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[Lord Shonus]

The National Guard isn't really the military...  They're specifically used to handle domestic problems.  Isn't that their entire purpose?

The National Guard is the military organized by the state governments.

[misko27]

FFS, more people fired from the State Department.

These staffers in particular are often the conduit between the secretary’s office to the country bureaus, where the regional expertise is centered. Inside the State Department, some officials fear that this is a politically-minded purge that cuts out much-needed expertise from the policy-making, rather than simply reorganizing the bureaucracy.

There are clear signals being sent that many key foreign policy portfolios will be controlled directly by the White House, rather than through the professional diplomats.

Because fuck informed governance and diplomacy.

The executive departments are full of Obama appointees and leaking information and personnel like a colander plenty on their own. Even if it is counterproductive in the short term it's not exactly unnecessary if they ever want to have something even resembling OpSec and internal cohesion.

Problem is that previous administrations didn't do the same. Otherwise, each election would lead to sacking every single competent person in government purely for political reasons. That's bad government, but perhaps necessary for an administration so widely reviled.

[Rolan7]

Yes fine, it's a "reserve force" of the Armed Forces, so it's technically part of the US military.
It's still not weird for it to operate domestically, in fact that's their primary purpose.  Usually for natural disasters, because we haven't been invaded recently, but also conflicts like the Little Rock integration incident.

[smjjames]

The only way we can really fix the illegal immigration problem is to fix the legal immigration system. The illegal immigration problem is a symptom of the issues with legal immigration.

Here's that job ad for anyone interested.

And the duplicate submitted when they learned how to use formatting.

Anybody know how common it is for the WH to advertise using that method? Somehow seems suspicible to infiltration if they're not careful.

Here's that job ad for anyone interested.

And the duplicate submitted when they learned how to use formatting.

Wing-it-Foriegn policy, here we go. Also, since I've read that foriegn diplomats are already having major problems conducting diplomacy or trying to talk to the adminstration, this is only going to get worse.

There is some of it in that article where it notes they had no involvement in the Netanyahu visit and even had the Deputy shut out of the meeting he was scheduled to attend. It seems there is simply no interest in having a State Department among the core staff.

Having no State Department doesn't seem like a very good idea. Even kings with absolute power have people managing diplomacy.

Well, we (and Trump) are going to find out what happens when the State Department is gutted, kneecapped, hobbled, and hogtied. Foriegn governments are already getting conflicting messages from Mattis and Tillerson vs Trump.

[palsch]

Anybody know how common it is for the WH to advertise using that method? Somehow seems suspicible to infiltration if they're not careful.

The White House advertises for all kinds of jobs. Not heard of it for political appointees though, let alone such a general call for applications for any position they might be fit into.

The source I saw it from (DC insider's twitter feed, can't find the exact link now) seemed mostly bemused that they were having to take extra measures. Trump had started out recruiting the same way as Obama; a DC staff and recruiting through his own website. That they are having to advertise through other channels - and advertising Senate confirmation requiring positions - is a sign of how hard it is for them to staff the White House. That they are taking such measures while still having so many Deputy and Undersecretary positions open makes it sound like they simply don't know how to fill roles that would usually be fiercely competed for.

[Strife26]

Posse Comitatus specifically doesn't apply to the National Guard in most circumstances. That's why we get lunacy like NG helicopters being deployed to help confiscate lone pot plants.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

In fairness, part of that might be coming from the national guard's side. I get the impression they're much the same as firefighters who dispatch every engine of the station and all hands in order to help an 80-year old lady who burned out her kitchen outlet.

[palsch]

Regarding the National Guard leak, this;

The incident reflects an emerging pattern noted by several top political reporters in how the Trump administration handles its most controversial policy proposals:

1. Wait for a draft memo of a proposal to be leaked to the press.
2. Refuse to comment when asked about the draft.
3. Wait to dispute a story's accuracy until the story is published.
4. Accuse the press of never having sought comment to begin with.

This makes the fourth (?) draft order that was leaked then completely denied by the White House. The handling suggests these are either test balloons that are then abandoned when they cause outrage, softening leaks to make later less extreme policies look less bad (the LGBT memo followed by reducing protections for trans individuals), faction planted leaks to gain an advantage in internal struggles (again the LGBT memo was claimed to have been killed by Ivanka and Kushner) or just misinformation leaks to make the press look bad for publishing them. Fingers crossed this is one of the latter, although I suspect it might fall more into the first two categories.

[Frumple]

In fairness, part of that might be coming from the national guard's side. I get the impression they're much the same as firefighters who dispatch every engine of the station and all hands in order to help an 80-year old lady who burned out her kitchen outlet.

Mind you, there's actually decent enough reason for that, at least from what I've picked up from emergency response folks I've been around over the years. Lets responders get fairly hands-on practice in on deployment and whatnot; not something they aim for, exactly, but a reason they don't worry too much about sending too many for any particular call. S'also the fact that a burned out kitchen outlet, particularly when it's a geriatric that's the only one keeping an eye on it, can pretty easily go well beyond that. Had a small fire get out of hand 'round here recently and burn down a football field or two worth of grassland/field (that was inside city limits, and had occupied houses adjacent parts of it), because the person with primary overwatch on it before the trucks came in was old and not thinking straight. Never quite know how badly an old person's going to bugger up an otherwise minor situation.

