In response to a significant number of now retired military and civilian senior national security leaders speaking out regarding the President’s actions, behaviors, apparent campaign connections to a variety of Russian oligarchs and/or intelligence operatives, Senator Paul decided it was time to take decisive action to protect the Republic.
Sen. Rand Paul says he will ask President Trump to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan https://t.co/ru2QTCkkPy pic.twitter.com/VAUoibqMNW
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 23, 2018
From CNN:
Republican Sen. Rand Paul tweeted Monday that he will ask President Donald Trump to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, who criticized Trump’s performance last week at the Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an unusual move, Paul wrote that he will meet with Trump on Monday to discuss allegations that Brennan is “monetizing his security clearance” and “making millions of dollars divulging secrets to mainstream media.” Paul added that he would ask Trump to revoke Brennan’s clearance.
Former intelligence officials typically maintain high-level security clearances after they leave their posts — in some cases, they provide counsel to current officials during times of turnover.
GENIUS!!!!
Earlier today, White House Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders had this to say:
Press Sec. Sanders: "Not only is the president looking to take away Brennan's security clearance, he's also looking into the security clearances of Comey, Clapper, Hayden, Rice, and McCabe…because they've politicized and in some cases monetized their public service." pic.twitter.com/vHZIAAcDjA
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 23, 2018
Former Director of Central Intelligence and retired US Air Force General Hayden responded with:
I dont go back for classified briefings. Won’t have any effect on what I say or write
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) July 23, 2018
Senator Paul’s idea, as well as the President’s/White House’s response, is absolutely stupid. Aside from the fact that this type of action would be tied up in court for years, it demonstrates how little either Senator Paul or the President actually understand about how and why clearances are granted or revoked. While I know that the President, as the highest originating classification authority (OCA) in the US government may classify or declassify anything he so chooses, my understanding is that the President does not have the ability to simply order the revocation of a properly adjudicated and granted clearance. Or, in this case, their eligibility. These retired senior leaders do not have access, that is largely cut off as soon as they step down. They’re read off of whatever compartments they had access to, though some are not fully read off for about a year or so. Rather they retain their eligibility – their clearances remain good/properly adjudicated – until they reach the end of the validity of their current background investigation. For a top secret clearance that is now seven years – they had to change it back at the end of 2016 because of the renewal backlog. For sensitive compartmented information (SCI) that is twenty-four months after one’s most recent read off. Specifically, the computer database system that contains SCI status drops you automatically after not being read onto any compartment for twenty-four months. After that one must be renominated for SCI access, which depending on the SCI, which department, agency, bureau, command, and/or office is asking for it, may include a polygraph.
My understanding is that access for retired senior leaders is maintained for a year or so and that their clearances, ie their eligibility, are routinely renewed, subject to successfully the renewal and adjudication process. And the reason that retired senior leaders, both military and civilian, need to keep their clearances is in case their successors need to consult with them on either past classified issues or current ones. This is so that the current senior leaders are able to actually speak to their predecessors in order to maintain continuity of government from one administration to the next on exceedingly important and highly sensitive issues. Moreover, retired senior military leaders – general officers/flag officers – are subject to recall should there be need as a condition of their retirement. Maintaining their clearances streamlines any potential recall to service. Finally, publicly stating political opposition is not grounds for revocation of a clearance.
For instance:
Worth remembering that Michael Flynn maintained his security clearance during the Obama administration, even after he lead "Lock Her Up" chants at Trump campaign events.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 23, 2018
As one of the national security attorneys who specialize in clearance and classification related issues indicates:
It’s called the First Amendment, Senator. For such a self-proclaimed Constitutional expert you seem to have forgotten about that. Once they’re out of government they can say whatever they want so long as it is unclassified. https://t.co/Ev4Dm2aMgj
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) July 23, 2018
Here’s the list of reasons for having a clearance revoked:
Grounds For revocation of security clearance
All federal agencies adhere to the Adjudication Guidelines, which establish 13 potential justifications for denying or revoking federal security clearance:
- Allegiance to the United States – Affiliating with or sympathizing with terrorists or overthrow of the government
- Foreign influence – Association with foreign citizens or businesses that could lead to coercion
- Foreign preference – Conflict of interest due to dual citizenship, service in a foreign military, or receiving benefits from another country.
- Outside activities – Involvement with any foreign individual or organization engaged in dissecting or disseminating material relating to U.S. defense, foreign affairs, intelligence or protected technology.
- Criminal conduct – Conviction for a serious crime or multiple lesser offenses; allegations or admission of criminal activity
- Security violations – Willful breaches, unauthorized or reckless disclosure of classified information
- Misuse of information technology – Unauthorized access (hacking), malicious coding, hindering access to systems, removing hardware or software, disabling security measures
- Personal conduct – A wide spectrum, such as associating with known criminals, hindering a clearance investigation, giving false information, or reports from past employers or neighbors of unsavory behavior
- Sexual behavior – Criminal acts, sex addiction or sexual activities that compromise the employee or show lack of judgment
- Financial considerations – Unexplained wealth, heavy debts, gambling addiction or a pattern of being irresponsible with money and financial obligations
- Alcohol consumption – Alcohol-related incidents, medical diagnosis of alcohol abuse, relapse after treatment
- Drug involvement – Drug-related incidents, diagnosis of drug addiction, using drugs after rehab
- Psychological conditions – Failure to follow prescribed treatment for emotional, mental or personality disorders; a pattern of incidents or high-risk, aggressive or unstable behaviors.
One final important point: everyone on the proposed list, other than Ambassador Rice and, perhaps, DCI Brennan, are all either publicly acknowledged to be Republicans and/or were appointed to their positions by past Republican presidents.
We are off the looking glass and through the map!
Open thread.
Raoul
I’m just not even feeling frosty any more.
the Conster
Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders were the two votes against Russian sanctions.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: It’s the global heat wave.
father pusbucket
Bad news for Tantrum Tribble.
Gin & Tonic
Maybe they should revoke Jared’s while they’re at it.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: Rand is just following in Daddy’s footsteps.
Yarrow
Feel like we’ve been stuck at this level for awhile. Is there a higher (or lower, in this case) level in this game?
