posted by gut

Not entirely sure of the actual definition of "deep state", but I don't think there's any conspiracy that career staffers who have risen through the ranks have done so because they are very good at influencing and winning approval of department objectives.

It can be as simple as controlling information that virtually guarantees a policy you favor wins.  And if the request is something non-nonsensical or stupid, then they'll find ways to shit on it and bury it and still get their preferred "alternative" approved.

I don't even think that's overly manipulative or wrong.  The POTUS and his cabinet are rarely experts on any of this material, so it makes sense they'll take their cues from a career staffer that has spent 35 years studying nothing but Russia.  And if something ends up in court, as many Trump policies did, who's to say the lawyers are actually making good and winning arguments for something they don't fully support?

Many people, it seems, believe & fear the POTUS might nuke a hurricane.  I don't happen to think a POTUS could do that even if they wanted to.

Honestly, domestically the only impactful thing I can remember a POTUS doing in the past 20 years is Obama's DACA.  And judges.  Even the veto is largely irrelevant because of the Senate filibuster.

I think you are partially right. The elected officials still make the calls and Presidents have a good deal of influence on how their national security and policy process is set up. Some like a very business like structure, W, Trump, and some like a collegiate style, JFK, Clinton, Obama. 

James Wilson Bureaucracy book is like the gold standard on the process. 

Also, the President does has the ultimate power to launch nuclear weapons. It hasn't been tested, but no military commander can tell the President no or deny him the nuclear football to launch. If the President says to launch, we launch. 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/27/joe-bidens-ethics-disclosure-omits-5-1-million-in-tax-filing/

The Biden family has no morals

posted by Fletch

The Biden family has no morals

Just a classic example of the swamp.

The Repub dog-n-pony show on this will be interesting.  They'll want to score political points off Biden and the Dems, while also not getting so close to the sun that they burn half of Congress doing the same thing as the Biden's.

They're saying now that Hunter's biz partner made 27 visits to the WH while Joe was VP.  Again, imagine if this story was about Trump...

posted by gut

Just a classic example of the swamp.

The Repub dog-n-pony show on this will be interesting.  They'll want to score political points off Biden and the Dems, while also not getting so close to the sun that they burn half of Congress doing the same thing as the Biden's.

They're saying now that Hunter's biz partner made 27 visits to the WH while Joe was VP.  Again, imagine if this story was about Trump...

That is unimaginable, because we saw what they did with a completely false story.  

"Disinformation governance board"

3 words that describe so much of what is wrong with this country.

posted by gut

"Disinformation governance board"

3 words that describe so much of what is wrong with this country.

Ministry of Truth.

posted by justincredible

Ministry of Truth.

Looking forward to heads exploding when Trump disbands it on Jan. 21, 2025.

But I'm sure WaPo applauds this move.  Probably wondering how they can contribute.

posted by gut

"Disinformation governance board"

3 words that describe so much of what is wrong with this country.

Right there with ESG and DEI

This seems like a dumb idea for Dems.

The Biden administration on Thursday is expected to take a significant step toward a national ban on menthol cigarettes, advancing a regulatory plan that could sweep from the market more than a third of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. each year https://t.co/piOoHuZRAf

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 28, 2022

posted by iclfan2

This seems like a dumb idea for Dems.

The Biden administration on Thursday is expected to take a significant step toward a national ban on menthol cigarettes, advancing a regulatory plan that could sweep from the market more than a third of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. each year https://t.co/piOoHuZRAf

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 28, 2022

And there goes the minority vote

posted by iclfan2

This seems like a dumb idea for Dems.

Feels like 2005 all over again.  Banning cigs, really?  I had to double-check to make sure this wasn't a Babylon Bee story.

I used to like menthol cigs.  One, literally just one.  But no idea how people could smoke a pack+ per day of those things.

posted by Fletch

And there goes the minority vote

The irony is while most of them probably know it, none of them will say it out of fear of being canceled.

Sounds like disinformation to me...

