#if anyone has good faith questions (including skeptical and critical ones) about the program and its breeder feel free to send an ask my wa

[sheprd]

i know this sounds like an absolutely insane mix of breeds, but i will always vouch for this program. these dogs come from long, traceable pedigrees of health tested dogs with amazingly stable and easy temperaments despite what their makeups may lead you to believe

theyre a bit quirky, because theyre a lot more primitive than an average dog. they dont act like your typical retriever or herder, but theyre very easy to raise. source; i own one!

dog that basically makes my brain do a wordless soundsless questionmark graphic

[dropintomanga]

Faith Is Restored - An Interview With “Anime For Humanity”

Ever since I started this blog, I thought to myself whether I or someone else can start up a mental health organization that helps people using anime. I had some optimism at first, but grew jaded after seeing people’s impressions of anime and how anime was treated under the geek hierarchy over the years. Yet I found out that someone or should I say, a group of fans is doing what I envisioned in my head and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect

While I was reading up on the sudden “mental health” question that popped up in an “anime census”, I found out about an organization that anime fans should support when it came to mental health discussion. That organization is known as Anime For Humanity. They are based in Los Angeles and have been traveling throughout California at various conventions since starting in 2017.

I went to their site immediately and I was amazed that AFH are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to using a medium that many fans love to promote mental health awareness. So I decided to get an interview with AFH and their outreach manager, Ruby, got back to me. Here’s what she had to say on Anime For Humanity, their beginnings, a couple of their projects, the hashtag movement they started, and more.

Q: How did Anime for Humanity get started? What made you see that anime was inspiring for anyone with mental illness?

Ruby: Before Anime For Humanity (AFH) started, we were an anime club with a passion for anime and community. We volunteered with local charities and hosted events that people enjoyed. Then we realized there were specific ways anime could have an impact and make a difference in people’s lives.

When we first thought about the causes Anime For Humanity should tackle, we took a moment to reflect on what anime brought and changed in our personal lives. We found out that most of us suffered through depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Only a few us did get professional help and others didn’t because of the so-called “stigma."

Q: What professional backgrounds do you have in mental health?

Ruby: Since AFH started as an anime club, we all came from different backgrounds, including artists, teachers, computer scientists and therapy counselors.

We do close work with other LPCCs (licensed professional clinical counselors) and LMFTs (licensed marriage and family therapists) that volunteer to host panels, speak at events and run support groups.

As a member of the Anime For Humanity Clinical Advisory Board, it is very important for AFH to work with therapists and counselors who understand the fandom and use it as to a tool to help people find healing and recovery.

Q: Clinical Advisory Board?

Ruby: The Clinical Advisory Board is an initiative made by Anime For Humanity. It is still under the work and part of the Anime Therapy Project.  Since we attend a bunch of cons, a lot of licensed therapists stop by our booth and ask us to be involved in what we do. We call them the "Anime Therapists." :) 

The purpose of the Clinical Advisory Board is to discuss scientific research done on anime and help polish Anime For Humanity’s upcoming projects/programs. We also have been working on building a "find an anime therapist near you" (which is similar to our “Find Healing” resources, but with a twist) where the anime/geek community can find a therapist near them who understands the fandom and maybe uses it as a tool for therapy. 

So far, the project is still on alpha mode and local to LA. We are hopeful it will expand to other cities, states and around the world.

Q: With anime consumption almost completely online and anime conventions sometimes being the only spot to get fans together, how did you come up with ideas to get fans to come to your programs offline?

Ruby: Here in SoCal (Southern California), it happens that there is a convention every month where we get to be in touch with the attendees and tell them about what we do.

We are very grateful for all the convention organizers in our area because not only does the anime scene keep growing, but we also get to hand out local resources for people to get professional help.

Q: Describe what a typical workshop/support group session from Anime for Humanity is like.

The AFH support group is part of the Anime Therapy program, which is still under the works.

Q: What challenges came along the way as Anime for Humanity began to grow?

Ruby: One of the challenges Anime For Humanity faced when we first started was we weren't able to collaborate with other organizations because there wasn't much acceptance and support towards anime when discussing our mission and purpose.

Q: What did it take to get some of those who were skeptical onto your side? How did you convince them? I always felt anime has better acceptance in a place like California due to a large Asian population, Hollywood celebrities loving it, and a vibrant arts scene.

Ruby: At first, we couldn't convince them due to what they have been told about anime (ie. anime containing violent and sexual content) - things that didn't go with their mission and values. 

But once we showed them how conventions were growing (especially the growth of Anime Expo) and how anime presents themes such as kindness, courage, and friendship. We also told them our story of how anime gave us a purpose to make a change in our community. That gave a spark to start the conversation and change their minds about anime. And yes! You’re right about anime being more accepted in California. As I mentioned earlier, there is more than one convention happening each month here in California, where people celebrate their fandom (comics, anime, cosplay, etc) Seeing cosplayers on the train/metro, cons popping up everywhere; that made it easy to promote Anime For Humanity!

Q: I liked how you involve gamers of all kinds to support Anime for Humanity via the "Play Anime Project." In your opinion, what is it about gamers that make them the most charitable people out there?

Ruby: Gamers are a great community. They are passionate and empathetic. Especially when gaming with a purpose comes to play. Everyone would love to do what they are passionate about and help others at the same time.

The "Play Anime Project" is about taking and promoting new and fun anime games to non-anime conventions and start the conversation about the stigma of mental health with attendees.

Q: I found out about a program you had to combat illiteracy called “Take a Manga, Return a Manga Project." Given that manga literacy and comprehension can translate well into reading non-visual material, how did the program work and which series were the most helpful for fans struggling to read?

Ruby: “Take a Manga, Return a Manga” is a unique and exciting program we launched when we first started Anime For Humanity. Here are the 3 reasons why:

1. We wanted to promote anime/manga to a community who aren't familiar with either. Because as mentioned earlier, reaching out to that community was/is still one of the challenges we are facing.

2. We all have a bunch of manga collecting dust in our shelves. We thought how can we put those manga into use and make a space where values like sharing, friendship, and community are built in the anime community.

When we took the AFH library to a couple of conventions, we would invite the attendees to build one in their community, college, high school, etc. to bring those values and show the rest what anime is about.

3. Like you mentioned in your question, manga literacy and comprehension can\translate well into reading non-visual materials.

We have a special box for people to donate manga that will be taken to kids in orphanages as a way to fight illiteracy. Since the donated books were random, we do pick and choose the appropriate ones that will be given to the kids while the rest go back to the library.

Q: I wanted to ask about your thoughts about the recent Flying Colors Foundation situation where the now-defunct organization asked a question regarding users' mental health. There was a good amount of criticism towards FCF about that particular question. What concerns did you have over how they presented it?

Ruby: We believe the question about mental health could have been worded better or not have been asked at all. The survey was to show Japanese animation studios what most Westerners think and want in an anime, and not about personal mental health issues which are generally unrelated to their survey.

Q: I love the #SavedbyAnime hashtag you started, but there are times, as you and I know, where anime consumption can be harmful to someone. We've seen toxic situations involving fandom. How do you tell someone who may be letting anime or anime fandom take over their daily life that it's a good time to step back?

Ruby: “Too much of a good thing is good for nothing.” Moderation is always the key. Over-consumption of anything such as food, exercise, entertainment, and also medicine can be harmful. Finding balance in our lives is so important, yet it is so hard.

This is one of the complex questions that we face at conventions most of the time, since we have encountered many people saying “If it wasn’t for over-consuming anime, I'm not sure if I would be here right now.”

We tend not to judge or give advice to people, but paradoxically, our first approach is to invite people to watch an anime that would speak to their situation in life (Naruto, Welcome to the N.H.K, etc. for example). 

