Catch me up, please!
by WaterGirl| 5 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Popular Culture, Proud to Be A Democrat
What a moment 💙 pic.twitter.com/0MkhkLAL0e
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 18, 2024
Talked to hundreds of high schoolers in Las Vegas who are passionate about gun violence prevention.
Everybody deserves to be safe from gun violence.
Together, we can make that happen. pic.twitter.com/qZWZEiJmrt
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 18, 2024
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark on why Dems aren’t taking a position to save Mike Johnson’s job. “We’re waiting to see if he is going to allow us to save our global security and make sure that America has its security.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 19, 2024
(That’s my Rep!)
Biden’s new Title IX rules protect LGBTQ+ students, but transgender sports rule still on hold https://t.co/J3OaDcSLcj
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 19, 2024
But it's not just the economic gains (though they certainly hate us for that) that Republicans hate us for. It's for educating those they keep in the dark
— Nathan from Michigan (@NathanfromMI) April 18, 2024
.@nytdavidbrooks argued on the @NewsHour that abortion wouldn't make much of a difference to voters in November. @RuthMarcus replied with two words, "suburban women". Looks like Ruth was right. pic.twitter.com/LbwGngRMQW
— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) April 13, 2024
"Lawsuits by members of Congress and police officers against Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6 may advance despite the related criminal case against him in Washington, a federal judge ruled Thursday."https://t.co/Se2Q8Rz1nc
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 18, 2024
Uncontroversally (I hope) good news:
Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from 'Star Trek' boldly goes home after twisting voyage https://t.co/6ToBcP7sMO
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 18, 2024
This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Our Failed Media Experiment, President Biden, War
BIDEN LITERALLY ENDED A FOREVER WAR AND THE LEFT DOESN'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK BECAUSE IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY! https://t.co/m4OCX2Q7Kw
— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) April 14, 2024
The world will little note nor long remember, but it irks me personally that President Biden doesn’t get credit for making the best of TFG’s bad bargain with the Taliban. From the Guardian, “US review finds August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport was unpreventable”:
The suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed US troops and Afghans in August 2021 was not preventable, and a “bald man in black” spotted by US service members on the morning of the attack was not the bomber, according to a new review by US Central Command.
The findings, released on Monday, refute assertions by some service members who believed they had a chance to take out the would-be bomber but did not get approval. And, for the first time, the USmilitary confirmed that the bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been in an Afghan prison but was released by the Taliban as the group took control of the country that summer.
The Abbey Gate bombing during the final chaotic days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 US service members and 170 Afghans, and wounded scores more. It triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism, fueled by emotional testimony from a Marine injured in the blast, who said snipers believed they saw the possible bomber but could not get approval to take him out.
In a detailed briefing to a small number of reporters, members of the team that carried out the review released photos of the bald man identified by military snipers as a potential threat and compared them with photos of al-Logari. The team members described facial recognition and other analysis they used confirmed those were not the same man.
“For the past two years, some service members have claimed that they had the bomber in their sights and they could have prevented the attack. We now know that is not correct,” said a team member…
Critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, and they have complained that no one was held accountable for it. And while the US was able to get more than 130,000 civilians out of the country during the panic after the Taliban took control of the government, there were horrifying images of desperate Afghans clinging to military aircraft as they lifted off.
Per NBC, “Kabul airport bomber was an ISIS operative freed from prison by the Taliban”:
The man who detonated a bomb outside the Kabul airport in August 2021, killing 170 Afghans and 13 American service members, was an Islamic State operative who had been held in a coalition detention facility in Afghanistan but was freed by the Taliban, according to a new U.S. military review that has identified him for the first time…
An initial Pentagon review released in February 2022 found that the attack was carried out by a lone suicide bomber and that it was not preventable. Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, ordered the supplemental review last year after witnesses of the attack came forward with new information and allegations that they could have stopped it but were denied the chance to do so.
One of the most vocal witnesses was retired Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the attack, and suffered damage to internal organs that resulted in roughly 50 surgeries.
In testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in March 2023, Vargas-Andrews said the Marines and others involved in the evacuation were given descriptions of men believed to be plotting an attack. Vargas-Andrews said he and others spotted a man who fit the description — a person who came to be known as “bald man in black.”
But the review — which included interviews with more than 50 service members directly involved in the evacuation, including a dozen who had not previously been interviewed — found that this man had no connection to the attack…
The actual bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, according to the U.S. military. A facial comparison analysis determined that al-Logari and the bald man in black could not be the same person, the review found.
The team of military investigators reviewed photos and video taken of the scene before the attack and found no footage of al-Logari. He was determined to have arrived immediately before the blast and blended in with the massive crowd gathered outside the airport.
Bro if Trump wins the presidency we’ll all be in chaos trying to afford life with his 10% tariffs on everything, him rounding up and deporting millions of immigrants and thereby crashing the economy & possibly war with Iran.
Nobody is gonna remember Biden’s Afghanistan pullout. https://t.co/X7woEiPMdI
— LadyGrey ???????????? (@TWLadyGrey) April 13, 2024
Foreign Affairs Open Thread: Our Failed Major Media’s Splendid Little WarPost + Comments (70)
This post is in: Open Threads, Political Fundraising, Politics, Proud to Be A Democrat, Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24
The last person I was certain would be president, though I didn’t know if it would be in my lifetime, was Barack Obama. I have been pretty sure since – what, maybe 2017 or so? – that the same thing would be true of Jon Ossoff.
“No one—and I mean no one—is interested in or takes seriously lectures on border security from Senate Republicans.”
You need to watch @SenOssoff pic.twitter.com/yte6scGtkt
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) April 18, 2024
Both GA Senators are worth their weigh in gold. This is Jon Ossoff again, just a couple of days ago.
Wow!
Senator My Boo went all the way in on DeJoy
When he started off with his, “Did you get my letter?,” line of questioning I knew, and DeJoy knew, it was going to be fire and flames 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BZ3KX7XYAK
— Qondi (@QondiNtini) April 16, 2024
When I posted this one a couple of days ago, I reminded everyone that Balloon Juice donated $700,000 to various entities in GA in 2020, and look what we got for our trouble. We won the presidency, we got two amazing GA senators; we got the Senate, which was huge.
Let’s do it again this cycle!
Two mystery Balloon Juice Angels have $1,000 matches – one for NV and one for AZ.
As I type, we have $17,027 for AZ ($1k is a check) and $15,204 for NV. That means we are $7,769 away from our $40,000 goal. $2k of that will be covered by our Mystery Angels, which means we need to raise $5,769 to meet the external angel match.
Excluding the $2k from the Mystery Angels, that’s about $2k needed for AZ and about $3,750 for NV.
We can do this, right?
ARIZONA
NEVADA
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments
I had hoped Mark Summer at Daily Kos would be live blogging again – he did a terrific job for the first two days. Summer is not up with live coverage yet, but it looks like someone else at Daily Kos is stepping up until Mark Summer gets going.
Here’s the Washington Post live blog of the trial.
Anyone else have a good source for live blogging this?
The dismissal of a juror Thursday morning underscored the difficult balancing act New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan faces in trying to keep the jury pool’s identities secret.
Merchan had said before trial that potential jurors’ names would not be publicly disclosed. Prosecutors and defense attorneys could have the names, he said, but could not share them. Instead, jurors would be identified publicly by numbers.
As far as juror identities go, I can’t figure out why they are sharing so much information about the jurors, and now it looks like potential jurors are dropping fast, with 2 of the 7 from yesterday already dismissed today.
I wonder – could the state just go with a bench trial if it’s determined that a jury is just not possible because of potential theats? NO!
Open thread.
This post is in: Foreign Affairs, NANCY SMASH!, Proud to Be A Democrat
In case the 10minute clip won’t play for you, here’s a link.
