Trump fires Rex Tillerson, will nominate Mike Pompeo to replace him

Read the Trumptweet yourself

If true, how tacky was this?:  "Tillerson found out he was fired when Trump tweeted about it." 
So out of place for a man of Trump's background and accomplishments, don't you think?

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Trump asked Tillerson to step aside on Friday. Tillerson thus cut his trip to Africa short to return to Washington.

. . . "Pompeo will have to be nominated and approved by the Senate before he can take Tillerson's spot in the government. Republicans can approve anyone they want in the Senate as long as they stick together, and Pompeo was confirmed for his current post in a 66-32 vote.

“ 'His experience in the military, Congress, and as leader of the CIA have prepared him well for his new role and I urge his swift confirmation,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday, as he wished Tillerson and his family well.

"Vice President Mike Pence backed Trump and urged the Senate to confirm Pompeo, "a man of highest integrity with unquestionable qualifications who will do an outstanding job.' " . . .

. . . "Tillerson's ouster ends a tumultuous year for him in Foggy Bottom, where an ambitious plan to redesign the State Department never reached fruition and where the top U.S. diplomat often found himself at odds with Trump's foreign policy instincts.

"In July, a visibly uncomfortable Tillerson was forced to hold a press conference to defend his boss after he was accused of calling Trump a "moron" during a Pentagon meeting earlier last spring. He never explicitly denied using the derogatory name to describe the president, but the State Department press spokeswoman did." . . .

Tillerson firing set to showcase just how little the media know  . . . "But here's what's really going on.  Tillerson was good for his task as he made it, but as a new stage in foreign policy dawns, particularly around Trump's high wire act in North Korea, some different talents are required.  Tillerson was a corporate man, a person with the right savvy to rise all the way to the top in the rock-hard bureaucracy of Exxon, and he tended to retain some of that style of governance at State.  That was fine.  He also had a bit of a lefty tinge, as many corporate types do, on the social justice front, and that wasn't as useful.  The fact that he said he took the job of secretary of state only because his wife told him to suggests someone whose heart wasn't all in it anyway.  Tillerson had a desire to retain respectability with all sides, which isn't useful to Trump now that he is going unconventional in his diplomacy with North Korea.  Something new is required, a new mindset, and from someone willing to take and go along with risks." . . .

After 14 months in the White House, Trump knows most of the non-leftist crop. He sees Pompeo as its cream. I think he’s right.  . . . "At the CIA, Trump will nominate Gina Haspel, currently the deputy director, to succeed Pompeo. If confirmed, she will become the agency’s first female director." . . .

I don’t know anybody who joined the CIA to run an interrogation program,” he continued, “But in the aftermath of 9/11, Gina Haspel and other colleagues stepped up to what is frankly a dirty job – because they were repeatedly assured that it was not only legal but necessary for the safety of the country. And they did it – Gina did it – because they felt it was their duty.

"That speaks well of her, in my opinion. Expect a bloody confirmation battle, though."

Gina Haspel nominated as CIA's first female director: 5 things to know about the career spymaster 

• She has been with the CIA for more than 30 years . . .
• She ran the CIA's first overseas detention site . . .
• She is well respected by former intelligence officials . . .
• She has held several top positions in Washington . . .
• She has won a handful of prestigious awards . . .

Wait for the Democrats confirming her to make a big deal over this:
"President Trump’s pick to head the CIA is a seasoned spymaster who has avoided the limelight during a 32-year career that has included stints running overseas “black sites” where dangerous terrorists were waterboarded."

Fox News executive VP suddenly out after writing a non-PC article on the Olympics

Fair, balanced, but be very, very afraid.
No, not Juan Williams - someone else. I vehemently disagreed with Juan's defense of Farrakhan and do not care for many of his other opinions as well, but get so sick of people, left and right, losing their livelihood over statements they make that anger some. But it seems John Moody angered the left, including Media Matters and CNN, which must have been too much for Fox.  TD

Peter Barry Chowka  "Fox News appears to have given one of its marquee hosts – Juan Williams – considerable slack for his on-air defense of controversial Nation of Islam head The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.  John Moody, a longtime Fox News executive and vice president who authored a column questioning the P.C. nature of this year's Olympics, did not fare so well.

