio is one of the two guys to watch, the other being Scott Walker.  But Walker has stumbled badly coming out of the gate.  His record in Wisconsin is fine, but he isn't as familiar with national issues as he should be.  He's got to polish up.

Rubio is extremely attractive.  He knows the issues hands-down, speaks fluently and on his feet, has a good voting record, and has youthful vigor.  He has had his stumbles on immigration, but so has Jeb Bush.  There is no such thing as a perfect candidate.  But I believe Rubio is the most attractive candidate running, and would defeat the aging, lying, Hillary Clinton.  And I believe in winning.  There are no silver medals in politics.

March 28, 2015       Permalink 

THE CRUNCH – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Nuclear negotiations with Iran enter their final stage today.  Tuesday is the presumed deadline for finishing a preliminary agreement.  We're getting all kinds of conflicting reports, with some saying the parties are very close, others saying not so close.  The French have been the toughest negotiators on our side, making up for wilful American weakness.  From France 24: 

Tense negotiations on reaching a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme entered a crucial phase on Saturday as France's top diplomat flew in to join talks in Lausanne.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, seen as the most hawkish representative of the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States overseeing the talks, was the first European minister to arrive in the Swiss city, joining US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"I am coming here with the desire to move towards a robust agreement," Fabius told reporters in Lausanne. "We have made progress on certain issues but not enough on others."

The stakes could not be higher. Global powers are chasing a deal to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions which have poisoned international relations for 12 years, and seal 18 months of closed-door, painstaking talks which have criss-crossed the globe and involved hundreds of experts.

The negotiating parties have set themselves a deadline of March 31 to agree a “framework” deal with Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is only for civilian energy needs but the West fears could lead to the development of nuclear weapons.

They will then have until June 30 to reach a final agreement, which will aim to seal off Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon in exchange for the easing of a labyrinth of international sanctions which have excluded the Islamic republic from lucrative oil markets and crippled its economy.

Kerry and Zarif have met multiple times since the dragging talks resumed in earnest in 2013. But the road to a deal has been strewn with hurdles, and even with a deadline just days away, Iran and the US Friday were still insisting the other side had to make concessions.

"We have tough negotiations and we have differences and we have to solve them," Zarif told reporters.

COMMENT:  The great fear, expressed even by our allies, is that Obama will order Kerry to cave in on major points just to get a piece of paper.  I hope I'm wrong on that. 

Should it be a bad deal, or should there be no deal, Congress will be prepared to pass legislation giving itself a major role on the Iran nuclear issue.  Obama has vowed to veto it, and, I'm sorry to say, his veto will probably be upheld.  The Congressional Black Caucus, ever loyal to "the first," is already working to block a veto override.  But the passage of legislation itself will send a sharp message to this useless president.

March 28,  2015     Permalink

MARCH 27,  2015

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

HILLARY IS NO NIXON – From the Washington Times:  "Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has refused to turn her email server over to an independent third party and claims she has wiped the server clean, dealing a setback to the special investigative committee looking into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, the probe said late Friday.  Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said the whole House will have to decide what the next steps are in the push to pry information from Mrs. Clinton, but said she will likely have to appear and testify on her decision-making about her emails, setting up another dramatic showdown between the former first lady and her congressional critics.  'Not only was the secretary the sole arbiter of what was a public record, she also summarily decided to delete all emails from her server ensuring no one could check behind her analysis in the public interest,' Mr. Gowdy said in a statement excoriating Mrs. Clinton’s actions."  She probably learned her lesson from Nixon, who didn't burn the Watergate tapes.  Hillary wasn't going to make that mistake.  She's no Nixon.

O CANADA, YOU'RE NEXT – Canadian journalists are speculating that Obama's next international target, after Bibi Netanyahu, will be Canadian Prime Minister Steve Harper.  Harper, a very pro-Israel conservative, is a thorn in Obama's side, and is up for re-election this October.  Harper was also Canada's chief advocate for the Keystone Pipeline, which Obama vetoed.   The Canadian press is reporting that Obama operatives are already in Canada, working for the leftist opposition.  Obama failed in Israel, where his henchmen also were operating, trying to defeat Bibi.  But, incredibly, Obama is still reasonably popular in Canada, and may be able to sway some votes. 

MAJOR SCIENCE NEWS – The agony, the heartbreak, of climate change.  From Fox:  "A California congresswoman warns global warming will be so detrimental to poor women, it will drive them to prostitution.  Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., has re-introduced legislation that forces the government to address all “policies and programs in the United States that are globally related to climate change” through the lens of gender.  Her resolution, 'Recognizing the disparate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women globally to address climate change,' asserts that long-term and catastrophic weather changes will result in drought and destructive weather events such as flooding, which could lead to food shortages, joblessness and disease, along with economic and political crisis on a regional scale.  Since 'women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change, particularly in poor and developing nations where women regularly assume increased responsibility for growing the family's food and collecting water, fuel, and other resources,' the measure reads, they will be the most desperate and vulnerable, forced into situations,'such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage.'"  Barbara Lee is the most left-leaning member of Congress, a follower of Fidel Castro, and the only member of Congress to vote against military action following the 9-11 attacks.  Other than that, she is known to have periodic moments of sanity.

March 27,  2015      Permalink

CAVING IN TO IRAN – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:   A number of reports tell us that the U.S., as expected, is caving in to Iranian demands in the nuclear talks, which face a Tuesday deadline.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

With less than a week to go until the deadline for the Iran nuclear talks, the list of skeptical governments and experts is growing. The latest addition is the International Atomic Energy Agency, and its misgivings are a reality check on Iran’s willingness to honor its promises.

