A Tale of Two Leaders

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Cross posted at Proof Positive

President Selfie: Hopelessly Delusional, Cravenly Dishonest or Mind Numbingly Incompetent?

President Obama made a statement the other day in response to a question about what Mitt Romney had said in the presidential debates about a possible Russia threat. At the time, Obama cavalierly dismissed it as living in the past.

"The 80's called. They want their foreign policy back!"

He doubled down on that stupidity in his reply:

"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength, but out of weakness"

Weakness? Really?? Was Germany in 1939 merely a "regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength, but out of weakness"? BTW, Mr. President, in case you were on vacation at the time, Russia did more than merely threaten her neighbors, she invaded one and annexed it with nary a shot fired. And as far as being merely a "regional power", exactly how many nukes and ICBMs does this "regional power" possess?

Prior to WWI, Archduke Ferdinand was the leader of a "regional power", whose assassination sparked a global conflict. Some of the "neighbors" the current regional power of Russia might be threatening, are members of NATO. The US has signed treaties with them, that we will defend them the same as if the US were attacked. To quote from their website:

NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

Now, you can debate all day long whether or not making alliances with various allies is the wisest course to take, or whether we will pursue this course in the future, but are we going to run away from these treaties we have already signed, as Obama has done with the agreements to guarantee the sovereignty and defense of the Ukraine?

The White House is making a big deal out of the fact that the last phone between Putin and Obama was initiated by Putin. Really? This is not because of any weakness. Putin is the kind of guy who, when he shakes your hand, you'd do best to count your fingers afterwards. He is seeking to consolidate his gains and perhaps gauge when the next bit of Russian adventurism might most effectively and efficiently take place.

Barack "President Selfie" Obama and John "Magic Hat" Kerry try to portray Russian acts of aggression as being "weak" and "old fashioned". Perhaps, if either had spent a significant amount of time in the military, they might have learned that the aggressor in a war is not "weak", and war, rather than being somehow a uniquely 19th century phenomenon or as old fashioned as last year's bicycle spandex, is historically an integral part of the human condition.

Someone had best remind The Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™, that part of his job is Commander-in-Chief, and to explain to him everything that goes along with that responsibility. If you can ever get him off the 18th green...

BTW, the headline does not preclude the possibility of a combination of all three.

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Cross posted at Proof Positive

Countdown To My Sunset Years

Photo Courtesy:  TeamJimmyJoe.com

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. 

Some of the best  times of my life were spent in reverie of the wonders God made for us like snorkeling in Chankanaab Lagoon and watching the parrotfish nibbling on coral formations, walking along the South Rim or the breathtaking helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon.  My memories include the ascent to the peak of Rothorn in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland and trying my best to play an alpenhorn at a restaurant situated on the mountain.

I am four agonizing months away from retiring.  As I look out my window, I see the trees coming to life with neon-green buds where leaves will soon be.  In a few days the air will be filled with the fragrance of Spring.  The little Carolina Wrens have been busy remodeling their nest inside the birdhouse just outside my door and the grass is greening up after a long winter.

 

Retirement—that is when life will truly begin and I can go anywhere I choose.

To Crush Your Enemies, To See Them Driven Before You, and To Hear the Lamentations of Their Women

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Cross posted at Proof Positive

Is It Possible To Remove A Senator On Grounds Of Mental Instability?

Senate Majority Leader and babbling fool Harry Reid said Monday that Republicans may have helped Russia annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Reid's charge comes despite widespread support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress for providing Ukraine with much-needed economic assistance and hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin's government with sanctions.

Clearly off his rocker, Reid said Republicans blocked the bill to "protect the anonymity of their big-money donors" such as the Koch brothers, two of America's wealthiest men who've strongly supported conservative causes. He was referring to an unsuccessful attempt by some Republicans to include an amendment to the bill halting new IRS regulations on groups claiming tax-exempt status.

"Republicans objected to moving forward with this aid package unless Democrats agreed to allow the Kochs and billionaires like them to continue to anonymously spend millions trying to buy America's democracy," Reid said. "It's hard to believe. But that's the truth."

