"Documents reveal misleading public statements on war in Afghanistan" by Thomas Gibbons-Neff New York Times, December 9, 2019
WASHINGTON — Thousands of pages of documents detailing the war in Afghanistan released by The Washington Post on Monday paint a stark picture of missteps and failures — and those assessments were delivered by prominent US officials, many of whom had publicly said the mission was succeeding.
The US military achieved a quick but short-term victory over the Taliban and Al Qaeda in early 2002, and the Pentagon’s focus then shifted toward Iraq. The Afghan conflict became a secondary effort, a hazy spectacle of nation building, with intermittent troop increases to conduct high-intensity counterinsurgency offensives — but, overall, with a small number of troops carrying out an unclear mission.
Even as the Taliban returned in greater numbers and troops on the ground voiced concerns about the US strategy’s growing shortcomings, senior US officials almost always said that progress was being made.
The documents obtained by the Post show otherwise.
(Blog editor heaves a sigh of resignation with a heavy heart. It's a massive deja vu, and the costs in human lives, on the environment, and the outgrowth of policies resulting from the reason we are there in the first place is astronomical. Perhaps this is simply preparing the way for official withdrawal, but the truth is it won't be fast enough. Should have happened years ago. In fact, we never should have been there at all)
“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” said Douglas Lute, a retired three-star Army general who helped the White House oversee the war in Afghanistan in both the Bush and Obama administrations.
“What are we trying to do here?” he told government interviewers in 2015. “We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.”
(It fills one with dejection. We've been lied to for so long. The "conspiracy theorist" bloggers and dissidents have been right all along)
The 2,000 pages of interviews were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and years of legal back-and-forth with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, according to the Post. Formed in 2008, the office has served as a government watchdog for the war in Afghanistan, releasing reports quarterly on the conflict’s progress, many of which publicly depicted the shortcomings of the effort.
In one interview obtained by the Post, a person identified only as a senior National Security Council official said that the Obama White House, along with the Pentagon, pushed for data that showed President Obama’s announced surge in 2009 was succeeding.
Oddly enough, on this day in history President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a humble acknowledgment of his scant accomplishments and a robust defense of the United States at war amid the admiration of the press, and I understand how hard it is to break up with the office skank.
“It was impossible to create good metrics. We tried using troop numbers trained, violence levels, control of territory, and none of it painted an accurate picture,” the official told interviewers in 2016, according to the Post. “The metrics were always manipulated for the duration of the war.”
In 2010 this pressure trickled down to troops on the ground, as they answered to commanders eager to show progress to senior leaders, including General Stanley McChrystal, then the commander of all US troops in Afghanistan, but the facts were that the fledgling Afghan military performed poorly in the field and that the United States’ “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy had little hope of succeeding.
Maybe "success" wasn't the point. Instability and chaos in the country provides a reason to continue occupation.
Maybe the troops should take a tip from Christ and take up woodworking instead.
“Afghans knew we were there temporarily, and that affected what we could do,” Marc Chretien, who served as the senior State Department adviser to the Marines in Helmand province, said in one interview. “An elder in Helmand once told me as much, saying: ‘Your Marines live in tents. That’s how I know you won’t be here long.’”
It's been 18 years already, and we have had troops in Germany and Korea for over 65 years. Methinks he underestimates the staying power of U.S. war planners and the foreign policy establishment. Both Obama and Trump said they were going to get us out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and we are still there. Still in Syria despite the conventional narrative of the pre$$. And on and on. We never leave. Heck, we were screwing around in Afghanistan back during the Carter days, using "Al-CIA-Duh" to give the Soviets their Vietnam.
How sad that American empire builders fail to learn from history, 'eh?
The tension between rosy public statements and the reality on the ground has been one of the enduring elements of the war. Now, 18 years in, the US-led mission in Afghanistan has all but cut off outside access to US troops on the ground in an attempt to execute their mission in near-secrecy.
What is the saying, truth is the first casualty?
That would take you back to 9/11, wouldn't it?
Since 2001, more than 2,200 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan, along with hundreds from allied countries that have contributed forces to the war. Since 2014, after the Pentagon officially and euphemistically ended “combat operations,” putting the Afghan military in the lead, more than 50,000 Afghan security forces have died, and the military effort has cost the United States more than $1 trillion.
