Episode: The Three Whisky Happy Hour: Return of the Branch Covidians

We're a day late and a person short this week, as we're missing John Yoo because of schedule conflicts. Over morning coffee instead of evening single malt, this shortened, ad-free epiode finds Lucretia and Steve wondering if the Branch Covidians can really be getting ready to impose a mask mandate on all of us again, and pondering whether the COVID case of the multiply-boosted DOKTOR Jill Biden should make us wonder whether anyone knows anything anymore.

Could this all be a sign of the deepening panic among Democrats over the latest polls showing Donald Trump stronger than ever, and ever increasing doubts about Joe Biden?

And speaking of Democrats, who knew that Democrats have become Carl Schmitt fans, as is seemingly the case with New Mexico Governor Grisham declaring that an "emergency" gives her the power to suspend the 2nd Amendment. This comes on the heels of the latest 5th Circuit Court ruling that the Biden Administration trampled the 1st Amendment with its Covid censorship regime.

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Al Sparks@AlSparks3y

On Lucretia's comments on the general and flag officer promotions, she said that this involves 40 odd people. That's true in the case of 4 star generals/admirals. But Tuberville's hold could affect as many as 600 odd positions of 1, 2 and 3 star positions if this continues.

I'm not sure what the senate rules for confirmations involving individual votes are, but I vaguely remember that in 2017, when the Republicans controlled the senate and were voting on Trump's cabinet nominees, they had to go through hours of floor time for each vote because the Democrat minority was filibustering. I guess that confirmation votes have automatic cloture imposed, whereas regular legislation requires 60 votes to impose cloture.

But even after cloture is imposed, each senator has the option of speaking for an hour. So a minority that doesn't want the nominee confirmed could talk for up to 49 hours, assuming that is how many senators oppose that nominee. Going back to McConnel's shepherding of Trump's cabinet, he actually did overnight floor sessions to do that.

Tuberville has actually hit them where it really hurts. These positions are the capstone of an officer's career, above and beyond retiring as a colonel or navy captain.

There's a lot of competition for those slots, and those that attain them have had, if not stellar careers over a 28-30 year period, very careful ones.

I'm former enlisted in the Coast Guard. I never heard any of my peers in the military worry about any admiral and who got appointed to those positions. And that pretty well counts for junior officers as well. Their jobs don't start getting very political until they get past the rank of lieutenant commander (O-4). That is, the time they really get scrutinized for their potential to hold flag rank is at commander (O-5) and above. That's the rank where competition for promotions get intense, and where you better have your masters degree in hand to have a chance at it.

Anyway, I think that Lucretia is right about rank inflation in the military, and I'm not sorry for any of them. Keep in mind that all of them have had enough time in service to retire with a very generous pension.

No, I'm not sorry for them. At all.

Discussion (1)

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Al Sparks@AlSparks3y
On Lucretia's comments on the general and flag officer promotions, she said that this involves 40 odd people. That's true in the case of 4 star generals/admirals. But Tuberville's hold could affect as many as 600 odd positions of 1, 2 and 3 star positions if this continues.
I'm not sure what the senate rules for confirmations involving individual votes are, but I vaguely remember that in 2017, when the Republicans controlled the senate and were voting on Trump's cabinet nominees, they had to go through hours of floor time for each vote because the Democrat minority was filibustering. I guess that confirmation votes have automatic cloture imposed, whereas regular legislation requires 60 votes to impose cloture.
But even after cloture is imposed, each senator has the option of speaking for an hour. So a minority that doesn't want the nominee confirmed could talk for up to 49 hours, assuming that is how many senators oppose that nominee. Going back to McConnel's shepherding of Trump's cabinet, he actually did overnight floor sessions to do that.
Tuberville has actually hit them where it really hurts. These positions are the capstone of an officer's career, above and beyond retiring as a colonel or navy captain.
There's a lot of competition for those slots, and those that attain them have had, if not stellar careers over a 28-30 year period, very careful ones.
I'm former enlisted in the Coast Guard. I never heard any of my peers in the military worry about any admiral and who got appointed to those positions. And that pretty well counts for junior officers as well. Their jobs don't start getting very political until they get past the rank of lieutenant commander (O-4). That is, the time they really get scrutinized for their potential to hold flag rank is at commander (O-5) and above. That's the rank where competition for promotions get intense, and where you better have your masters degree in hand to have a chance at it.
Anyway, I think that Lucretia is right about rank inflation in the military, and I'm not sorry for any of them. Keep in mind that all of them have had enough time in service to retire with a very generous pension.
No, I'm not sorry for them. At all.