Weekend Wrap: Cancelling the 4th of July…Don’t Want to Offend

If you thought American Pharaoh was great (and he was)- wait till you compare the numbers to Secretariat. That story, and the video, is in the Weekend Wrap. Plus, abortions are declining in nearly every state.  The TSA’s failure rates are only part of the story. Oil rigs may have tapped out…but that doesn’t mean the producing wells have shut down.  Have we merely gone from white hot to red hot in the Bakken?  Fast track supporters tell Politico they have the thoughts, but The Wall Street Journal says there’s “trouble on trade.”  The G7 think they have their hands on the global thermostat.  And, cancelling the 4th of July…so we don’t offend Muslims?  That’s what is actually happening inside of the Obama State Department…

Those stories and more are in the Weekend Wrap.       

American Thinker: US Embassy moves Fourth of July Celebration to June 4 ‘out of respect for Ramadan’

In a mind-boggling gesture of official US Government dhimmitude, the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia celebrated our sacred Independence Day holiday on June 4, so as to avoid any conflict with the month-long Ramadan celebration. If you think any Islamic countries – there are 57 of them (not counting ISIS) that count themselves officially Islamic – will move their DC embassy’s celebration of Ramadan to accommodate our Independence holiday, I have some bridges to sell you.

Officially, embassies are the national territory* of the country being represented, not of the host country. So there is no need to accommodate local sensibilities in celebrating our most sacred national holiday. Perhaps the pipe dream of peddling electric motorcycles to one of the world’s biggest petroleum exporters that happens to have a pretty large conventional motorcycle industry of its own took precedence over our national dignity?

And here I thought this story was something out of The Onion or The Duffel Blog…

The Jakarta Post: US Embassy celebrates 4th of July earlier out of respect for Ramadhan

US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake and US Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian presided over the festivities, which involved brass band renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.

Blake explained that the theme of the event leaned toward “green” development, which supported the US’ focus on building and promoting a green economy and more environmentally sustainable development.

(This line added shortly after publishing: If you’re wondering how anyone will try and explain away the above story…it looks like Snopes.com tried.  You tell me if you think they succeeded. Although, The Jakarta Post piece makes it cery clear that the move was done “out of respect for Ramadan” on multiple times.)

Politico: Morning Energy- THE G7’S BIG CLIMATE ANNOUNCEMENT

G7 leaders agreed Monday in Germany to work toward keeping the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, a symbolic gesture aimed at building momentum ahead of crucial climate change negotiations in Paris later this year. In a joint communique, the leaders said they hope to achieve ‘decarbonisation of the global economy’ by the end of this century, while meeting the ‘upper end’ of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recommendation to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent to 70 percent by 2050 compared to 2010 levels.

Good luck with that one boys…and girls.

Politico’s Morning Ag: FAST TRACK SUPPORTERS THINK THEY HAVE THE VOTES

The House floor vote on fast track trade promotion authority legislation could come as early as this week, and supporters of the bill – necessary for President Barack Obama to secure his massive 12-country Pacific trade deal – think they have the numbers, POLITICO’s Lauren French and John Bresnahan report.

“Still, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and other GOP leaders have not yet committed to bringing up trade promotion authority by week’s end, a sign that while pro-trade leaders in the House are closing in on the 217 ayes they need to pass the bill, the contentious vote remains very close,” they write. “Only about a dozen members remain undecided, most of them Democrats, and President Barack Obama is expected to make another lobbying push this week to try and win over wavering members of his party. Republican aides predicted a decision by Wednesday on whether the measure would come up for consideration in the House this week, signaling it does not have the votes to pass quite yet.” Pros can read the rest of the article here: http://politico.pro/1T5Us2t

Politico’s Playbook- SIREN: TROUBLE ON TRADE

WSJ p. A1, above fold, “Trade Pacts Face Growing Pushback,” by Bob Davis, Siobhan Hughes and Dante Chinni: “In the 10 districts with the biggest export growth since 2006, only three of the representatives say they back legislation to help President Barack Obama wrap up a major Pacific trade deal. … A lack of public trust in both the government and corporations makes it hard for either political party to reclaim the exports argument.” http://on.wsj.com/1QDZrDr

While there may be no oil rigs in Montana right now, as I first shared right here on The Flint Report, don’t let the “oil drilling in Montana taps out” headline fool you: there’s still a lot of economic activity taking place thanks to oil and gas.  (Just listen to Jessica Sena from The Montana Petroleum Association on Monday’s Voices of Montana. She called in from Plentywood as she’s out on the road with Northern Oilfield Services crews.)

Plus, check out this story from Rob Port with the Minot-based SayAnythingBlog.com:  White Hot To Merely Red Hot: Low Oil Prices Have Been Good To North Dakota

Costs are falling as much as 20 percent, meaning that the $1.1 billion state lawmakers appropriated for western infrastructure projects earlier this year is going to stretch a lot further.

Not even the job markets in western North Dakota seem to have been hit all that hard. They’re down, but not much. “Bakken area job postings, according to the Williston branch of Job Service North Dakota, are down to 401 from 504 a year ago,” reports the Williston Herald. “We’re seeing a drop in positions, but it’s not like the worldwide numbers,” said Williston City Manager Cindy Sanford told the Herald. “We’re seeing some of that here, but it’s not hundreds at a time.”

“We’ve gone from white to merely red hot,” John Sessions, an investor in a housing development in Williston told the Dickinson Press. “It allows for some sorting and for business to become more efficient.”

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) in USA Today: There are TSA secrets worse than a 96% fail rate

Here is what the public already knows: TSA failed to stop undercover individuals from smuggling weapons and explosives past checkpoints 67 times out of 70 attempts. Our families are only as safe as our weakest TSA checkpoint. After 9/11, it became inescapably clear that, although we have to be right every time, terrorists need to succeed only once. What happens when we are wrong 96% of the time?

Here is what keeps me up at night: The publicly available facts are disturbing, but the classified details are even worse. Millions of families will soon fly to summer vacations, but if moms knew what members of Congress have learned behind closed doors, they would march on Washington demanding an urgent, top-to-bottom reevaluation of airport security.

Also from Politico’s Playbook: DATA DU JOUR

“Abortions declining in nearly all states,” by AP National Writer David Crary: “Nationwide, the AP survey showed a decrease in abortions of about 12 percent since 2010. … Charmaine Yoest [of Americans United for Life]: … ‘There’s an entire generation of women who saw a sonogram as their first baby picture’ … But advocates for abortion rights said the figures demonstrate that restrictive laws are not needed to reduce … abortions.” http://yhoo.it/1RXjnUz

Also from The Wall Street Journal- Notable & Quotable: Secretariat and American Pharoah

“You’re not supposed to win the Belmont by 31 lengths,” is the way Steve Crist of the Daily Racing Form once put it. In the three combined races of the Triple Crown, Secretariat’s margin over American Pharoah was something like 12 seconds—an eternity in horse racing. It’s not our intention here to rain on American Pharoah’s parade. He is such a beautiful horse, with one of the most graceful gallops. But it is important, including for the children, to understand why, for all the glory of American Pharoah’s moment, our eyes were dry.

Video via The Blaze:

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