Welcome to The Now

 So, buried in this CNN story about the Taliban "declaring victory"  is something slightly more important than the comments of someone who's happy that his country is no longer occupied: Once again, we've left gear behind: In one video, militants dressed in US-style uniforms and holding US-made weapons examined a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter parked inside a hangar. Taliban fighters were also seen posing for photographs while sitting in the cockpits of planes and helicopters that once belonged to the Afghan Air Force. But Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told CNN Tuesday he wasn't "overly concerned about these images" of Taliban fighters examining the abandoned aircraft. "They can inspect all they want," Kirby said. "They can look at them, they can walk around -- but they can't fly them. They can't operate them." He added that the US military had made "unusable all the gear that is at the airport -- all the aircraft, al...

Instead of pretending to know what's going in Afghanistan or arrogantly trying to predict the country's future, why not take the time to reminisce about past and current America presidents trying to justify being there? Since we're talking about 20 years and multiple presidents (Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden) this will be broken up into four parts For this post:  Donald Trump . Keep in mind that not every speech or even every speech about the country in question is being referenced, just some notable ones where the justification is mentioned. Because justifications vary, let's use a key: Humanitarian  ("People are getting hurt!") Economic  ("America/American businesses are either losing money because we're not taking action, or can gain money by taking action."  Political  ("This will give us an advantage with our political adversaries," or "We must spread liberty/freedom.") Military/Strategic  ("Better to fight them over ...

Instead of pretending to know what's going in Afghanistan or arrogantly trying to predict the country's future, why not take the time to reminisce about past and current America presidents trying to justify being there? Since we're talking about 20 years and multiple presidents (Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden) this will be broken up into four parts For this post:  Barack Obama . Keep in mind that not every speech or even every speech about the country in question is being referenced, just notable ones where the justification is mentioned. Because justifications vary, let's use a key: Humanitarian  ("People are getting hurt!") Economic  ("America/American businesses are either losing money because we're not taking action, or can gain money by taking action."  Political  ("This will give us an advantage with our political adversaries," or "We must spread liberty/freedom.") Military/Strategic  ("Better to fight them over there...

  SNL "celebrates" one month after US invaded Afghanistan . Funny how this wasn't referenced in "A Closer Look" about Afghanistan . 

Instead of pretending to know what's going in Afghanistan or arrogantly trying to predict the country's future, why not take the time to reminisce about past and current America presidents trying to justify being there? Since we're talking about 20 years and multiple presidents (Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden) this will be broken up into four parts For this post: George W. Bush . Keep in mind that these are not every speech or even every speech about the country in question, just notable ones where the justification is mentioned. Because justifications vary, let's use a key: Humanitarian ("People are getting hurt!") Economic ("America/American businesses are either losing money because we're not taking action, or can gain money by taking action."  Political ("This will give us an advantage with our political adversaries," or "We must spread liberty/freedom.") Military/Strategic ("Better to fight them over there than figh...

 So after winning the Democratic Primary for mayor of Buffalo New York, DSA-backed India Walton is working on her platform and focusing on the issues facing the city . She can do this because she's currently the only name on the general election ballot, making Democratic Primary the "real race." Sadly for her (and Buffalo) incumbent Democrat and current mayor Byron Brown can't accept losing, and has decided to create his own party fight to get his name on the ballot, despite the deadline being May 25th (of 2021) .  I wouldn't put it past some loyalist with connections helping Brown out, but keep in mind that this guy was so serious about keeping his job he announced his reelection bid on Facebook, refused to debate, campaigned mainly through lawn signs , and got less half the signatures needed and spent about 20% less money than he did for his 2017 bid . Which is to say that Brown thought that this would be a cakewalk until he lost.  People can still write him in...

 Now that the war-happy mainstream media has turned on Joe Biden for a troop drawdown that didn't really happen , expect pundits, politicians and people of all stripes who were previously authorities in all things scientific (from the effectiveness of masks to the efficacy of vaccines to the behavior of viruses) to become experts on all things Afghanistan (from troop levels and strategies to diplomacy and  international relations).  If this storyline drags on more than a week, than expect the culture-war nonsense that has propelled Governors Greg Abbott (Texas) and Ron DeSantis (Florida) into the spotlight to be replaced with graphics of the Middle East. Expect the "voting reform" that going on in Texas to be replaced with "testimony" from those experiencing the horrors of the Taliban running amok. Anti-vaxxers will be replaced by war hawks. Not that the culture wars will go away, or even be ignored for long. For better or for worse, cable news channels can...

  So sad and unnecessary .  Remember: The best way to combat the pandemic is to have Universal Health Care , so people will stop being tribal over masks and vaccines.

 First things first: while everyone and their grandpa has a theory/explanation for Nina Turner's loss, I would say that Irami 's and Niko 's have elements that make the most sense. Of course, these guys being who they are, one must wade through many streams of consciousness to get to point.  What I've noticed is that this event has either reopened wounds or further exposed the schism on the Left, in particular those who remain faithful to the "We must infiltrate the Democratic Party and use them/take it over" strategy and those who are more aligned with, "The Democratic Party is too corrupt to co-opt, either pressure them from the outside through activism or use a new political party" crowd (I think an "all of the above" approach is more appealing because if for anything, it would keep the Establishment on their toes). Anyway...it seems the schism involves different perspectives on three issues, which I'll pose as questions: Is capital...

 Despite trying to defend his actions in the oddest way possible , New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will resign amidst sexual harassment accusations.

 ... to give gold medals out to Capitol Police while millions of Americans face eviction .  Priorities, people! P.S.: While they literally waited until the clock ran out, the White House is apparently trying to save face . 

 It's hard for political media. Sometimes it seems that they want to be like sports media so bad: focusing on "wins and losses," accessing "strengths and weaknesses," going all-in on character profiles. Despite evidence that politics is better boring than sensationalized, the media continues to hype up people and events that don't justify hyping. One byproduct of that is framing politicians as inevitable candidates or even office-holders (ask Hillary Clinton how that worked for her).  Take Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for example. There are a number of stories about how his policies have created an unnecessary crisis in the state , even though he was hailed as a winner a few months ago .  Politically-speaking, COVID-19 and it's variants are a problem. Politicians and the political media are accustomed to having an issue stick around for about a year (maybe a little more) than going away. Keep in mind that we still have a climate crisis, election int...