The trillion bucks spent is bad enough; however, what is left out of their death toll is the countless thousands, perhaps millions of Afghani civilians who no one has been interested in counting or calculating.
Of the $133 billion that the United States has spent on reconstruction programs in Afghanistan, about $83 billion went toward training the Afghan army and police forces, according to the inspector general.
“If you look at the overall amount of money spent in Afghanistan, you see a tiny percentage of it went to help the people of the country,” Robert Finn, the US ambassador to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003, told investigators. “It almost all went to the military, and even most of that money went for local militia and police training.”
The "reconstruction" is chump change in comparison with operations, but even that amount was funneled through war-contractors such as Bechtel, Halliburton, and Dynacorp before ending up in bank accounts in Dubai.
Finn also described how Afghan society has long been dominated by tribal leaders and patronage networks, and engendered its own form of corruption.
“When you are in power, you are expected to take care of your own,” Finn told investigators. “They come to him because the sister-in-law needs an operation, or want a new car, or want electricity in their house.”
Then the war is a $u¢¢e$$ after all! We have brought American democracy to the "tribal" society! Mission accomplished! I wonder what is their version of the Biden family!
Oh, right, that was a separate war criminal aggression by the same president.
The Post published its report just as talks between the United States and the Taliban have restarted for another round of peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar. In September, President Trump abruptly called off months of the talks after a suicide blast in Kabul that killed a US soldier and 11 others.
During a trip to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan over the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump said the United States would stay in Afghanistan “until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make a deal very badly.”
He's actually projecting U.S. desires on the Taliban. Since 2001, the Taliban have never been stronger and appear to be able to fight forever. It's Trump that wants a deal very badly -- especially with his Korean initiative cratering.
In one 2003 memo cited by the Post from Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time, he declared, “I have no visibility into who the bad guys are.”
Ah, one of the lead war criminals of the Bush regime.
--more--"
That report comes on the heels of Esper saying "we are making good progress in Afghanistan."
Must be an old JEDI mind trick:
"Amazon said in a legal complaint unsealed Monday that it had lost a multibillion-dollar cloud computing contract with the Pentagon because President Trump used “improper pressure” to divert it from the company to harm its chief executive, Jeff Bezos. The Defense Department reviewed outdated submissions from the company and overlooked key technical capabilities, Amazon claimed, saying those errors tipped the scales in favor of Microsoft, which won the contract in October. Amazon had been considered the front-runner for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, known as JEDI, in part because it had built cloud services for the CIA. Its Amazon Web Services, or AWS, business is also the country’s biggest cloud computing provider, but Trump said publicly that other “great companies” should have a chance at the $10 billion contract. Trump said he would take “a very strong look” at the JEDI contract, noting that companies including Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle had complained about the award process. Trump has openly criticized Bezos, who owns The Washington Post. The president has accused the paper of spreading “fake news.” In its complaint, filed in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, Amazon said that Trump attacked the company behind the scenes to hurt Bezos, “his perceived political enemy.”
Ding-ding-ding!
In the corner to my left......
Democrats expected to draft two articles of impeachment against Trump, one on abuse of power, the other on obstruction of Congress
The web gave you the Washington Post while my print copy carried the New York Times version. No great loss either way, but what was noteworthy was the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic Counsel, Barry Berke, saying it's a big deal and “President Trump did what a president of our nation is not allowed to do,” and that it was Daniel Goldman, a lawyer who led the Intelligence Committee's Ukraine investigation, was the one testifying. He was the one summing up the case for impeachment.
My takeaway from each is that you are allowed tell lies in furtherance of wars of aggression, sign of on torture, and commit mass murder on the basis of those lies with drone strikes and the like while stealing others resources and occupying them for extraction purposes. That's okay, not a "big deal," and what a president is supposed to do! Got it.
The second observation is emphasized by the article directly below:
AG criticizes report’s finding of no bias in FBI Russia inquiry
It's the New York Times, and the Globe really has me hopping today because my print version carried a piece by AP:
"Inspector General Michael Horowitz identified 17 “significant inaccuracies or omissions” in applications for a warrant and later renewals from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The watchdog found that the FBI had overstated the significance of an ex-British spy named Christopher Steele’s past work as an informant and omitted information about one of his sources who he said “may engage in some embellishment.” Those errors, the report said, resulted in “applications that made it appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case.” Republicans have long criticized the process since the FBI relied in part on opposition research from Steele, whose work was financed by Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and that fact was not disclosed to the judges who approved the warrant. The document’s release, coming as a House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing centers on the president’s interactions with Ukraine, brought fresh attention to the legal and political investigations that have entangled the White House from the moment Trump took office....."
