A key eyewitness to Syrian crimes against humanity is speaking out for the first time on CBS News, describing the atrocities he witnessed at a pivotal moment — as the West sounds alarms about civilian deaths in war-torn Ukraine.
“The Gravedigger,” a codename he is using because of ongoing threats against him and his family, described in an interview the wrenching details of the Russian-backed assaults on the Syrian population, and said they provide worrying indications of what is to come.
“I see the news coming out of Ukraine, my heart hurts because I know what Russia has done in Ukraine — what it can do — because I know what it’s done in Syria,” he said.
Russia’s support has been critical for years in keeping the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in power. The human cost of the more than decadelong civil war has been staggering: United Nations estimates put the number of Syrians dead at 400,000 in the conflict that followed the peaceful Arab Spring pro-democracy movement.
“As far as Putin and Assad are concerned, they should go to the trash bin of history for what they’ve done in the world,” the eyewitness told CBS News.
Earlier this month, he spoke to committees on Capitol Hill about the heinous crimes in Syria, including the dumping of thousands of bodies in mass graves. CBS News has learned that he also briefed officials at the White House and the State Department. He is working with the advocacy group, the Syrian Emergency Task Force.
In a landmark decision in January, a German court found former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan guilty of crimes against humanity, based on the Gravedigger’s account and other evidence.
“Twice a week, multiple trailer trucks would come and each truck would have upwards of 100 to 400 or more bodies,” he said. “They were tortured to death, you could see clearly the signs of torture on their bodies. … This was a systematic machinery of death.”
At one point during the interview, he put his head in his hands, saying one prisoner dumped at the mass grave was not yet dead.
“When the intelligence officer saw that this person was alive, he ordered the bulldozer driver to drive over the body and killed him on the spot,” he said.
He pointed CBS News to a site called Al Qutayfah near the Syrian capital, where satellite images show its transformation from a barren field to a series of trenches.
“Everything that was going on, the mass graves, were systematic and were part of what the Assad regime wanted to do,” he said.
Watch more of this interview and how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s playbook for Ukraine was written in Syria on Monday on “CBS Mornings.”
Insider Marie Yovanovitch says it will take a ‘concentrated effort over a number of years’ to undo the ‘damage’ that Mike Pompeo did to the State Department
Sonam Sheth,Nicole Gaudiano – March 25, 2022
Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) testifies before a Senate Intelligence hearing on his nomination of to be become director of the CIA at Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 12, 2017.REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Yovanovitch told Insider that it will take “years” to undo the “damage” Pompeo did to the State Department.
He “presided over the hollowing out of a great institution,” she said.
The former ambassador accused Pompeo of being a hypocrite in her memoir and wondered if the State Department would “survive the betrayals of the Pompeo years.”
Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador told Ukraine, told Insider in a wide-ranging interview that it will take “years” to reverse the damage that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did to the State Department.
Pompeo “presided over the hollowing out of a great institution,” Yovanovitch told Insider. She added that Donald Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, “started it and Pompeo continued it, so there’s is lasting damage.”
President Joe Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made a commitment to following the rule of law, protecting diplomats and foreign service officers, and promoting US policy abroad when he took the helm at the department.
But “it takes a concentrated effort over a number of years not only to knit the fabric of the State Department back together again, but to give it the kinds of resources that are necessary for our diplomacy,” Yovanovitch told Insider.
The former ambassador didn’t mince words about her view of Pompeo in her new memoir, “Lessons From The Edge.” She struck a blunt tone when she said that Pompeo’s “hypocrisy was galling” and wondered if the State Department would “survive the betrayals of the Pompeo years.”
Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from her post in Ukraine in April 2019 following a concerted smear campaign against her by Trump’s allies, led by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. In her book, Yovanovitch discussed her pleas for the State Department, and Pompeo himself, to publicly support her against Giuliani’s efforts to discredit her work in Ukraine and bogus allegations that she was a partisan Obama holdover.
But Pompeo failed to protect her from the White House, Yovanovitch later testified to Congress. She was one of more than a dozen witnesses to testify at Trump’s first impeachment inquiry in late 2019. It centered around his efforts to strongarm the Ukrainian government into launching bogus political investigations into the Biden family while withholding vital security assistance and a White House meeting.
When congressional staffers began contacting her in mid-August 2019 — shortly before the impeachment inquiry was launched — to discuss “Ukraine-related” matters, Yovanovitch started thinking about hiring a lawyer.
“Although the department lawyers usually tried to watch out for State personnel, their job was to protect State’s interests, not mine,” she wrote. “I was a team player, but the past six months had shown me that I could no longer trust the coach.”
She also wrote that it was ironic that Pompeo pledged to work with “uncompromising personal and professional integrity” after being unable to guard her against Giuliani and Trump’s attacks on her. She recalled, in particular, the day that she flew back to Washington, DC, from Kyiv after being abruptly fired without cause.
The same day, Pompeo unveiled an “ethos statement” at the State Department “with great fanfare,” the memoir says. In addition to promising to work with “uncompromising personal and professional integrity,” the statement also promised to “show ‘unstinting respect in word and deed for my colleagues,'” Yovanovitch writes.
“Every Foreign Service officer I knew agreed with these points, but coming from Pompeo, the irony was too much to handle,” the book says. “We were all tired of Pompeo’s talk. We just wanted him to walk the walk. He didn’t need to swagger.”
Looking forward, the former ambassador told Insider that the way the US conducts diplomacy needs to be overhauled, in the same way that the US military reformed after the Vietnam War and intelligence services did after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Diplomacy in 2022 needs to “meet the challenges of the 21st century in a way that reflects many of the tools that we’ve got now that we didn’t have back in the day,” she said. One example she highlighted is the advent of social media and how journalists, activists, and governments use it to spread awareness about key issues of the day.
