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LOL...Awww you miss EZ...
Sweet...now you getting down near my neighborhood
Happy New Year MG
Hmmm right now would LOVE it to get back to 13.00...
Will do...OMG...just opened the male...actually feMALE...my eyes...my eyes...never be the same...
Speaking of site for sore eyes...APHA....Grrrr
OMG...ROFLMAO...and . seriously...have had MANY tell me to do just that...posting it to Di ...grins
Mark Felt and the 'Collusion' Conspiracy
By J.R. Dunn
So why does Romney come to mind when I read about Felt??
One strange element of the attempted coup against Donald Trump is that no one involved has brought up the name of W. Mark Felt. Or perhaps that’s not so strange.
Mark Felt is a unique figure in American history, an FBI official who actually did bring down a president. The president was Richard M. Nixon, the occasion the legendary Watergate scandal.
For the benefit of all you millennials out there, Watergate was the outcome of a burglary pulled at the D.C. hotel complex of that name targeting the Democratic National Committee offices during the 1972 presidential election campaign. The burglars were caught and swiftly traced back to rogue White House staffers. No involvement by Nixon was ever proven – and was unlikely in any case – but in an effort to protect his staff, a collection of sideshow habitués ranging from the simply goofy to the truly deranged, Nixon instigated a coverup.
A two-year uproar ensued, which the national media, led by the Washington Post, blew up into a full-scale, national-historical constitutional crisis. As legend has it, Nixon was about to tear the Constitution into shreds when a pair of WaPo reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, rode into town on white steeds and with the help of info from a shadowy gnome known only as “Deep Throat” (after a notorious porno flick of the day), blew the conspiracy wide open and sent Nixon packing. That’s the legend, anyway, handed down for decades since, a triumph of all right-thinking folk and a high point of postwar liberalism
For decades afterward, speculation was rife concerning the actual identity of Deep Throat, ranging from Nixon staffer John Dean to a phantom existing only in the caverns of Woodward and Bernstein’s brains. Nobody actually pinned down the real individual, who was W. Mark Felt.
It wasn’t until 2005 that Felt’s role was at last revealed, in a Vanity Fair article written by his attorney. It seems that his family, visions of lucrative book and film deals dancing in their heads, had persuaded the ailing and near-senile Felt to unburden himself at long last.
There followed a brief uproar minutely covered by media. Felt, a clear expression of puzzlement on his face, had his last hurrah. But that was all. The big book deal failed to materialize. All that ever appeared was a a reprint of an earlier memoir (ghost-written, strangely enough, by National Review veteran Ralph de Toledano). A film involving Tom Hanks was kicked around before expiring. A later effort starring Liam Neeson was released only in 2017, to universal apathy. Felt slowly drifted back into oblivion. When he finally died in 2009, it was to scarcely any notice.
Why the cool reception? Because to accept Felt at his own valuation would have been to destroy the myth of Watergate, one of liberalism’s brightest moments. The problem with Felt was his motives. Felt had worked his way up to the level of assistant director of the FBI (Is this starting to sound familiar?) and fully believed that he deserved the directorship. Instead Nixon chose L. Patrick Gray III, a bureaucratic cutout with no ties to the agency. Nixon’s thinking here was clear, and as well considered as many of his decisions: J. Edgar Hoover had been a terror in Washington for generations. His replacement had to be someone with no agency connections who would not entertain ideas of becoming the next Hoover. So the colorless bureaucrat Gray got the nod, did what was required of him for a short period, and moved on.
But this was obviously no solace to Felt, who, consumed by resentment, set out to punish the man who had undervalued him.
We can see the problem for the Watergate myth immediately. Rather than a high moral crusade led by the country’s liberal journalistic elite, an effort that would redeem liberalism after a decade of corruption and incompetence, the scandal was and irrevocably transformed into a squalid campaign by a disgruntled employee. Rather than white knights, Woodward and Bernstein became gullible, easily manipulated stooges. The rest of the Washington elite come off little better, and one of the foundational myths of post-70s “left-liberalism” disappears in a puff of smoke.
This, then, is the prototype for the current swamp things. A president had once been destroyed on little evidence, and by an FBI official, so why couldn’t it be done once again, particularly when several, if not dozens, of FBI officials were involved (not to mention their associates, co-conspirators, and spouses)? So was born the “Russian Collusion” scandal and all that has come of it.
This time around, the conspirators had a lot more problems than Felt did – the GOP is nowhere near as naïve as it was in 1972 – and the same can be said of America as a whole. Donald Trump is not Richard Nixon – diffidence and self-doubt, serious flaws in Nixon’s character, are unimaginable in Trump. The media of 1972, composed of the Big Three Television networks and a handful of daily papers, channeled blow after blow against Nixon essentially unchallenged. Today’s alternate media acts to cushion and even curtail any similar campaign.
But there’s another element as well, one that says quite a lot about the character of Comey, Strzok, McCabe et al, one that suggests that they couldn’t have succeeded even with everything going their way.
Whatever can be said about Mark Felt – and there’s plenty – it has to be admitted that he was perfectly self-aware. Felt knew that there was no way he could go public. To reveal that the Watergate “scandal” was based on the testimony of a crybaby employee would have blown the whole thing up. The “threat to the Constitution” would have suddenly been transformed into comedy, Woodward and Bernstein would into a pair of easily manipulated doofuses, national media would have been unveiled as stupid and credulous, and the Democrats into whiners who couldn’t live with reality of the American political system.
So Felt kept his counsel, remaining a shadowy figure with an insulting nickname, enabling Watergate to attain the status of legend. He, and no one else – not Woodward and Bernstein, not Bradlee, not Leon Panetta, or Sam Ervin – remains the central figure of Watergate, without which it could never have happened. He brought it off, credit where credit is due.
But the anti-Trump crowd didn’t see it that way. No – they clearly saw that Felt was left standing when the music stopped. No honors, no bestsellers, no Oscar-winning flicks. Felt remained the odd man out while others collected the rewards.
That wasn’t going to happen this time. The collusion crowd wanted their share of glory. They wanted the NYT Bestseller List. They wanted the cash. They wanted to hobnob with Hillary and Barack. They wanted to appear on Oprah. They wanted prominent mention in the history textbooks. They wanted to be patted on the head.
So there was no secrecy, at least in the long run. James Comey followed the master in leaking certain memos to his good friend Prof. Daniel Richmond, but he didn’t remain in the shadows. He leapt out into the spotlight almost immediately. Comey got his bestseller, but one that was undercut in every particular even as the pages were being turned. Media and movie offers failed to pour in, and Comey now faces a future of endless congressional and Justice Department investigations, ending up he knows not where.
The same course of action certainly occurred to McCabe, Strzok, Ohr, and all the rest. But Comey’s experience has certainly tempered any such hopes. Jack Ketch the hangman never gets invited to dinner, as Felt well knew and this crowd is now learning. Mueller’s report, when it is at last released sometime in the 22nd century, is unlikely to contain any heroes, whatever else it may feature. McCabe and Strzok wound up being fired, and along with the others, are waiting for the next boom to be lowered.
Donald Trump, in the meantime, towers above it all, no evidence against him, no coverup apparent, the opinion and support of his people – real, everyday Americans – solidifying in his favor even under the relentless pounding of the media.
