Blinken Draws Fire Over Afghanistan Blame
Game, ‘Stonewalling’
Posted By: Moritz55, 4/26/2023 11:51:47 PM
Former Ambassador Thomas Boyatt, a highly decorated foreign service officer who served in multiple senior U.S. foreign service roles in the 1970s and 80s, has a bone to pick with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Since the chaotic and deadly U.S. exit from Afghanistan, Blinken has refused to turn over to Congress a key internal State Department dissent document signed by 23 U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul. The classified cable was sent to Blinken and top leadership at State in July 2021, one month before the evacuation descended into chaos. The classified memo reportedly urged the administration to accelerate evacuation plans because the Afghan government
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Minnesota state Rep. Harry Niska, R., asked during a debate on a new bill whether praise for "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling or arguing that COVID originated in China would qualify as biased speech that would put citizens on a government database. Minnesota lawmakers are mulling a change to state law, House File 181, that would log alleged bias incidents even when they aren't considered a crime. The bill, introduced in January, would allow people to report perceived bias-related incidents such as alleged slurs and verbal attacks that would fall outside the hate crimes compiled annually by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, according to the St. Cloud Times.
Former Ambassador Thomas Boyatt, a highly decorated foreign service officer who served in multiple senior U.S. foreign service roles in the 1970s and 80s, has a bone to pick with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Since the chaotic and deadly U.S. exit from Afghanistan, Blinken has refused to turn over to Congress a key internal State Department dissent document signed by 23 U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul. The classified cable was sent to Blinken and top leadership at State in July 2021, one month before the evacuation descended into chaos. The classified memo reportedly urged the administration to accelerate evacuation plans because the Afghan government
President Joe Biden announced that he would run for reelection, but his 2024 campaign will more likely only serve as a vehicle to let Kamala Harris become president.
Biden could not even go longer than a day into his reelection campaign without his administration throwing doubt on his ability to serve four more years. When asked if Biden would serve a full second term, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she would “not get ahead of the president” and that it was “something for him to decide.” That blunder (which Jean-Pierre later tried to walk back) makes everything quite clear.
House Republicans on Wednesday delivered Speaker Kevin McCarthy the biggest win of his tenure leading the chamber so far by passing his bill to raise the debt limit and slash spending, a bill that serves as the GOP's position on how to avoid a debt crisis in the coming weeks. The bill passed in a narrow 217-215 vote. Every Democrat voted against it, as expected, along with four Republicans: Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Ken Buck of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Republicans cast the vote as a win that puts them in the driver's seat in negotiations they hope can happen with
President Biden is no stranger to detailed cheat sheets when speaking to the press, but the president's team seems to have taken things up a notch after he revealed a pre-written question from a reporter during Wednesday's press conference. As Biden spoke alongside South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in the White House Rose Garden, a photographer captured a small cheat-sheet in the president's hand signaling he had advanced knowledge of a question from Los Angeles Times journalist Courtney Subramanian. The small paper also included a picture of the reporter along with the pronunciation breakdown of her last name. "Question #1" was handwritten at the top of the sheet, indicating
White House staffers are rushing to help Vice President Kamala Harris boost her low approval ratings following her and President Biden's newly-announced re-election campaign this week. While neither Biden's nor Harris' approval ratings are above 50%, Harris has remained stagnant in the high 30s throughout the pair's time in office, while Biden has hovered around the low-to-mid 40s. Harris is likely to face more scrutiny than ever in the 2024 campaign given the president's age. He would be 82 on Inauguration Day 2025.
Senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn has tasked White House teams to schedule more events featuring Harris and promoting more popular aspects of the Democratic platform, according to Axios.
673 university professors sign letter
opposing courses on America's founding, Constitution 39 replies
opposing courses on America's founding, Constitution 39 replies
Hundreds of professors at the University of North Carolina signed a public letter Tuesday opposing legislation that would require university students to take courses on America's government and founding documents. The 673 UNC Chapel Hill professors revealed the public letter Tuesday, arguing the new courses and another bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives would constitute an infringement on the university's "academic freedom."
