A news conference originally expected at 12 p.m. on Aug. 26 was delayed after two explosions in Kabul killed U.S. service members.
President Biden speaking now!
Two news conferences, this one is in progress. Starts around the 19-minute mark.
I’m not sure whether this next one will be Jen Psaki or someone else. I’ll change the post title as soon as it starts.
Update: It looks like the Jen Psaki press briefing will start in the neighborhood of 4:45 pm. Correction: 5:45 pm!
.
germy
The Jan. 6 committee is certainly requesting lots of records from people high up the trump chain.
Should be interesting…
Hildebrand
The stupid is running deep in the response to the bombing, I can only imagine the hair on fire nature of today’s press knavery.
Another Scott
There’s a press conference at the Pentagon now as well.
https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/#/?currentVideo=26972
Getting a connection may be a problem – I assume that half of the world is trying to see it.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@germy:
They should have added Virginia Thomas to that group.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Thanks, Scott! I added that one up top, also. Starts at the 19-minute mark.
Rusty
Less than an hour after the airport attack, the Google news feed had an article with this headline: “Joe Biden’s terrible August just got worse What the Kabul airport attack portends for the president” They must had it already written before the attack to get it out so quickly. Our news media is so broken.
Roger Moore
@Rusty:
I’m amazed they were able to find a copy that wasn’t covered in semen stains.
germy
@rikyrah:
Yes, she spent some money for that day.
zhena gogolia
Trump laid this trap for Biden and it’s working beautifully.
Baud
@zhena gogolia: Trump doesn’t have enough planning ability to lay traps. And Trump did not believe he was going to lose the election.
piratedan
@Rusty: it’s like watching the plot from Tomorrow Never Dies unfold in slow motion…
There are plenty of bad actors in play here, ISIS obviously thinks the Taliban are too warm and fuzzy, and we already have an idea on what a significant portion of the media is looking for. We’re not conspiracy theorists here, but we can all agree that the GOP is more than willing to take any event, turn it on its head and attempt to take advantage of it (bad faith being already part and parcel of the MOO).
James E Powell
@Baud:
Agree completely. Almost nobody press/media gave a rat’s ass about Afghanistan and the handful that did just assumed that Biden would kick the can to the next president.
Cermet
So they are reporting that 12 service members were killed; damn, because greedy amerikan contractors decided to hang on as long as possible to collect those sweet bucks as long as possible.
Hildebrand
@James E Powell: Yep. It’s a combination of wanting the forever war to continue, a chance to bloody Biden’s nose after far too many months (as far as the press is concerned) of not being able to lay a glove on him, and, well, it’s August, and the press is bored.
Baud
@James E Powell:
As I mentioned in the Covid thread, there’s a general sense out there that Dems will always cave to emotional appeal simply because we have empathy for people whereas the GOP does not. A lot of the pro-war media is angry that their emotional appeals to Biden aren’t working.
Elizabelle
@Cermet: Twelve? That’s very sad.
germy
OGLiberal
@Baud: I remain convinced that the deal Trump made with the Taliban involved some sort of monetary grift that put cash in his pockets, Pompeo’s, Jared’s, MBS’, etc. Also, the idiots who go to his rallies love the “America first!” BS, which I always found strange because they also seem to love killing brown people from other nations with our military toys. I agree that he had no “let’s make this blow up in Biden’s face in case we lose” strategy. Way too forward thinking. Whatever the reason it had to be purely transactional and what he thought was going to benefit him that day.
germy
@Cermet:
Mercenaries.
Elizabelle
@Roger Moore: I agree about the semen stains. Sometimes, I wonder how they keep it from dribbling out of their mouths, too.
Hard on for Republican framing, and Republicans, and the permanent war contingent. Every single, solitary time.
Baud
@germy: Hawks gotta hawk.
Elizabelle
@germy: Mrs. Greenspan. I have noticed semen stains on her for a long, long, long time now.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
That would definitely amuse my bouche. “It’s Ginnytime!”
