Former Obama Senior Intelligence Officials Back Haspel

Lauretta Brown

"A group of more than 50 senior intelligence officials wrote a letter Monday to the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday in support of Trump CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel. The group included eight former CIA directors or acting directors, three former directors of national intelligence, and two former secretaries of state.

"Those signing the letter included former CIA Directors John Brennan, Leon Panetta, Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet, and William Webster. James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence under Obama, also signed the letter as did former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.

"The officials wrote that Haspel has the “qualifications to become CIA Director match or exceed those of most candidates put forward in the Agency’s 70-year history.”

" 'Those who have served alongside Ms. Haspel have only the utmost praise and respect for her. She has broad support from the CIA workforce," they emphasized. "Within the U.S. national security community and among our allies around the globe, admiration for her is unsurpassed.' " . . .

'Chappaquiddick’ Star: ‘Everybody Gave [Ted Kennedy] a Pass’

". . .A girl drowns and he abandons her and she drowned, and women still voted for Teddy Kennedy. Why? Because he voted for women’s rights.' ”

Christian Toto  "Jason Clarke got quite the education after accepting the lead role in Chappaquiddick.

"The movie, out April 6, follows the events surrounding the 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Sen. Ted Kennedy (Clarke) was driving Kopechne, a campaign worker for his late brother Robert F. Kennedy, home on the Massachusettes island of Chappaquiddick when he crashed his Oldsmobile through a fence, landing the car in a pond.

"Kennedy escaped the submerged car but Koechne remained trapped inside. The Senator waited 10 hours to call for help.

“ 'I was overcome, I’m frank to say, by a jumble of emotions: grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion and shock,” he said at the time.

"The diver who pulled Kopechne’s body from the car said she didn’t drown instantly. A trapped pocket of air temporarily kept her alive, but no autopsy was performed on the body.

"Much of this proved new to Clarke, the Australian actor from Terminator: Genisys and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

"He’s since gotten up to speed on the issue."

Liberals Announce Plan to Crush Normal Americans in a New “Civil War” (Spoiler: It’s Not a Great Plan)

 They are correct when they say “[i]n this current period of American politics, at this juncture in our history, there’s no way that a bipartisan path provides the way forward.” Yep, true. They are also correct when they observe that, “America today does exhibit some of the core elements that move a society from what normally is the process of working out political differences toward the slippery slope of civil war.” Yep, also true, and it ought to scare the hell out of them.

Kurt Schlichter  "Tech titan Jack Dorsey of San Francisco-based social media platform Twitter applauded an article in something called Medium in which some other hipster CEO described how liberals intend to crush Normal Americans into serfdom in a bloodless “civil war.”
"Here it is.
"Ready?
"It will just sort of happen. Why? Because. Americans will simply decide to be like California because of reasons and phew, no more troublesome conservatives and Gaia is saved!
"So basically, wishing.
"Well, that’s a kind of war plan. Perhaps by unleashing the power of hoping so they can utterly subjugate the half of America that voted against Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit and drive the people who actually operate and defend this country into silent obedience.
"Or not.
"Now, I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, “Why do a bunch of San Francisco dorks think that 150 million Americans with 300 million guns are just going to give up their rights and their say in their own governance and submit to the commands of people who eat kale by choice?” That’s a fair question, and they have an answer.
"Because you just are." . . .

Three Ways Obama Caused the Syrian Disaster

"I am daily amazed at the naïveté of many of my liberal friends who believe the outrageous quality of this failure of the blood stained past president. This article spells it our and lays the blame where this ignorant lamebrain continues to brag about his great successes." From comments to this post 

These are the actions of Michelle Obama's "adult" administration.

Frontpage Magazine

"The Radical-in-Chief didn’t just support one monster. He backed two."

"Obama owns the disaster in Syria in a way that no one else does. Three of his policies intersected to cause the bloodshed, devastation and horrors there. 

1. The Iraq Withdrawal
2. The Arab Spring
3. The Iran Deal

"Obama’s Iraq withdrawal turned the country over to Iran and ISIS. The tensions between the Shiite puppet regime in Baghdad (which Obama insisted on backing) and the Sunni population created a cycle of violence that reduced the country to a bloody civil war between Shiite militias and Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"The collapse of the multicultural Iraqi army allowed Al Qaeda in Iraq to seize huge swathes of territory. And ISIS and Iran began carving up Iraq into their own ethnically cleansed dominions.

"Then his Arab Spring empowered the Muslim Brotherhood’s Sunni forces to seize power in countries around the region. Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, whose governments fell under White House pressure, and Libya, which Obama bombed and invaded, the Iranians and Russians didn’t cut their Syrian allies loose.

