#well secretary of defense or vice president it is

[perkwunos]

Throughout the campaign, Trump has proven himself obsessed with two ideas: exerting personal control over the federal government, and exacting “retribution” against Democrats who challenged him and the prosecutors who indicted him. His team has, obligingly, provided detailed plans for doing both of these things.

This process begins with something called Schedule F, an executive order Trump issued at the end of his first term but never got to implement. Schedule F reclassifies a large chunk of the professional civil service — likely upward of 50,000 people — as political appointees. Trump could fire these nonpartisan officials and replace them with cronies: people who would follow his orders, no matter how dubious. Trump has vowed to revive Schedule F “immediately” upon returning to office, and there is no reason to doubt him.

Between a newly compliant bureaucracy and leadership ranks purged of first-term dissenting voices like former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Trump will face little resistance as he attempts to implement policies that threaten core democratic freedoms.

And Trump and his team have already proposed many of them. Notable examples include investigating leading Democrats on questionable charges, prosecuting local election administrators, using regulatory authority for retribution against corporations that cross him, and either shuttering public broadcasters or turning them into propaganda mouthpieces. Trump and his allies have claimed unilateral executive authority to take all of these actions. (It remains unclear which party will control the House, but Republicans will be in charge of the Senate for at least the next two years.)

Ultimately, all this executive activity is aimed at turning the United States into a larger version of Hungary — a country whose leadership and policies are regularly praised by Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts.

...

While the form of subtle authoritarianism pioneered in Hungary was novel in 2010, it’s well understood today. Orbán managed to come across as a “normal” democratic leader until it was too late to undo what he had done; Trump is taking office with roughly half the voting public primed to see him as a threat to democracy and resist as such. He can expect major opposition to his most authoritarian plans not only from the elected opposition, but from the federal bureaucracy, lower levels of government, civil society, and the people themselves.

This is the case against despair.

As grim as things seem now, little in politics is a given — especially not the outcome of a struggle as titanic as the one about to unfold in the United States. While Trump has four years to attack democracy, using a playbook he and his team have been developing since the moment he left office, defenders of democracy have also had time to prepare and develop countermeasures. Now is the time to begin deploying them.

Trump has won the presidency, which gives him a tremendous amount of power to make his antidemocratic dreams into power. But it is not unlimited power, and there are robust means of resistance. The fate of the American republic will depend on how willing Americans are to take up the fight.

[compacflt]

if you're open to angsty prompts - tgm mission goes bad and Ice gets to accept Bradley and Mav's flags at their funerals? (but only if you're feeling angsty. if not, feel free to ignore!)

San Diego, California. November 2016.

It should not be surprising that the complicated politics of a funeral like Mitchell’s supersede even the national grief of losing him, but of course it is. The Defense Department and the new administration (loudly Tweeting out of their asses because the President-Elect hasn’t yet been sworn in) want to hold it in Arlington. Do it in D.C., show American unity, show how proud we are of our fallen aviator, who sacrificed himself for America’s national interests, bury him in Virginian soil next to Kennedy’s eternal flame… It’s not a terrible idea, geopolitically speaking. But the Republican leadership of the state of Texas wants a piece of him, too. Why not bury him in the National Cemetery in Dallas? That’s where he’s from. Lay him to rest in the soil of his forefathers, as all good men should be. But the entire Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy, it is argued by people who aren’t Kazansky, also has a stake in this. Bury him at sea. He gave his life for the Navy. This is how it ought to be. Bury both Mitchell and Bradshaw at sea the way we buried other American Navy heroes like John Paul Jones. (When he hears this argument, Kazansky also remembers that we buried Osama bin Laden at sea, too.)

The whole political clusterfuck is put to rest at last in mid-November, when someone bothers to ask Kazansky what he thinks, and Kazansky says, “I’ll remind you that there’s absolutely nothing left of him to bury. But Mitchell lived in California for the last thirty years of his life. He told me he’d want to be buried in San Diego. I don’t really care where you put him. But that’s what he said he wanted.” And after Pacific Command leadership hears this and communicates it to the White House, everyone all of a sudden bends over backwards to organize a joint funeral in San Diego, where Bradshaw’s parents are buried, anyway. Maybe it really is fitting. Okay.

It’s a funny thing, ritual. The military’s full of it. A funeral: that’s a ritual. So, too, is promotion, retirement, commissioning in the first place. So, too, is the everyday ritual of getting dressed, donning battle gear, which today is dress blues, the way it was the day Mitchell died. Medals instead of ribbons. The President posthumously gave Bradshaw and Mitchell Medals of Honor. Their bodies would be wearing them, if there were bodies to bury. The President prehumously gave Kazansky and Seresin Medals of Honor as well. Kazansky’s is sitting around his throat like a noose. He feels like nothing but a body himself, no soul, already passed-on. They’ll lower Mitchell’s empty casket into the ground this afternoon and Kazansky’s already thinking about climbing inside it before they do. He’s not so un-self-aware that he can’t see the absurdity in that thought. But he’s also not so self-aware that he isn’t having that thought.

It’s the highest-profile funeral Kazansky’s attended in a few years. The Secretary of State is here. The Secretary of Defense is here. The Secretary of the Navy is here. The Vice President is here. He, too, has only recently lost a son; he, too, has already lost someone he thought he’d spend the rest of his life with. They don’t talk, but when they shake hands, it feels like stronger solidarity than all the Sorry for your losses Kazansky’s received over the past couple weeks. Everyone here knows about him and Mitchell, in a way that had once been Kazansky’s worst nightmare; now, his actual worst nightmare having been realized, he can’t bring himself to care, and no one’s making a big deal out of it. When they say, Sorry for your loss, they don’t mean in the “loss of two highly strategic assets for the U.S. Pacific Fleet” sense, they mean in the “loss of the only two people you cared about more than your career” sense. Sorry for your loss. It’s not so bad. And because everyone knows, in a way that had once been Kazansky’s worst nightmare, no one bats an eye when Kazansky realizes his actual worst nightmare and accepts Mitchell’s folded flag. No, they weren’t legal family. But everyone knows they were close enough.

He tacks his own Naval aviator wings onto Mitchell’s empty casket. Twenty-one guns fire. He salutes. They lower two empty caskets into the ground and he’s still standing. It doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not really a goodbye, because neither Mitchell nor Bradshaw are actually inside. He watches Seresin struggle not to cry. He stands before a few hundred people and makes a short boring speech about service and sacrifice that he did not write. This is all political. This is all just for show. Most ritual usually is. So who gives a fuck.

He disappears before anyone can pin him down to apologize again and again, but finds that his intended hideout location has already been claimed: by the time he makes it to Goose’s grave, Seresin’s already standing there alone, his hands in his blues pockets, his cap tucked under his arm.

“I just,” says Seresin stupidly. His eyes are red-rimmed and his face is sallow. They’ve never really spoken, the two of them, but Kazansky’s heard the rumors about him and Bradshaw. And he’s sure Seresin’s heard the rumors about him and Mitchell. They’re in the same leaking boat, here. “Bradley talked about him all the time.” Gestures down to the grave. “And about you. And about Maverick.”

Kazansky says, “Would you want to have lunch with me? I’m not very hungry. But maybe we can talk.” He’s trying. Too little too late, but he’s trying.

He exchanges his jingling blues coat for a regular suit jacket in the armored Suburban. Takes the Medal of Honor off as he does. Seresin, still only a lieutenant, doesn’t have the luxury of a general staff who will carry around a wardrobe change on his behalf. He’s gonna have to make do with his dress blues. He’s nervously fingering the Medal of Honor around his neck, and will continue to do so long after they’ve taken their seats in a restaurant downtown where Kazansky used to take Mitchell out for dinner, not so long ago. He can hear his chief flag aide kindly whispering to their waiter: Somewhere in the back. Where they won’t be bothered. Everyone’s being so kind.