. . . "Never a shrinking violet, on February 7, 2018, the day before the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Moody wrote a column about the Olympics that was published at Fox News's website.  The title was "In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race – not the race of the winner.' " . . .

I loved that statement.

. . . 

"Based on the immediate negative reaction to the article on the part of the left, you would think Moody had written a promotional flyer for the KKK.  Within hours of its appearing online, Fox News's sworn enemy, David Brock's Media Matters for America, took aim in a slanted summary of Moody's article: . . ."

. . . 

"Interested readers are directed to Moody's original February 7, 2018 article on the Olympics, archived here, for a fuller understanding before weighing in on the question: John Moody – retirement or forced departure?"

London; during and after the Blitz of WW2

UK Daily Mail  "This series of fascinating composite images show the stark contrast between the London of World War Two during the Blitz and today.

"They were made to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Blitz in the capital on May 11, 2016 - although the campaign continued on other parts of the UK for another two weeks.

"The Blitz (from the German word, 'lightning') was the most intense bombing campaign Britain has ever seen.

"Between September 1940 and May 1941 there were major raids with more than 100 tonnes of high explosives were dropped on 16 British cities.

"London was attacked 71 times and bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights.

"More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, almost half of them in London" . . .

September 14 1940: A crater and damaged railings outside Buckingham Palace, London, after a German bomb was dropped in an air raid.

How'd you like to have been the sentry in that booth when the bomb hit?

May 1941: The interior of Westminster Abbey after a German bombing raid. The Blitz lasted for eight months and killed thousands

The House of Commons bombed.

On 11 September 1940, indirect blast from a high explosive bomb damaged the House of Commons Terrace and a falling anti-aircraft shell hit the Commons Library. In the early hours of 27 September, a high explosive bomb fell in Old Palace Yard, blowing out the House of Lords' main windows and damaging St Stephen's Porch and the statue of Richard the Lionheart. In response, both Houses of Parliament left their respective Chambers and moved to the Church House Annexe in nearby Dean's Yard, Westminster (in November 1940).

Barbican: part of the ancient City of London, before and after the Blitz
" . . . "pre-WWII (World War 2) monochrome map of the Barbican area of London (the northern-most part of the ancient City of London) and incorporated a modern, coloured map of the main structures that form the Barbican Estate, that was built following the area suffering heavy damage during the WWII Blitz. During the building process, the street layout fundamentally changed, with streets disappearing or changing alignment, and a new lake appearing. By including the modern map as a translucent overlay on the original, the viewer can clearly contrast the old and the new. It’s worth noting that the new is already changing, as a number of the (non-residential) post-war blocks along London Wall, and Milton Court, have already been demolished for further development.

Buckingham Palace suffered as well. "Needless to say, the Luftwaffe was quite keen to bomb a symbol of the British monarchy and hit Buckingham Palace seven times during World War II. One of the bombs fell in the courtyard, yards from King George VI and the Queen Mother."

King George VI was known as "the stammering king", portrayed in the 2010 film, "The King's Speech".
The 2005 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was set at the time of the Blitz when London children were evacuated from the city for safety.
Teachers TV- Children in WW2

Flashback 1998: Maxine Waters Calls Impeachment Of Bill Clinton A “Coup D’etat” Led By “Christian Extremists”…

Weasel Zippers

Bernie Sanders Defends “Smart And Compassionate” Maxine Waters After Trump Attack…

Rex german shepherd ‘Hero Dog’ shot three times and beaten while protecting owner from armed robbers during Washington State home-invasion.

A Honey Bees

Youtube

"A German shepherd was severely beaten and shot different circumstances while attempting to secure his high school proprietor, who was home alone when two criminals broke into the family's home on Wednesday.

"His 16-year-old proprietor Javier Mercado was home alone Wednesday when two individuals broke into the house. Rex relinquished himself to spare the day, getting hammered and three slugs for Javier. 

