Let Me Tell

It seems clear to me and to many others that the one word and concept which the current president does not understand is -- Intelligence.

Presidential campaign staffers - likely at trump's orders - contact foreign envoys for Russia (and probably other nations) whose phone calls have been routinely tapped by U.S. agencies since the 1950s - and they informed the president a month ago about such critical lapses and potential crime. When the president failed to act, they wisely informed the press, something intelligence agents have always done when national security is in grave danger.

It's even more unusual that a former intelligence director (Mike Flynn) appointed to National Security Adviser would not know about the taping of calls.

Russia meanwhile, acts pretty much like the One Who Defeated Trump - Russian jets buzz over our navy, a spy ship is spotted off the Connecticut coast, they're refusing to even discuss the Crimean issue, they've gotten the Syrian civil war going their way, they've violated missile treaties - who knows what else they can push into Trump's blustery face?

Now let's consider China, where Trump's business interests have been losing a 10-year legal battle over the rights to trademark his name. Dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits are underway. And as with Russia, the American people and Congress have zero idea how much of Trump's businesses rely on income from these countries - and most important - what will he do to preserve his income?

National security? Why that's just entertainment for Trump's country club gang.

Mr. Tiggles - The New Face of the NSA

We really don't  have much choice other than humor to challenge the status quo of constant surveillance. John Oliver interviews Keith Alexander of the NSA, and unveils the cuteification of secret data mining:

The CIA, Howard Hughes, and the Secret Soviet Sub Salvage

Recent releases of once secret files reveal the details of a 6-year CIA effort to salvage a Soviet submarine dubbed Project Azorian. 

It's a heck of a story, and notable too for the formal non-answer reply to questions about policies and programs - "We can neither confirm or deny ..."

i09 has the story:

"Ultimately, the engineers opted for a plan that sounded like it was lifted from the plot of a James Bond film (actually, it did become the plot of a James Bond film). The plan involved three vessels: 1) An enormous recovery ship with an internal chamber and fitted with a bottom that could open and close. This ship would use a docking leg system that would, in effect, turn it into a stable platform for using a lifting pipe to raise and lower a 2)"capture vehicle" fitted with a grabbing mechanism that would be designed to align with the hull of the sub. The capture vehicle would be secretly assembled on a 3) massive barge with a retractable roof. The barge would be submersible, so that it could slip beneath the ocean, under the recovery ship, open its roof and deliver the capture vehicle — all the while remaining hidden from any potential reconnaissance."