;)
The Commentariat -- August 14, 2021
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
** The End of the Longest War. David Sanger & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "In the end, an Afghan force that did not believe in itself and a U.S. effort that Mr. Biden, and most Americans, no longer believed would alter the course of events combined to bring an ignoble close to America's longest war. The United States kept forces in Afghanistan far longer than the British did in the 19th century, and twice as long as the Soviets -- with roughly the same results."
** President Biden's statement on Afghanistan.
Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Taliban's blitz across Afghanistan pushed closer to Kabul on Saturday, as U.S. diplomats appealed to the militants to stop the advance or risk conflict with thousands of U.S. troops flooding into the capital to evacuate U.S. diplomats and other personnel. But in Qatar's capital, Doha, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban political leaders who had a message of their own: calling for an end to escalating U.S. airstrikes trying to hold the fast-moving push by Taliban forces to gain territory, occupy provincial capitals and hold key roadways. With Kabul in the Taliban crosshairs, the fate of the country's Western-allied government also hung in the balance. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in his first public appearance since the Taliban's stunning sweep of provincial capitals over the past week, said he was turning to the international community for help even as events appeared to be overtaking him and his administration."
** Eyal Press in a New York Times op-ed: "Contemporary America runs on dirty work," work done -- usually by low-paid workers -- in penal & mental institutions, immigrations centers, slaughterhouses, overseas sweatshops, & drone-war facilities.... This work sustains our lifestyles and undergirds the prevailing social order, but privileged people are generally spared from having to think about it.... Though more difficult to quantify, the moral and emotional wounds that many dirty workers experience can be as debilitating as material disadvantage.... Pinning the blame for dirty work solely on the people who carry it out can be a useful way to obscure the power dynamics and the layers of complicity that perpetuate their conduct."
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The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Afghanistan are here: "The last major city in northern Afghanistan fell to the Taliban on Saturday night, marking the complete loss of the country's north to the Taliban as the insurgents appear on the verge of a full military takeover." ~~~
~~~ Tameem Akhgar, et al., of the AP: "The Taliban completed their sweep of the country's south on Friday as they took four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling Kabul, just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war. In just the last 24 hours, the country's second- and third-largest cities -- Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south -- have fallen to the insurgents as has the capital of the southern Helmand province, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict. The blitz through the Taliban's southern heartland means the insurgents now hold half of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals and control more than two-thirds of the country -- weeks before the U.S. plans to withdraw its last troops. The Western-backed government in the capital, Kabul, still holds a smattering of provinces in the center and east, as well as the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is live-updating Friday's developments in Afghanistan here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ American Disgrace. Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The rapid collapse of security in Afghanistan has turned a slow-building U.S. effort to rescue men and women who have assisted the United States into a full-blown humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands of people still seeking refuge and potentially little time to relocate them. The scramble to rescue America's Afghan allies comes after U.S. lawmakers in both parties have pressed the Biden administration for months to move faster on the issue.... The U.S. government has transported about 1,200 Afghans to the United States in recent days, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. But the Biden administration has committed to temporarily relocating another 4,000 applicants and their families to other countries while their immigration paperwork is finalized and assessed, and there are many thousand more who are earlier in the process and face a stark outlook."
