Gen. Lloyd Austin, on the Raytheon Board, is yet another high-level Biden nominee enmeshed in D.C.'s corporatist "revolving door" of legalized influence-peddling.
I mean this is identity politics at its finest. I'm all for expanding the positions of power to people whose backgrounds have traditionally kept them away from it. Variety of backgrounds and ideas is a strength in democracy... but I definitely don't want the same DC and corporate swamp creatures that once again have reared their heads to jump headfirst into the cesspool.
As an interesting anecdote, I am currently home for the holidays and my mother (a pretty liberal woman - convinced her to support Bernie in the primary) watches MSNBC for 90% of her news. She'll watch NBC or CBS nightly news on the weekdays for the other 10%.
When it was announced that General Austin was being nominated as Secretary of Defense, my mother later told me it was good that Biden was putting in the first African American in this position. Which I then asked, what are his politics or background? And, of course, my mother couldn't really answer because that information is not important in the MSNBC family. As Glenn harped on in an earlier post - this is purely a "cynical exploitation of identity, diversity and biography to distract from their ideology and substance."
Glenn, you've completely missed the point of yet another historic nomination from the Biden-Harris transition team. Yes, Mr. Austin is an ex-"general" who now works for a "defense contractor," but he's Black (with a capital B!), so it's all good. The biggest problem with the military-industrial complex is that it's not diverse enough. Don't be so racist.
It seems like the Deep State can't win. When they control the government covertly, they are called undemocratic and unaccountable. When they are openly appointed to cabinet, people complain about lack of civilian control of the military. It's a thankless task.
At some point, Americans may realize they're witnessing the first revolution conducted from the top down, not the bottom up. And since, like every revolution, it's about the acquisition and maintenance of power--by any means necessary--hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty and rank double-standards are perfectly acceptable as long as they serve that agenda.
In America, the military was thought to be the last bastion of opposition against a nation-state-despising globalist agenda. One suspects that going forward, it will be far more interested in protecting those interests rather than America itself.
On Friday the PBS Newshour moderator Judy Woodruff asked Mark Shields and David Brooks if they agreed with some on "the left" that the Biden cabinet picks just aren't diverse enough. It was clear her question meant that "the left's" top concern was with the identity of the nominees. It didn't seem to dawn on Ms. Woodruff that "the left" might be concerned with the nominees' policies, or past work performance, or history with the public/private revolving door, or questionable public statements.
This is why things never change. The public isn't being informed by our "trusted news sources" but rather led by the nose.
Note the media silence about major wins for democracy in Bolivia and Venezuela, "godless" socialist countries against CIA is actively conducting illegal coups, sanctions and regime changes.
Since Biden will likely be Obama-2 remember the astonishing statement by Obama:
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, China, and 20+ other countries…..
We've seen the deleterious effects of affirmative action and social engineering in higher education and corporations across the country. But to allow - indeed, applaud it in national security is truly foolish and dangerous. As is far too often the case in democratic regimes, the tail is once again wagging the dog in the most dangerous of arenas, failing logic, reason, and our security.
There is good reason for the law and the tradition. To subvert it for color or profit is a gross betrayal and the most heinous display of arrogant disregard that partisan politics has mustered since ...well.. since the obama years
The "value" held by "Resistance" subscribers was contempt for democracy itself. They hurled transparently Orwellian labels at Trump and his supporters, such as "fascist" (while they gleefully abolished free speech on campus and in the media), "racist" (despite what Alevda King et al. said and despite the large numbers of minorities who supported Trump), misogynist (while ignoring the large numbers of women supporting Trump, and while cheering Biden's groping of endless women and including minor girls). Soon they can start a bunch of wars and gloat once again about being "really good at killing people" as Obama (a/k/a "my [Joe's] boss") boasted.
How inverted is this? Trump Conservatives (I exclude RINOs) want to stop the wars, bring the troops home from the 142 damned countries they are occupying, shutter the FBI, extinguish the CIA, prosecute the NSA spies, fix inner-city corruption, have clean elections, free the hundreds of thousands of unfairly incarcerated Americans of all races, and punish the guilty. Secure our borders against people smuggling, drug smuggling, the child and adult prostitution that is fed by illegal immigration. Bring back the millions of blue collar jobs that were shipped out in the last 40 years by our Barons and Earls in DC and our State capitals.
The Deep State is clearly re-asserting itself. The political class will now focus all of its power on making sure no “outsider” ever has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected president. Watch for both the DEMS and REPS to “update” their party primary process to make it virtually impossible for an “outsider.”
BTW, Mattis was a board member of General Dynamics before he became SecDef and after he left DoD, he was back on the General Dynamics board before his seat even got cold.
