President Biden doubled down on his gratitude for local leaders who defied bans on school mask mandates issued by Republican governors during calls to school superintendents on Friday night. Continue reading “Biden Lends Support To School Leaders Who Bucked Statewide Mask Mandate Bans”
Vindication and the Fall of Kabul
Yesterday I wrote this: “In the coming days or weeks we’re likely to see a situation in which the government only controls Kabul. If you’re in the Afghan army how hard are you going to fight in that final battle? Why fight? The question answers itself.”
As we can see this morning, not days or weeks but hours. Overnight in the United States the army and government of Afghanistan melted away and remaining authorities are in the process of turning over power to a transitional Taliban government. It’s over.
People are lining up to say that this is all on Joe Biden, that he “lost” Afghanistan, that he mismanaged or failed to manage the US withdrawal, that this is “on him.” In the calculus of US military-political culture that’s likely right. But I see it quite differently. This seems to me like the ultimate vindication of his decision.
A Few Thoughts on Afghanistan
The government of Afghanistan, created under US auspices and propped up by the US military for almost two decades, appears to be collapsing under a rapid military onslaught by the Taliban. This has been triggered by but I think by no means caused by President Biden’s decision to withdraw all US military forces from the country.
Let me share a few thoughts about this in no particular order.
Continue reading “A Few Thoughts on Afghanistan”
The Stopwatch On Redistricting Has Started. The Longer It Takes To Pass Reforms, The Messier It’ll Be
The 2020 Census data dropped on Thursday, the starting gun of the redistricting process.
Where Things Stand: Cruz Hops On The ‘Poor Insurrectionists!’ Train
We expected folks like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to offer jailed insurrectionists the victim card. They staged a photo-op protest at the jail where some of them are being held last month to paint the rioters as mistreated political prisoners.
Now Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is joining the whitewashing movement.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Cruz Hops On The ‘Poor Insurrectionists!’ Train”
A QAnoner Posted One County’s Election Passwords. The County Clerk Allegedly Helped.
Colorado’s secretary of state on Thursday accused a Republican county official of allowing an unauthorized person to access the county’s voting machines — leading to a leak of sensitive information into the right-wing fever swamps.
Lead Of Wisconsin Election Probe Attended MyPillow Guy’s ‘Cyber Symposium’
The “special counsel” of an investigation into Wisconsin’s election system attended pillow magnate Mike Lindell’s flop “Cyber Symposium” this week.
Continue reading “Lead Of Wisconsin Election Probe Attended MyPillow Guy’s ‘Cyber Symposium’”
Memories of Pelosi
With a gaggle of House ‘moderates’, led by the meddling Josh Gottheimer, now trying to strong-arm Nancy Pelosi into decoupling the long-linked infrastructure bills, I’m reminded of a night back in 2010. Republicans made Democrats wait some six months to seat Al Franken after he defeated Norm Coleman in Minnesota in 2008. That finally gave them 60 votes in the Senate, enough to pass what we now know as Obamacare. But now it’s January 19th, 2010. Long-serving Senator Ted Kennedy died the previous August and now there’s a special election to fill his seat. Shockingly, the race is called for Republican Scott Brown. Out of the blue, Republicans have won back their ability to filibuster Obamacare just as its near the negotiation finish line.
Fuck.
Moderate House Dems Try Big Flex On Pelosi
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Nine moderate House Democrats are threatening to withhold votes from the $3.5 trillion reconciliation resolution for infrastructure if the bipartisan infrastructure bill doesn’t get passed first.
- They sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday telling her: “We will not consider voting for a budget resolution until the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passes the House and is signed into law.”
- They argued that “with the livelihoods of hardworking American families at stake, we simply can’t afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package.”
New – In letter, nine House Dem moderates threaten to withhold support for their party's budget resolution until Speaker Pelosi changes course and instead allows their chamber to first vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan the Senate approved this week. pic.twitter.com/H5N6oyiV6i
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 13, 2021
Say Hello To A More Diverse America Than Ever Before
The Census Bureau released its highly anticipated data yesterday, giving some major insights into how the country’s demographics have shifted over the past 10 years–and what the new congressional map could look like.