And in the end Mark Felt, as he has for the past fifty years, has the last laugh.
One strange element of the attempted coup against Donald Trump is that no one involved has brought up the name of W. Mark Felt. Or perhaps that’s not so strange.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/01/mark_felt_and_the_collusion_conspiracy.html#ixzz5bS8DDZoc
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
You want some of this???...
Morning freebird...
Absolutely...and what if BEVO tramples the Ga Bulldog???...wow ...because he wasn't hurt THAT was funny as hell...and set the tone for the game.
Morning True
Still looking good...Texas 20-7...with 4 minutes left in the half.
Here to say the same...interesting Bowl game BTW...BEVO nearly trampled the Ga Bulldog in the pregame meeting...now Texas is leading 10-0...interesting night.
It has been fun...now back to being a freebird...yippee Ki yay
Or in my best Spanish...Huevos Rancheros...grins
Happy New Year my friend
OMG...1 inch here in Austin...
Nice...at 43 right now...going to 51...Tomorrow won't get out of the 30's
Oldest World War II veteran, Austin's Richard Overton, dies at 112
By: KXAN Staff
Posted: Dec 27, 2018 07:12 PM CST
Updated: Dec 28, 2018 08:56 PM CST
/Salute...Thank you for your service...RIP...
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Richard Overton, the oldest World War II veteran, has died at the age of 112.
He had been admitted to the hospital last week with pneumonia and went to a rehab facility Monday.
"We're truly gonna miss him," said his cousin Volma Overton Jr. "He was the joy of our days."
Overton was born on May 11, 1906, in Bastrop County. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1942 at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio. Overton served in the South Pacific from 1942 through 1945, serving in Hawaii, Okinawa, Guam and Iwo Jima.
Military records show Overton buried fellow soldiers, served as base security and drove a Jeep for a lieutenant while stationed overseas.
Skills he learned as a young man helped when he joined the Army, as he already knew how to shoot.
"I always liked to hunt," Overton said in a 2013 interview with the Veterans History Project, a part of the Library of Congress, when he was 107 years old. He then told a story of how when trainers learned a recruit could shoot, they would set up targets on a bluff to test their accuracy.
While in the Pacific Theater, he was involved in gun battles against the Japanese, having to take cover in foxholes to keep from getting hit.
"One day I was in the foxhole, and I put a rock in front of me, and a bullet hit that rock," Overton said. "It... hit in the hole. And I grabbed it, see, that thing was so hot."
Overton says he learned an important lesson that day: always use dirt to hide yourself in a fox hole. Otherwise, the bullet can ricochet.
After time overseas, Overton found out he was returning home while writing a letter. He retired from the Army in October 1945, with the rank of Corporal.
He returned to Texas, working as a furniture salesman and for the Texas Treasury Department (now the Texas Comptroller's office) in Austin. He retired in 1985 as a courier.
He lived in the same east Austin house he built after World War II.
photo
Richard Overton, the oldest living World War II veteran and oldest man in America, cracks a smile along side of his likeness in a mural at 12th and Chicon Streets in Austin.
Overton celebrated his 100th birthday in 2006, with friends, family and KXAN there. He told us then he loved whiskey, women and smoking 12 cigars a day.
But he didn't let his age stop him.
Overton continued driving, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and attending church several times a week into his old age.
In 2013, Overton traveled to Washington, D.C. twice. The first trip, in May, was an Honor Flight with nearly three dozen other World War II veterans to visit the National World War II Memorial.
Six months later, President Obama invited Overton to spend Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, where he was greeted with two standing ovations.
"Today, Richard still lives in the house he built all those years ago, rakes his own lawn and every Sunday, he hops in his 1971 Ford truck and drives one of nice ladies in his neighborhood to church," President Obama said during the 2013 ceremony. "So, this is the life of one American veteran living proud and strong in the land he helped keep free."
In November 2015, Overton spent about a week, including Veterans Day, at St. David's Medical Center in central Austin battling pneumonia.
"He wants to let everyone know he will be just fine," family friend Martin Wilford said at the time.
Overton recovered, but after reaching 110 years old, he needed around the clock in-home care. Overton's family wanted him to stay in his home and receive the care; however in-home care is not covered by VA benefits.
After asking for help, people across the country donated nearly $200,000 to help pay for Overton's care.
Before his death, Overton was asked several times how to live a long, healthy life.
"I'd ask them to stay busy and talk to the Lord and live with the Lord," Overton said. "Don't live with the people. Live with the Lord. Let Him take care of you."
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/oldest-world-war-ii-veteran-austin-s-richard-overton-dies-at-112/1677201046
Oldest World War II veteran, Austin's Richard Overton, dies at 112
By: KXAN Staff
Posted: Dec 27, 2018 07:12 PM CST
Updated: Dec 28, 2018 08:56 PM CST
/Salute...Thank you for your service...RIP...
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Richard Overton, the oldest World War II veteran, has died at the age of 112.
He had been admitted to the hospital last week with pneumonia and went to a rehab facility Monday.
"We're truly gonna miss him," said his cousin Volma Overton Jr. "He was the joy of our days."
Overton was born on May 11, 1906, in Bastrop County. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1942 at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio. Overton served in the South Pacific from 1942 through 1945, serving in Hawaii, Okinawa, Guam and Iwo Jima.
Military records show Overton buried fellow soldiers, served as base security and drove a Jeep for a lieutenant while stationed overseas.
Skills he learned as a young man helped when he joined the Army, as he already knew how to shoot.
"I always liked to hunt," Overton said in a 2013 interview with the Veterans History Project, a part of the Library of Congress, when he was 107 years old. He then told a story of how when trainers learned a recruit could shoot, they would set up targets on a bluff to test their accuracy.
While in the Pacific Theater, he was involved in gun battles against the Japanese, having to take cover in foxholes to keep from getting hit.
"One day I was in the foxhole, and I put a rock in front of me, and a bullet hit that rock," Overton said. "It... hit in the hole. And I grabbed it, see, that thing was so hot."
Overton says he learned an important lesson that day: always use dirt to hide yourself in a fox hole. Otherwise, the bullet can ricochet.
After time overseas, Overton found out he was returning home while writing a letter. He retired from the Army in October 1945, with the rank of Corporal.
He returned to Texas, working as a furniture salesman and for the Texas Treasury Department (now the Texas Comptroller's office) in Austin. He retired in 1985 as a courier.
He lived in the same east Austin house he built after World War II.
photo
Richard Overton, the oldest living World War II veteran and oldest man in America, cracks a smile along side of his likeness in a mural at 12th and Chicon Streets in Austin.
Overton celebrated his 100th birthday in 2006, with friends, family and KXAN there. He told us then he loved whiskey, women and smoking 12 cigars a day.
But he didn't let his age stop him.
Overton continued driving, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and attending church several times a week into his old age.
In 2013, Overton traveled to Washington, D.C. twice. The first trip, in May, was an Honor Flight with nearly three dozen other World War II veterans to visit the National World War II Memorial.
Six months later, President Obama invited Overton to spend Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, where he was greeted with two standing ovations.
