HALF-FULL REPORT 03/11/16

Published March 11, 2016 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

From now on, this will define a “Home Run” in a presidential debate. After Trump blathers emptily about “I want to make a good deal” regarding the US and Cuba, Rubio blasts it over the bleachers.

Just as Rubio took Trump apart on Cuba, he took him apart on Israel. After Trump claimed “there’s no one on this stage more pro-Israel than I am” because he was once grand marshall of a parade down 5^th Avenue (!), then saying “I’m a negotiator… I would like to at least have the other side (Palestinians) think I’m somewhat neutral as to them, so that we can maybe get a deal done. Maybe we can get a deal,” Rubio responded:

“The policy Donald has outlined, I don’t know if he realizes, is an anti-Israeli policy. Maybe that’s not your intent but here’s why it is an anti-Israeli policy. There is no peace deal possible with the Palestinians at this moment. There just isn’t.

Because there’s no one to negotiate with. The Palestinian Authority is not interested in a serious deal and they are now in union with Hamas, an organization whose specific purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state. Every time that Israel has turned over territory of any kind, be is Gaza, or now in Judea and Samaria, it is used as a launching pad to attack Israel. And that’s what will happen again.

These groups are not interested in a deal with Israel. What they are interested in is ultimately removing the Jewish state and occupying its entire territory. So to have a president forcing the Israelis to the table is harmful to the Israeli and emboldens Israel’s enemies.”

Out of the park again. So Rubio won in Miami last night – together with Cruz – while Trump struck out as a low-energy ignoramus. Which is why Drudge headlined the debate as “Boring” – because Drudge has become a Trump propagandist and shill.

The $64K question now is, will last night’s stellar performance propel Marco to defeating Trump in Florida next Tuesday (3/15)?

Maybe. Trump really was exposed as a know-nothing whose only answer to any policy question is “I know how to make deals, we’re going to make great deals, I’ll solve all the problems because I know how to make deals.” All but the true cultists in Trump’s camp following must have real doubts now.

As CNN’s report on the debate, Trump Flounders Out of His Depth, noted:

“The most telling moment of the night came when Trump was asked what else (other than on immigration) he would be flexible on and he replied, ‘It depends on what comes up. You never know.’

Here is the crux of what so many have cautioned Trump supporters about. Trump is a political chameleon capable of changing his positions based on what he thinks best suits him politically at any moment. Trump’s answer Thursday night showed his candidacy to be purely cosmetic, not one of honest conviction.”

This is why Cruz has backed out of campaigning in Florida, instead of demanding Rubio quit the race. The combined Cruz+Rubio vote in Florida will easily be more than Trump’s, yet the odds are that yet again Trump will win with a 30+% plurality.

There is now an absolute deluge of anti-Trump ads in every form of media everywhere in Florida now. Combined with Cruz signaling to vote for Marco, it might deny Trump Florida’s 99 delegates. Might.

Which is why Kasich doing well last night was also important – because by doing so, and by being Governor of Ohio who controls the Ohio GOP, he increased his odds of running the table in his state next Tuesday.

Which is why Cruz is focused on neither Florida nor Ohio but Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina. Together they have more delegates (193) than both Florida and Ohio (165). While only Missouri’s are winner-take-all like FL/OH, the bottom line is by the end of next Tuesday night, Cruz could come out having won more delegates in the 5 races than Trump.

Which then puts Cruz in an unassailable position to congratulate Rubio and Kasich their moments in the sun, then doing whatever persuasion it takes to have them bow out gracefully so he can take down Trump mano-a-mano.

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Here’s Jeb Bush’s perspective. Yesterday before the debate, he met individually with Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich. A friend of mine attended all three. His synopsis:

Jeb told Rubio he will lose Florida on Tuesday. “You burned too many bridges, made too many enemies.” Already his major donors like Paul Singer have shut off the money spigot. Campaign funding will dry up after Tuesday. The only people insisting you stay in are those on your campaign staff because they want to keep their paychecks coming. You are delusional to think that if you stay in, a resulting brokered convention will draft you.

Jeb told Kasich he has a far better chance of winning Ohio. But even if he does, there’s no way forward. Everyone realizes you’re campaigning for vice-president. Since Ohio is a large must-win state for Republicans, both Trump and Cruz would be wise to pick you as their running-mate. Obviously then you need not endorse either one, just retire on the sidelines and wait until called.

Jeb told Cruz that he’d be in good shape after next Tuesday to take on Trump straight up, perhaps even eventually getting a majority of delegates, avoiding a brokered convention. He intimated that he would soon be endorsing Ted.

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It turns out there are far greater concerns than worry over a “brokered” Pub convention (July 18-21 in Cleveland). A conversation with friends in our intel community can be sobering in the extreme. Here’s what one of them told me:

“We all know that (FBI Director James) Comey has the goods to indict Hillary. The evidence is vast. Comey may back down, but it’s a sure bet that Trump won’t. If he ever gets to the White House, he’ll have her prosecuted and do his best to put in jail for treason. No need to ask us how we know, but we know this.

Here’s what worries us. Hillary is utterly ruthless. If both she and Trump gain the nominations and she becomes convinced that he will defeat her in November, Trump may end up suicided like Vince Foster. Or maybe she’ll arrange for him to be taken out by a Moslem terrorist or deranged Mexican illegal.

And there’s more. Trump’s ties to the Mafia families in New York and Philly are deep. All the concrete to build his buildings in Manhattan, for example, came from a company run by Fat Tony Salerno, boss of the Genovese family. If Trump becomes convinced Hillary has a contract on him, he’ll do her first. He knows who to call.”

