The Commentariat -- August 27, 2021
Marie: For the TENTH day, Reality Chex is not accepting comments, through no design or fault of my own. In desperation, I have come up with an interim plan to get around the problem, one that will mean only a little extra work for those of you who have something to say. Here are the easy instructions:
1. In the URL (address line), enter www.realitychex.com/display/Login and return. The login is case-sensitive, so that "L" in "Login" must be capitalized.
2. A log-in page will come up. Type squarespace in the Login box. Type nonsense in the password box. And return. That will get you page to the standard Reality Chex page. (Note: Don't use boldface type; I've put the stuff you have to use in boldface only to make it easier to see.)
3. Type your comment in the Comments box as usual. But at the end of the comment, sign it with your usual Reality Chex handle, because the name of the poster will say "See Above."
Special thanks to all of you who have gone to the trouble to comment under this somewhat cumbersome system.
LATE START today. I added links till 9:30 am ET. -- Marie
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Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
The Guardian's live updates of developments in Afghanistan Friday are here: "US army general William Taylor told a Pentagon press briefing: 'I can confirm that we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron hotel. That it was one suicide bomber. We're not sure how that report was provided incorrectly, but we do know it's not any surprise that in the confusion of very dynamic events like this it can cause information sometimes to be misreported or garbled. We felt it was important to correct the record.'... During a Pentagon briefing, a US military official said they now believed there was no separate explosion at the Baron hotel."
Sayed Hashemi, et al., of the AP: "Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with new urgency on Friday, a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of people desperately fleeing a Taliban takeover and killed dozens. The U.S. warned more attacks could come ahead of next week's end to America's longest war. Two officials said 169 Afghans died, but a final count might take time amid confusion, with many bodies dismembered or not yet identified. Scores more were wounded in the blasts. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The U.S. said 13 troops were killed in the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since August 2011."
They Did What??? Lara Seligman, et al., of Politico: "U.S. officials in Kabul gave the Taliban a list of names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies to grant entry into the militant-controlled outer perimeter of the city's airport, a choice that's prompted outrage behind the scenes from lawmakers and military officials. The move, detailed to Politico by three U.S. and congressional officials, was designed to expedite the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan as chaos erupted in Afghanistan's capital city last week after the Taliban seized control of the country. It also came as the Biden administration has been relying on the Taliban for security outside the airport. Since the fall of Kabul in mid-August, nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated, most of whom had to pass through the Taliban's many checkpoints. But the decision to provide specific names to the Taliban, which has a history of brutally murdering Afghans who collaborated with the U.S. and other coalition forces during the conflict, has angered lawmakers and military officials. 'Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,' said one defense official...."
James Meek of ABC News: "With the Taliban growing more violent and adding checkpoints near Kabul's airport, an all-volunteer group of American veterans of the Afghan war launched a final daring mission on Wednesday night dubbed the 'Pineapple Express' to shepherd hundreds of at-risk Afghan elite forces and their families to safety, members of the group told ABC News. Moving after nightfall in near-pitch black darkness and extremely dangerous conditions, the group said it worked unofficially in tandem with the United States military and U.S. embassy to move people, sometimes one person at a time, or in pairs, but rarely more than a small bunch, inside the wire of the U.S. military-controlled side of Hamid Karzai International Airport. The Pineapple Express' mission was underway Thursday when the attack occurred in Kabul.... There were wounded among the Pineapple Express travelers from the blast, and members of the group said they were assessing whethe unaccounted-for Afghans they were helping had been killed."
Justice Breyer Has Some Thoughts. Adam Liptak of the New York Times "in an interview prompted by [Breyer's] new book.... Justice Stephen G. Breyer says he is struggling to decide when to retire from the Supreme Court and is taking account of a host of factors, including who will name his successor. 'There are many things that go into a retirement decision,' he said." MB: If Breyer is "struggling" over whether or not to retire while a Democrat is President & Democrats hold a slim, and tenuous, Senate majority, he must get downright apoplectic over every decision he renders from on high.
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The Washington Post's live updates of developments in Afghanistan Friday are here. The New York Times' live Afghanistan updates for Friday are here.
Sean Sullivan & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Thursday confronted the most acute crisis of his young presidency, the deaths of at least 13 Americans in Afghanistan that threatened to undermine his credentials as a seasoned global leader and a steady hand. In emotional comments at the White House, Biden made clear that the attack would not cause him to rethink his strategy. Rather, he said, it reinforced his belief that the war must end and that the evacuation must proceed. He framed the deaths as the sacrifice of heroes performing a noble mission, and he suggested that any move to cut short the evacuation of Americans and their Afghan supporters would amount to caving to the terrorists." ~~~
~~~ A transcript of President Biden's remarks, via the White House, is here.
