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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Honoring America’s Promise Open Thread: Welcoming Afghan Refugees (Or Not)

Honoring America’s Promise Open Thread: Welcoming Afghan Refugees (Or Not)

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… … The administration has requested funding from Congress to help resettle 65,000 Afghans in the United States by the end of this month and 95,000 by September 2022. President Joe Biden tapped the former governor of his home state of Delaware, Jack Markell, to temporarily serve as his point person on resettling Afghan evacuees in the United States.

States with a historically large number of Afghans who resettled in the U.S. over the last 20 years — including California, Maryland, Texas and Virginia — are again welcoming a disproportionate number of evacuees, according to the data. Many gravitate to northern Virginia, the Maryland suburbs of D.C. and northern California — some of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

Oklahoma, which over the course of the 20-year war had resettled a relatively small number of Afghans, is slated to resettle 1,800 new arrivals…

Many of the new evacuees requested to be resettled in those states because they already have family and close friends living in those states, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the calls to state government officials. Resettlement agencies also have a large presence and capacity in many of those states.

The State Department resettled evacuees based on the advice of local affiliates of nine national resettlement agencies the U.S. government is working with, the officials said…

Another Biden admin choice for this important, thankless task:

U.S. President Joe Biden has picked veteran diplomat Lee Wolosky to help coordinate the resettlement of refugees from the war in Afghanistan, an administration official said on Wednesday.

Wolosky will serve in the White House Counsel’s Office and will work with officials with the National Security Council and other top administration aides to provide legal expertise on resettlement issues, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Wolosky previously served as U.S. special envoy for then-President Barack Obama in his efforts to close the U.S. military prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was in the position from July 2015 to January 2017.

During his tenure, Wolosky negotiated with a range of countries to repatriate or accept the resettlement of dozens of inmates as the administration sought unsuccessfully to empty the facility before Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, took office…

Wolosky served as director of transnational threats on the National Security Council for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush during their presidencies.

Wolosky was also the attorney for Fiona Hill, a Russia specialist who served on the National Security Council for Trump, when she provided testimony in the impeachment inquiry that looked into whether Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden in return for a White House meeting or the release of U.S. security aid.

Of course, the GOP Death Cult is busy, too:

… [T]he Republicans pushing the issue are betting they can open a new front in the culture wars they have been fighting since President Joe Biden’s election by combining the anti-immigrant sentiment that helped fuel Trump’s political rise with widespread dissatisfaction with the Afghan withdrawal. That, they hope, could keep GOP voters motivated heading into next year’s midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.

“From a political standpoint, cultural issues are the most important issues that are on the mind of the American people,” said Russ Vought, Trump’s former budget chief and president of the Center for Renewing America, a nonprofit group that has been working on building opposition to Afghan refugee settlement in the U.S. along with other hot-button issues, like critical race theory, which considers American history through the lens of racism.

His group is working, he said, to “kind of punch through this unanimity that has existed” that the withdrawal was chaotic, but that Afghan refugees deserve to come to the U.S.

Officials insist that every Afghan headed for the country is subject to extensive vetting that includes thorough biometric and biographic screenings conducted by intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism personnel. At a pair of hearings this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said those “rigorous security checks” begin in transit countries before refugees arrive in the U.S. and continue at U.S. military bases before anyone is resettled. Checks then continue as refugees await further processing.

But Trump and his allies, who worked to sharply curtail refugee admissions while they were in office, insist the refugees pose a threat.

“Who are all of the people coming into our Country?” Trump asked in a recent statement. “How many terrorists are among them?”…

Early volunteer from the Death Cult ranks dropped a thread this afternoo:

Rep. Rosendale is getting thoroughly ratio’d, but then most of the most fervent supporters of his viewpoint have probably already been banned from social media that isn’t Gab or Parler or Gettr.

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  2. 2.

    Miss Bianca

    And right on schedule, the fascist shithead Chairman of our Board of County Commissioners introduced his “Joe Biden is a traitor!!11!!” resolution recently with a xenophobic rant about dusky skinned unvetted Afghan terrorists threatening our precious bodily fluids white rural county by resettling in…*checks notes*…Denver.

    Just like with the BLM panic. I keep thinking about it in Kay’s words: “The *ego* on these people!”

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    Maybe I’m missing something, but wouldn’t it be better for Clinton, Obama and Bush to (collectively, or each choosing their favorite) do more good, faster, by supporting one or more of the existing nonprofits that helps resettle & advocate for immigrants, and ensure those orgs have the resources and expertise to assist our new Afghan residents?

    I swear, the urge to form new nonprofits is some kinda obsession – and living in Minnesota, believe me I know from the urge to start new orgs. They sprout up all the time here. Each with E.D.s, development directors, fundraisers, program officers, accountants… (many small ones a couple of people wear multiple hats). And each has to have a board with multiple members.

    Don’t get me wrong (former nonprofit ED here, who currently serves on community foundation board). NGOs, advocacy groups and nonprofits are an important component of our society. But the Afghans are here now, and starting a new org, even with powerhouse folks like the above-named, that’s got to take time. And resources.

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: Whatever will Alabama do with its 10 refugees?

    I understand your sarcasm, but from the article, I’m guessing those 10 have relatives in Alabama sponsoring them.  The administration is trying to send the incomers to places where they’ll have some existing support, sensibly enough.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    My aunt who is an avid knitter and crocheter just sent a big box of hats, mittens, scarves, and afghans off to Ft McCoy for the refugees who are there. I have named it “Afghans for the Afghans.” They won’t need most of it now, but winter is coming. And, just for the record, she is a believing and church going Christian.

  14. 14.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    In June I took a little trip on a motorcycle from Berkeley to Steamboat Springs and back.  I’m telling you, there is a lot of space just between here and there, and that’s not even counting the desert where nobody lives.  We have room.

    I hope we get some Afghan restaurants on Telegraph.  Cultural understanding through tasty food.

  15. 15.

    Starfish

    @Miss Bianca: I don’t know how you deal with it. Ask him if blue lives matter and if the local law enforcement officers should be vaccinated? Make heads explode.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Anne Laurie:

    That’s good. I hope the entire state is as appreciative as the families. I remember when Vietnamese were resettled. It wasn’t an entirely happy moment for the country.

  18. 18.

    hitless

    @Baud: None of the refugees invaded the US Capitol to overturn the US Constitution, so they at least have that going for them as far as vetting goes.

  20. 20.

    Barbara

    @Flanders Other Neighbor: We used to have an Afghan restaurant in my neighborhood. I would describe it as a fusion between Middle Eastern and Indian food. We really liked it, but eventually it closed. I would definitely welcome another!

  22. 22.

    prostratedragon

    OT: Tim James, master of self-presentation. He’s building his expected campaign for Governor around opposition to critical race theory, transgender rights, and the pollution of the essence of Alabama white people the instruction of yoga in public school physical education classes.

    ETA: Hmmm. I see Alabama is schedule to resettle a few Afganistan refugees. So maybe not so offtopic.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    Biden should have offered to add the refugees each state was willing to take to their census numbers.  CA would be happy to add an afghani congressional district.

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Flanders Other Neighbor: There was one right next to my office in Cambridge MA, back in the day.  [owned by Hamid Karzai’s brother, IIRC]  Great food, damn.  Great food.  Though a little pricey.  I’d love it if we got N Afghan hole-in-the-walls in the Mission District, so I could get lunch there itinerantly.

  26. 26.

    frosty

    @Flanders Other Neighbor: ​
      I hope we get some Afghan restaurants on Telegraph.

    We have (maybe had? It’s been awhile) a good one in Baltimore. Just don’t do what I did on my first time and ask to try an Afghan beer. Waiter: “Afghanistan is a Muslim country, we don’t drink alcohol.”

