Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

He really is that stupid.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Republicans in disarray!

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I was promised a recession.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

White supremacy is terrorism.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / The President Presents the New National Security Strategy

The President Presents the New National Security Strategy

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The President will be giving an address at 2:00 PM EST to introduce his administration’s first/new National Security Strategy. You can find the document here.  If you want to see the previous one to compare them, prepared by the Obama Administration and released in early 2015, you can find that document here.

The new National Security Strategy states that it is rooted in

… principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology. It is based upon the view that peace, securi , and prosperity depend on strong, sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to advance peace abroad. And it is grounded in the realization that American principles are a lasting force for good in the world.

It delineates four vital national interests:

First, our fundamenta l responsibility is to protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life. We will strengthen control of our borders and reform our immigration system. We will protect our critical infrastructure and go after malicious cyber actors. A layered missile defense system will defend our homeland against missile a acks. And we will pursue threats to their source, so that jihadist terrorists are stopped before they ever reach our borders.

Second, we will promote American prosperity. We will rejuvenate the American economy for the benefit of American workers and companies. We will insist upon fair and reciprocal economic relationships to address trade imbalances. The United States must preserve our lead in research and technology and protect our economy from competitors who unfairly acquire our intellectual property. And we will embrace America’s energy dominance because unleashing abundant energy resources stimulates our economy.

Third, we will preserve peace through strength by rebuilding our military so that it remains preeminent, deters our adversaries, and if necessary, is able to fight and win. We will compete with all tools of national power to ensure that regions of the world are not dominated by one power. We will strengthen America’s capabilities—including in space and cyberspace—and revitalize others that have been neglected. Allies and partners magnify our power. We expect them to shoulder a fair share of the burden of responsibility to protect against common threats.

Fourth, we will advance American inf luence because a world that supports American interests and reflects our values makes America more secure and prosperous. We will compete and lead in multilateral organizations so that American interests and principles are protected. America’s commitment to liber , democracy, and the rule of law serves as an inspiration for those living under  ranny. We can play a catalytic role in promoting private-sector-led economic growth, helping aspiring partners become future trading and security partners. And we will remain a generous nation, even as we expect others to share responsibility.

Strengthening our sovereignty—the first duty of a government is to serve the interests of its own people—is a necessary condition for protecting these four national interests. And as we strengthen our sovereignty we will renew confidence in ourselves as a nation. We are proud of our history, optimistic about America’s future, and confident of the positive example the United States offers to the world. We are also realistic and understand that the American way of life cannot be imposed upon others, nor is it the inevitable culmination of progress. Together with our allies, partners, and aspiring partners, the United States will pursue cooperation with reciprocity. Cooperation means sharing responsibilities and burdens. In trade, fair and reciprocal relationships benefit all with equal levels of market access and opportunities for economic growth. An America First National Security Strategy appreciates that America will catalyze conditions to unleash economic success for America and the world.

In the United States, free men and women have created the most just and prosperous nation in history. Our generation of Americans is now charged with preserving and defending that precious inheritance. This National Security Strategy shows the way.

If you’re going to watch the President’s address, the key to look for is how close or how far he strays from the actual document. A lot of this new National Security Strategy is straight up International Relations realism with some of the President’s favorite phrases worked in. In many ways it is what one would expect with LTG McMaster as the Assistant to the President – National Security Advisor and Defense Secretary Mattis. The references to border security and sovereignty are the result of inputs from Attorney General Sessions and Stephen Miller, Assistant to the President for (Domestic) Policy.

Today, as was the case with the President’s speeches when visiting NATO earlier in the year, the question is whether LTG McMaster is able to keep the speech from being changed at the last minute by Stephen Miller. If LTG McMaster can keep the speech locked down and control what is fed into the teleprompter, the President should stick close to the just released document. If he can’t, and Miller is able to revise it as he did during the NATO visit, then things could get very, very interesting. Live stream is below.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  3. 3.

    But her emails!!!

    They don’t seem to actually be promoting any of these 4 points. If anything, their actions to date have undermined all four of them and in many cases the methods listed undermine the objectives they list.

  4. 4.

