One for the âMaybe the monstrous regime will just collapse under the weight of its own stupidity and incompetenceâ column.
Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles âShow of Presenceâ
Leaks from militaryâs LA deployment reveal Coca Cola vs. Pepsi rivalry, sweaty guardsmen, and abject failure
Ken Klippenstein
Jul 7Excerpt:
Todayâs homeland security operation at the 35-acre MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles was a mere âshow of presence,â internal Army documents Iâve obtained say. ICE and Customs agents, many dressed in military garb, assaulted the Park, which documents describe as a hotbed of âhistoric lawlessnessâ and âthe founding location of MS-13,â the Salvadoran gang.
The news media is describing the operation as an ominous crackdown, but National Guard sources tell me that it was a botched laughingstock. The military aspect of the operation â codenamed Operation Excalibur â has not been previously reported.
The documents reveal that the erstwhile justification for the operation was to try to shut down the distribution of fake IDs. The mission of the 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry is described as protecting DHS [Department of Homeland Security] âsecurity points and blocking positionsâ while they undertook their assault. The Squadron was ordered not to ârestrict pedestrian movementâ and not to âconduct law enforcement activities.â)
Then all that planning went bust.
Because ICE and CBP apparently failed to communicate or coordinate effectively, the military showed up too late (and Los Angeles authorities werenât notified until two hours prior.)
âWe were on the objective for 24 minutes,â a National Guard member told me. âMany of the phase lines were not reported because they didnât happen. So we parked and then left. Soldiers didnât get out of trucks. [They] stayed in the back of the 5-tons [military trucks] sweating in the heat.â
This is just the latest operation that didnât go off as planned, amplifying the sense amongst the California Guardsmen that the whole spectacle is idiotic and shameful. Part of the reason for the confusion is the sheer number of government agencies involved. In this operation, according to the documents, nine different federal agencies (including the IRS) were given radio code names based on soda brands (Pepsi, Coke, 7-UP, etc.) âthat is, except for ICE, which was codenamed âInca,â which may or may not be the Peruvian cola of the same name.
Did someone leave their cake out in the rain again?
Oh, they mean a joke for conservatives⊠sheâs been a joke for anyone with critical reasoning skills for a while.
Itâs not actually a video showing the cell as such. Just video of a corridor where Epstein can be seen being escorted back to his cell after a meeting with his lawyers. Somewhere in the background.
Of course, this changes everything.
When I was growing up, a âJDâ was one of those kids your parents and teachers warned you to never, ever associate with.
Just sayinâ.
weâve clipped the missing portion below.
Thatâs a neat trick. 
Makes it sound like someone use the âenhanceâ function.
Strictly speaking, thereâs not a minute missing.
They screwed up when they obviously hacked it.
Of course He will do itâŠ
Paywalled, soâŠ
I didnât know about this agreement:
at the end of June, Trump shattered a jewel of multilateralism: the global minimum tax on multinational profits, the result of the broadest international tax agreement ever reached.
In October 2021, for the first time, this agreement put a stop to the global race to the bottom in corporate taxation, which for decades had undermined state revenues and exacerbated inequality. More than 130 countries agreed to a minimum tax of 15% on large corporate profits. Admittedly, the rate remained modest; admittedly, exemptions weakened the measure. But at least, under the leadership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20, an agreement finally made it possible to stand up to large corporations.
It canât be good for U.S. business nor its citizens that the rest of the world is laughing at King Tramp, while also fuming at the havoc and destruction heâs imposing on other countries. And it sucks that 99% of USians are so very provincial and insular about much of anything going on beyond U.S. borders.
One of the things I havenât seen discussed much about the Murder Bill is how Republicans broke Senate rules by ignoring the parliamentarian to retain stricken provisions of the bill that violate the reconciliation process.
I get that Senate rules arenât law, but what this opens the door for is ignoring the filibuster when Dems have control of the Senate again.
I guess it does open that door, but I doubt the scrupulous-to-a-fault Dems will ever walk through it.
Maybe we shouldnât just always expect them to do the worst thing? Because if we always expect them to, they will. We need to demand they do the best and maybe, just maybe, they will do the right thing now and then.