HALF-FULL REPORT 04/10/15

In a televised speech yesterday (4/9), Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pulled the rug out from under President Obama. "We will not sign any deal unless all sanctions are lifted on the same day," he said.

So much for the president’s assertion sanctions would be lifted in phases.

Iran will begin using its latest generation IR-8 centrifuges as soon as the nuclear deal goes into effect, Iran’s foreign minister told the Iranian parliament Tuesday.

That would "clearly breach" the U.S.-published terms of the deal, noted the Times of Israel.

Nor will the mullahs permit inspections at any of their military facilities.

"It’s notable that the Iranians never felt any urge to play along with Obama, not even for a few hours," said John Hayward. "They were loudly announcing his spin on the deal was false before the sun set on the day the agreement was announced."

"It’s hard not to think that Iran is out to humiliate Barack Hussein Obama," said Richard Fernandez. "With this calculated slight, they not only want to wipe the floor with his reputation, they want to see him crawl.  And he probably will."

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We can’t laugh about this farce because the implication’s of Zero’s craven behavior are so ominous. So, for pure comedy gold, here is State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf defending the deal by saying the president was "a little mixed up" and "muddled" during his interview with NPR.

And here is Ms. Harf again, dismissing criticisms of the Iran deal by former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schultz as "a lot of big words and big thoughts."

"Perhaps if Kissinger and Schultz had used words with fewer syllables, Harf would have been able to understand their devastating critique," said Rick Moran.

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Iran has sent a destroyer and a support ship to the coast of Yemen. It sure looks as if the fit is about to hit the shan there.

The war went really badly for Saudi Arabia yesterday, said Foreign Policy magazine, which seconded Ambrose’s worry last week that it could prove to be Saudi Arabia’s Vietnam. The Washington Post frets about that too.

The Obama administration is providing arms to the Saudis, but is doing nothing to evacuate Americans trapped in Yemen.

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Bowe Bergdahl was planning to join the Taliban when he walked away from his post, an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service determined in 2009, according to LtCol. Anthony Shaffer, a former Army intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan.

The White House knew about the NCIS report before the president swapped five Taliban terrorists for – if what LtCol. Shaffer says is true – a traitor, not just a "deserting weasel."

* * * *

It’s "very likely" Russia and China have hacked Hillary Clinton’s private email account," said the recently retired head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Secretary of State Clinton dropped her opposition to a trade deal with Colombia after a Colombian oil company made a big donation to the Clinton Foundation, the International Business Times reported Wednesday.

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Hillary has leased office space in Brooklyn for her campaign headquarters. She’ll announce she’s running for president this weekend.

She shouldn’t bother, said Glenn Thrush of the liberal Webzine Politico. Her campaign is "collapsing completely."

Hillary hasn’t figured out yet why she lost in 2008, says Karl Rove. Discussing her yoga routine on a blog, and making an appearance on the Food Network aren’t going to solve her problems, he says.

Hillary was underwater on trust in Quinnipiac polls in Virginia, Iowa and Colorado this week. When some Democrats are casting covetous eyes at Lincoln Chafee, you can tell all is not well in Hillaryland.

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The jury found Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts Wednesday – 17 of which could carry the death penalty. The jury will hear arguments next week on what his sentence should be.

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After 300 leftist students (out of a student body of 42,700) complained, the University of Michigan cancelled a screening of  "American Sniper."

Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was a "racist," the film is "anti-Muslim," yadda yadda, said the petition circulated by the Muslim Students Association.

The Center for Campus Involvement apologized for "making students feel unsafe and unwelcome at our program."

The screening was back on again a day later, and the vice president for student life was apologizing for having cancelled it in the first place.

The flip flop occurred a few hours after Coach Jim Harbaugh said he planned to show "American Sniper" to the football team.

"Proud of Chris Kyle and proud to be an American," Coach Harbaugh tweeted. "If that offends anybody, then so be it!"

* * * *

Aside from Harbaugh, UM officials sure are a sorry bunch. They are, alas, typical of college administrators today.

"The modern university is failing students in every respect," said Victor Davis Hanson. Devorah Goldman has more on "The Closing of the Campus Mind."

