Katie and I are recording this week’s Useful Idiots right now, with a great guest (a 2020 presidential candidate). We’re doing the food groups now, including a discussion of the Afghanistan withdrawal announcement. Two questions for listeners. One, in the same vein as last week’s “What’s the real reason Rolling Stone fired us?” segment last week, we’d like to hear your answers to the question, “What’s the real reason the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan (if they are)?” We’ll read off the best answers on the show.
Secondly, apart from the Afghan news, is there any unusual story you saw this week you’d like us to discuss? Any video you’d like us to comment on? We even take non-necrophile content.
Origen of Covid and What the hell are we going to do about Gain of Function virus research? Anything? Cause the next one will be worse, or the one after that, or the third one. Fourth? It will happen again.
So I hear that Afghan women started refusing to have sex with American soldiers. And they refuse it because the Americans keep talking about pulling out, but they never do!
What about the catfishing of the CNN technical director by some chick working for Project Veritas? Kind of a "duh CNN sucks" story but the circumstances are hilarious. Dude went on what he thought was a Tinder date and got set up. The shit he says about how the news stories are pushed at CNN was horrifically cringey even for a jaded news consumer like myself. Is it shady journalism or just straight up conservative activism? Does James O'Keefe suck or no?
I was interested in an essay that Bari Weiss posted from a private school teacher (his name is Paul Rossi) in Manhattan who felt the need to speak out against the Wokeness indoctrination going on in his expensive private school. His essay got picked up on Twitter and in some news outlets. I thought it took a lot of courage on his part. I was wondering if you are seeing more pushback against the Wokeness agenda and could talk about that.
It is terribly difficult to find reliable and non-partisan reporting on what is going on at the southern border. I would love for you guys to discuss the current state of affairs regarding asylum procedures, holding of unaccompanied minors and in what areas the current administration's approach differs from the previous administration's.
How about a proper in-depth report on Xinjiang? Something not influenced by US government propaganda. Including why the Chinese have been able to thwart terrorism for the last four years in Xinjiang.
I posted my best topic below, but over night had a thought of something that might drive a heated discussion here in Taibbi-Katie land (TK) ----->
I dare you to review (Ayn Rand - either Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged) - the staples of the right mantra (individualism, virtue of selfishness, objectivism) that seem to permeate most neoliberal institutions (left or right).
The debates on this site would be epic. As someone who cannot stand this women or her benefactors/networks who funded her work, it might be a good time to go back and see what she got right and what glaring errors she made in defense of free market capitalism.
If you want some combustible content, maybe get Rand-i
I recently watched the documentary "Seaspiracy" which was filled to the brim with pro-shark propaganda. Something about them being apex predators, which are critical for our oceans ecosystems... Anyway, we as anti-sharkers/never-sharkers know that's a load of BS. Maybe Katie wants to address some of this :-p
The real reason Biden is pulling out of Afganistan is to have those troops invade Iran 'on accident' because Russian interference rigged their navigation to send them to Tehran instead of Kuwait and before they could redirect they saw WMDs on the side of the road along with babies being ripped from incubators and democracy HAD to be restored.
Don't you think this "withdrawal" is a fake, theatrical move? The troops are being kept nearby and on the slightest provocation they will have to be sent back in, regretfully. D and R will all support re-entry and there will be zero debate about it. Agreed?
Can you cover the CDC recommending a pause to the J&J vaccine? Pausing the vaccine distribution for something which allegedly has such a low probability is just really weird given everything else that the CDC/FDA seem okay with.
After years and years of using military issue protection in Afghanistan, Biden's foreign policy has decided to use the withdrawal method --- he can sniff the soldiers when they get back too (added bonus). Inkin, Blinkin and Nod
2. Unusual story issue -----> How about Pelosi's husband buying a shit ton of MSFT and RBLX stock on possibly inside information
Real reason Biden isn't leaving Afghanistan - He's being blackmailed into doing it by Putin, who hacked his Peloton bike and has video of Joe's classes where he doesn't pedal but just sings along to the playlist.
If the US is really withdrawing from Afghanistan, I would suspect they've decided mercenaries and other funding mechanisms are a better way to serve US interests than direct troop deployments.
Curious to get your take on J&J's decision to suspend distribution of their vaccine. Is it an overreaction? Or have we gone crazy on the precautionary principle?
