Zero Units

What were the Afghan "Zero Units" that sources say the National Guard shooting suspect worked for?

[...] A U.S. official briefed on the shooting investigation and a former senior Afghan National Defense and Security Forces member told CBS News that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had been part of a "Zero Unit," an Afghan intelligence unit and paramilitary force that worked with the CIA. The units were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan's previous, U.S.-backed government. They were considered by the U.S. and its international partners to be among the most trusted domestic forces in Afghanistan.

Those units are often labeled "death squads" by human rights groups. The units were known in Afghanistan for their secrecy and alleged brutality, and members were implicated in numerous extrajudicial killings of civilians, particularly during night raids.

[...]

In the U.S., Sadat said Lakanwal was "generally calm and maintained a clean record, though he suffered from PTSD ..."

So, a guy who was in a CIA "death squad" that was "implicated in numerous extrajudicial killings of civilians" ... a guy who "suffered from PTSD" ... is given high priority to immigrate to the US. And we're shocked that he flipped his wig and murdered someone? I heard on the news that there were about 10,000 of these Zero Unit members brought to the US, many of them with PTSD. What could go wrong?

So the CIA had death squads under Biden and Obama? Is the whole illegal order thing just a joke? I guess I've been really naive.

Wikipedia ... Afghanistan night raids

Pro Publica ... The Truth About Afghanistan's Zero Unit Night Raids

The skinny on MBS

So who is MBS really, and what is he up to in Saudi Arabia, and with the US? Hear Lazar Berman, diplomatic correspondent for The Times of Israel, opine on this ...

Cheetahs

POV: you're trying to relax after a big meal, but your kids have a sugar rush from too much dessert. 🥧

Watch our Cheetah Cub Cam with your whole fam at https://t.co/CAVAVKAlie

🎥 Video credit: Mackenzie Perry, Smithsonian

Video description: Cheetah mom Amabala lounges in her… pic.twitter.com/ER7VtxqAAU

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) November 28, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving

How to throw a spectacular vegetarian Thanksgiving: https://t.co/MZoSsO6DmB pic.twitter.com/zz83k5qkpT

— Food & Wine (@foodandwine) November 5, 2015

It's never too late to become a vegetarian :) I've been one since I was in college.

More on Senator Mark Kelly

Senator Mark Kelly was on Rachel Maddow's show tonight ...

Senator Mark Kelly

When I was 22 years old, I commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and swore an oath to the Constitution. I upheld that oath through flight school, multiple deployments on the USS Midway, 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, test pilot school, four space… pic.twitter.com/jMAlYEozQ6

— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) November 24, 2025

The Ukraine-Russia "peace" plan

From The Atlantic by Anne Applebaum ...

The Murky Plan That Ensures a Future War

The 28-point peace plan that the United States and Russia want to impose on Ukraine and Europe is misnamed. It is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else.

The plan was negotiated by Steve Witkoff, a real-estate developer with no historical, geographical, or cultural knowledge of Russia or Ukraine, and Kirill Dmitriev, who heads Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund and spends most of his time making business deals. The revelation of their plan this week shocked European leaders, who are now paying almost all of the military costs of the war, as well as the Ukrainians, who were not sure whether to take this latest plan seriously until they were told to agree to it by Thanksgiving or lose all further U.S. support. Even if the plan falls apart, this arrogant and confusing ultimatum, coming only days after the State Department authorized the sale of anti-missile technology to Ukraine, will do permanent damage to America’s reputation as a reliable ally, not only in Europe but around the world ....

And how did we get here? The Trump administration held secret talks with Russia ...

US drafts secret Ukraine peace plan in talks with Russia, Axios reports

Read the details of the plan at Axios ...

Trump's full 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan

God help Ukraine.

Triumph

The Canadian band, Triumph, Somebody's Out There, 1986.

I Will

Today in 1968, The Beatles released their self-titled album, “The Beatles” - better known as “The White Album”.

It was their longest and most genre-diverse album to date. It is widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time.

What’s your favorite song from this album? pic.twitter.com/3SF45leQTz

— The Beatles Earth (@BeatlesEarth) November 22, 2025

I recall getting this album when I was in high school. My favorite song on it is I Will ...

