Finally - an end to the Afghan war?
nohero said:
Klinker said:
I think it is just enough to say (yet again) that I am disappointed that Biden did not deliver on his promise to revoke Trump's absurd limits on admission of refugees. We are a wealthy and powerful country. Whatever theoretical action we might take in the future, we can make a difference in the lives of thousands today. We can save lives today. For those in dire need, May 15 or October 15 or the 15th of Never may well be too late.
Klinker said:
The Times has a good article on this.
NYT: The attitude of the president was, essentially: Why are you bothering me with this?
And all of this, of course, is in the context of the end of US involvement in Afghanistan which will leave thousands of US allies to suffer and die.
If you actually read the article, then you know that your description of what Biden was planning for refugee admissions isn't accurate.
That has never stopped klinker.
rather than reporting on the inside baseball part of the refugee issue, I'd like to see the following reported on:
1. under the 15k limit, how many have been processed as of today? If it's less than 15k, it doesn't really matter what the top number is, at least not for now.
2. does our immigration bureaucracy have the bandwidth to effectively process more than 15k refugees as of today, especially given the large influx at the southern border? If they don't, it again doesn't matter what the cap is.
3. what has been the effect of Trump policies on the immigration bureaucracy, and is that a hindrance on raising the cap.
Instead, all we see is useless reporting about a broken campaign promise.
drummerboy said:
rather than reporting on the inside baseball part of the refugee issue, I'd like to see the following reported on:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/us/politics/biden-immigration-refugee-policy.html
1. “By the end of December, fewer than 1,000 refugees had been processed under the 15,000-person cap and placed in American communities, according to State Department data.”
It’s a February article. More recent data may be on the State Department website.
2. “Stripped of personnel and weakened by the coronavirus, the government’s refugee program is simply not equipped to welcome a flood of foreigners fleeing disaster, officials and experts said.”
DaveSchmidt said:
drummerboy said:
rather than reporting on the inside baseball part of the refugee issue, I'd like to see the following reported on:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/us/politics/biden-immigration-refugee-policy.html
1. “By the end of December, fewer than 1,000 refugees had been processed under the 15,000-person cap and placed in American communities, according to State Department data.”
It’s a February article. More recent data may be on the State Department website.
2. “Stripped of personnel and weakened by the coronavirus, the government’s refugee program is simply not equipped to welcome a flood of foreigners fleeing disaster, officials and experts said.”
so, this indicates that the 15k cap is probably meaningless as of today.
but everybody is pretending that it isn't.
In the Biden's first budget, for the fiscal year that begins in October:
"The discretionary request provides $4.3 billion to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). This funding level would rebuild the Nation’s refugee resettlement infrastructure and support the resettling of up to 125,000 refugees in 2022, which would represent the highest number of refugees admitted to the United States in 30 years."
FY2022-Discretionary-Request.pdf (whitehouse.gov)
This is distinct from the processing and resettlement of migrants at the southern border.
nohero said:
In the Biden's first budget, for the fiscal year that begins in October:
"The discretionary request provides $4.3 billion to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). This funding level would rebuild the Nation’s refugee resettlement infrastructure and support the resettling of up to 125,000 refugees in 2022, which would represent the highest number of refugees admitted to the United States in 30 years."
FY2022-Discretionary-Request.pdf (whitehouse.gov)
This is distinct from the processing and resettlement of migrants at the southern border.
not sure what your point is. That's for October. We're talking about now.
drummerboy said:
not sure what your point is. That's for October. We're talking about now.
The point is that Biden has to restore the capacity to deal with more refugees, before the U.S. can take in more refugees. And that's what he's doing.
nohero said:
drummerboy said:
not sure what your point is. That's for October. We're talking about now.
The point is that Biden has to restore the capacity to deal with more refugees, before the U.S. can take in more refugees. And that's what he's doing.
so then why is everyone giving him sh!t for it?
klinker?
drummerboy said:
nohero said:
drummerboy said:
not sure what your point is. That's for October. We're talking about now.
The point is that Biden has to restore the capacity to deal with more refugees, before the U.S. can take in more refugees. And that's what he's doing.
so then why is everyone giving him sh!t for it?
klinker?
Everyone isn't. Just Klinker.
STANV said:
They sell ice cream at McDonalds?
I learn something new every day.
Yes, but the machine's always broken.
ETA: I thought this was a jokey meme, but it happens so often there's a website dedicated to whether the local McDonalds ice cream machines are working.
Also, last summer you could get a McDonalds ice cream cone for a dollar, no idea if that's still the price.
https://www.mashed.com/224243/the-truth-about-mcdonalds-1-vanilla-cone/
STANV said:
They sell ice cream at McDonalds?
I learn something new every day.
I just found out that all-day breakfast was cancelled a year ago.
It's apparent that none of us go there.
So how do they stay in business?
No, I do go there occasionally , and I could have sworn I bought breakfast there within the past year.