“When we respond on social media, we don’t have to have it approved by, you know, 20 different people in Washington, but we can be more nimble and more effective,” Yovanovitch said.
No one seems to know why your President wants to invade your sovereign neighbor to the West. Maybe Russia has run out of riches Vlad and his buddies can siphon off and send over to Democratic nations to be laundered.
Reports are that Vladimir Putin is one of the richest Kleptocrats in the world, with between $85 and $100 billion in net worth. That’s quite an accomplishment on a reported government salary of about $250,000 a year, even after a 20 year run as Pillager in Chief.
Although that seems like more than enough money for any one person to squander for at least a couple of hundred lifetimes, some people are just not satisfied with any amount of wealth. We have someone in America who’s exactly like that, and is a matter of fact one of Vlad’s best buds.
America’s deposed ex-president, Donald J. Moneybags, has been bragging about his worth, for as long as he’s foisted his material ego on the American public, even before the Apprentice T.V. show. But news flash, the Donald’s accounting firm Mazars USA just trimmed his sales and his purported net worth, claiming that the last decade of financial statements they prepared were, not surprisingly, unreliable. His accountants rude awakening probably had something to do with the investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James and a hearing this week in a Manhattan court.
A.G. James is investigating whether Trump or the Trump Organization falsified asset values to obtain loans, to bamboozle investors, and to pay lower taxes.
During the hearing, state Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr. to comply with the A.G’s subpoenas and to testify under oath about the Trump organization’s business practices.
Engoron stated in the ruling, that when a state Attorney General investigates a “business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake,” they have a right and a duty to do so. Apparently Mazars sees the writing on the wall, has unceremoniously kicked trump to the curb and is going into full self preservation mode.
Maybe Vlad Putin is just a school-yard bully who wants to beat up on the neighborhood weakling and take his lunch money, because well, he just can.
Vlad Farkus
Vlad’s Cousin Skut Farkus
This reminds me of the movie “Christmas Story”, in which Ralphie and his school-mates Flick and Schwartz are tormented by the neighborhood bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill.
Scut Farkus and Grover Dill waylay Ralphie and his friends on their way home from school
Ralphie, his little brother and school-mates are confronted by Farkus
Ralphie and his mates are terrified of the bullies.
But Ralphie eventually decides he’s taken the bullying and a beating once too often. He finally snaps and beats up Farkus, giving him a black eye and a bloody nose. The Ukrainian people might have reached that same juncture, living under the thumb of their Russian bully.
Ralphie surprises even himself when he stands up to Farkus.
America, NATO and the European Union have emphatically stated that should Putin invade their sovereign neighbor, they will help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his country men and women, give Putin and his 190,000 lackeys two nasty public black eyes and a world-wide size financial bloody nose. Those threatened sanction have as yet not dissuaded Putin from his military buildup but may still avert a war that no one can win.
Vlad, er Scut will rue the day they pick on the weakling.
It’s hard to discern what goes through the head of a megalomaniac like Putin. The world has been under assault from the coronavirus pandemic for more that two years, almost a million Americans have perished and more that 6 million world-wide, but Putin has decided this is a perfect time to start World War III. The civilized world wonders what kind of a human being is this.
We’re trying to dissect the addled mine of our own egomaniac ex president Donald J. Trump. After losing handily to Joe Biden in 2020, and in spite of more than 60 U.S. courts (including our Supreme Court) having ruled against his efforts to challenge that fair election, he conspired to illegally overturn the election by inciting an insurrection, by firing-up his MAGA storm-troopers to attack our Nations Capitol, assault it’s defenders and hang his own vice president.
And trump’s lackeys in the U.S. Congress still fawn over him with unwavering devotion.
We must apologize to the Russian people for not doing a better job of prosecuting their Kleptocrats who violate international money laundering laws, but it’s not for the lack of trying. Unfortunately there are some business and political leaders in our country who flaunt those laws and hinder the prosecution of those criminals enterprises.
I believe the primary reason Putin has decided now is the time to invade the Ukraine, is because their burgeoning Democratic Westward leanings are a threat to his tight grip on his Russian monopoly and money train. If the Russian populace can sort through the propaganda maze enough to see what life could be under a more Democratic governance, we might witness another Russian revolution.
We understand it won’t be easy. Putin holds ultimate control over your elections and the media. When Putin is routinely reelected with more than 90% of the vote, it’s virtually impossible for any opposition candidates to win anything. And anyone who stands up to Putin ends up in prison, in a hospital or in a cemetery. We understand that once the right to vote is usurped and the ability to protest against an Autocratic government or criticize a tyrannical despot is stifled, it may be impossible to regain any slim thread of democratic choice.
That’s why our Democratic Party, some true Republicans and those bracing the pillars of our democracy and democratic institutions, are staunchly defending American’s ability to vote and our ability to fairly count those votes. Unfortunately, trump’s Grand Old Party has relinquished constitutional and conservative Democratic principles to an Autocratic self serving cult leader who demands slavish allegiance. The right to vote in America is under assault in dozens of states and endorsed by most of the cowardly republi-cons in Congress.
We know one thing for sure, if trump would have prevailed over Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Vlad and his 150,000 – 190,000 storm troopers would have already set up camp in Kiev, already begun rounding up opposition leaders, religious leaders and activists who preach Democracy. They would have already begun pillaging Ukraine’s wealth and national treasures, quickly transferred most of it westward for safekeeping and extinguished all civil opposition and inclination towards Democracy.
But in spite of Putin’s stranglehold over every aspect of your society, we know the Russian people are capable of courageous opposition.
Putin blamed the 200,000 protestors who flooded the streets of Moscow in 2014 on Hillary Clinton, but a thirst for Democracy was the real impetus.
