November 10, 2017


New and Views


THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ARTICLES ON THE TERRIBLE CHURCH KILLING THAT I’VE SEEN YET, IN MY VIEW. IT’S AN INTERVIEW WITH HIS FIRST WIFE. LIVING WITH A MAN, WHETHER MARRIED OR NOT, CARRIES AN INHERENT DANGER WHICH WE NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE. AN ABUSIVE MARRIAGE IS NOT “HOLY” OR HONORABLE. IT IS A TRAP. WOMEN VERY RARELY KNOW THE MAN IS OF THAT TYPE UNTIL THEY GET INVOLVED WITH HIM “UP CLOSE.” LOOK AT THE KILLER DEVIN KELLEY’S WIFE’S PHOTOGRAPH AND YOU WILL SEE SADNESS. DAMAGE DONE IN THESE CASES CAN NEVER BE TOTALLY REMOVED FROM THE WOMAN, CHILD, OR HUSBAND’S MIND. AND YES, SOME MEN ARE THE ONES WHO ARE ABUSED. IT’S A BAD THING, WHOEVER THE VICTIM IS.

WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET THAT THE SOCIETAL HABIT OF PUNISHING OUR CHILDREN PHYSICALLY DOES THE SAME KIND OF HARM. STUDIES SHOW THAT INSTEAD OF MAKING THEM MORE OBEDIENT, IT OFTEN MAKES THEM SADDER, UNDERCONFIDENT, ANGRIER AND EVEN HARDER TO “HANDLE,” BECAUSE SUPPRESSIVE MEASURES HAVE A REBOUND EFFECT. BESIDES, THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO DO IT, AND IF WE WANT THE CHILD TO UNDERSTAND, WE WILL TALK TO HIM, INSTEAD OF HITTING HIM. IF WE DON’T WANT HIM TO “UNDERSTAND” THINGS LIKE JUST WHY IT IS THAT HE SHOULDN’T HIT HIS LITTLE BROTHER, THEN IN MY (AGAIN, NOT HUMBLE) VIEW, WE SHOULDN’T BE REARING A HUMAN CHILD AT ALL – OR A DOG FOR THAT MATTER. THE MOST VICIOUS DOGS AND CATS ARE THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN ABUSED.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tessa-brennaman-devin-kelley-sutherland-springs/
CBS NEWS November 10, 2017, 7:00 PM
Texas gunman Devin Kelley's ex-wife says he "had a lot of demons"

Tessa Brennaman, the first ex-wife of Texas gunman Devin Patrick Kelley. INSIDE EDITION VIA CBS NEWS

An ex-wife of Devin Patrick Kelley, the Texas gunman who killed 26 people in a church, said Friday in her first interview since the massacre that she lived in constant fear of him, and more information is coming to light about his actions in the weeks leading up to the shooting.

Tessa Brennaman, 25, was Kelley's first wife, CBS News' Omar Villafranca reports.

Link seen between domestic violence and mass killings
"He just had a lot of demons or hatred inside of him," she told "Inside Edition."

villafranca-devin-kelley-ex-wife-2017-11-10.jpg
Tessa Brennaman, the first ex-wife of Texas gunman Devin Patrick Kelley. INSIDE EDITION VIA CBS NEWS

Kelley pleaded guilty in 2013 to hitting, choking, kicking and pulling her hair. The then-23-year-old Air Force airman also admitted to fracturing the skull of her young son. On Friday, she described the marriage as filled with abuse, and said she was once threatened over a speeding ticket.

"And he had a gun in his holster right here and he took that gun out, and he put it to my template [sic] and he told me, 'Do you want to die? Do you want to die?'" Brennaman said.

The guilty plea earned Kelley a one-year sentence in a military prison, followed by a bad-conduct discharge.

She said he threatened to kill her and her whole family.

This week, the Air Force acknowledged that it failed to notify the FBI about the conviction, which would have barred Kelley from purchasing the firearms he used in the attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

There will be a Sunday service of healing a block from the church at the local community center, and funerals have started for the 26 victims of the shooting. On Thursday, more than 500 people attended a private service at a San Antonio-area Air Force base for Scott and Karen Marshall, a husband and wife who both served in the military, said Randy Martin, spokesman for the 12th Flying Training Wing.

