The Neo Cons are back!!!

[broman]

President Trump announced Thursday that former United Nations Amb. John Bolton will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as his National Security Adviser effective April 9 -- the latest in a growing list of White House staff shakeups over the past year.

Bolton has served in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and served as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.

A strong supporter of the Iraq war and an advocate for aggressive use of American power in foreign policy, Bolton was unable to win Senate confirmation after his nomination to the U.N. post alienated many Democrats and even some Republicans. He resigned after serving 17 months as a Bush "recess appointment," which allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03 ... -says.html

Trump called the Iraq invasion "the single worst decision ever made" and said it amounted to "throwing a big fat brick into a hornet's nest."
"That was Bush. Another real genius. That was Bush," Trump said sarcastically. "That turned out to be wonderful intelligence. You know? Great intelligence agency there."
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/03/poli ... index.html

[Wabash]

If I had children of military age I wouldn't let them near the military.

[John Q. Public]

The only person I can think of who's scarier than Trump.

[broman]

Bolton pick underscores Trump's foreign policy confusion

As recently as March 4, Trump called the invasion of Iraq “the single worst decision ever made.”
Bolton fended off host Tucker Carlson’s critique of the Iraq War, saying: “[L]ife is complicated in the Middle East. When you say the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a mistake, it's simplistic."

As a candidate in 2016, Trump vowed that the U.S. would “stop racing to topple foreign regimes.” Later that year, Bolton called regime change “the only long-term solution” to Iran’s menacing behavior

When it comes to perhaps the most sensitive issue of all for Trump — Russia — Bolton has echoed Trump’s charges that Obama officials politicized intelligence to smear Trump as a tool of the Kremlin. In one late 2016 Fox News interview, Bolton even suggested that the hacking of Democratic emails may have been a “false flag” operation staged by the Obama administration.

But while Trump has shown an eagerness to befriend Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bolton has depicted the Russian leader as a menace who cannot be trusted. In one July 2017 op-ed, Bolton declared that Putin had lied to Trump in a face-to-face meeting when the Russian leader denied that his government had meddled in the U.S. election. Bolton called an action “a true act of war, and one Washington will never tolerate.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/ ... ion-482168

[Red]

Pretty sure he wont unmask American citizens like the previous administration's State Department. Just saying.

[Fordama]

Like Valerie Plame?

[Omar Bongo]

Weaksauce, Red:

Former national security adviser Susan Rice told the House Intelligence Committee that she "unmasked" the names of President Donald Trump's associates because she wanted to find out why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates visited Trump Tower in New York last year without notifying the US government, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, UAE's crown prince, traveled to New York during the transition period in December 2016 and reportedly met with former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

A senior Middle East official acknowledged to CNN that the UAE did not inform the US of the crown prince's visit in advance... The crown prince's trip to New York came shortly before the UAE brokered a January 11 meeting between a Trump associate and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles islands to create a back channel of communication between Trump and Russia.

...National security experts agree that Rice's reported requests to identify which Trump associates were speaking with foreign officials before he was inaugurated were neither unusual nor against the law.

"The identities of US persons may be released under two circumstances: 1) the identity is needed to make sense of the intercept; 2) if a crime is involved in the conversation," Robert Deitz, a former senior counselor to the CIA director and former general counsel at the National Security Agency, told Business Insider in an earlier interview.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee appear to concur with that assessment. "I didn't hear anything to believe that she did anything illegal," Republican Florida Rep. Tom Rooney told CNN of Rice's testimony.

South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, who is one of the lawmakers spearheading the House investigation, told the Daily Caller "nothing that came up in her interview that led me to conclude" that she made inappropriate unmasking requests.

"She was a good witness, answered all our questions," Rep. Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who took over leading the House Russia investigation after Nunes stepped down, told CNN. "I'm not aware of any reason to bring her back."

http://www.businessinsider.com/susan-ri ... mes-2017-9

[Red]

It will all come out. Samantha Powers and many others.

[Fordama]

When will Putin make that decision?

[John Q. Public]

Susan Powers(sic) and Susan Rice are somehow related to this topic? Is it their mustaches?

[broman]

@kaitlancollins
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Trump and Bolton have been discussing for weeks how he could replace McMaster. According to what a source familiar with those negotiations told me, Bolton promised Trump "he wouldn't start any wars" if he selected him as the new national security adviser.

Sleep tight people, nothing to worry about

[John Q. Public]

Wondering how long it will take Don to realize he appointed a Secretary of State and a National Security Adviser he fundamentally disagrees with. Well, at least he disagreed with them a couple months ago. And then again from around noon to 3:00 PM on Tuesday.

[Vilepagan]

Wondering how long it will take Don to realize he appointed a Secretary of State and a National Security Adviser he fundamentally disagrees with.

To fundamentally disagree with someone, first you have to have opinions about things.

[Wabash]

It will all come out. Samantha Powers and many others.

There is always some mythical factoid that is going to be revealed in the future. Yet it never seems to come.

At least conservative conspiracy theorists are consistent in that regard.

On the flip side, liberals believe in the Neo Con conspiracy of wanting to exercise a muscular foreign policy as outlined by the Project for the New American Century. This is the group that was the very vocal cheer leader for the worst foreign policy disaster in my lifetime. That being the invasion of Iraq and regime change of Saddam Hussein.

And who was right in the middle of that group?

John effing Bolton.

Side note. Every time I see him I think of the code being sent to the French Underground in the movie The Longest Day.

"John has a long mustache."

[MDDad]

This is the group that was the very vocal cheer leader for the worst foreign policy disaster in my lifetime. That being the invasion of Iraq and regime change of Saddam Hussein.

Are you kidding? Christ, you must be a very, very young man.

[broman]

To fundamentally disagree with someone, first you have to have opinions about things.

How did we get to a place in which Trump's ignorance of global affairs would be a postive change for the nation?

[Fordama]

Are you kidding? Christ, you must be a very, very young man.

I'd say causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and throwing multiple countries into chaos is pretty tough to beat. Perhaps a close second to our involvement in Vietnam.

[MDDad]

Perhaps a very, very distant second to our involvement in Vietnam. Unless the impact of 58,000 dead Americans and 3 million of other nations is softened by time.

[Professor Fate]

There is always some mythical factoid that is going to be revealed in the future.

Kind of like the Russian collusion evidence, huh?

[broman]

After Mueller finds out if the Russian's have the goods on Trump, we need to find out if Trump has the goods on the Professor. You need to get stock in Sparkletts if your carry that much water.