The Kamala Harris Campaign Deceptively Attempts To Shift Blame To Donald Trump For The Disastrous Biden-Harris Withdrawal From Afghanistan
by Allan J. Favish, All News Pipeline:
On Sept. 7, 2024, CBS News reported on statements by a national security spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign about former President Donald Trump’s agreement with the Taliban regarding troop withdrawals and President Joe Biden and Harris’ subsequent withdrawal from Afghanistan:
The campaign argues that Trump’s deal created a ‘virtually impossible’ deadline and left “the Biden-Harris administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal — only a dangerous, costly mess.”
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
“Trump shamelessly attacks the vice president because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions put troops in harm’s way,” Harris campaign national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein told CBS News. “Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before September 11th—think about that. He cut a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan and led to the collapse of the Afghan government.”
Apparently unmentioned by the Harris campaign to CBS News, and unreported in CBS’s article is that the agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban was not a Treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate. Therefore, it had no legal force as to President Joe Biden, as reported by the Associated Press in August 2021:
But Biden can go only so far in claiming the agreement boxed him in. It had an escape clause: The U.S. could have withdrawn from the accord if Afghan peace talks failed. They did, but Biden chose to stay in it, although he delayed the complete pullout from May to September.
Chris Miller, acting defense secretary in the final months of the Trump administration, chafed at the idea that Biden was handcuffed by the agreement.
“If he thought the deal was bad, he could have renegotiated. He had plenty of opportunity to do that if he so desired,” Miller, a top Pentagon counterterrorism official at the time the Doha deal was signed, said in an interview.
The AP further reported:
U.S. officials made clear at the time that the agreement was conditions-based and the failure of intra-Afghan peace talks to reach a negotiated settlement would have nullified the requirement to withdraw.
One day before the Doha deal, a top aide to chief U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad said the agreement was not irreversible, and “there is no obligation for the United States to withdraw troops if the Afghan parties are unable to reach agreement or if the Taliban show bad faith” during negotiations.
Just as Trump was able to get out of President Barack Obama’s Iran Deal, Biden was not bound by Trump’s deal with the Taliban. Biden was free to do the right thing, but he did the wrong thing. He did it with Harris’ support, as she explained to CNN at the time at 5:35 in this interview.
The agreement Trump made with the Taliban was conditional on the Taliban acting in a particular manner. Part 1, subsection B of the agreement states: “With the commitment and action on the obligations of the” Taliban, the U.S. will withdraw. On page 3 of the agreement in Part 2, the obligations of the Taliban were set forth. The most important are item 1 in Part 2, which states that the Taliban “will not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qa’ida, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies,” and item 3 in Part 2, which states that the Taliban “will prevent any group or individual in Afghanistan from threatening the security of the United States and its allies . . . .” With its violence against the United States military and the Afghanistan government, the Taliban violated these provisions, thereby releasing the United States from performing its obligation of withdrawal. Two of Trump’s officials who helped negotiate this deal wrote about it here and here.
On Sept. 8, 2024, the Republican majority on the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report that states on page 19:
Warnings were issued from Ambassador Wilson, Embassy Kabul’s regional security officer (RSO), Embassy diplomats, senior State Department officials in Washington, D.C., and senior U.S. military officials that the Taliban were actively violating the Doha Agreement. Yet, the decision to withdraw was made anyway. The Biden-Harris administration had clear and undisputable authority to pause the withdrawal pursuant to the Doha Agreement, but instead used it as pretext to justify their political aims. As State Department Spokesperson Ned Price admitted to the committee, the Taliban’s adherence to the Doha Agreement was “immaterial” to the administration’s decision to withdraw.
If the Taliban did not act as stated in the agreement, Trump did not have to follow the agreement. Likewise, assuming that Biden was bound by the agreement, which he was not, Biden did not have to follow the agreement if the Taliban did not perform its end of the bargain.
