;)
March 7, 2022
Afternoon Update:
From the Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine, also linked earlier today: "A third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without a breakthrough, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia continues to press Ukraine to give up Crimea and a large slice of eastern Ukraine as a condition for Russian to stop its attacks. The talks, which began as the war entered its 12th day, yielded some progress in logistical arrangements for local cease-fires and evacuation corridors, said Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak after several days of failed efforts to enable civilians to safely leave areas under Russian attack. 'So far, there weren't results that significantly improve the situation,' said Podolyak.... Moscow is turning to Syria to help fuel its war effort as 'nearly 100 percent' of Russian troops pre-positioned around Ukraine have been sent into the country to fight, according to a senior U.S. defense official. 'We know that they're trying to recruit Syrians for the fight,' the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity...."
Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepened Monday as Russian forces intensified their shelling and food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country condemned as a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission.... In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established. The city is short on water, food and power, and cellphone networks are down. Stores have been looted as residents search for essential goods.... In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, heavy shelling slammed into apartment buildings....Russian forces also continued their offensive in Mykolaiv, opening fire on the city some 480 kilometers (300 miles) south of Kyiv, according to Ukraine's military. Rescuers said they were putting out fires caused by rocket attacks in residential areas."
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senior congressional Democrats and Republicans on Monday announced they had reached a deal on a bill that would punish Russia for invading Ukraine, as they seek to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil while further empowering President Biden to impose tariffs on the country's products. The announcement evinced the vast new flurry of legislative activity on Capitol Hill, even as lawmakers began to warn that the U.S. strategy threatened to further raise the cost of gas and other goods. Unveiled by the top lawmakers overseeing tax and trade on Capitol Hill, the new, bipartisan agreement would limit Russian energy imports, suspend normal trade relations between the U.S. and the Kremlin and task the Biden administration to seek Russia's suspension from the World Trade Organization. The trade penalties would also apply to Belarus.... The proposed package of punishments is only one prong of a broader congressional response to the rapidly worsening crisis in Ukraine."
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "In less than a week, the United States and NATO have pushed more than 17,000 antitank weapons, including Javelin missiles, over the borders of Poland and Romania, unloading them from giant military cargo planes so they can make the trip by land to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and other major cities. So far, Russian forces have been so preoccupied in other parts of the country that they have not targeted the arms supply lines, but few think that can last." U.S. "cybermission teams' also are conducting defensive & offensive cyber-warfare on Ukraine's behalf. "It is, in many ways, a more complex effort than the Berlin airlift three-quarters of a century ago.... U.S. officials say Ukrainian leaders have told them that American and other allied weaponry is making a difference on the battlefield."
Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Monday proposed curbing pollution pouring out of the tailpipes of new tractor-trailers, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles that forms smog, along with emissions warming the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule to cut the emission of nitrogen oxides -- poisonous and reactive gases that can cause asthma attacks -- from engines in some of the biggest vehicles on roadways. In the same proposal, the agency will also consider further limiting the amount of carbon dioxide these vehicles spew into the air. The proposed smog rule marks the first update to heavy-duty tailpipe standards in two decades and comes as Biden is seeking ways to advance his environmental agenda outside Congress. The standards would apply to not only huge 18-wheelers hauling freight on highways, but also many school buses, delivery vans and moving trucks."
David Rising of the AP: "The official global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday -- underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over. The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is the latest tragic reminder of the unrelenting nature of the pandemic even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe."
Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the bid by prosecutors in Pennsylvania to reinstate Bill Cosby's criminal conviction for sexual assault. In an order issued Monday, the court said that it had declined to hear the case filed by prosecutors last November.... The Supreme Court's decision leaves in place a ruling by an appellate court in Pennsylvania earlier last year that overturned Mr. Cosby's conviction on due process grounds. In June, Mr. Cosby walked free after serving less than three years of a three-to-10-year prison sentence."
