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MARCH 11,  2016

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

BACK TO 1968 – Donald Trump canceled a major campaign speech in Chicago tonight after a large mob of protesters appeared on the University of Illinois campus, where the speech was to be delivered, apparently to shut Trump down before he began.  Trump canceled his speech, citing safety concerns.  This is the first time during the campaign that Trump has had to withdraw.  Some TV journalists tried to twist things around, claiming that Trump brought this on himself with his "inflammatory" rhetoric.  I doubt that.  I think it was the left doing what the left does best – shutting down anyone who disagrees.  The scene reminded me of the rioting outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968.

LIFE IN THE SOCIALIST PARADISE – From London's Daily Mail:  The streets are deserted after dark in a sleepy Swedish town which is a now no-go zone for women after eight sex attacks in three weeks.  Women have been warned by police not to walk alone at night after the once peaceful town of Östersund was shaken to its core by a string of vicious attacks on females and even children by groups of young men of 'foreign origin'.  First, two 10-year-old girls were groped at a bus stop by a gang of men who threatened to rape them.  The following day, a woman told police she was punched in the face, splitting her eyebrow, by a man who threatened to kill her after he made a rude comment to her.  Just five days later a woman walking on her own was attacked by three men, beaten and pushed to the ground.  Notice the deep interest of "feminist" groups.  They take their orders from their leftist masters, and will say nothing that will diminish the left's drive for multiculturalism.  Women's rights are far behind. 

A HOLLYWOOD STORY – From the Daily Beast:  After California’s Girl Scout Troop 5215 sold an alleged $65,000 worth of cookies at the 2016 Academy Awards, that money is reportedly nowhere to be found, the local organization says. Celebrities in the audience bought a variety of cookies, but TMZ reports that the local chapter—which would only get about $1,000 of the money—hasn’t seen a cent. The National Girl Scout Council told the troop that the Academy would donate the money to the Greater L.A. Council, but that allegedly hasn’t happened. A representative for Girl Scouts of America told reporters: “The donation process is determined by local councils.”  Even the Girl Scouts get ripped off in Hollywood.  But at least it's not Sweden. 

March 11, 2016       Permalink

IF TRUE, IT'S IMPORTANT – AT 10:12 A.M. ET:  We're seeing reports like this from a number of states.  Obviously, they have to be looked at with caution.  Cause-effect relationships in politics are very hard to prove.  But the claim is that Donald Trump is attracting many new voters to the Republican Party.  From CBS Pittsburgh: 

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Nearly 46,000 Pennsylvania Democrats have switched to Republicans since the beginning of the year.

According to Penn Live, some experts attribute the mass exodus to Donald Trump.

There’s even a title for the movement. It’s called “Ditch and Switch” and calls for lifelong Democrats to abandon the party, register Republican, and help ensure Trump’s place in the general election.

Professor of Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, Dr. G. Terry Madonna, tells the paper he has a theory behind the switch.

“With the increase in support in exit polls for Trump among working class, blue-collar Democrats, it is my belief that these are people who fall into that genre,” said Madonna.

The numbers are similar in other states as well.

The paper says in Massachusetts, as many as 20,000 Democrats have gone from blue-to-red this year with Trump cited as a primary reason. And in Ohio, as many as 1,000 blue collar workers have promised to switch parties and vote for Trump.

Numbers show that some Republicans are also switching to the Democratic party, but nowhere near the numbers that are switching to Republican.

COMMENT:   We won't know the full truth of this until after the November election, when all the statistics are analyzed.  However, we appear to be seeing the return of the Reagan Democrats, who helped Ronald Reagan get elected in 1980.

March 11, 2016       Permalink   

CARSON ENDORSES TRUMP – AT 9:27 A.M. ET:  As was leaked yesterday, Dr. Ben Carson this morning endorsed Donald Trump.  And his reasoning?  Read on.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Dr. Ben Carson officially announced his endorsement of Donald Trump Friday morning, one week after he suspended his presidential campaign.

"Some people have said, well, why would you get behind a man like Donald Trump?'" Carson told reporters alongside Trump. "I've come to know Donald Trump over the last few years. He is actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America."

"There are two different Donald Trumps. there's the one you see on the stage, and there's the one who's very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully, you can have a very good conversation with him, and that's the Donald Trump that you're going to start seeing more and more of right now," Carson said.

The famed neurosurgeon made his announcement during a press conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. The endorsement arrives only four days before the winner-take-all primary states begin voting on Tuesday, which includes Ohio and Florida, where Carson lives.

And...

Of their past fighting during the campaign, Carson added, "We buried the hatchet."

"Some people said, but, well, you know, he said terrible things about you. How could you support him? First of all, we buried the hatchet," Carson said. "That was political stuff. And that happens in American politics. The politics of personal destruction, all that, it's not something that I particularly believe in or anything that I get involved in. But I do recognize it is a part of the process. We move on, because it's not about me, it's not about Mr. Trump. It's about America, and this is what we have to be thinking about."

