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NOVEMBER 18,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

CHILLING – From Breitbart:  Two federal agents operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are claiming that eight Syrian illegal aliens attempted to enter Texas from Mexico in the Laredo Sector. The federal agents spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity, however, a local president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) confirmed that Laredo Border Patrol agents have been officially contacting the organization with concerns over reports from other federal agents about Syrians illegally entering the country in the Laredo Sector. The reports have caused a stir among the sector’s Border Patrol agents.  We can't confirm this, but if the story is true it's frightening.  It's believed by intelligence people that ISIS is trying to infiltrate its operatives into the Syrian refugee flood. 

AMERICANS REJECT OBAMA ISIS STRATEGY – From CNS:  (CNSNews.com) - Sixty-four percent of American adults said they disapprove of the way that President Barack Obama is dealing with the ISIS terrorist group, according to a Gallup poll that was conducted Nov. 4-8.  The results of the poll, which was completed five days before the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, were cited and linked in a Gallup analysis released Monday.  Only 30 percent approved.  It's hard to believe Obama's ISIS rating will go up, considering his confused and uninspiring reaction to Paris.

IDIOT – From Gateway Pundit:  Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky from Illinois told SiriuxXM radio that the Paris terrorist attacks last week were a “chilling reminder” that the U.S. needs more restrictive gun laws.  I call it the "48-hour rule," and it always works.   It takes the left 48 hours after a tragedy to regroup and go right back to the old party line.  Schakowsky is a perfect example of the rule.  France has some of the most severe gun laws in the world.  Lot of good it did for the victims.  The bad guys will always get guns.  That's why they're the bad guys. Bad guys don't follow gun-control laws.

PRINCETON HIT WITH THE PROTEST FLU – From Daily Caller:  Black Lives Matter activists at Princeton University have taken over the president’s office and say they won’t leave until the school acknowledges former U.S. president Woodrow Wilson as a racist and renames all buildings currently honoring him on campus.  This will immediately reduce the murder rate in all black communities.

November 18,  2015     Permalink

CARLY ON THE BALL – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  I don't know why Carly Fiorina has faded in the polls.  She is superb in debates – the best of all Republicans with the possible exception of Ted Cruz – and yet she has lost ground.  Pundits say she isn't warm and likeable, a hard woman.  I wasn't aware that we were electing a national mom.  But maybe that's what some people want. 

Carly shows how good she is by taking on the disgraceful behavior of our make-believe president in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.  I hope she stays in politics.  From the Washington Examiner: 

An infuriated Carly Fiorina slammed President Obama Wednesday morning for his latest criticism of Republicans, saying the president is "speaking in a way that's beneath his office."

While speaking to reporters in the Philippines Wednesday morning, Obama suggested that Republicans who oppose the intake of Syrian refugees "are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America."

"At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me," the president said, minutes after criticizing his opponents for "political posturing."

Reacting to Obama's comments just hours later, Fiorina told Fox News "it is outrageous that a sitting president, immediately following a terrorist attack where we know that ISIS is attempting to plan attacks here in the U.S., would use his time to attack Republicans."

"This is revealing of the fact that President Obama doesn't understand the nature of the attack," the Republican presidential hopeful said.

"I guess he's like Hillary Clinton [in that] he thinks Republicans are his enemies," Fiorina added, before declaring Obama a "politician, not a leader."

Host Martha MacCallum interjected, noting that Obama "clearly gets fired up about this issue."

"It's all he gets fired up about," Fiorina shot back.

COMMENT:  And of course she's right.  With Obama, it's all about him.  With Hillary, it's all about her.  The people of America are simply their subjects.

We need more Carly.  Even if she doesn't make it onto the national ticket, I hope there's a place for her in high-level politics.

November 18, 2015        Permalink

MEANWHILE, BACK IN TEHRAN – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:   With all that's going on, let's not forget that one of the great sponsors of terror, Iran, is waiting in the wings, and doing major mischief.  The Iran nuclear deal, the crown jewel of Field Marshal Obama's "achievements" in foreign policy, is starting to fall apart, as sane people knew it would.  From Gatestone Institute: 

Iran's hardliners are pressing their attack on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which has not yet been approved by Iran. Iran's opponents of the JCPOA have succeeded in halting any steps toward implementation of Tehran's responsibilities under the July14 settlement reached in Vienna by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, the UK, France, China and Russia, plus Germany (the so-called P5+1). But who appointed them?

