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#u.s. secret service
deadpresidents · 4 months
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What is the closest military base to the white house?
The White House IS a military installation.
It is the home and workplace of the Commander-in-Chief of United States military forces, so that alone makes it an important command and control headquarters. The various branches of the military have an active role in the everyday logistics of running the White House campus and supporting the Executive Office of the President. The White House's complex and extensive communications agency is staffed by members of each individual branch of the military. The U.S. Navy is responsible for the White House Mess and providing food services to the President, the First Family, any potential guests, and the President's staff. The White House Medical Unit is staffed by military doctors who have a round-the-clock presence in the White House and the official Physician to the President is usually an active-duty military officer.
While the Secret Service -- which includes the traditional plainclothes agents and the more visible uniformed division -- is responsible for protecting the President, his family, and the White House itself, the military also has a protective footprint in and around the White House complex. It's believed that amongst the White House's protective measures -- most of which are highly classified -- are anti-aircraft defenses, which are almost certainly manned by the military rather than the Secret Service. Marine Corps guards also are stationed at the White House (often seen opening and closing doors while manning the entry and exit points around the West Wing) as sentries and sometimes act as military valets during events hosted by the President in the White House. The role of the Marine sentries is purely ceremonial as opposed to protective.
And one of the most important White House responsibilities of the military is transportation. The White House Transportation Agency is responsible for all aspects of the President's travel, and the military works in tandem with the Secret Service on planning and carrying out the immense logistical challenges of transporting the President anywhere in the world -- a challenge magnified by the sheer size of Presidential traveling parties. A Presidential motorcade consists of, on average, 50-60 vehicles. And the majority of those vehicles actually have to be transported from the United States to wherever the President is traveling -- even if it is to several different foreign countries or continents. The Air Force is, obviously, responsible for the President's plane, along with any other aircraft making the trip which are usually carrying White House staff, members of the press, or cargo. For short distances that can be made by helicopter, the Marine Corps takes the lead. And any ground travel by motor vehicles is handled by the Army.
Security and the President's personal protective detail is always led by the Secret Service, but the military is responsible for many of the day-to-day logistics of the institution of the Presidency, which illustrates why the White House is an important military command and control base.
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ljones41 · 3 months
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"MURDER AT 1600" (1997) Review
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"MURDER AT 1600" (1997) Review
Remember the action films from the 1980s and the 1990s? I do. Several days ago, I found myself thinking about them and realizing that the Hollywood industry rarely, if ever, made them anymore. I ended up searching my collection of old DVDs and found my copy of the 1997 action thriller called "MURDER AT 1600".
Directed by Dwight Little and starring Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane, "MURDER AT 1600" begins with the discovery of the dead body of a Presidential secretary named Carla Town inside one of the bathroom stalls at the White House. Much to the Secret Service's surprise, National Security Advisor Alvin Jordan requests that the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police investigate the murder. The police sends homicide Detective Harlan Regis and Detective Stengel to serve as the investigators. Secret Service Director Nick Spikings assigns Agent Nina Chance to serve as liaison between the Metropolitan Police and the U.S. Secret Service.
The murder inside the White House proves to be the latest scandal to mar President Jack Neil's administration. The President is also dealing with an international crisis in which thirteen American servicemen are being held hostage by the North Korean government. Although President Neil wants to resolve the situation without starting a war, many within his circle and the press wants him to send troops to rescue the hostages. While Neil deals with the crisis, Regis and Stengel's investigation leads to a major suspect - a White House janitor named Cory Allen Luchessi. However, Regis eventually realizes that Luchessi is innocent. He also manages to convince Agent Chance to help him find the real culprit, leading her to finding herself at odds with Spikings and her fellow Secret Service agents.
"MURDER AT 1600" is not some classic Hollywood action movie. It has never been regarded on the same level as the "DIE HARD" franchise or something like "BULLITT". I could see why during my recent re-watch. Like many action films from the late 20th century, "MURDER AT 1600" featured some cliched dialogue. On two separate occasions, a character mentioned details from the John F. Kennedy assassination. Why? What did the homicide of a secretary had to do with the assassination of president? Some people might regard its plot as a bit over-the-top. I mean . . . a Washington D.C. homicide detective investigating a murder committed inside the White House? I doubt very much such a thing would actually happen . . . or be allowed. And like many action films from the 1980s and 1990s, "MURDER AT 1600" has - thankfully - a small share of cheesy dialogue that became popular with the early DIE HARD movies.
