The "Whole Damn System is Out of Order" Edition

Rational Security

The Lawfare Institute

Foreignpolicy, Nationalsecurity, News, Government, Politics, Middleeast

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Alan, Quinta and Scott were joined by their fellow Lawfare senior editor and Brookings Institution fellow Molly Reynolds! They sat down to discuss the week's national security news, including:

“Winners Use Google Slides.” The January 6 committee has revealed some of the texts and emails handed over by former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, including a notorious powerpoint presentation laying out apparent plans for a coup. What do these revelations tell us about what happened on January 6—and what our expectations should be of the committee?

“The Smog of War.” A top secret cell of elite U.S. soldiers is accused of manufacturing ambiguity on the battlefield in order to evade legal and policy limits on the targeting of civilians. What do these allegations mean for the way America fights its wars?

“8 Simple Rules for Legislating in an Age of Disorder.” Progressive Democrats have urged their leadership to overrule the Senate parliamentarian’s determination that bills passed through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process can’t include certain types of immigration reforms. Do these demands threaten the operation of the Senate? Or is something entirely different at stake?

For object lessons, Quinta passed along a fool-proof holiday cookie recipe. Alan noted a list of blockbusters he was looking forward to enjoying over Chinese food this Christmas. Molly recommended a somewhat unlikely legislative procedure-themed holiday movie, "Operation Christmas Drop." And Scott urged listeners to watch the holiday classic, "The Muppet Christmas Carol," which Disney+ has only recently restored to its full glory.

Also, Rational Security is hoping to close out the year with a mailbag episode! So if you have any burning questions you want the RatSec crew to answer, wild hypotheticals you want them to suss out, or object lessons you want to share, no matter how serious or how frivolous, be sure to email them to [email protected] before December 22.

Be sure to visit our show page at www.lawfareblog.com and to follow us on Twitter at @RatlSecurity.

And Rational Security listeners can now get a committed ad-free feed (which is now back up and working! we promise!) by becoming a Lawfare material supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey there, rational security listeners.
0:03.0	Before we get started with this week's episode, we wanted to let you know that we're hoping
0:06.7	to close out 2021 with a mail bag episode, where we talk about topics that you bring to
0:11.8	us.
0:12.8	So, if you have any burning questions you want us to answer, wild hypotheticals you want
0:17.1	us to sus out, or object lessons you want to share, no matter how serious or how frivolous,
0:22.7	be sure to email them to us at rationalsecurityatloffairblog.com.
0:27.8	But do it before December 22nd, with that, here's our episode.
0:33.8	Can I share something embarrassing?
0:35.2	I once watched the section of the city movie back to back all the way through in one sitting
0:42.2	because I was stuck on a transatlantic flight in one of those old airplanes that had like
0:47.5	the like, not digital, the analog like entertainment systems where they've had like a literal
0:53.2	tape.
0:54.2	And one movie for the whole plane back when I was in law school going over for an interview
0:58.1	in London.
0:59.1	And they're playing the sex and city movie was the only movie I hadn't seen.
1:02.4	And I was like, all right, I guess I'm going to watch this.
1:05.3	And then it got you last 10 minutes and the electrical system on the plane picked up and
1:08.8	restarted the whole thing.
1:10.1	Oh no.
1:11.1	It was like, but I still I still want to know what happens.
1:14.1	So I watched the whole thing.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.