“I could kill him,” Seresin says after a few minutes.

“Who?” says Kazansky incuriously. He’s been running his fingers over the condensation on his water glass. Now his fingertips are wet. Actions and consequences.

“Cyclone. He’s the one who refused to send me. And he didn’t launch search-and-rescue, either.”

Kazansky blinks, then looks down at his menu. “No, son, that was me.”

Seresin’s Then I could kill you goes unsaid. It’s quiet for a long time, long enough that Kazansky’s read through the menu—every word—twice. Then Seresin says, “Why?”

“You would’ve searched for the rest of your life and rescued nothing, and blamed yourself.”

“I blame myself for not going anyway. For not disobeying orders. —Maverick would’ve gone.”

Yeah, he probably would have. Kazansky remembers, in a split second, a story Mitchell had only told him a few years ago, lying next to him in the dark, a little tipsy after dinner and touchy-feely as he always was lying next to Kazansky in the dark: I don’t think I ever told you the story of how I saved Cougar’s life. His warm hands, gentle and unhurried, sliding up and down Kazansky’s abdomen: it’s so funny the details you choose to overlook at the time, and only remember when you lose them. / Well, I never wanted to ask. You hate telling those stories, I thought, Kazansky had said. Because it was true. At any party, Mitchell could tell the stories of how he saved Cougar’s life and how he ejected out of a flat spin at TOPGUN and how he shot down three MiGs not two weeks later—but he’d always have nightmares about all of it the night after. He hated telling those stories. He’d only do it if people asked, so Kazansky never asked. / You’re here in bed next to me, Mitchell said, so I’ll sleep just fine. Let me be a hero for you for once. —It was the day I saw that first Soviet MiG up close. Remember that? Negative four-G inverted dive? That was real, baby. Scared the shit outta Cougar. Messed him up bad. I mean, he thought we were all cooked. He wasn’t gonna land, I mean. Or if he tried, he was gonna plow right into the side of the boat. Couldn’t see straight. You ever been so scared you couldn’t see straight? He was dipping his wings, power too low, basically drunk-driving his Tomcat, I mean, it was freaky. So I touch-and-goed my F-14. / Against orders, surely, Kazansky’d said. / Oh, of course. You’ve met me, haven’t you? Of course, against orders. We were both outta gas. But I took off again and circled around to find him, and guided him in, you know, level off, call the ball, there you go, Coug, you got it, you got it. Don’t know if he ever told you this—he probably did ten million dollars of damage to that plane. Fucked up the landing gear and snapped off his tailhook and ground up into the fuselage. / But he lived. / But he lived, Mitchell said, and that’s how I got sent to TOPGUN. And that’s—with a soft sweet kiss—how I met you. / My hero, Kazansky’d said.

“Yeah,” he says noncommittally. “Maverick would’ve gone. —But he’d have searched for the rest of his life and rescued nothing, and blamed himself.”

Seresin says, “Is that what happened with him and Bradley’s dad? Is that what happened with Goose?”

“Yeah.”

They sit in silence for another while. The waiter comes by to take their orders. Kazansky’s not hungry and orders a beer. Seresin’s starving and orders a burger and a side of onion rings and a glass of wine.

“Can I ask you a question?” Seresin says after another few minutes. “Are you, like, a coward, or something? —That speech you gave was pretty neutered, sir. You loved him and you can’t even say it at his funeral?”

It’s a stupid, immature question. The Navy doesn’t deserve to hear that out loud. Nor does Mitchell’s empty casket. Only Mitchell did, and too late now. Kazansky shrugs. “If I were a brave man,” he says, “do you think I would have let him go?”

“I’d like to think I’m a brave man,” says Seresin. “I let Bradley go because I trusted him to come back. —Honestly, I’m kind of fucking pissed about it, to be honest. Sorry for the language. But it’s the truth. The night after he died, I mean, I went apeshit. Tore up our photos, punched the wall, cried myself fucking dry, that kind of stupid shit. I was so mad. I trusted him to come back, and he didn’t. Thought he was a good pilot. —Sorry. Is that sacrilegious to say? We aren’t supposed to speak ill of the dead, are we? I don’t care. I’m still mad about it. I know I shouldn’t be. But it’s the only thing I know how to be, is angry. Does that make sense?”

“It makes sense.”

“Are you angry?”

“Yes, but not at Mitchell. You know that saying, we have old pilots and bold pilots, but never old, bold pilots? Maverick was an old, bold pilot. We both knew he was living on borrowed time. That’s how he lived.”

“Pretty fucking defeatist.”

Kazansky shrugs again. He is a man defeated.

Seresin says, “Are you gonna be okay?” Then, in the resulting silence, he says, “Sorry, stupid question. Sorry. It’s just—“ He hesitates. It’s only now that Kazansky sees the dark circles under his eyes, the tremor in his hands, the desperation in the stiffness of his shoulders. “Look, it’s just that I don’t think I’m going to be okay, and you’re a lot older than me, and I keep thinking you have, like, the answer. Some wisdom, you know what I mean? How am I gonna be okay? You’re the Commander of the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy. Aren’t you supposed to know what to do? Aren’t you supposed to give me orders? What do I do?”

“If I were a wise man,” Kazansky says, “do you think I would have let him go?”

Seresin is quiet. His food comes. He immediately launches into it, eats ravenously and silently for a few minutes.

Then he says, around a bite of his burger, “You know, I was gonna ask him to marry me.”

“Bradshaw?”

“Who else?”

Kazansky blinks. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah,” says Seresin. “You know, fucking everyone is.”

“Lunch is on me,” Kazansky says.

Home, afterwards, is silent and lonely. Of course it is: Mitchell’s not here. Of course. Kazansky’s settling into it. Life so rarely gives you a choice, when assigning you ritual, routine. There’s still legal paperwork to fill out. That he can do. And there are still letters of condolences to respond to: Thank you for your kind words. Maverick was… figuring out how to end that sentence will give Kazansky a way to occupy his time for a while. And there are flowers to throw out—no one wants flowers after someone they care about has died. They stink up the house and permeate everything with their reminder of grief and mourning, and you’ll find the dried petals even months later and grieve and mourn all over again. Kazansky throws them all out before they can start shedding. There are friends to call and thank for coming. “I don’t know what to say,” Slider says over the phone. / “Yeah, neither do I,” says Kazansky, so they sit in silence on the line together for a while, and that’s pretty nice. / “He was the best of us,” says Sundown, and Kazansky thinks about what Seresin had said a few hours ago: Thought he was a good pilot. It’s a cruel thought, but sometimes the only thing you can be is angry: if Maverick really was the best of us, he should’ve come home. / “You know, I’m still in his debt,” says Cougar. “He saved my life thirty years ago. It’s so fucking stupid, you know what I mean, this idea that I should’ve saved his in return? Feels like it’s my fault that he died. Maybe I’m too superstitious. I’m indebted to a fucking dead man. I’ll never be able to pay him back. —Sorry, Ice. Sorry. I don’t mean to make it all about me. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay,” says Kazansky. “Don’t, um—look, I’m just curious. How did he save your life? Would you mind telling me?”

“I don’t remember too much of it, to be honest,” says Cougar. “That’s why I quit, isn’t it? Something wrong with me. I was so scared I couldn’t see straight. You ever been so scared you couldn’t see straight? I wouldn’t have landed if it weren’t for Maverick. Or, if I had tried, I think I would’ve plowed into the side of the boat. Dipping my wings, power too low, basically drunk-driving my Tomcat. There was something wrong with me. You know, they could’ve kicked him out for that stunt, touch-and-going his F-14 like that. We were both outta gas. It could’ve killed him, too. But he guided me in. Saved my life. —I don’t think I ever told you this. I probably did about ten million dollars of damage to that plane. Fucked up my landing gear, snapped off my tailhook, ground up into the fuselage.”