"Iraq’s civil war spread to Syria. Initially Obama backed the Sunni Brotherhood militias. These groups represented themselves as free, secular and democratic. They were actually nothing of the kind. But as Libya and Yemen turned into disasters, and the Syrian militias clamored for direct military intervention, Obama instead turned to Iran. The Sunni Islamists hadn’t worked out so he cut a deal with the Shiites.

"Obama’s new deal with Iran was sealed with a fortune in illegal foreign currency shipments flown in on unmarked cargo planes, a virtual blank check for Iran’s nuclear program, the collapse of sanctions and the withdrawal of support for the Sunni militias in Syria. And that gave Iran a free hand in Syria. 

"If you want to understand why Syria is a disaster area, these are the three reasons." . . .

How liberals conduct military operations:

Did Trump's announcement of withdrawal from Syria embolden Assad's gas attack?  McCain thinks so.

Former Obama National Security Council Spokesman Admits 'Trump Was Handed a Mess' in Syria
. . .  "But to make matters worse for Tommy Vietor, the "mess" that he refers to is what his former boss called one of his proudest moments. Specifically, President Obama was most proud that he chose not to intervene after saying that use of chemical weapons by Syria would be "crossing a red line.' " . . .

Has The California Backlash Against Liberal Craziness Finally Begun?

As California goes, so goes the nation.

Weasel Zippers

"Conservatives and people with sense are fighting back in California.

"Via Fox News:

In a state consumed by conservation and environmental issues, one highly endangered species has long gone unnoticed and unprotected – the California Conservative. Is it still possible to rescue them from the brink of extinction? Can their numbers be revived? And can they thrive here once again?

While the nation continues to view California as a homogeneous voting block of individuals in lock step with an increasingly progressive liberal agenda, for Common Sense Californians up and down the left coast state, there’s a sense that a different tide is rising.

The ripple began in Los Alamitos where the city council voted to opt out of California’s sanctuary law. And it was followed by Orange County who voted to join the U.S. Department of Justice in challenging the state’s sanctuary city laws. This decision was echoed by the city of Escondido and later this month San Diego County will also vote to join their ranks in this federal lawsuit. Other municipalities are lining up to consider doing the same.

California has always been the tip of the spear. Often the genesis of art, influence, ideas, style and entertainment, we also take the lead in ways that are less admirable with high state tax, high gas tax, high costs of living and housing, an out of control homeless problem in our urban areas, declining test scores in schools, increasingly inaccessible and cost-prohibitive health care, and many of our major cities often appear on lists of the least-livable cities in the U.S.

Keep reading…

From the comments to this post in Weasel Zippers:

Toothless Dawg • 14 hours ago

Don't forget the State of Jefferson USA that is trying to secede from Commieland.

SJW Mom Attacks Mike Rowe’s ‘Work Ethic’ Scholarship

Daily Wire  "Mike Rowe is known for encouraging his viewers to have a strong work ethic while on the job. Host of "Dirty Jobs" and "Returning The Favor," Rowe has a special scholarship for students wishing to learn various trades and requires them to take a “S.W.E.A.T. Pledge” to work hard to earn it.
"Normally, this would be considered uncontroversial, but not to one mother who took umbrage to Rowe requiring her child to have a strong work ethic.

"She wrote to Rowe on social media,

Mr. Rowe - I heard about your "work ethic scholarship program," and suggested my son apply. He wants to be a welder! I was appalled though, when he showed me your “sweat pledge,” and told me that signing it was required of all applicants!! Where did you come up with this nonsense? There are so many things wrong with this document I don’t even know where to begin!! Suffice it to say, we will not be applying!!! 

"Rowe responded: “If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one to object to my S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, or do so with an over-reliance on exclamation points!! Over the years, it’s been my sad duty to inform lots of angry parents that this particular pile of free money might not be for them, or for their children.”
"He offered sincere wishes of success to the woman’s son and encouraged him in his welding endeavors.
“ 'But to be clear,” he said, “I have absolutely no interest in paying for his training if he doesn’t share my opinions on the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, delayed gratification, and personal responsibility" . . .

Michelle Obama seems to have a bad case of memory loss

Jack Hellner   "Former first lady Michelle Obama is saying that her husband followed the rules and was strict, while his successor, President Trump, is undisciplined and wild. I believe she and Hillary Clinton should get together as they attempt to rewrite history and call themselves the delusional women. 

. . . Here's how the press reported it:

The Obama administration “was like having the ‘good parent’ at home," the former first lady said. "The responsible parent, the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time." 

“And now we have the other parent,” Obama added. “We thought it’d feel fun — maybe it feels fun for now because we can eat candy all day and stay up late and not follow the rules.”

"I believe Michelle has it backw[a]rds.

"The good parents like to teach the kids to take personal responsibility and to move up the economic ladder. The bad parent thinks it is better for more people to be dependent on government with free food stamps, student loans they don't have to pay for, and free phones. 

