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NOVEMBER 22,  2014

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

NUTS – Reader Thomas B. Nast, of Seattle, refers us to the latest offering from his politically ultra-correct city, which is vying with San Francisco for nut capital of the United States.  From the Washington Post:  "So, perhaps in keeping with the city’s strange reputation, Mayor Ed Murray took a decidedly vegan spin on the Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning a turkey: He pardoned a Tofurky...Actual line from the press release: ‘I, Mayor Murray, pardon Braeburn the Tofurky,’ the mayor proclaimed in the atrium of Seattle City Hall. Provocative and moving.  For the uninitiated, Tofurkey is a brand of vegetarian food made of wheat protein and tofu that’s supposed to taste like turkey. It looks like a meatloaf, but, well, it’s not."  We thank Seattle for its latest contribution to American theology  Every Tofurkey is sleeping more soundly tonight.

WE ARE NOT SHOCKED – From the Daily Caller:  "Members of the militant New Black Panther Party have been arrested and charged with making straw purchases of two handguns and are believed to have conspired to detonate pipe bombs during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, according to several reports.  Brandon Baldwin, who goes by the name Brandon Muhammad, and Olajuwon Davis, who goes by Olajuwon Ali, were indicted on Wednesday for making false statements in order to purchase two .45 ACP pistols at a Cabela’s in Hazelwood, just outside of Ferguson, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports."  One of the first acts of the Holder Justice Department was to drop voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panthers, despite overwhelming evidence that they were guilty.  They are a bad bunch, and I wouldn't be surprised if these new charges are true.  But they are innocent until proved guilty.  That is a standard we will maintain, even if our opponents don't. 

ON THIS DATE – For those of my generation, today, November 22nd, is a defining date.  We mark the 51st anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.  He was the last president to die in office.  As we think back, it is apparent how low his party has sunk in the years since.  Jack Kennedy, whether one agreed with him or not, represented the national-defense liberals of his time.  In the 1960 presidential election he actually ran to the right of Richard Nixon on military preparedness.  Kennedy couldn't get near a presidential nomination of his party today.  Indeed, there is some chance he'd even be a Republican.   The Democrats would regard him, as they later regarded his allies like Henry Jackson, as a warmonger and militarist.  The bad guys won in the Democratic Party, and gave us Barack Obama.  I'm afraid they're getting even more powerful, putting the burden of responsible leadership on our side. 

November 22, 2014       Permalink

SIGN OF THE TIMES – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  It is remarkable to me that there are so few stories about the reality of life in Mexico.  What is wrong with the governance of that country?  It is an oil-exporting nation, it provides factory labor for major corporations, it has a large tourist trade.  Yet streams of Mexican people swarm across our borders looking for a decent life.  Will someone ask some tough questions?  Consider this mess.  From AP: 

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The U.S. Embassy in Mexico issued a security message Friday warning U.S. citizens to avoid the Pacific resort of Acapulco because of violence and protests.

In yet another blow to a coastal city once favored by U.S. movie stars and jet-setters in the 1950s and `60s, the embassy said its personnel "have been instructed to defer non-essential travel to Acapulco, by air or land," and added that it "cautions U.S. citizens to follow the same guidelines."

The alert noted that "protests and violent incidents continue in Guerrero state in response to the disappearance of 43 students there."

Demonstrators have blocked highways to Acapulco, hijacked buses and blockaded the city's airport to demand the government find the students who disappeared Sept. 26 in the nearby city of Iguala. Prosecutors say local police working for a drug gang probably turned the students over to gang members, who may have killed them and burned their bodies.

COMMENT:  That is awful, just awful.  It's occurring on our border.  Yet, have you seen any American news organization follow the story of those 43 students?  Is this political correctness gone crazy?  And how does it relate to our border security?  Journalists, get your pens out.