Raoul
OT, but the latest Party ID breakdown has the GOP below the crazification factor.
via Mark Salter “Voters who previously identified as GOP are no longer doing so since it’s become the party of Trump. In most recent Pew poll 26% of voters identify as Republican. Lowest number in a decade.”
JPL
Trump is desperate to take his love fest in Helsinki off the front page.
Mnemosyne
So, basically, everyone in the Trump administration and at least half of the Republicans in Congress should have their clearances yanked.
rikyrah
Thanks Silverman
germy
@JPL: He knows how to play the media. He’s been doing it for 30+ years.
Raoul
@Adam L Silverman: Nobody could have predicted it!
Oh, wait.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Open thread so I blogged about how to make fight scenes less boring.
germy
@Raoul:
Meanwhile the media is pushing all these “he’s immensely popular with republicans!” stories and polls right now. But they rarely mention that first part.
Raoul
@Mnemosyne: We still don’t really know what the 4th of July Eight did on their trip to Moscow, do we? Does Jon Huntsman even know what they discussed or why?
Total shitshow all around.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: He was denied his SCI. So he actually has very little access unless his father in law decides he should see/know something. So whatever access he has is ad hoc and outside the normal process and system.
PeakVT
It would be nice if the “accused” (slandered is more like it) were to “turn in” their clearances, saying that they are no longer willing to provide their assistance to a foreign-controlled administration.
Kraux Pas
@Raoul:
But the crazification factor is surely within the margin of error, no?
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Up the rabbit hole.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: Which is not being pointed out enough in regard to polling of the President’s popularity. That while his #s among Republicans is either stable or has gone up, this is because there are fewer Republicans.
eemom
What if they come after YOU? Maybe you should purge your previous posts and go undercover with a new nym. Don’t worry, none of us here ever heard of you.
Raoul
@germy: Innumeracy in the press is a legit problem.
“It’s the statements that are mathematically correct but bear no logical relationship to the conclusions that do the most violence to the truth. This is because most people don’t know they’ve been had. Which is the whole point.”
And, yes, Adam Silverman, indeed the lack of context matters!
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
More like a wormhole
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: The Home Office has scheduled the next batch of annual performance reviews!
Jeffro
SURELY these are the actions of an innocent man and party! Walking back the walk-back and declaring the whole Russia thing a “hoax”, outright lying about the FISA warrant that was used (and then renewed, multiple times) to surveil Carter Page, and now threatening the IC folks who’ve dared to criticize his allegiance to Russia.
I mean, it doesn’t get much more innocent than that, does it?
Kraux Pas
@eemom: As if Trump pays enough attention to detail to conduct this purge beyond cabinet officials and other top-level officials.
It’s always theatre with this drama queen.
Adam L Silverman
Hayden is not amused:
dmsilev
@Raoul: “How to Lie with Statistics” is a classic book that everyone should read. It’s probably about 60 years old at this point, so this is not a new problem.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: You’re welcome.
TenguPhule
Sure seems like Trump doesn’t intend on there ever being another administration after this.
But it would be rude to call it a clear and present Nazi.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Will the last non-bought-and-paid-for-in-rubles GOP elected official in America please turn out the lights?
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Following the link,
I wish I could say that I find this either shocking or surprising, but it’s a sad commentary on the world that we now live in that this seems …expected.
Adam L Silverman
@MomSense: I think you missed what I was doing.
Raoul
@Adam L Silverman: Dr. Spraytan: How I Learned to Relax and Love the Putin.
Coming to a drive in near you this summer! Don’t fail to miss it!
TenguPhule
But the real question is, will they get away with it consequence free? Because we passed “unthinkable” about 16 months ago and are headed straight for “this can’t be happening”
Gravenstone
Made a minor tweak to your post, Adam.
Anonymous at Work
Flynn bats 10 for 13
TenguPhule
@Raoul:
The only chills I’m feeling are like someone is walking on my grave. And he weighs a fuckton more then 239 pounds.
schrodingers_cat
Moscow Agent Grabs America.
Brachiator
Sanders said this and was not immediately turned into a pillar of salt or something?
Dayum!
germy
There could be a financial impact on those leaders
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Only half?
Boussinesque
@Raoul: while I certainly agree with the quoted part, reading the first 4-5 paragraphs of the article made me want to punch the author in the throat.
Jeffro
@JPL:
We’ll know he’s TRULY desperate if he actually tries governing.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
So he has access to everything then, basically.
jl
” their successors need to consult with them”? “continuity of government”?
As a practical matter, isn’t this issue kind of moot?
Elizabelle
Seeing Smokey Eye Sanders speaking on people “monetizing” their security clearance — the projection involved could light a movie from space.
Trump. Kushner. All about the monetizing. I hope it’s one of the charges for which they are convicted.
germy
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Nixon is still dead.
SFAW
@germy:
It’s like homeopathy? They distill it down further and further, until there’s only one molecule of the essential ingredient left, but it’s really pure.
NB: Yes, that’s probably a poor, inaccurate description of how homeopathic medicine works. Fine. Think of it as a “literary device.”
germy
@Jeffro:
Like starting a war in Iran.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: You beat me to it. My eyebrows have been stuck the ceiling over that one ever since I read it (breaking news in the WaPost).
TenguPhule
@germy:
Did they do everything they could to thwart Trump and the GOP shit parade that preceded him? Otherwise, fuck their golden retirements.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Now that Vlad is really sowing chaos. The Senators have to choose between McConnell’s order to man the Chamber 24/7 until the election and the boss’s performance review?
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: I don’t know. You will have to ask them.
hitchhiker
@Adam L Silverman:
Exactly. The Venn diagram of people who call themselves Republican and people who love Trump looks like one circle, because the party has successfully purged almost all the sane folks, and the only ones left are batshit cray-cray.
88% of 26% is 23%.
Less than a quarter of American adults are enthusiastically sticking with him. If the rest of us vote, this can end.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: I saw the reporting on this about a week or so ago. It is not particularly surprising.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
She said “at least,” not “only” or “approximately.”