"The good parent teaches children that they have freedom of choice to buy the health care they want. The bad parent doesn't believe the children are smart enough to make that decision. Only the master knows. The bad parent also continually lies to his children that they can keep their plan, their doctor and lower their costs when he knows that is not the truth. 

"The good parent believes people and businesses should be able to keep more of what they earned for themselves. The bad parent continues to take more for himself in order to increase his power. " . . .

Wanted: A little more class from the House of Obama  . . . "Also, Trump's children have turned out rather well.  Let's wait and see how the Obama girls turn out before we start talking about parenting.

"Since Mrs. Obama started this, let me tell you how President Obama was not a good parent:

"1. He made a ton of Obamacare promises that did not come true.  Worse than that, he never admitted his mistakes.

"2. He drew a line in Syria and then never enforced it.  We are watching right nowthe terrible consequences of that weakness:

President Trump slammed former President Barack Obama on Sunday for not crossing his stated "red line" with Syria, amid reports of a suspected chemical attack that left at least 40 dead near the capital, while also warning Russia and Iran there will be a "big price to pay" for backing the Assad regime.

"Again, I'd rather not get into an argument with a former first lady.  At the same time, I wish we lived in a political landscape where former first ladies speak graciously about their husbands' successors, as we saw with Mrs. Laura Bush and others.

"Add to this Jimmy Kimmel making fun of Mrs. Trump's accent, and it's been a really bad week for class and civility."

Let Hillary Speak!

PJ Media

"A lot of people made a lot of bad predictions during the 2016 election, myself included. As election day loomed, I tried to mentally prepare myself for the horror of a Hillary Clinton presidency. I assumed it was bound to happen, no matter which of the two completely unacceptable major party candidates got my vote. (Neither one did. I ended up writing in Larry Hovis.) So I was immensely relieved to wake up the next morning to learn that she had lost.

"Lost to a man.

"Again.

"We avoided the worst-case scenario, in favor of the second-worst-case scenario. We wouldn't have to listen to that voice for the next 4-8 years. Finally, Hillary could waddle off to the woods, or crawl into a vat of Chardonnay, or find some other way to fill that void in her soul. Finally, she'd stop belligerently scolding America all the time.

"Once again, I was completely wrong. No matter what happened on Nov. 8, 2016, there is no timeline in the multiverse where Hillary Clinton will ever, ever stop yapping. And I say... let her!

"Judy Kurtz, The Hill:

“I was really struck by how people said that to me — you know, mostly people in the press, for whatever reason — mostly, ‘Go away, go away,’” Clinton said Thursday during an event at Rutgers University.

“And I had one of the young people who works for me go back and do a bit of research. They never said that to any man who was not elected. I was kind of struck by that,” Clinton said.

"I'm trying to remember any previous presidential candidate who lost and then spent the next 18 months hobbling around complaining about it to anybody with a camera and a microphone." . . . 

Springing Forward

Clarice Feldman  What seemed as though it was going to be a dull news week – punctuated by sometimes fanciful articles from "sources" about what Special Counsel Mueller was up to – ended with a plethora of important news late Friday.  To spare you having to wade through the mounds of drivel to get to it, I'm highlighting what I think is the important stuff, so you can enjoy this spring weekend.

Here is just the brief overview of this post's topics:
The Budget . . . Fiscal conservatives were furious, but the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law.  "He who laughs last laughs best" is the saying, and in this case, there may be no joy in Demville.  James Freeman at the Wall Street Journal explains:" . . .

Illegal Immigration  . . . "Friday the president ordered an end to the "catch and release" Obama policy, where border-jumpers were captured and released with a rarely kept promise to return for an immigration hearing to determine whether they had a legal basis to remain here.

"The attorney general explained the new policy – border-jumpers are going to be held and criminally prosecuted." . . .

The Congressional-FBI/DOJ Standoff Is Broken  "Sundance at Conservative Treehouse broke the welcome news early Saturday morning." . . .

Bill and Hillary Clinton's Corrupt International Charity Network Faces Countless Legal Challenges  . . . "If I were to speculate, I'd suggest that it is not unlikely (now that the Clintons are fairly politically neutered) that whistleblowers inside the foundation, the donors' offices, and the government – particularly the IRS – may come forward, at long last, to expose the frauds which Rosenstein, Mueller, and Comey seem to have lacked the integrity and guts to do."

Behold the Lowlights of First Victim Michelle Obama's Trump-Bashing Tour

Jeannie DeAngelis   "Judging from their vocal criticism of President Trump, it's clear that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Obama shares G.W. Bush's viewpoint that it's terrible for the country and the presidency to undermine a current president.