OGLiberal
@germy: Wait, wait. Did anybody know who ISIS-K was before like a few hours ago? The likely bombers were ISIS-K, who hate the Taliban. When did we surrender to them. Heck, there were probably Taliban folks killed in the bombings.
I’ll say it again – pretty soon the story will be that we need to stay in Afghanistan to help the Taliban defeat ISIS-K.
JPL
How long will it take trump to pose with some of the parents of the marines who died? It will happen, but I’m not sure when.
trollhattan
@germy: Christ, stenograph much, lady?
“U kn rn gd $ EZ lrng shrthnd.”
germy
Thread on McMaster:
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Technically, it should be “mitchellrepeats.”
And repeats, and repeats, and repeats.
trollhattan
@OGLiberal:
Lord, you’re right. They can twist themselves into spewing that w/o even a trip to the chiropractor after.
Betty Cracker
Did HR McMaster specify who did the surrendering, i.e., his former boss Donald J. Trump? I assume not. The snippets I’m seeing here and on Twitter increase my resolve to continue avoiding news coverage of the shit going down in Afghanistan.
That said, getting out with all possible speed was the right thing to do, and I’m grateful that Biden had the guts to do it. It was always going to be a massive clusterfuck because all the players on the ground have agency, not just the US.
Woodrow/asim
More like “we need to take ’em both on!”, I fear.
And yeah, the vast majority of Americans didn’t know of ISIS-K before 2 weeks ago, much less really cared. We’re being told to care, by people and companies desperate for the money and power that comes from fear-mongering.
Yarrow
@Baud:
Lack of empathy is one of the defining characteristics of Republicans.
germy
Baud
@OGLiberal:
Biden is ending the war, but I suspect special forces will be used there and throughout the world if they have actionable intel about terrorists.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Hildebrand: Some of the deep thinkers were saying we need someone like Commander Kain from Battlestar Galactica, you know the character who got his ship killed in a futile head on charge against a superior force. More proof TV rots people’s brains.
germy
Baud
@Yarrow: No question. And I’m glad we have empathy. But most of us recognize that empathy isn’t the only consideration in decisionmaking. And people who are not us get offended when we don’t prioritize their empathy in our decisions.
Elizabelle
@germy: STFU Meghan.
trollhattan
@JPL:
Their families will be brought to a meeting with Ashli Babbitt’s family. “We have gathered here families of the first victims of Biden’s fecklessness.”
trollhattan
@germy:
I had no idea doing pressers was the main presidential responsibility, more important even than, you know, doing his job.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Looks like I picked the wrong week to go bar hopping in Kabul
Another Scott
I’m watching the YouTube feed. It’s interesting to see the reporters staring at their phones, gossiping, and the occasional loud crashes of thunder. (There a few isolated, intense thunderstorms in the DC area now.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: Yes, that’s just what we need to have a leadership change in the middle of crises, my god is that woman a total idiot.
cain
I hate this timeline – just trying to read the avalanche of shit from right wingers and their dumb takes. Seriously they should shut the fuck up – so many people have died under their watch both American servicemen and people thanks to sheer incompetence.
Biden is going to survive this because nobody really gives a shit about Afghanistan. Nobody is going to remember by the time 3 years are up.
cain
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
They are all saying that – like any of their politicians have resigned for anything.
schrodingers_cat
Wasn’t McMaster supposed to hold the line during the Orange one’s reign of error? I remember reading something to that effect on this very blog, on the front page no less.
The Dangerman
I live in a neighborhood with several Trumpers. I keep hearing sounds from their places like Quagmire’s Giggity repeatedly, which I assume is the sound they make when they have another happy ending. Their sofas, chairs, TV sets, etc., are going to need industrial strength cleaning.
Baud
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
It’s called trolling. There’s bad news so they have a window to let their freak fly.
schrodingers_cat
Are the media drama ? ? still in Kabul?
Elizabelle
I trust President Biden and his team.
I have never trusted the press corpse less. I guess the “emails, emails, emails!!” shit occurred over a lot of days.
Go President Joe. You know he will have a hard time sleeping tonight, for thinking of the servicemembers killed, and their survivors and other loved ones. I will hurt whoever says “Hey, it’s a trip back to Delaware.”
Subsole
@JPL:
Depends.
Were the marines white?
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Stop it. Please. Not funny.
Hildebrand
What really fries my cookies is that all this outrage is purely performative. These people don’t give a shit about the people of Afghanistan, or the troops. This is all a grand game to them and it turns my stomach.
sab
@germy: Right wingers are often armed.
germy
@trollhattan:
Lester Holt will be interviewing the officer who shot Babbitt. Tonight on NBC.
Baud
@Hildebrand: Agree.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
Why is it that when there’s a Republican president we’re all supposed to stand behind him, but when it’s a Dem it’s open season?
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Hello! Good to see you. Have you been about and I just did not notice?
On another topic, I am going to call the White House comments line with a thank you for President Biden, and that I am thinking of him and his team as they work through this. He made the best decision available to him.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: That moron rambling on about Dunkirk the other day.
I think these weasels should also study up on the concept of “Fifth Column.” Because they are that. Trying to weaken from within because — ratings! Drama!
I suspect the Columbia Journalism Review is going to have a lot to say about this episode, after the fact, and it has not been media’s finest hour.
It’s so obvious how much they’ve been captured by those they profess to be covering. Kind of. Except, not very much before this recently about Afghanistan because — boooo-ring.
They are pack animals. Lemmings.
germy
They’re imbedded.
That’s what the military learned after Vietnam. Keep the press inside the tent.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
(via Popehat)
I hope they’re getting pointers from Dominion Voting Systems’ lawyers.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@Betty Cracker: A few days ago he definitely blamed Trump and Pompeo.
raven
@germy: embedded
Subsole
@Hildebrand:
Truth to tell, they don’t give a shit about America either, except as an extension of their own sense of self-worth.
Another Scott
Interesting. The YouTube feed from the WH just froze.
[eta] Maybe they turned it off because the text now says it’s starting at 5 PM ET.
Cheers,
Scott.
CaseyL
@Elizabelle: Excellent idea! I just submitted a note on the Contact WH site saying exactly that.
Gravenstone
@germy: I’d be curious if the current general staff might want to have a few quiet words the LtG (ret) McMaster about how “helpful” he’s being at the moment. Granted, he’s very much wanting to preserve his own (failed) legacy wrt Afghanistan. So not exactly an unbiased observer.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
I don’t think invertebrates need chiropractors.
Elizabelle
@CaseyL: Thank you! Good for you! We have his back.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I am going to change the link out up top.
This link is new from the White House and it says the press briefing will start in 97 minutes.
edit: Now saying 4:45 explicitly. ?♀️
Kropacetic
I’d like to say I can’t remember the last time I was so dissapointed in our media* but, unfortunately, I can; the run-up to the Iraq War.
*Transcended utter disspointment to anger beyond dissapointment.
Elizabelle
@Kropacetic: Yes. That’s right. It was Iraq, which just about all of them swallowed.
They’re up against a braver and stronger president this time, though. More honest, too.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Armchair wingnut sleuths at outlets like Real Clear Politics (and worse) outed a USCP cop months ago, IIRC. They seemed especially tumescent because the man they identified as the shooter is black. I have no idea if they were right, but if so, the cop’s name has been known to white supremacists for a while now, so I guess going public won’t endanger him any more than he already is.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
And they hate it.
Cacti
Isn’t McMaster part of the brain trust that couldn’t defeat the Taliban in 20 years.
dmsilev
Never mind all that. Conservative apparatchiks Judicial Watch have uncovered the *real* scandal of the Biden administration:
Kristine
@CaseyL: I just sent a note as well.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Good for him then. If there were bad decisions on the ground or from the White House during Biden’s term — and maybe there were, I have no idea — I’ve got no problem with the media criticizing Biden and the current commanders over it. I hope they do; that’s their damn job. But it irritates me when people pretend like the pre-withdrawal status quo could have been maintained. That shit was already over.
Gravenstone
@dmsilev: Not the Onion? Can anyone tell the difference from here?