    PPCLI

    Early in the document:

    “We the People” is America’s source of strength.

    Not the people themselves. The slogan. Your Public Relations presidency at work.

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    The only part of the document that resembles the actual Trump WH is the strong borders and reform immigration. Even the trade sounds a little off message for this admin’s actual stances so far.

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    @But her emails!!!:

    If anything, their actions to date have undermined all four of them and in many cases the methods listed undermine the objectives they list.

    Thus justifying extraordinary measures for the continued security and stability of the new Intergalactic Empire.

    Stormtrooper academies are standing by, with the finest Trump branded marksmen to teach cadets how to aim their blasters.

  14. 14.

    Spanky

    “Keeping America Safe in the Cyber Era” was evidently written by a High School student. I’m not kidding.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @But her emails!!!: @Corner Stone: Yep. The new National Security Strategy (NSS) bears little resemblance to what the President actually says or does. To some extent they’re all aspirational documents, but this one is much, much more aspirational than its predecessors.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mai naem mobile: In terms of overall document length it is almost twice the length of the 2015 Obama 2nd term NSS. But that document was not formatted into two columns of text per page to make it look longer.

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    Oooh. I just got to the section talking about EMP attacks. Someone asked Newt Gingrich if he wanted to contribute a sentence or two.

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    We will protect our critical infrastructure and go after malicious cyber actors.

    *Offer does not apply to election integrity.

  29. 29.

    d58826

    ot but looking at the aerial shots of the train wreck in Wash. and it looks like one locomotive just flew off the tracks. Most of the roof has just been lifted off and moved to the rear of the engine. Not peeled off but in one big piece. The electronics compartment and engine compartments are clearly visible. So far only 3 confirmed dead. Which has to be some sort of miracle given how the cars are strewn across the landscape. All of the casualties are from the train. People in their cars on I-5 seem to have been able to escape.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    This part is really good too:

    REDUCE THE DEBT THROUGH FISCAL
    RESPONSIBILITY: The national
    debt, now over $20 trillion, presents
    a grave threat to America’s
    long-term prosperity and, by
    extension, our national securi .
    By restraining Federal spending,
    making government more efficient,
    and by modernizing our
    tax system and making our businesses
    globally competitive, our
    economy will grow and make the
    existing debt more serviceable.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    He just thanked the military for electing him President. The applause is sort of tepid, but HOLY CRAP!

  37. 37.

    JGabriel

    National Security Strategy via Adam L Silverman @ Top:

    First, our fundamenta l responsibility is to protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life.

    An administration that won’t denounce domestic Nazis, but calls them “very fine people” instead, is not going to protect the American Way of Life – it’s an administration that wants to destroy it.

  41. 41.

    jl

    Watched for a minute or so. Part I saw, Trump was just slowly and woodenly slogging through the text on the prompter. I guess that is a good thing.

    Edit: usually there are two prompters, on each side, so the speaker can pretend to be actually addressing the audience, is hat right? Part I saw, Trump was making sounds from what he saw on the prompter to his left, as if reading a foreign language phonetically. I guess that is a good thing. I dunno.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    He has a tiny little glass of water this time but he’s still using two hands to guide it to his butthole look-alike mouth.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Boatboy_srq: Nah, I changed the title halfway through and didn’t go back and remove the “‘s”. That one was on me. Then when I hit publish I went and made a smoothie. When I got back I noticed it and fixed it.

  51. 51.

    Boatboy_srq

    @Adam L Silverman: Repeating the climactic live broadcast scene from Soapdish, this time as tragedy.

    “I’m afraid that Angelique has a rare case of brake fluid….. bran fluid…. brain fever.”

  58. 58.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Small thing, maybe, but I wish he could learn how to use the teleprompters. Not to face his entire body toward them. Read ahead, keep the text in mind, speak to the audience. Also work through the speech a few times before delivering it. And it’s possible his memory can’t store enough to do that.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    This part is equally interesting:

    Competitive Diplomacy
    Across the competitive landscape, America’s diplomats are our forward-deployed political capability, advancing and defending America’s interests abroad. Diplomacy catalyzes the political, economic, and societal connections that create America’s enduring alignments and that build positive networks of relationships w it h pa r tners.