While some reports indicated that Iran was beginning to take off the production line some of the uranium-enrichment centrifuges in the Natanz and Fordow facilities, contradictory reports suggested that any such action was halted due to pressure from Iran's hardliners, and that dismantling the centrifuges had not been authorized by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was therefore premature. Another report suggested that only a small number of outdated centrifuges had been decommissioned.

However, a stern letter of warning was dispatched to President Hassan Rouhani from 20 key members of Iran's Majlis [Islamic Consultative Assembly], many of whom have close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), informing him to cease any dismantling activity.[1]

In addition, Iranian military commanders, security chiefs and conservative media outlets are coming close to questioning the competence and loyalty of those in the Iranian regime who favor the JCPOA.[2] These personal assaults have implied that some officials are trying to whitewash the reputation of the United States in order to improve relations with the "Great Satan."[3] The targets of those criticisms appear to be Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as well as President Rouhani.

The Iranian military's Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, said that there are two types of officials that favor the JCPOA, and that their goal is "embellishing America's despicable image -- the "simple-minded, which includes some government officials as well as spiteful, traitorous, infiltrators."

COMMENT:  This is serious.  If the hardliners stage a successful coup, or even force the "moderates" to back down, the whole agreement, which already is full of holes, can collapse. 

Some wishful thinkers believe that Iran will, over the years, become more pro-Western.  The people, we're told, love us.  Just love us.  In international politics, "the people" are irrelevant.  What counts is who has the guns, and what they're willing to do with them.  The "people" of Japan did not vote to attack Pearl Harbor.  No one asked them.

We have to watch this carefully.  We may be battling Iran and ISIS at the same time.

November 18, 2015       Permalink

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Just a rare event.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.  From London's Express: 

EIGHT people have been arrested at Istanbul's main airport hub amid fears they are Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists posing as refugees on their way to Germany.

Police sources said one of the suspects had a hand-drawn picture of a planned route from Turkey to Germany, via Greece, Serbia and Hungary.

It is believed the group are Islamic State militants planning to make their way to Germany posing as refugees.

The Anadolu Agency said the group arrived in Istanbul from Casablanca, Morocco, and were interviewed by criminal profiling teams at Ataturk Airport.

Anadolu said the eight claimed to be tourists visiting Istanbul but a hotel refuted claims they had reservations there.

The arrests come as Europe is on high alert following the terror attacks in Paris which have left 129 dead and hundreds injured.

COMMENT:  Of course, that could never happen here, as Obama rushes to admit Syrian "refugees," the great majority of whom may be legitimate, but some of whom may have dreams of explosions in New York City.  Why, we'll have Susan Rice personally checking the refugees at the airport.  Maybe Hillary can join in.  They can be helped by the journalists at MSNBC.   

Don't you feel safe?

November 18, 2015       Permalink

BABIES AND WHINERS – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:   While the world is riveted on the Paris attacks, and their aftermath, and fear for the next blow, our campus children are expressing their overwhelming grief and anger...not at terrorism, but at losing the spotlight.  What trauma they must feel.  From Fox: 

The deadly terror attacks in Paris killed at least 129, but to some protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement and at the University of Missouri, it's all about them.

Student protests and outrage over the school's handling of racial issues has brought national attention to the school -- which some students have come to define as a hotbed of racism. Recent racist incidents led to protests including one student's hunger strike and a threatened boycott by the football team. The university system president and the campus chancellor resigned.

After at least 129 people were killed in coordinated attacks on Friday in Paris, several protesters took to Twitter to express anger at "losing the spotlight" in the media.

"Racist white people kill me, you want everyone to have sympathy for YOUR tragedy, but you have none for ours," wrote user Melanin Monroe under the Twitter handle @NeonElectricity in a post that has since been removed.

Others, like user "dog enthusiast," under the handle @bmahimaaa, equated the slaughter in Paris with the racial tensions in Missouri -- calling both "terrorism."

"Paris attacks were terrorism," the user wrote. "black students getting death threats on their college campuses (A SUPPOSED SAFE SPACE!!) is also TERRORISM."

COMMENT:  It turned out that the student who went on a hunger strike comes from a family with a multi-million-dollar-a-year income. 

There may be some legitimate grievances in there, but it's awfully hard to feel sympathetic for vastly immature students who don't appreciate the chance to get a good education.  The filth, the cursing, the hysteria, are not very impressive.  There is a huge backlash building against these campus protests.  My own sense is that it will lead to a complete reappraisal of our attitude toward institutions of "higher education."  I am personally prepared to support a complete cutoff of federal aid to colleges and universities outside the sciences.  If you want to have an "oppression studies" course, pay for it. 

There are millions of Americans hurting these days, and they don't have full scholarships to Yale.

