Will the Dems pull the plug on Biden in the next few days?
No.
But what it will have done is reinforced, in the minds of many in Democratic leadership positions, that Biden is not the right man to lead the Party into the next election.
To force him out requires that the VP and the Cabinet are willing to basically go to him and say "resign on health grounds, or we'll be invoking the 25th". That's a pretty major step - albeit one that is made rather easier by the fact that Biden does not, and has never had, a big constituency of devoted fans inside the party.
There's also the question of timings. Let us assume that the Dems want Biden to go. Unless Harris is planning on completely reversing the Afghanistan strategy (and while she's been far from supportive of the President, that's probably a bridge too far) then it would make more sense to stick the knife in once the US has left Afghanistan.
After all, you want all the shit to stick to the old bloke who's no longer there.
But, of course, once the US is no longer there, then neither are the headlines.
Plus, you will have a number of potential Presidential challengers (like Buttigieg), for whom the perfect situation is one where he's running against the VP, not against a sitting President. So, does he really want Biden to be forced out? (And he is a Cabinet secretary)
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
We should appreciate this Joe Root form. Must be for India what is was like for us when Steve Smith was impossible to dismiss a few years ago
Indeed, although rather nicer to watch. Looks like there won't be a declaration tonight. I'd expect us to flash the bat a bit in the morning with a licence to get out trying. Something like a 350 lead. I'd be very worried if I had tickets for Saturday!
300 the lead. I wonder if they declare when Root goes?
I suspect England will bat until we are all out.
Remember in 2017 and 2019 the pitch got better to bat as the match progressed, which is why the Windies and England won matches by scoring 300 plus in the fourth innings.
If the Taliban were clever and could see past their anti west hatred and need to get 'foreigners' out of the country they should go to the US and allies and give us more time to get out.
They surely want no part of these bombings and dealing with ISIS and AQ, so if you remove the western element you remove a large part of that threat.
If the Taliban were clever and could see past their anti west hatred and need to get 'foreigners' out of the country they should go to the US and allies and give us more time to get out.
They surely want no part of these bombings and dealing with ISIS and AQ, so if you remove the western element you remove a large part of that threat.
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
US military deaths may change the equation a bit. It becomes even harder to sweep the Kabul surrender under the rug for Biden.
It is ofcourse Trump's surrender originally, but he may benefit. Terrible scenes today.
If Trump was still President, he'd be denying anything bad had actually happened, and his supporters would have believed him.
Probably be calling the marines a bunch of losers.
Whatever and however bad this gets it would have been worse under that clown.
How? How would it have been worse?
This is a comforting lie for uneasy Bidenites
Biden and Trump BOTH fucked this up to fuckistan, and back again
Biden and Trump are equally filth.
I wouldn't quite go that far. Trump is worse, it is arguable he is so selfish, vain and deranged he is actively evil.
Biden isn't evil. He means "well". He has modestly good intentions. But he is far too old, doddery, incompetent, arrogant, querulous, and dogmatic. Reports say he was advised by many NOT to evacuate Afghanistan this way, he just shrugged them off, he thought his way was right. And here we are
The worst foreign policy disaster for the USA - ever? Possibly worse than Vietnam
Conv w CEO last night "There is no 'return to work.' We've hired more than half our team in the last 18 months. They are all over the country, and we don't have office space. I don't know what the future model will be, but it certainly will look nothing like it did in 2019..."
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
Conv w CEO last night "There is no 'return to work.' We've hired more than half our team in the last 18 months. They are all over the country, and we don't have office space. I don't know what the future model will be, but it certainly will look nothing like it did in 2019..."
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
So? The Geraghty piece is pure reportage, which is why it deserves reading. Dougherty is about USA internalities. What is your point?
I have come to detest this form of argumentation. "Oh but look, that comes from a magazine/news agency/TV channel that was saying something else, or something silly, six months back, so we can ignore this entirely different story"
I used to do it myself. Now I try not to. It's generally wrong. It also leads to misinformed bubblethink
Draw your news from many places. Judge each article on its own merits. Heck, even the Daily Express gets it right once a year. And if it's right, it is valuable information
That NR article is blistering, and to me seems entirely persuasive. Horrible things are happening beyond Kabul
Doing my online shop, Tesco seem to have absolutely nothing but yet Sainsbury's have no problems? Can anyone explain why?
Throughout the pandemic and pingdemic, I have had virtually no issues with Sainsbury's.
Tesco has had its ups and downs, but Tesco Stretford seems to have everything at the moment and been fine for a couple of months. But when I did our holiday online shop a couple of weeks back Tesco Wadebridge was out of loads of things. A minor mystery how it can vary so much by region (Wadebridge probably has much greater problems with seasonality).
