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MARCH 19,  2016

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

INCREDIBLE – It isn't just Republicans who are out of sorts about Obama making a Supreme Court pick.  Leftist House Dems are grumbling that Merrick Garland, by all accounts a brilliant and respected judge, doesn't meet the race and gender test.  From The Hill:   Liberal House Democrats are holding their fire on President Obama's choice of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court.  Many liberals on and off Capitol Hill had pushed the president to pick a minority nominee –– specifically a black woman, which would be an historic first –– and some liberal advocacy groups quickly condemned Obama's choice of an older white man with a centrist track record.  But a number of House liberals, while privately grumbling about the decision, have been exceedingly careful not to criticize the president publicly. Instead, they're praising Garland's legal bona fides and training their attacks on the Senate Republicans blocking the nomination.   It's a sign that Democrats appreciate the tactical acumen behind the Garland pick, even if they are not especially enamored of the judge himself.   The highlight of the civil rights movement came when Martin Luther King Jr. told us that people should be judged, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.  The Democratic Party has come a long way down.  Now you're just a member of a group.

FOX VERSUS TRUMP –  From Fox:   Donald Trump’s latest attacks against Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly are “beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate,” the network said in a statement Friday.  The Republican candidate, who first attacked Kelly in August for her hard-hitting questioning at a GOP debate, called for a boycott of the top-rated primetime cable news show “The Kelly File.” As with past social media insults directed at Kelly, Trump got personal, calling Kelly “sick” and “overrated.”  “Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” Fox News said in a statement.  Fox is correct.  Donald needs to grow up. 

DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT – From Fox:   As the opposition makes arrangements to call a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan government has launched a preemptive strike that looks to reinforce the ailing Chavismo by rewarding loyalty.  Focused on securing power, the socialist ruling party will start issuing so-called “Bolivarian cards” – with not yet disclosed privileges – to its followers, as well as “socialist cards” loaded with a monthly allowance of approximately $70; that's 10 times the minimum wage in Venezuela.  The third tier of the survival strategy is a full-blown campaign with the motto that can be translated to “Nobody surrenders here” (“Aquí no se rinde nadie,” in Spanish).  The Bolivarian cards will be handed out to self-proclaimed Chavistas during a national house-to-house survey to take place in early April, Maduro announced last weekend.  Frequent flyer points?  Hotel credits?  What kind of a card is this?

March 19, 2016       Permalink

OBAMA TO HAVANA – AT 12:22 P.M. ET:  The president will be in Cuba tomorrow.  Ah, socialism.  He loves it so.  He makes Bernie Sanders sound like John D. Rockefeller. 

But there's a bit of bother, and it involves Cuban dissidents and how Obama deals with them.  From the Washington Examiner:   

The White House won't yet say which political dissidents President Obama plans to meet with during his upcoming historic visit to Cuba, or whether any of those dissidents include prisoners the Castro regime is holding.

Obama will arrive in Cuba on Sunday, and with less than 48 hours before he leaves, the White House is putting off providing a list of dissidents it invited for a meeting with Obama. Instead, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Friday he hasn't seen the list, which the administration plans to release at an unspecified time over the next few days.

"I haven't seen the list [of dissidents] that the president will meet with ... so I'm not able to vouch for the status of those people," he said.

Still, Earnest and other administration officials stress that Obama will meet with prominent dissidents of his own choosing, a demand the Castro government has grudgingly allowed.

COMMENT:  Why won't they release the list?  I sense the start of a cover-up, a photo op with some "dissidents," but not the heroic dissidents who've risked life and limb.

This will be fascinating.  Critics of the new opening to Cuba, including me, have noted that the United States has made very few demands on the Castro regime, which needs the opening a lot more than we do.  Will that change with this visit?  Will the lot of the people of Cuba improve?  Don't hold your breath, but do hope.

March 19, 2016       Permalink

REPUBLICANS IN SHOCK – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:   The Republican Party is in shock.  Few ever expected Donald Trump – seen as the political equivalent of a carnival barker – to come anywhere near the presidential nomination of the party of Reagan.  (Or is it the party of Reagan?)  Now look where he is.  And his opponents, many of them at least, are losing heart.  From The Politico: 

With Donald Trump marching toward a nomination that few believed he could win, Republicans once bent on defeating him are now reassessing their efforts to stop him.