"The cheats assaulted the creature, abandoning him severely harmed, yet as they continued into the rooms Rex kept on shielding the adolescent and tossed himself at the interlopers.

"Indeed, even subsequent to being bloodied and harmed, Rex still had enough quality left to return to the youngster - his closest companion - and ensure him as the hoodlums continued into the rooms, including the one where the kid was stowing away.

"The puppy was taken to a creature doctor's facility in basic condition and was later transported to BluePearl Veterinary Partners. Rex stays in the veterinary emergency unit, his condition has since been moved up to stable."

"It’s Time for Juan Williams to Go"; Juan's Defense of Farrakhan and His Supporters

Farrakhan: “The powerful Jews are my enemy. . .White folks are going down and Satan is going down and Farrakhan, by God’s grace, has pulled the cover off that Satanic Jew.”

Peter Barry Chowka  "His double-talking defense of Democrats who embraced Louis Farrakhan, and of Farrakhan himself, is the last straw

"For the past ten months that I have been reporting prolifically about the cable news wars and the Fox News Channel, readers who have posted comments to my articles have most often cited Juan Williams as the #1 Fox News personality whom they cannot stand.

"I am willing to cut any opinion meister a lot of slack, but the last straw for me came on Friday March 9, when Williams appeared live in-studio with Shannon Bream on her nightly program Fox News@Night. On Bream’s program, Williams defended Democrats who have cozied up to Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam.

"Incredibly, on Fox News@Night, Williams also defended Farrakhan himself." . . .

Williams: Well, I think that people – especially if you’re talking about people who are dealing with like folks who are coming out of jail – poor black people coming out of jail – Louis Farrakhan plays a role in terms of trying to help those people redeem those people. So we see that he has some value in the Black community. But that’s not to say you would say Louis Farrakhan is an influential leader in terms of Black American politics or Democratic Party politics.
Bream: So why don’t these members of Congress say “We completely denounce him and want nothing to do with him?”
Williams: First of all, you can’t say that. Remember in their districts – if they’re mostly Black districts – I don’t think that’s a winner.
Bream: If he’s saying such horrible, offensive things, does it matter, if it counts for votes for you? Either you think that it’s terrible stuff and you shouldn’t say it –
Williams: I think it’s reprehensible but I don’t think it counts for votes either pro or con. But I think if you want to separate yourself from someone who’s dealing with the poorest of Black America then I think that lots of Black Americans are like, well, you’re paying attention to the wrong aspect. We see Louis Farrakhan in a different light.

. . .

. . . "Why is Fox News continuing to tolerate Juan Williams – not only for his apparent defense of what their own hosts, Shannon Bream and Sean Hannity, and numerous others have termed a “racist” and an “anti-Semite,” but who is also responsible – in my opinion – for spouting useless total nonsense that takes up valuable time whenever he’s on the air?

"Juan Williams has jumped the shark. He has had a long, largely undeserved, and extremely well compensated, run on Fox News.

"It’s time for him to exit stage left."

Visuals added by TD

Calm Before The Storm? North Korea Still Mum On Trump Summit

CDN  "Due to President Trump’s foreign policy, North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un 
has invited  Trump to talk about the denuclearization of the hermit kingdom.
 Cartoon by A.F. Branco.

Yeshiva World News  "News of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent shockwaves around the globe. But in North Korea — as of Monday, several days after the announcement — not a word about it had been reported by the state-run media.

"Pyongyang has been surprisingly quiet on the slew of momentous, and possibly even historic, events that have come in quick succession over the past few months.

"It has essentially barred foreign media from visiting the country for more than a month and, while trumpeting the need for better inter-Korean relations, clung to the same anti-U.S., pro-nuclear weapons tone it struck at the height of its missile-testing frenzy last year.

"Officials in Seoul say Pyongyang is keeping them in the dark as well.

"“Regarding the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting, there hasn’t been an official response by the North Korean government. So we think North Korea is having a cautious approach on the issue as it needs time to organize its stance,” Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said Monday.

"It’s not unusual for the North Korean media to take their time in getting out the news." . . . 