Like 2 peas in a pod

Trump and Mamdani Set Aside Differences During White House Meeting

President Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, two singular forces in U.S. politics who have spent months antagonizing one another, set aside their following a meeting at the White House on Friday. “I feel very confident that he can do a very good job,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “I think he is going to surprise some conservative people.”differences—for now— ...

Yep, just like two peas in a pod they were. They said they were absolutely aligned on affordability.

And Mamdani managed to make clear his dislike of Israel too. Trump seemed fine with that ...

Mamdani: I have spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide and our government funding it.

Trump: *nods*

pic.twitter.com/ViwnRyxeEP

— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) November 21, 2025

Nope, not creepy at all.

Shameful

It makes me feel sick to see how Trump is screwing over Ukraine. It's shameful.

Endangered

The Trump administration wants to drastically weaken Endangered Species Act protections that have protected iconic species such as the bald eagle and brought many others back from the brink of extinction. pic.twitter.com/CVaSgCQpr4

— NRDC 🌎🏡 (@NRDC) November 20, 2025

Trump administration seeks to roll back protections for imperiled species and habitat

There was a time when Republicans actually cared about conserving the natural world. Never thought I'd look back at Nixon, who signed the Endangeres Species Act into law in 1973, as a kind of hero, but compared to what we've got now, he is.

The company you keep

Here's Congressman Vindman ...

Ask Haviv Anything

From Haviv Rettig Gur, on a Jewish state ...



Is it ok for Israel to be a majority Jewish state? I think so, given the centuries-long nightmare Jewish people have been subjected to in other countries, from Roman domination to the crusades, to the Inquisition, to forced expilsions, to ghettos, to the Holocaust, and the continuing anti-semitism that exists today (Persecution of Jews).

Some in my political party have argued that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state ... people like Zohran Mamdani and Ezra Klein. They say that the US example of a country not built on blood or soil, but on ideas of freedom and equality for all, no matter what religion or race, are superior.

Of course I am for those ideals, but before we pat ourselves on the back for being so pure, let's remember that America was not always thus, and often still isn't. We are able to embrace multiculturalism now because we originally did not.

The Founders, those that the conservative "heritage Americans" harken back to, were certainly not the original occupants of this land. Native Americans were decimated by war, disease, and immigration, with many of them now living in povery on reservations. And it's not all that long ago that we basically stole Hawaii from its original people and rulers. Our "higher form of society" rests upon its opposite.

But back to Israel ...

Jewish people are a tiny bit of the world's population - about 0.2%. I don't think it's bizarre that they would want to preserve their religion and culture and a homeland any more than I think it's bizarre that Native Americans might want to.

The idea Mamdani puts forward is that people in Israel are not treated equally, depending on their religion or race, but that's not exactly true. All citizens, whatever race or religion, have the same rights. What people like Mamdani actually don't like is that not everyone can automatically become a citizen, and that is true, to different extents, in every single country of the world.

Til we meet again

A song from my childhood for my cat Olive, who passed away a few days ago.

F-35s for Saudi Arabia

Hosting MBS in the Oval Office.

So, the US is selling Saudi Aarabia F-35 jets. Some wonder if Israel will be upset. Here's a bit of what Laser Berman, diplomatic correspondent for The Times of Israel, said in a recent daily briefing on this subject (from the auto-transcript, see the episode below) ...

Saudi Arabia's crown prince is visiting Washington DC this week and Trump is toying with the idea of a massive fighter jet sale. So how could this affect the Middle East and Israel specifically?

[...]

Laser Berman:

So, probably not that much in practice. Chances are, the Saudis aren't going to use it for any major adventures, you know, after their effort to back forces in Yemen. .... They've shown a decidedly cautious approach in terms of using their military. They're not striking the Houthis. They're dealing with the Iranian threat through dialogue and diplomacy.

[...]

Actually, the concern is access for China to this advanced US technology. There is certainly the potential for war between the US and China over Taiwan or over access to shipping lanes and other things in the Far East. And the F-35s would be a central part of that.

[...]

In a 2008 US law America is required to maintain Israel's qualitative military edge, which is generally interpreted as uh technological .... So the question is how will that how will selling it to the Saudis meet or or comply with that US law?