Anti-Putin Protests
Britannica: Silencing critics and actions in the West
“On February 27, 2015, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down within sight of the Kremlin, just days after he had spoken out against Russian intervention in Ukraine. Nemtsov was only the latest Putin critic to be assassinated or to die under suspicious circumstances. In January 2016 a British public inquiry officially implicated Putin in the 2006 murder of former Federal Security Service (FSB; the successor to the KGB) officer Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko, who had spoken out against Russian government ties to organized crime both before and after his defection to the United Kingdom, was poisoned with polonium-210 while drinking tea in a London hotel bar. Britain ordered the extradition of the two men accused of carrying out the assassination, but both denied involvement and one—Andrey Lugovoy—had since been elected to the Duma and enjoyed parliamentary immunity from prosecution.”
Flowers, condolence messages, and a memorial photograph marking the spot in Moscow’s Red Square where Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on February 27, 2015. Ivan Sekretarev/AP Images
In January 2021, protests against Putin took place across Russia for imprisoning Alexei Navalny. Navalny, 44 year-old lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner who has dedicated himself to toppling Putin’s reign of terror, has stood fast in spite of being intimidated, poisoned, doused with dye and jailed. Navalny has accused the Russian president of using state cash to enrich himself and his family, including building a £1billion palace at Gelendzhik on the Black Sea.
Russian police are arresting protesters demanding the release of top Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Credit: AP:Associated Press
The Sun reported in January 2021: “The Kremlin has denied being “afraid” of Navalny and his pro-democracy campaigners but are concerned to act tough to prevent mass support growing for a Ukrainian-style revolution.”
Alexei Navalny and his Supporters
Navalny’s eye will take months to recover after surgery
Alexei Navalny Poisoned
What does Russia represent? How do the Russian people want to be viewed by the entire civilized world.
The latest intelligence reports released by the White House yesterday claim that Putin fully intends to invade their sovereign peaceful neighbor Ukraine and then target activists, journalists, religious leaders and others for extermination or prison camps. This sounds exactly like Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Is this what the Russian people want to be remembered for in history? Hitler’s plan for world domination caused between 20 and 27 million Soviet Union citizens to perish in WW II, from all war related causes, a terrible toll. Where does Putin’s plans for empire stop?
In the U.S. and most of the West, Russia is viewed as a tyrannical Kleptocracy who’s despots stalk and murder civil activists around the world, who imprisons peaceful protestors, and as an international bully who infiltrates and overthrows democratic nations, who engages in cyber warfare in Democratic countries, including meddling in our own democratic elections. Russia represents a failed nation, with an economy less that half of our state of California, less than Italy, a much smaller country. What does Russia manufacture, besides weapons of war? What does Russia export except fossil fuels that pollute the world and contribute to global warming. It seems like the only other things Russia exports is pain, grief, terror and doped athletes, including a talented and tragic 15 year old Olympic skater who probably had no say on what went into her body.
Putin couldn’t care less for anyone or anything but himself and his own ego. Is he attacking his countries own enormous social, civil and financial problems? No, he’s attacking a peaceful neighbor.
We had our own Putinesque Kleptocratic leader who couldn’t care less for his country, its Constitution, it’s laws and institutions, it’s reputation around the world or it’s people. Trump’s “I alone can fix it” motto was as hollow as his promises to MAGA. His main goal was enriching himself and his family.
America came to its senses and kicked it’s Autocratic want-a-be bully to the curb in 2020. He’s not quite gone yet but our Democratic institutions and courts are working around the clock on that. The Republican enablers in our Congress are in full defense mode behind trump’s assault on our Democracy but we have an election this year and another in 2024, so maybe the less radical right trump sycophants will take note of Putin’s Russia death wish and vote for more Democracy minded candidates.
Trump’s MAGA faithful cry “Freedom” at every turn, but they have no idea what real freedom is until they live under a despot like Putin, Hitler or trump. These self-serving Autocrats steal your voice, your vote, your opinion, your thoughts, your humanity and your treasures and wealth.
What a large majority of America’s voters are wondering is, how much better off our country, the world and even the Russian people would be if Hillary Clinton had been elected instead of Donald Trump. Can we even count the ways? A few jump off the page of history; our withdrawal from The Iran Nuclear Treaty and their renewed race for nuclear weapons, ditto The Paris Accord and worsening global warming, and just as important, the assent of Autocratic governments and sympathizers who disdain Democracy, free choice and a real authentic “Freedom.” And Trump’s admiration for Putin only encouraged his expansionist ambitions of Russian empire.
To all the Democratic leaning Russians, activists and empathetic citizens, it’s obvious Putin listens to no one but himself, not his flunkies, his neighbors, the European Union, NATO, the United Nations and especially not the United States, but maybe he’ll listen to the Russian people. He’s amassed almost 200,000 soldiers on your far Western border, more than half of his entire army. This would be an extremely opportunistic time for the Russian people to engage in civil disobedience and peaceful protests. Save the Ukrainian people from a catastrophic invasion, blood bath and refugee crisis. Ukrainians, especially the younger generations dream of a more equitable and Democratic future. Save your Ukrainian brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins from a more tragic history. And save your own soldiers from coming home in body-bags. Stand up to Putin and change the direction of your Nation, civil society and economic well being. Save the Ukrainians, the Russian people and the entire world from Putin’s diabolical plans of empire.
I did a 2 1/2 year U.S. Army tour in Germany during the height of the early 60’s cold war. I was a Sergeant stationed in a nuclear artillery unit as a communications section chief. We had our nuclear missiles aimed at the Soviets and they had theirs aimed at us. We were on high alert 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I sometimes feel like I went to sleep almost 60 years ago, just woke up and nothing has changed with Russia; a once great nation with a back-ward looking leader stuck in the 19th century.
