#Tucker is hacking everything to try and understand or figure out a way home | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ayamari-no-goshi · 4 years ago

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Eidolon 16 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary: AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things

Chapter warnings: Hospitals, mentions of abduction

Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr

16. Information

"So, do you believe him? And, since when is a ghost a 'he'?" Tucker asked Sam as he lounged on the plush carpeting in her room after she told him of her ghostly encounter the previous night.

Sam sighed as she tried to put her thoughts together. She had called the boy as soon as she had gotten home from the cemetery to inform him of what happened. It had been too late for him to come over at the time, but it didn't stop her from demanding him to come over as soon as he woke up.

"I really don't know," she finally admitted. "He didn't seem like he wanted to hurt me and even offered to help me up after I fell. And, he really did just seem like an oddly dressed boy who happened to be glowing." Unsure how to continue, she stood up from her spot near Tucker to retrieve a picture from the dresser. She had taken it the day prior to Danny going missing, and it was the only picture she had with him in it.

Bring the picture back over to her seat, she showed it to Tucker. "This ghost did look incredibly like Danny, save for the difference in hair and eye color. Tucker… I don't want to believe it, but he seemed too familiar with me. He even knew about the day we found that old picture. It… it really did seem like he was Danny…"

Tucker was silent as he examined the picture. "I wasn't there, so I'm not able to draw any conclusions. But, this ghost did give you something, right? If this is a clue as to what's going on, we might as well use it. Have you glanced at it yet?"

Sam bit her lip as she once again rose, only this time it was to retrieve the book and the old picture they had found. "To be honest," she stated as she placed it on the floor, "I haven't been too keen on opening it. The phantom from last night gave a rather vague warning about its contents." Even if he hadn't warned her about it, she probably wouldn't have opened until Tucker came anyways. Something about the very appearance of it was unnerving.

"Wait, the master of all dark and creepy is having second thoughts about a simple book? This has got to be a first!"

"Tucker, will you be serious for once in your life!" A faint blush crossed her cheeks as she pushed her friend over. She hated admitting when something bothered her which Tucker knew. He loved calling her out on it when he could which did little more than agitating her more. "The thing's written on animal leather for crying out loud! How else am I supposed to act?"

"Alright, alright!" Tucker just raised his hands as an attempt at an apology. "I get it. If it makes you feel better, I'll handle turning the pages as we look at it."

…..

Sam just couldn't believe what she was reading. The book… no, it was much too disturbing to actually be called a book; grimoire might be a better designation. The writings contained within it were a strange combination of mystic writing, images, and stories. Though it might seem like a bunch of nonsense to someone just hearing about it, the tome itself was rather grotesques with its depictions. Parts of the text had become too faded to read, but what could be gathered was disturbing enough.

The main part of the tome spoke of a family which who had incurred the wrath of the spirits. A curse had been laid upon them in punishment for their deeds. The best Sam could gather (and Tucker would look into it more later), the curse would cause the family to produce a son who would be trapped between the spirit and material realms. This son would use his accursed powers to bring about the end of the world. The other writings either went into more details about his appearance or abilities or suggested spells to summon spirits which could be used to assist in darker deeds.

Placing the book as far away from her as she could, Sam just wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to digest the disturbing information. The ghost had told her it would give them an idea of what Vlad was planning, and if Vlad was really using the book as a guide than he must be planning to use the boy the book described. Did that mean he was still looking for the boy? Or did he actually have him? Wait… it couldn't be!

"Does… does that mean Danny's the boy this thing described…?" Sam exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Tucker looked at her sharply causing her to look away. She hadn't meant to speak out loud. "It would explain a lot," he said in a dry voice. "I mean, we knew the day he saved us he was something other than human."

She nodded as she allowed herself to recall the memory. Nothing about what happened had made sense at the time. Danny had managed to fight off the ghost who was threatening them and somehow transport them back to her house. His appearance had also changed some as his power over took him. A gasp escaped her as she recalled his appearance. "Tucker…! That night, Danny's hair had become white and his eyes were green, just like the ghost from last night! But, how! Danny saved us! He's not evil! There's just no way he could be!"

