Archives for February 2017

FP: The Shallow State

February 23, 2017 by Michael Boyle

Another interesting article from Foreign Policy:

The shallow state, on the other hand, is unsettling because not only are the signs of it ever more visible but because its influence is clearly growing. It is made scarier still because it not only actively eschews experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special skills, tradition, and shared values but because it celebrates its ignorance of and disdain for those things. Donald Trump, champion and avatar of the shallow state, has won power because his supporters are threatened by what they don’t understand, and what they don’t understand is almost everything.

Source: FP: The Shallow State

Aide: Senators Want Materials Saved For Probe Into Russian Election Interference

February 21, 2017 by Michael Boyle

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence Committee has sent formal requests to more than a dozen organizations, agencies and individuals, asking them to preserve all materials related to the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and related issues, according to a congressional aide.

Source: Aide: Senators Want Materials Saved For Probe Into Russian Election Interference

Jay Rosen: A few notes on unbuilding a key part of the presidency

February 19, 2017 by Michael Boyle

This is an important piece on the new reality from media thinker extraordinaire Jay Rosen:

Trump is thus revising the Presidency before our eyes. In his grip, it no longer attempts to muffle anxiety about the President and make people around the world feel okay about granting one person such enormous, unthinkable and inhuman powers. Instead, a new model is proposed: the president keeps everyone in a constant state of excitement and alarm. He moves fast and breaks things. He leads by causing commotion.

Source: Jay Rosen – PressThink

Flynn & Yates… very interesting

February 14, 2017 by Michael Boyle

This Michael Flynn business is interesting on its own merits (for values of “interesting” that include “disturbing” among other things), but also because we have learned that it was Sally Yates – once the acting Attorney General – who was fired over her statement that she would not prosecute pursuant to the “Muslim Ban” Executive Order – that spoke to the administration over a month ago about the problems Flynn posed.

Which raises the most interesting question of all – was the form of the Muslim Ban EO (including obvious establishment clause problems) really just a pretext to fire her?

Hmmm.

Trump denounced arms-reduction treaty in Putin call: report

February 9, 2017 by Michael Boyle

Part of the reason I want to document this period is because in no time at all, we’ll know this is true, but won’t remember the moment when the depths of this man’s ignorance was first uncovered.

I grant that until the election he didn’t have to know about this kind of information. But you think that you could take it for granted that before any call was scheduled, the President of the US would ask for and receive a full, detailed briefing to catch him up on little details like… the foundation of one of the most important parts of the US/Russia relationship.

But no…

Asked by Putin about the possibility of extending the treaty capping U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads — known as New START — Trump reportedly paused to ask his aides what the treaty was, two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official briefed on the call told Reuters.

He then told Putin it was one of a number of bad deals negotiated by former President Barack Obama and that it favored Russia, before launching into a conversation about his own popularity, according to the sources.

Source: Trump denounced arms-reduction treaty in Putin call: report | TheHill