In other news, Dingy Harry claimed Republicans went back in time and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Break out the butterfly nets.

If I understand Harry Reid correctly, Republicans recently stole Crimea in an Ocean's 11 style heist and sent it to Russia in giant cake.
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) March 24, 2014

Harry Reid blames GOP for Russia’s annexing Crimea. Also at fault for 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Apollo 13. http://t.co/6Zbn5RDRlS
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) March 24, 2014

ATTENTION: If your psych ward is missing an older, white gentlemen calling himself Harry Reid. Please pick up ASAP https://t.co/p1s70f6YaY
— Matthew (@Matthops82) March 24, 2014

UPDATE:   Cardigan of iOwnTheWorld was kind enough to link to this post.and we thank them.

Obamao Souvenirs Difficult To Find During FLOTUS Visit To China

T-shirts, coin purses and posters that show The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer portrayed as Chairman Mao are normally available for sale at the Great Wall of China. But on Sunday, when the Wookiee visited the Chinese tourist spot with her daughters, the so-called “Obamao” souvenirs were nowhere to be found.  Or were they?

Vladimir, Then and Now

Cross posted at Proof Positive

#BarackTology: Millennials Rank The Top Obama Scandals

Students on the campus of George Mason University picked the NSA collection of data, the president’s lie that “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” and the IRS targeting of conservatives as the top Obama scandals in a parody bracket released Friday.

Campus Reform asked students to fill out a scandal-based bracket ranging from Benghazi and Fast and Furious to the IRS targeting of conservatives and the NSA’s collection of data.

“It’s pretty incredible actually, I didn't realize how many scandals were going on,” said one student.

Another millennial advanced the IRS scandal because “that’s probably how [Obama] got into office.”

The “Elite Eight” choices are:

1. Benghazi

2. Obama’s “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” promise

3. DOJ spying on AP reporters

4. The Fast and Furious gun-running scandal

5. IRS targeting conservative groups

6. The botched rollout of Healthcare.gov

7. Obama bypassing Congress to delay elements of Obamacare

8. NSA collection of citizens’ email and phone data

Tweet your picks @CampusReform, #BarackTology

If Nancy Doesn't Want To Take Her Medication Orally, I'm Sure We Can Arrange That She Can Have It Some Other Way

Four years ago the Affordable Care Act was signed into law.  During a press conference on Thursday which a measly 15 journalists attended, Nancy Pelosi vocefirously stood at the rostrum correcting a reporter who asked, “In the current environment in a swing district, is Obamacare a winner or a loser politically?”

Pelosi replied, “I believe that it’s a winner,” and then went into a dissertation on why it should be called by its proper name.

“It’s called the Affordable Care Act.  It’s called the Affordable Care Act. I know you didn’t intend any compliment or derogatory—it’s called the Affordable Care Act, and the Affordable Care Act, when people know what it is and see what it means to them, and that’s the case that we have to make,” she rambled.

“And I tell him the same thing I told you,” Pelosi said laughing. “Affordable. Affordable. There’s a reason—affordable. Affordable. Affordable. Affordable. Affordable. The reason they changed the name of it is because they wanted to get away, the opponents, from the word affordable. And that’s why I’m patient with some of these comments, whatever it is; it’s infinitely more affordable than the path that we’re on without it.”

You keep using that word Nancy.   I don’t think it means what you think it means.

The reporter was quick to point out that The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer himself had embraced the term in 2012.

The only reason I can surmise that she sounded like a broken record is that she either shit her pantsuit or it was time for her meds.

UPDATE:  Thanks a bazillion to Don Surber for linking to this post.

"The Truth Is Out There"

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Cross posted at Proof Positive

No Progress Has Been Made

Hat Tip:  Blur Brain

Putin Changes Map Of World…Meanwhile Back At The White House

Russian President Vladimir Putin, flanked by Crimea’s new leaders, formally signed a treaty of annexation of Crimea in a grand hall of the Kremlin today. The borders have been formally redrawn and the map of the world has now been officially changed.

