Pakistan has retaliated for the deadly air strikes against its border posts on Saturday by shutting off supply and fuel shipments for the Afghan War and closing down a CIA drone base.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … ALTERNEWT.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
Obama has no scheduled public events.
He is prepping for a summit that he is hosting with leaders of the European Union on Monday at the White House.
He is also dealing with the very intense fall-out to the attack by NATO forces on two Pakistani border outposts along the northwest border with Afghanistan.
Some 25 Pakistani troops were killed in the incident and, more than a day later, no clear explanation has been offered.
Late on Saturday night, the State Department and the Department of Defense put out this joint statement:
Secretaries Clinton and Panetta have been closely monitoring reports of the cross-border incident in Pakistan today. Both offer their deepest condolences for the loss of life and support fully NATO’s intention to investigate immediately.
Secretary Clinton, Gen. Dempsey and Gen. Allen each called their Pakistani counterparts as well. Ambassador Munter also met with Pakistani government officials in Islamabad. In their contacts, these US diplomatic and military leaders each stressed — in addition to their sympathies and a commitment to review the circumstances of the incident — the importance of the US-Pakistani partnership, which serves the mutual interests of our people.
All these leaders pledged to remain in close contact with their Pakistani counterparts going forward as we work through this challenging time.
As you can tell, there is neither explanation nor justification in that statement.
This is an event that may be a full-fledged AfPak disaster.
First, Pakistan halted all transport of supplies and fuel for US and NATO forces moving through its territory. As much as half of the materiel for the landlocked Afghan War flows through Pakistan.
Then, later on Saturday, Pakistan ordered the US out of Shamsi Air Base in Baluchistan. This is where much of the US drone strike operation is serviced and coordinated.
While US and NATO forces have ample supplies for now, if the breach continues things could become problematic. After earlier stoppages of shipments through Pakistan (through which 80% of supplies once passed), the US prevailed upon Russia to open up Central Asian lines of supply.
But US relations with Russia have taken a frosty turn, with Moscow very upset about heightened moves to create a missile shield, ostensibly to guard against Iran, but not to include Russia as a partner.
Egypt, which holds parliamentary elections on Monday, is quieter today. But no one really knows what will happen tomorrow. The ballot is said to be confusing for money, and the reformers who started the anti-Mubarak revolution are less organized electorally than the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Arab League voted overwhelmingly today for sanctions against Syria. The vote was 19 to 1, with Iraq and Lebanon, both influenced by Syrian ally Iran, abstaining. Iraq, of course, went against US policy on this.
Syria was a key founder of the Arab League, which has now struck at the one-time capital of pan-Arab sentiment Damascus with sanctions including an end to transactions with Syria’s central bank, an end to new investments, a freeze on assets, and a travel ban on Syrian officials.
Meanwhile, in the topsy-turvy Republican presidential race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today won the endorsement of the New Hampshire Union-Leader, formerly Manchester Union-Leader, the state’s biggest newspaper and a longtime bellwether of conservative politics.
This is a blow to neighbor Mitt Romney, who has courted the paper assiduously both this time and in 2008, when he lost the endorsement to John McCain, who went on to win the primary. New Hampshire has always been the bulwark of Romney’s candidacy. If he loses there, or is even seriously challenged, his remaining aura of frontrunner-dom goes into eclipse.
Unlike most newspapers, the Union-Leader, as the saying goes, endorses every day, turning its pages into a campaign.
The Union-Leader endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1980, Pete du Pont in 1988, Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996, Steve Forbes in 2000 and John McCain 2008. (Years not mentioned featured incumbent Republican presidents.) All those candidates either won the New Hampshire Republican primary or finished a strong second.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown have returned from an out of state vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
The world’s biggest extraterrestrial explorer is on its way to Mars. NASA on Saturday launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic roving science lab Curiosity, largely developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (See article below.)
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … ALTERNEWT.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Maryland.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
Obama will host a summit with leaders of the European Union on Monday at the White House. Prior to that, he has no scheduled public events.
But he and First Lady Michelle Obama, joined by daughters Malia and Sasha, venture to Towson University outside Baltimore to attend the Oregon State vs. Towson basketball game. Oregon State is coached by Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and later Ivy League Coach of the Year.
Things are much less pleasant in Pakistan today following an event that may be a full-fledged AfPak disaster.
In a lethal incident today along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, two Pakistani Army border outposts were hit by fire from NATO helicopter, with at least 25 Pakistani soldiers killed. This occurred on the northwest border, not far from the storied Khyber Pass.