I remember one night out with friends; I guess we had too much to drink and I got lost driving. We ended up near the East German border. The thing I remember most vividly was the darkness; very few lights were visible on the East German side. Bleak would be an understatement.
We have too many people in our own country who want to turn off the lights on America’s Democratic experiment; many of them are republi-cons in the U.S. Congress. Courageous American’s will not let them succeed.
The world is wondering what he’s thinking, or if he’s thinking?
Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin on Saturday, February 19 alongside his ally, Belarusian president Lukashenko watched the Russian military perform nuclear drills, while the U.S. announced that Russian forces were ‘poised to strike’ Ukraine. The nuclear bomb drills were carried out simultaneously from the sea, land and the air.
I’m surprised Putin didn’t use a big fat Sharpie to sign the documents and then show it to the cameras, like Trump’s televised spectacles.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed decrees to recognize independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk. Moscow ordered troops into these areas on Monday, escalating the prospect of outright war between Russia and Ukraine.Alexei Nikolsky/TASS via Getty Images
Note to Mr. Putin: Your false flag operations in Eastern Ukraine aren’t fooling anyone; hopefully the Russian people can see through your propaganda.
Starting a war under false pretenses never turns out well; we proved that by invading Iraq and are still paying the costs and consequences.
And you Mr. Putin should have learned that in Afghanistan; the beginning of the downfall of the Soviet Empire.
You claim the West is against the Russian people, so you believe you alone must reconstitute the Soviet empire in order to save it from the dust bin of history. That’s nonsense. Were against your reckless assault and invasion of sovereign Democratic nations and your disregard of human misery and death.
You want to go down in history as the great leader who brought Russia back from the dead, but the only thing you’ll accomplish is to strengthen the EU, NATO and the worlds resolve in Defending Democracy. You will live in infamy as a radical lunatic who started a needless war and destroyed his country.
Russia are you listening; America are you listening?
Dead from injuries sustained in a car crash after the close of WWII, General George S. Patton, Jr. left in his wake a tremendous legacy. While some have mourned what was a tragic loss at the time, others over the decades have theorized Patton’s death was anything but an accident.
Learn about Henry Ford’s bizarre social program here.
Known for his aggressive nature just as much as his many battlefield victories, General George S. Patton was like a giant among men. He was one of the few allied generals who had combat experience commanding tanks during WWI, making him invaluable during the North Africa campaign. Later, he embarrassed many of his peers in Sicily, Italy by winning the race to Messina against the British Eighth Army.
In what might seem a little too coincidental, Patton was exposed for allegedly slapping and dressing down soldiers in a field hospital since they claimed to be suffering from battle fatigue. The press wanted Patton’s blood and they were able to get some worked up enough to call for him to be relieved of duty. However, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George C. Marshall stepped in, likely realizing Patton was too valuable to the war effort.
After spending some time in England, Patton was key to Operation FORTITUDE, the ruse invasion staged in Pas-de-Calais, France. German commanders were so fearful of Patton’s abilities and so convinced he was leading the real invasion that they maintained troops in Pas-de-Calais even after D-Day.
One of Patton’s most famous act of heroics was during the Battle of the Bulge when he led parts of the U.S. Third Army in a counterattack, saving the hopelessly besieged 101st Airborne Division. This endeared him even more to soldiers and the public in general.
On December 9, 1945, Patton was still stationed in Germany when he accepted an invitation from his chief of staff, Major General Hobart Gay, to go pheasant hunting near the base. Originally, Patton was sitting in the front seat of the Cadillac which was being driven by Private H.L. Woodring, his favorite chauffeur. However, when the general noticed the hunting guide’s dog was riding in an open-top jeep, he asked for the party to pull over and had the dog sit in the front of the car so it could warm up. Patton moved to the backseat. Sadly, the good deed would not go unpunished.
While traveling over a railroad crossing, the Cadillac collided with the passenger side of a U.S. Army truck which was turning left. Some claim the limousine Patton was riding in was traveling at a relatively low speed. Others say Private Woodring was going too fast for conditions. During the accident, Patton struck his head on the glass partition in front of him. That impact resulted in a compression fracture and dislocation of the cervical third and fourth vertebrae as well as cervical spinal cord injury. He was paralyzed from the neck down. A mere 12 days later, on December 21, one of the greatest generals the United States Army has ever known passed away from his injuries.
Fueling speculation that the accident with the U.S. Army truck was in truth not an accident but instead was a coordinated assassination was the fact Patton rubbed Russian officers the wrong way in many social and diplomatic relations. He also had been talking about the prospects of invading Russia, saying they were obviously inferior to Americans and would fold in no time. Many in the upper ranks of the U.S. Military didn’t like such a proposition, a feeling which was shared by much of Washington, D.C. and other powers that be of the time. Some believe it was Stalin who had Patton killed because he feared the man could pull off an invasion successfully. Others claim it was the CIA, others in the US government, actors in the British government, or even Allied leaders working with Stalin to get rid of Patton.
Patton also was vocal in post-war Germany about the denazification process and other moves with the government. Eisenhower removed him as the U.S. commander in Bavaria for the politically unwise statements and was transferred to the 15th Army Group, his final post.
The only four star general to be buried at an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery, Patton was laid to rest alongside his men at Luxembourg American Cemetery, per his request. Just like in his life, in death the general was a man of the people. Beloved by his soldiers and a good portion of the public, it’s entirely possible others saw him as too big of a threat, especially since there was no longer a worldwide war to be fought.
