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DECEMBER 31,  2017

NO "SHORT TAKES" TONIGHT.  INSTEAD WE PRESENT GUIDANCE FOR PROPER NEW YEAR'S EVE BEHAVIOR IN THE CURRENT AGE:

1.  When the clock strikes midnight, you may not kiss women, or those identifying as women, without written permission.  Permission forms may still be obtained at local colleges, which are staying open for that purpose.  I got mine at Joseph Stalin Community College and Grievance Center.  It's a short form.

2.  You may not say "Happy New Year."  That is an oppressive greeting that assumes others wish for your idea of the colonialist/Zionist notion of happiness.   The proper greeting is, "May your inner feelings find expression in the period ahead."  Please note the use of "period" rather than "year," which is a Roman, Crusader measurement.

3. You may not touch or shake hands with guests.  You probably don't realize it because your consciousness hasn't been raised, but touching and beating someone up are the same thing.

4. You may not serve or consume champagne.  Imagine being a victim from the Third World and being asked to clink glasses filled with some substance that sparkles, when you are heavy with the burden of your downtrodden people.  It is a direct insult.  Instead, serve a drink that is a mixture of different traditions, cultures, and histories.  Never comment on the taste or the aftereffects.  Food poisoning is a small price to pay for showing r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

5. Under no circumstances speak about so-called "New Year's resolutions."   Do you understand, can you conceive, how awful that is?  To the oppressed, the hurt, the victimized, the Yale student who still has a second-generation Macbook, a resolution means a United Nations resolution, where sufferers can strike a blow against the Pentagon, Exxon-Mobil, and Thanksgiving.  How dare you put your little wishes on the same level.  How dare you! 

Okay.  Follow those five and you've made progress.  There'll be more.

December 31, 2017       Permalink

TOUGH TALK – AT 1:31 P.M. ET:  I don't agree with Lindsey Graham on everything, but on national defense he's one of the few expert voices left in the Senate.  And he is urging real toughness against our enemies.  From CBS News:

Sen. Lindsey Graham says that President Trump should embrace the anti-regime protests currently engulfing Iran and be prepared to go to war with North Korea over the country's nuclear program.

The South Carolina Republican, who has grown closer to Mr. Trump in recent months, told "Face the Nation" guest host Major Garrett on Sunday that the president is doing well when it comes to foreign policy. A noted foreign policy hawk, Graham also said that Mr. Trump should use the opportunity provided by the Iran protests to explain on television why the Iranian nuclear deal is "bad for the world."

"So if I were President Trump, I would have a nationwide address pretty soon explaining why the Iranian nuclear deal is a bad deal for the world, what a better deal would look like, and urge Congress and the European allies to get a better deal with Iran -- before it's too late," Graham said.

When asked if it might be counterproductive for the U.S. to endorse the protests, Graham dismissed that thinking as "the Obama approach."

"If I were Trump, I'd do the exact opposite of Obama," Graham said. "Obama said, 'I don't want to get involved, I don't want mess up the chance of getting a deal with Iran.' Well, the deal with Iran hasn't worked. The money didn't go to benefit the people, it went to benefit the Ayatollah and his henchmen."

COMMENT: Very refreshing to hear straight talk.  At some point the crises with North Korea, and now Iran, will come to a head.  I hope it's not too late.  These countries are inflicting the means to do terrible damage to us. 

I agree with Senator Graham.  There are two words I don't want to hear in any discussion of foreign policy:  Barack Obama. 

December 31, 2017       Permalink

IRAN UPDATE – AT 12:43 P.M. ET:  It is hard to get precise information out of Iran.  The regime is not permitting reporters in who aren't already in the country.  Many internet avenues have been shut down.  But the protests are apparently continuing.  From Fox: 

The growing unrest over the economic woes plaguing Iran turned deadly as two protesters were killed at a rally amid warnings Sunday from the country’s government that anyone who disrupts order and breaks the law “must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price," as President Donald Trump said the U.S. is "watching very closely."

The deaths were the first of the demonstrations, which began Thursday and appear to be the largest to strike the Islamic Republic since the protests that followed the country's disputed 2009 presidential election. 