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: I have no idea. He could be seeing everything, he could be seeing very little.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I would expect this will be during the truncated, but still on the calendar, one week senatorial recess in August.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
22nd amendment. But yeah, I’m sure Trump would jump at the chance to be president-for-life. Cincinnatus he ain’t.
Wapiti
@TenguPhule: Not really. That SCI is stuff that can’t be talked about unless both/all parties are in the system. So Jared would have to know what he doesn’t know, and then tell Donald that (a) he doesn’t know something and (b) he needs special permission, again. If people don’t want Jared to know, he might never realize a big chunk of what he’s missing.
Jeffro
@germy: That too.
Raoul
@Boussinesque: Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be linking to Libertarian Libraries* (aka Forbes). It was a quick search on my part.
*Apparently Forbes may have pulled the incredibly bad scholarship of one Dr Mourdoukoutas. Chickenshits.
Adam L Silverman
@hitchhiker: I’ve actually seen that it is closer to 19% of total Americans who support him. I think that was based on his popular vote total in the election.
ewrunning
Love the Bugs and Wile E. Coyote reference. (Are you in, genius? Are you incompetent?) Also, brings to mind when I used to carry codeword around to brief people in Main State as a junior officer in INR. After reading a particlarly dubious sounding item one time, an acerbic Deputy Office Director handed it back to me rather than passing it to the other briefees, telling them, “You can’t read this unless you’re cleared for RUBS.” When asked “What’s RUBS”, he replied “ridiculous unadulterated b***s***.
Jeffro
TPM is reporting the names of the five Manafort witnesses. I don’t recognize any of them. (apologies if this was in an earlier thread)
NotMax
Just slap an “in the interest of national security” tariff on ’em. $10 per word ought to do it. //
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro: Not a chance, that’s hard work. As one of his predecessors said, “Presidenting is hard work”.
TenguPhule
FTFNYT decides that the solution to ignorance is interviewing more idiots.
I thought I’d run out of empathy to lose with these people. Boy was I wrong.
I want to see that company crash and burn. I want these employees struggling to get unemployment benefits and food assistance, only to have it denied based on the updated requirements. I want them to suffer.
James E Powell
@germy:
He’s still a very solid just above 40% with the whole country. That’s scary, really it is.
germy
Maurice Rucker, the guy who was fired from his Home Depot job for talking back when a customer went into a racist tirade against him got a call from the corporate office. Not his local home depot, the main office. They told him “We want you back.”
“‘We want you back.’ It’s like, no, you want this to stop. That’s what you want,” said Rucker.
Rucker says there was no raise or promotion offered to him — just come back to work.
He’s turned them down.
Brachiator
Also known as Republican Standard Operating Procedure.
patrick II
Adam L. Silverman says:
President Trump says:
in setting U.S. foreign policy
Clearly the new administration don’t need no stinkin’ consultations. Just check his huge successes with Kim Jong Un and at Helsinki.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: They’ve done their best to rip apart all the passing of the torch of experience in government. All those people that left government last year and this year? That’s knowledge lost, possibly forever, and means basically having people coming into government and learning how to invent the wheel all over again. It means slower processing, more mistakes and much greater risk of corruption and ignorance of the rules and regulations.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I still have to laugh remembering the time Don Jr was asked what, exactly, his dad was going to do as president if Trump had gotten his way and been able to pull in John Kasich as VP
Junior’s response (per Slate):
Yes…just run around dispensing Fox News talking points and getting his grift on, that’s right.
bluehill
Saw an NYT article about factory workers hurt by the tariffs remaining loyal to Trump. Don’t know how representative this quote is
but wonder if he realizes that you could do say the same about taxes, union dues, insurance mandate, etc. Cognitive dissonance is strong with this one.
Ladyraxterinok
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks for link. Very interesting analysis. Reminds me to visit your blog.
TenguPhule
@Wapiti:
That’s less comforting when you remember how many fucking asshat Trump cabinet members there are.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: His starting wage with them a decade ago was $12 an hour. His wage at time of termination last week was $12.78 an hour.
Booger
@TenguPhule: Do you suppose Mr. Jackson knows WHY we had Victory Gardens in WWII??
TenguPhule
@bluehill: The entire company is peopled by Darwin Awards in progress.
germy
@Adam L Silverman: He made the correct decision.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ladyraxterinok: Thanks for telling me you found it interesting. Sometimes I think I’m boring the pants off the rest of the world.
jl
@Ladyraxterinok: Some of DAW’s ideas are interesting. But beyond the skill of the Trumpsters. Won’t make the press conferences for summits with US allies more interesting, they won’t be able to manage it.
J R in WV
@the Conster:
I’ve always thought, believed that Bernie Sanders is owned by first the Soviets, now the Russians have inherited that ownership.
Rand Paul may be just a tool in every sense, first of his parent and the libertarian line, now a dupe of the Russians by some accident. Perhaps too stupid to know which?
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Are we at the totally sane no tea unparty level yet?
piratedan
the more I think on it, the more I begin to suspect that the GOP are actually Lectroids from Planet 10 who crossed over into our dimension upon the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Because the way that they run the government seems more like the situation at Yoyodyne Industries than it bears any kind of resemblance to a major political party that has a platform based on anything other than major and petty cruelty.
p.a.
@hitchhiker: If the rest of us can[editorial addition] vote, this can end.
There’s the rub.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@jl: I can’t even read Trump’s tweets any more without feeling both bored and brain damaged. So it’s mutual.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
No. He’s a fully on board Russian asset in every sense of the word. His head is destined for a pike. May that day come soon.
bluehill
@Adam L Silverman:
Red Dawn is fictional, right? Along with the Putin visit, seems to be too many to be just coincidental.
Semi-serious question – if Trump and the repubs wanted to stage a de facto coup – which to me would include a media shutdown, suspension of due process and suspension of elections or more significant restrictions on voters/candidates – is there a way to do it with support of a cooperative legislative branch?
Gravenstone
@TenguPhule: Someone will make a killing buying off his hardware once his company goes belly up. Can’t happen to a nicer jackass.
Yarrow
@James E Powell: The economy and gas prices. If the economy tanks and/or gas prices go up further and stay up after summer then his approval numbers will fall.
