Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

Our Angel's Corner archive is here.

LAST SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE OF 2016 – HELP!

(Still sluggish yesterday.  It's very distressing after such a good first week.  If this goes on I may need special counseling from the same people who give comfort to suffering Democrats.  They must have pills for us.

Please consider subscribing or donating.  You'll be helping us fight the good fight, and you'll feel good about yourself – which means you'll feel the way liberals feel every day.  You can even discuss your feelings with them, and they'll understand.  Make sure to shed some tears.  Remember, it's all about your feelings and Barack's legacy.)

Urgent Agenda depends on subscriptions and donations to survive.  Running a website that is well sourced and researched is costly, and our costs during this presidential election year were extreme – much more research, many more off-the-record briefings, and a deluge of Republican primary candidates to follow and study.  Our finances need to be firmed up. 

When you subscribe or donate to Urgent Agenda you are supporting our work.   That's the main reason for subscribing or donating.  But you also receive our twice-weekly e-mailed page, The Angel's Corner, containing the Urgent Agenda Forum.  At the Forum, subscribers and donators may write, within reasonable length, on any subject they wish.  The Forum is our most popular feature, and the quality, reflecting our readers' experience and wisdom, is really quite remarkable.

So please join us.  You can do so by going to the right-hand column opposite these words and subscribing or donating through PayPal.   Subscriptions of a year or six months are available, as are gift subscriptions.  Or you can use SENDINC, which is highly popular with our readers, and is absolutely secure.  The description of SENDINC is also in the right-hand column. 

If you prefer to write a check and use traditional mail, just send us an e-mail at service@urgentagenda.com, and we'll provide you with a mailing address.

We need new subscribers and donators.  We have a very high retention rate – many subscribers have been with us since we launched in 2008 – but there are realities over time, and we have had some losses. 

And, of course, additional support from our current subscribers and donators is always welcome.

Come aboard.  We have a great group.

DECEMBER 16,  2016

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

GET YOUR APPLICATIONS IN! – FROM HEATSTREET:  The University of Wisconsin-Madison will offer a spring semester class examining “the problem of whiteness” and “what it means to be #woke,” Campus Reform reports.  The course is being offered by the university’s African Cultural Studies department. According to an online description, students will be asked to examine “what it really means to be white,” and consider “how race is experienced by white people” in the United States and abroad.  “Critical Whiteness Studies aims to understand how whiteness is socially constructed and experienced in order to help dismantle white supremacy,” the description reads. “In this class, we will ask what an ethical white identity entails, what it means to be #woke, and consider the journal Race Traitor’s motto, ‘treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity.'”  I just can't wait.  One more excuse for not studying physics, chemistry, math, or engineering.

SOUND CHOICE – FROM BREITBART:  President-elect Donald Trump is considering appointing former Republican primary rival Carly Fiorina, who chaired the CIA’s civilian external advisory board during the George W. Bush Administration, Director of National Intelligence (DNI).  The possible appointment of the former Hewlett-Packard executive, first reported by the New York Times, has been described as an unexpected move by some news outlets, such as the New York Post.  Fiorina visited President-elect Trump at New York’s Trump Tower Monday and praised her formal rival after meeting with him.  “It was such an honor to meet with the president elect,” she declared.  “The high quality of people that he’s named already says so much about his executive abilities,” Fiorina also told reporters, praising Trump for appointing “fantastic people” to serve in his administration.  She'd be an asset.  She also knows how to speak to people.  She was one of the most articulate candidates who ran for the GOP presidential nomination. 

THE NEW MARRIAGE CONTRACT – FROM THE LOCAL:  Married couples in Italy will no longer have to promise to be faithful to each other, if a new bill is approved.  The proposed amendment to Italy's Civil Code would remove the word "fidelity" from Italian marriage contracts.  The promise not to cheat is a "cultural legacy from an outdated and obsolete vision of marriage, family, and the rights and duties of spouses", according to the senators who have signed the bill.  They cited a previous ruling from Italy's top court, which declared that judges could not legally place the blame for a marriage separation "on the mere failure to observe the duty of fidelity".  Instead, the other party has to prove that their spouse's infidelity led to the irreconcilable breakdown of the marriage.  What can one say?  The term "decline of the West" comes to mind.

December 16, 2016       Permalink

DELUSIONS OF THE LEFT – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:   To show how delusional the left has become, the following appeared under the byline of Katha Pollitt in the very left-wing Nation magazine: 

I miss him already. Say what you like, President Barack Hussein Obama is supremely intelligent, witty, humane, reasonable, elegant, a great writer, a model father, a good husband, a decent human being. He has empathy and humor. He is sane and calm. He gave us eight years free of scandal and drama: no interns, no corruption, no jobs handed out to outrageously unqualified people (a hallmark of the George W. Bush years—remember “Heckuva job, Brownie”?). Although it’s unfashionable these days to care about dignity and decorum—we’re all vulgarians now, living inside a perpetual reality-TV show— Obama brought seriousness and purpose to an office that had been a kingdom of dimwittery and darkness for eight years. He acted as if knowing what you’re talking about actually mattered. And he did all this as a black man in white America, which went crazy whenever it remembered he was black—for example, when he spoke up mildly in support of a world-famous Harvard professor who was challenged for being in his own home by a local cop. Obama persisted, with grace, in the teeth of a Senate that treated him as so illegitimate that it even refused to hold hearings for his last Supreme Court nominee. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how he could stand it.

