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MARCH 31,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET: 

AGING WORLD – From CNS:   (CNSNews.com) - Sometime in the next four years the global population of human beings who are 65 and older will surpass those under 5 for the first time, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.  “For the first time in human history, people aged 65 and older will outnumber children under age 5,” says the report, entitled “An Aging World: 2015.”  “This crossing is just around the corner, before 2020,” says the report.  What does that tell you about the future of Social Security? 

INCREDIBLE – From Breitbart:   The Havana Tribune, a state-controlled Cuban newspaper, has added insult to injury following Fidel Castro’s scathing criticism of President Barack Obama upon his departure from the island. In an editorial, the title of which refers to President Obama as “negro,” an opinion columnist has accused him of “inciting rebellion.”  The article is titled “Negro, ¿Tu Eres Sueco?” which roughly translates to “Black Man, Are You Dumb?” (The idiom “pretend to be a Swede” means to play dumb, hence the title is literally asking, “Are you Swedish?”) The author, who is black, goes on to condemn President Obama for meeting with Cuban pro-democracy activists and “subtly” suggesting that the Cuban Revolution needed to change. “Obama came, saw, but unfortunately, with the pretend gesture of lending a hand, tried to conquer,” Elias Argudín writes.   We await the reaction of the American left.  If language like this were employed in the United States, college students would claim to feel unsafe, and would demand personal psychiatrists.

THE TRUTH COMES OUT – Now, after days of heartbreaking waiting, we know the truth about Obama's Argentinian tango.  From the New York Post:   She dances to her own tune!  The professional Argentinian dancer who tangoed with President Obama last week is an ex-Playboy model who threw caution to the wind and defied direct orders to two-step with the Leader of the Free World.  “It wasn’t in the protocol. To tell you the truth, it was forbidden for me to ask him to dance,” sultry Mora Godoy told The Farandula Show in Argentina. “This is why everyone was surprised, especially President Mauricio Macri, who then supported my invitation.”  Godoy, 43, got a leg up on Obama during a state dinner in Buenos Aires last Wednesday where the two trotted around the Centro Cultural Kirchner ballroom for about a minute as she led him around the dance floor.  And thus is important history made, at least for Field Marshal Obama.  I wonder what Michelle thought.

March 31,  2016     Permalink

GOP WORRIES – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  The Republican Party went into this election campaign believing it had an excellent shot at the White House.  That confidence is clearly fading, in light of the ugliness of the rhetoric being used, and, especially, the bizarre behavior of Donald Trump.  Trump's star is flickering.  No doubt about that.  Whether it burns out is another story.  From The Hill:

If Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump gets the GOP's nomination, he would be the most disliked major-party nominee in modern times, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Thursday.

Trump has a 67 percent unfavorable rating, with just 30 percent favorable.

The businessman is viewed unfavorably by 75 percent of women, 66 percent of independents, 85 percent of Hispanics and 80 percent of young adults.

Nearly half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents also view him unfavorably.

His rival Ted Cruz has a 51 percent unfavorable rating and 35 percent favorable.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is 52 percent unfavorable and 46 percent favorable, the poll found.

The poll was conducted by phone from March 3-6 among 1,000 adults. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.

Trump is currently leading in the delegate count, ahead of his rivals Cruz and John Kasich. He trails in hypothetical head-to-head match ups against Clinton and Bernie Sanders, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

COMMENT:  There is a crisis building quickly within the Republican Party.  The anti-Trump movement is one of the only "stop" movements in recent political history that seems to have a chance at succeeding.

The Wisconsin primary is Tuesday.  Big state, important state.  If Trump loses there, look for real momentum by Ted Cruz.  The chances of an open, politically bloody convention, are inreasing. 

March 31, 2016       Permalink

MORE WARMTH FROM THE IRANIAN LEADERSHIP – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  Oh, the benefits from the Iran nuclear deal.  The gains.  The sudden breaking out of peace.  I almost can't contain my joy.  From Reuters: 

Iran's top leader on Wednesday said missiles were key to the Islamic Republic's future, offering support to the hardline Revolutionary Guards that have drawn criticism from the West for testing ballistic missiles.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supported last year's nuclear deal with world powers but has since called for Iran to avoid further rapprochement with the United States and its allies, and maintain its economic and military strength.

"Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors," Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, was quoted as saying by his website.

"If the Islamic Republic seeks negotiations but has no defensive power, it would have to back down against threats from any weak country."

His comments may have been directed at former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the de facto leader of a more moderate political alliance, who last week tweeted "the future is in dialogue, not missiles".

COMMENT:  Don't worry about any American reaction to this.  There won't be any.  The president is probably busy watching videotape of his last tango in Argentina.  The secretary of state is informing Americans that the world is frightened by...Republicans.

See Victor Davis Hanson's quote in the post just below.  Very wise man.

