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MARCH 27,  2016

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

CLOSING IN – From the L.A. Times:   Federal prosecutors investigating the possible mishandling of classified materials on Hillary Clinton’s private email server have begun the process of setting up formal interviews with some of her longtime and closest aides, according to two people familiar with the probe, an indication that the inquiry is moving into its final phases.  Those interviews and the final review of the case, however, could still take many weeks, all but guaranteeing that the investigation will continue to dog Clinton’s presidential campaign through most, if not all, of the remaining presidential primaries.  No dates have been set for questioning the advisors, but a federal prosecutor in recent weeks has called their lawyers to alert them that he would soon be doing so, the sources said. Prosecutors also are expected to seek an interview with Clinton herself, though the timing remains unclear.  I'd love to see Hillary walking out to accept the Democratic nomination when she's interrupted by a guy saying, "Secretary Clinton, I'm Special Agent Desmond.  Can we talk?"

TRUMP MAY LEAD BY ONLY ONE POINT IN CALIFORNIA – According to a new USC poll.  From The Hill:   Among likely June primary voters, Trump leads Cruz by just 1 point, 36 to 35 percent. John Kasich falls far behind at 14 percent.   Trump, however, got 30 percent support among registered Republicans surveyed in California, according to the poll. Cruz got 30 percent and Kasich received just 12 percent support.  Low turnout could hurt Trump and help Cruz, the Times reported.  According to the poll, about 25 percent of California Republican voters said they would refuse to vote for Trump if he is the Republican Party's nominee.  There have been signs around the country that the race is tightening.  We'll get an indication April 5th, when Wisconsin votes. 

HOW THRILLING – From MSN:   WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is offering his prayers for the families of the two Americans killed in the bombings in Brussels and telling Belgians that "America has their back" in the fight against terrorism.  In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is renewing his vow to continue the campaign against the Islamic State, which took credit for the attacks. He says U.S. officials are working with allies to root out the group's operations in Europe.  It must be wonderful for Barack Obama to have your back.  Just the feeling of confidence, the remembrance of the firm stands he has taken against, say, Iran, or the Cuban regime.  If Obama said he had my back, I'd be on the phone in ten seconds with a life-insurance agent. 

March 27, 2016       Permalink

JUST IN, ON THIS EASTER SUNDAY – AT 1:08 P.M. ET:  From Reuters: 

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 27 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 65 people and injured more than 280 others, mostly women and children, at a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, striking at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political base of Punjab.

The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, a few feet (metres) away from children's swings.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred in a busy residential area during the Easter holiday weekend. Police said it was not clear whether the attack had deliberately targeted mainly Muslim Pakistan's small Christian minority.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people, is plagued by a Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs and sectarian violence. Punjab is its biggest and wealthiest province.

Eyewitnesses said they saw body parts strewn across the parking lot once the dust had settled after the blast.

"When the blast occurred, the flames were so high they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air," said Hasan Imran, 30, a resident who had come to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park for a walk.

Salman Rafique, a health adviser for the Punjab provincial government, put the death toll at at least 60 people.

COMMENT:  Obviously, a major, and awful, terrorist attack.  We'll follow the story.  If it's a specific attack on the Christian community, on Easter Sunday, that meaning will not be lost.  Let's see if our White House shows much interest.

March 27, 2016       Permalink

NUCLEAR FEAR IN BELGIUM – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:  Whenever there's a terrorist attack, the presumed experts begin to project ahead.  What if the terrorists had nuclear materials?  Or chemical gases?  Or biological weapons?  There is real fear in Belgium that ISIS is targeting nuclear facilities.  From London's Daily Mail: 

Belgian security services are fearful that ISIS operatives may have been looking to target a nuclear plant as it emerged two workers from a plant in Doel fled to Syria to join ISIS.

One of the men, reportedly known as Ilyass Boughalab, is believed to have been killed in Syria, while the second served a short prison sentence in Belgium for terror-related offences in 2014.

With an extensive understanding of nuclear facilities, the convict's short jail sentence has raised further questioned of the Belgian security services as well as fears he may have passed on important knowledge about the sites to the terrorist group.

And...

Sebastien Berg, spokesman for the federal agency responsible for Belgium's nuclear industry said they were fearful of a bomb exploding inside a plant or terrorists conducting a 9/11-style attack using a hijacked aircraft.

Nuclear power plants are known to be targets for the terror network behind the Brussels bombings and the Paris attacks in November.

According to the New York Times, several employees working in the Belgian nuclear industry have had their security clearances revoked over potential ISIS plots.

Following last November's terror attack in Paris, Belgian police recovered surveillance footage of a senior nuclear official in the home of ISIS ringleader Mohamed Bakkali, who was arrested and is currently facing terrorism charges.

COMMENT:  Talk about scary.  Field Marshal Obama assures us that we're safe, that more people are killed by ping pong balls or chocolate-chip cookies, or something like that, than by terror.

But if a nuclear plant is successfully attacked, and radiation spews over a city, even Obama might have to revise his remarks, or shorten his tango.

