It seems clear that LTG HR McMaster will be leaving for "home" in the Pentagon where he will be given a fourth star as "hush money" for his experience at the WH. "And angels sing thee to thy rest …" Oh, well people come and go.
Who would be the new NS adviser? Why not Sean H, the world's most eligible jingoist high school drop out? He and Bolton would work admirably together. Two ferociously Type A people (a sort of people), both are filled with vindictive animosity directed toward any possible international rivals or any rival at all. They could team up with Pompeo and the torture lady who will be head of "Christians In Action" to form a Team of Sycophants competing for the fleeting attention which the Boss (Mark Twain reference) seems to give to those he saw last in person or on 24/7 TV.
Who would be next? Ah, yes, Brother Mattis might talk back once too often. In that contingency General (Ret) Jack Keane (Fordham accounting man) stands ready in the wings. pl
Trump is certainly good at assembling a fine team. USA! USA!
Laura
You like my comments on the Team of Sycophants? You have not seen what I will write about the Democrats. Pelosi? She is a self centered wretch enriched by her silicon valley admirers through no merit of her own who despises the people her father fought for. HC? I hope she is a drunk. I could like her better if she is. Her contempt for ordinary Americans who do not share her adolescent utopian revolutionary ideals is laughable. Perhaps Wellesley did that to her. My uncle endowed a chair there but I never liked him. pl
Trump seems unable to manage and keep a team of people of exceptional ability because he fears a cabal forming that will ‘capture’ him and steal his glory?
Hannity and Bolton are definitely his type of sycophants, distrusted by the establishment and desperate for power.
I found SST about a year ago through NC. At first I was skeptical, a little too conservative for my tastes but I kept reading. Patience pays off.
Along with the learning experience I get a good laugh occasionally too. I hope the chuckleheads that provide the inspiration for the humor don’t take themselves seriously enough to destroy the rest of humanity while playing their geopolitical power games but I am not an optimist lately.
Great post, LOL!
Dear Colonel,
You are too kind to Pelosi !
In any case, Hannity is already providing direct advice – might as well make it official.
Off-topic here….
Colonel Lang,
When will someone/something put a halt to this AIPAC/Israel/Neo-con march to war with Iran and possibly Russia?
I consider myself a Progressive who hates the establishment Democratic Party. The Russia hate is off the rails and dangerous. WTF is going on in this country? Have they lost their friggin minds?
Cato,
Hmm yes. Trump has never displayed a habit of quickly shitcanning people if they don’t live up to expectations throughout his life.
I’m sure your armchair pop-psychoanalysis through an MSNBC lens is totally on point.
tyler
Your comment is obviously directed at me. pl
james
Did I ask for your advice? Nevertheless, thanks. But a lot of the people here would not have recognized it as irony. pl
ISL
My point. pl
Laura,
Hear! Hear! Even NPR agrees with…. Donald J. Trump:
“The claim Black and Hispanic unemployment are at or near record lows. The short answer Trump’s numbers are right,” …… “Trump is right that African-American unemployment hit a record low in December. The unemployment rate for black Americans is currently 6.8 percent, the lowest level recorded since the government started keeping track in January 1972….. And he’s also right that the Hispanic unemployment rate is down a point over the last year”
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/08/576552028/fact-check-trump-touts-low-unemployment-rates-for-african-americans-hispanics
Larry Wilkerson writes:
“Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defense minister, is scheduled to give the keynote address at the Jerusalem Post’s conference in New York in April. The title of his address is published as “The Coming War With Iran.” Any American citizen who believes this White House team will not involve the U.S. in Israel’s war needs to check into a mental ward.”
http://lobelog.com/the-most-important-hearings-of-the-young-century/
Colonel Lang I think our president wants and demands admirers and not advisers. With what I have experienced back here in Lotus Aters town, that self centred mentality fits with Beverly Hills star types, and Goldman Sachs fund managers
which the combination of this two personality brings to mind a CAA agent.
outthere
Larry Wilkerson helped Powell sell out the US for favor at the WH. pl
McCabe has been fired today….48 hrs before he was due to retire and be able to collect his 20 year pension….seems a little too vengeful to me.
Was there ever any real investigation into his alleged favoring of Hillary in the FBI investigation? I don’t remember the details.
Former U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey says, “Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.”
https://twitter.com/mccaffreyr3/status/974748724176941056
And now, apparently on this Friday night, the Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, who is at this time perhaps not the official deputy director any more but who was on the payroll with accumulated vacation or sick leave or a similar such thing, was officially fired from the Bureau.
