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    michael flynn

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    The Curious Case of Two Generals Named Flynn

    An insider says Mike Flynn's brother lied about the Pentagon's response to the Capitol riot.

    Mike Lofgren
    Dec 10, 2021

    Time flies whether one is having fun or not: it's now almost a year since insurrectionists worked to nullify your vote in a violent storming of the Capitol. Investigations of the attempted overthrow of the government thus far have proceeded with all the urgency of an interagency review of the price structure of cafeterias in federal facilities.

    Michael Flynn's brother, involved as he was in the decision to delay mobilizing the National Guard, shortly thereafter received a promotion to head U.S. Army Pacific: a prestigious field command.

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    Opinion
    Michael Flynn

    It's Time to Talk About Michael Flynn and His Cronies

    At this point, he should clearly be disciplined, and severely—so why isn't he?

    Lawrence Wilkerson
    Jun 25, 2021
    It's time to talk about Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.
    The modern phenomenon he represents, though it had its precursor standouts like Generals George McClellan and Douglas MacArthur, was initiated when Admiral William J. Crowe--a recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--publicly endorsed Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election. As payback, Crowe got the ambassadorship to the Court of St. James's. Since that time, flag officers have been increasingly more willing to violate over a century of practice and protocol by speaking out publicly on political matters.
    Still, Flynn and his counterpart, Lieutenant General William Boykin, break the mold, since--unlike McClellan, MacArthur and Crowe--both men lack intellectual stature. Boykin, after all, previously proclaimed--in uniform--that his (Christian) God was better than the Islamic God because his was real and the other an idol. This from the man then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. If this were not so deadly serious, it'd be fit for a clown show.
    Both Flynn and Boykin hail from the US Army's Special Operations contingent, hardly known as a bastion of intellectual distinction. In fact, in the 1980s, when Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) agitated fiercely for a stand-alone command for such forces, many of us in the military warned of bad things to come once the special operators were removed from adult leadership, i.e., the conventional forces to which previously they had had to report. "Be careful what you wish for, Senator..." was an oft-quoted aphorism by conventional military officers. Today, US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) not only controls these forces, but provides them with their own separate budget: dollars fueling what often equates to policy lunacy.

    Flynn's latest egregious comments, suggesting the need for an American coup d'etat not unlike that which recently occurred in Myanmar, set a new low.

    All that said, when Flynn took the stage at the Republican Convention in 2016 and chanted "Lock her up!"--referring to Hillary Clinton--the military leadership should have intervened. Doubly so, when Flynn only added fuel to his personal political fire--including, of course, twice pleading guilty for lying to the FBI, and his relief as Trump's first national security advisor.
    But Flynn's latest egregious comments, suggesting the need for an American coup d'etat not unlike that which recently occurred in Myanmar, set a new low. At this point, he should clearly be disciplined, and severely--so why isn't he?
    It's really quite simple. The military, particularly the Army's leadership, is worried about two things: (1) a third or more of the rank and file, and perhaps a quarter of the officer corps, agree with Flynn politically; and (2) the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) is spending huge amounts of money and time recruiting--still often falling short--and one of its most reliable recruitment pools has long comprised young men and women who also tend to share Flynn's worldview. The AVF cannot afford to alienate these people.
    Yes, the uniformed leadership, plus its political and press supporters, instead describe the ostensible difficulty of prosecuting retired officers, but that's a legal smokescreen for a lack of moral and political courage related to the other political and recruiting factors.
    In 1930s Germany, the same reluctance prevailed, in a general sense, with regard to the rise of Hitler. The German army--the Wehrmacht--was dominated by its Prussian flag officer corps. They thought, largely to a man, that they could handle Hitler, that he would be a short-lived political phenomenon. Some even sympathized with his stated desire to "clean up" Germany; others were sympathetic to his then-latent but widely-realized anti-Semitism.
    Other political parties--the Communists, the Social Democrats, the Catholic Center Party--though together they outnumbered the Nazis, thought similarly--that the Nazis were a flash-in-the-pan, would soon wear out their welcome and disappear. We all know how that worked out. A riveting rendering of this period is provided in a modern work of fiction, Babylon Berlin (and subsequent books), by Volker Kutscher--later adapted as a Netflix series.
    With Flynn and his cronies left largely unchecked, Congressional Republicans having blocked an investigation of the January 6th events at the Capitol, Trump still lingering powerfully in the wings, Christian nationalism rampant in what constitutes a veritable Third Great Awakening, Republicans--my own political party--looking crazier by the day, the Biden Administration mired in the political disaster Republicans have been organizing and funding ever since Lewis Powell gave them the road map and Charles and David Koch the money to implement it--the coming catastrophe could be unparalleled.
    If we could find some courage amongst the Army's leaders, an initial antidote would be throwing the book at Michael Flynn.
    Opinion
    politics
    Trump Reportedly Floated Michael Flynn's "Martial Law" Suggestion During White House Meeting

    Trump Reportedly Floated Michael Flynn's "Martial Law" Suggestion During White House Meeting

    "A week ago 126 of my Republican colleagues violated the Constitution by supporting Trump's attempt to steal the election. How many support Trump's discussion of military dictatorship?" asked Rep. Bill Pascrell.

    Jake Johnson
    Dec 19, 2020

    During a meeting at the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump reportedly asked his advisers about retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's recent suggestion that the administration impose martial law and use the military to conduct a "rerun" of the November presidential election.

    According to the New York Times, which first reported the discussion Saturday, Trump's advisers pushed back against Flynn's proposal and other ideas the president floated during the meeting, including his suggestion that notorious right-wing attorney Sidney Powell be named special counsel for an investigation into baseless allegations of widespread "voter fraud." Flynn, who Trump pardoned last month, was reportedly present at the White House meeting.

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