Under circumstances suggesting a partisan vendetta, the AG strips an FBI leader of a big chunk of his pension based on an allegation that he may have done what Sarah Sanders does everyday at work, while Gen. Flynn keeps his pension after admitting to committing crimes in office.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) March 17, 2018

Once upon a time I thought Alberto Gonzales was the weakest and most craven Attorney General in modern times. I was wrong.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 17, 2018

In the absence of the IG report, it’s impossible to evaluate the merits of this harsh treatment of a 21-year FBI professional. That it comes after the President urged the DOJ to deprive McCabe of his

He thinks it’s funny.

President Donald Trump consumed Thursday morning’s TV headlines with amusement. Reports of tumult in the administration were at a feverish pitch — even on his beloved Fox News — as the president reflected on the latest staff departures during an Oval Office conversation with Vice President Mike Pence and Chief of Staff John Kelly.

With a laugh, Trump said: “Who’s next?”

Hahahaha he’s an incompetent corrupt zero who’s ruining everything; how hilarious.… Read the rest

Trump’s people have been trying to politically cleanse the State Department, according to a couple of House Democrats.

Two top House Democrats said Thursday that they have proof the Trump administration engaged in an intentional effort to rid the State Department of career officials they suspected of being “disloyal” to President Trump, citing documents a whistleblower gave to the panel.

The ranking Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Government Reform committees sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, writing that they received documents “indicating that high-level officials at the White House and State Department worked with a network of conservative activists to conduct a ‘cleaning’ … Read the rest

About that history conference where out of 30 speakers a mere 30 were men…

In organizing the recent Applied History conference, we invited a number of distinguished female historians to give papers, none of whom was able to attend. In the end, just under 24% of conference participants were women.

— Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) March 15, 2018

I’ve heard that before. What you do then is ask more.

Please name all the women you invited and all the men you invited in a big list and Twitter will judge whether you went far enough with your efforts, won’t we, Twitter?

— Sandra Leaton Gray (@drleatongray) March 15, 2018

Were some of them in your head Niall

— no.1 picket line

Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair thinks Trump may fire Sessions soon.

From the moment Donald Trump appointed Chief of Staff John Kelly last summer, he vented to friends and advisers that Kelly was too overbearing, preventing him from acting on his instincts and impulses, the things that got him elected president. To truly be himself, Trump turned to Twitter and Fox & Friends. But over the past week, even though Kelly is still nominally on the scene, his presidency has entered a new phase—one in which Trump feels emboldened to throw off the shackles that have thus far constrained him.

That’s bad. We don’t want Trump feeling emboldened. We want Trump feeling emfrightened; we want Trump feeling small and … Read the rest

Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, telling us how “brave” the torturers were. “Enhanced Interrogation” is of course PR-speak for torture.

The Enhanced Interrogation Program saved lives, prevented attacks, & produced intel that led to Osama bin Laden. The techniques were the same as those used on our own people in the SERE program. No one should slander the brave men & women who carried out this crucial program. https://t.co/IXQuldr1R6

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 13, 2018

Hannah Arendt on Himmler doing the same thing:

The troops of the Einsatzgruppen had been drafted from the Armed S.S., a military unit with hardly more crimes in its record than any ordinary unit of the German army…Hence the problem was

Horrible news out of Rio:

Protests were held across Brazil after a popular Rio city councillor and her driver were shot dead by two men in what appears to have been a targeted assassination.

Marielle Franco was a groundbreaking politician who had become a voice for disadvantaged people in the teeming favelas that are home to almost one-quarter of Rio de Janeiro’s population, where grinding poverty, police brutality and shootouts with drug gangs are routine.

Midia Ninja/PSOL50.org

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the killings, while friends, colleagues and politicians paid tribute to Franco.

On Thursday afternoon crowds gathered outside Rio de Janeiro’s council chamber chanting “not one step backwards” ahead of a ceremony in honour of Franco

Aaron Blake at the Post on why it’s so alarming that Trump cheerily admits he lies to heads of state government.

The first reason is that this is perhaps the one issue Trump has focused on for decades: trade. It would be more understandable for him to make things up on guns and immigration, but trade is supposedly the issue on which Trump has been entirely consistent for many years. The idea that other countries are taking advantage of the United States was a talking point long before he became a politician.

Yet he doesn’t know even a basic fact about it, so what does that say about his knowledge of other issues? Combine the ignorance, the lies, and … Read the rest

Sigh.

ALL-MALE HISTORY CONFERENCE. This goes for the GUINNESS BOOK of the century! A team of 30 white male historians will discuss Applied History at @Stanford . What a shame. https://t.co/IXFQqi2eN2 pic.twitter.com/GBRNzIFMvP

— Ana Lucia Araujo (@analuciaraujo_) March 14, 2018

… Read the rest

Luke Harding and Andrew Roth at the Guardian say that the Russian poisoning was not about the victims but all about the message.

One former employee of the Russian special services said nerve agents were used only if the goal was to draw attention. “This is a very dirty method. There’s a risk of contaminating other people, which creates additional difficulties,” he told the Kommersant newspaper, adding: “There are far more delicate methods that professionals use.”

In other words, novichok was a gruesome calling card. As those who organised the hit must have known, the trail goes directly back to Moscow. The incident even took place down the road from Porton Down, the government’s military research base, which swiftly tested

Originally a comment by Maureen Brian on The allegations that convinced him are not public.

I am glad that Jerry Coyne got there because, as Ophelia notes, he has been both dismissive and pretty rude to people many a time in the past. So I’ll modify that: I am glad Jerry Coyne got there at last.

It is interesting to think of the interplay here between incident and pattern. We all have examples, either personal or told to us first hand, of describing an event only to be dismissed. We are told that it is minor, that we are making too much of nothing, that we should be flattered by Big Guy’s interest but whichever of those it is … Read the rest

Oops.

A teacher who is also a reserve police officer trained in firearm use ‘accidentally’ discharged a gun Tuesday at Seaside High School in Monterey County, Calif., during a class devoted to public safety, school officials said in a statement. A male student was reported to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The weapon, which was not described, was pointed at the ceiling, according to a statement from the school, and debris fell from the ceiling.

Arm the teachers! Everyone will be safe then!

The teacher was identified by police as Dennis Alexander, who teaches math as well as a course in the administration of justice. Alexander is a reserve police officer for Sand City and a Seaside city councilman.

Putin: “would you like some te—“

WE’RE GOOD THANKS pic.twitter.com/hAag3ePzIG

— John Noonan (@noonanjo) March 14, 2018

… Read the rest

The new Jesus and Mo:

The first comment objects that that’s “punching down at transgender folks.” But is it? It’s reality that a good many trans activists on social media do threaten women (not men so much) with violence for putative crimes such as “misgendering.” Isn’t that “punching down”?… Read the rest