This is two days before he could retire with full benefits, as he turns 50 years of age on Sunday. Since he is most likely a civil service employee, even at his job as the number two person at the FBI, he would be covered by federal civil service law. I am not familiar with the federal process, but a civil service employee can usually contest the termination of employment, although it is in an “administrative proceeding”, which has different rules than a lawsuit. The result of an administrative hearing can be appealed into a regular trial court in Texas, but with restrictions and limits on the rules of evidence and procedure that govern civil lawsuits. The federal rules regarding the appeal of an administrative ruling may be similar.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/sessions-fires-mccabe-he-can-retire-n856751
The battle lines with the “special counsel” Mueller are being more clearly drawn, as McCabe is quoted in the article as saying–
“This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.”
The situation creates the classic case of McCabe as a “disgruntled former employee”. Everybody knows what that means….
Leaky Ranger
He is NOT a former general mon petit connard. He is a retired general. pl
Catherine
Let the investigation begin! Ecce homo. pl
I remember well Powell’s performance at the UN with CIA director literally backing him up. I knew he was lying, it was clear to anyone who bothered to read Knight Ridder.
Wilkerson’s role was never clear to me, but I accept your evaluation.
The OIG found that McCabe made unauthorized disclosures to the new media then lied about while under oath. Flynn is probably getting drunk tonight.
Colonel,
Regarding Mattis:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/men-left-die-gen-james-mattis-controversial-wartime/story?id=44018222
If the Boss surrounds himself with sycophants, were are told what to expect:
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/217/the-prince/5603/chapter-23-how-flatterers-should-be-avoided/
Come on, all you people. This has been the most entertaining soap opera in Washington since Bill Clintons zipper trouble. There has not been any real damage to the country (and maybe a few benefits) and may not be in the future.
Pat, us Democrats are not bad people, we just have shitty leaders and no vision, but in that regard, the Republicans are catching up.
McCabe is brutally fired a day short of his 20 years, Sessions is humiliated on a daily basis, Tillerson was shafted everytime he went overseas trying to fix Trump’s mistakes. Now, how many in the Trump administration and in government are going to ‘work for the president’ as opposed to ‘working for themselves’.
Fear is not the tool of the effective manager.
r. Whitman
Yes. Some of you are not bad people. Some Republicans are not bad people. pl
j
Marineland is its own country. Army Special Forces have much the same mentality. Bing West is also a USMC fanatic. pl
There may be plenty of irony, but that does not make it implausible. We have witnessed a progression of lamer and lamer ducks in this administration. Why not just use a video substitute and let Fox News take over White House operations?
The firing of McCabe shows how petty Trump is and his lack of a moral code. It is true that not all Republicans are bad. My wife, until recently, was one all her adult life.
I went to my monthly science lecture last evening, conducted by a neighbor, and he will rejoin the federal government this fall as a Senior Science Advisor.( He spent 30 years before retirement in that capacity) I would wish that more people as capable as he is would help run the country, regardless of the dumb people that get elected.
The good news about the dismal current condition is that standards may be raised in the future in an effort to make this just an educational interlude.
outthere
Wilkerson told me (through a mutual friend) well be fore the UN debacle that he and Powell had the situation under control and that I should shut up. It was also Wilkerson who persuaded Powell not to take any intel analysts to CIA when they went to be briefed by Tenet and company. why did he do that? Hey! Why would such semi-divine beings as he and Powell need expert help? pl
I agree it is time for Pelosi and Schumer to retire. The Democratic party needs new blood.
Lars
“I would wish that more people as capable as he is would help run the country, regardless of the dumb people that get elected.”
Niccolo would argue that wise advisers will not help. I tend to agree.
Rare indeed are leaders who surround themselves by those better and smarter than themselves; Yelstin was one such, Gorbachev was not.
I am no big fan of Pelosi but she has been a very effective leader as this Atlantic article states. Just one example, she very effectively stopped Bush junior’s Social Security privatization plan.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/the-nancy-pelosi-problem/554048/
Ah, but firing him days before his pension vested is beautiful. Too vengeful? I think not; it’s exactly what he deserved. Why let a DB like that glean the rewards of double or even triple dipping?
So Wilkerson had/has no conscience. WH Favors? How shallow can a person be? WH Favors? Blink, blink? Why Powell didn’t slap the dog shit out of Wilkerson I’ll never understand.
Back to Mattis, what was he waiting for (saying he needed more ‘intel’ for extraction of the wounded/dying?), a note sent through Fedex or UPS? To leave men to die in the field the way Mattis did. Arghhh.
I also have not seen anywhere where Mattis experienced combat except from a ‘comfortable’ position. That explains a lot why Mattis seems to be so gung ho on getting U.S. into another unnecessary war.
Former/Retired CIA Director John O. Brennan says, “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.”
https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/974978856997224448
“Brutally fired?” More like he got his just deserts!
Spare me the adjectives……he’fired. And if, significant if, he is guilty of what the published reports say is, if that is confirmed by an independent inspector general‘s report, and the text of that report matters here, then to hell with him he deserves to be fired.
If Sessions had not (wrongly, it turns out) recused himself and cleaned out the DOJ (as expected) Trump would not have been riding him.