"Today, Richard still lives in the house he built all those years ago, rakes his own lawn and every Sunday, he hops in his 1971 Ford truck and drives one of nice ladies in his neighborhood to church," President Obama said during the 2013 ceremony. "So, this is the life of one American veteran living proud and strong in the land he helped keep free."
In November 2015, Overton spent about a week, including Veterans Day, at St. David's Medical Center in central Austin battling pneumonia.
"He wants to let everyone know he will be just fine," family friend Martin Wilford said at the time.
Overton recovered, but after reaching 110 years old, he needed around the clock in-home care. Overton's family wanted him to stay in his home and receive the care; however in-home care is not covered by VA benefits.
After asking for help, people across the country donated nearly $200,000 to help pay for Overton's care.
Before his death, Overton was asked several times how to live a long, healthy life.
"I'd ask them to stay busy and talk to the Lord and live with the Lord," Overton said. "Don't live with the people. Live with the Lord. Let Him take care of you."
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/oldest-world-war-ii-veteran-austin-s-richard-overton-dies-at-112/1677201046
Looks like Austin will finally get a taste of winter...we don't get lovely snow...just freezing frikkin rain...
THIS is our reaction to one frikkin day...
Crews preemptively treat Austin roads due to possible freezing rain
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Crews worked to preemptively treat Austin roads Monday morning ahead of potential freezing rain later in the week, according to a press release by the Texas Department of Transportation.
Work began at 9 a.m. Monday on Interstate 35 and other major highways in the region, officials wrote. "Pre-treating roads in advance of a storm discourages ice from sticking to the pavement," officials wrote. "Work teams and trucks will then be placed on standby, to respond to ice situations, as the need arises."
Brad Wheelis, a TxDOT spokesman, said crews used 100,000 gallons of salt water brine Monday to pre-treat 2,000 lane miles of roads in the Austin area.
"The way brine works is it's a chemical reaction," Wheelis told KXAN. "If it rains, basically it makes sure that [the water] doesn't freeze. If we get freezing rain, then it mixes that up and makes it into slush, so that's easier to drive on. It's not as slick. You get a traction."
FORECAST: See what's in store for weather this week
If you get caught driving on roads covered in ice, transportation officials have some tips for you:
-- Use caution on bridges and overpasses since those are the first to freeze
-- Slow down and leave at least three car-lengths between you and the car in front of you
-- Don't brake suddenly and avoid using cruise control so you can respond better if you encounter slippery roads
-- Check fuel, tires, oil and antifreeze levels in your car
-- Make sure heater, brakes and windshield wipers are working well.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/crews-preemptively-treats-austin-roads-due-to-possible-freezing-rain/1680815161
50+ evaluated after massive 20 to 30 vehicle pileup on SH 130
By: Tulsi Kamath
Posted: Jan 01, 2019 02:41 AM CST
Updated: Jan 01, 2019 06:07 AM CST
Not all fun and games..photos in the link...
Austin (KXAN) -- More than 50 people were involved in a wreck early Tuesday after a multi-car pileup near southeast Austin, officials wrote on Twitter.
At about 1:30 a.m., officials responded to a multi-car pileup that included "20 to 30 vehicles," according to the Austin Police Department. The collision took place in the southbound lanes of State Highway 130 near Harold Green Road and officials believe heavy fog and low visibility were factors in what lead to the crash.
Austin-Travis County EMS evaluated 56 people, transported nine and were refused by one person. Two of the people transported people sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries.
The National Weather Service says smoke and fog are causing reduced visibility and advise drivers to slow down. A dense fog advisory was issued for areas south of the Austin Metro and east of Interstate 35.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local-news/major-crash-shuts-down-portion-of-sh-130-near-highway-71/1682011686
YAY my Sup just brought in Breakfast tacos
Just saying...
End of 2018 and things
I never found out:
"who let the dogs out" .
The way to get to Sesame Street .
Why Dora doesn't just use google maps .
Why we don't ever see the headlines "psychic wins lottery" .
Why "abbreviated" is such a long word .
Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor , yet dish washing liquid is made with real lemons .
Why they sterilize the needles for lethal injections .
why do u have to "put your two cents in" , but it's only a "penny for ur thoughts" . Where's that extra penny going to ?
Why does the alphabet song & twinkle twinkle little star have the same tune . Why'd you just try to sing those two previous songs .
just what is Victoria's Secret ?
no link...shared from my work hipchat
Just saying...
End of 2018 and things
I never found out:
"who let the dogs out" .
The way to get to Sesame Street .
Why Dora doesn't just use google maps .
Why we don't ever see the headlines "psychic wins lottery" .
Why "abbreviated" is such a long word .
Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor , yet dish washing liquid is made with real lemons .
Why they sterilize the needles for lethal injections .
why do u have to "put your two cents in" , but it's only a "penny for ur thoughts" . Where's that extra penny going to ?
Why does the alphabet song & twinkle twinkle little star have the same tune . Why'd you just try to sing those two previous songs .
just what is Victoria's Secret ?
no link...shared from my work hipchat
January 1, 2019
President Trump’s Final 2018 Interview
By Peter Barry Chowka
President Donald Trump’s last interview of 2018 took place in the afternoon of December 31 and was broadcast at 10:40 PM ET on Fox News channel’s All-American New Year Special, from Times Square in New York City. The conversation with the president, speaking on the phone from the White House with the news channel’s New Year’s Eve show co-host Pete Hegseth, was the only hard news presented on any of the three major cable news channels during the frothy New Year’s Eve coverage that began several hours before the iconic ball drop in Times Square at 12 midnight ET.
Most of the mainstream media coverage of what the president said to Fox News on an otherwise slow news day focused on his comments about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who let it be known on Monday that she would be the first major Democrat to formally declare an interest in running for president in 2020.
Typical of the mainstream reporting of the Trump-Hegseth interview is a story that Deadline Hollywood ran on Monday afternoon based on early excerpts of the interview released Monday afternoon by Fox News:
President Donald Trump celebrated New Year’s Eve with a Fox News Channel phone interview, where talk naturally turned to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren official announcement earlier in the day that she had officially formed a 2020 White House race exploratory committee.
“She did very badly in proving that she was of Indian heritage,” Trump reminisced happy with FNC’s All American New Year Special co-host Pete Hegseth. “I think you have more than she does, and maybe I do too – and I have nothing!”
“We’ll see how she does. I hope she does well – I’d love to run against her,” Trump chuckled.
Hegseth played Trump straight man, asking POTUS if Warren truly believes she can win the White House in 2020.
“That I don’t know. You’d have to ask her psychiatrist,” Trump snarked.
After the interview aired in its entirety on Fox News at 10 PM EST, Fox News Media Relations emailed a transcript of Hegseth’s nine-minute long conversation with President Trump.
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: Happy New Year to you, sir. Thank you, thank you so much for joining Fox News Channel All-American New Year. Ah, we’re live in Times Square. Wish you could be here as well, but we know you’re in Washington, D.C. America wants to know, Mr. President, what are your plans here tonight on New Year’s Eve?
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: Well, I’m sort of in the White House right now. I’m talking to you and uh it's -- I think moving along well. We need border security, everybody knows it, we need a lot of people approved that we can't get through the senate. We can’t get them through Chuck Schumer and the group -- we have 360 people that want to join the administration-- ambassadors and lawyers and lots of other people. We cannot get them approved because - I guess you could call it obstruction, if you think about it, it’s pure obstruction -- and we have a lot of other things, but we have probably done more, Pete, than any administration in its first two years in history, according to most.
