Thinking Citizen Blog — Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence? Thumbs Up? Thumbs Down?
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process Reform, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic: Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?
The Republicans narrowly control the Senate 53 to 47. On the Senate Intelligence Committee the split is 9 Republicans and 8 Democrats. To get the Senate floor, Gabbard’s nomination must get 9 votes. The Democrats are united against her. And two Republican votes are in question: Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana, What is your prediction? How would you vote?
Today, excerpts from two editorials in the Wall Street Journal questioning Gabbard’s judgment as well as some biographical background on Gabbard.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“VOTERS WANT DISRUPTION IN WASHINGTON, BUT IT’D BE SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY FOR THE SENATE TO CONFIRM A DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE WHO HAS A RECORD OF DEFENDING THOSE WHO SUBVERT US INTERESTS.”
1. “In 2020 she introduced a House resolution, alongside then Rep. Matt Gaetz, calling for the feds to drop charges against Edward Snowden.”
2. “The reality is that Mr. Snowden betrayed his oath by pilfering a massive cache of US secrets, fleeing to Russia, and subsequently taking citizenship there.”
3. Senator Tom Cotton (2016): “Edward Snowden was an egotistical serial liar and traitor whose unauthorized disclosures of classified information have jeopardized the safety of Americans and allies around the world. Snowden’s close and continual contact with Russian intelligence services speak volumes. He deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life.”
“GIVEN A CHANCE TO WALK BACK HER OPPOSITION TO SECTION 702 SURVEILLANCE POLICY, SHE REINFORCED WHY SHE WOULD BE DANGEROUS AS WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE” (below, Tulsi Gabbard)
1. “Section 702, part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, lets the feds monitor foreigners abroad.”
2. “Literally 60% on average, of what goes into the President’s Daily Bried — what President Trump will read each day in assessing what’s going on in the world — comes from this important piece of law.” (Senator Mark Warner, VA, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee).
3. “Mr. Trump made a campaign deal with Ms. Gabbard to give her a cabinet position in return for her endorsement. He did his part by nominating her. But the Senate can do Mr. Trump, and the country, a favor by rejecting a director of national intelligence who doesn’t understand the vital tools of the job.”
BACKGROUND ON TULSI GABBARD — US Representative from Hawaii 2013–2021, Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee (2013–2016), endorsed Sanders in 2016, Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024, Hilary Clinton accused her of being a “Russian asset” and Gabbard followed with a $50 million lawsuit for defamation which Gabbard subsequently dropped.
1. “She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve since 2021. Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a specialist with the medical unit, and received the Combat Medical Badge. In 2007, Gabbard completed the officer training program in the Alabama Military Academy. She was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader. In 2015, while also serving in Congress, Gabbard became a major with the Hawaii Army National Guard. In 2020, still while serving in Congress she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve.”
2. She is the “first Samoan American elected to Congress.” Her mother is of European ancestry, her father a mix of European and Samoan. Her religion is Hindu.
3. “After her departure from Congress in 2021, she took more conservative positions on issues such as abortion, foreign policy, LGBTQ rights, and border security.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsi_Gabbard
Opinion | Tulsi Gabbard, Edward Snowden and Intelligence
Opinion | Tulsi Gabbard’s Surveillance Folly
Tulsi Gabbard’s Refusal to Call Snowden a Traitor Threatens to Sink Nomination
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard repeats false Hillary Clinton ‘grooming’ claim in new book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