I have not seen "MURDER AT 1600" in years. Before I had started this latest re-watch, I had assumed that my positive feelings for this film would change. And you know what? I was wrong. I ended up enjoying "MURDER AT 1600" even more than ever. Despite certain implausible aspects of the movie's narrative, I actually enjoyed the story. Thanks to screenwriters Wayne Beach and David Hodgin's script, "MURDER AT 1600" provided a well-executed combination of a mystery, an action thriller, and political intrigue. Regis's hobby of constructing tabletop miniatures of Civil War battles and sites played a role in the movie's final action sequence. I enjoyed how the film's scandals and political intrigue allowed Regis to comment on the toxic nature of Washington D.C. politics and intrigue. Regis's conflict with the Secret Service provided a character arc for Nina Chance, allowing her to choose between protecting the First Family's secrets on behalf of the agency and doing the right thing. Even the implausible aspects of the movie - Regis's appointment as investigator and mentions of the JFK assassination - ironically ended up serving the plot's political intrigue. Not long after Regis and his partner, Stengel, arrived at the White House, Spikings had expressed the implausibility of two local homicide detectives investigating a murder inside the White House - which is Federal property. As it turned out, Regis's appointment played a substantial role in the movie's political intrigue. And the comments on the JFK assassination served hints to what was really going on. My recent viewing of "MURDER AT 1600" reminded me that Beach and Hodgin's screenplay seemed to feature a great deal of red herrings, along with an interesting bait-and-switch plot point.
Lest we not forget, "MURDER AT 1600" is also an action thriller. And thanks to director Dwight Little, film editors Leslie Jones and Billy Weber, and Shane Cardwell's stunt team; the movie featured some very effective action sequences. But there were at least three action scenes that stood out for me. They include Agent Chance's theft of the murder victim's appointment book from the Secret Service's archives and her flight from the building, along with Regis and Chance's encounter with two assassins at a suspect's Maryland home. But the film's pièce de résistance proved to be the final action sequence that involved the pair and Stengel's infiltration of the White House via a tunnel, another deadly encounter with a government assassin, Regis' encounter with two Secret Service agents and his attempt to reach the President.
If there is one thing I can say about "MURDER AT 1600", it is a lovely movie to view. Cinematographer Steven Bernstein provided a visual feast of Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia locations, thanks to his sharp and colorful photography. Christopher Young's score served the movie well with its rich, yet mellow score that emphasized the narrative's political intrigue and murder mystery. Not only did Jones and Weber's editing serve the movie's action scenes very well, but also the movie in general. In fact, I honestly believe "MURDER AT 1600" was a well-paced film - not to fast, but at the same time, it did not drag.
I do not know what to say about the movie's performances. I had earlier stated that the movie had some cheesy dialogue that was prevalent in action movies thirty to forty years ago. I do not believe the dialogue was bad enough to sabotage the performances, thank goodness. But I cannot honestly recall a performance that stood out above the rest. All or most of the performances - aside from one in particular - struck me as pretty solid. More importantly, Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane both did great jobs in carrying the film. Frankly, either one of them could have done the job alone. But they managed to form a pretty damn good screen team. Both Dennis Miller and Diane Baker also gave solid performances, but I felt they had been somewhat underused in "MURDER AT 1600" - especially Baker, whose only lines were part of a speech at a fundraiser scene. And Miller seemed to be used mainly as the occasional comic relief. But that one performance that seemed off-kilter to me came from Charles Rocket, who had portrayed a recently fired government employee threatening to kill himself in the middle of a D.C. thoroughfare. I found his performance a bit over-the-top. Ironically and tragically, Rocket committed suicide some eight years later.
"MURDER AT 1600" has its shares of what I believe to be minor flaws - some contrived plot points and cheesy dialogue. But overall, I believe it is a more-than-solid action film and political thriller. I thought it held up very well after so many years, thanks to Wayne Beach and David Hodgin's screenplay, Dwight Little's direction and a solid cast led by Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane. It also led me to long for a return of the action films of the 1980s and 1990s - something I believe that is sorely needed.
