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Tuesday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 04:22:20 PM EST
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I'm short on time to follow the news today. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Frontline tonight: The Real CSI

< Najibullah Zazi Testifies for Government in Terrorism Trial | Wednesday Morning Open Thread >

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    Tuesday Open Thread | 29 comments (29 topical)

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    More on the Secret Service scandal (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by jbindc on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 05:07:56 PM EST
    What tools!

    "Wheels up.  Rings off."

    The new motto of the Secret Service.

    So I wonder if he will follow (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by sj on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 05:16:09 PM EST
    his preferred method of dealing with the unpleasant:  Looking forward not back.

    Although I suppose he could go after the reporters for whistleblowing...

    Parent

    They may have lost their Top Secret (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by observed on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 07:10:30 PM EST
    clearance, but at least they still have Victoria's Secret clearance!

    Parent
    And, it should not stop there. (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by KeysDan on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 07:26:54 PM EST
    We need a congressional investigation; I nominate Senator David Vitter (R. LA), chairman of the senate committee on hookers,  to look into this.

    Parent
    Are there no female Secret Service agents (5.00 / 2) (#11)
    by Peter G on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 10:01:01 PM EST
    on the Presidential protection detail?  Is this some sort of boys' club or fraternity? Shades of Tailhook.

    Parent
    I have mixed feelings (none / 0) (#12)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 06:15:11 AM EST
    About a woman not serving on his protection detail, and only because Bush was so afraid of the soldiers and their families he was surrounded by the Secret Service and those men are huge.  I couldn't believe the size of them.

    It's really weird to be in a huge crowd of soldiers, all physically fit and some of them very large people and then have the Presidential protection detail walk in.  I don't know where they find people that large in not a fat way and that intimidating.

    Is there a job on that detail for a woman since we don't generally come in sizes that big?  I don't know.  And given the threat level to this President, I want him surrounded by people who can face the threat down and physically win if possible in all imagined scenarios.

    The feminist that I am cannot help noticing one thing though, misogynists are very comfortable around this President starting with Larry Summers and what happened to the women serving on that economic team.  And misogynists are comfortable practicing in the presence of President Obama.  Why is that?

    But that is what we will get a couple of cycles down the road when Democratic hubs like DailyKos tell women to sit down and shut up and make fun of "Women's studies".  We get one party coming after us and attacking us viciously, and the other party leader involved in acts of misogyny.

    Parent

    Summers is comfortable around everyone. (none / 0) (#15)
    by jpe on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 06:53:33 AM EST
    It's a feature of thinking one is always right.  Summers would be comfortable around a President Gloria Steinem.  

    Parent
    Obama knew Summers was a misogynist (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 07:12:13 AM EST
    when he hired him though....we all knew.  And then years down the economic crisis road in the White House a book came to be written, who could have predicted?

    Parent
    There were many many other people (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 07:13:42 AM EST
    The President could have hired for Summers job too, there are many others he should have hired.  President Obama chose Summers though.  Why?

    Parent
    And Yet... (none / 0) (#18)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 10:22:05 AM EST
    ...the Revolutionary Nuns protected Gaddafi for decades.  Any real attack on a President/Head of State isn't going to be done MMA style and the Revolutionary Nuns proved, a woman can take a bullet just as well as any man.  

    There is no reason women can't protect the President beyond the tired old cliches used for every argument against women doing what apparently is a traditionally viewed man's job.

    Using Bush as an example is hilarious, but Bush having big guys around him isn't really much of an argument as to why women can't protect the President.

    If anything, this story proves that men aren't above reproach in regards to protecting the President.

    Parent

    I'm not saying that women can't take a bullet (none / 0) (#22)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 11:35:25 AM EST
    And one of our friends who is now a Lt. Colonel was with her troops in Iraq and a mortar hit nearby and sprayed them all full of shrapnel.  Women have a much better endorphin system that can for most of us kick on instantly when our bodies sustain damage.  It is the thing that allows us to not give up in the middle of child birth and advances us quickly through that trauma to protecting the infant.

    So when they were all laying on the road she was the first one to be able to rise, and she was dragging her guys off the road while most of them were at the time incapacitated by their pain.  There is some scientific basis for women on battlefields have specific worth.

    The Presidential Secret Service detail though is a wall of flesh between the President and everyone else. They are supposed to be taller than he/she is by at least a head and bodily about twice as wide so that all that is needed is for one of them to be able to step in front of him/her if all else fails.  We don't make very many women that big, and if they are do they want this job and are they in the physical condition required?  And Gaddafi is dead....someone failed :)

    Parent

    Failed ? (none / 0) (#24)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 12:33:52 PM EST
    If that is your definition then every leader who has every been overthrown has had their male guards failed them.  Dumb.

