“Some just wanted the money.” washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/…

Afghanistan’s military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions
@washingtonpost @sgreports “They saw that document as the end,” the officer said, referring to the majority of Afghans aligned with the government. “The day the deal was signed [Feb 2020] we saw the change. Everyone was just looking out for himself. It was like [the United States] left us to fail.”

Reading this @nytimes piece on Lindsey Graham, he comes off more as just a spineless opportunist. Someone who’d lick your boots in one minute, stab you in the back in the next. nytimes.com/2021/08/14/us/… “Tap Dancing With Trump: Lindsey Graham’s Quest for Relevance. The senator went from Donald J. Trump’s public enemy to his impassioned defender. Now he’s a golfing regular at Mar-a-Lago, advising the former president on his future….

Readout from NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne on Senior Administration Officials Travel to Tunisia whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/… “When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor—which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019—that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on U.S. Forces.

This is worth reading —as Afghanistan spirals out of control: The Afghanistan Papers. Deceptions & lies: What really happened in Afghanistan. Part one of an excerpt from “The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War.” @washingtonpost @CraigMWhitlock washingtonpost.com/investigations… Describes a 2007 suicide bomber attack targeting then VP, Dick Cheney.

The Afghan Military Was Built Over 20 Years. How Did It Collapse So Quickly? nytimes.com/2021/08/13/wor… “After weeks of fighting, one cardboard box full of slimy potatoes was supposed to pass as a police unit’s daily rations. They hadn’t received anything other than spuds in various forms in several days, and their hunger and fatigue were wearing them down.”

“Ultimately, then, American democracy depends on us—the citizens of the United States. No single political leader can end a democracy; no single leader can rescue one, either. Democracy is a shared enterprise. Its fate depends on all of us.[..]” “To save our democracy, Americans need to restore the basic norms that once protected it. But we must do more than that. We must extend those norms through the whole of a diverse society. We must make them truly inclusive…”

“As Ready for War as We Were in the 1970s...”: The Biden-Putin Rumble is Just Beginning newsletter from @juliaioffe ckarchive.com/b/4zuvhehd06x9 @cspanwj that to ignore Putin is to risk creating a situation that could swallow up Biden’s entire presidency. The administration seems to have settled on a strategy of doing just enough to keep Putin at bay so that he remains a manageable adversary. It’s containment for the 21st century.

[I had no idea... ]"He's Radioactive": Inside Johnny Depp's Self-Made Implosion
@THR @TatianaSiegel27
hollywoodreporter.com/features/hes-r… “There are few examples of a movie-star implosion of Depp's magnitude that have been so sudden and spectacular. During the height of his stardom, a 13-year stretch ending in 2016, Depp earned some $650 million”

- just throw it away.. wow

Chris Krebs sues Trump campaign, Joe diGenova for defamation - ⁦@washingtonpost⁩ washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is… “The lawsuit accused diGenova & the Trump campaign of defamation and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” It labeled Newsmax an aider and abettor. Krebs seeks a jury trial, money and punitive damages and an injunction ordering Newsmax to remove video of the incident.”

Charges of Ukrainian Meddling? A Russian Operation, U.S. Intelligence Says

Moscow has run a yearslong operation to blame Ukraine for its own 2016 election interference. nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/… via @NYTimes

cc @realDonaldTrump @PressSec @WhiteHouse @GOPLeader @senatemajldr Republicans have used similar talking points to defend President Trump in impeachment proceedings.

“Moscow’s goal is to cast doubt on established facts, said current and former officials.…

“Americans today know little about the terrorism that engulfed the South during Grant’s presidency. It has been suppressed by a strange national amnesia. The Klan’s ruthless reign is a dark, buried chapter in American history..”
Grant, Chernow On Reconstruction: “Grant saw a double standard at work: the country tolerated terror by whites, but not by blacks. As he wrote after leaving office: “If a negro insurrection should arise in South Carolina, Mississippi, or Louisiana, or if the negroes in either of these States .