;)
The Commentariat -- April 15, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Arrested Development. Here's how little Jimmy Jordan behaved when he was a toddler & his parents told him it was time for bed:
The New York Times' live updates of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday announced tough new sanctions on Russia and formally blamed the country's premier intelligence agency for the sophisticated hacking operation that breached American government agencies and the nation's largest companies. In the broadest effort yet to give more teeth to financial sanctions -- which in the past have failed to deter Russian activity -- the actions are aimed at choking off lending to the Russian government. In an executive order, President Biden announced a series of additional steps -- sanctions on 32 entities and individuals for disinformation efforts and for carrying out the Russian government's interference in the 2020 presidential election. Ten Russian diplomats, most of them identified as intelligence operatives, were expelled from the Russian Embassy in Washington. The country also joined with European partners to sanction eight people and entities associated with Russia's occupation in Crimea." Politico's story is here.
Virginia. Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The Virginia Military Institute, under fire for its treatment of minorities, has selected its first Black superintendent in the school's 182-year-old history. Cedric T. Wins, a retired Army Major General and 1985 VMI graduate, was appointed Thursday to the top job in a unanimous vote by the college's Board of Visitors, the body that oversees the Lexington school. Wins, 57, who grew up in Hyattsville, Md., and was the first in his family to attend college, has been leading the nations oldest state-supported military college since Nov. 13, when he was appointed as interim superintendent. He replaced retired Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, 80, who resigned Oct. 26, seven days after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) ordered an investigation into the school, and nine days after The Washington Post chronicled rampant racism on the campus."
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Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden formally announced Wednesday that the United States will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, saying in a speech from the White House that more time and more troops have failed to end the conflict and that is now time to close down America's longest war. Biden did not declare a military victory. He said instead that a perpetual presence does not serve U.S. interests. 'It is time for American troops to come home,' he said in televised remarks from the Treaty Room, the same location where President George W. Bush announced that the war in Afghanistan had begun in 2001.... Biden said he had spoken with Bush in recent days to tell him of the decision.... Biden said the deal [Donald] Trump struck with the Taliban isn't perfect, but said he would substantially abide by it." The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Ryan Grenoble of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden visited Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday with a specific plot of land in mind: Section 60, where America's most recent war dead are buried.Biden's visit came shortly after he announced plans to end the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan later this year, marking the end of a two-decade conflict that has killed 2,488 service members and wounded 20,722. The president said he has carried a card with him for 12 years that he regularly updates with the exact number of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'There's no comforting distance of history in Section 60,' Biden said Wednesday ahead of his visit. 'The grief is raw. It's a visceral reminder of the living cost of war. That exact number -- not an approximation or a rounded off number, because every one of those dead are sacred human beings who left behind entire families -- an exact accounting of every single, solitary one, needs to be had,' he added." ~~~
~~~ John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Thursday for meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who is heading up negotiations with the Taliban, to reassure them that Washington's support for the war-torn country will continue despite the U.S. decision to withdraw all military forces by Sept. 11.... Ghani and his advisers met Blinken and his aides at Kabul's ornate presidential palace." An ABC News story is here.
Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is set to announce on Thursday a string of long-awaited measures against Russia, including far-reaching financial sanctions, for the hacking of government and private networks and a range of other activity, according to people who have been briefed on the moves. The sanctions will be among what President Biden's aides say are 'seen and unseen' steps in response to the hacking, known as SolarWinds; to the C.I.A.'s assessment that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops; and to Russia's yearslong effort to interfere in United States elections, according to American officials and others who have been briefed on the actions. The moves will include the expulsion of a limited number of diplomats...." CNN's story is here.
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House lawmakers are bracing for scathing testimony Thursday about the intelligence failures and operational lapses that left Capitol Police woefully underprepared for the deadly pro-Trump riot on Jan. 6, after preliminary internal reviews exposed several glaring concerns. Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton is leading an ongoing investigation into why campus law enforcement failed to contain and ultimately was overwhelmed by a mob seeking to stop Congress from certifying President Biden's victory in the 2020 election. He has disclosed his initial findings and recommendations to lawmakers in two confidential reports.... To date, Bolton's investigation has uncovered an alarming level of disorganization within the Capitol Police -- such that officials tasked with analyzing intelligence warnings leading up to the riot lacked the training to do so effectively, and that the units designated to respond to civil disturbances at the Capitol were operating with outdated rosters and inadequate equipment, according to the summaries."
** Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "As the Capitol was overrun on Jan. 6, armed supporters of ... Donald Trump were waiting across the Potomac in Virginia for orders to bring guns into the fray, a prosecutor said Wednesday in federal court. The Justice Department has repeatedly highlighted comments from some alleged riot participants who discussed being part of a 'quick reaction force' with stashes of weapons. Defendants have dismissed those conversations as bluster. But in a detention hearing for Kenneth Harrelson, accused of conspiring with other members of the Oath Keepers militia group to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election win, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Nestler said the government has evidence indicating otherwise. 'This is not pure conjecture,' Nestler said[, citing cellphone and video evidence].... Judge Amit Mehta called the evidence among the 'most troubling and most disconcerting' he has seen in nearly a dozen cases related to Oath Keepers." MB: Frankly, the report reads like a war story. ~~~
~~~ A BuzzFeed News story is here. MB: I feel pretty confident that the reason Trump reportedly was so pumped that day was that he was waiting for his allies to heroically cross the Potomac (even if He Donald was not standing bravely at the bow a la Washington crossing the Delaware), shoot up the Capitol and vanquish Trump.
Keith Alexander, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing for fatally shooting Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach a set of doors deep in the Capitol during the January siege, federal prosecutors in D.C. announced Wednesday. Authorities determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove Babbitt's civil rights were violated, and that it was reasonable for the officer to believe he was firing in self-defense or in defense of members of Congress and aides who were fleeing the House chamber. Prosecutors did not identify the officer." Politico's story is here.
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The D.C. National Guard's deployment of helicopters to quell racial justice demonstrations in Washington last summer, a chilling scene in which two aircraft hovered extremely low over clusters of protesters, was a misuse of military medical aircraft and resulted in the disciplining of multiple soldiers, the Army said Wednesday.... Senior officials, including then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, have maintained that the mission was to observe crowds and help police track people's movements, and they have dismissed assertions that the maneuvers were intended to frighten and scatter protesters.... But a redacted investigative report released Wednesday appears to contradict those claims, with some soldiers involved in the operation telling investigators they believed their mission was to deter looting and vandalism with their helicopters. 'Be loud ... fly low over the crowds,' said one unidentified member of the Lakota crew, describing the mission parameters as they understood them.... [The brigadier general who oversaw the deployment] did not direct the helicopters to scatter protesters, the report found, but an unidentified subordinate misunderstood or 'modified' the general's intent and told others the mission included crowd dispersal."
Shawna Chen of Axios: "In a rare bipartisan vote of 92-6, the Senate advanced legislation aimed at improving anti-Asian hate crime tracking and identification.... The bill had looked initially unlikely to garner the 60 votes necessary to end debate and move to a final vote. But Republicans decided to not filibuster, in part because Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao is Taiwanese American, signaled openness to working on it with Democrats prior to final passage, the Associated Press reports." MB: Once again we see the GOP Humanitarian Rule in action: Approve humanitarian bills only if you are personally affected.
Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "Legislation to make D.C. the 51st state advanced from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday, paving the way for approval by the full House for the second consecutive year -- possibly as soon as next week. The Democratic-majority committee voted along party lines to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, quashing every Republican amendment during Wednesday's markup session."
Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "Congressional Democrats plan to unveil legislation expanding the size of the Supreme Court on Thursday, according to three congressional sources.... The bill would add four seats to the high court, bringing the total to 13 from the current nine. The bill is led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, Subcommittee chair Hank Johnson, and freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones. In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Ed Markey of Massachusetts. The number of justices on the Court, which is set by Congress, has fluctuated throughout the course of the nation's history, reaching as many as ten seats before settling on nine in 1869. In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz suggested that, if Hillary Clinton were elected, the Republican Senate should keep Justice Antonin Scalia's seat empty, effectively bringing the number of justices down to eight."
Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "A House committee on Wednesday approved legislation to create a commission to make recommendations on paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people, the furthest the bill has advanced since it was first introduced more than 30 years ago. As expected, the vote broke on party lines, 25 to 17." A CBS News report is here.