Donald Trump writes a letter to NBC News' Lester Holt. Via Axios. ~~~
~~~ Scott Stump of NBC's "Today": "Former Attorney General Bill Barr has been called 'lazy' and 'cowardly' by ... Donald Trump, while Barr has described Trump as 'off the rails' and called his push to discredit the 2020 election 'a farce.' Yet despite the ugly back and forth between the two, Barr said on TODAY Monday that he would still vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election if Trump becomes the Republican nominee. 'Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party, it's inconceivable to me that I wouldn't vote for the Republican nominee,' Barr told Savannah Guthrie." MB Translation: "Child care tax credits are far more dangerous than a lunatic with his finger on the nuclear button & an itch to push it to see what happens."
~~~~~~~~~~
Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukraine on Monday to expect a renewed bombardment of major cities, as Russian forces attempt to renew their assault after being stalled by stiff resistance and suffering unexpected heavy losses.Before dawn, a huge explosion on the outskirts of the coastal city of Mykolaiv lit up the sky and artillery fire rang out as Russian troops continue their push to take the city, a vital point on the road to Odessa. Here are the latest developments[.]" ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia said Monday morning it would allow the evacuation of civilians from several Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and hard-hit Kharkiv and Mariupol, through humanitarian corridors -- an assertion that was immediately cast into doubt by some local leaders who said there were no confirmations of a temporary cease-fire. Ukraine accused Russia of disrupting two previous attempts to evacuate civilians over the weekend, and the latest announcement from Moscow came as its forces continued to bombard airfields and encircle cities across Ukraine.... Ukraine is set to ask the United Nations' highest court on Monday to intervene to halt Moscow's invasion. Ukraine's suit argues that Russia relied on false claims of genocide in two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed rebels have battled Kyiv for years, in an attempt to justify its invasion. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, is based in The Hague and adjudicates legal disputes between states. Its rulings are legally binding, although it has no real way of enforcing them." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
Mike Corder of the AP: "Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations' top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow's devastating invasion of Ukraine. A row of seats reserved for Russian lawyers at the International Court of Justice was empty Monday morning as the hearing opened.... The hearing went ahead without the Russian delegation."
Lynsey Addario & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times describe Russian troops murdering a family trying to cross a bridge over the Irpin River into Kyiv. "A mother and her two children lay still on the roadway, along with a family friend.... Only a handful of Ukrainian troops were near the bridge when mortar shells began raining down. The soldiers there were not engaged in combat but in helping refugees carry their children and luggage toward the capital. The attack at the bridge was witnessed by a New York Times team, including the photojournalist Lynsey Addario, a security adviser and Andriy Dubchak, a freelance journalist who filmed the scene." ~~~
~~~ An Ode to Ukraine, by Volodymyr Zelensky" ~~~
Written down like this Zelenskiy's address tonight reads like a powerful poem. pic.twitter.com/R915iHzc0v
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 6, 2022
Via the Guardian's live updates: ~~~
Road sign in Odessa
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 7, 2022
Straight on: fuck off
Left: fuck off again
Right: fuck off to Russia pic.twitter.com/2c1dzKxno9
Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "After over a week of devastating war, the race is on to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. But what world leader could earn the trust of both ... Vladimir Putin, whose Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine suggests a paranoid and aggrieved mind-set, and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who has made clear he is willing to fight to the end for his country?... Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Moscow this weekend for an unannounced meeting with Putin. Bennett later said Sunday that he was in touch with both Russia and Ukraine and that he hoped to help broker peace.... Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a call with Putin on Sunday.... Turkey has also said it hopes to host both Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers at a diplomacy conference in Antalya that begins Friday. Reuters reports both Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba have accepted the offer, though it is not clear if either will be able to attend."
Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Millions of lives could be destroyed to slake Vladimir Putin's Cold War obsession. Less than three weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- a historic outrage 30 years in the making -- the world is looking on in horror at the barbarity, human tragedy, appalling destruction and worldwide reverberations sparked by one man's orders. Ukraine's fate starkly underlines that even 20 years into the 21st century and despite the world's vows to learn from history, a lone autocrat who has ruthlessly fashioned a political system to eliminate dissent and reality itself has the power to cause unfathomable human loss and misery.... Sooner or later, the outside world may find itself looking on at a massacre it was powerless to prevent. This terrible possibility was raised in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's latest heartbreaking appeal for help on Sunday."
Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "The ways that Western countries would support a Ukrainian resistance are beginning to take shape. Officials have been reluctant to discuss detailed plans, since they're premised on a Russian military victory that, however likely, hasn't happened yet. But as a first step, Ukraine's allies are planning how to help establish and support a government-in-exile, which could direct guerrilla operations against Russian occupiers, according to several U.S. and European officials. The weapons the United States has provided to Ukraine's military, and that continue to flow into the country, would be crucial to the success of an insurgent movement, officials said.... The possible Russian takeover of Kyiv has prompted a flurry of planning at the State Department, Pentagon and other U.S. agencies in the event that the Zelensky government has to flee the capital or the country itself." A CNN story is here.
Russia Sabotages Iran Nuclear Deal. Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Russia has been accused of trying to take the Iran nuclear deal hostage as part of its wider battle with the west over Ukraine, after it threw a last-minute spanner into plans for an agreement to lift a swathe of US economic sanctions on Tehran. After months of negotiations in Vienna, a revised deal was expected to be reached within days under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear nonproliferation deal. But diplomatic efforts have been sent into a tailspin by Russia's unexpected demand for written guarantees that its economic trade with Iran will be exempted from US sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.... The west is almost certain to reject the demand since it would open a huge loophole in the sanctions regime. It would then be up to Moscow whether to veto the nuclear deal altogether."
Brittany Shammas & Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "More than 4,500 protesters were arrested Sunday at antiwar demonstrations across Russia, according to the independent human rights organization OVD-Info, as people risked jail time to denounce the nation's war with Ukraine. The scenes joined other displays of defiance in a country that has continued to clamp down on opposition to the invasion. Crowds chanted 'No to war!' while streaming through Moscow and St. Petersburg in a pair of videos posted to Twitter. In another, a demonstrator being hauled away by law enforcement sang Ukraine's anthem." ~~~
~~~ BUT. Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "As Ukrainians deal with the devastation of the Russian attacks in their homeland, many are also encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all. These relatives have essentially bought into the official Kremlin position: that ... Vladimir V. Putin's army is conducting a limited 'special military operation' with the honorable mission of "de-Nazifying" Ukraine. Mr. Putin has referred to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a native Russian speaker with a Jewish background, as a 'drug-addled Nazi' in his attempts to justify the invasion. Those narratives are emerging amid a wave of disinformation emanating from the Russian state as the Kremlin moves to clamp down on independent news reporting while shaping the messages most Russians are receiving."
Alyssa Lukpat & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The military base in Maryland that the president and the vice president use to travel to and from Washington was put on lockdown on Sunday night when two people, at least one of whom was armed, bypassed a security checkpoint at about the time that Vice President Kamala Harris and four Cabinet members landed there, military officials said. The two people drove through the checkpoint at the main gate and 'failed to adhere to commands of security personnel,' Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Md., said in a statement on Sunday night. The authorities at the base, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, stopped the intruders' vehicle with 'barriers,' but they fled, the statement said. One of them was apprehended, and hours later, after a full sweep of the base, officials said they had found evidence the second intruder had 'departed the installation.'" A New York Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Apparently security at Andrews AFB sucks (link is to a CNN story).