“But you lived.”

“But I lived,” says Cougar. “And I came home to my family. Only ‘cause of him.”

“He was a hero.”

“He was a fucking hero,” says Cougar. “To the very fucking last. Sorry you had to go and fall in love with him. They advise against that, don’t they?”

“What, falling in love with heroes?”

“Yeah. —Sorry. Not funny.”

“A little funny. In a cosmic sense. Means it’s my own fault.”

Cougar pauses. “It wasn’t your fault, Ice.”

There’s still a Fleet to be run. Still work to be done. Kazansky can do that. People will laud him for the rest of his life for his professionalism under duress. He works when he should be grieving. Work is a ritual, too. Take some time off, sir, one of the Chief of Naval Operations’ aides had begged him. You need time. But he can’t. Only thing to do is keep working until all the work is done. The geopolitical situation after the mission, which was still classified as a success, is quite bad. They knew it would be. A bombing mission on Russian territory right near the American general election? Yeah, that’s bad. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has openly stated that if they find any remains of Mitchell and Bradshaw’s bodies, they will not extradite them home to the United States. I’m sorry you had to hear that, the President e-mailed him personally. But it’s fine. Kazansky likes the chaos. Means there’s work to do. He works.

When he can’t work anymore, because he’s done all the work that needs to be done, he takes care of another ritual. Life assigned him this one without giving him a choice, too. It’s past 2200. He turns no light on. He’s not sleeping in their bed, which is pretty cliché, and maybe he should be stronger than that, but you do have to make some concessions to your own grief when something like this happens. But he’s strong enough to sit on the side of it that had been his and open his phone and dial the number of his only favorited contact and hold the phone to his ear. It gives the dial tone five times, as is routine, and then Mitchell picks up the phone, as is routine. Hi! Captain Pete Mitchell here! Unfortunately I’m not able to come to the phone right now. Leave a message, or if it’s Navy business, you can shoot me an e-mail at C. A. P. T. dot P. dot Mitchell at navy dot mil. Thanks! Bye. Maybe Mitchell’s just busy. Maybe Mitchell’s somewhere without cell service. Maybe Mitchell’s just out flying.

Kazansky considers leaving a message, as is routine; realizes he doesn’t know what to say, as is routine; and hangs up, as is routine.

He takes all his medals off the rack of his double-breasted blues coat, packs them back into their clear-plastic-velvet boxes. He considers, momentarily, throwing out the Medal of Honor with the flowers. But he’s too self-aware to do that. He hangs up his coat on its felt-lined hanger, steams it straight, does the same to his slacks, slips the ensemble back into its garment bag, hangs it up next to Mitchell’s in their closet. This is a ritual, too. He takes a shower. He eats something. He answers a couple e-mails. He climbs into a bed that is not his own. He holds one of Mitchell’s college sweatshirts over his face and breathes in. He takes stock. His fuel gauge is reading pretty low. He knows his wings are dipping. If he really thought about it, he’d say he’s so scared he can’t see straight. And the truth is—he’s not so un-self-aware that he can’t recognize this, however numbly—Maverick’s not coming home to guide him in to land. Maverick’s never coming home again. Thought you were a good pilot. He closes his eyes. He tries to sleep.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich:: GOP strategy in its totality

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 18, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 19, 2024

Today, at a White House reception in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, President Joe Biden said: "We don't demonize immigrants. We don't single them out for attacks. We don't believe they're poisoning the blood of the country. We're a nation of immigrants, and that's why we're so damn strong."

Biden’s celebration of the country’s heritage might have doubled as a celebration of the success of his approach to piloting the economy out of the ravages of the pandemic. Today the Fed cut interest rates a half a point, a dramatic cut indicating that it considers inflation to be under control. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has maintained that it would be possible to slow inflation without causing a recession—a so-called soft landing—and she appears to have been vindicated.

Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said: “The labor market is in solid condition, and our intention with our policy move today is to keep it there. You can say that about the whole economy: The US economy is in good shape. It’s growing at a solid pace, inflation is coming down. The labor market is at a strong pace. We want to keep it there. That’s what we’re doing.”

Powell, whom Trump first appointed to his position, said, “We do our work to serve all Americans. We’re not serving any politician, any political figure, any cause, any issue, nothing. It’s just maximum employment and price stability on behalf of all Americans.”

Powell was anticipating accusations from Trump that his cutting of rates was an attempt to benefit Harris before the election. Indeed, Jeff Stein of the Washington Post reported that Trump advisor Steven Moore called the move “jaw-dropping. There's no reason they couldn't do 25 now and 25 right after the election. Why not wait till then?” Moore added, "I'm not saying [the] reduction isn't justified—it may well be and they have more data than I do. But i just think, 'why now?’” Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville called the cut “shamelessly political.” 

The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch noted that “Trump has been begging officials worldwide not to do the right thing for years to help rig the election for him—no deal in Gaza, no defense of Ukraine, no Kremlin hostages release, no border deal, no continuing resolution, no interest rate cuts etc—just sabotage & subterfuge.”

That impulse to focus on regaining power rather than serving the country was at least part of what was behind Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. That story has gotten even darker as it turns out Vance and Trump received definitive assurances on September 9 that the rumor was false, but Trump ran with it in the presidential debate of September 10 anyway. Now, although it has been made very clear—including by Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine—that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are there legally, Vance told a reporter today that he personally considers the programs under which they came illegal, so he is still “going to call [a Haitian migrant] an illegal alien.”

The lies about those immigrants have so derailed the Springfield community with bomb threats and public safety concerns that when the Trump campaign suggested Trump was planning a visit there, the city’s Republican mayor, Rob Rue, backed by DeWine, threw cold water on the idea. “It would be an extreme strain on our resources. So it’d be fine with me if they decided not to make that visit,” Rue said. Nonetheless, tonight, Trump told a crowd in Long Island, New York, that he will go to Springfield within the next two weeks. 

The false allegation against Haitian immigrants has sparked outrage, but it has accomplished one thing for the campaign, anyway: it has gotten Trump at least to speak about immigration—which was the issue they planned to campaign on—rather than Hannibal Lecter, electric boats, and sharks, although he continues to insist that “everyone is agreeing that I won the Debate with Kamala.” Trump, Vance, and Republican lawmakers are now talking more about policies.

In the presidential debate of September 10, Trump admitted that after nine years of promising he would release a new and better healthcare plan than the Affordable Care Act in just a few weeks, all he really had were “concepts of a plan.” Vance has begun to explain to audiences that he intends to separate people into different insurance pools according to their health conditions and risk levels. That business model meant that insurers could refuse to insure people with pre-existing conditions, and overturning it was a key driver of the ACA.

Senate and House Republicans told Peter Sullivan of Axios that if they regain control of the government, they will work to get rid of the provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that permits the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. Negotiations on the first ten drugs, completed in August, will lower the cost of those drugs enough to save taxpayers $6 billion a year, while those enrolled in Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses. 

Yesterday Trump promised New Yorkers that he would restore the state and local tax deduction (SALT) that he himself capped at $10,000 in his 2017 tax cuts. In part, the cap was designed to punish Democratic states that had high taxes and higher government services, but now he wants to appeal to voters in those same states. On CNBC, host Joe Kernan pointed out that this would blow up the deficit, but House speaker Mike Johnson said that the party would nonetheless consider such a measure because it would continue to stand behind less regulation and lower taxes.

