President Joe Biden
- Thread starter tenacious
- Start date
Ending his vacation was the right move. Delivering a highly political speech on masks, failing to mention Afghanistan other than god bless the troops and failing to address questions from reporters two days straight was not a good move. Then his generals dig the hole deeper by not promising to get out every American that wants out.
I understand not wanting to disrupt an operation in progress by staffing changes but this is becoming untenable. Biden has got to fire some of the people in charge of this debacle (I’m surprised the chairman hasn’t fallen on his sword). Otherwise it’s all on him and I do think at this point it’s enough to sink his presidency and if us nationals die in Afghanistan or get taken hostage, will trigger a 25th amendment campaign. The reason he doesn’t want to do it is because state, intel and defense are whispering he was warned and the debacle is all his fault…removing people will trigger a public mud slinging contest…but he needs a scapegoat and he needs to look like he’s controlling the situation or he’s finished.
Desert Hound
DA
Think about this. They knew when we were leaving...and yet gave up Bagram weeks ago. So now everyone is stuck using the airport in Kabul.
tinkzorg.wordpress.com
Farewell to Bourgeois Kings
“Intelligence and rationalism are not in themselves revolutionary. But technical thinking is foreign to all social traditions: the machine has no tradition. One of Karl Marx’s seminal sociolo…
tinkzorg.wordpress.com
From the stephanopolous interview, he seems to be settling on an Afghanistan was always going to be messy argument. That’s simply not going to fly…because: a) he had to send in more troops to facilitate the evacuation at the airport, b) he’s on the record saying a collapse probably wasn’t going to happen and c) intel/military is already in cya mode blaming the admin. He seems to have convinced himself it’s not as bad as it seems. It is bad…a s show. All it will take is an American death or hostage and it becomes an irrecoverable debacle. Americans will tolerate the collapse of Afghanistan but they won’t tolerate our being made to look ridiculous. It’s ultimately what did in carter.
what-happened
GOLD
Bagram is too far away. Many tactical reasons to close it and use Kabul as your primary egress - shorter air bridge, shorter ground route to secure if needed. A black hawk down scenario isn't something we want to revisit. If they need to reopen, they can. Also easier for the outlying Americans and afghanis to get to.. Both roads to Bagram from Kabul are less than desirable.Think about this. They knew when we were leaving...and yet gave up Bagram weeks ago. So now everyone is stuck using the airport in Kabul.
Farewell to Bourgeois Kings
“Intelligence and rationalism are not in themselves revolutionary. But technical thinking is foreign to all social traditions: the machine has no tradition. One of Karl Marx’s seminal sociolo…
Desert Hound
DA
This a good read.
taibbi.substack.com
We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around
MSNBC rails against the "fantastically corrupt elite" on the ground that ruined the Afghan mission, but the real corruption was our own
taibbi.substack.com
This is a tangent. Enjoy your rabbit hole. All I asked is a question and I got something else.
This is also a tangent. Enjoy it. Not what I asked about.No? Huh, makes perfect sense to me. Killing Muslims shouldn’t go down very well with Islamic extremists wouldn’t you say? But of course trump conservatives don’t concern themselves with human rights issues so you may not know about what’s happening in the real world.
Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?
China has been accused by the US of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Muslim minority group.www.bbc.com
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what-happened
GOLD
Accurate as can be. It's what happens when you nation build. Nation building brings in the vultures and the ambulance chasers to fill the void the DOD isn't designed to operate in but is asked to do.This a good read.
We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around
MSNBC rails against the "fantastically corrupt elite" on the ground that ruined the Afghan mission, but the real corruption was our own
Young officers running around the country with backpacks full of money paying top dollar for low skilled labor and material under the guise of injecting money into a local economy.
Plenty of money was made.
Hüsker Dü
DA
You asked my thoughts about China and Russia’s further involvement in Afghanistan, right?
Hüsker Dü
DA
And?
Well things are starting to look interesting here, in that Pelosi and the Democratic party have seemingly answered the moderate threatening to sink the $3.5 Trillion progressive spending bill... by threatening to not back the moderates in the next election.
I suppose we can debate what it means, but threatening the members of your party that you'll withhold support in 2022, unless they back
a massive spending that is wildly unpopular in their districts? Hmm.... sounds like a toothless threat to me. Dems better start scaling back the size of this thing to something that can be sold to moderates or they are going to blow this all apart. Because lets face it, given those two losing choices the only plausible path for survival to a moderate dem is hold their ground and say see I'm willing to stand up to the party when I have to when the next election rolls around. In contrast how will AOC fare if she comes home with nothing to show. Again.
Part of me hopes that Biden has realized that running around playing Santa Claus doesn't work when your gig is leader of the free world. But I'm fearful he's going to now try and amend past blunders by doubling down on the pork.
www.politico.com
I suppose we can debate what it means, but threatening the members of your party that you'll withhold support in 2022, unless they back
a massive spending that is wildly unpopular in their districts? Hmm.... sounds like a toothless threat to me. Dems better start scaling back the size of this thing to something that can be sold to moderates or they are going to blow this all apart. Because lets face it, given those two losing choices the only plausible path for survival to a moderate dem is hold their ground and say see I'm willing to stand up to the party when I have to when the next election rolls around. In contrast how will AOC fare if she comes home with nothing to show. Again.
Part of me hopes that Biden has realized that running around playing Santa Claus doesn't work when your gig is leader of the free world. But I'm fearful he's going to now try and amend past blunders by doubling down on the pork.
Dem centrists say DCCC is threatening to withhold fundraising if they oppose Biden priority
The House Democratic campaign arm has called holdouts on the party’s $3.5 trillion budget, warning their majority is in jeopardy.
www.politico.com
I think if House leaders were to take a real good look at fixing health care... and drop all the rest of their crazy bus progressive agenda that moderates could get on board. Not that Biden will listen to me, but if I'd say pair down the 'human infrastructure' bill down to fixing Obamacare would be a nice and achievable feather in his cap. Healthcare has been a issue plaguing dems going back to the New Deal, and he can fix it. The mood of the country is there with him... on something like that.
Ka-boom look who stepped in the room. But come on... it shouldn't have come to this for dem leaders to realize that letting Bernie write a $3.5 trillion dollar give-away to progressive interest groups was never going to fly.
www.politico.com
Sinema: I simply won't back a $3.5T spending bill
As her bipartisan infrastructure bill becomes a House bargaining chip, the Arizona Democrat is reiterating her resistance to spending as much as progressives want.
www.politico.com
Desert Hound
DA
Pretty damn close to flying if the only one on that side against it is Sinema.Ka-boom look who stepped in the room. But come on... it shouldn't have come to this for dem leaders to realize that letting Bernie write a $3.5 trillion dollar give-away to progressive interest groups was never going to fly.
Sinema: I simply won't back a $3.5T spending bill
As her bipartisan infrastructure bill becomes a House bargaining chip, the Arizona Democrat is reiterating her resistance to spending as much as progressives want.
In order to keep from inflaming the progressives the bipartisan infrastructure bill while it was being hammered out in the Senate, I think it made sense to let progressives have a chance to write up some serious legislation that folks can get behind. Rather than use the opportunity to put together something that might be passable they picked the number 3.5 out of the air and started writing up a naughty/nice list of how they were going to split up the cheddar...
So into that context, I would comment that just because only Sinema was the one telling Emperor Bernie that he's wearing no clothes on this $3.5 trillion giveaway... that perhaps this is more about the cowardly disposition of moderate politicians; then it is of support of Biden's economic agenda.