A Murder of Crows, a Conspiracy of Ravens, A Convoy of Loons. AP: "A large group of truck drivers and their supporters who object to COVID-19 mandates began their mobile protest in the Washington, D.C., area Sunday, embarking on a drive designed to snarl traffic and make their objections known to lawmakers. Protesters staged at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland during the weekend before heading down a single lane of Interstate 81. Their plan was to drive onto the Capital Beltway, circle it twice and then return to Hagerstown, news outlets reported.... The Washington Post reported that convoy organizer Brian Brase intends for protesters to travel on the beltway every day during the upcoming week until its demands are met." MB: Should endear them to everyone who has to take the Beltway to work. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Madeleine Ngo, et al., of the New York Times: "Draped in American flags and fueled by anger, hundreds of vehicles led by a group of truckers encircled the nation's capital on Sunday, hampering traffic outside the city for hours by driving at slower speeds to protest Covid-19 mandates. The convoy of vehicles -- dozens of trucks, along with minivans, motorcycles, pickup trucks and hatchbacks, with many displaying signs that read 'Freedom' -- aimed to complete two loops on Interstate 495, a 64-mile highway known as the Capital Beltway, before returning to a staging area in Maryland, with plans to potentially ramp up the demonstration in the coming days. But by the second time around, the vehicles appeared to be so spread out that the congestion took on the feel of a weekday morning commute, before opening up in the afternoon." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I cannot fathom why these boneheads think that inconveniencing people taking the Beltway on a Sunday afternoon will help whatever they think their cause is.
Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is registered to vote at a mobile home in North Carolina he appears to have never even visited, according to a report from the New Yorker. According to New Yorker writer Charles Bethea, Meadows has never owned the home and 'apparently never slept there, either.' The 14-by-62 foot mobile home was once rented out by his wife, Debbie Meadows.... Bethea wrote that Meadows' voter registration may constitute fraud, as he would have had to spent at least one night there and planned to remain there indefinitely." MB: Mark spent a lot of time and energy in 2020 & 2021 claiming that Democrats engaged in massive voter fraud. He even went down to Georgia to "oversee" a recount. So it's curious that he himself is the chief of voter fraud. But, you know, IOKIYAR.
If Trump Were Calling the Shots Again. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump mused Saturday to the GOP's top donors that the United States should label its F-22 planes with the Chinese flag and 'bomb the s--t out of Russia.' He also praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as 'seriously tough,' claimed he was harder on Vladimir Putin than any other president, reiterated his false claims that he won the 2020 election, urged his party to be 'tougher' on supposed election fraud, disparaged a range of prominent party opponents and called global warming 'a great hoax' that could actually bring a welcome development: more waterfront property. 'And then we say, China did it, we didn't do it, China did it, and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch,' he said of labeling U.S. military planes with Chinese flags and bombing Russia, which was met with laughter from the crowd of donors...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The audience laughed. A joke, perhaps! But also one about something that might well violate international law. And that's if you can get past the idea that Russia would ever mistake F-22s -- a highly recognizable airplane that the Chinese don't use -- for Chinese aircraft." MB: Speaking of false flags! Trump's a genius. Why, think where we'd be if he made Lindsey Graham his secretary of defense and the two of them put their heads together. Okay, dead. We'd all be dead. But other than that. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
News Lede
New York Times: "More than 1,100 homes have been evacuated in several counties on the Florida Panhandle after three fast-moving wildfires on Sunday continued to resist containment efforts. The Adkins Avenue fire, which broke out on Friday and began near Panama City, Fla., had burned more than 1,400 acres and was 35 percent contained in Bay County, the Florida Forest Service said. A much larger fire, the Bertha Swamp Road fire, had swept into Bay and Calhoun Counties after it began on Friday, the Forest Service said. It had burned around 9,000 acres and was 10 percent contained as of Sunday afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news briefing."
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Reader Comments (18)
The comment: How about a sign on one of the convoy trucks: "We're afraid of little pricks (pic of hypodermic) So we're gonna be big ones!
The question: What's the difference between a Republican and a Ukrainian? Answer: A Ukrainian protects his Capitol.
Much going on that I don't understand so have little to say about them, but do have a few questions.