Pelosi says inflation and the horrible economic numbers is an “aberration.” pic.twitter.com/hsPW3CoJVt

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 29, 2022

posted by justincredible

Sounds like disinformation to me...

Of all the unbelievable things gubmit does, I still can't believe someone thought a Disinformation Czar was a good idea.  Even the name/title is in on the joke.

But it's going to be 10gazillion LULZ when Trump appoints Tucker Carlson to that position.

She’s also a fucking clown. These idiots act like they’re never going to lose an election again. Look how destroying the filibuster worked for them. 

Meet The Head Of Biden's Ministry Of Truth: Nina Jankowicz pic.twitter.com/g8lsAReMz6

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) April 29, 2022

posted by gut

But it's going to be 10gazillion LULZ when Trump appoints Tucker Carlson to that position.

posted by Fletch

And there goes the minority vote

What do you mean by that, Mr. Educator?

Just this week the administration said they had the border "under control".

They said they had inflation "under control".

Musk buys Twitter - Administration creates  a truth squad the  "Disinformation Governance Board".

Maybe they should look in the mirror!

Nina Jankowicz, Biden’s ‘Disinformation Board’ Chief, Must Be Placed in an Ankle Monitor​

CHARLES C. W. COOKE – National Review


Linguistically, the name of the Department of Homeland Security has always sounded a little off to me — a little . . . well, Russian. So I suppose that it is only fitting that it should be the DHS, and not, say, the Post Office, that will house America’s newest Ministry of Truth. Per Secretary Mayorkas, his already-sprawling agency will be adding a “Disinformation Governance Board” to its offerings, the better to fight the “huge threat to our homeland” that is free American citizens saying things that the federal government doesn’t like. At the head of this new venture will sit an extremely strange woman named Nina Jankowicz, who, if her other activities are any indication, was apparently asked to choose between agreeing to the role at DHS and being turned down after yet another audition for the musical Wicked. A cursory look at Jankowicz’s social-media history suggests that, while she is certainly interested in disinformation, her passion is dressing up as Liza Minnelli. In one video, Jankowicz adapts the tune of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to convey that “Information laundering is really quite ferocious / It’s when a huckster takes some lies and makes them sound precocious.” In another, she offers up that pornographic twist on the Harry Potter books for which we’ve all been clamoring. “I helped him solve the mystery of the egg,” she warbles. “But I’d like to solve the mystery between his legs.” Her canon is limited in scope, but what I’ve seen of it is enough to test even the most committed civil libertarian in his opposition to casual waterboarding. Fielding questions about the move, Jen Psaki told reporters yesterday that “it sounds like the objective of the board is to prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country in a range of communities,” before adding, “I’m not sure who opposes that effort?” As it happens, I can help Psaki out here: I do. I oppose it, because it’s grotesque and indefensible. If by “prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country” Psaki means that the federal government intends to censor its critics, then Jankowicz and her friends will immediately find themselves in court. And if she doesn’t mean that — if she means that Jankowicz and her team will act as PR agents for the Department of Homeland Security — then there is no need for anything as lofty as a “Disinformation Governance Board” in the first instance. The DHS already has a press office. Given the manner in which Jankowicz’s appointment has been received by pretty much everyone, we are likely to see some backtracking over the coming days. But at this point, it’s too late for all that. Instead, we need some guarantees. At the very least, Americans ought to know what Jankowicz and Co. are up to at every point their “board” is in action. Her meetings must be taped; her emails must be made public; her phone calls must be recorded; and, as a modest prophylactic measure, she ought to wear a bodycam whenever she is carrying out her duties. This is the United States of America, not Cuba, and, as a matter of elementary principle, we ought not to have anything called the “Disinformation Governance Board of the Department of Homeland Security.” If, for whatever reason, the president disagrees with that principle, he must be made to account for it. Adding 24/7 surveillance and closely monitored ankle bracelets to figures such as Nina Jankowicz is the minimum the citizenry can demand in return.

biden just labeled half the country (at least) as extremists.  Christ he is a mess.

·       Biden calls 'MAGA crowd' the 'most extreme' political group in recent histo