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: Thanks. Yes, I’ve been about, I guess. Pretty much no one notices when I leave or when I return. I’m used to it. Story of my life.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Majorgate!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow:
Not true, we just might not say anything.
VeniceRiley
@germy: Then Joy Ann Reid ate Andrea Mitchell for lunch.
Kropacetic
@Elizabelle: Well, with Iraq they were supporting a (P)resident.
Spanky
Sigh. Today’s news and its fallout require a respite. Go read Alexandra Petri, and find out what happened to Kurt.
Kropacetic
@Yarrow: Come now, I don’t notice when anyone comes or goes. I’m working on this.
Yarrow
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Unless something is said, results are the same.
Gravenstone
@VeniceRiley: Seems like Mitchell would more than a tad tough and gristly.
Spanky
McMaster is still living off the fame from the Battle of 73 Easting. Everything is tactical to him.
PJ
@cain:
Nobody’s going to remember Afghanistan in three months, and the press will have moved on to another stick to beat Biden with (“Biden was elected on the promise of being compassionate, but does passage of both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Democrats’ Reconciliation Bill in the face of Republican intransigence mean that he’s turned his back on the heartland?”)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: In my case, I usually get to threads after they’re dead a buried due to being on the West Coast and job.
OGLiberal
@Baud: I have no doubt about that and if it means a special op to take out some ISIS-K threat in Afghanistan my guess is that the Taliban won’t step in our way and may even assist on the down-low.
But that model – like what we did to get Bin Laden (after a full blown invasion of the country he was residing in failed to accomplish that goal) – isn’t good enough…..need boots on the ground, forward bases, a nice airstrip with some fast food joints, etc. If Congressperson A has a company in his/her district that manufactures latrines for the Army and that manufacturer is the second largest employer in the district you can be sure he/she will be all for whatever results in latrines being built. And Andrea Mitchell will support because it will give her the appearance of being relevant again because she’ll be on TV asking inane “gotcha” questions.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cermet: You don’t know that these people were greedy contractors and not aid workers. Also, why do always spell America, etc., with a k?
germy
@dmsilev:
Ken
Only if they add the amendment I would prefer, which is that no funds go to any state unless at least one of their Senators voted for the bill, and no funds go to any district whose Representative voted against the bill.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Because he’s fucking asshole who drops stupid drive-by’s and leaves.
Raoul Paste
@Hildebrand: This
Yes it’s a game to these DC press monsters. They bring to mind the Peter O’Toole movie The Ruling Class
leeleeFL
@germy: I hope Meghan gets beaten like a rug over her BS. She makes me nauseous. So very, very Full of S—!
Omnes Omnibus
@Spanky: Actually, I don’t think you are far off. He built his reputation as a combat leader at the regimental combat team level. And as a critic of upper leadership practices. I said in the thread below that I wonder what MAJ McMaster would think of LTG(ret) McMaster. I am not sure it would be favorable.
Captain C
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Maybe they can show us how, freelance.
leeleeFL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: The question answers itself! Meghan McCain is an idiot of the first order.
OGLiberal
@schrodingers_cat: He caved and quit – was a non-factor. Couldn’t stand up to the big, wussy manchild.
James E Powell
@germy:
Does she realize that would make Kamala Harris president?
leeleeFL
@Elizabelle: Supposedly, swallowing goes with loving. Never was sure it was true.
germy
@James E Powell:
Fresh meat for Meghan and Ben.
OGLiberal
@Elizabelle: I know Dunkirk was technically a “retreat” but it was also a huge, impressive accomplishment…historically hailed as a “miracle”. Maybe not the comparison they want to use?
James E Powell
@germy:
It’s also what the press/media learned during the Reagan years and especially the first Gulf War.
Soprano2
My mother left 35% of her estate to these morons. *bangs head on desk* It makes me furious, at least she could have kept it in the community but no she’s giving a significant amount of money to these jokers whose only function is to give right-wingers a thrill up their leg. She might as well have lit that money on fire. There’s nothing I can do about it, either.
Kay
He goes on to list all the terrorist attacks during McMaster’s term. It’s not a numbers game and it’s not one-upmanship. It’s simply what happened, so to draw a conclusion and announce “this is what happens…” is wrong. It’s incorrect.
