I’m not impressed with the fools who think the two on the left are equivalent to the crook on the right. Those two tell us that the system is sloppier and leakier than it ought to be, the guy on the right is directly practicing his personal criminal intent. It’s that simple.
Also, I think Luckovich’s caricature of Trump is the best out there.
There are also plenty of new scandals in Tory Britain.
And in Sweden but the Brit ones make ours pale.
As if Trumplethinskin has ever climbed a ladder in his life?
I tend to agree with your assessment. That’s partly because I think Joe and Mike only had a few, so something you might expect in the hurried departure during a transition. On the other hand, my impression is that Trump had a lot. However, I haven’t heard actual numbers for any of them.
@robro, for me it’s not the numbers but the intent, particularly when the owners (meaning the American people) asked for the documents back.
imback @ #4 — Numbers suggest intent. In the scurry to leave their offices for the next admin, it’s not surprising that a few papers might get put in a box and taken away that should not be. Large numbers suggest criminal intent. Also, resisting the effort to find and return the documents, as Chump has, suggests criminal intent.
Imback @ 4
Seconded.
OT
Knife attack on train near Hamburg, at least two dead.
They should know and follow the laws.
But the laws should be changed. The default should be that stuff our public servants do should be open. Make the requirements for documents to be classified to be much, much stricter. If it doesn’t hurt the country, we should have access to the information.
Trump? Books?
Remembering that little photo op he did with the upside-down Bible, I’d say he doesn’t know what a book is, much less how to open and read them.
More likely he would steal some DVDs, or, rather, send some flunky in there to steal them for him. And if they got caught, well, he barely knows them.
Also, they’re his books, having transferred ownership in his mind. After the FBI planted them, of course.
Yep, Luckovich captures Trump better than anyone, I agree. Radioactive gophers, too.
The regulations for handling classified materials actually take into account these behaviors. They just haven’t been enforcing the regs and the politicians, getting away with it, have continued to get away with it. Since nobody will suffer consequences for this, it will continue.
Meanwhile, most secrets presented to the NSC are burned in doing so. That is why the IC flipped out when Rump started talking about Israeli secret ops with Lavrov – that was close held stuff – and afterward Rump basically got secret not secret briefings. They should have realized he was demented before that, but eventually they figured that out.
Part of the problem is that the white house regularly classifies stuff to hide incompetence and corruption. That makes it more likely to leak, or for someone to sneak a folder home for their stash of political ammo. I am somewhat radical in that I believe democratic governments should not be allowed to keep secrets from their employers – after all, they are supposedly doing things in our name on our behalf. If your employees can screw up in secret, what do you expect?
I agree that way too much stuff is classified, and I can give a concrete example.
Back when I was the base fuels accountant at March AFB, I created a secret document every day. Pretty much everything in it could be figured out by sitting off base with a pair of binoculars, but the regulation said to stamp it secret so I did.
I can’t tell you what was in it, of course. 8-)
Yep. Too much is classified that shouldn’t be. Like General Millay’s in-house report on the 06 Jan 2021 insurrection. And the Pentagon Papers.†
The standards haven’t substantively changed since 1947. The standards already demand that material be given the lowest classification level appropriate.
† As the former Command Historian for the Air Force District o Washington, I can neither confirm nor deny that I have ever encountered specific documents of that nature.
That’s how I feel, too. “Oh, hey, we found these documents, here, put them where they belong” is fine. “No, these are mine, you can’t have them back, miiiiiiiiiine” is… behavior I’d expect from a toddler.
@ ^ WMDKitty — Survivor : Yup that and the cartoon here sum things up brilliantly.