The cobbler should stick to his last

Retired admiral William McRaven's astonishing censure of President Trump's stripping of John Brennan's security clearance enhanced my appreciation of two things.

(1) That the Founders, in their wisdom, saw fit to erect an impermeable barrier between the military and the operations of the civil government, and (2) that McRaven decided on a military, as opposed to a political, career, thus enabling him to serve his country with uncommon distinction, and to spare us all from the dubious benefits of having yet another clueless political naif getting anywhere near the machinery of government.

McRaven, in the above-linked open letter, astoundingly refers to Brennan as "one of the finest public servants" with "unparalleled integrity." Leaving aside the credible speculation (and, indeed, mounting evidence) that Brennan is a left-wing hack who was instrumental in cooking up the bogus accusations of collusion with the Russians in order to undermine first, the candidacy, and subsequently, the presidency of Donald Trump, there are numerous elements of his career that are established facts of the sort that are totally incompatible with such as assessment, including lying to Congress, whitewashing the concept of jihad, and baselessly accusing a sitting president of treason.

I wish the admiral a long, healthy and happy life, I commend him for his distinguished service, and I hope he enjoys many years of exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech as a private citizen. And, as a private citizen, I will continue to exercise those same rights, and I will do so now by saying that, while McRaven may well represent the epitome of the military virtues of duty and honor, when it comes to John Brennan, he is as full of s**t as any MSNBC talking head.