~~~ Thomas Gibbons-Neff, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States' 20-year endeavor to rebuild Afghanistan's military into a robust and independent fighting force has failed, and that failure is now playing out in real time as the country slips into Taliban control.... The swift [Taliban] offensive has resulted in mass surrenders, captured helicopters and millions of dollars of American-supplied equipment paraded by the Taliban on grainy cellphone videos. In some cities, heavy fighting had been underway for weeks on their outskirts, but the Taliban ultimately overtook their defensive lines and then walked in with little or no resistance. This implosion comes despite the United States having poured more than $83 billion in weapons, equipment and training into the country's security forces over two decades. Building the Afghan security apparatus was one of the key parts of the Obama administration's strategy as it sought to find a way to hand over security and leave nearly a decade ago.... How the Afghan military came to disintegrate first became apparent ... months ago in an accumulation of losses that started even before President Biden's announcement that the United States would withdraw by Sept. 11." ~~~
~~~ Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post, from "The Afghanistan Papers" (December 2019): "'The Afghan forces are better than we thought they were,' Marine Gen. John Allen told Congress in 2012. 'The Afghan national security forces are winning,' Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson told reporters in 2014. But in a trove of confidential government interviews obtained by The Washington Post, U.S., NATO and Afghan officials described their efforts to create an Afghan proxy force as a long-running calamity. With most speaking on the assumption that their remarks would remain private, they depicted the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated, poorly trained, corrupt and riddled with deserters and infiltrators. In one interview, Thomas Johnson, a Navy official who served as a counterinsurgency adviser in Kandahar province, said Afghans viewed the police as predatory bandits, calling them 'the most hated institution' in Afghanistan. An unnamed Norwegian official told interviewers that he estimated 30 percent of Afghan police recruits deserted with their government-issued weapons so they could 'set up their own private checkpoints' and extort payments from travelers." ~~~
~~~ Say, here's the self-same Marine General John Allen -- now of the Brookings Institution -- in a Defense One opinion piece, explaining why President Biden must reverse his decision to leave Afghanistan. Okay then.
Jacob Bogage & Douglas MacMillan of the Washington Post: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy purchased up to $305,000 in bonds from an investment firm whose managing partner also chairs the U.S. Postal Service's governing board, the independent body responsible for evaluating DeJoy's performance. Between October and April, DeJoy purchased 11 bonds from Brookfield Asset Management each worth between $1,000 and $15,000, or $15,000 and $50,000, according to DeJoy's financial disclosure paperwork. Ron Bloom, a Brookfield senior executive who manages the firm's private equity division, has served on the postal board since 2019 and was elected its chairman in February." MB: Surprise! Both DeJoy & Bloom are Trump appointees. Update: Rachel Maddow pointed out Friday night that Bloom has repeatedly expressed great admiration for DeJoy & averred that Louie was definitely the best guy for the postmaster general job. And it cost DeJoy only $300K or so for those expressions of affirmation. Nice.
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Nine moderate House Democrats told Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday that they will not vote for a budget resolution meant to pave the way for the passage of a $3.5 trillion social policy package later this year until a Senate-approved infrastructure bill passes the House and is signed into law. The pledge, in a letter released early Friday, is a major rift that threatens the carefully choreographed, two-track effort by congressional Democrats and the Biden administration to enact both a trillion-dollar, bipartisan infrastructure deal and an even more ambitious -- but partisan -- social policy measure. The nine House members are more than enough to block consideration of the budget blueprint in a House where Democrats hold a three-seat majority." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Kara Voght of Mother Jones: "The letter, notably, makes no promises that the signers will vote for the $3.5 trillion budget package, even if their demands to take up the infrastructure bill are met." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "If [these nine Democrats] wanted things that were popular or defensible on the merits they could potentially get concessions during normal negotiations; they're engaging in hostage-taking because their basic position is that Biden's budget is both too big and doesn't do enough for rich people, which is unlikely to actually persuade anybody else."
** David Daly & Gaby Goldstein in a Guardian op-ed: "The United States is becoming a land filled with 'democracy deserts', where gerrymandering and voting restrictions are making voters powerless to make change. And this round of redistricting could make things even worse. Since 2012, the Electoral Integrity Project at Harvard University has studied the quality of elections worldwide.... In its most recent study of the 2020 elections, the integrity of Wisconsin's electoral boundaries earned a 23 -- worst in the nation, on par with Jordan, Bahrain and the Congo.... Alabama (31), North Carolina (32), Michigan (37), Ohio (33), Texas (35), Florida (37) and Georgia (39) scored only marginally higher. Nations that join them in the 30s include Hungary, Turkey and Syria.... [When] Republican lawmakers redistricted [states] like Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida ... after the 2010 census, with the benefit of precise, granular voting data and the most sophisticated mapping software ever, they gerrymandered themselves into advantages that have held firm for the last decade -- even when Democratic candidates win hundreds of thousands more statewide votes. In Wisconsin, for example, voters handed Democrats every statewide race in 2018 and 203,000 more votes for the state assembly -- but the tilted Republican map handed Republicans 63 of the 99 seats nevertheless."
Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "After a decade of disputing the existence of climate change, many leading Republicans are shifting their posture amid deadly heat waves, devastating drought and ferocious wildfires that have bludgeoned their districts and unnerved their constituents back home. Members of Congress who long insisted that the climate is changing due to natural cycles have notably adjusted that view, with many now acknowledging the solid science that emissions from burning oil, gas and coal have raised Earth's temperature. But their growing acceptance of the reality of climate change has not translated into support for the one strategy that scientists said in a major United Nations report this week is imperative to avert an even more harrowing future: stop burning fossil fuels. Instead, Republicans want to spend billions to prepare communities to cope with extreme weather, but are trying to block efforts by Democrats to cut the emissions that are fueling the disasters in the first place." MB: If you have a NYT subscription, click on the link, then search the page for "Inhofe." What an ass.
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post features Jeff Clark, the DOJ lawyer she says "became, for a brief time, the most dangerous Trump administration official you never heard of." MB: It's sort of a story where Walter Mitty decides to actually play out one of his daydreams. Pocketa pocketa.
Peter Hermann & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: The lawyer for a D.C. police officer who fatally shot himself nine days after he was injured confronting rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 says a group of cybersleuths has identified one of his attackers. A blow to Officer Jeffrey Smith's head captured on video shows the 12-year veteran being knocked to the ground, apparently unconscious, according to a lawsuit Smith's family filed Friday against the alleged attacker. The lawsuit includes a report from a doctor who evaluated the case for Smith's estate saying a traumatic brain injury led the officer to take his own life.... The Washington Post is not identifying the man named in the lawsuit because The Post could not independently verify his identity and he has not been charged with a crime. Reached Friday, the man declined to comment.... Social media accounts that appear to be connected to him share conspiracy theories about the election and covid-19 vaccinations."
Not-News Flash! Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump was not reinstated as president on August 13th -- despite the far-right conspiracy theory that he would do so. Although President Joe Biden decisively won the 2020 election and the Constitution does not provide a mechanism to re-instate a former president, Trump reportedly bought into the conspiracy theory. Frank Figliuzzi, the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, warns that the conspiracy theory may result in violence. Figliuzzi noted a DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis bulletin obtained by ABC News that warned, 'Some conspiracy theories associated with reinstating former President Trump have included calls for violence if desired outcomes are not realized.'" ~~~
~~~ Frank Figliuzzi, in an MSNBC opinion piece: "This nonsense about a Trump return to the Oval Office would be at least mildly amusing if it weren't so dangerous. And the Department of Homeland Security agrees.... DHS issued a bulletin Aug. 6 to its state and local partners warning that the agency's intelligence analysts have observed 'an increasing but modest level of activity online" by people who are calling for violence in response to baseless claims of 2020 election fraud and related to the conspiracy theory that ... Donald Trump will be reinstated.'... QAnon quackery is central to the reinstatement delusion.... Trump continues to fuel the reinstatement conspiracy, and he's fattening his campaign coffers in the process.... U.S. Capitol Police are closely monitoring plans for a 'Justice for January 6' rally on the Capitol grounds set for Sept. 18.... Chris Sampson ... [of] the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Racial Ideologies..., told me: 'The same people who pushed the Jan. 6 attack are the same people pushing current conspiracy theories that say, "They stole the election from you," "Ashli Babbitt was murdered," calls for violence against vaccine locations and calls insurrectionists "political prisoners.'"
