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FEBRUARY 7,  2016

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

BIBLICAL THREAT – From Daily Caller:   Former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright attempted to shame young women voters at a Hillary Clinton campaign event on Saturday, repeating her now-famous line: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”  From what the polls say, that place will be fully occupied.

SICKENING – A tabloid "newspaper" editor in San Antonio, Stephanie Zarriello, says she will publish the names and addresses of every police officer in the city, in response to a controversial police shooting of a suspect.  From kens5:  "Like Ku Klux Klansman with hoods, (officers) do everything they can in order to protect their identities for fear of being brought to justice," said Zarriello.  That's why the San Antonio Observer says it is planning to publish the names and addresses of every officer in the San Antonio Police Department.  "Just as the names and addresses of sex offenders are publicized in order to protect the public from their wicked behavior, we feel that our community has the right to the exact same level of protection," said Zarriello.  Incredible language.  Publishing names and addresses puts a target on the back of every officer and every member of his family.  Where are the responsible journalists to denounce this abuse of freedom of the press?

IF TRUE, A POSSIBLE MAJOR SCANDAL – From Newsmax:   A veteran official with the Department of Homeland Security claims he and other staff were ordered to destroy records on a federal database that showed links between possible jihadists and Islamic terrorist groups.  "After leaving my 15-year career at DHS, I can no longer be silent about the dangerous state of America’s counter-terror strategy, our leaders’ willingness to compromise the security of citizens for the ideological rigidity of political correctness—and, consequently, our vulnerability to devastating, mass-casualty attack," the former employee, Patrick Haney, wrote in an explosive column that was published late Friday on The Hill website.  This clearly calls for a Congressional investigation, but Democrats would probably block it.  It is madness.  It is corruption.  It is a betrayal of the presidential oath.  But not too many people seem to care.

February 7,  2016     Permalink

THE ACCOUNTANTS COMETH – AT 12:20 P.M. ET:   And they have Bill and Hill's numbers.  From CNN: 

(CNN) Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, combined to earn more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign last spring, a CNN analysis shows.

In total, the two gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May, receiving an average payday of $210,795 for each address. The two also reported at least $7.7 million for at least 39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic 2016 front-runner, collecting at least $1.8 million for at least eight speeches to big banks.

The analysis was made at a time when Hillary Clinton has been under scrutiny for her ties to Wall Street, which has been a major focus of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail.

"What being part of the establishment is, is in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests," Sanders said at Thursday's Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC.

COMMENT:  The Clintons are a business.  Those huge fees aren't paid to hear wisdom and advice.  They're paid to buy influence.  And you may be sure they've bought it.

Of greater concern are the huge "donations" made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign countries, especially Mideast dictatorships. 

February 7, 2016       Permalink

WELCOME TO SUPERSHOT SUNDAY – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:   The North Koreans, as some predicted, have done it.  They've carried out a major missile test on the eve of our Super Bowl.  From AP:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others call a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland.

The launch, which South Korean officials confirmed about two hours after an eight-day launch window opened Sunday morning, follows North Korea's widely disputed claim last month to have tested a hydrogen bomb. It will be considered a further provocation by Washington and its allies and likely draw more sanctions and condemnation from the United Nations.

North Korean rocket and nuclear tests are seen as crucial steps toward the North's ultimate goal of a nuclear armed long-range missile arsenal. North Korea says its nuclear and missile programs are necessary to defend itself against what it calls decades of U.S. hostility.

Leader Kim Jong Un has overseen two of the North's four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket tests since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions, but the U.S., South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology. The U.N. Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

COMMENT:  My, my – all those people angry at North Korea.  Why, the North Koreans must be cowering in fear. 

No, they're not.  We'll do some chest thumping, the administration will be glad that the Korean test was overshadowed by Super Bowl 50, and nothing much will happen.

Iran is watching.  Iran is laughing.

February 7, 2016       Permalink

NEW HAMPSHIRE POLLING, LATEST – AT 10:58 A.M.  ET:  Latest polls show that Donald Trump on the GOP side, and Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, have maintained their frontrunner positions.

RealClearPolitics reports that Trump's lead is anywhere from 14 to 22 points, depending on the poll taken.  Rubio is in second place in these polls, but there is no sign of a last-minute surge for him.  A mixed debate performance last night did not help his cause.