"Sam, just calm down! You're jumping to conclusions here!" After waiting a moment to see if she would have another outburst, he continued to speak. "I'm going to do a little more digging, but I think we can safely assume Vlad seems to think he can get a hold of the person… ghost… thing described in this book. As for Danny… it's difficult to say for sure. We know he is something other than human, but it doesn't mean he's the same." He paused again as he tried to adopt a comforting expression. "Besides, if that picture you found is anything to go by, Danny doesn't look a thing like him."

It took her a moment to understand his last sentence, but she couldn't help but chuckle when it came to her. It was true; Danny didn't look a thing like the terrifying image they had found. Even if the ghost she had encountered was Danny, he was still just as scrawny as ever. The depicted creature was bulky and flaming. The boy's hair may have turned white, but it certainly wasn't on fire. "Well, at least it's better than having nothing," she told her friend."But, now what? We're back at square one."

"Not necessarily," Tucker countered causing her to stare at him. "At least we now have a place to start looking. We might not know why exactly Vlad took Danny or what Danny really is, but we know what he wants. I'm going to head home and starting poking around. I'm also going to try to see if I can hack Masters' estate again. I'll call you later tonight to let you know what I found."

"Sure…." Confusion was noticeable in her tone. It was rare to see Tucker so determined to do something which didn't directly involve his technology. It just went to prove how worried he was about Danny.

The boy quickly picked himself up and moved towards the door. Before he went through it, he glanced back at her with a serious expression. "I'd hide that book if I were you. That ghost apparently went through a lot to try and get it to you. If it really is Vlad's, I'd hate to see what happens when he finds out it's missing."

"I hadn't thought about that," she admitted as she hastily closed the book and stood. The two friends then said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Tucker headed towards the front door of the large estate while Sam sat on her bed and wracked her brain for ideas of where to hide the tome in her hands. She had to make sure she would be able to locate it again, but no one else, especially her parents or Vlad would be able to find it. She stood as an idea came to her. She would just ask her grandmother. The woman had a knack for hiding items her son and daughter-in-law could never find, so she was perfect to ask.

After carefully placing the grimoire under her bed, she quickly went to go find the old woman. Even though she had an idea where to find her, there was always the chance she was not there. Though her grandmother was confined to a wheelchair, it did not stop her from managing to find her way to places which were supposedly off limits to her. It always infuriated Sam's parents, which was probably the main goal.

xxx

Everything was fuzzy as he opened his eyes. After blinking a few times, an unfamiliar white ceiling came into focus. Confused, Winston glanced around to his side, noticing his body felt stiff as if he had remained still for far too long. The room he was in was not one he had ever seen before, but judging by the lack of decorations and the faint hint of antiseptic in the air indicated he was probably in some sort of hospital.

Why exactly was he here? Why wasn't he at home?

Knowing he would not get any answers by continuing to lie still, he tried to sit up. It was going well until he noticed a strange pulling sensation on different parts of his body. Concerned, he looked down at his body to find various tubing in his arms. That was bad enough, but pristine bandages were notable on his arms and the small bit of his torso he could actually see. Whatever happened to him must have been horrendous. At least there wasn't a tube sticking out of his throat; that would be overkill.

At least it now made sense why he was in the hospital; now he just had to figure out what caused all of it. He leaned back as he tried to recall what happened before everything went black. Flashes of colors and sounds quickly came and went without much definition. Did this mean he was going to have to recover more before he would be able to properly recall it? He hoped it wasn't the case. He was a military man who prided himself on recalling details.

His frustrations were put aside as a shriek penetrated the silence of the room. The next thing he knew at least ten different medical personnel were surrounding his bed and staring at him. What started next was a barrage of questions and tests which took up the next several hours of his time.

…

While the tests had been frustrating, at least he had a better understanding of his condition. He had been found with numerous severe injuries on his body in his home. When he was brought in, he was in critical condition, and the staff was honest enough to admit they were very surprised he was recovering. Most of them did not believe he survive the first few nights. His body was covered in odd burns and one of his lungs had been punctured. In truth, the staff couldn't really explain what had caused the injuries. All they knew is what the police had told them: he had been attacked by an unknown person using an unknown weapon one night several weeks ago.

