Patterico's Pontifications

10/20/2019

President Trump Undermines His Vow To Bring U.S. Troops Home

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:01 pm



[guest post by Dana]

The President ran on a campaign pledge to bring bring U.S. troops back home, and to end the “endless wars”. He has consistently maintained that it is still his still his goal. He tweeted this just four days ago:

However, we are learning today that the U.S. troops withdrawing from Syria are most definitely not headed home:

American forces continued their withdrawal from northern Syria Sunday and headed for Iraq, while efforts continued for a Kurdish evacuation from the area under the terms of the cease-fire agreed between the U.S. and Turkey.

Amid growing chaos after Turkey invaded the region earlier this month, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said late Saturday that all of the nearly 1,000 U.S. troops pulling out of northern Syria will now head to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State militants.

With President Donald Trump facing continued criticism for his approach to the crisis, the news means his vow to bring the troops home will seemingly go unfulfilled.

Also, according to Esper, troops will have two missions in Iraq:

“One is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a counter-ISIS mission as we sort through the next steps,” he said. “Things could change between now and whenever we complete the withdrawal, but that’s the game plan right now.”

Esper’s full comments can be read here.

This morning, President Trump tweeted:

I have questions: Where are the Kurds being resettled? In mass graves? Detention camps? Exactly where? What does “we have secured the oil” mean? How has it been secured? How does the withdrawal from Syria and move into Iraq end any wars? And, amidst the chaos in northern Syria, if ISIS is able to reconstitute, will the U.S. in Iraq head back to Syria? Most importantly, who are the real winners here?

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

Trump Reverses Decision On G-7 Location, Blames Crazed Democrats And Media

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:47 am



[guest post by Dana]

He made the announcement on Twitter:

During the announcement on Thursday that Trump’s Doral Resort in Miami would be the location for the next G-7 meeting, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had dismissed the presidential retreat at Camp David as a possible location for the event:

I mean, who was here for the last time it was at Camp David? Was that the perfect place? In fact, I understand the folks who participated in it hated it and thought it was a miserable place to have the G7. It was way too small. It was way too remote. My understanding is this media didn’t like it because you had to drive an hour on a bus to get there either way.

This morning, Mulvaney talked to Chris Wallace about the reversal of the decision:

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mulvaney said Trump “was honestly surprised at the level of pushback” against his selection of Doral. “At the end of the day, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.”

I’m at a loss to understand how Trump and Mulvaney still don’t grasp how bad the optics were on the decision to host the G-7 at Doral, espeically when considering the ethical and legal implications. Frankly, if Trump still believes he is in the hospitality business, in spite of being the sitting President of the United States, that might actually explain a whole lot…

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 157

Filed under: Bach Cantatas,General,Music — Patterico @ 9:06 am



It is the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s Bach cantata is “Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn” (I will not let you go, except you bless me):

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 18:1-8:

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words — an ode to the rewards of persistent faith:

I will not let You go, therefore bless me!

I hold my Jesus tightly,
I will not let Him go now or ever.
He alone is my resting-place,
therefore my faith forcefully grasps
His countenance full of blessing;
for this comfort is indeed the best.

. . . .

Yes, yes, I hold Jesus tightly,
therefore I will also enter into heaven,
O lovely place!
Come, gentle death, and lead me away,
where God and the guests of His Lamb
are crowned for the wedding.

. . . .

I will not let go of my Jesus,
I will walk beside Him forever;
Christ shall for ever and ever have me
guided to the springs of life.
Blessed, whoever says with me:
I will not let go of my Jesus.

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]


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