Even if Biden was legally bound to withdraw, which he was not, there was nothing in Trump’s agreement with the Taliban that required Biden to withdraw the United States military before withdrawing all United States civilian citizens and Afghans who helped the U.S. The National Desk reported in March of this year that former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley testified “I’ll be candid — I don’t know the exact number of Americans that were left behind because the starting number was never clear.” The National Desk further reported: “Milley also revealed he lacked information on the number of Afghans who served with U.S. forces. Some of these individuals, he believed, were killed ‘in some pretty brutal ways.’”
Nor was there anything in the agreement that required Biden to leave behind over $7 billion in military equipment for the Taliban. Given Trump’s history as a businessman and as President, it is highly unlikely that he would leave $7 billion of anything behind for the Taliban to use or sell.
Read More @ AllNewsPipeline.com
Originally Posted at https://www.sgtreport.com
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Alleged Would-Be Trump Assassin Vantage Point a Weakness Used by Paparazzi
The alleged would-be assassin who came to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday reportedly secured himself a sniper nest in a security weak spot that has previously been exploited by paparazzi.
The suspected would-be assassin, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, allegedly brought a scoped rifle with him to Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida and stood within 300-500 yards of the former president before Secret Service agents spotted him in the shrubbery and fired four to six shots. He was arrested outside the golf course shortly after. The Secret Service confirmed on Monday that the alleged would-be assassin did not exchange gunfire and did not have a line of sight on Trump.
According to a recent report from Fox News, the would-be assassin camped in the sniper’s nest for 12 hours and even brought snacks. For years, the vantage point has been seen as a security risk due to it being regularly used by paparazzi.
“The tree line at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, has been known for years to be a vantage point for photographers looking to catch a candid glimpse of the former president and other VIPs,” noted the report. Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit, which covers Palm Beach County, confirmed this.
“There have been previous individuals who have taken pictures of the former president while he’s golfing,” said Dave Aronberg. “They’ve gone through the shrubs and been able to poke a camera through the fencing. You would think that perhaps maybe they would consider someone scoping the perimeter.”
Aronberg commended the Secret Service for covering a large area.
“It’s a huge area to cover,” he said. “It’s not so easy just to keep walking around at all times because someone could slip in and slip out there.”
However, an unnamed photo agency told the New York Post that photographers will often make their presence known to the Secret Service and have generally maintained fashionable rapport with agents when seeking a good vantage point for photographs.
Homeless people have also been caught loitering around the fence.
Pat Diaz, a former Miami-Dade homicide detective, said the Secret Service should be doing regular K-9 sweeps around the exterior ahead of the president’s arrival.
“They didn’t check the exterior, clearly,” he said.
Originally Posted At www.breitbart.com
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Tropical Depression Gordon Forecast Discussion
000 WTNT42 KNHC 170238 TCDAT2 Tropical Depression Gordon Discussion Number 23 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL072024 1100 PM AST Mon Sep 16 2024 Gordon has become a little better organized this evening, with convection intensifying around the center-- a marked improvement from 24 hours ago. A pair of scatterometer passes from 00-01 UTC showed believable maximum winds of 25-30 kt, and 30 kt is chosen out of continuity from the last advisory. The depression has been creeping westward recently, estimated at about 3 kt. As mid-level high pressure builds to the northeast of the cyclone, the tropical cyclone should turn northward on Tuesday and move faster to the north-northeast for the next few days. A frontal wave currently seen about 10 degrees north of Gordon should also cause the cyclone to accelerate midweek as Gordon moves around that feature. The biggest change to the guidance this evening is that most are a bit faster, so the latest NHC prediction is trended in that way. Modest increases in low- to mid-level moisture around Gordon are shown in the model fields during the next couple of days. In