They need to start telling the truth about this war. I say “truth” because I know he knows there were many, many terrorist attacks in Afghanistan during that period where hundreds of people were killed so why continue to present this as a consequence of getting out? If it’s a consequence of getting out it’s also a consequence of staying in. We know that because we’ve now had both.
Baud
@Soprano2: I’m sorry. If it’s any solace, although Judicial Watch is awful, there are much worse right-wing organizations she could given her money to.
Martin
@germy: This is an investigation into a coup.
germy
@Soprano2:
Does Judicial Watch solicit estate donations? My local PBS station does that. They run commercials encouraging seniors (childless, I assume) to leave their money to their station.
I wonder if your mother received a similar request.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Looks like the new time is 5:45 PM ET.
Why, it’s almost as if the White House has nothing better to do today!!1
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@Martin:
Yes, they’re looking at everyone in the Trump family (except Tiffany) and a bunch of other players up in the food chain.
Baud
@germy: Lots of organizations solicit estate donations.
germy
@Baud:
My offspring are devouring my estate while I still walk the earth. There’ll be nothing left for my local PBS station or Judicial Watch.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Democrats have had the attitude of GTFU for a long time. Now that 46 is actually doing it, we’re happy.
JPL
Osama was a one hit wonder
trump told Hugh Hewitt that his terrorists kills were big, because when you think about it, Osama had one hit.
what a fking idiot trump is
Kay
If terrorist attacks in Afghanistan are “because” we’re leaving, then terrorist attacks in Afghanistan can also be “because” we were there.
Another Scott
White House/Oval Office outside door. Marine at the ready.
Video says “Live”. If one looks very closely, one can see the Marine shift his weight on his legs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tBR5cMoiOA
That says the Biden address starts at 5 PM. Other things say press briefing at 5:45 PM. Who knows…
[eta:] The Marines just changed shifts.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@germy:
BWA AH AH HA HA HA HA HA HA
gvg
@schrodingers_cat: He did. All anyone expected IMO was Trump not using nuclear bombs. That is what terrified people the most then. We knew he was going to do stupid and bigoted stuff and that is what happens when our citizens elect a stupid bigot plus a GOP majority Congress. No mushroom cloud was all we could hope for. He didn’t start any new wars either which was better than I hoped honestly.
No idea if McMaster actually deserves any credit, but that was the reason people were glad several generals were on his staff. We thought he would mostly pick only a bunch of whackos.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: oops! that’s my mistake. it says 4:45 but I am central time. I get so used to times being announced as Eastern time that I didn’t translate.
Fixing now, thanks.
Elizabelle
@OGLiberal: Truly. And which side ended up winning that war?
History can be instructive, media. You should read more.
cintibud
@OGLiberal:
When people mention Dunkirk, consider this
: sourc
ETA – I also saw that over 200 ships were lost and while no British solders were left on the beach many were left elsewhere in France and of course, thousands of French troops were left behind as well
JPL
Latest report ninety people died in the terrorist attach and there are 150 wounded.
Elizabelle
@leeleeFL: believe yesterday was third anniversary of John McCain’s death? Meghan should find a better reason to come to our attention. I don’t think her father would agree with the resign suggestion.
Baud
@gvg:
Yep, that’s where I was. No nukes.
Omnes Omnibus
@cintibud: In most retreats, there are people whose job is to cover the retreat. In a withdrawal like Dunkirk, there were always going to be those who held the perimeter as the the last boats left. By those lights, this withdrawal is going unbelievably well.
rikyrah
@Hildebrand:
Tell that truth.
schrodingers_cat
@gvg: They bolstered his lies and gave him credibility. They didn’t hold the line.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Ian MacEwan’s Atonement gives a harrowing description of Dunkirk.
cintibud
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly. And there is no beach with hundreds of friendly boats who can ferry Afgans to safety.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Any expectation of a good result from Trump was insane. Merely blundering through with bad to awful was the best to be hoped for.
Elizabelle
John McCain was born August 29 , 1936 and died August 25, 2018.