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gwydionmisha · 1 year
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filosofablogger · 2 years
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Mini-Snippets -- Snarkies -- Or Snarklets!
Mini-Snippets — Snarkies — Or Snarklets!
Well, folks, just 19 days until the big day … November 8th Election Day!  I wish I could say I’m excited, but I’m more concerned than anything.  Concerned about not only the election results, but the aftermath, since a fairly large number of candidates claim they will not accept any results other than their own win.  As happens sometimes, I’m not focused on just one thing today, but have small…
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reportwire · 2 years
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Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol. With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid…
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kp777 · 2 years
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By Lisa Rein
The Washington Post
Aug 12, 2022
The White House has faced mounting questions about a decision by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office to abandon attempts to recover missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 6, 2021. President Biden, in response, has signaled his intention to stay out of the process as an independent watchdog investigates the inspector general.
But Joseph V. Cuffari and his staff have refused to release certain documents and tried to block interviews, effectively delaying that probe, which has now stretched for more than 15 months and evolved into a wide-ranging inquiry into more than a dozen allegations of misconduct raised by whistleblowers and other sources, according to three people familiar with the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.
That probe, for now, does not include an investigation into the missing Secret Service texts, which instead are the subject of multiple congressional inquiries.
Some Republican senators have also raised stiff resistance to the wider investigation into Cuffari — which is being overseen by a panel of federal watchdogs from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) — questioning the need for a full probe into the Trump administration appointee.
Led by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) the senators have demanded that investigators scale back records requests from Cuffari’s office and pressed them on their motives, according to congressional aides and documents.
Cuffari and his staff have complained to the senators of a politically motivated fishing expedition designed to undermine him, according to sources familiar with the investigation and congressional aides. In a written response to questions from House lawmakers last summer, Cuffari said the probe “will destroy” his office. He accused investigators of “undermining my attempts to clean up DHS OIG.”
A spokeswoman for Cuffari declined to comment.
One person close to the process described a “war of attrition” between Cuffari and the panel known as the Integrity Committee that is overseeing the inquiry, undermining oversight designed to hold inspectors general to the same standards as the federal agency officials they monitor.“
Watchdogs need to be held to the highest standards if they are to be credible,” said Nick Schwellenbach, a senior investigator with the nonprofit Project On Government Oversight, which advocates for a stronger federal watchdog system and last week called on Biden to fire Cuffari. “There’s a pattern of Cuffari resisting the kind of oversight that other federal employees face.”
A spokeswoman for the inspector general community declined to comment. But former watchdogs said they have never seen a colleague under investigation seek partisan allies to defend them to the degree that Cuffari has.
“I’ve never become aware that members of Congress had attempted to insert themselves in any way into an investigation,” recalled Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general from 1994 to 1999 who himself came under investigation by the Integrity panel.
“It’s going to give investigators pause,” Bromwich said. “An already slow process will be further delayed by the interest of members of Congress, whose actions will throw sand in the gears.”
In his three years at Homeland Security, Cuffari has repeatedly faced allegations of partisan decision-making in his role as watchdog at the third-largest federal agency. Most recently, he has faced scrutiny over his office’s decision to block his staff from recovering communications among Secret Service agents during the insurrection.
Top House Democrats last week called on Cuffari to recuse himself from their probe of the missing Secret Service communications, a demand he has so far declined to heed. The Washington Post reported last week that an unreleased 2013 report by the Justice Department inspector general found that Cuffari misled investigators and ran “afoul” of ethics regulations while he was in charge of the agency’s field office in Tucson. Cuffari said that he was fully vetted by the FBI, the White House and the Senate during his nomination process.
Read more.
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cheese-rat29 · 2 months
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watching early s6 is so funny because you get to see how the uk views the us and it's so wrong.
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qqueenofhades · 2 months
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I really really REALLY need to see more people makimg the connection between trump and his russian handlers tbh.......like i know we've somehow gone through the looking glass of putin apologia but that piece abt the NYT you just posted, the bots, the interference: in the bag for trump? Yes. But i dont believe its due to his or even republican power or popularity or forcefulness.......this is a man with so much debt and kompromat thats only getting worse!! Not to sound kwazy BUT WE ARE BEING FULLY INFLITRATED and at the risk of conspiracizing i think the russians are ALSO behind the Times's demise along with so many other information centers etc. Like i KNOW these leftists love him but like. Wouldnt they care a LITTLE abt being manipulated like this???