    Oops.

  27. 27.

    frosty

    @raven: ​
      Tombigbee River? If not, then Mississippi and Louisiana can use the help.
    (That was a Delta Parchman Farm reference, BTW. Wrong state, I know.)

  29. 29.

    raven

    That’s according to Business Insider, which obtained an early copy of “Peril,” the new book by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. In one passage, the book describes Barr attempting to give Trump helpful campaign advice by telling him that those suburban voters don’t care about his “fucking grievances,” Business Insider says.

    In the blunt Oval Office meeting in April 2020, Barr reportedly urged the president to focus on the national response to COVID-19 and the economic recovery, and “not all this other shit, not every grievance you have.”

    The book then recounts Barr trying to convince Trump he needs to win over more moderate Republicans if he wants to win reelection, according to Business Insider. “The main problem,” Barr reportedly told the president, “is you think you’re a fucking genius, politically.”

    “There are a lot of people out there, Independents and Republicans in the suburbs of the critical states that think you’re an asshole,” Barr reportedly told Trump. “They think you act like an asshole and you got to, you got to start taking that into account.”

     

  32. 32.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: I remember when Vietnamese were resettled. It wasn’t an entirely happy moment for the country.

    From what I’ve read, the Biden people are *very* aware of that history, for good & bad.

    One advantage we all have today — those Vietnamese immigrants & their families have been overwhelmingly a success story.  Many of them even ended up as GOP voters!

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @Barbara: We used to have an Afghan restaurant in my neighborhood. I would describe it as a fusion between Middle Eastern and Indian food.

    From what I know of Afghans, they’d probably insist the Indians and the Levantines got those delicious food ideas from them!

  41. 41.

    Anne Laurie

    @raven: So, we can assume Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr was one of Troutmouth Bob Woodward’s sources, because that’s notoriously how Woodward gets so many ‘exclusive’ interviews.

  42. 42.

    Eric S.

    @Benw: Lakewood and Eddy for those in the know or who care to Google it. I’m on the 3rd floor so above a lot of buildings that’d distort sound. Yeah, the shows sound pretty good so far.

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @RaflW: Agreed on the proliferation of non-profits.

    But ex-presidents have so much baggage and prestige and so forth that they realistically probably have to have quasi-complete control via their own organizations if they have anything more than ceremonial positions.  I think Carter and Habitat for Humanity is the only exception that immediately comes to my mind.

    Bazillionaires probably feel the same way even though they shouldn’t…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    Anne Laurie

    @Eric S.: I’m now looking for Afghan restaurants in Chicago. Obviously there has to be many but I’ve never sought them out.

    Given the last 20 years, quite possibly some Afghan restaurateurs chose to operate under the generic ‘Middle Eastern’  branding.  There’s enough overlap in the cuisine to avoid explicitly referencing what might have been considered politically problematic.  (The Karzhais’ restaurants in Cambridge & Baltimore were, obviously, working the counterargument, if only because they had little choice in the matter.)

    But if I’m right, maybe the influx of new immigrants will help those established businesses come out of the cultural closet?

  51. 51.

    raven

    @Benw: I got drunk in the bleachers then went across the street to Ray’s and tore the payphone off the wall. Little did I know it was a bookie joint!

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @prostratedragon:

    Tim James, master of self-presentation.

    Oh Lordy, it’s Fob’s kid. I hadn’t ever thought this is so many words, but now I realise I was wishing I’d never again have to think of Fob James.

  56. 56.

    Eric S.

    @Anne Laurie: I’m prepping to sell my condo and move NW in the city a bit. It’ll put me closer to the central/south Asian community. There’s some damn good places up there that I need to explore. I see several places on Yelp. I hope we add more.

  58. 58.

    Eric S.

    @Benw: Halfway between Racine and Southport, one street south of Addison.

     

    @RAVEN.  Rays? I hate to sound like a youngster but where was that?