Do better, Meghan. The lucky sperm club (actually egg club, here) only gets you so far.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: It really does depend on what you mean by hold the line.
Hildebrand
I imagine most of the right-wing freaks blowing a gasket about all of this are actually jealous of the way the Taliban subjugates women and forces everyone into their narrow, violent, and wrong interpretation of their religion.
catclub
It is also a consequence of ISIS-K having a beef with the Taliban, which is almost completely unrelated to the US.
namekarB
Lots of hand-wringing noted about the military casualties. From media reports you would think there were no civilians. Had to do some serious googling to discover that 40-60 civilians killed and many more injured in that explosion.
raven
@zhena gogolia:
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ Broke the Rules by Ignoring Spielberg and Hiding Tom Hardy
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am just thinking the kind of pants crapping and screaming that must have happen in WWII over Pearl Harbor and the surrender of the US army in the Philippines.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@catclub: Explains why the Taliban are playing nice then. It’s not just the money they want, it’s the US intelligence support against Special K Isis.
raven
@namekarB: Oh bullshit, quit whining.
At Least 12 U.S. Troops, 60 Afghans Dead In Explosions Outside Kabul Airport
zhena gogolia
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Well, Pearl Harbor was a bit of a news story.
raven
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: When Dugout Doug got the Medal of Honor for deserting his post?
WaterGirl
@germy: Do you have a link? That might be cheery news on a day like today.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
cintibud
@cintibud: My link is blocked. It’s just Wikipedia. I did my google search on Dunkirk causalities.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@raven: He didn’t desert, Roosevelt ordering him out. But the main point was the Right made Macarthur the hero of the disaster even though his own air force, that was considered the primary target of the Japanese airforce and were everyone expected the surprise attack to happen, was caught on the ground eight hours after Pearl Harbor and his awesome plan to defend the Philippines collapsed like a house of card. And the Right kept it up after Macarthur rushed the US army into a death trap on the Chines border in Korea.
schrodingers_cat
@raven: I haven’t seen Dunkirk but wasn’t one of the criticisms that Nolan whitewashed who the evacuated soldiers were. They was a sizable contingent from the British Indian Army IRL but not in Nolan’s movie
IIRC Pakistani-British historian Yasmin Khan wrote about it.
Ksmiami
@Spanky: when all you have is a hammer…
Bill Arnold
Don’t recall where I saw it pointed out, but
Republicans are killing more Americans than Jim Jones did, every day.
Ken
Can we just have a battle royale where they all kick one another in the face for three hours?
gene108
@James E Powell:
A President Harris would be far easier to tear down than President Biden.
She’s black and a woman.
All the racial animosity Obama triggered, with all the misogyny Hillary triggered.
SiubhanDuinne
Dammit, Joe. Making me cry.
SiubhanDuinne
And now Fierce Joe. I love this man.
J R in WV
Well, I’m glad Biden decided to get out, regardless of the damage he knew he would take from the Beltway Press Club.
I’ve had no truck with Andrea Mitchell Greenspan since the last couple of Democratic National Convention, when she and I could watch a speech together (me on TV, her live at the convention), and then she would lie to me about what we had both had just seen. Most amazing set of fabrications I have ever seen.
I was against the first Iraq war, the Second Iraq war, the invasion of Afghanistan, the occupation of Afghanistan, etc. So the more troops we remove from the scene of the war crimes, the better.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Cheers,
Scott.
Josie
@germy:
I can relate. Just getting mine educated pretty much wiped me out. I’m just thankful for my teacher’s pension. It’s not much, but it does pay the bills.
Another Scott
Biden’s speaking now. Psaki is later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxMiM17KJE
Cheers,
Scott.
Bill Arnold
@schrodingers_cat:
No nuclear weapons were used by the Trump administration.
schrodingers_cat
@Bill Arnold: That is a low bar.
J R in WV
@Bill Arnold:
That we know of right now….
Cacti
Biden has promised “revenge” on ISIS.
Thank God. I was afraid for 30 seconds that we might be getting out of a war.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Wow, that will be like Christmas if they get records from all those hideous people.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: where are you seeing that? For me it hasn’t started yet.