COMMENT:  It must be wonderful to live in the world of children.  For eight years we've had a let's-pretend president, and the results, especially in foreign policy, are obvious. 

I intend to lead a group of qualified singers to Ms. Pollitt's window and serenade her.  Our first selection:  "Thank Heaven for Little Girls."

December 16, 2016        Permalink

THE COST OF WEAKNESS – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  We have one more explanation for why Hillary Clinton lost the election.  I'm so excited to know all this.  From The Hill:   

The Obama administration decided not to retaliate against Russia for interfering in the election because they did not want to start a cyber war and they expected Hillary Clinton to win, NBC News reported Thursday.

"They thought she was going to win, so they were willing to kick the can down the road," an official told the outlet.

President-elect Donald Trump, who has dismissed assessments that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the election, raised the question on Thursday.

“If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?” Trump tweeted.

President Obama promised in an interview with NPR that aired Friday morning that the U.S. would retaliate against Russia over its suspected interference.

“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action and we will — at a time and place of our own choosing,” he said.

"Some of it may be explicit and publicized, some of it may not be,” Obama added.

COMMENT:  Yeah – "at a time and place of our own choosing."  Last time I heard those words they were uttered by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in the 1950s.

I doubt if Obama will actually do anything.  He only has a month left, and it is now announced that he's going on another Hawaiian vacation.  Russia?  Who cares about Russia?

December 16, 2016       Permalink

NAVY LOOKS TO GROW – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Already we see good changes.  The United States Navy, which has been kept too small to do its job effectively, now seeks to expand under Trump.  From the U.S. Naval Institute: 

The Navy released a new fleet plan that calls for 355 ships, outlining a massive increase in the size of its high-end large surface combatant and attack submarine fleets but a modest increase in its planned amphibious ship fleet, according to a Dec. 14 summary of the assessment.

The findings of the latest Force Structure Assessment adds 47 ships to the Navy’s battle force over the 308-ship figure from a 2014 FSA.

According to the summary, the service determined the 355 total was the “minimum force structure to comply with [Pentagon] strategic guidance” and was not “the “desired” force size the Navy would pursue if resources were not a constraint, read the summary.

“Rather, this is the level that balances an acceptable level of warfighting risk to our equipment and personnel against available resources and achieves a force size that can reasonably achieve success,” according to the summary, which notes it would take a 653-ship force to meet all global requirements with minimal risk.

The largest change to the 2014 totals are in the high-end ships classes of attack submarines, large surface combatants – like guided-missile cruisers and destroyers – and aircraft carriers. The new total adds 16 large surface combatants, 18 attack submarines and an additional carrier over the 2014 plan.

COMMENT:  There are some concerns that even this plan isn't large enough, and it may not be.  One thing we should demand, though, is much greater efficiency, control, and quality in our shipbuilding and aircraft acquisition programs.  As readers know, I'm strongly pro-defense, but I am not strongly pro-waste and mismanagement.  Some recent defense programs, like the F-35 fighter-bomber and the littoral combat ships, have raised serious questions about cost and quality.  The questions are legitimate.

Getting the biggest bang for the buck should be a national priority.

December 16,  2016     Permalink

DECEMBER 15,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

MAJOR HEALTH NEWS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  New York City is offering its municipal workforce counseling services and other support for dealing with election-year stress brought on by Donald Trump’s election.  In a Dec. 1 email, the de Blasio administration pointed to mental health resources that are available to workers who are “feeling distressed or vulnerable following the election results.”  “We have seen the concerns expressed on social media and we are monitoring them closely,” the emails reads.  If you see a New York City employee, be sure to hug her.  You'll either get a warm thank-you or a lawsuit for sexual harassment.

WELCOME TO THE IVY LEAGUE – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   The president of the Cornell University College Republicans was shoved to the ground and called a “racist bitch” the night after the election, and campus officials are currently investigating the incident.  “I was actually assaulted on campus for being a Republican,” Olivia Corn told The Tab. “I had someone throw me to the ground and say: ‘Fuck you, racist bitch, you support a racist party.”  Corn gave the same account to The Ithaca Voice.  “Out of nowhere I was on my phone and looking at my email and out of nowhere I felt two hands grab my shoulders and just sort of threw me to the ground, and they were yelling ‘F... you racist bitch, you support a racist party,'” Corn said.  She has reported the incident to Cornell police and the university’s Title IX office.  We'll follow this.  I suspect the university will express "concern," maybe take a few minor steps, then let the matter drop. 

