November 14, 2021
A War Crime, a Cover-up. Dave Philipps & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The battle at Baghuz represented the end of a nearly five-year United States-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and was a foreign policy triumph for ... Donald J. Trump.... [On March 18, 2019,] in the last days of the battle..., when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a U.S. military drone ... saw only a large crowd of women and children huddled against a river bank. Without warning, an American F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone's high-definition field of vision and dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a shuddering blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors.... An initial battle damage assessment quickly found that the number of dead was ... about 70. The Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against the Islamic State, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military. The details, reported here for the first time, show that the death toll was almost immediately apparent to military officials.... The details suggest that while the military put strict rules in place to protect civilians, the Special Operations task force repeatedly used other rules to skirt them. The military teams counting casualties rarely had the time, resources or incentive to do accurate work. And troops rarely faced repercussions when they caused civilian deaths."
Brad Plumer & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Diplomats from nearly 200 countries on Saturday struck a major agreement aimed at intensifying global efforts to fight climate change by calling on governments to return next year with stronger plans to curb their planet-warming emissions and urging wealthy nations to 'at least double' funding to protect poor nations from the hazards of a hotter planet. The new deal will not, on its own, solve global warming, despite the urgent demands of many of the thousands of politicians, environmentalists and protesters who gathered at the Glasgow climate summit. It leaves unresolved the crucial question of how much and how quickly each nation should cut its carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over the next decade. And it still leaves many developing countries far short of the funds they need to cope with increasing weather disasters." CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Admittedly, this isn't the greatest agreement. But it is an agreement. Among most of the nations of the Earth, in all their glorious diversity. How come the people of the Earth can all agree on something, and 100 U.S. senators, even 50 U.S. senators of the same political party, can't come to an agreement on a way forward for their own country?
It might help to watch some of this to understand the lede joke in this: ~~~
News You Can Use. Maggie Fox & Tami Luhby of CNN: "The federal government announced a large hike in Medicare premiums Friday night, blaming the pandemic but also what it called uncertainty over how much it may have to be forced to pay for a pricey and controversial new Alzheimer's drug. The 14.5% increase in Part B premiums will take monthly payments for those in the lowest income bracket from $148.50 a month this year to $170.10 in 2022. Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, medical equipment, and certain other medical and health services not covered by Medicare Part A, including medications given in doctors' offices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services played down the spike, pointing out that most beneficiaries also collect Social Security benefits and will see a cost-of-living adjustment of 5.9% in their 2022 monthly payments, the agency said in a statement. That's the largest bump in 30 years.... The actual spike -- the largest since 2016 -- could hurt some seniors financially. It 'will consume the entire annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) of Social Security recipients with the very lowest benefits, of about $365 per month,' said Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League...."
Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Hackers compromised the Federal Bureau of Investigation's external email system on Saturday, sending spam emails to potentially thousands of people and companies with a faked warning of a cyberattack. The FBI said in a statement it was 'aware of the incident this morning involving fake emails from an @ic.fbi.gov email account' but declined to provide further details. 'The impacted hardware was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue,' the FBI said. It did not respond to an emailed request for more information." MB: Say, maybe FBI employees need a more secure password than "fbi-hoover".
Marie: I pretty much ignore polls, but this one should give you an idea of how profoundly stupid the American voter is: ~~~
~~~ Brianne Pfannenstiel & Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register: "In a hypothetical 2024 rematch..., Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Iowa by 11 percentage points, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. In 2020, Trump defeated Biden by about 8 percentage points, carrying the state 53% to 45%."
