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OCTOBER 18,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

HOMETOWN STAB – From Breitbart:  "AUSTIN, Texas -- The good news keeps coming for Greg Abbott, Texas' Attorney General and the heavy favorite to be the state's next governor. After a week of negative backlash against an attack ad run by his Democratic opponent, State Senator Wendy Davis, Abbott enjoyed a bump in fundraising, website traffic, and volunteer sign-ups, and now has the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Davis's hometown paper.  The Star-Telegram described their endorsement as one that 'must hinge on leadership,' naming Abbott as '[t]he candidate best able to outline and articulate an inclusive vision for all Texans and then lead the state in that direction.' The Fort Worth editorial board also praised Abbott's detailed policy proposals that are 'far more robust' than Davis's, mentioning the 'series of thoughtful and thorough policy prescriptions for education, transportation and healthcare, among other topics' on Abbott's website."  Wendy is right out of the 1960s – a one-issue candidate, and the issue is abortion.

THE TRUTH COMES OUT – From IBD:  "ObamaCare shoppers in search of the lowest-cost plan may come down with a mild case of rate shock when 2015 exchange enrollment begins next month.  An examination of next year's rates in the biggest city in 15 states and Washington, D.C., reveals that the cost of the cheapest bronze plan will jump an average of 13.9% for 40-year-old non-smokers earning 225% of the poverty level ($26,260).  In Seattle, the cost of the cheapest bronze plan, after subsidies, will soar 64%, from $60 to $98 per month, for individuals at this income level. Some other cities seeing notable gains include Providence (up 38%, from $72 to $99 per month); Los Angeles (up 27%, from $88 to $111); Las Vegas (up 22%, from $100 to $122); and New York (up 18%, from $97 to $114)."  May not seem like much compared to more expensive plans, but, for those on the financial edge, increases like that are damaging.  If the increases continue, it won't take long for the monthly costs to be prohibitive.  Weren't these the people the Dems were most worried about?  And these are the bronze plans.

SUPREMES OKAY TEXAS I.D. – From the Washington Times:  "The Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce its strict voter identification laws in the upcoming midterms early Saturday morning. The decision, which came at 5 a.m., was unsigned and contained no reasoning.  The court rejected requests from the Obama administration and civil rights groups, refusing to re-impose an injunction against the law that was granted by a district court judge but lifted by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday.  The law requires voters to present a photo ID at the polls before casting their ballot. Acceptable forms of ID include a Texas drivers license, a military ID, passport, or Texas gun license."  Voters must meet qualifications to vote, which usually include age, citizenship, and residency in a particular jurisdiction.  States must be able to verify those qualifications.  And yet, voter I.D. laws are vigorously opposed on grounds that they disqualify minorities.  How so?  Anyone who's legit can get a valid I.D.  I suspect the real reason for opposing voter I.D. laws is that they prevent the voter fraud that infects elections in some areas, especially some large cities.  Overwhelmingly, Americans favor those laws, minorities among them.

October 18,  2014     Permalink

AND TO SHOW YOU JUST HOW CRAZY JOHN KERRY IS (SEE POST JUST BELOW) – AT 11:31 A.M:  Consider this from Haaretz, an Israeli left-wing paper that usually doesn't publish stuff like this.  We publish it as a public service, in case you know some young girls who seek a life of adventure:

The Islamic State group has established a women's institute, offering classes in everything from sewing to weapons training, according to the vocative website.

Called Al-Zawra, the jihadi finishing school is for women who are “interested in explosive belt and suicide bombing more than a white dress or a castle or clothing or furniture,” according to its mission statement.

The institute's goal is to “prepare sisters for the battlefields for jihad,” and equip them with the necessary skills to support Islamic State fighters.

The institute is also a recruitment tool to lure impressionable young girls to the group’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

The first post in a forum dedicated to the group tells the story of Nusaybah bint Ka’ab, a Muslim woman who joined her husband and sons in the Battle of Uhud in the year 625, after cowardly soldiers began retreating. Bearing a shield and sword, she sustained 12 wounds, but still managed to chop off the leg of the man who hurt her son, Ka’ab, according to the post.

Al-Zawra provides training in five disciplines: sewing and cooking, first aid, Islam and Sharia law, weaponry, and training in social media and computer programs for editing and design.

For women who want to train for jihad on their own, the institute offers advice on its website.

