Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The willow is too close to the house.

The words do not have to be perfect.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / At Em Boys, Give ‘Er The Gun!

At Em Boys, Give ‘Er The Gun!

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Gen. Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, the most senior Jewish American officer in the US military last seen in overwatch for Santa last Christmas, is once again subtweeting the President.

Give ‘er the gun indeed!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  2. 2.

    PhoenixRising

    My kid toured the AF Research Lab yesterday & came home with a lot of very fancy swag. She is, in part, the droid they are looking for, with high marks in math, physics, chemistry & foreign languages. However, she is a naturalized citizen of the US and retains her Cambodian citizenship as well. So the recruiter for the Academy went from having a VERY good day to…not sure what kind of day she had.

    Kid liked the lab a lot, between the hanger-sized microwave chamber and the robots. Maybe Gen. Goldfein’s outreach is going the right way!

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    Hard work?
    Sacrifice?
    Something greater than oneself?

    Man I hope Trumpov has to watch this on a loop for the entire length of his eventual sentence…

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PhoenixRising: I highly recommend her pursuing it. The clearance itself will be worth my weight in gold in future prospects. And if she makes a career of it, she’ll have one of the few gold plated pensions after 20 years of service. And even better if she goes 25 to a full 30.

  9. 9.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    nytopinion
    She may not be progressive. She may not be political. But Melania Trump may still do more than any of her predecessors to upend our expectations of an archaic institution.

  19. 19.

    T S

    @WaterGirl: Here…let me…answer that for you. Throwing shade on twitter without naming the target or including that person’s twitter handle.

  23. 23.

    PhoenixRising

    @Adam L Silverman: I think a military career would be a great fit for my kid’s strengths. I’m just not sure an immigrant can go all the places her US-born cousin can, and I don’t want to encourage her to pursue one of the only kinds of success she can’t have if she’s willing to work for it. For many reasons I’m hoping that the prejudice against foreign-born Americans that is currently in power will be put out at the curb shortly.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: What a fucking whiner he is. I would be humiliated to have my issues on display on twitter every single fucking day, and yet the president does it to himself.

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PhoenixRising: Feel free to email me offline if you want to confab. I can connect you with a good friend from grad school whose last assignment before he retired was as a professor at the Air Force Academy. I also have another good friend and former colleague who is a retired USAF colonel who now teaches at a university as well.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Kelly is going to sleeper hold Trump until he passes out. Then he’s coming off the top rope, ala Jimmy “Superfly Snooka”.
    Heeeellllloooo military junta!!

  39. 39.

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

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Don’t worry, Brave Retired Military Officer Kelly will land on his feet and run for office under the aegis of the GOP. He may yet return to the White House and Make America White Again like it was in his youth of the 1940s.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: Won’t be a junta. Junta is derived from the Arabic jundiyah meaning military. Stephen Miller won’t allow the use of that type of term.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: From the article:

    Trump has lashed out when he feels Kelly is getting too much credit or taking too much of the spotlight, friends and associates said.

    That alone makes me think Kelly is toast, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I had an open mind about Kelly when he started, but he has shown his true colors and he can’t be gone soon enough for me. I thought he would help keep Trump in line, but I never expected that Kelly would push things in the direction that he has. Are you still thinking he’s an honorable man?

  45. 45.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: I wonder whether some of those agencies feel miffed at how easy it is. “We can spend months or years developing sources deep inside the American Government and learn their secrets. Or we can follow the President on Twitter.”

  48. 48.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: McMaster is going to get on his hands and knees behind Miller. Then Kelly will push him backwards, playground style. While Miller is falling, Mattis will boot Miller’s head clean off his shoulders.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @PhoenixRising: I’d trust your kid in a heartbeat ahead of native born Ivana spawn, who have demonstrated they have all the integrity of their vile sire.

    @Adam L Silverman: World’s tiniest violin is now playing for the toddler.

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s pretty obvious that Trump doesn’t like the discipline being imposed on him by Kelly, it reminds him to much of his days in military school. He also(per Wolff) hates McMaster, finds him boring and reminds him of his college profs.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Read the article. Similar to the other pieces on the topic I’ve seen over the past couple of days. As we’ve mentioned here before: the President is basically an appetite with legs. And by and large he’s always been allowed to/been able to get away with doing whatever he wants with minimal negative repercussions. Anyone that seeks to constrain him is going to have a limited shelf life.