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Yesterday was the 150^th anniversary of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. Brian Beutler, a putz who writes for The New Republic, wants April 9 to be made a national holiday, and to disavow or rename all monuments to the Confederacy.

We should remember the date, but not for that reason.

Lee wore his best dress uniform, because he expected to be arrested and tried for treason. He was blown away by the generous terms Grant offered. (Sherman offered terms even more generous to J.E. Johnston when he surrendered 9 days later.)

There was another healing moment when Maj. Gen. John Bell Gordon, slumping in his saddle, led the Army of Northern Virginia out to stack arms. The Rebs were, understandably, dispirited. Then the commander of the Union troops accepting the surrender – my all time American hero, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain – ordered his men to salute the Confederates. Gordon’s demeanor changed immediately. He snapped to attention, ordered his men to return the salute.

It is precisely because Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and Chamberlain displayed magnanimity – not the petty vindictiveness of a Brian Beutler – that a nation torn asunder was stitched together again. Lee also deserves much credit for this. For details, read Jay Winik’s marvelous book, "April 1865: The Month That Saved America."

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The dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University issued a damning report Monday on the story Rolling Stone magazine published last November accusing a fraternity at the University of Virginia of using gang rape as an initiation rite. Worth magazine Editor Richard Bradley, who was the first to question the veracity of the story, summarizes the report here.

It goes into exhaustive detail about how the bogus story made its way into print, but just one paragraph of the 24 page report explores why, John Hinderaker noted.

The why is obvious. Author Sabrina Erdely wanted to write, and Rolling Stone wanted to print, a story supporting the feminist narrative that there’s an "epidemic" of sexual assault on college campuses. Neither were will to let mere facts get in the way of that narrative.

CJR should have examined Ms. Erdely’s "reporting" on the "rape culture" too, because it is just as bogus as "Jackie’s" account of having been raped at the Phi Kappa Psi house, Mr. Bradley said.  CJR didn’t, because the authors of the report promote the false narrative too.

No one will be disciplined, said publisher Jann Wenner. If there are no consequences for bad behavior, it’s certain to be repeated.

* * * *

This was, evidently, the third time Sabrina Erdely wrote a story about a rape that occurred only in her feverish imagination. Details of the others are here and here.

* * * *

"Irresponsible journalism unjustly damaged the reputations of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia," said UVA President Teresa Sullivan, who has yet to apologize to Phi Kappa Psi for suspending the fraternity after publication of the Rolling Stone article.

UVA won’t punish "Jackie" for her malicious lies. Rarely have women who’ve lied about being raped suffered consequences for the harm they’ve done, notes Ashe Schow. If there are no consequences for bad behavior, it’s certain to be repeated.

* * * *

A top ranking official in the Department of Education may have been involved in the Rolling Stone hoax.

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In her book out this week, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller says special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald rigged the 2007 perjury trial of Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.

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Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana  re-opened yesterday. "Within an hour, all eight tables were filled and six people were waiting for carryout orders," owner Kevin O’Connor said.

In a Reuters poll Thursday, 54 percent of respondents said businesses shouldn’t be allowed to refuse to serve gays, 28 percent said they should have that right.

This isn’t alarming, or inconsistent with earlier polls indicating a big majority of Americans oppose punishing business owners for refusing to participate in gay weddings.

It is one thing to protect the right of gays (and all other Americans) to equal access to public accommodation, another to force devout Christians or Jews to take part in a rite they consider an affront to their religion, I said in a column this week.

Mr. O’Connor’s daughter Crystal understands the difference. In the ambush interview that triggered an avalanche of death threats against her family, Crystal said that while they’d "have to decline" to cater a gay wedding, they would never deny service to gays who came into their restaurant to eat.

Another who understands the distinction is Courtney Hoffman, a gay woman in Indiana, who sent the O’Connor’s a $20 check, and a note apologizing for the malicious behavior of other gays. It’s only the Lying Swine and the gay Nazis who don’t.

