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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Brumar89 who wrote (1083125)8/14/2018 10:47:01 PM
From: Broken_Clock1 Recommendation

Recommended By
sylvester80

  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1578966
 
No, it's called tit for tat

They say "you come in our yard and sh*t, we'll tear down your wall st. pagan towers"

if they have the means, like Russia or China, they'll mess with our IT, including elections

The internet and reliance on internet, it leveling the playing field.

11 year olds hacked the Florida election infrastructure in 10 minutes

No need ICBM's when you can break into the system with an 11 year old student



To: Brumar89 who wrote (1083125)8/14/2018 11:30:11 PM
From: Broken_Clock  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1578966
 
You want to go after some Trump policy?

Here's your chance...

Trump to Ignore Multiple NDAA Provisions Rejects limits Congress placed on Yemen War Jason Ditz Posted on August 14, 2018Categories NewsTags ndaa, Trump, Yemen In a 15-page signing statement issued Monday night, President Trump revealed that he intends to ignore many of the myriad provisions of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $716 billion military spending bill.

The signing statement singles out several provisions which Trump argues would restrict his control in ways he believes are needed for “military missions,” and inconsistent with his “constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.”

Trump suggested that he’d ignore all the limitations placed on the Yemen War, and objected to providing an assessment on war crimes to Congress, saying it violates executive privilege.

In general Trump objected to all NDAA provisions demanding more information on civilian casualties inflicted overseas, saying that he believes Congress is trying to make the military share too much information.

Among the many policy issues this impacts are a ban on recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, which Trump argues usurps his authority to state US positions in international affairs. He also objected to the ban on military cooperation with Russia.

Perhaps the biggest Russia provision, however, was the one seeking the creation of a White House post on Russian election meddling, which was to testify to Congress twice annually. Trump rejected this, arguing the executive branch needs to be able to keep secrets.

In addition, Trump rejected the idea that Congress could limit the size of a drawdown in South Korea, if he ordered one. He also objected to any limitations on moving detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, as well as a provision suggested by the Navy to stop having warships stationed abroad for longer than a decade at a time.

news.antiwar.com



To: Brumar89 who wrote (1083125)8/14/2018 11:32:23 PM
From: Broken_Clock  Respond to of 1578966
 
The Ghost of Shrub lives....

Senator Richard Burr: A Longtime Fan of Torture by Ray McGovern Posted on August 14, 2018 Newly released official documents obtained by the National Security Archive showing that CIA Director Gina Haspel directly supervised waterboarding at the first CIA “Black Site” simply confirm what Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) already knew as he orchestrated the charade that was Haspel’s confirmation hearing. Burr allowed her to “classify” her own direct role in waterboarding and other torture techniques so that it could be kept from the public and secure her confirmation—-further proof that this Senate oversight committee has instead become an overlook committee.

That Haspel supervised the torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at the first CIA “black site” for interrogation was already clear to those who had followed Haspel’s career, but she was able to do a song and dance when Sen. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) asked her about it. Haspel declined to reply on grounds that the information was classified. It was of course because Haspel herself had classified it. All the senators knew that only too well. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) had strongly objected to this bizarre practice only minutes before.

Witnessing this charade from the audience prompted me to stand up, excuse myself for interrupting, and suggest that the committee members were entitled to an honest answer since this was a public hearing with thousands watching on TV. The American people were also entitled to know whether or not Haspel was directly involved in torture. As I was calmly pointing out that any Senate Intelligence Committee member who prepared for the hearing already knew the answer, I was “escorted out,” manhandled and charged with disrupting Congress and resisting arrest.

Jeremy Scahill later did a good job on Democracy Now! in putting needed context around the free pass and encouragement CIA torturers continue to enjoy at the hands of co-conspirators like Sen. Burr.

I have now had time to read through the documents obtained by the National Security Archive via Freedom of Information Act requests. Suffice it to say they are so sad and sickening that I had to stop reading.


Corruption on Steroids

Burr was on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Porter Goss (R-FL) and later by Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), that winked at torture (not to mention blindly accepting the faux intelligence used to “justify” war on Iraq). Might the CIA remind Burr of his condoning of torture, were he to chose not to play along with the Haspel nomination?

Burr’s record on the Senate Intelligence Committee is equally dubious. In January 2015, as soon as he took the Senate Intelligence Committee chair from Feinstein, he recalled all copies of the four-year committee study based on official CIA documents, which not only exposed unimaginably heinous forms of torture but found no evidence that any actionable intelligence was obtained from them. To her credit, Feinstein had faced down both President Barack Obama and CIA Director John Brennan and got a long Executive Summary of the committee investigation published just before she had to relinquish the chair.

Truth, Conscience, and Consequences

As an act of conscience, on March 2, 2006 I returned the Intelligence Commendation Medallion given me at retirement for “especially meritorious service,” explaining, “I do not want to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.” I returned the medallion to Hoekstra (R, Michigan), who was then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with a statement explaining my reasons.

Hoekstra then secretly added to the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY’07 (HR5020) a provision enabling the government to strip intelligence veterans of their government pensions. HR5020 passed the full House, but Congress opted instead for a continuing resolution.

On December 11, 2014, I had an opportunity to tell Hoekstra exactly what I thought of his underhanded, Lone-Ranger attempt (he did not inform his House Intelligence Committee colleagues) to make it possible to revoke the government pensions of people like me. I confronted the former Congressman in person off-air, after we two were interviewed live on CCTV’s “The Heat” about the Senate Intelligence Committee findings regarding CIA torture. It was an uncommon chance to hold Hoekstra publicly accountable for condoning torture, and the Michigan congressman rose to the occasion. (See minutes 8:15 to 10:41)

The bottom line? The foxes have been guarding the chicken coop for many years now. Haspel will fit right in. O Tempora, O Mores.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year career as a CIA analyst includes serving as Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). William Binney worked for NSA for 36 years, retiring in 2001 as the technical director of world military and geopolitical analysis and reporting; he created many of the collection systems still used by NSA. Reprinted with permission from Consortium News.