HEGSETH: And we want to get to looking back a little bit at 2018, but let me stay on the topic of that shutdown, Mr. President. You stayed in Washington, D.C. through Christmas, through New Year’s; we’ve seen Nancy Pelosi in Hawaii -- Democrats not willing to come back. A lot of your supporters, to be honest, Mr. President, are hoping that you will stand firm on that five billion dollar marker, something big for the wall. Are you willing to continue the shutdown, if that money does not come?
TRUMP: Well, we are, we have no choice. We have to have border security and a wall is part of border security. You know, I hear so much about the wall is old fashioned. No, the wall is not old-fashioned, the wall is 100 percent foolproof.
The -- you look at a wheel -- well, I guess they’d say the wheel is old-fashioned, but it’s been around for a long time. The wall is the only way to do it -- and technology, nobody knows more about technology than me, but technology are just the bells and whistles on the wall.
If you don’t have the wall, you’re going to have people coming in. And my border patrol people, they do a fantastic job. But you know, they need the backup of the wall and they’re the ones that want it more than anybody, Pete.
Pete Hegseth’s interview with President Trump screenshot by Peter Barry Chowka
HEGSETH: So how far are you willing to go, Mr. President? When do you anticipate talks with Chuck and Nancy, as you say, sir?
TRUMP: Well, I assume when they get back. I’m in Washington; I’m ready, willing and able, I’m in the White House, I’m ready to go. They can come over right now, they could have come over any time. I spent Christmas in the White House. I spent New Year’s Eve now in the White House and you know, I’m here. I’m ready to go. It’s very important. A lot of people are looking to get their paycheck, and so I’m ready to go anytime they want. No, we are not giving up. We have to have border security and the wall is a big part of border security; the biggest part.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Mr. President, another piece of news; recently Senator Lindsey Graham emerged from the White House. He had been very critical of your decision to withdraw troops from Syria, but he emerged saying, “Now I support the president’s decision,” a lot of people – he’s famously more hawkish on American troops and intervention abroad.
What was said to him? What did you relay inside the White House that changed the mind of Lindsey Graham?
TRUMP: Well, I don’t think too much, except that I said, you know, I never said that I'm gonna rush out. We’re going to get out. We’re getting out of Syria; we’re bringing our young, great troops home after so many years. You know, we were supposed to be in Syria for three to four months and that was four or five years ago. And it’s time. We have to bring them home.
And we’re going to do it in a very good way and frankly -- and you know this better than anybody, Pete, ISIS was all over the place when I took over. It was a total mess in Syria. We’ve almost eradicated all of them. We think all of them will be gone by the time we get out, but we’re heading back and we’re also fighting. We -- you can do two things at once.
Plus, as you know, we have other bases in the general area. In particular, we have one in Iraq and nobody said anything about that. But you know, we’re fighting these endless wars; I campaigned on getting out of the endless wars and frankly, I’ve done more than I said, because not only did I -- and am I able to get out, but I’ve also won.
You look at what I’ve done. We’ve really, largely eradicated ISIS. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t totally finish the job, but that’s going to be a very short period of time. We have to bring our troops back home. It’s time.
HEGSETH: Certainly an accomplishment -- the destruction of ISIS that has not gotten enough notice, no doubt, Mr. President. I want to transition to --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: They don’t want to talk about it, Pete.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: -- just a little bit.
(CROSSTALK)
They really don’t, they really don’t -- and if Lindsey Graham’s onboard with a plan like that, that’s a good sign. I want to transition to presidential politics. Everyone thought 2019 would be the year that Democrats come on to try to win the primary to take you on in 2020, sir. It turns out one of them jumped the gun, just news recently that Elizabeth Warren, one of your favorite senators, will be announcing an exploratory committee -- your reaction to your first opponent on the Democratic side, Mr. President?
TRUMP: Well, I’m happy about it. I think she’ll be wonderful. I hope she maybe gets the nomination. That will be a wonderful thing for me. But the only reason the Democrats, as an example, aren’t approving all of these people, that wanted to come in -- want to come into government -- and they really do, they want to come in -- we really need people. We need lawyers. We need ambassadors. We need all these 360 people that the Democrats won’t approve. Or if you look at not approving the wall, where they say walls don’t work when they work 100 percent, I mean when they’re so good, it’s because of the 2020 election.
They think I’m going to win. I think based on record I’m going to win also. I think we’re going to win big. And they figure by obstructing they can do this. Elizabeth Warren will be the first. She did very badly in proving that she was of Indian heritage. That didn’t work out too well. I think you have more than she does, and maybe I do too, and I have nothing. So you know, we’ll see how she does. I wish her well. I hope she does well. I’d love to run against her.
HEGSETH: She says she’s in the fight all the way, Mr. President. Do you really think she believes she can win?
TRUMP: Well that I don’t know. You’d have to ask her psychiatrist. But honestly, I just, you know --
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, if it’s her or somebody else, you know, based on our record, Pete, when you look at what we’ve done, when you look at the regulation cuts, when you look at the massive tax cuts, when you look at what we’ve done for the vets and what we’ve done for the military -- you know, with the vets, we have choice and now, as you know better than almost anybody I can speak to, that was phase one of choice. We’re going to phase two and then ultimately to phase three. We’re doing it in steps.
When you look at all of the things we’ve done for building up our military and all of the things, I don’t think, if you go just based on the record, I don’t see how anybody wins. We’ve done a lot. If you look at unemployment, we’re at a 50-year low.
HEGSETH: Absolutely.
TRUMP: For African Americans and for Hispanics and for Asians, we’re at an all-time historic low, the history of our country low. And I don’t know if somebody could do better than that -- good luck, but it just doesn’t seem that based on the record, somebody’s going to do real well.
HEGSETH: That’s a fair point, Mr. President. And on New Year’s Eve, tonight, a lot of our viewers, it’s a time for reflection. You look back on 2018, you look forward to 2019. If I could, Mr. President, on a lighter note, your winners and losers from 2018 -- who are the big winners and who are the big losers in the last year?
TRUMP: Well, I think the winners are the American people, because we’ve gotten them tax cuts and we’ve gotten them jobs, jobs like they’ve never had before. We’ve taken care of our military, we’ve rebuilt large portions and very shortly all of our military, which was totally depleted under the previous administration -- so I really think that the big winners are -- are the people of this country, the people of our country, and that makes me very happy.
The one that has lost, you know, I don’t want to really say, but you have certainly a lot of people that wanted to do things that it didn’t work out. I think that when you look at some of the candidates that are announcing right now, I think they will end up being the losers. You’ve got a lot of people, 32 people they say, could be with the Democrats; let’s see what happens.
But I only -- I’m really more interested in the winners and the winners are the people of the United States.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Sir, exit question here, 2019, any resolutions from you, Mr. President, in this new year? Or any predictions in the new year? Or both?
TRUMP: Well, I think we’re going to have a great form of wealth. We’ve created a lot of wealth for our country. And that’s very important, because that means jobs, that means prosperity, it means we can afford to do what we’re doing with the military. We’re working on tremendous trade deals, where other countries have taken advantage of us so badly and I mean, I campaigned on all this stuff. And really, I’m producing better than I actually said even during the campaign that I would, if you look at what we’ve done.