combination with generally low shear during that time, these factors suggest that Gordon will be primed for a comeback, and the intensity guidance generally calls for it to become a tropical storm again around midweek. The low-shear conditions should last through late week, so the NHC forecast is nudged upward from 2-4 days, a touch below the model consensus. The shear could get rather prohibitive by day 5 so the intensity forecast is leveled off then, but considerable uncertainty exists at that time frame, with model guidance ranging from a depression to a category 2 hurricane. FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS INIT 17/0300Z 19.0N 48.8W 30 KT 35 MPH 12H 17/1200Z 19.3N 49.1W 30 KT 35 MPH 24H 18/0000Z 19.9N 49.0W 30 KT 35 MPH 36H 18/1200Z 20.8N 48.6W 30 KT 35 MPH 48H 19/0000Z 22.3N 47.9W 35 KT 40 MPH 60H 19/1200Z 24.2N 47.0W 40 KT 45 MPH 72H 20/0000Z 25.8N 45.8W 45 KT 50 MPH 96H 21/0000Z 27.5N 44.3W 50 KT 60 MPH 120H 22/0000Z 29.5N 43.5W 50 KT 60 MPH $$ Forecaster Blake
Originally Posted at:
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
At The NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
TROPICAL DEPRESSION GORDON
TROPICAL DEPRESSION GORDON
Coastal Watches/Warnings and Forecast Cone for Storm Center
* If the storm is forecast to dissipate within 3 days, the “Full Forecast” and “3 day” graphic will be identical
Click Here for a 5-day Cone Printer Friendly Graphic
How to use the cone graphic (video):
About this product:
This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink),
tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow). The orange circle indicates the current position of the
center of the tropical cyclone. The black line, when selected, and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center
at the times indicated. The dot indicating the forecast center location will be black if the cyclone is forecast to be
tropical and will be white with a black outline if the cyclone is forecast to be extratropical. If only an L is displayed,
then the system is forecast to be a remnant low. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC’s forecast intensity for that time:
D: Tropical Depression – wind speed less than 39 MPH
S: Tropical Storm – wind speed between 39 MPH and 73 MPH
H: Hurricane – wind speed between 74 MPH and 110 MPH
M: Major Hurricane – wind speed greater than 110 MPH
NHC tropical cyclone forecast tracks can be in error. This forecast
uncertainty is conveyed by the track forecast “cone”, the solid white
and stippled white areas in the graphic. The solid white area depicts
the track forecast uncertainty for days 1-3 of the forecast, while the
stippled area depicts the uncertainty on days 4-5. Historical data
indicate that the entire 5-day path of the center of the tropical
cyclone will remain within the cone about 60-70% of the time. To
form the cone, a set of imaginary circles are placed along the
forecast track at the 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h positions,
where the size of each circle is set so that it encloses 67% of the
previous five years official forecast errors. The cone is then formed
by smoothly connecting the area swept out by the set of circles.
It is also important to realize that a tropical cyclone is not a point. Their
effects can span many hundreds of miles from the center. The area
experiencing hurricane force (one-minute average wind speeds of at least
74 mph) and tropical storm force (one-minute average wind speeds of
39-73 mph) winds can extend well beyond the white areas shown enclosing
the most likely track area of the center. The distribution of hurricane
and tropical storm force winds in this tropical cyclone can be seen in
the Wind History graphic linked above.
Considering the combined forecast uncertainties in track, intensity, and size, the
chances that any particular location will experience winds of 34 kt (tropical storm force),
50 kt, or 64 kt (hurricane force) from this tropical cyclone are presented in
tabular form for selected locations and forecast positions. This information is also presented in
graphical form for the 34 kt, 50 kt,
and 64 kt thresholds.
Note: A detailed definition of the NHC track forecast cone is also available.
Originally Posted at:
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
At The NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Tropical Depression Gordon Wind Speed Probabilities
000
FONT12 KNHC 170236
PWSAT2
TROPICAL DEPRESSION GORDON WIND SPEED PROBABILITIES NUMBER 23
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072024
0300 UTC TUE SEP 17 2024
AT 0300Z THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION GORDON WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 19.0 NORTH...LONGITUDE 48.8 WEST WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS NEAR 30 KTS...35 MPH...55 KM/H.
