This week has been a long month, hasn’t it?
Cartoon pic.twitter.com/rcOJiWOlRE
— Bill Bramhall (@BillBramhall) April 26, 2024
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Omnes, hope this isn’t too clownish for you. h/t Subaru Diane
Open thread!
by WaterGirl| 92 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Corruption
This week has been a long month, hasn’t it?
Cartoon pic.twitter.com/rcOJiWOlRE
— Bill Bramhall (@BillBramhall) April 26, 2024
.
Omnes, hope this isn’t too clownish for you. h/t Subaru Diane
Open thread!
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Politics, Proud to Be A Democrat
I had no idea this even existed until a few moments ago.
I thank US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. We appreciate that it was on his personal initiative that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, our anti-war coalition, was formed 2 years ago, uniting efforts and rallying over 50 countries. I thank all of our partners for their support.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 26, 2024
Quiet competence. I’ll take that over bluster any day.
Any other examples of quiet competence that you’ve seen recently?
Open thread.
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads
First Pete. it’s a 5-minute interview, but it’s totally worth it. This video should be in the dictionary as the example of “good government”.
That’s huge.
Reminder that there’s only one party actively trying to make your life better— the other one just wants to give tax breaks to their rich friends https://t.co/gNJZeUB0bE
— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) April 24, 2024
Then Joe. The sly fox. (Politico)
The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time in the two-year war — and Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines.
In March, the U.S. quietly approved the transfer of a number of Army Tactical Missile Systems with a range of nearly 200 miles, said a senior Biden administration official and two U.S. officials, allowing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces to put at risk more Russian targets inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.
The administration will include additional long-range ATACMS in a new $1 billion package of military aid President Joe Biden approved on Wednesday, one of the U.S. officials said.
The provision of the long-range version of the ATACMS ends a lengthy drama in which Ukraine clamored for years to receive the weapon, driving a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. The U.S. quietly sent the medium-range version of the missile in October, but Ukraine continued to press for a weapon that would allow it to strike farther behind Russia’s lines.
The U.S. on Wednesday announced a new $1 billion package of weapons that will quickly be transferred to Ukraine now that Biden has signed off on the long-delayed foreign aid bill that passed the Senate this week. Among other weapons, the tranche will include Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for air defense; 155mm artillery rounds; Bradley Fighting Vehicles; Javelin anti-tank systems; and Claymore anti-personnel munitions, according to a Pentagon press release.
But totally straight forward!
The U.S. was initially reluctant to send ATACMS — even under sustained domestic and international pressure — due to stockpile concerns and fear of escalating the war. But Russia’s increasingly brutal tactics and more American production of the long-range version convinced Biden to authorize the transfer.
The Biden administration warned Russia that attacking Ukraine’s energy grid and using North Korean-provided missiles would lead the U.S. to reconsider sending ATACMS to Ukraine. Those strikes continued, leading top officials — national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown — to unanimously recommend the weapons transfer.
The Biden administration believes providing ATACMS can give Ukraine some new momentum in the two-year war, forcing Russia to move back critical command and control nodes and other high-value targets such as aviation assets, said the second U.S. official.
Republicans still haven’t figured out that bluster is not strength. Possibly a good part of why so many people underestimate Pete and Joe.
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Oh, and a bonus truth from Simon Rosenberg.
Everyone understands that the Rs are going to do everything they can to build up and inflame these protests to distract from their nominee who is a rapist, a serial criminal, a fraudster, a betrayer of the country and the ugliest political thing we’ve ever seen?
— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) April 24, 2024
Open thread.
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments, Trump’s NY Criminal Trial
It’s Day 4 of the actual trial! Day 8, if you include jury selection.
Best sources of live blogging that I have found. Court resumes at 9:30 am.
Anna Bower at Lawfare – Live Blogging on Twitter
Josh Kovensky at TPM – Live Blogging (no live blogging at TPM today)
Mark Sumner at Daily Kos – Live Blogging (no live blogging at Daily Kos today)
TRANSCRIPTS OF NY CASES AVAILABLE THE NEXT DAY Link
Emotional support pup and kitty for the occasion.
I’m still interested in the trial, so I’ll put this up again today, but think of it as a general open thread, too.
Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 8 and Open ThreadPost + Comments (150)
by WaterGirl| 14 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging, Saudi Arabia
The final set of Saudi pictures are from Yanbu.
There are actually three cities comprising Yanbu. Yanbu Al-Bahr is the main city on the Red Sea coast where the ship docked. The other one we visited is Yanbu Al-Nakhal, a group of villages about an hour’s drive from the coast that used to be one of the hubs on the spice and incense route between Egypt and Yemen.
On The Road – arrieve – Saudi Arabia, part 4Post + Comments (14)
Yes, this is Saudi Arabia. I took this picture through the bus window on the drive to Yanbu Al-Nakhal. We passed plenty of desert, and herds of camels grazing along the side of the road, but I was not expecting those mountains, or the greens from the recent rains.
by WaterGirl| 16 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Happy Bring Your Kids to Work Day! Check out our two youngest members of the Congressional Sneaker Caucus
👟👇 pic.twitter.com/ewEGp4ola8— Congressman Jared Moskowitz (@RepMoskowitz) April 25, 2024
Open thread!
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Corruption, Trump Indictments
An audio feed of oral arguments is live-streamed on the Court’s website, and the Court posts the audio later in the day. On the afternoon of each argument, the Court posts transcripts of that day’s arguments.
Best sources of live blogging that I have found.
Kate Riga at TPM – Live Blogging
Seems like SCOTUSblog should be live blogging but I don’t see it.
An audio feed of oral arguments is live-streamed on the Court’s website, and the Court posts the audiolater in the day. On the afternoon of each argument, the Court posts transcripts of that day’s arguments.
Open thread.
Supreme Court Oral Arguments on Presidential Immunity at 10 amPost + Comments (111)