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "Snopes, which has long presented itself as the internet's premier fact-checking resource, has retracted 60 articles after a BuzzFeed News investigation found that the site's co-founder plagiarized from news outlets as part of a strategy intended to scoop up web traffic. 'As you can imagine, our staff are gutted and appalled by this,' Vinny Green, the Snopes chief operating officer, said on Friday. He said the Snopes editorial team was conducting a review to understand just how many articles written by David Mikkelson, the site's co-founder and chief executive, featured content plagiarized from other news sites. As of Friday afternoon, the team had found 60, he said. By Friday morning, dozens of articles had been removed from the site, with pages that formerly featured those articles now showing the word 'retracted' and an explanation that 'some or all of its content was taken from other sources without proper attribution.' Ads have been removed from these articles, according to Mr. Green." ~~~
~~~ Here's BuzzFeed News' original investigative report, by Dean Jones.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Andrew Atterbury of Politico: "The Biden Administration further inserted itself into Florida's mask fight on Friday by offering to pay the salaries of Florida school board members who lose state funds by defying Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on local K-12 mask mandates. In a letter to DeSantis and his Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote that school districts stripped of state funding for passing local coronavirus safety measures can use federal relief dollars to replenish the cash. Cardona said he was 'deeply concerned' by DeSantis' efforts preventing schools from requiring students to wear masks amid a surge in Covid infections, and that his agency could reach the schools directly if need be."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "'I don't think it's anybody's damn business whether I'm vaccinated or not,' Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, told CNN last month.... In the context of a deadly and often debilitating contagion, in which the unchecked spread of infection has consequences for the entire society, vaccination is not a personal decision.... So-called freedom is ill suited to human flourishing. It is practically maladaptive in the face of a pandemic.... From the jump, the federal government devolved its response to the pandemic, foisting responsibility onto states and localities, which, in turn, left individual Americans and their communities to navigate conflicting rules and information.... When you structure a society so that every person must be an island, you cannot then blame people when inevitably they act as if they are. If we want a country that takes solidarity seriously, we will actually have to build one.... Vaccination ... should have been mandated from the start." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In the U.S., the Covid-19 pandemic is a symptom of conservatism. At least since the Goldwater era, mainstream conservatives & confederates have stressed individual "freedom" over civic responsibility -- without understanding that absent collective responsibility, there is no freedom. The right's emphasis on individual freedom -- whether a philosophical preference or a craven political ploy or the white man's wail -- is antithetical to Western democratic values. Covid-19 is a sickness that kills, but the cause of death in the U.S. is less a virus than a selfish political belief system that survives only because its practitioners have taught its followers to accept fantastic lies.
California. Parent Beats up Teacher Because Masks. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "An unidentified father of a student at Sutter Creek Elementary School in Amador County, Calif., ... saw his daughter and the principal wearing masks, Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Torie Gibson told KTXL. He allegedly argued with the principal, left and returned to speak with her again, Gibson said. An unnamed male teacher intervened, but that led to a physical altercation between the two men that resulted in the teacher needing medical attention at a hospital, KCRA 3 reported." MB: Beachum calls the fight the result of the "sensitive spot" teachers are in. Really? No, school personnel are victims of the right-wing lie machine, whether they're subjected to actual violence, as in this case, verbal abuse or empty threats. Reporters should say so.
Texas. Carma Hassan & Christina Maxouris of CNN: "Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas County, Texas, there are 'zero ICU beds left for children,' county judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning. 'That means if your child's in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don't have one. Your child will wait for another child to die,' Jenkins said."
Beyond the Beltway
New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "The leader of the New York State Assembly said Friday that lawmakers will suspend their ongoing impeachment investigation of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, following his resignation earlier this week over sexual harassment allegations. Carl E. Heastie, the speaker of the Assembly, said the inquiry was moot since its main objective was to determine whether Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, should remain in office. Mr. Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, also said he believed lawmakers did not have the constitutional authority to impeach a governor who was no longer in power."
News Ledes
AP: There are "more than 100 large wildfires burning in a dozen Western states seared by drought and hot, bone-dry weather that has turned forests, brushlands, meadows and pastures into tinder. The U.S. Forest Service said Friday it's operating in crisis mode, fully deploying firefighters and maxing out its support system. The roughly 21,000 federal firefighters working on the ground is more than double the number of firefighters sent to contain forest fires at this time a year ago, and the agency is facing 'critical resources limitations,' said Anthony Scardina, a deputy forester for the agency's Pacific Southwest region."