In a conversation with Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his former press secretary, Trump delivered another stream of consciousness commentary in which he appeared to suggest that he would lower food prices by cutting imports. Economics professor Justin Wolfers noted: “I'm exhausted even saying it, but blocking supply won't reduce prices, and it's not even close.” Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark added, “Tell me more about why you have to vote for Trump because of his ‘policies.’”

Trump has said he supports in vitro fertilization, or IVF, as have a number of Republican lawmakers, but today, 44 Republican senators once again blocked the Senate from passing a measure protecting it. The procedure is in danger from state laws establishing “fetal personhood,” which give a fertilized egg all the rights of a human being as established by the Fourteenth Amendment. That concept is in the 2024 Republican Party platform.

Trump has also demanded that Republicans in Congress shut down the government unless a continuing resolution to fund the government contains the so-called SAVE Act requiring people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Speaker Johnson continues to suggest that undocumented immigrants vote in elections, but it is illegal for even documented noncitizens to do so, and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the nonprofit American Immigration Council notes that even the right-wing Heritage Foundation has found only 12 cases of such illegal voting in the past 40 years.

Johnson brought the continuing resolution bill with the SAVE Act up for a vote today. It failed by a vote of 202 to 220. If the House and then the Senate don’t pass a funding bill, the government will shut down on October 1.

Republican endorsements of the Harris-Walz ticket continue to pile up. On Monday, six-term representative Bob Inglis (R-SC) told the Charleston City Paper that “Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the republic” and said he would vote for Harris. “If Donald Trump loses, that would be a good thing for the Republican Party,” Inglis said. “Because then we could have a Republican rethink and get a correction.” 

George W. Bush’s attorney general Alberto Gonzales, conservative columnist George Will, more than 230 former officials for presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and 17 former staff members for Ronald Reagan have all recently added their names to the list of those supporting Harris. Today more than 100 Republican former members of Congress and national security officials who served in Republican administrations endorsed Harris, saying they “firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump.” They cited his chaotic governance, his praising of enemies and undermining allies, his politicizing the military and disparaging veterans, his susceptibility to manipulation by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and his attempt to overthrow democracy. They praised Harris for her consistent championing of “the rule of law, democracy, and our constitutional principles.” 

Yesterday, singer-songwriters Billie Eilish, who has 119 million followers on Instagram, and Finneas, who has 4.2 million, asked people to register and to vote for Harris and Walz. “Vote like your life depends on it,” Eilish said, “because it does.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration warned that it could restrict weapons transfers to Israel if the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip does not increase. 

A letter sent Sunday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accused Israel of sharply reducing humanitarian assistance to Gaza Palestinians. The letter also referred to a memorandum President Joe Biden issued in February linking military aid to how the receiving country administers humanitarian relief. 

Israel was not named in the February memo but was widely seen as its target, at a time when the two governments were growing increasingly at odds over Israel’s conduct of the war.

“The amount of assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year,” the letter said, noting that the delivery of relief had improved considerably in the weeks immediately following Biden’s warning before decreasing again.

Giving Israel a 30-day deadline, the letter called for allowing in at least 350 trucks of relief a day, up from 69 per day in August, according to aid agencies. The letter also called for allowing people crowded in the coastal zone to move inward and for the removal of restrictions impeding the delivery of aid. The possible consequences outlined in the letter are broad, ranging from a second warning to suspending deliveries of weapons. 

“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy,” it said, referring to Biden’s national security memo. “Remediation could include actions from refreshing the assurances to suspending any further transfers of defense articles or, as appropriate, defense services.”

Democratic officials have consistently called on Israel to let more aid into Gaza. The letter was sent the same day that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted her concern at the slowdown in aid delivery.

“The U.N. reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly 2 weeks,” Harris wrote. “Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need. Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.”

When weighing in on Israel and Gaza, Harris has sought to straddle competing Democratic constituencies that are both crucial to her election chances: Jewish and pro-Israel voters seeking assurances that she would continue Biden’s overall robust backing for the country in its multi-front war, and progressives and Arab and Muslim Americans and pro-Palestinian activists appalled at Israel’s conduct. She has been campaigning hard in Michigan, a swing state with what is believed to be the country’s largest Arab American population as well as a large Jewish voter base.

The letter outlined a number of obstacles currently impeding humanitarian assistance, including strict customs rules. And it said the vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents had been pushed into a small strip stretching from near the border with Egypt to less than halfway into the enclave, which posed additional risks. 

“Extreme overcrowding has put these civilians at high risk of lethal contagion,” it said. “Humanitarian implementers report they are unable to meet essential survival needs of aid-dependent civilians.”

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said in a press call that the letter “follows a relatively recent decrease in humanitarian assistance reaching the people of Gaza, which is obviously something we’ve been very, very concerned about since the beginning of the conflict,” 

The letter, he said, was spurred by “the sense of urgency that we all have here about the desperate need of the people of Gaza for this humanitarian assistance.” International health officials have long said that Gaza is in a famine or close to it.

Kirby would not predict what the breadth of the consequences would be should Israel be deemed non-compliant, but he reiterated the Biden administration’s commitment to assisting Israel in defending itself from Iran, noting the pending deployment of missile batteries and U.S. troops to Israel. 

The deployment is “very much in keeping with the President’s strong desire that from an air defense perspective, our ally has what they need to defend themselves against, clearly, a very real, present, viable threat by Iran and its proxies,” he said.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, indicated to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Israel would change its policies in response to the letter.

“The letter has been received and is being thoroughly reviewed by Israeli security officials,” the official said. “Israel takes this matter seriously and intends to address the concerns raised in this letter with our American counterparts.”

But Israel has also consistently denied that it is hindering aid delivery. On Monday, a day after the letter was sent but a day before it was leaked to the press, COGAT, the Israeli agency coordinating the delivery of goods into Gaza, tweeted video of what it said was 30 trucks entering the strip.

“Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into Gaza,” it said.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the premier pro-Israel lobby, said on X that the letter was dangerous.

‘Threatening to cut off American support for Israel as it confronts Iran and its proxies on seven fronts weakens our ally, undermines American interests, and sends a dangerous message to our common enemies about U.S. support for our democratic allies,” AIPAC said in an unusually sharp rebuke to a president.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to crush Hamas in Gaza, even as the military is increasingly focused on fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Monday, the Associated Press reported that Netanyahu was considering a proposal to give Palestinian civilians a week to leave northern Gaza before aid would be cut off entirely. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told Austin that the proposal would not be implemented.

“In the last two weeks, the IDF has been conducting a ground operation in northern Gaza to destroy Hamas terrorist infrastructure, which just this week launched rockets from northern Gaza towards civilian populations in Israel,” COGAT said. “Israel will continue to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, while simultaneously destroying Hamas’ military and governance infrastructures.”

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

From the Times of Israel: “Without coordination with Israel, it will be almost impossible for UNRWA to work in Gaza or the West Bank, since Jerusalem would no longer be issuing entrance permits to those territories or allowing coordination with the IDF. Israel also currently controls access to Gaza from Egypt, with Israeli forces deployed along the border between them.”

The proper response from UNRWA would be: Thank you. For an agency funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money alone, and which does nothing but perpetuate the conflict so it can continue collecting other people’s hard-earned money and spending it on terrorists, any punishment shy of closure and the prosecution of its directors is a gift.

The UN, of course, is furious. But honestly, who cares? For posterity, here’s the crux of the world body’s complaint: “The vote by the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) against UNRWA this evening is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent. It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.”

An unprecedented precedent-setter! The legislation, we’re told, “will deprive over 650,000 girls and boys there from education.” An education from literal Hamas political leaders? Or accused hostage-takers? Anyway, the “education” provided by UNRWA schools teaches children to venerate terrorists and to hate Jews, which is really no education at all.

