War profiteering - the American way. Because it lines the pockets of war mongering industrialists, it not only exists, but it prospers. Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex to where his words have become a cliche. With no change. Military academy class sizes are NOT shrinking, yet, What A First Step!

Nothing new, but saying it again has virtue - from Counterpunch -

Our Pentagon and military, Lindsay Koshgarian of the National Priorities Project points out, currently “take up more than half of the discretionary federal budget each year,” and over half that spending goes to military contractors. Most of these contractors, adds Heidi Peltier, the director of the “20 Years of War” initiative at Boston University’s Pardee Center, essentially operate as monopolies. The excessive profits that status helps them grab are widening America’s core inequality: Lockheed Martin’s executive chair, at last count, is making $30.9 million a year.

In 2020, execs at Lockheed and four other contracting giants — Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics — spent $60 million on lobbying to keep their gravy train going. Over the past two decades, the Center for Responsive Politics reports, the defense industry as a whole has spent $2.5 billion on lobbying “to influence defense policy” and directed another $285 million to political candidates friendly to contracting business as usual.

How can we upset that business as usual? Reducing the size of the military budget can get us started. Contracting out fewer necessary functions — keeping defense work in-house — and reforming the contracting process itself will also be essential.

But executive pay needs to be right at the heart of that reforming. No corporate execs dealing in military matters should have a huge personal stake in ballooning federal spending for war.

Vested interests in making our nation the bully of the world are capable policy purchasers, and it is elected officials selling themselves to keep their power and paychecks. Sick? Of course. The American Way, way behind in reforming.

That money put into boosting the poor and fighting human suffering in our nation could do good. Instigating war, the neocon dance, is sick, and in need of change.

We all know that. So what's holding government back, from GOOD government?

And how do citizens fix what is broken? First up. Face the problem. Understand it in order to gut it. And, stay committed.

 

________BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE________

More of recent CounterPunch posting-

August 23, 2021

Will Americans Who Were Right on Afghanistan Still Be Ignored?

by Medea Benjamin - Nicolas J. S. Davies

Photograph Source: David Owen – CC BY 2.0

 

And one more, the media gaining attention for their intentional failures - more of going along to get along - putzzing for profit.

While Walz had failed to pass police reform at the state level, [...] Walz said he thinks the measure is too complicated for a referendum and is better debated among elected officials.

 Headlining above is from Strib, mid-item, short paragraphs apart.

It defines why Walz is wrong. He's done nothing to fix anything and yet he complains.

The Crabgrass opinion is the issue is too complicated for do-nothings, when the problem is a clear and present danger posed by bad cops. Getting rid of them will have to be made easier, and some things cops are unfit to do will be moved to people who are fit to do it. Cops, what is their purpose except to use force from time to time to enforce government will. So government will IS the ultimate problem, but making the changes needed there IS a complicated problem. 

Walz is wrong and Walz was not my first choice back then either. Erin Murphy was. Walz is what we were given by inner party operatives, and is better than nothing ["nothing" being the Republicans' inner party offering].

Public safety as the goal, or public control? They differ. Often.

It is as if Walz wants no better than present, and present is not good.

End of story?

This has to be one of the dumbest ill-informed things written about Afghanistan, if sincere. Or a sad intentional attempt to deflect and distort greatly from truth. for some hidden reason.

MinnPost. One must read the entire thing.

It says negotiation should have been tried instead of a military solution.

Trump and Pompeo negotiated, for Christsakes. Biden is following the agreement as it was negotiated. That is why we are finally getting out and letting the nation half a world away drift into its future. Finally, finally cutting losses and withdrawing.

And to write the entire thing without any mention of poppies and heroin is to be either ill-informed or snaking with the facts as if writing for morons. 

And DIA was headed by Flynn, who was of the belief that we had to "understand the culture" and how to meet expectations of good, rather than militarism alone, the heavy boot on the chest. Obama removed Flynn from heading DIA. 

Go figure that one. Suggesting Obama did not like anything beyond drone strikes, midnight hit squads, and whatever? Low engagement, status quo.

So what was the objective? That is the question this analyst presumes without thought. To be honest, beyond control of the heroin trade, was there an objective?

Was there any sense at all at play during the entire twenty years messing that country up more than the Russians then the Taliban messed it up.

Make it unstable so the Chinese could not reliably build a trouble free pipeline from the Caspian region to them? Some sane thought, of some kind?

 Ask Condi Rice? She'd likely give the word equivalent of a piano recital. She's said to be skilled at piano.

There will be Afghan resiliency. That is the only option. But what it will look like with resilience, in five or ten years, is an open question.

The Golden Triangle, withdrawal in failure; then Afghanistan, withdrawal in failure,  with the DEA named "Drug Enforcement Agency" and not "Drug Eradication Agency." Seemingly for a reason.

As to what Pompeo and the one Taliban rep. arrived at as a plan after negotiating, I surely don't know. I was not there. Pompeo has done little but say he'd have done a more orderly exit. He's bullshiting, clearly, but what's the terms and conditions he ended up bringing home to Trump? What were the terms of a deal? Is that a forbidden question, for National Security Reasons? 

But there was a timetable Trump/Pompeo failed to meet but with troop drawdowns during their final year. Aimed in a military stand down, slippage in the timetable.

Biden extended the timetable and seems to have no will to try to stretch things further than now. He likely is right doing so. Trump ended Iraq, and set things to end Afghanistan. And backed out of Syria where Obama farted us into that dumb intervention. 

So the press, of course, talks of insurrection and Jan. 6, ignoring the man did demilitarize U.S. foreign policy, to a degree, and if only for a moment.

Still, the current situation is short term chaos, while long term superior to what Obama stepped into and perpetuated, handing things off to Trump in a viscous status quo, and it was Trump who changed course. Give him due credit.

In closing -

Why was Bush the elder called Poppy Bush? CIA background and all? That's always been an unsure thing to me.

UPDATE: Footing the MinnPost item is the authorship blurb -

Alex Betley is a recent graduate of the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and an ISSP Civil Resistance Fellow. Before Fletcher, he studied philosophy, politics, and economics at St. Olaf College. He can be followed on Twitter @ambetley.

Wtf is "an ISSP Civil Resistance Fellow?" Link. 

________FURTHER UPDATE________

On the question of Flynn, whether he got things right in suggesting DIA operatives leave DC desks and get in the field to find out what is what, or was showboating, opinions online differ: Observer. PJMedia. IntelToday. WaPo. defensesystems.com

Turmp trusted Flynn, and made the moves to end Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan stasis. The opinion here is we are better with the three failures behind us.

While other problems haunted the Trump administration, his war policy stands as a departure from what came before. What came before is judged many ways, pro and con.