- One data point standout: The white population in the U.S. shrank for the first time ever.
- There was a drop in the rural population too.
Vast swaths of rural America–and an outright majority of all counties–lose population, per Census pic.twitter.com/7sU8ZS8wIS
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 12, 2021
- Of course, a diversifying America doesn’t automatically portend future victories for Democrats.
David Wasserman, editor of the Cook Political Report, and New York Times reporter Nate Cohn lay out some other key points in the new data:
Early read: based on the strong urban and weaker rural numbers I'm seeing, this is a *much* more favorable Census count than minority advocacy groups/Dems had feared.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 12, 2021
Some notable state data-points: Georgia just 50.1% non-Hispanic white, and probably majority minority by now
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 12, 2021
Fascinating demographic breakdown by state from Census Bureau. Lots of states w/ higher-than-expected non-white counts, including FL/GA/NJ/NY now nearly 50%+ non-white. pic.twitter.com/DavJeI2qbM
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 12, 2021
A Racist Takes Another Hard Fall
Rip McIntosh, an octogenarian adviser of right-wing youth organization Turning Points, resigned from another prestigious organization this week after TPM and the Informant discovered he had been publishing astonishingly racist newsletters.
- McIntosh left his post on the Society of the Four Arts board of trustees in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. His resignation happened after a Four Arts donor publicly raked the organization over the coals for standing by him when revelations of the newsletter emerged (the Four Arts leadership argued at the time that McIntosh was entitled to his “First Amendment rights.”)
- McIntosh had also resigned from the board of trustees at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in July.
Afghanistan Teeters On The Brink
The Pentagon is sending thousands of Marines into Afghanistan to evacuate U.S. citizens and American embassy personnel as Taliban forces sweep through the country.
- The intel community warns the Afghan government could fall within 30 days.
- Must-read: “Afghans Tell of Executions, Forced Marriages in Taliban-Held Areas” – The Wall Street Journal
COVID-19 Booster Shots Get The Green Light
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a third dose of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines for immunocompromised people.
Hochul In It To Win It
Incoming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) confirmed that she’s running for a full term in 2022, telling the TODAY Show, “I’m prepared for this.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett Made Conservatives Sad
In a potential sign that COVID-19 restrictions might actually survive the right-leaning Supreme Court, the Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a request to block Indiana University’s vaccine mandate yesterday.
- The decision isn’t playing well with the people who gloated that Barrett’s appointment was an automatic slam-dunk for their entire agenda:
they mad pic.twitter.com/DQHoRbCPlr
— Erin And A Half Ryan (@morninggloria) August 13, 2021
But on the other hand, Barrett and the rest of SCOTUS’s conservative majority blocked part of New York’s eviction moratorium on Thursday.
Another Step Toward Trump 2024
Trump’s Save America PAC has hired two of the ex-president’s former senior campaign aides in Iowa who worked for his campaign in 2016 and 2020.
Let’s Just Go On TV And Say Things
Someone should’ve asked Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) if he smelled toast during this interview:
Rep. Louie Gohmert warned OAN viewers about the "hundreds and thousands" of "Flamers," aka birds who survive windmills but wind up spontaneously combusting after flying over solar farms in the Southwest US. This is how the green new deal will bring the nation down. pic.twitter.com/FYaw8ivElT
— Bee (@mount_bees) August 12, 2021
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Voting Rights Activists Cling To Hope In ‘Race Against Time’
Republican-led legislatures continue blanketing the states they control in laws that make it harder to vote. Census data has been released, starting the clock on the redistricting process which Republicans disproportionately use for partisan advantage. The midterms creep closer, curtailing the time Democrats have to put voting reforms in place.
And Congress is in recess.
Continue reading “Voting Rights Activists Cling To Hope In ‘Race Against Time’”