November 22, 2014       Permalink

OH NO.  DON'T TELL AL.  PLEASE – AT 11:29 A.M. ET:  The sky is indeed falling.  It turns out that, scandal of scandals, some scientists do really think for themselves, and are expressing their actual thoughts.  From College Fix, but caution:  In liberal circles this is considered a violation of the obscenity laws: 

A recent Purdue University survey shows a much more even split among scientists on the global warming climate change issue.

Many of those in favor of swift (government) action to deal with climate change cite a “97% of scientists believe in human-caused climate change;” however, that statistic has been questioned. The Purdue poll may back up the skeptics.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

A Purdue University survey shows that the scientific community is split on the question of whether human activities are at the root of climate change, with just over 50 percent of scientists saying that climate change is happening and that it is “caused mostly by human activities.”

Rather than claiming 97 percent of scientists believe in man-made global warming, hopefully now some media outlets will revise that number closer to 50 percent.

The Purdue study was done to compare opinions on climate change from scientists, climatologists, and the agricultural industry. Only 53 percent of climatologists said that climate change is caused “mostly by human activities.”

Agricultural advisers and farmers were much more likely to say humans are not the primary driver of climate change.

COMMENT:  Trust the farmers.  They actually walk outside.  The 97% figure apparently came from some dude in Australia, and I've read that it's under investigation by Australian researchers.  The number itself is highly suspicious.  It sounds like the results of a third-world election.  I've never known of 97% believing in anything. 

Slowly, the truth is coming out.

November 22, 2014       Permalink

DOUBTS ON OBAMA IMMIGRATION PLAN – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  There was a time when the Obama press was wilfully blind, and would parrot the Obama line on almost anything.  But some progress is being made.  Turns out some liberal papers, on their editorial pages, aren't buying the president's immigration proposals.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Of America’s four national newspapers, only the New York Times’s editorial board is satisfied with President Obama’s plan to act on immigration reform without Congress.

Obama on Thursday announced that he would issue an executive order to delay deportation for some five million immigrants now living in the United States illegally.

“The president always has had authority to calibrate and prioritize the enforcement of immigration (and other) laws, but this wholesale reinterpretation amounts to overreaching,” the Washington Post editorial board said in response. “Mr. Obama was right to argue Thursday that otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants deserve a route out of the shadows. But unilateral action is not the right way to achieve that.”

Obama’s announcement did no better with USA Today. “His plan — which will allow certain immigrants to avoid deportation for three years — amounts to executive overreach,” said the newspaper’s editorial board.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board sounded a similar note: "Obama’s policy by executive order is tearing at the fabric of national consent.”

COMMENT:  We've said many times that the Washington Post has the best editorial page of any liberal paper in the country.  It's thoughtful and restrained. 

And The Wall Street Journal has the best conservative editorial page in the country.  Also thoughtful, well written, and restrained.

Both oppose the president on this issue.

The president is now considered a lame duck.  He is making himself more lame by not building coalitions.  Ronald Reagan worked across the aisles.  So did Bill Clinton.  Obama might do us the courtesy of trying.

November 22,  2014     Permalink

NOVEMBER 21,  2014

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

YIKES! – Oh, say it ain't so.  From the New York Post:  "Mayor de Blasio — not Hillary Rodham Clinton — will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.  That’s the jaw-dropping prediction being made by New York’s top Republican, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, who, as son-in-law to former President Richard Nixon, knows a thing or two about national politics.  Cox, citing information provided by a prominent 'Democratic lobbyist,' told friends and associates in recent days that freshman Mayor de Blasio’s effort to promote himself as the leader of the 'urban progressive centers of the nation' is part of a well-oiled plan to prepare for a presidential run.  'It’s like Barack Obama; he was a brand-new freshman senator, and he ran for president and won. I think de Blasio is going to do it,' Cox said at a recent gathering, a source told The Post."
The mayor is a radical leftist.  He is pro-Castro.  He was pro-Sandinista.  He makes Lenin look like Ronald Reagan. 