For the Dems, Bernie Sanders's lead is anywhere from 11 to 23 points.  Clinton is in the 35 to 42 range.  This is not entirely shocking.  Bernie is from nearby Vermont, and the TV markets overlap.  He's known in New Hampshire.  He has played down his socialist identity. 

The key state after New Hampshire will be South Carolina.  There Hillary will make her stand, in a state with large numbers of minority voters.  They are a major part of her base.  If she wins there, she's back on track.  If she's hurt there, someone will rush to the vice president's mansion in Washington, wake up Joe Biden, and tell him there's an election.

On the GOP side, the question is whether Trump's anticipated victory will mean much.  Will he play well in the South?  Can one of his challengers, particularly Rubio, break through to become the challenger to Trump?  Absolutely fascinating election year.

February 7,  2016     Permalink

FEBRUARY 6,  2016

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

THE GOP DEBATE – Tonight's GOP debate from New Hampshire was alive and vicious.  Eyes were on Marco Rubio, to see if he could continue the momentum he established in Iowa.  Rubio stumbled in the first part of the debate, under sustained attack by Chris Christie and others, but regained his footing later.  He didn't help himself and may have been hurt.  Some are calling this the "governors' debate" because the governors, present and former – Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush – had their best debate nights.Ben Carson was barely a factor and should drop out.  Ted Cruz, triumphant in Iowa, knows that New Hampshire is not friendly territory, and held his own.  Frontrunner Donald Trump neither helped nor hurt himself.  If you like Donald, he was fine.  If you don't like him, he was obnoxious.  The voting is Tuesday.  Last polls come out Monday.  It's up to the people. 

ISIS ISN'T ISLAMIC, KERRY SAYS – This will come as a surprise to ISIS fighters.  From Daily Caller:   At a conference in Rome of coalition members tasked with fighting ISIS, Secretary of State John Kerry said members of the terrorist organization are not Muslims but apostates of Islam.  “Daesh [ISIS] is in fact nothing more than a mixture of killers, of kidnappers, of criminals, of thugs, of adventurers, of smugglers and thieves,” Kerry said. “And they are also above all apostates, people who have hijacked a great religion and lie about its real meaning and lie about its purpose and deceive people in order to fight for their purposes.”  Kerry, like Obama, lets the Muslim world off the hook.  Not a good idea.  They're the ones primarily responsible for fighting ISIS.

WELL TIMED – As Woody Allen said, half of life is showing up.  From PJMedia.com:   An Australian woman whose partner of 10 years paid a hit team to murder her shocked the man by showing up at her own funeral.  Noela Rukundo's story is the stuff of a Lifetime miniseries. But it's the reaction of her husband when he saw her after believing she was dead that is more priceless than anything MasterCard can come up with.  Finally, she spotted the man she’d been waiting for. She stepped out of her car, and her husband put his hands on his head in horror.  “Is it my eyes?” she recalled him saying. “Is it a ghost?”  “Surprise! I’m still alive!” she replied.  The husband got nine years for incitement to murder.  There is no word on whether the wife got a reality show.

February 6, 2016       Permalink

NOTHING TO SEE, NOTHING TO SEE – AT 10:50 A.M. ET:  While we are focusing on our election, the enemies of the West are active.  But it is so rude to point this out.  From Fox:   

The German national security service warned Friday that Islamic State militants are infiltrating Europe under the guise of asylum seekers.

The announcement comes after Berlin police arrested three Thursday in an investigation of four Algerian men who are suspected of planning terror attacks in Germany and having ISIS ties.

“We have seen repeatedly that terrorists are being smuggled in disguised or camouflaged as refugees,” said Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, according to the UK Daily Telegraph.

German authorities have tried to downplay the threat of Islamic State terrorists disguising themselves as refugees, according to the paper. Around one million asylum-seekers entered the country last year. Maasen reiterated that it was a “reality that the security agencies have to face.”

Maasen told Germany’s ZDF TV it was clear from November’s Paris terror attacks that “ISIL consciously infiltrates terrorists among the refugees.” A woman, who claimed to have led Abdelhamid Abaaoud’s cousin to the French encampment where he was staying, told The Wall Street Journal that the Paris attacks leader came into Europe with 90 other militants.