That sure looks criminal to me despite the whitewash, and now Trump says he is more eager for the report of John Durham. I hope he is prepared to be disappointed again.
What really appears to have happened, however, is this: Steele was initially contracted by the Jeb Bush campaign. After he flopped, they passed the stuff along to the Clinton campaign who contracted FusionGPS to continue the compilation of "evidence." They then funneled the "dossier" to key contacts within the law enforcement and intelligence agencies, with the likes of John Brennan forwarding it to Harry Reid and John McCain, who then forwarded it to Department of Justice to provide the basis for the warrants meant to spy on and infiltrate the Trump campaign. It is without a doubt the biggest political scandal in American history, dwarfing Nixon who simply used the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to try and cover it up, and thus must be buried lest the $y$tem it$elf collapse.
Related:
"Prosecutors in Sicily are investigating suspected embezzlement by a mysterious Maltese academic who has been linked to a US probe of hacked e-mails. Agrigento Prosecutor Salvatore Vella said by telephone Monday that his office is investigating Joseph Mifsud for suspected embezzlement of at least $110,000 in connection with his role at a local public university. Mifsud apparently disappeared in 2017. US prosecutors have alleged that a campaign adviser to President Trump had learned from Mifsud about stolen e-mails that figured in the FBI’s probe into alleged hacking by Russia. A Sicily-based newspaper, Giornale della Sicilia, reported that Mifsud had run up huge phone bills for calls made while in Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The academic had made numerous voyages to Russia, Malta, Libya, the United States, Lebanon, and Bulgaria, it said......"
They have been unable to locate the US intelligence asset, and who remembers Halper, 'eh?
I suppose there is no chance of a mistrial so see you in court:
"Appeals court judges expressed skepticism Monday that members of Congress as individuals have a legal right to sue President Trump to stop his private businesses from accepting payments from foreign governments without lawmakers’ consent. Even as the judges seemed troubled that Congress may have no other viable way to enforce the Constitution’s anticorruption ‘‘emoluments’’ provision, they did not seem prepared to allow the lawsuit from more than 200 Democratic lawmakers to move forward and suggested the Supreme Court would have the final word....."
You will have to US Supreme Court stay your tongue after that.
"Tentative deal reached on North American trade pact" by Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro Associated Press, December 9, 2019
WASHINGTON — House Democrats have reached a tentative agreement with labor leaders and the White House over a rewrite of the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal that has been a top priority for President Donald Trump.
“We’re close. We’re not quite finished yet. We’re within range,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday night. “We’re at a moment of truth,’’ Pelosi said.
Yes, she understands power and how to use it, and believe it or not, she says progress is being made in Afghanistan.
Representative Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, credited Pelosi for building consensus among Democrats for the looming agreement, which could be announced as early as Tuesday.
Details still need to be finalized and the US Trade Representative will need to submit the implementing legislation to Congress. No vote has been scheduled.
The trade agreement is one item of many of the congressional to-do list, including a government-wide funding package and an annual defense policy measure that has been broadened to include a new 12-week parental leave benefit for federal employees.
“We’re trying to move everything along. We have a lot to do before we leave,” Pelosi said as she left the Capitol Monday. “And appropriations is the central thing.’’
You would never know it given the spectacle of impeachment!
The new, long-sought trade agreement with Mexico and Canada would give both Trump and his top adversary, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a major accomplishment despite the turmoil of his likely impeachment.
Oh, the $tring-pullers behind the smokescreen of impeachment will be getting everything they want, huh?
Weeks of back-and-forth, closely monitored by Democratic labor allies such as the AFL-CIO, have brought the two sides together. Pelosi is a longtime free trade advocate and supported the original NAFTA in 1994. Trump has accused Pelosi of being incapable of passing the agreement because she is too wrapped up in impeachment.
Democrats from swing districts have agitated for finishing the accord, in part to demonstrate some accomplishments for their majority.....
What, a blatantly political impeachment isn't enough?
--more--"
As for our corporate OverLORDs, inflation is no longer a scourge thanks to Paul Volcker and Marvin Goodfriend, men with enormous decency and humanity -- even as Morgan Stanley is cutting about 1,500 jobs globally, including several managing directors, as part of a year-end efficiency push.
