The Trump Presidency 2.0

A few random political musings this fine morn.

One, recall a few days ago, maybe a week ago, we had posts about the 'secret vote' for Tulsi? Here is some insight. Not secret, but some deliberations in the committee's SCIF to, ah, influence the voting to get her vote to the floor:

Inside Sen. Tom Cotton's campaign to save Tulsi Gabbard's endangered DNI nomination

Two, the Gaza thing is the dumbest thing I have heard. I know he knows we don't want any part of that.

Three, security clearances. How is it every job I leave my badge access for that department gets revoked. But I can leave the military or intel community (or State or whatever) and just keep the clearance? C'mon, man.

Four, I am legit curious if NPR gets any USAID $. Do you know that Steve Inskeep and his his colleagues make almost a half million a freaking year??

Five, does anyone actually believe the intel community doesn't have journalists on retainer? General George Washington had journalists spying for him. I think next to prostitution it's the next most common source of HUMINT.

I am done. I'm grumpy this morning. I need more of Trump's Winning to make me happy...
 
Devildoc said:
Five, does anyone actually believe the intel community doesn't have journalists on retainer? General George Washington had journalists spying for him. I think next to prostitution it's the next most common source of HUMINT.

I am done. I'm grumpy this morning. I need more of Trump's Winning to make me happy...
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Many years ago, back when I was a young intel officer, I asked for the reasoning why there were any groups of people **at all** that were off limits to being recruited. If HUMINT is all about "placement and access," don't we want to recruit people who have... placement and access? Like, this ENTIRE LIST <whatever it was> of prohibited categories of people?

Reasonings:
1) protect people who AREN'T sources. "I couldn't POSSIBLY be a CIA spy, I'm a ***."
2) protect against double agents. Sources who are close to the target run the risk of "going native," and that's especially true of outsiders who earn their way into communities.
3) ...I had something else when I started typing but I've lost it; if I remember what it is later, I'll post it
 
Marauder06 said:
Many years ago, back when I was a young intel officer, I asked for the reasoning why there were any groups of people **at all** that were off limits to being recruited. If HUMINT is all about "placement and access," don't we want to recruit people who have... placement and access? Like, this ENTIRE LIST <whatever it was> of prohibited categories of people?

Reasonings:
1) protect people who AREN'T sources. "I couldn't POSSIBLY be a CIA spy, I'm a ***."
2) protect against double agents. Sources who are close to the target run the risk of "going native," and that's especially true of outsiders who earn their way into communities.
3) ...I had something else when I started typing but I've lost it; if I remember what it is later, I'll post it
Click to expand...

My first degree is poli sci, I had two grad level courses my senior year, in one of them I wrote a paper on the Belgian Congo crisis 1960-65. 50-something pages, banged out on an old 1st gen electronic typewriter.

Anyhoo, one of the books I used as a source was written by a guy who was a retired journalist, at the time with Reuters (I think), he talked about during his career in the 50s-70s the 4th estate was filled with guys used as paid and unpaid assets for various intelligence agencies, the unspoken thing was that a lot of people on all sides knew a lot of what was going on.

I wonder during the growth of the intel profession if the wall/chasm between the analysis side and the operational side siloed some of these professions.
 
Mortgage delinquency rates are up. It will be very interesting to see how all this government efficiency impacts jobs. Not just first order effects as federal employees lose jobs, but second order effects as things like grants, federal funding, social security payments, VA disability payments and other issues are impacted.
 
It won't be long before people start getting Arkancided over this dumpster fire...

-brake lines are going to start failing
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head
-heart attacks
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the front of the head
-strokes
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the side of the head
-self immolation
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the front, back, and side of the head
-self defenestration
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the head from multiple angles
-drug over doses
-people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the head multiple times
-bizarre public transportation accidents

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living Together... MASSS HYSTERIA !!


