Sic Semper Tyrannis

Look for the fine print about two separate things: 1- border control and barriers, and 2 - general immigration law

By Robert Willmann

As president Trump is speaking about the U.S. southern border and a national emergency, here is the law that was passed yesterday when probably no one had read all of it, certainly not the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, whose position is that in a "democracy", you have to pass a law before you can find out what is in it--

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/immigration-116hjres31enr.pdf

And this was the recorded vote--

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll087.xml

I have to tend to some other things right now, but if you look at this new law, it is useful to think not only about a border wall and border control, which has been the subject of all the talk and political posturing, but also about language in this new legislation about other parts of the immigration law.  Changes or additions to the existing immigration law separate and apart from border control can have a greater effect on not controlling legal and illegal immigration than features of a border wall would.

Also, after a national emergency is declared, and if court action follows, the legal debate will be largely about "statutory construction" -- the interplay of two or more laws about a particular subject -- and the interpretation of words in different sections of different federal laws and words in the U.S. Constitution.

Update:  The National Emergencies Act--

http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title50/chapter34&edition=prelim

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/chapter-34

Update 2:  Regarding the thought above that changes or additions to immigration law separate and apart from the effects of a border wall can be significant, I am trying to emphasize that changes to general immigration law can lead to less control over legal and illegal immigration, and can cause more problems with illegal immigration, than border control itself, even when border control is quite effective.

 

Taking a break

Not feeling well, maybe too much winter.   pl

22 million lifetime page views now

pl

Alms?

The last request for crowd funding did not yield much.  Rattle.  Rattle.  That's my bowl rattling.

I think that is Belisarius begging for alms after being blinded by his government.  Talk about an ego! (me)  pl

Happy New Year - 2019

And now- an Old Army party.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=utube+Ft+Apache+grand+march&qpvt=utube+Ft+Apache+grand+march&view=detail&mid=72279436875C47E8D2BC72279436875C47E8D2BC&&FORM=VRDGAR

And now the US Army has returned to wearing its traditional dark blue when not in the field.  Thank God!  The Grand March was always a feature of unit balls until "modernity" killed it off.

A New Year's Day reception in quarters given by commanders of battalions and regiments was a feature of regimental life until well into my time as a subaltern.  Attendance was not compulsory but expected.  My first assignment was to the Second Battalion, Second Infantry Regiment then stationed at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, coincidentally the post at which I had been born.  One Year a few bachelor lieutenants preferred to go skiing and agreed that one of their number would attend the CO's reception and leave all their calling cards in the silver tray on a table near the front door to show they had been there.  Unfortunately the designated deliverer had a few two many eggnogs and dropped the cards in the tray with a rubber band still around them.  When asked to explain, they sensibly threw themselves on the mercy of the CO's wife, a lovely Puerto Rican lady who graciously forgave them all.  pl

The White House announces some sort of U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria

By Robert Willmann

This morning, the White House announced some type of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.  What actually will happen remains to be seen--

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1075425481032376320

Statement from @PressSec: “Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. . .”

“These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign. . .”

“The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support, and any means of infiltrating our borders.”

 

I don't feel well today ...

I am taking a break.  pl

Correct SST URL

is  https://turcopolier.typepad.com/  with the forward slant at the end.  By some strange process many people's computers and browsers have been using the URL without the forward slant.  Try it.  pl

Requiem To Marion Barry: The Kavanaugh Sex Spectacle

 

By Robert Willmann

Update (Friday, 28 September):  It looks like Senator Lindsey Graham (Repub., South Carolina) might be reading SST.  On the radio shortly before 9:00 a.m. central time, he was talking, probably in the hallway, and was saying that there is no statute of limitations on rape in Maryland, and so if someone wanted to make a complaint to start the investigation of a criminal case, that could be done.  There are additional issues to research, such as whether a person to be charged was a juvenile or adult for purposes of crime at the time of the alleged offense, its effect on the statute of limitations, and so forth, as mentioned below. 

----- 

As a coincidence theorist, I find it mathematically interesting that accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh began when they did, and continued in sequence spaced out up to and including yesterday. 

