I spent the weekend curled up with the Marine Corps and Army counterinsurgency field manual—because that's how I roll on the weekends. - Rachel Maddow

The Donbas was a heavily populated and productive manufacturing area, with Donetsk alone accounting for about 12 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product. The area nearby also accounted for something near 90 percent of Ukraine’s oil and gas production, and fracking technology promised to open new fields. Grabbing the Donbas was a twofer. Russia could cripple the teetering economy of Ukraine and scoop up a healthy supply of oil and gas. Novorossiya!

By 2001, even the peacetime US military budget was well over half the size of all other military budgets in the world combined.

The efforts of Agnew, Nixon, Haldeman, Haig, George Bush, and others — they failed because Beall had an investigation to pursue, and he had independent public servants to protect and stand up for, and he never once blinked.