At Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State nominee Anthony Blinken defends support for war in Libya
“In fact, I think it’s been written about. I was [Biden’s] national security adviser, and he didn’t agree with that course of action.”
Blinken: “I support providing that lethal assistance [arms] to Ukraine. In fact, I had the opportunity to write exactly that in the New York Times about three years ago.”
Blinken says he agrees with Sen. Rubio, still supports failed coup leader Juan Guaido and regime change in Venezuela.
“Maybe we need to look at how we more effectively target the sanctions we have so regime enablers really feel the pain”
Back in 2020 when Biden picked Blinken to head the State Department, I put together a thread on Blinken
Never Trump Republicans rebranding their atrocious political selves on cable news were atrocious, but the next phase is much worse I'm afraid. They will be in media daily ensuring Biden doesn't bow to pressure to make changes that would meaningfully improve lives of citizens.
We had a preview of this chapter during the Democratic presidential primary. Never Trump Republicans kept weighing in on what the party needed to do to suppress the progressive insurgency opposed to Biden, like Obama and Democratic Party establishment needed any help.
After the Capitol Hill raid/riot, it was trendy for Republicans to ditch Trump. Corporations divested from him and centrist liberals welcomed former Trump supporters in the House. On MSNBC/CNN, Liz Cheney was the voice of reason in the Republican Party.
In London, it won't be long before a bail application hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange starts. I'm attending remotely and will have updates in this thread.
Some history of the case: after Assange was arrested and expelled from the Ecuador embassy, he was convicted of "jumping" bail when he sought asylum. He was issued a 50-week sentence.
Sentencing judge said he exploited his "privileged position to flout the law."
Assange was scheduled for release from Belmarsh high-security prison in September 2019, after completing his sentence for "jumping" bail (essentially, he was criminalized for seeking asylum).
We're moments away from British judge announcing extradition decision in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's case. I'll have live updates shortly.
In their closing argument, Assange's legal team outlined how they believed the case brought by the Trump Justice Department was "politically motivated"
The Crown Prosecution Service, which represents the US government in the extradition proceedings, has contended WikiLeaks is in the "business of encouraging individuals to hack into computers"—clearly criminalizing their decade-plus record of journalism. dissenter.substack.com/p/closing-argu…
Hey everyone. Here to tell you @SouthwestAir thinks the pandemic is over.
Yep, they did their research and consulted some very important people and now they’re canceling flights that aren’t packed to the gills and filling all middle seats with potential COVID carriers.
My nonstop flight to Chicago was canceled twice. I sat on a plane in Columbus for over an hour before learning this flight would have no empty seats.
I had flown from Denver with many middle seats open.
But at least @SouthwestAir’s stock price has almost fully recovered since pandemic slammed it hard earlier this year.
As a customer, I’m always happy to sacrifice my personal health for their shareholders’ wealth. Aren’t you?
Tom Philpott (@tomphilpott ) reported in 2011 on Vilsack's total cave-in to biotech genetically modified alfalfa from Monsanto was approved without any restrictions.
Neera Tanden, who is Biden's pick for OMB director, is ardent opponent of Medicare For All.
Here is Neera on 2016 DNC Platform Committee rendering "healthcare is a human right" meaningless and redefining words to help Democrats suppress movement for universal health care:
Centrist liberal Neera Tanden, a Hillary Clinton loyalist and think tank president, is exactly who the health insurance industry want in White House to make sure expanding Medicare to cover all Americans never becomes a budget priority for Biden-Harris administration.
Third Way previously received funding from Wall Street and Koch Brothers. The centrist think tank is backed by health care, pharmaceutical, & other corporations and aggressively opposed Bernie Sanders' platform.
They are very pleased with Biden picking Neera Tanden for OMB.