Z INDICATES COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME (GREENWICH)
ATLANTIC STANDARD TIME (AST)...SUBTRACT 4 HOURS FROM Z TIME
EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME (EDT)...SUBTRACT 4 HOURS FROM Z TIME
CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME (CDT)...SUBTRACT 5 HOURS FROM Z TIME
WIND SPEED PROBABILITY TABLE FOR SPECIFIC LOCATIONS
CHANCES OF SUSTAINED (1-MINUTE AVERAGE) WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST
...34 KT (39 MPH... 63 KM/H)...
...50 KT (58 MPH... 93 KM/H)...
...64 KT (74 MPH...119 KM/H)...
FOR LOCATIONS AND TIME PERIODS DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS
PROBABILITIES FOR LOCATIONS ARE GIVEN AS OP(CP) WHERE
OP IS THE PROBABILITY OF THE EVENT BEGINNING DURING
AN INDIVIDUAL TIME PERIOD (ONSET PROBABILITY)
(CP) IS THE PROBABILITY OF THE EVENT OCCURRING BETWEEN
00Z TUE AND THE FORECAST HOUR (CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY)
PROBABILITIES ARE GIVEN IN PERCENT
X INDICATES PROBABILITIES LESS THAN 1 PERCENT
PROBABILITIES FOR 34 KT AND 50 KT ARE SHOWN AT A GIVEN LOCATION WHEN
THE 5-DAY CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY IS AT LEAST 3 PERCENT.
PROBABILITIES FOR 34...50...64 KT SHOWN WHEN THE 5-DAY
64-KT CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY IS AT LEAST 1 PERCENT.
- - - - WIND SPEED PROBABILITIES FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS - - - -
FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM
TIME 00Z TUE 12Z TUE 00Z WED 12Z WED 00Z THU 00Z FRI 00Z SAT
PERIODS TO TO TO TO TO TO TO
12Z TUE 00Z WED 12Z WED 00Z THU 00Z FRI 00Z SAT 00Z SUN
FORECAST HOUR (12) (24) (36) (48) (72) (96) (120)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LOCATION KT
$$
FORECASTER BLAKE
Originally Posted at:
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
At The NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Tropical Depression Gordon Forecast Advisory
316 WTNT22 KNHC 170236 TCMAT2 TROPICAL DEPRESSION GORDON FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 23 NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072024 0300 UTC TUE SEP 17 2024 TROPICAL DEPRESSION CENTER LOCATED NEAR 19.0N 48.8W AT 17/0300Z POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 30 NM PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE WEST OR 270 DEGREES AT 3 KT ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 1006 MB MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 40 KT. WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN EACH QUADRANT. RADII IN NAUTICAL MILES ARE THE LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE IN THAT QUADRANT. REPEAT...CENTER LOCATED NEAR 19.0N 48.8W AT 17/0300Z AT 17/0000Z CENTER WAS LOCATED NEAR 18.9N 48.8W FORECAST VALID 17/1200Z 19.3N 49.1W MAX WIND 30 KT...GUSTS 40 KT. FORECAST VALID 18/0000Z 19.9N 49.0W MAX WIND 30 KT...GUSTS 40 KT. FORECAST VALID 18/1200Z 20.8N 48.6W MAX WIND 30 KT...GUSTS 40 KT. FORECAST VALID 19/0000Z 22.3N 47.9W MAX WIND 35 KT...GUSTS 45 KT. 34 KT... 40NE 40SE 0SW 0NW. FORECAST VALID 19/1200Z 24.2N 47.0W MAX WIND 40 KT...GUSTS 50 KT. 34 KT... 60NE 60SE 0SW 0NW. FORECAST VALID 20/0000Z 25.8N 45.8W MAX WIND 45 KT...GUSTS 55 KT. 34 KT... 70NE 60SE 30SW 0NW. EXTENDED OUTLOOK. NOTE...ERRORS FOR TRACK HAVE AVERAGED NEAR 125 NM ON DAY 4 AND 175 NM ON DAY 5...AND FOR INTENSITY NEAR 15 KT EACH DAY OUTLOOK VALID 21/0000Z 27.5N 44.3W MAX WIND 50 KT...GUSTS 60 KT. 50 KT... 30NE 30SE 0SW 0NW. 34 KT... 80NE 70SE 40SW 20NW. OUTLOOK VALID 22/0000Z 29.5N 43.5W MAX WIND 50 KT...GUSTS 60 KT. 50 KT... 40NE 40SE 0SW 0NW. 34 KT... 90NE 90SE 50SW 30NW. REQUEST FOR 3 HOURLY SHIP REPORTS WITHIN 300 MILES OF 19.0N 48.8W NEXT ADVISORY AT 17/0900Z $$ FORECASTER BLAKE
Originally Posted at:
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
At The NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Tropical Depression Gordon Public Advisory
315 WTNT32 KNHC 170236 TCPAT2 BULLETIN Tropical Depression Gordon Advisory Number 23 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL072024 1100 PM AST Mon Sep 16 2024 ...GORDON EXPECTED TO TURN NORTHWARD ON TUESDAY AND COULD RE-INTENSIFY BY MIDWEEK... SUMMARY OF 1100 PM AST...0300 UTC...INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------- LOCATION...19.0N 48.8W ABOUT 935 MI...1510 KM E OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...35 MPH...55 KM/H PRESENT MOVEMENT...W OR 270 DEGREES AT 3 MPH...6 KM/H MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1006 MB...29.71 INCHES WATCHES AND WARNINGS -------------------- There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect. DISCUSSION AND OUTLOOK ---------------------- At 1100 PM AST (0300 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Gordon was located near latitude 19.0 North, longitude 48.8 West. The depression is moving toward the west near 3 mph (6 km/h). A turn toward the north is expected during the next day or so, followed by a turn toward the north-northeast on Wednesday. Satellite wind data indicate that the maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Gordon could gradually re-intensify by midweek and become a tropical storm again. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches). HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND ---------------------- None. NEXT ADVISORY ------------- Next complete advisory at 500 AM AST. $$ Forecaster Blake
Originally Posted at:
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
At The NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Experts Gone Wild | ZeroHedge
Authored by Mike Scanlon via RealClearDefense.com,
An ability to win hearts and minds has long been seen by America’s leadership as essential to domestic and international politics and security. For much of the Pax Americana, our government and intelligentsia have poured time, effort, and money into studying how to persuade everyone from allies to enemies and, conversely, how to counter an opponent’s influence campaigns.
But something essential has changed since the rise of President Donald Trump as a political force.
During the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke up against censorship and for lay readers in the wake of an attempt by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s henchmen to eradicate communist books from libraries:
Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book . . . .
How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is, and what it teaches, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it? . . .
And we have got to fight it with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn’t America.
These days, America’s most educated have grown distrustful of non-experts and their ability to process dangerous ideas.
Our elites have launched a campaign to protect the undereducated from themselves.
That crusade is not going well.
As Martin Gurri has pointed out time and time again, America’s thought leaders and information curators are on the ropes. Academics, think tankers, pundits, and policymakers no longer can hide the fact that they often either have no clue what they are doing or are all too willing to oversell their case—and will purposefully obfuscate or outright lie from time to time to get their way.
Yet most experts are more than happy to pretend as if nothing were wrong as they claw their way up the professional ladder. Some insist on singing paeans to themselves while demanding ever-greater protection from open competition and even outside criticism.