Eleven people remained hospitalized Friday with wounds from the shooting.

Deadly church shooting in Texas

Less than a week before the Texas church massacre, Kelley showed up at a festival dressed in black and acted so strangely that people kept a close eye on him, two longtime parishioners said Friday.

Kelley "was completely distant and way out in thought," recalled Judy Green. She and her husband said Kelley often exhibited troubling behavior.

At the fall festival held on Halloween night at the First Baptist Church, Kelley "didn't even blink -- he just stared," she said.

Rod Green, a former law enforcement officer in Montana, said when he saw Kelley arrive in all black, he examined him closely to make sure he was not carrying a gun. The Greens both have licenses to carry handguns, and they are friends with Kelley's in-laws.

If Kelley had been carrying a weapon, Green said, he would have escorted him away because of all the children there. Judy Green said she positioned herself to keep an eye on Kelley at all times.

"There was something wrong with the picture," she said. "I was thinking forward, and that was what was scaring me."

At a Christmas dinner one year, Kelley had "bragged about being armed," Rod Green said.

Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt has said the church pastor saw Kelley in the crowd at the festival but that the pastor did not witness any behavior that raised alarms.

Investigators have said Sunday's shooting appeared to stem from a domestic dispute involving Kelley and his mother-in-law, and that he had sent threatening messages to her. The mother-in-law sometimes attended services at the church but was not present on Sunday. Kelley died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the massacre.

The Greens run a food pantry that offered this stricken Texas community another chance to mourn Friday as the charity resumed its weekly operations five days after the massacre at the church next door.

People crowded inside the By His Grace pantry, tearfully hugging and filling bags with donated bakery goods, groceries and used clothing.

The pantry's director, Lula White, was among those killed. White was also the 71-year-old grandmother of the gunman's wife.

As 68-year-old Brandy Johnson walked in, she flinched and she said she could "see Lu at the desk." White "had a heart as big as Texas," she said.

The Greens have operated the pantry for 11 years. She said she has slept little since Sunday, waking up screaming from nightmares. The couple, who were married at the church, were not at the service but later watched as worshippers were carried out in body bags.

"It is fresh in my mind. I see it all -- just over and over and over," Judy Green said.

Deana Cassel, who is 52 and a lung cancer patient, wiped away tears as she helped straighten piles of used clothing. She said volunteering at the pantry had given her a sense of purpose and a way to channel her grief about losing friends in the shooting.

"There's a lot of poverty in this area, but people don't only come here for something to eat. These people make them think they have someone in their life," she said, gesturing toward the Greens.

Law enforcement officials have reopened the intersection where the First Baptist Church stands, but black mesh material was tied to the chain-link fence surrounding it. With the bullet-ridden church door open, a tall wooden cross could be seen at the altar.

At annual Veterans Day observances Saturday, the church victims with military backgrounds will receive a full military salute on the grounds of the community hall, said Alice Garcia, president of the unincorporated town's community association.

"Everyone in the community is doing what they can, but honestly everyone feels so helpless," 20-year-old Karyssa Calbert of neighboring Floresville, Texas, said at the hall.

Before the church is demolished, it will serve as a temporary memorial, said Rod Green, who also serves as the grounds steward for the church.

The building will be scrubbed down and whitewashed, and chairs will be placed inside -- one to commemorate each of the dead. Late Friday afternoon, people in dust suits could be seen scrubbing the walkway leading to the front door.

Services will never take place there again, Rod Green said, explaining that the church plans to build a new structure on property it owns elsewhere. Services will be held Sunday at a nearby baseball field.