    Diplomacy sustains dialogue
    and fosters areas of
    cooperation with competitors.
    It reduces the risk of
    costly miscommunication.
    Diplomacy is indispensable
    to identify and implement
    solutions to conf
    licts in unstable regions
    of the world short of military
    involvement. It helps to
    galvanize allies for action
    and marshal the collective
    resources of like-minded
    nations and organizations
    to address shared problems. Authoritarian
    states are eager to replace the United States
    where the United States withdraws our diplomats
    and closes our outposts.
    We must upgrade our diplomatic capabilities
    to compete in the current environment and
    to embrace a competitive mindset. Effective
    diplomacy requires the efficient use of limited
    resources, a professional diplomatic corps, modern
    and safe facilities, and secure methods to communicate
    and engage with local populations.

  61. 61.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: Ok. Didn’t know if you may be reading ahead or I missed something.
    This whole speech so far is almost like writers at SNL fed it into the prompter and then had Baldwin slip in and start delivering it.

  66. 66.

    PPCLI

    @Adam L Silverman:
    @Adam L Silverman:
    Sorry to have to say this again, but it should be said every time that ungrateful dickhead goes into this spiel. A lot of allied soldiers have died in an interminable NATO action responding to an attack on the US. After the US invoked Article 5. The only time it has been invoked.

    (I know you know this, Adam, I’m just putting it down for the record.)

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    This is a major break with previous Democratic and Republican administrations:

    We are not going to impose our values on others.
    Our alliances, partnerships, and coalitions
    are built on free will and shared interests. When
    the United States partners with other states, we
    develop policies that enable us to achieve our
    goals while our partners achieve theirs.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    @SiubhanDuinne: He’s snuffling hard core, almost constantly. His voice is also degraded and he sounds a little clogged up. He’s also licking his lips constantly, which I think is because he’s stopped up and breathing through his mouth, drying them out.

  69. 69.

    jl

    @Amir Khalid: I think John Adams was a Unitarian, somewhat different than a deist. I don’t think the elder Franklin was a mainstream deist since he believed in substantial divine intervention in human affairs, even if that was only indirectly through some spiritual force guiding a progressive revelation. I don’t think Hamilton had any detectable religion at all until later in life, after his political career was over and he became close to what we would call a moderate conservative mainstream Protestant.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: In short, Deists believed that there was a creator Deity who established the universe and set it in motion and then stepped back/away and does not intervene. Think of it as a watchmaker theory of the Deity. At the same time most of them, especially Jefferson, were scared to death of being out as heretics by the much more professing Christian elites and notables of the time. So they all claimed to be nominally Christian of one type or another.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    imon Maloy‏Verified account @SimonMaloy
    it’s weird that Trump has no muscle memory for how to drink fluids?

    is grampa gonna nod off mid-speech or

    this made me turn on the TeeVee to see if his dentures will slip again– I couldn’t only listen to about thirty seconds, but it was enough to hear him thank the audience for applause (America will win!) before the applause actually started. He must’ve been thanking Kellyanne for the prompt

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: 1) He won’t wear his glasses, 2) Every time he sees (pause for applause) he says thank you in advance of the applause, 3) I’m not sure he can turn his head without turning his entire body. He even does it when talking without a teleprompter.

  73. 73.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman:

    ” And he dinged allies again about paying up. ”

    He’s probably figuring he can run the revenue through a pass through corporation with the GOP tax scam bill, and really make some bank.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    Radical Islamic Terrorism. Drink!!!

    This speech was definitely not written by McMaster if that is in there. Miller all the way.

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jl:

    It is quite clear that this is the first time he’s ever seen a single word of this speech. He’s sight-reading, as always. Wooden, halting delivery; rushes through commas and semicolons but pauses in weird places; emphasizes secondary words while stumbling over the important ones.

    Jerky, in both senses of the word.

  84. 84.

    But her emails!!!

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He just thanked the military for electing him President. The applause is sort of tepid, but HOLY CRAP!

    I thought active military narrowly voted for Clinton while Trump won a significant majority of veterans.

