Russiagate: Vindman Out

And I was so looking forward to his being assigned to the coast defense of Wyoming. WaPoo whines Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman retires, citing campaign of ‘bullying’ and ‘retaliation’ by Trump after impeachment testimony,

An Army officer who played a high-profile role in President Trump’s impeachment proceedings is retiring from the military over alleged “bullying” and “retaliation” by the president, his attorney said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a national security aide at the White House until earlier this year and was up for promotion to colonel, will leave the military instead, his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement.

“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. Between protecting his promotion or the promotion of his fellow soldiers,” Pressman said. “LTC Vindman’s patriotism has cost him his career.”

but buried in the piece:

A senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions, said that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper had officially signed off Monday on the list of officers slated to be promoted to colonel, with Vindman’s name on it, and that it was expected to be relayed to the White House by the end of the week. The White House would then be responsible for reviewing the list and transmitting it to the Senate for approval.

The official declined to say whether the White House had communicated its intentions surrounding Vindman’s potential promotion.

Would you want to be Vindman's boss, given his history of insubordination? Promotion to Colonel is not automatic.

Last week, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said she would block the promotion of more than 1,000 officers unless Esper ensured that Vindman would not be subjected to retaliation.

On Wednesday, after Vindman’s plans to retire became known, Duckworth said she would keep her hold on promotions in place until Esper verified to her in writing that he did not act to stymie Vindman moving up in rank.

If Vindman hadn’t retired, he would either have been promoted or, if not promoted, would have been eligible again for potential promotion in a year.

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.08.20, Nice Deb at American Greatness claims LTC Alexander Vindman Retires After Promotion Allegedly Blocked and This Ain’t Hell, Alexander Vindman To Retire. Roll Call, Duckworth doesn’t back down following Vindman retirement and BI, Sen. Tammy Duckworth says she will block military promotions until Trump's defense secretary explains the 'disgraceful situation' that led Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to retire. I'm sure that will win her the military vote.

Axios, Vindman to retire from military after "retaliation" from Trump impeachment.  Ace, Lt. Colonel Vindman Announces Retirement; Will Spend More Time With His Bearclaws and Hardening Arteries

Vindman's name was forwarded for possible promotion. Anti-American liar Tammy Duckworth stated that she would hold up all promotions unless this Ukrainian partisan was promoted further in the US Army.

Apparently Trump said "Fuck you." The armed forces are up or out at the higher ranks; you're either promoted, or you retire.

Lieutenant Bearclaw Marverick is retiring.

He's probably taking a big-money post with a Clintonoid Deep State affiliated "intelligence" and consulting company like Beacon, or...

ABC news Australia,  US general not convinced alleged Russian bounties led to US deaths in Afghanistan. A journolistic slight of hand in the title, which assumes the bounties were paid, the general was not sure the bounties existed:

Pressed on whether he believed Russian payments led to US deaths, General McKenzie said: "No, I'm not convinced of that. I'm just not."

He added that battlefield intelligence was often inconclusive.

"But in this case, there just wasn't enough there," General McKenzie said.

"I sent the intelligence guys back to continue to dig on it. And I believe they're continuing to dig right now."

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Top US General Says Intelligence On Alleged Russian Bounties Is ‘Very Worrisome,’ Inconclusive

McKenzie, a Marine general, told ABC that reports about possible Russian bounties have lingered “for a while,” but he said the information had “very very low levels of authenticity about them.”

Capt Ed, Hot Air, VIP, DoJ: By The Way, We Found Even More Strzok Notes On The Flynn Case Withheld From Defense. Judge Sullivan however, is witholding that information from public, but Matt Margolis at PJ Media has sussed out that New Evidence Shows DOJ Was Skeptical of FBI's Case Against Michael Flynn

Senior Justice Department officials were skeptical of the FBI’s criminal case against Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the possibility of charging him, according to internal notes, reports Just the News.

“The skepticism about whether Flynn intended to lie during an FBI interview or posed a national security threat was expressed in handwritten notes that were turned over Tuesday to Flynn’s defense team and the judge overseeing his case under a protective order, according to multiple sources,” explained investigative reporter John Solomon.
. . .
These new notes also indicate officials believed Flynn was forthcoming in his interviews, didn’t intend to lie to the FBI, and had not acted inappropriately.

John Solomon at JTN, British court rules against Christopher Steele, orders damages paid to businessmen named in dossier,

Justice Mark Warby of the High Court of England and Wales ordered Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, to pay a modest 18,000 English pounds – about $22,596 in American currency – each to Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman as compensation for a violation of Britain’s Data Protection Act 1998.

Warby ruled that while Steele had a national security interest to share his intelligence with U.S. and British authorities, several of the allegations in Memo 112 of the Steele dossier were “inaccurate or misleading as a matter of fact.”

Chuck Ross, British Court Rules Against Christopher Steele In Dossier Lawsuit, Orders Ex-Spy To Pay Russian Bankers, Ace, LOL: British Court Orders Christopher Steele to Pay Damages for Defaming People With His Russia Hoax Libels

But many continue to believe this bullshit -- including 90% of the "conservative media intellectual class."

Ahem. "Intellectuals."

Intellectuals who have believed every single conspiracy theory Fusion GPS cooked up for them, and continue believing in them.

Sundance at CTH contributes Former Acting DNI Richard Grenell Discussing Unmasking During Transition Period… with Sean Hannity:



Reuters, Facebook takes down accounts and pages of Trump ally Roger Stone for violation of their double standards.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said the removals were meant to show that artificially inflating engagement for political impact would be stopped, no matter how well connected the practitioners.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re saying, and it doesn’t matter who they are,” Gleicher told Reuters before the announcement on the company's blog bit.ly/2Z7QSzc. “We expect we’re going to see more political actors cross this line and use coordinated inauthentic behavior to try to influence public debate.”

"Coordinated inauthentic behavior" on Facebook? I can't imagine that!