Biden was originally scheduled to speak at noon. Now we seem to be on again for 4:30 pm.
The President met virtually with G7 leaders to discuss continuing our close coordination on Afghanistan policy, humanitarian assistance, and evacuating our citizens, the brave Afghans who stood with us over the last two decades, and other vulnerable Afghans
In the meantime, while we wait, take 150 seconds and watch this from Biden’s Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. You won’t regret it.
Afghanistan. In a nutshell. Definitely worth 150 seconds.
WaterGirl
At noon or so, the House starts debate on two bill big bills.
Bringing this forward from Another Scott earlier today.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Nancy Smash has told you – they will come to the floor when she has the votes. She knows how to count.
john b
Washington Post is saying that Taliban will not allow Afghans to go to Kabul airport anymore as they need to “help to repair the country”. Suuure. Doesn’t sound great.
WaterGirl
@john b: Yeah, not good at all. Hopefully this Taliban flexing is for show, but not at all confident of that. We just have to keep getting everyone out until we can’t anymore.
Baud
@john b:
At least he said “please.”
WaterGirl
@Baud: If there’s one thing that can be said about the Taliban, it’s that they are polite. //
Lyrebird
@john b: “suure” yes who knows what that means, and yes it could mean reeducation camps or worse. The only thing I am sure about is that whenever the last flight leaves, whether it’s this week, next week, or next month, there will be tragic loss.
We have safely evacuated more people than has ever been done before. It doesn’t take away the loss for whoever is left on the rooftop, but it shouldn’t be forgotten.
FWIW, looking at all these possible awful outcomes, I am glad every day that I don’t have Joe Biden’s job and that he does.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Thanks.
Since as rikyrah says above, Nancy and Team D know how to count, and they know what they’re doing, one-minute speeches are underway and presumably the votes are there to pass the rules and move the process forward.
C-Span.org.
Cheers,
Scott.
Robert Sneddon
@WaterGirl:
Someone I knew slightly spent time in Afghanistan back in the 1970s. He was invited to travel to Peshawar by a local patriarch he had got to know. They drank tea, ate biscuits, exchanged pictures of their kids then went shopping in the weapons bazaars of the city. The patriarch was looking for a four-inch mortar to use on the neighbours in the next valley over. There was a dispute about the ownership of some “stray” goats that had been meandering on for a decade or more and he had decided it was time to take some more forthright action. Politely, of course.
Ken
Ah, such fond memories of the times Team R showed they didn’t know either. True, they sometimes got their bill through anyway, but it usually involved keeping everyone in the chambers until four in the morning.
Raoul Paste
That video clip by the White House advisor shows that Biden has whip smart people working for him
Also, the Taliban want to stop a brain drain from the country, but they don’t want that enough to create a place that people want to live in
rikyrah
This muthaphucka ???
Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) tweeted at 8:44 AM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
NEW: Gov. DeSantis’ administration has not yet applied for up to $820 million in food assistance for more than 2 million Florida children, raising concerns from food assistance groups and others who note that child hunger remains a significant problem. https://t.co/VMjjOyWBbV
(https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1430164200572194816?s=03)
Major Major Major Major
I wish I had a good sense of what counterfactual I should be operating with here. What’s the gold standard for a large-scale evacuation during a civil war?
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
We need a control group.
mrmoshpotato
@Raoul Paste:
Yup. What’s up with this competent administration? Is it even real presidenting?
Ken
@Major Major Major Major: Rhett Butler leading that buggy through the flaming streets of Atlanta?
The Scarlet Pimpernel rescuing aristos during the French Revolution?
The Berlin Airlift but in reverse and with people instead of supplies?
Help me out here, I’ve put on my “network correspondent thinking cap” and it’s not working. Or maybe it’s working too well.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: It’s an absolute travesty what the Rethuglicans really think of the children in this country.
WaterGirl
I just clicked to check in on the speeches in the House and I was surprised to see the headline that they are also talking about the Voting Rights Act in the House today.
Link
Steeplejack
WTF with the faint music loop in the background of the Jon Finer video.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s all about the size of the chaos. //
Kattails
I called my senators and congresswoman today to just state that I completely support President Biden in his dealing with Afghanistan, that all Democrats need to stand strongly behind him and push back vigorously at the right’s framing of this. I also noted that the voting rights act should be treated with extreme urgency.
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
Do the best you can.
It’s a simple concept which is why it is not very often thought of in government as desire usually rules over possibilities. I don’t believe that President Biden has ideals of desires over possibilities. He knows what is possible, so he doesn’t ask for the dreams or desires, he asks for the possible. In this instance he knows he can not evacuate the entire population that might want to leave, it’s why he is going as fast as physically possible, doing everything he can because we have been doing the desire of not leaving, of kicking the can down the road. Twenty years of can kicking, of people on both sides dying, of what we went there for having been done long ago, of constant warfare, at some point enough is enough. Osama Bin Laden has been dead for 10 yrs and that’s what we supposedly went there for. How many more people have to die in his name? How much more do we spend on the military industrial complex with no goals in mind? How many people in our country are hungry or in need of medical services? How much more chest beating in the name of bullshit do we need? When is enough, enough? When did we decide that we are the guiding light of humanity and what in the hell gives us that right?