For Democrats that do not understand the history of civilian control over the military and why the Defense Department should not be run by a recent ex-military person, remind them of the Cuban missile crisis. Gen Curtis LeMay wanted to bomb the missile installations and the joint chiefs wanted to invade. We later learned there were tactical nuclear missiles in Cuba that would have been used against any invasion thus precipitating an escalation to a general nuclear war with the Soviet Union. McNamara a civilian technocrat did not outright support the militaries recommendations and Kennedy was able to use divisions amongst his advisors to pursue a diplomatic solution. Putting the Defensive Department under military control would limit what the President could do in any similar situation. In practical terms during the Cuban missile crisis US bombers were circling Cuba, a friend of mine was in one, on alert ready to go and we were digging bomb shelters in our backyards and trying to figure out where the Russians would drop a nuclear bomb in relation to where we lived. Those whose world revolves around talking heads on MSNBC should grasp this reality—putting a military man in charge of the Defense Department is an institutionally bad idea with history to prove it.
Democrats are setting themselves up for a big internal fight down the road. The Pentagon has been eating up huge resources of late and always they are wanting more. With growing progressive needs and demands on Federal spending there will be a time, all too soon, where Democrats newfound love of all things military, and endless war, are going to collide head on with insistent demands from the progressive left regarding priorities, and regarding the deep needs rooted in American society.
Not that the Pentagon is going to make this easy on Democratic policy wonks and lawmakers. Over at the U.S. Navy institute site (USNI News) and other Naval media there has been talk that the Navy needs are so great that the Army and Air Force budgets need to be trimmed in order to fund the Navy's rapid expansion. A recent article bemoaned the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper at right about the time that Naval lobbying had converted him to their cause. The article continues that now the work has to begin again to convince and sell the Biden team. The appointment of an Army General means that the task will now be that much harder, so if Washington and recent Democratic party history provides any guide it probably means that the Army gets an expanded munitions budget and the Navy has it's full expansion funded too. These nearly inevitable developments would leave both progressive voters and future debt paying taxpayers out in the Biden era cold.
New Washington, same as the old Washington. With $27.4 Trillion in stated Federal debt and underfunded social security and medicare funding for future outlays to the tune of between 20-32 Trillion Dollars. Good Times.
Thanks for keeping an eye on the War Party. We never get told the details by Panderson Cooper and friends...maybe because they are all owned by the same interlocking groups...
I mean this is identity politics at its finest. I'm all for expanding the positions of power to people whose backgrounds have traditionally kept them away from it. Variety of backgrounds and ideas is a strength in democracy... but I definitely don't want the same DC and corporate swamp creatures that once again have reared their heads to jump headfirst into the cesspool.
As an interesting anecdote, I am currently home for the holidays and my mother (a pretty liberal woman - convinced her to support Bernie in the primary) watches MSNBC for 90% of her news. She'll watch NBC or CBS nightly news on the weekdays for the other 10%.
When it was announced that General Austin was being nominated as Secretary of Defense, my mother later told me it was good that Biden was putting in the first African American in this position. Which I then asked, what are his politics or background? And, of course, my mother couldn't really answer because that information is not important in the MSNBC family. As Glenn harped on in an earlier post - this is purely a "cynical exploitation of identity, diversity and biography to distract from their ideology and substance."
Dems: “We desperately need more Black, women and trans war criminals.”
Glenn, you've completely missed the point of yet another historic nomination from the Biden-Harris transition team. Yes, Mr. Austin is an ex-"general" who now works for a "defense contractor," but he's Black (with a capital B!), so it's all good. The biggest problem with the military-industrial complex is that it's not diverse enough. Don't be so racist.
So glad you left the Intercept.
It seems like the Deep State can't win. When they control the government covertly, they are called undemocratic and unaccountable. When they are openly appointed to cabinet, people complain about lack of civilian control of the military. It's a thankless task.
At some point, Americans may realize they're witnessing the first revolution conducted from the top down, not the bottom up. And since, like every revolution, it's about the acquisition and maintenance of power--by any means necessary--hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty and rank double-standards are perfectly acceptable as long as they serve that agenda.
In America, the military was thought to be the last bastion of opposition against a nation-state-despising globalist agenda. One suspects that going forward, it will be far more interested in protecting those interests rather than America itself.
On Friday the PBS Newshour moderator Judy Woodruff asked Mark Shields and David Brooks if they agreed with some on "the left" that the Biden cabinet picks just aren't diverse enough. It was clear her question meant that "the left's" top concern was with the identity of the nominees. It didn't seem to dawn on Ms. Woodruff that "the left" might be concerned with the nominees' policies, or past work performance, or history with the public/private revolving door, or questionable public statements.
This is why things never change. The public isn't being informed by our "trusted news sources" but rather led by the nose.
