Have at it.
I’m watching season 3 of Better Call saul and I fucking hate Chuck with a passion. Almost as much as I love Kim.
This post is in: Election 2017
Have at it.
I’m watching season 3 of Better Call saul and I fucking hate Chuck with a passion. Almost as much as I love Kim.
by David Anderson| 122 Comments
This post is in: Election 2017, Open Threads, Politics
There is always an XKCD, always….
And here is the one for tonight’s election results from Georgia’s 6th District:
Open thread
GA-06 Election Night Result open threadPost + Comments (122)
by Adam L Silverman| 74 Comments
This post is in: America, Election 2016, Election 2017, Election 2018
Use our toolkit to unleash a tidal wave of pressure on Trumpcare. Target list, phone #'s, facts, graphics. Please RT https://t.co/3XvofXuTE9
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) June 7, 2017
Now that the fun and games are over for the day, here’s the link to the toolkit. Call your senators!!!!!!
Senator McConnell is Trying to Jam the Senate on Healthcare/AHCA: To the Phones!Post + Comments (74)
by Adam L Silverman| 206 Comments
This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2017, Election 2018, Open Threads, Politics, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
Benjamin Wittes is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and the editor in chief of Lawfare. He is also a friend of James Comey. Earlier this evening he shared his initial thoughts after reading the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s release of former FBI Director Comey’s prepared opening statement tomorrow. While I highly recommend the whole thing, here are the final three paragraphs that tie Wittes’ thoughts together.
But I will make three general observations based on this document alone.
First, Comey is describing here conduct that a society committed to the rule of law simply cannot accept in a president. We have spent a lot of time on this site over seven years now debating the marginal exertions of presidential power and their capacity for abuse. Should the president have the authority to detain people at Guantanamo? Incinerate suspected terrorists with flying robots? Use robust intelligence authorities directed at overseas non-citizens? These questions are all important, but this document is about a far more important question to the preservation of liberty in a society based on legal norms and rules: the abuse of the core functions of the presidency. It’s about whether we can trust the President—not the President in the abstract, but the particular embodiment of the presidency in the person of Donald J. Trump—to supervise the law enforcement apparatus of the United States in fashion consistent with his oath of office. I challenge anyone to read this document and come away with a confidently affirmative answer to that question.
Second, we are about to see a full-court press against Comey. I don’t know what it will look like. But the attack instinct always kicks in when a presidency is under siege. And Trump has the attack instinct in spades even when he’s not under siege. It is important to remember what the stakes are here. They are not about whether Comey was treated fairly. They are not about whether you like him. They are not about whether he handled the Clinton email investigation in the highest traditions of the FBI or the Justice Department. They are not about leaks. The stakes here are about whether what Comey is reporting in this document are true facts and, if so, what we need as a political society to do about the reality that we have a president who behaves this way and seeks to use the FBI in this fashion. It is critical, in other words, that people not change the subject or get distracted when others try to do so.
Finally, it is also critical—though probably fruitless to say—that we eschew partisanship in the conversation. Tomorrow, this document will be the discussion text when Comey faces a committee that, warts and all, has handled the Russia matter to date in a respectable and honorably bipartisan fashion. It is not too much to ask that members put aside party and respond as patriots to the fact that the former FBI director will swear an oath that these facts are true—and was fired after these interactions allegedly took place by a man who then told Lester Holt that “when I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself … this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” and boasted to the Russians the day after dismissing Comey that “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
An Informed Expert’s Initial Views on James Comey’s Testimony TomorrowPost + Comments (206)
by Adam L Silverman| 76 Comments
This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2017, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will soon come to order for the day and hear testimony from Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, Director of National Intelligence Coats, Acting Director of the FBI McCabe, and Director of the National Security Agency ADM Rogers.
Expect a great deal of, at least, Admiral Rogers testimony to deal with Monday’s news about attempted Russian hacking of election systems and the officials who oversee them. Also keep an eye out for what both the Democrats and the Republican members are asking about. If the GOP members quickly move to and stick with questions about unmasking then there is a coordinated, predetermined strategy similar to what we saw a few weeks ago in the House Select Committee on Intelligence’s hearing to try to shift the narrative to something less damaging and more advantageous to the GOP and the President. Given that Senator Burr has already said a focus will be on renewing the FISA Act later this year, this may be an easy move to make.
Here’s the live feed:
I’ll be back shortly with a brief piece on the terrorist attacks in Iran and later today/tonight with a piece on the Russian active measures campaign against Qatar.
by Adam L Silverman| 95 Comments
This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, domestic terrorists, Election 2016, Election 2017, Election 2018, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Religion, Religious Nuts 2, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
To slightly modify the President’s remarks at this year’s State of the Union address we must take strong measures to protect our Nation from radical Islamic white Christian terrorism!
Anti-Muslim Portland killer on Trump's 3rd day as POTUS: "If Trump is Hitler, I'm joining his SS. Jihadi Muslims are going to the Ovens" pic.twitter.com/AS4sDCNPPK
— Omar Ghabra (@omarghabra) May 27, 2017
To go further, and to once again slightly modify his remarks from the October 9th, 2016 presidential debate, the President’s wisdom and counsel are important in these dark times.