SiubhanDuinne
Have been offline nearly all day, haven’t even glanced at earlier threads and have only barely skimmed this one, so maybe someone else has caught this — but given…
Brennan
Comey
Clapper
Hayden
Rice
McCabe
…the first thing that popped into my mind was (yes, in all caps) “ENEMIES LIST!!!”
This is chilling.
TenguPhule
@bluehill:
Yep, only in the movies do the Republicans fight against a Russian invasion.
In reality, they invite them in of their own accord.
patrick II
Nothing quite like Trump to call people for monetizing their government service.
Another lurker
@dmsilev: Please, please, please, tell me to calm down and step back from the ledge, but I am worried about this. I am worried about Russia, a professional ratfucker and experienced at overthrowing governments, will use this outreach to actively train and deploy groups to launch attacks against State and Federal personale and facilities, for the purpose of further disrupting and destabilizeing our county’s situation.
Please tell me I’m wrong and needlessly worrying.
Mike in NC
I have to confess that when I retired from the Navy, my TS/SCI clearance made me millions of dollars. Oh, wait…
TenguPhule
Wapo cribbed from the FTWSJ
Tesla and Musk are so fucked.
Yarrow
@J R in WV:
No. Look at some of Adam’s previous posts. He (Rand Paul) has Russian connections going way back and his dad was (is) all up with the Soviets/Russians. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these people are stupid and don’t know what they’re doing and got duped by some Russians. It’s much, much worse than that.
At this point, based on their behavior alone, it’s easier to ask which Republicans are not Russian assets. It’ll take much less time to answer than it would be if the question were asked the other way.
rikyrah
THREAD
TokenSuperhero (@MarcusTheToken) Tweeted:
So this morning @PlanetFitness, I was working out with my teenage son. Now when I workout, I always wear a hoodie. Always up. Headband, and headphones. I’ve been going to planet fitness for years. I’m in New Hampshire, and this is my second day going to this location. 1/10 https://twitter.com/MarcusTheToken/status/1021048298424160256?s=17
Brachiator
@bluehill:
The problem is, the “sacrifice” will not create jobs.
It is wild to see these supporters create defenses out of thin air to rationalize their defense of Trump.
A grifter might say that when you can get the sucker to defend a con against any attack, you have hit the jackpot.
Baud
Good article.
Why So Many Reporters Are Missing the Political Story of the Decade
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/07/23/why-so-many-reporters-are-missing-the-political-story-of-the-decade/
TenguPhule
@Another lurker:
You’re wrong and needlessly worrying. What you should be worried about is that they’re going to taint recruitment pools and get into those institutions the legal way.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow:
None of them, Katie!
Those not active participants are accomplices after the fact.
Traitors all. And they will be rewarded as a traitor deserves.
Ladyraxterinok
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I checked out your blog some time ago in response to a comment and link here at b-j, then later forgot that it has interesting info re writing.
RedDirtDirl
@Boussinesque: Ditto.
raven
@Mike in NC: I was in so much shit I couldn’t get a confidential! I was really vital in a Signal Unit!
Jeffro
@piratedan:
Sounds quite plausible at this point.
Heck, just last month this here atheist, yours truly, was starting to think about re-reading Revelations, just to see what was going to happen this month…
Millard Filmore
Open thread! And with Adam! I have a question about the president’s control of security clearance. Is there a process, a signature, required before the president can give away Top Secret information? I am thinking specifically about the meeting with the Russian ambassador right after the inauguration. If he did not take the proper steps, and it can be shows that he burned some assets in Russia, is that espionage (not treason)? Can the president say “its ok for a foreign power to have this information”, but a serious crime if I happen to bump into it and blab all over the world?
sukabi
Re: revocation of security clearances…
Trump and his entire cabal check ALL of those boxes. Not a one of them should be able to have a security clearance. Not even trustworthy enough to be county dog catcher.
jl
@rikyrah: I heard on the news this morning about a black business owner who has been repeatedly reported to the police as being suspicious when he opens his own business early in the morning. So far, the police responding have known its BS so nothing terrible has happened yet.
Steve in the ATL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: “I’m just going to say it. Most fight scenes in books are boring.”
Steve in the 407 concurs.
MattF
@Baud: I certainly hope it’s true– specifically, that women, en masse, are going to change the political landscape.
sukabi
@TenguPhule: well that’s ballsy. Thought Musk was supposed to be a super genius or something. Seems like if he was he could figure out how to not bankrupt his company…or alternatively figure out that money paid out 2 years ago will not be returning.
NeenerNeener
Interesting that Condi Rice, whose expertise was supposed to be Russia, is being cut off at the knees.
MattF
Has there ever been an administration where getting and keeping security clearances are continuing, serious issues? It’s plainly true that Trump would never get a clearance, even for FOUO– maybe he’s just setting the tone.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Because too many editors and reporters are white men.
Yep. Good article. Of course, Bernie Sanders is jumping in and trying to divert the power of the resistance for his own purposes, and lazy reporters then turn him into a leader of the resistance.
Millard Filmore
@dmsilev:
Is that anything like ‘Sportsmanship, how to win at games without actually cheating’?
Yarrow
@NeenerNeener: Isn’t it Susan Rice, not Condi?
Baud
@NeenerNeener: It’s Susan Rice.
mike in dc
@Steve in the ATL: The best fight scenes are in comic books, manga and manhua(Hong Kong comics). There are fights in Japanese and Chinese comics that last for dozens of pages. There’s a satirical oversized comic written by Scott McCloud, DESTROY, that pokes fun, in a loving way, of the classic knock down drag out Kirbyesque superhero fights, in an over the top way.
MattF
@dmsilev: Unfortunately, innumeracy can’t be cured by reading a book. ‘Thinking with numbers’ is a black art to most people.
Another lurker
@TenguPhule: Good point.
Thanks.
Cacti
@the Conster:
Bernie’s chief strategist Tad Devine had his name appear 16 times in the Manafort evidence, for work they did together in Ukraine.
NeenerNeener
@Baud & Yarrow: Ah…my mind automatically goes to Condi when I see “Rice”. And if not Condi, why not?