March 27, 2016       Permalink

FANTASYLAND, OR REALITY? – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  Bernie Sanders swept three caucus states last night – Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.  Now he's talking tough.  Maybe Hillary's superdelegates, the party regulars appointed to a convention to prevent the children from taking control, will switch.  From The Hill:

After three big wins out west, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said he thinks many of the party's superdelegates who have pledged to rival Hillary Clinton will switch to his side.

"I think the momentum is with us," Sanders said on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper on Sunday. "A lot of these superdelegates may rethink their positions with Secretary Clinton."
The Vermont senator swept Saturday's Democratic contests in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, easily winning the majority of the 142 pledged delegates in those states. The biggest prize of the day was in Washington, which offered 101 delegates to be split up on a proportional basis.

The latest delegate counts still put Sanders behind Clinton, however, with 1,004 pledged delegates to her 1,712.

Of those, 469 are superdelegates who have pledged to Clinton and only 29 have pledged to Sanders.

Sanders on Sunday said those superdelegates may begin to see the "reality" that he's the best candidate to beat GOP front runner Donald Trump.

COMMENT:  I really can't see superdelegates abandoning Hillary, but I could be wrong.  These are pros, and they know just what the GOP will do to Sanders if he's nominated.  He honeymooned in the Soviet Union, for goodness sake.  Can you see that hammer and sickle on the screen?  And they'd leak comments by corporate executives, threatening to take their companies to other countries if Sanders is elected.

Sanders polls well now because he comes off as your friendly uncle.  He won't look so friendly when the Republicans pull out the "D" word – for economic depression, and predict it if Bernie is elected.

I think only the FBI probe can stop Hillary, and the alternative might well be Biden.  But it's a very strange year, and we're not much on predictions here.

March 27,  2016     Permalink

MARCH 26,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

BERNIE BURNS – From Fox:   Sen. Bernie Sanders was projected to win the Alaska and Washington Democratic presidential caucuses -- victories he hopes will spark a Western states comeback and help him cut into frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s substantial lead.  The Associated Press projected Sanders the winner of both contests. The results of Saturday’s third presidential contest, the Hawaii Democratic Caucus, will not be announced until at least midnight.  Hillary is still well ahead, and she has a lock on the superdelegates, who are party regulars. 

WHO CARES WHAT THE PEOPLE THINK? – From the Washington Examiner:   In a brief Easter weekend radio address, President Obama vowed to decimate the self-proclaimed Islamic State, but he said the United States will do so by offering an example of freedom, tolerance and open society.  "Our openness to refugees fleeing ISIL's violence; our determination to win the battle against ISIL's hateful and violent propaganda — a distorted view of Islam that aims to radicalize young Muslims to their cause," are paramount in the fight, Obama told Americans during his weekly radio address.  Admitting entry to Syrian and Iraqi refugees has become a divisive issue in the U.S. as well as Europe, but Obama made clear he has no plan to back off his promise to admit 100,000 to the U.S. this year.  America is a compassionate nation, but we have a right to wonder how many of those 100,000 will be here to do violence to us, not to live among us.  It is not bigotry to ask that, and expect an honest answer. 

THE IRONY – From AFP:   BRUSSELS — The organizers of a “March Against Fear” planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.  “We understand this request. The security of our citizens is an absolute priority. We join the authorities in proposing a delay and ask people not to come this Sunday,” the organizers said in a statement on Saturday. The organizers of a “March Against Fear” planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.  “We understand this request. The security of our citizens is an absolute priority. We join the authorities in proposing a delay and ask people not to come this Sunday,” the organizers said in a statement on Saturday.  Hmm.  A march against fear cancelled because of fear.  Only in the European Union.

March 26, 2016       Permalink

POLITICS LATEST – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  There's stuff going on this weekend on the Democratic side, where the presidential contest is between a congenital liar and an old Marxist.  God Bless America.  From ABC News: 

Bernie Sanders pushed for a trifecta of wins in Saturday's Democratic presidential caucuses in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state, hoping to stoke a spring comeback against the commanding front-runner, Hillary Clinton.

The Vermont senator spent much of the week on the West Coast, trying to build his enduring support among liberal activists into a Saturday sweep that could help him narrow a gap of 300 delegates won in primaries behind Clinton. That's about double the margin that then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama held over Clinton in the 2008 primaries.

While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton would highlight persistent vulnerabilities within her own party. Sanders continues to attract tens of thousands to his rallies — drawing more than 17,000 in Seattle this week — and has collected more than $140 million from 2 million donors.

But turning that passionate support into the party nomination is growing increasingly difficult. Clinton has a delegate lead of 1,223 to 920 over Sanders, according to an Associated Press analysis, an advantage that expands to 1,691-949 once the superdelegates, or party officials who can back either candidate, are included.

Based on that count, Sanders still needs to win 58 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates by June's end.

His bar is even higher when the party officials are considered. He needs to win more than 67 percent of the remaining delegates overall — from primaries, caucuses and the ranks of uncommitted superdelegates — to prevail.