  59. 59.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Persistent Illusion: OTOH, I’ve found that places that [ETA] DO NOT serve alcohol, have pretty liberal policies about bringing in booze from outside.  Which …. well, means you can get top-shelf stuff, not just what the restaurant owner wants to serve.

  60. 60.

    Redshift

    @Anne Laurie: I’ve been to the Helmand in Baltimore several times, yum! And I went to a great Afghan restaurant in San Francisco years ago. If it’s still the same place, it might be The Helmand Palace, based on poking around on Google maps.

    My favorite local kabob place is Afghan, too, called simply Charcoal Kabob.

  66. 66.

    raven

    @Benw: I was trying to call my old man in the burbs before we headed back to C-U and couldn’t get through. God, we got caught in a traffic jam by Grant Park and I had to get put to pee. Traffic started moving and I had to race to catch up to the car and almost fell out. How we didn’t get killed many times is a miracle.

  67. 67.

    Barbara

    Maps tells me that there is a restaurant in DC called Lapis, and the menu looks amazing, including vegan friendly options.  Also serves alcohol. Will be going soon.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Rachel just announced, Congressman Anthony Gonzalez (R OH) will not seek re-election. He was one of ten GOPers to vote to impeach Trump. Any Buckeyes, would be glad to see your takes.

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    @frosty:

    Waiter: “Afghanistan is a Muslim country, we don’t drink alcohol.”

    Yeah, Muslims don’t drink in about the same way that Mormons don’t drink.  If you had a Mormon restaurant- there’s a terrifying concept- they wouldn’t serve alcohol, but if you go into their homes you’ll find plenty of them who do.  They just don’t want the rest of their congregation to know about it.

  72. 72.

    Eric S.

    @Delk: For better or worse, D’Ags is my second home. I’m (too) often at the front table by the windows. Over time I’ve become friends with the owners. They are good peeps.

  78. 78.

    Suzanne

    @Roger Moore:

    If you had a Mormon restaurant- there’s a terrifying concept 

    Green jello and funeral potatoes do not a cuisine make!

    But you’re right about Mormons and drinking. There’s a reason for the joke: “How do you get a Mormon to stop drinking all your beer? Invite another Mormon.”

    And yes, I have seen my Muslim friends drink plenty. Can confirm.

  79. 79.

    Chetan Murthy

    @pluky: Oh wow, I didn’t know about this.  Yet another reason to want for the fucking pandemic to be over (in my local area (SF), I’m not asking for miracles).

  80. 80.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Suzanne:

    the joke

    From my freshman English teacher, Mr. Manning:

    Q: Are you Baptist?

    A: No, I do my drinking in public.

    After which, he would invariably reach into his coat cupboard for his cough syrup and mime taking a jolt of it.

  82. 82.

    bemused senior

    @Chetan Murthy: there’s a great Afghan restaurant in Belmont/San Carlos (named Kabul). Been here since before 9/11. It’s always been one of the two family  choices for special dinners. I think the family that owns it spun off the one of the same name down in santa Clara. We trooped in there a couple of days after 9/11 to show support.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jonathan Martin @jmartNYT 1h
    News: Calling Trump “a cancer for the country,” @RepAGonzalez told me today he’s not running for re-election His main reason: the strain on his family. But he called today’s politics “toxic” He’s first of the 10 pro-impeachment House Rs to retire

    For the Ohioan, Jan. 6 was “a line-in-the-sand moment” and Mr. Trump represents nothing less than a threat to American democracy.

    as I recall, he voted against the 1/6 Commission. Weren’t Cheney and Kinzinger the only Rs who voted for it?

  92. 92.