Matthieu Aikins, et al., of the New York Times: "Two explosions killed dozens of people, including at least 13 U.S. troops, ripping through the crowds outside Afghanistan's main airport on Thursday, just hours after Western governments had warned of an imminent Islamic State attack and told their people to stay away from the airport. The attack, by at least two suicide bombers, struck at the only avenue of escape for the thousands of foreign nationals and tens -- or hundreds -- of thousands of their Afghan allies who are trying to flee the country following the Taliban takeover and ahead of the final withdrawal of U.S. troops, set for next Tuesday. Afghan health officials gave varying estimates of the toll at the international airport in Kabul, the capital -- from at least 30 dead to more than 60, and from 120 wounded to 140 -- while a Taliban spokesman cited at least 13 civilians killed and 60 wounded. For American forces, the attacks were a gruesome coda to almost 20 years of warfare in Afghanistan-- one of their heaviest losses, just days before they are set to leave the country. In addition to 13 service members killed, 15 were wounded, the Pentagon said." ~~~
~~~ Ivana Kottasová, et al., of CNN: "Twelve US service members and dozens of Afghans have been killed in two bombing attacks outside Kabul's airport, according to the Pentagon and Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health.... An official with Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health told CNN on Thursday that more than 60 people were dead and 140 wounded. Fifteen US service members were injured in addition to the 12 dead, said Gen. Frank McKenzie, Commander of US Central Command." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ From the NYT live updates Thursday: "At least two blasts rattled the area outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, the Pentagon confirmed, just hours after Western governments had warned of a security threat there. While the numbers of injured or dead were still unconfirmed, reporters at a nearby emergency room said that at least 30 people had been brought to the site, and the Pentagon said there were a number of casualties.... 'We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties,' John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a post on Twitter. 'We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Barbara Starr, et al., of CNN: "An explosion was reported outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, according to two US officials. One official said there are injuries among Afghans, but there is no information yet on any US casualties. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed there was an explosion outside of the airport. 'We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. An explosion was reported outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, according to two US officials. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can,' he said in a tweet. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ezra Klein of the New York Times has some thoughts on our sloppy -- and now bloody -- NATO Alliance exit from Afghanistan. They aren't all his thoughts, as he readily states, but he doesn't think much of some of the prevalent thoughts we're hearing on the airwaves. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have a thought, too: that old chestnut "We get the government we deserve." Afghanistan will now return to a form of government that is more democratic than the one we tried to impose on it; that is, for the first time in nearly 20 years, it will return to the same form of self-rule it had when NATO showed up in late 2001. If you are inclined to think that rule is barbaric, bear in mind that it's not so much different from the type of government/perpetual war Europe had until 1945 and which still pops up in parts of Europe from time to time. I don't recommend blowing up little girls in their schools because the people in those venues belong to some other Islamic faction, just as I never recommended my Irish "relatives" blow each other up because those on "the other side" belonged to a different Christian faction. And, thanks to our escapade in Afghanistan, one faction in Afghanistan has grown much larger; that's the liberal, enlightened faction. Eventually the "liberal elites" may get some of their way.
Rich Schapiro, et al., of NBC News: "In the chaotic minutes before he shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Lt. Michael Byrd ... and a few other officers of the U.S. Capitol Police set up a wall of furniture outside the doors.... 'If they get through that door, they're into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress,' [said] Byrd, who gave NBC News permission to use his name after authorities had declined to release it.... Byrd, a 28-year veteran of the Capitol Police, took a defensive posture with his gun drawn as rioters smashed the glass doors. He said he yelled repeatedly for them to get back. But the mob kept pressing forward, and then a lone rioter tried to climb through one of the doors. What happened next was captured on video: Byrd fired one shot, striking Babbitt in the shoulder. Babbitt ... died from her injuries later."
