Walter_Sobchak

Meanwhile, the president mocks his own attorney general for not acting to influence ongoing investigations for purely political reasons.

Trump Tweet:

"Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......"

This from the "law and order" president.

1 hour ago, Jim Warford said:

 

Walter; that's actually my Master's Thesis I wrote while attending the Command and General Staff College. It includes some of the same info I used in that ARMOR magazine article. Blacktail is the worst kind of critic; one with no background or experience on the topic at hand, simply lashing out to generate a response. His writings and level of expertise are only embarrassing and have been disproven by layer upon layer of reaction and response by the tank and AFV community. I finally stopped responding to his nonsense when I realized that I was most likely responding to some kid on a laptop in his parent's basement.            

I think there is pretty conclusive evidence that Blacktail and Mike Sparks are one and the same.  

I thought the SU-57 was a lend lease T48 gun motor carriage.  

On 8/31/2018 at 9:17 PM, Meplat said:

I cannot think of a Ford product OTHER than A truck I would consider buying.

I'm actually rather fond of my 2007 ford focus.  It's exceeded my expectations for an economy car I use primarily for commuting to work.  Cars are so much better than when I started to drive in the late 80's. My first car was a rusted out 1978 Honda accord.  It was ten years old at when I got it as a highschool junior and it was a total piece of crap.  It was worn out junk.  These days, a ten year old car is just starting to show signs of wear.  My wife's car is a 2006 Saturn View, it has no rust.  When I was a kid, a 12 year old car in michigan with no rust was a fantasy.   Cars are pretty awesome these days.

On 8/30/2018 at 1:48 PM, Ramlaen said:

 

It's more of how small an M113 really is.

 

I want to see a new Australian Boxer next to one of their old M113.

The M113 really is tiny compared to most other tracked vehicles.  And modern 8x8 vehicles are generally really huge.

On 8/30/2018 at 12:20 AM, Sturgeon said:

Looks like premium tanks were a problem even in the 1970s!

 

THE THREAT OF THE PREMIUM TANK THE PRODUCT AND PROCESS OF THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE

This article would later appear in ARMOR magazine.  It's by Jim Warford, a regular over at Tank net.  One of the funniest things about this article is that Sparky/Blacktail wrote a ridiculous rebuttal to it years after the fact.  

1 hour ago, Donward said:

What’s the context of the quote? Other than - I assume Trump? - speaks like a New Yorker?

I have several friends in New York.  None of them sound retarded.

"We're doing a great job. And we have really no laws to work with. We have really no laws to work with. The laws are horrible. Laws are the worst and dumbest in the history of the world."

More wit and wisdom from the Donald.

“I will tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor because, without this thinking, you would see – you would see numbers that you wouldn't believe, in reverse.”

8 hours ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

Cannot

1 hour ago, Ramlaen said:

Manafort verdict.

 

I never knew verdicts looked kind of like report cards.  

27 minutes ago, Donward said:

 

This entire “Russian Collusion” narrative began when candidate Trump made a joke about the Russians finding Hillary’s mysteriously missing emails from her illegal server.

 

It was a joke told millions of times across the country before Trump issued the one-liner.

 

But since Hillary was the butt of the joke, of course the Obama Administrations intel team had to use the full scope of the federal government to get to the heart of the matter.

The investigation is about the role of foreign hackers in trying to influence the 2016 election.  It did not start because of Trump's "joke".  However, this "joke" certainly looked a bit suspicious when combined with all the other circumstantial evidence linking his campaign to Russian hackers.  

2 hours ago, Donward said:

 

Exactly.

 

Which leaves only two logical choices as to what is governing their behavior.

 

Either they are incompetent lacking the emotional intelligence to be able to recognize an obvious joke. In which case we don’t want them anywhere in the chain of command interpreting gathered intel which is all about gauging human emotions.

 

Or else they are deliberately misleading the American public by feigning outrage over a joke.

 

Incompetence or malevolence. Or both. Those are the only choices.

Pretty sure that "must possess a great sense of humor" is not generally part of the job requirements for an intelligence officer. 

The "it was only a joke" defense is a pretty damn thin reed to cling onto.  It generally doesn't work when it comes to jobs, or wives and certainly not with judges.  Certainly, we should hold the POTUS to at least that same standard.

4 minutes ago, Donward said:

?

 

The President is exercising his exevutive powers as outlined by Article 2 of the Constitution. In fact the President would be derelict in his duty allowing these unelected bureaucrats to continue to hold - and profit - from their security clearances given the political environment where there is an open plot to overturn a legal US election and to thwart the will of the American public.