Trump's Korea proposal drives Maddow crazy . . . "One could reasonably question this move: the desired goals to be achieved, the points of discussion to be covered, the suddenness of the decision, or any of several aspects of the announcement.  (Maddow does cover some of that later.)  But to wrongfully go into high dudgeon over the fact that this is an "unprecedented move" betrays Maddow as one who attacks Trump because...well, because he is Trump." . . .

This Is What Leadership Looks Like  "Well, well, well.  So Mister Trump is going to meet with the leader of North Korea.  Stunning.  For someone who's universally castigated as being a clueless, all thumbs palooka of a leader, this fellow sure gets a lot of things done.  Very significant things.  One might even say world transforming." . . .

. . . "Real leadership is when one is willing to sit down with an adversary, and hammer out a solution.  Martin Luther King was a great man, and thoroughly deserved his Peace Prize.  He was a disruptor who changed America.  Donald Trump is a disruptor of a different kind, but no less compelling.  He's about to confound his critics once again.  Let's hope their heads don't explode."

OJ Simpson 'confesses' to murdering Nicole Brown, saying he stabbed her to death . . .

. . . "after Ron Goldman tried to fight him when he went to confront his ex about hosting drug-fueled orgies

The tried and true "I blacked out" defense.

UK Daily Mail  . . . "The hypothetical murder confession of Orenthal James Simpson aired on Sunday night, detailing how Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman might have been killed outside her Brentwood  home.

"In the Fox special OJ: The Lost Confession, which was originally taped back in 2006, Simpson says that he blacked out during the actual murder and when he came to was covered in blood.

"He also states that he and Nicole were arguing outside and she fell, prompting Ron Goldman to come up to him and threatened to fight him with karate.

"Simpson said that he then grabbed a knife out of the hands of his friend Charlie, who got the weapon from either Simpson's car or Nicole's home.

"He then fled the scene, leaving his two children asleep inside as their mother lay fatally stabbed just outside their home." . . .

The Artist Is Speaking Out After Making This Controversial Painting Of President Trump

Alexander Smith

"An artist based in Utah has published images of his latest painting. The portrait includes President Trump standing at the center of a football stadium – and is a confrontation to the dozens of professional NFL players who have been taking a knee during the anthem to protest police violence and racial injustice. Because military personnel and police officers saw the anthem protest as a direct affront to their patriot values, the artist Jon McNaughton turned to his canvas to show the President holding a trampled flag to his breast in a fatherly gesture of protection.

"Protestors of the anthem have been accused of trampling on the American flag and disrespecting military service men and women who put their lives on the line to protect the country. And the image plays right into that conversation.

"In “Respect the Flag,” McNaughton depicts a heroic-looking President Trump standing in the middle of an NFL football stadium with a muddied and disrespected flag pressed to the center of his chest in the act of protection.

"As you can imagine, the artist’s painting has caused a stir among the leftist who supports activist Colin Kaepernick and the other NFL players who have taken a knee during the anthem in the act of protest. But many people find their act disgraceful to American patriotism and the men and women putting their lives in harm’s way to keep the country safe." . . .

This Governor Said The NRA was a “Terrorist Organization” And Is Now Feeling The Backlash

American Overlook  "One Democratic governor is certainly ruffling some feathers amongst members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). On Monday, Democratic Governor Dan Malloy from Connecticut publicly stated that the NRA has devolved into a terrorist organization, and the NRA was quick to share their very loud response, which was followed up with supportive examples. He shared the following statement with the press:

“ 'They act quite frankly in some cases as a terrorist organization. You want to make safer guns? We will boycott your company. That’s who they are. That’s what they do. The NRA today is a far cry from the NRA that in 1999 said that teachers shouldn’t carry weapons in schools. Or in the 90s said we should have universal background checks. They have in essence become a terrorist organization.”

"In response, the NRA recruited the help of their members and called upon those who had a variety of different backgrounds including rape survivors, immigrants, and a U.S. Navy SEAL who is a Navy Cross and Purple Heart recipient.

