America's spies anonymously took down Michael Flynn. That is deeply worrying. | |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 18134976 United States 02/14/2017 07:52 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | [link to theweek.com] Quoting: HES RIGHT U KNOW 45906148 THe United States is much better off without Michael Flynn serving as national security adviser. But no one should be cheering the way he was brought down. The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America's democratic institutions not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn's ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn't the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function. Unelected intelligence analysts work for the president, not the other way around. Far too many Trump critics appear not to care that these intelligence agents leaked highly sensitive information to the press mostly because Trump critics are pleased with the result. "Finally," they say, "someone took a stand to expose collusion between the Russians and a senior aide to the president!" It is indeed important that someone took such a stand. But it matters greatly who that someone is and how they take their stand. Members of the unelected, unaccountable intelligence community are not the right someone, especially when they target a senior aide to the president by leaking anonymously to newspapers the content of classified phone intercepts, where the unverified, unsubstantiated information can inflict politically fatal damage almost instantaneously. The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017 President Trump was roundly mocked among liberals for that tweet. But he is, in many ways, correct. These leaks are an enormous problem. And in a less polarized context, they would be recognized immediately for what they clearly are: an effort to manipulate public opinion for the sake of achieving a desired political outcome. It's weaponized spin. This doesn't mean the outcome was wrong. I have no interest in defending Flynn, who appears to be an atrocious manager prone to favoring absurd conspiracy theories over more traditional forms of intelligence. He is just about the last person who should be giving the president advice about foreign policy. And for all I know, Flynn did exactly what the anonymous intelligence community leakers allege promised the Russian ambassador during the transition that the incoming Trump administration would back off on sanctions proposed by the outgoing Obama administration. But no matter what Flynn did, it is simply not the role of the deep state to target a man working in one of the political branches of the government by dishing to reporters about information it has gathered clandestinely. It is the role of elected members of Congress to conduct public investigations of alleged wrongdoing by public officials. What if Congress won't act? What if both the Senate and the House of Representatives are held by the same party as the president and members of both chambers are reluctant to cross a newly elected head of the executive branch who enjoys overwhelming approval of his party's voters? In such a situation our situation shouldn't we hope the deep state will rise up to act responsibly to take down a member of the administration who may have broken the law? The answer is an unequivocal no. In a liberal democracy, how things happen is often as important as what happens. Procedures matter. So do rules and public accountability. The chaotic, dysfunctional Trump White House is placing the entire system under enormous strain. That's bad. But the answer isn't to counter it with equally irregular acts of sabotage or with a disinformation campaign waged by nameless civil servants toiling away in the surveillance state. As Eli Lake of Bloomberg News put it in an important article following Flynn's resignation, Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do. [Bloomberg] We are not a GD liberal democracy. We're a constitutional republic. Idiots |
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HES RIGHT U KNOW (OP) User ID: 45906148 United States 02/14/2017 07:55 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | America's spies anonymously helped Trump get elected. That is deeply worrying. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 71716878 Checkmate. Different group of U.S. spies So? There is a civil war in the intelligence community and gov't thats what |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 71716878 Germany 02/14/2017 08:01 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | America's spies anonymously helped Trump get elected. That is deeply worrying. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 71716878 Checkmate. Different group of U.S. spies So? There is a civil war in the intelligence community and gov't thats what No. Just some people who got played because they were racist against the Black President and betrayed their Country. Trump is getting the business because he walked in the door and spit in all their faces after they got him elected. they see he's putting all Gews in too. Fucking Traitors. |
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skittle vortex
User ID: 74048753 Italy 02/14/2017 08:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's probably all a bunch of lies to keep the violent liberals happy and entertained. The meeting with Russia probably never even happened. Last Edited by skittle vortex on 02/14/2017 08:07 PM where all of the missing skittles end up |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 46622378 United States 02/14/2017 10:39 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | There is a civil war in the intelligence community and gov't thats what No. Just some people who got played because they were racist against the Black President and betrayed their Country. Trump is getting the business because he walked in the door and spit in all their faces after they got him elected. they see he's putting all Gews in too. Fucking Traitors. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 69434305 United States 02/14/2017 11:12 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | As Eli Lake of Bloomberg News put it in an important article following Flynn's resignation, Quoting: HES RIGHT U KNOW 45906148 Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do. [Bloomberg] |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 46622378 United States 02/14/2017 11:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | As Eli Lake of Bloomberg News put it in an important article following Flynn's resignation, Quoting: HES RIGHT U KNOW 45906148 Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do. [Bloomberg] |