Trump is 100% an active, willing, and eager Russian agent. That's not even paranoid conspiracy theory, that's just the only reasonable interpretation of the facts:
NOT TO MENTION that in the next two years after the Helsinki conference where Trump kowtowed to Putin in every way, the CIA admitted to losing huge and unusually high numbers of classified informants around the world (not CIA agents, but people secretly working for the American government in often-hostile countries):
Once again, this all happened when Trump was in office, when he was actively handing over CIA intel to the Kremlin against the wishes of the entire national security establishment, and which other experts have suggested was directly as a result of Trump handing over the identities of American informants to Russia, including those stationed in Russia itself:
Now, I could go on, but you get the point. Not to mention that Trump just lost a major UK-based lawsuit against Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who was the first to provide documents linking Trump to Russia in the controversial "Steele dossier":
And now: Trump is deeply in hock for hundreds of millions in legal fees and punitive judgments that are only increasing by the day, he somehow just came up with $90 million to appeal the judgment against E. Jean Carroll (nobody knows where he got this money either), and Russian state TV spends all their time openly salivating for Trump's return to the presidency (so he can hand over Ukraine and the rest of NATO and, as he literally said, "let Russia do whatever the hell they want.") I know we're largely numb to all the awful treasonous shit that Trump does, but like. This isn't a conspiracy theory, this is just what's going on in plain sight, and while the Online Leftists have recently become so stupid that I honestly can't tell if it's just terminal brainworms or active Russian psyops, it's strongly indicated that it is in fact a mix of both:
So, like. Just some food for thought.
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dcoglobalnews · 2 years
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U.S. PANEL PROBING CAPITOL ATTACK TO ASK SECRET SERVICE ABOUT TEXT DELETION
The U.S. House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed the U.S. Secret Service for records over accusations of deleted text messages. This is the first time that the committee has publicly announced a subpoena issued to an Executive Branch agency, Reuters has reported.Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement Friday evening that the…
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deadpresidents · 1 year
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Why are there Marines helping to guard the White House? Isn't that the job of the secret service?
Yes, the Secret Service is responsible for the personal protection of the President and his family, and they take the lead in doing so in the White House just as they do outside of the White House.
But the White House is also a vitally important military facility, so the military has a significant presence there as well. The President is Commander-in-Chief of all American armed forces and the Situation Room is obviously staffed by the military, as are the White House's emergency bunker. And, of course, the President always has a military aide nearby with the "football" briefcase required in case of nuclear war. The U.S. Army is responsible for handling the White House Transportation Agency and the travel logistics for the President and his Administration. The U.S. Navy runs food services at the White House Mess (I believe that military aides also do any necessary grocery shopping for the President and First Family -- the President is personally responsible for actually paying for his family's regular groceries). All of the service branches of the military help run the White House Communications Agency, both in the White House itself and whenever/wherever the President is traveling. The President's personal physician and most of the White House Medical Unit are usually active-duty members of the military.
So, yeah, the Secret Service doesn't stop protecting the President just because he's at the White House, but the part played by the military in day-to-day logistics at the Executive Mansion is significant because the White House is basically a military base in addition to being the President's residence and place of work.
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elumish · 4 months
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Things to keep in mind when writing stuff involving (U.S.) federal offices/federal employees/federal contractors:
You need a badge to get in. If you don't have a badge you will at minimum have to go through a metal detector and have your stuff be x-rayed and sign in and then have an escort. You might get a guest lanyard, a temporary ID badge, or a wristband. At maximum you just won't get in.
You can potentially get in with a badge for a different agency, but you will still likely need to sign in and be let in manually, because your badge won't have building access to swipe you in past security
It can take a long time to get a badge, and it's way worse for contractors. For contractors it can take anywhere from days to over a year to get badged.
Working for the federal government doesn't necessarily mean you have a security clearance. A lot of civilian agencies just require a public trust, which generally involves much lower requirements and a much less invasive background check but can involve the equivalent of a Secret clearance background check (namely if you have a law-enforcement sensitive public trust).
You need to get fingerprinted, which may happen at the actual badging office or at a random contracted fingerprinting place. Basically all fingerprinting is digital at this point.
