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JANUARY 16,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

HOW SAD – FROM BIZPACREVIEW.COM:  This year, for the first time since its inception in 1989, the Armed Forces Farewell event will reportedly not be held for an outgoing president.  “The Pentagon, in a break with recent tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Donald Trump. … Two senior defense officials confirmed … Thursday that no military farewell is being planned for the commander in chief,” Defense One reported Thursday.  No reason was specified for the break in tradition. It’s also not clear whether the event was canceled by military brass or by the president himself. The latter scenario seems unlikely given his love for the military.  What’s known is that the president plans to hold his own “farewell” event on the morning of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The president has been a supreme supporter of the military, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama.  It's not right for the relationship to end this way.

THE ASSAULT ON ICE CREAM – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  China has come up with a new ice cream no one wants to try.  During routine government testing recently, three samples from a northern China ice cream company came back positive for COVID-19.  Officials now believe that 4,836 boxes of the ice cream may have been contaminated — more than half of which had already been distributed for sale when the test results came back, Sky News reported Friday.  Only 2,089 boxes of ice cream could be confiscated in time, the report said.  The ice cream was produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, where the 1,662 employees were tested Thursday, and were quarantining.  Dr. Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds in the UK, told the outlet an infected person most likely contaminated the batches. “Of course, any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but the chances are that this is the result of an issue with the production plant and potentially down to hygiene at the factory,” he said.  History deals with nations as they deal with their ice cream.  Tbis is an unacceptable insult to ice cream lovers everywhere, and another reason to take the threat of China seriously.

January 16, 2021       Permalink

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 5:30 P.M. ET:  Outside the cartoon that is American politics, there's a real world, with serious threats.  And in a few days those threats will be dealt with by a new, and often confused, American president and an administration filled with holdovers from a failed Obama foreign policy.  Aren't we lucky?  From the Jerusalem Post: 

Iran’s move towards producing uranium metal could only be used to produce weapons, the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom warned in a statement on Saturday.

“Iran has no credible civilian use for uranium metal,” the group, known as the E3 in the context of the Iran nuclear deal, warned. “The production of uranium metal has potentially grave military implications.”

The E3 statement came after Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday that they would begin research on producing uranium metal, which Tehran claimed was meant to provide fuel to a research reactor in Tehran.

The IAEA said: “Iran informed the Agency in a letter on 13 January that ‘modification and installation of the relevant equipment for the mentioned R&D activities have been already started.’”

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the 2015 Iran deal is known, blocked the production or acquisition of plutonium or uranium metal or their alloys for 15 years. Iran would have been able to begin to research producing fuel based on uranium metal in 2025 if the other partners to the agreement would agree to it.

France, Germany and the UK said they are “deeply concerned” by Iran’s preparation to produce uranium metal.

“We strongly urge Iran to halt this activity, and return to compliance with its JCPOA commitments without further delay if it is serious about preserving the deal,” the E3 said.

Iran’s announcement that it would work to produce uranium metal came over a week after Tehran said it would begin enriching uranium up to 20%, going beyond the JCPOA’s enrichment limitations.

The US left the Iran deal in 2018, moving to a “maximum pressure” sanctions regime. Iran deal supporters point to the fact that the mullahs’ regime began major violations of the JCPOA after the American departure, while the proponents point out that the fact that Iran could jump to violating the deal so drastically – like 20% enrichment – and so easily means that the agreement was not working in the first place.

The US pressure campaign continued on Friday, in the final days of the Trump administration, with the US State Department announcing sanctions on anyone who transfers any of 15 materials used for Iran’s nuclear, military or ballistic missiles program. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps controls Iran’s construction sector.”

Pompeo also announced sanctions on companies in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates for working with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, as well some of their executives.

The US will also sanction Iran’s Marine Industries Organization, Aerospace Industries Organization and Iran Aviation Industries Organization for engaging in activities related to conventional arms proliferation.

US President-elect Joe Biden has said he seeks to return to the Iran deal, along with strict Iranian compliance to its terms.