Subsole
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The second-best thing that ever came out of Korea was that it finally sank that overpuffed piece of shit’s ambitions once and for all.
The best thing, of course, being South Korea.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Video up top. thanks.
WaterGirl
100,000 already taken out of Afghanistan. Wow.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, it is. But, as I said above, Trump was always going to be bad. Avoiding catastrophic is an accomplishment of sorts. I am not being flippant.
Subsole
@Cacti: Revenge can be much more localized than a full-scale war.
A more flip answer would be that we just said we’re getting out of Afghanistan. Never said nothing about getting outta the war.
MomSense
@germy:
I had a run in with her in person in 1989. She tried to bully me to give up my spot at an event that HW had to say thank you to the people in K’Port and I got there early. She tried to waltz in at the last minute and make me move so she could broadcast from my spot. I told her no. She didn’t like it. She was really mean.
Lyrebird
@Another Scott: Thanks!!!
japa21
I so admire this man. How he handled Doocey was masterful.
Baud
Good resolve. Let the talking heads whine.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
The lowest bar and that was the best possible outcome with him.
Elizabelle
Raise your hand.
Yeah. I thought so.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Not a low bar for the people who would have been on the receiving end.
Ken
For example, identifying sources of funding and cutting them off.
Baud
@Ken:
It’ll be airstrikes or special forces if they know who’s responsible and where they are.
Yutsano
@zhena gogolia:
WaterGirl
Excellent, President Biden. Just excellent.
raven
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Bah, my old man was in MacArthur’s Jungle Navy and he hated him with a passion. Dugout Doug!
raven
@Subsole: He never spent one night in Korea. He flew back to his palace every night.
Doug R
@Baud: Most of this was put into place after the election.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Looks like I picked the wrong week to rollout my new breakfast cereal ISIS-K
Immanentize
@raven: Can you remind me about LBJ’s silver star?
(hee hee hee)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: My dad felt the same way.
Ken
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Could be worse, you could be Corona beer or Delta airlines.
cain
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
That’s some special shit when even the Taliban can’t stand those ISIS fellas.
Elizabelle
@J R in WV: I remember Andrea Greenspan giving us her recap of Obama’s speeches, right after we’d just watched the thing in full on MSNBC.
It was like she was reporting on an entirely different speech, with all her confidence and crisp report.
What a crapmeister.
HalfAssedHomesteader
Still grateful to have Jen Psaki on team Biden.
WaterGirl
@HalfAssedHomesteader:
Yes!!!
Another Scott
Yup. Or at least to some extent. We will continue to need to be clear eyed.
Biden made the point that the Taliban is acting in their own best interests and he expects them to continue to do so. That doesn’t mean that they’re a partner or that he trusts them or that they’re good people. At the moment there’s little risk of us becoming the Taliban’s Air Force, but we must be on guard. And Biden clearly is on guard.
“… beware of foreign entanglements…”
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
Although when you think about it, that would be one way to keep a permanent presence in Afghanistan, and thereby make the press and the defense industry happy. There may be a NYTimesPitchBot tweet lurking here.
schrodingers_cat
Is there any evidence to back up the fact that it was the presence of the generals in the cabinet that was kept nuclear missiles being launched by the Orange Man? Or do we take that on faith?
Gvg
@schrodingers_cat: No. No evidence.
Trump talked about it like nukes were toys with no consequences to us before the election, which is why people were so freaked out about it. We hoped it would work. I am fairly sure they tried to put a damper on anything he wanted to do with the military because every idea we heard about was a bad idea.
All we know for sure is he didn’t use them, and in fact didn’t do a lot with the military after all.
I kind of think some of it was because Trump liked money more than wars. He may actually have been kind of scared of getting into conflicts though that isn’t the way he talked.
I also think Trump is kind of extremely American centric. He just doesn’t care about the rest of the world as much as here and mostly wanted us to worship him.
We hoped the generals would stop nukes. He didn’t use nukes. We don’t know that they were responsible.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gvg: It is always difficult to prove a negative.