I believe it only takes a small percentage increase in unexpected demand (or I presume by the other side, reduction in capacity) to completely screw the JIT model.
When it seemed like everybody was hoarding bog rolls, I am sure the supermarkets were saying it was only taking 10% increase to cause it.
Do you live in Devon, Francis, or am I confusing you with someone else? If so, that (i.e. heavy season of tourists in tourist hotspot) perhaps explains your travails.
There’s probably a couple of million more people in the UK at the moment, than one might expect from a ‘regular’ August.
Most people, even those on holiday, will be getting around by car - as opposed to foreign tourists who are much less likely to go near a supermarket.
It's an excellent point: more Brits at home over the summer, means more demand for supermarket products. And as purchasing will be based on analyses of normal seasonal patterns of demand, you could very well imagine a situation where they have bought for 60 million people using supermarkets, and the actual number 61 or 62 million.
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
England lead up to 200 with 8 wickets still in hand. Seriously impressive scoring rate now too. Maybe looking for a 350 run lead by the end of the day?
Burns the lowest scorer at 61. Such a loser!
350 lead 45-60 minutes before the end of play. And declare.
There was an excellent discussion on the last thread about protectionism between @isam and @Stuartinromford, and I thought it worth noting that there are a very similar arguments going on with high tech US staff in Silicon Valley.
Basically, Facebook, Apple, Google, etc., want to continue to build up their development hubs in the Silicon Valley area, but their enormous hiring sprees have sent rents in SF and the Bay Area through the roof. A public school teacher simply can't afford to live within 50 miles of Cupertino.
There is therefore enormous resistance from a lot of long-term residents to their actions, because their growth has negative externalities.
But Apple, etc., have shot back with Without our tax revenues, you would have serious problems keeping the lights on. And if we start moving development to Austin, or Bangalore, then that whole expertise will start moving outside California or even the US as a whole.
US military deaths may change the equation a bit. It becomes even harder to sweep the Kabul surrender under the rug for Biden.
It is ofcourse Trump's surrender originally, but he may benefit. Terrible scenes today.
If Trump was still President, he'd be denying anything bad had actually happened, and his supporters would have believed him.
Probably be calling the marines a bunch of losers.
Whatever and however bad this gets it would have been worse under that clown.
How? How would it have been worse?
This is a comforting lie for uneasy Bidenites
Biden and Trump BOTH fucked this up to fuckistan, and back again
Biden and Trump are equally filth.
I wouldn't quite go that far. Trump is worse, it is arguable he is so selfish, vain and deranged he is actively evil.
Biden isn't evil. He means "well". He has modestly good intentions. But he is far too old, doddery, incompetent, arrogant, querulous, and dogmatic. Reports say he was advised by many NOT to evacuate Afghanistan this way, he just shrugged them off, he thought his way was right. And here we are
The worst foreign policy disaster for the USA - ever? Possibly worse than Vietnam
We can't make that judgement yet. It depends on how things pan out. There's 2 elements to it - the decision to pull out and the way it was done. For it to end up a contender for the worst ever foreign policy disaster for the US, probably both of those have to become clear as being dead wrong. The right decision but rushed and bungled is unlikely to make the grade.
Or do you mean the whole US Afghan 'invade and occupy' project from the start? Is this what is looking like their worst ever foreign policy disaster? In which case that's at the door of every president from Bush onwards and mainly Bush himself.
As for Biden, he's been arguing for 'out' for ages, been quite big on this, so I'm not sure it's about age and mental capacity.
‘Very preliminary report—But reliable sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Afghanistan are telling my team that four US Marines were killed in bombing outside of the Kabul Airport. Again, this is preliminary, but horrific if confirmed. Pray.’
In the eyes of the American public, these deaths will either confirm Biden was right to GTFO asap rather than risk more American lives for no discernible gain, or condemn him for unnecessary deaths. Could go either way. Or both. Dunno really.
This is absolutely brutal but necessary reading on the terrible catastrophe of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands stranded. An American clusterfuck of monumental proportions. And this was written BEFORE the explosions
Yes, the contortions of logic and memory in places are quite something.
Case in point, Joe Biden:
"The Taliban will not take over Afghanistan" - oops
"There will be no helicopters on the roof of the US Embassy" - errrr
"There is no one being killed at the airport" - ouch
"Come on man, those guys fell off the plane four days ago. Five!" - Ohhhkayyyyyyy
I didn't mean my comment that way. What I'm referring to is the bloodlust for Biden amongst certain Trumpside units. This event is triggering a flood of it and they are not allowing logic or previous positions to stand in the way.
I'm not saying you are one of them so don't go all fruity on me.
There was an excellent discussion on the last thread about protectionism between @isam and @Stuartinromford, and I thought it worth noting that there are a very similar arguments going on with high tech US staff in Silicon Valley.
