Day: March 25, 2024

What Is ISIS-K?

The other big news on Saturday….

By now most everyone who lives above ground has heard about the horrific terrorist attack in Moscow…..but for those that have been under a rock….

While firefighters continued to pull bodies from the rubble and put out the lingering flames Saturday after a terrorist attack at Moscow’s Crocus City concert hall, people came to the site to leave flowers and teddy bears in honor of the victims. Questions about how such an attack, which killed more than 100 people and injured more than 150, could happen were mixed with expressions of grief and concerns about the future.

Some Russians wondered about the Russian security forces’ inability to prevent the attack. “Why is it that they say that there were warnings from foreign security services, but our services were completely indifferent?” asked a woman in Moscow. “How can this happen in 2024?” Another woman pointed out that the government seems to concentrate on watching dissidents. “There are cameras everywhere that can trace opposition people going to a rally, and they are also stopped in the metro,” she said. “Does it mean that cameras are targeted on people who carry a book … but you can carry a bomb or a Kalashnikov, and that will be OK?”

The group that carried out this attack is known as ‘ISIS-K’….who are these barbaric bunch?

Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.

One of the most active regional affiliates of the Islamic State militant group, ISIS-K has seen its membership decline since peaking around 2018. The Taliban and U.S. forces inflicted heavy losses.
But the United States sees the group as an ongoing threat. General Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told Congress last March that ISIS-K was quickly developing the ability to conduct “external operations” in Europe and Asia. He predicted it would be able to attack U.S. and Western interests outside Afghanistan “in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”
Attacks within the U.S. itself were less likely, he said.
 
The United States has said its ability to develop intelligence against extremist groups in Afghanistan such as ISIS-K has been reduced since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country in 2021. The U.S. military has said it can see the “broad contours” of an impending attack, but does not have the specific detail it did previously.
 
(reuters.com)
This is not a ‘new’ group by any means….
 
U.S. intercepted communications confirming the group carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people.
 
In September 2022, ISIS-K militants claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul.
 
The group was also responsible for an attack on Kabul’s international airport in 2021 that killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of civilians during the chaotic U.S. evacuation from the country.
 
More info will be passed on as it becomes available to people like me.
 
You now know as much as anyone else on this group.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”
 

Spending Bill Theatrics

The clock was ticking ever so close to a shutdown when like magic (sarcasm) a deal was found and the shutdown was averted.  (Go figure)

The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall. The vote was 74-24, per the AP. President Biden signed the legislation into law hours later, acknowledging that it won’t please everyone.

  • 11th-hour save: The deal came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday.
  • Details: While Congress has already approved money for Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies, the bill approved this week is much larger, providing funding for the Defense, Homeland Security, and State departments, as well as other aspects of general government. The House passed the bill Friday morning by a vote of 286-134, narrowly gaining the two-thirds majority needed for approval. More than 70% of the money would go to defense.
  • Tensions: Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow Friday evening after Republicans and Democrats battled over proposed amendments to the bill. Any successful amendments to the bill would have sent the legislation back to the House, which had already left town for a two-week recess.
  • Breakthrough: Shortly before midnight, however, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced, “It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government.” He added, “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”
  • GOP strife: The vote breakdown showed 101 Republicans voting for the bill and 112 voting against it. Meanwhile, 185 Democrats voted for the bill and 22 against. The vote tally in the House reflected anger among Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote. In a sign of conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., initiated an effort to oust Johnson as the House began the vote, but she held off on further action until the House returns in two weeks.
  • Biden’s take: “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” the president said in a statement, per the AP. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border.”

The vote has the House all a tether….MTG has opened that very large mouth yet again…..

The U.S. House of Representatives started a two-week recess on Friday, but not before a series of events that provoked fresh declarations of what has become a familiar phrase over the past few years: “Republicans in disarray.”

Meanwhile, far-right Republicans like Texas Congressman Chip Roy have made comments like, “Everyone that I know and trust about the border, about overall spending, see it as a complete and total failure and a capitulation by Republicans. And leadership worked the deal, so it’s on leadership.”

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) not only opposed the package but also filed a motion to vacate, hoping to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—which would only require a simple majority if it came up for a vote.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/republican-house-speaker

Will we have yet another new Speaker of the House?

I love this stuff!

A prime example the games and the waste of time and energy that the Congress has become.

Can we please have some sanity in the Congress for a change?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”