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JANUARY 15,  2015

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

MARCH TO OBLIVION – And now even Fox has joined in.  From Breitbart: In the name of racial diversity, another major TV network has announced that it will exclude white actors from participating in the casting process of a major series reboot.  Entertainment Weekly reports Fox network is developing a spinoff of the hit show 24, and producers have ruled out replacing former leading man Kiefer Sutherland with another white actor, according to Fox Television Group co-CEO Dana Walden.  Speaking to reporters Friday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Los Angeles, Walden confirmed the network has ordered a pilot for 24: Legacy in an attempt to revive the hit show, which previously starred Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer.  This kind of thing is ugly, insulting to minorities, and contemptuous of the audience.  Casting should be based on the character, not political correctness or a desire to be invited to A-list Hollywood parties.

HIDING? – From Fox:   Once again, a Democratic debate is being held on the weekend, and this one could have a slimmer audience than usual -- coming on the same day as two NFL playoff games, not to mention "Downton Abbey."  The Sunday night debate in South Carolina, hosted by NBC News, is the latest in a series of weekend Democratic bouts. The timing has fueled allegations from Hillary Clinton's rivals that party leaders are working behind the scenes to minimize her exposure.  This Sunday's debate is in a particularly rough slot -- forcing NFL fans and period drama lovers to choose between politics and pastimes.  Rumor has it that the next Dem debate will be held in the Witness Protection Program.  Hillary will be seen only in silhouette, and her voice will be electronically distorted. 

REALITY – From AP:   BERLIN (AP) — A town in western Germany has banned male refugees from a swimming pool after complaints of harassment from female bathers and staff — news that comes as a national poll Friday showed that Germans are becoming increasingly concerned about the country’s ability to integrate the huge numbers of asylum-seekers who arrived last year.  Markus Schnapka, who heads the social affairs department in Bornheim, said other visitors had complained of sexual harassment by men living in a nearby shelter for asylum seekers. He said none of the complaints were on the criminal level, and the pool had agreed the ban would end once social workers confirmed the men “got the message.” The price of blind multiculturalism.  Immigration has to be pursued intelligently, not according to the leftist agenda.

January 15, 2016       Permalink

JOURNALISM IN ACTION – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  NBC News goes after the big story!  See the result!  Hear the action!   From Daily Caller:

NBC News journalists — including veteran reporter Andrea Mitchell — conducted interviews last week with Juanita Broaddrick, the Arkansas woman who says Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, but decided not to go forward with a story, claiming that there was not “anything new” to report.

“When Juanita Broaddrick went public last week, NBC News sent an associate producer to Arkansas to see if there was anything new in her story. We established there was not, and decided not to pursue it any further,” an NBC spokesperson told Buzzfeed News.

Broaddrick, a 73-year-old retired nursing home administrator, spoke out on Twitter last Wednesday after 17 years of silence about the alleged rape.

“I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73…. it never goes away,” Broaddrick wrote in a tweet that has been shared 13,000 times.

Broaddrick, who is one of numerous women who have accused Clinton of sexual violence or harassment over the years, had first talked publicly about the 1978 incident in a 1999 interview with NBC’s “Dateline.” She said during that interview that she met Clinton when she went to volunteer at the Little Rock headquarters of his gubernatorial campaign. She said she and Clinton later met for coffee at a hotel where she was staying but that the politician asked to carry on their discussion in her room. There, Broaddrick says Clinton raped her.

COMMENT:  So NBC News decides there's not "anything new."  That's like saying that we're dropping a murder story because the victim is still dead.  The issue here is not whether Ms. Broaddrick has some new twist.  The issue here is that Hillary Clinton, a self-described fighter for women's rights, apparently tried to silence and destroy women who made credible charges of sexual impropriety against her husband.  That issue doesn't require "newness," only investigation.  Hillary Clinton is now a presidential candidate and should be held to account by the news media.  Don't hold your breath.

January 15, 2016       Permalink

THE CAPTURE – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  The story of Iran's capture of ten American sailors, and their two modern patrol boats, is not going away.  Some enterprising journalists are still trying to work through the contradictions in the official versions.  (I am assisted in this post by the fine talk-show host Mike Scully, who passed on the notes of an ex-Navy man experienced in small-boat operations.)

Did the two boats actually suffer mechanical failure?  Probably not.  Maybe one boat did.  In that case, why did the operational boat not simply tow the disabled boat away from Iranian waters?

Did our sailors notify home base?  Why not?  If they did, why was help not sent?  Don't we have a single plane in the area?

Why have we not expressed official outrage about the videotaping of our sailors, kneeling in POW position, and the spreading of that tape across the Mideast?  That is a violation of international law.