  85. 85.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: It is quite clear that this is the first time he’s ever seen a single word of this speech. He’s sight-reading, as always. Wooden, halting delivery;

    perfectly summarized, suggests how hard it is for his handlers to handle him that they can’t get him to see how bad at this he is

  87. 87.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: They were living through the Second Great Awakening. Adams, Jefferson and Madison lived long enough to see it pick up steam. Jefferson was hopeful it would blow over. But Second Great Awakening was birthplace of the new model ‘happy carefree saved sinner’ Calvinism that I think eventually lead to current (by historical mainstream Christian standards) heretical Xtianist fundamentalism.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PPCLI: I didn’t take it as directed at me. I’m right there with you. I’m guessing that Mattis, McMaster, and Tillerson (if they’re still speaking) have given up trying to explain that to him.

  98. 98.

    JWR

    The snuffling was driving me crazy. I’m sure that after that one debate where it, (the snuffling), was so pronounced, his guys learned just enough about EQ to keep it down, but which ends up making his voice sound incredibly flat.

  99. 99.

    d58826

    @Adam L Silverman: Arn’t they dismantling the State Department.? exactly who is going to do this diplomacy. Jerrod and Little Don? Maybe Ivanka will travel about smiling and selling handbags

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: Yep. He brought up at that Pensacola rally ten days ago how he personally told Merkel she had to pony up when they met in person back in March. He’s been obsessed with this since shortly after he got back from his trip to the Soviet Union in the late 80s.

  102. 102.

    d58826

    @raven: i thought that a first also but there is another one off in the grass. looks like maybe a loco at each end so don’t have to turn the train at the destination

  106. 106.

    Miss Bianca

    @Cheryl Rofer: “We are now putting America first”? When the hell in our history have we ever *not* put America first?

    Oh, right. History. Might as well be a foreign language as far as President “Shut the fuck up, Donny, you’re out of your element” is concerned.

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    Awkward! (from page 42):

    Priority Actions
    SUPPORT THE DIGNITY OF INDIVIDUALS: We support,
    with our words and actions, those who live under
    oppressive regimes and who seek freedom, individual
    dignity, and the rule of law. We are under
    no obligation to offer the benefits of our free and
    prosperous communi to repressive regimes and
    human rights abusers. We may use diplomacy,
    sanctions, and other tools to isolate states and leaders
    who threaten our interests and whose actions
    run contrary to our values. We will not remain
    silent in the face of evil. We will hold perpetrators
    of genocide and mass atrocities accountable.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Immanentize: He thinks our treaties and agreements are like his business contracts. That he can just knuckle our NATO allies and other allies and partners like he knuckled his contractors. It isn’t going to work.

  112. 112.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Immanentize: There is no logic to Trump’s demand that other countries pay up for “our” defense. NATO dues go to NATO, not to us. One might make a case that all live up to their commitments, but those are to NATO, not to us. Where our troops are stationed in other countries, the host country often pays some part of the total expenses.

    And the global reach of the US military is a benefit to the US as well. We have some interests in keeping bases nearby Russia and China and in places they might be interested in, like Africa. Plus goodwill, but I think that concept is beyond him.

    ETA: Insofar as there is logic, it’s what Adam says at #110.

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    @Adam L Silverman: “It isn’t going to work” — No it’s not. For one thing, “His Generals” will in no circumstance allow anything to change — except maybe increased deployments abroad.

  115. 115.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology. It is based upon the view that peace, securi , and prosperity depend on strong, sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to advance peace abroad. And it is grounded in the realization that American principles are a lasting force for good in the world.

    Wow. This totally doesn’t sound like anything an American administration has ever put out before! “Realization”? Please!

  117. 117.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m not sure he can turn his head without turning his entire body. He even does it when talking without a teleprompter.

    I noticed this long ago about some middle-age stand-up comedians on The Ed Sullivan Show. Perhaps modern medicine can mitigate that affliction, or modern show biz hides it better.

  119. 119.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    What will happen when he inevitably fails? Will his supporters call him a cuck?

    I’m still super pissed that we’re pulling out of UNESCO because of “anti-Isreal bias”. Literally every other state is a member.