    Kay

    Here’s the Trump candidate Gonzales surrendered to:

    Miller, 32, is the poster child of Trump’s post-impeachment retribution tour. In his mounting efforts to punish Republican apostates in next year’s midterms and to bolster his political sway for a potential run of his own in 2024, Trump has endorsed an array of supportive candidates in House, Senate and state-level races—but there’s nobody on the list like Miller. He’s not merely a loyalist—he’s a loyalist who worked on both Trump campaigns as well as in the White House and used proximity to the president to foster by all accounts an actual affinity and rapport. He’s not just one of Trump’s “Complete and Total” House endorsements—he was the first. And he’s pitted against one of the impeachment voters who galls Trump the most—in a state he won twice. While the statement that accompanied Trump’s late February endorsement called Miller “a wonderful person,” this rally on a sweltering summer Saturday marked a yet more full-throated and visual showing of his backing.“An incredible patriot,” Trump said, “who I know very well.”  Maybe not well enough, according to police records, court records and interviews with more than 60 people. Ranging from people who grew up with Miller in the affluent Cleveland inner suburb of Shaker Heights to those he worked with and for in the White House and on Trump’s campaigns—some of whom were granted anonymity because they fear retaliation from Miller, Trump or both—these people told me Miller can be a cocky bully with a quick-trigger temper. He has a record of speeding, underage drinking and disorderly conduct—documented charges from multiple jurisdictions that include a previously unreported charge in 2011 for driving under the influence that he subsequently pleaded down to a more minor offense. And barely more than a year ago, according to three people familiar with the incident, Miller’s romantic relationship with former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham ended when he pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her.

    Only the best people. Sound familiar?

    “He would get in trouble and just—nothing ever seemed to happen,” said a Shaker Heights classmate and baseball teammate. “Because he is Max Miller,” said another classmate. “He gets out of stuff,” said a third classmate. “He’s rich, he’s well-connected, his family is well-connected. It’s not surprising to me that he doesn’t pay consequences for the things he does.”

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @buck2202: ah, thanks– I swore I remembered thinking it odd that so many (8) of the people who voted to impeach trump would vote against an investigation

    If Gonzalez really wants to fuck with trump and his enablers, he should call up Bennie Thompson and say, “Hey, got any chairs left?”

    Go all the way, as the Raspberries advised

  95. 95.

    jonas

    So apparently Biden is history’s greatest monster for abandoning thousands of US allies, interpreters, girls and other poor people the Taliban is going to totally stomp on now that we’ve withdrawn, but also history’s greatest monster for letting a bunch of crazy terrorist towelheads flood into America with no vetting or even enhanced interrogation or whatever.

    Figuring out an angle to attack Biden on this is tough enough for OANN and Fox, but I’m sure the MSM is up to the task, too. Just hang on.

  96. 96.

    jonas

    @Suzanne: ​
      Reminds me of an time back in college when I dropped by a friend’s room just before spring break and she and a couple of other girls from out of town were hanging out enjoying some smokes and a bottle of Jack. “Hey, how you all doing?” I asked, bumming a drag of one of their cigarettes,” “where you coming down from?” “BYU,” they answered.

  97. 97.

    buck2202

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can’t really fault anyone for taking the threats against their and their family’s safety seriously (though he says it’s mainly about the “commute”), but his abrupt (to me at least, from a bit north in the Cleveland part of Kaptur’s snake on the lake district) retirement makes the insider puff about him all the more annoying to me. What a low bar we set.

    From late July: “Trump is coming for him. But Anthony Gonzalez has a quiet plan”. (retire, apparently)

     

    Edit to add, from NYT:

    Mr. Gonzalez, a conservative, largely supported the former president’s agenda. Yet he started breaking with Mr. Trump and House Republican leaders when they sought to block the certification of last year’s presidential vote, and he was horrified by Jan. 6 and its implications.

    Still, he insisted he could have prevailed in what he acknowledged would have been a “brutally hard primary” against Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide who was endorsed by the former president in February.

    Yet as Mr. Gonzalez sat on a couch in his House office, most of his colleagues still at home for the prolonged summer recess, he acknowledged that he could not bear the prospect of winning if it meant returning to a Trump-dominated House Republican caucus.