Finally, UNRWA says, “Putting an end to UNRWA and its services will not strip the Palestinians from their refugee status. That status is protected by another UN General Assembly resolution until a fair and lasting solution is found to the plight of the Palestinians.”

About that “refugee status.” Palestinian refugees, according to the agency’s own definition, are “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.”

UNRWA then sneaks in that the descendants of refugees are “eligible” for refugee benefits as well. The common claim that there are millions of Palestinian refugees from 1948 is very obviously false. There were perhaps as many as 750,000 refugees. Palestinians are the only refugee class with their own UN agency. It is no coincidence at all that that agency has inflated the number of refugees even though its own definition of a refugee makes that number impossible.

According to Jonathan Schanzer, COMMENTARY contributing editor and vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, members of Congress have been trying for years to pass legislation that would apply the actual definition of a “refugee” to Palestinians. A 2012 amendment would have required “the secretary of state to report to Congress on how many Palestinians serviced by UNRWA are true refugees from wars past — those who could prove that they were personally displaced. That number is believed to be closer to 30,000 people. This new tally would then become the focus of America’s assistance to UNRWA for refugee issues.”

[darkmaga-returns]

Originally published on May 8, 2023: According to a May 11, 2022 article from the domestic Russian news agency, RIA Novisti, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov conducted a military investigation of global biological labs and outbreaks, US military operations, US government documents, and private government-corporate contracts; concluded that the foundation, development, and deployment of the United States criminal biological warfare program was primarily orchestrated under President Barack Obama (beginning in Bush Jr. admin when Obama was senator), coordinated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and funded by George Soros through then Vice President, Joe Biden.

According to General Kirillov, key findings of the Russian Military investigation include;

US Congress passed legislation under Barack Obama that legalized cooperative government and private funding of bioweapons development outside the US.

As Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, proposed the need for bioweapons development for purposes of ‘biodefense’ and also sold the idea of ‘dual-use of research’ funds.

Investor George Soros turned out to be “the main sponsor of military biological research in Ukraine and a lobbyist for Big Pharma."

Vice President Joe Biden, under Obama, coordinated the activities of the military biological program and was involved in financial fraud in Ukraine.

Pharmaceutical companies participate in this scheme, including Pfizer, Moderna and the American Merck, as well as Gilead, a company affiliated with the US military department.

The Russian Ministry of Defense came to the conclusion that Ukraine has actually become a Pentagon testing ground for the development of biological weapons components and testing of new samples of pharmaceuticals.

[jewishbarbies]

https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1gq06je/fox_news_host_nominated_for_us_secretary_of/

NAHHHHH THIS COUNTRY IS SO UNSERIOUS

A FOX NEWS HOST??? FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE???? A NEWS HOST???

Might as well hire Tucker Carlson to be head of DOJ

Fox News just for Secretary of Defense, Kristi Noem for head of Homeland Security, Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy in a whole new “government efficiency” agency, RFK jr for public health, Mike Huckabee for US Ambassador to Israel. this administration was a joke either way with president and vice but now it’s a whole fucking clown show and it’s just as dangerous as we thought.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Zeke Miller at AP, via HuffPost:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Sunday was launching “Republicans for Harris” as she looks to win over Republican voters put off by Donald Trump’s candidacy. The program will be a “campaign within a campaign,” according to Harris’ team, using well-known Republicans to activate their networks, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The program will kick off with events this week in Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Republicans backing Harris will also appear at rallies with the vice president and her soon-to-be-named running mate this coming week, the campaign said.

The Harris campaign shared the details of the program first with The Associated Press before the official announcement. Her team is trying to create “a permission structure” for GOP voters who would otherwise have a difficult time voting for Harris. The effort will rely heavily on Republican-to-Republican voter contact, with the belief that the best way to get a Republican to vote for Harris is to hear directly from another Republican making the same choice. Trump’s “extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values” and will vote against him again in November, said Harris’ national director of Republican outreach, Austin Weatherford. He said the campaign would be “showing up and taking the time every single day to earn the vote of Republicans who believe in putting country over party and know that every American deserves a president who will protect their freedoms and a commander in chief who will put the best interests of the American people above their own.” Weatherford is a onetime chief of staff to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who had endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket before President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump. Kinzinger is backing Harris once more as part of the launch.

“As a proud conservative, I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for President,” he said in a statement. “But, I know Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House.” Kinzinger developed a national profile as one of two Republicans on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The committee highlighted a number of Trump’s transgressions before and during the deadly attack as Congress tried to certify the results of the 2020 election that Biden won over Trump.

[...] The Harris campaign’s effort includes former Govs. Bill Weld of Massachusetts and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and 16 former Republican members of Congress, including Kinzinger and Reps. Joe Walsh of Illinois and Susan Molinari of New York. All have been notable critics of Trump in the past. Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham is also endorsing Harris.

Republicans For Harris is launched to serve traditionally GOP-leaning voters turned off by Donald Trump.

[the-psudo]

Trump's People

“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. … Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” — Mike Pence, Trump's vice president

“Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.” — Bill Barr, Trump's 2nd attorney general

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.” — James Mattis, Trump's 1st secretary of defense

“I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.” — Mark Esper, Trump's 2nd secretary of defense

“We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” — retired Gen. Mark Milley, Trump's chairman of the joint chiefs

“(Trump’s) understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.” — Rex Tillerson, Trump's secretary of state

“He used to be good on foreign policy and now he has started to walk it back and get weak in the knees when it comes to Ukraine. A terrible thing happened on January 6, and he called it a beautiful day.” — Nikki Haley, Trump's 1st ambassador to the United Nations

“Someone who I would argue now is just out for himself.” — Chris Christie, Trump's presidential transition vice-chairman

“We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country.” — HR McMaster, Trump's 2nd national security adviser

“I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool.” — John Bolton, Trump's 3rd national security adviser

“A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.” — John Kelly, Trump's 2nd chief of staff

“I quit because I think he failed at being the president when we needed him to be that.” — Mick Mulvaney, Trump's acting chief of staff and US special envoy to Ireland, resigned after January 6th, 2021

“He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century.” — Anthony Scaramucci, one of Trump's former communications directors

“I am terrified of him running in 2024.” — Stephanie Grisham, another former communications director

“When I saw what was happening on January 6 and didn’t see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue.” — Betsy DeVos, Trump's secretary of education, resigned after January 6th, 2021

“At a particular point the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy." — Elaine Chao, Trump's secretary of Transportation, resigned after January 6th, 2021

“…the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.” — Richard Spencer, Trump's 1st secretary of the Navy

“The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace.” — Tom Bossert, Trump's 1st homeland security adviser

“Donald’s an idiot.” — Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer

“Trump relentlessly puts forth claims that are not true.” — Ty Cobb, Trump's White House lawyer

“We can stand by the policies, but at this point we cannot stand by the man.” — Alyssa Farah Griffin, one of Trump's directors of strategic communications, now a CNN political commentator

“Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness.” — Omarosa Manigault Newman, a top aide in charge of Trump's outreach to African Americans

“I thought that he did do a lot of good during his four years. I think that his actions on January 6 and the lead-up to it, the way that he’s acted in the aftermath, and his continuation of pushing this lie that the election is stolen has made him wholly unfit to hold office every again.” — Sarah Matthews, one of Trump's deputy press secretaries, resigned after January 6th, 2021

“I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.” — Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump's final chief of staff’s aide

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Vijeta Uniyal

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel of  ‘diplomatic isolation’ if it decides to go against Hamas in Rafah. The offensive “risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long term security and standing,” Blinken said during his visit to Israel on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris threatened Israel with “consequences” if the country went ahead with the operation.

“Let me tell you something: I have studied the maps,” Harris declared, bragging about her grasp of cartography and urban warfare. “There’s nowhere for those folks to go,” she claimed referring to Rafah’s civilian population.