AP: "A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, with the epicenter about 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Haiti's new prime minister, Ariel Henry, said on Twitter that the 'violent quake' had caused loss of life and damage in various parts of the country. He said he would mobilize all available government resources to help victims and appealed to Haitians to unify as they 'confront this dramatic situation in which we're living right now." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments in Haiti here: "The quake overwhelmed hospitals, flattened buildings and trapped people under rubble in at least two cities in the western part of the country's southern peninsula. At least 304 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured, according to Jerry Chandler, the director general of the Civil Protection Agency. An untold number were missing."
Weather Channel: "Fred is now an open tropical wave, but is expected to organize and strengthen some in the days ahead in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is the potential for rain and wind impacts this weekend. Fred is tracking west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph away from Cuba, now in the Gulf of Mexico. Fred remains highly disorganized because of unfavorable upper-level winds and land interaction. Tropical storm warnings have been canceled in the Florida Keys. Heavy rain will continue in parts of Cuba and Florida into the weekend, which have already seen up to 10 inches of rain so far."
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Reader Comments (11)
Col. Andrew Bacevich
"It's too late for airstrikes. We need to look at the 20-year experience of the American war. We tried to do two things. Number one, we tried to create a legitimate government that would command the loyalty of the Afghan people, and we tried to create effective military forces that could provide for the defense of the Afghan nation-state.
All the evidence shows that we failed on both counts. And I think the beginning of wisdom is to understand the reality of that failure and then, yes,", to take seriously our responsibility to contain the fallout. And the fallout, in particular, relates to the suffering of those who supported us and the suffering of innocents who now are a victim of our failure.
But simply to prolong the war, the American war, at this point, it might salve our consciences to some degree, but it won't do any good."
The tragedy currently playing out in Afghanistan will be laid at the feet of Joe Biden by the trolls on the right. It beats remembering that the origin of current crisis remains the fault of the Decider and his pet shark, Darth Cheney, not to mention Mr. Unknown Unknowns, good ol’ Rummy, the architect of Abu Ghraib.
The fact is that the Bush War of Choice was responsible for the surge in recruitment by the Taliban, as well as the development of ISIS. The 20 year botched invasions, based on lies and cooked books from the Bush-Cheney “intelligence” wing (intel made to order) was the single greatest recruitment tool for Middle East terrorists. No posters of Uncle Osama pointing out at young Muslims with the caption “I want you” could have done as much as Bush and Cheney did.
And yes, the Taliban existed prior to 2003, but the core of that group was crafted during the Soviet invasion (1979-1989) during which we—the US—funneled money and weapons to the Mujahideen. The Taliban emerged in the mid-90’s, but it took the Bush Cheney invasion to balloon its membership. And leave us not forget that the stated reason for the Afghan portion of the Bush War of Choice was to get Osama bin Laden. They failed miserably. Oh, well, let’s go bomb the shit out of Iraq, a country that nothing to do with 9/11. Because what could possibly go wrong?
So while Biden will be blamed by the assholes who cheered on the Bush wars that started this whole thing, let’s not forget who’s really to blame.
The tragedy currently playing out in Afghanistan will be laid at the feet of Joe Biden by the trolls on the right. It beats remembering that the origin of current crisis remains the fault of the Decider and his pet shark, Darth Cheney, not to mention Mr. Unknown Unknowns, good ol’ Rummy, the architect of Abu Ghraib.
The fact is that the Bush War of Choice was responsible for the surge in recruitment by the Taliban, as well as the development of ISIS. The 20 year botched invasions, based on lies and cooked books from the Bush-Cheney “intelligence” wing (intel made to order) was the single greatest recruitment tool for Middle East terrorists. No posters of Uncle Osama pointing out at young Muslims with the caption “I want you” could have done as much as Bush and Cheney did.
And yes, the Taliban existed prior to 2003, but the core of that group was crafted during the Soviet invasion (1979-1989) during which we—the US—funneled money and weapons to the Mujahideen. The Taliban emerged in the mid-90’s, but it took the Bush Cheney invasion to balloon its membership. And leave us not forget that the stated reason for the Afghan portion of the Bush War of Choice was to get Osama bin Laden. They failed miserably . Oh, well, let’s go bomb the shit out of Iraq, a country that nothing to do with 9/11. Because what could possibly go wrong?
