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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

NOVEMBER 24,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

REACTION TO FERGUSON GRAND JURY DECISION – How brilliant.  From Fox:  "Protesters fired about 100 gunshots, burned buildings, looted stores and vandalized police cars in Ferguson, Mo. Monday night after a grand jury did not indict a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August.  Heavily armed police fired pepper spray and smoke canisters to disperse the crowd of protesters.  It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries or if anyone had been arrested."  Based on the evidence released, the grand jury probably acted wisely, although that doesn't diminish the pain of the teenager's family.  The rioters, of course, have no interest whatever in that boy. 

HAGEL BYE-BYE – It was noted by some pundits that the position of secretary of defense is often considered the most challenging in the Cabinet.  Whoever replaces the dismissed Chuck Hagel will be Obama's fourth secretary.  Bob Gates was first, followed by Leon Panetta, followed by Hagel, soon to be followed by the new person.  Thankless job under Obama, who doesn't think much of national defense.  If Obama were smart, which, politically, he's not, he'd go big and grand on his nomination and choose someone with an unquestioned devotion to defending America.  If he were not petty, he'd consider David Petraeus or Stanley McChristal, or even John McCain.  But the job will probably go to someone in the party ranks who will play the yes-man.  We are talking about the defense of the country.

MAJOR GROOMING NEWS – From CBS in Philadelphia:  "West Coast Shaving, a company that supplies customers with shaving products and accessories, released a fairly interesting study that shows improved quarterback performance for players when they were sporting a beard compared to when they weren’t.
While they stopped short of proving causation, the numbers are undeniable.  The study focused on the 2013 numbers of Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck. All of these quarterbacks played games that season clean shaven and with beards. The numbers may surprise you.
All five of the quarterbacks had a higher rating with a beard than without. Rodgers had a 109.60 rating with a beard compared to 93.58 without. Cutler fell from 88.31 to 81.98.  Brady dropped from 89.43 to 83.86. Roethlisberger achieved a 94.25 rating with whiskers compared to just 80.63 without and Andrew Luck fell from 88.06 to 73.00."  And yes, Abe Lincoln has a higher rating than Barack Obama.

November 24, 2014       Permalink 

REVEREND AL – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:   As we await the grand jury decision in the Missouri Michael Brown case, and as police units prepare for possible violence, we note with sadness the rise of Al Sharpton in influence in the Obama administration. 

"Reverend" Al, who I believe was "ordained" at the age of nine or so, is well known here in New York as a racial agitator of the first rank.  He was the proud author of the Tawana Brawley hoax; he helped stoke the Crown Heights riots, and he has made inflammatory speeches through the years.

And yet, it's being reported that he's helping to pick the next attorney general of the United States.  From Mediaite: 

Fox’s Eric Bolling went after Al Sharpton today for his tax issues that have somehow not stopped his White House invitations. Juan Williams agreed and went so far as to say it’s “insulting to black people” for the White House to be elevating Sharpton like that.

Williams suspected that the Obama White House just doesn’t like Jesse Jackson and since Sharpton is the only big alternative, the White House just “anointed him as their official black leader,” which people find insulting.

Bolling found some extreme irony in how Sharpton owes millions in taxes, but was helping President Obama pick the new Attorney General, who runs the Department of Justice, which oversees the IRS. Jonathan Hoenig joked that Sharpton’s seeking an audience with the president because he can’t get one on MSNBC.

Williams kept going after Sharpton, saying he personifies everything wrong about phony leadership these days, and even remarking, “It’s insulting to black people that he would be lifted up to that height.”

COMMENT:  It certainly is.  I fail to see how Sharpton has ever uplifted the lives of black people.  With his tax problems, his racial rhetoric, and his group-against-group mentality, he's certainly no role model.  But he is the kind of throwback to the 1960s who's popular in Obaman circles.  Of course, we haven't seen too much bother in the mainstream media.  But that crowd thought Wendy Davis was a great candidate for governor of Texas. 

It's time for black Americans to demand better leadership, and stop advancing these public embarrassments.

