On the dusty tarmac of an airport in Northern Afghanistan, six planes have been waiting for days.
Continue reading “Thousands Of Afghans Are Trying To Flee. Glenn Beck Says He Has A Way Out.”
To Understand Milley’s Worries We Should Look at the Trump DOJ
Follow-on reporting about General Mark Milley’s crisis talks with his counterpart in the PLA just add more confirmation that these communications were entirely appropriate. We should be thankful they happened. We now know the calls were coordinated with the current and later the acting Secretaries of Defense. So it’s all very much by the book. As Tom Nichols explains here, the US military – and most professional militaries – invest great resources, often over decades, in military to military talks and liaison precisely for moments like this. If you need to make direct contact to defuse a potential crisis it helps a lot to have preexisting relationships in place. All of that investment is geared to moments like the ones described in the Woodward and Costa book.
There are reports that Trump, Mike Pompeo and the then-National Security Advisor didn’t know about Milley’s calls. If that’s true, then that is on the Secretaries of Defense, not Milley.
Continue reading “To Understand Milley’s Worries We Should Look at the Trump DOJ”
Clarence Thomas Insists That He Isn’t A Partisan Hack Either
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the deeply conservative justice who has reliably voted in favor of the GOP’s agenda from the bench, complained on Thursday that his critics were “going to jeopardize any faith in the legal institutions.”
Continue reading “Clarence Thomas Insists That He Isn’t A Partisan Hack Either”
A Pro-Impeachment Republican Calls Trump A ‘Cancer’ And Runs For The Hills
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Bye!
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) announced that he won’t seek another term in 2022, marking the first departure from Congress among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for sparking the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- Gonzales cited the “toxic dynamics” of his party as a “significant factor” in his decision.
- Gonzales called Trump “a cancer for the country” in an interview with the New York Times on the day of his announcement.
- The GOP lawmaker insisted to the Times that he wasn’t leaving because of the threats he’s received in wake of his impeachment vote, but he also noted he was receiving messages like, “We’re coming to your house.”
- Gonzalez also blasted his colleagues for fueling Trump’s lie about the 2020 election, calling their enablement “horribly irresponsible and destructive for the country.”
- Gonzalez was facing a primary challenge from Trump-endorsed formed White House aide Max Miller.
Trump Sheds Tears For Insurrectionists
The ex-president said that “Our hearts and minds” are with “the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest” and cried “JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!” in a statement released by his Save America PAC.
- And yet Trump didn’t actually encourage anyone to attend Saturday’s D.C. rally in honor of the people who violently attacked the Capitol: The former president thinks the rally is a setup that the media will use to attack him, according to the New York Times.
- Trump isn’t alone in thinking the “Justice for J6” rally is a trap of some kind. Roger Stone, who’s being sued for his role in the Capitol insurrection, claimed without evidence that people who show up at the event “will all be working for the government,” and encouraged Trump supporters to “stay away” from D.C. that day.
- And as we reported earlier this week, far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are similarly paranoid that undercover cops will be at the rally.
An Arizona Senate Candidate Donated To The Insurrectionist Cheerleading Rally Organizer
Jim Lamon, a Republican aiming for Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-AZ) seat in the 2022 midterms, gave a “generous contribution” to Look Ahead America, the pro-Trump group that organized the upcoming “Justice for J6” rally in D.C. this Saturday.
- Lamon donated to Look Ahead America’s “intensive voter registration and community organizing effort” in Arizona, the group announced in April.
- Lamon has peddled Trump’s fake 2020 election fraud narrative, falsely claiming in July that there were “anomalies” in the election “that deserve to be fully explored.”
Some Casual Great Replacement Theory From A GOP Leader
House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is putting out ads accusing President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers of trying to carry out a “permanent election insurrection” by trying to make it easier for immigrants to become citizens.
- That’s become a racist talking point for Fox News as well by the likes of Tucker Carlson and Jesse Watters.
Tucker Carlson going full great replacement: If the proposed relief bill (which includes protections for undocumented people) passes "Democrats will win every presidential election for the rest of your life, the rest of your children's lives and that's the point of this." pic.twitter.com/OX7EuyW25j
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) May 13, 2020
The great replacement theory isn't limited to Tucker Carlson, it's permeated Fox as a whole. Here's Jesse Watters claiming "The plan is to turn Texas blue and just to pay back donors with cheap labor. And after a few generations, you get more Democrat voters." pic.twitter.com/9YMUUp5Mcy
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) May 14, 2021
Montana Republican Fears The ‘Flooding’ Of An Entire 75 Refugees In His State
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) sounded the alarm over the 75 Afghan refugees who had been placed in Montana following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
- Rosendale ranted that the Biden administration was “flooding our communities with unvetted refugees.”