Trainee female jihadists are reportedly advised to get fit - “Take a half hour every day to go jogging. Keep adding distance every day in order not to be a burden on your jihadi brothers,” – learn first aid – “Watch videos of first aid operations on the Internet and try to apply them on your young sister,” – and to learn how to sew – “You are going to sew the clothes of Allah’s soldiers. Go to your mother and ask her to teach you about the sewing machine.”

COMMENT:  Isn't cultural development wonderful?  And remember, who are we to question someone else's culture?  All cultures have their own validity.

And John Kerry (see below) tells us this is related to global warming.

October 18, 2014       Permalink

CRAZY JOHN – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  If you have any doubts that American foreign policy is being fun from an insane asylum,  this should eliminate them.  From CNS: 

CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday night rejected any link between Islam and extremism practiced by the likes of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh), pointing instead to factors such as poverty among youthful Mideast populations, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and climate change.

Yeah, people crash planes into buildings because the hometown temperature went up a degree in 50 years.  No doubt that's a cause.

Addressing a reception at the State Department in honor of the recent Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, Kerry told an audience of Muslim community representatives, diplomats and others that the world was facing “a very complex time, and there are many currents that are loose out there that have brought us to this moment.”

“The extremism that we see, the radical exploitation of religion which is translated into violence, has no basis in any of the real religions,” he said. “There’s nothing Islamic about what ISIL/Daesh stands for, or is doing to people.”

The situation was “complicated, and for other reasons,” Kerry said. “We’re living at a point in time where there are just more young people demanding what they see the rest of the world having than at any time in modern history.”

He said with large youthful populations in some countries in the Middle East, South-Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, “you are going to have a governance problem unless your governance is really addressing the demands and needs of that part of the population.”

Kerry said extremist violence was just a symptom of underlying causes that needed to be addressed. He spoke in that context of a need for a partnership – to pursue peace, shared prosperity and the ability to get an education and a job, as well as “sustainability of the planet itself.”

COMMENT:  This is like denying that the Nazi scourge in Europe had anything to do with Hitler's beliefs and teachings.  Just old grievances, that's all.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.

Some 13 years after 9-11, the leaders of the Obama administration still can't accept that we are fighting an ideology that exists independently of "grievances."  Many terrorist leaders turn out to be educated people from the middle- or even upper classes. 

Oscar Hammerstein II once wrote, in "South Pacific," that "you've got to be taught to hate.."  Now we're being told by John Kerry, undoubtedly echoing his insular and egotistical boss, that it just isn't so.  The teaching doesn't matter.  It's climate, and, of course, the Arab-Israeli conflict.

No wonder we're losing.

October 18, 2014       Permalink

GOP RAPS EBOLA CZAR CHOICE – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  With polls showing Americans rejecting President Obama's handling of the Ebola situation, Republicans are correctly jumping on the bandwagon in calling attention to Obama's blatantly political choice of an Ebola czar.  From Fox: 

Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill Friday criticized Ron Klain, President Obama’s choice to be “Ebola czar,” as a figurehead with no health background.

“Given the mounting failings in the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak, it is right that the president has sought to task a single individual to coordinate its response, “said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “But I have to ask why the president didn’t pick an individual with a noteworthy infectious disease or public health background?”

Klain, a longtime political hand, served as chief of staff to Al Gore and Vice President Joe Biden but has no apparent medical or health care background.

A White House official said Friday that Klain comes to the job with "strong management credentials, extensive federal government experience overseeing complex operations and good working relationships with leading members of Congress, as well as senior Obama administration officials, including the president."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called him an "excellent choice."

But criticism came swiftly from the Republicans.

“The United States’ handling of the Ebola virus here at home has left Americans across the country petrified about the preparedness and response efforts, said House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.” The public is desperate to believe that we will be safe from Ebola’s spread. I was glad the president got off the campaign trail to finally focus on Ebola, but with this appointment of a 'czar' with no health background, he just got right back on.”

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, added, “This appointment is both shocking and frankly tone deaf to what the American people are concerned about. Installing yet another political appointee who has no medical background or infectious disease control experience will do little to reassure Americans who are increasingly losing confidence with the administration’s Ebola strategy.”

Both Upton and Murphy called for immediate travel restrictions to halt the spread of the disease.