Patricia Kayden
@Gin & Tonic:
Didn’t they have to change the rules so Jared could finally be cleared? He lied multiple times on the security forms and had to make scores of “corrections”. And let’s not forget that Trump had a domestic violence monster on his team and was forced to let him go (to work on his campaign). We’re floating towards fascism, folks.
MattF
@Cacti: That suggests Devine is pals with Roger Stone. Hmm.
Miss Bianca
@father pusbucket: Yeah, seriously? Is it just me, or is practically every single item on that list something that would be *actual* grounds for revocation for POTUS and his clan and his circle of cronies/accomplices/low-quality hires?
NotMax
Gee, they left Hillary off the list.
chopper
yet jared keeps his clearance in spite of his inability to fill out one single form correctly. makes sense.
Patricia Kayden
@jl: Is there a reason why the police can’t start charging people with a misdemeanor for these frivolous calls? It’s surely wasting the time and resources of police officers who could be doing something more productive.
NotMax
@NotMax
And Obama.
different-church-lady
Speaking of Wile E. Coyote, SHS is increasingly making faces just like his when he sees the train coming towards him.
Ladyraxterinok
@Baud: No time to read article. From what I read at link and what you report here, I believe media is deliberately missing the point. Anything to disheaten democrats and keep us out of power.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Because of their professional malpractice during the 2016 campaign.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: I saw that on the local news here in LA last night.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Racists are being emboldened by the Orange Bigot but forget that unlike him, they’re not protected from the repercussions of their idiocy. Most of us Black folks know our rights and we’re not going to cow tow to racists. If you feel uncomfortable around me because I’m Black, go somewhere else. I love how he handled that woman. I bet she won’t try that with the next Black person she meets.
chopper
@Booger:
i guess this schmendrick thinks that the great trade war(tm) is like WWII. makes sense, since his boy trump compared avoiding STDs in college to vietnam.
different-church-lady
@bluehill:
Well, that’s good, because by the time Trump is done fucking this economy up the ass, you’re going to need two jobs.
SFAW
@Baud:
“Political Story of the Decade”? Which decade?
I generally like LeTourneau’s writing, but “old white guys are losing their most-favored-nation status at the center of the political universe” is nothing new, and I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve been told it’s The Year When Women Really Have An Earthshaking Impact. Be great if that happens, but let’s see what November 7th brings.
And, frankly, I think the attempted — and far too successful — dismantling of the US government by the Rethugs (especially Traitor Turtle) is a significantly bigger political story for this decade.
That being said: Fuck Bernie. That self-serving tweet of his (in the article) should be printed onto durable stock and (A) crammed down this throat and (B) shoved up his ass until it meets the one from (A).
TS (the original)
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s becoming so obvious that Russia is the only country interested in having a visit from US congress members
debbie
Reading his Twitter bio, I can understand why John Walsh is so nervous. Good.
Yarrow
@Cacti: Of course his name is on the list. Bernie’s campaign was aided by Russia to split the Dem vote and weaken Hillary. It worked great.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
The level of stupidity and insanity I’ve come across today is off the charts.
1. A lawyer I know completely fucked up a gang murder trial a month ago through methamphetamine use – he visited a represented Co-D in jail at 2 am during the course of the trial, and the prosecutors actually went to the judge about his visible impairment, seeking a mistrial. Apparently, he thought it smart to sue his family court judge for not sealing the motions and lab report regarding his current meth use in his ongoing custody battle (which he’s representing himself in with genuinely stupid pleadings, demonstrating that he understands nothing of family law or the civil rules).
2. I stood in for someone on a request to amend a foreclosure complaint to clean up the caption as one of the named debtors had passed away and the property had passed into trust. The home had been owned by the mother of a lawyer that I have a nodding acquaintance with, and have always known to be squirrelly. He appeared, demanded to be heard at the foot of the docket, and went into a strange soliloquy on powers of attorney, the divorce of his mother and a doctor, authorized organ donation and criminal acts regarding the donation. I must’ve said 5 times that I was just standing in, and that none of that was relevant to there being a note, a mortgage and default. He followed me down the elevator to another courtroom, and kept demonstrating that he probably needs a visit from the Lawyers’ Assistance Plan not for substance abuse or depression, but instead for generalized disordered thoughts. I told him to dust off his wallet and hire a real estate lawyer.
3. I heard from the media employment lawyer from Manhattan. His monstrous company has reached out to the public and private high schools here to insist that no entity can hire my client to do anything for two years without facing a tortious interference complaint, and they’d probably file it as a federal action. He gave her a stark option – work for them until mid September and pay them $750 and sign a release (the contract would specify that she can’t work at all for two years and that she’d owe them $80,000 – two years’ pay). I kind of hope she says “no”, and that I get to trash the fuckers.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
Several twitter accounts like this one point to a https://twitter.com/xtrixcyclex/status/1021499005354823682 tweet by Artem Kylushin suggesting Trump would soon “shutdown” the witch hunt by getting rid of access to secret info for ex-officials. The collective unconscious of stable geniuses hitting on the same solution or colluding brain trusts?
Quaker in a Basement
Says the man who makes a profit on every MAGA hat sold? The same one who says the investigation into Russian hacking is “a Democrat hoax?”
Huckabee must’ve been wearing her lightning-proof shoes.
NotMax
FYI.
KSinMA
@Baud: Good article indeed. Thanks.
MattF
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): How is that supposed to work? My tinfoil hat must be out of order.
KSinMA
@rikyrah: Good for him.
Miss Bianca
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Monsieur Le Comte, remind me that if/when I need an absolute pit bull in court, to contact you for recommendations. : )
debbie
@germy:
The way Brennan and Hayden have been speaking out make me think that’s the last thing they care about at the moment.
Patricia Kayden
@Quaker in a Basement: Yet, the MSM cried en masse when Michelle Wolf made a polite joke about Sanders’ tendency to lie in our faces every single day without blinking a smoky eye. Sanders is a fascist and she’s representing and lying on behalf of a fascist President. She deserves no politeness from anyone.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): I am pretty sure it wouldn’t work as described, but might fuel the deep state nonsense. @MattF:
ETA It probably follows out of a deep misunderstanding of American politics. Or a deep understanding of the Illuminati.
sukabi
@Patricia Kayden: unfortunately she’ll probably just call the cops instead of making an ass out of her self.?
