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

SEPTEMBER 29,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

IDIOTS – From NBC:  "Prisoner, former death row inmate, author and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal will give the commencement speech at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.  The college announced Monday that Abu-Jamal, who received his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard in 1996, was selected by the Fall 2014 graduating class.  Abu-Jamal, 60, was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner. Prosecutors later agreed to a life term after a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing, citing flawed jury instructions.  Since his arrest, Abu-Jamal has gained supporters worldwide who claim he is innocent of the crime and the victim of a racist legal system. Many opponents however, including Faulkner's widow and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, maintain that Abu-Jamal was Faulkner's killer."  What a disgrace.  The fact is that this moral degenerate has never actually denied his guilt.  His case went through appeal after appeal.  He lost all of them.  The evidence of his guilt is overwhelming.  This third rate little children's school isn't the first "college" to have Abu-Jamal as a speaker.  It shows us what we're teaching our kids, and the immaturity that has overtaken American education.

CLOSE IN NORTH CAROLINA – It's one of the most closely watched Senate races.  From CNN:  "(CNN) -- In one of the most closely-watched Senate races of the year, incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina holds a narrow three-point advantage over her Republican challenger, according to a new CNN/ORC International survey.  But the poll indicates that Thom Tillis, the GOP nominee, may be falling behind Hagan because a Libertarian candidate could be siphoning off Republican votes.  Hagan edges Tillis, 46%-43%, while Libertarian Sean Haugh has support from 7% likely voters, according to the poll."  These third partiers often drive me crazy.  I can see entering the race and trying to influence it.  But if it comes down to destroying the chance for someone of similar views to win, the proper response of the third guy is graciously to withdraw, and then endorse, and then fight another day.  If Haugh's presence gives the race to Hagan, he should be frozen out of conservative politics.

THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAN – From Fox:  "An Iranian woman sentenced to death for killing a man who tried to rape her told her mother goodbye and prepared to die, even as the Islamic republic’s president was meeting with world leaders at the United Nations.  Rayhaneh Jabbari, 26, is set to be executed Tuesday, according to reports from Iran. On Monday, her mother, Shole Paravan, recounted on her Facebook page an emotional farewell call her daughter made when a sympathetic guard loaned her a cellphone before she was taken to Rajaiy Shahr Prison to be hanged.  'I am currently handcuffed and there is a car waiting outside to take me for the execution of the sentence,' Jabbari told her mother, whose recounting in Farsi was translated by FoxNews.com. 'Goodbye, dear Mum. All of my pains will finish early tomorrow morning. I’m sorry I cannot lessen your pain. Be patient. We believe in life after death. I’ll see you in the next world and I will never leave you again because being separated from you is the most difficult thing to do in the world.'"  At the UN, and among "sophisticates," she will never be mentioned.  And notice the silence of "feminist" groups.  What precisely do these groups stand for, except free abortion on demand?

THE THREAT – From Truth Revolt:  "The L.A. Times is warning that the 'worst is yet to come' if a grand jury fails to indict white officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing black 18-year-old Michael Brown.  If the grand jury fails to indict the officer who killed Michael Brown, almost everyone here thinks things will get worse.  'They’re not going to be looting next time,' said Kevin Seltzer, 30, who lives at an apartment complex near where Brown, 18, was shot. 'They’re going to burn the city down.'"  Great strategy.  Real brilliant.  But you may be sure the torch carriers will be seen sympathetically by the media, and certainly by the Obamans.

September 29, 2014       Permalink

THE HOLDER LEGACY – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   Eric Holder is resigning as attorney general.  His legacy is being assessed.  Our side, of course, is harshly critical.  Holder politicized the Justice Department, not that it hasn't been done before.  He, though, has been particularly outrageous, starting with his decision not to prosecute the Black Panthers for voter obstruction in Philadelphia on election day, 2008.  Justice Department lawyers felt it was an open-and-shut case, but was dropped.  Holder has also gone after voter I.D. laws, which not only are popular, but necessary to prevent voter fraud.