If Tillerson had followed Trump’s direction on Iran, he probably would still be in his job.
As for McCabe, that’s life in the fast lane.
He was too clever by half and got in over his head.
If anything, this whole McCabe/Strozk/Page and whoever else attempt at “plotting” shows the incompetence of these pinheads.
If Strozk was the FBI’s top CI guy (texting like a teenage girl), no wonder the Chinese and Russians are running wild.
But to truly drain the swamp Trump has to get rid of hundreds, maybe thousands, more of the self-enriching parasite class.
Col.:
Guess that you and Wilkerson aren’t exchanging Christmas cards.
outthere,
For years Wilkerson spent great effort providing Colin Powell ‘cover’ on the allegations that he was in the loop on all the ‘enhanced interrogation tactics’ (torture), while Powell himself was quiet on the issue. And when CP was pushed he was vague e.g. stating that he didn’t have “sufficient memory recall” about the meetings referenced; that he had participated in “… many meetings on how to deal with detainees…”; and that he was not “aware of anything that we discussed in any of those meetings that was not considered legal…”
Of course it later came out that he was at the meetings, knew exactly what was going on, but said nothing. The bottom line? Wilkerson lied and lied…
http://www.ph2dot1.com/2011/02/great-quotes_21.html
Well, if all the reports of her liquor bills for supplying the plane on tax-paid trips back and forth to California when she was speaker of the House are true, she IS a drunk. And on top of that I worry that all the Botox is now really affecting her brain.
She and Hillary really give being a woman something to cringe about. I, as a woman, would like her better if she joined the transgender movement so as to prove they aren’t just voting as their husbands tell them to.
Brennan, Comey, Clapper; McCabe, Strzok, Page and others unknown politicized the Intelligence community through incompetence and malfeasance and left it a smoking wreck. They are delusional if they think that their contemptible bit of work has not been recognized for what it is by both active and retired members of that community.
It has almost nothing to do with Trump. John Brennan is an ass. In fact Trump’s flailing around and leadership by tweet has only delayed the day of reckoning for the FBI with the CIA hiding in the tall grass and still unscathed. Lay that on Trump and Pompeo. Wray, a Trump appointment…wait, who is Wray and where is he?
I would call Trump’s swamp draining efforts thus far a piss poor job and his FP efforts have been plagued by piss poor appointments and piss poor performance. He himself is more in the swamp than out of it and a Bolton appointment would put him in it over his ears.
Trump right now has one thing going for him: he’s not Clinton; and that advantage is rapidly disappearing. He either stops behaving like a NY real estate lout with a pinky ring or he’s going to blow himself and who knows what else to kingdom come.
I despise the leftists that are attempting to take control of the country and, to the extent that the Democrat party has aligned with them (a large extent), I despise them too. Tucker Carlson is doing a fantastic job countering the left and I guess Hannity plays an important role in keeping anti-lefty outrage at the boiling point. We need people like him to keep morale high for the foot soldiers in the culture war. He isn’t supposed to be a source of input for the generals.
That said, at a personal level, Hannity is, to me, an ignorant blow hard and he gives me a headache every time I listen to him for more than a minute or two. That is what politics in the USA has come down to; escalating rhetoric and counter rhetoric. If one side became more circumspect then the other side would drown them out with wild rants. So they all rant on with increasing fury. That is Hannity’s role in all of this.
People here defending McCabe need to have their heads and moral compasses examined. I see how it goes. No one in DC can ever be punished for breaking the law because one of the parties will declare it to be politically motivated and 50% of the country (+/-) will buy into that narrative. I have seen several comments by former FBI stating that McCabe got what he deserved.
There are other ways to interpret the departure of McMaster (if it’s real). The Boss and the section chief have some differences of opinion or style, but they aren’t hostile to each other at a fundamental level. The section chief agrees to depart amicably and goes to work in a different area to which he carries and propagates the vision of the Boss. Post departure, the Boss and Chief maintain communications. I’ve seen this happen in private sector companies. I think this approach is unsettling to those with traditional views of how a bureaucratic career works.
Thank you Colonel. Your most recent short hand about POTUS being a boss, and being so absolutely, mixes well with the previous and pithy, ‘that the deal is everything, and there are no fouls in service to achieving that everything.’
It would be interesting to learn how that classic boss=god top down approach mixes with the military approach of the various 21st century generals who have come into the administration. There are a number of different and basic top down approaches in the private sector.
Isn’t retired Army General ‘Jerry’ Boykins available?
“When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.”
My. my so Totsky of him.
If Evil Tzar Vladimir IV is selected again on Sunday, the Cruelly Clueless Crew better hope and pray he doesn’t drop the Doomsday Dime or when “America” sees what they were a part of on July 17th 2014, well, “…America will triumph over you” will become a prophetic fulfillment.
Keep on talking.