Why did Grand Admiral Kerry, the idiot secretary of state, thank the Iranians for returning the sailors?  That's like thanking a thief for returning stolen property without calling him a thief.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Obama administration officials have said their initial determination is that the 10 sailors were treated well and with respect after Iranian forces detained their two small Navy boats in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday. But the videos depicted questionable actions by Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Geneva Conventions, which govern military conflicts, ban the practice of parading prisoners for purposes of “insults” and propaganda. The State Department said Wednesday afternoon that U.S. officials were looking into the videos and would respond if the U.S. determined that the sailors were treated inappropriately.

COMMENT:  Yes, I'm sure they'll "respond," as they have responded to all the other Iranian outrages.  Yup, we eagerly await our "response."

Of course we all know what this is about.  The Iran nuclear agreement is about to be put into place, and nothing must be permitted to interfere with that awful pact because it is part of the legacy of the minigod, Barack Obama.  It is Obama's dream to have a Muslim country, Iran, as America's principal partner in the Mideast, replacing Israel.  It is a pipe dream.  While the pact was being negotiated, Iran's supreme leader was holding "death to America" rallies.  Obama and the grand admiral pretended not to notice.

The overall term for our policy is "appeasement," the granting of favors to an enemy in the hope that it can be turned into a friend.  I don't recall it ever working.  I do recall the hundreds of thousands of American graves that testify to the failure of that policy in decades past.

January 15, 2016        Permalink

STATE OF THE OFFICE – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  Charles Krauthammer, perhaps the leading political commentator working today, gives a brilliant summation of the Obama presidency, now entering its last year.  From NRO:

President Obama’s Tuesday-night address to Congress was less about the state of the union than about the state of the presidency. And the state of this presidency is spent.

The signs of intellectual exhaustion were everywhere. Consider just three. After taking credit for success in Syria, raising American stature abroad, and prevailing against the Islamic State — one claim more surreal than the next — Obama was forced to repair to his most well-worn talking point: “If you doubt America’s commitment — or mine — to see that justice is done, just ask Osama bin Laden.”

Really? Five years later, that’s all you’ve got?

Indeed, it is. What else can Obama say? Talk about Crimea? Cite Yemen, Libya, Iraq, the South China Sea, the return of the Taliban?

“Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office,” Obama boasted.  Surveys, mind you. As if superpower influence is a Miss Universe contest. As if the world doesn’t see our allies adrift, our enemies on the march. and our sailors kneeling, hands behind their heads, in front of armed Iranians, then forced to apologize on camera. (And our secretary of state expressing appreciation to Iran after their subsequent release.)

COMMENT:  So well said, from Dr. Krauthammer.  If Obama were a successful president, we'd know it by the spirit of the American people.  That spirit is all but gone.  Our confidence is shot through.  There is rising anger.

Obama and his crowd came to office shouting "Smart power!"  Yeah, really smart.  Historians will no doubt report their College Board scores.  And little else.

January 15,  2016     Permalink

JANUARY 14,  2016

THE DEBATE:  No "Short Takes" tonight so we can examine the Republican debate that just took place.

I try to study the debate itself, but then monitor the comments on television and across the web. 

General reaction:  The debate confirmed that there are three serious contenders at the moment.  They are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and perhaps Marco Rubio.  Chris Christie has made some progress, but has not caught on.  Jeb Bush, a good man but a so-so campaigner, remains in the race.  If there's a catastrophe at the top, he might jump up, but I doubt it.  There were no shocks in the debate that would change the conventional wisdom.

A Frank Luntz focus group, held in the critical primary state of South Carolina (where the debate was held), decided unanimously that Ted Cruz won the debate.  Other commentators, though, felt Trump had won.  Both Trump and Cruz sounded more "presidential" then they had in previous debates, elevating both men.  And indeed, most of the commentary surrounded these two.  But Rubio was given wide praise for his passion and clarity.  He would be an effective opponent to Hillary Clinton – a young man of the 21st century, against an older woman who is on the cutting edge of the 1960s.  And Rubio has an appeal to the political center, a danger area for both Trump and Cruz.

The Iowa caucuses take place on February 1st.

The New Hampshire primary is February 9th.

South Carolina – February 20th.

Super Tuesday is March 1st – 14 states, including the powerhouses of Texas and Virginia.

Many primaries in March, including Florida, Illinois and Ohio on March 15th.  Both Rubio and Bush are from Florida.  The one who loses his own state is out.

So, we should have a very vivid picture of this race within two months.  That doesn't mean we will be crowning anyone.  It may be that candidates dig in and that no one breaks through to the 50% mark.  It may be that Trump loses steam.  It may be that someone makes a serious blunder.  And then the talk of a contested convention will grow.  And that's fun.

