by Ugh
Tillerson out! He very much wanted to stay, apparently. Wasn't told, doesn't know why.
Mike Pompeo to State. Some wag on twitter notes that with access to both the CIA and State Department files, Pompeo can surely get to the bottom of....Benghazi!
Gina Haspel will lead the CIA, she was directly involved in the, um, wonderful torture regime run by the prior republican president who took office after losing the popular vote. We must look forward, not back, but apparently we didn't look far enough forward did we?
Only the best people y'all.
Finally, a headline worthy of the word "journalism".
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/03/putin-fires-tillerson
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 10:05 AM
State Dept just confirmed that your SoS found out he was fired... by Tweet.
Posted by: Nigel | March 13, 2018 at 10:08 AM
But for the 'looking forward, not back' nonsense, Haspel would likely be in jail.
Posted by: Nigel | March 13, 2018 at 10:10 AM
with access to both the CIA and State Department files, Pompeo can surely get to the bottom of....Benghazi!
And the fact that he hasn't been trumpeting anything on the subject tells you all you need to know about how real the whole thing was. Not!
Posted by: wj | March 13, 2018 at 10:22 AM
https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/973547421937684481
@BenjySarlin
EX-EXXON TEXAN EXEC REX NEXT EX-SEC
6:12 AM - 13 Mar 2018
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 10:34 AM
Putin and mp are cleaning house.
I suspect Christopher Steele will be poisoned via Russian nerve agent and Robert Mueller fired, and possibly arrested, in the same week.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 10:45 AM
No, the next unfortunate involontary departure from the mortal plane (or was it plain?) should appropriately be by icepick.
Mueller should stay away from helicopters instead.
The House shuts short its investigation into Trump collusion without even telling Dem members of the committee. The 158 pages long report is said to state that there is not the shred of a hint of any collusion by Trump with Russia but to have a recommendation to look into possible connections between Hillary Clinton and Putin regarding the election.[that's what I heard, I have not dug deeper]
Maybe they could also shed some light on the nefarious 1914 Belgian invasion of Germany that started WW1 [OK, this part is snark]
Posted by: Hartmut | March 13, 2018 at 11:57 AM
Speaking as a frog living in this particular pot of water, I'm noticing a distinct rise in the temperature.
Just saying.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 12:06 PM
Wow, Gina Haspel.
Previous administrations at least tried to cover up their crimes. Trump doesn't even pretend to have a sense of shame.
Posted by: novakant | March 13, 2018 at 12:06 PM
And I don't even want to imagine right now what Pompeo means for Iran.
Posted by: novakant | March 13, 2018 at 12:13 PM
But Hillary is a hawk.
Posted by: sapient | March 13, 2018 at 12:15 PM
Trump doesn't even pretend to have a sense of shame.
he's currently in a legal dispute with a porn actress - with whom he had an affair while his current (3rd) wife was home with their infant son - involving the question of the $130,000 pay-off she received to stay quiet is valid or not because the lawyer (who has now told several lies about the matter) who paid her off didn't bother getting Trump himself to sign the document.
this isn't even the third or fourth top story on any news site.
hey, at least we can all say we were there when it all came crashing down! if we can learn to speak Mandarin.
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 12:18 PM
Wrong thread, probably, but they've found another Russian dead, a friend of Boris Berezovsky who always questioned whether BB's death was really what it seemed, and an open enemy of Putin. Jesus H Christ etc....
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 12:34 PM
GftNC, it absolutely is the correct thread. Tillerson managed to rise to the occasion to say something against Russia in regard to the earlier poisonings in a statement last night. I'm sure the abruptness of this morning's farewell isn't a coinkidink.
The violence isn't lost on the toadies here, who seem to be anxious to spare themselves.
Posted by: sapient | March 13, 2018 at 12:44 PM
Yes, Hillary is a hawk
Posted by: novakant | March 13, 2018 at 12:44 PM
and now Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein has been fired, for daring to contradict the official WH line on Tillerson's firing.
fucking clown show.
thanks, Republicans.
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 12:47 PM
And I don't even want to imagine right now what Pompeo means for Iran.