US officials are scrambling to explain why the Pakistani outposts were attacked. Were the Pakistani troops in some way aiding Taliban incursions into Afghanistan? Were they firing on US special forces and Afghan troops operating in the area? If so, the US had better get that established.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denounced NATO and the US for the air strikes and deaths of Pakistani troops.
And so did Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
In response to the air strikes on its border posts, Pakistan has halted all convoys through its territory carrying supplies and fuel to US and NATO forces. One-third to one-half of the fuel and supplies used in the Afghan War come through Pakistan.
Another protester was killed today in Egypt, run over by a police truck, increasing the likelihood of more unrest in the run-up to Monday’s parliamentary elections.
The ruling military council appointed a Mubarak regime retread as the new prime minister following the resignation of the entire cabinet, and earlier apologized for the deaths of 40 demonstrators, but vowed to make no more concessions after agreeing to move up the presidential election from 2013 to the middle of next year.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is out of state.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are on vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa late on Friday gave Occupy LA protesters until just after midnight on Monday morning to withdraw from the encampment outside LA City Hall.
Villaraigosa praised the Occupy Wall Street movement for rekindling a sense of social justice and focusing on wealth inequality and problems with the financial system, but said the encampment is in danger of killing the trees and grass of the City Hall grounds.
In San Francisco, Occupy protesters tried to disrupt the annual Christmas Tree lighting in the city’s iconic Union Square, loudly criticizing Black Friday shoppers for consuming and briefly causing a huge traffic tie-up — in an already highly congested scene — by “occupying” a key intersection before being arrested.
Can you say “Counter-productive?”
>>>>>>LIVE VIDEO NETCAST
At 7:02 AM Pacific on Saturday, NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The event is netcast live here on New West Notes.
** LIVE FROM CAPE CANAVERAL: THE NEW MARS MISSION. NASA’s largest and most expansive mission to Mars so far is ready to launch on its nine-month journey.
The event is netcast live here on New West Notes on Saturday morning, with the launch scheduled for 7:02 AM Pacific.
The new Mars rover, now the Mars Science Laboratory dubbed Curiosity, has a specific mission: To search for clues as to whether Mars has had, or still has, environments favorable for life.
This rover, far larger than previous Mars rovers which have puttered cutely about the surface of the Red Planet, is the size of a compact car at some 2,000-pounds (900-kilograms).
The spacecraft is due to lift off Saturday from Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard an Atlas V rocket at 7:02 AM Pacific on its nearly 500 million kilometer flight to Mars. If there is any delay, NASA has a launch window until December 18th.
When Curiosity arrives on Mars next summer, it will be lowered to the surface of the planet by robotic machinery dubbed a sky crane. The previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, much smaller, were released to the surface in airbags.
The sky crane is to detach from the larger spacecraft after it enters Mars atmosphere about a mile from the planet’s surface, firing retrorockets to bring the rover to a gentle landing. Unlike the small earlier Mars rovers, Curiosity is not solar-powered. Because it is so much larger and more complex, it has a small plutonium-fueled radioisotope power plant in which the heat from radioactive decay is converted to electricity.
The rover will need the added power for its planned mission of two years duration, the equivalent of one Mars year, in which the rover will range up and down slopes, performing exploration and experimentation, including some shallow drilling into the Martian surface, and use onboard instrumentation to examine the take.
Curiosity’s scientific payload is called SAM for Sample Analysis at Mars. SAM includes a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph, and a laser spectrometer. These will be used to look for elements associated with life as we know it, such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and organic compounds containing carbon.
The mobile Mars Science Laboratory, which includes other instruments such as a neutron spectrometer and a telescope to look for signs of ice and water, also has its own weather station and a radiation assessment detector to aid in future planning for human exploration.
Curiosity is launching not quite three weeks since the fourth consecutive failure of a Russian Mars mission.
China is in the midst of getting into space in a big way, with it own space station in the works for the next decade. But the US, which already shares the International Space Station with Russian, European, and Japanese partners, is moving in the post-space shuttle era toward a manned mission to the asteroid belt followed by a manned mission to Mars.
As engaging and intriguing as the previous Mars rover missions have been, Curiosity is by far the biggest yet, and carries the prospect of telling us a great deal about not only Mars, but the possibilities of life in the universe.
Egypt’s new prime minister, recycled from the Mubarak regime of the ’90s by the ruling military council, may say he has more power than his predecessor, but protesters still massing in Cairo’s Tahrir Square don’t like his appointment. And they got backing Friday from the Obama Administration.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … ALTERNEWT.
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events today.
Obama will host a summit with leaders of the European Union on Monday at the White House. Prior to that, he has no scheduled public events.
It’s another day of protest and anger across the Middle East.