Sorry to keep adding to the list, but what about a serious segment on the history of Operation Mockingbird in the US (starting with Henry Luce and others) and fold that into today's highly visible placement of intelligence figures now working as "journalists" (scribes) for imperial corporate entities. Naming names at the same time -- so we can build off of this work and anticipate the propaganda before it even hits the presses?
This is mission impossible, I realize, but what if you guys found out why the Pentagon has never, ever, completed a successful audit. Of anything. Insane amount of taxpayers dollars technically unaccounted for. If taxpayers had even a modicum of insight on how the Pentagon spends, even if we just knew a ballpark number of the money in 'off book' accounts, I have a feeling the public would freak out.
- Obviously, Rolling Stone fired you because they didn't want to be associated with Katie after her erotic novel about Qasem Soleimani was published.
- And we are withdrawing from Afghanistan because Biden met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and said to them "Look fat! we need to get out of Tajikistan".
Explore the underlying causes of the border immigration "crisis:" US trade policy (CAFTA-DR),the imposition and support of authoritarian govternments in the Triangle, the work of the IMF to impose austerity. Why there seems to have been no marked wave of immigrants from Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica?
The Pentagon is perhaps too "stoned" in Afghanistan to leave. It seems like a literal War "on Drugs." Also, Bagram A.F. Base is a convenient staging area if "we" wanted to instigate some insurrectionary shenanigans in Xinjiang. What do we know about Diego Garcia? John Pilger did a kind of mind-blowing documentary Stealing a Nation about how that Chagossian atoll in the midst of the Indian Ocean was turned into one of this country's largest overseas bases during the early 70s, and to my knowledge is completely off limits to the Press. Thank you and look forward to the show.
i imagine you will already discuss the military budget increase but i have a few points i'd like to add. has the administration even provided a reason to increase it, or is it just a given now that his already bloated mess will simply keep expanding forever? have progressives in either the senate or the house voiced their opposition to it? as far as i can tell, bernie could block it, has he said why he wouldn't? perhaps there's a media story as well, with outlets like the new york time presenting a slighty-smaller-than-expected increase as a decrease and a progressive milestone?
The real reason is that 20 years ago I stood with several women on a busy street corner with signs to stay out of Afghanistan. We did this every Friday in front of a bank for weeks and months. The manager tried to get us arrested. (public property) We had drive-by shoutings "Commies!"
Thumbs down until things slowly changed. Then we had thumbs up, approval honking, and the Bank Manger handed out carefully wrapped life savers.
Can you explore the possibility of an undercover invasion of various tax-haven countries to physically recover all of the money that otherwise would have been paid in taxes? Call it "Operation Panama Papers," or the like. Of course, this only works if there's a giant vault stuffed with trillions of paper dollars, or better yet, a Scrooge McDuck pile of gold coins, so admittedly there may be some holes in this plan. Otherwise, which arm of the US Govt would be best served assembling a McGruber-like crew to pull this off? The SEC comes to the top of my mind in the vein of a make-up call for looking the other way leading up to the '08 financial crisis. Of course, the comedic value skyrockets if that dumbass military contractor outfit who ham-handed the Maduro overthrow gets tabbed for this operation. My dream scenario would be Uncle Bernie being the first to bust through the front doors with his full anti-billionaire rage blazing.
Didn’t Trump sign a peace deal with the Tailban in February 2020 reducing troops within 14 months? So I think this a slight of hand maneuver. It appeases us lefties because he’s doing a thing that we have been screaming about since the war started. Stopping it. But he also doesn’t rock the defense departments boat over pulling out or at least reducing troops, because this peace process deal had already been signed anyway. Plus I mean China....duh.
I don’t really have a story but here’s a fucked up thing you might want to know. I work for Quest Diagnostics, one of the beneficiaries of this whole pandemic as we did ALOT of testing and recently it froze here in Texas. This Quest lab has couriers which drive around picking up specimens to be brought back to the lab and tested.
During the freeze these drivers did their jobs as whole cities shut down, tens of thousands lost power, and freeways were completely closed. Some of them had to be put up in hotels, away from their families while their own homes fell victim to the damage done by the freeze. How does Quest repay them? With points, in the company store. Not bonuses, not hazard pay, points. To spend at the online company gift shop where you can purchase Panera Bread and Amazon gift cards. But what you can’t do? Is pay for the pipes that burst under your foundation, you can’t pay the mortgage or rent in a time as desperate as these; this is how our drivers were rewarded. But the real kicker....
