4499
4500

Pretty sure he meant the 2007 surge, which Obama opposed. He later conceded that it was successful in reducing violence.

4501

Because you can count on Democrats to do the right things when they have to. They are capable of learning and changing their minds. So, meh. I guess it’s a good technical argument.

4502

Yeah, inside the beltway is funny that way. McCain spent decades telling journalists what a maverick he was, while buying them one drink after another or letting them swing on his tire swing, and they dutifully told everyone else what a maverick he was as often as they could. It was all a con; McCain was just slightly better than a bog-standard Republican, and when it came down to the critical moments he nearly always acted in his own interests while pretending he was sacrificing.

4503
4504

White House efforts to limit access to President Donald Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders extended to phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those calls – both with leaders who maintain controversial relationships with Trump – were among the presidential conversations that aides took remarkable steps to keep from becoming public.

In the case of Trump’s call with Prince Mohammed, officials who ordinarily would have been given access to a rough transcript of the conversation never saw one, according to one of the sources. Instead, a transcript was never circulated at all, which the source said was highly unusual, particularly after a high-profile conversation.
…

Administration officials say John Eisenberg, the White House deputy counsel for national security affairs and a national security legal adviser, directed the Ukraine transcript call be moved to the separate highly classified system, as detailed in the whistleblower complaint.

4505
4506

Is there any way to get those?

4507

Oh, my!

4508

Just beat me to the punch/post :)

4509

It’s gonna be like whack-a-mole, innit?

4510

We’re not so innocent, amirite?

4511

BOTH SIDES!

4512

Re: that Russia meeting story, remember this?

Another military daddy who was going to keep Trump under control. Instead, he probably lied to cover up what Trump was doing.

4513

By the quoted passage you gave, it could potentially cover literally every whistleblower in the ODNI’s purview. Does that mean every complaint should be forwarded to the White House first?

More importantly, if he needs to fear for his job should he follow the letter of one law over the other why shouldn’t the reverse be true? In which case, shouldn’t the salient question be whether it makes any sense to consult the people accused by a whistleblower to find out whether you should promulgate the whistleblower’s complaint?

Or to be even more direct, if he went to Trump because he feared Trump isn’t it imperative that Congress makes sure he and anyone in a similar future situation fears them instead?

George 1:1, I believe.

4514

I couldn’t remember if it was an Eddard chapter or an Arya chapter.

4515

Obama was a senator not the President when the Iraqi surge happened.

4516

I thought it was Bran, actually

4517

Those are good questions and point to the many issue the Trump presidency has raised. Most of the laws and norms of our system, assume a President isn’t going to be acting corruptly, and so for instance; whistleblowers.are blowing the whistle on Deputy directory of the CIA, or the NSA or someone much lower in the hierarchy. . Not the complaining about the President of the US. Trump’s behavior is so out of the ordinary that there really aren’t guidelines to follow, in part because we elevated the Presidential power to near Monarch level on things like foreign affairs. E,g, the president can’t be convicted of leaking secrets to our enemies, because he alone can classify or declassify anything he wishes at anytime.

This is not aimed at you in particular. but I find it odd for a forum that is so pro-government as solution to fixing societies problem, we are really hard on government officials. Sure, I wish that Comey, Mattis, Maquire, or Mueller had recognized what huge threat Trump to the country, and had arrested him for treason, launched a coup, immediately forward the whistle blower complaint with his positive comments, or recommended that justice department prosecute Trump for obstruction of justice.

But I don’t have these men’s experience, discipline, respect for the law, or institutional loyalty. There is good reason these guys were/are in position of authority, and I’m pontificating on gaming message board. I believe they all acted in good faith, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt in trying to navigate an extraordinarily difficult situation.

4518

I think it’s precisely because we are so pro-government that we think those with power need to act ethically and not simply try to follow the letter of the law. We especially don’t want them to choose to interpret the law in whatever way keeps them out of the crosshairs of the people bending it.