Intelligence Is Not Given, It Is Earned

Talking To The Little Hand

July 20, 2018

Presidents are privy to intelligence (that which is provided by the intelligence community, not necessarily that which one accumulates over the course of one’s life) unavailable to everyone else, unless that president determines others should be apprised of said information.  For example, Deputy Attorney General of the United States Rod Rosenstein gave Donald Chrump the option to have the indictment of 12 more Russian operatives involved in hacking the 2016 election made public before or after his private tête-a-whatever and public COLLUSION with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.  Chump decided to have the announcement made beforehand.  He meant to say afterward.  Or so it is said.

Some of you might remember the August 6, 2001 – less than one month before the historic 9-11 attack – President’s Daily Briefing entitled, “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.”  The 43^rd president (who won the Electoral College*, but not the popular vote) curtly ignored this later-found-to-be-prophetic missive for reasons known only to him and his fellow travelers.

Ignored at our peril

Fewer of you probably remember January 6, 2018 – two weeks before his inauguration – the 45^th president (who won the Electoral College**, but not the popular vote) given ironclad proof – including texts and emails of senior Russian officials – that Russian president Vladimir Putin personally ordered cyberattacks against the U.S. election – the election responsible for his “being elected.”  And of course, thousands of Russians were dancing in the streets after their guy made it to the White House.

Chrump-appointed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the nation, “It was in the months prior to September 2001 when, according to then-CIA Director George Tenet, the system is blinking red. And here we are nearly two decades later, and I’m here to say, the warning lights are blinking red again.”  Coats was presumably referring to the threat of Russia co-opting the 2018 mid-term election, after having already (everyone save one person knows this) co-opted the 2016 presidential election.  It is unclear if Coats was also referring to the fact that the current president is acting at the behest of the Russian dictator.   

Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks and her awesome pin



Meanwhile, the Chrump administration has disbanded the Cybersecurity Working Group and plans to eliminate other cybersecurity personnel.  He will probably turn things over to Putin, who will do a strong and powerful job of making sure he does not meddle in our elections, which he has never done.  Chrump is now planning to have Vlad for a sleepover in the fall.  Very tough on Russia.  Clearly NO COLLUSION whatsoever.

I leave you with the words of Paula Poundstone: “Electing Trump is to Americans, what beaching themselves is to whales.  Scientists don’t understand it.  The only difference is we don’t have another species to shove us back in the water.”

I. Mangrey rehydrating.  Save the whales.
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*Not really, but the Republican Supreme Court justices halted the vote recount in Florida and handed this unprepared, unworthy, uninformed, unintelligent nitwit the highest office in the land…because they could.

**Thanks largely to last-minute sabotage by then-FBI Director James Comey's election eve ersatz email escapade, and Russian cyber warriors aiding and abetting (i.e., COLLUSION) the “winning” candidate.