  120. 120.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Immanentize: He would need a State Department to negotiate the terms of the protection contracts. So don’t look for anything to happen beyond more of his rants.

    Wondering if that’s in the NSS. I’m not going to be able to work on the NSS for a while, though.

  121. 121.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Millard Filmore: Heh. Corsets?

    Was Jackie Mason one of them, I’m convinced that consciously or not, trump’s stage schtick is borrowed from Mason and Joan Rivers

  122. 122.

    mike in dc

    @Cheryl Rofer: Ironically, “NATO states agree to up defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2025” is a headline that would be very upsetting to Trump’s boss in Moscow.

  123. 123.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Immanentize: Actually they already do.
    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/01/31/national/much-japan-pay-host-u-s-forces-depends-ask/

    According to an annual report titled Allied Contributions to the Common Defense published by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2004, Japan provided direct support of $3.2 billion (about ¥366 billion) and indirect support worth $1.18 billion, offsetting as much as 74.5 percent of the total cost.

    Even though the numbers were drawn from 2002 expenses, the figure has often been used by Japan in arguing that it’s paying a fair share. The figure was the highest among major U.S. allies at the time.

    But last Friday, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada updated the information for the first time in more than 10 years, saying Japan paid about ¥191 billion in 2015, about 86.4 percent of the total cost.

    Inada said the preliminary calculation did not include all related costs, implying that the number could be changed.

    Meanwhile, U.S. Forces Japan told The Japan Times that the approximate cost of the U.S. presence in Japan is $5.5 billion, based on the 2017 Operation and Maintenance Overview by the Office of the U.S. Undersecretary of Defense.

    It said Japan will pay ¥192 billion in the current fiscal year in direct support. U.S. Forces Japan said it does not attempt to calculate the percentage of burden-sharing.

    Asked about the different figures, a Foreign Ministry official in charge of the Japan-U.S. security treaty said the ratio varies depending on which expenses are used to calculate costs, and that the ministry has no plan to issue its own calculation.

    A Defense Ministry official also said that the U.S. usually does not want to crunch the numbers, as doing so would hint at who pays the most among the U.S. allies.

  126. 126.

    Immanentize

    @Adam L Silverman:

    A Defense Ministry official also said that the U.S. usually does not want to crunch the numbers, as doing so would hint at who pays the most among the U.S. allies.

    As Rikyrah would say: Uh huh…..

  128. 128.

    Millard Filmore

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    He’s doubling down on alliances as a protection racket.

    How close does this push our allies to release the “pee tape” to get this guy out of here? 50%? 75%? 90%

    A rhetorical question, you can ignore me.

  132. 132.

    Millard Filmore

    @d58826:

    looks like maybe a loco at each end so don’t have to turn the train at the destination

    That happens with some commuter trains, I doubt Amtrak does that on long distance runs. If the lead engine jumps off at 80mph and the second engine stays on it will take some distance for the train to stop.

  134. 134.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Millard Filmore: They probably just ignore it. As you can see from my and Adam’s comments on this thread, there’s very little Trump can do beyond continuing his blah blah blah and imagining that the presidency is similar to the Mob in New York.

  135. 135.

    Millard Filmore

    @Miss Bianca:

    When the hell in our history have we ever *not* put America first?

    A log of people were convinced by the RWNJ press that Obama went on an international apology tour.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Millard Filmore: There is most likely no golden showers tape. The RUMINT (rumor intel) is that allied and partner to the US intel communities have much worse on electronic video intercept, but that specific bit of information in the Steel dossier is most likely disinformation.

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @schrodingers_cat: ETA: Tinkle, Traitor, Soviet, Spy

    Ha! I would make the LOL emoticon in your general direction if I knew how on a blog

    @Millard Filmore: a standard line in Serious Candidate Marco Rubio’s stump speech was that Obama was deliberately trying to weaken America

  144. 144.

    jl

    @Millard Filmore: The train that derailed in Washington was a special model commuter train, I think it was a model new to the US that was manufactured in Spain, if I remember a morning news spot correctly.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    @d58826:
    1:

    2:

  146. 146.

    d58826

    Well atleast one person got the message. The judicial pick who flunked law 101 has withdrawn his name. I guess he didn’t want the added humiliation of the entire Judiciary committee voting him down.