Take, for instance, the authorities advocating a muscular foreign policy or demanding robust countermeasures against domestic extremism. The Global War on Terror was not America’s finest hour. We lost Afghanistan. It would be difficult to claim victory in Iraq. The great hopes of the Arab Spring came to naught.
But repeated failures did not cause self-doubt to creep into the minds of credentialed militarists of any stripe. Most continued to insist that the next war would go our way. Some have even been trying to expand their territory, such as the counterinsurgency specialists who tout their experience in (wildly unsuccessful) campaigns against international extremism and propaganda when marketing themselves as would-be, should-be leaders of the war against domestic extremism and disinformation.
There was never any reason to assume that the pro-war clique would fare any better if provided yet another opportunity. And failures have piled on missed opportunities in the Ukraine to the point where security specialists are, once again, scrambling to protect the foreign policy establishment by blaming its most recent fiasco on a lack of American commitment to winning what may always have been an unwinnable war.
The crisis afflicting much of America’s expert class is less that the internet has made it easier for the public to push back, and more that the elite’s preferred models just don’t work. For instance, many disinformation experts justify censorship with a model positing that malevolent information drives malevolent acts. Similarly, some domestic terrorism experts justify increased surveillance with a model positing that terrorists broadcast their “terrorist intent” before engaging in acts of terrorism.
But, even if most people who commit violent acts were exposed to disinformation or made some announcement of terrorist intent, notably lacking is substantial evidence that a significant percentage of the people exposed to disinformation or of the individuals articulating terrorist intent go on to commit violent acts. In other words, many of our leading domestic security experts seem unwilling or unable to differentiate between a hypothesis and a theory. This is suboptimal.
Worse, the smarter-than-thou crowd continues to push for surveillance and censorship despite the glaring problems with their firmly held beliefs about causality and causation. The proposition that bad ideas lead to bad acts has been “disproven over and over again.” And even many of the authorities seeking to elevate their profiles by fearmongering about “stochastic terrorism” must admit that the hateful speech in the establishment’s targets is unregulatable under American law. Unlike “a call to lynch someone when a mob has gathered nearby,” the “use of mass media to provoke random acts of ideologically motivated violence that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable” just isn’t “advocacy . . . directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and . . . likely to incite or produce such action.” It can’t meet the standard required for the government to forbid or punish inflammatory speech.
To the extent that America still cares about freedom of speech or other civil liberties, the surveil–and–censor hacks should be laughed off the stage. Yet the grandees of the so-called “Censorship-Industrial Complex” are overplaying an incredibly weak hand based on what appears to be little more than blind faith that the public isn’t qualified to question the elite. This is silly; the emperor has no clothes.
The collected academic expertise of the anti-disinformation movement proved itself worthless in the real world because disinformation specialists were incapable of preventing the Biden Administration’s Disinformation Governance Board from falling victim to—of all things—a disinformation campaign. Given the anti-disinformation crowd’s admitted inability to effectively contest disinformation with speech and counter-speech in open competition, the public has every right to question whether the Biden Administration’s “Ministry of Truth” was meant to institute a de facto censorship regime where progressive- or establishment-led media and social media companies would collude with like-minded state actors to suppress populist voices.
The disinformation that touched off the anti-disinformation crusade—propaganda propounded by the Russian government during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections—either appears far too ham-handed to be persuasive or seems all but indistinguishable from arguments and assertions made by America’s most highly esteemed progressive identitarians. Given the anti-disinformation cult’s penchant for announcing causation rather than proving it, the public has every right to question whether disinformation specialists operate in a fantasy world of just-so stories where fancy academic degrees and enviable job titles can magically transform an “and” (the Russian government tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, and Donald Trump won) into a “so” (the Russian government tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, so Donald Trump won).