Trump’s dazed and demoralized adversaries find themselves at a defining moment: After unloading millions of dollars in attack ads aimed at destroying the real estate mogul, after the party’s 2012 nominee delivered a no-holds barred speech targeting him, and after conservatives far and wide spoke out in unrelenting terms about how he could never be president, he’s more dominant than ever — with another rival vanquished, a massive delegate lead and his two remaining opponents looking increasingly like the next to go.

While some Republicans insist on standing firm against the businessman, more and more are contending that it’s time to reach a point of acceptance — and that a drawn-out primary or convention battle could be worse.

“I’m soul-searching right now,” said Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, who last year explored the possibility of launching an anti-Trump campaign. “There’s still a pathway to defeating him, but it’s getting harder to see that.”

COMMENT:  "Stop" movements rarely succeed because, by the time they're launched, the person they want to stop is pretty much unstoppable.  And it may well be with Trump.  He's tapped into a substantial anger among the American people, or at least that segment of the American people who vote in Republican primaries.  He really has no solutions, he's brash, he's crude, but he seems to be a fighter, which is what his supporters love.  The more abrasive he is, the louder they cheer.  And they believe that his business success, his brand, will translate into good government. 

I hope they're right.  But I'm not ready to bet the Republic on it.

And yet, who's out there?  Ted Cruz is brilliant, a true Constitutionalist, and would probably make a fine president.  But he has a personality that even a mother would reject, and is intensely disliked in the U.S. Senate.  I mean, a guy should have at least one friend.  I could support him, but he doesn't warm the heart.

John Kasich has won one state, his own.  Only he knows why he's still in the race.

The odds are favoring Trump.  And we think back to the one event that allowed this to happen, the conviction of General David Petraeus.  I felt at the time that the administration pursued Petraeus with such a vengeance because it wanted to destroy him as a potential presidential nominee.  If my suspicion was correct, they succeeded.  He would be the obvious antidote to Trump today, playing the same role Eisenhower played in the Republican Party in 1952, but he's been neutralized.  How sad for the country.

March 19, 2016       Permalink 

HEY, SOMEONE'S FINALLY SAYING IT – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  The "it" is that Hillary Clinton could be forced out of the presidential race due to her legal problems.  I've noticed in the last four or five days that discussions about this have grown more serious, with news that the FBI investigation may wind down in May, only two months from now.  That's when the real drama begins:  what will the FBI recommend?  From The Hill: 

It’s the scenario that Republicans dream of and Democrats believe is all but impossible: Hillary Clinton being forced to drop out of the presidential race due to criminal charges over her email server.

Any bombshell findings in the FBI’s investigation of Clinton could plunge the Democratic race into chaos.

Bernie Sanders could stand to gain. As the only other candidate in the Democratic race, the party could quickly coalesce around him in an effort to halt the bedlam. But that’s far from a sure thing, with many in the party fearful he would be a weak general election candidate.

Democrats insist there’s virtually no chance that Clinton will be indicted over her server. The candidate has said repeatedly that no laws were broken, and that classified information was never sent over the server. Asked about an indictment at the last Democratic debate, Clinton responded: “That's not going to happen.”

In the event that Clinton stepped aside after winning the nomination at the convention, the Democratic National Committee could decide on the replacement on its own.

If an indictment came before the convention, the path would be more difficult.

Unlike the Republican Party, which binds most of its delegates to candidates regardless of delegates’ personal preferences, Democratic candidates have input on who represents them on the convention floor.

“There are no Clinton-bound delegates who would prefer voting for Sanders, for example,” delegate expert and University of Georgia professor Josh Putnam, told The Hill.

“Those folks are essentially hand-picked to be loyal. They are unlikely to stray.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's fascinating.  And I'm glad to see that attention to this possibility is finally being paid.  It's possible, of course, that the case can be "fixed" in the Justice Department, or even that the FBI director could be threatened with political retaliation if he recommends indictment.  He could certainly be subjected to a Clinton smear campaign.

But there are scores of federal agents at work on the Clinton case.  If their work is dumped because of political pressure, they'll start leaking to the press, and the cover-up can make matters even worse for Clinton. 

And then, of course, there's the role of the press.  Will the press do its job, or will there be the traditional cover-up of Democratic sins?  Hillary is not particularly popular with reporters, and may not get the support that Obama got.