Hey guys. The never ending war on terror - It has not ended. Big, surprising news. We face a need to keep DHS at full strength and then some.

More hassle at the airports. You never know. They only have to win once. We have to win every time. Little Bush said so. Big Bush would say it, if still alive.

Rumsfeld would agree, etc., and the Cheneys all are on board. Terror about terror, it is good for the soul. The soul of the Pentagon does well when terror rears up. So expect rearing from time to time. A budget necessity. A cause to arm to the teeth.

Against TERROR!!! Sure, Covid kills more by orders of magnitude. But they're little critters we cannot see without state-of-art microscopy. Fearful terrorists, that's the fare. With turbans. Sinister. Out to ruin America and its fragile Dream.

Tucker Carlson, save my child!

Duck Stamp news.

 Link. Duck Stamp art, retrospected. Wikipedia. Strib, a few years ago.

FOX9 TV - Republican inner party 300 to vote Oct. 2, not sooner. And bluestemprairie takes notice, see: FURTHER UPDATE

Link
Minnesota GOP pushes back election of new leader
By Theo Keith
Published 1 day ago
Minnesota
FOX 9

 (FOX 9) - Republican Party of Minnesota officials are pushing off a meeting of party delegates to elect a new chair.

A planned Aug. 30 meeting of Minnesota GOP delegates will not be counted as official, the party's deputy chair is telling members.

[...]

 Party activists petitioned for the Aug. 30 meeting. But the GOP's Executive Committee met Tuesday and found issues with some signatures and therefore any business conducted Aug. 30 will not be recognized, deputy chair Carleton Crawford said.

 Signature irregularities, perhaps, perhaps not. Signatures do change as we age. So, logically, we break for an entire month where now only one Gladiator has stepped forward, Jim Newberger; early, as dust is still settling from the Carnahan buy-out. 

Last quoted paragraph at the start, "Party activists petitioned . . ." Would colleagues of Mr Newberger be among, such petitioners? Perhaps a majority of such activists?

Here giving a number instead of a singular classification, "party activist" unquantified as to number doing petitioning, might make sense. Splitting hairs aside, the news nonetheless basically is, Party Executive Committee decrees -- Chair special election will be Oct. 2. Not sooner. 

The rest is table setting. 

UPDATE: Related Strib coverage stated - 

Newberger, a 2018 U.S. Senate candidate who served three terms representing a central Minnesota House district, announced his run Tuesday evening to a group of activists in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. He enters the race less than a week after Carnahan's resignation and a weeklong scandal that has engulfed Republican Party politics.

Sixth Congressional District activists. Aplokowski did live in the Sixth, and may still reside there. Cal Bahr comes to mind. Interested readers might want to check Minnesota Legislators Past and Present to see if Newberger's legislative husting was in MN CD6.  If not, why do the announcement in CD6? It is unclear.

The job pays well, an inference from reporting on the Carnahan severance buyout. Over time someone besides Newberger will recognize that, in September, pre-meeting date for the Chair election.

The guess is that others besides Mr. Newberger will enter the fray between now and a month-and-days from now. When rules are released it will show how nominations at the voting meeting will be made, drawing lots on sequence, or chair candidates might be asked to pre-register to keep meeting time crisp and under control, At some point a vote and count.

UPDATE: Newberger leg. bio. Stating -

City of Residence (when first elected): Becker

Occupation (when first elected): Paramedic

Becker, non-MD role in Medical Industrial Complex. 

This is the Kiffmeyer candidate! DOA as top official, without games played?

Look at this pile. Not a chance? We wait to see. 

One term in the legislature. Just like Doug Wardlow. Tried, and ousted. [UPDATE - oops, besting Doug Wardlow's single term, served 2013-2018, that being more than a single term. I'd have never guessed . . .  for the following, 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018), i.e., ending term of three]

HF 4364, that session, the "Don't Mess With Lake Calhoun's Name Bill."

How about HF 395, that session? Don't you want to see a certificate of good standing about the dude, from the party? Where "certificate of good standing" would be:  

"Certificate of good standing" means a document issued by the state committee of a political party stating that a person being considered for appointment to a vacant agency position (i) is in agreement with the principles of the party as stated in the party's constitution, and (ii) intends to affiliate with the party at the next state general election or affiliated with
the party at the last state general election.

The MN GOP bozos should impose that requirement on him, since he wanted to impose such stupidity upon our entire State. He'd probably favor it for any/all Chair wannabes. Just saying. Looks like Kiffmeyer with less guile. Not that Mary has much, just he might have less.

Another. Coal fired electricity plant in Becker.

Finally, why do you suppose he wanted to change the Public Employees Retirement Association legislation? Take the money on the way out the door? Why wait?

Given the range of our Republican friends, is he an aberration? The 300 will decide that, Oct. 2.

Here is an image of a train wreck.

Here is an online item that seems to somewhat fit a small group putsch for a premature Aug. 31 Chair decision deadline. A salary rush, a control rush, rather than a land rush?

FURTHER UPDATE: Sorensen's post.

Theater and posturing which may turn out well. Pelosi earns credit from doubters, but conditional credit, conditioned on the final outcome after dust-ups and dust settles. We wait.

Strib carrying AP content, headlining it, "

House passes $3.5T Biden blueprint after deal with moderates

The 220-212 vote was a first step toward drafting Biden's $3.5 billion rebuilding plan this fall. 

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press-August 24, 2021

 

Blueprint is code language for it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. The song needs to be  written, scored, practiced before it gets sung for public wonderment and praise. 

 

UPDATE: From mid-item -

 

"This is a 'which side are you on' moment,'" said Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese, who promised to "organize like never before to hold Democrats accountable and get this bill over the finish line."

The budget measure is at the heart of Biden's "Build Back Better" vision for helping families and combating climate change and is progressives' top priority, all of it largely financed with tax increases on the rich and big business.

The House committees are already fast at work drafting legislation to fill in the details of the $3.5 trillion package for consideration later this fall.

Progressives signaled early on they wanted the Biden budget priorities first before they agree to the smaller Senate package, worried it would be an insufficient down-payment on his goals.

Call it Build Back Better, call it HOPE, but it will be later a fleshed out PLAN until that finish line is REALITY. 

When it becomes LAW.

 

 

 

 

Miriam Adelson got her M.D. from a Sackler funded med school.

Search. Guardian. Heavy. 

What does that have to do with Afghanistan? Who knows?

Going there to sell Tupperware?

 AP. NYT.

An image.

Graveyard Of Empires-- This Time Owned By Trump & Pompeo

Pompeo meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha

A question in passing, why so many U.S. citizens in Afghanistan, if Trump and Pompeo had negotiated a withdrawal which Trump wanted finished before Christmas, 2020? Many to be evacuated, besides troops. What were they building in there?