Ukraine? Beyond serving as a good example to the Russian people, what possible "threat" did/could Ukraine pose to Russia that would make any sense of what Putin has done?
Or was the the treat of people thriving just next door alone too much to take, like students who don't want to work too hard resenting those who do and succeed?
I don't get it.
And closer to home? Those truck drivers?
Other than the sense I've sometimes had that some of the big rigs I've encountered act as if they are the AR-15's of the highways and are darn proud of it, what possible inconvenience could masks and vaccines pose to truck drivers that they don't to others?
Or do big rigs simply tend to attract ignorant, overbearing personality types?
Like some cops, office managers, or generals?
Oops.
Treat? Threat?
What's the difference?
Putin claims that there are about 3 million Russian speaking people
in the two states of Ukraine that border Russia. That's the reason
he gives for attacking---to get those two states. And I think also
Crimea. More ports on the black sea. Killing innocent Ukrainians
doesn't seem like the diplomatic way to do it though.
It would be sorta like Mexico telling the U.S. that there are 3 million
persons along our south western border who speak the languages of
Mexico. It used to be part of Mexico, so we want those territories back,
or else.
That's my take on it. Don't know if that's all thats involved or not though.
@FM: Never forget James K, Polk and his annexation of half of the nation of Mexico. A lot of American Latinos will tell you: "Our families didn't cross the border, the border crossed them,"
IN late 1937 many American soldiers volunteered for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American contingent of the international Brigades, a volunteer army raised by the Comintern to defend the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic against the a right-wing military revolt backed by Hitler and Mussolini.
I've been reading about this civil war, and once again am taken with how enemies become friends and later the tables are turned. But Russia was always, in one way or another, raining on many parades as they reigned so supremely until, of course, the wall came down. It appears Putin wants it all back–-a union that is of one country and he will head it–––way across the table removed by his own people.
Dan Kaufman, who wrote a piece for TNYRB on the Spanish Civil War ends with this:
"While Spain's Francoist past retains a pernicious hold on the country, events closer to home reminded me how far the SCW's legacy reaches. It seems ominous that Donald Trump was elected months after [the last of the Lincoln Brigadiers] died. Trump supporters scrawled a swastika on a monument to the International Brigade in Madison, Wisconsin, in the summer of 2917, But I also remember another image from that summer: the red, yellow, and purple flag of the brigades, a peerless symbol of solidarity and antifascism that had been all but forgotten in this country, unfurled by protesters facing off against a crowd of neo-Nazis marching through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia."
And today we have truckers belly aching over a few shots in the arm and mask mandates––-the contrast between these pathetic fools yapping about freedom while Ukraine is bleeding to death makes me ashamed that my country is full of Americans who are blind and deaf to reality.
@Forrest Morris,
Yeah, I get that. There are those Russia speakers in Ukraine, not all of whom by the way would wish to live in a Putin dominated state, and those the ports on the Black Sea.
But there does seem a Putin-personal motive (the great or not so great men theory of history?) behind such massive destruction that I can't get my head around. My thought just shy away.
First comes the urge. Then the action. Rationale to follow..
What happened in Russia, the slow methodical destruction of dissent, the takeover and subjugation of democracy, and the widespread dissemination of disinformation and outright lies could happen here, and maybe already is, to a lesser degree.
The Party of Traitors has, for years, been working towards control of not just the political process, but education, social programs, the economy, the tax codes, and the judiciary. They now are in a position to cement that control by endless attacks on Biden and the Democrats, by ridiculous gerrymandering, voter suppression, and assaults on the very idea of the United States.
AND, they now have complete control of the Supreme Court.
Trump was no Putin, someone who could pull all those strings together into a web of lies, fear, paranoia, and unchecked power. He had the desire to be a vicious comic book despot but not the ability, smarts, or stamina.
But there are doubtless those out there now shooting for exactly that. It’s like the way the rich man described how he lost his fortune, a little bit here and there, then all at once.