Basically, Facebook, Apple, Google, etc., want to continue to build up their development hubs in the Silicon Valley area, but their enormous hiring sprees have sent rents in SF and the Bay Area through the roof. A public school teacher simply can't afford to live within 50 miles of Cupertino.
There is therefore enormous resistance from a lot of long-term residents to their actions, because their growth has negative externalities.
But Apple, etc., have shot back with Without our tax revenues, you would have serious problems keeping the lights on. And if we start moving development to Austin, or Bangalore, then that whole expertise will start moving outside California or even the US as a whole.
Comments
As Steve Gomez put it “Burn in hell, you piece of scum!”
But what it will have done is reinforced, in the minds of many in Democratic leadership positions, that Biden is not the right man to lead the Party into the next election.
To force him out requires that the VP and the Cabinet are willing to basically go to him and say "resign on health grounds, or we'll be invoking the 25th". That's a pretty major step - albeit one that is made rather easier by the fact that Biden does not, and has never had, a big constituency of devoted fans inside the party.
There's also the question of timings. Let us assume that the Dems want Biden to go. Unless Harris is planning on completely reversing the Afghanistan strategy (and while she's been far from supportive of the President, that's probably a bridge too far) then it would make more sense to stick the knife in once the US has left Afghanistan.
After all, you want all the shit to stick to the old bloke who's no longer there.
But, of course, once the US is no longer there, then neither are the headlines.
Plus, you will have a number of potential Presidential challengers (like Buttigieg), for whom the perfect situation is one where he's running against the VP, not against a sitting President. So, does he really want Biden to be forced out? (And he is a Cabinet secretary)
Here's the NR in November last year saying troops should be out - by Christmas.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/11/out-of-syria-and-afghanistan-not-to-mention-somalia/
This is a comforting lie for uneasy Bidenites
Biden and Trump BOTH fucked this up to fuckistan, and back again
Nonetheless, worth a proper PCR swab.
He doesn't deserve to be spoken in the same breath as Root, Kohli, and Williamson.
Remember in 2017 and 2019 the pitch got better to bat as the match progressed, which is why the Windies and England won matches by scoring 300 plus in the fourth innings.
There's going to be plenty of groups of death because they way things have already panned out.
They surely want no part of these bombings and dealing with ISIS and AQ, so if you remove the western element you remove a large part of that threat.
Give us more time to get people out.
Biden isn't evil. He means "well". He has modestly good intentions. But he is far too old, doddery, incompetent, arrogant, querulous, and dogmatic. Reports say he was advised by many NOT to evacuate Afghanistan this way, he just shrugged them off, he thought his way was right. And here we are
The worst foreign policy disaster for the USA - ever? Possibly worse than Vietnam
https://twitter.com/jrichlive/status/1430927247192444929?s=20
I used to do it myself. Now I try not to. It's generally wrong. It also leads to misinformed bubblethink
Draw your news from many places. Judge each article on its own merits. Heck, even the Daily Express gets it right once a year. And if it's right, it is valuable information
That NR article is blistering, and to me seems entirely persuasive. Horrible things are happening beyond Kabul
Horrendous
"The Taliban will not take over Afghanistan" - oops
"There will be no helicopters on the roof of the US Embassy" - errrr
"There is no one being killed at the airport" - ouch
"Come on man, those guys fell off the plane four days ago. Five!" - Ohhhkayyyyyyy
Trying to remember the last time Liverpool faced Suarez in the Champions League.
Oh wait, I was there, I think we won 4 nil.
Basically, Facebook, Apple, Google, etc., want to continue to build up their development hubs in the Silicon Valley area, but their enormous hiring sprees have sent rents in SF and the Bay Area through the roof. A public school teacher simply can't afford to live within 50 miles of Cupertino.
There is therefore enormous resistance from a lot of long-term residents to their actions, because their growth has negative externalities.
But Apple, etc., have shot back with Without our tax revenues, you would have serious problems keeping the lights on. And if we start moving development to Austin, or Bangalore, then that whole expertise will start moving outside California or even the US as a whole.
And that's the difficult choice people have.
NEW THREAD
Or do you mean the whole US Afghan 'invade and occupy' project from the start? Is this what is looking like their worst ever foreign policy disaster? In which case that's at the door of every president from Bush onwards and mainly Bush himself.
As for Biden, he's been arguing for 'out' for ages, been quite big on this, so I'm not sure it's about age and mental capacity.
I'm not saying you are one of them so don't go all fruity on me.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/apple-s-hometown-mayor-firm-abuses-us-by-not-paying-taxes-1.2636749
In fact, the town also pays Apple:
https://www.cultofmac.com/631274/cupertino-has-paid-out-70m-to-stay-apples-hometown/