United States Biden administration policies and actions - megathread

[sillygoose]

Guys, turns out the Mark Esper approved it and 15 people sat in on the call and took notes:

Inside the crisis surrounding Gen. Mark Milley

He may face some of the most hostile questioning by Congress of any modern four-star general.

www.axios.com

Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper worried the Chinese were misreading the situation and that their misperception could lead to a conflict nobody wanted.

• Esper directed his policy office to issue a backchannel message to the Chinese to reassure them the U.S. had no intention of seeking a military confrontation. The message: Don't over-read what you're seeing in Washington; we have no intention to attack; and let's keep lines of communication open.
• These backchannel communications were handled a couple of levels below Esper, one of the sources said. U.S. officials involved thought the Chinese received the initial message well. Milley followed up later in the month with a call to his Chinese counterpart to reiterate the message, two of the sources confirmed.
• It's unclear whether anyone at the Pentagon told President Trump or the White House what they were doing.

Is the General Milley Story Really a Mark Esper Story? | National Review

New reports allege Milley was acting on the instructions of then–Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

www.nationalreview.com

This is a tempest in a teapot caused by Woodward's sensationalism and bad reporting to sell his book.

 

[Zachowon]

a) The SECDEF is a Presidential Appointee and serves at his pleasure, it doesn't follow that a SECDEF would go against the President's desires on a topic like this, and since he's not a Longtabber, I doubt he has much direct love at GEN Milley, if he thought there were any charges that would stick he would have already said so to the President.

b) It doesn't meet the legal definition of treason, and interpretive tapdancing to make it so isn't going to fly at a trial. He would have had to actually do something, not just talk about it.

Alright alright.
Can anyone lower then him do anything? Can the Senate NAFC do anything?

 

[Zachowon]

Guys, turns out the Mark Esper approved it and 15 people sat in on the call and took notes:

Inside the crisis surrounding Gen. Mark Milley

He may face some of the most hostile questioning by Congress of any modern four-star general.

www.axios.com

Is the General Milley Story Really a Mark Esper Story? | National Review

New reports allege Milley was acting on the instructions of then–Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

www.nationalreview.com

This is a tempest in a teapot caused by Woodward's sensationalism and bad reporting to sell his book.

Okay.
Definitely changes the look on things. Shows how corrupt the top was even with Esper.
He should resign but it isn't QS treasonous this time.
Since China is only an Adversary

 

[sillygoose]

Okay.
Definitely changes the look on things. Shows how corrupt the top was even with Esper.
He should resign but it isn't QS treasonous this time.
Since China is only an Adversary

Technically doesn't this mean he was obeying orders since Esper was his direct civilian boss? Esper is the one who acted out of pocket, not Milley.

 

[Zachowon]

Technically doesn't this mean he was obeying orders since Esper was his direct civilian boss? Esper is the one who acted out of pocket, not Milley.

Yeah he was technically.
He was a horrible Sec Def

 

[sillygoose]

Yeah he was technically.
He was a horrible Sec Def

More reminder to future presidents to clean house if they win and be very careful who you put in positions of power.

 

[Arch Dornan]

No sniffy for you.

 

[LordsFire]

...Okay, calling that a 'slap' was reaching. I have no idea what Biden was doing, but the kid barely made contact, and if he did, that'd be a backhand, not a slap.

 

[Arch Dornan]

Lol.

...Okay, calling that a 'slap' was reaching. I have no idea what Biden was doing, but the kid barely made contact, and if he did, that'd be a backhand, not a slap.

I'll give the baby a pass when a baby's bad at slapping.

The baby didn't like being near him.

 

[LordsFire]

I'll give the baby a pass when a baby's bad at slapping.

The baby didn't like being near him.

That I could generally agree with. Kid did not look happy.

 

[Arch Dornan]

That I could generally agree with. Kid did not look happy.

Otherwise it's the journos at it again.

 

[Panzerkraken]

Alright alright.
Can anyone lower then him do anything? Can the Senate NAFC do anything?

Directly? No. Not at all. GEN Milley is effectively the Chief of Staff for the SECDEF's Staff. He answers directly to the SECDEF, who answers to the President. HASC and SASC both had their chance at him when he was appointed, he's in there now until a President or SECDEF asks him to leave or he retires (since up or out continues to apply and the CJCS is the senior military post in the Armed Forces). As a note, check out how often the CJCS just carries right over from administration to administration, even when the party changes.

What they (HASC/SASC) can do is continue to complain about it and refuse to go on doing things or approving actions until there's some kind of satisfactory (to them) investigation conducted or conclusion reached, but eventually that just means that they're going to get a transcript of the actual call from the NSA (with a ton of "Not to be held for more than 30 days" "Not for Law Enforcement Use" and "DEFINITELY NOT COLLECTING ON AMERICANS" markings on it, and after that they'll stop complaining about THAT and find something else to complain about, because they will have been shown the tapes.