When one of our drivers asked a supervisor about why Quest didn’t offer hazard pay in obviously hazardous conditions. He was told that it was because Quest couldn’t allocate the funds. Three weeks later they have started building renovations on our lab, laying granite tile in the lobby and giving the entire front end a facelift. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the god damn lobby was more than 10 years old.
Essentially they blew workers hazard pay earned through massive deals for testing, on a vanity project.
Or at least that’s how it feels. Keep up the good work y’all. Sometimes you two are the only voices of reason in the room. What a freighting thought! Lol
Biden did tell Obama, "You're Getting Rolled by the Generals." Biden had all these interesting opinions as VP when Obama did the Cabinet votes; a lot of the time Biden was on one side and the rest of the Cabinet on the other. Hope, boredom, cynicism, smugness, and ignorance are all plausible reasons. I'm not sure what the reason was--probably a combo of all of these.
What News Should Matt and Katie Discuss?
VICE: Man Fined for Farting On Cop Argues Farts Are Protected Forms of Expression.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xb59/man-fined-for-farting-on-cop-argues-farts-are-protected-forms-of-expression
Why is J&J vaccine fired when Moderna & Pfizer have had similar side effects? Check out VAERS reports on both of the mRNA vaccines.
Origen of Covid and What the hell are we going to do about Gain of Function virus research? Anything? Cause the next one will be worse, or the one after that, or the third one. Fourth? It will happen again.
So I hear that Afghan women started refusing to have sex with American soldiers. And they refuse it because the Americans keep talking about pulling out, but they never do!
So now they have no choice :)
Love you guys! Keep up the great work!
- Milan from Serbia
What about the catfishing of the CNN technical director by some chick working for Project Veritas? Kind of a "duh CNN sucks" story but the circumstances are hilarious. Dude went on what he thought was a Tinder date and got set up. The shit he says about how the news stories are pushed at CNN was horrifically cringey even for a jaded news consumer like myself. Is it shady journalism or just straight up conservative activism? Does James O'Keefe suck or no?
I was interested in an essay that Bari Weiss posted from a private school teacher (his name is Paul Rossi) in Manhattan who felt the need to speak out against the Wokeness indoctrination going on in his expensive private school. His essay got picked up on Twitter and in some news outlets. I thought it took a lot of courage on his part. I was wondering if you are seeing more pushback against the Wokeness agenda and could talk about that.
It is terribly difficult to find reliable and non-partisan reporting on what is going on at the southern border. I would love for you guys to discuss the current state of affairs regarding asylum procedures, holding of unaccompanied minors and in what areas the current administration's approach differs from the previous administration's.
Cuba! 80 years of strangling a tiny island nation!
The "Rolling Stone fired us" schtick is played out...
How about a proper in-depth report on Xinjiang? Something not influenced by US government propaganda. Including why the Chinese have been able to thwart terrorism for the last four years in Xinjiang.
Yemen has a better hummus recipe.
Financial Markets. Specifically GameStop.
I posted my best topic below, but over night had a thought of something that might drive a heated discussion here in Taibbi-Katie land (TK) ----->
I dare you to review (Ayn Rand - either Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged) - the staples of the right mantra (individualism, virtue of selfishness, objectivism) that seem to permeate most neoliberal institutions (left or right).
The debates on this site would be epic. As someone who cannot stand this women or her benefactors/networks who funded her work, it might be a good time to go back and see what she got right and what glaring errors she made in defense of free market capitalism.
If you want some combustible content, maybe get Rand-i
Cheers.
I recently watched the documentary "Seaspiracy" which was filled to the brim with pro-shark propaganda. Something about them being apex predators, which are critical for our oceans ecosystems... Anyway, we as anti-sharkers/never-sharkers know that's a load of BS. Maybe Katie wants to address some of this :-p
The real reason Biden is pulling out of Afganistan is to have those troops invade Iran 'on accident' because Russian interference rigged their navigation to send them to Tehran instead of Kuwait and before they could redirect they saw WMDs on the side of the road along with babies being ripped from incubators and democracy HAD to be restored.