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) is on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  She is also, surprisingly, on the Senate Intelligence Committee, given the financial investments and activities by her husband Richard Blum in China.  Right on cue, after the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing ended, Feinstein began Act 1 of the three act play you could see coming from a mile or kilometer away, with its three act structure:  the set-up, conflict, and resolution--

http://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-master-the-structure-of-script-writing/

http://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/screenplay-sequences-underpin-three-act-structure/

In Act 1, Feinstein revealed a mysterious letter that she would not disclose to her Democratic colleagues about an unnamed accuser who did not want to be known or get involved.  In Act 2, the accuser "comes forward" and her name becomes known and there is the demand that there be an investigation, that she testify before the committee, and that any vote be delayed.  Act 3 is played out today.  

Having been involved in the prosecution and defense of criminal sex cases, I am not watching the contrived spectacle now underway, which is political maneuvering and propaganda.  But I have seen an image of the goings-on, and am wondering who did Christine Blasey Ford's hair this morning and picked out the clothes she is wearing for her role as accuser. 

The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee scuttled around and painted themselves into a corner by tentatively agreeing on Saturday, 22 September, to a hearing of sorts for Thursday, 27 September, at which Ms. Ford would testify [1].  Then, by coincidence, of course, up popped a story in the New Yorker magazine on Sunday, 23 September, in which a female named Deborah Ramirez claimed that in the 1983-84 school year at Yale University, Kavanaugh exposed his male sex organ to her at a drunken dormitory party [2].  Waiting until the seventh paragraph of the article, authors Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer begin the disclaimers--

 

Paul Manafort makes a plea agreement in the case in Washington D.C. federal court

By Robert Willmann

Update:  It turns out that a factual basis/statement of the offense was put in writing and filed.  The waiver of an indictment and consent to proceed on the previously filed charging document (the "information"), the factual basis, and the plea agreement are here--

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/paul_manafort_waiver_of_indictment.pdf

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/paul_manafort_statement_of_offense.pdf

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/paul_manafort_plea_agreement.pdf

A joint status report by the government and Manafort is to be made by 16 November. 

Some aspects of this case, such as the property forfeiture provisions and the extreme leverage possessed by the prosecution, grew out of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (an appropriate match to George Orwell's book, "1984").  It was in Public Law 98-473, having been inserted into a continuing appropriations bill for fiscal year 1985.  That atrocious law was very controversial, but was pushed through Congress.  It is quite a story in itself.

P.S.--I do not know who the two people are the statues represent in the photo above, which is the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington.

-----

Scheduled to start today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time in a federal district court in Washington, D.C. is a hearing at which president Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort is going to announce a plea agreement with the "special counsel" Robert Mueller's group.  Two criminal cases were filed against Manafort -- one in Washington, D.C. and the other in Arlington, Virginia.  A trial concluded not long ago in the case in Virginia.  The D.C. court clerk's docket sheet says--

"09/14/2018 Set/Reset Hearings as to PAUL J. MANAFORT, JR (1): The continuation of the Pretrial Conference presently set for 9/14/2018 at 11:00 AM is converted to an Arraignment and Plea Agreement Hearing before Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (jth) (Entered: 09/14/2018)".

A 38-page "superseding criminal information" was filed against Manafort today, which is a charging document filed by agreement, as was done in former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's case in New York City.  If the document charging a felony is not filed by agreement, it is called an indictment.  Some exhibits were filed as well, and here are both items from earlier today--

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/paul_manafort_charging_document.pdf

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/paul_manafort_exhibits_to_charging_doc.pdf

We will see whether they will try to slip the "factual basis" for the plea through orally in open court rather than putting it in writing as is usually done.  If they seek to do it orally, then the public has to get a transcript of the hearing from the court reporter to see what the factual basis (or "statement of the offense") says and how sufficient or sketchy it looks.

 

21 million lifetime page views for SST - 9 September 2018

I have often eaten at the 21 Club in Manhatten.  I would recommend the lemon sole.  I did not pay this check.  The price for two bottles of Petrus is remarkable.  Hannibal Lecter may have bought the wine.  It was his favorite.  pl

On editing

 

I spent a long life writing for the government and myself and supervising many, many writers and supposed editors. 

In that time I developed a loathing for the "happy to glad" type of editor and sympathy for Mark Twain's rebellion against his editor..  This was a revolt so profound that in the end the writer sent the editor several pages of typewritten, commas, semicolons, etc. with instruction that they should be inserted as needed.