<sarcasm> I know, let's put a guy who has openly advocated for regime change in North Korea in charge of State while we're supposedly negotiating for a Trump-Kim meeting... </sarcasm>
Posted by: Michael Cain | March 13, 2018 at 12:49 PM
Cite for GFTNC's 12:34 pm:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/13/russian-exile-nikolai-glushkov-found-dead-at-his-london-home
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 12:53 PM
we shall defend our Trump, whatever the cost may be, we shall fire them on the beaches, we shall fire them on the landing grounds, we shall fire them in the fields and in the streets, we shall fire them in the hills; we shall never surrender...
Posted by: Ugh | March 13, 2018 at 12:54 PM
Thanks Count.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 12:56 PM
I'm sure it was the VX gas gnomes
Posted by: Ugh | March 13, 2018 at 01:02 PM
I'm waiting for the conspiracy nuts to reverse course and argue the the election returns (showing Trump losing the popular vote) must be bogus because Hilary never existed! Obviously, you can't lose the popular vote when you are running unopposed. Obviously.
Posted by: wj | March 13, 2018 at 01:10 PM
The Beeb is saying nothing yet about the Glushkov death, presumably waiting to determine cause of death. It could of course be natural causes, but he was only 68, and had himself been saying how too many Russian emigres had been dying.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 01:10 PM
First mention as I pressed Post...
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 01:11 PM
they've found another Russian dead
so far I've been thinking that the way to get to the bottom of the various Trump ratholes was to follow the money.
now I'm beginning to think the best approach is to follow the bodies.
Sam Giancana was born at the wrong time. Trump's a guy he could have worked with.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 01:29 PM
the other thing I'll say about all of this is that bi-partisan comity is all well and good, but things like Haspel as head of CIA is why it would have been good if Obama had damned the torpedos and cleaned f**king house at the CIA and military intelligence generally when he took office.
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of Geneva. bring it and let the chips fall where they may.
that would probably have gotten us to our famous Second Civil War in a New York minute, at least among some communities.
but at least we wouldn't have creeps like Haspel around anymore.
these people never go away, they just bide their time.
I've generally been agnostic on the impeachment question, but at this point I'm pretty much in the ITMFA camp. the man is a menace to the nation and the world.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 01:37 PM
McEntee: serious financial crimes according to Homeland Security:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/13/politics/john-mcentee-white-house-security-clearance/index.html
Which, of course, preeminently qualifies him for a high post in mp's re-election campaign.
Presumably he owns a second coat he can wear on the new gig.
By Fall, the murders per week will outnumber the tweets.
Hillary spoke out yesterday. I'd advise her to be very careful as there are millions of republicans who want to murder her, probably including the new CIA Chief.
Same for Obama.
Marty's is right that this is the most transparent of Administrations and governance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHn9islS1f0
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 01:44 PM
"these people never go away, they just bide their time."
This is why I no longer believe in elections, because republicans may lose when they don't cheat, lie, and steal, the filth, but they are still left among the living to fuck America another day.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 01:53 PM
I've generally been agnostic on the impeachment question, but at this point I'm pretty much in the ITMFA camp. the man is a menace to the nation and the world.
I admit to worrying that Pence would be (more) competent at doing things that I don't want to see done. Not to mention being far likelier to get re-elected in 2020.
But at least he wouldn't blunder us into a war with North Korea. Or pull some other massively destructive stunt out of general nastiness or sheer boredom.
That said, I wouldn't want to see an impeachment unless there was some reasonable prospect of an actual removal by the Senate. Without that, it's more of a distraction than anything else. Better to have a Democrat-controlled House put its time and energy into doing some real oversight on the Executive branch. And maybe even legislating away some of Trump's follies -- after all, it takes fewer votes in the Senate to pass something than it would to convict after an impeachment.
Posted by: wj | March 13, 2018 at 01:57 PM
Is it okay to call Haspel a Nazi (or at least a nazi, with a small "c")?
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | March 13, 2018 at 02:00 PM
"n" that is. Not sure what happened there. I think the word "call" was in my head instead of nazi.
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | March 13, 2018 at 02:01 PM
nah-c
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 02:04 PM
First woman to head the CIA, another crack in the government glass ceiling, plus an experienced career intelligence officer. It's hard to i.agine a more qualified person.