Duane
@Mnemosyne: it’s downright laughable that Trumpov would revoke someone’s security clearance because they were monetizing their position.
JPL
@NotMax: Maybe they want someone to hang, the same day as the military parade. That could be the highlight.
Yutsano
No one has gone “doink doink” here? I am disappoint.
Patricia Kayden
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Russian bot?
Patricia Kayden
@sukabi: But in some cases the cops have turned around and arrested the White people who called them. It doesn’t always work out as the White callers think it will.
sukabi
@different-church-lady: it looks like she’s got 2 left eyes & eyebrows pointing right, and her mouth trying to exit stage left.
That might be what happens when you lie badly for a living…your individual parts start protesting and try to escape the Bullshit.
sukabi
@Patricia Kayden: that’s the only upside in this mess. ?
debbie
@mike in dc:
Have you read “Unbroken”? It’s the story of Louis Zamperini, UCLA Oympics-bound runner, WWII airman who was captured, imprisoned, and tortured by the Japanese for the two years he was there. It’s an understatement to say it’s gripping, but I swear, reading the account of a Japanese assault on a small island had me literally ducking bullets.
Reading about fighting can be very scary.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman: Well played general, well played.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: I do not know.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@Patricia Kayden: @YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Russian bot? If you are referring to Artem Klyushin, I doubt it. He has been linked in a lot of conspiracy theory for some time and apparently is active on twitter. If you are asking if I am, not the last time I checked. As to the twitter account I linked to, it just came up in the search where I tried to find the original tweet I saw.
Duane
@rikyrah: Haven’t seen it mentioned here, but that man in Clearwater Fla who came to the defense of his girlfriend and son was flat out murdered. If that qualifies as “stand your ground” i’d get the fuck out of Florida.
Patricia Kayden
@Raoul:
Yet Trump’s approval rating is up to 46%.
Adam L Silverman
@bluehill: A cooperative legislative branch would make things easier. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s the same issue you get with the “fear” on the right that President Obama, or HRC had she been elected, was going to confiscate everyone’s guns. Whose going to do the confiscating? Whose going to enforce it? All of us who have taken it, take the oath to the Constitution. You’ll never get enough of the military or FBI or even ATF officers to go along with any of that to make it happen. In either scenario. They won’t go and confiscate guns as it would be unconstitutional and they’re not going to go and round up journalists because it would be unconstitutional.
Adam L Silverman
@Another lurker: The League of the South folks, like the Oathkeepers and similar groups, are a nuisance. A violent nuisance, but a nuisance nonetheless. They’re not going to overthrow the government.
scav
Monetizing public service.?! Monetizing public service?!!! Who do these past public servants thonk they are?! Only the current officeholders and relatives (and clothes lines, hotel chains, golf courses, . . . ) are supposed to make a buck off their offices!
Adam L Silverman
@Millard Filmore: Technically there is a process, but the President can side step it at any time as the process is established by presidential directive.
MattF
@Patricia Kayden: Most recent Gallup puts it at 42%. But, more to the point, Trump’s approval rating stays within a rather narrow band. The various ups and downs seem to be noise.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@Adam L Silverman:
With the rash of judicial appointments that may not be a strong argument after a number of rulings depreciating the current constitutional understanding.
Adam L Silverman
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): That won’t make any difference.
Matt McIrvin
@Raoul: Isn’t Democratic identification down as well? Often, D and R party identification move in lockstep, with “independent” taking up the slack.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: He went to “college” at the other place, the one across town.
Adam L Silverman
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): No. And stop borrowing trouble that doesn’t exist.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: But Trump’s general popularity has not decreased, so adulation by a dwindling core isn’t the whole story.
Adam L Silverman
@Matt McIrvin: Both Democratic and Independent are both up.
J R in WV
@Yarrow:
@TenguPhule:
OK, you guys convinced me, I’m done with giving these traitors the benefit of the doubt. Sanders is obvious, to me! He’s messing with my Democratic Party, after all.
But I don’t study so-called libertarians, no even Republican libertarians. The action with the neighbor in Kentucky tells me a lot about “Doctor” Paul.
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: You’re pretty naive about the values of the military and LEO, but we knew that already.
Adam L Silverman
I’m off to the gym. Play nice or I’m sending the clearance investigator that did my renewal to your house!
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t think it will work to stop the investigation, but it does seem to reflect a remarkable synchronicity in the thinking of Trump and a Russian Oligarch.
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman:
You don’t have to round up journalists if you can successfully marginalize them.
Of course, it helps if the newspaper industry continues to collapse, aided by bad corporate decisions.
Also, we seem to have a core of citizens, abetted by the GOP leadership, who don’t care about democracy and who have reduced the Constitution to the 2nd Amendment. We have to push back against this hard in order to make sure that values and traditions are not further eroded.
Matt McIrvin
@bluehill: Trump’s most enthusiastic goon squad seems to be ICE. So they’d need to find some way to pull off mass revocation of citizenship of undesirable groups, so ICE can round them up.
They’re trying really hard to revoke the citizenship of as many naturalized people as they can. The next frontier is native-born citizens. The idea that native-born children of illegal immigrants somehow aren’t due citizenship under the 14th Amendment is a pretty mainstream one among Republicans, and as we saw in that recent WaPo op-ed, they’ve got legal arguments, after a fashion. If they’ve got a Supreme Court majority that will support that, then they can go after grandchildren of illegal immigrants, and so forth. Then all of those people could be herded into concentration camps by ICE. That could go some distance toward whittling down any impending Democratic majority, and scaring away Latinos from any engagement with the political system.
Adam L Silverman
@Calouste: Yeah, I’m just Little Mary Sunshine and Anne of Green Gables all rolled together “Mr. or Ms. I”m posting with a nym, so I could be a 30 year of service retiree or I could just be a dumbass in my Mom’s basement.” Feel free to step into the light and provide your bona fides. Until you do, in this conversation between you and I, I’m the only one with significant experience working with, educating, training, and in some cases supervising US military personnel, including senior officers, Federal, state, and local law enforcement.