Biden Strikes Back At GOP Governors’ Attacks On His Vaccine Mandate
The President called out Republicans, especially Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, for fighting his sweeping vaccine requirements and other COVID-19 measures, slamming their pushback as “the worst kind of politics.”
- “And I refuse to give in to it,” he declared.
President Biden on Republican governors comparing his pro-vaccine policies to tyranny: "This is the worst kind of politics, because it's putting the lives of citizens of their states — especially children — at risk. And I refuse to give in to it." pic.twitter.com/ZpoGFvS04S
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 16, 2021
An FDA Panel Is Meeting To Discuss A Booster Shot For COVID-19 Vaccine
An independent advisory board to the Food and Drug Administration will look at potentially approving booster shots of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 and over.
A Very Normal State Of Affairs In The US Of A
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety unveiled a handy new tool to help you ensure that the cops won’t shoot you after pulling you over:
Our troopers, along with several law enforcement agencies across the state, want to make it easier for drivers to store the information and for law enforcement to see when motorists are reaching for documents. pic.twitter.com/ZiCF4Ifzac
— MnDPS_DPS (@MnDPS_DPS) September 16, 2021
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Get Real, Folks
Especially since the withdrawal from Afghanistan the insider sheets have been relentlessly hostile to President Biden. Last night the Axios evening headline was “Biden’s China Fail”. Tonight it’s “Scoop: Biden Bombs”. Apparently Biden didn’t convince Joe Manchin to drop his opposition to a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package in their well-publicized-in-advance sit-down at the White House.
Axios’s gloss aside, this does not surprise me. At the most optimistic this is Manchin’s bargaining position going into a critical 6 weeks or so of negotiating within the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate. Manchin’s just going to give way in advance because Biden asks him to? That makes no sense to me at all.
‘Crisis Standards’ in Idaho
Facing a wave of COVID hospitalizations Idaho today activated its ‘crisis standards of care’ for the entire state. In effect this means a system of rationing care based on who is most likely to survive rather than who is in most immediate need of medical care.
“The situation is dire — we don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for COVID-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident,” state health director Dave Jeppesen said in an afternoon press release.
The California Recall and Mail-in Voting
From a distance, I hadn’t focused on the importance of mail-in voting for the result of Tuesday’s California recall election. I am not saying that Newsom owes his win to that. I think the more important factors are the ones we discussed yesterday. But it clearly played some role in sky-high turnout for an off-schedule election. Articles in the LA Times and NY Times illustrate some of the dynamics.
California has continued with a temporary, COVID-era mail-in voting regime. In the recall every registered voter who had voted in a recent election was mailed a ballot. You could also vote in person. But basically every regular voter could vote by dropping a ballot in the mail – a very easy choice and easy lift for anyone who wanted to.
‘This Is F*cked Up’: Milley Got Pissed At Trump For Dragging Him Into Church Photo-Op
Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley was reportedly disgusted when then-President Trump roped him and other senior officials into a surprise church photo-op amid protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death last year. Continue reading “‘This Is F*cked Up’: Milley Got Pissed At Trump For Dragging Him Into Church Photo-Op”
Where Things Stand: There Have Been 500,000 Child COVID Cases In Last 2 Weeks
The American Academy of Pediatrics has new data on the number of COVID-19 infections among children in recent weeks. The statistics are stunning. While 5.3 million children total have contracted COVID since the pandemic hit the U.S. last year, August and September were particularly infectious months for children, according to the new report.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: There Have Been 500,000 Child COVID Cases In Last 2 Weeks”
Angry Newsmax Anchor Abruptly Ends Interview After Exploding On Veteran Critical Of Trump
An anchor on the conservative news network Newsmax abruptly cut off an interview with an Iraq War veteran, who has been assisting with evacuation efforts of Americans and Afghan allies, after the guest criticized former President Trump’s role in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Continue reading “Angry Newsmax Anchor Abruptly Ends Interview After Exploding On Veteran Critical Of Trump”