Michael Ramirez Cartoons Are Back on Ricochet!

 

***Note: Due to time constraints, Michael has not been able to reliably post his latest cartoons on Ricochet.  As his manager/publicist, I will be taking over that duty.  His cartoons and essays are available at michaelramirez.substack.com, and most content is free, so sign up if you enjoy daily newsletter updates.  Below is Sunday’s essay, along with the latest cartoon. I’ll be posting regularly, and Michael will comment when he can.

Taking the Intelligence out of Military Intelligence                                                                              The most sophisticated advanced defense can be defeated if you can’t keep a secret. 

by Michael P. Ramirez, April 16, 2023

The Biden administration has taken the intelligence out of military intelligence.

On Friday, the FBI arrested 21-year-old Air National Guardsman, Jack Teixeira for leaking classified documents. According to the charging document, the first of these was leaked to a social media site that was revealed to be a closed Discord server in December of 2022.

In February, 107 images were shared, followed by more documents posted in March and the subsequent distribution of the material on other servers. ABC News reviewed 38 images at the beginning of March. The New York Times confirmed the existence of classified material on April 6th.

According to the charging documents, the FBI finally interviewed a member of the online platform on April 10th.

Two days later, the Washington Post published an interview with a friend of the leaker, stating it had reviewed 300 documents. According to a CNN story, the friend indicated that these were a “near-verbatim transcription of classified documents that OG (Teixeira) indicated he had brought home from his job on a ‘military base.’” Because of fear of being caught at work transcribing the documents, the accused leaker then took them home and photographed them.

Immediately, a series of questions come to mind…

Don’t miss out! Subscribe for free, or with a paid subscription, enjoy early access to Michael’s editorials like this each Sunday, along with daily exclusive sketches, access to the full archive, discounts, and more.

How did an Airman First Class get access to such a wide variety of highly sensitive material? Was he working in the Biden vice-presidential office at the Penn Biden Center or did he have a side job at Mar-A-Lago?

How were these documents allowed to be copied by low-ranking military personnel and taken home? Does anyone in the Department of Defense remember Chelsea Manning?

Why did it take so long to discover the leak and isolate the classified material? Were they launched on Chinese weather balloons?

And why was it the press and not the FBI or government/military counterintelligence agencies who made the discovery of these leaks? Was the DOJ too focused on disgruntled parents from PTA meetings to notice?

This breach appears to be the stupid act of an immature braggart who opposed the war in Ukraine and wanted to impress a bunch of guys on the Discord server. We don’t know the full extent of the damage. Many of our allies have recently raised concerns about the sharing of intelligence material and how secure US intelligence information may be.

I don’t blame them.

This administration already has a poor performance record when it comes to intelligence, or the lack of, and the acuity of the Pentagon brass… The bungled withdrawal in Afghanistan, the bungled review of the bungled withdrawal of Afghanistan, the Chinese Spy Balloon caper or, as the streaming movie will be called, “Around the World in Seven Days” – ironically, the leaks revealed four more spy balloon incursions, and now this.

The January 28th Chinese weather balloon debacle demonstrated a serious lack of judgment by our senior defense officials. The balloon was allowed to float across the United States for seven days. The administration wanted to wait until it was in “open space” before they shot it down. They assured Americans that they could block any intelligence gathering.

As we found out, the administration finally admitted that the balloon gathered intelligence, collecting electronic signals as it flew figure eights and multiple passes over sensitive military installations.

As I stated in one of my cartoons, they should have positioned Secretary Defense Lloyd Austin’s head below the balloon as soon as it entered US airspace. You can’t find more open space than that.

The discovery of classified material in unsecured areas in Biden’s possession, and at Mar-A-Lago only reinforces our inability to keep track of and guard our nation’s secrets.

And there are plenty of examples of the cavalier handling of classified material during the Trump administration.

In April 2017, President Trump revealed the location of two nuclear submarines in a phone call to Philippine President Duterte.

The following month, President Trump discussed classified information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that revealed which nation was behind the intelligence and the manner in which it was collected.

In July of that year, U.S. intelligence officials suspected that Trump may have improperly revealed more classified material during a private meeting with Putin but he took the extraordinary step of confiscating his interpreter’s notes.