November 18,  2015     Permalink

NOVEMBER 17,  2015

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

PARIS DRAMA – From CNN:  Paris (CNN) Witnesses have reported gunfire amid a police raid in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis as authorities hunt for two suspects from Friday's deadly terrorist attacks who are believed to be at large.  Police blocked off roads early Wednesday in Saint-Denis, which is home to the Stade de France sports stadium where three suicide bombings took place Friday.  CNN affiliate BFMTV reported that police officers have been wounded by gunfire during a raid seeking one of the suspects in the wave of violence across Paris, which killed at least 129 people and wounded hundreds more.  French police wouldn't comment on whether any officers had been shot in the Saint-Denis operation.  It must be disheartening, in the face of all this action, for the French to hear the president of the United States refer to the attacks last Friday as a "setback" in the war on ISIS.  Imagine if President Roosevelt had appeared before Congress on December 8, 1941, and declared, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, the United States suffered something of a setback at our mid-level Navy base at Pearl Harbor."   We've come a long way down.

PROBABLE HOAX, BUT MAJOR DISRUPTIONS – Disrupting the international air system has long been a goal of terror groups.  Airlines are jittery following a successful terror attack, like the attack on the Russian airliner several weeks back.  We can expect hoaxes, but we might also have another real attack.  From Reuters:   LOS ANGELES — Two Air France flights en route to Paris from the United States were diverted on Tuesday following anonymous threats, and passengers and crew were safely removed, the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said.  An Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles landed in Salt Lake City, where passengers and crew were being taken off the plane and escorted into the terminal, an FAA spokesman said.  A separate flight that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., was diverted to Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, where passengers and crew had disembarked.  In a brief statement, Air France said both flights had been the “subjects of anonymous threats received after their respective take-offs.”  No one is taking anything for granted.

GRIM PREDICTION – We don't want to be alarmist, but a former member of Al Qaeda, appearing on Fox News Tuesday night, predicted that a terrorist attack on the United States might come in the next two weeks.  The prediction has a certain logic.  It's long been believed in intelligence circles that a terrorist group would try to attack the United States during the holiday season.  And you'll recall that the "Christmas day bomber,"
Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, tried to explode a device on a Northwest airliner over Detroit on December 25, 2009.  From the Washington Times:  With another round of holidays fast approaching in the shadows of last Friday’s Paris attacks, FBI officials on the front lines of the war on terrorism see a new round of threats rising and worry they don’t have all the tools to cope, according to interviews with The Washington Times.  Officials familiar with the bureau’s preparations, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said Director James Comey has put a brave public face on the bureau’s fight against ISIS that masks significant tensions behind the scenes with the Obama administration.  How could the FBI not have tensions with a president who just doesn't care, and who has contempt for his own country?

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT? – From Fox:   CHERRY HILL, N.J. – Santa Claus is free again.  A New Jersey mall on Monday eliminated a requirement that parents pay $35 to $50 for a photo or video package for their kids to get into a Santa exhibit.  The decision to charge for an attraction that had been free last year sparked anger from many parents, some who said the fee inherently pushed away low-income families and ran counter to the spirit of the holiday.  "He's locked up in his castle," Elsa Anzideo, a Voorhees mother of two daughters, complained to The Philadelphia Inquirer. "You can't even see Santa."  The mall said it was lifting the fee for Adventure to Santa because it wanted to keep things festive in the spirit of the holiday season.  Whoever dreamed up this scheme should be recruited by the Obama administration.  Same respect for American values.

November 17, 2015       Permalink

AP REBUKES CLINTON – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  It's rare for a mainstream press organization to go after Hillary Clinton, even though the pickings are so rich.  But AP is pursuing Clinton on the e-mail issue.  From The Politico: 

The Associated Press rebuked the State Department on Monday, accusing the agency of dragging their feet on producing documents related to Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary.

The State Department, asked to produce Clinton’s public schedule for the duration of her time in office, has said it will need a month to process 400 pages of the material—a pace that, according to AP calculations, would require four years for the department to complete the task.

"AP (and the citizens of this nation) should not have to wait another four years, long after the 2016 election in which Secretary Clinton is a presidential candidate, to receive a full set of her schedules from her tenure as Secretary of State. AP respectfully suggests that a reasonable production schedule would require State to produce all of Secretary Clinton’s ‘mini schedules’ and ‘final schedules’ no later than the Spring of 2016," the AP wrote in court-filed response to the State Department.