We may yet see the biggest story of this political season.  How juicy.

March 19,  2016     Permalink

MARCH 18,  2016

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

OUR NEW ALLIES – From London's Telegraph:  Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is planning to build a statue of the US sailors who were captured in Iranian waters earlier this year, a senior officer said.  The provocative proposal is likely to cause outrage in the US and be seized on by Republicans opposed to President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.  Commander Ali Fadavi, the head of the Guard’s naval forces, said the monument of the surrendering Americans would be a “tourist attraction”.  “There are very many photographs of the major incident of arresting US Marines in the Persian Gulf in the media and we intend to build a symbol out of them inside one of our naval monuments,” he told Iran’s Defense Press news agency.  Iran goes out of its way to humiliate the United States at every turn, knowing Field Marshal Obama will do nothing in response.  And, oh, by the way, didn't Iran recently elect a more "moderate" parliament?  Notice the difference?

HOW WILL SHE RESPOND?  You can't make this up.  From Fox:   Hillary Clinton is working hard to consolidate support during a tougher-than-expected Democratic primary, but there’s one backer she may wish to back away from: a Ku Klux Klan grand dragon.  “We want Hillary Clinton to win,” Will Quigg, the grand dragon of the KKK’s California chapter, said during an interview with The Telegraph.  Republican frontrunner Donald Trump was recently criticized for a perceived reticence to disavow the endorsement of former KKK leader David Duke. Trump has since clearly disavowed Duke’s vote of confidence. Clinton has yet to be asked about Quigg’s endorsement.  Quigg bases his support on his belief that Clinton is pushing false promises on the campaign trail. Once she gets elected, he contends, her agenda will completely shift.  Incredible that no one in the press has asked Hillary about this.  I guess they only ask Republicans. 

HILLARY ROMPING IN NEW YORK STATE – From PJ Media:  A new Emerson College poll for New York has Donald Trump getting trounced by both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in his home state this November if he is the GOP nominee. The poll is significant because Trump has maintained that he "expands the map" for the GOP with his candidacy. But Clinton beats him quite handily in New York, 55% to 36% and Sanders bests him 53% to 36%. Trump's closest rival, Ted Cruz, loses to Clinton by 31 points (61% to 30%). The good news for Trump is that he easily beats Cruz for the state's 95 delegates by more than 50 points: 64 - 12. John Kasich only gets 1%, despite his big win in Ohio.  There had been some hope, from earlier soundings, that Trump might pose a serious challenge to Hillary in New York, but this latest poll hardly offers encouragement.  New York is a very blue state, due primarily to the overwhelming population of New York City, the Democrats' leading urban stronghold.

IMPORTANT NUTRITIONAL NEWS – From the College Fix:   Red Bull gives you wings, but Middlebury College clips them.  The small liberal arts school in Vermont has officially banned the sale of popular energy drinks on campus in the name of student health.  Some students have praised Middlebury’s paternalism with language that echoes the late Nancy Reagan’s 1980s anti-drug campaign “Just Say No.”  Middlebury’s health czars allowed one exception, though: an ethnic-sounding beverage whose main ingredient has been linked to cancers that are common in South America.  The sales ban on drinks including Red Bull and 5-Hour Energy went from proposal to approval in barely two weeks, in a process led by students, and took effect last week.  At a Community Council meeting Jan. 19, Dining Services intern Myles Kamisher-Koch argued the sale of energy drinks violates Dining Services’ stated mission to “nourish and nurture today and tomorrow by sustaining mind, body and earth.”  Another victory in the battle against food oppression.  If the evil Red Bull can be defeated, what about Edy's Rocky Road?  Our stomachs belong to the people!

March 18, 2016       Permalink

THE KID STAYS IN THE FIGHT – AT 11:44 A.M. ET:  Despite the electoral math, Bernie Sanders isn't giving up.  From The Hill: 

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is pushing back on talk, including from President Obama, suggesting that Democrats rally around rival Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee.

During a television appearance late Thursday, Sanders said while he didn't want to speculate on Obama's remarks, it was "absurd" to think he would drop out of the White House race anytime soon.

"When only half of the American people have participated in the political process, when some of the larger states in this country, people in those states have not yet been able to voice their opinion on who should be the Democratic nominee, I think it's absurd for anybody to suggest that those people not have a right to cast a vote," Sanders told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

"I am extremely proud that in state after state we are winning the votes of working people," Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, added in the interview. "So to suggest that we don't fight this out to the end would be, I think, a very bad mistake."