After a day of relative quiet on Thursday, Egypt is heating up again in the wake of the selection of a Mubarak regime retread as the country’s new prime minister.
Kamal el-Ganzouri served as Egypt’s prime minister between 1996 and 1999 and was deputy prime minister and planning minister before that.
The previous prime minister and the entire cabinet resigned earlier this week after a bloody crackdown by the ruling military council installed on an interim basis after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February.
The ruling military council earlier apologized for the deaths of 40 demonstrators, but vowed to make no more concessions after agreeing to move up the presidential election from 2013 to the middle of next year.
The Obama Administration, however, differs with the current Egyptian leaders. Here’s a statement released this morning by White House press secretary Jay Carney:
Since the start of the Arab Spring, the United States has spoken out for a set of core principles that have guided our response to events, including opposition to the use of violence and repression, defense of universal rights including the freedom of peaceful assembly, and support for political and economic reform that meets the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people throughout the region.In Egypt over the past several days, we have seen protesters demand the realization of these principles. We have condemned the excessive use of force against them and called for restraint on all sides. We deeply regret the loss of life, and urge the Egyptian authorities to implement an independent investigation into the circumstances of those deaths. But the situation Egypt faces requires a more fundamental solution, devised by Egyptians, which is consistent with universal principles.
The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately. We believe that Egypt’s transition to democracy must continue, with elections proceeding expeditiously, and all necessary measures taken to ensure security and prevent intimidation. Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible.
Parliamentary elections are still scheduled for Monday. We’ll see how those go.
In Syria, protests continue, as does some fighting involving breakaway military forces against Assad regime forces. Some 26 protesters have reportedly been killed today.
The Assad regime had until today to respond to Arab League demands that it stop its bloody crackdown, as promised, and allow an observer mission in the country. But the deadline has come and gone, with no response from the Syrian government.
Is a military intervention in Syria in the cards? The US is unenthusiastic. But France has begun talking about establishing “humanitarian corridors” to bring relief to Syrians. These would be secured by “international military observers.”
And Turkish leaders are openly saying that the Assad regime’s time has passed.
In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has already signed an agreement in Riyadh to give up power. But demonstrations continue, spurred especially by the immunity inherent in the agreement brokered by the Saudis and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is out of state.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are on vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
In his Thanksgiving weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses the holiday, community, and service to country.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … ALTERNEWT.
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events today
Obama will host a summit with leaders of the European Union on Monday at the White House. Prior to that, he has no scheduled public events.
Egypt is quieter today after five days of bloody protests, and mediation by clerics. The ruling military council apologized for the deaths of 40 demonstrators, but vowed to make no more concessions after agreeing to move up the presidential election from 2013 to the middle of next year.
Parliamentary elections are still scheduled for Monday.
In Bahrain, a special commission established by the ruling monarchy to examine the protests that rocked the island Gulf Arab state earlier this year found widespread wrongdoing by the government and its security forces. It also found no significant Iranian involvement in the protests, despite that being the regime’s rationale for its actions.
In Iran, the Tehran regime says that it has arrested another 12 CIA operatives, as part of a general roll-up of US intelligence networks in the Islamic republic and among its Hezbollah annex in Lebanon. Former US officials are cited in the Guardian as saying that the operatives were not Americans.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – THURSDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is out of state.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are on vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown issued this proclamation for Thanksgiving Day:
The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was a celebration of the harvest that brought together the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the Native Americans who helped them adapt to their new environment. Over the years Thanksgiving became an American tradition and one of the first holidays we celebrated as a free and independent nation. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first Thanksgiving observance in the newly formed United States of America, writing that “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”Thanksgiving has continued to be one of our most cherished observances, a day to join with family and friends and feast on traditional delicacies from roasted turkey to pumpkin pie, foods that commemorate the joining of the Old World and the New that brought about that First Thanksgiving long ago.
It is most fitting that we set aside a special day for gratitude. As Americans, we have every reason to give thanks for the wonderful bounty of our land, the strength of our fellow citizens and our system of government that protects our basic freedoms.
The Republican presidential field debated on Tuesday night in Washington, mostly demonstrating a very hawkish set of stances on Iran and Pakistan.
** OBAMA TODAY – WEDNESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
At 7:30 AM Pacific, Obama pardoned the National Thanksgiving Turkey on the North Portico.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, the Obama family participates in a service event in the Washington area.
The Republicans who hope to take on Obama next November debated last night in Washington. It was the first debate since Newt Gingrich emerged as the new frontrunner, and he came off as quite thoughtful and presidential. Which doesn’t imply that I agree with him, but I’m sure you get the gist.