President Biden’s national security spokesman, John Kirby, became the latest White House staffer to warn Israel against taking on Hamas terrorists in Rafah, the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported:

Later on Wednesday, the White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby reiterated that the U.S. stands against the operation in Rafah, telling Channel 12 that Washington “just can’t support a major ground offensive in Rafah that doesn’t include an achievable, verifiable plan to look after the safety and security of the 1.5 million Gazans that have sought refuge there.” “Again, we believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is a mistake. We believe that there are other ways to go after Hamas in Rafah to do it in a way that doesn’t put those people, the refugees, in harm’s way,” added Kirby.

Apart from diplomatic threats, the Biden administration appears to have slowed down defense exports in a bid to force Israel into submission. After nearly six months of fighting, the Israeli officials “noted a recent reduction of American arms supplies,” The New York Sun reported March 18. The IDF was “running out of 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells, as well as sensitive guidance equipment,” the news website disclosed.

With Israel busy with humanitarian planning, Hamas fortifies Rafah

With the Israeli government and the military planners busy with humanitarian planning, Hamas appears to have received a desperately sought breather after months of fighting. Hamas’s terrorist fighting force is regrouping and fortifying its last-standing stronghold, the Israeli media reported citing Arab sources.

The i24NEWS reported Thursday:

Hamas began preparing for an Israeli ground operation into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, according to a report published by the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Thursday. According to the report, citing a Hamas leader, coordination was underway “emphasizing not to allow the breaking of resistance in Gaza under any circumstances, no matter what it costs.”

[psychic-refugee]

Wenvier Bingo Bodyguard

President Sherry Thorpe had a meteoric rise in her political career. She started in the House, representing New York’s 26th Congressional District, hailing from Niagara. She was instantly popular and soon became a Senator for New York.

It was no surprise when she ran for the Presidency and became the United States first Outcast President in its history.

The only dark horse in her campaign was her son, Xavier. There was something off about him that no one could quite define. Some said it was simply his nature as an Outcast, but many did not care about his designation or his psychic powers. They insisted that whatever was weird about it, had nothing to do with being an Outcast.

Perhaps there was something about his intense green eyes, but whatever it was about Xavier, it scared off bodyguards left and right.

That was, until Wednesday.

She was distinguished amongst her cohort, scoring the highest on the written and physical exams. Although a background check was not technically a test, she managed to get the highest marks regardless.

Wednesday was also an Outcast, and something about Xavier made her shiver underneath her skin, and it wasn’t just because of how handsome he was.

It turned out President Sherry had been keeping a deep dark secret, one that could no longer be kept.

It was a re-election year, and Madam President and her closest advisors were brought into the Oval Office for an off the record secret meeting.

There was Vice President Larissa Weems, Chief of Staff Enid Sinclair, Secretary of Defense Donovan Galpin, and Secretary of State Morticia Addams.

Xavier was there as well, unsure of what the meeting was about. Wednesday his ever present shadow was off to the side, standing vigilant.

All but President Thorpe sat on the decorative couches, awaiting the life changing news.

Sherry sighed, she had always hoped her dark secret would die with her, and she went over to the alcohol tray and poured herself four fingers worth of bourbon.

She savored the smooth taste and enjoyed the slight burn.

“I am being blackmailed,” she started off.

It caused everyone to tense, but they were expecting something like it. They were in politics after all, and there was no such thing as a spotless politician.

“What is it? Hookers? Drugs?” Galpin wanted it over with, “Please do not tell me it’s war profiteering.”

“It’s worse,” she warned them and took another drink. They all braced themselves.

“It’s about Xavier,” she didn’t know why it was so hard to confess, but she couldn’t help but buy herself time. “He’s…Canadian.”

They all audibly gasped, Morticia had brought her hand to her mouth in horror.

“He’s…how?!” Larissa demanded to know, how could THE President of the United States keep such a secret and get away with it?

Enid was a bit more forgiving and thought that it explained a lot.

He has an unnatural love for hockey, he doesn’t like Dunkin or Krispy Kreme.

She shuddered at the thought of him liking Tim Horton’s, she couldn’t even look at him.

“I met his father on a diplomatic trip to Toronto, before peace talks totally broke down and they built the wall…he was in a band. They can be very charming and polite,” she tried to justify herself.

“Yeah, charming and polite until they chop you in half with a wood axe,” Donovan sneered, more familiar than most with how ruthless the Canucks could be.

“That’s enough,” Morticia warned him, “This is manageable.”

“Manageable?” Donovan couldn’t believe those words had come out of her mouth. “This is a goddamn constitutional crisis. The 28th Amendment, None of Canadian blood, or related thereof, shall hold the Office of President. Does that ring a bell?”

“Do not quote the Constitution to me, I was there at the start of the Maple Wars and when that Amendment was enacted,” Morticia snapped. "He's of her blood, she's not of his blood..." the argument failed on her tongue as the caselaw was iffy at best.

"Oh, because U.S. citizens are so good at thinking fairly and being level headed," he snorted in derision. "I'm sure they'll all politely agree, especially the ones who lost loved ones in the Great Maple Flood of '24, or the Beaver Massacre of '24, or losing North Montana to Saskatchwan," he rattled off Canadian war crimes and atrocities.

“Everyone quiet!” Larissa had enough, she turned to Xavier’s bodyguard. “Wednesday, find the blackmailers and kill them. Protocol Nevermore,” which not only gave Wednesday leave to kill, but to wipe all traces of their bloodline and evidence of Xavier’s dark secret.

Wednesday nodded her head and gave no indication of emotion, as she was typically wont to do, and immediately left.

They all turned to Larissa, bewildered,

“Oh, don’t be so naïve. Of course she doubles as an assassin. This is America. Who else could handle Xavier?” Larissa was not about to be judged for her decisive actions. “Combining the dark blood of Canadians and Outcasts, really Sherry?”

“If you heard his father sing, you’d understand,” the President shrugged, slightly drunk but glad the issue was being taken care of, she did have the best Cabinet.

Later that night, Xavier painted in the loft he owned in Georgetown. Wednesday had come, splatters of blood on her normally pristine suit.

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” he said softly as he stood before her, eyeing her up and down to make sure she was unhurt.

“I will always protect you,” she promised, pulling him down for a kiss.

“We never even got to tell them our own little secret,” he gently cupped her barely swelling belly, he knew his mother and her Cabinet would not be happy that he had been dating his bodyguard.

“One crisis at a time.”

Card under cut

[beardedllamaoafwombat]

Weird ideas are my favourite hobby.

Kaguya and Ninjago...

I've been thinking about this au for a very long time, so in a way, but I'm not sure I'll ever realize it in fanfic format.

So I'll leave it here as a reminder of a flight of imagination at three in the morning.

Wu as the principal of Destiny School, true to the old traditions, has been in office for decades, while also running a defense circle with the kids.

Morro as the former president of the institution, was a very strict man with a strong will, who greatly valued discipline and hard work in people.

Being Wu's adopted child, he greatly appreciated the care he had received, and wishing the old man all the best, tried by his rules and innovations not to dishonor the honor of the school.

Lloyd began to live with them from the age of 11, when his father went into a mental hospital. His mother he never saw, and the only relative was only Wu. It was very hard for a teenager to adapt to a new atmosphere, especially when your uncle is not a particularly tactile person and your older brother is demanding about details.

The only friends at the new school were a few guys and Harumi, after a scandal with whom Lloyd completely closes himself off from the world.Homeschooled for a few years with a lonely life before the new president calls him to a committee, giving the kid a chance to go back to school.

I think both Cole and Skylor could fit the role of president. Issues with dads, never saw their mom, calm and responsible leaders. And rich.