Understand?  No?  Well then you can insert them wherever they might be most uncomfortable.  pl

If I am going to continue with SST...

Events in the world have forced my early return to active management and authorship,  I hope to see your interest reflected in donations.  pl

John Brennan's security clearance is revoked, with a teaser at the end

 

By Robert Willmann

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders walked out to the podium today and, for the first 4 minutes, read a prepared statement in a deadpan voice--

http://www.c-span.org/video/?449848-1/white-house-revokes-cia-director-brennans-security-clearance

Likely written by White House counsel Donald McGahn, the statement, after its declaration that former CIA employee and director John O. Brennan's security clearance was going to be revoked, concluded with a teaser at the end.  Since he has show business experience, Donald Trump is doing this one act at a time.  He says that he is "evaluating" nine other people to decide whether to revoke their security clearances or prevent them from getting one:  James Clapper, James Comey, Michael Hayden, Sally Yates, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr.

Another name for such evaulation should be former NSA director Keith Alexander, but so far he has ducked beneath the radar.

Concerning this useful and amusing development, I express the following opinion--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGPNJBZc3oc

Brennan's biography as written at the CIA Internet website shows how he was wired in:  during 1994-1995, he was the agency's intelligence briefer to president Bill Clinton; he was chief of staff to George "Slam Dunk" Tenet from 1999-2001; he was deputy director of the CIA until 2003; he was an assistant to president Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism for four years; and was sworn in as CIA director on 8 March 2013.

A little item of personal interest is in the biographical sketch.  It says that after graduating from Fordham University in 1977, Brennan "later attended the University of Texas at Austin, where in 1980 he earned a master's degree in government with a concentration in Middle Eastern studies". 

While riding my bicycle to the law school and in and around the University of Texas campus at that time at all hours of the day and night, I might have come in close proximity to Mr. Brennan.

It's a small world after all.

 

Summer Break - I need one

Blogofatigue.  I will post on events that I cannot ignore like the Idlib Campaign, but except for that will take a break and work on my burnout. 

Guest authors should feel free to continue while I am gone.  pl

An end to the DNC "hack" or "download" crisis here

There will be no more on this.  Move on.  I will remove any further material on this unless something that is actually new comes to light.  pl

Senator Rand Paul will ask the president to revoke John Brennan's security clearance

By Robert Willmann

Demonstrating that he continues to learn about the application of governmental politics, Senator Rand Paul said that he plans to meet with president Trump today, 23 July 2018, and request that John O. Brennan's security clearance be revoked--

http://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1021359932795482112

http://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1021359930387902466

http://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1021471167205576705

He asks:  "Is John Brennan monetizing his security clearance? Is John Brennan making millions of dollars divulging secrets to the mainstream media with his attacks on @realDonaldTrump?"

This important issue is rarely stated, much less discussed as a topic in itself, and is not limited in relevance to Brennan.  Paul asked back in January 2018 if FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page still had security clearances.  Arrogantly delaying exactly three months to reply, the FBI liaison for congressional affairs tap danced in a letter and gave no real answer (a non-answer answer)--

http://www.paul.senate.gov/letter-fbi-director-christopher-wray-and-response-fbi

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/11/trump-haters-strzok-page-still-have-top-secret-security-clearance-fbi-tells-rand-paul.html

Strzok was asked at the recent Congressional hearing if he had a security clearance, to which he answered in the affirmative.  However, an article reported that the clearance was "limited" for purposes of the hearing--

http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/12/strzok-security-clearance/

 

Three legal matters: the Supreme Court, Michael Flynn, and FBI DOJ documents

 

By Robert Willmann

Three legal matters worthy of attention are here this week of 8 July 2018. 

1.  U.S. Supreme Court nomination 

A nomination should be made today to the U.S. Supreme Court to take the place of Judge Anthony Kennedy, who will be leaving the court this year.  As the media speculates on who will be officially announced at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight, the number being considered was said to be four, if the NY Times newspaper is at all correct:  Thomas Hardiman, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Raymond Kethledge [1].