  147. 147.

    Millard Filmore

    @Corner Stone: The report I heard on the radio said the speed limit is 79 for that track, and the train was going 81. I am not a railroad expert but that little tidbit is looking for an excuse to throw some blame around. Going the limit +- a few would not change anything. A mile to stop sounds about right for emergency braking, but cars clawing into the ground will cut some distance out of that.

  148. 148.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Millard Filmore:

  149. 149.

    BC in Illinois

    @Adam L Silverman:

    We support, with our words and actions, those who live under oppressive regimes and who seek freedom, individual dignity, and the rule of law. We are under no obligation to offer the benefits of our free and prosperous community to repressive regimes and human rights abusers.

    Words. What are the actions by which Trump intends to support people who live under repressive regimes?
    “We are under no obligation to offer the benefits of our free and prosperous community to repressive regimes . . .” But does he admit any human obligation to offer any benefits to the VICTIMS of repressive regimes? I haven’t seen it.

    Scotland — Scotland ! with a population (5.4million) less than that of Missouri or Maryland — just today celebrated the welcome of their “2,000th Syrian refugee.” We are 50 times their size. It would be as if the US welcomed 100,000 refugees from Syria (a repressive regime) alone.

    Trump would freak out. Scotland celebrates.

  150. 150.

    Millard Filmore

    @jl: Ok, then push-pull is not a silly way to run a commuter train. The radio report I heard said “Amtrak”, which is sometimes a generic way to say “some type of passenger train”. The report also said it was the first run on a new route, which could also explain the low occupancy.

  151. 151.

    jl

    @Millard Filmore: I don’t think it is the push-pull per se. I ride push-pull Amtrack trains around Northern California all the time. But the news report I heard today said the way this train does it is different from just hooking up a locomotive on either end of conventional US rail cars, or, for example ACE commuter trains on SF Bay-Central Valley lines. I’m curious to learn more what the big difference is.

    Edit: and thought I would plug CA trains: recently new lines here are jammed full of people from day one. Though in this case, I guess good that few people were riding.

  152. 152.

    Corner Stone

    @Millard Filmore: I’m not a railroad expert either. My dad was a switchman for freight railroad shipping his entire working life so we talked about a few things. I think commuter trains have different specs and guidelines but the fact that they don’t stop easy is pretty much the same.
    He told me about certain stretches of track heading into some railyards where he and the crew would take turns picking bums and drunks off the tracks and tossing them out of the way. Because there was no way the train could possibly stop in time.
    I wonder now if he accidentally saved Steve Bannon one of those times?

  154. 154.

    Jacel

    Although the best response is “ALL HOLIDAYS MATTER!”, there’s a satisfaction in giving a more-holy-than-thou reply to “Merry Christmas”. “And I pray you are having a peaceful and watchful third week of Advent.”

    Edit: Whoops! Wrong thread.

  155. 155.

    Seanly

    @Cheryl Rofer: I get it that the idiot Trump doesn’t understand, but how can his staff not understand 1) that is not how most alliances work, 2) that in particular is nothing like how NATO works. I’m not even associated with the US government or military or NATO, but I understand that an agreement that member nations should strive to spend 2% GDP on their military doesn’t mean that they have to pay 2% of their GDP as a check to the USA. What the fugg is so hard about that for these idiots to understand?

  157. 157.

    Millard Filmore

    @d58826: Right. Sorry. Push-Pull is normal in SF, Chicago, etc. The train is pushed into the city terminal, where they used to have sheds over the track and did not want the exhaust to build up in the enclosed space. And the train is pulled out to the suburbs. I should have said “pull-pull”, with an engine on each end. The engine on the front of the train is the only one working.

  158. 158.

    Mike in NC

    I’m not sure he can turn his head without turning his entire body. He even does it when talking without a teleprompter.

    I don’t think golems can turn their heads.

  159. 159.

    d58826

    @Millard Filmore: Yep. My experience has been in Philly with the more traditional commuter train cars. At one point that dead ended at suburban station and reading terminal. Couple of decades ago they built the run thru tunnel.