I asked if she’d do the same to Cruz. “Ted’s smarter than Donald. He hasn’t intimated via any means we have access to that he’ll go after her if he’s president. So she doesn’t look upon him as the threat Trump is to her.”

“But I thought Obama wants Hillary indicted to clear the path for Biden,” I objected. He smiled and shrugged. “Maybe – but the FBI finds it useful to have stuff on Oval Office occupants so they don’t get out of line. So we’ll see…”

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Here’s the link to the full transcript of the Miami debate last night. There were two exchanges with Cruz that demonstrate why I support him.

In response to Jake Tapper’s question on Common Core:

CRUZ: Common Core is a disaster. And if I am elected president, in the first days as president, I will direct the Department of Education that Common Core ends that day.

Now, let me tell you why you can do that, because it’s easy to talk about the problem, but you have to understand the solutions. The Obama administration has abused executive power in forcing common core on the states. It has used race-to-the-top funds to effectively blackmail and force the states to adopt common core.

Now, the one silver lining of Obama abusing executive power is that everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, and I intend to do that.

Beyond that, though, Jake, I intend to work to abolish the federal Department of Education and send education back to the states and back to the local governments.

And let me say finally, the most important reform we can do in education after getting the federal government out of it, is expand school choice; expand charter schools and home schools and private schools and vouchers, and scholarships. And give every child — African American, Hispanic — every child in need an opportunity to access to a quality education.

In response to Trump’s answer on Social Security: “I want to make America great again and I want to leave Social Security as is. We’re going to get rid of waste, fraud, abuse and bring back business.”

CRUZ: Listen, we’ve got lots of challenges in the world. But the answer can’t just be wave a magic wand and say problem go away. You have to understand the problems. You have to have real solutions.

It’s like government spending. It is very easy. Hillary Clinton says she’ll cut waste, fraud and abuse. If only we had smarter people in Washington, that would fix the problem. You know what? That is the statement of a liberal who doesn’t understand government is the problem.

Here’s my philosophy. The less government, the more freedom. The fewer bureaucrats, the more prosperity. And there are bureaucrats in Washington right now who are killing jobs and I’ll tell you, I know who they are. I will find them and I will fire them.

BASH: Did you just compare Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton on this issue?

CRUZ: I will let Donald speak for himself. But I will say, there’s a reason, in my campaign I’ve laid out a very, very specific spend and cut plan, $500 billion. I’ve specified five major agencies that I would eliminate*, 25 programs.

And Dana, you know why political candidates don’t do that? Because when you do that, the lobbyists attack you. When you specify the programs you would eliminate, then you get attacked. Let’s talk for example back in Iowa the first primary. When I went to Iowa and campaigned against ethanol mandates, everyone said that was political suicide. You can’t take on ethanol in Iowa. And my opponents on this stage not only didn’t do the same. They attacked me and even promised to expand corporate welfare.

If we’re going to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids, you’ve got to be willing to take on the lobbyists, which means not just some fanciful waste, fraud and abuse, but specifying these are the programs I’ll eliminate so that we can take care of the hard working taxpayer.

…So, if you are fed up with Washington, the question you ought to be asking is who is willing to take on Washington? It’s easy to have language, I’m fed up with the corruption in Washington. But if you have a candidate [looking at Trump] who has been funding liberal Democrats and funding the Washington establishment, it’s very hard to imagine how suddenly this candidate is going to take on Washington.

*Cruz’s Five for Freedom pledge to eliminate the IRS, and the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, and HUD (Housing & Urban Development. Among the federal programs Cruz targets for elimination are the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Legal Services Corporation, National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities, as well all funding for Climate Research. Note also he would institute a hiring freeze for all federal civilian employees.

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Let’s take a peek at a quartet of interesting items around the world.

Iran’s secret Christian movement grows. Over a million Iranians now risk their lives to be Christians, with more and more Moslems accepting Christ every day. Fascinating.

The Contras are back in Nicaragua. This is personal for me, as I went into those Nicaraguan jungles several times with the original Contras back in the 80s. Many of them were killed by Sandinista leaders such as Tomas Borge and Daniel Ortega.

My advice to them now is: forget the jungle, target and terminate Ortega personally. Stalin’s advice applies to Little Danny: net cheloveka net problemy, no person no problem.

Democracy is dying in Turkey. Same advice applies to Turkey’s Assassin of Democracy, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Wind turbines are killing whales.

As sperm whales continue to wash up and die on English Channel beaches, the evidence mounts that the world’s biggest concentration of offshore wind turbines – which is in the Channel – is the culprit.

The huge turbine blades emit low frequency vibrations and infrasound waves propagating through ocean water that permanently damage whales’ middle and inner ears, and thus their “sonar” by which they communicate and navigate. The result is what you see in the picture.

Ecologists and the subsidized wind farm industry deny any culpability.

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And who might be the HFR Hero of the Week? That would be a 20 year old hot blonde from Vancouver, Canada, Lauren Southern. Here’s Lauren explaining Why I Am Not A Feminist:

This week, (3/09), Lauren launched a Twitter site #The Triggering. Its purpose is to piss off Social Justice Warriors as much as possible. Seems to be working. One of the best Tweets: “You exist because of heterosexuality.”

So jump right in. Few things in life are more fun than to infuriate the Left. And it’s so easy, because SJWs live in a permanent state of outrage. Just needle them a teensy bit and their empty heads explode. An example is graphically depicting the difference between Liberal Fantasyland such as in Disney’s Zootopia cartoon movie and reality:

Thanks, Lauren!

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We close with the photo of the week: