fucking with Clinton again...

The Director of the FBI James Brien "Jim" Comey, Jr - a Republican - was faced with the wrath of the House Republicans. Said House Republicans were planning on cluster fucking the Director on the grounds he should have crucified the Democrat Candidate for President several weeks ago. Some 9 days before the election, the Director released an ambiguous letter to the House saying they had found a whole bunch of email that may be criminal or may be nada.

This letter could tilt the election from the Democrats to the Republicans.

A number of Senators are angry at the Director Comey. A request for an Ethics Violation investigation against him has been filed. Too little, too fucking late!

The Director of the FBI is not legally permitted to put his thumb on the election "scale" and try to tilt the election.   (Actually, he may not be trying to tilt the "election scales" but he does not deserve the "benefit of the doubt"!

Line Officer Syndrome (written 2003, reprinted 2016)

Line Officer Syndrome (written 2003, reprinted 2016)

Although I have been out of the Navy for about 15 years, I find myself thinking back on the advise my first department head (LCDR Ron Garcia) gave me when I was an Ensign in 1981. The subject was "The Line Officer Syndrome" and went to the heart of what this good officer perceived as the flaw in the promotion system.
  
The vast majority of junior officers are temporary employees. The promotion system of "up or out" assures this.
  
Officer promotion is based on having superior fitreps. Superior fitreps are based upon an officer being "head and shoulders above" their peers. The two ways of achieving this elevated position are by being so clearly superior that an officer's peers raise him (or her) upon their shoulders. The other way is to "whack them off at the knees"; as one's victims fall upon the stumps (in a manner of speaking), the axe wielder is automatically "head and shoulders above" his (or her) peers.
  
The "Line Officer Syndrome" is simply doing whatever it takes to get enough rank to be able to retire eventually. You must mislead and damage your juniors; they will some day be your peers. (In hind sight, I think LCDR Garcia should have added "help the weakest of your juniors as they will some day be your peers and will make you look better.)   [It might have been too obviousI was likely one of weakest one. 2016]You must do whatever it takes to harm your peers; they want to rob you of the promotions you so desperately need. You must out preform your "seniors" as this shows you are ready for early promotion. (Note that I said "seniors" as I believe that many Line Officers do not believe that anyone could be "superior" to them.)
  
An officer playing the "Line Officer Syndrome" game must never forget that the officers "senior" to him or her are successful players and could take him out. Teamwork on a ship is lineral within the divisions as the officer(s) are not competing with the Chiefs and sailors. If there is a junior division officer within a division, the more senior officer will be tempted to play the game. (I was the junior officer in my first division and still remember the games the more senior Ensign played. When I became the more senior officer, I refrained from playing the game because I knew my career was so damaged that it would be futile.)
  
The Line Officer Syndrome is between the officers and it would take strong leadership from a department head, XO or CO to get these officers to work together as a unit and to believe they all fail or succeed as a group. These officers must be made to believe that their competition is within a different wardroom.Since my at sea days ended decades ago, I have no idea of how much the Line Officer Syndrome infects the Navy. However, a recent article hinted that it is still strongly entrenched among [surface] "ship drivers".
  
This leads into the subject of office politics, of seeking allies, of defending your allies and making all others looks bad. If you can hide or minimize your enemies successes and inflate your enemies little errors to major crisis while minimizing your allies errors and inflating the value of your Allie's successes, then you are playing politics well. (I did not learn this in the Navy, I learned it by watching the folks I now work with!)
  
I suppose I could address the lovely myth that fitreps are truly impartial save that we all know they are not. I still recall one XO telling me that fitreps "were management tools designed to shape careers"; I also remember rewriting evals "by direction" of my department head before he would forward them up the chain. I vividly recall one (female) LT telling me of our CO showing her a "kiss of death" fitrep our department head had penned and the XO had passed on. Our CO had then written a career enhancing fitrep for this officer. (As this happened in the late 1980s and all the officers concerned are not longer in the Navy, I won't give further details. The department head retired as a Naval Captain several years ago.) [The Department Head was the Operations Officer James Francis Etro - 2016]
  
If I sound cynical then I can only quote Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary": "CYNIC, n, A blackguard whose faulty vision allowes him to see things are they are and not as they should be".

Kathie, here are my notes from Bill's Talk.  I have my notes.

Bill had a couple of professionally done pictures of the "raiders" wearing their dust masks. This picture might make a nice addition to the exhibit.

MB

===============================================

The initial jail was used until they had running water on the Army Post. When this happened, a new jail was built and the old jail was abandonbed. In fact, it was moved to a corner of the Post.

Evenually, the Post Commandant told the JCs he would like to give the jail to the JCs. However, the Army did not have permission to do so. Bill believes the Army in Topeka wanted to be rid of this old jail as well. The Commandant invited the JCs to "steal the jail".