Whether we like it or not, and we can be very politically correct, but whether we like it or not there is a problem. And we have to be sure that when
Muslimswhite Christians come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on they have to report it. But as an example inSan BernardinoPortland many people saw thebombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many peoplethreats on social media and the multiple arrests and convictions for violent felonies of the one man who killed two and wounded a third, horribly wounded he’ll never be the same.MuslimsWhite Christians have to report the problems when they see them. And, you know, there’s always a reason for everything. If they don’t do that it’s a very difficult situation for our country. Because you look atOrlando and you look at San Bernardino and you look at the World Trade Centerthe University of Maryland bus stop attack and you look at Mother Emmanuel Church and you look at the Murrah Federal Building and you go outside and look atParisQuebec City look at that horrible, these are radicalIslamicwhite Christian terrorists. AndsheI won’t even mention the word. Nor willPresident ObamaVice President Pence.HeThey won’t use the term radicalIslamicwhite Christian terrorism. Now to solve a problem you have to be able to state what the problem is or at least state the name.SheI won’t say the name.President ObamaVice President Pence won’t say the name, but the name is there. It’s radicalIslamicwhite Christian terror. And before you solve it, you have to say the name.
An April 2017 Government Accountability Office report states:
of the 85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since September 12, 2001, far-rightwing violent extremist groups were responsible for 62 (73%) while radical Islamist violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27%).
It is incumbent on our white Christian leaders, like Vice President Pence, Senator Cruz, Governor Huckabee, Reverend Jerry Fallwell, Jr, Reverend Franklin Graham, Reverend Pat Robertson, and many, many others to speak out and condemn these horrific acts. And it is incumbent on our white Christian neighbors that if they see something, they must alert the government and say something!
Across the nation, we’re all part of communities. In cities, on farms, and in the suburbs, we share everyday moments with our neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends. It’s easy to take for granted the routine moments in our every day—going to work or school, the grocery store or the gas station. But your every day is different than your neighbor’s—filled with the moments that make it uniquely yours. So if you see something you know shouldn’t be there—or someone’s behavior that doesn’t seem quite right—say something. Because only you know what’s supposed to be in your everyday. Informed, alert communities play a critical role in keeping our nation safe. “If You See Something, Say Something™” engages the public in protecting our homeland through awareness–building, partnerships, and other outreach.
ETA: Just in case anyone missed it, this is intended to demonstrate, through slightly altering the President’s own words, just how silly making these absolutist assessments are. They have actually no strategic utility n terms of solving the problems we’re faced with.
We Must Take Strong Measures to Protect our Nation…Post + Comments (95)
by Adam L Silverman| 189 Comments
This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2017, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
In the street of the blind, the one eyed man is the guiding light
– Genesis Rabbah (300-500 CE)
Five days before the inauguration I wrote:
Last week Yediot Ahronot reported, now confirmed by Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, that Israel’s Intelligence Community has itself been warned to be careful sharing and transferring information and intelligence with the White House during the next Administration.
The concern is that any information and intelligence shared after the transition will wind up with the Russians and the Russians would likely provide it to the Iranians (and the unspoken bit here for the Israelis is the Iranians would share it with the Syrians and Hezbullah). That this information quickly leaked from the Israelis is not an accident or a coincidence. It was intended to leak in order to provide the same message to our other allies and partners: that anything shared with the incoming Administration’s White House team may wind up with Russia. Through the Israeli leak the US’s other allies, partners, and clients have now been warned. This includes the other four members of the Five Eyes Intelligence alliance, the rest of our NATO allies, and other allies and partners. They have all been put on notice that the US Intelligence Community thinks that the incoming President, Vice President, their strategy, policy, and communication advisors, the incoming National Security Advisor and his deputies, and the rest of the incoming White House team cannot be trusted with classified information.
The Israelis have now had their worst fears confirmed.
SAN FRANCISCO — Two Israeli intelligence officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News Tuesday that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding ISIS plots to smuggle explosive laptops onto planes, under the unique intelligence-sharing agreement the two countries maintain.
“There is a special understanding of security cooperation between our countries,” they said. “To know that this intelligence is shared with others, without our prior knowledge? That is, for us, our worst fears confirmed.”
The officer previously spoke to BuzzFeed News in January, when he said that Israeli officials had specific concerns about what Trump would share with Russian officials. Israel, he added, routinely shared intelligence that included sources of information and asset names, he said — the type of information that could endanger the lives of those providing the raw intelligence.
“There has to be trust for this sort of arrangement. I cannot speak for Israel’s entire security apparatus, but I would not trust a partner who shared intelligence without coordinating it with us first,” said the officer.
A second intelligence officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed News via encrypted app and also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding an active threat to US-bound planes. Speaking to BuzzFeed News via a military base in northern Israel, he said Israeli intelligence officers were “boiling mad and demanding answers” as to whether Israel’s military would continue its current intelligence-sharing agreement with the US.
One of the reasons that this is so problematic is that by disseminating this information we have made it much, much harder for Israel to conduct human intelligence operations within ISIL’s demesne in Syria. This puts their assets (human sources) at risk – both Israeli and non-Israelis working with the Israelis in Syria. It makes getting this information and intelligence harder. It makes it less likely that Israel will continue to share timely, sensitive information with us. And our other allies and partners are now going to be less likely to share timely, sensitive information with us as well.
“It’s a big deal, and we want to make sure sensitive information is handled properly,” a European diplomat told CNN, adding that the country represented by the diplomat would not cut communications with the US entirely but could potentially reassess what information is transmitted at the political level.The diplomat — who spoke to CNN on the condition that neither their name nor country were identified — said allied agencies could explore ways to share specific information through channels used only by military and intelligence officials.Although pulling back “is something we could envision,” the diplomat said, “we’re not going to cut the cord.”
…the US will have its ability to see and hear seriously restricted starting next Friday. We won’t be blind, as we’ll still have our own capability, but our vision will be significantly dimmed and our hearing significantly dulled. This will make managing and mitigating the foreign, defense, and national security problem sets that we are currently facing, let alone the ability to anticipate future ones, much more difficult. And this includes the ongoing Russian active measures, influence, and cyber operations directed at us, at our allies, and at our partners.
Self Inflicted Wounds II: Blinded, Deafened, and Definitely DumbPost + Comments (189)