Meanwhile, back at the White House, The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer revealed his March Madness bracket.

"These are not imaginative picks," TWMDCO said. "But I think they're the right ones."

According to Jon Terbush, “they're identical to the picks of colorful college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.”  What?  He can’t even muster the stones to pick his own brackets?

The world is in chaos and Americans look to the man in the White House for a sense of stability and safety.   

Dmitry Kiselyov, an anchor for state-controlled Rossiya 1 television, stood in front of an image of a mushroom cloud and boldly declared, “Russia is the only country in the world realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash.”

The president should be seen as having his hand on the tiller of the ship of state.  Instead, we and our allies see him with a Sharpie® in his hand and dictators don’t fear the warnings of the leader of the free world.

The Ultimate Polish Joke

Arriving in Warsaw, Poland yesterday our village idiot reassured Poland and the Baltic states that America’s 98-pound weakling AKA The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer would protect them from any Russian aggression like the actions the Kremlin took in Crimea.

“You have an ally whose budget is larger than the next 10 nations in the world combined, so don’t worry about where we are,” Biden said to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowsk failing to confess that the U.S. budget is comprised of borrowed money and a $17 trillion national debt.

Uncle Joe’s trip is meant to send a conspicuous message to Moscow, reinforcing the limited sanctions that the United States and the European Union announced on Monday against Russian officials and their allies over the parts they played in events in Crimea.

Photoshop™ Of The Day: They Never Made Fun Of Bush

UPDATE:  Thank you to Israel Matzav for linking to this post.

Mocked By Moscow

Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov tweeted a photoshopped image of The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer in a Russian military uniform adding this pithy comment, “Interestingly, after the success of the company in returning Crimea, Barack is getting the rank of colonel?”

I am outraged at the chutzpah of this apparatchik.  Does Mr. Aksyonov not realize the good fortune of Comrade Putin for getting into the invading business while such a spineless, narcissistic opponent occupies the Oval Office?

Our president deserved to be photoshopped, at the very least, as a Russian four-star general with lots of dangling sparklies to warn the world of his superior strategic Nobel Peace Prize-winning foreign policies and his unparalleled skill in leading from behind.

This past Saturday, right before a U.N. Security Council vote to declare Sunday's referendum in Crimea invalid, American ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power went over to speak with Russian ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin.

The photograph of the confrontation which was tweeted by geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group depicts two members of Churkin’s staff standing behind the ambassadors openly, flagrantly sniggering at the laughable state of US-Russian diplomacy.

The United States is being disgraced and humiliated.

Our paper tiger president imposed sanctions on eleven Kremlin aides and top government officials including Crimean and Ukrainian officials.  The problem, however, is that the so-called “Russian Oligarchs” had already withdrawn $100 billion in US Treasury Bonds from the Federal Reserve Bank in advance of the sanctions.

Comrade @BarackObama, what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? Or U didn't think about it?)http://t.co/16KUTJPXOl
— Dmitry Rogozin (@DRogozin) March 17, 2014

I think some prankster prepared the draft of this Act of the US President)
— Dmitry Rogozin (@DRogozin) March 17, 2014

Boy, those sanctions sure backed him off. AP-Russian President Putin signs decree recognizing Crimea as "sovereign and independent country."
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 17, 2014

Obama: "We’re Going to Stand Firm in our Unwavering Support for Ukraine"

We’ll continue to make clear to Russia that further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world. The international community will continue to stand together to oppose any violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and continued Russian military intervention in Ukraine will only deepen Russia’s diplomatic isolation and exact a greater toll on the Russian economy.

President Obama, the Jar Jar Binks of 21st Century diplomacy, has assured the Ukrainian people that they have his "unwavering support". If any of you doubt Obama's resolve, just look at how he dealt with Assad of Syria. Assad was murdering children with poison gas. Obama made it "clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use", calling it "a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of war... If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons."

If I may quote myself: "Got that? Assad is a dictator committing atrocities, killing children with poison gas, committing crimes against humanity we will not tolerate, so, we must not fail to act."