"When it comes to the gun control debate, there is always a lot that is said and commenters shared their thoughts on the matter…

“ 'What an extremely ignorant thing for a governor to say. He and the state of CT should be embarrassed.”

“ 'Maybe the snowflakes need to look at NRA membership among the disgusting school and church shooters. I would bet NONE belong to the NRA.' ” . . .

California’s Reputation for Loony Left Behavior Only Gets Worse

Have we all considered how virtually every TV show, movie and worshipped celebrity comes out of this state?

John Fund at National Review

“California, we have a problem,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a speech in Sacramento on Wednesday. “Here’s my message — how dare you. How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of our law enforcement officers to promote a radical, open-borders agenda.”

 

"In Oakland, the mayor warns illegal immigrants of an ICE raid, and a coffee shop refuses service to the police.

"Move over, San Francisco. Oakland, the city of 420,000 people just ten miles away on the other side of the Bay Bridge, has shoved you aside for the title of Loony Left Capital of the country.

"Hasta Muerte, an Oakland coffee shop whose name means “Toward Death” in Spanish, is refusing to serve police in uniform in order to show concern for the “physical and emotional safety of our customers and ourselves.” All over the country, coffee shops love to serve up coffee and doughnuts to cops knowing that customers appreciate the security their presence represents. But at Hasta Muerte Coffee, an employee-owned co-op, the message to the men and women in blue is: Take a hike.

For their part, the Oakland police responded to this provocation with extreme — bordering on craven — restraint. “I think their position is very clear that they don’t want the police in there, and I can respect that,” Sergeant Bryan Hubbard, who runs the city police’s training academies, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If they do call the police for any need, we’re going to respond professionally and give them the same level of service as anyone else regardless of their position.”

. . . "If you don’t like the law, work to change it. But don’t prove your membership in the Loony Left by spitting on it and pretending that makes you virtuous."

Kamala Harris: today California, tomorrow this nation

What has happened to California, no - this nation - that we no longer find people like Harris reprehensible but instead elect them to run America? With the liberal school system and media indoctrinating future generations how bad must things get before we reject such silliness? TD

Rich Terrell

Kamala Harris: ‘I Support’ Oakland Mayor Who Helped Criminal Illegal Aliens Evade Deportation ‘100 Percent’  . . . "Harris’s defense of Schaaf’s warning to criminal illegal aliens is at odds with a plurality of Americans who say that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice (DOJ) should prosecute Schaaf for obstruction of justice.

"A plurality of swing voters, about 40 percent, agreed that Schaaf should be prosecuted for warning criminal illegal aliens ahead of an ICE raid.

"Most recently, Breitbart News exclusively reported how the sanctuary state of California is likely responsible for at least 5,000 crimes that were committed by criminal illegal aliens who were released by the state rather than being handed over to ICE agents for deportation." . . .

(President Trump will visit Harris's turf soon. That should prove, er, interesting.)

From Legal Insurrection:  . . . "It’s clear that Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) wants to be president.  What’s not clear is in what country she wants to president.

"She wants to be president of a country with no borders, with a Supreme Court that bases its decisions on “feelings” rather than law, with few (preferably no?) gun rights for citizens, with “free” college, with government-run (i.e. single payer) healthcare, with severely restrictedspeech, with unrestricted abortion funded by taxpayers.  To be fair to Harris, this is the same imaginary country in which all Democrat presidential hopefuls aspire to be president.

"Harris’ ongoing, if not yet announced, 2020 presidential campaign is currently focused on floutingfoiling our nation’s immigration laws." . . .

In order to make her “turn back the clock” fallacy work, Harris intentionally misrepresented what Attorney General Jeff Sessions said about California’s war on federal immigration law.  (Chris) "Hayes prompted the comments from Harris when he brought up Sessions' reference to "slave states in nullification and secession" in denouncing California for evading federal immigration law. (Editor's note: Sessions actually said: 'There is no nullification. There is no secession.' He then invited "any doubters to Gettysburg, and to the graves of John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln." There was no abject overtures to slavery and reconstruction.) . . .