Why are you quoting the words of a Traitor named John Brennan? He committed ‘Sedition’ against a duly elected/sworn in POTUS called Trump. Sedition is under the ‘Treason’ Statute which upon conviction is punishable by death, and there is no statute of time limitations. What Brennan did, he can be incarcerated for up until his dying day! Brennan hung himself with his own rope, and he’s too narcissistic arrogant to realize it.
On another note it appears that the Trump dossier was created, financed, and orchestrated by MI6, which is (if I’m not mistaken) a U.K. ‘Governmental Agency’, which by defination the British Government actively conspired to overthrown a sitting U.S. President.
So…..do we now get to squash MI6 for the arrogant gnat they really are?
May owes Trump an formal official apology for MI6’s actions of war.
Colonel,
There are rumors that the double agent GRU Colonel Skripal was offering the Russian Government to turn states evidence against MI6 and provide the Russian Government with all the ‘stuff’ about the MI6 created Trump Dossier in return for his being able to return to Russia to see his daughter married.
All signs point to Skripal’s poisoning was orchestrated and performed by the British Government (spelled MI6/MI5) to hide the fact that the Trump Dossier was created by the British Government (spelled MI6) to overthrow a sitting U.S. President.
The Russian Government had already convicted/incarcerated/realeased Skripal of Treason, they would have had nothing to gain by poisoning British MI6 Asset double agent GRU Colonel Skripal.
Colonel,
My bad, not only does British PM May owe U.S. President Trump a formal apology for the British Government’s (spelled MI6) attempted overthrow of a sitting U.S. President with their Trump Dossier, but also the Queen of England Queen Elizabeth herself and British King Apparent Prince William himself, as May acts as their formal agent. The sitting Queen/King of England rules England, not the PM as the PM are nothing more than their face persona agents.
The fellow at Conservative Treehouse described the Mattis/Trump row (several days before it blew over) as a “Black Hat Hunting” exercise. Trump and Mattis put out the row story in a compartmentalized fashion in order to barium meal the leaker in the NSC. Sounds plausible.
Speaking only for myself, just because I despise mainstream Team D does not mean that I support Team R, and vice versa.
All
In the meantime, weapons get more efficient
http://www.bbc.com/russian/features-43429973
”Ah, but firing him days before his pension vested is beautiful”
The timing is the point. If his firing was justifiable it should have been done much earlier.
”Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
Trump is racking up a pile of enemies.
Colonel,
I really thought that Andrew McCabe would be allowed to retire and disappear into obscurity. Instead Jeff Session just took a shot at the FBI, Five Eyes intelligence community and the Media Mogul coup plotters. All Clinton, Bush and Obama appointees and supporters must go to the ground. The federal government will seize up. Anyone who thinks their future is at risk has a reason to assist invoking the 25th Amendment. The Trump Family will fight back. This is the start of an oligarch mob war fought by Deplorables against the ruling credentialed Consiglieres.
Meanwhile, even the NewsHour reports on the threat of a new Hezbollah-Israel conflict which will inevitably escalate into a shooting war with Iran and then draw in nuclear armed Russia.
The Gates of Hell are opening.
Ah if only the USA were Florence in the 1400’s.
While many have read and excoriated the Prince, few have studied the sources from whence that little handbook was drawn.
Enjoy:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Discourses_on_Livy
In my own little library is one of his lesser works:’
https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Niccolo-Machiavelli/dp/0226500403/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1521313961&sr=8-12&keywords=machiavelli+war
Given the evidence of his career, it is obvious that Pres. Trump is well versed in the art of manipulating sycophants. Rich men attract parasites like magnets attract iron filings. Since Pres. Trump was still rich when he won the presidency after 40+ years being a sycophant magnet, I think he is able to fluster them now as he has for decades. It is also obvious over his career that he picks good people for the job he wants done and when it is done he moves on to the next job and the next batch of appropriate people.
Granted this is not the norm for politicians, but it is for builders. You don’t use the foundation or utilities contractor for the stucco work nor the stucco contractor for the interior decoration work. These things should be obvious but the talking heads insist on trying to put Pres. Trump into a politician pigeonhole. He doesn’t because he isn’t.
It is enjoyable that the talking heads still insist on taking his every word literally while simultaneously refusing to allow that he is a serious man with an excellent control of language and nuance when it serves him.
Trump claimed that all those numbers, from the same sources, were fake when he was running for office.
Steve
“Provocation will be used as pretext by #US & allies to launch strikes on military and govt infrastructures in #Syria, we are registering the signs of the preparations. Strike groups of the cruise missile carriers been formed in Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Red Sea” – @mod_russia
https://twitter.com/Russ_Warrior/status/975013286667325440
steve,
You mean Black and Hispanic unemployment were great under Barack? Why oh why did those voters abandon the democratic candidate. I’m sure the Russians make African American’s stay home on election day. Hilary 2020!