Well. Look who showed up for work today. It would be hilarious if Democrats offering to save his speakership from The Hills Have Eyes caucus was his Damascene moment. https://t.co/UAIQry8QEe
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) April 17, 2024
#BREAKING: Biden backs Johnson plan for Ukraine, Israel; calls for vote this week https://t.co/r481xMmpZH
— The Hill (@thehill) April 17, 2024
What's inside the $95 billion House package focused on aiding Ukraine and Israel https://t.co/zDnfjziUES
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 18, 2024
MAGA Mike Johnson says he didn’t get around to Ukraine aid earlier because House Republicans had other “big lifts.”
Like hounding Hunter Biden and passing an evidence-free Mayorkas impeachment? Republicans don’t have big lifts — they have small brains. https://t.co/DyW2OiOCkq— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) April 17, 2024
The word lift has many meanings. For the Republicans I think he means to steal. Big thefts.
— E. Morey (@EMorey4) April 17, 2024
There is a section of the Republican party that just straight up wants Russia to win and Ukraine to lose, but they know they can't say that out loud, so instead they just keep saying even dumber and dumber justifications for their opposition to Ukraine aid. https://t.co/cQqPMqABAJ
— Centrism Fan Acct 🔹 (@Wilson__Valdez) April 16, 2024
Jake can try to slap lipstick on this pig, but any honest reporter would simply tell you that Trump and his GOP minions in Congress are abandoning Ukraine on the battlefield in hopes of handing Putin a victory but doing so might jeopardize their access so here we are https://t.co/aBkn0pTkZh
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) April 16, 2024
Historians in future will have fun writing about how the Kremlin took over the @GOP, and how these money-grubbing US politicians fell to fighting each other – to the extent they could not even agree a price at which to sell to the Kremlin the rope with which they would be hanged. https://t.co/KYPFM46sNN
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) April 17, 2024
by WaterGirl| 99 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics
Between the Einstein zoom, which was great fun, and the fundraising this afternoon, I didn’t have much time to check out the news today. So here’s some good news I found after the zoom.
Okay, I knew the Senate rejected the articles, but I loved the framing of this – Republicans trying to look solemn as they put on their farcical impeachment show. And then, bam, Schumer tossed them in the (virtual) garbage where they belonged.
The Senate rejected the articles of impeachment in less time than it took to walk them over to their chambers.
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) April 17, 2024
.
Just submitted an amendment to Bill drafting appointing MTG as Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress. https://t.co/Gn8Dd3lZwj
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 18, 2024
.
I am very happy about Secretary Yellen’s strong support, and that the House is planning to vote on my bipartisan REPO bill to seize those assets.https://t.co/ABuyNLDb8f
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) April 17, 2024
.
The Senate rightly defeated the baseless Mayorkas impeachment that even conservative legal scholars said was unconstitutional.
Real solutions are on the table. Republicans should stop wasting time on political stunts, while killing bipartisan border reforms.
Full WH statement: pic.twitter.com/Do4iZTBSSW
— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) April 17, 2024
Janet Yellen’s Ukraine mission (Politico)
The Biden administration is making a new push this week to rally reluctant allies behind the idea that billions in immobilized Russian assets should be tapped to support Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will spend the coming days laying the groundwork as fellow finance ministers gather in Washington for the IMF-World Bank spring meetings. It’s expected to be an agenda item at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting of G7 finance leaders and in other discussions on the sidelines.
“Our goal is to try to get it done as soon as possible,” said a Treasury official granted anonymity. “And if that is this summer, that’s as soon as possible.”
The challenge for Yellen is two-fold. The idea is bipartisan but political resistance is emerging at home from a key ally of former President Donald Trump. The U.S. is also facing unease in Europe, where most of the assets are located. The U.S. Congress has struggled for months to agree on fresh aid to support Ukraine more than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion.Officials are considering a menu of options. They include seizing Russia’s sovereign assets outright as well as structuring a loan backed by windfall profits from the assets. The goal is to advance discussions so top G7 leaders can make a decision when they gather in June.
I am guessing that this isn’t literally true, but I suppose it is possible, seeng as it is Marge, after all.
MTG demands sharks with frickin laser beams on their heads to patrol the rio grande
— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) April 18, 2024
Open thread.