Gingrich simply knows more about most presidential issues than the rest of the field, including Mitt Romney, and it shows.
While striking a hawkish and pro-oil development stance destined to win widespread favor in conservative circles, Gingrich also, however, came out against mass deportations of illegal immigrants, raising the specter of splitting up families who have been in the US for 25 years. He did not call for a blanket amnesty for all illegal immigrants. But now he is in the situation of having to articulate where he would draw the line.
While he comes off as moderate for swing voters, whom he’s clearly looking towards in a general election scenario, he makes himself vulnerable to the absolutist, if incredibly absurd, right-wing position.
Naturally, Mitt Romney, who has had several positions on immigration, and Michele Bachmann attacked him.
Early this morning, I watched live while Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an agreement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to at last step down from power.
After months of bloody protests, Saleh is the fourth autocrat to be swept from power in this year’s Arab Awakening.
Saleh signed the agreement in the presence of Saudi King Abdullah, in a deal brokered by the Saudis and the Gulf Cooperation Council, the increasingly assertive federation of Gulf Arab states.
Saleh is to step down in 30 days, turning power over to his vice president, with elections in three months. He is to be guaranteed freedom from prosecution, something which won’t make the protesters happy. But he is to be gone, after three times earlier tentatively agreeing to such a deal before reneging.
In fact, Saleh is now coming to the US, to New York City, to seek medical treatment. He was seriously injured in an assassination attempt which killed 11 members of his circle in June, though he looked healthy enough as he talked about what a great regime he’s been running in Yemen.
Protests continue in Egypt, where the ruling military council has now agreed to hold the presidential election in the middle of next year, earlier than they had said before. But it’s not enough for demonstrators in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, who remain in a stand-off with elements of the military.
Parliamentary elections are still set for Monday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today in Moscow that his country is very unhappy about seemingly accelerating moves by the US to create a missile shield in Central Europe. Though it’s ostensibly to guard against Iran, Russia has been turned down in its offer to join in the project.
Medvedev said that if the project continues to progress that Russia may well position its missiles to destroy it, and that Russia is seriously considering withdrawing from the historic nuclear arms reduction pact with the US which has served as the cornerstone of the “re-set” in relations between the two nations.
This is a big deal.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – WEDNESDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is out of state.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are on vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
University of California President Mark Yudof has appointed former Los Angeles Police Chief and New York Police Commissioner William Bratton to lead an investigation of the recent police pepper spraying of protesters at UC Davis and use of batons against protesters at UC Berkeley.
He has also named UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a system-wide review of police practices.
Brown has had no public comment on these matters, though it would be unwise to bet that he’s been inactive behind the scenes.
In response, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, billing himself as California Acting Governor Gavin Newsom, put out a statement denouncing the police actions as “senseless violence” and praising Yudof’s moves.
“President Mark Yudof and his staff have kept my office appraised on the events of the last week and I made it clear that the University has a profound obligation to its staff and student body – not to mention its worldwide reputation – to better balance protecting the public safety with protecting the constitutional right to free speech and political expression.
“After contact with William Bratton earlier this week,” Newsom, who serves as acting governor while Brown is out of state, said, “I am pleased that the University of California has retained the former Los Angeles Police Chief to lead an independent investigation of the pepper spray incident on the campus of UC Davis last Friday. I have every confidence that Chief Bratton will be thorough and frank in its findings.”
What Newsom probably meant in that last sentence is that he is confident that Bratton’s report will be good.
The “California Acting Governor” title is getting a bit of comment. I recall the 2009 California Democratic Party convention, at which Newsom was trying to run against Jerry Brown, and one of his top aides showed off a special lapel pin which he said was very cool because it was “like a Secret Service pin.” Whereupon I showed him the watch I was wearing, the same type of watch presented to President Obama by his Secret Service detail.
** SOUND AND FURY: THE UTTERLY UNSURPRISING “SUPER-COMMITTEE” FLOP.
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Macbeth – Act V, Scene V
Was there anything in politics more predictable than the failure of the so-called Congressional “super-committee” on the budget?
As we’ve seen in California over the past several years, you simply can’t get any sizable number of Republican politicians to go along with tax hikes and/or corporate loophole closures. In California, liberals and moderates have struggled to put together fiscal plans combining big cuts and some taxes only to find them spurned by all but a very few Republicans cowering in a party overtaken by the anti-government gang.
It’s what that party is all about — or, at least, what the once GOP has come to be about — that and some other stuff we know about fear of the other and insecurity about the American identity.
And what happens now that nothing has happened with the laughably titled “super-committee?”
Not much.