COMMENT:  Clinton's problems are far from over.  The FBI investigation is expanding.  We're assuming she'll be the Democratic nominee next year, but maybe we'd better hedge our bets.  Once the holiday season is over, Clinton will try to run out the clock, securing her nomination before investigations are complete, or exhausting the investigators.  But she may not succeed. 

The person who controls Clinton's fate is Barack Obama.  We all know that.  He controls the Justice and State departments, and can ultimately decide what actions involving Clinton's past will be taken.  The Obamas and Clintons do not like each other.  We'll leave it at that for now.  Facts are being developed.

November 17, 2015       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  From the brilliant Walter Russell Mead, in the American Interest, who argues that no response to the Paris attacks will actually change the reality of what we face: 

Regardless of what kind of response the West ultimately launches, military efforts in the wake of Paris will not spell an end to terrorism. There is no chance for a cure for the causes of terrorism anytime soon, no matter how much Paris may have stiffened Europe’s resolve. Across the Middle East, democracy isn’t taking hold, economic development is further away than ever, and bad governance is still endemic. This “civilizational wound” isn’t going to be cured, and the sense of backwardness, bitterness, alienation it creates isn’t going to get better. The Arab world as a whole is no closer today to, say, an East Asian-style development miracle than it was in 1950 and neither the West nor anybody else has the slightest idea how to change that.

And...

We can kill Osama bin Laden. We can (and we should) crush ISIS. But we can’t change the reality that jihadi ideology is alive and well, feeding off the discontent and disempowerment felt so widely in the Islamic world. We can strengthen our security at home, we can continue to improve intelligence collection and to disrupt the ability of terrorists to communicate, to travel, and to raise and move money. None of these measures can ever be completely successful, and new jihadi movements will likely spring up to replace the ones we defeat. But we cannot relax our vigilance. The price of failure is too high.

And...

The French and their allies have every right, and even have a duty, to strike ISIS as hard as they can. The hopes and the prayers of the civilized world will go with the pilots and fighters as they bring retribution to the authors of evil. But we cannot be naive. The war against terror has a long way to go, and we must brace for more horrors like the ones so recently visited on the City of Light.

COMMENT:   Please read the whole thing.  Mead is one of the best writers writing today.  He is fearless and not politically correct.  He goes for the truth, not an "alternative narrative."   He is telling us that the threat we face today has its origins in the failures of the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Can there be any doubt?  When is the last time you rushed to a store to buy an import from Syria or Egypt?

But the left will go through its usual ritual and blame the West, the United States, and, of course, Israel.  The myth is repeated on our college campuses every day.

November 17, 2015        Permalink

THE LIARS – AT 8:16 A.M. ET:  They are the people in the dying Obama administration who tell us they can properly vet the thousands of Syrian refugees that Obama wants to import into the United States, to be certain that they're not dangerous.

That is an outright lie.  First of all, we don't know how many are actual refugees, and how many are infiltrators.  It's been pointed out that all previous refugee crises have one thing in common – the refugees are predominantly women and children.  In this crisis, despite a few well-edited photos that are circulated, the great majority are fighting-aged men.  Why?  Why has no one tried to find out?

Then we come to the vetting claim.  Andrew Malcolm, at IBD, discusses it this morning:

During a news conference in Turkey, Obama claimed to have "rigorous (refugee) screening and security checks" in place.

His aide, Ben Rhodes -- the fellow who helped perpetrate the video hoax in the days after the deadly Benghazi incident -- assured Sunday morning TV audiences, "We have very robust vetting procedures" for refugees. Can you say ObamaCare?

Here's the problem with those assertions: They're not true.

In early October senior immigration officials testified before Congress they had no databases from failed states such as Syria and Libya to use for vetting would-be immigrants.

"Refugees" thus would be admitted on blind faith. That's not something most Americans seem prepared to allow now, even before the Paris attacks and thousands of refugees swarmed Europe in recent months.

As IBD reported last month, "Senior FBI officials recently testified that they have no idea who these people are, and they can't find out what type of backgrounds they have — criminal, terrorist or otherwise — because there are no vetting opportunities in those war-torn countries."

And don't forget, both Boston Marathon bombers were asylum-seekers from Chechnya, brothers so dangerous that Russia warned American authorities about them, to no avail. Three Americans died and more than 260 were injured by the two explosions in 2013.

The president and his diplomatic go-fer John Kerry announced the Syrian refugee admission policy earlier this fall in typical Obama style, peremptory and free of advance warning to legislators or explanation to voters.

COMMENT:  Obama, a profoundly left-wing man, and very pro-Muslim, will not relent.  He intends to make his last year in office a long sneer at the country for which he has obvious contempt – his own.

November 17,  2015     Permalink