January 14, 2016       Permalink

DEBATE TONIGHT – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  The Republicans will debate again tonight.  The race is becoming exceedingly bitter and at times vulgar.  I've heard that the candidates will have to go through metal detectors.   (Not really.)  From Reuters: 

CHARLESTON, S.C./MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Flaring tempers and sharp elbows may turn a debate of seven Republican presidential candidates into a seven-car pileup on Thursday with tensions between Donald Trump and rival Ted Cruz leading the way.

The sixth Republican debate, at the North Charleston Coliseum in the swing state of South Carolina, takes place at a tense time for the Republican field with the clock ticking toward Feb. 1 in Iowa, the first contest in the race to choose the party's nominee for the Nov. 8 general election.

"Everybody has to avoid making mistakes," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. "If you mess something up in this debate you're going to have almost no opportunity to correct it."

The 9 p.m. EST debate features the top seven candidates ranked by Republican voters: New York real estate businessman and reality TV star Trump, Texas Senator Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

COMMENT:  I'm starting to sense a growing feeling of revulsion toward both the Democratic and Republican races.  Americans are yearning for first-class leadership, and I don't see a particular "wanting" for anyone on either side.  Dems are not worked up over Hillary.  A small number yearn for Bern, but I don't think Bern will make it.

On the Republican side, the vulgar but fascinating Donald Trump has tapped into voter anger, and is considered the frontrunner, but is hovering in the thirties.  More people are against him than are for him.  If he becomes the nominee, I wouldn't be shocked to see an independent candidate for president. 

There is no Reagan, who was both effective and likeable, a natural communicator.  A general-election race between Clinton and Trump might come down to who is the least disliked. 

Who could run as an independent?  The last time we had a serious independent candidate was 1992, when Ross Perot, who received 19% of the vote, probably spoiled President George H.W. Bush's chances for a second term.  In 2000, Ralph Nader, who got 2.74% of the vote nationally, may have cost Al Gore the state of Florida, and thus the election.

No sure thing this year.

January 14, 2016       Permalink

A STUNNING ATTEMPT – AT 9:35 A.M. ET:  There has been a terrorist attack in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia.  It largely failed, but ISIS is claiming responsibility, demonstrating that they can attack again and again, in rapid succession.   Indonesia is a Muslim country.  From Times of India:   

Isis has reportedly claimed responsibility for the Jakarta attacks in a statement released through one of its allied propaganda agencies.

"Islamic State fighters carried out an armed attack this morning targeting foreign nationals and the security forces charged with protecting them in the Indonesian capital," Aamaaq news agency said on its Telegram channel.

Seven people, including five suspected attackers, died in suicide bombings and shootings in the Indonesian capital on Thursday morning.

Militants targeted the Sarinah shopping centre, on Thamrin Street, which houses a McDonalds and other multinational brands.

A Starbucks, Pizza hut and Burger King lie across the road next to the Djakarta Theater XXI cinema, while the five-star Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta hotel is the next building along and United Nations and government offices are also nearby.

COMMENT:  The attacks seem to have targeted American brands.  Clearly the attackers failed.  They were undoubtedly going for high casualties.  The Indonesian police acted quickly and the attack was blunted.

But the fact of the assault, and its clear targeting of American companies, should not be lost on us.  ISIS will try again, and again, and again.  That's been their pattern over the last six months.

January 14,  2016     Permalink

THE ASSAULT ON HILLARY – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  You can just feel it.  Many Democrats are uneasy about Hillary Clinton, and whether she can actually win the general election.  They are also uneasy about the FBI investigation into Clinton, which can demolish her campaign.  The chief uneaser seems to be Vice President Joe Biden.  From NRO:

Vice President Joe Biden just took Hillary Clinton out at the knees.

“Bernie [Sanders] is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real,” Biden told CNN’s Gloria Borger. “And that is the absolute enormous concentration of wealth in a small group of people, with the middle class, now being shown, being left out.”

When Borger pointed out that, “Hillary’s been talking about that as well,” Biden was undeterred.

“It’s relatively new for Hillary to talk about that,” he said. “Hillary’s focus has been on other things up to now, and that’s been Bernie’s — nobody questions Bernie’s authenticity on those issues. . . . I think they question everybody’s who hasn’t been talking about it all along, but I think she’s come forward with some really thoughtful approaches to deal with the issue.”

You don’t say this sort of thing if you’re enthusiastic about Clinton being the Democratic nominee in 2016. Either the vice president wants to ensure that Sanders gets a fair shot at the nomination, or he’s itching to reverse his own decision not to run in 2016. (He has recently hinted at the latter possibility.)

COMMENT:  Obama clearly does not want Hillary to succeed him.  And Bernie is seen as an interesting curiosity, a decent man who can't win, but who's shown how vulnerable Hillary is.

Biden is the man to watch, especially if the FBI probe shows that Hillary's behavior is more serious than a parking ticket.

January 14, 2016       Permalink