That’s right. As I pointed out over the summer, in a piece about President Barack Obama and budget kabuki, the automatic cuts don’t kick in till 2013, and later. Which means the real deadline for action is sometime not long before then. As in the end of not this year, but next year.
Or not.
Because the Bush tax cuts end at the end of next year, unless they are extended. Which, not incidentally, solves a huge chunk of several problems.
I think Obama knows this, and, while he may gnash his teeth and get some laughs out of the endless sturm und drang about what he is supposedly doing or not doing, recognizes that it is mostly just the sound and fury that passes for political debate these days.
Of course, Congress may attempt to use this as an excuse to avoid acting on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits. But that would simply be par for the course for this Congress, well on its way to being the most unpopular in history.
And ratings agencies might take the opportunity for another downgrade, but if they didn’t factor the failure of the super-committee into their forecasts, they are decidedly in the wrong line of work.
The two parties are simply too far apart, the appointees themselves too entrenched, with party discipline built in to prevent agreement, especially on the Republican side. …
From my November 22nd essay.
>>>>>>LIVE VIDEO NETCAST
At 9:15 AM Pacific, President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy in Manchester, New Hampshire. The event will be netcast live here on New West Notes. You can mute the sound by clicking on the pause button.
** LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.
With massive geopolitical events swirling and the 2012 presidential race unfolding, the White House is increasingly a pivot point for the day’s events. Live streaming of key presidential events is now available as a matter of course here on New West Notes. You can mute the audio by clicking on the pause button.
NWN will continue to present other live netcasts in full streaming mode, as it did with the Ronald Reagan Centennial events from the Reagan Library, as they emerge and are technically available and as significance dictates.
Huge crowds of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo today to demand an end to military rule.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … SOUND AND FURY: THE UTTERLY UNSURPRISING “SUPER-COMMITTEE” FLOP.
** OBAMA TODAY – TUESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefing in the Oval Office.
He then flew up to Manchester, New Hampshire on Air Force One.
At 9:15 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the American Jobs Act at Manchester High School Central.
The event will be netcast live here on New West Notes. You can mute the sound by clicking on the pause button.
At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama departs Manchester, New Hampshire en route Joint Base Andrews.
At 11:40 AM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 11:55 AM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
With the complete failure of the Congressional super-committee on the budget, Obama is pushing to preserve the existing payroll tax cut, which is very important to many Americans but runs out at the end of the year absent congressional action.
Meanwhile, the Republican presidential candidates hold another national security and foreign police debate tonight in Washington at 5 PM Pacific on CNN.
Speaking of which, a new CNN poll has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich out front for the first time in its soundings.
Last month, CNN had Gingrich down at 8%.
Now Gingrich leads with 24%, followed by Mitt Romney 20%, Herman Cain 17%, Rick Perry 11%, Ron Paul 9%, Michele Bachmann 5%, Jon Huntsman 3%, and Rick Santorum 3%.
Gingrich is judged best qualified to be president.
A new Quinnipiac poll also shows Gingrich in the lead over Romney, 26% to 22%, with Cain at 14% and the other following.
In a head-to-head match-up, Gingrich bests Romney by 10 points, 49% to 39%.
And yet Romney continues to act like he’s a big frontrunner, putting up a TV ad today in New Hampshire attacking Obama.
Considering it’s his first TV ad of the campaign, it’s especially striking and unfortunate that it’s such a distortion.
The ad shows Mr. Obama saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”
But the line, which is perhaps the spot’s most devastating moment, is also the one that seems to be the most taken out of context. In fact, at the time, Mr. Obama was referring to something that an aide to his then opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, had said in reference to the McCain campaign — not Mr. Obama, then or now.
In a 2008 interview with The New York Daily News, an aide to Mr. McCain warned, “If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we’re going to lose,” and Mr. Obama picked up the comment and began using it to mock Mr. McCain on the campaign trail.
As soon as the ad was broadcast on Mr. Hannity’s show, the Romney campaign sent out an e-mail defending its use of Mr. Obama’s quote. (The e-mail also included Mr. Obama’s full quote: “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”)
“Three years ago, candidate Barack Obama mocked his opponent’s campaign for saying ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,’” said Gail Gitcho, Mr. Romney’s communications director, in an e-mail statement. “Now, President Obama’s campaign is desperate not to talk about the economy.”
Actually, Obama is talking constantly about the economy, as the video clips run here regularly demonstrate very convincingly.
Romney’s not going to have much of a leg to stand on when he starts complaining about the coming attacks on him. Assuming that that potential blizzard ever actually takes place.
President Barack Obama turned the White House into a country music hall on Monday, with an array of country stars performing in the East Room. Performers included Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, The Band, Perry, and Dierks Bentley. Say, when did James Taylor become a country artist?