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
It’s an absolute travesty what the rethuglicans really think of the rest of humanity besides themselves.
FIXITFY
WaterGirl
Looks like President Biden will be starting soon. Ish.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Competent people having responsibility must do their job competently. Too often they don’t. It’s good of the judge to demand high standards.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kelly
Called my Congressman Schrader, left a message. Haven’t got thru to a person in a couple weeks. Reiterated my support for Biden and Pelosi’s policies and tactics. Reiterated he should get with the Democratic team.
WaterGirl
@Kelly: ugh. one of the “problem makers”. good that you call!
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Holy shnikeys! Law Twitter must be going nuts.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: As seen on someone’s twitter:
clever, Froggy McMuffin.
nasruddin
@Raoul Paste:
It occurred to me that with 10k+ non military Americans alone in the country … even with the significant draw down of the past few years … there still had to have been a huge amount of money flowing thru Afghanistan, even if it mostly ended up in the hands of local crooks like Ghani or contractor companies back home.
Rent, food, keeping the lights on, drivers, cleaning crews … all of them putting money back locally. Local experts funded by NGOs. Doctors funded by NGOs or UN.
Where’s that going to come from now? What have they got right now that anybody wants? Opium? Cannon fodder? They are not going to be capable of importing much without real currency if they don’t have something to sell. I don’t think they currently have anything.
I think Afghanistan stands a pretty good chance of being destitute, hungry, & desperate this winter. Brains still have to have something to work with.
Another Scott
@nasruddin:
VOA News (from December):
There was an interview with an ex-UN bigwig who runs an education NGO on one of the NPR shows a few days ago. He said that the Taliban came to them, said they know they are there, and that they don’t want them to leave. The ex-UN guy said they were trying to get assurances for their Afghan workers, etc.
Every western NGO, charity, etc., isn’t trying to leave Kabul now. How many will ultimately leave is unknown at this point, of course. I assume there are many Americans who are doing various debates in their heads.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
Gary K
An Italian friend wrote to me last week:
I’m preparing a response to him — any thoughts from Jackals about what points would be most convincing? In the US, by the way, he would be well to the left of the political spectrum. This may be the first occasion on which we haven’t seen eye-to-eye.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
LOL. I love the DPRK bot.
Another Scott
@Gary K: Biden has said it best – you could point him to some of the transcripts at WH.gov
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Gary K:
“A bad thing is happening. I do not like this bad thing happening. I must blame somebody.”
Read the thread upstairs for some good ideas, and also maybe point out to your friend that Biden “owns” exactly seven months of this 20-year shitshow. Also check Silverman’s most recent post.
Geminid
@Gary K: I would suggest that your friend rally other Italians to help the Afghan people. There are NGOs sill operating in the country to support. He and his friends can also pressure their government to give aid to the Afghans, and to try and persuade tbe new Afghan government to respect human rights. This is a responsibility for Italy as much as it is for the U.S.
Ramalama
Monster.
Cuomo’s dog Captain left at mansion after governor departed
SiubhanDuinne
Has the Biden speech actually happened?
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: This may be why it hasn’t happened yet. From al Jazeera:
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
Thanks. My attention has been spotty and frequently interrupted today, so I wasn’t sure.
Another Scott
nycsouthpaw has a Tweet that Biden’s remarks will now start at 4:30 PM ET.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jay C
@Gary K:
A couple of suggested talking points:
First, we are talking about Afghanistan, a country where the prevailing cultural/sociopolitical notions of “human rights” are likely to be quite different from those of the US (or Italy).
Second: it’s probable that the “human rights” situation in Afghanistan was somewhat better in areas where the (former) Government had to at least pretend to take the issue seriously to placate its American sponsors.
Third: point 2 highlights the main issue: that if human-rights issues can only be enforced by foreign occupation – at gunpoint – then it falls right back on the terrible dichotomy Pres. Biden has already outlined many times: either a withdrawal, or a forever war/permanent occupation.
Fourth: Yes, Afghanistan may very well be -r become – a humanitarian disaster: but the new Government (The Taliban) have some responsibility for this as well….
Dan B
I’m with Biden with few exceptions.
I believe the communication with the American people, Afghans, and the world could have been more clear in advance. Setting a date of August 31st was fine but it would have been better to state that anything could happen and it is likely that August 31st may not be the last day. This would have laid the stage for the chaos that ensued.
Second, and more personally, women are likely to be abused. LGBTQ people will be tortured and executed. A Taliban judge has already proclaimed that stoning or being crushed by a tall wall pushed by a tank are the necessary punishments. This “Islam” comes from the Saudi’s. It is Wahhabi Islam enabled by theur, and our, oil money.
The Taliban does not want Afghans to leave. There are many LGBTQ people who are hiding in fear of a knock on the door.
We think of this when we put gas in our pickup, even though it is rarely used these days. The connections to Saudi and Middle eastern oil encircle the globe.
Another Scott
https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/ is the link for the current livestream. Hasn’t started quite yet.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I have a new post up for the SOON, I HOPE speech!
Biden speaking now!