CHRIST
User ID: 73488275 United States 02/14/2017 11:34 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | [link to theweek.com] Quoting: HES RIGHT U KNOW 45906148 THe United States is much better off without Michael Flynn serving as national security adviser. But no one should be cheering the way he was brought down. The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America's democratic institutions not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn's ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn't the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function. Unelected intelligence analysts work for the president, not the other way around. Far too many Trump critics appear not to care that these intelligence agents leaked highly sensitive information to the press mostly because Trump critics are pleased with the result. "Finally," they say, "someone took a stand to expose collusion between the Russians and a senior aide to the president!" It is indeed important that someone took such a stand. But it matters greatly who that someone is and how they take their stand. Members of the unelected, unaccountable intelligence community are not the right someone, especially when they target a senior aide to the president by leaking anonymously to newspapers the content of classified phone intercepts, where the unverified, unsubstantiated information can inflict politically fatal damage almost instantaneously. The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017 President Trump was roundly mocked among liberals for that tweet. But he is, in many ways, correct. These leaks are an enormous problem. And in a less polarized context, they would be recognized immediately for what they clearly are: an effort to manipulate public opinion for the sake of achieving a desired political outcome. It's weaponized spin. This doesn't mean the outcome was wrong. I have no interest in defending Flynn, who appears to be an atrocious manager prone to favoring absurd conspiracy theories over more traditional forms of intelligence. He is just about the last person who should be giving the president advice about foreign policy. And for all I know, Flynn did exactly what the anonymous intelligence community leakers allege promised the Russian ambassador during the transition that the incoming Trump administration would back off on sanctions proposed by the outgoing Obama administration. But no matter what Flynn did, it is simply not the role of the deep state to target a man working in one of the political branches of the government by dishing to reporters about information it has gathered clandestinely. It is the role of elected members of Congress to conduct public investigations of alleged wrongdoing by public officials. What if Congress won't act? What if both the Senate and the House of Representatives are held by the same party as the president and members of both chambers are reluctant to cross a newly elected head of the executive branch who enjoys overwhelming approval of his party's voters? In such a situation our situation shouldn't we hope the deep state will rise up to act responsibly to take down a member of the administration who may have broken the law? The answer is an unequivocal no. In a liberal democracy, how things happen is often as important as what happens. Procedures matter. So do rules and public accountability. The chaotic, dysfunctional Trump White House is placing the entire system under enormous strain. That's bad. But the answer isn't to counter it with equally irregular acts of sabotage or with a disinformation campaign waged by nameless civil servants toiling away in the surveillance state. As Eli Lake of Bloomberg News put it in an important article following Flynn's resignation, Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do. [Bloomberg] THE REAL STORY ISN'T 'LEAKS TO THE MEDIA'. IT IS 'PASSING INTELLIGENCE TO FOREIGN POWERS' FOR PURPOSES OF TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICAN TROOPS AND INTERESTS. THE MEDIA AND CONGRESS ARE DOING DAMAGE CONTROL THEY ARE INVOLVED IN THIS HYDRA. CHRIST Last Edited by CHRIST on 02/14/2017 11:36 PM |
535 User ID: 71415590 Bulgaria 02/15/2017 12:09 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Mike Flynn was removed due to his duplicity in dealing with his current masters and two different Presidents. The President comes second. His masters must always be first, no matter the cost. Both President Obama and President Trump were forced to nominate Mr. Flynn. As both the Director of the DIA and as the National Security Advisor, he should have remembered who was guiding him and his family all of these years. After allowing the father his questionable actions both as Sargent and a banker, it was assumed that the family was a controlled asset, in particular with more than one General in the family. His family is owned by US. We forgave his manufactured facts for his obedience. Now he will reap the rewards of rebellion. He is a fool. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 71909450 Netherlands 02/15/2017 04:09 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | America's spies anonymously helped Trump get elected. That is deeply worrying. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 71716878 Checkmate. Different group of U.S. spies So? There is a civil war in the intelligence community and gov't thats what LOL moron there is no civil war within the intelligence community. The US is a police state and the deep state is at war with the elected government. LOL Eisnhower was right...the US is a dictatorship, a police state. JFK was indeed murdered by the deep state, now the deep state is trying to political assassinate DT, if that fails... The Podesta mails do not come from the deep state, but were hacked or leaked by someone who works for DNC (not the deep state). |