In Egypt, pro-democracy demonstrators aren’t backing down, despite a bloody crackdown that began on Friday.
As conflict between demonstrators and Egypt’s ruling military council intensifies, the Egyptian cabinet, which reports to the military council, resigned yesterday. There is word that the ruling military council may give way on a plan to postpone any presidential election until 2013 and to push a constitution giving it a virtual veto power over key decisions.
The interim Egyptian military government has been in the midst of a bloody crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo’s famed Tahrir Square. It’s the sort of crackdown that did not happen in February’s revolution against Hosni Mubarak.
That may be because the “revolution,” in reality, merely transferred power from Mubarak to a “temporary” ruling military council.
The US, UK, and Canada moved yesterday to impose various sanctions against Iran’s petrochemical industry, oil and gas business, and banks. But Iran has reportedly rolled up a network of CIA intelligence assets within the ranks of its Hezbollah ally in Lebanon and at home.
Obama is monitoring a variety of other geopolitical crises, mostly related to the Arab awakening, AfPak, and Iraq.
War Zone Times: Iraq is eleven hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is twelve and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – TUESDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is out of state.
Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown are on vacation in an undisclosed location.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown continues to work on his initiative plans for November 2012, while a long ballyhooed plan from the Think Long Committee of very well-heeled business folks and several high-profile former officeholders is running into a buzzsaw of opposition, as anticipated here yesterday and over the weekend.
I never think that an initiative that lowers tax rates for the wealthy and large corporations is going to fare well at the polls. And I don’t think, let me put it diplomatically, that it flies especially better in the current environment.
In related action, the USC Dornsife/LA Times poll indicates that teachers are popular with California voters, and that most believe they are underpaid, but more voters want teachers judged and paid more on merit than seniority.
Teachers unions are still favored by a plurality of voters, but voters are more prone to believe that the unions look out more for their own interests rather than a broader public interest.
A majority of California voters — 53 percent — said public school teachers in California are underpaid, but voters also decisively rejected the current standards by which teacher salaries are determined. Just 11 percent favored using seniority as the primary factor to determine teacher pay, and 13 percent favored using the education or advanced training the teacher has received as the main factor.
While only 10 percent of voters favored using student standardized test scores alone to determine teacher pay, a majority of California voters — 53 percent — support using standardized test scores as part of the method by which teacher pay is determined, in conjunction with other measures including classroom observation and parent feedback. An even larger percentage — 69 percent — said making teachers overall performance assessments publicly available would improve the quality of California’s public schools. …
“Californians clearly believe that public school teachers should make more money, but they strongly reject the current system for setting teacher salaries,” said Dan Schnur, director of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll and director of the Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. “Rather than paying teachers based on how many years they’ve been in the classroom, California voters want to reward teachers for what their students learn.” …
Overall, 77 percent of voters hold a favorable view of California’s public school teachers, and 14 percent have an unfavorable view. Fifty-three percent of voters said public school teachers in California are underpaid, 31 percent said teachers are paid “just right,” and 6 percent of voters said teachers are overpaid.
Among voters surveyed, 48 percent had a favorable view of teachers unions and 35 percent had an unfavorable view. Voters were split about the role of teachers unions in improving public schools, with 44 percent agreeing that teachers unions work to improve schools and 43 percent disagreeing. Forty-five percent of voters agreed that teachers unions help teachers succeed a very tough profession, and 40 percent disagreed.
But by a margin of 36 percentage points, voters were much more likely to say teachers unions look out for the interests of teachers than the interests of students. Seventy-one percent of voters said teachers unions look out for the interests of teachers, compared to 35 percent that said teachers unions look out for the interests of students.
Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, who along with former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz co-chaired the winning campaign last year against Prop 23, the initiative to do away with California’s landmark climate change/renewable energy program, is joining with environmentalists and some Silicon Valley folks to promote an initiative to close a $1.1 billion annual corporate tax loophole and redirect half of it to energy efficiency and green jobs training, the other half to the state’s general fund.
After five years, all the money would go to the general fund.
** DARWINIAN: OBAMA GOES POST-IRAQ IN OZ, REPUBLICANS RACE TO THE PAST. Things are getting very Darwinian in presidential politics. It’s a matter of competition, a matter of evolution — as in who gets the future and who does not — and a matter of the little city of Darwin, Australia. Ironic, in that most of the Republican presidential field rejects Darwin’s evolution science.
“In the Asia Pacific of the 21st century, the United States of America is all in.” So said President Barack Obama in his address to the Australian Parliament as he unveiled an upgraded security alliance with Australia, an historic ally from World War II days.