And for the role of Kaguya...

Kai as an impatient and driven guy, aspiring to become the school's president while taking the vice-president's seat.

Eager to prove to himself that he is capable of being a good leader, Smith collects almost half of the votes and draws up a program of innovations if he wins the election.

But Morro prevents him from becoming one, angrily poking Kai about his poor grades in science classes.

"The president should have a perfect report card in ALL subjects to be a role model. Your messing around with tangents and cotangents doesn't make you that example."

Even after having a serious fight with the brunet, Kai heeds his words and does well in all subjects the following year. But not fine, becoming vice president.

With Skylor, he'll be more half-flirting-half-arguing while working, constantly saying he'll beat her by a few votes next year.

With Cole, he'll be more competitive and argumentative, fighting him with a piece of sausage at times.

The role of treasurer could go to Pixal with her calculations and logical mind. She will calm the whole committee down if Wu abruptly tells them about the guests from France flying in next week.

The secretary will be Jay, who is the only one who will keep the committee from dying into a routine with his jokes. Oh, and video games, of course.

Akita, as Iino, will be trying to become the new president, having Zane and Lloyd as her cheerleaders.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Michael De Adder

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 27, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

FEB 28, 2024

The House of Representatives will be back in session tomorrow after the February 19 Presidents Day holiday. It is facing a number of crucial issues, but the ongoing problem of the radicalism of the MAGA Republicans has ground—and, apparently, continues to grind—legislation to a halt.  

The farm bill, which establishes the main agricultural and food policies of the government—agricultural subsidies and food benefits, among other things—and which needs to be reauthorized every five years, expired in September 2023. While Congress extended the 2018 bill as a stopgap until September 2024, the new bill should be passed.

The farm bill has more breathing room than the appropriations bills to fund the government in fiscal year 2024 (which started on October 1, 2023). Four of the continuing resolutions Congress passed to keep the government running will expire on March 1; the other eight will expire on March 8. Operating on a continuing resolution that maintains 2023 levels of spending means the government cannot shift to the new priorities Congress agreed to in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, along with leaders from the Pentagon and the Senate, warns that the lack of appropriations measures is compromising national defense. 

On an even tighter timeline is the national security supplemental bill to aid Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ukraine is running out of ammunition, and its war effort is faltering. Every day that passes without the matériel only the U.S. can provide hurts the Ukrainians’ cause.

All of these measures are stalled because extremist MAGA Republicans in the House are insisting their demands be included in them. Negotiators have been trying to hash out the farm bill for months, and today Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said she would rather continue to extend the 2018 law than bow to the House Republicans’ demands for cuts to food assistance programs and funding for climate change. 

Appropriations bills are generally passed “clean,” that is, without the inclusion of unrelated controversial elements. But House Republicans are insisting the appropriations bills include their own demands for much deeper cuts than House leadership agreed to, as well as riders about abortion; gun policy; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives; LGBTQ+ rights; and so on. Those are nonstarters for Democrats.

As for the national security supplemental measure, lawmakers agree on a bipartisan basis that Ukraine’s successful defense against Russia’s invasion is crucial to U.S. national security. The Senate passed the bill on a strong bipartisan vote of 70 to 29, and if brought to the floor of the House, it would be expected to pass there, too. 

But House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuses to bring it to the floor. When President Joe Biden first asked for the aid in October, Republicans insisted they could not see their way to protecting our national security overseas without addressing it on the southern border. A bipartisan group of senators spent four months hashing out a border provision for the bill—House Republicans declined to participate—only to have House Republicans scuttle the measure when former president Trump told them to. The Senate promptly passed a bill that didn’t have the border component. Rather than take it up, the House recessed.

Today, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with congressional leaders and urged them to pass the appropriations bills and the national security supplemental. But Biden, Harris, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) all agree on the need to pass these measures immediately. The holdout is House speaker Johnson.

After the meeting, Schumer said the meeting on Ukraine was “one of the most intense” scenes he had ever seen in the Oval Office. "We said to the speaker, 'Get it done.' I told him this is one of the moments—I said I've been around here a long time. It's maybe four or five times that history is looking over your shoulder, and if you don't do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it. I told him two years from now and every year after that, because really, it's in his hands." 

For his part, Johnson said that “the House is actively pursuing and investigating all the various options” on the supplemental bill, “but again, the first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure.” 

Johnson appears to be working for Trump, who is strongly opposed to aid for Ukraine and likely intends to use immigration as a campaign issue. 

But Trump is a poor choice to give control over United States security. Yesterday, Special Counsel Jack Smith responded to Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against him associated with his stealing and hiding classified documents on the grounds that he was being treated differently than President Biden, who had also had classified documents in his possession but was not criminally charged.

Smith noted that while there have been many government officials who have accidentally or willfully kept classified documents, and even some who briefly resisted attempts to recover them, Trump’s behavior was unique. “He intentionally took possession of a vast trove of some of the nation’s most sensitive documents…and stored them in unsecured locations at his heavily trafficked social club.” Then, when the government tried to recover the documents, Trump “delayed, obfuscated, and dissembled,” finally handing over only “a fraction” of those in his possession. No one, Smith wrote, “has engaged in a remotely similar suite of willful and deceitful criminal conduct and not been prosecuted.” 

Perhaps to distract from Smith’s filing, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability chair James Comer (R-KY) and House Committee on the Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) today subpoenaed information from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of documents. Hur’s report exonerated the president and showed such contrast between Trump's behavior and Biden's full cooperation with officials that Smith used material from it in his filing. 

Comer and Jordan are likely also eager to find new material against Biden after the man who provided the key evidence in their impeachment attempt turned out to be working with Russian intelligence agents and was recently indicted for lying and creating a false record.

Since this year is a leap year, Congress has three days to pass the first four of the appropriations measures or to find another workaround before March 1, when parts of the government shut down. As Schumer said, those measures, along with the national security supplemental bill, are now in Speaker Johnson’s hands.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.

He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public. He also will address the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles. Howitzers can strike targets up to 15 miles to 20 miles away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.

Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of the 155 mm shells from the U.S.

With the war now well into its third year, Zelenskyy has been pushing the U.S. for permission to use longer range missile systems to fire deeper inside of Russia.

So far he has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation on the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.

At one point in the war, Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 155 mm shells per day. That rate started to deplete U.S. stockpiles and drew concern that the level on hand was not enough to sustain U.S. military needs if another major conventional war broke out, such as in a potential conflict over Taiwan.

In response the U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155 mm rounds a month, with plans to hit 100,000 rounds a month. During his visit, Zelenskyy is expected meet and thank workers who have increased production of the 155 mm rounds over the past year.

Two of the Pentagon leaders who have pushed that increased production through — Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer — are also expected to join Zelenskyy at the plant, as is Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa.

The 155 mm rounds are just one of the scores of ammunition, missile, air defense and advanced weapons systems the U.S. has provided Ukraine — everything from small arms bullets to advanced F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. has been the largest donor to Ukraine, providing more than $56 billion of the more than $106 billion NATO and partner countries have collected to aid in its defense.

Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, commitment to its defense is seen by many of the European nations as a must to keep Putin from further military aggression that could threaten bordering NATO-member countries and result in a much larger conflict.

[dragoneyes618]

The Biden administration’s dogged focus on creating a Palestinian state is “obtuse” and “delusional,” according to experts who spoke with JNS.

Their comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call last week for a “concrete, time-bound, irreversible path to a Palestinian state” during his visit to the Middle East.

Jason Greenblatt, former White House Envoy to the Middle East and author of the widely acclaimed book “In the Path of Abraham” about the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the Abraham Accords, said that for Blinken to be so obsessed with the two-state solution is “very dangerous.”