This is what’s happening right now with democracy in this country. And it’s not just on the level of policy. They’re out there, today, cleaning the guns. They’ve already tried one violent takeover. Can we trust there won’t be others?
Anyone who says “It couldn’t happen here” is not paying attention. It’s already happening.
I think I feel totally helpless about Ukraine, and also ashamed about how its leaders behave and how our various "leaders" did before now. I turned off my local NPR station today when the pollsters were going to tell us that, according to a Franklin and Marshall poll, only 21% of Pennsylvanians think our country and our state are headed "in the right direction." I knew I would be "both sides-ed" to death. I don't see the virtue of listening to anything the blighted former CEO of America says-- he makes no sense. (The guy playing him and Biden on SNL has completely morphed into him-- he has an uncanny resemblance to that demented maniac, just in makeup, of course) IQ45 is a head case, and to be ignored, but for the people who are meaner, wilyer (is that a word? more sly and wicked, smarter--) and more educated, like McConnell, Gaetz, Hawley, Cruz, Cotton. They don't really admire the orange piece of refuse, they just have their fingers on power and that's all that matters. By extension, I don't like where we are headed either. For the pits of hell if we lose the congress. Meanwhile, Ukraine burns, and I can't help but blame the Orange Menace AND Putin. Crazy times.
@Jeanne: I'm sorry to tell you that NPR has applied its both-siderism reportage to Russia v. Ukraine. Today in a news break, the NPR reader said, "Ukrainians claim Russians are attacking civilians as they attempt to flee through established 'humanitarian corridors'; Russia denies it." Period. Full stop. Not "falsely denies it." Just "they said/they said."
There have been many, many stories by reputable reporters of these brutal attacks on fleeing civilians. NPR itself probably carried some of the stories, as NPR is using CNN reporters, and CNN has covered numerous stories of these shootings of innocent civilians. Today the NYT published a heartbreaking photo of a family -- including a little girl -- lying dead on a bridge they had tried to cross to get to safer ground (story linked above). But, hey, "Russia denies it." Who needs RT when we have our own Kremlin Radio Network, a/k/a NPR?
It's a platitude to recall that "the first casualty of war is the truth."
There will be many false reports, suppressed reports, etc. wrt Ukraine.
We are more fortunate now than in the past, in the sense that most people in the US who pay attention can figure out what sources are informative and trustworthy, and what sources are slanted and unreliable.
We are unfortunate in that the majority of people in the US don't pay attention, as demonstrated in the past decade. And the COVID experience has shown us that even when those people are under mortal threat, they still don't pay attention.
What does this mean for democracy? After dealing with crises at our door, that should be the long term chronic issue for national leadership.
Here we go again…
There’s an excellent (and maddening) piece on Digby’s site today that looks at the way the Times simply regurgitates right wing talking points. While Biden’s positions are gone over with a fine tooth comb looking for problems, the wingnut prevarications are passed along with zero criticisms:
“‘Although some aspects of the Republican critique crumble upon closer inspection, the newly coordinated message is unifying the right after the fractious intramural debate over Putin. And with inflation soaring, linking Biden’s handling of the war in Ukraine to his domestic woes could prove to be a potent argument with voters in the fall.’
The idea of “closer inspection” is dismissed [by the Times]as irrelevant, and the authors never come back to explain what parts of the message are, in fact, groundless and gratuitous.
They casually adopt the Republican framing of Biden’s “domestic woes” – just a day after a jobs report that indicated a roaring recovery is under way. (They are not alone in ignoring things that are good news for Biden.)”
The writer goes on to point out, about the Times’ sloppy journalism, that
“…it just shows how wired the establishment press is for the GOP’s narratives.
The one they lazily fall back on is the same one they lazily fell back on with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden was stuck with Trump’s deal with the Taliban and on a short timetable refuses to escalate the war again and gets blamed in the press when the evacuation is not peaceful and orderly. The media lost their minds and it set Biden’s approval on a downward course ever since.”