Unfortunately, biotech and technology companies are scrambling to fill open jobs because colleges aren’t doing enough to prepare students for life-science jobs despite the opioid epidemic and even as Bo$ton is a rare winner in tech job growth.
"Federal agencies have pushed back against criticism that they entrapped hundreds of foreigners who enrolled in a fake school the agencies opened in an effort to fight visa fraud, saying that those who enrolled knew they weren’t signing up for a real school and that they only wanted a way to stay in the United States. The undercover operation that targeted students at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills was legal and helped combat visa fraud, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and head of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s investigative division in Detroit said Friday in statements to the Detroit Free Press. The students arrived in the United States legally, primarily from India, and were on F-1 student visa programs when they enrolled at the university that was covertly staffed by undercover agents and had a fake website. Nearly 80 percent of the 250 students who were arrested have voluntarily left the country, according to ICE. Lawyers for the students have said they believe their clients were entrapped and did not know the school was fake when they enrolled....."
The story drew widespread attention and several political leaders raised questions, including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who tweeted that it was ‘‘cruel and appalling to deceive and entrap them, just to deport them.’’
Related(?):
"India took a major step toward the official marginalization of Muslims on Tuesday as one house of Parliament passed a bill that would establish a religious test for migrants who want to become citizens, solidifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda. The measure would give migrants of all of South Asia’s major religions a clear path to Indian citizenship — except Islam. The bill passed in the lower house, the Lok Sabha, a few hours after midnight, following a few hours of debate. The vote was 311-80. The measure now moves to the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, where Modi seems to have enough allies that most analysts predict it will soon become law. Muslim Indians are deeply unsettled. They see the new measure, called the Citizenship Amendment Bill, as the first step by the governing party to make second-class citizens of India’s 200 million Muslims, one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, and render many of them stateless. “We are heading toward totalitarianism, a fascist state,” said Asaduddin Owaisi, a Muslim lawmaker, who Monday dramatically tore up a copy of the bill while giving a speech in Parliament. “We are making India a theocratic country.” With the new citizenship bill, Modi’s party says it is simply trying to protect persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians (and members of a few smaller religions) who migrate from predominantly Muslim countries such as Pakistan or Afghanistan......"
India looks more like Israel every day, to the point where they may even "build a new temple over the ruins of a demolished mosque and make it easier to incarcerate and deport Muslim residents, even those whose families have been in India for generations, if they cannot produce proof of citizenship as anti-Muslim sentiment has become blatantly more mainstream and overt displays of Hindu piety and nationalism have become central in pop culture and politics -- a danger to India’s democracy."
Liz is also hyper (I thought she was given a clean bill of health) regarding the fight to save Minor League Baseball, and so with this ring do I thee wed because one vote could make all the difference.
Also see:
"Federal authorities are investigating a cyberattack on the city of Pensacola, home to the naval air station where a Saudi flight student killed three sailors and wounded eight others on Friday. Mayor Grover Robinson on Monday said it’s not yet clear whether the two incidents are related and he asked for patience in a community still grieving over the shooting at the Navy installation, a central part of the local economy and public life. “We are a little bit hampered through this,” the mayor said during his weekly briefing with local news media. City officials became aware of the cyberattack at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, many hours after the shooting, said city spokeswoman, Kaycee Lagarde. She expressed caution about linking the two incidents — although city officials were not prepared to outright dismiss any connections. ‘‘As a precaution we have reported the incident to the federal government,’’ Lagarde said, acknowledging the deadly violence at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. ‘‘It’s too early to confirm or dispel,’’ Lagarde said. “That would be a question for the federal agencies.” Ransomware cyberattacks on government systems have been on the rise in recent years, with some crippling services for long periods of times. In May, a cyberattack hobbled Baltimore’s computer network and cost the city more than $18 million to repair. City officials refused to pay demands for $76,000 in bitcoin. During the summer, two Florida cities — Riviera Beach and Lake City — paid hackers more than $1 million combined after being targeted....."
They ‘‘don’t want to get into too many specifics and just might have to do some things a little bit old-school, with pen and paper.”