So I really think we’re going to have tremendous success with trade deals. I think we’re going to have a tremendously rebuilt military for strength and hopefully we’ll never have to use our military; it will be so strong that we’ll never have to use it and that would be a good thing.
HEGSETH: Mr. President, I shouldn’t say this, but last year my resolution was to tweet more; it’s the first resolution I’ve actually kept. Do you have --
CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Good.
HEGSETH: -- any resolutions for 2019, sir? Any resolutions?
TRUMP: Just success and prosperity and health for our country. That’s all I want.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Well, Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us. I do have to say, my co-host, Kennedy, wanted to say thank you and she loves the tax cuts as do so many Americans --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Oh, good. Well --
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: So thank you Mr. President for joining us and Happy…
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) -- terrific.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: She’s terrific. Have a great New Year’s in Washington, D.C. and we hope to see you soon in the New Year. Thank you, sir.
TRUMP: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it, Pete. Have a great year. Thank you, Pete.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: You, too, sir. You, too, sir.
TRUMP: Thank you.
HEGSETH: Thank you.
Peter Barry Chowka writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @pchowka.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/president_trumps_final_2018_interview.html#ixzz5bMDqHTsr
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Morning EZ...Happy New Year...
January 1, 2019
President Trump’s Final 2018 Interview
By Peter Barry Chowka
President Donald Trump’s last interview of 2018 took place in the afternoon of December 31 and was broadcast at 10:40 PM ET on Fox News channel’s All-American New Year Special, from Times Square in New York City. The conversation with the president, speaking on the phone from the White House with the news channel’s New Year’s Eve show co-host Pete Hegseth, was the only hard news presented on any of the three major cable news channels during the frothy New Year’s Eve coverage that began several hours before the iconic ball drop in Times Square at 12 midnight ET.
Most of the mainstream media coverage of what the president said to Fox News on an otherwise slow news day focused on his comments about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who let it be known on Monday that she would be the first major Democrat to formally declare an interest in running for president in 2020.
Typical of the mainstream reporting of the Trump-Hegseth interview is a story that Deadline Hollywood ran on Monday afternoon based on early excerpts of the interview released Monday afternoon by Fox News:
President Donald Trump celebrated New Year’s Eve with a Fox News Channel phone interview, where talk naturally turned to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren official announcement earlier in the day that she had officially formed a 2020 White House race exploratory committee.
“She did very badly in proving that she was of Indian heritage,” Trump reminisced happy with FNC’s All American New Year Special co-host Pete Hegseth. “I think you have more than she does, and maybe I do too – and I have nothing!”
“We’ll see how she does. I hope she does well – I’d love to run against her,” Trump chuckled.
Hegseth played Trump straight man, asking POTUS if Warren truly believes she can win the White House in 2020.
“That I don’t know. You’d have to ask her psychiatrist,” Trump snarked.
After the interview aired in its entirety on Fox News at 10 PM EST, Fox News Media Relations emailed a transcript of Hegseth’s nine-minute long conversation with President Trump.
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: Happy New Year to you, sir. Thank you, thank you so much for joining Fox News Channel All-American New Year. Ah, we’re live in Times Square. Wish you could be here as well, but we know you’re in Washington, D.C. America wants to know, Mr. President, what are your plans here tonight on New Year’s Eve?
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: Well, I’m sort of in the White House right now. I’m talking to you and uh it's -- I think moving along well. We need border security, everybody knows it, we need a lot of people approved that we can't get through the senate. We can’t get them through Chuck Schumer and the group -- we have 360 people that want to join the administration-- ambassadors and lawyers and lots of other people. We cannot get them approved because - I guess you could call it obstruction, if you think about it, it’s pure obstruction -- and we have a lot of other things, but we have probably done more, Pete, than any administration in its first two years in history, according to most.
HEGSETH: And we want to get to looking back a little bit at 2018, but let me stay on the topic of that shutdown, Mr. President. You stayed in Washington, D.C. through Christmas, through New Year’s; we’ve seen Nancy Pelosi in Hawaii -- Democrats not willing to come back. A lot of your supporters, to be honest, Mr. President, are hoping that you will stand firm on that five billion dollar marker, something big for the wall. Are you willing to continue the shutdown, if that money does not come?
TRUMP: Well, we are, we have no choice. We have to have border security and a wall is part of border security. You know, I hear so much about the wall is old fashioned. No, the wall is not old-fashioned, the wall is 100 percent foolproof.
The -- you look at a wheel -- well, I guess they’d say the wheel is old-fashioned, but it’s been around for a long time. The wall is the only way to do it -- and technology, nobody knows more about technology than me, but technology are just the bells and whistles on the wall.
If you don’t have the wall, you’re going to have people coming in. And my border patrol people, they do a fantastic job. But you know, they need the backup of the wall and they’re the ones that want it more than anybody, Pete.
Pete Hegseth’s interview with President Trump screenshot by Peter Barry Chowka
HEGSETH: So how far are you willing to go, Mr. President? When do you anticipate talks with Chuck and Nancy, as you say, sir?
TRUMP: Well, I assume when they get back. I’m in Washington; I’m ready, willing and able, I’m in the White House, I’m ready to go. They can come over right now, they could have come over any time. I spent Christmas in the White House. I spent New Year’s Eve now in the White House and you know, I’m here. I’m ready to go. It’s very important. A lot of people are looking to get their paycheck, and so I’m ready to go anytime they want. No, we are not giving up. We have to have border security and the wall is a big part of border security; the biggest part.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Mr. President, another piece of news; recently Senator Lindsey Graham emerged from the White House. He had been very critical of your decision to withdraw troops from Syria, but he emerged saying, “Now I support the president’s decision,” a lot of people – he’s famously more hawkish on American troops and intervention abroad.
What was said to him? What did you relay inside the White House that changed the mind of Lindsey Graham?
TRUMP: Well, I don’t think too much, except that I said, you know, I never said that I'm gonna rush out. We’re going to get out. We’re getting out of Syria; we’re bringing our young, great troops home after so many years. You know, we were supposed to be in Syria for three to four months and that was four or five years ago. And it’s time. We have to bring them home.
And we’re going to do it in a very good way and frankly -- and you know this better than anybody, Pete, ISIS was all over the place when I took over. It was a total mess in Syria. We’ve almost eradicated all of them. We think all of them will be gone by the time we get out, but we’re heading back and we’re also fighting. We -- you can do two things at once.
Plus, as you know, we have other bases in the general area. In particular, we have one in Iraq and nobody said anything about that. But you know, we’re fighting these endless wars; I campaigned on getting out of the endless wars and frankly, I’ve done more than I said, because not only did I -- and am I able to get out, but I’ve also won.
You look at what I’ve done. We’ve really, largely eradicated ISIS. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t totally finish the job, but that’s going to be a very short period of time. We have to bring our troops back home. It’s time.
HEGSETH: Certainly an accomplishment -- the destruction of ISIS that has not gotten enough notice, no doubt, Mr. President. I want to transition to --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: They don’t want to talk about it, Pete.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: -- just a little bit.