 

After losing the election, Trump dropped the Christmas idea, leaving it for Biden to mop-up. Moving from the evacuation goal to saying he won, vote counts aside.

We never should have been there. 

Wealth that could have been used to improve lives here, went there.

Somebody besides the early-exit puppet leader we installed made tons of money.

Image from here, which in turn links here.

Do not expect it, but a detailed investigation into who profited from that and from the Iraq incursion would, perhaps, prevent such intentional blunders as the Bush family handed us time after time in the family's thrust of New World Order.

As to all the whining against Biden and inefficiency and error in ending the mistake today vs. yesterday, history is full of lessons. Billy Joel.

 

Rolling Stones and guidestones, our nation's people seem to know more about one than the other.  And there's no suggestive ongoing mystery to Mick and band.

This and that. Who's at bat?

Fight the Deep State? Fish or cut bait.

Internet? What's your bet?

Gaetz marries. Now prosecutors cannot make her testify to what she knows, if anything, about his past conduct.

 Installation of the marital testimonial privilege reported here. In part -

The controversial 39-year-old Republican, who is under investigation as part of a sex trafficking probe, announced the wedding on his personal Twitter page. He exclaimed “I love my wife!” along with a photo of them together — he in a sport coat, she in a white dress.

Vanity Fair reports that Sergio Gor, a former staffer for Sen. Rand Paul, performed the ceremony that was attended by about 40 people. The couple had previously announced they would marry next year.

 Not that she had any first-hand experience of any wrongdoing, but who knows what the loving couple might have discussed, with any such hearsay testimony now foreclosed. Wishing them a long and loving marriage. Even Gaetz can turn over a new leaf.

US regulators give full approval to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine The approval is a milestone that may help lift public confidence in the shots as the nation battles the most contagious coronavirus mutant yet. By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE Associated Press August 23, 2021 — 11:39am

 Strib carrying the AP feed. Strib's headlining used to headline this post.

Some anti-vax sentiment has used the excuse of the vaccines having only conditional emergency approval. Now Pfizer's approval guts that excuse. They can hope for herd immunity, except there are too many of them staying unvaccinated for herd immunity to work. Hopefully if getting the virus, their cases will be mild. Still, "being intransigent" is another way to say "being stupid."

Bringing in royalties for over fifty years; still paying off bills - "The line in the song 'feed your head' is both about reading and psychedelics. I was talking about feeding your head by paying attention: read some books, pay attention."

 Guardian retrospects Grace, and band.

Telling the truth. It is always easy to blame the last guy, not oneself. But what had been handed over to Biden from Pompeo and Trump?

 Note dates below - who was in the White House at the time, how things were set up for after the 2020 election - 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/23/us-envoy-zalmay-khalilzad-and-the-talibans-rise

 Khalilzad took control of the US-Afghan portfolio in 2018 after the Trump administration named him a special envoy overseeing negotiations with the Taliban.

The new assignment followed a storied career. Khalilzad had shaped embryonic governments in Afghanistan and Iraq following successive US invasions, gaining a reputation for bringing disparate groups to the table.

Washington’s decision to pursue talks followed years of rising violence in Kabul where the Taliban unleashed chaos by sending waves of suicide bombers into the Afghan capital.

Khalilzad secured the release of the Taliban’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar from Pakistan’s custody to kick-start the initiative, with the two sides cobbling together an agreement charting US withdrawal after nearly 20 years of conflict.

During months of negotiations in Qatar, Khalilzad was said to have developed a close rapport with the Taliban delegation.

Baradar, right, and Khalilzad shake hands after signing the US troop withdrawal agreement, February 2020 [Ibraheem al Omari/Reuters]

Pictures published online showed the gregarious envoy sharing laughs and smiles with Taliban negotiators, stirring resentment in Afghanistan where war raged.

But when the US withdrawal deal was finally signed in February 2020 at a lavish ceremony in Doha, Khalilzad had secured nothing more than mostly nebulous assurances from the Taliban about any future peace.

“Khalilzad prised… just one strong commitment – that they would not attack the US and ‘its allies’,” wrote Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in a new report.

More vague were promises from the Taliban to abandon al-Qaeda and other international armed groups, and to begin talking to the Afghan government.

Little time, space to manoeuvre

In hindsight, the agreement appears to have been little more than a string of American concessions.

The US was leaving Afghanistan without a ceasefire and had not even established a framework for a future peace process, something that would be vital for locking down a settlement to end the war.

Rather than securing compromises from the Taliban in the months following the deal, Khalilzad piled more pressure on the Afghan government – strong-arming the palace into releasing thousands of Taliban prisoners who immediately bolstered their ranks.

To add to Kabul’s woes, the agreement effectively set off a countdown, with the US promising to pull all of its remaining troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 – a deadline later extended until September. US President Joe Biden later brought back the date to August 31

The Afghan government was left with little time or space to manoeuvre.

 And that is what Pompeo (who ignores such history in criticizing Biden) and his boss Trump, facing a likely Biden victory, left in place, for 2021 actions from the White House, Defense Department, and State Department.

Yes, many Republicans can bleat, but the last thing they want is history shoved back at them. Pompeo in particular, with, "we'd have done it differently," had set the table along with Trump for an exit, no matter what, and Biden is the target of stones. When it is Pompeo throwing the stones, it is pure horse shit, and Pompeo has no conscience in criticizing Biden in light of the table he and Trump set for Biden. That is the truth. Like it or love it.

Biden is doing the withdrawal which Trump merely promised, doing the real heavy lifting, and Pompeo should remain silent instead of worsening things for an attempted political gain.

The puppet government the U.S. had set up was sold out before Biden took over the White House. Biden is getting thousands out, despite verbal sniping at the enormous effort the military is making to evacuate Afghan and foreigh personnel, where sniping only serves to complicate things and make it harder for Afghans wanting to evacuate. Again, that is the truth, like it or love it.

________UPDATE________

If the truth does not matter to you, you'd make a good Republlican. As good as a former Michele Bachmann aide. That good. But is that good?

But of course Pompeo, in criticizing the military's exit conduct now, did not know what Trump and Miller were up to. Because what? What's his excuse? He was out of the loop? A loop which a vice-presidential Pence aide was in? Or he just plows on, marveling at the straight furrow he leaves behind, with no excuse for not looking aside from that furrow he sees, in his mind, if not anywhere else in reality rather than in story telling.

More on the story of Stephen Miller's racist bigotry fitting Trump's Afghan refugee anticipations, AlterNet. And Pompeo had a lesser say than Miller, or was out of the loop? Or suffers from a selective memory ailment? Or lies because it fits his mood?