”These things should be obvious but the talking heads insist on trying to put Pres. Trump into a politician pigeonhole”
Well he’s sort of like a political pigeon playing chess…he struts onto the board, knocks over all the pieces, sh-ts on the board and declares himself the winner.
But the game continues.
Trump says Mueller better not cross his red line and get into his business.
So Mueller crosses Trump’s red line:
2 days ago – WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization business records in recent weeks to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records ….
So yesterday Trump’s attorney says :
””I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier,”
Next move?
Catherine, it’s possible they were giving McCabe, right up until the last minute, some time to make some statements that might mitigate his dilemna.
J- Wilkerson has a strong conscience and has been making important policy statements ever since. Just read his writings and interviews. You will find huge remorse for his part in Powell’s travesty of testimony before the UN.
I think we are all past the “there is no difference between the parties” rhetoric. There IS a difference…and the consistent damage across the board being done by the GOP. I have no doubt…and, as a historian, NO doubt…that the Democrats can screw up just as badly. They do, however, come from a very different place—and it has the virtue of being much more protective of the people and land of the USA.
I know we come from different life experiences, Pat, but our country is seriously at risk and it will be the differences between the parties that will count from here on out until that day when we can all start pulling in the same direction.
There is a certain amount of demographic inevitability going on here. All to the good for some of the marginalized Americans. I don’t think Trump (or anyone) can really claim credit….although I do find Trump being factually correct about something, quite refreshing. Remember—“coincidence is not causation.”
laura
ah, yes the “end to white America syndrome” (ETWAS) actually, a desire for minorty majority is racist. pl
laura
You are a historian of the American West? I have no intention of aligning myself with the neo-marxist Democratic Party and its oligarch sponsors. pl
e
Which Wilkerson relative are you? are you the same one who wrote to me years ago asking me to “understand” him. Forget it, at least in my case. pl
“some time to make statements that might mitigate his dilemma”?
Are we talking about raising children here? Sessions has been possibly the worst appointment Trump has made. You don’t pick a boy to be squad leader and Sessions has failed Trump and the country since day 1.
Fear/threats are extremely bad motivators and work only when the desired action_response is understood, i.e. the desired goal does not change tweet by tweet.
A key point is that fear/threats inevitably trigger a negative backlash in all team members, not just the target.
Never trust a retired general. Their promotions were approved by Congress, and involve lots of politicking. That’s why you should read retired Colonels, such as our host or the late Col. Hackworth: they’ve come by their ranks honestly.
Re: McCabe firing I was curious about this when it first was being pushed by Sean H. as a “just deserts” sort of thing. I’m not an employee relations specialist, but digging around some OPM documents on removal of SESers, it appears statutory authority is either removal for performance or misconduct, in this case I guess misconduct applies. As you would expect there is a process that has to be followed (and no reporting on just where we are in the process) and as an “adverse action” removal is appeallable to the MSPB (potentially other routes like EEO but I don’t think apply to McCabe). At least that’s how I read it.
As far as pension, it appears McCabe is under the FERS which provides social security + conventional defined benefit pension + 401k-like TSP. For the conventional pension portion, as “law enforcement” he gets “early” retirement option at 50/20.
Laura,
“demographic inevitability”
Travon Marin, Eric Garner and Freddie Grey all deserved the competition of immigration. So do all who are like them. It was inevitable. About that causation, there is no coincidence to the changes wrought by immigration legislation. Of course the demographics of African Americans aren’t the same out your way as they are in say Baltimore, Detroit or even Miami.
The GOP brought us the Iraq fiasco, but with the hysterical support of both legacy parties.
Obama inherited Iraq and Afghanistan, but Mean Republicans® did not force him to make war on syria, yemen or Libya or arm nazis in Ukraine. For that matter, bloody Gina would not be CIA director, if Obama had actually enforced the laws.
Fred,
The SJWs never seem to notice that the majority of the world is brown skinned, black hair, brown eyes. From a global perspective – and it’s all about a borderless world , isn’t it – whites are the minority. So the left is bashing on whites in typical racist fashion (whites are evil because of this and that, etc). They gleefully await the day when everyone is a shade of brown. So much for the diversity that they claim to champion and that “Makes us stronger”.
Those internal contradictions reveal their true motives, which, IMO, are born of envy, hate and a desire for vengeance against successful people because, they, themselves have some pathology that prevents them from enjoying what they have (or could have) and generally being happy. Rather than being grateful for what western civ has created, they want to destroy. Sick and dangerous people. A tremendous risk to the nation and perhaps the greatest threat it faces.
Perhaps threats of no retirement check weren’t enough, an indictment might work better.
Ole Nicky lived in another time and is highly underrated by now. I am not sure he would be able to navigate today’s governing environment. One reason is that we have no ruling princes anymore, only pretenders.
We do have some smart people in this country. Unfortunately, they seldom get elected. Those who do, are mostly doing what they are paid to do by the highest bidder.