(CROSSTALK)
They really don’t, they really don’t -- and if Lindsey Graham’s onboard with a plan like that, that’s a good sign. I want to transition to presidential politics. Everyone thought 2019 would be the year that Democrats come on to try to win the primary to take you on in 2020, sir. It turns out one of them jumped the gun, just news recently that Elizabeth Warren, one of your favorite senators, will be announcing an exploratory committee -- your reaction to your first opponent on the Democratic side, Mr. President?
TRUMP: Well, I’m happy about it. I think she’ll be wonderful. I hope she maybe gets the nomination. That will be a wonderful thing for me. But the only reason the Democrats, as an example, aren’t approving all of these people, that wanted to come in -- want to come into government -- and they really do, they want to come in -- we really need people. We need lawyers. We need ambassadors. We need all these 360 people that the Democrats won’t approve. Or if you look at not approving the wall, where they say walls don’t work when they work 100 percent, I mean when they’re so good, it’s because of the 2020 election.
They think I’m going to win. I think based on record I’m going to win also. I think we’re going to win big. And they figure by obstructing they can do this. Elizabeth Warren will be the first. She did very badly in proving that she was of Indian heritage. That didn’t work out too well. I think you have more than she does, and maybe I do too, and I have nothing. So you know, we’ll see how she does. I wish her well. I hope she does well. I’d love to run against her.
HEGSETH: She says she’s in the fight all the way, Mr. President. Do you really think she believes she can win?
TRUMP: Well that I don’t know. You’d have to ask her psychiatrist. But honestly, I just, you know --
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, if it’s her or somebody else, you know, based on our record, Pete, when you look at what we’ve done, when you look at the regulation cuts, when you look at the massive tax cuts, when you look at what we’ve done for the vets and what we’ve done for the military -- you know, with the vets, we have choice and now, as you know better than almost anybody I can speak to, that was phase one of choice. We’re going to phase two and then ultimately to phase three. We’re doing it in steps.
When you look at all of the things we’ve done for building up our military and all of the things, I don’t think, if you go just based on the record, I don’t see how anybody wins. We’ve done a lot. If you look at unemployment, we’re at a 50-year low.
HEGSETH: Absolutely.
TRUMP: For African Americans and for Hispanics and for Asians, we’re at an all-time historic low, the history of our country low. And I don’t know if somebody could do better than that -- good luck, but it just doesn’t seem that based on the record, somebody’s going to do real well.
HEGSETH: That’s a fair point, Mr. President. And on New Year’s Eve, tonight, a lot of our viewers, it’s a time for reflection. You look back on 2018, you look forward to 2019. If I could, Mr. President, on a lighter note, your winners and losers from 2018 -- who are the big winners and who are the big losers in the last year?
TRUMP: Well, I think the winners are the American people, because we’ve gotten them tax cuts and we’ve gotten them jobs, jobs like they’ve never had before. We’ve taken care of our military, we’ve rebuilt large portions and very shortly all of our military, which was totally depleted under the previous administration -- so I really think that the big winners are -- are the people of this country, the people of our country, and that makes me very happy.
The one that has lost, you know, I don’t want to really say, but you have certainly a lot of people that wanted to do things that it didn’t work out. I think that when you look at some of the candidates that are announcing right now, I think they will end up being the losers. You’ve got a lot of people, 32 people they say, could be with the Democrats; let’s see what happens.
But I only -- I’m really more interested in the winners and the winners are the people of the United States.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Sir, exit question here, 2019, any resolutions from you, Mr. President, in this new year? Or any predictions in the new year? Or both?
TRUMP: Well, I think we’re going to have a great form of wealth. We’ve created a lot of wealth for our country. And that’s very important, because that means jobs, that means prosperity, it means we can afford to do what we’re doing with the military. We’re working on tremendous trade deals, where other countries have taken advantage of us so badly and I mean, I campaigned on all this stuff. And really, I’m producing better than I actually said even during the campaign that I would, if you look at what we’ve done.
So I really think we’re going to have tremendous success with trade deals. I think we’re going to have a tremendously rebuilt military for strength and hopefully we’ll never have to use our military; it will be so strong that we’ll never have to use it and that would be a good thing.
HEGSETH: Mr. President, I shouldn’t say this, but last year my resolution was to tweet more; it’s the first resolution I’ve actually kept. Do you have --
CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Good.
HEGSETH: -- any resolutions for 2019, sir? Any resolutions?
TRUMP: Just success and prosperity and health for our country. That’s all I want.
HEGSETH: Absolutely. Well, Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us. I do have to say, my co-host, Kennedy, wanted to say thank you and she loves the tax cuts as do so many Americans --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Oh, good. Well --
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: So thank you Mr. President for joining us and Happy…
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) -- terrific.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: She’s terrific. Have a great New Year’s in Washington, D.C. and we hope to see you soon in the New Year. Thank you, sir.
TRUMP: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it, Pete. Have a great year. Thank you, Pete.
(CROSSTALK)
HEGSETH: You, too, sir. You, too, sir.
TRUMP: Thank you.
HEGSETH: Thank you.
Peter Barry Chowka writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @pchowka.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/president_trumps_final_2018_interview.html#ixzz5bMDqHTsr
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Happy New Year skiz...lol so was I...watching the fireworks playing on the backside of my eyelids...
All nighter??
Happy New Year...is everyone sleeping last night off??..LOL
Happy New Year Red...and thanks again for the month of Ihub
LOL I listened to a timid Elizabeth barely squeek out how she will win...obviously not much Cherokee blood in her...Trump would eat her for lunch...heck even the new shiny thing would tear her up...if she were old enough to run...LMAO
Ah yes back in the day when Lew was still Lew...Wooden was a heck of a Coach...I was so happy when Coach Knight got Indiana on track
Happy New Years to you and your Brood...when the clock strikes the witching hour I'll be watching movies on the back of my eyelids...
Steve Alford lived in his own world -- one that apparently didn't include UCLA
Steve Alford is gone.
For real this time.
The polarizing five-and-a-half year UCLA coach survived "Fire Alford!" banners and petitions after subpar seasons several times. His three Sweet 16 runs helped him hold his job amid perennial and public criticism from the program's key supporters. His stacked recruiting classes (three top-five squads from 2016 to 2018, per ESPN's class rankings) helped keep him afloat, too.
But athletic director Dan Guerrero at last ended Alford's disappointing tenure Monday, less than 48 hours after Saturday's 15-point home loss to Liberty. He'll leave campus with more than $4.4 million, a sum that includes the remaining percentage of his $2.6 million salary ($858,000) and the $3.6 million buyout UCLA is contractually obligated to pay him.
After five tricky seasons at UCLA that saw three Sweet 16 appearances but two calls for his firing, Steve Alford is out. Whom should the Bruins hire to carry on their blue blood legacy?
His time at UCLA will be remembered as a failure -- especially in the immediate, as Alford lost six of UCLA's last nine games in perhaps the program's most frustrating stretch in the post-John Wooden era.
Alford, who was hired from New Mexico in 2013, had five-star recruits. He had seven players who were picked in the first round of their respective NBA drafts. Coaches trapped in the FBI's bribery investigation risked their careers to sign the brand of talent Alford welcomed to Westwood each year.