Everything we keep saying he should be appointing.
Posted by: Marty | March 13, 2018 at 02:05 PM
Trump's former body guy was possibly fired for "serious financial crimes", but was immediately hired by the Trump campaign.
such swamp drainage.
the best people.
much honor.
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 02:11 PM
The Simpsons once watched a TV s(h)it-com called "Admiral Baby" wherein a toddler in diapers and naval officer's cap commands the fleet to sail to Candy Island. Even Homer thought that premise was stupid.
I don't know why that memory just popped into my head.
--TP
Posted by: Tony P. | March 13, 2018 at 02:11 PM
Posted by: Marty | March 13, 2018 at 02:05 PM has to be trollery, just to get everyone riled up. It can't be serious commentary. Of all the women to appoint, it has to be a known serial torturer?
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | March 13, 2018 at 02:14 PM
Well, Marty, if she ran a black prison site and oversaw a regime where prisoners were tortured, do you still think she's everything he should be appointing? And she definitely drafted a cable ordering the destruction of CIA interrogation videos in 2005 - is this also the kind of person you think should be heading the CIA?
Do you truly think this, or are you just trying to yank our chains?
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 02:15 PM
"Everything we keep saying he should be appointing."
Who is "we", kemosabe?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynndie_England#/media/File:AG-10B.JPG
You can date her on Chaturbate, if she's your filthy republican cup of piss.
"or are you just trying to yank our chains?"
I'm hoping that's not Marty, but instead the Russian troll farm assigned to Obsidian Wings.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 02:25 PM
Hey, Himmler was a really really qualified, competent person too, and Charles Manson was good with a knife.
What are you people complaining about?
Posted by: JanieM | March 13, 2018 at 02:26 PM
i know Marty used to think torture was wrong. so, yes, he's trolling.
beats saying a bad thing about a Republican, i guess.
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 02:27 PM
Ah, thanks for that reminder cleek. I didn't remember, but it figures.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 02:36 PM
It's hard to i.agine a more qualified person.
if you're gonna troll, at least spell check.
we have standards here.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 02:39 PM
I admit to worrying that Pence would be (more) competent at doing things that I don't want to see done.
Pence is probably my polar opposite in every imaginable way, beginning with the fact that he still has a full head of hair.
That said, I'd probably prefer him to Trump. Trump is profoundly corrupt. It's destructive to the office.
Hell of a choice, though.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 02:42 PM
When Pence got the VP nod, and people were asking, "What is he thinking?", I pointed out that it was a high-risk potentially very high reward bet. It put him two unlikely events -- Trump winning, and then leaving office -- away from being President. He got the first one, and has most of three years still to get the second in some fashion.
Posted by: Michael Cain | March 13, 2018 at 02:54 PM
Himmler was a poultry farmer, the perfect guy to run a camp system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cU257dzUxs
Posted by: Hartmut | March 13, 2018 at 02:56 PM
Himmler ...
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19420496/obama-organic-rule-trump-rollback/
Have we noticed the coincidence of the return of the foul treatment of poultry, the gearing up of Guantanamo for the chickens come home to roost, and the return of the American torture regime at CIA?
Commandant of U.S. black torture sites, including the domestic ones for liberals, and the position of Secretary of Agriculture have similar, complementary skill sets, much as the Nazi Government in 1938 Germany cultivated a horizontal structure across government functions.
I'd like to hear what pollo de muerto has to say.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 03:16 PM
Mike Pence is a theocrat wannabe. If Supply Side Jesus told him to launch a crusade against Iran, Pence would hop to it. That Pence would try to replace the Constitution with the Old Testament is a given, because he's that kind of "Christian". And of course Pence has the stink of the Beast on him: He, Trump picked him, after all.
BTW: I would not be surprised if Mueller has as much on Pence as Putin has on He, Trump. But I don't know what would happen if the present-day US were to face another Agnew-Nixon situation.
--TP
Posted by: Tony P. | March 13, 2018 at 03:20 PM
I agree with the schmaltzy Obama Administration rules that chickens should lead better lives, perhaps being allowed to play racket ball, before I pack them on to trains, cook their flesh, render their fat, kidnap their fetuses, and rip them to pieces with my incisors.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 03:21 PM
No.