Obama is rolling out the major beginnings of a post-Iraq geopolitical posture for the US and a revamped political, economic, and security architecture in the Pacific Basin, in large part to counter the rise of China. Which has been undercutting US industries and making new aggressive moves over the past year in the South China Sea — most of which it claims, to the consternation of its neighboring countries — and some threatening moves, as always, towards Taiwan.
Tensions over China’s yuan currency and very expansive claims of sovereignty over its neighbors in the South China Sea dominated the East Asia Summit in Indonesia, where President Barack Obama lived as a boy.
Obama recognizes that the distinction between local and global politics is becoming evanescent. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii, he pushed a Trans Pacific Partnership on economic issues which China is encouraged to join. If, that is, it stops depressing the yuan, much more stringently protects intellectual property rights, and sharply cuts state subsidies to its corporations. Which of course would disrupt China’s strategy.
As for the rest of Obama’s strategy in what he calls the Asia Pacific, much of it hinges on Darwin, Australia.
This lovely tropical city of 125,000 at the northern edge of Oz, which I’ve visited, is about to loom very large on America’s geopolitical map. Though the numbers are small — only a company of Marines at first, ultimately a brigade — Obama has decided to flow US military forces in such a way that the Australian base there will become a de facto joint base with the United States. … From my November 21st essay.
** ALI, FRAZIER, JACKSON, STALLONE: OF IMAGE, RACE, POLITICS, AND MYTH. Monday’s Philadelphia funeral for former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier brought some old but still very salient issues back to the fore. Frazier’s sudden death from liver cancer has reminded many of some uncomfortable truths.
One of the great figures of the “Golden Age” of boxing in the ’60s and ’70s, Frazier ended up very much slighted and neglected, unfairly so, chewed up and spit out by a celebrity culture that opts for popular myths. And he was whipsawed by ruthless racial politics, from right and left. … From my November 16th essay.
** VETERANS DAY IN A FRACTURED AMERICA. Credit Barack Obama with some brilliant Veterans Day moves. In addition to the customary Arlington solemnities, he presided over the opening of the college basketball season on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier which conducted the funeral of Osama bin Laden.
Obama ESPN hoopster, check. Obama bagging Osama, check. Obama buds with the troops, check.
It’s all a very nice kick-off to Obama’s nine days of Asia Pacific summitry, a neat contrast to the reality show clownfest that is the Republican presidential race.
But the stagecraft obscures basic realities that plague the country, which this Veterans Day found ever more fractured. … From my November 12th essay.
** RECALLING JOE FRAZIER: AN APPRECIATION, AND A NOTE OF HORROR. … From my November 10th essay.
** OCUPADO. … From my November 4th essay.
** HIGH-SPEED RAIL: JERRY BROWN’S BIG MOVE TO THE FUTURE. … From my November 2nd essay.
** “OUT OF CONTEXT”: HILLARY’S P.R. OFFENSIVE. … From my October 29th column.
** STEVE JOBS: HARDLY A PERFECT PERSON, PERHAPS A PERFECT ICON. … From my October 26th essay.
** SIGNS: JERRY BROWN AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LEGISLATIVE YEAR. … From my October 20th essay.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
President-elect John F. Kennedy arrived and delivered his victory speech, after prevailing in a nail-biter the night before, at the Hyannis Armory in Massachusetts on November 9th, 1960. Kennedy was assassinated 48 years ago today in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in three wars in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $96.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $63 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down $17 from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (86) |
The one thing you can’t say is that it’s not interesting.
>Jack Aubrey says:
November 22, 2011 at 4:13 pm (Edit)
I don’t know if we’re going to like what we get there when the people finally win.
Capitol Boy says:
November 22, 2011 at 9:57 am
May they get it right, this time!!
Jonas Blane says:
November 22, 2011 at 9:08 am
Good news video of the protest in Egypt.
Indeed.
>Bill Bradley says:
November 22, 2011 at 2:49 pm (Edit)
Will wonders never cease?
>Jonas Blane says:
November 22, 2011 at 9:12 am (Edit)
I didn’t know Obama liked country music.
Jack Aubrey says:
November 22, 2011 at 4:10 pm (Edit)
Heh.
This isn’t a quiet Thanksgiving weekend.
Maybe civil wars in Syria and Egypt, the French and the Turks intervening, sounds like fun…
Yeah.
Cooper Hawks says:
November 23, 2011 at 4:12 pm (Edit)
Had tears in my eyes watching your JFK video I ain’t ashamed to say.
Got a chance to check out the Rover while it was under construction at JPL. My friend is an actual rocket scientist and he took me on a tour. It’s an impressive piece of hardware and shockingly big.
