The Trump administration hollowing out the Foreign Service is deeply concerning but not surprising. It will take over a generation to rebuild what this administration has destroyed in a single year

Agree, the pressers, for the most part, have been reruns of campaign talking points. They seem to serve as a substitute for rallys as Trumps recedes further into cognitive decline.

To what degree is this payback for not releasing Tina Peters, the former county clerk for Mesa County Colorado into federal custody?

Peters is currently serving nine years in a state prison after being indicted on multiple felony counts.

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Ms. Alfonsi wrote. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

Matches reporting in Politico and WSJ www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Came across like a last minute adderall fueled fever dream with little to no planning or coordination.

Side note and rhetorical question, what about Individual Ready Reservists?

Andrew Johnson deserves no less than three plaques.

Déjà vu from 2003.

Regime change justified by lies. Poorly planned and incompetently managed without planning for the most likely possible failures and the most catastrophic possible failures.

From the barrel profile it looks like an M4 with a 1-6x LPVO (Trijicon VCOG or similar). Standard issue for CBP prior to the CPB Geissele contract.

Performative and unnecessary for a CBP supervisor but consistent with the “it’s better to look good than to be good” ethos in the administration.