No mp.
No Pence.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 03:24 PM
What does "mp" stand for again?
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | March 13, 2018 at 03:27 PM
I thought the idea was that mp was what you got when you took the Tru[e] out of the name of a habitual liar....
Posted by: wj | March 13, 2018 at 03:30 PM
not to derail, but meanwhile in other news...
The short form:
Guy who's been hear forever illegally, worked his way up from dishwasher to owner of a popular local restaurant, gets deported.
Locals were surprised, because he was one of the good ones. They thought of him as a white guy (not my words).
But, now he's gone. Economy's better, we like the tax cuts. Somebody bought the business, so we can still get our dinner.
Life goes on.
My own perspective on this:
First, I'm sick of hearing about the hale-fellows-well-met in the heartland and their concerns. I got my own concerns. The whole phenomenon of folks from the NYT or WaPo haunting the nation's short-order joints to see how "Real Americans" are doing pisses me off. We got short order joints right here where I live, and people who are f***king hard up and trying to figure out how to make it all work, right here where I live.
We just didn't vote for Trump, mostly, so we don't have that same level of anthropological interest as folks out in Places Not Near A Coast.
Second, I don't need a report from Places Where They Grow Corn And Hogs to tell me that a lot of people don't give two craps, or even one and half craps, about what happens to somebody else, as long as their bottom line is rosy. My coastal elite world is chock full of folks just like that, and also chock full of immigrants both legal and illegal.
It's messed up to take a guy who's been here working his ass off, who's not trying to hide, who isn't breaking any laws, and who's working with the immigration services to get his status sorted out, and have him walk into his regular interview with immigration to discuss his status, and have him not come out. Then find his way through seven freaking jails until he finds himself back in Mexico, with nothing. Nothing.
That's what we do now, because Trump has made it OK - politically and socially OK - to piss on brown people again.
And if you think that's not what it's about, I invite you to show me the hundreds of illegal Irish - who are more than plentiful here in the people's republic - that are being rounded up, detained, held for months while they wait for a hearing, then sent back to the emerald isle with bugger-all.
Not that I wish that for them, it's just that the contrast is.... notable.
Hope the crap that folks like the folks in the article - who are just like folks in my world, and yours - are perfectly happy to see happen to their former friend and neighbor never falls on their heads. Karma's a bitch, and is not known for having the quality of mercy.
Enjoy those tax cuts and nice 401k gains everyone! Hope it doesn't all turn to shit before you get a chance to cash in.
I have, quite seriously, lost respect for this country. I'm not quite all the way to despise, but I can see it from here.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 03:44 PM
We may lose the "m" soon.
Then, the "p", as he has a little trouble, a little domestic problem. Play a little "Stormy" for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADxFPQZAlJw
We'll start the new temporary President out with "ence", and proceed rapidly from there to disappear him too.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 03:50 PM
People get used to "Abholen" rather quickly, provided it's not themselves. Just don't do the "Sonderbehandlung" within sight. And if there is quick "Arisierung" too, short memory span will do the rest.
Posted by: Hartmut | March 13, 2018 at 03:57 PM
From Rolling Stone on Haspel—
“Veterans of the intelligence community, however, were broadly supportive of her elevation last month to the role of deputy director. At the time, James Clapper, director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, said he was "very pleased" with the choice; Michael Morell, former deputy director and acting director at CIA, characterized her as "widely respected throughout the agency"; former CIA Director Michael Hayden said she was a "wonderful" pick who would handle the job with "dignity, professionalism and honor."
Posted by: Donald | March 13, 2018 at 04:04 PM
Link —
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/meet-gina-haspel-trumps-cia-pick-who-oversaw-torture-w517830
Posted by: Donald | March 13, 2018 at 04:05 PM
Regarding CIA / torture / indefinite detention without trial this is worth reading as a refresher:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Zubaydah
Posted by: novakant | March 13, 2018 at 04:10 PM
I invite you to show me the hundreds of illegal Irish - who are more than plentiful here in the people's republic - that are being rounded up, detained, held for months while they wait for a hearing, then sent back to the emerald isle with bugger-all.
more on this:
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/578930256/undocumented-irish-unexpectedly-caught-in-trumps-immigration-dragnet
Rule Of Law!