Which are probably marked to declassify sometime around.. oh, 3021 or so. You know, the usual X999 markings.

 

[Zachowon]

Directly? No. Not at all. GEN Milley is effectively the Chief of Staff for the SECDEF's Staff. He answers directly to the SECDEF, who answers to the President. HASC and SASC both had their chance at him when he was appointed, he's in there now until a President or SECDEF asks him to leave or he retires (since up or out continues to apply and the CJCS is the senior military post in the Armed Forces). As a note, check out how often the CJCS just carries right over from administration to administration, even when the party changes.

What they (HASC/SASC) can do is continue to complain about it and refuse to go on doing things or approving actions until there's some kind of satisfactory (to them) investigation conducted or conclusion reached, but eventually that just means that they're going to get a transcript of the actual call from the NSA (with a ton of "Not to be held for more than 30 days" "Not for Law Enforcement Use" and "DEFINITELY NOT COLLECTING ON AMERICANS" markings on it, and after that they'll stop complaining about THAT and find something else to complain about, because they will have been shown the tapes.

Which are probably marked to declassify sometime around.. oh, 3021 or so. You know, the usual X999 markings.

He should resign

 

[Captain X]

Saying that someone was obeying orders doesn't really mean anything when such an order would be illegal.

 

[sillygoose]

Saying that someone was obeying orders doesn't really mean anything when such an order would be illegal.

What about the order was illegal?

 

[Captain X]

Are you saying that telling the Chinese that he would inform them of any attack plans behind the back of the President would be a legal order?

 

[sillygoose]

Are you saying that telling the Chinese that he would inform them of any attack plans behind the back of the President would be a legal order?

He didn't do that though. His comment was misreported:

Inside the crisis surrounding Gen. Mark Milley

He may face some of the most hostile questioning by Congress of any modern four-star general.

www.axios.com

Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper worried the Chinese were misreading the situation and that their misperception could lead to a conflict nobody wanted.

• Esper directed his policy office to issue a backchannel message to the Chinese to reassure them the U.S. had no intention of seeking a military confrontation. The message: Don't over-read what you're seeing in Washington; we have no intention to attack; and let's keep lines of communication open.

Axios has not independently confirmed that Milley told his Chinese counterpart he would give him a heads up if the U.S. planned to attack China.

• One source familiar with Milley's conversations with his Chinese counterpart would only broadly characterize them as Milley saying something to the effect of: "We'll both know if we're going to war... there's not gonna be some surprise attack and there's no reason for you to do a pre-emptive strike."

Again, Woodward is a shit reporter trying to sell a book by making shit up or spinning it to make it more sensational. He has a well documented history of doing that, including make up all the Deep Throat cloak and dagger BS according his to own boss that published the original story!

 

[DarthOne]

SHOCK VIDEO: 6,000 Unvaccinated Illegal Aliens Gather Under an International Bridge in Del Rio Waiting to Be Released Inside US

SHOCK VIDEO: 6,000 Unvaccinated Illegal Aliens Gather Under an International Bridge in Del Rio Waiting to Be Released Inside US | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

It’s not about science.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

By Jim Hoft
Published September 16, 2021 at 9:45am

It’s not about science. It’s about control.

Last month over 200,000 illegal aliens from all over the world were apprehended at the open US southern border.
Those illegals were checked in and then released into communities all over the United States.
They were not tested and not vaccinated for the coronavirus.

There are now 6,000 illegals waiting under an international bridge in Del Rio.

This is what open borders look like.

If the Biden regime was serious about COVID this would not be happening.

Spoiler

Charlotte Cuthbertson
@charlottecuthbo
BORDER NOW: Heard from sources last night that there’s 6,000 illegal immigrants under this international bridge in Del Rio now.

Chatter about another 20k on the way, unconfirmed. Mostly Haitians, some Cubans, Venezuelans.

Most transported to BP station, processed, released.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Oh thank goodness... I thought this 3.5 trillion spending plan might actually cost something. But doesn't seem to be the case now lads and lasses... Nothing to worry about here.

White House chief of staff tells Wall Street titans $3.5 trillion spending plan will ‘cost zero’

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Wednesday claimed in front of an audience of Wall Street titans that the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bonanza would “cost zero.” He sa…

nypost.com

 

[sillygoose]

Oh thank goodness... I thought this 3.5 trillion spending plan might actually cost something. But doesn't seem to be the case now lads and lasses... Nothing to worry about here.

White House chief of staff tells Wall Street titans $3.5 trillion spending plan will ‘cost zero’

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Wednesday claimed in front of an audience of Wall Street titans that the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bonanza would “cost zero.” He sa…

nypost.com

Isn't the claim that they pay for it via increased taxes?