But, we didn't. Not even a pin prick. Will our "unwavering support" for the Ukraine be any firmer than our ephemeral resolve to stop a murdering dictator, killing children with chemical weapons? Vladimir Putin stepped into the Syrian debacle and gave our toothless, Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™ an excuse to do nothing and he took it gladly. Then he went on vacation. Again.

"isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world" Diminish Russia's place while it increases its territory and resources? His carrot is larger than your stick, Mr. President. It's not that your words aren't pretty, Mr. President, it's that no one believes you when you say them.

"If you like your peninsula, people of the Ukraine, you can keep it!"

I don't know how many in the US are willing to start a shooting war to kick Russia out of the Ukraine, but unless that is at least an option, I don't see how Obama has a prayer of using "diplomatic" or economic means to do so.

Cross posted at Proof Positive

"Noah...Build Me an Ark"

You've probably seen the trailers for the new Russell Crowe movie "Noah". I really don't think I'll go see it, at least, not first run. Not because of Russell Crowe. He's a very fine actor and probably does the role credit. But, every time I see the movie referenced, I flash back to the seventies.

The year was 1976. There was a Christian documentary in the theaters: In Search of Noah's Ark (you can see the whole thing at the link, if you like!) They went into great detail about computer models of the seaworthiness of the ark, satellite photos of what might be the ark on what might be Mt. Ararat.

I'd seen it with a few friends and as we were leaving, one of them was most enthusiastic about what we'd seen and what it might mean to the world at large: proof that the Bible was true. I hated to burst his bubble, but I told him it wouldn't make any difference. Even if it could be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Noah existed and the ark was real and even the flood was real (some claim it was localized and not a worldwide flood), and they brought the ark down from the mountain as concrete, verifiable truth, people would still not believe.

Even if Noah's existence could be verified, there would be those who would write him off as some sort of New Age guru or astrologer, or Survivalist*, who somehow sussed out the coming flood, and the Judeo-Christian tradition just incorporated the Noah legend into their "mythology".

So, I would be pleasantly surprised if Russell Crowe's Noah closely adhered to the Biblical one (operative word being "surprised"), but Hollywood doesn't have the greatest track record on Biblical epics. So, if any of you happen to see it, drop me a note. Let me know what you think. (And if Noah's dialogue with God went any better than it did with Bill Cosby!)

*Dude! It was 1976! I didn't use that word!

Cross posted at Proof Positive

Orange Sabres And Blue Devils Battle It Out For Conference Title

You know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men.  Months ago I bought tickets to the 2014 ACC Tournament.  A devoted fan of the Duke Blue Devils, I wanted to be there to watch my team play.

I came down with pneumonia and my dream of seeing my boys play in person was shattered.

The Blue Devils took on Clemson Friday night and defeated them 63-62.  With that win they advanced to the semi-finals to face NC State on Saturday.

I went to work confident that the Wolfpack would be no threat to the Blue Devils, but just an hour into my shift I began to feel so bad that I had to leave.  I went to the Emergency Room.  The game was on the TV in the ER Waiting Room.  Eventually I was taken into an examination room and the ER doctor ordered blood work, urinalysis, EKG and chest x-rays.

While all this was going on, I was fortunate that the exam room had a TV mounted on the wall.  The ER nurse was kind enough to turn it on for me so I could watch the game.  I guess she felt sorry for me because I was so sick.  It was determined that I was suffering from dehydration and viral syndrome.  So the doctor ordered an IV drip and sent me on my way with a stern warning not to return to work for three days.  I think I'll follow his advice.

It was exciting watching Jabari Parker and T.J. Warren trading baskets in the kind of shootout expected from the Atlantic Coast Conference's top two scorers.

Parker scored 20 points and the Blue Devils beat Warren and North Carolina State 75-67 earning Duke its 31st championship game appearance and its first since 2011.

The ACC Tournament Championship starts at 1:00 PM ET with Duke going up against the Virginia Cavaliers a team that Duke whipped in January 69-65.