    “Politically the environment is so toxic, especially in our own party right now,” he said. “You can fight your butt off and win this thing, but are you really going to be happy? And the answer is, probably not.”

  98. 98.

    JaneE

    @Roger Moore: About 50 years ago my job did secret Santa at Xmas. Sure enough, the only Mormon in the department got a pint of whiskey. The woman who bought it was very apologetic because she had not known what religion he was, and he drank coffee like everyone else in the office. When she offered to exchange it he said “I am proud to be a Mormon, and ashamed to be the Jack Mormon I am.” He kept the bottle and later told everyone he enjoyed every drop.

  102. 102.

    dmsilev

    @Kay: Can we pass some sort of law declaring a moratorium on all public offices, appointments, and even media appearances by all former Trump officials with the last name ‘Miller’? It’d be a good start at clearing up the national discourse.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: also, the third member of trump’s inner circle to be credibly accused of domestic violence (like trump himself): Porter, Parscale, Miller, in this case by another member of trump’s inner circle

  105. 105.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mary G: [Re: Jason Miller] That’d be fourth fifth[1], right?  B/c if trying to poison your lover to induce abortion doesn’t count as domestic violence …..

    [1] B/c TFG was credibly accused by Wife #1 Ivana of having raped her.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chetan Murthy: AJ Delgado? I thought there was something there but couldn’t remember.

    As I recall John Kelly, who right before he made up a demented racist fantasy about Rep Fredica Wilson, lamented that “women” used to be one of the things we held sacred in this country, wanted Porter back in the White House, thought he got a bad break.

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MT state rep from Missoula:

    Rep. Danny Tenenbaum @DannyTenenbaum
    Ignore our schmuck of a congressman. Give to the helpers instead

    I’m donating. Does the Left Internet still do money bombs?

    ETA: I saw the “in memory of” option too late, should’ve donated in memory of Congressman Rosendale’s dead soul

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:

    @Baud:

    However terrible the refugees may be, they are better than Republicans.

    Yes. Let’s repatriate them to Afghanistan.

    We waged war in Afghanistan, stopped and left and now you want to make it worse than ever?

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anoniminous: so make the man who hits women the face of the statewide party, hang him around the neck GOP Senate candidate, make trump and Miller Vance/Mandel’s de facto running mates. Hell, Mandel will embrace it.

    It’s what they would’ve done to Ryan with Nina Turner, and the worse thing anyone can say about her, as far as I know, is she’s  a nutty grifter

  115. 115.

    Amir Khalid

    @Roger Moore:
    Until the mid-1990s or so, it was fairly common here, in quite conservative Muslim Malaysia, for not-so-devout Muslims to openly drink alcohol in bars and at parties, and buy it in supermarkets and such. Then the religious authorities started cracking down, and Muslims who still liked a tipple had to do their partaking on the QT.

  117. 117.

    Victor Matheson

    The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which is a long established non-profit run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been overwhelmed by congregations stepping forward and offering help to incoming refugees from Afghanistan. So, certainly lots of Americans (and Christians) want to do the right thing to help resettle people in need. Yet somehow Christianity in the US is defined by the loud-mouthed bigots.

  118. 118.

    cain

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     
    hey, those Afghans believe in the same God that Christians and Jews believe in. Cheers to them. Too bad we like to fight over stupid shit like how we worship.

  119. 119.

    Mary G

    This is so old, but I thought it was funny:

    I’m going to be straight with my like…16 followers. As a military urologist if scrotal swelling was a vaccine side effect I would be the first to know. No one is more attentive to their testicles than men in the military.— John McCauley (@erinokp99) September 15, 2021

  120. 120.

    Yutsano

    @Mary G: ​ Here we go!

    My dad and I visited Minna this afternoon. She is doing so much better than yesterday or two days ago. She is mostly in the chair, and walking down the hall and back. Only in bed for sleeping.