Then we follow up with them to ultimately help them understand what they are going through and hopefully get professional help. We believe all the struggles anime characters go through is to share with us their experiences that we can learn from and use it in our daily lives.

This is where we start the conversation and and educate people about the hashtag #SavedByAnime which is about how to use anime to find balance, growth and purpose in life.

Q: I noticed that there's an upcoming program called "Anime Therapy" on the front page of your site, which looks like screenings with some conversations afterwards, I believe? Can you talk more about it?

Ruby: We will keep you updated once it's ready for launch.

Q: Given that mental illness is becoming a popular topic in graphic novels and manga like “My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness” have hit mainstream success, what would like to see going forward in terms of anime covering portrayals of characters with mental illness?

Ruby: We would love to see more of the kinds of anime that cover characters with mental illness. For example, Welcome to the N.H.K depicted the struggles of a person who was suffering from mental illness. We also hope to see anime touch on the subject of getting professional help when in crisis.

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

You can visit Anime For Humanity at http://www.animeforhumanity.org.

[hellofastestnewsfan]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a debate about whether to stay in the Iran deal. Read the other entries here.

Iran hawks seem to be in pretty good spirits these days, with John Bolton having taken over as national-security adviser and Mike Pompeo as secretary of state. They are thrilled with the promotion of two high-ranking officials who want to tear up the nuclear deal, actively promote regime change in Tehran, and vigorously confront Iran throughout the region, just like many of them have been advocating for years—what’s not to like?

I get their enthusiasm—I even share many of their concerns about Iran—but I also know I’m not alone in worrying that an unbound President Trump, surrounded by these new advisers and under mounting domestic pressures, is about to set the United States on an unpredictable course in the region. It starts with exiting the nuclear deal without a plan, and it could end with a messy, violent, and unnecessary conflict. It’s been so easy for pundits like Bolton and others to denounce the results of recent U.S. policies, not just under President Barack Obama but under Trump while Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster were still around. Now we may find out what an alternative looks like.

It now seems likely that Trump will end U.S. compliance with the nuclear deal on May 12, when the next deadline for extending sanctions waivers comes up. It is of course still possible that Trump will take advantage of European gestures—like an agreement to sanction ballistic-missile activity, vigorously enforce inspections, and seek a follow-on agreement—to claim to have “improved” the deal thanks to his negotiating prowess, but that remains a long shot. It was always fanciful to imagine that the Europeans were going to agree to make fundamental changes to the nuclear deal (as if it were somehow in their power to unilaterally revise it without the support of the other parties to the agreement, namely Russia, China, and Iran), which is why that approach always seemed to me to be a ploy to kill the deal and blame others for its demise. It now seems pretty clear that Trump’s conditions for remaining in the deal will not be met (Bolton, in any case, has been explicit that he wants out regardless), which would mean that U.S. nuclear sanctions—including sanctions on third parties that do business with or buy oil from Iran—will come back into effect on May 12.

So what happens then? Reuel Marc Gerecht, a prominent critic of the Iran deal, recently wrote in The Washington Post that there’s no need for hysteria since Iran “still isn’t likely to run amok, ramping up its nuclear program and killing American soldiers in the Middle East.” This is true, but it’s also a straw man. None of the deal’s supporters—of which I am one, having helped negotiate it—thinks that if the nuclear deal collapses Iran will rush to produce a nuclear weapon, inviting justifiable international condemnation, isolation, and likely U.S. or Israeli airstrikes. Rather, without the deal in place, Iran will simply be free to reinstall some of the thousands of centrifuges it has dismantled, gradually expand its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (including potentially to more-dangerous 20 percent levels), resume unconstrained nuclear research and development, and recommence the construction of a heavy-water reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. All this in the absence of the 24/7 cameras and international inspections provided for in the agreement.

Iran will likely expand its nuclear program only gradually, just as it did steadily from 2003—when it had only a handful of centrifuges—until 2014, when it had over 20,000, and an interim nuclear agreement froze and set back the program for the first time. How is that a better world to live in than the current one, in which Iran cannot expand its low-enriched uranium stockpile or level of enrichment until 2030, is obliged to accept comprehensive inspections forever, and the United States has the support of the rest of the world?

There are scenarios being discussed in which Washington abandons the deal in May but it somehow survives.  For example, Trump could refuse to sign the sanctions waivers up for renewal, but agree to go easy on implementation, or give exemptions to firms in European countries who have signaled a willingness to work on a new deal.  I suppose anything is possible, but it’s hard to see how that works. Whatever public or private pledges Trump makes, few European companies are going to invest in Iran or buy Iranian oil if U.S. law requires them to be sanctioned for doing so, and it is hard to see Iran abiding by the deal indefinitely if it accepts all of its constraints but gets none of the benefits. There’s also the risk that countries like China or India—or even some in the EU—ignore the new sanctions and continue to buy Iranian oil, which would mean that we’d have to risk a major international trade clash to try to enforce them, at a time when potential trade wars are already looming. And even if Trump surprises us and extends sanctions for another few months and the deal survives on life support, we would soon be back in the same place we are today, faced with a binary choice between accepting an unchanged deal and blowing it up. If anyone thinks Iran will just come back to the table to accept a “better deal” after the United States, alone, walks away from the current one, they have more faith in Tehran’s political flexibility than I do.

One possible solution is that the credible threat of force can persuade Iran not to resume its nuclear program if the deal is killed. Bolton has of course explicitly advocated using military force to stop an Iranian bomb, and Pompeo as a member of Congress asserted it would not be difficult to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities with military strikes. If Iran does resume its suspended nuclear activities or kick out inspectors, will they conclude the use of force is necessary? And what would the threshold for military action be? Installing, say, another 5,000 centrifuges? Kicking out inspectors? Conducting mechanical testing on an advanced centrifuge cascade? Resuming 20 percent enrichment? Expanding the low-enriched uranium stockpile from 300 to 1,000 kilograms?

These are difficult questions, but we need very clear answers internally, and also to convey those answers clearly and credibly to Iran. And of course we need to be willing to pull the trigger if whatever “red lines” the administration adopts are crossed. Many opponents of the nuclear deal take offense at  the notion that abandoning it could lead to war, but that is a realistic possibility. I never understood how it’s possible to both insist that proliferation can be prevented through the “credible threat of force” but then to ridicule the notion that military conflict is a genuine risk. Bolton—and many Israelis I’ve spoken to—are at least honest enough to accept the potential consequences of their policy prescription, though it will be interesting to see if Bolton’s view changes when he is sitting next to the president in the Situation Room as opposed to at his think-tank computer or on a Fox News set. It will be even more interesting to see if the president who regularly denounces spending American blood and treasure in the Middle East as a colossal waste proves willing to run the risk of a regional conflict with Iran, including terrorist attacks on American troops in Iraq and Hezbollah missile attacks on Israel. But even if one’s preferred outcome might be a “better deal,” is setting back Iran’s nuclear program by a few years with military strikes really better than living with the current deal, which keeps it at least a year away from even producing enough nuclear material for one bomb for much longer than that?

Finally, there is the question of regime change, since that’s what many Iran hawks really think is necessary to solve not just the nuclear program but to ensure security in the Middle East. Gerecht has written that we should “want a different regime” in Iran, and that’s a reasonable wish. The current regime is an enemy of the United States, a threat to the region, a serial abuser of human rights, and a state sponsor of terrorism—and, as far as I can tell, disliked by a majority of the people of Iran. But how exactly does the U.S. plan to get rid of the regime? And is there realistically a chance to do so in time to prevent an Iranian nuclear-weapons capability if America abandons the nuclear deal next week? Would an American-supported effort to oust the regime even result in a new one more willing to abandon nuclear aspirations, or might it instead result in widespread chaos and conflict, as in so many other cases in the region where a regime was overthrown?   

Gerecht advocates massive economic sanctions, rhetorical “moral clarity,” more U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, and support for Iranian opposition groups as the means to that end, but that sounds like the sort of wishful thinking that has gotten the U.S. in so much trouble in the Middle East in the past. I’m hopeful that one day the Iranian people will find a way to get rid of the Islamic Republic, but I am skeptical about America’s ability to accelerate such a development without unintended consequences, and worried that some of what the hawks propose could make things worse. The Iran nuclear deal is far from ideal, as I and others have always acknowledged, but we live in a messy, complicated world, and sometimes the best actually is the enemy of the good. Early in the George W. Bush administration, Bolton opposed and undercut Secretary of State Colin Powell’s attempt to pursue a compromise with a still nonnuclear North Korea, advocating isolation instead. More than 15 years later Kim Jong Un has a substantial nuclear arsenal and long-range missiles, and will now negotiate with Trump from a position of strength. Are we about to repeat that play in Iran?

Last summer, Bolton wrote a memo to Trump on “How to Get Out of the Iran Nuclear Deal.” It’s 12 pages of prescriptions for reimposing sanctions, beefing up the military option, pressuring allies, and supporting the Iranian opposition, but Bolton never really describes what is supposed to happen when we follow his advice. Does the regime in Tehran continue to freeze its nuclear program? Come back to the table for a better deal? Stop interfering in Syria and Iraq? Collapse peacefully and give way to a democratic opposition committed to nuclear disarmament? I hope someone has better answers than he does.

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2FIjsKq

[kansascityhappenings]

President Trump’s nominee to be Sec. of State, Kansan Mike Pompeo, faces Senate confirmation hearing

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WASHINGTON — Mike Pompeo’s supporters describe a brilliant man, widely read on international affairs who has the ear and confidence of President Donald Trump. Critics say the CIA Director, the President’s nominee replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, has questionable views on torture, a record of prejudice against Muslims and other marginalized groups, and little true experience that qualifies him for the job.

Ordinarily, the transition from one high-level position to another would largely be a rubber-stamp affair, but with Washington riven by political hostility and serious foreign policy challenges nearing a boil, Pompeo’s Thursday nomination hearing is set to be as much a debate over his fitness for the job as it is over the Trump administration’s handling of looming international tests.

In the next month, the US and its closest European allies face a May 12 deadline Trump has set to either change or pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. The President has also agreed to an unprecedented summit with North Korea’s unpredictable leader in an attempt to defuse a potential nuclear standoff. And most urgently, Trump’s threats to strike Syria mean Washington could be drawn closer to a clash with Russia or Iran, the powers backing Bashar al-Assad on the ground.

All this is happening as the administration’s national security team is in disarray. A new National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has just arrived prompting a large staff turnover. Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, faces her own difficult nomination hearing, while Pompeo would take the helm at a depleted and understaffed State Department after Tillerson’s ouster.

The challenges are all the more reason to move quickly on Pompeo’s nomination, said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican close to the 54-year-old Pompeo.

“He is a trusted adviser to the President, which should be a big morale boost at the State Department,” Cotton told CNN.

“The President will be more confident in the department because he will have more confidence in the Secretary of State and Mike’s leadership,” Cotton said. “I don’t think it serves anyone’s interest or the national interest not to have a Secretary of State.”

In excerpts of Pompeo’s prepared opening remarks released Wednesday night ahead of his hearing, Pompeo said the Trump administration considers Russia a “danger to our country” and that years of a “soft policy” toward Russian aggression are “now over.”

In the remarks, Pompeo also said he was determined to help Trump avoid mistakes of past negotiations with North Korea in his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un — and pledged to work with US partners to fix the Iran nuclear deal, while combating Iran’s aggressive behavior in the region.

If confirmed, Pompeo will have risen from backbench House lawmaker to fourth in line for the presidency in less than 18 months. A senior State Department official, who describes Pompeo as “accomplished” and “smart,” says the agency is “hungry and ready to engage” and that “we want him to be successful.”

“I still have concerns”

The question for Pompeo’s critics is whether he’s the right person for the job.

Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, met Tuesday with the former House lawmaker from Kansas. Cardin ended the 45-minute meeting with concerns about Pompeo’s outlook on the Iran deal, climate change and the importance of promoting diplomacy along with the US values of democracy, human rights and good governance.

“I still have concerns, I’ll make it clear. I did not get a total comfort level there,” said Cardin, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will vote on Pompeo’s nomination. Cardin added he “wasn’t pleased” with Pompeo’s positions on torture or personal privacy, saying that Pompeo “has a record in the House that causes us some concerns.”

Many Democrats have raised Pompeo’s willingness to bomb Iran, even as negotiations on the nuclear deal were ongoing.

At least one Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has said he won’t support Pompeo’s nomination in part because of his support for the Iraq War. Paul’s doubts, along with those of skeptical Democrats, mean Pompeo’s nomination might not get committee approval, forcing Republican leaders to take special measures to move his nomination to the Senate floor.

Even there, Pompeo faces potential trouble, as lawmakers who backed his nomination to lead the CIA have grown alienated. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii was one of 14 Democrats who voted for Pompeo to lead the intelligence agency last year. On Wednesday, Schatz said he couldn’t back Pompeo again.

“I voted YES on Pompeo for CIA on the theory that he would be the “adult in the room.” I was wrong. I am voting NO on Pompeo for Secretary of State because our top diplomat should believe in diplomacy, He has an alarming tendency towards military provocation and brinkmanship,” Schatz tweeted Wednesday.

To reassure senators in advance of his confirmation hearing Thursday, one of the excerpts of Pompeo’s prepared remarks disputed the notion that he is a “hawk.

“I know firsthand the painful sacrifices of our men and women in uniform,” the remarks said. “War is always the last resort. I would prefer achieving the President’s foreign policy goals with unrelenting diplomacy rather than by sending young men and women to war. ”

Republicans hold a narrow 51-49 edge in the Senate, meaning Democratic support will likely be crucial to getting Pompeo approved.

That the success of his nomination is even in question is an embarrassing prospect for the former three-term lawmaker, who has a stellar resume. California born and bred, Pompeo graduated first in his class at West Point military academy before going on to Harvard Law School, entering business with financial backing from Koch Industries, and running for the House.

A source close to Pompeo said that the time he’s spent with dignitaries while heading the CIA has prepared him well for the diplomatic job. George Beebe, a former senior CIA official who now directs the Intelligence Program at the Center for a New National Interest, adds that Pompeo also has the benefit of political experience and some time running a large bureaucracy.

Turning on the charm

“Like a good politician, he can really turn on the charm with an audience,” Beebe said. “He obviously knows the issues very deeply, he knows Capitol Hill, that will also help him in this job, but the biggest asset he’s got is his relationship with the President.”

Pompeo has worked closely with Trump, often delivering the Presidential Daily Briefing and staying afterward to discuss issues with the president, White House officials say.

But some Democrats, Cardin included, say that the CIA is an entirely different kind of agency and that Pompeo wasn’t there long enough for him to gain the deep experience needed to run the large bureaucracy of State with its multiple missions.

“He doesn’t have the track record that would give us a lot of information as to how he handles that circumstance,” Cardin said.

Aware of the opposition he’s facing, Pompeo has been spending time at the State Department preparing for his confirmation hearing, getting briefed on issues and sitting through mock hearings known as murder boards, according to a source close to Pompeo. The senior State Department official said that Pompeo’s meetings with employees have been very positive and left career staff feeling optimistic.