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 04:13 PM
I stand corrected.
Posted by: russell | March 13, 2018 at 04:25 PM
I stand corrected.
nah. 34 isn't really 'hundreds'.
Posted by: cleek | March 13, 2018 at 04:29 PM
We need a woman to head the Defense Department, too.
What about the FBI?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGGwDmCTha8
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 04:42 PM
That's what we do now, because Trump has made it OK - politically and socially OK - to piss on brown people again.
And if you think that's not what it's about,
Much like the hokey-pokey, that is what it's all about. Someone to look down on so you're* not at the bottom of the barrel, and it's easier to look down on them if they're somehow different from you because it ensures you're not going to be subject to the same treatment.
*not you russell
Posted by: Ugh | March 13, 2018 at 04:51 PM
Given his effort to gut the State Department, and the departure of many senior diplomats with distinguished careers in the department, Tillerson’s fall likely won’t be lamented in Foggy Bottom, or in many other places. But in the unique and alarming context of this Presidency, he seemed like a stabilizing and independent-minded presence. At least, he wasn’t a Trump flunky or a Bannonite ethno-nationalist.
From the New Yorker piece on the Tillerson firing. I completely agree. His wholehearted condemnation of the Russians only looks so good in comparison to the rest of that corrupt bunch of bozos.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 13, 2018 at 04:58 PM
EX-EXXON TEXAN EXEC REX NEXT EX-SEC
Good, but I preferred 'sore tyrant ousts rex'....
Posted by: Nigel | March 13, 2018 at 05:00 PM
(small hand reference, too...)
Posted by: Nigel | March 13, 2018 at 05:01 PM
mp, on the PA race.
"And Conor Lamb: Lamb the Sham, Lamb the Sham -- he’s trying to act like a Republican so he gets . . . he won’t give me one vote. Look, I don’t know him. Looks like a nice guy.
I hear he’s nice-looking. I think I’m better-looking than him. I do. I do. I do. And he’s slightly younger than me. Slightly. No, I heard that, then I saw, he’s OK. He’s all right. Personally, I like Rick. I think he’s handsome."
WTF. If the two candidates had pussies, both could have considered themselves grabbed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pennsylvania-republican-congressional-candidate-claims-his-opponents-hate-trump-u-n856011
Another filthy, rather ugly conservative republican who confuses HIMSELF with America and God.
I grew up near Saccone in Jagoff Town.
Fuck his anti-American, Godless mouth.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 05:33 PM
"At least, he wasn’t a Trump flunky or a Bannonite ethno-nationalist."
This seems to be the formulation now as we bump along the bottom with all of the lowest common denominators, unfortunately.
Albert Speer profited from similar comparisons.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 05:39 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Saccone
David Barton, Abu Graib, waterboarding, shut down public education and public libraries.
Seems to like his gummint expense account a little too much, which means he could be mp Cabinet material soon, perhaps in charge of upgrading the drapes at the Bureau of Martial Law and Murdering Liberals.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 13, 2018 at 05:48 PM
Hey, without Speer WW2 in Europe would have ended 1-2 years earlier and with The Soviets reaching at least the Rhine. The guy was a certified genius, just completely amoral*. And his performance at Nuremberg should have earned him an Academy Award at least. It saved his neck (arguably one of the few cases where the judges got fooled into misplaced clemency).
I can't see anything similar in The Donald's orbit.
*but by comparision relatively incorrupt, i.e. not a thieving magpie like e.g. Göring. Another difference to Team Donald.
Posted by: Hartmut | March 14, 2018 at 04:09 AM
Petty, too..
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-power-briefing/2018/03/13/rex-tillerson-fired-state-department-254312
the White House has fired one of Rex Tillerson’s top aides after he contradicted the official account of the secretary of state’s dismissal by President Donald Trump. The officials said Steve Goldstein, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, was informed of the move shortly after he released a statement in his name saying that Tillerson was ‘unaware of the reason’ for his termination. Goldstein had also told reporters that Tillerson learned of his firing Tuesday morning from Trump’s tweet announcing he was nominating CIA chief Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department.”...