FURTHER: More on the theme of duty to help Afghan refugees - InTheseTimes, with a counter statement to Stephen Miller's racism. Suggesting that we, our nation and the Bush family, et al., caused the problem, we as a nation seeing ongoing failure are right to exit, but there is a mop-up duty on exit that Miller disdained, while Pompeo is saying, "We had a great plan." 

That he learned from Trump. No real plan. No problem. Lie about it. Say there is/was one. Trump saw he had not painted himself into a corner, but had painted Biden into one, and left lying about who won because he has had a lifetime problem facing truth. 

The nation is resilient enough to recover from the Trump disaster, (all aspects of it including Jan. 6), from Stephen Miller's hate, from Pompeo's dissembling, from Obama kicking the can along, and from Biden's ineptitude in his haste to get out of Afghanistan while expecting the puppet regime to last at least a few weeks or months rather than folding in seven to ten days. 

Biden and the military are walking what Trump talked - but did not walk. 

Cut him slack. 

He is doing the correct thing. And, in fact, give Trump credit for getting us out of Syria after Obama put us there as part of his greatly disappointing two terms. 

Thinking about that, if McCain had won his health meant Palin moving up; while Romney's expertise was as a Bain Capital vulture capitalist looking for distressed businesses to buy and profit from dismembering them. Like Gordon Gecko in the movie.

Indeed, Obama fooled one whole hell of a lot of people in 2008, who grudgingly reelected him in 2012 with far from the enthusiasm and trust the 2008 HOPE and CHANGE bullshit lie inspired. In hindsight, Romney might have been better. But that is very, very doubtful. Lesser evil lives and thrives. To this day. Biden replacing Trump sings the lesser evil theme song still today. Sad.

If disingenuousnes is the name of the game I will try a little.

 This link. Screen captured. 

They ask at the end, "Do you like this post?" Well, yeah, sure. Who wouldn't want to drain the swamp? It would take a pretty slimy swamp critter to not like the idea.

You can really make friends and expand a four-person caucus by advancing such a neat idea. That doesn't take a communications genius to figure. Just do it.

We all want a government putting people, not lobbying firm clients first and foremost. These four Republican Reps. can get somewhere if they keep doing things like this. They should earn much attention when the 300 meet to name a new chair. Helping caucusing solidarity then, by pushing this now, having the voice earned by such a posture when the Chair convention happens.

Crystal balling the confab of the 300, to vote in a new MN GOP Chair, and what to expect faction-wise, from our Republican friends.

 Being brief. There are Daudt and his aims and friends. And others.

But things are never simple. There are Carnahan people; she did have a base.

And then - The New House Republican Caucus, begun recently, per reporting here and here, and their website. A foursome like the Beatles, but unable to make music.  Tone deaf. The term "rump caucus" comes to mind. 

Then, to prove they have gravitas, they have an actual outcast.

So, expect a fringe circus while the main inner party types have friends and enemies among themselves. Chaos, in short. Counterproductivity, but then, they are Republicans.

I was wondering if David Fitzsimmons was still up to anything after leaving Minnesota to be key aide to Emmer. Then I read a little. He was Fischbach's campaign manager, now her lead Congressional staffer. Eric Lucero sure did Fitsimmons one hell of a big favor. By being himself and running anti-gay as times were changing except in the most backward of legislative districts.

Lucero and Jesus and embryos will be in the 300 club. Prominently so.

Perhaps the Party will bring in minimum-wage popcorn vendors. Cotton candy machines.

So that's what to expect and it will all be secret within that big tent group; and nobody will leak anything to anybody, ever, during the deliberations. And they will keep that discipline without NDAs needed, because they have unity, cohesion and a singularity of purpose.

The guess is Mitch Berg will be there, from a Congressional District where Republicans are irrelevant. But he does write well, and offers insights. Ditto, Andy Aplikowski who years ago abandoned blogging, to the detriment of the rest of us knowing what goes on in Republican inner party shenanigans. Andy is a second generation Republican inner party operative, with opinions. But a decent heart.

Mary Kiffmeyer will be there. Along with Ralph, presumably. There to see that neither get named Chair, were they to be absent.

That is what to expect. And more. And then some.

Something worth saying in fairness to Mitch Berg. I know his grief. I am in a Congressional District where Democrats are irrelevant, much more so progressives, who the inner party Dems don't like except for door-knocking and phone-banking, where progressives excel while between such needs they are fully ignored by the Bidens, the Clyburns, the Amys and the Smiths. Ken Martin will not be there, but he will issue press releases.

Freedom Club ownership need not be there. There will be surrogates; per donor info here and here and here. Not big donations, but consistent ones. So know the players without being given an official Party score card.

They will be serious. They will be at one another. They will pick a new Chair. Most will leave somewhat satisfied to happy with the new choice, many will be sore losers.

UPDATE: It is wrong to close this post without a prediction. Okay. Don Lee, for Chair. See if that calls it correctly.

Pompeo is a warmonger, and a blowhard. He holds no office, yet interferes during troubled circumstances.

 Pompeo is ambitious, wanting to be the GOP nominee in 2024. And to earn it by being an asshole. He says Trump would have handled the Afghanistan withdrawal differently. Indeed. He had four years and never withdrew. With Pompeo being his trusted advisor during the stay there, no matter. Obama had eight years and stayed, that is true. But for Pompeo to criticize how Biden handles a giant step toward the nation having a better time, he should shut up and watch Biden giving our nation a chance to solve internal needs rather than warmongering over what, poppies?

Give me a break.

Here is the link, Breitbart of course, touting the meddling military academy graduate who wants war because it is his limited area of expertise. The headline, "Exclusive — Pompeo on Biden’s ‘Tragic’ Afghan Disaster: ‘It Didn’t Have to Be this Way.’"

Sure, we could have stayed the course, not leaving, the way Trump's advisors advised. Negotiate, but stay. Biden, in turn, aims to fix ills at home, and to give up on an unwinnable war, started by little Bush and Cheney. With fanfare and lies, the two-front war strategy, bog down in Afghan mountains, screw around with Iraq's oil.

The Republicans screwed it up, Obama kicked the can down the road, Trump dithered around with Pompeo, more focused on getting dirt on Hunter Biden than on suffering at home. Biden took action. Defending Biden is difficult because of his half-a-loaf domestic policies, but as to Afghanistan, he was right to leave and to not dither around doing so. Pompeo would have had what, two more years there to exit his way? However that would have been. Biden and his people seized the bull by the horns while Pompeo examines the bull's other end. With more words than insight. 

Read that Breitbart item. It goes on and on, saying the same thing. Saying it was an exit, something Trump never really tried while Pompeo was close to advise, but that by some magic he'd have done it as cleanly as open heart surgery. Roughly that, in different wording - in a cascade of word after word.