Knowing they would not be able to help him piece together what exactly happened, he changed tactics and asked them about Danny. Any person he asked would just give him a strange look and tell him someone would be in to discuss what he had missed later. It was unnerving. If this continued, he was going to have to corner someone. Danny was his ward, and if something happened to the boy, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Several more hours would pass before he received any answers, and those answers came by means of a stern-faced police officer. After introducing himself and assuring the hovering medical staff he just wanted to ask some routine questions, he sat down near the bed and tried to explain what the police force knew about his attacker. Irritated, Winston interrupted the man and demanded to know Danny's location.

The officer took a deep breath before he spoke again. "The day you were brought in, we took Daniel down to the station to question him."

"You what?" Winston demanded, wincing from the strain placed upon his damaged throat. While he was in surgery, the doctors had placed a breathing tube in his neck. Sure procedures usually did damage, but it would be a while before he knew how bad it really was. "Danny wasn't even home when I was attacked! He was at his friend's house!"

"I understand that. It is standard procedure to question family members after an attack for any information which may help us."

Winston relaxed slightly at the explanation, but he narrowed his eyes. "There's something else you're not telling me."

"You're very astute," the officer complimented with a slight nod. "Though I hate to admit this, your ward went missing shortly after we released him from questioning. From what we can tell, the last place anyone had seen him was in the police station. We have records of him making a phone call to one of his friends… and the trail goes cold from there."

"Danny's missing? How could you let him go like that?" Anger coursed through him as he tried to rise out of bed, which immediately alerted the medical staff. Several of them ran in and tried to restrain him as he continued to yell at the officer.

"Sir, my department takes full responsibility for what happened. We keep trying to find some sign of him, but there is very little evidence to go by. It's almost as if he just vanished from the station!"

Winston stopped struggling as the officer's words sparked something within him. Images flooded back of the strange creature who could disguise himself as a man who appeared to him that night. It was Vlad! He had attacked him so he could get to Danny!

His eyes widened as another thought came to him. If he had been asleep for as long as they said, then the boy's birthday had already passed. Did that mean the little boy he had raised had turned into the foreseen monster? If it was true, than he had failed in his duty both to the boy and to his missing parents. How could he have allowed this to happen?

The medical staff realized he had finally calmed down, but there was talk of them retrieving a sedative. After warning the doctors to leave him alone until he finished talking to the officer, he looked the uniformed man directly in the eyes and told him what he remembered about when he was attacked. He left out the paranormal parts, as what rational man would ever believe such words unless he had seen it for himself.

The officer sat in a stunned silence after Winston finished his story. "That's quite an accusation," he eventually stated after he jotted something down in the notebook he was using. "Are you positive it was Masters who attacked you?"

Winston nodded vehemently. "He's a difficult man to mistake. About a month before all this occurred, his company started contacting me about Danny's situation. Some of his adoption papers had gone missing… and Vlad had tried to gain custody of the boy when his parents first disappeared, so it seemed like he was trying again. Danny had even mentioned he had found the man standing in our kitchen when he returned home with his friends the one day."

A frown crossed the other man's face as he made another note. "Daniel's friends had also mentioned something about that, but we had just set it aside. But, I don't think we can ignore that anymore." The officer asked a few more routine questions before he excused himself after promising he would return at a later time.

…..

A day or so later, he wasn't exactly sure due to the disorienting nature of hospitals, he received some unexpected visitors. When the nurse told him about them, he immediately assumed they were just more police officers and quickly agreed to have them come into the room. He was immensely surprised to see two teenagers, one boy and one girl, approach his bed. He recognized them at once; they were Danny's friends.

"How are you doing?" Sam asked gently as a form of a greeting as they approached the bed.

"It looks like I'll live," he replied in a semi-cheerful tone. "So, what have the two of you been up to?"

The two teens gave each other a look. It was almost as if they were having a silent discussion on how much they should say. "Well, we're doing our best to try and figure out what happened to Danny," Tucker told him as a serious look crossed his face. "We think Vlad Masters had something to do with it."

"I'd say so." Winston's dark tone received two startled looks. "I guess you weren't expecting me to agree with you. Vlad… or should I say Plasmius… has been trying to get his hands on Danny for years. After attacking me, it must have been smooth sailing for him to grab Danny."

A surprised silence filled the air before Tucker spoke again. "Wait… Vlad was the one who attacked you? But how…?"

Winston smiled despite of himself. Though Danny's friends were still children, they did appear to have a genuine concern for him. After debating how much he would say to them for a moment, he decided to tell them the whole story of attack, including Vlad's duel nature. It was possible they would think he was insane, but something told him they had already gotten a taste of the supernatural. How couldn't they? They were friends with Danny.

….

"Wait, so Vlad's this super powerful, crazy, half-ghost villain? How did I miss this? He has all the signs seen in the comics too," Tucker muttered to himself as he accepted the information. "Wait a minute! Sam, doesn't his description sound kind of familiar?"

"Now that you mention it… Vlad's 'ghost form' does seem similar to what Danny and I saw in the cemetery that one day." The goth girl's expression had gone rather contemplative. "But if that was really him, why didn't he just take Danny? I mean, he… it… whatever it was could easily have just taken him."

"Your guess is as good as mine. I won't even pretend I understand how that man's mind works," Winston admitted. "He's been planning this for years, so I assume he wanted to take Danny when the situation was perfect. He really doesn't seem to like witnesses. But, that's just an assumption on my part."

"Um… Mr. Wolfe, sir... this has been bothering me for a while, but why does he want Danny anyways?" Tucker hesitantly asked.

It took a moment for him to answer. "You've probably noticed that there was something different about Danny. Now, I'm not exactly sure how much you know or saw, but Danny's situation isn't much different than Vlad's… well, at least that's what I was told."

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean… but if it helps, we did read the creepy old book a ghost gave me the other night," Sam supplied.

Winston gave her a searching look. Did she mean what he thought she meant? "What book?"

"The ghost said it would help us figure out what Vlad was planning."

The man ran his fingers through his hair as he gave a wary glace towards the teens. "Then you read the story of the monster." Without even waiting for an affirmative, he continued to speak. "Everything points to Danny becoming the thing depicted there. His parents… they somehow knew he would be cursed and did their best to research a way to prevent it… which clearly failed."

"Whoa! Back up! You're telling us that Danny's parents knew what he was… or is…?" The boy's concern was understandable. Winston felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. It must be hard to accept such a story, especially when it involves a friend.

Winston nodded. "Something tells me you had your own share of odd experiences around Danny." He released as sigh as he leaned back against his pillow. "We need to exchange information, but that's going to have to wait. Knowing the doctor's here, they're not going to allow much more time for us to talk."

"But…!"

He held up his hand as a way to silence the two teens. "Trust me, I'm just as worried about Danny, but there isn't much I can do about my current situation right now."

There was a little more argument between the three before a handful of doctors and a rather angry nurse burst into the room. As the nurse scolded him for getting so riled, the teens excused themselves and promised they'd be back at a later date. They needed to exchange information, but there was no way anything would be able to get anything done until the doctors were convinced he wasn't going to fall over dead at any moment.

A sigh escaped him as he started to tune out the doctors' murmuring. He needed to help rescue Danny from Vlad, but how was he going to do that? He was rather incapacitated at the moment. On top of that, Danny was probably already going through changes. Who was to say he would still be the same person when they finally got to him? It was a terrifying thought. If the boy did become that monster, than it would probably become his responsibility to stop him.

If that possibility became fact, would he really be able to handle it? At that point in time, he didn't have an answer, and there was the distinct possibility he probably never would.

===

Notes: A grimoire is traditionally just a book of spells or immense knowledge which can either be directed towards good or evil. There are many legends about them, but my mind has decided to turn towards the darker side. Some were said to contain so much evil they had a life of their own and could devour the memories or lives of their owners.