Duke is the favorite to claim the conference title.

At 6:00 PM the NCAA tournament brackets will be announced.  A victory against the Cavaliers could earn Duke a No. 1 seed along with Florida, Wichita State and Arizona.

UPDATE 3:20 PM:  Congratulations to the Cavaliers.  You played a classy game.  You deserve to be ACC Champions.  Best of luck on your march to the Final Four.

See B.S.

Several days ago a story broke that Emmy Award winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson had resigned as a decades-long employee from CBS.

Attkisson is best known for her investigation of the gun-running scandal known as "Fast and Furious" that allowed firearms to reach a myriad of Mexican drug cartels.  One of those guns was used in the murder of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry.  Her work on the story garnered an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2012.

A media analyst suggests that the CBS News investigative reporter resigned because her bosses were annoyed with her efforts to uncover several scandals within the Obama Administration including the Benghazi debacle and Solyndra.

It was Attkisson who roundly refuted Hillary Clinton’s claim that "I remember landing under sniper fire" on a visit to Bosnia.  Attkisson was covering the First Lady on that trip and her memories are:  "To be sure, it was not the 'safest' trip for a first lady to take: there were serious risks in traveling to Bosnia, even for the president's wife under the vigilant protection of the U.S. military. It took some guts for her to go. But I don't recall, and did not note, any close calls on this trip with sniper fire or any other dangers. "

Many journalists now are no more than channelers and echoers of what George Orwell called the 'official truth'.

Bogus characterizations of her work contend that her reporting had become agenda-driven.  CBS executives “doubt the impartiality” of her reporting.

If by “doubt the impartiality” of her work CBS is inferring that Attkisson refrains from exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering or sensationalism then, yes, Attkisson is guilty as charged.

If by “agenda-driven” the Left is implying that she is fighting for truth in Washington when they exude extreme cowardice then, yes, they pegged her correctly.

Carrying the water for this Administration smacks of yellow journalism.  The Liberal stenographers and White House poodles have abdicated their role as the Fourth Estate and have morphed into a Fifth Column overtly supporting a Progressive movement.

I strongly suspect that Ms. Attkisson’s departure from CBS may well become a precursor to the wheels coming off The Ministry of Propaganda.

They say the truth shall set you free.  Ms. Attkisson is surely free now.  Good for her.  I wish her well.

"Clueless in DC"

Dear Abby:

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm considered by many to be the leader of the E-fray Orld-way. As a consequence, I have an awful lot on my plate. Three times a day, in fact. (I haven't passed on a really sumptuous meal in the last five years! Sometimes, I have seconds! Thirds, even!)

But, getting back to my problem...I'm at the top of my game. If there's a crisis anywhere in the world, I can draw a red line in my sleep! (I often have!) I then get a really serious look on my face and state that there are "costs" to actions. Believe me there are costs! Do you have any idea how much it costs to take my entourage down to Key West for a simple golf weekend? Less than Hawaii, sure! Or Martha's Vineyard or any of my bi-weekly vacation spots. But, cost is my middle name! (And here you thought it was "Hussein"!)

Then I piously say that I join with our allies in their "concerns". (It sure beats the hell out of taking any meaningful action!) And it's not like there's no one to hold me accountable! I submit to hard hitting interviews on fake radio shows, fake TV shows and The View (but I repeat myself!). Just this week on "Between the Ferns", Zach Galifianakis read those questions with the same fake sincerity he did in rehearsal! But, what's a guy got to do to get a decent "Boxers or briefs?" question around here??

Just listen to what that big meanie Jim Geraghty said about me:

After a tough morning doing an interview with Funny or Die, and in between two fundraisers, President Obama did his part for the economy...

I think he might be being sarcastic!!

You may have heard of that little 'dust up' in the Ukraine. My dear friend Vladimir Putin, who has always been jealous of my charisma and charm, is moving Russian troops into the Crimean peninsula and massing troops and weapons on the Russian border. It's getting so that I cannot go on vacation, or happy hour with my fellow Democrats, or play a round or 36 of golf, without getting criticized for some perceived "lack of leadership"! Can you believe it?? Putin is ignoring me, Angela Merkel isn't taking my calls, Iran is ignoring our agreement on enriching uranium and Obamacare is coming apart at the seams.