Politifact corrects Fox "News" personalities and a boatload of confederate writers who took umbrage at President Biden's supposedly calling pitcher Satchel Paige "the great Negro." What Biden was trying to say, and what he said in the next breath to correct himself, was the great "pitcher in the Negro Leagues." MB: If these same yahoos had showed proper respect for Blacks all along, their high dudgeon still would not have been appropriate, but we can rest assured that they're all opposed to doing anything that they're afraid might advance racial equality -- like, fer instance, voting rights. Still, we're way glad the yahoos at long last have taken to political correctness. ~~~
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
Oklahoma. Going Rogue. Davis Winkie of the Army Times: "The new commander of the Oklahoma National Guard has declared the organization will not enforce the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on its troops, according to local media outlets. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino was announced as the state's new adjutant general Wednesday, though he has not yet been confirmed by the state Senate, according to a press release from Gov. Kevin Stitt's office. On Nov. 2, Stitt formally requested that DoD not enforce the mandate on the state's Army and Air National Guard members. In the letter, which his office posted online, he said that 10% of the state's troops had refused the vaccine and that the mandate was 'irresponsible.' The Defense Department is aware of the Mancino memo and Stitt's letter and 'will respond to the governor appropriately,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.... It's not yet clear whether the order will jeopardize [federal] funding[, the main source of revenue for the Guard]." The Washington Post's story is here.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Belarus, etc. Jane Arraf & Elian Peltier of the New York Times: "The sudden surge of migrants to Belarus from the Middle East that is now the focus of a political crisis in Europe was hardly an accident. The government of Belarus loosened its visa rules in August, Iraqi travel agents said, making a flight to the country a more palatable journey to Europe than the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece. It increased flights by the state-owned airline, and then actively helped funnel migrants from the capital, Minsk, to the frontiers with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. And Belarusian security forces gave them directions on how to cross into the European Union countries, even handing out wire cutters and axes to cut through border fences.... Now, thousands of people are stranded or hiding along the border in freezing conditions, not wanted by the European Union countries or, circumstances are making clear, by the country that lured them there in the first place." A related Guardian/Observer story is here.
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Reader Comments (15)
We lost November 14th. Good. That's one less day I don't have to
do leaf cleanups. Why is the plural of leaf, leaves.They don't
leave. They just hang around until spring if you don't collect them
now.
And if I don't post anymore, it's because of a thing I did on Instagram.
There was a post of something in Virginia where white kids paraded
with confederate flags and black kids in the school wanted to fight
back.
Anyway, I responded as follows:
"Actually, the confederate flag should be a piece of white sheet or a
pillow case attached to a stick, and the battle cry should be "I want
my mommy."
I've been called every name in the book and threatened no end.
The truth hurts some people. They lost the war. Get over it.
@Forrest Morris: Difficulties.
Nah, November 14 is back. I was going to do a strikeout when you so kindly pointed out a mistake of the kind I have made before, but it turns out I can't do strikeouts in the title, so an unacknowledged correction will have to suffice. Maybe I'll hit the "5" tomorrow. Really, if "15" is good enough for tomorrow, why isn't it good enough for today? This is a difficult job I have here.
Why isn't the singular of eaves "eaf"? I cleaned all the leaves out of the front gutter but one leaf got stuck under the eaf. English is a difficult language.
The losers -- or "loosers," as they often prefer -- should not disparage you for designing them a nice new -- and very appropriate -- confederate flag. Why can't the loosers face facts? I guess for some people, the truth is a difficult thing.
Watched the excellent film "Freedom on My Mind" yesterday on TCM. Should be required for every high school civics class (remember them?) in the land. Stark comprehensive documentary about the Get out the Vote efforts in Mississippi in the 60s. And the debacle of the 1964 Dem convention. Johnson-Humphrey cowardice in the face of a convention challenge. A different outcome there would have made an enormous shift in the political situation decades forward. And probably unnecessary given Goldwater's shellacking--
We'll never know.
I am reposting this commentary which Akhilleus wrote yesterday because (1) it got spammed and (2) it's well-worth reading.
By Akhilleus:
A few random thoughts about the Aaron Rodgers lie fest that has further ginned up the anti-vax crowd.
The right wing cabal - Fox News, the Republicans, right wing Internet and radio screamers, etc., has almost literally come up with helpful “talking points” for vaccine deniers. A) cite “the need for more research”. B) cite concerns about sterility or miscarriages or autism or other completely disproven effects. C) cite concern about actual legitimate side effects (anaphylaxis, myocarditis) that are actually so rare in the general group of vaccine recipients as to be less likely than dying in a car crash. D) use catch phrases like “body autonomy” or even better “woke” or “cancel culture” or “the government can’t force me”. E) say that the government or CDC or someone has lied about the vaccines. F) if all else fails, say you’re allergic - who can prove you’re lying?
They’ve abandoned earlier talking points for the most part - the ones focused on how this was NOT much of a problem, overblown etc. And they’ve been desperately working on Big Lies and manipulations of data to prevent their followers from understanding the overwhelming increased risk the unvaccinated face.