"On Saturday evening, there was an illegal protest in Dorud and a number of people took to the streets responding to calls from hostile groups, leading to clashes,” said Habibollah Khojastehpour, the deputy governor of the western Lorestan province, according to Sky News. “Unfortunately in these clashes two citizens from Dorud were killed."

Khojastehpour told state television that "no shots were fired by the police and security forces” and “foreign agents” and “enemies of the revolutions” were to blame.

A Revolutionary Guards Telegram channel blamed the deaths on "people armed with hunting and military weapons" who "entered the protests and started shooting randomly toward the crowd and the governor's building,” according to Sky News, adding that six people also were wounded.

Videos circulating on social media late Saturday appeared to show fallen protesters in Doroud as gunshots sounded in the background, although the footage could not be independently confirmed.

The killings came as interior minister Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli warned Iranians about participating in the protests.

"Those who damage public property, disrupt order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price," Sky News quoted Fazli as saying early Sunday on state television.

COMMENT:  Thus far Washington has only issued statements.  The details are not precise, but we must do everything to help the protesters overthrow the regime.  Regime change in Iran would change world politics immediately.  Remember that the people of Iran are largely pro-Western.  The "Islamic republic" was imposed on them by a revolution they didn't control.

What can Trump do?  First, he can express absolute solidarity with the protesters.  Two, he can threaten that there will be serious consequences if the regime cracks down violently on those in the streets.  He can demand that sanctions on Iran be strengthened.  He can show military power, even sending a flight of jets over Tehran, and making it clear they will be used against the regime if the protesters are not granted free elections.

I have no doubt the president is going over his options.  Of course, there is a powerful Iranian lobby in Washington, and some of our European "allies" are doing land-office business with Iran.  There's a lot of money betting on the regime, and Trump has to counter that.

December 31,  2017     Permalink

DECEMBER 30,  2017

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

WOOF! – FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:  Airports across the country increasingly are turning to therapy dogs to help relieve the stress of flustered fliers.  But confusion and even conflict can result from the growing packs of pooches, after dogs used by security agents and emotional support animals traveling with passengers are factored in.  Therapy dogs can now be found in at least 46 of the nation’s largest airports, including Los Angeles International Airport, with dog programs most recently launched at the Hollywood Burbank Airport as well as airports in Connecticut and Colorado.  The dogs roam the terminals with their volunteer owners, reducing stress by letting passengers pet and socialize with the animals.  Watch.  This will spread to college campuses.  Students will demand therapy deans, therapy social activists, even therapy substitute parents.  They have rights!

NUT CASE – FROM BREITBART:  Friday on MSNBC, climate activist Bill Nye warned conservatives to “watch out,” saying progressive blue states will “address climate change” on their own.  Nye said, “Only 40 percent of people in the U.S. think that Congress should be addressing this and that’s because certain conservative groups, especially from the fossil fuel industry, have been very successful in introducing the idea that scientific uncertainty, plus or minus two percent, is the same as plus or minus 100 percent.”  He continued, “There’s a lot of emphasis from conservatives on what are writ-large states rights. Just watch out, conservatives, if states rights include California, Illinois, New York — these places that, where people voted in a progressive fashion — watch out if all those places start to address climate change and then impose economic sanctions, either overtly or by default, on places that have not embraced the work that needs to be done. Then you’ll end up with this states rights working the other way.”  No, dork, you'll wind up with a super Supreme Court case.  Don't get your hopes up, especially if Trump gets another appointment.

AND ANOTHER – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  First it was MSNBC’s Mark Halperin. Then “The Today Show’s” Matt Lauer. Now, the recent string scandals involving creepy men who happen to work for NBC News has hit the peacock network’s business channel.  CNBC Director Dan Switzen has been arrested for allegedly spying on his teenage babysitter with a nanny camera placed in a tissue box in a bathroom of his Westchester, NY home.   The New York Daily News reports on the complaint filed by Pleasantville police which details how the teen discovered the camera and reported it immediately to authorities.  That is very weird, and very stupid.  I know a former Pleasantville cop, and I'll ask him about this strange case.