Jose Pagliery & Roger Sollenberger of the Daily Beast: "As new details emerge about Rep. Matt Gaetz's role in an alleged sex ring, The Daily Beast has obtained several documents showing that the suspected ringleader of the group, Joel Greenberg, made more than 150 Venmo payments to dozens of young women, and to a girl who was 17 at the time.... Gaetz made only one previously unreported transaction in the newly obtained documents: a payment from [Gaetz] ... to [Greenberg] ... for $300 on November 1, 2018, with the love hotel emoji ... in the memo field. The Daily Beast was unable to tie that transaction directly to any woman, but confirmed that Greenberg booked one night for that date at The Alfond Inn, a luxury hotel in Winter Park, Florida.... In the Venmo transactions..., there are at least 16 payments in 2017 totaling nearly $5,000 to a woman who would later go on to date Matt Gaetz." The story is subscriber-firewalled. Here's a Raw Story summary report. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It looks as if Greenberg's job was to pimp for Gaetz (and others). Greenberg is described in most stories as a good friend of Gaetz', but Gaetz may have been more a client that a buddy.
From Tucker's Lips to a GOP Congressman's. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday morning..., a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was meeting to examine the root causes of migration from Central American countries.... when Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) ... [said], 'For many Americans..., what seems to be happening ... is we're replacing ... native-born Americans to permanently transform the landscape of this very nation.' He went on to [blame Biden administration policies for increased immigration from these countries].... He simply throws it out with an indifferent 'people are saying' line, as though it were not the subject of intense national controversy.... The irony is that Perry was at the heart of the efforts in January to 'transform the landscape of this very nation' by overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.... [This is] a reminder that the effort to cast immigrants as dangerous invaders aided by cynical leftist politicians may have started with self-identified white nationalists but isn't stopping at [Tucker] Carlson. It's progressing to others in the conservative media and, now, to the House."
Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died in a federal prison early Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said." Update: Madoff's New York Times obituary is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "After considering whether to reinstate the [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine, a panel of expert advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined on Wednesday that it needed more time to assess a possible link to a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Get Your Shots or Get Out. Ezekiel Emanuel, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "The next coronavirus surge seems to be underway.... We need to sharply reduce coronavirus infections to turn the tide.... The best hope is to maximize the number of people vaccinated, especially among those who interact with many others and are likely to transmit the virus. How can we increase vaccinations? Mandates. Vaccines should be required for health care workers and for all students who plan to attend in-person classes this fall -- including younger children once the vaccine is authorized for them.... Employers should also be prepared to make vaccines mandatory for prison guards, E.M.T.s, police officers, firefighters and teachers if overall vaccinations do not reach the level required for herd immunity." ~~~
~~~ Florida. Brittany Chang of Business Insider, republished at MSN: "Florida and cruise companies could be locked in a battle over vaccine requirements as the state puts a ban on vaccine passports while cruise lines continue to mandate the jabs for passengers and crew. On April 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning vaccine passports and local businesses from requiring this proof of vaccination. This ban applies to cruise lines as well...." ~~~
~~~ GOP State Legislators Push Anti-Vaxxer Bills. Anna Merlan of Vice News: "Legislators in at least five states ... have introduced a so-called 'Vaccine Bill of Rights.' The text of these bills is strikingly similar...: They're all based on a document released in January by a group called America's Frontline Doctors (AFLD), a pseudo-medical collection of physicians and not-at-all-physicians devoted to spreading the worst possible information about COVID. Resolutions using language similar or identical to the group's have been proposed by Republican lawmakers in Wyoming..., Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, and South Carolina.... In several proposed 'Bill of Rights' resolutions, there's language that explicitly seeks to bar [so-called] vaccine passports, saying that 'such required documentation pose[s] substantial risks to personal privacy and equal treatment before the law for all citizens.' The text of many of these proposed pieces of legislation also says that employers [including hospitals] should be prohibited from mandating vaccines for any of their employees..., [and that schools should be prevented from mandating vaccinations for returning students].<" ~~~
~~~ Russ Bynum of the AP: "With coronavirus shots now in the arms of nearly half of American adults, the parts of the U.S. that are excelling and those that are struggling with vaccinations are starting to look like the nation's political map: deeply divided between red and blue states.... Americans in blue states that lean Democratic appear to be getting vaccinated at more robust rates, while those in red Republican states seem to be more hesitant.... Out in front is New Hampshire, where 65% of the population age 18 and older has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Following close behind are New Mexico, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts at 55% or greater. All have a history of voting Democratic and supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Meanwhile, at the bottom are five states where fewer than 40% have rolled up their sleeves for a shot. Four of them -- Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee -- lean Republican and voted for Donald Trump last fall. The fifth is Georgia, which has a Republican governor and supported GOP presidential candidates for nearly three decades before narrowly backing Biden." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Absolute proof that Trump won Georgia. Election fraud!!! Recount, recount!!