Note the media silence about major wins for democracy in Bolivia and Venezuela, "godless" socialist countries against CIA is actively conducting illegal coups, sanctions and regime changes.
Since Biden will likely be Obama-2 remember the astonishing statement by Obama:
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, China, and 20+ other countries…..
Defund US military terrorism
We've seen the deleterious effects of affirmative action and social engineering in higher education and corporations across the country. But to allow - indeed, applaud it in national security is truly foolish and dangerous. As is far too often the case in democratic regimes, the tail is once again wagging the dog in the most dangerous of arenas, failing logic, reason, and our security.
There is good reason for the law and the tradition. To subvert it for color or profit is a gross betrayal and the most heinous display of arrogant disregard that partisan politics has mustered since ...well.. since the obama years
The "value" held by "Resistance" subscribers was contempt for democracy itself. They hurled transparently Orwellian labels at Trump and his supporters, such as "fascist" (while they gleefully abolished free speech on campus and in the media), "racist" (despite what Alevda King et al. said and despite the large numbers of minorities who supported Trump), misogynist (while ignoring the large numbers of women supporting Trump, and while cheering Biden's groping of endless women and including minor girls). Soon they can start a bunch of wars and gloat once again about being "really good at killing people" as Obama (a/k/a "my [Joe's] boss") boasted.
Well, at least Raytheon is an equal opportunity employer.......
How inverted is this? Trump Conservatives (I exclude RINOs) want to stop the wars, bring the troops home from the 142 damned countries they are occupying, shutter the FBI, extinguish the CIA, prosecute the NSA spies, fix inner-city corruption, have clean elections, free the hundreds of thousands of unfairly incarcerated Americans of all races, and punish the guilty. Secure our borders against people smuggling, drug smuggling, the child and adult prostitution that is fed by illegal immigration. Bring back the millions of blue collar jobs that were shipped out in the last 40 years by our Barons and Earls in DC and our State capitals.
Democrats? None of the above.
Good column.
The Deep State is clearly re-asserting itself. The political class will now focus all of its power on making sure no “outsider” ever has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected president. Watch for both the DEMS and REPS to “update” their party primary process to make it virtually impossible for an “outsider.”
BTW, Mattis was a board member of General Dynamics before he became SecDef and after he left DoD, he was back on the General Dynamics board before his seat even got cold.
For Democrats that do not understand the history of civilian control over the military and why the Defense Department should not be run by a recent ex-military person, remind them of the Cuban missile crisis. Gen Curtis LeMay wanted to bomb the missile installations and the joint chiefs wanted to invade. We later learned there were tactical nuclear missiles in Cuba that would have been used against any invasion thus precipitating an escalation to a general nuclear war with the Soviet Union. McNamara a civilian technocrat did not outright support the militaries recommendations and Kennedy was able to use divisions amongst his advisors to pursue a diplomatic solution. Putting the Defensive Department under military control would limit what the President could do in any similar situation. In practical terms during the Cuban missile crisis US bombers were circling Cuba, a friend of mine was in one, on alert ready to go and we were digging bomb shelters in our backyards and trying to figure out where the Russians would drop a nuclear bomb in relation to where we lived. Those whose world revolves around talking heads on MSNBC should grasp this reality—putting a military man in charge of the Defense Department is an institutionally bad idea with history to prove it.
Democrats are setting themselves up for a big internal fight down the road. The Pentagon has been eating up huge resources of late and always they are wanting more. With growing progressive needs and demands on Federal spending there will be a time, all too soon, where Democrats newfound love of all things military, and endless war, are going to collide head on with insistent demands from the progressive left regarding priorities, and regarding the deep needs rooted in American society.
Not that the Pentagon is going to make this easy on Democratic policy wonks and lawmakers. Over at the U.S. Navy institute site (USNI News) and other Naval media there has been talk that the Navy needs are so great that the Army and Air Force budgets need to be trimmed in order to fund the Navy's rapid expansion. A recent article bemoaned the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper at right about the time that Naval lobbying had converted him to their cause. The article continues that now the work has to begin again to convince and sell the Biden team. The appointment of an Army General means that the task will now be that much harder, so if Washington and recent Democratic party history provides any guide it probably means that the Army gets an expanded munitions budget and the Navy has it's full expansion funded too. These nearly inevitable developments would leave both progressive voters and future debt paying taxpayers out in the Biden era cold.
New Washington, same as the old Washington. With $27.4 Trillion in stated Federal debt and underfunded social security and medicare funding for future outlays to the tune of between 20-32 Trillion Dollars. Good Times.
GG,
Thanks for keeping an eye on the War Party. We never get told the details by Panderson Cooper and friends...maybe because they are all owned by the same interlocking groups...