Don't you think this "withdrawal" is a fake, theatrical move? The troops are being kept nearby and on the slightest provocation they will have to be sent back in, regretfully. D and R will all support re-entry and there will be zero debate about it. Agreed?
Another important topic I recommend is water privatization (see David Dayen - https://prospect.org/environment/corporate-merger-aims-to-build-water-privatization-giant-veolia-suez/ )
Can you cover the CDC recommending a pause to the J&J vaccine? Pausing the vaccine distribution for something which allegedly has such a low probability is just really weird given everything else that the CDC/FDA seem okay with.
1. Afghanistan -----> withdrawal.
After years and years of using military issue protection in Afghanistan, Biden's foreign policy has decided to use the withdrawal method --- he can sniff the soldiers when they get back too (added bonus). Inkin, Blinkin and Nod
2. Unusual story issue -----> How about Pelosi's husband buying a shit ton of MSFT and RBLX stock on possibly inside information
Cheers!
Real reason Biden isn't leaving Afghanistan - He's being blackmailed into doing it by Putin, who hacked his Peloton bike and has video of Joe's classes where he doesn't pedal but just sings along to the playlist.
In the same spirit as the financial crisis, how did the govt fuck us over while distracting us with covid checks?
On a lighter note..
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/ben-cohens-new-prerolled-joint-business-will-fund-black-owned-cannabis-companies/Content?oid=32762685
1. We’re leaving Afghanistan so that the Taliban can build it back better.
2. Bernie Madoff, Myanmar Coup
Ongoing issue: "How do we best prepare young people for the shitshow they're about to inherit?"
Afghani necrophiliacs!
If the US is really withdrawing from Afghanistan, I would suspect they've decided mercenaries and other funding mechanisms are a better way to serve US interests than direct troop deployments.
Curious to get your take on J&J's decision to suspend distribution of their vaccine. Is it an overreaction? Or have we gone crazy on the precautionary principle?
Sorry to keep adding to the list, but what about a serious segment on the history of Operation Mockingbird in the US (starting with Henry Luce and others) and fold that into today's highly visible placement of intelligence figures now working as "journalists" (scribes) for imperial corporate entities. Naming names at the same time -- so we can build off of this work and anticipate the propaganda before it even hits the presses?
This is mission impossible, I realize, but what if you guys found out why the Pentagon has never, ever, completed a successful audit. Of anything. Insane amount of taxpayers dollars technically unaccounted for. If taxpayers had even a modicum of insight on how the Pentagon spends, even if we just knew a ballpark number of the money in 'off book' accounts, I have a feeling the public would freak out.
- Obviously, Rolling Stone fired you because they didn't want to be associated with Katie after her erotic novel about Qasem Soleimani was published.
- And we are withdrawing from Afghanistan because Biden met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and said to them "Look fat! we need to get out of Tajikistan".
Withdrawing troops? Maybe. But how about the 6,000 or so U.S. contractors there? And does this mean the U.S. will cease bombing the place?
Explore the underlying causes of the border immigration "crisis:" US trade policy (CAFTA-DR),the imposition and support of authoritarian govternments in the Triangle, the work of the IMF to impose austerity. Why there seems to have been no marked wave of immigrants from Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica?
Fact-check the "Fact Checkers" offered up in Google News
How the head of Russia's space agency called US diplomats "assholes" for not mentioning Yuri Gigarin's historic space flight :-)
It seems odd that the announced Afghanistan withdrawal date is 9/11.
They're pulling out because Afghanistan instituted a law that is designed to keep black people from voting.
The Pentagon is perhaps too "stoned" in Afghanistan to leave. It seems like a literal War "on Drugs." Also, Bagram A.F. Base is a convenient staging area if "we" wanted to instigate some insurrectionary shenanigans in Xinjiang. What do we know about Diego Garcia? John Pilger did a kind of mind-blowing documentary Stealing a Nation about how that Chagossian atoll in the midst of the Indian Ocean was turned into one of this country's largest overseas bases during the early 70s, and to my knowledge is completely off limits to the Press. Thank you and look forward to the show.
i imagine you will already discuss the military budget increase but i have a few points i'd like to add. has the administration even provided a reason to increase it, or is it just a given now that his already bloated mess will simply keep expanding forever? have progressives in either the senate or the house voiced their opposition to it? as far as i can tell, bernie could block it, has he said why he wouldn't? perhaps there's a media story as well, with outlets like the new york time presenting a slighty-smaller-than-expected increase as a decrease and a progressive milestone?