Granderson: You can’t be a Republican by today’s standards if you won’t go along with the ‘Big Lie’
LZGranderson –November 3, 2021
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who voted to impeach Donald Trump, announced Friday that he will not seek reelection in 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / Associated Press)
I first met Rep. Adam Kinzinger nearly 10 years ago at a time in which he was a rising star within the Republican Party. Not only was he in his early 30s and a natural on television, he went into the House with a good deal of gravitas, having served in the Air Force in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Over the years, we’ve discussed his views on social issues as well as his thoughts about President Obama’s military strategy. Sometimes I would agree with him, sometimes I would not. But regardless of whether we saw eye to eye on the topic, I always knew where he stood. That’s not to say Kinzinger didn’t play politics. You don’t get to serve six terms in Congress without your share of vague answers and long walks along the party line. But his core principles never changed — he is conservative on gun control, immigration and abortion.
He’s just no longer a Republican.
At least not by today’s standards.
Last week, he became the second Republican House member who voted to impeach President Trump to announce he was not seeking reelection in 2022. He joins Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), a former college football and NFL star who also came into office with some cachet, only to see it evaporate as his party fell into Trumpism. In response to the Kinzinger news, Trump issued a statement that read in part: “2 down, 8 to go!”
It was like watching Thanos collect another infinity stone during “Avengers: Endgame.”
Consider this: The polling analysis website FiveThirtyEight has Kinzinger voting in support of Trump’s policies more than 90% of the time. He won the Republican primary in 2018 with 68% of the vote and went unopposed in the primary in 2020 and won the general election with more than 64% of the vote. Kinzinger even voted against the first impeachment in 2019. None of that seems to matter. He along with Gonzalez, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and a handful of others now find themselves out of favor with the party because they wouldn’t go along with Trump’s Big Lie.
Talk about what have you done for me lately.
“The Republican establishment now — whether it’s the [National Republican Congressional Committee], whether it’s Kevin McCarthy — have held onto Donald Trump,” Kinzinger said to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “They have continued to breathe life into him, and so actually, it’s not really handing a win as much to Donald Trump as it is to the cancerous kind of lie and conspiracy — not just wing anymore — but mainstream argument of the Republican Party.”
Kinzinger was supported by the tea party insurgency that fueled the Republican landslide in the 2010 midterm election; it helped him defeat another Republican in the GOP primary in 2012. Those days of being a GOP darling are over.
“It’s not on Liz Cheney and I to save the Republican Party,” Kinzinger said. “It’s on the 190 Republicans who haven’t said a dang word about it, and they put their head in the sand and hope somebody else comes along and does something.”
Yeah, but what exactly?
There hasn’t been a consequential third-party candidate since Ross Perot received 19% of the popular vote in 1992. And while political analysts disproved the theory that Perot cost George H.W. Bush reelection, the truth remains that those 20 million votes Perot received did not go to Bush or Bill Clinton. Given the thin margin of victory in states such as Arizona and Georgia, how comfortable would Kinzinger be as a third-party candidate if his presence opens the door to a second Trump term?
And given Trump’s intense support among the GOP base — and continuing efforts by Republicans to sabotage voting laws — can anyone be sure that Trump won’t secure a second term, even without a third-party spoiler?
This is what makes Kinzinger’s departure so noteworthy. Over the course of one term, he went from rock star to GOP pariah all because he wouldn’t toss his core conservative values off a cliff.
In 2011, Kinzinger was listed on Time magazine’s “40 Under 40” list of future national leaders in American politics. Ten years later, Kinzinger is fulfilling that promise albeit not in the fashion he or the editors of the magazine imagined.
Kinzinger has said this is the end of his career in the House but not in politics. That could mean he’s eyeing a run for an Illinois Senate seat; both are currently held by Democrats. Sen. Richard J. Durbin will be close to 80 when he seeks reelection in 2026. But it’s doubtful Kinzinger will wait that long. Sen. Tammy Duckworth is up for reelection in 2022, but Kinzinger will have a hard time making it through the Republican primary with Trump still hanging over his shoulders.
Perhaps the governor’s office? Maybe president? Whatever Kinzinger decides to do next, one thing is crystal clear: Democrats won’t be his only opponents and facts won’t be much of an ally.
‘It was time to fight back’: My journey from the Republican Party, through grief, to advocacy
Rachel Vindman – October 31, 2021
On Sept. 27, 2018, I was volunteering in my daughter’s second-grade classroom. My phone was buzzing with updates of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony during Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. I remember the day so clearly; after I finished at the school, I sat in my car and listened to a recording of her opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
I believed her, and yet my deep skepticism of the news media, my belief in our “system” and my conservative political identity left me searching for reasons to discount her testimony. Maybe she misremembered who had attacked her or the severity of the attack? I could not get her out of my mind. She had displayed such bravery and grace in the face of the ugly and vile attacks.
So began my journey away from the Republican Party.
Grieving and growing
The following month I read Max Boot’s “The Corrosion of Conservatism,” which I couldn’t get out of my head for months. The Trump administration continued to erode my faith in the strength of our American democracy. As a foreign policy expert, my husband did not follow domestic policies and politics like I did, so we didn’t discuss it much; he knew how I felt about President Donald Trump, but he had a job to do, and he has never been one to care about “palace intrigue” and gossip.
The following January, I attended a Women’s March for the first time. I felt like a fraud; Alex and I drove to Washington, D.C., together, and we parked in front of the White House as he went to work in the building while I attended the march. I was plagued with major imposter syndrome!
Rachel Vindman is a wife, mom, podcast host, writer and activist.
Then, a mere 13 months after Ford’s testimony, it was my family in the eye of the storm, weathering ugly and vile attacks and withering criticism from the president and some lawmakers as my husband, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, testified during Trump’s first impeachment.
As I sat awake in the early hours of Oct. 29, 2019, I realized something. I didn’t leave the Republican Party. It left me.
The first days and months after Alex’s testimonies were acutely uncertain and scary. It reminded me of my mother’s cancer diagnosis or my very high-risk pregnancy with our surviving daughter; at first your head spins as you process the news, then you learn to live in the storm despite being terrified. There is no other choice because children must be fed, bills must be paid and life needs to be lived. So you figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. It’s the story of women since time immemorial.