It is said that the cream rises to the top, but now by that time, it has seriously soured.
Obama had the political cover of the 2007 NIE and being a young new President, accompanied by a gray-beared VP, to negogiate a nuclear deal with Iran based on Gareth Evans proposals of 2006. He decided to escalate and Syria of today is one consequence of that.
Sir,
No, I’d message you and I have never used that tone with you regardless. It was at Cato.
J, I hope you are not holding your breath waiting for apologies from England. You are starting to sound a little delusional.
”They do, however, come from a very different place—and it has the virtue of being much more protective of the people and land of the USA. ”
I agree and disagree. Dems are in general more protective of the earth and wildlife (I am a rabid nature and animal lover).
BUT…they are hardly protective of ‘the people’.
They have promoted a ‘victimhood’ mentality among minorities to gain the victims vote.
And if you are not a victim then you are a victimizer.
Came into the US illegally? ..then you’re a victim of American racist who want you gone.
Are you gay?…then you are a victim of American homophobes.
Are you black?…then all white Americans are evil racist and owe you for slavery.
Are you Jewish?…then the entire world of gentiles and christens let Hitler kill you and didn’t lift a finger to save you and owe you forever and ever.
And of course our Founders were Evil White Europeans, some of whom owed a slave 200 years ago. Their statues and portraits must be removed, their streets and parks renamed.
This is all we have heard from the liberals and their junk yard dogs in their academic towers and in the liberal publications for years now. Don’t even get me started on what the liberals have done to education in this country.
Unless there is a giant enema of both parties hell will freeze over before the Dems get a vote from me. And pigs might really fly before I vote for a Repub either. I might continue to write in a name for the rest of my voting life.
Understand the reason for the demonizing of America, Americans, our Founders and traditions.
‘Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.”
Jean Francois Revel
It’s possible. By my observation there are basically two types in any deals…one is a win-win character….the other is a win-lose character who is not content to just win something, his real satisfaction is when the other person totally loses.
Which is Trump I cant say yet for certain but his son in law Jared is definitely a win-lose boy.
“the neo-marxist Democratic Party and its oligarch sponsors.”
I’m genuinely perplexed by that statement. Why would any oligarch want to sponsor marxists, neo- or otherwise?
Isn’t marxism the antithesis of oligarchy?
Wilkerson’s ‘remorse’ as you call it, is as the old expression goes — a day late, and a dollar short.
Wilkerson got up on top of the Empire State Building and gutted a feather pillow spilling feathers that can never be recovered ever again. Men’s lives now ‘dead’ are the feathers I’m talking about.
The POS Wilkerson knew what he was doing when he did it. Your weak attempt to excuse his unconscionable actions, wreak.
Men are dead today directly because of Wilkerson’s seeking WH favors in favor of what was right and honorable. Wilkerson sold his honor for 30 pieces of silver.
Much has been written about Powell.
Archive
Behind Colin Powell’s Legend
The Original Five-Part Series
https://consortiumnews.com/archive/powell.html
Eric,
I’ll will draft something in detail to reply. I suggest you re-read my post “precious snowflakes”. This is not innate in humanity, or in Americans; but is a trained cultural response. There are those who greatly fear consubstantiality of Americans, or to use the words Obama used in Grant park on the night of his first election victory “E pluribus unum”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtJRPcPCcw
The short version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnV1JzCrFoo
Did you hear anyone on the left say these words to Donald J. Trump?
McMaster is a Warrior and better yet a winner.
[pl knows this BTW-this for audience].
We don’t know McMaster is gone. May be a whispering campaign.
Kelly made a point of defending him to the press off record intended to be on the record. We don’t know and never know with Trump until he makes his move and that’s Trump his entire life.
We don’t know Mattis is gone either. IMHO the real Mattis is perhaps a warrior but he’s not a winner. IMO not so humble bowing to PC on the Haditha witch hunt taints Mattis in my eyes, I may be wrong.
In any case The President has the right and the duty to fire people who don’t or can’t carry out his instructions. If, IF any of this is true. Trump has a public personae which includes “You’re Fired” that he’s worked on since the 1970s.
The Apprentice of course was his vehicle for becoming a Household name same as Reagan’s was GE Theater. Different times call for different styles.
Trump is there to Drain The Swamp and that means people are going to get fired.
He’s actually delivering on what he promised. He was not elected by DC or the political class but in spite of their best efforts and ongoing farcical coup attempts.
> I did not say McMaster was part of the Political Class or part of any of these plots, he isn’t. I said Trump fires people. < This President was elected to MAGA, Drain the Swamp and Build the Wall over all the plots and schemes and machinations of The Political Class and he's delivering on 2/3 of those promises so far - and I wouldn't be surprised if one day resistance collapses and we get a wall. No job security anywhere anymore, everyone gets fired and has to go on the job hunt. Pace pl, McMaster and Kelly, Mattis et al.