  160. 160.

    Evinfuilt

    “Peace through strength.” So beloved of the warmongers.
    @Cheryl Rofer:

    First thing I noticed as well.

    We also get to rebuild our military, who knew such a large machine needed rebuilt.

  161. 161.

    d58826

    Amtrak is confirming that the train did not use positive train control. According to the reporter PTC would not prevent excessive speed accidents. But I thought that was one of the main reasons for PTC. That is why it was quickly installed after the accident in Philly a few years back.

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Newt Fricking Gingrich is always waving his arms and blathering about EMP. Each time I hear him I can’t help but yell at the radio/TV “Dude, what happens to my cable service is the least of my worries after a nuclear explosion.”

    Somebody pays him to pretend to worry about it, would love to know who.

  163. 163.

    Matt McIrvin

    @trollhattan: The myth is that you’d just have to explode one nuke way up in the ionosphere (where traditional bomb effects wouldn’t be significant) and all post-1850 technology in the contiguous US would stop working, leading to total collapse of civilization and megadeath.

    If that were true, it’d be a thing to be concerned about: it’d mean that North Korea could not just destroy a few cities but literally kill us all. It’s also a neat justification for an SDI-style missile-defense program: sure, you may not be able to take down a thousand missiles, but what if someone could get us with just one?

    But, as far as I can tell, it’s not true. I mean, Starfish Prime didn’t hit Hawaii anywhere near as hard as Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.

  164. 164.

    Matt McIrvin

    …And it’s particularly shameful for people to be going on about this stuff while Puerto Rico still mostly does not have electricity. What, are Puerto Ricans just way hardier than mainland Americans, if they can get by with no damn power grid but it’d exterminate the lot of us?

  166. 166.

    Raven Onthill

    “principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology”

    Sounds like “We don’t care who gets hurt, we’re going to pursue our policy goals.”

    It’s all pretty mom-and-apple-pie stuff, but it’s also pretty awful, mercantilist, anti-immigrant, and ignoring the environmental and migration issues that are already part of the 21st century.

    I’ll be interested in seeing your analysis, when you see fit to publish it.

  170. 170.

    The Moar You Know

    We also get to rebuild our military, who knew such a large machine needed rebuilt.

    @Evinfuilt: It actually does. Badly. We have been at war, active combat operations, since 2001 with no interruption. 16 years of war.

    Any piece of equipment that’s remotely combat-related is beat to shit, barely works at this point. Airplanes, guns, artillery, tanks, ships, missiles, all of it. BEAT TO SHIT. The Navy is running constant shifts out at the Boneyard, digging for scrap parts, just to keep a quarter of their planes in the air. No other service is in much better shape. And then there’s the people. Same deal. Beaten into the fucking ground.

    The logical course of action would be “stop fighting”, of course, but that’s not going to happen. So we can send people off to certain death with broken equipment, or we can at least spend the money to make sure their stuff works.

    Won’t happen, this is just Trump running his dumb fucking mouth again. But like everything else in American society, the military needs a long standdown and all their infrastructure replaced/repaired. And like every other part of American society, that’s not going to happen with this crew in charge.

  173. 173.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t believe the RUMINT. If it was true, I’m pretty sure someone would have leaked it BEFORE the election happened.

    But who knows? I’m certainly not an expert.

  174. 174.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Millard Filmore: Most high-speed trainsets with unpowered carriages have a power car at each end of the rack otherwise the “drag” from the front power car provides the only traction force and on a long trainset at speed that puts a lot of load on the first few couplings. It’s not a biggie for lightweight commuter trainsets and slow-speed operation to only have a single power car at the front though. Shinkansens and other real high-speed trains (i.e. 200km/h and more) cheat by powering all the cars. Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) commuter trains here in the UK power all the cars with underfloor motors rather than having a single traction engine at the front. It makes cutting and shutting different-sized racks (two-car, three-car, four-car, six-car) to meet changing demand through the day somewhat easier but they max out at about 110km/h in normal use.

  177. 177.