My question to you is, should I go with the pink sweater, or hold out for one with a matching scarf? 

Signed,

Clueless in D.C.

Cross posted at Proof Positive

Got Crow?

With their ears to the ground, crystal balls at the ready and a few Magic 8 Balls for extra measure, long-in-the-tooth Republicans like five-term senator Mitch McConnell are mounting an aggressive effort to undermine the credibility of advocacy groups like the Tea Party by denying them any Senate primary victories, cutting into their fund-raising and diminishing them as a future force in Republican politics.

At the apex of the rise of the Tea Party, the conservative groups stirred up a hornet’s nest for establishment Republican candidates.

“I think we are going to crush them everywhere,” McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said in a New York Times interview, “I don’t think they are going to have a single nominee anywhere in the country.”

McConnell, the GOP Post Turtle, is one of three establishment Republicans who are facing primary challengers backed by Tea Party conservative groups. The Senate Conservatives Fund, The Madison Project, and FreedomWorks are supporting Matt Bevin, McConnell’s rival in Kentucky.

"I won't let you down.  I will lead with integrity…We will debate our ideas openly, we will vote without fear…The best conservative ideas for lifting Americans out of poverty will get a hearing," promised McConnell at this weekend’s CPAC conference.

"It was a speech by a politician," one attendee noted wryly.

Declaring the need “to crush them everywhere,” are the words of a self-serving, small-minded power hungry politician who has already been in Washington far too long.

Running to his real friends at The New York Times to trash the very people he was attempting to court just days before is loathsome and despicable.  I hope Bevin wears him out in the primary.  We don’t need a betrayer of limited government

Duke Blue Devils’ Impossible-To-Stop Two-Man Wing Game

I insist on gloating today.  I insist on being annoying about it too.  Today, that’s how I’m going to roll.

All season long, I’ve heard it said and I’ve seen it written that Duke has been on an up-and-down roller coaster ride with a “bitter slump pushing them to the brink of being unranked” before finding themselves late in the season.

The first meeting of the 2013-14 regular season between Duke and Carolina was to have been February 12th.  Mother Nature decided to dump “Snowpocalypse” on Chapel Hill and the Dean Dome instead.  That game was rescheduled for February 20th.

Duke led the Tarheels during the entire first half but lost control in the second to lose 74-66.  I was crestfallen.  A short two days later, my boys would take revenge for their February 1st overtime lose in the Carrier Dome to Syracuse 91-89.

The Orange came to our house, Cameron Indoor Stadium, where all the “Crazies” live.  It was at Cameron that The Orange found out that they are not the gods of the ACC and that rules ignored at your house can be equally ignored at our house.  It was the scene of Coach Bonheim literally losing his shit over a clear blocking foul and enduring a 66-60 loss to my beloved Blue Devils.

Last night was Senior Night.  The Tobacco Road Rivalry was set between The Heels and the Devils.  I had a feeling in my heart of hearts that this meeting would end in victory for my beloved Blue Devils.

I was right.

Jabari Parker had his most polished game of the season late night.  Even with Carolina’s best defender, J. P. Tokoto, draped all over him in an attempt to frustrate him Parker patiently picked his spots.  One possession he would receive a post entry pass, face up and nail a jumper. The next, he'd face up again, see Tokoto anticipating the jumper and drive right to the rim.

Rodney Hood scored 24 points and combined with Parker for 27 of Duke’s 40 first-half points.  As strong as their first half was, the real clinic came in the second half.

The Blue Devils led by as many as 19 points during multiple stretches, breaking down the North Carolina defense to shoot 50.9 percent from the field.  At certain points, it looked as if Hood and Parker were toying with a fangless Tar Heel defense. 

Hood finished with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and knocked down three of Duke's eight shots from beyond the arc.