And, the reference of the damage of the breathing tube is a real thing. When a person is having severe trouble breathing or during certain intense surgeries, a breathing tube will be surgically placed in the throat by making an opening in the neck. Since that's the area of the vocal cords, it has a bad habit of causing damage to them. A person's voice can be altered by such surgery.

I'm also a day late with updating because of sleep deprivation.

#Eidolon #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp #dp au #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #vlad plasmius #au #alternative universe #fantasy #supernatural #paranormal

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courtneytincher · 6 years ago

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Dubya Was Bad, but the Donald Might Be Worse: Richard Clarke

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyFormer White House counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke, who worked directly under three presidents during his 30 years in government, still believes his ex-boss George W. Bush was the worst of them all.Yet Clarke—whose new book, The Fifth Domain, chronicles the dire threats to the United States posed by cyberwarfare—says Donald Trump is very likely, in the end, to wreak even more havoc “He’s eviscerating the government. He’s eviscerating capabilities that we need,” Clarke told The Daily Beast this week as the Los Angeles Times reported that the Trump administration had “gutted programs aimed at detecting weapons of mass destruction”—rigorous local and national training programs that Clarke had a hand in starting. “And it’s not as though if the Democrats win the 2020 election you just turn those capabilities back on. The people go away, the skill sets go away, the capabilities atrophy. And it will take years to undo the damage.”Clarke added: “You’ve got to wonder if the cumulative effect of a million bad decisions equates to the disasters caused by one big bad decision that Bush made”—namely, the ruinous military adventure in Iraq that Bush 43 sold to Congress and the American people as a justifiable response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with. “But we’re getting there,” Clarke added, referring to Trump.Richard A. Clarke: What We’ve Learned From 9/11But couldn’t Trump just end up blundering through his presidency without inviting a catastrophe?“I think the chances of that,” Clarke answered with a mirthless laugh, “are really low.”Clarke is especially pessimistic that the Trump administration will do anything effective to combat the threats in cyberspace, especially since the president’s pugnacious national security adviser, John Bolton, last year eliminated the position of cybersecurity coordinator on the National Security Council—in part because he didn’t want any challenges to his authority. “There are isolated pockets of career civil servants who are trying,” Clarke said. “There are some people in Homeland Security who are trying—some people at the FBI, some people at NSA, some people at Cyber Command [an agency of the Defense Department]. But what we don’t have is an executive order, a national security directive. We don’t have anybody in the White House who is a single coordinator of a response. We don’t have a request for money—in fact quite the opposite. The administration is telling [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell to oppose more money for cybersecurity in the election process.”On the bright side, however, Clarke said he was heartened recently when Trump rejected Bolton’s advice to bomb Iran to retaliate for attacks on oil tankers, and instead listened to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s pleas to stand down.“I know John pretty well,” Clarke said, going back to their days when both worked in the State Department under Ronald Reagan and Bolton was an assistant secretary. “He’s aggressive, he’s iconoclastic, and he likes to think things up and damn the consequences. That’s OK when you’re an assistant secretary of state, but not when you’re national security adviser.”Unable to suppress a laugh, Clarke added, “I loved the fact that when Trump went to North Korea last month, he took Tucker Carlson with him and sent John Bolton to Mongolia. It was very funny.”Like Bolton, but for different reasons, Clarke is very nearly a household name. His unhappy tenure as Bush 43’s counter-terrorism adviser in the months before 9/11 earned him a portrayal by actor Michael Stuhlbarg in the Hulu miniseries The Looming Tower.“I’m probably the wrong person to ask about how he portrayed me, but everybody I know who knows me—and certainly everybody I know who worked with me in those days—said ‘you were a much stronger, louder, more bossy kind of person than he portrayed, and more in charge than he portrayed. I think that’s probably right.”A former Republican who supported Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and later served the 44th president as an ex-officio cybersecurity expert, Clarke is backing South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg this time around.“The only candidate who I have noticed mentions cybersecurity pretty regularly is Pete,” Clarke said. “Maybe that’s because I’m advising him.”Clarke said he has been volunteering as a Buttigieg policy adviser for the past six weeks, and has already “maxed out” in his contributions (the federally allowable figure is $2,800) to the 37-year-old mayor’s Democratic primary race. “A friend said, ‘You gotta read his book,’ and I was like, ugh, fuck, I got so many goddamn books to read,” Clarke said, by way of explaining his enthusiasm for Buttigieg, whose memoir, The Shortest Way Home, was published in February. “But I read the book and I was like ‘Whoa! Did this guy actually write this?’ And I said to myself, this has got to be a ghostwriter—so let me go hear him speak.”Clarke ultimately attended a Buttigieg campaign event in Washington, D.C. “It was pretty clear he wrote the book, and pretty clear that he is a very bright fellow, and has emotional intelligence, and thinks systematically,” Clarke said, recalling his reaction. “Just on sheer intelligence alone, he’s undoubtedly in a class by himself.Clarke, who is 68, continued: “At my stage in life, I’m more concerned about who should be president than who’s gonna win. And I said that back when Obama was running in ’07, when I read his books and went to meet with him, and I was blown away.” Clarke said he pledged his support to the freshman Illinois senator as “a voice in my head said ‘but you have no chance of winning.’