    Her vitals are mostly back to normal and they are talking about discharging her tomorrow (friday) or the next day (saturday) directly home with no rehab center. Tomorrow marks 2 weeks in the hospital of which 1 week she wasn’t conscious.

    I think she wants to break out of the hospital and get back home. They would be sending a few people over to help her with a few last rehab tasks, mostly speech rehab. She has also been prescribed to play video games! I don’t think that’ll be hard for her to accomplish.

    The linkfor you.Not sure id it goes to the latest update but it should.

  122. 122.

    Yutsano

    @CaseyL:  I am still of the theory that as soon as she heard her mother was coming from Taiwan she woke the fuck up. I’m gonna be pushing her to come back here more as soon as she’s able. Her memory of what happened isn’t back yet so she can’t answer those questions. I’ll be checking for when she tweets again. I know phone stuff is still problematic for her right now.

  124. 124.

    opiejeanne

    @eclare:  Methodists aren’t supposed to drink, either, but we do.
    And really, don’t you remember “A River Runs Through It”? Methodists are Baptists who have learned to read.

  125. 125.

    TriassicSands

    This has nothing to do with my wanting or not wanting them to  settle in the US, but I wonder if they might not be better off going to a country that isn’t teetering on the brink of fascism. It would be tragic for them to escape the Taliban only to be faced with living under Republicans.

    I wish them luck and good fortune adapting to life in the US, and hope we can prevent them from having to face a future governed by racist, authoritarian PsOS. I have no doubt that they’ll be relieved just to have escaped the threat of torture and death in their homeland, but their introduction to “freedom” should be just that and not rule by people willing to violently overturn a legitimate election and try to fix future elections.

  126. 126.

    prostratedragon

    Another shoe or two from the arthropodic case concerning SCarolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh:

    Police Arrested The South Carolina Lawyer Who They Said Planned His Own Killing For An Insurance Payout

    In a new twist on Wednesday, SLED also opened a criminal investigation into the death of the Murdaugh family’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 in an alleged “trip and fall accident.”

    The Hampton County Coroner requested SLED to investigate Satterfield’s death after it was not reported to the coroner’s office at the time and because her manner of death was listed as natural, which was “inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident.”

    Authorities have also opened a new inquiry into the unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, who was found on a road 10 miles from the Murdaugh home in 2015.

  128. 128.

    Miss Bianca

    @Yutsano: Oh, if you can get Minna to come back to us as a regular commenter that would be so great! She is an inspiration and I hope to see my sister rally  in a similar fashion.

  130. 130.

    mayim

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: it is! Very tasty, in fact ;-)

    I loved going to the Afghan restaurant near my brother’s when I visited him in D.C.

    Hoping any Afghan refugees who settle in Maine open restaurants!  Several Somali families have, so there’s precedent.

  132. 132.

    cain

    @Anne Laurie: ​
     

    One advantage we all have today — those Vietnamese immigrants & their families have been overwhelmingly a success story. Many of them even ended up as GOP voters!

    Many immigrants would prefer to be conservative – if the GOP weren’t so xenophobic the recent immigrants especially hispanics and middle eastern folks.

    Indians as far as I am aware tend to vote Democratic, but a lot of that is because of immigration policy rather than other policy.

    Also in regards to food – a lot of similarities between Iranian food and Indian food as well – even the same terms!

  133. 133.

    Groucho48

    My hometown,  Buffalo, which has one fifth the population of Montana and one ten thousandth the space, is taking 365 Afghans, and, will be happy to take more, down the road. We’ve had se real waves of refugees and they ha e all been good for the city. I’m sure we could squeeze in an extra 75. Montana’s loss, our gain.

  134. 134.

    r€nato

    “Who are all of the people coming into our Country?” Trump asked in a recent statement. “How many terrorists are among them?”

    let’s tally up how many innocent Afghans have been killed by US drones over the past 20 years vs. Americans killed on US soil by Afghans… that’s how you figure out who the real terrorists are.

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