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6 Sep, 11 tweets, 2 min read

NEW -- Biden's White House earned an air of competence and got popular results with a vaccine push, a stimulus plan, even progress on infrastructure through careful planning, methodical execution and underpromising.

So ... what happened with Afghanistan?

huffpost.com/entry/joe-bide…

Biden and his staff -- correctly -- point out out Trump effectively handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban with his Feb 2020 "peace" deal that ended sanctions and released 5,000 Taliban fighters without any involvement by the US-backed Afghan government.

But that didn't mean that an orderly withdrawal process could not have started much, much earlier -- February or March -- by getting Afghan interpreters, local embassy staff, etc. out of the country BEFORE the Taliban were closing in on Kabul.

American advocates for Afghan allies -- who have zero love for the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee Trump administration -- are dismayed that Biden did not actually plan for the orderly departure that he promised back in April.

BTW, if you're suggesting my coverage is letting Trump off the hook ....

Well, here:

huffpost.com/entry/afghan-a…

And here:

huffpost.com/entry/trump-ta…

Yes, so, absolutely -- if Trump were president, it's an open question whether a single Afghan would have been evacuated at all.

He and Stephen Miller are re-upping their racist/xenophobic stuff about Muslims, only this time featuring Afghans who risked their lives for us.

But improving on Trump's organizational skills and not being a racist/xenophobe is a really low bar.

The 81 million Americans who voted for Biden presumably wanted something more than "not as bad as Trump."

Finally -- yes, getting 120,000 people out in two weeks is quite an accomplishment (13 US service members and 200+ Afghans were murdered, though).

But back in winter, there were 88,000 Afghan SIV applicants and families who wanted out. Fewer than half got out.

Many of those remaining are being hunted down and murdered by the Taliban.

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@svdate

15 Sep

NEW -- Republican officer holders are now embracing a vocal minority whose macabre willingness to get sick and even die rather than get vaccinated also happens to be hurting the economy and Biden.

One former top GOP strategist says it's no coincidence.

huffpost.com/entry/republic…

Exhibit A? Ron DeSantis, who aggressively pushed Florida’s elderly population to get vaccinated late last year and early this year, in recent months has instead been emphasizing monoclonal antibodies for those who contract the disease.

At one such event Monday, DeSantis stood beside a Gainesville utility employee as he falsely claimed from behind a lectern bearing Florida’s official seal that the vaccines alter your RNA and that people should not get them.

Read 6 tweets

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@svdate

10 Sep

NEW -- Florida kids have to get 16 -- count 'em -- 16 separate shots to go school. Dress codes tell them what they can and can't wear, down to the the width of tank top straps.

But COVID shot mandates? Masks?

Absolutely not, says Ron DeSantis.

huffpost.com/entry/ron-desa…

Here are the diseases you need shots for to attend a public OR private school in Florida (most require multiple boosters):

diphtheria
tetanus
acellular pertussis
polio
measles
mumps
rubella
chicken pox
hepatitis B

For pre-schoolers? Public and private?

You also need these:

haemophilus influenzae type b
pneumococcal conjugate

Read 7 tweets

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@svdate

9 Sep

Donald Trump discussed using the military to remain in power despite losing his election.

Is America okay that?

The political press sure seems to be.

So, yet again, some context to remember whenever you see a story about the most recent former president and Jan. 6:

No, military leaders were not going to do this, as they had already made clear months earlier.

Still, every single living former defense secretary felt compelled to sign onto a letter warning active military about the consequences for getting involved in an election dispute.

Not in 232 years of elections had a losing president tried to do this. Until Trump.

So without any hope of military backing, he incited his mob instead, and kept riling them up, even after they had breached the Capitol and were threatening his vice president's life.

Read 6 tweets

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@svdate

9 Sep

Biden saying he understood why Americans are frustrated with the 80 million who still are not vaccinated.

Also says elected officials are actively undermining efforts to get people vaccinated.

Points out that even Fox News is already requiring vaccinations of their employees.

“Our patience is wearing thin.”

Read 5 tweets

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@svdate

9 Sep

In case people were starting to forget the racism/white supremacy at the core of Donald Trump's political persona, he has put out a 244-word ode to the US Army officer whose treason was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Had Robert Lee done his duty to his country, the Civil War would have been over within weeks, if not days.

Instead, he fought to preserve slavery, and to destroy the United States of America.

Recall that Trump in 2020 vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act because it contained a provision to rename bases currently honoring Confederate traitors.

Read 5 tweets

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@svdate

8 Sep

Suddenly a lot of concern about the US stance toward the Taliban, it seems.

A US president has said the following about the Taliban. Guess which one.

(Hint: He also pressured the former Afghan gov't to release 5,000 of their terrorists from prison.)

(Hint #2: He pressured Pakistan to release from prison the guy who is now the theocratic-fascist-in-chief.)

(Hint #3: He wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David. For Sept. 11.)

Read 4 tweets

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