They sure look happy at Mission Control…
Great news video of the Mars Rover launch.
It’s a great site, a great moment for space exploration.
This is getting really dumb…
BB:In San Francisco, Occupy protesters tried to disrupt the annual Christmas Tree lighting in the city’s iconic Union Square, loudly criticizing Black Friday shoppers for consuming and briefly causing a huge traffic tie-up — in an already highly congested scene — by “occupying” a key intersection before being arrested.
Can you say “Counter-productive?”
Premature vanguardism, or, how to turn off most of the 99%.
If all goes well, one day this will be a date in history.
>Capitol Boy says:
November 26, 2011 at 10:43 am (Edit)
It’s a great site, a great moment for space exploration.
And with good reason.
>Capitol Boy says:
November 26, 2011 at 7:51 am (Edit)
They sure look happy at Mission Control…
That must have been extremely cool.
It’s a nuclear-powered space SUV.
>Pat Skipper says:
November 25, 2011 at 11:16 pm (Edit)
Got a chance to check out the Rover while it was under construction at JPL. My friend is an actual rocket scientist and he took me on a tour. It’s an impressive piece of hardware and shockingly big.
Not especially, and especially not after what happened this morning in Pakistan.
>Len says:
November 25, 2011 at 2:14 pm (Edit)
This isn’t a quiet Thanksgiving weekend.
Cooper Hawks says:
November 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm (Edit)
Maybe civil wars in Syria and Egypt, the French and the Turks intervening, sounds like fun…
Such a day of good news / bad news between the launching of the Mars Rover and the botchup in Pakistan.
Sigh.
Beautiful launch
It was quite awesome.
Indeed.
>Requiem says:
November 26, 2011 at 4:36 pm (Edit)
Such a day of good news / bad news between the launching of the Mars Rover and the botchup in Pakistan.
Sigh.
Good news video on the Pakistan crisis.
What a horrible disaster…
I love this!!!
BB:Meanwhile, in the topsy-turvy Republican presidential race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today won the endorsement of the New Hampshire Union-Leader, formerly Manchester Union-Leader, the state’s biggest newspaper and a longtime bellwether of conservative politics.
This is a blow to neighbor Mitt Romney, who has courted the paper assiduously both this time and in 2008, when he lost the endorsement to John McCain, who went on to win the primary. New Hampshire has always been the bulwark of Romney’s candidacy. If he loses there, or is even seriously challenged, his remaining aura of frontrunner-dom goes into eclipse.
He may end up the last man standing. If Republican primary voters want Mitt Romney, they have a funny way of showing it.
I can never decide which one of these jokers is my favorite.
Your Pakistan disaster is dangerous to extent of insanity.
What new video today?
Euro recession, Occupy LA not moving yet, and the Mars mission.
We still don’t have a straight story on this thing.
>sergei says:
November 28, 2011 at 3:31 am (Edit)
Your Pakistan disaster is dangerous to extent of insanity.
Probably Perry.
>Cooper Hawks says:
November 27, 2011 at 5:27 pm (Edit)
I can never decide which one of these jokers is my favorite.
I think that’s one of his favorite movies, actually.
>Requiem says:
November 27, 2011 at 2:47 pm (Edit)
He may end up the last man standing. If Republican primary voters want Mitt Romney, they have a funny way of showing it.
It’s a potentially spectacular development.
>Capitol Boy says:
November 27, 2011 at 12:39 pm (Edit)
I love this!!!
BB:Meanwhile, in the topsy-turvy Republican presidential race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today won the endorsement of the New Hampshire Union-Leader, formerly Manchester Union-Leader, the state’s biggest newspaper and a longtime bellwether of conservative politics.
This is a blow to neighbor Mitt Romney, who has courted the paper assiduously both this time and in 2008, when he lost the endorsement to John McCain, who went on to win the primary. New Hampshire has always been the bulwark of Romney’s candidacy. If he loses there, or is even seriously challenged, his remaining aura of frontrunner-dom goes into eclipse.
It’s hard to fathom.
>Jonas Blane says:
November 27, 2011 at 10:27 am (Edit)
Good news video on the Pakistan crisis.
Capitol Boy says:
November 27, 2011 at 12:33 pm (Edit)
What a horrible disaster…
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Hi there, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.
Where have all the Mitt-bots gone? A Sunday soccer game with the Paul-bots?
this network. * mic or microphonenew models…
of gps tracking units are equipped with voice recognition capabilities to allow voiced out commands through an integrated microphone or through an externally attached microphone.* speaker similarly, gps tracking units with mic are also usually built in…