Barack does it by praising anything and anyone who opposes the president's policies and, by doing so, manages to disparage the man who took his place.  Michelle, on the other hand, is much less diplomatic.  Instead of using discretion, Mrs. Obama vomits out anti-Trump venom wherever she goes.

"Michelle's Trump-Bashing Tour started right after the 2016 election, when Mrs. Hope and Change told Oprah Winfrey that because Trump was elected, "now we're feeling what not having hope feels like."

"In May of 2017, Mrs. Obama spoke out against Trump when he dared loosen the stringent dietary restrictions connected to her unpopular school lunch program.  Months later, at an Inbound marketing conference in Boston, Michelle rebuked a segment of the sisterhood when she declared, "Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their [sic] own voice."

"The following month, at a Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Mrs. Obama used a hand motion to imply that Trump lowered the bar concerning women and minorities.  Then, forgetting that she did the same thing to Laura Bush in 2009, Michelle mocked First Lady Melania Trump for handing her a boxed gift on the steps of the White House on Inauguration Day 2017.

"Simply put, Michelle Obama switched focus from dancing with The Tonight Show's host, Jimmy Fallon, to stirring up hatred towards Trump.  Instead oforganic gardening, the former president's outspoken wife now advocates for minorities and women by belittling a male president." . . .

Once Michelle thought this lady asking for help was cute...  later the incident became racist to her:

Truth Revolt discusses this incident:  

I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn't see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn't anything new.

"Being asked to take things off shelves as a taller woman is the new Jim Crow.

"But even Michelle Obama doesn’t think this. Two years ago, she told David Letterman about the same incident:

. . . I was in the detergent aisle, and she said — I kid you not — she said, ‘Excuse me, I just have to ask you something,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, cover’s blown.’ She said, ‘Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?’ I kid you not.” As the audience laughed, she went on, “And the only thing she said — I reached up, ’cause she was short, and I reached up, pulled it down — she said, ‘Well, you didn’t have to make it look so easy.’ That was my interaction. I felt so good. ... She had no idea who I was." . . .

"Charming and funny two years ago. Racism now." 

She could be such a classy lady but for the desire to be recognized as First Victim.

Sunday Schadenfreude: Jimmy Kimmel steps on a rake called 'gay'

Monica Showalter  "Professional clowns know what they are doing when they engage in slapstick stunts, such as stepping on a rake. Leftwing clown Jimmy Kimmel is different. The ABC Late Night host stepped on a rake of his own doing without any of the theatrical attention to planning and detail of professional comics. Now he has a key element of his ever-shrinking core audience angry at him.

"The dolt went and insulted gays by making creepy, graphic, gross tweets about a broadcasting rival, Fox News' Sean Hannity. with verbal images of Hannity supposedly engaging in gay sexual relations with President Trump, with graphic decriptions about sexual positioning, anal kissing, and other things, none of which is suitable for family viewing.

"Since the tweets are public, here is one:

Don't worry - just keep tweeting - you'll get back on top! (or does Trump prefer you on bottom?) Either way, keep your chin up big fella..XOhttps://t.co/R4QJCoGYCL— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 6, 2018 "

. . .

Don't forget Colbert did the same thing and had got criticism, but since he was mocking Trump, all turned out just fine.

Skeptics feel empowered to 'keep pushing' under Trump

Environment & Energy Publishing; The essential news for energy & environment professionals

"Climate skeptics are gaining ground.

"There's always been a vocal subset of conservatives who cast doubt on climate science, but what were once fringe views among broader Republicans — like warming's a hoax — are enjoying a growing acceptance in the GOP, worrying academics, scientists and sociologists.

" 'They have taken over the [U.S.] EPA," Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard University who has studied climate denier groups extensively, said in an email. "A very sad state of affairs."

"The groups sowing climate doubt are more emboldened than ever before, sociologists and historians said. Their effectiveness in the era of President Trump is a reflection of a deepening polarization in U.S. politics and a normalization of climate skepticism on the right, they said.

"Democrats and Republicans have never been further apart on climate change, according to public opinion polling released last week by Gallup.

"The results illuminate the anti-science sentiment within the GOP. The poll found that 82 percent of Democrats believe global warming has already begun compared with 34 percent of Republicans (Climatewire, March 28).

"That rift has contributed to major differences between the Republican administrations of Trump and former President George W. Bush, said Riley Dunlap, an environmental sociologist at Oklahoma State University. Bush's government internalized climate skeptics, but the groups scoring victories were largely silent when policies went their way. Now, however, those same organizations like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute boldly proclaim success — and then push even further.

" 'It's like they sense victory. They are proclaiming victories, and they keep pushing," Dunlap said. "This extreme radicalization of the Republican Party means they don't have to hide it. They don't have to dress it up like Bush 43 did. They can be in-your-face deniers.' " . . .