It looks like John Brennan may still have his security clearance. Or not. Lawyers on my Twitter feed and in court have been debating the status of Donald Trump’s tweets. Are they presidential statements? Must they be archived? (Probably yes) Can he block people? (Probably no) What do they mean for the government employees who …
Donald Trump’s Trade War Will Kill Us All
Trump slaps tariffs on China, and China retaliates. One of the classes of item that the Trumpies have been thinking of putting tariffs on is medical supplies. So far, none of those medical products have landed on the final tariff lists. But lower-level trade negotiations with China concluded on Thursday with few signs of progress, …
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A Russian Nuclear Cruise Missile?
Back in March, Vladimir Putin unveiled a number of new nuclear weapons. But they’re not operational, and, in my opinion, are unlikely ever to be. One was the Poiseidon (Status-6) underwater drone, supposedly designed to hit the east coast of the United States with a radioactive tsunami. Oh, and did I say that it’s undetectable? …
Midday Open Thread
One of the things I intend to post more about as we approach the election (or anytime, actually) is the disinformation that’s being distributed on social media. I’ve hesitated with some of the recent allegations because they are loaded against liberals. Not about where all the Nazis and harassers of women are coming from on …
Soviet Days Of August
There is a cluster of days, starting with today, in 1991 and before which were fateful for the Soviet Union. August 23, 1939: Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov (Soviet Union) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (Germany) signed an agreement not to go to war against each other. It included a secret protocol in which the two countries …
John Brennan Responds
Perhaps Trump thought he would silence John Brennan, former head of the CIA, by revoking his clearance. Perhaps he just wanted to lash out and hurt him for this tweet. It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it …
Saturday Evening Open Thread
I still haven’t done all the laundry today. Those are the old sheets you see on the bed. But the cats will be getting up soon (and here comes Zooey!) for their dinner. Here are some security thoughts about last night’s incident at Sea-Tac. There will be a lot of commentary about what happened at …