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Oh, I hadn’t seen anyone ask him that before. I wasn’t trying to make it a thing, I sincerely wonder what Adam is thinking about Kelly now. It may be that Adam doesn’t feel comfortable answering in this forum for career reasons.

  68. 68.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “… the president has complained that he never sees staff members anymore and occasionally sits in the office alone, aides said.”

    They need to treat him like in that Dutch home for the demented that has the appearance of a village but is actually all institution.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: @Gin & Tonic: Actually I’ll give the same answer I always give. I don’t know him. Never met him. My friends who have served with him or under his command think highly of him as a Marine and as a senior officer. None of them knew he had the views he has demonstrated over the past year. They all perceived him as largely moderate and apolitical. It is clear that he either hid some pretty biased and prejudiced attitudes throughout his career or has developed them late in life. I have no way of knowing which, though I suspect it really doesn’t matter which is an accurate assessment.

  71. 71.

    jl

    @schrodingers_cat: Or the alphabet, which may be a sinister plot by obscure mysterious rootless cosmopolitan Semitic peoples floating around the Mediterranean sea.

    Runes not good enough for him?

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @jl: I confess that I was kind of bored and turned it off. The “and don’t forget to hydrate” video set a pretty high bar for military videos for me.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    @Adam L Silverman:

    never sees staff members anymore and occasionally sits in the office alone

    Normally I’d ask who is seeing and directing those staff members. But after Wolff’s book, I figure the staff are all just wandering around the West Wing without any instructions – and possibly without security clearances.

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank you, Adam. It also seems that Kelly may hope to be in the WH in a more senior capacity in the future, which I now find pretty scary. Let’s hope the country loses its appetite for people with those views.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @dmsilev: @Adam L Silverman:

    “You mean, I could have saved all that money on ICBMs, those stupid parades, and something like eight gazillion tanks that were NEVER going to fit through the Fulda Gap…and just paid three dozen hackers to sit in a warehouse and hack the Americans’ political parties? Expose one and blackmail the other? The whole shoe-banging thing, I didn’t have to embarrass myself like that?”

    Yeah, pretty much…

  80. 80.

    PhoenixRising

    @Corner Stone: @Mike J: @Omnes Omnibus: All y’all are supportive & I appreciate you.

    We discussed this in the context of today’s immigration news. The kid actually brought up Carl Shurz, whose co-conspirator in a Munich dungeon after the uprising of 1848 was…my mom’s great-grandfather, who baked tasty treats at his shop where the FBI is now headquartered ( 9th and D NW) so delicious that Abe Lincoln asked him to cater the dinner after his second inauguration. General Shurz led troops at Gettysburg and went on to be elected Senator. He spoke out against US imperialism in SE Asia. So, there you go! America is already great. And shall remain so.

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: My brigade’s chaplain was originally from Ghana. Last I heard he’s one of the chaplains at Lewis-McChord. He’s a Ghanan tribal king. Really great guy and a really excellent chaplain:
    https://www.stripes.com/news/chaplain-would-like-to-keep-ministering-to-troops-in-iraq-but-knows-a-tribe-in-ghana-wants-its-king-back-1.78269

    FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq — Chaplain Nana E Kweku Bassaw joins the small circle of downcast, sun-beaten soldiers. The unassuming Army major slips into the conversation.

    Although it is early in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division’s deployment, and the fighting is yet to start, Bassaw wants to check the spiritual pulse.

    “So how are you doing?” he asks one soldier.

    “Terrible,” says Pvt. Christopher Soares, who is on his first tour to Iraq and misses his family.

    In his role as chaplain, Bassaw, 50, says he likes to take an informal approach with soldiers. Small talk helps him grasp their day-to-day struggles. With this group, Bassaw lightens the mood by shifting the conversation to fishing and jokes.

    Bassaw has served as Army chaplain since 1996, and had planned to pursue his calling until retirement in eight years. But another calling also tugs at Bassaw.

    “The conflict I have is whether my people can wait for me,” Bassaw said. “This is the dilemma. One of the things I need to think about is how many people I’m impacting.”

