The Next President is...

[Kiloalpha]

4 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Putin is happy, and that's all that matters with this administration.

Vertigo, go outside and look around. The sky isn’t Soviet red, the government hasn’t bugged your house and nuclear war isn’t breaking out. Occam’s razor is a real thing, and the easiest conclusion isn’t that a Trump is an agent of Russia.

 

It seriously must be hard thinking up these global conspiracies all the time.

[brickhistory]

4 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Putin is happy, and that's all that matters with this administration.

If you had written this at the commitment of US direct forces on the ground in Syria, I'd have been right there with you.

But leaving?

Please to explain what vital national interest is served by having ground forces in Syria?

And what success would look like and how would it be achieved?

And, of course, you remember Obama's red line of death which he enforced, right?

[snoopyeast]

Mattis retiring in February.

2019 should be interesting.

[Vertigo]

Meanwhile Mattis is quitting and Putin is praising the action. 

 

But I'm the delusional one. Got it.

[Orbit]

I feel like 69-96% of us want out of Afghanistan.  Apparently the draw down starts next month.  Time to get out!

[snoopyeast]

Putin with probably the most accurate Afghanistan quote in recent times.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46630723

On Wednesday, Mr Trump announced that he would withdraw US troops from Syria, saying Islamic State forces had been defeated there.

Mr Putin cautiously welcomed the move, but questioned whether it would actually happen.

"We don't see signs of a pullout," he said, adding that the US "has been in Afghanistan 17 years, and they always say they're withdrawing".

[gearhog]

29 minutes ago, snoopyeast said:

Mattis retiring in February.

2019 should be interesting.

Damn. His resignation letter speaks volumes. Concerning.

[brickhistory]

40 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Meanwhile Mattis is quitting and Putin is praising the action. 

 

But I'm the delusional one. Got it.

If only the last guy had had multiple SECDEFs during his tenure...

 

Seriously, Gates staying for as long as he did was disasterous...

But then there was a string of guys coming from the bench.

But that was perfectly fine, I guess.

[nsplayr]

Jim-Mattis-resignation-letter.pdf

Not great. Mattis was by far the best appointment President Trump made.

[brickhistory]

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 12:09 PM, Sua Sponte said:

“U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan told Flynn at his sentencing hearing that Flynn was essentially “an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States,” and asked a prosecutor with the special counsel’s office whether Flynn could be charged with “treason.”

After reviewing some of the allegations against Flynn, including that he worked to advance the interests of the Turkish government in the United States, the judge pointed to an American flag behind him in the courtroom and said heatedly, “Arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out."

“The court’s going to consider that,” the judge said. “I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/michael-flynn-trumps-former-national-security-adviser-scheduled-to-be-sentenced/2018/12/17/19ce1bb4-0247-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.54f758fcd3ce

Sentencing postponed until March 2019.

 

 

 

 

Oddly, the after lunch utter retraction by the judge to Flynn didn't receive the same breathless coverage.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/12/18/michael-flynn-judge-courtroom-perez-sot-vpx.cnn

 

And on a separate but related note:

CNN's Journalist of the Year, 2014

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/12/20/when-news-really-is-fake-german-reporter-admits-fabricating-coverage-leading-news-magazine/?utm_term=.ea613fcf663a

[Sua Sponte]

https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/jim-mattis-resignation-letter/3366/?tid=a_inl-amp

[waveshaper]

11 minutes ago, torqued said:

Damn. His resignation letter speaks volumes. Concerning.

SecDef Mattis is taking the easy way out. It sure sounds like he might have plagiarized SecDef Hagel's 2014 resignation letter:<) 

[Vertigo]

Mattis' letter is the most polite way to say "go fuck yourself sideways".

[brickhistory]

2 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Mattis' letter is the most polite way to say "go fuck yourself sideways".

Mattis' letter is the most polite way to say "go fuck yourself sideways, Mr. President."

FIFY.

[17D_guy]

Well, this sucks.  Finally had a SecDef that actually cared about the individual grunts and would hammer leadership for their stupidity without breaking the service (RE: Gates). 

I generally haven't cared much about who the SecDef was for the last 2 decades, but I am legit saddened by this development and think it does not bode well for our future.  Except for the obvious bullshit social experiment under the last SecDef.

[Homestar]

Academically I understand that Mattis is probably right re: ISIS, and withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan.  But I believe the only way we get out of constant war in the Middle East is to simply withdraw.  I'm sure Trump will somehow manage to completely mangle this, but I think in the long run it's the right thing to do.  It may ultimately fail and we'll find ourselves back in that hole again eventually.  But we need a reset with what we think we can use our standing armies to accomplish overseas.  

[HeloDude]

3 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Meanwhile Mattis is quitting and Putin is praising the action. 

 

But I'm the delusional one. Got it.

Haha--you are the delusional one!  Progressives now upset with Trump pulling troops out of Syria are the same people 1-2 years ago who said Trump will get us in a war with Syria.

Saying Trump is pulling troops out of Syria to appease Russia is the equivalent of saying Obama pulled troops out of Iraq to appease Iran.  

[drewpey]

[SurelySerious]

23 minutes ago, Homestar said:

.  But we need a reset with what we think we can use our standing armies to accomplish overseas.  

Is that like our reset with Russia?

[Siegzy]

14 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

Haha--you are the delusional one!  Progressives now upset with Trump pulling troops out of Syria are the same people 1-2 years ago who said Trump will get us in a war with Syria.

I don't think the pulling out of Syria thing is the big issue Vertigo is referring to. Perhaps it's more the fact that Trump has a track record of disregarding opinions of people who are generally considered logical and highly skilled in their fields...

[Sting89]

5 minutes ago, Siegzy said:

I don't think the pulling out of Syria thing is the big issue Vertigo is referring to. Perhaps it's more the fact that Trump has a track record of disregarding opinions of people who are generally considered logical and highly skilled in their fields...

Because he has his “intuition” to rely on...it’s a train wreck from here on out. The  last credible General has left the building. Last person be sure to turn out the lights..

[Homestar]

30 minutes ago, SurelySerious said:

Is that like our reset with Russia?

No, more like a reset with ourselves. Time to regenerate and reconstitute the force which is hollow and near its breaking point. 

[uhhello]

I can't even begin to imagine what a military life would be like without the constant deployment cycle.  Would be very strange. 

[Runr6730]

Who needs a competent SECDEF like Mattis when you have a POTUS who says “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me!” and ““[The generals] don’t know much because they’re not winning”?

Sad day for the armed forces indeed

[Sua Sponte]

Mueller/Mattis - 2020