Pastor Frank Pomeroy told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this week that it would be too painful to continue using First Baptist Church as a place of worship.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THIS ARTICLE SAYS THAT THOUGH FENTANYL CAN GO THROUGH HUMAN SKIN, THERE PROBABLY WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH ON YOUR SHOPPING CART TO HURT ANYONE. WHAT IF IT WERE SOME OTHER CHEMICAL, HOWEVER, SUCH AS NICOTINE, MAYBE? FIRST, IT IS A STICKY LIQUID AND NOT A POWDER, WHICH WOULD MAKE IT MORE LIKELY TO CLING TO THE HARD, DRY SURFACE OF A SHOPPING CART, AND MORE LIKELY TO BE QUICKLY ABSORBED BY THE SKIN. SECOND, THERE IS A HIGHLY CONCENTRATED LIQUID FORM OF NICOTINE THAT MY FATHER USED TO USE TO KILL CHICKEN MITES. THE LABEL STRONGLY WARNED AGAINST WAITING EVEN A SHORT WHILE BEFORE WASHING IT OFF WITH PLENTY OF SOAP AND WATER IF ANY OF IT GETS ON THE SKIN (MUCH LESS THE EYES OR MOUTH).

I JUST SEARCHED THE QUESTION IN REGARD TO FENTANYL, HOWEVER, AND THERE IS A CNN STORY OF A POLICE OFFICER OVERDOSING FROM SIMPLY BRUSHING THE FENTANYL POWDER OFF HIS UNIFORM. ONE ARTICLE ON THE POWDER DID SAY THAT IT IS A VERY DANGEROUS DRUG, USED BY SOME UNWISE PEOPLE FOR SNORTING. GO TO CNN FOR THAT ARTICLE: HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2017/05/16/HEALTH/POLICE-FENTANYL-OVERDOSE-TRND/INDEX.HTML

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fact-check-can-you-overdose-from-fentanyl-left-on-shopping-carts/
By JENNIFER EARL CBS NEWS November 9, 2017, 6:20 PM
Fact check: Can you overdose from fentanyl left on shopping carts?

A warning about the dangers of drug residue on shopping carts went viral this week — but experts were quick to cast doubt on how accurate the claim really is.

The Leachville Police Department in Arkansas said customers should always wipe their shopping cart handles before using them, because deadly drugs like fentanyl could be left behind and enter your body through contact with your skin.

"All you'd have to do is rub your nose or touch your child's mouth," the police department wrote. "Children just being exposed to the powder or residue is a bad situation that can turn deadly."

But Chad Sabora, one of the founders of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, says the chance of someone getting sick — let alone overdosing — from residue on a shopping cart is "completely impossible."

"It's just like comparing the HIV epidemic in the 80s when people claimed you could get AIDS from sitting on the toilet," Sabora told CBS News. "This is dangerous to opiate users. Like touching them can kill you? It's not true."

Dr. Christopher Hoyte, associate medical director for the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center and faculty member for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said he can't say it's "impossible," but instead calls it "very improbable."

"I never say never, but it is highly, highly, highly, unlikely someone could become that systemically ill just from having fentanyl touch their skin," Hoyte told CBS News. "It's not absorbed just touching it."

Hoyte said the only way someone could feel side effects from the drug would be if they breathed it in.

"I will say if they touched it and then rubbed their nose and breathed it in through that way that would be a possibility," he added.

Sabora pointed out powdered fentanyl is meant to be snorted or injected.

"Oral absorption taken from fentanyl has minimal impact. It doesn't get into the body that way," Sabora said. "That's why people don't ingest heroin."

The Leachville Police Department's original post linked its claims back to the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) manual for law enforcement and first responders when they encounter fentanyl.

"Fentanyl can kill you," acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley explained in the three-page document. "It is 40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin. A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you."

There was an incident earlier this year when an Ohio police officer suffered an accidental overdose from exposure to fentanyl during a drug bust. He was saved by doses of the antidote Narcan.

The DEA didn't deny that exposure to the drug via a shopping cart was possible, but it emphasized the manual was strictly meant for law enforcement, not the public, CBS News' Paula Reid reports. The DEA noted that any exposure is bad.

Fact-checking website Snopes.com ranked the shopping cart claim "unproven."

"While accidental ingestion would in theory be a possibility, the scientific plausibility of overdose through skin contact alone has been called into question," the site wrote.

By Thursday afternoon the Leachville Police Department deleted the post, which originally read:

"You know when you go to Wal-Mart and they have the wipes to clean your cart handle? How many of you don't use them? Well I do and I always thought of the germs only. Was told today that the police chief also suggests you do it also because of all the problems with drugs now days and if they have Fentanyl or something like that still on their hands and they touch that cart handle and then you do, it can get into your system. Scary but worth taking the time to clean the handle. All you'd have to do is rub your nose or touch your child's mouth. I never even considered this possibility. Children being exposed to just the powder or residue is a bad situation that can turn deadly."