Eric, it’s a digression, but an interesting one to me, but it seems to me that sports talk shows resemble political talk shows. Or vice versa….blowhard loud mouths, on both sides, shouting simplistic phrases, and catchy street terms at each other… on the way to cashing checks at the bank. Now they shout in digital format, as well.
I think some people think “demographic inevitably” my ass. Pardon my language. I think it has whiffs-now of manipulation. And these same people think Dems that support open borders—-the ones that say it out loud, and the ones that say it behind closed doors, to bankers, as they get paid six figures to say it, are, as you say, “doing damage to the country”as well. I think there r more of this type than you think, and whether or not they are correct, you might keep that in mind. I think they think the epicenter of this manipulation is in California. Precisely the location of Hillary’s margin of votes over trump. U might want to keep this mind. As I will keep in mind your sound advice regards the damages the GOP is doing. It is not political parties that will bal us out. It is personal character….or lack of it, that will be decisive. As always.
J
The quite surprising thing about LW is that he has really “made hsay” from his erstwhile allegiance to Powell. pl
Yeah, Right
Marxism is the enemy of oligarchy? You are revealed as a communist sympathizer. Are you really able to blind yourself to the history of every communist state that hasever existed. In each and every case these states featured the existence of a controlling oligarchy or “nomenklatura.” Cuba, North Korea and emerging marxist states like Venezuela all are the same in this. In the US the overly certificated “lords” of Wall Street, Washington, DC, and California north and south include among them many fantasist leftists who are both oligarchs and marxists like you. pl
catherine
IMO DJT is a deal making egotist entrepreneur Such people will often settle for win-win outcomes if they are the best available at the time. Nationalists seek advantage for the nation of their dreams over others. That is part of being a nationalist as opposed to a patriot. pl
Have you ever been to Kerala?
outthere
No. What has that to do with anything? pl
Kerala is largely Christian, educated (in comparison with the rest of India), and run by a rigid anti-entrepreneurial Socialist government for decades. They prefer to stifle business development in Kerala and rent the men out as cheap laboreres to the racist Gulfies and live off those remittances.
Very comely women, with all the right shapes at the all the appropriare places.
Jonst,
Yes, I have also taken note that a lot of “reporting” resembles sports commentating. Hannity is a fine example of that genre.
The US military has determined that it doesn’t want anyone with an IQ below 83 because those people are essentially untrainable for even the most simple MOS. That is 1 in 10 (10%) people in the over all population and it is closer to 20% of people in certain minority populations. 50% of people have an IQ of 100 or less. A person with an IQ of 100 is not suited for, say, a legal profession, a business analyst, a physician – really any white collar well paying job. They just don’t have the aptitude to do the work. These are facts that are scientifically proven repeatedly and despite SJW refusal to accept their reality.
So mass media must tailor it’s message to meet the comprehension level of the 50% of the country that lacks the capacity to process complex ideas. The sports commentator model is familiar and appealing to that market segment. The goods being proffered in the advertisements are targeting the same sector. So there’s a nice symbiosis for tv marketing there.
As we move above an IQ 100, we encounter increasingly more capable minds and such people are less likely to obtain their perspectives from the mainstream media. Rather, being more intellectual, they seek out sources available in journals, blogs like this one, etc. But this is not the majority of people.
EN
We should make it clear that the standard for commissioned officers or enlisted soldiers in any but the simplest specialties are not the same. pl
But IQ scores have been rising over the decades; has that rise stopped?
Sir,
Oh yes, absolutely. It may be surprising to many who hold certain stereotypes, but infy officers are often amongst the most intelligent.
As an INTJ 😉 the refusal of many to accept and incorporate the findings and ramifications of well established IQ science is extremely frustrating. For example, there are many people that are just not going to become tech workers, for whom college is a waste of time and money (better to go to a trade school) and for whom the jobs that immigrants and illegals take are the only jobs that they are capable of doing.
And to be clear, I don’t look down my nose at such people. Their lower IQ is not an excuse to brutalize them in any way. To the contrary, they should be appreciated for their role in society. Some of them – the below 83 group – need our understanding and support.
Ask the Prussian high command
I could be called a Nationalist probably in today’s usage– but my definition of Nationalism is different from the current usage. To me it means supporting the sovereignty of the country and the ‘common good’ of all the people. I think the idea of nationalism and the term has been perverted since Hitler’s era to mean something else. I do think the country should be the ‘melting pot’ and not a salad bowl of identity tribes jockeying for control and political power. America now is more like an international shopping bazaar where anyone with 30 pieces of sliver can buy themselves a politician,a law or a war.
catherine In my opinion and that of Elie Khadourie patriotism is the love of one’s country of group however defined. nationalism is the love of that group at the expense of other groups. pl
Kerala is also communist and doing quite well. Quality education, healthcare, decreasing influence of caste-system etc.
