“On multiple occasions, Rice asked the NSA to do things they regarded as unethical & perhaps illegal.”

From John R. Schindler in the OBSERVER of New York City, formerly the New York Observer:

EXCLUSIVE: "On multiple occasions, Rice asked #NSA to do things they regarded as unethical and perhaps illegal." https://t.co/c5L0K24fbm

— John Schindler (@20committee) April 4, 2017

This ain’t a partisan hack in a hack newspaper.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Susan Rice is a deeply unpopular figure with our Intelligence Community. Her abrasive personality and overall incompetence grated on the IC. Her habitually coarse language was inflicted on senior intelligence officials more than once, while nobody outside Obama’s inner circle considered Rice even marginally competent at her job. Simply put, she was the worst National Security Adviser in American history—at least until Mike Flynn’s dismally failed three-week tenure. In addition, Rice didn’t like to play by the rules, including the top-secret ones. On multiple occasions, she asked the NSA to do things they regarded as unethical and perhaps illegal. When she was turned down—the NSA fears breaking laws for any White House, since they know they will be left holding the bag in the end—Rice kept pushing. As a longtime NSA official who experienced Rice’s wrath more than once told me, “We tried to tell her to pound sand on some things, but it wasn’t allowed—we were always overruled.” On multiple occasions, Rice got top Agency leadership to approve things which NSA personnel on the front end of the spy business refused. This means there may be something Congress and the FBI need to investigate here. Susan Rice and Team Trump are both despised by our intelligence agencies, albeit for different reasons. The prospect of a death-match between them is causing unusual emotions in the IC. “For us, this is like the Iran-Iraq war,” explained another longtime NSA official: “We’d like both sides to lose.”

ajh

I love Between Two Ferns.

Galifianakis!

I am not a big fan of the sycophantic political ones, though these are often not terrible. There are good moments in every single episode. But the ones that are not political are amazingly hilarious. Like the one with Steve Carell. And Will Ferrell. And Conan. And Jennifer Aniston. I wish Zach would do more of ’em.

ajh

Yeah, when you can’t even get details on key figures right, then it’s hard to take you seriously.

Senator Paul Ryan?

I received this message in my inbox a few minutes ago. I immediately noticed a big mistake.

Friend — This ticks me off. Opponents of Obamacare in Congress are reaching new levels of disgrace — all to save face after realizing that repeal isn’t so popular, after all. On Tuesday, Senator Paul Ryan said this: “We’re not hatching some bill in a back room and plopping it on the American people’s front door.” –House Speaker Paul Ryan on NBC’s “Today” show

Now, on the face of it, what’s the big deal? So what if Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the House and not a senator?

But such errors portend on bigger, more crucial matters. Such mistakes warn me of a great many things, including:

1. a lack of professionalism.
2. not taking the time to look for errors.
3. a seriously partisan lack of collegiality.
4. how dangerous and excessively political leftist activists have become.

How about we do some proofreading next time?

Makes ya wonder, mistakes or not, what is in the Obamacare bill, the Affordable Care Act. Of course, I, like so many of us, including many of our politician friends, have not taken the time to read the damn thing. It is thousands of pages! And a bore, no doubt.

Nancy Pelosi infamously said that the legislation need to pass before anyone outside the bureaucracy could know what was in it. Sadly, she’s probably still clueless on it, like everything else. Someone should ask her if she’s ever read it. Reporters, if they actually did their jobs properly, would have already done it.

ajh

“Ronald Reagan is dangerous & Jimmy Carter hasn’t really been all that bad.” — the Harvard Crimson, 1980

Discovered this gem in a 1980 issue of The Harvard Crimson.

“Ronald Reagan is dangerous, John B. Anderson is out of it, and Jimmy Carter hasn’t really been all that bad.”

Let’s update it for 2016. Note the revisionist history. Reagan is now nearly venerated, because the media know that turning on him now will produce an intense backlash from the public.

“Donald ain’t Ronald. Not even close. Reagan was great. Trump is terrible, and what’s worse is he’s dangerous. Bernie is out of it, and Barack Obama has been terrific. Hillary Clinton will continue that terrificness. And she’s the only rational one out there.”

Carter seemed to admit his failures and shortcomings. The modern Democrat Party doesn’t do that. Instead, everything is awesome.

Let’s hope the electorate can cut through the noise, the intense, never-ending bias of the media, like in 1980.

ajh

Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Too bad we can’t demand a refund.

The designer of the iconic Barack Obama HOPE poster, a terrific artist in my estimation, is disappointed that the man hasn’t delivered on the hope and change credo of his campaigns. And America appears to agree, although for different, varying reasons.

ajh

Evil is afoot in the world. And we must stand against it. Everyone & everywhere.

“ THE
only thing
necessary
for the TRIUMPH of
—
EVIL
is for good men
to do nothing.”
— Edmund Burke

I wish President Obama and Hillary Clinton had this moral clarity.

ajh

“It’s a total utter lie that police shootings are a major cause of black deaths.” — Ben Stein

The police are the heroes

Ben Stein writing at the American Spectator gives us some perspective and numbers on the police and the state of black culture in America.

“It’s a total utter lie that police shootings are a major cause of black deaths.”

Most are suicides, sadly.

“The huge majority of the rest are black-on-black gang and drug related shootings.”

That’s the major, underlying issue here: the lack of courage within the black community to confront what really plagues their neighborhoods. It’s the crime, the violence, the drugs.

“The Obama clique makes no effort at all to rein in these gangs. The gangs kill and no one proposes any laws about it at all.”

President Obama has been much a president. Sure, he’s won two elections. He’s held the office. But he has been everything but presidential. He has shown virtually no leadership on these and other critical issues.

“There is a giant super crisis among blacks: Violence. Drugs. The collapse of the family. Pitiful education. Low participation in the labor force. None of this is caused by the police.”

Federal, state and local leaders must begin to address the collapse of the black family and their communities.

ajh

 

Anyone else creeped out by this? Big Brother Obama is watching.

Worshiping the apparent savior of the EU. A cult of personality never went wrong in Germany before. That smile reminds me of Heath Ledger’s Joker.

ajh

Easter Greetings! ¡Felices Pascuas!

Looking through Easter greetings from celebrities on Twitter.

The Easter bunny freaking out kids seems to be popular. Ellen posted such a photo, as did Kelly Clarkson. Kelly’s daughter clearly did not like being there.

One of the things I like best about President Obama is his family. He appears to be a solid family man, which is increasingly rare these days. They’ve got a great-looking, very tall family. I wonder what the daughters will do after life in the White House.

The best Easter pic out there, in my opinion, is Ozzy dressed as a demented bunny. It’s perfect.

I wonder what Guillermo del Toro is up to. He posted a pic while at home, which is dubbed Bleak House. He’s a fascinating fellow.

One of the strangest is a Kardashian posting a shot from a devotional, complete with Godtalk and Bible verses. It doesn’t really fit her image.

ajh

Well, It’s Coming Along

I PLAYED AROUND
with cropping it, focusing on their heads. I don’t want the rest of image, the suits and arm, distracting from the looks on their faces.

I may try taking out some of the lines on Obama’s neck and near his eye, and lightening up some of the outline of his face. But it’s not far from being done.

I plan on importing it into a vector program like Inkscape or Illustrator, where I will trace it. I can do some of the work after it’s converted.

I think the final piece, perhaps a print of of some kind, will be called Black & White.

ajh