Ok, since no one seems to know any of the history of Afghanistan before this week, a refresher:
2/29/20: There are 13,000 US troops there. Trump reaches deal with Taliban. Agrees Afghanistan Gov, which is not part of deal, will release 5,000 Taliban fighters. Requires Taliban...1
...to take action against al Qaeda, not to attack US troops or coalition forces, or launch high-profile attacks.
3/1/20: Afghan president freaks out, says US has no authority to commit to release prisoners held by Afghanistan. (Trump Admin forces it to happen anyway.)
...2
...
Despite there agreement not to attack any provincial capitals, Taliban unilaterally attacks Afghan forces in Helmand province.
3/19/2020: DOD IG says U.S. cut troop levels by more than 4,000, even though “Taliban escalated violence further after signing the agreement"...3
8/18/2020: DOD IG releases report saying Taliban didnt distance itself from terrorist organizations in Afghanistan. UN and U.S. "Taliban continued to support al-Qaeda, and conducted joint attacks with al-Qaeda members against Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.”...4
...in other words *every element of the agreement - dont attack, renounce terrorists, don't work with terrorists - had been violated.
9/3/2020: Afghanistan, pressured by Trump, has been releasing the 5,000 Taliban in jail. Last 400 released this day. They return to fighting...5
...9/16/2020: In continued violation of the Trump agreement, Taliban - reportedly working with al Qaeda - attacks 3 provinces in Northern Afghanistan....
...Immediately after election, Trump Admin leaks theyre going to do a massive, rapid withdrawal of US troops before inauguration. Distressed by reports, Rubio warns of “a Saigon-type of situation." McConnell says "would hurt our allies & delight the people who wish us harm"...6
11/17/2020: Without consulting with incoming administration, which is still being blocked from security briefings, Trump Admin announces rapid withdrawal of troops down to 2,500 by 5 days before inauguration. That's down from 13,000 the year before....7
...this was playing with people's lives. This was incompetence writ large. But here is where Biden screws up - by not more fully reversing the nonsense Trump had done.
2/3/2021: Afghan Study Group, created by Congress, urges Biden to abandon the Trump timetable, and set.../8
...withdrawal on all sides - both Afghan government and Taliban - meeting all commitments under a peace framework that had been reached. So, it would be based on status, not date.
3/25: Gen Richard Clarke of Central Op Command says Taliban has not met its obligations...9
...under treaties & frameworks.
4/14: Biden sets a deadline of 9/11 for getting out of Afghanistan, ignoring recommendation of the working group. This is the big mistake.
4/18: Trump rants and raves, saying Biden should start pulling everyone out beginning in about 2 weeks...10
...so yes, Biden made a mistake. But we are dealing with a situation where the former president pulled down troop levels to a ridiculous level just five days before inauguration, ignored attacks and violations of a treaty he hit, and pretended he had succeeded. He gave them...11
....5,000 fighters. I mean, look at this: The Taliban was violating *every term* of the treaty, and Trump pulled out 1000s of troops. Other than setting ourselves up for a firefight with the Taliban, the only options seemed to be bringing people back in, changing the timeline..12
...or this. I dont know. Its a cluster. Im not even sure I can call what Biden did a mistake. Did they have intel that the Taliban, which had been moving forward since Trump struck his stupid deal, was planning to attack our troops? Who were way outmanned? I dont know. But...13
...this idea that this had some other easy solution or if - instead, as Rubio & McConnell said in December - the rapid drawdown of troops by Trump set up a disaster, a Saigon-type situation that was handed off to Biden, I don't know. But this is what you get when you...14
...allow violations of treaties, petulant troop withdrawals, and media who seems to have no memory, and a political party hopeful that no one will remember. I am not excusing Biden. I just want experts to say,given the actual situation he was handed, how it should have been done.
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Unsurprisingly, @RealPNavarro has no idea what the Mayo Clinic actually said. And the idea that doctors in ICUs are going to make medical decisions with critically ill pts based on CNN reports is crazy. But what do studies actually say, and why is hydro use so limited? Well...