STANV said:
It's apparent that none of us go there.
So how do they stay in business?
No idea. Obviously we go to either one of the Blimpies across Springfield Avenue from each other instead.
STANV said:
It's apparent that none of us go there.
I didn’t want to put on gastronomic airs, but I was buying ice cream at Mickey D’s as far back as the ’70s. (The strawberry sundae, usually.)
We need to stop trash talking MacDonalds immediately, especially the milkshakes, fries, and quarter pounders.
basil said:
We need to stop trash talking MacDonalds immediately, especially the milkshakes, fries, and quarter pounders.
I'm not trash talking them. I have the highest reverence for some of their products. I think the Egg McMuffin might me the best fast food item ever invented. The Big Mac is no slouch either, and their fries are still the best.
On McDonalds ice cream machines, an interesting thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26936774
On the topic of people giving the Biden admin a hard time, I'm actually all for this. I'm pretty moderate on my voting, but I'm a bit of a free rider in that I assume, even somewhat rely, on the fact that less moderate voices will be making a lot of noise and pressuring the candidate I voted for to actually act closer to ways I want. I voted for Biden, have no regrets on that (my own first choice would have been Warren, though the point was moot by the time NJ voted, and even if it hadn't I'm not 100% sure where my vote would have gone), but I'm quite happy to see Biden taking flak over immigration, particularly as it does appear to be influencing him.
Similarly, here's a story in today's NYT on the Biden admin sending materials for vaccines to India. Note the opening: "The Biden administration, under increasing pressure to address a devastating surge of the coronavirus in India, said on Sunday that it had partially lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccines and would also supply India with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear."
Pressure is key even, perhaps especially, for politicians you support. On the referenced story, I'd like to see continued pressure and the export not just materials, but excess vaccines as well now that we seem to have enough domestic supply.
PVW said:
Similarly, here's a story in today's NYT on the Biden admin sending materials for vaccines to India. Note the opening: "The Biden administration, under increasing pressure to address a devastating surge of the coronavirus in India, said on Sunday that it had partially lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccines and would also supply India with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear."
Pressure is key even, perhaps especially, for politicians you support. On the referenced story, I'd like to see continued pressure and the export not just materials, but excess vaccines as well now that we seem to have enough domestic supply.
And this just up on WaPo:
U.S. Leaves Its Last Afghan Base, Effectively Ending Operations (NYT)
With little fanfare and no public ceremony, American troops left the base on Thursday night, U.S. and Afghan officials said. The closure effectively means that major U.S. military operations in Afghanistan are all but over.
The Afghan military “will protect the base and use it to combat terrorism,” said Fawad Aman, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense.
The closure of Bagram, a symbol of the United States’ costly operations in Afghanistan, comes weeks before the planned withdrawal of American troops, who entered the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The United States will leave a contingent of 650 troops to protect its embassy in Kabul, the capital.
The House votes to increase the number of visas for Afghans who have helped U.S. troops
The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to expand a visa program for Afghans who are facing retribution for helping American troops and diplomats during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, moving to allow more of them to immigrate to the United States quickly as the Biden administration races to evacuate them.
With Afghans who helped the U.S. personnel now facing threats from the Taliban as American troops withdraw, a broad bipartisan coalition in Congress — led by military veterans who have worked alongside interpreters or fixers in combat zones themselves — has raced to give the administration wider latitude to airlift them to safety.
By a vote of 407-16, the House moved on Thursday to expand the number of available special immigrant visas for Afghans to 19,000 from 11,000 and broaden the universe of people eligible for them by removing some application requirements.
“Many of us have expressed grave concerns about the challenges our allies face in navigating the application process,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Administration Committee. “Afghans stepped forward to serve aside our brave military.”
Under the legislation, applicants would no longer have to provide a sworn statement that they faced a specific threat or proof that they held a “sensitive and trusted” job. Instead, the measure would in effect stipulate that any Afghan who helped the U.S. government by definition faces retribution, and should be able to apply for a visa.
mtierney said:
And so, we leave …
You understand that this exit was initiated by Trump? If we had followed his original "plan" we would have abandoned them months ago.
mtierney said:
And so, we leave …
Funny, I don't recall you posting anything similar when the card said "Syria".
Though I find myself falling into old habits here and criticizing you for your obvious and lazy partisanship, forgetting for a moment you've gone well beyond that into supporting violent insurrection against your own country. What does it matter what you think about any national issue when you've rejected the foundational premises of our democracy?
mtierney said:
And so, we leave …
I don't understand are you blaming Trump for this? I would have thought this cartoon was made when Trump was in office he wanted us out by last Xmas (as Kilnker had also mentioned):
WWMTD (what would mtierney do?) about Afghanistan?
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You can't even draw that conclusion from the article you said you read.
Besides, I thought you thought Biden was senile. So it's Harris or Klain or maybe Obama who's pulling the strings anyway, right?