Yes, the U.S. trained Afghanis laid down their arms and ran. Who had four years of training them for that after all. It was an unwanted occupation with a corrupt puppet government and Pompeo knows that because he was a part of puppit string pulling.

He should shut up.

Is there anything worth quoting in that long Breitbart screed?

Well, early in it,

“It is a demonstrably incompetent, tactical and operational use of America’s power in a way that has put American lives at risk,” Pompeo said in a phone interview. “And that is disheartening. It is sad. But more importantly, it has ramifications all across the world.”

Christsakes, he could have been talking about Little Bush getting us into setting up an unwanted puppet regime. That was the MISTAKE, in capital letters. Leaving was a wind of fresh air, however nasty details were.

Next -

Pompeo, who oversaw now former President Donald Trump’s negotiations for peace in Afghanistan after 20 years of war, said Trump would have handled the withdrawal much differently than Biden. Pompeo traveled multiple times to Doha, Qatar, to meet with the Taliban’s leaders, including a trip on the 19th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks last year on which Breitbart News joined him and interviewed him after he oversaw intra-Afghan peace talks. In this interview, Pompeo said that had he and Trump still been overseeing the withdrawal process, it would have been much different than how badly Biden has handled it.

So, bid deal. He pissed around and never got out, with the Taliban simply waiting until a more enlightened leader would lead the U.S. of A. out of the quagmire that Little Bush and Cheney handed the nation to deal with. Biden saw the Obama approach, and once elected declined to follow that lead. It was the correct step.

Pompeo opined -

“As far as how it would have been different, we had an approach that we literally worked on from the very beginning,” Pompeo said. “So President Trump had made clear in his campaign, he wanted to get our young men and women home as quickly as he could. We were striving to achieve that. He also made very, clear both when I was CIA director, but more directly to me when I was the Secretary of State, that we had a second objective—and that was to make sure we could do so in a way that was orderly, that got equipment home, that got American civilians out, and then protected our second objective there, which was to continue to be able to reduce the risk that we ever had an attack on the homeland from that place. And so there were lots of work streams underneath that, one of which was the intra-Afghan conversations. So we spoke with the Taliban, we spoke with the Tajiks, we spoke with the Northern Alliance, folks in the West, we spoke with the Afghan government and had an agreement with the government— we were working to begin the peace and reconciliation process – an ugly, complex, almost certainly years-long endeavor. But at the same time, we made clear to the Taliban that here are our set of conditions. If you honor those conditions, we will honor ours, which is to draw down our forces. We we did that in a measured, step by step way, from about 15,000 to about 2,500. But we never got to the conditions where President Trump felt comfortable that we could go to zero and so we didn’t go to zero.”

Condensed to its essence, Pompeo said "we didn't go to zero."

Is he saying the puppet regime could have survived on its own? What proof has he? It existed while we had boots on the ground half a world from where the nation had homeland needs. 

He presumes there was actual viability to the puppet government. What proof? Money and arms went in, and disappeared. Great job.

Call it whatever, but cut losses and get out and pay attention to other needs. It was Vietnam all over, a war that never should have been, unwanted, we finally had to face reality and leave. War as a part of "diplomacy" was Bismark's creed, and he did not end up well leading Germany into the First World War by BEING A WARMONGER. Rome got away with imposing its will for centuries, but today's U.S. of A. is not Rome and in good judgment should not aim to be.

The Breitbart link is above. Read as much of the remainder as you feel justified.

It is after the fact saying, "We could have done it better. But didn't."

It is unconvincing whining. Move on. Fix problems in the nation. We have problems. One of them is Pompeo. All he does is obfuscate. We'd have done this. We'd have done that. Then in four years in power, why didn't you? Because it was never nearly so simple a thing as talking about it is. And the SOB knows that. But he dissembles while Biden and his people act. If that brand moves your trust, so be it. 

_______UPDATE_______

Custer was a warmonger too. Bear that always in mind.

This is speculative, but is there hidden policy?

Now things stands with well armed Sunni extremists in Afghanistan bordering well armed Shia forces in Iran, and other Central Asian nations to the north have their concerns.

How that shakes out is unclear, but the Afghan puppet government was never going to be a strong force bordering Iran. It was a construct, and a farce, and it fell in days, not months. Taliban, faults and all, will be a regional force with primarily evolving regional issues in the forefront of their perspective.

If a balance of power exists via Iran facing opposing Islamic theology and vigor, is that better than our troops propping up a joke government in Afghanistan with Pakistan housing the waiting Taliban across a different Afghan border (the pre-exit situation)?

We will find out. A link. A map. 

 

And there was a bundle of arms left with the Taliban. Next door to Iran. If they want upkeep supplies, they can buy them, yes/no, from us? Had the will been otherwise, it would have been gathering material before exit, but it was not that way.

Perhaps that represents a plan or part of one. Perhaps not.

The Pakistan border with Iran is also interesting. There is copper ore there. Link.

Another link, same theme. One more. Varying search words help. Variations on a theme where nobody knows the future. Otherwise everyone would agree on global policy if we all knew fully the range of options and outcomes.

In any event, resources can be applied in the U.S. of A. and who knows, homelessness might be ended and universal single payer healthcare might evolve. We don't need to be worldwide bullies. There are other ideas. Likely better ones.

And we do not need to keep kissing the ass of Wall Street. Or Lockheed-Martin.

_______FURTHER UPDATE_______

Pompeo will have like minded, regardless of plain common sense.

With regard to the last update, were the policy to deliberately leave a strongly armed Taliban because the joke government was not a viable option, it is not something that would have been said. So, put up with the bleating of the Pompeo's of the nation, pounding their chests like Tarzan while their voices hopefully drown out with domestic policy and needs being the sensible main U.S. policy focus. 

But the man wants badly to be President. 

That is a worry. There are many all too willing to act as enablers and facilitators. Like minded, as noted. Trump possibly among them. Staying in Floridian comfort, playing king-maker. While really, in fact, not liking "low class."

________FURTHER UPDATE_______

Thousands are being evacuated. Civilian aircraft are taking evacuees from third party countries so that military flights can maximize the number of evacuees being taken to the third party sites. Security is maintained. 

So far. So good. The military is in action. Hysteria and fearmongering are no help.  Logistical needs apparently are being met. Given people pressing, things are reported as relatively under control in Kabul. Yet some here, stateside. clutch pearl necklaces and keen, or bluster. Helping nothing.

City Council of Minneapolis tells Mayor Frey that it, not him, set city elections policy - this time on a crucial ballot question citizens who care about real public safety should aprove next election.

 Bob Kroll is gone but his shadow lingers.