And Sharpton should pay what he owes.

November 24, 2014       Permalink

FIRST QUOTE ON HAGEL – AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  And it comes from Bill Kristol in the Weekly Standard: 

So Chuck Hagel has been fired as defense secretary. We were critical of his appointment, and opposed his confirmation by the Senate. But let's be clear: Hagel has done what he was asked and what was expected of him at the Pentagon. To the degree he has deviated from the Obama White House line, he's been more right than wrong (e.g., on the threat the Islamic State poses).

So why has he been fired? Because the Obama White House needs a scapegoat. President George W, Bush fired Don Rumsfeld in connection with a change in strategy (the surge) and to bring in someone of independent stature. That's not the case today. President Obama continues to want a Pentagon with weak leadership and little independence. There's therefore no reason to expect the next two years of Obama foreign and defense policy to be any better than the past two.

COMMENT:  Kristol may well be right on all points.  But we can dream, can't we?  We can dream that even this president may finally realize that he's sinking, and choose a real secretary devoted to national defense in the traditional understanding of the term.  I'm having an optimistic moment.  It will soon pass.

There, it's gone.

November 24, 2014        Permalink

BULLETIN – HAGEL FIRED – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  News sources report that Chuck Hagel has been fired as secretary of defense by President Obama.  There will be a face-saving public statement of some sort.  The White House will not describe it as a firing, but it is.  From The New York Times: 

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and a beleaguered national security team that has struggled to stay ahead of an onslaught of global crises.

The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary — the sole Republican on his national security team — to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said.

The officials described Mr. Obama’s decision to remove Mr. Hagel, 68, as a recognition that the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than those that Mr. Hagel was brought on to employ. A Republican with military experience who was skeptical about the Iraq war, Mr. Hagel came in to manage the Afghanistan combat withdrawal and the shrinking Pentagon budget in the era of budget sequestration.

But now “the next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus,” one administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He insisted that Mr. Hagel was not fired, saying that he initiated discussions about his future two weeks ago with the president, and that the two men mutually agreed that it was time for him to leave.

COMMENT:  Hagel was a poor, cynical choice in the first place.  A Republican who left the Senate in part because he probably would not have been renominated by his own party, his selection as secretary of defense was a poke in the eye to the opposition.

We will withhold further judgment until more details come out, and we have the name of the president's nominee to replace Chuck.  That nominee will probably face the new Republican Senate, which can veto his or her nomination, unless Harry Reid can squeeze through a confirmation process during the holiday season.

November 24, 2014       Permalink

IRAN LATEST – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Looks like a seven-month extension of the Iran nuclear talks is the goal.  Once again the appeasers seem to be in charge.  If we could not get Iran to budge up to now, why do we think the next seven months will be any different?  As we said last night, it's time to increase sanctions and make it clear that it's Iran that must make the needed concessions.  Since Obama refuses to do that, we might have the ultimate cave-in by our side yet.  From AP via Fox:

VIENNA – Elements are falling into place for an agreement to allow talks on Iran's nuclear program to continue another seven months, a well-placed Western diplomat said Monday.

The diplomat told The Associated Press that according to the deal, a broad agreement should be completed by March 1, with the final details worked out by July 1.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential talks, is familiar with the discussions now taking place in Vienna on how to continue the negotiations past the original deal deadline of Monday midnight.

Their comments matched earlier word that negotiations had now turned two-track, with the sides still racing to reduce differences at the negotiating table but also working on how long to extend the talks.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif agreed Sunday to start discussion on the extension as it became clear that it would be hard to bridge the differences between them in the time before the deadline.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday negotiators were still having "consultations" on a final agreement that meets both U.S. demands for strict curbs on Tehran's nuclear program and Iran's push for sanctions relief, also suggesting that moves toward an immediate deal had not yet been abandoned.

International negotiators are worried that Iran is using its nuclear development program as a cover for developing nuclear weapons, and they have imposed economic sanctions on Tehran. Iran denies that, saying it is only interested in producing power.