I want to scream when I hear, repeatedly, all the problems Biden has and how he’s been in office a year and hasn’t fixed them all in that time, followed by sound bites of Republicans (who caused all these fucking problems in the first place) ripping Democrats for being unable to do anything about them, with NO context from reporters about what is really going on: Trump and the traitors set the neighborhood on fire then sit back on lawn chairs to watch, and not only criticize the effectiveness and speed with which Democrats are responding, but run over to turn off the water supply. Meanwhile the press reports that Dems will probably lose in the fall because they’re not doing a good enough job fighting all the fires. Cue quotes from McConnell, Cruz, MTG, and the other pyromaniacs.
This is the shit that handed the White House to Trump and created this mess in the first place! It’s happening all over again!!!
https://digbysblog.net/2022/03/06/the-savvy-big-foots/
How not to do things: "the United States and NATO have pushed more than 17,000 antitank weapons, including Javelin missiles, over the borders of Poland and Romania, unloading them from giant military cargo planes so they can make the trip by land to Kyiv,...". The Afghanistan-ification of Ukraine with large amounts of weapons will only come back to bite us.
Actual, real VOTER FRAUD! Aieeee!!!
By whom, you may ask. I shall tell thee. By none other than one of the loudest screamers about voter fraud that, he claimed, cost his boss, the Fat Liar, his cushy no-show job at the White House, the esteemed liar and conspiracy monger, former COS to POS loser ex-president* Trump, Mark Meadows.
Meadows registered to vote in North Carolina using the address of a rural house trailer which he did not own. Not only that. He’s never stayed there a single night. This constitutes federal voter fraud. According to a New Yorker article:
“Under President [*] Trump, the White House Web site posted a document, produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation, intended to present a ‘sampling’ of the ‘long and unfortunate history of election fraud’ in the U.S. Many of the cases sampled involve people who registered to vote at false addresses, including, for instance, second homes that did not serve as a person’s primary residence.”
Yet another IOKIYAR breaking of the law for which others (blacks and Democrats) have been threatened with lengthy jail sentences.
Oops, link to that New Yorker piece about Meadows, the fraudster:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-did-mark-meadows-register-to-vote-at-an-address-where-he-did-not-reside?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker&utm_social-type=earned
After all the interminable yelping about voter fraud, it’s more and more clear that the only real voter fraud in the last election was carried out almost entirely by Trump voters.
Lock them up.
@Citizen 625
I take your point, but...
Ukraine is not Afghanistan.
Ukraine is not governed by warlords.
Ukraine is not a Muslin country and there is little prospect it will welcome the Taliban any more than it will Russian domination.
Ukraine was controlled by the Soviet Union and most Ukrainians are happy to be shed of that time.
Geography (which dictated invasion's strategy in both countries--mountains vs. plains) aside, Afghanistan was never part of the Soviet Union--tho as I remember it did briefly have a Soviet puppet government--either, but also, like Ukraine had no desire to become its vassal state.
There's more...
Mostly, though, would ask humbly, what would you would suggest we do?
@Ak, from what I read, the abode was a 14'x62' mobile home. Not even a double-wide. My guess is that that qualifies him as being a genuine piece of White trailer trash.
Ken-- your points about the MANPADS are all correct and logical.
However, some of those will be on the weapons black market shortly, no matter how Ukraine differs from Afghanistan. They command too great a price to escape shrinkage.
But so what? It is one of those crappy choices where you have to provide them, and then set up the programs to track and buy them back at exhorbitant mark-up when the marketeers put them on the market.
We (the US) should pay whatever price is extorted to keep those out of the wrong hands. They are horribly effective and easy to use.
Citizen, you are also correct about the blowback problem, but there were very few Strellas or Stingers that were used against US aircraft in Afghanistan. We tried to buy them back and got most of them.