COMMENT:  I see a vice-presidential nomination here, don't you?  And it would be a brilliant choice.  Trump would say that, with Ben Carson, a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, America's children will have a place at the table. 

If that happens, it will be fascinating.  I look forward to seeing how this plays out.  

March 11,  2016     Permalink

THOSE PEACEFUL IRANIANS – AT 9:10 A.M. ET:  Why, they're just wonderful, misunderstood souls, victims of Western imperialism and the people who made MGM musicals.  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) The Obama administration is preparing to publicly attribute a 2013 cyber attack against a New York dam to Iranian hackers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the investigation.

The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against people thought to be behind the attack, according to the officials. An announcement could come in the next week.

The intrusion at the Bowman Avenue Dam, around 30 miles north of New York City in suburban Rye Brook, New York, isn't considered sophisticated -- the hackers managed only to get access to some back office systems, not the operational systems of the dam, U.S. officials say. U.S. investigators quickly determined the attack was carried out by hackers working for the Iranian government.

But the attack alarmed Obama administration officials who have voiced concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. infrastructure to cyber attacks.

White House and Justice Department spokesmen declined to comment on plans to attribute blame for the attack. But Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said in a statement that the agency takes "malicious activity in cyberspace seriously, and we will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to prevent, deter, detect, counter and mitigate such activity."

The public attribution of the dam attack is part of a U.S. strategy shift in recent years to publicly "name and shame" countries and, if possible, people behind the proliferation of cyber intrusions targeting U.S. companies and government networks.

COMMENT:  The dam is about eight miles from where Urgent Agenda is written.  So the Islamic regime of Iran is in our neighborhood.  If they were nicer guys, I'd show them the best Chinese restaurant.  But they're not nicer guys. 

I'd take this seriously.  Cyber attacks are getting more and more sophisticated, and most of America's major facilities and transportation networks are now dependent on computers.

March 11,  2016     Permalink

MARCH 10,  2016

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

THE REPUBLICAN DEBATE – There was another Republican debate tonight, hosted by CNN.  It was probably the best of the debates so far, with Trump, Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich participating.  Trump actually behaved himself and came off as marginally presidential, obviously an intentional tactic to improve his image.  However, his answers to many questions, especially on foreign policy, were vague, and sometimes sounded more leftist than Republican.  (He called the 1989 democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, China, a "riot.")  That shouldn't shock us, for Trump isn't a Republican or a conservative.  All the debaters were focused on Tuesday's primaries in Florida and Ohio.  Trump leads in Florida polling, an embarrassment to Marco Rubio, the senator from that state.  The race is closer in Ohio, Governor Kasich's home state, where most polls show Trump leading, but not by a large amount.  Pundits divided on who won tonight's debate, but no one thought it was a game changer. 

OUR CIVILIZATION LIVES – From the College Fix:   A petition asking Stanford University students to put to a campuswide vote the question of whether the study of Western Civilization should be required to earn a diploma has passed muster, its backers report.  The petition late Wednesday passed the 350-signature threshold necessary for consideration as a campuswide ballot measure just under deadline, reports the conservative-leaning Stanford Review, whose editorial board authored the petition.  It's good news, but the betting is that students, brainwashed by leftist education will turn down the excellent proposal.  Western Civilization used to be a staple of a college education.  But as the left became more and more powerful, it was seen as obsolete, the work of "dead white men," and a barrier to "social justice."  Even if Stanford students agree to the idea, the faculty must go along.  Some chance.

CARSON DECIDES – Dr. Ben Carson is expected to endorse Donald Trump for president, probably tomorrow.  The news came as a jolt, with observers wondering why a refined man like Carson would endorse the gruff, often coarse Trump.  We'll hear why from Carson directly when he makes his endorsement.  Some theorize that the endorsement makes sense, that Carson, loved by many Republicans, might wish to be on the ticket as vice presidential nominee, and that he's concluded that Trump will win the presidential nomination.  Also, there have been many reports that Trump is making headway in the black community, and Dr. Carson could only help that progress. 

March 10, 2016       Permalink

PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY – AT 11:34 A.M. ET:  ISIS has just released a new video, in English.  It is chilling, and should be regarded with the utmost seriousness, considering the record that ISIS has built up.  From London's Daily Mail:   

An English-speaking ISIS jihadi has warned America they will be attacked 'very soon' and 'by Allah's permission do to your country what we did to Paris'.

In a chilling new ISIS video, he warns the US and President Barack Obama that the terror group will 'kill, slaughter and burn your people'.

The jihadi tells America it can expect an atrocity similar to the massacre in Paris in November in which 130 people were murdered in a wave of shootings and suicide bomb attacks.

