The Desert and the Politics

Greetings and salutations people of Earth.  It's hard to post about daily life these days as we stand by watching the wanton destruction of the most successful democracy to date.  Having said that, I'm putting my political stuff at the bottom so you can click away if you're tired of it.

Here are some nice pictures from recent hikes.  Today a front is moving in with some pretty good wind.  Tomorrow is forecast to be raining, cooler and windy.  Bleah.

OK!  Begin politics.

All it took was one ego maniac and the willingness of the republican party to go along with him.  Why don't the republicans decry the recent naming of Richard Grenell as acting DNI?  He knows nothing, he has no background, his only qualification is his unrelenting support of the president.  This appointment came about because there was a classified briefing that discussed the fact that Russia is still interfering with US elections.  Rather than do something about this state of affairs, the president called the acting DNI (Admiral Joseph Maguire) in to his office, gave him a dressing down and then sent him packing.  So, at this point the intelligence community is learning to not discuss anything that might irritate the sensitive-one in chief.  This censoring will also make it that much easier for Russia to do what they want again.

The following is from a KOMO article.  KOMO is a member of the conservative Sinclair network, so it's interesting to me that they're allowed to do this kind of reporting.

The background of Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany since April 2018, is primarily in politics and media affairs. He lacks the extensive national security and military experience of the acting director he replaces, Joseph Maguire, as well as previous holders of the position. Such experience appears to be required under the 2004 law that created the post to coordinate the work of the nation's intelligence agencies.

"He is probably the most unqualified individual ever appointed to this position," said Larry Pfeiffer, a former longtime intelligence agency official who helped establish the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Dating from his time as spokesman for former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, Grenell has had an antagonistic relationship with members of the media, whom he frequently criticizes for perceived liberal bias. He has issued demands for retractions and corrections over unfavorable reports later confirmed to be accurate.

Last month, he took to Twitter when The Washington Post reported the Trump administration threatened to impose a 25% tariff on vehicles manufactured in three European countries, including Germany, unless they met U.S. demands for actions against Iran.

Grenell slammed the Post reporter who wrote the story for "Fake News."

The following day, a German foreign ministry official confirmed the Trump tariff threat in a briefing to a parliamentary committee.

WAPO wrote a piece about the events.  It's a very coherent summation of what happened and why.

But wait, there's more!  I can't stand it.  Read more here.

Richard Grenell’s tenure as the nation’s top intelligence official may be short-lived, but he wasted no time this week starting to shape his team of advisers, ousting his office’s No. 2 official — a longtime intelligence officer — and bringing in an expert on Trump conspiracy theories to help lead the agency, according to officials.

In other news that is pissing me off, three weeks ago the president signed a memo giving the Department of Defense an exemption from the law that gives federal employees the right to unionize.  The official excuse is "national security."  The real reason is union busting.  This will affect 750,000 people who do stuff like build aircraft carriers and etc.  It's not clear to me why people buy in to his shtick that he's a friend of the working person.

Currently the administration is dynamiting its way through Organ Pipe National Monument to build a section of the wall.  In addition to blowing up Native American burial sites, the contractors have drained an aquifer to mix concrete.  These are damages that can not be repaired.  There has been no negotiation with the local tribes, they just went in and did this.  You can read about this here.

Meanwhile, John McEntee, the president's former body man, has been reinstated and appointed to run the presidential personnel office.  Basically his job is to root out people who are not seen as sufficiently loyal to the president.  This is looking more and more like a dictatorship

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