So while Biden will be blamed by the assholes who cheered on the Bush wars that started this whole thing, let’s not forget who’s really to blame.
It’s also worthwhile to note the role played by the Pentagon in the Afghanistan (and Iraq) clusterfucks.
In his book on the last hundred years of military leadership (specifically leadership in combat), “The Generals”, journalist Thomas Ricks lays out a pattern that produced the mediocre—and largely unaccountable—actions and inactions that have gotten us here, another emergency evacuation of another American embassy, and a ravaged country left to fend for itself.
Ricks points out that during WWII, generals who failed in combat or were seen as too indecisive, got the heave-ho. And that, right quick. Eisenhower and George Marshall had no time to handhold guys who couldn’t get it done. Those who did, like Patton, were supported, despite personality flaws (although Patton’s big mouth finally did get him sidelined). Guys who produced got promoted. Those who didn’t got sent home.
Leadership in combat began to slip during Korea, and by the time we get to Vietnam, it became almost impossible to fire or demote incapable or mediocre generals. The last time the US Army fired a general for combat ineffectiveness was 1971.
Ricks likens high rank in the military today as being similar to holding tenure at a university. Unless you get caught boinking a student or plagiarizing someone’s stuff, you’re there for life.
As Marie points out, this is why we have a guy like Marine general John Allen, saying publicly, what everyone else knew to be a complete lie, about the combat readiness of Afghan forces.
It’s all about the PR.
It’s kind like Republicans in Congress. No one gets “fired” for incompetence. And the rest of us (and in this case, poor families in Afghanistan) pay the price.
They are already blaming Biden. There was a nasty op-ed in the Times yesterday by someone from the American Enterprise Institute doing just that.
AK: Excellent history here and let me add the Vietnam debacle––Tuchman's "The March of Folly" spelled it out loudly and clearly but we refuse to hear. And let's not forget $$$$---lots of money is made during wars but only for those suppling it I reckon.
A word about your "It’s kind like Republicans in Congress. No one gets “fired” for incompetence." We at present have so many numskulls up there–-one loud mouthed Ouchie Fauchi lady who didn't even graduate from high school––QAnon followers, crooks, alleged sex abusers. Why isn't there a vetting process in place when someone decides to throw their hat into the ring? Am I being naive in thinking something like this should be done? Do I hear a loud–-"Oh, for Christ sake–-grow up, stop thinking so "perfect union" crap.
She slides back into despair.
@PD Pepe: Good grief! I never took a look at Lorena Bobbitt's CV before you mentioned her failure to get a high school diploma. In fairness, she did manage to get a GED, but her claim to fame seems to be that she gave 80 people food poisoning in one of her failed restaurant businesses. No matter what you think of Anthony Fauci, he's well-educated and has served a lifetime as an expert on infectious diseases. She has a lot of gall to question his decisions and advice when she has a background in nothing more than mass poisoning. What an appalling little twit. Thanks, Colorado!
Lorena Bobbitt -- that's a different knife-wielding chef ...
Watch an angry Chris Murphy on the Senate floor responding to Ted Cruz's speech on the CDC mask guidance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7p_t3P2zw8
I love my senator!
by the way–-I will be off the grid for about four days due to our dog sitting at the home of my son and family who are taking their son, Diego, ( apple of my eye) to Louisiana to enter Tulane U. Since that state is one of the hot spots virus wise I'm anxious about their safety but they are careful people and the University has a vaccination mandate.
Afghanistan: you really can't expect people who don't care about democracy like Rumsfeld and Cheney and generals to exercise much insight into the process of democratization. What these guys show is how incredibly fragile is the fabric of civilization.
I heard Paul Wolfowitz (“The Iraq war will be over in a matter of weeks” yeah, him) on NPR heaping blame on Biden. Whoever booked him should re-examine his or her career choices.