“What’s the real reason the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan (if they are)?” Because they lost.
The real reason is that 20 years ago I stood with several women on a busy street corner with signs to stay out of Afghanistan. We did this every Friday in front of a bank for weeks and months. The manager tried to get us arrested. (public property) We had drive-by shoutings "Commies!"
Thumbs down until things slowly changed. Then we had thumbs up, approval honking, and the Bank Manger handed out carefully wrapped life savers.
1) The real reason RS fired you was due to penis sculpture envy.
2) The real reason US is withdrawing from Afghanistan is that US is not really withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Talk about whatever, just keep it real.
Who needs heroine from Afghanistan when we have oxycontin to make America Great again?
As i previously stated: You were fired from Rolling Stone because keeping Rolling Stone relevant IS necrophilia.
assange's association with " israel shamir ".
Can you explore the possibility of an undercover invasion of various tax-haven countries to physically recover all of the money that otherwise would have been paid in taxes? Call it "Operation Panama Papers," or the like. Of course, this only works if there's a giant vault stuffed with trillions of paper dollars, or better yet, a Scrooge McDuck pile of gold coins, so admittedly there may be some holes in this plan. Otherwise, which arm of the US Govt would be best served assembling a McGruber-like crew to pull this off? The SEC comes to the top of my mind in the vein of a make-up call for looking the other way leading up to the '08 financial crisis. Of course, the comedic value skyrockets if that dumbass military contractor outfit who ham-handed the Maduro overthrow gets tabbed for this operation. My dream scenario would be Uncle Bernie being the first to bust through the front doors with his full anti-billionaire rage blazing.
Two warships sent to Black Sea. Bravado? Saber rattling? PR? Tell Americans about AZOV brigade.
interview yanis varoufakis
Afghan Withdrawl:
Didn’t Trump sign a peace deal with the Tailban in February 2020 reducing troops within 14 months? So I think this a slight of hand maneuver. It appeases us lefties because he’s doing a thing that we have been screaming about since the war started. Stopping it. But he also doesn’t rock the defense departments boat over pulling out or at least reducing troops, because this peace process deal had already been signed anyway. Plus I mean China....duh.
I don’t really have a story but here’s a fucked up thing you might want to know. I work for Quest Diagnostics, one of the beneficiaries of this whole pandemic as we did ALOT of testing and recently it froze here in Texas. This Quest lab has couriers which drive around picking up specimens to be brought back to the lab and tested.
During the freeze these drivers did their jobs as whole cities shut down, tens of thousands lost power, and freeways were completely closed. Some of them had to be put up in hotels, away from their families while their own homes fell victim to the damage done by the freeze. How does Quest repay them? With points, in the company store. Not bonuses, not hazard pay, points. To spend at the online company gift shop where you can purchase Panera Bread and Amazon gift cards. But what you can’t do? Is pay for the pipes that burst under your foundation, you can’t pay the mortgage or rent in a time as desperate as these; this is how our drivers were rewarded. But the real kicker....
When one of our drivers asked a supervisor about why Quest didn’t offer hazard pay in obviously hazardous conditions. He was told that it was because Quest couldn’t allocate the funds. Three weeks later they have started building renovations on our lab, laying granite tile in the lobby and giving the entire front end a facelift. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the god damn lobby was more than 10 years old.
Essentially they blew workers hazard pay earned through massive deals for testing, on a vanity project.
Or at least that’s how it feels. Keep up the good work y’all. Sometimes you two are the only voices of reason in the room. What a freighting thought! Lol
Regarding Nancy Pelosi's street fighter comment about 1/6
https://twitter.com/LumpyLouish/status/1382321885652848646
Biden did tell Obama, "You're Getting Rolled by the Generals." Biden had all these interesting opinions as VP when Obama did the Cabinet votes; a lot of the time Biden was on one side and the rest of the Cabinet on the other. Hope, boredom, cynicism, smugness, and ignorance are all plausible reasons. I'm not sure what the reason was--probably a combo of all of these.