… It’s the same this year.”Clarke predicted that Buttigieg’s public profile as an out-gay man, who happens to be married to another man, won’t hurt his presidential prospects.“I think the country’s ready for it, but it’s more the fact that he’s a small-town mayor with no federal experience and no national experience,” he said about Buttigieg’s political handicaps. “I never heard of him before six months ago. So he’s got a much harder row to hoe than people who are senators and people who have run for president before. I think if everybody started with a clean slate equally, he’d have a helluva chance, and the fact that he’s raised more money than anybody else in the last quarter [$24.8 million] means that he still has a chance.”Clarke’s The Fifth Domain, co-authored with former Obama administration cybersecurity adviser Robert Knake, is a comprehensive survey of the threats from this country’s four most determined cyberwar adversaries—Russia, China, Iran and North Korea—and how the government and U.S. companies can successfully defend against them.The threat is more far-reaching than simply a foreign power such as Russia meddling in American democracy by hacking into private emails and balloting systems, while deploying bots to target persuadable swing-state voters with potent lies.“I rank the cyber threat right under global warming and climate change” as the nation’s most pressing challenge, Clarke said, “because it touches everything. It touches health care. It touches the economy. It touches the military. It has become a pervasive problem throughout everything we do.”Calling Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea the United States’ “Big Four” cyber enemies, Clarke said, “When you look at the annual threat briefing that the intelligence agencies give to the Congress in open session, those are the four they mention. But it’s very interesting what they said this year… They said Russia is in the controls of our power grid and could cause outages in parts of the country. China is in the controls of our gas pipeline system, and could cause outages. Iran could attack U.S. companies and wipe all data from their networks. Those are rather specific, I thought.”Meanwhile, North Korea—infamous for hacking into the emails of Sony movie executives five years ago (payback for a 2014 comedy in which a Kim Jong Un character is assassinated)—regularly invades the computer networks of banks “to steal money,” Clarke said. “The North Koreans are different from the other three in one respect: The North Korean government hacks for money—it’s a major source of revenue for them—whereas the other three hack for espionage purposes.”Clarke, who these days earns his living as a corporate cybersecurity consultant, has been a member of the national security establishment at least since 1985, when he was appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence during the Reagan administration. But he is probably best known as that rare government official who has publicly apologized for official failure—in his case, the government’s failure to prevent al Qaeda’s hijacking of commercial airliners to attack the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and kill nearly 3,000 people.Testifying before the 9/11 Commission in March 2004, Clarke famously called the public hearing “a forum where I can apologize to the loved ones of the victims of 9/11,” and added: “To them who are here in the room, to those who are watching on television, your government failed you, those entrusted with protecting you failed you, and I failed you. We tried hard, but that doesn't matter because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask—once all the facts are out—for your understanding and for your forgiveness.”Never mind that Clarke, as Bush 43’s counter-terrorism adviser, had repeatedly warned the president’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that the U.S. intelligence community was picking up alarming chatter that indicated something imminent being planned in the months-long run-up to 9/11; Rice and her deputy, Stephen Hadley, who blocked Clarke’s access to the president, persistently ignored Clarke’s urgent requests for high-level meetings to respond to the threat.“It was just horrifying,” Clarke said, recalled his stint under Bush 43, “because he clearly was not too bright, and then he had such an inferiority complex. It didn’t work out very well…”Clarke, who left the Bush White House in 2003, continued: “They made enormous mistakes before and after 9/11. The mistakes after 9/11 were probably even worse. The Iraq war is an unforgivable mistake that destroyed the lives of many Iraqis and many Americans, and our children and grandchildren will be paying for it for many years to come.”As assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, Clarke had worked closely with Bush 43’s father, President George H.W. Bush, to muster international support for the first Gulf War.“Bush 41 was a very good national security president,” Clarke said. “He knew how the machinery worked, and he was good at working inside it. He respected it, he respected the system, he respected the people. And he achieved incredible results. The way in which he ended the Cold War was perfect, spot-on. And the way in which he conducted the first Gulf War was damned-near perfect. If you were electing a president for national security alone, he would have been perfect. He didn’t care about much else, unfortunately.”Clarke voted for Bill Clinton in 1992, even though a Clinton presidency meant he’d probably lose his job. Much to his surprise, Clinton not only kept him on, he elevated Clarke to the White House, where he served on the National Security Council and enjoyed cabinet-level access to the president as Clinton’s point man for security, infrastructure protection, and counter-terrorism.“I loved Bill Clinton,” Clarke said, and Clinton has returned the favor, effusively blurbing Clarke’s latest book. “The guy was and is incredibly smart and curious—really a rare breed. He’s a lot like Pete Buttigieg in a way.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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sublimedeal · 7 years ago