~~~ Patrick Murray of Monmouth University Polling: "About 1 in 5 American adults remain unwilling to get the Covid vaccine, even as more people are getting the shot. The Monmouth ... University Poll also finds that President Joe Biden continues to get positive job ratings overall as well as high marks for his handling of the pandemic. Nearly half of the public feels the country is heading in the right direction, which is an eight-year high in Monmouth's national polling."
** Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has decided to allow women to receive abortion pills by mail for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest development in an issue that has increasingly taken center stage in the American abortion debate. In a letter sent Monday to two leading organizations representing reproductive health physicians, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said that the agency would temporarily stop enforcing its requirement that the first of two drugs needed to terminate an early pregnancy be dispensed in a medical clinic. The new policy counters a Supreme Court decision in January that sided with the Trump administration, which had appealed a federal judge's decision last July to suspend the requirement."
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Scott Bauer & Mike Householder of the AP: "A white former suburban Minneapolis police officer was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. The charge against former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was filed three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop and as the nearby murder trial progresses for the ex-officer charged with killing George Floyd last May." The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ According to this Fox "News" story, at the time a policewoman shot him dead, Daunte Wright had an outstanding warrant for armed robbery. The police who stopped him were trying to arrest him on the warrant. Policy bodycam video shows that "As an officer attempts to handcuff him, Wright pries himself loose and jumps back into his car." Potter then shot him as he sped away. MB: The media often portray Wright's story as a case in which police kill a Black man because of a minor violation: an expired vehicle license. Meanwhile, family members talk about how sweet he was. Assuming the Fox story is true, it appears Wright had jumped $100,000 bail, imposed for an alleged attempted robbery at gunpoint. Shooting an accused felon dead was not justified, but IMO, shooting out his tires or taking other non-lethal offensive action would have been.
Minnesota. Mark Berman & Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "When the video of George Floyd gasping for air under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin emerged last year, it told a story that was painfully familiar to Anton Black's family. Black encountered police on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the fall of 2018, when officers responding to a call about a possible kidnapping wrestled the 19-year-old to the ground. Video footage released later showed the officers in Greensboro, Md., struggling with Black before pinning him down. Black died, and no officers were charged in his death. Then came Floyd's death last year, another video of a Black man being held down by police and dying. The cases, Black's family said in a court filing, were 'chillingly similar.' Now they are connected in another way: Among the experts Chauvin's defense is expected to call this week is the former Maryland medical examiner -- David Fowler -- who deemed Black's death an accident, a determination his family pilloried in a federal lawsuit filed in December." MB: Fowler is on the stand now @ 11 am ET Wednesday. Sure hope the judge lets the prosecution examine Fowler's history. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York State. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Cariol Horne acted to keep a white officer from using what she saw as excessive force. Fifteen years later, a judge said her firing was wrong. It was a cold November day in Buffalo when Officer Cariol Horne responded to a call for a colleague in need of help. What she encountered was a white officer who appeared to be 'in a rage' punching a handcuffed Black man in the face repeatedly as other officers stood by. Officer Horne, who is Black, heard the handcuffed man say he could not breathe and saw the white officer put him in a chokehold. At that point..., she forcibly removed the white officer and began to trade blows with him. In the altercation's aftermath, Officer Horne was reassigned, hit with departmental charges and, eventually, fired just one year short of the 20 on the force she needed to collect her full pension.... On Tuesday, in an outcome explicitly informed by the police killing of George Floyd, a state court judge vacated an earlier ruling that affirmed her firing, essentially rewriting the end of her police career, and granting her the back pay and benefits she had previously been denied." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. MB: If you have a NYT subscription, read the whole story. (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's story is here.