March 31, 2016       Permalink

TERRORISM – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  As we literally wait for another terrorist attack, the great historian Victor Davis Hanson contemplates why the West has become such a target-rich environment for terrorists, who attack even countries that have been friendly to the Islamic world.  From NRO: 

Many Westerners are more scared of being labeled as illiberal or nativist than they are of being unsafe.

Islamic terrorists sense that Westerners are increasingly materialist rather than spiritual. Europeans in particular are becoming more secular. Their birthrates are declining. And they seem to believe more in satisfying their appetites than in finding transcendence through children and religion.

As a result, jihadists trust that they can cull a handful of Westerners every few weeks from an otherwise indifferent herd. Their only challenge is to keep the harvest of Westerners down to a few dozen and not to get greedy in their bloodlust.

Terrorists seem to believe that as long as they avoid another 9/11-like massacre, they can continue to take lives and insidiously weaken the West without awakening it from its morally indifferent slumber.

And they may be right.

COMMENT:  Boy, that nails it, doesn't it?  We saw recently the obscene display of Western, including American, corporations, rushing to get into Iran, despite the fact that Iran is one of the world's greatest exporters of terror.  Let the profits roll.

It also helps terrorism when we have a president of the United States who is vaguely sympathetic to some of the terrorists' causes, and who believes Islam has been slandered.  How many Obama apology tours do we have to endure? 

March 31,  2016      Permalink

MARCH 30,  2016

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

FRIGHTENING – From PJ Media:   According to The Register, a UK-based news site about tech security and related issues, “hackers infiltrated a water utility’s control system and changed the levels of chemicals being used to treat tap water.”  The hackers had “ties to Syria,” and the attack, although the location of the utility has not been revealed and its name has been changed in reports, seems most likely to have taken place in the United States.  This is yet another indication of how determined jihad terrorists are to murder Americans in large numbers.  Revelation of this attack comes from the March 2016 security breach report published by Verizon Security Solutions, which referred to the water plant that was attacked with the alias “Kemuri Water Company (KWC).” It explained how the hackers had been able to burrow deeply and repeatedly inside the workings of the company. They were only stopped from doing massive damage by their ignorance of how water plants actually operated.   That's a pretty chilling report, and probably a prediction of things to come.  The terror groups learn more every day.  ISIS is more sophisticated than Al Qaeda.  Flash forward 10 years...and imagine.

THE WAY THINGS WORK – From, of all places, London's Daily Mail:   The Florida-based prosecutor whose office will handle the battery case of Donald Trump's campaign manager is a Hillary Clinton supporter who once characterized the Republican frontrunner's rhetoric as 'divisive and inflammatory.'  Dave Aronberg, the 44-year-old State Attorney for Palm Beach County, was a former Democratic state senator and in November was named as part of Clinton's 'Florida Leadership Team.'  These political connections have caused Trump supporters to take to Twitter worrying that Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager who yesterday was charged with simple battery over an altercation with ex-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, wouldn't get a fair shake.  A representative for Aronberg's spokesman Mike Edmondson said the office would not be commenting on political matters.  An obvious conflict of interest.  Mr. Aronberg should recuse himself, but standards are low these days.

MAJOR CRISES IN LAW ENFORCEMENT – From legalinsurrection.com:   The idiocracy is upon us.  A woman in Hartford, Connecticut called 9-1-1 when she realized the pizza shop messed up her order. Fox61 reported:  “I just have a question,” the woman identified as Ashley said. “If I order pizza and they don’t want to give me my money back, can you guys do something?”  “Ma’am, that’s something you have to take up with them,” the dispatcher said. “But, that’s not something you would dial 9-1-1 for. 9-1-1 is for life threatening emergencies only.”  The dispatcher remains calm and patient through the call.  “Can you call the pizzeria or something?” Ashley asks again.  I regard a messed-up pizza as a major cultural insult.  This woman deserves the help of a compassionate nation.  I have advised her to call the diversity adviser at the local college.  This is big enough to bring in the best.

March 30, 2016       Permalink

BORN TO BE TROUBLE – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  One of the leading Republican nightmares is that Donald Trump, should he not get the GOP nomination for president, will bolt the party and run his own campaign.  Let the nightmare begin.  From Fox: 

Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would no longer honor his pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee for president, while fellow candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich refused to say whether they would back the party's pick.

All three GOP contenders appeared at a CNN town hall in Milwaukee one week before Wisconsin's April 5 primary.

When asked if he would keep the pledge he signed last September, Trump responded "No, I won’t."

The real estate mogul explained that he was taking back the pledge because, "I have been treated very unfairly," and listed the Republican National Committee and party establishment among those he believes have wronged him.