The first piece of legislation, House Bill 96, would require students to take a 3 credit-hour course covering America's founding and history. Required reading for the course would include the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation,
Vice President Kamala Harris was brutally mocked for puzzling comments she made during a rally for abortion rights at Howard University in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. Harris delivered her remarks at her alma mater, in her first speaking engagement since she and President Biden announced their 2024 re-election bid.
The VP was urging liberals to "stand and fight" against what she deemed a "national agenda" by the GOP to limit abortion rights, voting rights and LGBTQ rights, NPR reported. At one point in her speech, she gave a rambling description of the importance of the moment."So I think it's very important, as you have heard from so many
One of Donald Trump’s gifts is that he drives his enemies so crazy that they do really weird things.
The latest evidence came Tuesday morning when Joe Biden released a three-minute video announcing he is seeking re-election. The world’s a mess, America is spiraling downward at a rapid rate and Biden would be older than dirt at the end of a second term, but he wants to “finish the job.”
Finish the job? Apparently not satisfied with merely damaging America, he aims to destroy it.
The fact that the president made the announcement via a recording reflects White House concerns about his stumbling and bumbling cognitive defects.
A House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Wednesday will feature the testimony from a whistleblower who will warn lawmakers that the U.S. has become the "middleman" in a multibillion dollar migrant child trafficking operation at the border. The hearing, "The Biden Border Crisis: Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children," will be held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement and will examine the surge in unaccompanied children (UACs) at the southern border.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, the number of UACs who arrive at the border has swelled
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris officially announced their re-election campaign and the 2024 GOP White House hopefuls are already launching mortar shells.Biden and Harris released their official presidential announcement video, vowing to "finish the job" they started, to mixed reviews online and with the president’s potential 2024 Republican challengers.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who recently launched a 2024 presidential exploratory committee, told Fox News Digital that another "term would be a disaster for the American people."
In Monday’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated accusations against the US, NATO and Ukraine. DW takes a look at the speech and debunks some of his claims. With Russia currently holding the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov convened a meeting of the body on Monday to discuss "effective multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."
Despite Russia's ongoing war of agression against Ukraine, Lavrov repeated claims of NATO threatening Russia and the US undermining multilateralism on the global stage. He also denied the Ukrainian government's legitimacy
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The Fairfax Bar and Grill in Indiana alienated some of its patrons after it condemned them for criticizing Bud Light's association with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Snip) However, one venue in Bloomington, Indiana, has made headlines with a contradictory message calling for "open conversations" about the subject, yet demanding those who disagree to "leave" their establishment. "We are tired of all of the hate. We are very open to debate and discussion and it’s truly a shame that we can’t have open conversations about this important political and cultural topic.
Arizona State Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-Tucson) was caught on camera hiding Bibles from her colleagues in the House members-only lounge at the Arizona State Capitol.
When Bibles started disappearing from the lounge, security officers set up a hidden camera to see who was behind the theft. Not too long after that, they discovered Stahl Hamilton was the culprit, according to a report by AZFamily.
AZFamily journalist David Caltabiano posted video footage of the state representative taking a Bible from a console table in the lounge and appearing to hide it.
In a heated moment during a Congressional hearing on the border crisis, Democrat Representative Eric Swalwell had a meltdown after Texas Congressman Troy Nehls called him out for his relationship with a Chinese spy.
The tense exchange, which was caught on camera, quickly went viral on social media.In the video, Rep. Nehls can be heard stating that Swalwell has a “checkered past” and has been alleged to have had affairs and relationships with a Chinese spy. Swalwell immediately erupted in anger, cursing at Rodriguez and demanding that his words be taken down, claiming: “You don’t get to say that s***!”
WATCH:
Nikki Haley is auditioning for Trump VP slot
24 replies
Nikki Haley doesn’t have a prayer to become the next President of the United States, although she is a viable VP candidate for sure.
I’ve always had a generally positive impression of her. She is smart, was a good governor, and one of the most reliable and well-spoken of the Trump appointees.