The social media-based disinformation campaigns initiated by America’s enemies during the ongoing Trump era seem to be as ineffective as the failed social media-based information campaigns launched by America during the Global War on Terror. Given how disproportionate the elite’s highly publicized panic over disinformation is to the actual threat from disinformation, the public has every right to question whether our leadership is conjuring up sham crises to exert tighter control over a nation that has grown largely unimpressed by even the shiniest of shiny credentials.
Although the stage has been set for a complete collapse of expert rule, it will be difficult for the current crop of experts to save themselves from—of all things—themselves. The traditional authority system is almost uniquely unfit to deal with the very public failure of conventional models.
The incentive structure of America’s credential-granting institutions is out of whack. Expert careers are advanced by appealing to recognized authorities and representatives of wealthy benefactors or powerful state actors in a more-or-less closed system, which the establishment zealously protects from outside interference.
-
Freedom from open competition allows diplomas and job titles to trump the substance of arguments and the abilities of individuals in the cloistered world of experts. Authorities can take the ostrich defense or declare victory when faced with a threat to their position, so experts often decry dissent while studiously avoiding anything resembling critical engagement with critiques of their work advanced by deplorables or members of the great unwashed.
-
The need to appeal to recognized authorities stifles innovation. Up-and-comers are best advised to avoid heterodox approaches, which are liable to offend a patron, and to adopt whatever orthodox approach happens to be favored by their most powerful backer, regardless of the merit of that approach. Established experts can use the failed experiment that is peer review to prop up their favorite disproved theory, to advance a fashionable narrative, or to snuff out groundbreaking work capable of challenging the orthodoxies upon which their reputations rest.
-
The authority system even incents experts to exaggerate. To draw attention in crowded fields or obtain grant money from activist sources, specialists commonly conflate advocacy with analysis, make overly dire predictions, then demand radical measures to avert the impending crises. And very rarely are experts punished for getting things wrong. It is therefore reasonable for specialists to stake out the most aggressive position possible, rather than the most accurate or defensible one.
The expert system has broken down and requires structural reform. For example, it is as if academia—the crown jewel of the authority system—were designed to be as unfair and inefficient as possible.
-
Despite our knowledge that the “Next Big Thing” tends to be hit upon by someone who is young or new to a discipline and often languishes until the then-dominant cohort of scholars loses control over the field, the tenure system concentrates power and authority in exactly the wrong hands—those of established professors.
-
The deference afforded to tenured faculty within the American academy not only makes our colleges and universities incredibly hostile environments for truly innovative ideas, but also creates ideal conditions for alpha-sycophants valiant enough to kowtow their way to the top.
-
Protecting academic authorities from the consequences of their actions over-incents “brave stands” (by rendering them bravery-free) and allows indefensible arguments to overrun the academy and occasionally leak into the wider world—often to the detriment of the very non-elites whom the scholarly elite purports to represent.
In short, despite all the exhortations by the Spencerians in the mainstream media and other establishment outlets about the need for academics to remain a self-regulating profession, the greatest threats to the advance of learning and to academic freedom come from within the academy and are, at minimum, exacerbated by a system that permits faculty self-governance.
It’s high time for a round of creative destruction. The non-experts who oversee or fund America’s colleges and universities should consider doing away with tenure and exposing academics to the crucible of competition. After all, pretty much everyone outside the Ivory Tower realizes that the fairest and most efficient way to deal with the replication crisis in the social sciences is an employment crisis among social scientists.
Loading…
Originally Posted at; https://www.zerohedge.com//
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Hillary Clinton Calls Trump ‘Danger to Our Country’ After 2nd Assassination Attempt
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that former President Donald Trump’s politics of “hate and division” put the United States’ security in danger.
Clinton said, “I’m very hopeful, and even optimistic that Americans who do not want to see a continuation of this politics of hate and division will reject Trump.”
She continued, “The object in this case is Donald Trump, his demagoguery, his danger to our country and the world. You know, they were merciless about what they saw as President Biden’s problems in the debate and calling for him to withdraw. I believe Donald Trump has disqualified himself over and over and over again to be a presidential candidate, let alone a president.”