Putting police conduct into question, making public safety a ballot issue for which a State deadline existed with Council majority and Mayor Frey at issue over ballot wording. Strib reports - 

City officials faced intense pressure from all sides as they raced to meet an 11:59 p.m. deadline for finalizing the wording — or risked being held in contempt of court. It was the first time in at least 35 years that the council convened three times in one day.

The council's debates centered on a question of how much detail it needed to give voters so they could make an informed decision and how much could be construed as a "cautionary note" that might sway voters.

The proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new public safety agency has become a central issue in the November election, and the precise wording that appears on the ballot could have implications for its chances of passing or failing. National and local groups are donating to political committees seeking to sway voters. The vote will play a large role in determining how Minneapolis seeks to transform public safety in the wake of George Floyd's murder by a police officer.

The proposal would remove the requirement for Minneapolis to keep a department with a minimum number of officers based on population. The city would then be required to create a new agency responsible for "integrating" public safety functions "into a comprehensive public health approach to safety."

The proposal also would strike language from the charter that gives the mayor "complete power" over police operations, a move that likely would grant council members more sway over officers.

Frey and the council would decide how to design the new department and whether — and how — to employ police.

Last month, city officials approved ballot language asking voters if they want to "strike and replace the Police Department with a Department of Public Safety that employs a comprehensive public health approach, and which would include licensed peace officers (police officers) if necessary, to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety." It referred voters to a 198-word note providing more details about the proposal.

[An active citizens group on the issue proposing change] Yes 4 Minneapolis sued over the note. Hennepin County Judge Jamie Anderson granted their request to remove the note, saying the particular wording that officials chose was "problematic." She said the city, though, had authority to write a new one.

On Friday morning, the Council voted 9-3 to use the original question without a note attached. It was the outcome Yes 4 Minneapolis previously hoped to get from the courts.

Frey decried the language, saying it failed to inform voters about key parts of the proposal. He thought they should mention that it removed the minimum staffing requirements for police, removed the mayor's "complete power" over police operations and deleted a line referencing the police chief's job.

The mayor issued his first veto around noon Friday. Activists sent notes on social media asking people to call their elected officials urging them to pass fair language. Elected officials swiftly tried to negotiate, having already rejected the mayor's first attempt at compromise language.

City staff rushed behind the scenes to keep tabs on the latest developments. The clerk's office, meanwhile, worked on sending ballot language on two different proposals pertaining to government powers and rent control off to county officials for printing on the ballot this fall.

When the council returned about 3:30 p.m., it voted to sustain the mayor's first veto. Council President Lisa Bender, Vice President Andrea Jenkins and Council Members Andrew Johnson and Jamal Osman then presented a new version. It asked if the charter should "be amended to strike and replace the Police Department with a Department of Public Safety which could include licensed peace officers (police officers) if necessary, with administrative authority to be consistent with other city departments to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety."

The fight over an explanatory note was done, but elected officials still fiercely debated which parts of the proposal should be listed on the ballot. "Why? Why are we afraid to share the language that this petition clearly states and that would clearly be removed from the charter?" Frey asked in the meeting.

Johnson said he believed their wording did reflect the fact the minimum staffing requirement would be eliminated. "I think that is reflected in this, about 'including licensed police officers if necessary.' It is right there in 'if necessary,' " he said.

The mayor and council members, who were divided on the issue, debated what the implications would be for removing the line in the charter that references the police chief's job — and what they could say without misleading voters.

Frey suggested they change the language to say there would be "shared authority by the mayor and City Council." Council Member Cam Gordon said he thought about similar wording, but also believed the language covered that by saying authority would be "consistent with other city departments."

Mayoral powers under the ballot proposal would be curtailed, something Frey, as mayor, opposed - despite a clear majority of the Council thinking differently.

The opinion at Crabgrass, a good win for the Council, with Frey's judgment not being sound after events following George Floyd's murder by cops.

Frey was protecting the power of his office, but also seemed to not be as appalled as the rest of the world over Bob Kroll and over Floyd's murder. Again, that is opinion.

Sorensen at Bluestemprairie writes of MN GOP Chair events from a MN CD1 media persepctive.

Sorensen has over the years been attentive to that part of the State.

No excerpt here. Read her entire post. She does a thorough review of recent media coverage within the CD1 area, references a video involving area Republican politicians, and even posts an image from Hagedorn's Facebook postings. An image that in hindsight Hagedorn might regret.

It appears Hagedorn sent out a fearmongering "critical race theory" mailer during his wife's recent stormy days. Read about it at the bluestemprairie post. Again, online here.

Before closing, it is noteworthy and unexpected to see Sorensen and Mitch Berg on the same page, but both are in agreement that the MN GOP is in dire straits. With both saying that, it has to be true. 

Sorensen does not focus on the upcoming Party audit, the MN GOP financial dire straits, separate and apart from the coming apart of inner Party cohesion after the Lazzaro/Castro Medina situation gained public attention.

Hagedorn seems on a hot seat, and may die in two years, yet the mailing mentioned at Bluestemprairie suggests a will to tough it out without stepping aside for any alternate GOP MN CD1 aspiring soul. For now, it remains his seat to lose or hold.

Check out what Sorensen writes.

[UPDATED] Strib's editorial board opines over the Carnahan exit from MN GOP leadership, noting also finances being in order as important.

 Carnahan detail re Lazzaro and MN GOP staff discord has been well reported. Picking up Strib's "needed fresh start" editorial mid-item --

We applaud the elected officials and party members courageous enough to demand action. That happens too little in politics these days, and was made more complicated by the fact that Carnahan is married to First District U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn.

But it's clear the party has far more work to do than ousting Carnahan, who reportedly pushed hard for an extravagant severance package. The executive committee deadlocked on that aspect, with some opting for no severance. In the end, Carnahan herself was allowed to cast the tiebreaking vote on a package of about $38,000. What ethical organization would allow a person to vote on their own severance, let alone cast the deciding vote?

This party has long needed stronger financial controls and better means of ensuring independent review of expenditures. Mismanagement of finances in the state GOP now stretches back well over a decade, to when Tony Sutton ran the operation into the ground, spending so heavily that the party was later served an eviction notice in 2012 for nonpayment of rent. The party has struggled with finances ever since.

The party's board was right to include further review of finances in its actions, along with its human resource protocols. The multiple accusations of sexual harassment by young women in the party must be addressed.

For the sake of the party, we hope the review includes an overhaul of financial rules and the creation of some much-needed guardrails. So much power is concentrated in the party chair right now that an unethical individual could take advantage. In an era when parties are more dependent than ever on small donors, it is incumbent on them to earn the trust of those donors by spending their money prudently.

