Joust The Facts

Would You Buy A Used Car From This Woman?

Just before taking on her position as President Obama's National Security Advisor, current UN Ambassador Susan Rice surfaced to interject her expert opinion regarding yet another international crisis.  She called on all of her expertise in international relations, foreign affairs, and national security to tell us that Edward Snowden, the man who told us all that the NSA says all our data are belong to them, has not damaged national security.

She said it's too soon to judge whether there will be any long-term serious repercussions from the intelligence leaks by the former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Hong Kong and then Russia after seizing documents disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs in the U.S. and overseas, which he has shared with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers.

"I don't think the diplomatic consequences, at least as they are foreseeable now, are that significant," she said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have called Snowden's leaks a serious breach that damaged national security. Hagel said Thursday an assessment of the damage is being done now

Are we to believe Ms. Rice?  Thinking back to the last time we heard from our UN Ambassador, she was telling us - on five separate Sunday morning political talk shows - that the Benghazi terrorist raids that led to the murder of Ambassador Chris Stephens and three others was due to a "spontaneous" protest over an anti-Islam video.  This despite the fact that in none of the versions of the administrations talking points on the attack was the video even mentioned.  Repeated lying like that takes a special talent, remarkable actually.

We now know exactly why Mr. Obama finds Ms. Rice so valuable.  Just like the salesperson in a shady used car dealership, she's willing to make the sale by telling the customer, the "mark," just what the owner wants them to believe. 

Remodeling In Green

The Boston Celtics said goodbye to an aging "Big Three" member last year (oddly replacing him with another aging shooter), and this year, with a draft day agreement with the Brooklyn Nets, have said goodbye to the other two.  Word is out that the Nets and Celtics have agreed to a huge deal, with Paul Pierce and Keving Garnett headed to Brooklyn, along with said aging shooter (Jason Terry) and 5 players and 3 first round draft picks headed to Beantown.

First off, lets stipulate that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen weren't getting any younger.  KG is 37, and by the end of next season will be 38 and have finished 19 years of 80 game (or more) seasons.  Pierce finished 15 years with the Celts this year at age 35, and will be 36 in October.  Allen, whose 3 point jumper saved the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA finals, will turn 38 in a few weaks.  From that standpoint alone, bagging three first round picks for three players on the downside of dwindling careers is brilliant.

Second, lets further recognize that short of abducting the Thunder's Kevin Durant or the Miami Heat owner deciding to go Charley O.Finley and suddenly selling his top talent (Lebron James) to Boston, these Celtics would not be hoisting a trophy next June.

Finally, lets also recognize that having top draft picks is the only way to get that top talent, the kinds of players who can build and maintain a consistent winner.  Finishing at 46-36 and losing in the second round won't give you a high enough draft pick to get the potentially stunning talent needed to do that.  Danny Ainge now has 2 first round picks next year (Boston, Brooklyn), 2 in 2015 (Boston, LA Clippers) and 2 in 2016 (Boston, Brooklyn).  It doesn't seem that the Clippers and Nets picks will be that high, but theirs should and hey, you never know.

I'm sad to see KG, Ray and Paul go.  The basketball they played during their time on the parquet was a beautiful thing.  The '07-08 through '09-10 seasons were outstanding, and even '10-11 was great.  When they traded for Ray Allen before the '07 draft I got chills.  My team just picked up my favorite player.  When they picked up Kevin Garnett later that offseason those chills return.  My team just picked up my second favorite player.  Doc Rivers, already departed to LA to coach the Clippers, made it mesh beautifully.  I'll miss KG's intensity. I'll look for him pounding his forehead against the basket padding and tying his drawstring on his shorts before the opening tip, and it won't be there.  I'll miss Pierce's cool under pressure, always willing and able to take the big shot in the big moment.  And I already missed Allen's reliable and opponent-depressing daggers from the 3 point stripe.

Danny Ainge picked up two 7 footers last night, one of whom can step out from the basket.  He re-acquired a couple of guys he should never have let go - Kris Joseph, the better of the two ballers he took from Syracuse last year and Marshon Brooks, a mercurial and talented scorer out of Providence.  Brooks was traded in a puzzling draft day deal for Jajuan Johnson of Purdue.  Johnson never panned out, and is mired in the NBADL.  And he still has Rondo, Jared Sullinger, Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Terrence Williams.  He needs another good point guard for next year, but there's something there to work with.

So it's so long, Big Three.  And thanks for the memories, and the champion-caliber play.  And thanks for the championship. 

The Joust The Facts "Quote Of The Day", Appetite For Destruction Edition

From the inimitable Mark Steyn, writing at National Review and discussing the IRS' appetite for doing things that decent, honorable, moral government servants ought to know they shouldn't:

If you don’t instinctively know it’s wrong to stay in $3,500-a-night hotel rooms at public expense, a revised conference-accommodations-guidelines manual isn’t going to fix the real problem.

So we know the IRS is corrupt. What happens then when an ambitious government understands it can yoke that corruption to its political needs? What’s striking as the revelations multiply and metastasize is that at no point does any IRS official appear to have raised objections. [emphasis mine] If any of them understood that what they were doing was wrong, they kept it to themselves. When Nixon tried to sic the IRS on a few powerful political enemies, the IRS told him to take a hike. When Obama’s courtiers tried to sic the IRS on thousands of ordinary American citizens, the agency went along, and very enthusiastically. This is a scale of depravity hitherto unknown to the tax authorities of the United States, and for that reason alone they should be disarmed and disbanded — and rebuilt from scratch with far more circumscribed powers.

I use a phrase in my office, with my employees, and at home, with my children, that applies here, in spades: "When in doubt, do the right thing."  As Mr. Steyn rightly points out, it's striking that it took three years for the harassment policies to come to light, that nobody stepped forward sooner.  "When in doubt, do the right thing."   I rarely expect and less-rarely see such character from politicians.  But the government employees of the IRS do not work for politicians, they work, or rather they should work, for all of the American people.  All of 'em.  And when politicians, for whom re-election and ideological victory are all-consuming, direct you to do things you know are wrong, shouldn't one of these individuals have had the ... well ... the balls to stand up and put a stop to it? Just one stand-up guy, one Gary Cooper?  Anyone?

I Remember When ...

... it wasn't cool for the federal government to spy on Americans

... it wasn't cool to lie to Congress

... journalists used unusual secret sources to break big stories, and were celebrated rather than tagged as criminals.

... it was potentially a big problem for the guys at the top, with hard questions asked by resourceful media, when terrorist attacks were successful

... when dissent was the highest form of patriotism (except, apparently, when you use the word "patriot" in the name of your organization)

... using the IRS to harass your political opponents was an impeachable offense*

... people who flat-out lied to the American people were fired, not promoted

... the buck stopped at the top

*No, I'm not buying the "couple of rogue agents" defense, debunked in the WSJ today with direct testimony. Try again.