Remember, it's Iran that is the threat:
"Iran is ready for more prisoner swaps with the United States, the Cabinet spokesman said Monday even as he reiterated the Iranian leadership’s stance that there will be no other negotiations between Tehran and Washington. The remarks by the spokesman, Ali Rabiei, were the first after a prisoner exchange over the weekend saw Iran free a Chinese-American scholar from Princeton who had been held for three years on widely criticized espionage charges. Saturday’s exchange was negotiated indirectly and took place in Switzerland, which looks after US interests in Iran as Tehran and Washington have no diplomatic ties. The swap raised hopes of other similar actions and was seen as a rare diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Washington after months of tensions, but it was unclear if it would have any effect on Iranian-US relations....."
Don't hold your breath.
Or do:
"North Korea calls Trump a ‘heedless and erratic old man’" by Choe Sang-Hun New York Times, December 9, 2019
SEOUL — North Korea called President Trump a “heedless and erratic old man” Monday, after the US leader warned that the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, could lose “everything” if he resumed military provocations like nuclear or long-range missile tests before next year’s US elections.
Kim Yong Chol, a hard-liner who speaks for the North Korean military, issued a statement criticizing Trump hours after the US leader warned on Twitter on Sunday that Kim Jong Un had “far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way.”
Trump also warned that the North Korean leader should not “void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November” by resuming hostile acts.
His tweets came after North Korea announced Sunday that it had carried out a “very important test” at its missile-engine test site. Analysts said the test probably involved a new type of booster engine that could be used to propel a satellite-delivery rocket or an intercontinental ballistic missile.
They got rockets and “nothing more to lose.”
Trump has also revived his old taunting remarks of Kim in recent weeks, calling him a “rocket man.”
On Thursday, North Korea’s first vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, said that Trump’s use of the “rocket man” moniker was a sign of “the relapse of the dotage of a dotard.”
Last week, while urging North Korea to keep its promise to denuclearize, Trump warned that the United States would use military force if it had to.
In their statements of recent weeks, North Korean officials have also become increasingly frosty toward Trump. Kim Jong Un himself has not revived his personal insults against Trump, but that could change if Trump reiterated his threatening remarks, North Korea said Monday.
On Monday, Kim Yong Chol warned that the United States should be ready to be “surprised.”
--more--"
Here is a surprise:
"Russia, Ukraine to revive peace process amid little progress" by Vladimir Isachenkov, Sylvie Corbet and Yuras Karmanau Associated Press, December 9, 2019
PARIS — The presidents of Ukraine and Russia agreed Monday to revive the peace process on the bloody separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and exchange all prisoners, but they failed to resolve crucial issues such as a timeline on local elections and control of the borders in the rebel-held region.
At the first meeting between new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two leaders failed to find a compromise to bring an end to the five-year-old war that has killed 14,000 people, emboldened the Kremlin, and reshaped European geopolitics, but they did agree to try again in four months to find new solutions, said French President Emmanuel Macron, who mediated the talks along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and called them “fruitful” in that it brought all four leaders together.
UH-OH!
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left), French President Emmanuel Macron (center), and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Monday for a working session at the Elysee Palace in Paris.Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool via AP/Pool Sputnik Kremlin via AP
Even worse, Germany is on the move again.
Putin said they agreed that the 2015 accord has no alternative, and he emphasized that Ukraine should quickly extend a law giving wide autonomy to the rebel-held regions in line with the deal and also approve a legislation granting amnesty to the rebels. He added that in addition to the prisoner swap, agreement was reached to continue pulling back troops in other areas in in the east, clear mines there, and remove fortifications.
“I would very much like our people to get back home and spend the New Year’s holidays with their families,’’ Zelensky said.
Macron and Merkel said they agreed to intensify the monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is now only active for 12 hours a day and conduct it 24 hours a day.
The summit was the biggest test yet for Zelensky, a comic actor and political novice who won the presidency this year in a landslide — partly on promises to end the war. Macron praised the courage and determination of Zelensky, adding he made ‘‘gestures’’ that allowed peace talks to be relaunched.
A major breakthrough at the Paris talks had been seen as unlikely, and Ukrainian protesters in Kyiv had put pressure on their new leader not to surrender too much to Putin, who has been in office nearly 20 years, but the fact that Putin and Zelensky met at all was a significant step after years of war. Putin and Zelensky faced each other across the table, flanked by Macron and Merkel.