Cruz, who is running second to Trump in the delegate race, shrugged off the question of whether he would support Trump in November, saying "Donald is not going to be the GOP nominee. We're going to beat him." The Texas senator added that nominating Trump "would be an absolute train wreck" and "would hand the general election to Hillary Clinton."

Trump, who followed Cruz on the town hall stage, said he didn't need a promise of support from Cruz.

"He doesn’t have to support me," he said.

COMMENT:  Trump is clearly playing the "third party" card, knowing that a third party candidacy by him would probably destroy any chance that a Republican could be elected.  He has the cash to launch the effort. 

Trump was undoubtedly speaking to those maneuvering to have an open convention, which, after a certain number of ballots, could theoretically choose anyone the delegates wished.  While "stop" movements rarely succeed, the "stop Trump" movement does appear to have some legs, and those legs will grow stronger if Trump loses Wisconsin on Tuesday.

March 30, 2016       Permalink

ISIS WARNS – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:  And, given the record, I'd take their warnings seriously.  From Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times: 

Islamic State terrorists have taken to social media to tell the West that the March 22 attacks in Brussels are just the beginning of waves of violence that will strike more targets in Europe and the United States.

The messages were produced by the Islamic State’s media company, Al-Wafa, which published a series of deadly predictions that indicate the terror army based in Syria has scores of attacks in the pipeline.

“America, You Are Next” is the headline on one column. The U.S. is leading a coalition whose objective, through air strikes and commando raids, is to defeat or destroy the Islamic State and its so-called Caliphate in Syria-Iraq.

“America has forgotten that Muslims do not accept humiliation and will not forget to retaliate,” says the article, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors jihadi communications traffic

“We haven’t forgotten the screams of the virgin girls who were raped when you invaded Iraq. Today, with Allah’s help, we will avenge them and restore every maiden’s honor. Today we will blow up your honor, today we will eliminate your myth, today we will take your women captive and sell them at slave markets at prices reserved for the most unclean. Today we will take your children and raise them among Muslim children until they grow up, fight, and break the noses of those who remain among you.”

The writer points to the San Bernardino massacre carried out by American-born Syed Farook and his wife.

“Then how about we send you 10 Syed Farooks? How about we send you eight lions like the heroes who set France on fire [Nov. 13] and turned it on its head,” the writer says.

The Islamic State, also known was ISIL and ISIS, has pledged in previously posts to infiltrate with its terrorists the streams of refugees from the Syria civil war.

President Obama over the weekend said he plans to bring more migrants into the country as a show of opposition against ISIL.

Another Al-Wafa article specifically threatens Europe under the headline, “Today It Is Brussels and [Its] Airport, and Tomorrow It Might Be Portugal and Hungary.”

COMMENT:  Is anyone listening?  Hillary?  Bernie?  Donnie?  Ted?  John?  Our political campaign has gotten so childish and trivial, that we are forgetting the huge locomotive coming at us.

The Brussels attack came only four months after the Paris attacks.  That shows ISIS has the ability to carry out major attacks in rapid succession.  Clearly, we have to be on guard against an ISIS attempt to disrupt our presidential election.  What a prize for those who dream of a new Caliphate.

March 30, 2016       Permalink

CLOSING IN ON HER MAJESTY – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  We're getting more and more hints that the federal probe into Hillary Clinton's antics is serious, and expanding, and that the American people might even see real justice.  From the Washington Times: 

Former Secretary Hillary Clinton and her State Department colleagues have given “constantly shifting” stories about her secret email account, a federal judge said Tuesday, finding there’s evidence the Obama administration showed “bad faith” in how it followed open-records laws.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth said it remains to be seen whether the government did try to obfuscate matters, but said there’s at least enough smoke that Judicial Watch, the conservative interest group suing to get a look at all of Mrs. Clinton’s records, should be allowed to press for more details about how the State Department made its decisions.

“Plaintiff is relying on constantly shifting admissions by the government and the former government officials,” Judge Lamberth said.

Mrs. Clinton declined to use a State.gov email account during her term as secretary, instead using an email account tied to a server she kept at her home in New York.

All of her messages that concerned official business were supposed to be archived by the State Department, but she kept them, only returning them in December 2014, nearly two years after leaving office and only at the prompting of the House committee probing the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.

That meant that during her four years in office and nearly two years afterward, the State Department was not searching those documents in response to open-records requests from Congress or the public.

Last month, the State Department finally finished processing more than 30,000 pages of Mrs. Clinton’s emails and made them public on the department’s Freedom of Information Act web page — a mammoth undertaking that has put a treasure trove of information in the public’s eye.

Judicial Watch and others argue that some 30,000 other messages Mrs. Clinton sent from her secret address during her time in office, but which she has deemed private business, should also be reviewed by the government.

COMMENT:  We await the conclusion of the FBI investigation.  That could determine Hillary Clinton's future, and ours.

March 30,  2016     Permalink