Former Reagan Attorney-General Ed Meese, and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, lay out the case against Holder in a superb piece for The Wall Street Journal.  Required reading: 

Attorney General Eric Holder, who announced his resignation on Thursday, leaves a dismal legacy at the Justice Department, but one of his legal innovations was especially pernicious: the demonizing of state attempts to ensure honest elections.

As a former U.S. attorney general under President Reagan, and a former Ohio secretary of state, we would like to say something that might strike some as obvious: Those who oppose photo voter-ID laws and other election-integrity reforms are intent on making it easier to commit vote fraud.

That conclusion is inescapable, given the well-established evidence that voter-ID laws don't disenfranchise minorities or reduce minority voting, and in many instances enhance it, despite claims to the contrary by Mr. Holder and his allies. As more states adopt such laws, the left has railed against them with increasing fury, even invoking the specter of the Jim Crow era to describe electoral safeguards common to most nations, including in the Third World.

Ascribing racial animus to people who are trying to safeguard democratic integrity is a crude yet effective political tactic that obscures the truth.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's a stunning indictment of a political attorney general.  I'd imagine Obama's choice for successor will be of the same stripe.  We hope that a Republican Senate will have the chance to vote on his or her confirmation.

September 29,  2014     Permalink

WELL, HOW ABOUT THIS? – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:   It isn't something you'd expect from a European country.  Remarkable.  From AFP: 

Geneva (AFP) - Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a plan for a seismic shift from the country's all-private health insurance system to a state-run scheme.

Referendum results showed that almost 62 percent of voters had shot down a reform pushed by left-leaning parties which say the current private system is busting the budgets of ordinary residents.

The results also underlined the national divisions over the hotly-contested issue as the country's German-speaking regions voted against the plan, while their French-speaking counterparts were in favour.

Switzerland's private insurance lobby hailed the vote.

"The Swiss population does not want a single national scheme," said the Swiss Insurance Association.

"Our health system is among the top performers in the world. Competition between health insurers and freedom of choice for clients play a major role in this," it added.

Going public would have been a major shift for a country whose health system is often hailed abroad as a paragon of efficiency, but is a growing source of frustration at home because of soaring costs.

COMMENT:  Obviously, it's important to deal with rising costs, but that can be done without nationalizing the whole system, which is what the socialist-minded would like to do all over the world.  Some educators are now experimenting with ways to bring down college costs dramatically.  We should be far more innovative in bringing down health costs. 

September 29, 2014       Permalink

BOOTS ON THE GROUND? – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:   Poll numbers suggest Americans are enthusiastic about air strikes against the Islamic State, but generally oppose boots on the ground.  Note, though, that in foreign policy we usually see early poll results reflecting presidential opinion.  From CNN:

(CNN) -- Americans are steadfastly opposed to sending U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but an overwhelming number of people continue to support the U.S.-led airstrikes against the terrorist group, a new CNN/ORC International poll shows.

While less than four in 10 Americans favor sending U.S. ground troops into a combat situation against ISIS, there is a widespread belief that such an action is inevitable, according to the poll.

Only 24% of Americans do not think the United States will send combat troops to battle ISIS, while 36% say it is likely and another 39% say it is somewhat likely. Count House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as one of those people.

Boehner said Sunday it may take U.S. boots on the ground to defeat ISIS, as he questioned President Barack Obama's plan -- which includes airstrikes, training and equipping the Iraqi Army and moderate Syrian rebels -- to defeat the terrorist network.

"Listen, the President doesn't want to do that," Boehner said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."
"If I were the President, I probably wouldn't have talked about what I wouldn't do. And maybe, maybe we can get enough of these forces trained and get them on the battlefield, but somebody's boots have to be there."

COMMENT:  That is what most military experts are saying.   Air power is critical, of course.  But wars are generally not won from the air.  Ground has to be taken and held. 

I don't see a winning strategy at work.