    VOR

    @Matt McIrvin: Starfish Prime was a high altitude (250 miles) nuclear test over the Pacific Ocean in 1962. Per Wikipedia, it was about 900 miles from Hawaii. “Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.” The Wikipedia article says a number of satellites were disabled by high energy particles from the blast.

    I dunno, knocking out 300 streetlights doesn’t sound like the end of civilization. And I doubt North Korea is capable of a warhead as large as Starfish Prime at 1.4 megatons.

  178. 178.

    Matt

    @The Moar You Know:

    Given that the GOP are directly responsible for the funding difficulties in the first place – remember how including the military in the sequester was supposed to get the Freedumb Cock-ups to play ball, and how that turned out? – the idea that they’d spend money on repairing even military infrastructure is laughable.

    It’ll be more hyper-expensive weapons that don’t work, plus all the contracting they can shovel to whatever Erik Prince is currently running.

  180. 180.

    Bill Arnold

    @Spanky:

    “Keeping America Safe in the Cyber Era” was evidently written by a High School student.

    Read that section on your recommendation hoping for a laugh. No luck. I mean, sure, it’s simultaneously gormless puffery and carefully written with enough wriggle room for fraudulent contractors to steal billions (at least indirectly through mandates) from taxpayers, but this bit caught my eye:

    DEPLOY LAYERED DEFENSES:
    Since threats transit globally, passing through communications backbones without challenge, the U.S. Government will work with the private sector to remediate known bad activities at the network level to improve the security of all customers. Malicious activity must be defeated within a network and not be passed on to its destination whenever possible.

    That is common at a corporate level (e.g. false positives (on known attacks) sometimes cause mystery data transfer errors and other networking problems) but at a national level, it could be read as mandating that the telecommunications industry builds a flexible censorship infrastructure. (Paranoid scenario: “National Emergency”, shut down the communications (“malicious activity”) of the (dehumanized) political opposition and see how effectively they push back without being able to communicate.) At any rate, something to watch carefully.

  181. 181.

    burnspbesq

    @Adam L Silverman:

    We will hold perpetrators of genocide and mass atrocities accountable

    Is there a footnote saying that that sentence doesn’t apply to Israeli actions in Gaza or Saudi actions in Yemen?

  182. 182.

    Matt McIrvin

    @VOR: They might be able to do 1.4 megatons. Once you can manage any kind of fusion bomb, I think you can go up basically into Tsar Bomba territory without too much difficulty–though whether you could deliver it with a given missile is another question.

    But my impression of the EMP threat is pretty similar to yours: as Cheryl Rofer has said multiple times, it’s a problem, but not the apocalypse all by itself. You’d cause way more damage just by nuking some cities than by EMP’ing the whole continent.

  185. 185.

    Chris

    In after everyone else. Man, that first quote.

    … principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology.

    Translation: we’ll do what feels right, not what some overeducated fancy-pants nancy-boys at Foggy Bottom tell us to do. That’s not putting ideology over outcomes, because shut up that’s why.

    It is based upon the view that peace, securi , and prosperity depend on strong, sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to advance peace abroad.

    And because we hate that peace, security, and prosperity, we are busy disrespecting our citizens at home by soaking them in taxes and destroying their health plans for the benefit of a few who’ll squirrel the money away in international tax shelters like the Cayman Islands, we will cease cooperating with our partners on any number of items of mutual interest, and we will roll back all accomplishments, like the Iran treaty, that might make peace more likely.

    And it is grounded in the realization that American principles are a lasting force for good in the world.

    And we certainly can’t have that, so instead, we’ll be outsourcing our foreign policy to the Kremlin wherever convenient (convenient for them, not for us).

  186. 186.

    Chris

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    And the global reach of the US military is a benefit to the US as well. We have some interests in keeping bases nearby Russia and China and in places they might be interested in, like Africa. Plus goodwill, but I think that concept is beyond him.

    Yeah, this is the thing about alliances like NATO that gets conveniently glossed over. The post-1945 deal essentially allowed the United States to use the territory of every major power not named Russia as their own personal aircraft carrier/forward operating base. Those countries got to concentrate on rebuilding themselves, and in exchange the U.S. got, basically, worldwide hegemony. The idea that that’s not payment enough is fucking ludicrous.

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