Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
On a quite rainy night, a couple hundred people showed up in little Hillsborough, NC to rally for impeachment and removal of Donald Trump. We stood on the main thoroughfare, and hundreds of cars passed by and saw their fellow citizens standing up for the rule of law. A good number of honks in solidarity. It was good for my psyche to feel a bit of uplift and solidarity after so mush frustration and despair.
On The Road – AM in NC – Impeachment Rally: Hillsborough, NCPost + Comments (6)
WATCH: Sen. Elizabeth Warren says that "people are asking" why the Iran strike took place now. #MTP #IfItsSunday@ewarren: "We know Donald Trump is very upset about this upcoming impeachment trial. But look what he's doing now. He is taking us to the edge of war." pic.twitter.com/ChR29Usv6x
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 5, 2020
UpChuck Todd spends ten minutes of high-dollar Sunday tv time trying to gotcha Warren, but Chris ‘The Mad Bitcher’ Cillizza goes straight for ‘SHE SAID LONG WORDS WHICH IS ELITIST & PROBABLY UNAMERICAN’…
I rarely tweet about stuff like this but I can’t hold back here. Chris, this is embarrassing. Every statement is true & consistent. The reason you were able to cherry-pick her many comments is b/c she’s the only candidate who’s done multiple interviews & media avails about it.
— Kristen Orthman (@KristenOrthman) January 6, 2020
Also lol at Warren being tied with Sanders after all the "calling Soleimani a murderer is warmongering" posts
— veto players stan account (@Convolutedname) January 6, 2020
This is straight up slander from Chris Cillizza. We laugh at how dumb Cillizza is because he’s truly dumb. But we also forget that shit like this defines narratives. It’s Warren right now but this will be Biden if he’s the nominee in September. This brand of journalism is bad. https://t.co/eVvKy1QzjE
— David Gordon (@davidagordon9) January 6, 2020
Chris just wants there to be a nice noisy horse race until the election, when he dearly hopes we will elect whichever Repub daddy eventually gets shoved to the top of the ticket.
Let’s all keep in mind how good it will feel when The Mad Bitcher has a public breakdown as the Democrats celebrate our new president, come November!
Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Chris Cillizza Will NOT Be Out-Jingo’dPost + Comments (35)
This is a U.S. Congressman sharing a faked photo of Obama. Not a mystery why this guy's own family doesn't like him. (h/t @KFILE ) https://t.co/S6A2mhhsYX
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 6, 2020
When the highest-ranked elected official they can find to feed the right-wing puke funnel is someone “whose history of inflammatory social media posts has made him Internet infamous”… well, I guess the GOP Galaxy Brains are busy looking for reasons not to replace the Oval Office Occupant…
U.S. congressman sharing a fake photo. This photoshopped from Obama meeting India's prime minister. https://t.co/7UMjyPwFDQ pic.twitter.com/ckRZx3ktok
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) January 6, 2020
99% of engagement with the fake Obama-Rouhani photoshop will be with people debunking it. 0% of the people who believe it will ever see those debunking efforts.
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) January 6, 2020
Here are some undoctored images you can use instead of spreading the fake one of Obama and Rouhani. pic.twitter.com/gQPc8JHRMG
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) January 6, 2020
ETA:
Four out of ten Repubs are lying (at least to themselves)…
Nearly 4-in-10 Republicans day they were familiar with Soleimani before his death; that group also overwhelmingly thinks the strike that killed him was carefully planned. https://t.co/Cs2hd1gIWb pic.twitter.com/EMG6uR1tTc
— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 7, 2020
— ForeverBlue??? (@absolutelyenuff) January 7, 2020
Repub Venality Open Thread: It’s Not Even “Quality” BS, These DaysPost + Comments (13)
By request, a picture of Steve in all his glory:
He is a very good boy.