In my opinion, neither Kavanaugh nor Kethledge would be good nominees.  For example, Kethledge was the author of the decision of a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that said a search warrant was not required before getting cellular phone location data to use in a criminal case [2].  Fortunately, the Supreme Court agreed to consider that case, and reversed it recently on 22 June 2018 by a 5-4 decision.  Judge John Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority, but the "conservative" judges, including Neil Gorsuch, did not think that a warrant was required.  

Although the issue of abortion, even though important, dominates all the talk on mass media, more important to the foundation of the country are questions such as search and seizure, detention without trial, disclosure of government documents and information to the public (without the new trend of "redactions"), jury trials, and uses of and limits on the police power (the use of force domestically by a government).

2.  Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.) court hearing

Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is now presiding over the Michael Flynn criminal case in federal court in Washington D.C. after Judge Rudolph Contreras recused himself, set a hearing for a "status conference" to be at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 10 July, and wants Gen. Flynn to attend.

Judge Contreras conducted the hearing at which Flynn pled guilty, and then bailed out.  He was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on 19 May 2016 and his term expires on 18 May 2023 [3].  This might be a factor in his recusal.  Also, more recently, text messages of FBI agent Peter Strzok revealed that he was/is a friend of Judge Contreras.  Probably still hidden from the public and likely from Gen. Flynn himself is information about the FISC surveillance warrants directed at one or more persons associated with the Trump presidential campaign, and any relationship between Strzok, his paramour -- former FBI attorney Lisa Page, who has resigned -- and Judge Contreras.  

3.  House Committees want FBI and Dept. of Justice documents

For more than a year, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee has been trying to get documents from the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ), by both letter requests and by subpoena.  As some documents were disclosed, it became obvious that more information was needed, and on 24 October 2017, a joint investigation was started by both the Intel Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.  After partial compliance, blacking out some information by "redactions", and tap dancing by the FBI and DOJ, the whole House passed a resolution on 28 June 2018 that the documents should be provided by last Friday, 6 July.  They apparently were not all produced.

What goes around comes around: Democrats first changed the filibuster rule for some federal judges

 

By Robert Willmann

While the U.S. Supreme Court issued some decisions and opinions of note this term for discussion, once again the subject was "overtaken by events", as the State Department is fond of saying.  On Wednesday, 27 June 2018, Judge Anthony Kennedy went to the White House to tell president Trump and then announced by a letter that he would be retiring--

http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/Letter_to_the_President_June27.pdf

Judge Kennedy was appointed by president Ronald Reagan and took the oath of office on 18 February 1988.  His letter makes clear that his position as an associate judge will end on 31 July of this year, but that he will take "senior status" under Title 28, United States Code, section 371(b).  This means that he will retain the office but retire from regular active service [1].  Federal judges with senior status continue to participate in some cases, and Judge Kennedy will likely do so until his successor is confirmed and sworn in.

The unexpected news jumped to the forefront, and the voluble Chris Matthews on the MSNBC television network almost had a cow shortly after the announcement, he was so distraught that another judge would be appointed with the present makeup of the U.S. Senate and executive branch.  But that is the least of it.

Blowback.  What goes around comes around. 

Barack Obama, while president, got together with the Democratic majority leader of the Senate, Harry Reid (now retired), and the "filibuster rule" in the senate -- technically, the "cloture rule" -- was changed for confirmation of executive branch nominees and of federal judges such that it would apply only to Supreme Court judges and not for other federal judge nominees.  They did it by muscling through an interpretation of a senate rule, calling it a new "precedent", without actually changing the rules.  This allowed Obama to get nominations for federal district judges (the trial court) and circuit judges (courts of appeals) confirmed by a simple majority vote of 51 senators, or 50 senators plus the vice-president, or a simple majority of the members present, provided there is a quorum.  The concept of "cloture" has taken the place of the traditional filibuster.  A vote on cloture is a vote to end unlimited debate when a nomination or item is on the floor for consideration, and requires 60 votes to pass, so that an up-or-down vote can then be taken on the item or nomination being considered.  This paper from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) explains the Obama change of 2013--

http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc272065/m1/1/high_res_d/R43331_2013Dec06.pdf

Rather than leaving well enough alone, the Democrats shot themselves in the other foot in 2017 after Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court place held by Judge Antonin Scalia until he died in February 2016 [2].

 

Crowd Funding for "The Wall?"