On 1 November 1953, a crew of 8 JCs, 2 cowboys and the grandson of one cowboy went to the Post. There, the two cowboys lassoed the jail and worked their horses back along either side of their truck. The tailgate of the truck had been lowered. With the help of the JCs, the cowboys backed their horses and pulled the jail up onto the truckbed.

On the way back, a State Trooper pulled the truck over. The JCs had gotten into the spirit of the occassion by wearing "dust masks" over their faces. The trooper asked what was going on.

The Mayor of Dodge City, C.L. Clinton told the Trooper that he was responsible for the jail being on the truck.

The Trooper said he had pulled them over for not having lights on the jail and said "get this damn thing off the road". After the Trooper drove off, the "raiding party" completed their trip to Boot Hill Museum.

Among the 8 JCs were Bill Miller, Larry Yost and Tex Acre. One of the cowboys was Floyd Kirby. The name of the boy, who was 8 or 9 years old was not mentioned.

The most important items from this story are the jail had been abandoned for years and the Army wanted to  be rid of it. The JCs, who were building Boot Hill Museum, were happy to take it.  The State Trooper who pulled them over wanted nothing to do with this matter...

so tired...

I am so tired of this election run up as it has  been going on for, what?, nearly 18 months?

There should not be election campaigns more than two (2) months before the first primaries.

Everyone running for President should be required to attend a week long class on how the government works.

Everyone running for President should get a full  briefing on just what the President actually does!  How about a simulation of what the President  does?  Call it as "fast cruise" of the Presidency.

many Trump supporters

Thank God we have the electoral college and that the number of people voting for the New York woman groper really doesn't matter. There will be a great many voters in Kansas who will vote for Trump. If we had popular vote, the number of Trump zombies could improve Trump's chances of winning. As it is, the number of Electoral Votes will not change regardless of the Trump votes.

Bitching

Here is a second shot at a long winded note I wrote this morning and should have saved. It regards what I wish was not being "discussed" in media and what I wish was being discussed.

I am tired of the Republicians:

• blaming Benguaza on Clinton without mentioning:
  1. the Republician House cut funding for Embassy Security
  2. Clinton was not the one who assigned Embassy Security Officers
  3. Benauaza security was provided by local hire "security" who ran when the rioters showed up
  4. the Armed Forces could have sent in military help
• blaming the Status of Forces Agreement that requied the US to withdraw from Iraq on President Obama when it was negcoiated and signed by the Bush Administration.
• Insulting President Obama and his wife
• inventing evil acts supposedly done by Clinton without giving evidence
• accusing President Bill Clinton of rape decades ago without providing proof
• calling Hillary Clinton "dishonest" and a liar without providing explicit proof
• refusing to perform their duties in the House and Senate in the hope the Obama Administration will fail
• having run up the massive deficite and then having the gall to blame it solely on President Obama

I would like to hear both the Republicans and Democrats discuss:

• getting rid of the deficit
• restoring the Regan Era Incomes Taxes to deal with the deficit
• agree to stop looting the Social Security Fund
• agree that in enlisting troops and sending them to the Armed Forces (and often into combat), the government must honor the agreement to care for said troops. They can not suddenly decide "fuck 'um" and cut them loose to deal with their new problems. (My Uncle Don had massive PTSD from his Korean War combat experiences and got no treatment for this.)
• deal with the heron epidemic spreading through a number of places in our country
• deal with homelessness
• deal with the massive college debts
• create health care for those without health care and those with excessively expensive health care
• deal with companies moving offshore to avoid paying income taxes
• regulate the prices charged inside the CONUS by companies which moved offshore to avoid US Income Taxes
• allow US citizens to buy medical devices/medicines from overseas companies if they are
  1. the same quality as medical devices/medicines subject to excess prices and sold by US companies hiding overseas
  2. much cheaper than items sold in the CONUS.

Second Presidental Debate (Town Hall) Clinton -vs- Trump

The second Clinton/Trump "Debate" last night was last night. This was the "Town Hall" format. It would have been better if both candidates had actually answered the questions.

The Donald was playing a dominance game last night. He threatened to have his Attorney General appoint a special persecutor prosecutor to sort out "her situation". He also threatened to jail her. Hillary did not seem concerned.

The Donald had brought in four "victims" of Bill Clinton; these were women who had apparently had "sexual encounters" with Bill Clinton in the 1990 and apparently the 1980s. It was meant to be a serious distraction for Clinton. It did not appear to work.

The Donald was disturbingly effective at times but most of the time, he was annoying and not effective. I don't know if he "won" the "debate" but it sure felt like it at times. On the other hand, Hillary remained calm and effective.

Neither spoke of explicit plans to correct the various problems our country faces today.  That is something I have been hoping for.