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MyLeadSystemPRO (MLSP) – Insta – Lead Magic

“Ex-Cocktail Waitress Hacks Instagram for 21+ Red-Hot Leads Per Day for FREE, and Now You Can Too!” Warning: NO Tech Skills Required – I’ll Prove it to You! “No complicated pay-per-click stuff No confusing SEO jargon No software to learn If you have a smart phone, you’re about to discover a ‘recession & slap-proof website’ GUARANTEED to flood your inbox full of hungry, interested prospects every single day. From the Desk of April Marie Tucker Hi, my name is April, and what I’m about to share with you will surely rock your world! I’m living proof that YOU CAN LIVE YOUR DREAMS… as you continue reading, you will get a glimpse at what’s possible… April Marie Tucker I’m an ex-cocktail waitress who found a ‘loophole’ for building my business. I now enjoy financial freedom, I work my business a few hours per day, and 90% of my marketing is done on the move with my smart phone. Oh, and the best part: I have created a world where I never miss any of my kids’ sporting events! But it wasn’t always a dream life… Let’s time travel together back to 2010… I was a single Mom working the graveyard shift as a cocktail waitress struggling to provide for my 3 children… April Marie Tucker I was working extremely long hours, I had to run around in high heels and a tutu for hours on end all through the night serving drunk gamblers, and I had zero energy (or time) for my babies. I was burnt out… My soul was dying… And worst of all I was missing my kids grow up. Enough was enough! I decided to make a change, and as fate would have it a friend introduced me to the network marketing industry. And I thought I struck gold! I felt like all my prayers had been answered… All I had to do was get 2 people to get 2 people who got 2 people and I’d be rich! So simple, right?!? Except that didn’t happen. I did EVERYTHING my upline told me to do, but nobody was signing up! I was hosting home meetings, talking to strangers, cold calling, sharing the opportunity with anyone and everyone that walked with 3 feet of me… And nada. Zilch. Nothing. It got to the point where I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay my rent, but I didn’t give up. And then I decided to try and leverage the internet to build my business because what I was doing wasn’t working. I started to generate a few leads online… A few people started to join my business… and I could finally start to see the dream lifestyle I was promised begin to take form. And then… it happened! I found her… I found what would become a love in my life… She INSTANTLY took my business from part-time to FULL TIME… She started bringing me 5, 10, and then 20 LASER-TARGETED LEADS PER DAY… And she very quickly became responsible for 5-Figure Months in my business… And I want to share her with you, and show you EXACTLY what I did to go from Part-Time to 21+ Leads PER DAY for FREE and a FULL-TIME 6-Figure Business… Are you ready for my secret?!? INSTAGRAM Instagram Award And I’d like to take you by the hand and give you my exact playbook that I still use today to get well over 20+ laser-targeted leads PER DAY, for FREE, with ZERO tech skills (or computer) required! This is my passion. This is what gave me financial freedom. This is what gave me my kids back… And now I want to pass the ‘Secret’ on to you… “ Module 1: Insta-Quick Start