[...]

But the main concern is what happens if that [the jets] falls into other people's hands rather than a direct Saudi attack on Israel, which would just be foolhardy and they would lose that in every imaginable scenario,

Heree's the episode ...

Cheetah Cub Cam

Now that the government shutdown is finally over, the National Zoo is back to posting on twitter ...

We have some positively purr-fect news—the National Zoo's conservation facility in Front Royal, Virginia, welcomed four cheetah cubs in mid-Oct. Get to know them by tuning in to the Cheetah Cub Cam! 🐆

Keepers say the litter is doing well and first-time mom Amabala is doing a… pic.twitter.com/6VHKQLFR5c

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) November 15, 2025

"More for me"

Trump and Brooke Rollins have found a new way to make life harder for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and children ...

Trump administration will require SNAP participants to reapply for benefits

The Trump administration will require millions of low-income people to reapply for food stamps as part of an effort to crack down on “fraud,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.

Rollins told Newsmax on Thursday that she plans to “have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through ... food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”

The plan, of course, is to make it so difficult to jump though all the hoops, that many who do deserve help will simply fall by the wayside.

In this way, millionaires like Trump and Rollins can have more for themselves.

Tears in Heaven

Eric Clapton, MTV Unplugged, 1992

Distinction without a difference

Watched most of the latest episode of Ezra Klein's podcast. This one was a discussion with writer John Ganz (When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists and the Origins of Trumpism) about the recent interview by Tucker Carlson of Nick Fuentes.

I've known of Nick Fuentes since the news that he had eaten Turkey dinner with Trump at his golf resort back in 2022 (Donald Trump dined with white nationalist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes). Rachel Maddow had an epsidoe about Fuentes, with some video clips of him raving ...



But anyway, in Ezra's podcast, while he recognizes the badness of right-wing Nick Fuentes' anti-Jewish bent, he totally misses the similar attitudes held by left-wing Zohran Mamdani. Ezra seems to be making a distinction between the far-right's anti-semitism against Jewish people and the far-left's anti-semitism against Israel. I think that's a distinction without a difference. But I will let Eylon Levy explain ...

Just listened to the latest @ezraklein episode with John Ganz, and I’m blown away by the total lack of self-awareness about antisemitism on the far-left… even as they diagnose the exact same patterns on the far-right with Fuentes and Carlson.

They accurately describe… pic.twitter.com/pzjyd1jT3B

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) November 14, 2025

Pope Leo

Pope Leo returns 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada

Pope Leo XIV says DHS should allow communion at Chicago area ICE facility

I am liking him more and more.

Olive

Today my cat Olive passed away. I've just come back from the vet - he had been having trouble breathing lately and when the vet did an x-ray, he saw that Olive had cancer and had only about 10% of his lung capacity left. He recommended I euthanize him.

I miss Olice so much. Goodbye, Olive. I love you.

Epstein & Trump

House Democrats release new Epstein emails referencing Trump

Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein referred to Donald Trump as the "dog that hasn't barked" and told his former companion Ghislaine Maxwell that an alleged victim had "spent hours at my house" with Trump, according to email correspondence released Wednesday by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is trump," Epstein wrote in a typo-riddled message to Maxwell in April 2011. "[Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned." ...

Ending the shutdown

Lawrence, who once worked in the Senate, does a great job of explaining why the fact that some of the Democratic senators voted to end the shutdown was not some terrible and traitorous mistake on their part.

Lovely to See You

What song is simply magical to you, no matter how popular or unpopular it may be?

— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) November 10, 2025

There are many, but here is one of them: The Moody Blues, Lovely to See You ...



OK, and this one too ...

Veterans Day

My grandfather served in both WWI and WW2. My father served in the Korean war. Did not ever really get to know my father. Wish I had asked Grandpa more about his time in the service - he did say he got to visit Versailles, and he brought back a Luger which he kept in his sock drawer.

Blame Trump and the Republicans

So, some Democratic lawmakers have voted to end the shutdown, which has enraged other Democratic lawmakers.

At stake: health insurance costs rising for those on Obamacare vs federal workers not being paid, and poor children, elderly, and disabled people going without SNAP, among other things.