You need to get fingerprinted even if you have already been fingerprinted/badged elsewhere. They generally don't talk to each other.
Having a clearance can make it a bit easier/faster to get a public trust elsewhere due to reciprocity, but it can still take a while.
Federal buildings are often set pretty far back from the road and/or they have barricades in front of them.
It's not uncommon in some agencies to see mix of people in uniform and people not in uniform. Not all uniformed services are military. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps are both non-armed uniformed services.
Most federal employees operate under the General Service (GS) pay scale, and people will sometimes be referred to as a GS-X (e.g., GS-13, GS-14). This is an easy reference of relative position.
Some federal employees may operate under other pay scales, such as the Federal Wage System for blue-collar workers. High-ranking federal employees may be under the Senior Executive Service (SES) which is above the GS scale. Other agencies (e.g., the SEC) use their own pay scales.
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robertreich · 5 months
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How Amazon Is Ripping You Off
Shopping on Amazon? Stop! Watch this first.
Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. This one single juggernaut of a company is responsible for nearly 40% of all online sales in America. In an FTC lawsuit, they’re accused of using their mammoth size, and consumers’ dependence on them, to artificially jack up prices as high as possible, while prohibiting sellers on Amazon from charging lower prices anywhere else.
They’re accused of using a secret algorithm, codenamed "Project Nessie," to charge customers an estimated extra $1 billion dollars,
If this isn’t an abuse of power that hurts consumers, what is? So much for all of those “prime” deals you thought you were getting.
Project Nessie isn’t the only trick Amazon has been accused of using to exert its hulking dominance over the online retail industry — leading to higher prices for you.
Much of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit centers around the treatment of independent merchants who sell items on Amazon’s online superstore — accounting for 60 percent of Amazon's sales.
Amazon allegedly uses strongarm tactics that force these sellers to keep their prices higher than they need to be. Like barring them from selling products for significantly less at other stores — or else risk being hidden in Amazon’s search results or having their sales stopped entirely.
And Amazon is accused of engaging in pay-to-play schemes and charging merchants excessive fees that end up costing you even more.
Independent sellers are effectively forced to pay Amazon to advertise their products prominently in search results. If they don’t fork over cash, then their products get buried underneath products of companies who do. This hurts sellers but also harms shoppers who have to parse through less relevant products that may be more expensive or lower quality.
And to be eligible for the coveted “Prime” badge on their items — which is considered crucial for competing on the platform — independent sellers are pushed into paying Amazon for additional services like warehousing and shipping, even if they could get those services cheaper elsewhere. If sellers forgo trying to qualify for Prime, their goods apparently become harder for customers to find.
When all of these extra fees are added up, Amazon takes around a 50 percent cut of each sale made by a third party. It’s projected that Amazon will earn around $125 billion from collecting fees in the U.S. in 2023, most of which get passed on to you.
By charging all of these extra fees and stifling independent companies from selling their products for less elsewhere, Amazon is using its dominance to essentially set prices for all consumers across the internet.
And when you combine Amazon’s control of ecommerce with all of the other industries it has entered by gobbling up companies — such as Whole Foods, One Medical, and MGM — you’re left with a behemoth that simply has too much power.
This is all part of a much larger problem of growing corporate dominance in America. In over 75% of U.S. industries, fewer companies now control more of their markets than they did twenty years ago.
The lack of competition and consumer choice has resulted in all of us paying more for goods because corporations like Amazon can raise their prices with impunity. By one estimate, corporate concentration has cost the typical American household $5,000 a year more than they would have spent if markets were truly competitive.
This power isn’t just being used to siphon more money from you. A giant corporation has the power to bust unions, keep workers’ wages low, and funnel money into our political system.
It’s a vicious cycle, making giant corporations more and more powerful.
But under the Biden administration, the government is making a strong effort to revive antitrust law and use its power to reign in big corporations that have grown too powerful.
We must stop the monopolization of America. This FTC lawsuit against Amazon is a great start.
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so i think @scarletbirbs has a point here
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reportwire · 2 years
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Ex-Oath Keeper: Group leader claimed Secret Service contact
Ex-Oath Keeper: Group leader claimed Secret Service contact
WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testified Thursday in Rhodes’ Capitol riot trial. John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, told jurors that Rhodes claimed to have a Secret Service agent’s number and to have spoken with the agent about the…
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