TenguPhule
@Millard Filmore:
Sadly no. A tweet could do in a pinch. We didn’t make any hard and fast rules on this because we relied on enshrined norms and customs.
J R in WV
@NeenerNeener:
Nope, Condi Rice knew nothing about Russia, she was a student of the Soviets, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. aka USSR. She never looked at Russian Federation stuff, and wasn’t that all sharp on Soviet affairs.
We were lucky that the Soviets/Russians were more worried about their internal security at the time.
ETA: The Rice being cut off at the knees is President Obama’s NSA chairman, Susan Rice, far more qualified than Condi Rice.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Patricia Kayden:
I saw his approval was still only at 41.8% at 538.com. Where did you see 46%?
TenguPhule
@sukabi:
All the brains in the world are not going to fix a $1 billion dollar cash flow deficit. Tesla Cash Reserves on hand $1.7 billion. Projected cash burn of Tesla for the next 12 months $2.7 billion.
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: Go look up your posts about how you said Ronnie Jackson absolutely would not lie about the shitgibbon’s health.
Adam L Silverman
@Brachiator:
No arguments here.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
To this day I maintain that Condi Rice was Bush’s Monica. She was hired for her BJ skills, not her brains.
Matt McIrvin
@bluehill: …Meanwhile… it’s pretty nutty, but my personal favorite completely constitutional means of turning the US into a totalitarian one-party state is the state-spamming route. Suppose the President has a cooperative Congress and at least one deeply loyal state government that’s willing to go along with any scheme. Then do this:
1. Revoke the Senate filibuster.
2. Congress, in cooperation with the loyal state government, carves an uninhabited region of that state into a grid of maybe 200 tiny new states.
3. In each new state, put a few trailer homes and park a few loyal confederates. You need at least three: two Senators and a Representative, who can also be the governor and the state legislature.
4. You now have super-dupermajority representation in Congress. Call a Constitutional Convention.
5. Rewrite the Constitution to your liking and slam through ratification of all amendments.
6. The temporary states can now be dismantled if you like.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
Its easy. All libertarians are FYIGM feudalist assholes. Any that claim otherwise are lying.
Adam L Silverman
@Calouste: I made a mistake. I freely admit I had no idea he was toxic and a bad physician and had no business being promoted to captain, let alone above it. That’s not naivete. That’s working from the information at hand at the time of doing the analysis.
But, again, put up your real name and bona fides or shut up. Your choice.
danielx
@Adam L Silverman:
As I recall, he ordered ‘fix bayonets’ because the 20th Maine was out of ammunition, out of luck and out of time. It was the right order and it worked, but I don’t think putting an end to anything but getting overrun was on Chamberlain’s mind.
That being said, Chamberlain did have a very clear idea of what he was fighting for and why, and I think it likely he would be appalled by the current occupant of the Oval Office. As, for that matter, would be the occupant of that office at the time.
TenguPhule
@Miss Bianca:
its not you.
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Rasmussen is at 46%. It’s a poll with a historical Republican lean. Some others are close.
J R in WV
@Duane:
Yeah, that’s what I thought. The actual “Stand Your Ground” law as I understand it speaks of in your home or in your vehicle, both for the purposes of the law understood to be “your castle” – rather than a parking space at the Circle B beer store.
I don’t like Florida much on account of the weather, but this is one more reason not to visit. I guess flying through Miami wouldn’t be dangerous as long as you don’t exit the secure areas.
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: The information at hand was that a 70 year old man had grown an inch in the last year.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Matt McIrvin:
You seem to engage in worst-case scenario thinking a lot lately.
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I’m a programmer. Figuring out absurd but technically possible ways that some system could fail catastrophically is my job.
oldgold
When did it become necessary to state your real name to post dissenting comments?
The enjoy the commenters we have here willing to challenge the orthodoxy.
zhena gogolia
@TenguPhule:
brain bleach stat
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
You know tomorrow will be worse.
Raoul
@Matt McIrvin: Dems stayed roughly flat at 33%. Indies moved bigger than Dems, but seems mostly from GOP.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
And its only considered absurd until some goddamn moron actually goes ahead and does it anyway.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Matt McIrvin:
I would think mass violence would result if a US government tried that. All of the tens of millions of liberals along with democracy-minded Americans aren’t just going to twiddle their thumbs while all this is happening.
Raoul
@Patricia Kayden:
Gallup weeklies:
7/15 43%/52%
7/22 42%/54%
Inside the MOE
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Probably!
Basically, if you’ve got majority control of all branches of government there’s no limit to what you can legally do, with sufficient ingenuity. The checks and balances in the Constitution were designed with the idea that the people involved would provide some degree of opposition. They can be worked around somehow, if people put party before everything. If your SCOTUS justices are complete hacks you could just have them flatly state that everything you do is constitutional, and that’s that.
But the real limit is what you can get away with before there is a violent mass revolt. And I’m not sure we know exactly where that limit is today–if you go very long with a government that is more or less considered legitimate, people may not know. And some might decide to test those limits.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m confident that if we ever hit that point everything has already gone to shit.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
its telling that the American public has already accepted corruption and failures on a scale undreamed of in the last century. I’m coming around to the conclusion a lot of people are going to have to be killed by Trump and his minions before the gradual acceptance finally stops.
Adam L Silverman
@danielx: He was pretty much hanging out there by himself. But what saved him was being a scholar. It wasn’t that he ordered fix bayonets, it’s that he remembered a tactical maneuver from an old field manual he’d read: fix wheel right. The French, who invented the tactic, refer to it as a flying wing. He anchored one point of his line, and had the rest stop off like a door opening outward and given he had the heights opening outward downhill. This swept the Confederate Soldiers (Alabamans if I’m recalling correctly) out of the way. They either got stabbed or they fled back to the peach orchard where they were picked up by the Soaves that were returning to the Union lines.