Instagram Foundation 101 – Understanding the in’s & out’s of Instagram and what to do (and not do) to leverage Instagram for FREE leads 4 Life! My step-by-step playbook to set up your Instagram profile & bio fast so people actually click your link and YOU GET LEADS from Instagram! The different types of Instagram accounts you can have (make this common fatal mistake and you can kiss your Instagram account goodbye) My secret strategy to link your Instagram account to your FaceBook, and create a viral presence that can triple your INSTA-traffic overnight. And so much more… Set yourself up for success on Instagram from day one! Module 2: Insta-Content Creation for More Leads & Sales

Feel you can’t create content? I’m going to open my vault and physically show you examples of the Instagram posts that have made me rich. (legally ‘steal’ these examples!) The Apps I use to create captivating images and videos that will rake in leads and sales (these INVALUABLE biz-building apps work with all your social media accounts) Look over my shoulder and watch as I create beautiful, hypnotic images right in front of your eyes on both Android and iPhone devices (whatever operating device you like, I got you covered) How to Create ‘Mini’ Instagram Videos for more traffic, leads, and sales (Insta-Videos can be 10x more powerful than just still images) Magically brand your images so you always get credit for your work, post descriptions that get prospects to take action, and the best times to post for MAXIMUM exposure! Module 3: Insta-Followers, Insta-Traffic, & Insta-Buyers

The secret to find red-hot prospects, and the one Insta-Hack you MUST do that turns them into loyal fans who will follow you to the death (and buy your stuff!) The fastest and most effective way to use Insta-Hashtags to get exposure, followers, and leads delivered straight to your inbox! The most profitable research you will do this year: Hashtag research! “Discover how to find the most profitable hashtags on Instagram for your business.”Â Module 4: Insta-Leverage Your Time with Insta-Automation Weapons

My ‘stealthy’ secret weapon to crush out your IG marketing in 10 minutes (or less) per day. WARNING: This tool will have leads flooding into your e-mail inbox on complete autopilot. My ‘stealthy’ secret weapon #2 to get laser-targeted followers and red-hot leads on autopilot in your sleep for less than a quarter a day. Uncover how I use Instagram to simplify your entire social media marketing web, and take your online presence to a 6-Figure Level. Module 5: Insta-Monetization for Insta-Profits

How to effectively start conversations with your followers using Direct messaging on Instagram so they join your list GUARANTEED! How to turn spammers into prospects, and prospects into buyers… this is AWESOME, and this trick can only be done via Instagram. Calling your Instagram leads can be the most profitable thing you do all day, but you MUST get their number first (I’ll show you how, and it works every time!) Take my simple & systematic Daily Method of OperationÂ with IG that Prints You Money (this ‘DMO’ is so easy once you learn it, you could outsource this for $10 bucks / day to your kid if you want!)

MyLeadSystemPRO (MLSP) – Insta – Lead Magic published first on http://ift.tt/2qxBbOD

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courtneytincher · 6 years ago

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Dubya Was Bad, but the Donald Might Be Worse: Richard Clarke

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

July 22, 2019 at 09:55AM via IFTTT

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