“I Want My Binkie! The Big Nuclear One”

“U.S ‘beating the drum’ of pressure on Iran” ~John Brennan

The scene of the attack in Damavand, near Tehran [BBC]

“On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced a purge of longstanding members of the Defense Policy Board, a group of foreign policy experts who advise the Secretary of Defense and his team about specific issues when they want outside opinions. … They will be replaced by Trump loyalists.” ~ Per Heather Cox Richardson

Regarding this business of Trump’s installing ‘loyalists’ in all the civil service positions to gum up the works for Biden: just practically, that’s not going to work.

First of all, he waited until very late to essentially fire dozens of institutional types who will not go quietly, some of them will sue. None of it will be fully adjudicated before January 20, 2021.

“…according to Defense News, 24 of the 60 positions at the Department of Defense that require Senate approval are not occupied by confirmed appointees. Increasingly, our foreign policy ranks are filled with people loyal to Trump.”

Secondly, given what we’ve seen of the incompetence at the highest levels, does anyone really believe that Trump had literally dozens — maybe hundreds — of qualified acolytes that he could install in these jobs? I don’t. That brings up the singular problem that most of them will not be able to do the job…