This "Great White Savior" Is, Well, White. Sarah Ellison & Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "A lawyer for the famed all-girls Afghan robotics team has sent a cease-and-desist letter to an Oklahoma woman, telling her to stop taking credit for the girls' escape from Kabul and warning that her numerous media appearances endanger their organization's remaining members in Afghanistan. The woman, Allyson Reneau, spoke last week to Today.com and then to several other media outlets, telling a story of her supposed involvement in the evacuation of several members of the robotics team.... These outlets reported that she had 'saved' the girls from probable oppression under the Taliban.... A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, which helped evacuate many Afghans, including the robotics team members, also accused Reneau of taking credit for a rescue she had little to do with -- and lambasted the U.S. media for making her a 'White savior.'... [A Today.com] story said that Reneau -- an entrepreneur who graduated from Harvard's extension school in 2016 and serves on the board of the Mars Explore foundation -- had met some of the girls at a 2019 space exploration conference in D.C. and then kept in touch with them.... The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which [inaccurate wrote that Reneau had flown to Qatar,] suggested that President Biden put 'this extraordinary woman' in charge of the Afghanistan evacuation -- before correcting the editorial to note that Reneau had not flown anywhere." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What? Harvard grants extension degrees? I think I'll get me one, then run around claiming I'm a Harvard grad. I could make me a crimson coat with black stripes on the ample sleeves & a flowing cowl scarf. Or. Maybe I won't bother.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "One year after becoming ill with the coronavirus, nearly half of patients in a large new study were still experiencing at least one lingering health symptom, adding to evidence that recovery from Covid-19 can be arduous and that the multifaceted condition known as 'long Covid' can last for months. The study, published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, is believed to be the largest to date in which patients were evaluated one year after being hospitalized for Covid. It involved 1,276 patients admitted to Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhan, China, who were discharged between Jan. 7 and May 29, 2020." MB: Bear in mind that the study doesn't suggest that these symptoms go away in a year; the related maladies could last for decades; it's just that we haven't had decades to find out. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
Adam Liptak & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Biden administration's latest moratorium on evictions, ending a political and legal dispute during a public health crisis in which the administration's shifting positions had subjected it to criticism from adversaries and allies alike. The court issued an eight-page majority opinion, an unusual move in a ruling on an application for emergency relief, where terse orders are more common. The court's three liberal justices dissented. The decision puts hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while the administration struggles to speed the flow of billions of dollars in federal funding to people who are behind in rent because of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic hardship. Only about $5.1 billion of the $46.5 billion in aid had been disbursed by the end of July, according to figures released on Wednesday, as bureaucratic delays at the state and local levels snarled payouts." An NBC News story is here.
"Seriously, Y'all. Stop It." Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "When users visit the telemedicine [pro-Trump] website SpeakWithAnMD.com, they are immediately hit with a warning: 'Due to overwhelming demand, we are experiencing longer than usual wait times.' The demand is for ivermectin, a drug primarily used to deworm animals that has become the latest false cure for Covid-19. And the website, in partnership with the organization America's Frontline Doctors, whose founder stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, has become well-known in the Facebook groups and Reddit communities where anti-vaccination sentiment thrives.... In recent weeks, a variety of conservative figures and anti-vaccination activists have embraced the drug. Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have mentioned it.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory Thursday warning of a rapid increase in ivermectin prescriptions and reports of severe illness by people using ivermectin products.... And in perhaps a prime example of the exhaustion with which some public health professionals have confronted ivermectin, the FDA recently tweeted: 'You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it.'"
Florida. Why Can't Biden Be More Like DeSantis? Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said President Biden has failed to 'end covid' and should follow his state's lead, even as Florida experiences record-breaking cases, deaths and hospitalizations. Florida is now reporting an average of 227 covid-19 deaths each day -- a state record and by far the highest count in the nation. The daily death count in Florida, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant, has increased by 613 percent in the past seven days, according to data compiled by The Washington Post."
Australia. Gina Harkins of the Washington Post: "Debra Cowdery ... died of cancer this month at 63. She lived in Brisbane, Queensland. [Her nephew, Ben] Jackson[, a sheep farmer was unable to attend her funeral ... [because of] Australia's pandemic restrictions[, which] made crossing state lines tough, [and Jackson lives in a different state from Queensland, where his aunt died]." So Jackson, who had made sheep art before, laid just the right amount of barley in a large heart shape and filmed the sheep from a drone. "The video played at Cowdery's funeral, which was live-streamed." The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
Beyond the Beltway
California. No Way to Pick a Governor. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: California "may be about to absent-mindedly acquire a Trumpist governor who could never win a normal election. This would happen at a moment when control of statehouses is especially crucial because it shapes the response to the coronavirus.... [California's] recall process is crazy. Voters answer two questions: Should [current Gov. Gavin] Newsom be recalled? And who should replace him? If a majority vote 'yes' on recall, whoever is chosen by the largest number of people on the second question becomes governor, even if that person receives far fewer than the number of votes to keep Newsom in office. And the most likely outcome if Newsom is ousted is that Larry Elder, a right-wing talk-radio host who is vehemently opposed to mask and vaccine mandates, will end up in the governor's office despite receiving only a small fraction of the total vote." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Chris Hayes of MSNBC pointed out this week, California's recall system is as anti-democratic as can be. Under the law, Newsom could get 49 percent of the vote (i.e., 49 percent of voters vote not to recall him); then Elder could become governor by getting, say, 10 percent of the vote (among those running to replace Newsom). Crazy, Krugman asserts? Yes, yes, it is.