Bill Arnold in the comments to BettyC’s earlier post asked for some short reading about Iran. While they’re no longer posted on an outward facing website at USAWC, I’m attaching the three cultural assessments I did on 1) the Syrian Civil War, 2) Iran and Hezbullah, and 3) Iraqi sectarian violence. These were all done between spring 2013 and spring 2014. They are unclassified open source cultural assessments prepared by my office, when I had an office, at USAWC in support of various US Army and DOD elements that were dealing with these issues. They’re a bit dated now, for instance, Ahmedinijad is no longer Iran’s president, but they should provide what Bill is looking for.
USAWC_Culture_Ops_Syria_Brief_Final
USAWC_Culture_Report_Iran_Hezbullah_Shia_Near_Abroad_Final
USAWC_Cultural_Operations_Report_Politicization_of_Iraqi_Identity_Final
You can also find my article about the strategic complications of Iran’s human geography at this link. This was published by The Modern War Institute at West Point in August 2018 and is rooted in earlier work I had done for US Army and DOD elements.
Update at 9:05 PM EST
Figured I’d add one more. This is the preliminary write up – just the facts ma’am style – of the tribal history and social study I designed, directed, oversaw, and conducted in central Iraq in 2008. This initial write up was produced at the request of the senior State Department official who ran our brigade combat team’s embedded provincial reconstruction team. I gave him a courtesy briefing of what we’d been finding and he asked if I could write it up ASAP as he wanted to send it back to the Secretary of State as soon as possible. I have no idea if it ever got to Secretary Rice. Regardless, here you go.
HTT_Mada’in_Oral_History_Findings_BCT_Release
There will be a test later…
Open thread!
The Levantine Problem Set: Some Light(ish) ReadingPost + Comments (40)
I made a half batch, plenty for two
I just found out about a taste treat called Japanese Souffle Pancakes. I put the recipe on my list to try soon. They are a little complicated and I knew I wouldn’t have time for a while. Then my cousin chimed in and told me about Rice Cooker Pancakes, a simple pancake recipe you make in your rice cooker. They looked amazing.
One problem. I don’t have a rice cooker.
But I do have a Multi-Pot (a type of Instant Pot) and I figured there must be an equivalent recipe. There were several. So I had to give it a try. The results were yummy.
First, the pancakes:
Perfect Pancakes:
Bowl, whisk
*you can substitute milk. Or you can add 2 tsp lemon juice to milk and let sit for 3 minutes to create a buttermilk equivalent.
Whisk together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients and mix until everything is combined. The batter should still be lumpy, you don’t want to overmix.
Breakfast for Dinner: Instant Pot Pancakes – Light, Fluffy and FunPost + Comments (65)
The subjects of Trump's past dozen tweets give a perfect view into his current brain situation:
1. Iran
2. Impeachment
3. Impeachment
4. Impeachment
5. Iran
6. Iran
7. Iran
8. Iran
9. Impeachment
10. Impeachment
11. Iran
12. Impeachment— Dan Lavoie (@djlavoie) January 6, 2020
Three Americans killed and maybe a half-billion dollars worth of aircraft and high-tech surveillance equipment destroyed.
Barely a 12 hour story it seems.
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) January 6, 2020
was air cover scrambled? When were Trump & Esper notified? What did they do? Where was every last Navy ship in the region? Did they receive warnings of an impending attack? On what server were those warnings stored?
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) January 6, 2020
And our best candidates are taking the advantage…
Elizabeth Warren suggests to @jaketapper on @CNNSotu that Trump may have launched Iran attack to distract from impeachment. “I think that’s a reasonable question to ask..Look at the timing of this..There is a reason he chose this moment,” saying admin has sent conflicting signals
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 5, 2020
After an event in Iowa, @joebiden says “I don’t know,” if @realDonaldTrump is using the situation in Iran to distract from the president’s impeachment, “but it’ll have the effect of that.”
— Natasha Korecki (@natashakorecki) January 5, 2020
Open Thread: Maybe All the GOP Go-To Lies Are Breaking Down From OverusePost + Comments (38)