 In short, personalities aside, money matters. But we all know that. Powers of the MN GOP chair? We don't all know that. Having that audit, results public, should be a Party goal; else who do you trust? "You" being a small donor.

______UPDATE______

A single point, whose money?

Strib published an Aug 20 report, "Minnesota Republican Party seeks new chair, investigations to repair party image - The party is in shambles in the wake of a scandal that pushed out its chair." By  Briana Bierschbach, who has handled much of this month's reporting about MN GOP events and stories. A single focus, Strib stating mid-item:

Whoever takes over has a big job ahead. The Minnesota Republican Party reported $8,466 in the bank in its last state campaign finance report in December. The party has $177,361 in its federal account, according to campaign records, which also show more than $64,000 in unpaid debts.

The DFL Party, in contrast, has more than $2.2 million between its state and federal accounts heading into the 2022 election.

The scandal will take a bite out of the party's limited budget, with leaders agreeing to give the more than $42,000 in contributions it received from Lazzaro to charity following his arrest. As part of Carnahan's exit package, the party's executive board voted 8-7 to pay her three months severance, or roughly $38,000. Carnahan was the deciding vote in favor of her own severance.

If the small Republican donor individuals managed household budgets the way these "professionals" handle finances, they'd be getting credit agency harassment phone calls night and day.

Put yourself in the position of such a donor. Would you kick in fifty bucks to pay Carnahan a part of her grudge money extraction, the thirty-eight thousand she and Hagedorn finagled on her way out the door? Where a Board 7-7 deadlock on the severance money/amount was broken by Carnahan voting for herself and Hagedorn? Would you consider that a wise use of money that could buy school supplies for the kids? Would you be smart or stupid?

How did seven of those Board clowns cause the deadlock, given circumstances? They seem to have little respect for other people's money. They will have one hell of a hard time this coming election touting themselves as fiscally conservative, or even as fiscally competent. The press needs to name the seven who voted with Carnahan to give her free money on exit. It was an irresponsible move. The dynamics of Hagedorn's power in things also needs complete transparency, after the fact of his and his spouse holding up his Party for thirty-eight grand.

Yeah, it's none of my business. But for those who gave that Party money with the intent it be used on candidacies, this is a sharp-stick poke in the eye.

And from the financial ruins of the Party treasury, they have to fund an audit.

Good luck, and God bless. Picking a new boss: Find competency, or suffer.

________FURTHER UPDATE________

Comments to Berg's latest post include this:

Members Jennifer Larson, Gary Stuart, Dave Pascoe resigned from the board.

Mark Blaxill, treasurer, says he will resign but will assist in transition first.

A few staffers also resigned.

Ouch. A real legacy Chair. Tony Sutton must be smiling.

The Strib item which was focused on in the prior update said, "The party has 45 days to call a meeting of the more than 300 delegates, who will vote for their next party chair. No one had jumped into the race by Friday afternoon." That likely will be a somber session, 300 strong. Hopefully not degenerating into name-calling, finger-pointing or a circular firing squad. 

SPECULATION: Whatever happens among the 300, it will gain media attention. Mike LIndell for party chair? Or his surrogate, Doug Wardlow? Cementing the Trump faction into control?

Perhaps someone from the Anoka County Board of Commissioners would like to take a shot at statewide party leadership? Make that County Board present or past. Residing in the County or otherwise.

Jim Abeler has been a party stalwart for years. Draft Abeler? Fun and games. Really it is hard for many to conceive, but Abeler has been viewed by some Anoka County Republicans as "too liberal," or "disloyal" in some silly context, to the extent he was primaried. That suggests the party is truly in grave circumstances with little hope. Abeler now is a party centrist? Shifts have been that severe.

Could there be again a spouse of a politician gaining the Chair?

Possibilities seem endless. That vote for party chair will be of interest to all in the State. Urban, suburban and rural. Republicans, Democrats and independents. Lawyers, lobbyists and business interests. Creditors of MN GOP will show interest.

______FURTHER UPDATE______

A quote seen earlier, with the intention to post, found again, saying -

“Through his relationship with Chair Carnahan he (Lazzaro) was involved at every level of the MNGOP,” party Secretary Dave Pascoe, a member of the executive committee, said in a statement Thursday. “He was a donor who helped make payroll when times were tight, he was a campaign consultant, he had a PAC (political action committee), he was on the board of the fundraising committee known as the Elephant Club, he hosted a podcast with the Chair, and he donated to Republican candidates far and wide.”

[italics added] Making payroll, that situation had to be within the knowledge of the party treasurer, else there was gross negligence on that front. Did rank and file and Board members know of this, and if so, when? If payroll at any time was not met, there would have been employee knowledge (those strung out on being paid) which appears to have not been widely shared.

Reporting was Lazzaro's condo was searched last December with phones, computers and thumb drives seized. Who in MN GOP had knowledge of that before the indictments this month? Who should have had notice? Board members, senior staff? Carnahan has claimed not knowing until the indictment was issued. Is that credible?

With regard to making payroll, was Carnahan (and spousal community) always paid on time, or not? First at trough, or the rest of payroll first, boss last, as with a proprietorship business? 

How exactly was Carnahan/Hagedorn money, party money, and Lazzaro money commingled? Again, that seems a ripe question for the Party's treasurer. He did keep books, yes/no?

Big question - who kept quiet about what, when? When would there have been a duty to speak? NDAs as a defense could cut several ways. Duty to inform the Board vs. contract NDA duty to the Chair (while paid with Party money), that kind of messy question.

Donors deserve to know. The 300 voting inner party honchos at the soon-to-be confab would at the least need to know whether any candidate for Chair has any skeletons rattling in the closet; Lazzaro related, silence in light of a duty to speak related, or otherwise. That is a wide public where such info could be expected to be leaked to media. But that is the Party's problem, not mine.

Trumpty-Dumpty had a great fall - not liking "low class" - all the King's horses and all the Kings men, couldn't put Trumpty together again.

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

 When they said you was high-classed
Well, that was just a lie
When they said you was high-classed
Well, that was just a lie
You ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

Barron Trump is being prep-school "high-classed" via going to a Florida elite private school. -

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Barron Trump, the 15-year-old son of former president Donald Trump, has enrolled at an exclusive private school not far from his father’s Mar-a-Lago home.

The teen will be attending Oxbridge Academy starting next week as a sophomore, the Palm Beach Post reports. Administrators at the West Palm Beach school sent an email to parents on Wednesday telling them about his arrival with the family’s permission.

“A small contingent of (Secret Service) agents will be present during each school day,” wrote Ralph Mauer, the school’s head.

[...] While the school has other children from prominent families, this will be the first time it has dealt with Secret Service.

“They want to have little impact on our day-to-day operations,” Siegfried said. “They’ve done this for other former presidents’ kids. They’re fantastic.”