COMMENT:  I'd love to hear what Democratic Senate candidates are saying about this defective appointment.  Probably nothing, as they don't want their names linked with Obama's.  (Contrast that with the almost religious welcoming of Obama in 2008.)  There certainly were better appointees available.  When the space shuttle Challenger went down during the Reagan administration, a star-studded panel was appointed to investigate.  It did an outstanding job.  The Obama administration is strictly Chicago politics.

October 18,  2014     Permalink

OCTOBER 17,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

AWOL – It didn't take long for Obama's new Ebola czar to absent himself.  From Breitbart:  "Ron Klain, the newly-appointed 'Ebola Czar' for Barack Obama's administration, did not attend a White House meeting Friday discussing the federal response to the domestic threat of the deadly Ebola virus."  Off to a great start.  Imagery is important in government and Klain, who is essentially a political operative, should have known better and been there.  His absence reflects the lack of urgency of the president who appointed him.

KENTUCKY TILTING RIGHT – From Gallup:  "WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A series of disheartening figures could make Democratic Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes' attempt to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all the more difficult. Kentuckians are now more likely to identify as or lean toward Republicans (45%) than Democrats (39%). In the prior six years, Gallup found Democrats held at least a slight advantage.  The six-percentage-point edge favoring Republicans, based on interviewing conducted in Kentucky from January through June of this year, underscores the uphill battle Grimes faces in trying to unseat McConnell. And given typical Republican advantages in voter turnout, the Democratic deficit on partisanship among those Kentucky residents who actually turn out to vote may be even greater than six points."  It's going our way, but only the votes cast on election day or by absentee ballot are the only decisions that will count.

WHOOPS – First it was Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, Senate candidate from Kentucky, who messed up by refusing to say whether she'd voted for Obama.  Now it's incumbent Senator Kay Hagan, who has a narrow lead in North Carolina in a desperate attempt to keep her seat, who has egg on her face.  From the Weekly Standard:  "Democratic senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina was emphatic earlier this week that instituting a travel ban on those attempting to enter the United States from West African nations ravaged by the Ebola virus was 'not going to help solve the problem.'  Hagan's Republican opponent, Thom Tillis, had been one of the first candidates for office to suggest the ban.  But in a statement released Friday afternoon by her official Senate office, Hagan appears to have changed her mind.  'I have said for weeks that travel restrictions should be one part of a broad strategy to prevent Ebola from spreading in the U.S. and fighting it in Africa,' said Hagan in her statement. 'I am calling on the Administration to temporarily ban the travel of non-U.S. citizens from the affected countries in West Africa. Although stopping the spread of this virus overseas will require a large, coordinated effort with the international community, a temporary travel ban is a prudent step the President can take to protect the American people, and I believe he should do so immediately.'"  Guess she read the polls.  A candidate of conviction.

MAJOR FINANCIAL NEWS – From the Washington Times:  "President Obama came perilously close to having to wash some dishes on his recent trip to New York.  Mr. Obama revealed Friday that his credit card was rejected when he went to pay for his meal at a New York restaurant during the U.N. General Assembly gathering last month.  'Turns out I guess I don’t use it enough,' so the payment wouldn’t go through, Mr. Obama explained.   'Apparently they thought there was some fraud going on,' Mr. Obama joked at a meeting Friday with employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, adding that 'even I am affected' by the difficulties of dealing with the American financial system."  He handles his job the same way.

October 17,  2014     Permalink

WHAA..? – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  Look, I don't want to knock the guy, but is this the chap a president picks for a critical job at a critical time?  From Fox: 

Responding to growing calls to appoint an "Ebola czar" to lead America's battle against the deadly virus, sources confirm to Fox News that President Obama plans to name Ron Klain, a longtime political hand with no apparent medical or health care background.

He did, however, serve as chief of staff to Al Gore and later Vice President Biden.

In making the appointment, Obama will effectively bypass another official, Dr. Nicole Lurie, who has served as assistant secretary for preparedness and response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human Services since July 2009.

Congress, nearly a decade ago, created that post, which would seem to fit the bill for Ebola coordinator -- at least on paper.

COMMENT:  This is absurd, and it shows the contempt that Obama has for the intelligence and feelings of the American people.  This is a moment when you appoint a star, someone of great prestige and vast knowledge.  The appointment of a political operative sends the message that the most important job the Ebola czar will have will be to protect the president.  Of course, in Obama's mind, that would be the most important job.

We have so many problems as a nation, and look who we have as president.