These are not “anti-vaxxers” in the previously understood sense of the scattered people who had weird religious or philosophical opposition to vaccines through the years. The overwhelming majority are taking marching orders from leaders on the right.
The ever-pusillanimous mainstream media, unwilling to call them out, further legitimizes all this by pointing to “people’s growing mistrust in doctors” or “a general distrust of institutions” as the underlying cause of this phenomenon, or some other pile of crap.
No. These people more or less trust doctors and hospitals. They accept - seek out! - all sorts of cutting edge treatments for all sorts of diseases - treatments that weren’t in anyone’s CONCEPTION ten years ago, let alone “knowing the long term effects”. Plus they sue the government to pay for completely wacky unproven cancer treatments. They’ve taken their kids in for every vaccination known to man and gotten their yearly flu vaccines and on and on. And they WANT stuff like monoclonal antibodies or actual proven antiviral treatments.
But a vaccine that doesn’t even contain a weaker version of the deadly virus (as many vaccines do) - that has been used in 4 billion people. - with a side effect frequency known down to the 100th of a percent - well, THAT’S where they draw the line.
Because the cabal has told them to, plain and simple. They’ve made this a crazy litmus test. It’s the new front line in the fight for their freeedoms against the “tyranny” of Joe Biden, Tony Fauci, and the despised liberals.
A cardiologist friend of mine tells me of a patient who rails “don’t let them brainwash you into wearing a mask!” No. THIS is brainwashing.
But let me get back to multi-millionaire sports figures, like Aaron Rodgers and Kyrie Irving (surely one of the biggest whiners in the NBA) who routinely fall back on the idea that they’re doing “research” on the vaccine. What, the game is over and they head to the lab to run some tests? Research, my ass.
Aaron Rodgers goes into this delusional bullshit on a regular basis.
And this idiot thought he’d be a great host for a show about facts? Jeopardy? Now that he’s been outed, he has to find some kind of bullshit scenario to make him look better than the run of the mill moron, so…”Research! Yeah, that’s the ticket! I’ve been doing RESEARCH!” Let’s set aside the fact that “research” consisting of ignoring actual fact based science and instead glomming on to idiot theories based on fantasy, paranoia, and nutcase nightmares, does nothing for his case.
When you eschew facts for jerkoff dumbbell ideas you sound like Bill O’Reilly when he pondered what to him was an impenetrable problem: “The tide goes in, the tide goes out! Wow! Who can explain it?”
How about most third graders, Bill?
When these “research fellows” in professional sports have a torn ACL or broken bone, do they “research” alternative treatments, like rubbing tea leaves on the affected area or checking with some online alt-right screamer? Or do they do what professional medical advisers suggest? Such bullshit.
There are alternate treatments, certainly, for some medical conditions. One might opt for meditation or working out or seeing a therapist when battling depression as opposed to a guzzling a raft of psychotropic drugs. But in many instances there are very specific treatments. You might decide that a warm bath, horse pills and “further research” might be the way to go when you have a heart attack, but I’m guessing none of those will prove very effective in extending your lifespan.
It’s no different with dealing with a deadly virus.
Jesus, these people!
And here’s the last word on this. These sports figures carry a lot of weight in the influence department, especially with kids. Were they to come out in favor of vaccinations, it could mean many lives saved. But selfishness and stupidity reign supreme these days.
-- Akhilleus
Forrest: Hang in there; there are worse things than being disparaged over anti-Conderatism. I've said for years that those little dog shit bags in the park should have a Conferate flag on on side and (to eliminate confusion for the 'lightly' minded) the Nazi flag on the other side. Dog shit symbols surrounding the real thing.
BTW: the NRA article on NPR from a few days ago was totally worth the read. Don't forget these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackerman_McQueen. The entire McQueen's family and staff remind one of feces. Shit values. They even have the Chickasaw nation as clients....We are who we patronize.
Back home again after some days of home sitting a dog and keeping an eye on a 16yr. old granddaughter. It appears that the mister and I yearn for home even after such a short excursion and that the old adage "Home is where the heart is" rings true for us in a major way and what does this say about us? I think–- we are getting really old.
So having world enough and time I did quite a lot of reading and in one of my books I found the following –-something I copied from some other writer, stuck it in this particular book but gave no authorship.