German authorities believe the four men who were investigated Thursday had contacts with ISIS and that at least one of them had received military training in Syria. The arrests were made in Berlin at a refugee home and were based on existing warrants in other cases.

A woman was arrested and is believed to be the wife of one of the men with possible ISIS ties, according to the UK Daily Telegraph.

Maassen said there was “concrete evidence there are people planning terror attacks in Germany,” but there’s “no indication of an imminent attack.”

COMMENT:   They always assure us that there's no indication of an imminent attack.  But the attacks occur.  There was no warning in Paris, either.  Or in San Berndardino.

February 6, 2016        Permalink

A SUPER BOWL GREETING FROM NORTH KOREA? – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  North Korea has accelerated its preparations for a new rocket test.   The vehicle could be launched just before our Super Bowl kickoff Sunday.  I wouldn't put it past them.  From Reuters:

North Korea could launch a rocket that it says will carry an earth observation satellite as soon as Sunday, after bringing forward and shortening the time frame for the launch, the Japanese and South Korean governments said on Saturday.

North Korea had earlier told the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) it would launch the rocket some time between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25, triggering international opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.

Japan and South Korea said North Korea had issued a Notice to Airmen that the launch would take place some time between Sunday and the following Sunday, Feb. 14. The IMO, a United Nations agency, also said on Saturday it had received a notification from North Korea of the change.

Isolated North Korea says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program. But it is barred under U.N. Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.

Tension has been high on the Korean peninsula following the North's fourth nuclear test, on Jan. 6. A rocket test now would compound fears about North Korea putting a nuclear warhead on a missile that could reach not only South Korea and Japan but possibly even the west coast of the United States.

North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite.

The new time frame was set amid rising expectations that a launch was likely to happen soon, with U.S. government sources on Friday saying North Korea could be ready by the U.S. Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday, which will be Monday in Korea.

COMMENT:  Sticking it in America's eye is a North Korean specialty.  And they know there'll probably be no penalty, not with Barack Obama in office. 

Maybe the rocket will veer outside the goalposts.  Perfect football.

February 6,  2016     Permalink

DEMS IN A PANIC – ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  I don't see Democratic mobs panicking in the streets – the Dems I know are probably shopping at Saks – but inside the party there is clear concern that Hillary Clinton is in serious trouble, and that Bernie Sanders is too far left to be elected president.  Alternatives please?  From Reuters: 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prominent Democratic donor worried about the party's chances of winning the presidency emailed dozens of fans of Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, urging them to remain prepared to donate if Biden jumps into the race.

The donor, Bill Bartmann, cited new polling showing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont nearly tied with the Hillary Clinton, eroding the 30-point lead the former secretary of state held at the end of last year. Bartmann and other party insiders are concerned that Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is too far to the left to win against a Republican in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

"We cannot afford to lose the White House," Bartmann wrote in the email, seen by Reuters.

The email drew a string of affirmative responses, also seen by Reuters.

Biden announced in October that he would not seek the presidency, despite support from a group of backers under the name "Draft Biden 2016." But whispers have continued among some donors who hope that Biden could be convinced to run after all should Clinton’s campaign prove fruitless.

"My sitting on the sidelines has a lot to do with my disappointment that the vice president decided not to get in the race," Patrick Baskette, one of the recipients of Bartmann's email, told Reuters. Baskette, a public affairs consultant in Tampa, Florida, was a special assistant to Biden during his time as a senator.

COMMENT:  The Biden folks may get their way.  The scenario goes as follows:  The FBI report into Hillary surfaces.  Even if she's not indicted, she drops further in the polls.  It's another Clinton scandal, following the mini-scandal, now growing, about Clinton's accepting vast speaking fees from Wall Street firms.  Dem panic increases.  They look at the alternative, Bernie.  But Dem officeholders are already warning of what the GOP will do to Bernie if he gets the nomination – starting with photos of him honeymooning in the Soviet Union.

The Dems turn to the obvious choice, and one backed enthusiastically by Obama, who's looking for a "third term" – Joe Biden.  Joe "reluctantly" comes into the race to save the party.  For once, he's the "elder statesman."  For the nomination, this will work.  I don't think Joe will fare all that well in the general election, if the GOP is united behind a good candidate.

February 6,  2016     Permalink