News Ledes
Yahoo! News: "New weekly jobless claims plunged to a pandemic-era low after last week's unexpected jump, with the labor market's choppy recovery closely following the trajectory of new COVID-19 infections.... Here were the main metrics from the [Department of Labor] report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg: Initial jobless claims, week ended April 10: 576,000 vs. 700,000 expected and a revised 769,000 during the prior week[.] Continuing claims, week ended April 3: 3.731 million vs. 3.700 million expected vs. 3.727 million during the prior week[.] Initial unemployment claims were expected to hold at or above the 700,000 level for a third consecutive week, remaining close to levels from November. Instead, new claims unexpectedly broke below the Great Recession-era high of 665,000 new claims filed in March 2009 for the first time in more than a year."
CNBC: "A fresh batch of stimulus checks sent consumer purchases surging in March as the U.S. economy continued to get juice from aggressive congressional spending. Retail sales rose 9.8% for the month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That compared to the Dow Jones estimate of a 6.1% gain and a decline of 2.7% in February. Sporting goods, clothing and building materials led the gains in spending and contributed to the best month for retail since the May 2020 gain of 18.3%, which came after the first round of stimulus checks."
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Reader Comments (13)
The disparity between red and blue states regarding the number of people vaccinated (the smart ones), and those not vaccinated (the other kind), shows up in other ways as well. I’ve noticed for a while now a big distinction in visits to various stores. In many local establishments, the pizza place in town (extremely red), and Walmart, for instance (very red), masks are increasingly scarce. In the local pizza place last Friday, I was the only one wearing a mask. I realize that people eating won’t be masked, but what’s the problem with those waiting for pick up?
Consistently, the only place in the largest town near us where every person in the place, customers and employees, is masked, is the book store.
Draw your own conclusions.
I always enjoyed the Borowitz Report headlines in the past, but
lately they seem to be more like mainstream newspaper headlines,
or is it just me?
Recent examples:
1. Biden tells Putin he must return his oval office keys.
2.City of Atlanta pulls out of Ga.
3. McConnel says corporations should follwo his example and not
get involved in politics.
4. Rand Paul claims Biden's infrastructure plan infringes on
bridges' right to crumble.
5. Marjorie Taylor Greene raps Biden infrastructure plan for
lacking dome to shield U.S. from lasers.
@Ak: Sadly, our friend Judy, the anti-vaxxer owns a book store.
I won't be going there any more.
@Akhilleus: Your implied conclusion is based on anecdotal evidence, as I'm sure you know. It's something like, "Learned people wear masks to protect themselves & others."
So I decided to apply my own anecdotal experience. Earlier this week, I had surgery on my nose to remove a cancerous growth. Right now, I look like the person who came in second in a boxing match, as I have a big old bandage contraption that covers my nose & parts of the rest of my face. I mentioned to a friend yesterday that the one and only upside of Covid is that with masks in vogue (in fact, required), I can go out & about without looking too weird as a mask covers most of the bandage.
My conclusion, based on your anecdote & my own experience: people who buy & read books often get nose jobs.
@Forrest Morris: Yes, but those headlines are still funny.
Here's a PBS News' interview with three experts on Afghanistan with video and transcript. One of these experts disagrees with the other two. Interesting discussion.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/will-the-withdrawal-of-u-s-troops-enable-the-taliban-three-afghanistan-experts-weigh-in?utm_medium=event&utm_source=playlist__link
And given that, one concludes there will continue to be pros and cons on Biden's announcement re: pulling out Troops. Another argument for this decision, not discussed in above interview, is our own problem of white supremacy that is growing and causing this great divide. In other words––we need to take care of our many problems at this time instead of trying to put another country together.
I had a fleeting thought: Bring those Afghans who helped our troops over here and send the lot of Proud Boys and their ilk over there. Wouldn't that be a kicker!
Yesterday when reading a Huff-Po article, there was a quiz from Pfizer; one of the questions: Whose DNA is closest to humans? Moles, Bees or Bananas. I clicked on Moles. Wrong! the correct answer is Bananas.
Well, I said to myself–– that can't be–- so of course I checked and lo and behold––that elongated yellow fruit shares 50% of our DNA. Did any of you know this? I find it quite amazing.