Clinton added, “I do think more and more Americans are rejecting the kind of chaos that he represents. We can’t go back. That’s what the Harris campaign says all the time. We’re not going back. We’re not going back to, you know, what he failed to do to protect American lives during COVID. We’re not going back to the, you know, romance with dictators that puts innocent lives at risk and puts America’s security in danger. We can’t go back and give this very dangerous man another chance to do harm to our country and the world.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
Originally Posted At www.breitbart.com
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers:
Alleged Donald Trump Assassin Previously Known to FBI
Former President Donald Trump’s alleged would-be assassin was previously on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) radar, Special Agent Jeffrey B. Veltri said during a press conference on Monday.
Veltri, the special agent in charge for the Miami field office, said the suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was the subject of a previously closed 2019 tip to the agency in which it was alleged that Routh was in possession of a firearm as a felon.
“And, following up on the tip, the alleged complainant was interviewed and did not verify — I repeat — did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI passed that information to local law enforcement and Honolulu,” Veltri said at the press conference at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Veltri noted that, in 2002, Routh was charged and convicted in North Carolina for possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Routh allegedly barricaded himself and had a standoff with police. The Greensboro News & Record noted that once the standoff ended, Routh was arrested and “charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, referring to a fully automatic machine gun.”
“Law enforcement checks also revealed that from 1997 to 2010, the subject had numerous felony charges for stolen goods,” Veltri said.
The press conference was held a day after the assassination attempt on Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The incident was the second attempt on Trump’s life in two months, the first occurring during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July when a bullet struck Trump’s ear and left his face bloodied as he was speaking to the crowd.
Defiant: Bloodied Trump Pumps Fist to Crowd After Shooting at Rally
C-SPAN
As Breitbart News reported, Routh allegedly hid in the bushes near Trump International Golf Course, where he appeared to be lying in wait for Trump, who was golfing, to come into his view. Federal prosecutors on Monday said that Routh concealed himself there for almost 12 hours before the incident.
Routh had with him a rifle with a scope, backpacks, and a Go-Pro, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office.
Breitbart News reported:
Secret Service agents, who apparently travel a hole or two ahead of Trump while he’s golfing to secure the area, encountered Routh before he was able to fire rounds at the 45th president.
An agent apparently shot at Routh, who then fled the scene in a vehicle. A witness was able to take photos of the getaway car and its tag, the sheriff’s office said. From there, law enforcement caught up to the suspect and took him into custody.
The FBI now says it is investigating an apparent second assassination attempt against Trump. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), meanwhile, announced that the state of Florida will conduct its own investigation into what happened separate from the federal investigation.
WATCH:
Veltri said FBI agents attempted to interview Routh, but “he invoked his right to an attorney in the last 24 hours.”
Veltri said various law enforcement agencies are working to obtain and execute search warrants of Routh’s vehicle and devices, including those at his previous known addresses. The FBI is also interviewing Secret Service agents on the scene and seven civilian witnesses. The agency’s Honolulu and Charlotte field offices have initiated interviews with several family members, friends, and former colleagues, Veltri said.
“The subject had an active online presence, and we are going through what he posted and any searches he conducted online,” he added.
Routh appears to have been obsessed with the Ukraine War — on the Ukrainian side — and was interviewed by the New York Times about his efforts to recruit volunteers to travel to Ukraine to fight against Russia in the war. He also reportedly had a Biden-Harris bumper sticker on a truck outside his home in Hawaii and appears to have donated to Democrats 19 times, FEC filings show.
“In addition, we’re going through media reports and public statements He made that he wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers and others to fight for Ukraine,” Veltri said.
Originally Posted At www.breitbart.com
Stay Updated with news.freeptomaineradio.com’s Daily Newsletter
Stay informed! Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive updates on our latest blog posts directly in your inbox. Don’t let important information get buried by big tech.
Current subscribers: