The "Miracle on Massachusetts Avenue" Edition

<p>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:</p><ul><li>If you could only have one paid news subscription, which would it be?</li><li>How do you think the U.S. will respond if Israeli policies towards Palestinians continue to deteriorate?</li><li>Why does former President Trump's direction to his former associates not to cooperate with the January&nbsp;6 committee not constitute witness tampering?</li><li>Why are Tweets not subject to prepublication review?</li><li>What are the United States' greatest vulnerabilities?</li><li>What are the odds of a major nuclear incident in the next 70 years?</li><li>What is the January 6 committee investigating other than the actions of former President Trump and his associates?</li><li>Do you think the courts or Congress will rein in the executive branch's control over classified information?</li><li>How will Finland's purchase of U.S.&nbsp;F-35s change the regional security calculus?</li><li>What do you do to sound good on podcasts?</li><li>And most importantly: which holiday movie is most relevant to the current state of international relations?</li></ul><p>As for object lessons, listeners: recommended the "<a href="https://fatleonardpodcast.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fat Leonard</a>" and "<a href="https://orientalistexpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Orientalist Express</a>" podcasts; endorsed the book "<a href="https://meredithangwin.com/books/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shorting the Grid</a>" by Meredith Angwin; noted the existence of the iPhone game "<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/free-assange/id1499982277" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Free Assange</a>" 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 Quint