“It’s completely tone-deaf to talk about things like this at the moment after Oct. 7,” he said. “It’s not only a waste of time, it makes absolutely no sense.”

It’s “shocking that a U.S. administration under ordinary circumstances, let alone after Oct. 7, would push for that,” he added.

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also called out the international community’s obsession with the two-state solution, saying that the United States, United Kingdom and other Europeans “have failed to read the room in the aftermath of Oct. 7.”

This is “not the time to ask Israelis to make painful sacrifices,” he told JNS.

“It just is not where the Israeli population is right now and it really strikes me as obtuse that the Europeans, United States and United Kingdom are pushing this line,” he said.

According to John Hannah, a Randi and Charles Wax Senior Fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) in Washington, anyone advocating on behalf of recognizing or creating a Palestinian state in the near future is “delusional.”

“It reflects a total absence of understanding, not only of the impact of Oct. 7 on Israel, but of power politics, the Palestinian situation, and—most importantly—U.S. national interests,” he told JNS.

Hannah said that Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s message at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January “should ring loudly in every Western liberal’s ears.” Herzog had said that after Oct. 7, “no Israeli in their right mind is thinking of a Palestinian state.”

According to Hannah, movement toward creating a Palestinian state now “would be seen throughout the Middle East and Islamic world as a huge victory for the Iranian Axis of Resistance.”

Pushing for a Palestinian state now “would serve as the most powerful form of confirmation that the Iranian strategy of violence, chaos and genocidal terrorism is the only path to vindicating the rights of Muslims,” he said.

“It would be a huge gift to the worst enemies of America and the West,” he added.

Blinken further infuriated Israelis in a press conference in Tel Aviv on Feb. 7, when he accused Israel of dehumanizing the Palestinians. He said that while Hamas dehumanized Israelis on Oct. 7, and the hostages have been dehumanized every day since, “that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.”

Greenblatt said he had been extremely complimentary regarding the Biden administration, including Blinken, until recently, following these remarks.

“The statements were shameful,” he said. “Israel is not dehumanizing Palestinians…. Those words were absolutely terrible for him to use and it plays into some of the world’s attacks on Israel about genocide,” said Greenblatt.

“It’s shocking actually that he chose to use those words,” he added.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren commended the administration for its ongoing assistance, but condemned Blinken’s comments as well.

“You cannot, as our ultimate ally and as the defender of the free world, come out and accuse Israel of acting inhumanely toward the Palestinians,” he told JNS. “It’s unfair, it’s libelous and it’s inaccurate. It’s simply untrue.”

On Feb. 8, Oren tweeted: “When Secretary of State Blinken accuses Israel—inaccurately, unfairly, and libelously—of dehumanizing Palestinians, he dehumanizes us and contributes to the delegitimization of Israel and the demonization of Jews worldwide…Dehumanizing us endangers our security and possibly our existence.”

Essentially, he told JNS, “It’s…telling the world we are guilty of war crimes. It’s telling all the protesters out there that ‘we agree with you.’”

With regard to a Palestinian state, Oren told JNS he believes at the moment it “has no chance of success.”

“The Palestinians hold the world record for a people who have turned down a two-state solution,” he said, noting they’ve done so “mostly with violence” in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2001 and 2008.

“Now you have a sizable majority of Israelis who understand this is an existential threat,” he said.

In his remarks in Tel Aviv, Blinken said, “The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of Oct. 7, and the families in Gaza…are just like our families. They’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters—[they] want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, have a normal life. That’s who they are; that’s what they want.”

But a Dec. 2023 poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) suggests otherwise.

The poll found that nearly 75% of Palestinians (82% in the West Bank and 57% in the Gaza Strip) believe Hamas’s atrocities were justified.

The poll also found that less than half of Palestinians want a two-state solution, while a majority want a terrorist, Marwhan Barghouti, as their next leader to succeed Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.

Greenblatt was recently in Israel, where he went on a tour of the southern community of Kfar Aza, arranged with the World Jewish Congress, together with Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian political activist and commentator from eastern Jerusalem.

Referring to the PSR poll, Sinijlawi said he had spoken with Palestinian students and asked them directly, “Do you support killing Israeli babies, women and civilians?”

“They said ‘no,’” said Sinijlawi.

“Our national interest should be built on Israeli security,” he said. “If we cannot provide the needs for Israelis to feel secure, we will not be able to progress and develop ourselves,” he said.

In addition to the renewed push for a Palestinian state, the Biden administration appears to have returned to the old, failed linkage paradigm that says Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians is the core conflict in the Middle East and any peace agreements with other countries must be accompanied by the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Trump administration changed this paradigm and achieved four normalization agreements, between Israel and Bahrain, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Sudan, in effect decoupling the Palestinians from the larger Arab-Israeli conflict.

But now the Biden administration appears to be returning to the old, failed paradigm and recreating that linkage, tying any normalization with Saudi Arabia to the creation of a Palestinian state.

For instance, Blinken said that normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would involve a “necessary Palestinian component.”

Blinken emphasized that “the path forward for Israel and for the entire region with integration, with normalization” must include an “irreversible” and “clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Oren agreed that the administration’s position is a return to linkage, that it believes “somehow, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the core conflict in the Middle East.”

He suggested that lurking behind this linkage is something “very dark.”

“For centuries, Jews were blamed for the world’s problems,” he said. “If there is a conflict in the Middle East, it must be the Jews. What are they saying? The Jews are the problem,” he added.

According to Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, there are three reasons for the U.S. obsession with a Palestinian state.

He told JNS it is a combination of “a long-term wrong concept of how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this vision of Israeli peace with Saudi Arabia, and the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.”

Greenblatt seemed to agree, noting that “We are starting to see a shift partly, if not largely, because of [U.S.] politics and the political reality.”

He suggested the Biden administration is “trying to show the world that they’re saying the right words,” and “ignoring reality, either for political purposes or some other reason.”

However, he said, “it’s an exercise in futility to go down the path that they’re going.”

“Biden continues to stand by Israel, but at the same time is saying things that range from unhelpful to very harmful and I hope he pivots back to where he should be, which is unequivocal support for Israel,” he said.

[foreverlogical]

205

Samantha Grindell

Mon, June 19, 2023 at 6:03 PM PDT·2 min read

In this article:

Donald Trump appeared on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier on Monday.

Baier reminded Trump he said he was going to hire the "best" people to his administration in 2016.

He then pointed out much of Trump's former administration doesn't support his 2024 White House bid.

On Monday, Donald Trump appeared on Fox News anchor Bret Baier's Special Report to discuss the classified documents he took from the White House and the case against him.

They also discussed Trump's time as president, with Baier reminding the former president that when he ran for office in 2016, he said he was  "going to surround myself with only the best and most serious people."

"Well, I did do that," Trump responded. "That's tremendous. Look, we had the best economy we've ever had, the world has ever seen."

But Baier then pointed out to the former president that many of those "best and most serious people" no longer support him:

This time, your Vice President Mike Pence is running against you. Your ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, she's running against you. Your former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said he's not supporting you. You mentioned National Security Adviser John Bolton. He's not supporting you either. You mentioned Attorney General Bill Barr. Says you shouldn't be president again. Calls you 'the consummate narcissist' and 'troubled man.' You recently called Barr a 'gutless pig.'"

Your second defense secretary is not supporting you. Called you irresponsible. This week, you called your White House Chief of Staff John Kelly 'weak and ineffective' and 'born with a very small brain.' You called your acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney a 'born loser.' You called your first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, 'dumb as a rock,' and your first Defense Secretary, James Mattis, 'the world's most overrated general.' You called your White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany 'milquetoast.' And multiple times, you've referred to your Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, as 'Mitch McConnell's China-loving wife.'

"So, why did you hire all of them in the first place?" Baier asked.