But he never advanced past the Sweet 16, or finished higher than second place in the Pac-12. And last year on a trip to China, three players -- including LiAngelo Ball, Lonzo's brother -- caused an international incident that warranted President Donald Trump's apparent intervention after they were accused of shoplifting.
Lest we forget, Guerrero fired Ben Howland, who won four conference titles and reached the Final Four three times. Alford never came close to matching Howland's achievements at UCLA.
But Alford, with the help of an elite recruiting class, started this season with a final chance to rejuvenate the program and save his job. The Bruins struggled early instead.
I was in Chicago for Alford's last significant loss on a national stage. Earlier this month at the United Center, the Bruins looked lost against Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic. The Buckeyes, who won 80-66, couldn't find the rim in the first half, but they were facing a team that couldn't handle the basic elements of basketball.
The Bruins seemed confused in a zone. They didn't run plays on offense, just isolation situations. They had no fire. So after the game, I asked Alford how he was handling criticism from the program's supporters.
"There's no issue with that with me," Alford said. "I just do my job as well as I possibly can, and that's what I do every day. I'm a man of God, so I've got an audience of one. ... And at the end of the day, if I know that I've prepared and worked hard, then that's what matters to me."
It was an odd response that reminded me of my trip to see Alford in Los Angeles two years ago.
Dubious firsts for Steve Alford
Steve Alford is the first UCLA coach to never reach the Elite 8 since Walt Hazzard, who coached UCLA from 1984-85 to 1987-88.
Alford is also the first UCLA coach to never win a regular season conference title since Larry Brown, who coached UCLA for two seasons (1979-80 and 1980-81).
In 2016, he appeared calm in his spacious office months after a booster had flown a "Fire Alford!" banner over the sun-kissed campus. More than 1,000 fans had signed a petition expressing the same sentiment. Alford's appeasement to it all was to return on a one-year extension he'd previously signed and write an apologetic letter to fans.
At the time, the arrival of Lonzo Ball had simmered some of the noise around Alford. He told me about the great life he'd manufactured in Los Angeles. His son Bryce Alford was the team's leading scorer. Another son, Kory Alford, had a job as a video coordinator with the program.
The elder Alford had picked up golf as a hobby during his brief NBA career. He gushed about the golf courses that surrounded his home in Calabasas, a neighborhood that houses wealthy celebrities like the Kardashians and Justin Bieber. It was an escape from the drama, he told me.
"I don't stay up until 3, 4, 5 in the morning worrying about this or worrying about that," Alford told me then.
Key supporters of the program had a different perspective. To them, Alford was aloof and distant. They questioned his commitment to the storied program and its legacy. They didn't think he cared about anyone more than he cared about himself.
Those same folks told ESPN on Sunday they'd heard the rumblings of Alford's ouster but couldn't guarantee anything -- after all, they'd previously walked this road with Guerrero, who'd balked in the past.
The athletic director's time at UCLA is tied to Alford's. Alford's initial contract, proffered by Guerrero, included a $10.4 million buyout that made firing him more difficult in those tumultuous early seasons.
Steve Alford often deflected questions about the trajectory of the program. Alex Gallardo/AP
But had someone who'd left New Mexico days after signing a 10-year extension earned that security? Had a coach who wasn't UCLA's first choice even earned the job off a strong run at New Mexico?
After firing Howland, UCLA reportedly had interest in Brad Stevens (who was then at Butler), Shaka Smart and Gregg Marshall. The Bruins ended up with Alford.
At Iowa, Alford never reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament and just once finished higher than fourth in the Big Ten. He also coached Pierre Pierce, who was charged with the rape of a student-athlete during his time with the Hawkeyes. Alford adamantly supported Pierce and the arrangement of a "prayer meeting" for the Iowa athlete and his victim.
Pierce pleaded guilty to lesser charges and regained his spot on the team, despite public pleas from concerned students who wanted him banned from campus.
In 2005, Alford finally booted Pierce, who faced a slate of charges stemming from a violent incident with an ex-girlfriend. One of those charges included "assault with an intent to commit sexual abuse."
In his first news conference at UCLA in 2013, Alford told reporters he'd done "everything I was supposed" to do. He later apologized for those comments.
But Alford too often chose defensive, deflective responses to those who questioned him.
He lacked self-awareness. The coach he saw in the mirror had never been the coach many around the program had observed.
After the loss to Ohio State this season, Alford was sitting in a vat of boiling water -- his seat had never been hotter than it was in that moment. But he pretended that he didn't feel the heat. Instead, he praised his team's growth.
Growth? The team was in the middle of a 3-6 stretch.
He added that he was disappointed in the product.
OK -- then what's the plan to fix it?
Last 3 UCLA Head Coaches
SEASONS COACH WIN PCT NCAA W-L
2014-18 Steve Alford .663 6-4
2004-13 Ben Howland .685 15-7
1997-03 Steve Lavin .650 11-5
And at the end of the news conference, just as he'd done when he faced questions about his handling of Pierce, he put up his shield and threw down his faith card.
"I have," he said, "an audience of one."
That's fine. But in Alford's mind, it seems, he's the only one who answers to God. He's the only one who understood the challenges associated with his program, and anyone who doubted him could go to hell. That's how some of the folks around the program who tried to get close to him felt.
"Three years later than he should have been shown the door," one source close to the program told ESPN after Alford's firing.
Against Liberty on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, the announced attendance was 7,456, just over 50 percent capacity for the venue.
Alford is not the first coach to lose a good job after falling short of expectations.
And he's also not the first leader who decided to coach within his own world, one that seemed only to include his faith, his family and his boss -- and left little room for anyone else, including, apparently, UCLA.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25654651/steve-alford-doomed-lack-self-awareness-ucla
Couldn't agree with you more regarding the Hispanic surge...I mean even White peeps claiming Hispanic...Ummm Beto
Damn...hate to see Steve out...really haven't followed him there.
***CHEERS***
Is Beto now a 'beta'? New York Times has decided that Kamala Harris shall be the Dem nominee
By Monica Showalter
Well, the contest is over, folks. The New York Times has made its selection for president for 2020, and all those Democrats out there can pack it up. Sorry, Beto. Too bad, Joe. Bye-bye, Bernie.
The winner is...Kamala Harris!
That's how goofy things have become, what with the paper of record tipping its choice even before any of the debates is out or any of the Democratic candidates (you know it's going to be a Democrat they endorse) has made his case to voters. The buildup is on.
Blogger Ann Althouse (hat tip: Instapundit) has gotten a load of the Times' latest Kamala-love headline (which I noticed, too, so I bet it's plenty of people who've noticed), showing Harris as the first person in the Times' lineup of names of Democrats running for president, in some fluff piece on how, well, they're running. Althouse spotted another detail: that they placed Harris's op-ed calling for free health care right there in the top-right corner, which is prime real estate for a newspaper, as it is likely to be seen by readers, and something they rarely do for an op-ed.
There plenty of evidence that's whom they are gunning for. Harris has been engulfed in scandals, from misappropriation of LAPD guards to a defense of false prosecutorial testimony to sex harassment from her aides that she claims to know nothing about to deceptive videos. I went to check on whether the Times gave any coverage to her last scrap with unethical behavior: her claim that she knew nothing about her top aide's involvement with sex harassment, which led to a $400,000 payout to a persecuted junior aide. Guess what: the Times wrote nothing. Do a search of "Larry Wallace" and "Kamala Harris," and nothing comes up. Do that same search on Google, and there's an explosion of stories, all derived from the Sacramento Bee's scoop. Funny how that happens.