COMMENT:  Bernie's decision means that Hillary Clinton will still have to fight on in primaries, spending a lot of money and time, instead of concentrating on the general election campaign.  But it might actually do her a lot of good because it keeps her in the news...unless Bernie actually catches fire.  I mean, what if he starts winning the way Obama started winning against Hillary in 2008?  What if Hillary is indicted, or even slapped on the wrist by the FBI?

You know, If I were Bernie, I'd stay in as well.

March 18, 2016        Permalink

THE TRUTH COMES OUT – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  This had been hinted at in earlier news reports, but the Obama administration makes a conscious effort to downplay reports of Islamic terrorism on American soil.  Now we know.  From CBS News: 

FRESNO, Calif. -- A California college student who went on a stabbing rampage that wounded four people before he was shot down by a campus police officer was inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) but acted alone, the FBI said Thursday.

Faisal Mohammad, 18, appears to have become self-radicalized, drawing motivation from terrorist propaganda that he found online before launching the Nov. 4 attack at the University of California, Merced, authorities said.

"Every indication is that Mohammad acted on his own," Gina Swankie, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Sacramento field office, said in a statement. "It may never be possible to definitively determine why he chose to attack people on the U.C. Merced Campus."

The knife attack happened a month before a gun-wielding husband-and-wife team in San Bernardino killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a workplace holiday party. In that case, too, investigators said they were influenced by ISIS, but not directly connected to it. Like Mohammad, they had not raised red flags that put them on a watch list.

In both cases family members said they were unaware of their loved ones' interests in terrorists groups.

In Merced, Mohammad burst into a classroom, stabbing two students. He stabbed a construction worker who intervened, then ran from the building, where he knifed a school employee sitting on a bench. Police shot and killed Mohammad.

The FBI says the college freshman from Santa Clara, California, had visited the websites of ISIS and other extremist groups for several weeks. He planned the attack at least a week before carrying it out, investigators said.

COMMENT:  True, we cannot say definitively that Mohammad was influenced only by ISIS, but ISIS was clearly part of his life, and, as the story noted, this pattern has been seen before.

We wonder how many others there are, and how many we're letting into this country through our insane immigration policies. 

March 18, 2016       Permalink

STATE OF THE PARTY – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Parts of the Republican Party are panicking over the possible nomination of Donald Trump.  But is their panic too late?  Or even put on?  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) The Republican Party is waking up -- but it might already be too late.

Donald Trump's stroll toward the GOP presidential nomination is starting to turn the denial evident for months among key party power brokers to desperation. The mood of some in the party was aptly summed up Thursday by Republican lobbyist and former congressman Vin Weber on CNN's "The Lead" with Jake Tapper.

"All of a sudden, everybody is saying 'Oh My God — the house is burning down we should have done something before it got this far,'" said Weber, who is supporting John Kasich in the presidential race and is calling on the party to unite behind the Ohio Governor.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who pulled out of the presidential race on Tuesday after failing to take down Trump, had a grim assessment of the Republican Party's state of play on his first day back at work in the Senate on Thursday.

"Hopefully there's time to still prevent a Trump nomination, which I think would fracture the party and be damaging to the conservative movement," Rubio told reporters.

Anti-Trump forces are getting a sense of the backlash they'd face if they deny him the nomination. Trump warned earlier this week on CNN's "New Day" that the convention could deteriorate into a "riot" if he is blocked from power.

And on Friday, a top Trump aide threatened to give up his credentials as a convention delegate and leave the Republican Party in a stark warning to the GOP about the "consequences" if Trump is blocked from the nomination.

COMMENT:  I think the party has finally realized that Trump plays hardball even if he's negotiating the purchase of a candy bar.  He is all hardball.  He is unlike the gentlemanly types who have often dominated the Republican Party – people who accept defeat graciously.  In that he is both an asset and a liability.  He fights hard, but he can be obnoxious.

The party will have to deal with it.  There are many meetings reported, but it's unlikely that a stop-Trump movement can be organized successfully around a single alternative candidate.  The obvious alternative is Ted Cruz, who is also disliked, intensely, by the party establishment.

March 18,  2016     Permalink