As far as I can tell, Brennan is retired and not profiting in any way from his security clearance.  Also, that's not why Trump took away the clearance.  He did it to punish Brennan for speaking out against the President, something he has the total right to do.  But then, commitment to free speech seems to be a pretty weakly held conviction around here when ya'll are defending a president who echoes the words of French Jacobins, Stalin and Mao with "the enemy of the people."

2 minutes ago, Ramlaen said:

 

The CIA isn't a neutral bystander.

Again, not my point.  I was pointing out that the FBI was the organization that started the Russian Hacking probe, not the CIA.  So blaming Brennan for it seems a bit silly.  it was Comey's decision.

3 minutes ago, Donward said:

 

Last time I checked, Americans elected a President to fix what has been “common practice for decades” in D.C. and the federal government.

That's not addressing what I said.  You are just deflecting now.  Anyhow, I don't seem to recall people chanting for changes in security clearances policy for retired intel officers at those Trump rallies in 2016.

Anyhow, the whole issue is garbage.  The entire point of allowing retired intel officers to keep their security clearance was as a convenience to current intel officers.  It didn't mean that retired officers could request classified information or anything like that.  All it meant, was that if the people currently holding a job in an intel office wanted to consult or get advice on something from the retired officer, they could do so without having to worry about breaking rules on sharing classified information.  Taking away the security clearance from Brennen doesn't really punish him in any meaningful sense, it's not like he could call the CIA and be like, give me all your steaming hot new classified info!"  It just means that if a current CIA officer wants to discuss something classified with Brennen, they can't.  So really, Trump is punishing the CIA, not Brennen.  As to Comey, he doesn't even have security clearance in the first place, so Trumps threat to repeal it is an empty threat. 

2 hours ago, Ramlaen said:

"Brennan may have started one of the most important political witch hunts in history based on not recognizing a joke — and I’m not even making that up, I feel fairly confident in saying that what I just said is literally true: that the head of the CIA has almost destroyed the United States because he didn’t understand that an obvious joke was a joke."

-Scott Adams, creator of "Dilbert."

 

In response to Brennan's op-ed.

Apparently Scott Adams doesn't know the difference between the CIA and the FBI.  

2 hours ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

The explanation I've seen is so they can still be consulted on cases they were involved in.  Sounds like BS to protect pro Democrat liars and leakers

So something that has been common practice for decades is now suddenly a "pro-democrat" plot?  Ok.

It's always interesting when the Senate passes something unanimously.  Usually it's something uncontroversial.  Such as declaring that a free press is not the enemy of the people.  I wonder why they had to reaffirm that basic American principle?  Weird.

https://www.schatz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FPR 08-15-18.pdf

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has delayed Trump's military parade to next year.  Liberal snowflake organization the American Legion commented:

"The American Legion appreciates that our President wants to show in a dramatic fashion our nation's support for our troops,"  "However, until such time as we can celebrate victory in the War on Terrorism and bring our military home, we think the parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veteran Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible."

2 minutes ago, Donward said:

The architect of the bin Laden raid is struggling in his new job: Running the University of Texas

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-military-hero-mcraven-having-trouble-as-texas-chancellor-2017-6

 

McRaven wasted no time diving into politically charged issues such as concealed handguns on campus (he was against) and keeping a state law that allows immigrants in the country illegally to pay cheaper, in-state tuition (he was in favor).

 

But McRaven's troubles began when he sidestepped the governor and the Legislature to move forward with a bold plan to build a data center in Houston.

To some, it seemed a natural fit for a large university system to have a presence in the nation's fourth-largest city. But it was also seen as a territorial invasion launched without informing legislators and a threat to the University of Houston, which is striving to become a major research institution.

 

Tensions over the Houston move bubbled for more than a year, and lawmakers pounced during a January budget hearing when John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, told McRaven in a testy exchange, "I don't think you give a damn what the Legislature thinks."

 

...

 

So he's anti-gun, pro-illegal immigrant, and he's thwarting elected authority in Texas.

 

Yeah. This is my shocked face that he is anti-Trump.

 

And what, pray tell, does any of this have to do with his opinion over former CIA director Brennan having his security clearance revoked?  Bolded text that a Democrat scolded him does not indicate to me that he has a secret anti-Trump agenda.  

22 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

 

What gun company does he work for now lol? That'll tell you something.

I don't think the University of Texas is a gun company.

Another liberal snowflake complaining about Trump.  Oh wait...

https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-william-mcraven-trump-security-clearance-2018-8

Not US, but actually Canada...