"I have gotten 2.6 million more votes than Bernie Sanders," Clinton told supporters crowded into a union hall in Everett, Washington, this week. "We are on the path to the nomination, and I want Washington to be part of how we get there."

COMMENT:  If I had to make a choice between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and that is some awful choice, I'd take appropriate pain killers and tranquilizers and choose Hillary.  At least she's the Devil we know, and quite a Devil at that. 

Hillary is dishonest, reckless, but marginally sane.  Sanders, as noted here before, is a dangerous man with ideas that come right out of the Swedish left.  As Mort Sahl used to say, he's fine, if you're 12.  I'll add that if you're more than 12, it's a problem.

And if Hillary is indicted?  Pray the Dems then go for Biden, who is also marginally sane, and has the added attraction of being basically decent, if wrong.

What a choice on the Dem side this year.  Geez. 

And on the GOP side, I wish they'd get off the subject of each other's wives, and get back to adulthood.  I want to see a debate between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.  Trump won't agree, I'm afraid, because Ted would cream him in a New York minute. 

March 26, 2016       Permalink

WHAT TO DO? – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  After every terrorist attack we ask the same questions, but the answers are often constricted by "political correctness."  Must not be impolite.   Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy is not politically correct, and he gives some seasoned and sane advice.  From NRO:   

With no hope of winning an argument on the facts, demagogues resort to the argument ad hominem. Too often, it works. And in the modern “progressive” West, no demagogic tactic works better than branding one’s political adversaries as racists. That is why the Muslim Brotherhood, the world’s most influential Islamic-supremacist organization, dreamed up the term “Islamophobia.” It is why Western progressives, stalwart allies of the Brotherhood, have lustily embraced the Islamophobia smear tactic — even sought to engrave it in our law, in brazen violation of the First Amendment.

It beats trying to refute the irrefutable nexus between Islamic scripture, sharia supremacism, and jihadist terror. It beats trying to rationalize the sheer idiocy of a policy, their policy, that idealizes Islam as the irenic monolith they would like it to be, rather than the complex of competing and contradictory convictions it is. Of the latter, the most dynamic is the conviction that Islam is an alternative civilization determined to conquer the West by force, by political pressure, by cultural aggression, and by exploiting Western civil liberties (liberties that are forbidden in the sharia societies Islamists would impose).

Ted Cruz found himself in the middle of this demagogic storm this week. Reacting to the latest jihadist atrocity in Brussels, in which 31 were killed and 230 wounded, Senator Cruz argued that to protect our national security against radical Islamic terror networks, it is imperative for law enforcement to conduct surveillance in Muslim communities.

Cruz was not calling for a dragnet targeting all Muslims. In his presidential campaign (to which I am an adviser), he has stressed the importance of identifying the enemy as radical Islam. That is not campaign rhetoric; it is how we figure out who warrants surveillance — and far from being anything new, it is how counterterrorism was done before President Obama came to power. Yet, as night follows day, the Islamist-leftist alliance pounced with the fury of an emperor whose lack of clothes has just been noticed.

COMMENT:  I urge you to read the whole piece.  Common sense defined.  Of course we must guard civil liberties, but, as the saying goes, the Constitution is not a suicide pact.  We don't have to destroy ourselves just to be respectable in the faculty lounges of the Ivy League or the plush parlors of Georgetown. 

March 26, 2016       Permalink

OUR WARM NEW FRIENDS – AT 10:43 A.M. ET:  I guess the North Koreans are just jealous over the attention we're giving Europe right now.  We understand.  It's not fun to be ignored.  From The New York Times:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea released a propaganda video on Saturday that depicts a nuclear strike on Washington, along with a warning to “American imperialists” not to provoke the North.

The four-minute video clip, titled “Last Chance,” uses computer animation to show what looks like an intercontinental ballistic missile flying through the earth’s atmosphere before slamming into Washington, near what appears to be the Lincoln Memorial. A nuclear explosion follows.

“If the American imperialists provoke us a bit, we will not hesitate to slap them with a pre-emptive nuclear strike,” read the Korean subtitles in the video, which was uploaded to the YouTube channel of DPRK Today, a North Korean website. “The United States must choose! It’s up to you whether the nation called the United States exists on this planet or not.”

Such remarks are in line with recent threats and assertions from North Korea about its nuclear and missile capabilities. The North recently threatened a nuclear strike against Washington in retaliation for new United Nations sanctions, which were imposed this month to punish North Korea for its most recent tests of a nuclear device and a long-range rocket.

COMMENT:  Some might be inclined to dismiss threats like that.  I'm not.  Dictatorships often threaten what they're really thinking.  And, after 9/11, why should we assume we're immune to a nuclear attack?  We never assumed that during the Cold War, after all.  That's why we maintained, and continue to maintain, a massive nuclear deterrent.

But what if a nuclear-armed country cannot be deterred?  What if its fanaticism overcomes all reason?  That is a legitimate fear, especially when dealing with nations like North Korea.  It is equally legitimate when dealing with terrorist groups, who inevitably will obtain some kind of weapon of mass destruction.

March 26,  2016     Permalink