Related:
"Paris commuters inched to work Monday through massive traffic jams as strikes against retirement plan changes halted trains and subways for a fifth straight day — with the prospect of a tougher day ahead. French President Emmanuel Macron girded for one of the toughest weeks of his presidency as his government prepares to present a redesign of the convoluted French pension system. Macron sees melding 42 different retirement plans into one as delivering a more equitable, financially sustainable system. Unions view the move as an attack on the French way of life even though Macron’s government is not expected to change the current retirement age of 62. Paris police girded for a huge pension protest march on Tuesday, similar to the one last Thursday when more than 800,000 people across France took part. Fearing possible violence on its fringes, police warned they would mobilize significant resources immediately to stop violence. All restaurants and shops along the march route were ordered closed....."
Must be Russian interference, right?
Despite the 2015 peace agreement, Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists have continued to exchange fire across World War I-style trenches along a front line that slices through eastern Ukraine.
While Zelensky still enjoys broad public support, he has been embarrassed by the scandal around his discussions with President Trump that have unleashed an impeachment inquiry in Washington. The United States is an important military backer for Ukraine, which is hugely out-gunned by Russia.
While the United States was never part of this peace process, US backing has strengthened Ukraine’s overall negotiating position with Russia in the past. Now that support is increasingly in doubt, after the Trump administration froze military aid earlier this year and is increasingly focused on Trump’s reelection bid. With US influence waning around the world, many in Kyiv see one clear winner: Russia.
The AP apologizes for that, and don't forget China.
--more--"
There is a bear in the woods......
US officials will review whether grizzly bears have enough protections across the Lower 48 states (Frank van Manen/United States Geological Survey via AP/File 2019/The United States Geological Survey via AP).
Yeah, I'm heading downhill and the other way after shitting my pants, but not before turning back and taking a second look at that cute little guy!
How adorable!
Time for a $moke break outside the building:
"Add the cigarette break to the instances where men may be gaining an advantage over women in the workplace. Male smokers switching to a male manager who also smokes are promoted faster than those who do not share this habit with their boss, according to a paper released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The results are part of a broader study that showed men benefit from having a male manager, while women have about the same promotion rate regardless of the gender of their boss."
Just be careful where you throw the match.
"Walmart removed several pieces of holiday merchandise from its Canadian website after customers took offense to a line of risque Christmas clothing. The retail giant also issued an apology over a sweater offered by third-party seller FUN Wear that featured an image of a bug-eyed Santa Claus seated in front of three white lines that appeared to be cocaine. The sweater’s tagline: ‘‘LET IT SNOW.’’ For those who weren’t quite sure what the sweater might be suggesting, its product description read: ‘‘We all know how snow works. It’s white, powdery and the best snow comes straight from South America. That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole. That’s why Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade A, Colombian snow.’’
That brain-dead idea gets you full circle and back to the front page:
Pete Frates, who raised millions for ALS research by championing the Ice Bucket Challenge, dies at 34 The former Boston College baseball star popularized the Ice Bucket Challenge on social media as a way to focus attention on ALS, from which he suffered.
Dan Shaughnessy
As a ballplayer and a person, Pete Frates hit it out of the park The onetime Baseball Beanpot star for BC became a real-life hero, turning a huge negative into a huge positive.
He's a Boston legend now.
Hundreds of scholars protest Harvard’s decision to deny tenure to Latinx studies professor The decision to deny Lorgia García Peña tenue demonstrated a “refusal to recognize the invaluable contributions of [work in her field] to the larger academic community,” the scholars said in a letter.
She is an ethnic studies professor!
(flip below fold to go underground)
Safety ‘is not the priority’ at the MBTA The MBTA’s intense focus on tightening its budget while speeding the pace of capital projects has been “detrimental” to the operations of the agency, and it’s helped foster a culture where safety is not the priority, a panel of experts found.
Just like the DMV, and “changes to the culture are going to take a long time.”
I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
MBTA’s new fare system will be years late, and cost a lot more money The MBTA’s focus on tightening its budget while speeding up capital projects has been “detrimental” to operations and has helped foster a culture in which safety is not the priority, a panel found.
The Globe says trucks are the problem, and it's enough to make you blow your top as the latest battle over culture comes after actors and opposition activists said Prime Minister Viktor Orban was pushing for communist-style censorship.
No wonder global television advertising had its steepest drop in a decade and CBS may be forced to put its iconic NYC headquarters up for sale.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
It is going to be a quick one because I shouldn't have even bought it. I was hoping to find something that wasn't there.