However there is a catch and it may not have a causal effect with communism. A lot of educated Keralans work abroad and send a lot of money home.
Yup, keep Kapitalism in check while sending the men to earn hard currency as servants of the racist Gulfies.
Makes a lot of sense.
Leaves a lot of lonely you g wives, doesn’t it?
“Marxism is the enemy of oligarchy? You are revealed as a communist sympathizer”
No, more like someone who is profoundly ignorant of communism, and certainly not a “sympathizer”.
Though I feel compelled to point out that the only word you mentioned in your first post – and therefore all I was asking about – was “Marxism”, which is not at all the same thing as “Communism”.
Regardless, I now understand what you were referring to, so thank you very much.
Yeah, Right
I am quite knowledgeable of both having worked on recruiting both kins as espionage agents of the US. Marxists like to claim they are not communists but the difference is slight. Once you go down the road into analysis of societies horizontally by economic class the slope runs down hill to the dictatorship of the proletariat. pl
Babak,
Rising IQ scores with time – aka the Flynn effect – is an observation hijacked to be an SJW smoke and mirrors op designed to promote social Marxist ideology; to wit, oppressed people are marginalized on IQ test because they had bad nutrition, bad schooling, we’re all born equal and IQ test are meaningless, etc. You know the rap (and probably believe some of it).
The Flynn effect is probably due to a host of confounding variables. To be fair, no one is saying the IQ test ever *perfectly* measures innate ability that one is born with; only that it does a very good job of it. To be sure, some of what the test measures is the ability to take standardized tests – and that ability has certainly increased with time.
However, we don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, do we? The test is still standardized and where one falls on the bell curve is a very strong predictor of success in life and the ability to perform in the various work roles a society offers.
Also, importantly, the Flynn effect, whatever caused it, appears to be tapering off now. Meaning that the standardization of scores is now reflecting more accurately than previously maximum innate potential beyond any lift that test taking training could provide.
When Obama came into office back in 2009,
my hope was that he would chose Stephen Walt as his national security advisor.
Walt, as coauthor with Mearsheimer of The Israel Lobby,
seemed to have a clear-eyed view of the problems of giving Israel the level of support we had (and continue to give).
And the sense I got from reading his blog back then
was that he would have been delighted to have been given the opportunity.
Of course he wasn’t, I assume precisely because of his attitudes towards Israel.
Anyhow, now with Trump in power, I still think Walt would make an excellent NSA.
Whether Walt would accept it under Trump seems unlikely,
and even less likely that Trump would make the offer.
Too bad in my opinion.
Colonel Lang, if you are reading this,
do you have any opinion on Walt?
As to Keane, while as far as I know he deserves esteem for his Army career,
in his post-Army career he seems the ultimate tool of the Zionists.
Colonel,
It’s official, Putin has been reelected for his 4th term as Russia’s leader.
McMaster’s has incurred Trump’s wrath, and is on his way out the door. McMaster’s ties to Soros once Trump found out about it, sent Trump through the roof.
Draining the Swamp? Hardly. More like restocking it zonistis neoconis.
Very clear and concise, thank you.
Well if that’s the prevailing definition I guess I am not a nationalist after all….or maybe I am both.
I really don’t want a ‘ruling group’, my so called group or any other.
I don’t like the idea of anyone being subservient to me or to anyone else.
Colonel,
Putin garnered 76.77% of the votes.
catherine
It is MY definition. pl
It is a response to your comment:
“Are you really able to blind yourself to the history of every communist state that has ever existed. In each and every case these states featured the existence of a controlling oligarchy or “nomenklatura.”
Kerala is communist and very successful by all accounts I have read/heard, especially when compared to its neighbors. This success is consistently ignored by economists and political scientists.
I have never been there, have no expert knowledge. Perhaps someone here will tell us more.
outthere
Kerala is not a sovereign state and is therefore prevented IMO from descending into the hell that communism produces if left to its own devices. I know several Keralans in the Gulf and found them to be the blackest people I ever met, much darker than Africans and some of the most entrepreneurial crooks on the scene. They took kick backs on everything including their subordinates pay and were busy sending the money home where they were buying businesses and rental real estate. they were intent on becoming members of the “rentier” class. I liked them. pl
YR, in response to your #81; an ‘oligarch’ or any power center would sponsor a force including Marxism, if that force could attack the oligarch’s opponents without being a threat to the sponsor. I suggest this is actually happening now with some pro-Globalisation forces sponsoring ‘marxists’ or at least the socialistically inclined, to attack Nationalists who present an existential threat to international Globalism. And they attack willingly, being blinded to the nature of international capital by their hatred of nationalism; possibly a Pelosi-grade world view.
Marxism per se ? Why did some citizens of the former GDR spend years building hot air balloons in their attics just so they could escape with only what they could put in their pockets, or in the case of two friends of mine, spend the best part of two days standing up in a locker on a Polish container ship ?