April 2023 | 189 comments (189 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

The Bat Man KIRBY-CONTENT (none / 1)

whitehouse | Key decisions and challenges surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, 12 pp after-action REVIEW

... President Biden's choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor. When President TRUMP took office in 2017, there were more than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. Eighteen months later, after introducing more than 3,000 additional troops just to maintain the stalemate, President TRUMP ordered direct talks with the Taliban without consulting with our allies and partners or allowing the Afghan government at the negotiating table. In September 2019, President TRUMP EMBOLDED the Taliban by PUBLICLY CONSIDERING inviting them to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11. In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban reached a deal, known as the Doha Agreement, under which the United States agreed to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.
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INNA PANDEMIC! MAGA INSURGENT PURGE!

Over his last 11 months in office, President TRUMP ordered a series of drawdowns of U.S. troops. By June 2020, President Trump reduced U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 8,600. In September 2020, he directed a further draw down to 4,500. A month later, President TRUMP tweeted, to the surprise of military advisors, that the remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan should be "home by Christmas!"
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by Cat on Fri Apr 7th, 2023 at 06:19:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The Bat Man KIRBY-CONTENT (none / 1)

PBS (state-funded) recording of "White House holds briefing as China threatens 'forceful' measures after Taiwan meeting" prefaced by Jean-Pierre FIGHT for for children's and, possibly, their parents' gender-affirming care. Full Monty run time 01:32:32, (EN) autotranslate disabled.

Enter Kirby @ 00:06:18

by Cat on Sat Apr 8th, 2023 at 06:33:18 PM EST
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Re: The Bat Man KIRBY-CONTENT (none / 1)

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, 11-13 Apr ancestral home itinerary

MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Karine.
Afternoon, everybody. So, as Karine just mentioned, the President is traveling to the United Kingdom and Ireland this week. And as I think you all also know, he's very excited for this trip and has been now for quite some time.
Tomorrow [11 Apr] he will depart for Belfast, where he'll be greeted upon arrival at the airport by Prime Minister Sunak, who he also just saw last month in San Diego at the AUKUS announcement.
On Wednesday, President Biden will meet with Prime Minister Sunak bilaterally. From there, President Biden will head to Ulster University to deliver remarks marking the tremendous progress since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago. And he'll underscore the readiness of the United States to preserve those gains and support Northern Ireland's vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities.
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Ulster U. (NI), Co. Louth (IE), Dublin (IE), Co. Mayo (IE)

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He will then deliver remarks at St. Muredach's Cathedral, which his great-great-grandfather -- great-great-great-grandfather -- sorry -- Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to in 1827. Those bricks were used to construct and support the great cathedral and helped Edward afford to buy tickets for himself and for his family to sail together to America decades later in 1851.
< wipes tears >
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Despite his French surname and hailing from Pennsylvania, settled by German colonists, Biden claims Irish ancestry and Roman Catholic faith.
But British domestic intelligence agency MI5 has already uncovered a bomb plot by Irish Republican Army splinter group the New IRA. The US president will travel with a huge Secret Service security detail, reportedly packing an arsenal of over 300 firearms and a motorcade of up to 40 bullet-poof cars. Biden will be welcomed to the city by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak -- whose name he has repeatedly mispronounced as "Rashid Sunook."
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The President is very much looking forward to that trip, again, and to celebrating the deep, historic ties that our two countries and our two people continue to share.
With that, I'll take some questions.
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The kernal of Politico and *.eu.com feature stories is: "Northern Ireland has for nearly a year had no elected government at Stormont".

by Cat on Tue Apr 11th, 2023 at 03:46:21 PM EST
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Re: The Bat Man KIRBY-CONTENT (none / 0)

Politico.eu.com | elder abuse

by Cat on Mon Apr 17th, 2023 at 06:20:20 PM EST
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Re: The Bat Man KRUGMAN-CONTENT (none / 0)

we accept a system with considerable inequality because systems without any inequality profit or arbitrage don't work.

archived Note: negative figures represent higher receipts or lower outlays

APsplainin P > R - C : As profit recession hits, Wall Street hopes it's the bottom, 13 Apr

Profits are falling for companies, and the only question is how much worse they will get.

by Cat on Sat Apr 15th, 2023 at 03:33:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Bat Man KRUGMAN-CONTENT (none / 0)

House passes $1.5 trillion debt limit increase, spending cuts

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House Democrats all voted against the bill, arguing that Congress should raise the debt limit without conditions. They also slammed the spending cuts in the bill, saying they would have a massive impact on government programs Americans depend on from health care and nutrition services to education and infrastructure.
Debt Is (Mostly) Money We Owe to Ourselves
The debt limit "x date" -- when the Treasury Department is at risk of running out of cash and wiggle room [techTalk!] under the borrowing cap to pay bondholders and other obligations -- will hit as early as June. The exact timing will depend in large part on tax receipts the Treasury is still analyzing, but the department plans to release an updated forecast later this week or next.
The Senate is planning to ignore House Republicans' bill, but will be under pressure to either negotiate or act on an alternative plan. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer offered no indication Wednesday that the House vote would change his negotiating posture.
"What this means, I believe, is that a country with its own currency would not be subject to the kind of self-fulfilling panic that is now arguably hitting Italy."

"We think what Speaker McCarthy and the House have done is going to bring us closer to default, not further away from it," the New York Democrat said.
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