The officer responsible issued an apology, saying he "should have checked into it further."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin, fentanyl and other opioids killed more than 35,000 people in 2015. Nearly half of opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid painkiller, the CDC reports.

Sabora says the number today is probably even higher.

"We lost more people in 2016 from opioid overdoses than the whole Vietnam War. It's killed more people than AIDS. This is a more serious epidemic," Sabora said.

That's why Sabora believes that inaccurate messages like the original Leachville post are so dangerous.

"We want to cast judgment," he said. "We have to be very careful. The person who hears something like this could be the person who prevents real progress and change from helping these people."

22 Photographs -- Deadliest drugs

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THIS ONE IS DISTURBING TO ME, THOUGH VERY INTERESTING. WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE, I WONDER, TO HACK INTO THE COMPUTER OF YOUR LOVER’S HUSBAND’S CAR AND MAKE IT CRASH INTO A TREE? IF A BAD ACTOR WANTED TO CRASH ONE OF THESE PLANES BY THAT METHOD IT WOULD BE HARD TO DEFEND AGAINST IT IF THE ATTACKER IS PERSISTENT, MALICIOUS, CREATIVE, CLEVER AND INNOVATIVE. THERE ARE PROBABLY DOZENS TO HUNDREDS OF WAYS TO HACK IF YOU’RE VERY CAPABLE WITH COMPUTERS, AND THAT’S WHAT YOUR TURN OF MIND IS. SOME PEOPLE JUST REALLY GET A KICK OUT OF DOING HARM, THE WORSE THE BETTER. NOT EVEN THE “PATCHES” TO COVER KNOWN WEAKNESSES ARE A PROTECTION AGAINST EVERYTHING INTO INFINITY, I FEEL SURE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeland-security-hacked-boeing-757-jetliner/
By KRIS VAN CLEAVE CBS NEWS November 10, 2017, 7:24 PM
Experts working with Homeland Security hacked into Boeing 757

There's some unsettling news about one of America's most widely-used jetliners.

In a test, experts working with Homeland Security hacked into a Boeing 757. The team of researchers needed only two days in September 2016 to remotely hack into a 757 parked at the airport in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Speaking at a conference this week, Robert Hickey of the Department of Homeland Security said his team used "typical stuff that could get through security" and hacked into the aircraft systems using "radio frequency communications."

"The 757 hasn't been in production since 2004, but the aging workhorse is still flown by major airlines like United, Delta and American," said Mark Rosenker, the former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

President Trump's personal jet is a 757. So is the plane Vice President Pence often uses -- including on his recent trip to Texas.

The classified DHS testing followed a 2015 incident where a passenger told the FBI he had gained control of a plane's engine by hacking into the airline's in-flight entertainment system.

That same year, the Government Accountability Office warned about "potential malicious actors" accessing an airliner's Wi-Fi network.

Homeland Security says the recent testing was in an "artificial environment and risk reduction measures were already in place."

Boeing observed the testing and was briefed on its results. In a statement, the company says, "We firmly believe that the test did not identify any cyber vulnerabilities in the 757, or any other boeing aircraft."

An official briefed on the testing does not believe it revealed an "extreme vulnerability" to airliners, since it required a very specific approach in a very specific way on an older aircraft with an older system. The official adds, it was good information to have, "but I'm not afraid to fly."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



TIME TO ASK WHY – RACHEL ASKS WHO WANTS THE STATE DEPARTMENT GUTTED. TIME TO ASK WHY TRUMP IS STRIPPING OUT THE WHOLE STATE DEPARTMENT. HIS RECENT ANSWER, BECAUSE “HE IS THE SOURCE OF FOREIGN POLICY!” WHAT HE DOESN’T SAY IS THAT ANYBODY IN GOVERNMENT FROM THE FBI, STATE, ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENTS TO EVEN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WHO HAS THE GALL (GUTS) TO STAND UP AGAINST HIM IS POTENTIALLY A THREAT, AND THAT THE MORE SENIOR THEIR STATUS, THE MORE DANGEROUS THEY ARE. SO, HE IS REPLACING THEM, BEGINNING AT THE TOP AND WORKING DOWN.