New York. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Conditions at a high-security federal jail in Lower Manhattan have deteriorated so much that federal officials said on Thursday that they planned to close the facility, at least temporarily. The decision comes just weeks after the deputy attorney general, Lisa O. Monaco, visited the jail in order to get a firsthand look at its operations, 'given ongoing concerns,' as the Justice Department said at the time. The rust-colored lockup, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, has long been criticized by inmates, lawyers and even judges for the conditions in which prisoners have been held.... The jail is perhaps best known as the place where Jeffrey Epstein ... was found dead in his cell in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide. Two jail guards were later accused of surfing the internet and napping rather than regularly checking in on him as they were supposed to do the night before he was found dead."
Tennessee. Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "A closer look at what happened in the days, years and even decades before [deadly floods hit Middle Tennessee last week] reveals that a series of government decisions -- where and how to build, when to update flood maps, whether to join the federal flood insurance program and how to warn of dangerous floods -- left residents more exposed to flooding than they had to be.... In general, communities that decide to stay out of the [federal] flood insurance program typically do so because of an aversion to building restrictions ... [which] govern the way houses must be built, to make them more likely to withstand natural disasters and other dangers.... While most states adopt a [mandatory] building code..., Tennessee lets local governments decide whether to follow the state rules, or establish rules of their own, or have none at all." Also, FEMA maps had not been updated & underestimated flood risk. And flood warnings from the National Weather Service were too late in coming." MB: See, I don't think it's technically a "flood warning" if you send it after the creeks have overflowed.
Texas. Eva Moravec & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Defying a months-long Democratic protest, the Texas House on Thursday moved forward wide-ranging voting restrictions that opponents say will make casting ballots and administering elections harder in the state. Elections bill SB1 passed 79-37 mostly along party lines after 12 hours of impassioned debate. Democrats -- who broke quorum for weeks, fled Texas and faced the threat of arrest to stave off passage of the measure this summer -- did not have the numbers to overcome the chamber's Republican majority. The bill is set for final passage in the House on Friday."
News Ledes
** Weather Channel: "Hurricane Ida is forecast to hammer the northern U.S. Gulf Coast as a major hurricane this weekend with life-threatening storm surge, dangerous rainfall flooding, potentially catastrophic winds and tornadoes. Hurricane Ida has made landfall in far western Cuba in Pinar Del Rio province with winds of 80 mph. New hurricane and storm surge warnings have been issued."
New York Times: "Jerry Harkness, a former All-American forward who led Loyola University Chicago's integrated basketball team to the 1963 N.C.A.A. championship, along the way defeating a Mississippi State team that had previously refused to play against Black athletes, died on Tuesday in Indianapolis. He was 81.... The 1963 tournament, and in particular Loyola's second-round game against Mississippi State on March 11, illustrated the racial tension that was prevalent in sports in the early 1960s. The all-white Mississippi State Bulldogs had chosen not to go to three previous N.C.A.A. tournaments, to avoid facing Black opponents. George Ireland, the coach of the Loyola Ramblers, had been irritating rival coaches by starting four Black players, including Harkness, violating a practice at the time of playing no more than three." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Good place for me to plead ignorance. In 1963, I was going to college basketball games, and I had no idea then, or until now, that there was a "gentlemen's agreement" among coaches not to start more than three Black players. The best thing about growing old is that you keep learning what was really going on around you as you glided through life in blissful ignorant.
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Reader Comments (11)
News flash: wars are messy. And deadly. Not trying to be glib here, and most certainly, Biden could have gone about this exit in a more judicious manner, but it was never going to be the smooth, painless departure that wingers are now braying about that we might have had were they still in charge.
Remember the outrage that attended the discussions of drawing down on Bush and Cheney’s occupation? “OMG! We can’t give a deadline! They’ll know when we’re leaving!” Right. Because otherwise the plan would be to sneak out in the middle of the night.
Our friends, allies, enemies, sideline ne’er do wells, barstool critics, and the cast and crew of Sesame Street all would know that we were leaving once the leaving started. Who thought the Taliban wouldn’t? Plus they possessed knowledge we seemed impervious to: the Vichy bobble heads in charge were corrupt incompetents who would collapse like a chintzy beach chair in a stiff breeze. All they had to do was wait.