COMMENT:  Yes, only power.  Iran must have a huge nuclear program, with some elements in hardened underground shells, to produce enough power to charge those iPads.  Sure, we understand.

Tehran must be laughing its head off.  They get another seven months of weapons development free of charge.   Negotiations that terminate next July would place an agreement outside the timelines of our 2016 election campaign, but just barely. 

We can fairly commend the Obamans for not caving in to get an agreement right now.  But I fear for the future.

November 24,  2014     Permalink

NOVEMBER 23,  2014

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

OVER?  – The deadline in the Iran nuclear talks has now been reached.  There is no deal.  Reports say that there will now be attempts to extend the deadline once more so that "negotiations" can continue.  Negotiations over what?  If Iran had nothing to hide, the "negotiations" could have been completed in two weeks.  Once again we see diplomats playing out their delusions.  What is called for now are tougher sanctions on Iran, with the message that talks can't go on forever.  Congress, especially with its new Republican members, will be ready and willing to adopt new sanctions.  Sadly, Obama is not on board. 

THAT STRANGE REPORT – Readers are aware of a so-called "bipartisan" report issued in the last few days by the House, which went easy on the Obama administration over Benghazi. Ignore it. Like most "bipartisan" jobs, it was mush.   Lindsey Graham, Republican defense stalwart in the Senate, used more vivid language. You can almost see the House staff members, surrounded by pizza boxes on a late Friday night, hammering out their compromises before going home to watch reruns of "House of Cards."  The real probe of Benghazi, the grown-up version, is being led by Trey Gowdy, one of the sharpest Republicans in the House. He's at work now. His report I'll trust.  The just-released report is the final congressional effort of Republican Mike Rogers, who leaves the House in weeks to go into radio.  Disappointing finish.

PHONY UPROAR – Oh, the anguish, oh the pain.  Rudy Giuliani, one of the great mayors in American history, whose administration dramatically reduced crime in New York, created an uproar on "Meet the Press" today by telling the truth.  Telling the truth always creates an uproar.  Rudy, who knows about these things, bluntly stated that black-on-black crime is the real reason there are so many white policemen who have to be brought in to patrol black neighborhoods.  More than 90% of blacks who are murdered are murdered by other blacks.  What Giuliani said is obvious.  Police are sent to where the crime is.  He wondered why there isn't more of an uproar over black-on-black murders.  Of course, Rudy was immediately subjected to an internet assault accusing him of racism.  Fact:  Most black kids do not commit murders.  Fact:  More black lives were saved by Rudy Giuliani's anti-crime push than were saved by all other mayors of New York combined.  Rudy has never followed the party line.  That's how he got so much done.  He never got a thank-you from black leaders.

November 23,  2014     Permalink

IRAN DEADLINE – AT 11:04 A.M. ET:  This is the last day of negotiations with Iran under the current program.  The deadline for a deal is tomorrow.   There is apparently no deal to be had.  From Reuters: 

VIENNA - Iran, the United States and other world powers are all but certain to miss Monday's deadline for negotiations to resolve a 12-year stand-off over Tehran's atomic ambitions, forcing them to seek an extension, sources say.

The talks in Vienna could lead to a transformation of the Middle East, open the door to ending economic sanctions on Iran and start to bring a nation of 76 million people in from the cold after decades of hostility with the West.

But sources confirmed on Sunday what officials close to the talks have been predicting privately for weeks: that a final deal is still too far off to hammer out by the deadline.

"Considering the short time left until the deadline and number of issues that needed to be discussed and resolved, it is impossible to reach a final and comprehensive deal by Nov. 24," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted an unidentified member of the country's negotiating team in Vienna as saying.

"The issue of extension of the talks is an option on the table and we will start discussing it if no deal is reached by Sunday night," the official said.

A European official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said: "To reach a comprehensive deal seems physically impossible. Even if we were to get a political agreement the technical annexes are not ready."

A European source said on Saturday there was no decision yet on extending the talks: "It's the ministers' decision, but talks on an extension could begin Sunday or Monday," he said, adding that a rollover could run for several months.