I THINK CREATING SUCH A VISIBLE ANTIDEMOCRATIC POWER GRAB IS TURNING OFF VOTERS EVEN AMONG REPUBLICANS, AND WILL INTO THE FUTURE. IT IS ALSO PART OF THE GROUNDS FOR HIS MUCH AWAITED IMPEACHMENT, AND I THINK IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THAT HAPPENS. SEE THE ARTICLE ON THE ASSAULT ON STATE BY REX TILLERSON, WHICH I PLACED BELOW THIS MADDOW TAPE. THE POLITICO ARTICLE HERE IS VERY TELLING ABOUT WHO AND WHY. I BELIEVE IT IS ALL COMING DOWN FROM TRUMP HIMSELF, THOUGH HEARTILY PURSUED BY TILLERSON, AND WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT TILLERSON HAS SOME OF THE STRONGEST TIES TO RUSSIA, EVEN PUTIN. THERE WAS A RECENT REFERENCE TO THAT CLOSENESS IN A RECENT MADDOW BLOG. AND WHAT ABOUT PUTIN? I THINK WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT GOD IS ALSO TRUE OF PUTIN, THAT “HE WORKS THROUGH PEOPLE.” US CITIZENS SHOULD FIND THAT AN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/9/17
Trump gutting of State Department hard to explain with politics
Rachel Maddow points out that while some Donald Trump policies were expected as being within the framework of Republican ideology, the gutting of the State Department is hard to explain that way, and notes that a strong state department would help keep Trump from humiliating himself abroad. Duration: 19:17


https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-rex-tillerson-present-at-the-destruction-how-rex-tillerson-is-wrecking-the-state-department/
How Rex Tillerson is wrecking the State Department
I worked in Foggy Bottom for 6 years. I’ve never seen anything like this.
By MAX BERGMANN 7/2/17, 4:02 AM CET Updated 7/5/17, 9:58 AM CET

Photograph -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson | Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

The deconstruction of the State Department is well underway.

I recently returned to Foggy Bottom for the first time since January 20 to attend the departure of a former colleague and career midlevel official — something that had sadly become routine. In my six years at State as a political appointee, under the Obama administration, I had gone to countless of these events. They usually followed a similar pattern: slightly awkward, but endearing formalities, a sense of melancholy at the loss of a valued teammate. But, in the end, a rather jovial celebration of a colleague’s work. These events usually petered out quickly, since there is work to do. At the State Department, the unspoken mantra is: The mission goes on, and no one is irreplaceable. But this event did not follow that pattern. It felt more like a funeral, not for the departing colleague, but for the dying organization they were leaving behind.


As I made the rounds and spoke with usually buttoned-up career officials, some who I knew well, some who I didn’t, from a cross section of offices covering various regions and functions, no one held back. To a person, I heard that the State Department was in “chaos,” “a disaster,” “terrible,” the leadership “totally incompetent.” This reflected what I had been hearing the past few months from friends still inside the department, but hearing it in rapid fire made my stomach churn. As I walked through the halls once stalked by diplomatic giants like Dean Acheson and James Baker, the deconstruction was literally visible. Furniture from now-closed offices crowded the hallways. Dropping in on one of my old offices, I expected to see a former colleague — a career senior foreign service officer — but was stunned to find out she had been abruptly forced into retirement and had departed the previous week. This office, once bustling, had just one person present, keeping on the lights.

Tillerson is not reorganizing, he’s downsizing.
This is how diplomacy dies. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. With empty offices on a midweek afternoon.

When Rex Tillerson was announced as secretary of state, there was a general feeling of excitement and relief in the department. After eight years of high-profile, jet-setting secretaries, the building was genuinely looking forward to having someone experienced in corporate management. Like all large, sprawling organizations, the State Department’s structure is in perpetual need of an organizational rethink. That was what was hoped for, but that is not what is happening. Tillerson is not reorganizing, he’s downsizing.

