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solarbirdEven in the midst of all this, there's plenty of time to ramp up the war and plenty of time to beat up on children, like Republicans just love to do.
Also, Joe Biden is an absolute shitheel.
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Pentagon Order to Plan for Escalation in Iraq Meets Warning From Top Commander
A secret Pentagon directive orders planning to try to destroy a militia group backed by Iran, but America’s top general in Iraq cautions of the risks.
By Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt
March 27, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/world/middleeast/pentagon-iran-iraq-militias-coronavirus.html
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq, issuing a directive last week to prepare a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group that has threatened more attacks against American troops.
But the United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran. In a blunt memo last week, the commander, Lt. Gen. Robert P. White, wrote that a new military campaign would also require thousands more American troops be sent to Iraq and divert resources from what has been the primary American military mission there: training Iraqi troops to combat the Islamic State.
The Pentagon directive and General White’s response — both classified internal military communications — were described by several American officials with direct knowledge of their contents. The exchange comes amid a simmering fight inside the Trump administration over policy toward Iran and the course of America’s war in Iraq, which began just over 17 years ago.
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Joe Biden Faces Sexual Assault Allegations From A Former Staffer
Britni de la Cretaz
Refinery 29
27 March 2020
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/newspolitics/joe-biden-faces-sexual-assault-allegations-from-a-former-staffer/ar-BB11LiRA
Former Vice President Joe Biden is facing a new sexual assault allegation, from a woman named Tara Reade, who says she has been trying to share her story since 1993 when it allegedly happened. Reade’s allegation comes in the midst of Biden’s surging presidential campaign and is consistent with other stories women have shared about their discomfort with the way Biden has touched them.
Reade was a staff assistant for Joe Biden in 1993, when she claims he digitally raped her. She told part of her story in 2019, when Lucy Flores wrote in The Cut about the inappropriate way Biden smelled her hair and kissed the top of her head. At the time, several other women came forward to say that Biden had touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable, including Reade, who said that Biden used to put his hands on her shoulders and run his fingers up and down her neck. Now, she has detailed what she says is the entirety of her experience with Biden on The Katie Halper Show.
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Attorney General William Barr: Transgender Girls Are Male
Dawn Ennis
FORBES
27 March 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2020/03/26/attorney-general-william-barr-transgender-girls-are-male/
The U.S. Department of Justice is taking sides in a landmark federal lawsuit, and the man with his thumb on the scale in favor of the lawyers for a Christian rights organization is none other than Attorney General William Barr.
The DOJ filed a legal document Tuesday in Hartford, Conn., where the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom is representing three high school girls in their suit to stop transgender girls from competing in school sports. The Trump Administration has now joined the ADF in resorting to transphobic terms to misidentify trans girls in court documents such as “biological males” and “boys.”
The Dept. of Justice’s statement of interest argues the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is violating Title IX, the federal law that provides equal educational opportunities for girls, including in athletics.
The CIAC says its seven-year-old policy for trans student athletes abides by state law that requires schools to respect the gender identity of students and treat them according to how they identify. And the conference points to guidance by federal court rulings and the prior federal administration, including the Justice Department, in drafting the inclusive policy.
Barr and his DOJ cohorts argue the CIAC is mistaken.
Also, Joe Biden is an absolute shitheel.
- Pentagon Order to Plan for Escalation in Iraq Meets Warning From Top Commander
- Joe Biden Faces Sexual Assault Allegations From A Former Staffer
- Attorney General William Barr: Transgender Girls Are Male
----- 1 -----
Pentagon Order to Plan for Escalation in Iraq Meets Warning From Top Commander
A secret Pentagon directive orders planning to try to destroy a militia group backed by Iran, but America’s top general in Iraq cautions of the risks.
By Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt
March 27, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/world/middleeast/pentagon-iran-iraq-militias-coronavirus.html
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq, issuing a directive last week to prepare a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group that has threatened more attacks against American troops.
But the United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran. In a blunt memo last week, the commander, Lt. Gen. Robert P. White, wrote that a new military campaign would also require thousands more American troops be sent to Iraq and divert resources from what has been the primary American military mission there: training Iraqi troops to combat the Islamic State.
The Pentagon directive and General White’s response — both classified internal military communications — were described by several American officials with direct knowledge of their contents. The exchange comes amid a simmering fight inside the Trump administration over policy toward Iran and the course of America’s war in Iraq, which began just over 17 years ago.
----- 2 -----
Joe Biden Faces Sexual Assault Allegations From A Former Staffer
Britni de la Cretaz
Refinery 29
27 March 2020
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/newspolitics/joe-biden-faces-sexual-assault-allegations-from-a-former-staffer/ar-BB11LiRA
Former Vice President Joe Biden is facing a new sexual assault allegation, from a woman named Tara Reade, who says she has been trying to share her story since 1993 when it allegedly happened. Reade’s allegation comes in the midst of Biden’s surging presidential campaign and is consistent with other stories women have shared about their discomfort with the way Biden has touched them.
Reade was a staff assistant for Joe Biden in 1993, when she claims he digitally raped her. She told part of her story in 2019, when Lucy Flores wrote in The Cut about the inappropriate way Biden smelled her hair and kissed the top of her head. At the time, several other women came forward to say that Biden had touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable, including Reade, who said that Biden used to put his hands on her shoulders and run his fingers up and down her neck. Now, she has detailed what she says is the entirety of her experience with Biden on The Katie Halper Show.
----- 3 -----
Attorney General William Barr: Transgender Girls Are Male
Dawn Ennis
FORBES
27 March 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2020/03/26/attorney-general-william-barr-transgender-girls-are-male/
The U.S. Department of Justice is taking sides in a landmark federal lawsuit, and the man with his thumb on the scale in favor of the lawyers for a Christian rights organization is none other than Attorney General William Barr.
The DOJ filed a legal document Tuesday in Hartford, Conn., where the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom is representing three high school girls in their suit to stop transgender girls from competing in school sports. The Trump Administration has now joined the ADF in resorting to transphobic terms to misidentify trans girls in court documents such as “biological males” and “boys.”
The Dept. of Justice’s statement of interest argues the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is violating Title IX, the federal law that provides equal educational opportunities for girls, including in athletics.
The CIAC says its seven-year-old policy for trans student athletes abides by state law that requires schools to respect the gender identity of students and treat them according to how they identify. And the conference points to guidance by federal court rulings and the prior federal administration, including the Justice Department, in drafting the inclusive policy.
Barr and his DOJ cohorts argue the CIAC is mistaken.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-28 11:21 am (UTC)2. Dammit.
3. Damn Bill Barr's bigotry. His Christian-supremacism. His sabotage.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-28 04:56 pm (UTC)The Medeia has been doing a pretty stellar job of keeping those stories suppressed. Of course they also did a stellar job of suppressing the one candidate who never sexually assaulted anyone, who had plans to handle everything imaginable, and who was the best, most prepared candidate in decades.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-28 05:42 pm (UTC)