We had been there so long there was never going to be an easy departure. Name me one war that ended well. WWII? Oh, yeah, after Europe was reduced to rubble, cities in Japan could be detected from space with a Geiger counter from Radio Shack, and 85 million people were dead. That sounds neat.
Sorry, war is terrible. The idiots who predicted that we’d be in and out in a month—20 years ago—never read a page of history, otherwise they’d have remembered the same things were said about bloodless little skirmishes like the Civil War and WWI.
Nonetheless, Biden’s missteps have awarded his (and our) enemies a club with which to beat him over the head until the 2022 elections, which would have been a horrendous slog in any event, but now…?
In line with Marie's comments on the messy ending of wars, would recommend Ian Baruma's "Year Zero," his account of the year 1945 in Europe (and Japan, too, if I recall correctly).
Mr. Baruma's short career as editor of "The New York Review of Books" aside, I've always thought highly of his writing and perspectives.
From that book, I still remember his description of the extensive camps of thousands of displaced people strung along an Austrian river valley that I bicycled through a few years ago. It provided a sort of retrospective eeriness, if there can be such a thing.
Of course, those thousands were not there when I passed through the valley, racing downhill on a sunny day, but that was three quarters of a century later, an average lifetime.
Americans especially, because they have not had a war fought on their soil for over a century and a half, easily forget that it takes decades for the sorting out and reorganizing of survivors and economies that wars disrupt.
Ken Winkes
I am trying.
It appears that my computer was not accepting any of this new fangled log ins but tried again this morning and it seems to be working. S0––yesterday was reading a comment in the New Yorker byDexter Filkins, my old pal from the IraqWar days. He reminds us that in the fall of 2001, as the U.S. and its allies swept into Afghanistan, the Taliban collapsed with surprising speed. Although the Taliban Army was largely intact in many places, its soldiers often simply walked across the lines and switched sides. The victorious fighters of the American- backed militia, the Northern Alliance, frequently embraced the surrendering Taliban, as if welcoming wayward family members back into the fold.
Looks like this summer the same phenomenon played out in reverse. The Afghan Army surrendered, mot because they were defeated, but because they could see which way the wind was blowing. Now we got what we got and what we got is another quagmire and our hearts are broken over the deaths yesterday.
We are not only sick to death with the RIGHT's anti=vaxers, the anti=voters, the anti-humanity human beings that I wonder how we are going to pull ourselves out of this morass.
P.D.
While this is old news: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/trump-endorsed-by-nyc-police-union.html. Erik Prince and the Dick Cheney how already gotten rich off turmoil in Afghanistan; they would like us to forget who helps them get their fortunes every day. Police. Our small town chief of police retired, then went on a well-paid expedition to Iraq to show 'em how we in the flyover states do it. The synergy of shit that benefit the few at the expense of the many. They call the troops Cannon Fodder for a reason; it is with good reason Cheney and Prince can't go out in public unescorted. Imagine the ire of Gold Star moms and dads today. All for what? So two assholes can have enclaves in Wyoming, the many suffer.
Citizen625
@P.D. Glad to see you're back. I was just thinking about trying to find your email address (I think I have it) to see if you had survived the hurricane. So glad you have.
And, yes, all this is very depressing. The reason I got such a late start today was that when I started to put Reality Chex up last night, I just couldn't face all the bad news. I don't usually let the bastards get me down, but sometimes it is pretty overwhelming.
Dear "Trying," Who you?
Ah, could that P in PD stand for "persistence?" Glad to see your last effort succeeded. Have been RCing for so long I miss my friends and worry a bit about them when they disappear for a while.
Meanwhile, here at home:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/opinion/school-debt-economy.html
And my comment:
Like so many other social and economic problems (that spill over into our acrimonious politics), school (and healthcare) financing is a symptom and consequence of the decisions we've made to funnel the vast majority of our resources and wealth to the top of the economic ladder, a process that that been going on since Reagan.
Trillions in student and credit card debt?
The necessity for public-private partnerships to finance road and bridge repair?
The outright privatizing of public institutions?
The increasing percentage of those who rent because they can't afford their own homes?
The giant debt machine that controls us is economic vassalage, pure and simple.
Ken Winkes
Marvelous overview. Thank you for the insight!
Does the post from "River" mean RC is back up?
RC comments have been resurrected!!!
Just received my test post from a few minutes ago in my inbox....