Pompeo has also reached out to Democrats on and off the Foreign Relations Committee and spoken with all the living former Secretaries of State in order to prepare.

In his prepared remarks, Pompeo promised to create a culture at the State Department “that finds its swagger once again.”

In his meetings at State, department staff “expressed a hope to be empowered in their roles, and to have a clear understanding of the President’s mission,” according to the excerpts.

“They also shared how demoralizing it is to have so many vacancies and, frankly, not to feel relevant. I’ll do my part to end the vacancies,” Pompeo is expected to say, adding that he will need lawmakers’ help. “And I will work every day to provide dedicated leadership and convey my faith in their work — just as I have done with my workforce at the CIA.”

He has, in his favor, “a relatively easy act to follow,” said Beebe, referring to former Secretary Tillerson, who was widely seen as having weakened the Department and being politically tone deaf. Pompeo is “not going to do to the Rex Tillerson thing and surround himself with just a few aides and wall himself off on the 7th floor” of the State Department, Beebe said. “He’ll look good in comparison.”

Mike Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA, said that Pompeo will likely fight for the State Department to get more resources, after a year in which the administration aimed to cut agency staff by about 30%.

Pompeo “did an exceptional job as the Director of the CIA. He focused both operations and analysis on the needs of the President, he set the bar high for his officers, and he gave them the running room and the support to get the job done,” Morell told CNN. “He took advantage of the knowledge and experience of the career professionals at CIA, and he successfully argued for additional resources for the Agency. I fully expect that he will be a similarly effective leader as our nation’s Secretary of State.”

But within the CIA workforce, Pompeo got mixed reviews from staff, whose biggest takeaway from his tenure was that he wasn’t around the agency enough to leave a specific impression.

A record of anti-Muslim statements

Multiple sources told CNN that Pompeo spent most of his time away from Langley, visiting the White House and outside advisers he trusts. Some agency personnel appreciated the hands-off approach and felt empowered to make more active decisions, while others would have preferred a more present leader, especially as the President publicly railed against career intelligence officials.

On social issues, many were frustrated and felt he did not have the same commitment to diversity that previous directors did, an issue stressed by former director John Brennan. “I can think of no organization that can make a better business case for diversity and inclusion than the CIA. We have the responsibility of covering the globe, understanding all societies, cultures, and backgrounds,” he told Foreign Policy Magazine in September, 2017. An agency spokesperson told Foreign Policy that Pompeo and senior leaders expressed their commitment to hiring a diverse workforce “by living the creed of crushing our adversaries by hiring and training the best spies the world will ever know.”

In his prepared remarks, Pompeo pledged to increase diversity at the State Department “in terms of race, religion, background and more.”

Pompeo’s association with the group Act for America has also raised concerns about his outlook on diversity and minority groups. The Anti-Defamation League says the group “peddles anti-Muslim conspiracy theories” and that Pompeo has a history of stridently anti-Muslim statements.

“Mr. Pompeo’s long, documented record of anti-Muslim prejudice threatens to undermine the essential work our secretary of state does in representing American interests and values abroad,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

“This is a major area of concern,” said Cardin, who said the subject would come up in the nomination hearing.

Cardin said that in his meeting with Pompeo, he had stressed the importance of independence from the Oval Office.

“His reputation is not that strong in standing up to the President,” Cardin said. “It’s important to me that the next Secretary of State will stand up for what he believes in.”

The source close to Pompeo said that won’t be a problem.

“Mike is far from a ‘yes man,’” the source said. “He is gained the trust of the President by being the opposite of a yes man. He is someone who presents intelligence in a way the President can understand and process and by giving his opinion even when President disagrees. He can be honest with the President.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2018/04/12/president-trumps-nominee-to-be-sec-of-state-kansan-mike-pompeo-faces-senate-confirmation-hearing/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/president-trumps-nominee-to-be-sec-of-state-kansan-mike-pompeo-faces-senate-confirmation-hearing/