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Trump knows the Deep State, and he is not George W. Bush WARNING: The following is, necessarily, somewhat extensive reading because the web of deceit it outlines is itself complex. Media speculation over the meaning of President Trump’s pardon of Lewis “Scooter” Libby is predictable and wrong. Three examples:

Mark R. Levin ‏ @marklevinshow 2h2 hours ago Good for President Trump. He’s going to pardon Scooter Libby, which George W. Bush, for whom he worked, refused to do. The prosecutor, Fitzgerald, was appointed by Comey and he's friends with Comey.

NOTE: Excerpting does not do the article justice. Read the whole thing. # SNIPPET: "He was a fundraiser for a group convicted of providing material support to Hamas, yet Kifah Mustapha recently received tours of secure FBI facilities in and around Washington. Mustapha's two-day trip earlier this month was arranged by the FBI's Chicago office, whose officials escorted Mustapha and about two dozen others on tours of the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia and FBI headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building. A news report noted that Mustapha "asked some of the most pointed questions" during...

On July 14, 2003, a Robert Novak column in The Washington Post outed the CIA-agent wife of vociferous Bush administration critic, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson. Thus was born the "Plame Affair" which quickly became a morality tale of how an out of control Bush Administration would do anything to justify its war in Iraq. A mere three days later, journalist David Corn, summarized the allegations that would color reporting on the Iraq War for the next three years and eventually lead to the indictment of a top aide to the vice president for lying to a grand jury: ((((THE OLD...

Poor decisions and lax standards made by the crews of the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain contributed to the deadly collisions last summer that killed 17 sailors, according to a new Navy investigation. "The collisions were avoidable," said Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, in the executive summary to the report. "Both of these accidents were preventable and the respective investigations found multiple failures by watchstanders that contributed to the incidents," he added in a statement accompanying the report's release. "We must do better." On June 17, the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a...

this report plus other sources show incredible lack of training. in the case of the McCain collision, the crew on deck, with the Captain present became confused on how to helm the ship and veered into a commercial vessel. in the case of the Fitzgerald, the Officers on the bridge became confused with identified oncoming commercial vessels and had multiple near collisions before colliding with the container ship. it appears the Navy is unprepared to fight a war, and has trouble merely driving the ships. then there is this one liner: Navy will now limit work week to less than...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy's top officer said that post-accident investigations have turned up no evidence of a cyberattack in the collisions involving the USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald. The two collisions each involved an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and a merchant vessel, and the similarity of the circumstances led many to speculate that the casualties might have been caused by hacking. In an address to Navy staff, chief of naval operations Adm. John S. Richardson moved to dispel these rumors. He said that the accident investigators have given cyber factors "an amazing amount of attention," but so far...

The discussion regarding the recent collisions of the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and the John S. McCain (DDG-56) has moved beyond “how could this have happened” asked at a micro-level to the same question at a macro-level. Concerned perhaps with public perception, the Navy has leaped forward in drawing conclusions in a way that would, under other circumstances, be considered unseemly. Already a fleet commander has been relieved. Two investigations and two operational pauses have been ordered. This furious activity is taking place while the investigation into what happened in the John S. McCain is barely started and before the Fitzgerald...

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson has ordered an “operational pause.” Fleet commanders will meet with their respective commands to ensure “we’re taking all appropriate actions to ensure safe and effective operations around the world.” An “operational pause” is understood by all in the fleet to be a “stand-down,” which is viewed, with cynicism by the Fleet. Stand-downs are Band-Aids, at best, regardless of their intent. More interestingly, the CNO has also directed Admiral Phil Davidson, Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, to take charge of an investigation intended to examine the process by which the Navy trains and...

On the bridge of the Fitz, the OOD was in charge. OODs on duty receive exact, timely, information from the ship’s sensors, including Combat Information Center (CIC) about the location, course, speed, and trajectory of all objects on, above, or below the surface. the Fitz’s OOD had precise warning, perhaps 45 minutes before the collision happened, that he was on a collision course. The OOD either removes the problem by changing course by one or two degrees on his own authority, or, notifies the captain who then makes the course adjustment. Surely, this OOD did none of the above. we...

Link only (Reuters)

tales of heroism, but still no coherent explanation of what happened. I can't imagine how a US combat vessel did not see and avoid a container ship. terribly sad loss of life, as usual the crew responded with heroism.

Investigators Believe USS Fitzgerald Crew Fought Flooding For An Hour Before Distress Call Reached Help By: Sam LaGrone The crew of the guided-missile destroyer that was struck by a merchant ship on Friday off the coast of Japan fought to save the ship for an hour before the first calls went out for help, Japanese investigators now believe. According to the current operational theory of Japanese investigators, the deadly collision between USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and the Philippine-flagged merchant ship ACX Crystal knocked out the destroyer’s communications for an hour, while the four-times-larger merchant ship was unaware of what it hit...

It is a big ocean. Until you have been far into it, it is really hard to appreciate just how big. Bringing a ship back from Japan to Hawaii, I once went ten days without seeing another ship, either by eye or radar. That is a long time to be alone in the world, especially if you are moving in a straight line and at good speed. On the other hand, you would be surprised at how crowded the ocean can get in certain places. The Strait of Malacca, for instance, divides the island of Sumatra from Malaysia. Not only...

Is honest accounting about military mistakes the rule, or the exception. The disaster of the USS Fitzgerald's collision with another naval vessel, to the loss of 7 servicemen's lives, is being proclaimed "a mystery". Is the mystery only in the Navy's obstruction about the real news, or do the military services and the Pentagon customarily exercise transparency in accounting for their actions to the taxpayers who foot the bill?

tory Number: NNS170616-20Release Date: 6/16/2017 4:57:00 PM From U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs PHILIPPINE SEA (NNS) -- USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time, June 17, while operating about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, Japan. As of this time, there have been two patients requiring medical evacuation. One was Cmdr. Bryce Benson, Fitzgerald's commanding officer, who was transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and is reportedly in stable condition. A second MEDEVAC is in progress. Other injured are being assessed. There are seven Sailors unaccounted for; the...

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Freedom From Truth: FFRF is beyond all reason by Daniel Clark “Our purpose is to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church,” At least that’s what Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote in a thinly veiled threat to the Allegheny County Council, to dissuade it from installing a plaque in the county courthouse that says “In God We Trust.” That principle, like everything else the FFRF stands for, is a lie. If Gaylor and friends can point to anything in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits a Pittsburgh courthouse from acknowledging God, this particular resident...

Mike Allen reported over the weekend that "Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton's impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by resident-elect Barack Obama". Believe it or not, the time Craig spent shilling for Clinton may have been his most honorable days of work ... In the early 1980s, [Craig] was an attorney for John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan and three others. Craig helped put together an insanity defense that led to Hinckley's acquittal. Nine years later, he advised Ted Kennedy in the Palm Beach rape case involving the senator...

In “The Story: A Reporter’s Journey,” which hit book store shelves Tuesday, April 7, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller revealed in the final chapter that she now believes that she was induced by then-Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to give false testimony in the 2007 trial of I. “Lewis” Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Given that Fitzgerald’s three-and-a-half year-long investigation and prosecution of Libby riveted the nation’s capital and generated vast news coverage implying, when not outright declaring, that the Bush administration lied the nation into war, one might think that recantation...