Posted by: Nigel | March 14, 2018 at 05:09 AM
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/5-times-trumps-favorite-economic-advisor-has-been-spectacularly-wrong-about-the-economy/ar-BBKb4ym
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 06:09 AM
Sounds like a fit made in heaven. He's polished in front of the cameras. And he's wrong a lot -- which can be written off as fake news. What more could Trump ask?
Posted by: wj | March 14, 2018 at 06:47 AM
Here is an article about Haspel by a former front-pager here, which notes that Haspel may not have been in charge when Zubaydeh was tortured but was later when Nashiri was water-boarded.
Posted by: Ugh | March 14, 2018 at 11:52 AM
Tucker Carlson should be arrested by immigration authorities, and physically beaten, if he attempts to enter any other country besides Russia and Yemen.
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/03/13/tucker-carlson-defends-white-nationalist-pizzagate-conspiracy-theorist-after-she-was-barred-entering/219627
His return to the United States will be viewed by my government as extraordinary rendition.
He should also try ordering the AR-15 white pizza at my restaurant and see what it comes with.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 12:06 PM
according to the torture denialist/apologist on NPR this AM, she wasn't in charge when the tapes were destroyed either. her boss made that decision.
Posted by: cleek | March 14, 2018 at 12:08 PM
kudos to Katherine.
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/03/14/architect-cia-torture-program-defends-trump-cia-pick-gina-haspel-wed-be-shooting-ourselves-foot-if/219628
As per Marty, women who torture and murder are underrepresented in our stinking government.
Why would we be shooting ourselves in the foot? Wouldn't we instead cut the balls off of a swarthy guy and feed them to him for lunch?
THAT would be the American way and I daresay, a woman's touch.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 12:14 PM
Rodriguez was head of the clandestine service, Haspel was his chief of staff. She was apparently not, remotely, out of the loop.
The torture regime represents the US taking our fundamental values and throwing them in the trash. After pissing on them.
The general mood of hysteria after 9/11 was understandable, and things happen under duress that we wish did not happen. The torture regime was not "things happening under duress", it was a deliberate program, systematically planned and executed, complete with consultants, playbooks, and documentation.
I'm not sure there would be much value at this point in going back and prosecuting the folks who designed, implemented, and operated it. I am sure as hell that I don't want them running the intelligence services.
Posted by: russell | March 14, 2018 at 12:20 PM
kudos to Katherine.
Seconded.
Instead of "Why do you hate America?", the new rallying cry will be "Why do you hate women's rights?"
I understand the need for the clandestine collection of intelligence. But every time anyone lifts the lid on the CIA Directorate of Ops, it's like looking into a bucket of ghouls.
Posted by: russell | March 14, 2018 at 12:24 PM
kudos to Katherine.
Agreed, it was a good and interesting piece. Also, the more accuracy in these matters the better.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 14, 2018 at 12:27 PM
But every time anyone lifts the lid on the CIA Directorate of Ops, it's like looking into a bucket of ghouls.
Exactly. The DO needs to go, we've never been good at it and it blows up in our face more often than not. Plus the people conducting the ops tend to stay around like a cancer.
Posted by: Ugh | March 14, 2018 at 12:27 PM
I'm a little put out that placing a woman in a position to oversee torture does not result in more WOMEN being tortured.
There is more than one glass ceiling.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 12:38 PM
Kudlow!
i guess he's better than Cramer?
Posted by: cleek | March 14, 2018 at 03:39 PM
Kudlow will do harm. But I won't get really terrified until Bolton replaces McMaster.
Posted by: wj | March 14, 2018 at 03:54 PM
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/03/donald-trump-is-finally-close-to-firing-one-of-his-imaginary-enemies/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFW3kEbhZd4
This is how the mp republican party crime family does business, over heah, just like mp has led his entire life since he was knee high to his pigfucker father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27h2CtLsdc0
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 05:04 PM
All credit to Rand Paul (not a sentiment I often express):
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/14/rand-paul-gina-haspel-cia-director-torture-gleeful-joy
“When you read that, sort of the joyful glee at someone who’s being tortured, I find it just amazing that anyone would consider having this woman for head of the CIA. So my opposition to her is over her direct participation in interrogation and her gleeful enjoyment at the suffering of someone being tortured.”