Adam L Silverman
@Calouste: I fucked that post up good. I’m not denying it. What else do you want with the admission? A kidney?
Jerzy Russian
@Adam L Silverman: Not to belabor this point, but I thought the point of your post was more along the lines of “It would be a very bad idea for the doctor to lie his ass off, given that he is on active duty in the military and there are various rules and norms regarding this” rather than “he will be truthful”. That being said, I won’t take the time to re-read that particular post and the comments.
Adam L Silverman
@oldgold: Not the point I’m making. Everyone here knows my name and my bona fides. You want to challenge my interpretation, no issue. Want to tell me I screwed something up? Not a problem. Anonymously stating I don’t know what I’m talking about is a different story. I fucked up a post. Everyone will live. But if you tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about in an area of expertise, then you need to demonstrate how you have the expertise to make that assessment. That’s my point.
Matt McIrvin
@TenguPhule: It’s an interesting question whether enforcement officers sworn to defend the Constitution will accept an extreme but literal “card says Moops” interpretation of the Constitution. Judges traditionally don’t, but if you’ve got all the judges already…
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin: At the end of the day every single officer simply comes down to “where do I stand on the moral scale.” Trump’s continued open corruption without significant personal consequences is…unhelpful in that regard.
I’ve been hammering the theme again and again, once corruption gets institutionalized into the federal government, everything is going to start coming apart at the seams. We’re going to see real trickle down. And that’s not rain.
Adam L Silverman
@Jerzy Russian: That was largely it, but, regardless I fucked it up. I never expected that the Navy would assign, let alone keep or promote, a toxic Sailor who has a drinking problem and is Dr Feelgood in his spare time to the President’s medical staff. And then put him in charge of that staff.
Citizen Alan
@dmsilev:
These people should be in Gitmo.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Everything Trump touches, dies.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: I did not realize you are Rick Wilson.
Seriously, had Jackson turned the VA offer down, none of this would’ve come out.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Doesn’t the Navy have some problems of their own? I’m thinking of the recent issues in the Pacific fleet. Perhaps more widespread than previously thought?
oldgold
@Adam L Silverman:
Yes, you know what you talking about. Your posts are very informative and I enjoy that you stick around and mix with the commentariat.
At times I think you over-rely on your credentials in pressing your opinion, but so what – not a big deal.
NotMax
[email protected]Calouste
They let him wear the MAGA hat this year.
;)
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: you do good work here. Much appreciated by many.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: Every military officer that’s kissed Trump’s ring has turned out rotten, regardless of prior honors or accolades.
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: Just accept the facts as they are over the mythology of the incorruptable officer you believe in. Jackson lied. Kelly is a racist. Flynn sold out. Otherwise you will keep fucking up.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
Right church, wrong pew?
When Condi Freudian-slipped about “my husband” (i.e., W), her hand was tipped. Despite her poor choice(s) in men, she’s not really a Monica Lewinsky.
Bill Arnold
@Matt McIrvin:
My favorite has long been the Corporate Person approach, where a compliant Supreme Court decrees that corporations, because the are comprised of Natural Persons, are to be counted as Persons for census reasons. Then a combinatorial “Person” rush happens (with ludicrously large numbers of corporate-Persons enumerated, e.g. the power set of a state’s population would be much smaller than the winner), and a panel of loyal Republican mathematicians decrees that a Republican state (Alabama, perhaps) is the winner. They get all Representatives except for the 49 others[0]. Your approach also captures the Senate, which is fun.
[0] “but each State shall have at Least one Representative”
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, I’m assuming you currently have two, so stop being so fucking selfish/greedy about the second one.
SFAW
@Matt McIrvin:
You realize that if Traitor Turtle ever sees your scenario/game plan, he’ll start working on getting it implemented PDQ
Bill Arnold
@SFAW:
Nah, it was invented by a liberal, so they would feel the need to invert it. Perhaps they would consolidate all Republican states into one Big Red State, then ????, and then PROFIT!!!.
(Tech has an acronym for this, NIH == Not Invented Here, though the DJT-Republican version is far more extreme and damaging and absurd.)
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
Whatever you’re drinking/smoking/ingesting/injecting, time to taper off.
SFAW
@Bill Arnold:
Yeah, I dealt with more than a little NIH when I was doing engineering.
I, on the other hand, was more than happy to borrow and refine someone else’s ideas/designs. [No, not talking about stealing IP or anyone else’s hard work, just “repurposing” a good idea — sometimes from a different field — into my company’s products.]
Traitor Turtle has shown himself to be more than willing to use whatever means necessary to destroy a functioning democracy, so I don’t think he’s susceptible to NIH.
Dan B
@TenguPhule: I feel that the corruption is not yet institutionalized but there are signs that it is close or already inevitable. There are so many GOP critters who are just going along, with the exception of some pushback from Helsinki and some non-electeds like Rick Wilson.
I wonder how many need to be protecting their butts because they’re Russian or mob assets versus how many are cowering in fear of the Trump mob or just keeping their heads down hoping the smoke will clear. Abd we have the feckless MSM. It seems like a toxic combination.
The third point is that a small number of Americans seem to understand what’s happening. I hope it’s more than I’m seeing in liberal Seattle. There are many activists who put their energy into stopping gentrification or battling corporations, which are all serious issues in this city. At the same time they don’t seem to notice the huge threat of a captured judicial system, a legislature eager to reshape society into a Randian paradise (and hell for minorities), and an administration with delusions of bullying the world.
It’s my belief we can halt and reverse the tide only if hundreds of thousands / millions recognize the most critical threat and band together. Marches are a start but the capacity to get people to delay their cause for a time and stand firm in a strategic manner may be our only hope.
Can we get environmentalists to turn their efforts against ICE? Can we muster enough energy to stall the forces of darkness and realize some profound and energizing victory(ies)?
Dan B
@Calouste: Sorry to not share your view of ALS. I don’t believe he’s a failure. Repeating your statement, even though there’s an element of truth, comes across as either a purity pusher, a hater of everything military, or a Russian bot. Please ease up before you lose more ground.
Miss Bianca
@Dan B:
Or simply a smug, self-satisfied little SOB. Don’t discount that possibility.