The narrator speaks English as he delivers his disturbing threat - but it is not known whether he is British.

Footage begins with the title of the video: 'A message to America From The Islamic Caliphate Supporters.'

The man says: 'Paris isn’t far from you - we will by Allah’s permission do to your country what we did to Paris. We will kill, slaughter and burn your people.

'Inshallah (God willing), we will attack you very soon with anything we lay our hands on.'

Against a backdrop of footage from conflicts in the Middle East and harrowing scenes from the Paris attack, the narrator says: 'You dogs of Rome, Kerry and Obama, haven't you learned your lesson yet?

COMMENT:  ISIS, in the last year, has lost some territory in Iraq and Syria, but it has built up elsewhere, expanding its international operations.  It is only a matter of time before it tries something here, and we've learned recently that intelligence officials in several countries expect a major attack.  Will ISIS try something during our presidential campaign?  I don't know, but eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

March 10, 2016       Permalink

SUPERB – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess champion and political activist, has written a superb column, based on a previous Facebook comment of his, countering the views of Bernie Sanders.   This is a must read, filled with information.  An example becomes our quote of the day.  From Garry Kasparov, in The Daily Beast: 

The problem is with the proposed solutions. A society that relies too heavily on redistributing wealth eventually runs out of wealth to redistribute. The historical record is clear. It’s capitalism that brought billions of people out of poverty in the 20th century. It’s socialism that enslaved them and impoverished them. Of course Senator Sanders does not want to turn America into a totalitarian state like the one I grew up in. But it’s a valuable example of the inevitable failure of a state-run economy and distribution system. (Check in on Venezuela for a more recent example.) Once you give power to the government it is nearly impossible to get it back, and it will be used in ways you cannot expect.

The USSR collapsed because it couldn’t compete over time, despite its massive resources and devout ideology. The Soviets put a man in space before America but couldn’t keep up the pace against an innovating, free-market competitor. My Facebook post went around the world on technology created in America. The networks, the satellites, the software, nearly every ingredient in every mobile device and desktop computer, was invented in the USA. It is not a coincidence that the most capitalist country in the world created all these things. Innovation requires freedom of thought, freedom of capital, and people who believe in changing the world.

Yes, the free market can be cruel and it is by definition unequal. It has winners and losers. It also sparks the spirit of creativity that humanity desperately needs to flourish in our ever-increasing billions. Failure is an essential part of innovation and the free market. Of every 10 new companies, perhaps nine will fail in brutal Darwinian competition. A centrally-planned economy cannot imitate this engine of creative destruction because you cannot plan for failure. You cannot predestine which two college dropouts in a garage will produce the next Apple.

COMMENT:  Be sure to read the whole thing and send it around.  To me, the most dangerous candidate running in this election is Bernie Sanders.  He's a decent and honorable man, and, as Kasparov points out elsewhere in his piece, he feels passionately for his cause.  Good on him.  But his cause is wrong, and dangerous.  Bernie Sanders and I were students at the University of Chicago at the same time.  I never met him.  I wish I had.  I would have preached the gospel of freedom to him, and he could have avoided all his bad thoughts.

March 10, 2016       Permalink

WHAA..? – AT 9:26 A.M. ET:  President Obama's approval rating is at its highest point in three years.  What is the explanation?  From The Hill:

More Americans now say President Obama is doing a good job than at any other point in almost three years.

Fifty percent approve of Obama’s performance as chief executive according to Gallup's most recent weekly survey, released Thursday.

Obama's job approval rating ticked up 5 points since the beginning of the year. It's also 3 points higher than the average of his weekly ratings for his seventh year in office, Gallup added.

Obama in now the middle of the pack among other modern presidents during their final March in the Oval Office.

Obama outperforms former President George W. Bush, for example, who received a high of 32 percent in March 2008.

Former President Clinton, meanwhile, earned 63 percent in March 2000, while former President Reagan gained 52 percent in March 1988.

Gallup surveyed 3,563 adults from Feb. 28-March 6. Its new survey has a 2-percent margin of error.

COMMENT:  Have the American people gone bonkers?  On the one hand, polls show them angry and frustrated.  On the other hand, the cause of much of that anger and frustration grows more popular.

I think there's an explanation, maybe several explanations.  First, Obama is compared, in people's minds, to the candidates running to replace them.  They are seen as argumentative, small, quibbling, combative, and he floats above the fray.  He's not doing much these days, and there are no current scandals.  Compared to the battling candidates, Obama has a pretty good image.  In the absence of a bitter election campaign, I think he'd be polling much lower. 

Also, the press still covers for Obama.  It doesn't want the first black president to fail. 

The president's approval rating is actually quite important, I'm sorry to say.  Presidential elections are historically influenced by the approval of the president in power.  A good approval rating for Obama will help the Dem candidate, a poor approval rating will help the Republican choice.

March 10,  2016     Permalink