September 29, 2014       Permalink

THE FIRST FIBBER – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  "Sixty Minutes" did its usual softball interview with President Obama last night, further eroding its own brand.  And, as usual, Obama blamed other people for his mistakes in the Mideast.  This time he nailed the intelligence community for underestimating the Islamic State.  Except...it isn't true.  Ace national-security reporter Eli Lake has the story at The Daily Beast: 

On “60 Minutes,” the president faulted his spies for failing to predict the rise of ISIS. There’s one problem with that statement: The intelligence analysts did warn about the group.

Nearly eight months ago, some of President Obama’s senior intelligence officials were already warning that ISIS was on the move. In the beginning of 2014, ISIS fighters had defeated Iraqi forces in Fallujah, leading much of the U.S. intelligence community to assess they would try to take more of Iraq.

But in an interview that aired Sunday evening, the president told 60 Minutes that the rise of the group now proclaiming itself a caliphate in territory between Syria and Iraq caught the U.S. intelligence community off guard. Obama specifically blamed James Clapper, the current director of national intelligence: “Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” he said.

It's typical of Obama to find someone to blame.  A real leader takes responsibility on himself.  When President Kennedy was asked who was at fault for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, his reply was, "I am the responsible officer of the government."  No such words would pass Barack Obama's lips, for a god never blames himself.

Reached by The Daily Beast after Obama’s interview aired, one former senior Pentagon official who worked closely on the threat posed by Sunni jihadists in Syria and Iraq was flabbergasted. “Either the president doesn’t read the intelligence he’s getting or he’s B.S.ing,” the former official said.

Clapper did tell The Washington Post’s David Ignatius this month that he underestimated the will of the ISIS fighters in Iraq and overestimated the ability of Iraq’s security forces in northern Iraq to counter ISIS. (He also said his analysts warned about the “prowess and capability” of the group.)

Still, other senior intelligence officials have been warning about ISIS for months.

COMMENT:  In the end, Obama winds up fitting the description we've given him here – a glorified town councilman.  Too small for his office. 

September 29,  2014     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 28,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:47 P.M. ET: 

CARNAGE – From CBS:  "MIAMI - A shooting sent terrified patrons scrambling from a Miami nightclub early Sunday and left 15 people wounded, including an 11-year-old child, authorities said.  When Miami police and rescue crews arrived at a club called The Spot around 1 a.m., they said they found chaos among the large throng of adults and teenagers gathered there. Rescuers found wounded people inside and outside the club, some too hurt to flee, Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll said.  He told The Associated Press that the first emergency crews arriving on the scene were warned to use caution because there was still active shooting taking place in the area.'  At least one person was reported in critical condition but the extent of the other injuries wasn't immediately known.  Some people were running, 'people were screaming, people were saying they were shot,' Carroll said, adding others were yelling for help for friends who had been shot."  We eagerly await extensive coverage by CNN and the statements of "leaders."  Don't hold your breath.  Ain't gonna happen.

MORE WEEKEND CHEER – From the New York Daily News:  "A Canadian member of the loathed Islamic State claimed the group is plotting an attack on New York City — and will one day fly its flag over the White House.  Days before Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned of terrorist plots on subways in New York City and Paris, a video emerged showing an ISIS shill named Farah Shirdon widening the scope of the threat.   'God willing, we will make some attacks in New York soon,' he said in a video interview with Vice News last week. 'A lot of brothers are mobilizing there right now.'  He vowed that U.S.-based fighters are 'mobilizing for a brilliant attack.'"  This might simply be baloney, but I'd still take it seriously.  It demonstrates their dreams.  Some of those dreams were carried out on September 11, 2001.  That took 19 hijkackers.  It can happen again.

DEMS IMPLODE IN OHIO – From The New York Times:  "DAYTON, Ohio — With a wounded candidate at the top of their ticket, Democrats in Ohio have been forced to adopt a Plan B as they seek to avoid a disastrous shutout in elections for governor and other statewide offices.  'Voting from the bottom to the top: That is the way we need to roll this year,' said Nina Turner, a candidate for secretary of state.  Translation: Ignore the contest for governor and concentrate on the down-ballot races for the five other statewide offices, where Democrats are challenging Republican incumbents."  Look, I don't mean to gloat.  I'm a kindly fellow.  But I love to see liberals panic.  Forgive me.