“Progress has been very limited” on Iran’s promise to come clean about its earlier efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, IAEA head Yukiya Amano said this week. Mr. Amano added that “no more new issues” had been resolved, particularly on Iran’s effort to develop explosives for a nuke.

Supporters of the talks hailed last year’s Iranian-IAEA statement, in which Tehran pledged to fess up to its weaponization work. That statement followed a 2013 agreement setting out a 12-step plan for disclosing the possible military dimensions of a nuclear program Tehran still claims is for civilian use. Tehran would clean the slate about the past, the thinking went, and trust would grow. Now Mr. Amano says Tehran has completed only one of the 12 steps.

COMMENT:  But don't despair.  Why, one phone call from Barack Obama and all will be set right.  After all, he's made the oceans recede, and brought goodness throughout the sordid world.

March 27, 2015       Permalink

HARRY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  Harry Reid is retiring, opening a Senate seat in Nevada, a great GOP opportunity.  From the Washington Times: 

Sen. Harry Reid announced Friday morning he will retire at the end of this Congress, ending a tremendously influential career that has reshaped the Senate he served for five terms.

Mr. Reid faced a tricky re-election in Nevada, where he barely survived five years ago, and said he feared another battle would suck up so much money and attention from Democratic candidates in other states that it could harm his party’s chances of retaking control of the Senate.

He was seen as one of two incumbent Democrats most in danger of losing re-election next year, in a cycle where Senate Republicans face far more trouble, and his decision will help his party campaign committees dole out money more easily without having to worry about defending their chief.

“We have to make sure that the Democrats take control of the Senate again. And I feel it is inappropriate for me to soak up all those resources on me when I could be devoting those resources to the caucus, and that’s what I intend to do,” he said in a statement that he posted online.

Mr. Reid is currently minority leader, after having served eight years as majority leader, from 2007 through early this year. In his previous two years, he oversaw tremendous changes in the Senate, putting the venerable tool of the filibuster on a path to extinction and limiting fellow senators’ ability to offer and vote on amendments.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who has served as Mr. Reid’s GOP foil for all of those years, attributed the GOP’s surge to retake control of Congress in last year’s elections as partly a rejection of Mr. Reid.

COMMENT:  I'd imagine, but cannot prove, that the real reason for Reid's withdrawal is private polling that might show that he could not win another election.  Now the Republicans must choose a first-class candidate.

Within the Senate, the battle now begins for Reid's successor.  The leading contenders are Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Schumer of New York.  I wouldn't want my daughter marrying either of them, but Schumer is the more talented, and the one more likely to take on Democratic extremism, which is why Durbin will probably win.

March 27, 2015       Permalink

THE PLANE CRASH – AT 9:25 A.M. ET:   What is coming out about the co-pilot of the Germanwings airliner, who allegedly crashed the plane intentionally earlier this week, is pretty bad.  It also calls into question some of the procedures of Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings.  From Fox:

The co-pilot who authorities say deliberately crashed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, was reportedly receiving medical treatment that he hid from his employer and may have just gone through a breakup with his girlfriend, according to new developments that emerged on Friday.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have kept evidence of an illness from his employers, including a doctor’s note excusing him from work the day he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said Friday.

The evidence came from the search of Lubitz's homes in two German cities for an explanation of why he crashed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

Prosecutor's spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said in a written statement that torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash "support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues."

Such sick notes from doctors excusing employees from work are common in Germany and issued even for minor illnesses. Herrenbrueck didn't reveal details of what illness Lubitz was suffering from.

Herrenbrueck said other medical documents found indicated "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment," but that no suicide note was found. He added there was no indication of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions.

COMMENT:  There is an unconfirmed report from Germany that Lubitz was a convert to Islam, but we stress that the report is unconfirmed, and no evidence has been presented.  However, given the proclivity of governments to cover up the true causes of events, we'll follow that possibility.  ISIS is already devoting an internet page to a celebration of Lubitz, but that is not proof of Lubitz's religious affiliation.

March 27, 2015       Permalink

THE MESS – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  The Mideast, already descending into chaos, is descending further, with Saudi Arabia and, apparently, Egypt, engaged in military action in Yemen.  The deterioration is hour by hour.   Hussein Obama, meanwhile, appears obsessed with making as many concessions as possible to get a very bad nuclear deal with Iran, and disparaging our greatest ally in the region, Israel.

One wonders whether Hussein Obama is getting encouraging notes from Reverend Wright. 

Our position is terrible, thanks to the international strategist and fast-food consumer in the White House.  From The New York Times, of all places:

WASHINGTON — Already struggling to navigate the chaos engulfing much of the Middle East, the United States is now dipping its toe into another conflict.

In Yemen, the Obama administration is supporting a Saudi-led military campaign to dislodge Iranian-backed Houthi rebels despite the risks of an escalating regional fight with Iran.

But in Iraq and Syria, the United States is on the same side as Iran in the fight against the Islamic State, contributing airstrikes to an Iranian-supported offensive on Tikrit on Thursday even while jostling with Iran for position in leading the operation.

All that while the Obama administration is racing to close a deal with Iran to remove economic sanctions in exchange for restraints on its nuclear program, alarming Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The administration finds itself trying to sustain an ever-growing patchwork of strained alliances and multiple battlefields in the aftermath of the Arab Spring four years ago. The momentary moral clarity of the demands for democracy across the region has been replaced by difficult choices among enemies and unappealing allies who have rushed to fill power vacuums.

COMMENT:  This is what happens when amateurs and vindictive little men run our foreign policy.  Obama cannot point to a single foreign-policy success.  His own Tonto, John Kerry, betrayed his own comrades in Vietnam and has been richly rewarded by the political left.   I don't recall him ever being proved right on anything.  His record continues.

March 27,  2015     Permalink