Oxbridge was founded in 2011 by billionaire Bill Koch, who is the brother of Charles and the late David Koch, who ran the family’s Koch Industries. Annual tuition at the 54-acre campus is $34,800 for high school students.

Barron had been attending St. Andrew’s Episcopal School near Washington, D.C.

This is no man of the people, despite how he speaks. This is TRUMP! The big kahuna.

The Independent, from a while back, reporting about the Jan. 6 event - 

 What followed was a violent and historic scene: QAnon conspiracy theorists dressed in furs, domestic terrorists waving confederate flags, and hundreds of men and women in Trump campaign gear ransacking lawmakers’ offices. Some took the Senate dais and echoed the president’s false claims of voter fraud.

Mr Trump was apparently turned off by the chaotic scene, although not due to the assault on the US government but according to New York Magazine, because his supporters looked “low-class”.

“He doesn’t like low class things,” an anonymous White House source told the magazine.

His supporters look low class? Trump. It is your base. Less than affluent disaffected white people, who dress like the white working men and women they are. They dress like that when out laboring daily to earn a living for self and family.

Too used to leeches in expensive suits is a big time fault. And not just Trump. It is a DC and NYC elitist affliction. The People don't all look like Lindsey Graham, who was a late supportor-convert. They look like real people, not like DC lobbyists, consultants and hangers-on. They look Tea Party. They are Tea Party.

And -

This is not Tea Party, no way, no how - this is efficient use of resources to keep tuition costs down, while being proudly elitist - delivering an unmatched educational experience-

Investing in Your Child's Future

Oxbridge Academy is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community of families who place a high value on investing in a private school education for their children. We understand careful planning is required for families to budget for private school. We are committed to providing both merit scholarships and generous financial aid in an effort to attract the most qualified students and to make Oxbridge financially feasible. The school efficiently utilizes its resources to keep tuition costs down while providing an unmatched educational experience.

 

2021-2022 Tuition

High School: $34,800

Tuition includes breakfast, lunch, snacks, textbooks, learning support services, and college counseling services.

Soft. Privileged. 54 acre campus. Hoi oligoi, not hoi polloi. With tradition. Badging the top of graduation mortar boards.

With Carnahan out as MN GOP boss, the deafening silence over it in Minnesota's Republican online presence is noteworthy.

 Credit Mitch Berg. He posted on the Carnahan Thursday night meeting, from the outside, and his thoughts have merit. This link. Check it out.

Gary Gross never left Biden bashing to acknowledge the Carnahan/Party situation. Ditto, Powerline. Gary did take a couple days off from posting.

It seems like the ostrich head in the sand image is somewhat relevant. 

-----------------------------

It almost is as if there is a Republican old guard, e.g., Andy Aplikowski being second-generation inner party, Freedom Club being a factor, etc., while Carnahan and Lazzaro were relative newcomers. Carnahan's marriage puts a foot into the old guard network, but the notion that the Party had to be expansive in a big tent fashion seems, for now, to have gone into deep limbo. Old guard, old ways, pastors and embryo Angst likely to again rear their ugly heads anew. Tea Party, Trumpism on the wane, unless the Party picks Bob Kroll as its new head honcho.  

LInk -

Minneapolis police Lt. Bob Kroll meets with Donald Trump at a 2019 rally

Minneapolis police leader defending George Floyd’s killers tied to ‘white power’-linked biker gang

Sarah Lazare·May 29, 2020

From The Grayzone vault: The record of a pro-Trump Minneapolis police leader defending the killers of George Floyd reveals a past marred in accusations of racist violence, including charges from fellow police officers that he once wore a “white power” badge on his motorcycle jacket.

By Sarah Lazare / AlterNet’s Grayzone Project

 

Remember, Sarah Lazare said all that, not me. Kroll in charge? Unlikely, but feasible. However, expect a less incendiary selection.

MN GOP - With Carnahan out this is the face of Mr. Audit. With Carnahan out, now it is all about the Benjamins.

 

cropped image from Strib

Unless the MN GOP Board does not give a flying care about following the money; which would be gross negligence, the audit will happen and there are Republicans who will want findings made public. Part of mucking the stable is to see how deep it is.

Strib wrote - 

Carnahan leaves as chair of the party amid allegations that she created a toxic workplace environment, one that blurred personal and professional lines, ignored concerns about sexual harassment and retaliated against employees who didn't fall in line.

The party's 15-member executive board voted 8-7 to give Carnahan a severance of three months salary, roughly $38,000, to leave her role. Carnahan, who attended the meeting virtually, was the deciding vote to give herself severance on the way out. The board also approved investigations into the party's finances and human resources protocols.

"It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as chairwoman for the Republican Party of Minnesota," Carnahan said in a statement after the vote. "However, I signed up for this party to help us elect Republicans and I want to ensure that we can continue to do that."

Laying it on with a trowel on the way out. Class act? Proof of it being a needed ouster? Strib continues - 

Carnahan initially resisted the calls to resign, saying the allegations were part of a "coup" by her detractors. On Thursday, she continued to push back on the claims, saying she had no knowledge of sexual harassment accusations and a "mob mentality came out in this way to defame, tarnish and attempt to ruin my personal and professional reputation." 

Laying it on with a shovel. Again, what reputation, after the dust settled, and who was responsible for that besides the lady in the morning makeup mirror?

Strib concludes - 

The party must now call a meeting of central committee delegates to elect a new chair to lead state Republicans.

"Today marks an opportunity for the Republican Party of Minnesota to focus on transparency and leadership to prepare us for the 2022 election," said state Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake.

Roughly 15 activists gathered outside Thursday's meeting at the party headquarters in Edina to protest Carnahan. They called for the party to turn a new page and focus on rebuilding.

"Right now there is no [Minnesota Republican Party] brand," said Sheri Auclair, a GOP activist. "Right now the state party is in ruins."

There is a brand. Things are not in ruins. The election cannot pick an idiot or a narcissist, which narrows the choice among prominent Minnesota Republicans.

 If Freedom Club wants the big voice, they will have to back a candidate and get the most inner party votes. Have they feck enough to do so, or are they feckless?

End of post.

________ONE QUICK UPDATE_______

Pioneer Press published online the entire resignation statement Carnahan issued, along with its other coverage. It appears Carnahan decided to resign prior to the meeting and the reported 8-7 executive group's vote was over severance terms and conditions. Carnahan made the correct decision to resign. It makes the party able to move on toward 2022 elections without rancor overriding ensuing decision making. There will be hard feelings and Carnahan had allies, but MN GOP will pick up the pieces and contest things more unified. As a progressive, the hope I hold is that they get hammered in 2022 and nationwide in 2024.

It was an interesting story.