..In 2020, FDA (under Trump), NIH and World Health Organization stopped studies evaluating hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 due to a lack of benefit. Current NIH and US guidelines recommend its use for COVID-19 treatment in hospitals only in clinical trials...
...in *Britain*, the largest study on hydro (the RECOVERY Trial" - one of few randomized & controlled - evaluated potential treatments for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Investigators found no benefit or reduction of death in hospitalized patients receiving hydro...
Media who interview CEO Barra of @GM need to understand: When asked about difference between how much of an increase she receives to reach her compensation ($30 mill - higher than all but Tesla) compared to workers, she says "It's performance based." What a croc. Here's why.../1
...For most, it's hard for average person to understand because the compensation standards in GM's proxy is loaded with undefined acronyms - TSR, LTIP, NEO, etc. But when you know the meaning, you see that her compensation is rigged. A good percentage of her comp is based on...
...comparisons to the performance of other companies & comps with other company CEO's comp. Well, for the first one, they use other auto makers, most of which are nowhere close to the size/diversity of GM (Renault, Stelantis, Suzuki) so they really aren't comparable. BUT when...
Would reporters *please* stop saying RICO law in Georgia is intended to be applied to organized crime. That is *false.* In fact, it is wrong on so many levels that it is shocking reporters keep saying it. They are clearly referring to federal RICO - where they are also wrong.../1
...federal RICO (not part of the Georgia case) has been and - according G. Robert Blakey, the man who wrote the statute - was intended both to apply to the activities of organized crime *and* other criminal enterprises, including white collar crime. From Blakey in 1989:.../2
...the reason Blakey is discussing white collar crime is because, at that time, RICO was being used to bludgeon Wall Street fraud. But the federal law was specifically written to address a pattern of criminal activity that involved an "enterprise" such as a corrupt company.../3
Florida wants to teach about "skills" slaves obtained in the antebellum south because "beneficent" slaveholders taught their slaves to read, write, blacksmithing, etc. They say this is supported by "scholars." Well, let's see what the scholars really say.../1
...first, let's start with blacksmithing, since this is specifically what DeSantis mentioned yesterday. This, more than anything, underscores the brutal ignorance of the GOP on history, and their apparent belief that Africans arrived here as ignorant, incompetent savages.../2
...reality: People who were already skilled blacksmiths were brought in chains from West Africa. These Africans were among the most skilled blacksmiths the world had ever seen, and *they* taught *white* blacksmiths new skills and techniques. African blacksmith slaves were.../3
Wow. This is the biggest pile of nonsense I have ever read. A few problems: 1. Viktor Shokin never conducted a criminal investigation of Burisma. There was a criminal investigation in *Britain* of Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of Burisma, for purportedly laundering money stolen.../1
...when Zlochevsky served as Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources in Ukraine through British banks. Britain attempted to get documents for its case from Ukraine and Shokin *blocked* it.
2. Shokin also blocked all investigations of Ukranian oligarchs, which is what led.../2
...the EU, overseas investment firms and ultimately the IMF to either pull out investment/loans or threaten to unless Shokin was fired.
3. Shokin finally left when his deputy publicly resigned, announcing on national TV the details of Shokin's corruption re: oligarchs.../3
I've long said, despite the criminality depicted in Bragg's statement of facts, the linkage to tax fraud was weak and the most damning part - the AIM coordination - was a federal crime, so not charged. IOW, I wouldnt be surprised if it didn't survive a motion to dismiss. But.../1
...the classified documents case is in another stratosphere. The magnitude of the crimes depicted are deeply serious and per se illegal. There is no "linkage" required. Plus, the witnesses are all from Trump world...unlike Michael Cohen, it would nearly impossible to argue.../2
...these are people who despise Trump. They are his guys, deeply supportive of him. Add to that the devastating tape (which likely contains even more than depicted in the indictment) and the testimony of is own PAC guy, and the violations of disseminating classified info are../3