She's also not all that popular. She comes in dead last with 2% support among Democrats in a Harvard-Harris poll six months ago, which was the best I found, with Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and all the others named ahead of her. Her Twitter feed, before Twitter culled it, was found to be loaded with fake followers, bots that pump up her follower numbers, suggesting she has more influence than she really does. Some politicians actually buy these bots for this purpose.
Another reason may be that she's not exactly nice, as winning politicians tend to be. Based on what we have seen of her, she comes off as hard, mean, and intimidating – Vishinsky-like, actually, given her performance in the Democrats' fiasco over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. She lacks that smooth and mellifluous and weirdly optimistic/downerly quality that candidate Barack Obama once had.
Despite these negatives, the Times has signaled it's already in the tank for her.
Why her? Well, she "looks like" Obama, being multi-racial with a black element, and obviously well educated, going to all the right sorts of schools. Kind of brings back the Obama days, right? With a #MeToo thrown in, given that she's female. Harris also is rather good-looking, same as President Obama was, and good-looking enough to have been California Democratic powerdomo Willie Brown's mistress, which is how she got her leg up in politics. Not exactly the right way to be good-looking, but they're not covering those things, right?
It's stylistic, and the Times has always been abnormally focused on style. You know, like the famous crease in the pants, right?
She's also someone who wears the right clothes: stiff lawyer suits that make New York Times staffers, at least, comfortable. She used to require her staffers to wear suits – and it's been reported that she yelled at them when they didn't. That crease in the pants stuff is serious in the case of Kamala, because, you know, the lawyer thang.
The Democrats haven't even sorted out for themselves what kind of candidate they want to run against the populist President Trump, and here the Times is, weighing in to slant the race for its sort of person, the right sort of person, affirmative-actioned and from a proper deep blue coastal state. It's as if this sort of persona is the establishment now, because the Times, being the Times, always goes with the establishment. As for the voters, including the Democratic voters, well, let's see how this works out.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/12/is_beto_now_a_beta_new_york_times_has_decided_that_kamala_harris_shall_be_the_dem_nominee.html#ixzz5bHsI5YJz
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The coming Democratic implosion
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
The Cowboys won't play in the 2019 Super Bowl. The Rangers are not quite ready for another postseason run.
Nevertheless, here is a prediction I am very confident about.
Someone said that Doug Schoen, former Clinton adviser and Fox News contributor, told Nancy Pelosi to rein in Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Isn't that like telling LeBron James to shut up and play basketball? How do you stop AOC from talking when every news outlet wants to invite her to the show?
The complete and total implosion of the Democrats, especially the majority in the House, will be the story of 2019. It may not be covered that way by CNN and MSNBC, but the towers will start falling soon.
We already see cracks in the so-called "Women's March," a phony parade that should have been called "the march of the anti-Trump women."
We hear this:
Organizers of a Women's March rally slated for Northern California next month have canceled the event, saying they were concerned that participants would have been "overwhelmingly white."
In a news release, organizers for the march in Eureka – about 270 miles north of San Francisco – said Friday the "decision was made after many conversations between local social-change organizers and supporters of the march."
"Up to this point, the participants have been overwhelmingly white, lacking representation from several perspectives in our community," the news release continued.
Too white?
Is that crazy or what? Isn't the country 72% white? Or at least it was the last time I checked the population figures.
We will see the implosion over two issues: health care and the mad impulse to get Trump.
On health care, the Democrats are deeply divided between the socialized medicine crowd and a realistic wing that knows we don't have the money to do it. Many of this "realist wing" were elected in competitive districts and have a tough re-election waiting for them in 2020.
On "getting Trump," they will find that impeachment is about "high crimes and misdemeanors," not defeating Hillary Clinton or appointing conservative judges.
By the fall of 2019, the cracks will be evident on those two issues and a few others.
The good news is that all of this craziness will convince Michael Bloomberg to run as an independent, and that will re-elect President Trump in a three-way race. Bloomberg will be the Teddy Roosevelt of 1912 or Ross Perot of 1992, and President Trump will win 400 electoral votes.
So there is one prediction for 2019.
PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/12/the_coming_democratic_implosion.html#ixzz5bHrjiegS
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The Boarding on Flight ? 2019 has been announced....... Your luggage ?? should only contain the best souvenirs from 2018….. The bad and sad ?? moments should be left in the garbage.......
The duration of the flight will be 12 months.
So, tighten your seatbelt ??
The next stop-overs will be :Health, Love??, Joy, Harmony, well-being and Peace ?. The captain offers you the following menu which will be served during the flight.......
A drink of you choice ?? of Friendship
A Supreme of Health
A Gratin of Prosperity
A Bowl ?? of Excellent News ??
A salad of Success
A Cake ?? of Happiness
All accompanied by bursts of laughter......
Wishing you and your family ?? an enjoyable trip on board of flight ? 2019….?????????
Before 2018 Ends,
Let Me Thank All The Good People Like You ??,
Who Made 2018 Beautiful For Me.
I Pray You be Blessed With Faithful Year A Head.
I Wish You A
??Fantastic JANUARY??
??Lovable FEBRUARY??
??Marvelous MARCH??
??Foolish APRIL??
?Enjoyable MAY?
??Successful JUNE??
?Wonderful JULY?
?? Happy AUGUST??
??Powerful September??
??Tastiest OCTOBER??
??Beautiful NOVEMBER??
?Independent DECEMBER?
??Have A VICTORIOUS YEAR!??
The Boarding on Flight ? 2019 has been announced....... Your luggage ?? should only contain the best souvenirs from 2018….. The bad and sad ?? moments should be left in the garbage.......
The duration of the flight will be 12 months.
So, tighten your seatbelt ??
The next stop-overs will be :Health, Love??, Joy, Harmony, well-being and Peace ?. The captain offers you the following menu which will be served during the flight.......
A drink of you choice ?? of Friendship
A Supreme of Health
A Gratin of Prosperity
A Bowl ?? of Excellent News ??
A salad of Success
A Cake ?? of Happiness
All accompanied by bursts of laughter......
Wishing you and your family ?? an enjoyable trip on board of flight ? 2019….?????????
Before 2018 Ends,
Let Me Thank All The Good People Like You ??,
Who Made 2018 Beautiful For Me.
I Pray You be Blessed With Faithful Year A Head.
I Wish You A
??Fantastic JANUARY??
??Lovable FEBRUARY??
??Marvelous MARCH??
??Foolish APRIL??
?Enjoyable MAY?
??Successful JUNE??
?Wonderful JULY?
?? Happy AUGUST??
??Powerful September??
??Tastiest OCTOBER??
??Beautiful NOVEMBER??
?Independent DECEMBER?
??Have A VICTORIOUS YEAR!??
Hope it isn't Candid Camera...
Interesting...thanks...one day
I did...and am STILL choked up...thank you my dear friend...Perfect
Holy cow...what a great link...and fantastic version...thanks EZ...Happy New Year..***CHEERS***