This is how diplomacy dies. Not with a bang, but with a whimper | Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

While the lack of senior political appointees has gotten a lot of attention, less attention has been paid to the hollowing out of the career workforce, who actually run the department day to day. Tillerson has canceled the incoming class of foreign service officers. This as if the Navy told all of its incoming Naval Academy officers they weren’t needed. Senior officers have been unceremoniously pushed out. Many saw the writing on the wall and just retired, and many others are now awaiting buyout offers. He has dismissed State’s equivalent of an officer reserve — retired FSOs, who are often called upon to fill State’s many short-term staffing gaps, have been sent home despite no one to replace them. Office managers are now told three people must depart before they can make one hire. And now Bloomberg reports that Tillerson is blocking all lateral transfers within the department, preventing staffers from moving to another office even if it has an opening. Managers can’t fill openings; employees feel trapped.

Despite all this, career foreign and civil service officers are all still working incredibly hard representing the United States internationally. They’re still doing us proud. But how do you manage multimillion-dollar programs with no people? Who do you send to international meetings and summits? Maybe, my former colleagues are discovering, you just can’t implement that program or show up to that meeting. Tillerson’s actions amount to a geostrategic own-goal, weakening America by preventing America from showing up.

The problem with running the State Department like a business is that most businesses fail — and American diplomacy is too big to fail.

State’s growing policy irrelevance and Tillerson’s total aversion to the experts in his midst is prompting the department’s rising stars to search for the exits. The private sector and the Pentagon are vacuuming them up. This is inflicting long-term damage to the viability of the American diplomacy — and things were already tough. State has been operating under an austerity budget for the past six years since the 2011 Budget Control Act. Therefore, when Tillerson cuts, he is largely cutting into bone, not fat. The next administration won’t simply be able to flip a switch and reverse the damage. It takes years to recruit and develop diplomatic talent. What Vietnam did to hollow out our military, Tillerson is doing to State.

ALSO ON POLITICO
Rex Tillerson argued with a second White House aide
JOSH DAWSEY and ELIANA JOHNSON

ALSO ON POLITICO
Tillerson blows up at top White House aide
JOSH DAWSEY, ELIANA JOHNSON and ALEX ISENSTADT

ALSO ON POLITICO
Tillerson signals trouble for Senate’s bipartisan Russia sanctions deal
ELANA SCHOR

What we now know is that the building is being run by a tiny clique of ideologues who know nothing about the department but have insulated themselves from the people who do. Tillerson and his isolated and inexperienced cadres are going about reorganizing the department based on little more than gut feeling. They are going about it with vigor. And there is little Congress can seemingly do — though lawmakers control the purse strings, it’s hard to stop an agency from destroying itself.

At the root of the problem is the inherent distrust of the State Department and career officers. I can sympathize with this — I, too, was once a naive political appointee, like many of the Trump people. During the 2000s, when I was in my 20s, I couldn’t imagine anyone working for George W. Bush. I often interpreted every action from the Bush administration in the most nefarious way possible. Almost immediately after entering government, I realized how foolish I had been.

A view of the State Department seal on the podium | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For most of Foggy Bottom, the politics of Washington might as well have been the politics of Timbuktu — a distant concern, with little relevance to most people’s work. I found that State’s career officials generally were more hawkish than most Democrats, but believe very much in American leadership in international organizations and in forging international agreements, putting them to the left of many Republicans. Politically, most supported politicians that they thought would best protect and strengthen American interests and global leadership. Many career officials were often exasperated by the Obama administration and agreed with much of the conservative critique of his policies—hence the initial enthusiasm for Tillerson. By the end of my tenure, many of my closest and most trusted colleagues were registered Republicans, had worked in the Bush White House or were retired military officers. I would have strongly considered staying on in a normal Republican administration if asked.

I don’t believe my experience is unique: When you see a lot of Bush-era veterans attacking the Trump administration, it’s likely because they had a similar experience. In government—and especially in the foreign policy and national security realms — you work for your country, not a party.

Tillerson is quickly becoming one of the worst and most destructive secretaries of state in the history of our country.

What is motivating Tillerson’s demolition effort is anyone’s guess. He may have been a worldly CEO at ExxonMobil, but he had precious little experience in how American diplomacy works. Perhaps Tillerson, as a D.C. and foreign policy novice, is simply being a good soldier, following through on edicts from White House ideologues like Steve Bannon. Perhaps he thinks he is running State like a business. But the problem with running the State Department like a business is that most businesses fail — and American diplomacy is too big to fail.