"Absolute justice will always be a myth because life is fundamentally unfair––but it is unfair for a purpose. No form of life can survive on the basis of enforced equality; that is a biological fact. The whole of evolution depends on the freedom of the individual to develop in his own way. All history, human and natural demonstrates that–-again and again."
Now, I read a lot of science based material but this sounds more like someone like John Fowles' "Daniel Martin" ––I remember writing down a few passages from his book years ago. Anyway–- would be interested what any of you think about this passage.
and Forest: Leave it to you to design the perfect flag–-and then get doused with nasty name callings. Mums the word from now on?
As usual, Akhilleus nails it.
A shorter (but not better) version, maybe:
Question:
What do you get when you drop "enlightened" from Adam Smith's "enlightened self interest?"
Answer: Republicans.
And another: I remember a science fiction writer (Poul Anderson--who in his later years did get a little goofy on Vietnam) commenting on the anti-science crowd that demonstrated their "superior" knowledge by habitually expressing skepticism about anything they chose to disagree with, but still availed themselves of an entire medicine chest of "miracle" drugs and expected the lights to go on every time they flipped the switch.
Just read Akhilleus' piece and his "last word on this" is key! That sport's figures, especially, carry weight for the washed and the unwashed and those in the last category tend to follow their lead and heed their advice.
Why was this comment spammed? you bet it was worth reading!
@P.D., I don't follow any sport or pay attention to what their "figures" say.
@unwashed
I follow (some) sports but pay little attention to what sports figures say (unless I agree with them).
For anyone who receives Amazon Prime Video on the tube (tube? does
that date me, or what?) there is streaming now a documentary
'Mayor Pete'. Really worth watching.
He came to our little town for a fundraiser when he was running. He
can talk for hours on policy and his beliefs without notes or a tele-
prompter, unlike that former nutcase who has trouble remembering
his wife's (wives?) name.
I do read sports: https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-eldridge-dickey-20200917-y4pdymihfnfqfmli4tjvo45i4y-story.html. Just in case anyone feels sorry for what the NFL did to Jon Gruden. Even the hero, John Madden, comes off looking as one of the problems. Basically, progress takes so very long and optimism is so very difficult to sustain.
PD, "life" is not really unfair -- it just doesn't contain the concept of "fair."
A long time ago someone told me that "Fair" is an activity usually held in summer where you can have contests to throw cow chips for distance. And fried butter sticks.
Finally, Ak's observation about the good that sports heros can do can be observed in the success of Boston's (New England's?) "Jimmy Fund" where first the Braves then the Sox team up with Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The Sox' biggest stars, and many associated with the team, spend a lot of time and effort promoting D-F's work fighting childhood cancer, and the payoff has been phenomenal since the late 1940s. (Disclosure: I never heard of the Jimmy Fund until my wife told me that when she was about 5 years old she posed with Ted Williams for a Fund poster. She had had a run-in with polio and her school bus driver sent in her nomination.)
Ak: Rogers shows how weak his research was when he asked the usual antivaxxer question, if the vaccine is so good how come vaccinated people are still getting infected? Though telling everyone you listen to "Dr" Joe Rogan is also a big clue on one's intelligence.
Patrick,
Good point about the Jimmy Fund. Ted Williams could be a difficult character sometimes (the Boston press hated him because he didn’t kowtow to them) but he really went to bat, so to speak, for kids with cancer. He had a difficult childhood himself, but baseball was a way out for him. He understood that children with cancer didn’t have a “way out” and he felt obliged to do something about it.
These days, when many sports figures visit a children’s hospital, they are accompanied by plenty of cameras. It’s all about good press for them (many of them, anyway). Williams would leave Fenway after a game and go down the road to the hospitals to visit kids without any fanfare or publicity.
On another front, Williams lost five years in the middle of his career and would almost certainly have eclipsed Babe Ruth’s career home run record had he not. One year was lost to injury, but the other time was spent as a Marine fighter pilot in both WWII and later in Korea. Unlike many ball players who went into the service, he didn’t spend his time playing in traveling exhibition teams. In Korea he flew 39 combat missions, his wingman on some of those flights was John Glenn who once said Williams was the best combat pilot he ever saw.
It’s almost too easy to say they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
And when you listen to coddled millionaires whining about getting a shot to help keep others alive, you know it’s true. I’d love to hear Ted’s (typically salty) reaction to crybabies like Aaron Rodgers.