With that said, I was pretty stunned by her cheap shot at Ron DeSantis. I am pretty sure that it will alienate quite a number of people, although to me it’s pretty clear that Republican voters are not the intended recipients of her message. Looking at the language of the tweet her message is clear: she is on board with
WASHINGTON—She swaggered, she jabbed, she inspired. She even joked.
Anyone looking for a glimpse of what Vice President Kamala Harris could bring to the campaign trail would have found it this week at Howard University, where she headlined a rally for reproductive rights. After two years of tightly scripted, uneven performances that often dismayed Democrats and cheered Republicans, Harris is looser, more forceful and more willing to speak off the cuff following her trip to Africa a month ago.
“That is the vice president that America is going to get a chance to get to know for the first time,” said Laphonza Butler, a former adviser to Harris who leads EMILY’s List.
Around a quarter of high school students identify as gay, bisexual or have a more fluid sexuality, official data suggests.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's biannual youth report found that just 75.5 percent of 14 to 18-year-olds said they were heterosexual in 2021 - a new low.
The remainder said they were either bisexual (12.1 percent), gay or lesbian (3.2 percent), 'other' (3.9 percent) or said they 'questioned' their sexuality (5.2 percent).
A Louisiana high school senior was awarded a staggering amount of scholarships and was accepted to at least 170 colleges he applied to with more acceptance letters rolling in every day.
Dennis Barnes hopes to break the current record for most scholarships ever awarded, which currently sits at $9.4 million. The 16-year-old senior has been offered more than $9 million in scholarships so far. “My goal is to reach $10 million,” Barnes told the local station WWL-TV, per The Daily Mail.
A betting website has released odds along with top candidates to replace Tucker Carlson in his 8 p.m. Eastern time slot on Fox News. The list contains a number of current Fox News contributors in additions to some longshots.
Gambling.com released a list of ten potential candidates to replace what was the most highly-rated show on cable news. Each candidate’s name was accompanied by betting odds, though the lines are not available for wagers on any sportsbooks or betting apps.
Fox “parting ways” with Tucker Carlson was an insane move by any standards of business, given how popular his show was on the network.
As we noted, it didn’t seem to have affected Carlson’s mood, as he seemed to be having a good time with his wife down in Florida. He also put out a video on Twitter. While he didn’t talk specifically about the “parting of the ways,” I think he was making it clear that he wasn’t going to be silenced.But it is affecting Fox. They’ve taken a huge hit in just one day since the news broke on Monday.
If only electric vehicles would shoot sparks — in the marketplace, that is. Despite the billions of dollars invested by private corporations, and government subsidies, Americans are still indifferent as a whole over electric vehicles. Just two in every 10 Americans say they are “very likely” to buy an EV as their next car, according to a recent survey by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute and the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.CORRECTON*
Biden can’t recall recent Ireland visit,
seems to forget Hunter’s love child
during Q&A with kids 17 replies
seems to forget Hunter’s love child
during Q&A with kids 17 replies
No wonder President Biden needs a cheat sheet while taking questions from adults.
The 80-year-old commander-in-chief had difficulty remembering his recent state visit to Ireland Thursday while being grilled by kids during a Take Your Child to Work event at the White House. “The last country I’ve traveled, I’m trying to think of the last one I was in,” Biden mused to the children of administration staffers and members of the media.
“I’ve been to, met with 89 heads of state so far. So, uh, trying to think where was the last place I was; it’s hard to keep track.”
“Ireland,” a child shouted out, jogging the president’s memory.
“Yeah, you’re right, Ireland.
Bill O’Reilly has predicted that Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News could negatively affect the 2024 presidential race for Republicans.
(snip)
Carlson’s departure “will have a tremendous effect on the future of the Fox News channel, no doubt about that, but more importantly on Republican politics in the 2024 presidential election.”
O’Reilly argued that Carlson’s departure from Fox News, combined with the death of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in 2021, has diminished the influence of conservative voices in the news media environment—and that it will now take longer for conservative ideas to permeate beyond Republican and conservative circles and into the conversations of independent voters.
Comments:
A long article but worth the time to read it.