PROGRESSIVES DON'T HEART HILLARY – A new poll informs Madam Clinton that her once-beloved "progressives" don't really want her.  From CNN:  "Washington (CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- not Hillary Clinton -- is the top progressive choice for president in 2016, according to a new poll.
In fact, Clinton doesn't even make second place. Forty two percent of respondents favor Warren, and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also edges out Clinton with 24% compared to her 23%, according to results from the 2016 Presidential Pulse Poll commissioned by progressive grassroots organization Democracy for America.  These results come amid a groundswell of activism from the Democratic party's more liberal wing, which has called for a contested 2016 primary and has often questioned Clinton's financial ties to Wall Street."  That's the bad news.  The good news is that the "progressive wing" consists of a group of retired hippies and former psychiatric patients in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and parts of Seattle.

KERRY HANGS ON – From AP:  "VIENNA (AP) — US Secretary of State John Kerry canceled plans Friday to pull back from talks with Iran about the country’s nuclear program — a shift that suggested some hope of movement on the protracted negotiations.  Kerry is staying in Vienna to continue negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and others at the negotiating table, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said."  The deadline is Monday.  This story worries me.  I doubt if Iran is making any last-minute concessions.  The word isn't in their vocabulary.  But there has been a fear all along that the Obama crowd will cave in.  Anything for a signed piece of paper.  We'll be watching this weekend.

November 21,  2014     Permalink

U.S. PUTS IT ON THE LINE – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:   Monday is the deadline for completion of the nuclear talks with Iran.  Looks like it won't be met.  The U.S. is leaking its negotiating stance, probably to ward off criticism should the talks collapse entirely.  From The New York Times.

VIENNA — As six world powers and Iran race to meet a Monday deadline for an agreement that would constrain Iran’s nuclear program, the United States has staked out an ambitious goal for what an accord should accomplish.

American officials say the agreement should slow the Iranian nuclear program enough that it would take Iran at least a year to make enough material for a nuclear bomb if it decided to ignore the accord.

“Our goal is to shut off each pathway sufficient that we know we have a breakout time of a minimum of a year,” Secretary of State John Kerry said last month.

The logic behind the goal is clear: to give the United States and its allies the time to react diplomatically or with fresh economic sanctions, leaving the option of using military force as a last resort.

COMMENT:  Our goal stops short of eliminating Iran's ability to enrich uranium, which is the surest way of preventing Tehran from getting the bomb.  But even our reduced goal is not being accepted by the Iranians. 

I don't think the Iranians will cave.  I think we might, which is chilling enough.  We'll see what happens Monday.  The talks may be extended.

November 21, 2014       Permalink

ROCK BOTTOM – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  You know we're in trouble when Al Sharpton becomes a moral arbiter.  And he's passing judgment on Bill Cosby.  From the Washington Times:   

The Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday that he does not think rape allegations against Bill Cosby are racially motivated and that the comedian must “answer to someone” instead of staying silent.

Yeah, just the way Rev. Al answered for the Tawana Brawley hoax.

Mr. Sharpton, who knows Mr. Cosby personally, told entertainment reporter Bill McCuddy, “He needs to talk to somebody. He needs to talk […] He has to answer to someone,” the New York Post reported Thursday.

The MSNBC host and activist added that he was “very disappointed” in Mr. Cosby, and that he would be happy to conduct an interview covering the resurfaced allegations.

Right.  Al will get his TV time out of this.

Mr. Sharpton has also made headlines this week. The New York Times reported Tuesday that he owes the federal government $4.5 million in taxes.

Must have been weak batteries in the calculator.

“A lot of people don’t like the fact that President Obama’s the president. A lot of people do not like the fact that Bill de Blasio won for mayor. And they certainly don’t like that I’m still here, and I ain’t going nowhere,” Mr. Sharpton said at a press conference in Harlem, Politico reported Thursday.

Mr. Sharpton said that he is in the process of negotiating with the government to obtain a lower penalty on his back taxes, but that the National Action Network could write a check immediately, if necessary, Politico reported.