    Alright Tracy you win, women are so weak and small they are incapable of handling any real job a man does, is that what the 'feminista' is saying ?

    Pleaze, we aren't even really taking about the people close to the President, are women so weak they can't even go scout before the President ?  And again, you are using Bush to make your point.  "Bush did it so it must be the right way...".  The guy that liked his cod piece and all the other bravado non-sense, used large intimidating men for security, therefore women are incapable of that function...  Really ?

    Parent

    Look Scott (none / 0) (#25)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 01:15:08 PM EST
    We can't afford to have a successful assassination, not even one....jus sayin

    Nobody is saying anything about women being weak but you, and I don't know how cod pieces got into any of this

    Parent

    Agreed (none / 0) (#26)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 01:17:18 PM EST
    Women simply aren't up to such an important task.

    Parent
    Once again all from you (none / 0) (#27)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 01:18:42 PM EST


    Parent
    Ted Nugent puts it all in perspective (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 06:18:20 PM EST
    Whether it's Cat Scratch Fever, or Wang Dang Sweet Poontang, Ted Nugent's brain is being eaten alive by it.  Or eaten dead, more likely. (link)

    Not Sure Why Anyone Cares... (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 10:24:20 AM EST
    ...what that idiot has to say, but I have seen him no less then 3 times on TV this past day and I was tired of it years ago.

    Parent
    he's managing to get worse (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Dadler on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 10:47:18 AM EST
    i think his head, literally, is going to burst like a cantaloupe with an M80 inside it, sending seeds and fruity fragments everywhere, but no trace of brain matter will be found.  the first rock star assassin, at least in his own mushy melon.

    Parent
    He's Got a Visit From the Secret Service... (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 11:02:37 AM EST
    ...for this:
    "I'll tell you this right now: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said. "We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November. Any questions?"


    Parent
    he always bragged about being drug-free.. (5.00 / 3) (#28)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 01:26:32 PM EST
    when, if ever there were a candidate for mandatory
    'dosing' it's him.

    I remember Dylan saying something in the sixties about "groovey people" (yeah, even Dylan used that word..) not needing drugs, and the one's who actually needed them never took them..

    Parent

    Nugent needs a peyote tea (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 01:47:40 PM EST
    enema blasted through a fire hose..

    Parent
    All I know is... (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by kdog on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 11:58:31 AM EST
    Hillary Rosen should buy The Nuge some flowers, he took her spot in the media firestorm frying pan.

    Parent
    He's all "polite and supportive" now (5.00 / 0) (#30)
    by sj on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 02:38:04 PM EST
    that his loudmouth has gotten him some official attention.  I suspect that when his interview is over, he will do some strutting and macho posturing and intimate that he somehow triumphed over the Secret Service.  Because he's got a big mouth and he has to use it.  What a jacka$$.

    Parent
    Nice that people like Ted, (5.00 / 0) (#31)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 03:03:57 PM EST
    Beck, and the people who post maps with cross hairs, take the trouble to do outreach to the Jared Loughners and Anders Breiviks of the world; to make them feel less alone, and to boost their confidence..

    Parent
    What a psycho (none / 0) (#14)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 06:46:04 AM EST


    Parent
    Too bad... (none / 0) (#4)
    by fishcamp on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 06:36:14 PM EST
    this happened in Cartagena because it is a beautiful vacation spot and a short flight from Miami.  It may be the oldest walled city in the Western hemisphere and has defended itself against many invasions over the years.  This Secret Service event is the least important in a long series of mistakes Cartagena has witnessed.

    If I had known (none / 0) (#9)
    by sj on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 09:23:04 PM EST
    that Jordis Unga was one of the contestants on The Voice I would have been watching.  Now I'm too late.

    Caps fans... (none / 0) (#10)
    by desertswine on Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 09:43:28 PM EST
    taunt Boston goalie with pictures of Obama.

    When the Taliban Commanders (none / 0) (#13)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 06:45:31 AM EST
    all turn themselves in for a $100 reward, did we win?  Can we go home?

    Hell, I think it would be cheaper than what we are paying in a single day if we upped the reward on Taliban Commanders to $1000 each payable to them when they turned themselves in :)

    Tuesday Open Thread | 29 comments (29 topical)

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