Taking it from the top:
Democrats formally call for Trump’s removal, citing abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
They are on track and claim that “President Trump abused the powers of the presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit [and] has also betrayed the nation by abusing his office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.”
Forget the long historical record of the U.S. CIA interfering in elections, I'm wondering where were -- at the very least -- the articles of impeachment were for Dick Cheney after awarding all the no bid war contracts to Halliburton?
The charge would also seem to implicate former VP Biden regarding Burisma and his son. Remove the prosecutor or you're not getting the billion dollars. Well, god damn, the prosecutor was fired and they replaced him with someone solid.
Related (from pages B6 and B8):
For Richard Neal, a steady focus on new trade deal
He drags his heels on Trump's tax returns, but joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in announcing the new trade deal that Pelosi declared a ‘victory for the American worker.’
(below fold)
At Trump rally in Pa., loyalists say ‘the Democrats are helping us’ by pushing impeachment
Man is found guilty of murdering two doctors in South Boston condo
Bottom of page:
Bengals are said to be ‘livid’ over Patriots’ illegal videotaping
Page A2 National lead:
Trump and Barr criticize FBI director over report on Russia inquiry
The Globe says there was only mismanagement and low-level wrongdoing at the FBI, no grand conspiracy, as they stick with their absurd story.
Co-lead:
FTC reaches $191 million settlement with University of Phoenix in deceptive-advertising probe
The web version replaced the shooting in Jersey City with the Houston police chief ripping Mitch McConnell so you might want to Czech the hospitals.
Pentagon inspector general will examine if southern border operations follow US law
Another IG, and further south a Mexican ex-security chief took bribes from a cartel.
He's lucky he wasn't found in a ditch.
Page A4 World lead:
Fallen rights icon appears in UN court for Rohingya genocide case
It looks to me like they turned on her after she chose her country over other concerns. No doubt recognizing reality and improving relations with China is at the bottom of the rights charges. When I see the war-criminal EUSraeli leaders before the UN I will sit up and take notice.
Greenland’s accelerating ice losses are now in line with highest sea-level scenario, scientists say
It's so bad that the reindeer are starving and Greta is very concerned about the world's ailing oceans.
Finland gets world’s youngest prime minister
She is a 34-year-old woman, and you can toast her with the full-page Total Wine ad on page A5.
Or, if you prefer, a mixed drink:
Trump considers former chemical industry executive to lead Consumer Product Safety Commission
Some don't drink and are offended by it:
Navy suspends flight training for Saudi military students in Florida
Related:
US bars Saudi diplomat over killing of Jamal Khashoggi
Hollywood’s disdain for women journalists
The reality of being a woman journalist is unwanted touching, catcalls, awkward hugs, and forced kisses, but at least they didn't chop you up with a bone saw.
On to the welfare state as it exists today:
In UK campaign, online disinformation abounds
The New York Times says it is often spread by the politicians themselves (pot-kettle syndrome), and Facebook is going to clean it all up.
Holiday rom-com ‘Love, Actually’ inspires UK election memes
It means there are fewer wild cards this year.
MBTA’s struggle to address safety at same time it rebuilds system may come down to money
Fixing the T will take more than just tightening our belts
Thus the Globe's recent focus is exposed as a money grab.
St. Guillen concedes City Council election that ended in a one-vote difference
(stink below the fold)
Kim Janey claims votes to be next Boston City Council president
Boston may look to eliminate disputed hair drug tests for police
Ban on vape sales in Massachusetts ends Wednesday
The Globe tells you what happens next so don't lose your breath.
Romans brought wood from 1,000 miles away to the Eternal City, study says
AG charges Melrose couple with running a tech support scam targeting seniors
This paper is almost history.
Beth Israel Lahey expands orthopedic surgery care, using Baptist Hospital as model
At Massport, new CEO is ready for change
Her first big test as the head of Massport is the smooth rollout of the new ride-hail rules at Logan Airport, and I suppose we should all be glad it isn't under MBTA or DMV jurisdiction.
Amid lawsuits, Bayer mounts campaign to defend weedkiller
An a$pirin a day, right?
Big biz group makes strides with board diversity
US stocks dip as weekend deadline on trade looms
The obituaries get me back above the front page fold and to Frates before saying farewell.
