Rational Security 2.0: The ‘Miracle on Massachusetts Avenue’ Edition

This week, Alan, Quinta and Scott celebrated the impending New Year by answering some questions and sharing some object lessons submitted by Rational Security listeners. They discussed:

• If you could only have one paid news subscription, which would it be?
• How do you think the U.S. will respond if Israeli policies towards Palestinians continue to deteriorate?
• Why does former President Trump's direction to his former associates not to cooperate with the January 6 committee not constitute witness tampering?
• Why are Tweets not subject to prepublication review?
• What are the United States' greatest vulnerabilities?
• What are the odds of a major nuclear incident in the next 70 years?
• What is the January 6 committee investigating other than the actions of former President Trump and his associates?
• Do you think the courts or Congress will rein in the executive branch's control over classified information?
• How will Finland's purchase of U.S. F-35s change the regional security calculus?
• What do you do to sound good on podcasts?
• And most importantly: which holiday movie is most relevant to the current state of international relations?

As for object lessons, listeners: recommended the "Fat Leonard" and "Orientalist Express" podcasts; endorsed the book "Shorting the Grid" by Meredith Angwin; noted the existence of the iPhone game "Free Assange" by none other than RT (i.e., Russia Today); corrected Scott's mistake regarding what's happening with the long lost musical sequence from "The Muppet Christmas Carol"; recommended adding bourbon to Quinta's easy pie dough recipe; seconded Alan's earlier endorsement of the spaetzle maker; and shouted out Purdue University for the civic education program they recently implemented for all incoming students.