In October 2018, Trump tweeted a video of members of Seal Team Five while visiting Al Asad Airbase, revealing the team’s location and faces.

In August 2019 Trump tweeted a classified image of damage that resulted from an explosion at the Imam Khomeini spaceport that revealed highly classified U.S. surveillance capabilities.

While these revelations may seem inconsequential, they can have significant corollary repercussions to intelligence gathering, the sharing of information with allies, and our national security.

Even while I was visiting our troops with the USO, we were cautioned that we could not share pictures or our location during our tour, or reveal sensitive information or personnel.

There needs to be a better system of accountability for guarding our nation’s secrets, a better system to safeguard them, a better system to track them, and a better system to select who has access to this material.

Even the most advanced and sophisticated defense can be defeated, if secrets cannot be kept. Loose lips and loose twits sink ships.

Finding someone you can trust who will implement the necessary reforms should be part of the equation in weighing our choices in 2024.

There are many good choices. President Biden isn’t one of them… and that’s no big secret.

Have a great week,

-m

TODAY’S CARTOON:

Published in General
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 16 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Melissa Praemonitus:

    • #1
  2. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Great to have those cartoons back!

    • #2
  3. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Thank you. Given how wonderful Michael’s work is, I am glad to know it will be more available here on Ricochet.

    I do catch his work on other social media, but not as frequently as I would if it was right here. Glad that you will remedy the problem.

     

    • #3
  4. Caryn Thatcher
    Caryn
    @Caryn

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Great to have those cartoons back!

    Indeed!  Welcome back, Michael.

    • #4
  5. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    You´re Mike Ramirez´s manager? That is one great gig. Thanks for the post!

    • #5
  6. Melissa Praemonitus Member
    Melissa Praemonitus
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    You´re Mike Ramirez´s manager? That is one great gig. Thanks for the post!

    Since 2015 – and yes, it’s a great gig.  Michael is terrific to work with, and is unbelievably talented.

    • #6
  7. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Thanks to both of you!

    • #7
  8. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    Melissa Praemonitus: The January 28th Chinese weather balloon debacle demonstrated a serious lack of judgment by our senior defense officials. The balloon was allowed to float across the United States for seven days.

    If the Chinese hadn’t run out of sky blue colored balloons, we still wouldn’t know about this.

    • #8
  9. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    You´re Mike Ramirez´s manager? That is one great gig. Thanks for the post!

    Since 2015 – and yes, it’s a great gig. Michael is terrific to work with, and is unbelievably talented.

    Just curious, how does the business side of that work in today’s market? Back in the olden days, someone could get a syndication deal and be in a bunch of newspapers. Now that the papers are just a shell of what the were and so much content can be found online, I imagine it takes more work to make a good living as a cartoonist or columnist. 

    • #9
  10. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    Vance Richards (View Comment):

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    You´re Mike Ramirez´s manager? That is one great gig. Thanks for the post!

    Since 2015 – and yes, it’s a great gig. Michael is terrific to work with, and is unbelievably talented.

    Just curious, how does the business side of that work in today’s market? Back in the olden days, someone could get a syndication deal and be in a bunch of newspapers. Now that the papers are just a shell of what the were and so much content can be found online, I imagine it takes more work to make a good living as a cartoonist or columnist.

    I see his stuff all the time in The Conservative Chronicle. It is a weekly paper that publishes conservative opinion pieces and cartoons from the past week. It has about 26 pages. 

    • #10
  11. Melissa Praemonitus Member
    Melissa Praemonitus
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Vance Richards (View Comment):

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    You´re Mike Ramirez´s manager? That is one great gig. Thanks for the post!

    Since 2015 – and yes, it’s a great gig. Michael is terrific to work with, and is unbelievably talented.

    Just curious, how does the business side of that work in today’s market? Back in the olden days, someone could get a syndication deal and be in a bunch of newspapers. Now that the papers are just a shell of what the were and so much content can be found online, I imagine it takes more work to make a good living as a cartoonist or columnist.

    The business side works the same as it does for all editorial producers – newsprint is dying, so authors and cartoonists who used to depend on print syndication, have embraced marketing themselves with websites and social media.  With models like Substack, content creators keep 90% of what they earn in subscription fees, making it a good model for well-known writers and cartoonists, (but a long slog for folks who don’t already have a mailing list). Personally, I support Ricochet, Power Line, and Victor Davis Hanson’s Blade of Perseus, as well as interesting Substack newsletters instead of subscribing to newspapers. 

    • #11
  12. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    I don’t know anything about substack.

    • #12
  13. Melissa Praemonitus Member
    Melissa Praemonitus
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    I don’t know anything about substack.

    Substack is a platform that allows creators to make money on their work via subscriptions. Podcasts, videos, and newsletters may be created for free.  The platform is pro-free speech, and harvests 10% of the subscriptions generated by creators, although charging for subscriptions is not required.  It’s best for people who already have an email list, although many free and paid subscriptions are generated from within the platform, from other creators.  The more popular writers tend to garner the most subscribers, so it has a de facto rating system built in. Many excellent investigative journalists use it without fear of censorship. 

    Substack has just introduced another feature called Notes, which caused the platform to be suppressed at Twitter, as it appears to be a competitor.

    Much of Substack is non-political and is a cornucopia of interesting writing, video, and podcasts. It seeks to be a community, but Ricochet is much better for that purpose (we have our fabulous meetups, after all!)

    • #13
  14. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    I don’t know anything about substack.

    Substack is a platform that allows creators to make money on their work via subscriptions. Podcasts, videos, and newsletters may be created for free. The platform is pro-free speech, and harvests 10% of the subscriptions generated by creators, although charging for subscriptions is not required. It’s best for people who already have an email list, although many free and paid subscriptions are generated from within the platform, from other creators. The more popular writers tend to garner the most subscribers, so it has a de facto rating system built in. Many excellent investigative journalists use it without fear of censorship.

    Substack has just introduced another feature called Notes, which caused the platform to be suppressed at Twitter, as it appears to be a competitor.

    Much of Substack is non-political and is a cornucopia of interesting writing, video, and podcasts. It seeks to be a community, but Ricochet is much better for that purpose (we have our fabulous meetups, after all!)

    How do you find a sub stack?

    • #14
  15. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    I don’t know anything about substack.

    Substack is a platform that allows creators to make money on their work via subscriptions. Podcasts, videos, and newsletters may be created for free. The platform is pro-free speech, and harvests 10% of the subscriptions generated by creators, although charging for subscriptions is not required. It’s best for people who already have an email list, although many free and paid subscriptions are generated from within the platform, from other creators. The more popular writers tend to garner the most subscribers, so it has a de facto rating system built in. Many excellent investigative journalists use it without fear of censorship.

    Substack has just introduced another feature called Notes, which caused the platform to be suppressed at Twitter, as it appears to be a competitor.

    Much of Substack is non-political and is a cornucopia of interesting writing, video, and podcasts. It seeks to be a community, but Ricochet is much better for that purpose (we have our fabulous meetups, after all!)

    How do you find a sub stack?

    It’s under the stack, of course.

    • #15
  16. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    Melissa Praemonitus (View Comment):

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    I don’t know anything about substack.

    Substack is a platform that allows creators to make money on their work via subscriptions. Podcasts, videos, and newsletters may be created for free. The platform is pro-free speech, and harvests 10% of the subscriptions generated by creators, although charging for subscriptions is not required. It’s best for people who already have an email list, although many free and paid subscriptions are generated from within the platform, from other creators. The more popular writers tend to garner the most subscribers, so it has a de facto rating system built in. Many excellent investigative journalists use it without fear of censorship.

    Substack has just introduced another feature called Notes, which caused the platform to be suppressed at Twitter, as it appears to be a competitor.

    Much of Substack is non-political and is a cornucopia of interesting writing, video, and podcasts. It seeks to be a community, but Ricochet is much better for that purpose (we have our fabulous meetups, after all!)

    How do you find a sub stack?

    If you know someone has a substack, like Bari Weis or Peter McCullough, I think just going o duckduckgo and typing in “Bari Weiss” + substack as search terms will bring you to her substack.

    Often once you get on on individuals substack, it seems that they may partner with others, so you will have a huge selection of others to read, on many topics both commonly discussed or rather obscure yet fascinating.

    • #16
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.