    What many people within the Baumholder-based Iron Brigade probably don’t realize is that their chaplain is something of royalty.

    “It’s not really something I talk about,” Bassaw said. “People would say, ‘What are you doing here?’”

    In his native Ghana, he is the king-elect of one of the country’s largest tribes. His official title is paramount chief of the Sekondi region, which includes about 500,000 Fanti tribe members.

    The nephew of the former king, Bassaw was selected as the tribe’s new leader last year by a council of elders. It becomes official after his coronation, which involves being carried aloft through the city before the people. The ceremony will likely happen after Bassaw completes his 15-month deployment.

    But the question remains: When will he take on his responsibilities in Ghana full-time? Bassaw, who holds dual citizenship, said he’s trying to figure that out.

    Ebo Haizel-Ferguson, who is representing Bassaw back in Ghana during his absence, hopes it’s sooner rather than later.

    “We want him now. He has the right background and education. He understands exactly what we need to change the lifestyle and economic situation of our people,” Haizel-Ferguson said by phone on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, Bassaw is looking to see if a team of experts and representatives he has assembled can administer things effectively in Ghana while he is gone. If an economic development plan he’s conceived can be carried out in his absence, then Bassaw may be able to remain chaplain until retirement.

    His goals: develop a concrete factory; launch a dairy farm because his area has none. Agribusinesses such as fish farms, shrimp farms and mango fields are also being looked at. And an old Dutch castle on the coast could serve as a tourism resort, he said.

    With untapped resources and a lack of infrastructure, “I see parallels with what we’re trying to do in Iraq,” he said.

    Shortly before deploying to Iraq, Bassaw met with a group of investors during a trip home. He says he’s looking to attract about $50 million in venture capital.

    “I want to make Sekondi the economic capital of the country,” Bassaw said. “I want to turn my town around. We have perfect weather. But we rely too much on imports. We have no excuse to not do better in that part of the world. I want my people to have jobs — good paying jobs.”

    Bassaw attended a military cadet academy in Ghana. After that he attended seminary school at Drew University in New Jersey. With a family background in both the ministry and the military, serving as a chaplain seemed a natural fit.

    At his new office at Forward Operating Base Hammer, he talked Tuesday with Haizel-Ferguson. The phone call was brief — a quick update on parliamentary elections and progress on some development projects.

    Then it was back to his day job.

    “This is my calling for this moment and this place and time. This is what I’m committed to,” Bassaw said. “To bring hope, that is what I want to do every day.”

  85. 85.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: I once watched part of a Seahawks game with then MG Shali, my division commander, in the kitchen, at the DivArty Commander’s Christmas party, until his wife drug him back into the living room.

    He was a cannon-cocker, as you of course know.

  86. 86.

    chopper

    @WaterGirl:

    What is subtweeting?

    what’s a “Jewish American”? isn’t that just a Jew? are there “christian americans”? he’s the highest ranking christian-american officer we have!

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: I don’t know about that. I hope it is not something we have to worry about. There is maybe one retired general officer/flag officer who would make a good president. Kelly is not him. And I don’t get the impression that General (ret) Dempsey would ever run.

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chopper: Among us members of the tribe there are basically two usages: Jewish-American and American Jew. I tend to go with the former.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Ghanan means of or pertaining to Ghana. Ghanaian means of or pertaining to members of the Ghanaian tribe. The former is what my friend, the tribal king uses. So that’s what I use.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chopper: Chopper doesn’t really sound all that Jewish. I’ll give you Methodist or Episcopalian, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.//

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Holaitsmonica: Chief Wright has written an excellent essay. My understanding, however, from the news reporting is the memo is cherry picked material from DOJ IG material that Nunes demanded under his oversight authority. It may be classified by DOJ/FBI, though my understanding is that it is Law Enforcement sensitive because it is part of the ongoing IG investigation into how Comey and the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. The reporting also seems to indicate that it is also cherry picked from FISA warrant applications that the FBI used to get the warrant for, at least, Carter Page. And there’s bits and bobs cherry picked from the text message transcripts between Strzok and Page turned over by DOJ/FBI that are also part of the IG investigation.