* * * *

A TTPer was skeptical of my assertion in last week’s HFR that Hispanics and blacks are more socially conservative than whites. In this YouGov poll in February, 48 percent of whites, but only 39 percent of Hispanics and 31 percent of blacks supported gay marriage. Other polls show more support for same sex marriage, but less among blacks and Hispanics than among whites.

* * * *

On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, became the second Republican officially to announce his candidacy for president. You can watch his announcement speech here.

Paul will run as an anti-Establishment outsider, critical of Republicans as well as Democrats.

"Under the watch of both parties, the poor seem to get poorer and the rich get richer," he said. "Trillion-dollar government stimulus packages have only widened the income gap. Politically connected cronies get taxpayer dollars by the hundreds of millions and poor families across America continue to suffer."

Paul called for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution (a bad idea), and term limits for Members of Congress (a good one). On national security policy, he sounded less like his wacko nutso father, more like Ronald Reagan.

Ross Kaminiski and Erick Erickson liked his speech. John Podhoretz and  Paul Mirengoff  didn’t.

* * * *

Paul is the Republican whose views on foreign policy are closest to Obama’s, said Charles Krauthammer. Which is true, but somewhat misleading, because there’s considerable difference between them.

You wouldn’t know that from the ad a GOP SuperPAC with ties to Jeb is running against Paul. The ad is defamatory, Paul’s lawyer says.

Because I’m concerned about his views on national security, I can’t support Rand for the nomination. But I’m glad he’s running – glad the Kentucky GOP plans to make it possible for him to run for re-election to the Senate at the same time. He’s too valuable to lose.

Rand Paul is one of very few Republicans to do outreach, and he does it very well. He’s the Republican most popular with independents. He’s right about most domestic issues.

And Rand knows how to deal with the Lying Swine. The other GOP candidates could learn a lot from him, and from these comments from readers of Instapundit’s blog.

Criticism of Paul by other Republicans should be civil, said National Review. Ted Cruz showed the way with this classy statement welcoming Rand to the race. His entry "will no doubt raise the bar of competition, help make us all stronger, and ultimately ensure that the GOP nominee is equipped to beat Hillary Clinton."

* * * *

Paul leads Hillary Clinton in Colorado and Iowa, is within 4 points of her in Virginia, according to Quinnipiac swing state polls released Thursday. His fund raising has been strong.

Next to throw his sombrero in the ring will be Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, this coming Monday (4/13).

* * * *

Another of the, alas, sparse examples of outreach by Republicans was Dr. Ben Carson’s speech Wednesday to the annual convention of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

A few hours before the renowned neurosurgeon arrived, "people were reacting to the mere mention of his name, like a foul odor in a locked and crowded room," said the Christian Post. "By the time Carson, 63, was finished speaking to the same crowd later that evening, however, many were clamoring to shake his hand."

Carson won over the crowd by standing up for America and the Christian faith, explaining how adherence to conservative principles can do for blacks what 50 years of liberal policies have not.

Of gay marriage as a "civil right," he said: "We can’t allow the movement that has denigrated faith and people of faith in God to also destroy our communities. If people like that want to destroy themselves, let them, but don’t allow them to take us with them."

Read the whole story. It’s inspiring. And take a good look at the photo of Dr. Carson being mobbed by well wishers after his speech. We can’t expect people to respond favorably to conservative principles if they never hear them articulated. We can’t expect people to support our candidates if we don’t ask them for their votes.

* * * *

The catastrophe I see brewing in Yemen is not yet manifest. So the humiliation Zero has suffered at the hands of the mullahs; the likelihood it will increase opposition in Congress to his Iran policy; Hillary’s mounting troubles, and the continuing drift of public opinion in our direction incline me to think the glass this week is more than half full.  But the only thing I can say for sure is that in a few hours, I’ll be draining mine at the beer bar at Whole Foods.

Hero of the Week is Jim Harbaugh. I bet the wimps in UM’s administrative offices tremble when he’s around.

Rarely has Zero been revealed as a bigger putz than he has this week. But for acting out in real life a Saturday Night Live skit about Valley Girls, the Putz of the Week has to be Marie Harf.

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