Its coming bitches
Its coming
 
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ThunderHorse said:
It will be interesting to see how negative CNN/NYT/MSNBC/BBC all get with the spigot shut off? Will it drive ratings? Will they have to actually be fair and balanced because their audience has shrank so much?
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Bro they’re dying. They can’t figure it out- mid range podcasts SMOKE cnn every day. MSNBC getting parsed out and killed. They’re shouting into the void.
 
amlove21 said:
Bro they’re dying. They can’t figure it out- mid range podcasts SMOKE cnn every day. MSNBC getting parsed out and killed. They’re shouting into the void.
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The MSM failed, just like the tech bros at Facebook and other socials. Zuckerfuck's apparent rebirth shouldn't be celebrated, it should be viewed with a cynical eye. This is a man who KNEW he chose the MSM over Trump, COVID, and everything he deemed to be wrong in America. The tides change, the tables turn, and suddenly he's on the Rights side?

They lost the messaging platforms and they don't know why. Their only choice is to lash out which is a poor, poor "solution."
 
AWP said:
The MSM failed, just like the tech bros at Facebook and other socials. Zuckerfuck's apparent rebirth shouldn't be celebrated, it should be viewed with a cynical eye. This is a man who KNEW he chose the MSM over Trump, COVID, and everything he deemed to be wrong in America. The tides change, the tables turn, and suddenly he's on the Rights side?
Click to expand...

Like all smart people, he'll pivot to where the love and money is.
 
Devildoc said:
Two, the Gaza thing is the dumbest thing I have heard. I know he knows we don't want any part of that.

Five, does anyone actually believe the intel community doesn't have journalists on retainer?
Click to expand...


Two: I agree. Kooky as hell. But brilliant, too. I believe it was thrown out there just to shock and spur other countries (Jordan, Egypt, Saudis, etc.) to get off their asses and come up with a solution for their own region that's not kooky.

Five: Any journalist who's kicked around for any length of time, who's been involved in coverage of certain dark dealings, (like anything in Central America, ever) will have had encounters with a Steve from Pittsburgh or a John from Spokane. I can tell you personally, I was always glad to share info with my military or political sources if I felt that info would facilitate and complement that source's desired result...and not compromise my conservative views. If they wanted to pay me with liquor and free food, I was in.
 
Gunz said:
Two: I agree. Kooky as hell. But brilliant, too. I believe it was thrown out there just to shock and spur other countries (Jordan, Egypt, Saudis, etc.) to get off their asses and come up with a solution for their own region that's not kooky.

Five: Any journalist who's kicked around for any length of time, who's been involved in coverage of certain dark dealings, (like anything in Central America, ever) will have had encounters with a Steve from Pittsburgh or a John from Spokane. I can tell you personally, I was always glad to share info with my military or political sources if I felt that info would facilitate and complement that source's desired result...and not compromise my conservative views. If they wanted to pay me with liquor and free food, I was in.
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Talk about asserting dominance. By putting forth this plan, he presents it as a foregone conclusion, and something that the US (he) can do by fiat.

...and it also presents a negative alternative for those who want to drag their feet or don't want to get involved: "Come up with a plan I like more, or..."
 
Gunz said:
Two: I agree. Kooky as hell. But brilliant, too. I believe it was thrown out there just to shock and spur other countries (Jordan, Egypt, Saudis, etc.) to get off their asses and come up with a solution for their own region that's not kooky.
Click to expand...

I don't think he has Tourette's or just blurting out the first thing on his mind like some Rorschach test, I think he 'sees' an end-state or goal and basically free-associates, which makes his team nervous as hell, confuses others, and scares the hell out and pisses off of the opposition. Some of what he says I can see in my mind's eye where he's going, but this one, I was like, "Gaza? WTF, man?"
 
Devildoc said:
I don't think he has Tourette's or just blurting out the first thing on his mind like some Rorschach test, I think he 'sees' an end-state or goal and basically free-associates, which makes his team nervous as hell, confuses others, and scares the hell out and pisses off of the opposition. Some of what he says I can see in my mind's eye where he's going, but this one, I was like, "Gaza? WTF, man?"
Click to expand...

Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm... no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man! "I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas."
 

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