COMMENT:  This simply gives Iran more time to work on its nuclear program.  The Iranians are milking us.  They're clearly going for a two-fer – a long negotiation followed by a favorable deal.  They may get it.  Obama wants a deal to seal his "legacy." 

November 23, 2014       Permalink

RECKLESS – AT 10:42 A.M. ET:   Ferguson, Missouri, has become the center of the leftist world.  They're gettin' ready for a real 1960s-style mass demonstration should the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown shooting case not be the one they're lookin' for.  A good time will be had by all.  From Reuters: 

FERGUSON Mo (Reuters) - Hundreds of civil rights lawyers from across America are descending on Ferguson, Missouri as police and protesters prepare for a grand jury decision on whether to charge the officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in August.

The attorneys are arriving in Ferguson as talks between protest groups and police have stalled over a refusal by officials to rule out the use of riot gear, tear gas and militarized equipment if demonstrations turn violent should a grand jury decide not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, protest leaders say.

Wilson, who is white, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in a Ferguson street on August 9. The death sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests, and hundreds of arrests. The grand jury decision on whether to indict Wilson is imminent and police fear another wave of violence if he is not charged. Tensions in Ferguson and the St. Louis area are running high.

The lawyers, some from as far afield as New York and California, have responded to calls from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and protest groups in Ferguson to monitor police behavior in the wake of the grand jury decision. They will also take an aggressive legal posture, the attorneys said, filing quick fire lawsuits to fight potentially shoddy jail conditions, onerous bail bonds and civil rights abuses.

And...

Prominent civil rights lawyer Vince Warren, executive director of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has been in Ferguson since Monday. Nicole Lee, an international human rights lawyer from Washington, arrived on Wednesday.

Warren said 280 lawyers and law students had answered emails and have volunteered to travel to Ferguson. The lawyers are taking instructions from the CCR, the National Lawyers Guild, the Missouri Chapter of the ACLU and the NAACP Legal defense Fund.

COMMENT:  Pretty much the expected crowd.  The CCR and the National Lawyers Guild are hardline leftist groups, and the ACLU is not far behind.  I suspect we'll see quite a show.  Good fundraising potential.  Probably starring Al Sharpton and the Sharpettes.

November 23, 2014         Permalink 

THE START OF SOMETHING BIG? – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  Many have wondered when some groups would wake up and realize that affirmative-action policies at universities are hurting them.  The moment may have arrived.  Hard to predict the judicial future, but we know there's now some rumbling going on.  From ABC News: 

Lawsuits filed Monday against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argue that affirmative action policies should be banned at colleges across the nation.

The federal suits allege Harvard and UNC rely on race-based affirmative action policies that impact admissions of high-achieving white and Asian American students. The Harvard lawsuit also contends that the Ivy League university specifically limits the number of Asian Americans it admits each year.

The Project on Fair Representation, an Alexandria, Virginia-based legal defense fund, said Monday's filings will be the first in a series of legal challenges against colleges across the country in an effort to ban race-based admission policies outright.

"Allowing this issue to be litigated in case after case will only perpetuate the hostilities that proper consideration of race is designed to avoid," state the lawsuits, both of which cite "Students for Fair Admissions" as plaintiff, a nonprofit group based in Austin, Texas made up of recently rejected applicants, prospective students and parents. "Racial preferences are a dangerous tool and may only be used as a last resort."

Both universities defended their admission policies Monday, noting that they are fully compliant with federal law.

COMMENT:  Asian Americans, in particular, may well be waking up.  They are among the most discriminated against students in America.  There's no question but that there are informal quotas on Asian Americans in some universities.  Strangely, they are not even considered a minority.

The lawsuit symbolizes something that may well become a reality in American politics – that minorities don't always get along, and sometimes are in competition with each other.  There's an assumption on the left that minorities will march off as one, supporting Democratic tickets.  Not necessarily.

The suit is fascinating.  We'll follow it.

November 23,  2014     Permalink