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? – FROM CNS:   The four richest counties in the United States, when measured by median household income, are all suburbs of Washington, D.C., according to newly released data from the Census Bureau.  They are Loudoun County, Va., where the median household income was $125,900 in 2015; Falls Church City, Va., where it was $122,092; Fairfax County, Va., where it was $112,844; and Howard County, Md., where it was $110,224.  The Census Bureau treats independent cities such as Falls Church, Va., as the equivalent of a county when calculating its median household income statistics.  These counties are filled with government people and people who depend on government-related work – lobbyists, lawyers, endless consultants.  Government is big business.  It needs to be smaller business.

December 15, 2016       Permalink

THE PLAYPEN SPEAKS – Hollywood heroes launch a last-ditch effort to deny Donald Trump the presidency.  SEE them go into action against the forces of greed.  SEE them take on the underworld.  SEE them make fools of themselves.  From the New York Post: 

Celebrities are teaming up to beg Republicans in the Electoral College to vote against President-elect Donald Trump, pledging their “respect” for potential “heroes.”

A slew of other has-been and B- or C-list celebs have piled on, calling for 37 “conscientious Republican electors” to swing the Dec. 19 Electoral College vote away from Trump. The Republican is expected to win 306 votes — more than the 270 necessary to win — based on the results from last month’s general election.

“Republican members of the Electoral College, this message is for you,” begins a preachy Martin Sheen. “As you know, our Founding Fathers built the Electoral College to safeguard the American people from the dangers of a demagogue and to ensure that the presidency only goes to someone who is to an ’eminent degree and down with the requisite qualifications.'”

“I’m not asking you to vote for Hillary Clinton,” some in the video say — just don’t vote for Trump.

“As you know, the Constitution gives electors the right to vote for any eligible person,” a celeb in the video states.

Sheen, who played the president in the hit series “The West Wing,” whose cast campaigned for Clinton, adds: “Any eligible person — no matter which party they belong to.”

And...

The video, released on YouTube by Unite for America, not only features Sheen and Schiff, but also Debra Messing, James Cromwell, BD Wong, Noah Wyle, Freda Payne, Bob Odenkirk, J. Smith Cameron, Michael Urie, Moby, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Christine Lahti, Steven Pasquale, Dominic Fumusa and Emily Tyra.

COMMENT:  Oh, what a bore.  Sheen is hard leftist and a flake – the two formally go together.  As for the others, I think I've heard of three or so.

December 15, 2016       Permalink 

CLINTON STILL IN HOT WATER? – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  Apparently, Hillary Clinton's legal troubles are not over.  And this involves Bill and Chelsea as well.  From Daily Caller: 

Officials at FBI headquarters instructed its New York field office to continue its corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation following the election of Republican candidate Donald Trump, according to a former senior law enforcement official.

The instructions ordered agents to “go forward” with their ongoing inquiry into the Clinton Foundation which is focusing on issues of corruption and money laundering, according to the source.

“There were no instructions to shut it down, to discontinue or to stand down on the investigation, but to continue its work,” the former official told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

He said he received this information about a week ago and that the order originated from the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. well after the November 8 election. He did not know who at FBI Headquarters issued the order.

The same source broke the news to The DCNF that the FBI was conducting a multi-city probe of the foundation in as many as five cities: New York, Little Rock, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Miami. The source did not know the status of the bureau’s work in the four other cities.

COMMENT:  In a way, this story is inevitable.  It would be legitimately suspicious if the FBI shut down the investigation simply because the election was over.   If there were suspected legal violations, the probe should continue regardless of the political scene.

The Clintons "earned" an estimated $95-million since Bill Clinton left the White House.  Obviously, those who wrote the checks weren't buying good government.  I'd like to know exactly what they were buying, and how much they got.

December 15, 2016       Permalink

WHAT A BUNCH OF PHONIES – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Google, which has "liberal" written all over it, has suddenly discovered the virtues of conservative outreach.  From Reuters:

Alphabet’s Google is racing to hire more conservatives for its lobbying and policy arm, trying to get a foothold in President-elect Donald Trump’s Washington after enjoying a uniquely close relationship with the administration of President Barack Obama.

In the weeks since the Nov. 8 election, Google has ramped up efforts to hire Republican lobbying firms and in-house lobbyists to change the composition of its Washington office, according to three lobbyists with knowledge of the matter.

The company also posted an advertisement for a manager for conservative outreach and public policy partnership, seeking a "liaison to conservative, libertarian and free market groups."

While the position is not new, it gives Google a chance to make a hire that reflects the new political climate. Conservatives already are represented in the office.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the record for this article.

And...

Liberal-leaning Silicon Valley bet heavily on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton winning the White House, and many technology companies have found themselves scrambling in the wake of Trump's election. But Google, which forged deep ties to the Obama White House and was the largest corporate contributor to Clinton's campaign, appears to have been caught especially off guard, Washington insiders said.

COMMENT:  Trump met with many of the top people of Silicon Valley yesterday.  It was all smiles.  Trump is very smart to meet with those who opposed him.  The war is over, the peace treaties are now being signed. 

I wouldn't be shocked if some Silicon Valley firms started building devices that make it impossible to write the name "Hillary."

December 15,  2016     Permalink