Day: February 29, 2020

The racist touchy-feely misogynist pervert wins one

benfell

Housekeeping

There is an update on my contact information page. Encrypted chat may now be done through Keybase at https://keybase.io/benfell/chat. Allegedly, this will work even if you don’t have Keybase installed, but I don’t know the full security or privacy ramifications if it you use it this way. See the contact information page for more information.

South Carolina

It appears Joe Biden’s so-called “firewall” in South Carolina may have held after all.[1] My guess is that Super Tuesday will be an elimination round, after which voters preferring a so-called “moderate” (meaning maybe just left of Attila the Hun) can no longer split their votes among several candidates.

Evan Halper, Tyrone Beason, and Eli Stokols, “Joe Biden notches up first win in South Carolina primary,” Los Angeles Times, February 29, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-02-29/polls-close-in-south-carolina-as-biden-hopes-for-a-jumpstart

Elizabeth Warren

  1. [1]Evan Halper, Tyrone Beason, and Eli Stokols, “Joe Biden notches up first win in South Carolina primary,” Los Angeles Times, February 29, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-02-29/polls-close-in-south-carolina-as-biden-hopes-for-a-jumpstart↩

Yet another ‘end’ of a war that isn’t an end

benfell

Afghanistan

Previously,

A potential peace deal ending a futile war that has gone on for over 18 years[1] seems like good news. But apparently not everyone will celebrate; some dissenters have the ability to disrupt the planned “reduction in violence” that precedes the deal and must be successfully completed. The worst comes at the end of the story:[2]

After the signing of the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, the Afghan government will launch its own round of talks with the Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said that he will build a negotiating team that is inclusive, but following disputed election results announced this week, Afghan politics is deeply divided.

Ghani and his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, both declared victory after the results were announced. Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, declared the results illegal and announced he will begin setting up a parallel government. Should this political turmoil persist, it will further complicate the formation of a strong, inclusive team to negotiate with the Taliban.[3]

Which is to say, whoops.[4]

So apparently, they got through the “reduction in violence” and now they’ve signed the agreement. That’s really all that’s changed.[5]

Those hurdles may be tough to surmount. President Ashraf Ghani delayed his inauguration, planned for this past Thursday, at the urging of U.S. officials worried that the event would increase tensions in Afghanistan, where challenger Abdullah Abdullah is contesting the outcome.

The internal split has undercut efforts by the Kabul government to launch talks with the Taliban, which are supposed to begin in the next two weeks.

Saad Mohseni, who returned to Afghanistan in 2001 to launch the country’s most successful private media company, said Saturday’s deal wasn’t the beginning of the end of the war.[6]

Dion Nissenbaum and Ehsanullah Amiri, “U.S., Taliban Sign Deal Meant to End America’s Longest War,” Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-taliban-set-to-sign-deal-meant-to-end-america-s-longest-war-11582977729

  1. [1]Craig Whitlock, “At war with the truth,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/; Craig Whitlock, “Stranded without a strategy,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-strategy/; Craig Whitlock, “Built to fail,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-nation-building/; Craig Whitlock, “Consumed by corruption,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-corruption-government/; Craig Whitlock, “Unguarded nation,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-army-police/; Craig Whitlock, “Overwhelmed by opium,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-opium-poppy-production/↩
  2. [2]Susannah George and John Hudson, “Pompeo, Taliban announce plan to sign peace deal at the end of the month,” Washington Post, February 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/violence-reduction-in-afghanistan-set-to-begin-after-midnight-saturday/2020/02/21/c3df0fb2-547d-11ea-80ce-37a8d4266c09_story.html↩
  3. [3]Susannah George and John Hudson, “Pompeo, Taliban announce plan to sign peace deal at the end of the month,” Washington Post, February 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/violence-reduction-in-afghanistan-set-to-begin-after-midnight-saturday/2020/02/21/c3df0fb2-547d-11ea-80ce-37a8d4266c09_story.html↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “The even scarier delusional raging narcissist-in-chief,” Irregular Bullshit, February 21, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/02/21/the-even-scarier-delusional-raging-narcissist-in-chief/↩
  5. [5]Dion Nissenbaum and Ehsanullah Amiri, “U.S., Taliban Sign Deal Meant to End America’s Longest War,” Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-taliban-set-to-sign-deal-meant-to-end-america-s-longest-war-11582977729↩
  6. [6]Dion Nissenbaum and Ehsanullah Amiri, “U.S., Taliban Sign Deal Meant to End America’s Longest War,” Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-taliban-set-to-sign-deal-meant-to-end-america-s-longest-war-11582977729↩

Imagine being more worried about the stock market than a predicted pandemic

benfell

Coronavirus

One consistent picture that emerges right now is that Donald Trump is more concerned[1] about the stock market drop[2] than he is a predicted pandemic.[3]

Gunjan Banerji, “Stocks Suffer Biggest Weekly Losses Since 2008,” Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-markets-head-toward-correction-territory-as-coronavirus-spooks-investors-11582864550

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Summary,” February 28, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html

Dana Milbank, “For Trump, a reckoning has come,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/trump-reckoning-has-come/

Paul Waldman, “How coronavirus has deeply flummoxed conservative media,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/how-coronavirus-has-deeply-flummuxed-conservative-media/

David Brooks

  1. [1]Dana Milbank, “For Trump, a reckoning has come,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/trump-reckoning-has-come/; Paul Waldman, “How coronavirus has deeply flummoxed conservative media,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/how-coronavirus-has-deeply-flummuxed-conservative-media/↩
  2. [2]Gunjan Banerji, “Stocks Suffer Biggest Weekly Losses Since 2008,” Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-markets-head-toward-correction-territory-as-coronavirus-spooks-investors-11582864550↩
  3. [3]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Summary,” February 28, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html↩