What is clear, however, is that there is no pressing reason for any of these cuts. America is not a country in decline. Its economy is experiencing an unprecedented period of continuous economic growth, its technology sector is the envy of the world and the American military remains unmatched. Even now, under Trump, America’s allies and enduring values amplify its power and constrain its adversaries. America is not in decline — it is choosing to decline. And Tillerson is making that choice. He is quickly becoming one of the worst and most destructive secretaries of state in the history of our country.

Max Bergmann is senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He served in the State Department from 2011–2017



THESE TWO FROM MADDOW ARE ON THE SAME SUBJECT – THE DEMS ARE GETTING AHEAD, PROBABLY BECAUSE SO MANY GOOD AMERICANS WHO VOTED FOR A DASTARD ARE SORRY NOW. WHATEVER THE REASON, IT’S A GOOD THING.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/9/17
Democratic wave brings new faces into politics
Rachel Maddow reviews the sweep of Democratic election victories and points out how the diversity of the Democratic candidates in brought significant change to Virginia politics, even as gerrymandering tempered the overall outcome. Duration: 23:33


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/7/17
Virginia Democrats celebrate big win in off-year election
Senator Mark Warner talks with Rachel Maddow about Democratic election victories in the state's top offices. Duration: 5:48



USMC HEAD LAWYER AND BRIGADIER GENERAL AT GUANTANAMO WAS JAILED FOR DISAGREEING STRONGLY WITH THE JUDGE. HE’S OUT NOW. MADDOW SAYS THAT THE PENTAGON MAY HAVE FREED HIM. SHE ALSO SAID “THAT PSEUDO-COURT SYSTEM IS IMPLODING.” I LIKE PEOPLE WITH SPUNK, AND SHE HAS SPUNK!

ANOTHER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TIFF IS THE LONG HISTORY OF THE FIGHT BETWEEN TRUMP AND THE DOJ UNDER FIRST COMEY AND THEN SESSIONS. SESSIONS, THOUGH TO ME HE IS AN ULTRACONSERVATIVE AND I DISLIKE HIS VIEWS, BUT HE OBVIOUSLY IS NOT A TOTAL WEAKLING. GO, SESSIONS!

MULTIPLE MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS AND SENATE HAVE PUBLICLY MADE PURPOSEFUL ANNOUNCEMENTS, VIA THE “FAKE NEWS” OUTLETS, HAVE SPECIFICALLY WARNED TRUMP TO KEEP HIS HANDS OFF OF JEFF SESSIONS. THIS IS HOW AMERICA STANDS UP AGAINST THE TRUMP ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE SEPARATED POWERS AS THEY EXERCISE THEIR POWER – ONE AT A TIME, AS WHEN DAVID WITH HIS SLING STRODE OUT TO MEET GOLIATH, AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT TURNED OUT!

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-frustrated-by-notion-of-independent-justice-1088385603847
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/3/17
Trump frustrated by notion of independent justice
Rachel Maddow shows how Donald Trump's ignorance about the bounds of presidential propriety is interfering with the U.S. justice system and his desire to replace Jeff Sessions with a more sympathetic attorney general.
Duration: 23:33


HERE IS YET ANOTHER SITUATION TO WATCH. I’M BEGINNING TO WONDER WHY ANY OF THESE DEPARTMENT HEADS HAVE ANY POWER AT ALL OVER THE MUELLER PROBE. THAT SEEMS "INAPPROPRIATE" TO ME, NOT TO MENTION DANGEROUS. SEE: HTTP://FOREIGNPOLICY.COM/2017/10/27/MIKE-POMPEO-COULD-STOP-ROBERT-MUELLER-IN-HIS-TRACKS/ FOR PRINT INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/8/17
Pompeo could use CIA against Mueller probe as a favor to Trump
Ned Price, former spokesman for the National Security Council, talks with Rachel Maddow about the dangers inherent in CIA Director Mike Pompeo's allegiance to Donald Trump and his potential threat to the Mueller investigation. Duration: 7:02


http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/27/mike-pompeo-could-stop-robert-mueller-in-his-tracks/
LAWFARE
Mike Pompeo Could Stop Robert Mueller in His Tracks
The director of the CIA has extraordinary influence over all counterintelligence investigations — and there are reasons to distrust his intentions.
BY BARBARA MCQUADE | OCTOBER 27, 2017, 9:00 AM