... that said, what military is supposed to be doing and what firefighters are supposed to be doing are pretty damn different. There's a fairly serious discrepancy between sending more fire trucks than strictly necessary and sending in nat guard helicopters and shit.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

What I mean is boredom. I'm sure firefighters do indeed act that way for those reasons as well, but they're infamously overeager to respond to anything because there is often nothing. Just a few days ago I saw a fire engine speed out onto a downtown road and jacknife across three (empty) lanes, and while they might have been in that much of a hurry, I'm...skeptical.

Anyway, the military has much the same "hurry up and wait" status quo, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if upon being called by some suburban sheriff to ask for air recon after three solid weeks of Literally Nothing the response is " SORTIE SORTIE OIL THE HUMVEE GO GO HURRY EVERYTHING".

[smjjames]

Trump's updated travel ban reportedly has minimal changes and is mainly just to try and get around legal and constitutional challenges, while having minimal (read: none) input from the NSC. Basically, they haven't learned their lession and aren't doing any of the interagency vetting that is supposed to be done, I think. Haven't seen any other articles elsewhere talking about this though.

Sen. Feinstein has noticed the China trademark suit settlement and says “If this isn’t a violation of the Emoluments Clause, I don’t know what is.” Impeachment when? (the Dems would have to take both houses first though ) Though it'll be hard to prove that there was any collaboration on Trump's part.

Regarding the National Guard leak, this;

The incident reflects an emerging pattern noted by several top political reporters in how the Trump administration handles its most controversial policy proposals:

1. Wait for a draft memo of a proposal to be leaked to the press.
2. Refuse to comment when asked about the draft.
3. Wait to dispute a story's accuracy until the story is published.
4. Accuse the press of never having sought comment to begin with.

This makes the fourth (?) draft order that was leaked then completely denied by the White House. The handling suggests these are either test balloons that are then abandoned when they cause outrage, softening leaks to make later less extreme policies look less bad (the LGBT memo followed by reducing protections for trans individuals), faction planted leaks to gain an advantage in internal struggles (again the LGBT memo was claimed to have been killed by Ivanka and Kushner) or just misinformation leaks to make the press look bad for publishing them. Fingers crossed this is one of the latter, although I suspect it might fall more into the first two categories.

Politically odd but crafty ways to float trial balloons. Pretty sure there are better ways to float trial balloons.

They're likely not the first admin to use that tactic though....

[martinuzz]

Hahaha, even Fox News is now calling Trump a repeated liar, and ridiculous.

Dunno if you can watch this link (Dutch national news), but the Fox News guy snaps at 3:12 minutes into the video.
http://www.npo.nl/nos-journaal/17-02-2017/POW_03375551

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Fox would normally softball Trump, but for some reason he's made it a priority to antagonize their crew.

[smjjames]

Maybe because one of their journalists came to the defense of John Acosta of CNN? FOX and CNN are intense rivals, no doubt about that, but they're still part of the journalism profession.

Anyway, funny how (some) people who would be considered right wing and all that are trying to be voices of reason these days. Which is a good thing actually. Not that Trump will listen.

[palsch]

More staffing stories, this time from the DoD. 43 out of 160 positions are staffed, 16 of which are holdovers from Obama. A lot of the article defends the DoD as a department that can operate without many political appointees at the top, but it is unlikely that new policies can be effectively developed and rolled out without those civilian leadership positions filled. Remember that most don't need Senate approval, so this is just them not being picked, not any Democratic party delay.

Here is the WaPo's total appointment counter for Senate confirmations. 14 appointed, 20 nominated, 662 not even nominated so far.

And it seems we have some rumoured names under consideration for the National Security Advisor. In addition to Kellogg and Gen. Petraeus we have Gen. Keith Alexander and Gen. Jim Jones.

Alexander used to run the NSA under both Bush and Obama. I think everyone here knows what that means.

Jones used to be Obama's National Security Advisor. He was not considered a good one, although a lot of it seems to be down to being a bad fit for the administration and being an outsider there.

Also oh god fuck no. Bolton fits more with the Flynn model, but as far as I can see the rumours come from Ted Cruz saying he should get the nod. Even under Bush he was accused of withholding intelligence to push his own agenda.


Finally actually digging into the National Guard memo, it was dated on the day of the immigration EO. Doesn't look like something seriously under consideration at the moment.

Hahaha, even Fox News is now calling Trump a repeated liar, and ridiculous.

Dunno if you can watch this link (Dutch national news), but the Fox News guy snaps at 3:12 minutes into the video.
http://www.npo.nl/nos-journaal/17-02-2017/POW_03375551

Can't view the video, but is the Fox correspondent Shep Smith? He's their token reasonable guy and has been laying into Trump for a while. His job is to commit the journalism that lets Fox be a news channel, which the rest of their commentators use as cover. As a rule if he isn't on the air then Fox isn't showing news but political commentary. His reaction yesterday has finally got Trump supporters calling for him to be fired.


EDIT: McCain not so subtly targets Trump in a speech in Germany. Choice quotes;

[The founders of the conference] would be alarmed by the growing inability -- and even unwillingness -- to separate truth from lies
...
They would be alarmed that more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent
...
I know there is profound concern across Europe and the world that America is laying down the mantle of global leadership. I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that that is the message you will hear from all of the American leaders who cared enough to travel here to Munich this weekend. That's not the message you heard today from Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. That is not the message you will hear from Vice President Mike Pence. That's not the message you will hear from Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. And that is certainly not the message you will hear tomorrow from our bipartisan congressional delegation.

Notice who isn't in that last paragraph?