•President Biden may decide to push back the August 31 deadline to complete withdrawal from Afghanistan as early as today, The Washington Post reports, citing “multiple” sources. The potential delay may be related to the WaPo’s own scoop (see below) that CIA Director William Burns met with the Taliban’s leader in Kabul Monday. About 5,800 U.S. troops are holding command of Kabul’s airport in an effort to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans and allies.
Budget Resolution, Infrastructure on a Road to Nowhere – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-CA, plans to run the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion budget resolution proposal – and, oh yeah, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – through the House with moderate and progressive Democrats in concert went nowhere Monday night. The moderates flat refused to vote on the budget resolution without first passing infrastructure and delivering it to President Biden’s desk. The budget resolution vote would have been a procedural move, as the full bill hasn’t been written yet.
Although the moderates had warned about such a standoff for weeks, Pelosi did not even begin negotiating with the group’s leader, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-NJ, until last night, Punchbowl News reports.
The procedural vote would have “deemed” the budget resolution as having been adapted by the House, Roll Call reports, though as negotiations continued into Tuesday morning, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD, ended the legislative session and announced the House would reconvene again at noon Eastern Tuesday following a caucus meeting and then a 10:30 a.m. classified briefing on Afghanistan.
Note: The “Unbreakable Nine” added a tenth, Blue Dog Coalition leader Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-FL, Monday (The Hill). No word from the Squad nor any other progressive Democrats who have been holding Pelosi to her plan to bring both to the floor for a vote together to guarantee “social infrastructure” spending was included in the bigger bill. They will have to be convinced that a procedural vote that would make sure the budget resolution progresses as infrastructure lands on Biden’s desk is the best they can count on to fulfill their conceived “mandate” from voters.
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CIA Director Meets with Taliban Leader, WaPo Reports – CIA Director William Burns met in Kabul Monday with the Taliban’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, as the U.S. military tries to secure flights for tens of thousands of Americans and allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in what President Biden calls “one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history.” News of the meeting between Foreign Service veteran Burns and the Taliban leader was scooped up by The Washington Post.
Note: Obviously, the Biden administration is trying to negotiate more time past the August 31 deadline to safely evacuate Americans and allies. It’s apparent the Trump administration did not leave Biden much preparation from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s April 2020 negotiations with the Taliban, exclusive of talks with what was then the democratically elected Afghani government.
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Five-Month Sentence for Proud Boys in BLM Banner Burning – Proud Boys leader Enrique Terrio has been sentenced to more than five months in jail for destroying a Black Lives Matter banner at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., last summer and for bringing two high-capacity firearm magazines into the Capitol January 4, Politicoreports.
Terrio apologized for destroying the BLM banner: “What I did was wrong,” he said. He was arrested on charges of destroying the banner when he entered Washington two days before the pro-Trump Capitol riots.
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Capitol Officer Will Not be Charged in Ashli Babbitt’s Shooting – The U.S. Capitol Police department’s Office of Professional Responsibility has officially exonerated the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt in the January 6 pro-Trump attacks on Capitol Hill, according to The Hill. The OPR “determined the officer’s conduct was lawful and within department policy, which says an officer may use deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes that action is in the defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in the defense of any person in immediate danger of serious physical injury,” the Capitol Police said in a statement.
Note: The officer was not, and will not be, named of course, although there have been right wing media claims that his or her name is known among supporters of ex-President Trump and his Big Lie. This follows claims the January 6 rioters were at first pro-Antifa, then “tourists,” and ultimately not worthy of the need for a bipartisan 9/11-style congressional investigation.
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Side Effects Are Biggest Vaccine Concern — A recent Morning Consult poll finds that 37% of people who are “uncertain” about whether they’ll get vaccinated for COVID-19 and 25% of those who don’t plan to get vaccinated are concerned about side effects. The second-biggest concern is that “the vaccines moved through clinical trials too fast,” with the responses being 32% and 23%, respectively. The third largest concern: Respondents don’t trust the companies making the vaccine. But while 9% of those who are uncertain about getting a jab don’t trust them, 17% of those who don’t plan to get vaccinated don’t trust them.
Note: Anyone who has watched an ad on TV for any prescription medication has heard a litany of side effects that could be caused by said drug that makes those who don’t have the disease wonder why anyone would take the risk. While side effects are a real thing, they are also a small risk because otherwise the drugs wouldn’t be approved for human use, although they could be approved for horses. And what is remarkable is the concern about the vaccines moving through clinical trials too quickly. How many ordinary people know how quickly or not any drug on the market has gone through clinical trials? Of that 17% who do not trust the drug companies: How many of them take Viagra, a Pfizer product?
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods