"Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan."

Axios reports.

That sounds wrong, but at least they are all retired.

What is the substance of the defense? "The group accused Trump of leaving Biden and Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal and little time to do so."

"Tell me who enlarged NATO. Tell me who did the Pacific basin. Tell me who did something that you never done with your Bronze Star — and your — like my son — and, you know — proud of your leadership. But guess what? Well, what’s happening? We got Korea and Japan working together."

That's what "Biden snapped over Zoom at Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), a decorated, retired Army Ranger, according to a recording of the virtual meeting with House Democrats," reported in "Behind the scenes as Joe Biden lost control of the Democratic Party/Many Democrats described the first three weeks of July as a kind of nightmare — too extraordinary to be real, too unexpected to be believed" (WaPo).

"Lost control" is right. Lost control of the Washington Post too — whatever control he had. Selecting that quote — it's in the third paragraph of the article — shows vicious hostility. 

To get hung up by Crow's Bronze Star! Is there any coherence to "who did something that you never done with your Bronze Star — and your — like my son"?

He's saying he did something as President that Crow hasn't done, even though Crow won a Bronze Star, and he's distracted onto the topic of his deceased son, perhaps because the son is always on his mind but probably because that son also won a Bronze Star.

I wondered why Beau Biden won was awarded a Bronze Star and found some discussion here. I believe it had to do with service in a combat zone and not for a particular act of heroism.

But Crow's Bronze Star has the "V" device for combat valor or heroism during the battle. He was the a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division in the Battle of Samawah in 2003. To get up in Crow's face over the Bronze Star is just insane.

Joe Biden seems bereft of the ordinary tools of human interchange. His son died. Go home and grieve constantly if that's what you really need to do, but don't use your dead son randomly as a weapon when you run short of things to say. Quite aside from how the Democrats are going to extricate themselves from the idiotic jam they've gotten themselves into, the entire world is put at risk when the President of the United States has lost his mind.

"Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

"Many of these patriotic Americans were subject to a court-martial. While my Administration has taken meaningful action to remedy these problems, the impact of that historical injustice remains. As Commander in Chief, I am committed to maintaining the finest fighting force in the world. That means making sure that every member of our military feels safe and respected. Accordingly, acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to persons convicted of unaggravated offenses based on consensual, private conduct with persons age 18 and older under former Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as previously codified at 10 U.S.C. 925, as well as attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations to commit such acts under Articles 80, 81, and 82, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. 880, 881, 882...."

From "A Proclamation on Granting Pardon for Certain Violations of Article 125 Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice" (whitehouse.gov).

"If a belligerent state launched 186 explosive drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 surface-to-surface missiles from three fronts against civilian targets within the United States..."

"... would Joe Biden call it a 'win'? Would the president tell us that the best thing we can do now is show 'restraint'? What if that same terror state’s proxy armies had recently helped murder, rape, and kidnap more than 1,000 American men, women, and children? What if this terror state were trying to obtain nuclear weapons so it could continue to agitate without any consequences?"

Asks David Harsanyi, in "The World Is Paying A Deadly Price For Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Legacy" (The Federalist).

"Mr. Biden did not specify what the U.S. response would be. Some Republican lawmakers have urged him to attack Iran directly..."

"... although Mr. Biden emphasized again on Tuesday that he was determined to avoid a broader regional conflict, telling reporters: 'I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East.' In an apparent sign that Iran was trying to tamp down tensions, Kata’ib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful regional militias linked to Iran, and the one the Pentagon says was most likely responsible for the deadly attack in Jordan, made the surprising announcement on Tuesday that it was suspending military operations in Iraq, where it operates...."

From "Iran is ‘not looking for war,’ the head of the Revolutionary Guards says" (NYT).

Someone? Why would it be anyone but Lloyd Austin himself?

I'm trying to read "‘He’s a cipher’: How Austin’s need for privacy just backfired/Pressure is growing on Capitol Hill and within the administration for someone to lose their job" (Politico).

Austin’s failure to inform his most senior advisers, congressional leaders and even President Joe Biden of his hospitalization last week due to complications from a medical procedure has erupted into a controversy that’s left senior White House and Pentagon officials infuriated and befuddled. Some Republicans quickly called for investigations or even for Austin to be disciplined or fired....

Even for Austin...

Some... Republicans....

We're talking about the defense of the United States!

Austin’s job appears safe — at least for the moment, but pressure is growing within the administration and on Capitol Hill for someone to lose their job.....

Why protect Austin?

“Jill and I have been keeping all those held hostage and their loved ones close to our hearts these many weeks…”

Said President Biden, quoted in “Dean Phillips hits Biden over handling of Hamas hostages: ‘Absurd, shocking and dismaying’” (The Hill).

Phillips’s point: “we have nine Americans held hostage right now by Hamas, [who] have been there for six weeks, including at least one child…. And by now, I would have expected American special forces to perhaps play a hand in extracting them. I think it’s absurd, shocking and dismaying, that six weeks later, we still have American hostages held by a terror organization in Gaza.”

"I think the Democratic Party became the party of war. I attribute that directly to President Biden."

"He has always been in favor of very bellicose, pugnacious and aggressive foreign policy, and he believes that violence is a legitimate political tool for achieving America’s objectives abroad."

Said RFK Jr., quoted in "Robert Kennedy Jr., With Musk, Pushes Right-Wing Ideas and Misinformation/Mr. Kennedy, a long-shot Democratic presidential candidate with surprisingly high polling numbers, said he wanted to close the Mexican border and attributed the rise of mass shootings to pharmaceutical drugs" (NYT).

You can listen to the entire 2-hour interview on Twitter, here.

ADDED: Kennedy is polling at a surprising 20%, so there is, unsurprisingly, an effort to crush him. One approach — and I think this is in the memo — is to portray him as right wing. Another approach — seen below, from the Onion — is to portray him as nothing but that famous name:

"If you look at the Minsk accords, which the Russians offered to settle for, that looks like a really good deal today."

"Let’s be honest: it’s a US war against Russia... to essentially sacrifice the flower of Ukrainian youth in an abattoir of death and destruction for the geopolitical ambition of the neocons, oft-stated, of regime change for Vladimir Putin and exhausting the Russian military so that they can’t fight anywhere else in the world. President Biden has said that was his intention — to get rid of Vladimir Putin. His Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in April 2022, said that our purpose here is to exhaust the Russian army. What does that mean, 'exhaust'? It means throwing Ukrainians at them. My son fought over there, side-by-side with the Ukrainians and we’ve sacrificed 300,000 Ukrainians. The commander of the special forces unit in the Ukraine, which is probably the most elite fighting force in Europe, has said 80% of his troops are dead or are wounded and they cannot rebuild the unit. Right now, the Russians are killing Ukrainians at a ratio of either 1:5 or 1:8, depending on what data you believe...."

 
Said Bobby Kennedy, quoted at RCP. I've made small edits to the transcript based on the video that's also at that link. The transcript continues. Excerpts:

"A Biden administration review of Afghanistan withdrawal blames Trump."

NPR headline.

"During the transition from the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration, the outgoing Administration provided no plans for how to conduct the final withdrawal or to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies," the assessment said. "Indeed, there were no such plans in place when President Biden came into office, even with the agreed upon full withdrawal just over three months away."

"Huddled aboard the anonymous train were President Biden and a skeleton team of advisers accompanied by armed and edgy Secret Service agents...."

"... embarking on a secret mission to visit Kyiv. As far as the world was concerned, Mr. Biden was back in Washington, home for the evening after a date night at an Italian restaurant. In fact, he was on a journey unlike any other taken by a modern American president. In an audacious move meant to demonstrate American resolve to help Ukraine..."

Bidenporn in the NYT.

"The United States is going to need a lot of missiles if its fighter jets are to shoot down every stray balloon that sets off a radar warning in American airspace."

"'At any given moment, thousands of balloons' are above the Earth, including many used in the United States by government agencies, military forces, independent researchers and hobbyists.... [F]ederal officials have sought to enhance radars and atmospheric trackers so they can more closely scrutinize the nation’s airspace. Balloon experts say the upgrade might generate a paralyzing wave of false alarms.... Each year, around 60,000 high-flying balloons are launched just by the National Weather Service... The Weather Service’s balloons gather data that keeps passenger jets out of harm’s way and lets experts predict the likely onset of violent storms...."

From "A Rising Awareness That Balloons Are Everywhere in Our Skies/As more unidentified objects were shot down by the U.S. Air Force in recent days, experts warned that there were an 'endless' array of potential targets" (NYT).

ADDED: Grammar error in headline. It should be “there was an ‘endless’ array.”

The really serious threat: Republican questioning President Joe Biden’s leadership.

I'm reading "A trio of new intrusions leaves America’s leaders grasping for explanations" by Stephen Collinson (CNN). 

The flurry of attacks on the unknown crafts came a week after the highly public tracking and ultimate downing of a Chinese balloon suspected of carrying out surveillance. Now, the thin details trickling out of the Pentagon and Capitol Hill about are making an already highly unusual international episode even more bizarre and confusing. No one – not the White House, the Pentagon or the government of Canada, whose airspace has also been infringed – seems able to say exactly what is going on with these latest downed crafts. This raises questions for top military brass and US spy agencies as well as for the potential safety of civilian aviation. And it creates an information vacuum that Republicans are again using to question President Joe Biden’s leadership.

"The Pentagon said it shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Biden...."

"U.S. officials said they could not immediately confirm whether the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft.... The Friday shootdown showed Mr. Biden taking direct and forceful action far more quickly than he did last week, when some Republican lawmakers criticized him for letting the spy balloon linger over the United States for several days before destroying it. But that period of observation last week allowed American officials to collect intelligence about the spy balloon, while in the episode on Friday, officials seemed unsure about what exactly they shot down."

 The NYT reports.

The explanation about Balloon #1 — the "period of observation... allowed American officials to collect intelligence about the spy balloon" — is undercut by the action on Balloon/"Balloon" #2. The only difference seems to be the experience of getting criticized by "some Republican lawmakers." That shouldn't make any difference (unless the question isn't national security).

"As NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America, I will tell you that we did not detect those threats."

"And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out."

Said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, quoted in "U.S. military failed to detect prior Chinese incursions, general says/The Pentagon’s disclosure that previous balloon flights over the U.S. occurred during Trump’s time in office was met with surprise by the former president and his advisers" (WaPo).

Does that mean Trump could not have known? 

John Kirby, the National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, said, "I can’t speak to what awareness there was in the previous administration. I can tell you that we discovered these flights after we came into office." He said those other flights were "brief" and "nothing like we saw last week."

If VanHerck and Kirby are telling the truth, then any discussion of what Trump did should be about why his administration did not do a better job of threat detection and not about how he dealt with the balloon and only Biden is on the hook for how he handled the balloon after it was detected.

Have all the Trump-did-the-same-thing and only-Biden-shot-it-down tweets been deleted?

"I can't believe I'm Joe's Osama," says the shot-down Chinese balloon.

"How would you like it if someone measured your width in buses?"

"... seems like an absolutely incredible investment."

Also, @NoahCRothman is a pure neocon, an ideological copy of Bill Kristol, David Frum, Dick/Liz Cheney. So of course Biden's Chief of Staff favorably cites him because the alliance between the Dem Party and neocons - once presented as a temporary one of convenience - is complete. pic.twitter.com/2rtdDzbBzb

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2022

"In blunt terms, Mr. Zelensky pleaded for more military assistance from the lawmakers, who are poised to approve $45 billion in additional aid by the end of the week..."

"... bringing the total over a year to nearly $100 billion. His message: Your support has kept President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia from overrunning our country. Now keep it coming. 'We have artillery, yes, thank you,' he said. 'We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really.' The money, he added, was not charity. 'It’s an investment,' he said. Mr. Zelensky’s visit to Washington — kept secret until the eve of his arrival for security reasons — was a dramatic show of confidence by Ukraine’s leader, who had not left his country since Mr. Putin began his assault 300 days ago."

From "U.S. Aid Is ‘Not Charity,’ Zelensky Tells Congress as a Lengthy War Looms/President Volodymyr Zelensky described military assistance for Ukraine as an investment in global security and democracy in the face of Russian aggression" (NYT).

There were "two hours of closed-door meetings with President Biden at the White House, where both men reaffirmed their determination to defend Ukraine against Russian forces."

"Standing side by side in the East Room with Ukraine’s flag hanging next to gleaming Christmas decorations...."

“So there can’t be any just peace in the war that was imposed on us,” [Zelensky said].

Mr. Biden pledged a united front with Mr. Zelensky, promising that “we will stay with you for as long as it takes.”

So we are committed to an endless war... with Russia?! 

"The Biden Administration has also announced a military-aid package worth more than a billion dollars, bringing the total amount the U.S. has spent on arming Ukraine over the past year to sixteen billion...."

"Ukrainian officials are now eying a number of items that, they argue, would allow even more aggressive counter-offensives: modern nato-standard battle tanks, fighter jets such as F-16s, and the long-range atacms for striking logistics and ammunition hubs in Crimea. [Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister] is certain that such deliveries are inevitable. 'When I was in D.C. in November, before the invasion, and asked for Stingers, they told me it was impossible,' he said. 'Now it’s possible. When I asked for 155-millimetre guns, the answer was no. himars, no. harm, no. Now all of that is a yes.' He added, 'Therefore, I’m certain that tomorrow there will be tanks and atacms and F-16s.' With the help of the U.S. and nato, he went on, Ukraine’s military has shown that Russia can be confronted. 'We are not afraid of Russia,' he said. 'And we are asking our partners in the West to also no longer be afraid.'"

From "Inside the U.S. Effort to Arm Ukraine/Since the start of the Russian invasion, the Biden Administration has provided valuable intelligence and increasingly powerful weaponry—a risky choice that has paid off in the battle against Putin" by Joshua Yaffa

"You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?"

A reporter asked President Biden (in Japan this morning), the NYT reports. 

“Yes,” Mr. Biden answered flatly. 

“You are?” the reporter followed up.

“That’s the commitment we made,” he said.