October 17,  2014     Permalink

OH SWELL – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We used to say that the nightmare scenario in the Mideast was WMD falling into the hands of terrorist groups.  The nightmare appears to be going live.  From International Business Times: 

International Business Times – According to a recent report published in the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs, or MERIA, militants of the Islamic State group used chemical weapons, including mustard gas, against Kurdish fighters in the Syrian border town of Kobani during their first attempt to capture the town in July.

The report, which is based on testimonies from eyewitnesses on the ground, said that the chemical weapons had been transferred to the Syrian province of Raqqa from a Saddam Hussein-era chemical weapons facility located near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The report has prompted fears that ISIS could have access to vast stockpiles of chemical weapons, including sarin, mustard gas, and VX, a nerve agent.

COMMENT:  While this story cannot be independently verified, there have been a number like it, saying pretty much the same thing.  So much for the myth that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It's time for a full Congressional investigation on the status of WMD in the Mideast, although I wonder if the Obamans would cooperate in any meaningful way.  Remember that the "narrative" of the left is that George W. Bush lied about Iraqi WMD to justify our invasion of Iraq in 2003.  I don't think the left, and its journalistic allies, will want to give up that narrative.

October 17, 2014       Permalink

TURKEY STRIKES OUT – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  Turkey has failed in its bid to become a member of the UN Security Council.  From USA Today: 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Turkey failed in its effort to join the U.N.'s most powerful body on Thursday, while Venezuela, New Zealand, Spain, Angola and Malaysia were elected to coveted Security Council seats.

Special attention had been on Turkey as it is under growing pressure to do more about the war in Syria pushing up against its border. Turkey lobbied heavily among the General Assembly's 193 member states for their votes, with its foreign minister hosting a party at the iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel the night before the vote.

Shows you how serious the UN is.  A party for a vote.

In competition with New Zealand and Spain for two seats representing the western group of nations, Turkey fell behind as New Zealand easily gained a seat on the first ballot and Spain made it on the third.

"We could not abandon our principles for the sake of getting more votes," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in comments carried by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The five winners will join the Security Council on Jan. 1 and serve through 2016 as non-veto-wielding members. They will replace Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

On balance, it's a losing proposition.  Some of the new members – Venezuela and Malaysia in particular, are problematical, Venezuela dramatically so.  No new member is an American ally with the loyalty of Australia and South Korea.  But we have a veto on the Security Council, and I hope President Hope and Change is willing to use it.

With Venezuela's victory, Russia and China will likely gain an ally on key international issues that have put them at odds with the three Western permanent council members — the U.S., Britain and France. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has close ties with Syria's President Bashar Assad and Iran and has strongly supported Russia in the Ukraine crisis.

COMMENT:  At least Turkey didn't get rewarded for its eccentric behavior and increasingly Islamic stance.  Be thankful for small victories.

October 17, 2014       Permalink

SABATO PREDICTS – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Political pundit Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia makes his predictions for the Senate.  From centerforpolitics.org: 

Our projection remains a five-to-eight seat Republican gain in the Senate, and with less than three weeks to go we would much rather be holding the cards Republicans have been dealt versus the ones dealt to the Democrats as both sides play for a Senate majority. Despite the likelihood of two runoffs, it’s not impossible to imagine the GOP having a good enough night that they get to 51 seats without Georgia or Louisiana: That would mean holding all of their present seats (minus Georgia, at least on Election Day) and capturing (in order of least to most GOP difficulty) Montana, West Virginia, South Dakota, Arkansas, Alaska, Iowa, and Colorado. That would represent a great night for the GOP, and they have at least a decent chance in all seven races (North Carolina could be the eighth).

That said, a month ago the Republican position looked much stronger in Georgia and Kansas (states they already hold), as well as South Dakota (a seat that until recently looked like an easy pick-up). Republicans could and probably should win all three, even if it takes them until January to do so in the Peach State. But 2014 has been a crazy enough election that one of these seats could possibly slip through the GOP’s fingers.

COMMENT:  Once again the Republican problem, if there is one, is losing in states where they should easily win.  Who would have thought Kansas and South Dakota would go wobbly?  And there are states where Republicans only lead by a point or two, like Iowa. 

This will probably be close.  The Senate could go either way.  If the Democrats do retain control, they'd have to hold all or almost all of their senators to get major legislation passed or Supreme Court nominees confirmed.  That may be difficult or impossible, as senators would no longer owe anything to lame-duck President Barack Obama.

October 17,  2014     Permalink