COMMENT:  This will be Biden's first major test in foreign policy, a field in which he has been historically wrong on every major issue.  And he is surrounded by advisers who have been soft on Iran.

However, Biden has every reason to want to separate himself from Obama's failed legacy.  Let's see if he has the spine, and the wisdom. 

January 16, 2021       Permalink

JANUARY 15.  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

DESTINATION FLORIDA – FROM FOX:    Seniors are jetting off to Florida — but it’s not warm weather they’re seeking.  The state was one of the first to begin offering vaccines to people ages 65 and older, by executive order on Dec. 23. According to local news reports in Florida, the state is seeing an influx of "vaccine tourists," out-of-state travelers hoping to jump ahead in line for the coronavirus vaccine.  It’s not just impatient Americans scurrying to the front. Momentum Jets, a Toronto-based private airline, told the Wall Street Journal that wealthy Canadians have been willing to pay between $25,000 to $80,000 for same day, round-trip flights with the carrier.  A spokesperson for Travel Secure Inc., a travel insurance brokerage agency, added that some 30% of clientele booked flights for the Southern US during the month of November — believing those folks had gone to receive their first dose of vaccine or set an appointment for one.  Florida is governed by Republican Ron DeSantis, and is clearly one of the best-governed states in the Union.  DeSantis is prominently mentioned as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024, assuming he isn't arrested by the Thought Police.

THE SINKING SHIP – FROM FOX:  Jimmy Fallon drew a dismal rating on Monday’s showing of "The Tonight Show."  The comedian averaged the smallest television audience ever for an original episode of the late-night show, according to early Nielsen ratings – pulling in 947,000 total viewers on Monday night.  One of Fallon’s competing programs, Stephen Colbert’s "Late Show," on CBS took the cake on Monday evening, drawing just over 2 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s Live and Same Day fast-national numbers as reported by The Wrap.  Coming in at second place was ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with 1.67 million total viewers.  Per the outlet, the final numbers are expected on Wednesday.   Maybe he should try funny.

January 15, 2021       Permalink

THE TRUTH EVENTUALLY COMES OUT – AT 7:30 P.M. ET:  The issue is whether the truth comes to us too late.   Lindsey Graham, who steps down this week as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to become its ranking minority member, has released a mass of documents that prove what we've already suspected.  And he comments.  From Fox: 

EXCLUSIVE: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham on Friday released a slew of additional documents and transcripts related to his panel’s investigation into the origins and aftermath of the Trump-Russia probe, calling the original probe "one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ."

The first investigation – which looked into whether members of President Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the election – was called "Crossfire Hurricane" Graham, the senior Republican senator from South Carolina, released transcripts of interviews with FBI and Justice Department officials conducted by the committee, between March 3, 2020 and October 29, 2020.

"I consider the Crossfire Hurricane investigation a massive system failure by senior leadership, but not representative of the dedicated, hardworking patriots who protect our nation every day at Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice," Graham said in a statement Friday, saying his committee has released "as much material as possible," but noted that "some classified material has still been withheld."

Calling the "Crossfire Hurricane" operation "one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ," Graham also said he "appreciates all those who participated in the depositions and their candor. "They have charted a path to allow us to reform the system."

"The FISA court was lied to. Exculpatory information was withheld on those being investigated. The investigators, with some notable exceptions, were incredibly biased and used the powers of law enforcement for political purposes," Graham said. "The subjects of the investigation had their lives turned upside down. It is my hope that counterintelligence investigations will be reined in and this never happens again in America."

Graham slammed the leadership of the FBI under former Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, saying it was "either grossly incompetent" or said "they knowingly allowed tremendous misdeeds."

"There was a blind eye turned toward any explanation other than the Trump campaign was colluding with foreign powers," he continued. "At every turn the FBI and DOJ ran stop signs that were in abundance regarding exculpatory information."

COMMENT:  A corrupt press, now at the height of its powers, will ignore this.  I mean, who cares?  It's time to "move on," the slogan of the ruling generation.  It's time for Joe Biden, time finally to find out just how far to the left he'll be pushed.

January 15,  2021     Permalink