Terf or Trump?
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How about liberty and trannies?
(yes, I know that’s not what they’re trying to say, but this is the only way I can deal with the constant flow of utter shite)
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A bit of hyperbole on my end. I did not mean literally every govvie pursued jobs which require clearance because of the monetary benefits.
But they do pay a premium, and plenty of people do so because of that. It is fairly normal, no?
His base doesn’t give a fuck up a cat’s ass about any of that. It’s their mentality. They want their dictator.
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True, and just based on do’s, don’ts, and ‘risk identifiers’ learned in security training.
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Yes. But the Hatch Act doesn’t apply to former employees.
Edit: And to be clear; it doesn’t just apply to security clearance employees. It applies to all agencies. It applies to all employees- social worker, park ranger or janitor.
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Where I worked, the people had both computer skills and security clearances. The computer skills were demonstratedly more valuable. Thus, my viewpoint might have developed under unusual conditions.
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That doesn’t seem odd. I’ll tell you what I’d heard from my govvie friends: The computer skills are overall more valuable, hands down, no question. But paired with clearance are worth more than in the private sector. Conventional wisdom I was reading after college (the years after 2002) was that clearance added about 40% to the possible salary range you’d be getting just as a techie.
I’d also heard that in the current market, since direct hires by the agency are no longer in vogue, contractors start you out below private industry pay, and then it can ramp up to much higher than industry pay once you’ve paid your dues.
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I agree in principle, but disagree in part. The quote’s thrust is that Trump is the distraction, while his Administration scurries about, achieving its malign ends in the dark.
Trump does many, many malign things in plain sight. Eg: Muslim travel ban; withdrawing from Paris Accord, Iran Deal; palling with Kim/Putin; his ridiculous tariffs; his rapacious tax reform. And to come: withdrawing from or crippling WTO, NATO.
Additionally, Chomsky proposes that this misdirection is Trump’s “plan.” Trump has no “plan” (other than to ensure he has enriched himself and his syndicate fully by end of term). He is just being his narcissistic, attention-grabbing, sociopathic self, and this is the end result. I’ll revise: the use of “role” implies there is a “plan”. I’d be more comfortable with “effect.” Certainly, Trump’s ridiculous tweets and outbursts have the effect of hiding deleterious GOP policy.
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The only reason to revoke a TS clearance (other than it just expires when your job is over) is that there are reasons you will divulge secret info or otherwise are a security threat. Not to repeat the obvious, but the administration’s tacit statment that “criticizing the president” = “being a security threat” is chilling AF. This is “all my opponents are terrorists” logic.
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He’s “looking into” it. Why not just do it? It’s probably his prerogative. It’s probably more effective if he just did the deed (i.e., for those who actually still have clearances), but it’s not as theatrical as throwing up handfuls of sand.
I doubt there’s much I’d agree upon with Mel Gibson, but I’m reminded of what he said regarding death threats he received while filming The Year of Living Dangerously:
I mean, if they meant to kill us, why send a note?
Why the big announcement, why not just revoke the clearances?
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I’m sorry to contradict you on what may only be a petty detail, but in this video, Chomsky describes Trump’s “role,” not a “plan.” The “plan” caption was added to this particular version of the video by the uploader; there are other versions without the caption.
Chomsky also says “whether this [Trump’s usefulness] is conscious or not, I don’t know.”
Edit:
Trump does many, many malign things in plain sight. Eg: Muslim travel ban; withdrawing from Paris Accord, Iran Deal; palling with Kim/Putin; his ridiculous tariffs; his rapacious tax reform. And to come: withdrawing from or crippling WTO, NATO.
All this, I very much agree with.
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Since I don’t know what “libety” is, I’ll take tranny? Trannies are fun. More fun than a barrel of drunk, pissed off rednecks of the kind who would ask such a stupid question, anyway.
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I engaged a supporter of our new dictator asking why he so worshipped his master. “I don’t like to think, Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” “trump knows how to get things done and gets rid of people who stall around with questions”. How stupid of me not to have recognized this mentality…go fire up the furnaces, here come some more thinkers. Fucking incredible. I don’t like to think…man it’s hard to reach someone like that.
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It’s the fascist mentality. Some people honestly prefer to be led. (And, ironically, these are the same people who tend to use the word “sheeple.”) Oh, but they need to be led by the “right people” though: biracial, socialist, former-community organizers don’t count.
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It’s the sort of broad power the President (probably) has.
The remedy is: don’t elect an unstable pathological liar and authoritarian fanboy as President. I mean we’ve seen the guy on TV for how many decades now, we shouldn’t be surprised that he’s like this. Hindsight 20/20 I guess.
Don’t forget Duterte!
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Because, like many things he does, this is a test, to see how people will react. Since there has been such a shitstorm, and because he, oops, didn’t realize a couple of those people didn’t have clearance, he (meaning Sarah Sanders) will walk it back soon. “How could you think we would do that, we never meant to do that; we said we were looking into it, that’s all. Gosh you people overreact.”
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Also, they are HAPPY that Russia interfered. That helped defeat Hillary, the horrible monster. They don’t mind laws being broken, as long as it’s in their interest.
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