This period lasted for almost a year. Only in looking back at it now can I see how awful it was; we were going through the stages of grief and we could only speak to very close family and advisers. Thankfully we had each other, but the isolation took a heavy toll. A few weeks into my husband’s retirement in the summer of 2020, I heard about another journalist – one I have followed for a long time – whose life and family were being threatened. That was my moment. I remember where I was when I heard the story and I made the decision right there: I would no longer be silent.
“The first days and months after Alex’s testimonies were acutely uncertain and scary,” writes Rachel Vindman.
It was time to fight back, publicly and in a way that honored and reflected what my family and those close to me had endured. It was important to me to speak out in ways that were a genuine reflection of who I am in real life. I want my family and close friends to see me on TV or read something I wrote and think, “Yes, that’s Rachel.”
So I proudly joined a movement of women who were using their voices and talents to fight for the things that mattered most to them. I began to engage and found more ways to promote democracy, amplify women’s voices and ensure my voice is heard in my local community as well as on a national level.
The best me for this season of my life
It is hard to articulate the sense of freedom and empowerment I experienced once I began speaking out and working on causes and issues that are important to me. Every week on my podcast, “The Suburban Women Problem,” we speak to every day women who are making a difference in their communities, and every week I am inspired. For me, a huge part of telling their stories is talking about the good and the bad: what motivates us and how we came to this work while also discussing the difficult parts. Like so many others, I have guilt over adding more responsibilities and activities to my already full calendar – if you’re reading this and you’re waiting on me for a response to an email or something else I owe you, know you are not alone.
Rachel and Alex Vindman in their Virginia home.
I have lost friends due to my activism. There are even those who supported us during the impeachment saga but have since distanced themselves because they do not understand why I refuse to return to my “regular” life. To them I simply say this is the most authentic version of Rachel Vindman for this season of my life. I don’t know how long this moment will last, but I am committed to doing all I can do now.
More than two decades ago, I was hiking near the Sea of Galilee. The main part of the hike was through a river bed that was filled with softball-size rocks that were impossible to stand on so my companions and I were forced to constantly move forward or we would lose our balance and fall. I tried to stop once, and I fell. I still have the scar as a reminder that I must keep moving forward. The scenery and companions change throughout the years, but our goal should remain the same. Keep moving forward.
Rachel Vindman is a wife, mom, podcast host, writer and activist.
Climate change reshaped Earth with extreme weather this year
Seth Borenstein October 30, 2021
A train passes a railroad crossing surrounded by floodwaters from rain and melting snow in Nidderau near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)A man watches as wildfires approach Kochyli beach near Limni village on the island of Evia, about north of Athens, Greece on Aug. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Thodoris Nikolaou)A woman wrapped in a blanket crosses the street near downtown Dallas, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Temperatures dropped into the single digits as snow shut down air travel and grocery stores. (AP Photo/LM Otero)People take pictures of Lake Mead near Hoover Dam at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021, in Arizona. The bathtub ring of light minerals shows the high water mark of the reservoir which has fallen to record lows. (AP Photo/John Locher)Children standing on a small mud dyke are reflected in the stagnant water, in Langic, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, South Sudan, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan, further imperiling livelihoods in the world’s youngest country. A five-year civil war, hunger and corruption have all challenged the nation. Now climate change, which the United Nations has blamed on the flooding, is impossible to ignore. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)An Icebreaker making the path for a cargo ship with an iceberg in the background near a port on the Alexandra Land island near Nagurskoye, Russia, Monday, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)People walk on salt flats in Badwater Basin, Sunday, July 11, 2021, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Death Valley, in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert, reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53 Celsius) a day earlier, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace Creek. The shockingly high temperature was actually lower than the previous day, when the location reached 130 F (54 C). (AP Photo/John Locher)People ride a canoe through “sea snot” in Turkey’s Marmara Sea by the Caddebostan shore, on the Asian side of Istanbul, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. Sea snot is a huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms. (AP Photo/Kemal Aslan)The Staten Island Ferry departs from the Manhattan terminal through a haze of smoke with the Statue of Liberty barely visible, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in New York. Wildfires in the American West, including one in Oregon created hazy skies as far away as New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)Destiney Barnard holds Raymond William Goetchius while stranded at a gas station near the Dixie Fire on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, in Doyle, Calif. Barnard was helping Goetchius and his family evacuate from Susanville when her car broke down. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Birds fly over a man taking photos of the exposed riverbed of the Old Parana River, a tributary of the Parana River during a drought in Rosario, Argentina, Thursday, July 29, 2021. Parana River Basin and its related aquifers provide potable water to close to 40 million people in South America, and according to environmentalists the falling water levels of the river are due to climate change, diminishing rainfall, deforestation and the advance of agriculture. (AP Photo/Victor Caivano)The Dixie Fire burns down a hillside towards Diamond Mountain Rd. near Taylorsville in Plumas County, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Ernest Hollis looks for items at his granddaughter’s house that was devastated by floodwaters, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, in Waverly, Tenn. Heavy rains caused flooding in Middle Tennessee days ago and have resulted in multiple deaths, and missing people as homes and rural roads were also washed away. (AP Photo/John Amis)Bare trees stand in a destroyed forest near the Kemerkoy Power Plant, a coal-fueled power plant, in Milas, Mugla in southwest Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. A wildfire reached the compound of a coal-fueled power plant in southwest Turkey and forced evacuations by boats and cars. (AP Photo)Keeping cool in record setting temperatures, Beau Jess and daughter River, 3, reach for falling water as they play at the Splash Pad in Haller Park on Monday, June 28, 2021, in Arlington, Wash. (Andy Bronson/The Herald via AP)A house is surrounded by flood waters in Londonderry on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues to inundate the countries east coast. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)A woman throws away rubbish in the center of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, Monday July 19, 2021. More than 180 people died when heavy rainfall turned tiny streams into raging torrents across parts of western Germany and Belgium. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)Boats languish over the last pools of water available on the Payagua stream that reaches the Paraguay river amid a historic drought that is affecting its levels, in Chaco-i, Paraguay, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)Ice coats a cave in the Eagle Glacier on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Juneau, Alaska. The glacier is remote, and one way to access it involves a 5.5 mile hike on a rugged trail to a public use cabin followed by lake crossings. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)Residents walk along a dirt road in the Urus del Lago Poopo indigenous community, which sits along the salt-crusted former shoreline of Lake Poopo, in Punaca, Bolivia, Monday, May 24, 2021. Bolivia’s second-largest lake dried up about five years ago, victim of shrinking glaciers, water diversions for farming and contamination. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)A man carries goods on his bicycle as he walks out of the Yubei Agricultural and Aquatic Products World in Xinxiang in central China’s Henan Province on July 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Dake Kang)Pink water washes over a salt crust on May 4, 2021, along the receding edge of the Great Salt Lake. The lake has been shrinking for years, and a drought gripping the American West could make this year the worst yet. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)A woman is carried through a flooded street in Angleur, Province of Liege, Belgium, July 16, 2021. Severe flooding in Germany and Belgium has turned streams and streets into raging torrents that have swept away cars and caused houses to collapse. (AP Photo/Valentin Bianchi)Homes are flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in Jean Lafitte, La. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)A kayaker fishes in Lake Oroville as water levels remain low due to continuing drought conditions in Oroville, Calif., Aug. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)A child cools off with the water to the fountain during a heatwave in Pamplona, northern Spain, Aug. 13, 2021. Stifling heat gripped much of Spain and Southern Europe. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)Floodwaters submerge vineyards near Cognac, southwestern France, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. Scientists say damaging frost that caused significant economic loss to France’s central wine-growing region this year was made more likely by climate change. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)People travel through a torrential downpour caused from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, near Columbus Circle on Sept. 1, 2021. As weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable caused by climate change, transit officials say that more needs to be done to prepare the East Coast’s vital transit systems. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Fires raged. Rivers flooded. Ice melted. Droughts baked. Storms brewed. Temperatures soared. And people died.
Climate change in 2021 reshaped life on planet Earth through extreme weather.
World leaders are gathering in Scotland to try to accelerate the fight to curb climate change. So far, it’s not working, as the world keeps getting hotter and its weather more extreme, scientists and government officials say. They don’t have to point far back in time or far off for examples.
There have been deadly floods in Belgium, Germany, China and Tennessee. Fire blazed in parts of the U.S. West, Greece and even the Arctic.
Heat waves proved deadly and unprecedented, pushing temperatures in the Northwest and even reaching 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius) in Portland, Oregon, a city known for its mild climate. Hurricane Ida paralyzed New York City with record-breaking, deadly rain.
“These events would have been impossible without human-caused climate change,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
In just the United States, there have been 18 weather or climate disasters this year with losses exceeding $1 billion a year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Those 18 disasters caused 538 deaths and nearly $105 billion in damage. In the 1980s, the average year only saw three such disasters.
A report from AIR Worldwide, a global risk modeling firm, estimates that now each year extreme weather is costing $320 billion around the world, with only about one-third of it insured.
“We now have five times the number of recorded weather disasters than we had in 1970, and they are seven times more costly,” Guterres said, speaking about global totals. “Even the most developed countries have become vulnerable.”
The Tarbaby’s Blog was hacked about 6 weeks ago. Our webhost IONOS has been trying to correct the problems, but have still been unable to fix the posting issues, so please be patient. I’m way behind in posting and will try to catch up in the next few weeks.
Whether posting and debating about the coronavirus and public health, the environment and the catastrophic consequences of global warming and climate change, the threats to America’s Democratic institutions, politics, voter suppression and intimidation, Veterans advocacy, fair labor practices or a long list of vital social and economic issues, truth tellers become a target for those who would like to silence public debate and speaking truth to power. We will not be silenced. Please stay tuned.
“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates. What is COP26 and how will it affect the future of climate change? Glasgow, Scotland called COP26.
What’s happening
The Biden administration on Wednesday released a report that predicts climate change will force “tens of millions” of people around the world to be displaced in the next few decades. The report echoes the findings of a number of previous studies that suggest worsening climate impacts — sudden disasters like fires and storms, plus more gradual problems like rising seas and drought — could displace as many as 200 million people before 2050.
Climate change affects the whole world, but the citizens of certain low-income countries everywhere from Central America to sub-Saharan Africa are especially vulnerable to climate-related displacement. Beyond the harm of millions of people being forced from their homes, climate migration could threaten the stability of resource-strained countries and increase the risk of conflict between nations, according to a separate national security assessment released this week.
While estimates paint a particularly dire picture of the future, some of the effects of climate displacement are already being felt around the world. The United Nations estimates that an average of 21.5 million people worldwide are displaced by sudden disasters every year. Droughts and storms in Central America are believed to be one of many reasons for an influx of migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years. The Syrian civil war, which has created a devastating humanitarian crisis and displaced more than 13 million people over the past 10 years, has been partially attributed to a drought that forced rural farmers to flood into urban areas.
Why there’s debate
As worrying as some forecasts of the future are, a range of experts say that with the right preparation and investment, climate migration can be managed to limit suffering and prevent countries from falling into chaos.