The truth is, the only people to blame for this awful situation are Republican lawmakers and their master, Trump. They really don't give a poop about middle and low income Americans.

So stop posturing, Democrats on the health insurance side of the argument. You seem more afraid that your base won't vote for you next election than you are worried about people's suffering.

Boston

Listening to Music Has a Surprising Impact on Dementia Risk, Study Shows

So, for the sake of your brain, here's what was playing at the grocery store yesterday ...

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi - as Speaker of the House she was great at her job. Smart, super-competent, and scrappy, she owned Trump in his first term. The Right hates her, in part, because she is just that good (and a woman, of course).

I really like the way Hakeem Jeffries described her in 2019 ...

Yes

Do you like Eric Clapton? pic.twitter.com/euQNhTe4GD

— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) November 6, 2025

Kazakhstan

- Astana, capitol of Kazakhstan

Scoop: Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords

Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords is a big deal, and here’s why 🇰🇿🕊️🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/ectQCxyR4b

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) November 6, 2025

Mamdani win

Here's a bit from The Times of Israel's editor, David Horovitz, on the Mamdani win in New York ...

Does it really matter that New York’s Mayor-elect Mamdani loathes and demonizes Israel?

[...] Mamdani has left no doubt that his support of the Palestinians and refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state are central to his identity and purpose.

His first statement after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, issued on October 8, 2023, mourned “the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours,” condemned Israel for going to war, and called for dismantling Israeli “apartheid.” Campaigning for mayor, he repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, made clear he supports the boycotting of Israel (an effort ultimately intended to deny Israel the capacity to defend itself against enemies openly committed to its destruction), equivocated on whether Hamas should lay down its arms, and refused to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” (though he later said he would discourage use of the phrase) ...

I do worry about Mamdani's attitude towards Israel - he doesn't seem to believe it has a right to exist as a Jewish homeleand with a Jewish majority population. This isn't a weird idea - take Japan. Its laws restrict immigration/citizenship to the point that it remains about 98% Japanese ethnicity .... why is that understandable for Japan but not Israerl?

And also, I think Mamdani's views on socialism are antiquated and undesirable - there's a reason the Berlin wall fell. Watch him articulate both his views on socialism and also on Israel in this video from four years ago at a conference of the Young Democratic Socialists of America ...

Go Dems!

See Election Day 2025 results as Democrats sweep major races in NYC, VA, NJ with Mamdani, Spanberger, Sherrill victories

Prop 50 passes with a majority of California voters weighing in to support redistricting

I will say, I am not a fan of Zohran Mamdani, and it's not just me - even President Obama did not actually endorse him - but it is good to see Democrats win!

Redecorating

Times are hard for many, but some are so flush, they can afford to renovate their old digs ....



And then there's the Lincoln bathroom remake ... Trump remodels Lincoln bathroom in latest White House renovation ...



As I vainly wait for my November SNAP benefits to appear, it makes me feel good to know that the royal family will now be surrounded by gold and statue-grade marble.

"Time to play B sides"

Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma singing :)

Gavin Newsom

Meet the Press interview today with Gavin Newsom.

OK, I will vote for him for future president after all (you know, if we actually do get to have an election in 2028 and he runs). I do like that he has remained loysl to Joe Biden, while so many other Democrats have expediently thrown him under the bus, including his vice president, Kamala Harris (Et tu, Brute?).

Hamas is screwing around

Hamas actually did this.

It took body parts of a murdered hostage, buried them, then called over the Red Cross to witness them “finding” a body. pic.twitter.com/qDAeepSw2M

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) October 28, 2025

The New York Times confirmed this ... Video Analysis Shows Staged Recovery of Israeli Hostage Remains

[...] On Tuesday, Israel’s military released a nearly 15-minute drone video that it said showed Hamas members staging the discovery of a deceased captive amid the ruins as observers from the Red Cross watched. The New York Times analyzed the footage and compared it with recent satellite imagery of the location and photos taken in the area.

In the video, three men, their faces covered, can be seen carrying what appears to be a white body bag out of a damaged building and placing it in what satellite images analyzed by The Times confirm was a freshly dug pit ...

And today in the news. from the AP ...

Israel says the latest remains returned from Gaza are not bodies of hostages