I once knew of a group that had an interesting feature. Like any group, it had a leadership structure. For every position, there was an anti-position, so to speak. Pretty much, every leader had their own personal gadfly whose job was to poke as many holes in the leader’s ideas as possible. The goal was to make sure the leader was forced to be as rigorous in their thinking as possible. When bad and/or just unworkable ideas were tried out, sometimes they were shot down. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Hell, as brilliant as I can be, once in a while even I have a stinker of a thought 😉 Ahem. What ifs, ripple effects, unintended consequences, as well as unforeseen possibilities were, in theory, brought out. By this method they sought to better able themselves to fulfill their mission. Read more!!

The Guardian: Strongest opponents of GM foods know the least but think they know the most

NBC: 42,000 Coast Guard members miss first paycheck due to government shutdown

Where’s the bumper-sticker-only support group when you need ’em?

PBS: ‘Plenty’ is still unknown about Trump’s interactions with Putin, says former NSC staffer

For contrast and comparison, imagine Obama and Hillary not releasing their tax returns and having un-documented conversations with hostile foreign powers while everything is clouded with countless other suspicious behaviors.

I thought Team Red hated un-documented people taking American jobs, and now we have on in the WH 😉

CBS: Government shutdown could cancel more than 100,000 immigration hearings this month, study finds

The Intercept: Cory Booker joins Senate Republicans to kill measure to import cheaper medicine from Canada

This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with NJ Big Pharma donors, could it? On the bright side, maybe Rand Paul will bring some cheap meds back with him. Libertarians are known for sharing, right, even the pseudo-ones?

CBS: Rand Paul to have surgery in Canada due to injuries sustained during assault