    Nunes is not very bright, as Wright points out. Neither is Gaetz, the Freedom Caucus nuts, or Gorka son of Hugo Drax. What most people have called for is for Nunes to release the IG material and the FISA warrant material. DOJ wants none of them out there. The former is technically protected under civil service law because the IG investigation isn’t complete and no one has been even formally accused of violating departmental ethics, let alone a crime. DOJ doesn’t want the FISA warrant application material released because that would tip of the methods and sources used to reach probable cause to ask for the warrant and have it awarded.

  106. 106.

    Sab

    @Adam L Silverman: Whenever you feel like you are blathering on the internet, remember that if you are thoughtful and informative ( which you pretty much always are) you can change a life once a week or at least once a month or so.

  109. 109.

    Lyrebird

    @chopper: Well shorter and even medium-length nyms can be confusing. I am not sure we should explain to Viva BrisVegas (who lives in Brisbane as I have learned) how his nym comes across in a J A context..

  110. 110.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jeffro:

    In Krushev’s defense, the strategy for conquering America that Putin executed so successfully would never have been practical before Facebook.

  111. 111.

    martian

    Adam, have you been following the Chelsea Manning drama of her being caught fraternizng with the alt-right? Her closest running buddy appeared to be Cassandra Fairbanks, who has had a most interesting arc of associations beginning with working for Sputnik, then becoming a Bern-or-buster, and finally landing at Gateway Pundit amongst the Pizzagaters.

    Since we seem to be living in the timeline where all conspiracy theories eventually become manifest and true, it is to wonder. I’m wondering about everything regarding Manning, actually, going all the way back. Do you have any thoughts about what’s going on with her?

  115. 115.

    DissidentFish

    @Vhh: Unproven that Melania was an escort. Trump was Viagra-enchaned schtupping the admitted escort while Melania was home with his newborn spawn. So that’s more moral, right?

    Oh and a joke: “What did Stormy Daniels say when breaking up with Trump?

    “It is time to Make America Mast**BATE Again”

  116. 116.

    patrick II

    @chopper:

    what’s a “Jewish American”? isn’t that just a Jew? are there “christian americans”?

    I’m Irish American. The term as a prefix to American refers to heritage rather than to religion. And to the question which counts for jews in Israel, it has been an ongoing debate.

  118. 118.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: I know this is a dead thread, but I wanted to respond to this:

    [i]And if she makes a career of it, she’ll have one of the few gold plated pensions after 20 years of service.[/i]

    I’ve brought this up multiple times here to no avail, but the US military changed their pension two years ago from the straight retirement pension [serve 20, get 50%] to a mix of 401k that the member has to manage and 40% pension. The numbers that RAND, and a few other conservative think tanks, used to sell this were highly, highly optimistic (i.e. pulled out of their ass/not plausible). Every single retiree group (VFW, AFL, Iraq and Afghanistan Vets to name a few) came out against this change as it was a reduction in benefits. On top of that, the amount of member/retiree services that bases now offer their community continues to decline as more and more conservatives (both in the government/DoD) try to make everything run like a business. So if it’s not profitable, it’s axed. I’m not part of that olds group that goes, “Hey, remember when we had X, Y, and Z? Yeah, good times.”

    Lastly, I’m not sure which lab PhoenixRising and daughter visited, but here’s a full listing of all the AF research labs and what fields they pursue: Air Force Research Laboratory

  119. 119.

    Leto

    @PhoenixRising:

    I’m just not sure an immigrant can go all the places her US-born cousin can

    I’ve both served with/lead/taught Airmen from all over the world, Places include: India, NIger, Zimbabwe, England, the Phillipines and a few others. They all raised their right hands, swore their oaths to the Constitution, and then went on to serve.

    Recommended paths for your kid would be 1) USAF Academy. They have excellent science, math, and engineering programs; OR 2) find a great school with an ROTC detachment. She can dip her toes into the military world, see if she likes it, and then during her junior year of college decide if she’d like to take the plunge and do the 6 year commitment (standard AF officer contract length coming out of college). Like Adam said, the TS clearance she could walk out with is worth both of weights in gold, double on days ending in Y.

    Example of a few top notch universities, with top notch ROTC detachments/students: MIT Air Force ROTC Detachment 365 named best in the nation

  120. 120.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Leto: One of my college classmates was AF ROTC, an AF rocket scientist and now is a rocket scientist at a national lab.

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