Posted by: Nigel | March 14, 2018 at 05:04 PM
i guess he's better than Cramer?
Absolutely not. Cramer is an entertainer. Kudlow is a foaming at the mouth mad dog ideologue.
Posted by: bobbyp | March 14, 2018 at 05:16 PM
Kudlow will do harm.
Probably not much (nobody pays much attention to the CEA) unless he convinces Trump to put the country back on the gold standard.
Posted by: bobbyp | March 14, 2018 at 05:43 PM
Just watching a documentary on Stephen Hawking, called A Brief History of Mine, made with his cooperation and his narration 4 years ago. Worth watching if they show it wherever you are.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 14, 2018 at 06:12 PM
And if they don't:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A0J3WHgUx0
Posted by: wj | March 14, 2018 at 06:17 PM
Excellent find wj. I've just heard him say that he estimates he worked for an hour a day as an undergraduate, spent the rest of the time partying and coxing. Thank God he had a good time while he could. Mind you, have also just watched his carer spoon champagne into his mouth at one of the many champagne receptions he went to 4 years ago - looks like he still knew how to have a good time even when almost completely incapacitated.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | March 14, 2018 at 06:26 PM
"Thank God he had a good time while he could."
Kudlow certainly did .. wait, you are talking about Hawking.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/03/former-100000-per-month-cocaine-addict-no-training-economics-historical-100-error-rate-regard-economic-predictions-named-nations-top-economic-adviser
1994? Wasn't there an airfield in Arkansas?
I wonder what Kudlow's response will be when mp issues an executive order to assassinate drug dealers, you know, republican doctors in hillbilly country with prescription pads, in alleys, Mindanao-style.
Kudlow, I expect, will tip off his former suppliers, now writing position papers at conservative think tanks and serving on as republican staff in the House, that the hammer is coming down.
All of them believe in the eternal prosperity gospel ... sniff.
Can you imagine if a Democrat, a liberal with Kudlow's curriculum vitae was appointed to ... oh, fuck it.
America needs to swallow a nuke.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 09:09 PM
I wonder what Kudlow's response will be when mp issues an executive order to assassinate drug dealers, you know, republican doctors in hillbilly country with prescription pads
Now, now. You know such an order would only be applied in minority neighborhoods. (And probably only in big cities.) The shallow end of the "deep state"** will probably try to keep that aspect under wraps. But I doubt Trump would be able to resist tweeting about the reality.
** The shallow end of the "deep state" I confess that I'm really pleased to have come up with that description of the Trump cabinet and sycophants.
Posted by: wj | March 14, 2018 at 09:21 PM
She was a charmer:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2018/03/14/sec-elizabeth-holmes-theranos-fraud/#6c98f18e18f3
Jeff Sessions, or whomever the Caligula who will succeed that nasty little cracker, will send low level black drug offenders to private prisons for possessing low level amounts of dope, but she gets to parse out what her "stake" in Theranos might be worth.
You see why America, once mp is executed by firing squad, all of the i's dotted and t's crossed surely, will descend into savage violence.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 09:21 PM
Scott Pruitt.
Attorney General of the United States of America.
Posted by: Countme-a-Demon | March 14, 2018 at 09:26 PM
"Consumers have always been deeply divided about the Trump: They either love it or they hate it. And it's not hard to understand why: In a market saturated with so many models that look, sound, and drive alike, the Trump sticks out like a Volkswagen Thing on a lot full of Kia Sedonas."
A Consumer Report on Donald Trump: How's he rate?
Posted by: CharlesWT | March 14, 2018 at 09:52 PM
I'm beginning to think it's more of a strap-on tape than a pee tape.
Sorry
Posted by: Ugh | March 14, 2018 at 10:14 PM
I mean, what else could be keeping 60 Minute from airing that interview? Plus Lesley Stahl explaining to America the mechanics would be ratings gold!
Posted by: Ugh | March 14, 2018 at 10:20 PM
At a time when Theranos claimed it had annual sales of $100 million, sales were just $100,000.
Rounding error.
Posted by: russell | March 14, 2018 at 10:30 PM
just zeroes.
Posted by: russell | March 14, 2018 at 10:37 PM
and a comma
Posted by: russell | March 14, 2018 at 11:41 PM