December 30, 2017       Permalink 

IRAN LATEST – AT 6:31 P.M. ET:  They are getting very serious.  But can the protests be sustained?  From Reuters:

DUBAI (Reuters) - Street protests hit Iran for a third day running on Saturday, spreading to the capital Tehran with crowds confronting police and attacking some state buildings, and a social media report said two demonstrators had been shot dead in a provincial town.

The wave of anti-government demonstrations, prompted in part by discontent over economic hardship and alleged corruption, are the most serious since months of unrest in 2009 that followed the disputed re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Saturday's protests, in fact, coincided with state-sponsored rallies staged across the Islamic Republic to mark the final suppression of the 2009 unrest by security forces, with mass pro-government events in Tehran and Mashhad, Iran's second city.

Pro-government rallies were held in some 1,200 cities and towns in all, state television reported.
At the same time, anti-government demonstrations broke out anew in a string of cities and in Tehran for the first time where protesters confronted and stoned riot police around the main university, with pro-government crowds nearby.

Videos posted on social media from the western town of Dorud showed two young men lying motionless on the ground, covered with blood, and a voiceover said they had been shot dead by riot police firing on protesters.

COMMENT: This will be a day-by-day story.  Thus far the United States is still only issuing statements of support for the anti-government demonstrators. 

December 30, 2017       Permalink

INCREDIBLE.  BERLIN TO HAVE SAFE ZONES FOR WOMEN ON NEW YEAR'S EVE – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:  Of course, the language is hedged.  We must be oh so careful.  But the facts speak for themselves.  Reckless immigration policies lead to very bad things.  From BBC:

The new security measures planned for the Brandenburg Gate party come amid concerns about sexual assaults.

A large number of assaults and robberies targeting women at Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations two years ago horrified Germany.

Hundreds of women reported being attacked by gangs of men with migrant backgrounds.

Ah yes, "migrant backgrounds."  You know, people from Topeka, San Diego, maybe Tokyo or Ottawa.

The events in Cologne heightened tensions in the country over the large influx of refugees and migrants - 1.1m people arrived in Germany in 2015, some, but by no means all, fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the New Year's Eve party in Berlin on Sunday and security will be strict. Large bags, such as rucksacks, and alcoholic drinks will be banned at the Brandenburg Gate.

Women who have been assaulted or feel harassed will be able to get support at a special "safety zone", staffed by the German Red Cross, on Ebertstrasse.

COMMENT:  Well, at least they're facing reality.  Cultures aren't the same, and they aren't equal.  And we have no obligation to avert our eyes just to be "multicultural."

December 30, 2017       Permalink

IRAN ERUPTS – AT 12:20 P.M. ET:  Mass demonstrations in Iran.  What will Trump do?  From AFP:

The Iranian government warned people against further protests on Saturday after two days of demonstrations sparked by anger over an array of economic problems.

"We urge all those who receive these calls to protest not to participate in these illegal gatherings as they will create problems for themselves and other citizens," said Interior Minister Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli.

State news channel IRINN said it had been banned from covering the protests that spread from second city Mashhad on Thursday to hit several towns and cities.

The protests initially targeted economic problems, but quickly turned against the Islamic regime as a whole.

US President Donald Trump warned "the world is watching" after dozens of demonstrators were arrested.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi dismissed Trump's comments as "irrelevant" and "opportunistic".

Media coverage inside Iran focused almost exclusively on pro-regime rallies held on Saturday to mark the defeat of the last major protest movement in 2009, which hardliners call "the sedition".

The timing was coincidental, since the rallies are held every year on this day, but offered a handy show of strength to the regime as huge crowds of black-clad supporters gathered across the country.

"The enemy wants once again to create a new plot and use social media and economic issues to foment a new sedition," Ayatollah Mohsen Araki told a crowd in Tehran, according to the conservative Fars news agency.

COMMENT:  When Iranian protests erupted in 2009, it took President Obama about four days to shuffle to a microphone and make some half-hearted statement endorsing freedom.  He did nothing, and the protests were defeated by the hardliners. 

Trump is tweeting.  Thus far that's all he's doing.  If the protests continue, he must do more.  He must show that he's not Obama.  This may be a moment to apply increased and heavy pressure on the Iranian regime.

December 30,  2017     Permalink