It appears that no immigration law has a chance this year. IMO additional monies are needed by the federal government for enhancement of barriers on the Mexican border. How about crowd sourcing?  My initial thought would be an institution organized in law to collect money for this purpose and no other and to donate the money to DHS.   A Paypal account perhaps for the collection channel?  pl

Open Thread 3 June 2018

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Notice

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A Birthday Present?

 

I will be 78 on the 31st.   I attribute my longevity to; the right genes.  a robust outdoor life in youth, and a steady regime of cigars, bourbon and red meat.   I have always liked the company of women.  That persists.

Send me money if you like.  It will be  a gift, not a fee for service.  SST and its archive are available to all and will remain so  pl

Open Thread 22 May 2018

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Senate votes to stop debate then votes 54-45 to confirm Gina Haspel as CIA director - By Robert Willmann

Moving quickly to prevent further opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel as CIA Director, the Senate Intelligence Committee on 16 May (yesterday) gave her a positive vote of 10-5 in a closed meeting to move the nomination out of committee and to the full Senate for consideration, and this afternoon it was brought up for a vote.  First was a vote to stop debate on the nomination, called cloture.  If successful, it ends debate and a vote is then taken on the item in question.  Sometimes cloture requires 60 votes to be invoked and to stop debate.  However, I think during the Obama administration the rule was changed to keep the 60 vote requirement only for Supreme Court nominees and legislation, because the struggle over nominations had intensified.  Thus, to stop or end any debate on Haspel would need only a simple majority vote.

The cloture vote on Haspel was 54-44, with two senators not voting, and so there would be no public Senate debate on her nomination.  Immediately after that, the vote was held on the nomination and she was confirmed, 54-45.  Six Democrats voted for confirmation, otherwise the nomination would have failed.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00101

For your reference, here is a short paper from the Congressional Research Service describing the Senate's executive calendar, on which are placed treaties and nominations--

http://www.senate.gov/CRSpubs/8eb2b6af-bfa7-4fe8-b1bf-e89411d5ded4.pdf

 

Keep an eye on the FBI or CIA spy inside the Trump campaign - By Robert Willmann

Bubbling up in the last several days is a story separate from but perhaps more highly charged and incriminating than the surveillance of Carter Page through a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant that followed Page into the Donald Trump campaign for president.  A U.S. citizen who had been an informant for the FBI and CIA may have been acting as an informant gathering information from inside and around the Trump campaign for one or both of them.

Even though everybody and their dog want to get a mole inside the campaign of a political opponent, this appears to be action by one or more governmental agencies to spy on a political campaign through an inside source, a/k/a HUMINT. 

Although Carter Page may have been also acting as a knowing informant, he was at least and maybe was no more than a "walking wiretap" under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during his interactions with the Trump campaign.  A clue in the 18 January 2018 memo of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which was declassified by order of the president on 2 February 2018 said that the FISA probable cause order on Carter Page "was not under Title 7" of FISA.  It was under Title 1, which is the most expansive authorization under that law [1].

This issue of an informant who was being handled by one or more government agencies has received wide media coverage, from the Wall Street Journal [2], to talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

This new misconduct is being explored by U.S. Representative Devin Nunes (Repub., California, 22nd District), who is chairman of the House Intel Committee and is actually trying to do his job.  He was first elected to Congress in 2002 [3].

[1]  Summary of Title 1 of FISA from the House Intel Committee--

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fisa_title_i_summary.pdf

[2]  A story in the Wall Street Journal on the alleged informant--

http://www.wsj.com/articles/about-that-fbi-source-1525992611

[3]  A video of an interview with Congressman Nunes on 7 May 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=169&v=qub6z4f9_HQ

UPDATE:  A meeting was held this past Thursday, 10 May 2018, attended by chairman Nunes and committee member Trey Gowdy, which was described in a statement by the House Intel Committee--

"We had a productive discussion today with officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Justice, and FBI in which we raised questions related to information requested from the Intelligence Community. The officials committed to holding further discussions of these matters, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue next week [this week of 13 May] to satisfy the Committee’s request."

http://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=886

 