Duke's last 16 points came at the charity stripe. The Devils did not hit a field goal in the final 6:56 because Carolina had apparently decided to start fouling early to get back in the game.  On a lesser team that strategy might have worked.  Carolina didn’t reckon that Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon and the shooter-heavy lineup were going to be cold-blooded at the stripe.

Oh yeah, Marcus Paige, the vaunted second-half wonder boy looked scorched at the end.  I loved his expression.  That’s why I picked that photo to chop.

It was an exhilarating game to watch.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better to cheer me up after spending a week at home with pneumonia.

From here, it’s on to next week’s ACC Tournament in Greensboro. 

Four slots still remain to be determined as of this writing.  Already locked are (1) Virginia, (2) Syracuse, (3) Duke, (4) North Carolina and (5) Pitt.

Carolina and Duke have drawn byes and won’t see action until Friday.

Go Duke.  And by the way, Carolina GTH.

Terminating With Extreme Prejudice The Doctrine Of Drift, Decline And Defeatism

“Conservatives must remember the policies and victories of Ronald Reagan. We can and must replace the Obama-Clinton-Kerry-Biden Doctrine of drift, decline and defeatism with a Reaganite foreign policy. That is the key to success this November and in 2016, and that is the key to ensuring America’s freedom and security in the years ahead,” said former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, on the opening day of this year’s CPAC.

Saturday we will learn the final results of the CPAC Straw Poll.  CPAC attendees are rejecting the Republican establishment and its brand of Big Government "me-too-ism" in favor of candidates who are authentic representatives of the grassroots conservative base of the Party.

The results of the first poll give Rand Paul 29%, Ted Cruz 17%, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie 10%, Scott Walker 7%, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum 2%, and Mike Pence (1%)

Note: Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal did not receive enough votes to remain on the leader board.

The GOP has a deep roster of potential presidential candidates.  The table below provides you with the current list and the non-viability I see in their candidacy.  I welcome your opinion.  If it differs from mine, I’d love to discuss them openly with you.  We’re all in this together—standing guard over liberty.

CANDIDATE	NOT VIABLE FOR THIS REASON
Kelly Ayotte	Her alliance with McCain and Graham
Scott Brown	Lied about his swearing-in ceremony RE:  Obamacare legislation
Jeb Bush	Bush family name a distracter
Ben Carson
Chris Christie	Bridgegate scandal, Obama Super Storm Sandy bear hug
Ted Cruz
Nikki Haley	Participated in Mark Sanford fundraiser
Mike Huckabee	“Open borders policy,  ordered administration hard drives destroyed before leaving office, “Criminal Coddling” scandal, Wayne Dumond parole scandal
Jon Huntsman	Supports cap and trade, believes in global warming, once called Obama “a remarkable leader”
Bobby Jindal	50% job disapproval by voters in Louisiana, do not favor his run for the presidency
John Kasich	Ohioans are not on board with a Kasich run for president
Peter King	Said Rand Paul was “part of the Hate America crowd and doesn’t deserve to be a U.S. Senator.”  He also targeted Ted Cruz
Bob McDonnell	Currently battling federal corruption charges
Susana Martinez	Political novice on the national stage
Sarah Palin	Still trying to build political capital, may never receive the support she deserves following her betrayal by John McCain
Rand Paul
Rick Perry	May not be able to overcome his “oops” gaffe in 2012 debate or the unfortunate “boys will be boys” remark when U.S. soldiers reportedly were discovered to have urinated on the corpse of a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan
Marco Rubio	Obama used him like a cheap hooker on Immigration Reform bill, he got his 30 pieces of silver
Paul Ryan	The Ryan-Murray “budget deal” makes outrageous cuts in pension benefits to wounded and disabled veterans, essentially robbing them
Rick Santorum	He hit his ceiling in 2012, prone to tapping into angry resentments
Tim Scott	Political novice on the national stage
John Thune	Lacks extensive out-of-state focus
Donald Trump	Blowhard
Scott Walker	I believe he is dedicated to finishing what he started in Wisconsin

Kindergarten Cop

Cross posted at Proof Positive