September 28, 2014       Permalink

WELL, EXCUSE ME – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:   It appears that the Soviet, oops, I mean the Russian foreign minister is deeply offended at the concept of American exceptionalism.  Our apologies, our deep apologies...not.  From Fox: 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a blistering attack on the United States and its NATO allies on Saturday at the United Nations, accusing them of being unable to change their Cold War “genetic code” and demanding the U.S. drop its claims to “eternal uniqueness.”

"The U.S.-led Western alliance that portrays itself as a champion of democracy, rule of law and human rights within individual countries ... (is) rejecting the democratic principle of sovereign equality of states enshrined in the U.N. Charter and trying to decide for everyone what is good or evil," Lavrov said in remarks at the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday in the latest example of deteriorating relations between Moscow and the West.

Lavrov's assault appeared to be an extension of the increasingly anti-Western stance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is riding a wave of popularity at home with his neo-nationalist rhetoric and policies.

"Washington has openly declared its right to unilateral use of force anywhere to uphold its own interests," Lavrov said. "Military interference has become a norm - even despite the dismal outcome of all power operations that the U.S. has carried out over the recent years."

Lavrov’s list of alleged U.S. failures included the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s view that the crisis in Ukraine was the result of a coup d'etat in that country backed by the United States and the European Union for the purpose of pulling Kiev out of its "organic role as a binding link between" East and West, denying it the opportunity for "neutral and non-bloc status."

COMMENT:  So, among other things, Lavrov rejects our "eternal uniqueness."  I rather like our uniqueness and our exceptionalism.  Mr. Lavrov might note that one problem his country doesn't have is millions of people trying to get in.  Trying to get out is another question.  Lots of people in the West trace their origins to Russia.  I don't know too many people in Russia who trace their origins to Nebraska.

September 28, 2014       Permalink

LOUISIANA HAYRIDE – AT 10:36 A.M. ET:  Looks like the GOP has a good chance to pick up a Senate seat in Louisiana...but in the strangest way.  From The Hill:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) leads her closest Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy (La.) by 3 points, according to a new poll, in a key Senate race that may be headed to a runoff.

A CNN/ORC poll released Sunday morning shows 43 percent support for Landrieu and 40 percent for Cassidy. Tea Party candidate Rob Maness was the choice of 9 percent of the respondents.

The telephone survey of 1,013 adults, conducted between Sept. 22 and 25, has a 3-percentage-point margin of error.

The Louisiana race would go to a runoff between the top two vote-getters if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in November.

Fifty percent of likely voters in the new survey said they would choose Cassidy in that runoff, compared with 47 percent who would pick Landrieu.

Landrieu and Maness each drew 48 percent support in a hypothetical runoff.

COMMENT:  It's pathetic for an incumbent to only poll at 43% of the vote.  But Republican hopes are being frustrated by that Tea Party candidate.  If he's polling at 9%, he should graciously drop out and let Cassidy win.  This is where amateurism shows its damage.

I suspect this will go to a runoff and that Cassidy will squeeze by.  That would be an important pickup for our side.

September 28, 2014       Permalink

PROGRESS IN IOWA – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  When this campaign started, not too many people thought a Republican had a real chance to capture a Senate seat from Iowa.  Times have changed.  From The Hill: 

A new poll from Des Moines Register finds Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) leading Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) by 6 percentage points.

Ernst edged Braley 44% percent to 38 percent among likely voters in a race that has been considered deadlocked for months.

With less than 40 days until the Nov. 4 election, Ernst is ahead nearly 4-1 with rural voters, and is up double digits with independents.

The race between Ernst and Braley is considered one of the most competitive in the country and pivotal in the GOP's drive to win the Senate majority.

They're running to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who's retiring after 30 years in office.

The Iowa Poll of 546 likely voters in the 2014 general election was conducted Sept. 21-24 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

COMMENT:  Good progress, but let's not get overconfident.  I expect the Democrats to wage a major scare campaign in October, targeting voters who will be made to think that their benefits will be taken away if they vote Republican.  It's an old device and can work.  We have to run every race as if we're 20 points behind.

September 28,  2014     Permalink