20 million lifetime page views for SST - 9 May 2018

pl

"Guest Commenters" turned off

Guest commenters are notified of all submitted comments on posts that they comment on.  I don't want people to see proposed comments before they are moderated.  Some of the proposed comments are just trash and I installed Disqus for the purpose of weeding out such commenters.  Accordingly I have turned off "guest commenters."  If you wish to comment on SST, get a Disqus account.  pl

By popular demand -----

I have been inundated by a chorus of complaints that a ban on "comments" is stifling SST.  I yield.  pl

Fotokemist - A new committee member

 

"Retired Analytical Chemist with experience as senior management, commercial laboratory, post graduate education, government research, and technical expert witness. Currently interested in world events, homesteading, photography, ministering to children of incarcerated individuals, and dabbling in the stock market."  Fotokemist

SST will no longer post comments from the public at large.

SST has between 15 and 20 k readers/day.  Around fifty or sixty comments are sent in for my contemplation or that of guest authors before they are posted.  Sixty percent of those are hostile; professional hired trolls, ideologues, hyper nationalists from one cause or another and some people who just like being ugly.  

I have decided that SST is essentially a "salon.'  It is a place for well-meaning conversation among the learned and skilled.  It is a dialog conducted in a benevolent setting among colleagues.   In the situation that has evolved the "foule" is standing in the street outside that room screaming comments through the windows.  Some comments are good but some are so useless and childish that I have decided to make a basic change in policy.

Henceforth there will be no comments from the general public.  I will change the mechanism of the blog to eliminate such comment capability.   The committee will consist of guest-authors, junior-authors and me.  These authors will retain their posting privileges with the proviso that the junior authors' work will be screened by me before publication.  Guest and junior authors can comment on each others' work by submitting posts for that purpose.

Any members of the public who want to join such a committee can write to me at [email protected] to seek approval.  pl

 

Spring Break

I'll be back when I am back.  Happy Easter.   pl

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

 

"The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire with the purpose of indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions.^[1][2][3]

The MBTI was constructed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. It is based on the conceptual theory proposed by Carl Jung,^[4] who had speculated that humans experience the world using four principal psychological functions – sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking – and that one of these four functions is dominant for a person most of the time.^[5]

The MBTI was constructed for normal populations and emphasizes the value of naturally occurring differences.^[6] "The underlying assumption of the MBTI is that we all have specific preferences in the way we construe our experiences, and these preferences underlie our interests, needs, values, and motivation.""  wiki

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The MBTI personality classification test has many detractors but I am not among them.  I tend to classify people on this basis and from empirical observation this  classification is fruitful.  I use this test a lot as well as its descriptive terms so I have thought to provide this reference.  pl  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator

19 million lifetime page views for SST - 26 February 2018

12 years so far.

pl

The House Intel Committee Memo and the White House Letter

By Robert Willmann

Here are the White House letter about the memorandum of 18 January 2018 from the U.S. House Intelligence Committee and the memo itself that were released today. 

White House Counsel Donald McGahn II dances around the delicate and not entirely clear issue of exactly what the legal grounds are for making information classified and unclassified and who in the federal government can do it.  He opts for a common idea in favor of the executive branch and mentions executive order 13526, which I noted in a comment the other day.  

He and President Trump have made it easy for everyone by saying, "... the President has authorized the declassification of the Memorandum".

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/memo_and_white_house_letter.pdf

https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=856

TDS will not be entertained on SST

We receive a few proposed comments on SST from leftists who want me to allow them to use SST as a platform for rants against Trump that are based on nothing but their TDS religious beliefs.  These will not be posted.  Come up with proofs rather than hysterical accusations and I might be interested.  pl

Auld Lang Syne - 2018

 

 

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne ?

CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup ! and surely I’ll buy mine ! And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

(CHORUS)

We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine ; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.

(CHORUS)

We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine ; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.

(CHORUS)

And there’s a hand my trusty friend ! And give us a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne.