Photograph -- CIA director Mike Pompeo during his confirmation hearing on Jan. 12. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Does the CIA have the right to deny special counsel Robert Mueller access to Russia-related information relevant to his investigation into the 2016 U.S. presidential election? And if so, should we be worried that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would seize on that right to protect President Donald Trump?

As a former federal prosecutor, I have worked on cases where the intelligence community denied permission to use evidence at trial, resulting in the inability to proceed on certain charges. In those cases, I accepted that the intelligence agency in question was acting in good faith to protect a source or method that was of higher priority than the individual charges. I increasingly worry that such a presumption wouldn’t be warranted for Pompeo’s CIA.

The Washington Post recently reported that Pompeo has distorted the intelligence community’s findings regarding Russian interference in the election. Pompeo stated that the intelligence community concluded that Russian meddling did not affect the outcome of the election. In fact, a report released by the intelligence community in January “made no judgment” on whether Russian interference affected the election, according to former Deputy CIA Director David Cohen, stating the question of outcome was outside the scope of inquiry by the intelligence community. Instead, the report disclosed that Russia leaked stolen emails and used social media to disrupt political discourse. The report concluded that Russia sought to help elect Donald Trump by sowing discord and harming public confidence in the American electoral system.

Maybe Pompeo made an honest mistake when he claimed Russian meddling did not affect the election’s outcome. But Pompeo’s comments could be an effort to spin the report in a way that minimizes its findings. Other reports have indicated that Pompeo issued a directive in August that those working on the Russia investigation at the CIA report directly to him.

This is a troubling sign for someone with as much power as Pompeo has as CIA director. Because Mueller’s investigation is at its core a counterintelligence investigation, Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas, could have extraordinary influence over what intelligence information may be used in any resulting criminal case.

Since the enactment of the Patriot Act, information that is collected for intelligence purposes may be shared with criminal investigators for use in court as long as the collection was lawful and a significant purpose of the collection was for intelligence purposes.

Additional barriers exist, however. Because intelligence information is classified, prosecutors must obtain both declassification and use authority. Only the owner of the information — the agency that produced the intelligence in question — can grant that permission. In many instances, that owner is the CIA. There are some procedures to use classified information at trial without declassification, notably the Classified Information Procedures Act, but use authority must always be granted before it may be used as a basis for an indictment.

There are good reasons for these restrictions. Using intelligence information in court can risk compromising intelligence equities at stake. Intelligence officials must sometimes choose whether to proceed with the case in open court or instead to protect the source or method of the intelligence information. Sometimes permission to use intelligence information is denied because the cost of compromising a source or collection technique is determined to be too high to justify the disclosure. The case consequently either proceeds without the particular evidence or, where alternative evidence is unavailable or insufficient, the criminal case is dropped.

Pompeo’s past record creates a situation where one might reasonably question whether any determination he makes about declassification or use authority was made solely for proper nonpolitical, national security purposes.

One could imagine a scenario, for example, in which Mueller has obtained intelligence information that supports a case of conspiracy between Russians and members of the Trump campaign to violate the law. That information may be crucial to proving the connection required to convict any defendants who are charged. The information would be admissible if it was collected lawfully and if Mueller could obtain permission from its owner. But if that owner is the CIA, then Pompeo could decide to deny permission to use the evidence. That could leave Mueller charging the case without the benefit of all available evidence or, even worse, with no charges at all.

This illustrates the critical importance of individuals like the CIA director remaining apolitical. By remaining above the partisan fray, the CIA director can preserve credibility in cases where difficult national security choices might also resolve to the benefit of the president or his compatriots. One can only hope that officials keep national security interests in mind when they weigh the protection of intelligence equities. In a case with stakes as high as this one, it’s fair to wonder whether Pompeo’s record qualifies him to discharge that awesome responsibility.

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.



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