A key step, most experts argue, is for rich countries like the U.S. to do everything within their power to prevent people from being forced to migrate in the first place. That starts with limiting greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Doing so would reduce the potential severity of storms, droughts and other factors that drive people from their homes. Rich countries also need to offer aid to poorer countries to adapt to climate change — for example, helping low-income countries build infrastructure to handle higher sea levels and stronger storm surges and dealing with major population shifts within their borders, since most climate migrants relocate to new areas of their home countries.
Many also argue the U.S. will need to update its immigration system to prepare for the unique challenges of managing climate migration. Some immigrant rights activists say climate displacement should be added to the list of reasons a person can qualify for refugee status. That’s controversial on both the left and the right. There’s broad agreement among experts, though, that a more permissive immigration system — with less focus on aggressive border enforcement and more pathways to enter the country legally — could not only prevent unnecessary suffering, but also create benefits for the U.S. economy.
What’s next
Climate migration is expected to be one of many important issues discussed by world leaders at the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Representatives from nearly 200 countries will meet over the course of two weeks in hopes of reaching an agreement on an emissions reduction strategy to avert the worst potential impacts of climate change.
Perspectives
Strict immigration enforcement isn’t the answer
“States that have grown addicted and accustomed to solving problems with walls and weapons are acting to news of climate-linked mobility by trying to repel people, hoping to insulate themselves. … Not only will this cause ever more human suffering, it will fail on its own terms.” — Todd Miller, Independent
Fear-inducing rhetoric about the threat of climate migration must end
“When most people think of ‘climate’ and ‘immigration,’ they think at the global scale — which can be scary. The idea that a changing, increasingly inhospitable climate will drive mass migration is frightening. … But migration is, and has always been, a form of adaptation — and it can be a major benefit to receiving communities.” — Claire Elise Thompson, Grist
Immigration laws need to be updated to recognize climate displacement
“A lack of lawful migration opportunities forces many of those moving for climate-related reasons to do so without authorisation and at risk of exploitation and abuse. But solutions are within our grasp.” — Tamara Wood and Edwin Abuya, Thomson Reuters Foundation
With the right planning, climate migrants can help the U.S. thrive
“Migration can bring great opportunity not just to migrants but also to the places they go. As the United States and other parts of the global North face a demographic decline, for instance, an injection of new people into an aging work force could be to everyone’s benefit.” — Abrahm Lustgarten, New York Times
The U.S. must provide extensive support for vulnerable countries
“The best deterrent to migration is hope. We must provide the leadership that allows the people
in our own hemisphere the chance to survive and prosper at home.” — Cecilia Muñoz, The Hill
Climate shouldn’t be treated as the only reason people leave their homes
“In general, illegal border crossings can be traced to any number of factors: job opportunities, drug trafficking, political shifts, and, yes, climate change. There’s nothing wrong with bringing attention to these issues by examining them in print. But to solve a problem, you have to properly define it first. We can and should address the border crisis and climate change at the same time. But conflating the two only makes that task more difficult.” — Sean-Michael Pigeon, National Review
Limiting climate change will reduce the need for climate migration in the first place
“The most useful thing that the developed countries of the West can do to help endangered societies elsewhere is to rapidly limit our own carbon emissions — for if we fail to do so and temperatures rise uncontrollably, then weak states around the world will assuredly fail.” — Anatol Lieven, Foreign Policy
We should start helping people relocate before their situation becomes desperate
“Real change — like relocating entire neighborhoods and communities out of harm’s way — would be far better handled not in times of crisis, when the displaced must weigh complex decisions in the midst of chaos and loss, but before a crisis hits.” — Alexandra Tempus, New York Times
Climate migrants can be an enormous asset if given the right opportunities
“The easier we make it for the young to move to places where they can contribute productively, such as by building more sustainable housing and irrigation systems, the better our odds during the turbulent decades ahead.” — Parag Khanna, National Geographic
Is there a topic you’d like to see covered in “The 360”? Send your suggestions to the360@yahoonews.com.
Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Comparing January 6 to a terrorist attack, former lawmakers – including Republicans – say Congress must investigate Trump’s role
Charles Davis – October 29, 2021
Violent Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Photo by /John Minchillo/ AP
The legal brief, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, is signed by 22 Republicans.
It argues Congress has a right to see Trump’s presidential records related to January 6.
The documents are being sought by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign to undermine confidence in the 2020 election unfolded “like a fever dream in James Madison’s restless imagination,” testing American democracy like no other previous US president, argues a legal brief filed this week by a bipartisan group of 66 retired members of Congress.
The filing, first reported by The Washington Post, comes as part of a lawsuit initiated by Trump that seeks to block congressional investigators from obtaining White House documents that could expose the former president’s role in the January 6 insurrection. Trump’s lawyers have argued such documents are protected by “executive privilege” and outside of Congress’ legislative mandate.
But the former lawmakers, including 22 Republicans, say that argument does not hold up – and that the extraordinary nature of the US Capitol riot, not a request for presidential records, is the actual threat to the US Constitution and the separation of powers.
“The once unimaginable problem here, of course, is that a sitting president and his aides personally orchestrated a multifaceted assault on the peaceful transition of presidential power,” the brief states, “and neither Congress nor the public more broadly yet knows the full range of means deployed or considered and discarded.”
What is publicly known, however, is that “Trump played an outsized – and likely central – role in orchestrating the events that led to the January 6th attack,” the lawmakers argue, likening it to a thwarted terrorist plot.
“If traitors bent on disrupting and damaging our government were to meticulously plan and nearly succeed in flying a jumbo jet into the White House, we would not expect Congress to implement stronger safeguards without the opportunity to investigate the attackers,” the brief states.
Tom Coleman, a former Republican member of Congress from Missouri, told the Post that it was vital that Trump’s lawsuit be defeated. “If Congress fails to win this case,” he said, “then you might as well pack up Congress and let them go home because this is fundamental to our checks and balances and the rule of law in this country.”