(CHORUS)

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Auld+Lang+Syne+Celtic+Version&&view=detail&mid=37E2B51AB3AC6241AD0B37E2B51AB3AC6241AD0B&&FORM=VDRVRV

Break

I have something useful to do and will be back in a couple of days.  pl

Semi-annual appeal for donations

If my records are correct I last made a serious request for donations for SST in April.  I will be grateful.    For those who have already given, thanks again.  pl

SST has now had 18 million lifetime page views

SST has been in existence for 12 years.  1.5 million a year on average and of course there were fewer visitors in the beginning.  Contributions will be gratefully accepted.  pl

 

Day off

Nice day.  Play among yourselves.  pl

Underwriters - republished 17 September 2017 - Not an appeal for donations

 

(re-published as a re-statement of SST policy)

Having had 17 million, 200 thousand visits in the last 12 years, (now - 17 September, 2017 - half a million more page views) I have decided once again to seek underwriters (sponsors) for my blogging efforts.  This is a small operation.  It takes a lot of time.  There are opportunity costs for me. 

Foundations (preferred) or corporations that make grants to my blogs should understand that the money will go in my pocket in payment for what I do.  I will pay whatever costs the blogs have.

What the underwriters will get is an acknowledgement on the blogs (if they want that).  They will also assure that I continue doing this for a while.  What they will not get is editorial control, content control or title.

I hope that pranksters do not bother me with foolishness that wastes my time.  Enquiries should include full contact data; website, phone numbers, a responsible person to contact, etc. 

I am grateful to all those individuals who have made donations in the past.  pl

---------

Surprisingly - someone wrote to me yesterday (16 September) to attempt to exert editorial control specifically on the basis of a past donation.  This was accompanied with an exhortation to be more solemn and professional  and to stop calling you "pilgrims."  I told this person that I will continue to write as I please.  pl

Adversarial games

Anyone whom I think believes SST to be an adversarial game will be banned as a troll. pl

Will the US be solely a country for the antifa left?

 

In light of the media reaction to the abominable stupidity of the actions of various right wing fringe groups in Charlottesville I regretfully feel I must re-open SST for business so that this can be discussed.

The whole CNN "crew," John King, Jake Tapper, Fariid Zakariya and their colleagues elsewhere are virtually foaming at the mouth in a competition to be the most extreme, the most condemning, the most hostile toward traditional American culture.

The agitprop technique in the case of the Charlottesville violence is simple but seemingly universal in the left main stream media.  The nut-jobs who went to Charlottesville to "protect" the statue of a man who would not have wanted to be "protected" by them are implied to be representative of all Americans who do not wish to see a new, socialist, globalist paradigm for the US.

The intention of the antifa left and its Democratic Party and media wings seems clear.  It is to silence through shaming, ostracism, loss of income and perhaps eventually legally anyone who does not submit to be assimilated into a new collective consciousness in an America that believes itself to be a sinner country.  pl

A note on comments:  Criticism of US policy is acceptable on SST.  Condemnation of the US as a sinner nation is not and will not be published. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(U.S.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right

 

Vacation for all

There will be no guest author posts or comments here on SST until 1 September.  pl

Feedjit live traffic feed

I can't get this widget to load live traffic feed anymore as it did once.  I have both Firefox and IE available.  Any thoughts?  pl

Rules and policies for SST - 15 July 2017

 

1- This is in essence a salon.  I may or may not look like Madame de Stael but I will try to run the place as though she were an adviser.

2- The archive will remain active and will be available to all.

3- The essential conversation on SST will be among; the host of the salon, guest authors and junior authors appointed by the host.

4- Each guest author or junior author will have the authority to close or open comments for his or her own individual posts (articles).

5- Authors are encouraged to close comments if they believe that comments for that article will be disruptive or not contributory to the educational aim of SST.  They may do this when the piece is published or at any point in time.

6- Authors are also encouraged to recommend to the host the banning of commenters whose remarks are generally obscene or personal attacks on others.

7- The host reserves the right to delete any comments found offensive and to ban commenters who are disruptive or who display a lack of civility.

8- This is not a commercial enterprise.  It is my hobby in retirement.  From time to time I will solicit donations.  I don't need the money but I think you all should be given the chance to show that you value what we do here.  I will donate the money so gained to some charitable cause.

9- Comments that are clearly intended solely to wound and that are not contributory to the conversation will not be posted.

10- All comments will be moderated either by me or the guest author. 

These policies will be revised from time to time.  pl

A reminder

SST is my hobby.  If you don't like the way I run it, go elsewhere.  pl

Independence Day -2017

pl

TTG and Pat Lang

Two different people.  Get it?  Posts that are not signed were written by Pat Lang.  pl