@AK: your account of the unmasked is disturbing. Here in CT. wherever you go––even at the dump––people are masked. The stupidity of people who will not get vaccinated and/or refuse to wear masks makes the eradication of this virus so much harder. Perhaps that message needs to be emphasized––no one likes to be called "STUPID."
Yeah–-the bookstore–-can we say–-"of course!"
How come all the reporters hugging the walls of the state leges' meeting houses don't ask: Where did you get your information? It used to be ALEC, but now is it pure FAUX? Why are all these reactionary despots in the state houses coming up with the same agendas of suppression? Who puts out the talking points?
Last night there was a big ol' discussion on HuffPo about whether our Lt. Gov. is a racist stalker, based on something that happened in 2013 when he was a small-town mayor. He intends to challenge Rs for Toomey's spot. It did not matter to the self-righteous wingers who ARE racists that they were lying about him through their teeth. Truth doesn't make a dent in the torrent of claptrap issuing from the lying mouths/keyboards of the still-trying dumpists. None of this seems to go anywhere toward bipartisanship. Not going to happen. Give it up, Biden. Kowtowing is of no use. I'm glad he is going it himself.
So Little Liz Cheney is still refusing to vote for Useless S. Dumpiepants, should he pretend to run in 2024. I still don't like her, but she is miles above the former SC governor/ambassador who changes her mind about USD by the minute. Gacchh. So many to detest it takes up my whole head daily.
@M.B.––"People who buy and read books often get nose jobs" cuz they got their noses in dem thar books alls the times?
Good luck with the healing. I had to have the same kind of operation on the lower side of my jaw and remember sitting in the doctor's waiting room with three or four people all with huge bandages on their noses. No one was reading.
P.S. Note from my friend:
The Afghan incursion has, from the beginning, brilliantly succeeded in its primary mission: to further enrich and empower U.S. military and industrial tsars. Of course, they're sorry to see it end...
Today's dose of statistics from the CDC:
gun deaths in 2020 (all causes): around 40,000
drug overdose deaths in 2020: around 80,000.
ummm, is there funding for this other scary epidemic in the Cares Plan?
Marie,
In that case, I think I’ll go for a kind of John Barrymore schnoz.
PD: It was an interesting discussion about Afghanistan. I observe the complete and intractable opposition to adopting our values and culture among the hardened and armed Taliban. The Germans, Japanese, and the Koreans were all more predisposed to accepting US boots on the ground. The progressives in those countries carried the day. We still have Confederates making up stuff and claiming victory 150 years after defeat.
One of the commenters talked about affiliated extremists in Somalia and Yemen; look at how close is Dushabe or Tashkent. Is it just the money involved in the US military/industrial class that prevents us learning from the successes of Afghanistan's neighbors? Heroin gets from Afghanistan to European markets for business reasons. I never heard any of the three commenters mention heroin. Do you think Erik Prince knows a thing or two about the heroin industry in Afghanistan? Or Dick Cheney? Or Putin? If we follow the money, disrupt the current patterns of distributing drug money, and make treatment of women and minorities a priority, I think we could make cheaper change versus boots and tanks. Think about Putin's political disruption campaign within the US or Brexit. (Is it possible that Western news sources are fed info about Uyghers by Putin?) He is effective on the cheap compared with boots and tanks. This pull out could be Joe Biden showing that he still has the capability to learn and adapt.
It didn't appear Dr. Fauci had a a 2 x 4 handy, and Dr. Fauci has I'm sure a much better grasp of how to deal with nutcases than I do, but I kinda wish he'd told dimwitted Jordan straight-out that it wasn't he and it wasn't the damn gummint that was restricting anyone's rights, it was a virus that doesn't argue, just kills, and that as any school kid is taught, with rights come responsibilities, not just for oneself but for others.
"Wear a mask, dimwit! or stay the hell away from me."
Of course, for Republicans, that lesson never took.
@ Ken - seriously, is there any bigger asshat in Congress than Jim Jordan? He clearly has spent his life thinking that he can intimidate people by talking loud and fast and has no idea how to act when that schtick doesn’t work. But the way Jordan shut up when Clyburn said “we’ll deal with this later” shows that like most bullies, Jordan is a coward who will back down when confronted with anyone with real power.