COMMENT:  What a bunch.  But plenty of people are going to benefit from the rape allegations surrounding Bill Cosby.  Books will be written.  Money will be made.  And Al wants his share.

November 21, 2014       Permalink

SHE SPEAKS – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton, probably the most watched woman in America right now, has condescended to comment on Obama's immigration speech.  Well, sort of.  One senses that every word was weighed politically.  From The Hill: 

Hillary Clinton praised President Obama on Thursday night for moving forward on immigration after he announced his executive actions on the hot-button issue.

Clinton - the Democratic front-runner for the 2016 presidential race — took to Twitter to thank Obama, moments after his speech from the White House.

Read the fine print.

"Thanks to POTUS for taking action on immigration in the face of inaction," she tweeted. "Now let's turn to permanent bipartisan reform. #ImmigrationAction."

Clinton had remained silent on the issue in recent days. But her allies were privately signaling that the former secretary of State would support Obama's decision to take action after immigration reform failed to pass Congress.

As George Gobel used to say, "just a gosh-darned second."  Please notice that Slick Hilly isn't actually endorsing anything Obama said.  She's just praising him for "taking action."  She's then calling for "bipartisan reform."  In other words, she's cutting it down the middle. 

If she does run for president, some political observers say Clinton will benefit from Obama's executive actions because they will rally Hispanic voters at a time when Republicans have failed to draw them in.

COMMENT:  I wouldn't seal that one with a kiss.  Polls show that Hispanics are actually more cautious about immigration "reform" than we'd thought, with a sizable number opposed to amnesty.  Remember, the overwhelming number of Hispanics came to this country legally.

Hillary commented without really commenting.  Let's not get anyone angry.

November 21, 2014       Permalink

HE PROPOSES – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  President Obama made his immigration proposals public last night, and flies to Las Vegas today to sign the order putting them into practice.  Las Vegas must have some historical significance.  From The Hill: 

President Obama announced an expansive new set of executive actions in a prime-time address Thursday that the White House says will give legal status and work permits to 5 million illegal immigrants.

Obama hailed the moves as leading to a “more fair and more just” system in an address that lambasted Congress for not approving legislation and warned Republicans against triggering a government shutdown.

In a sharp rebuke to Republican critics, Obama challenged his political opposition to “pass a bill” if they did not like his actions, and argued his approach could not be dismissed as “amnesty.”
“Amnesty is the immigration system we have today – millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time,” Obama said.

Under the president’s plan, the parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents could apply for work permits and deferred deportation. Obama is also expanding eligibility for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which offers protections to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

The Department of Homeland Security will also narrow their focus to those illegal immigrants with criminal records, gang affiliations or ties to terrorism.

“If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law,” Obama said. “If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.”

The government will also expand the total number of high-tech visas that are available, as well as loosen restrictions so that more would-be entrepreneurs can travel to the United States.

The proposals have garnered passionate responses from Republican critics, who have blasted it as unconstitutional overreach.

But Obama said his actions were “not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every single Democratic president for the past half century.”

He invoked former President George W. Bush, who said illegal immigrants were “a part of American life.”

And he said lawmakers shouldn’t let “a disagreement over a single issue be a deal-breaker on every issue.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), in a video released shortly before the president spoke, accused Obama of acting like an “emperor” and said he was spoiling an opportunity for lawmakers to reach across the aisle.

“Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration, the president says he's acting on his own. That's just not how our democracy works,” Boehner said.

COMMENT:  Republicans must proceed carefully here.  They must remember what happened to them when they impeached Bill Clinton.  Despite revulsion over Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, there was a backlash against Republicans for going too far. 

That can happen again.   We all realize that Obama's plan is just a first step, and it is carefully drawn to have the aura of fairness about it.  You know, keeping families together.  Republicans should respond with a comprehensive plan of their own, showing the American people that they're creative, determined to solve the problem, and Constitutional.  Republicans must not simply be the party of no.

November 21,  2014     Permalink