US Requires Ukraine Keep Javelins 100's Of Miles From Battlefield

But as part of the agreement of the sale, the Javelins are not deployed on the battlefield but stored hundreds of miles away in western Ukraine—far from the front lines of the Donbass, which could radically diminish their deterrent effect, said Mike Carpenter, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia and Eurasia under Obama.

“If the Russians know that the Javelins are not there, the deterrent effect is negated,” said Carpenter, though he noted that the missiles could be transferred to the battlefield in the event of an attack. Michael Kofman, a weapons expert with CNA, described the Javelins as an “insurance policy”—but one with little impact in the balance of power on the conflict.

The decision in 2017 to go ahead with the sale under Trump is often held up as evidence that, despite the president’s puzzling affinity for Russia, his administration has pursued a hawkish Russia policy.

Shortly after the first batch of Javelins arrived in Ukraine in 2018, they were tested by the Ukrainian military in what then-President Petro Poroshenko described as a “dream come true.” The Ukrainian military has been trained on how to use the Javelins, but with no tank battles in eastern Ukraine since 2015, they haven’t yet had the chance to use them for real.

It became this sort of embodiment of U.S. support for Ukraine,” said Charap, who previously served as a senior advisor to the State Department’s undersecretary for arms control. “It’s much more headline-grabbing than helping them with their logistics, which by the way is a real problem.”

“While generals and politicians in Kyiv played up the Javelins, in my own experience, soldiers in the field talked more about getting insufficient quantities of the nonlethal aid that they really needed—secure communications, armored vehicles, counterbattery radars,” said Olga Oliker, the director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group.



https://crooksandliars.com/2019/11/us-requires-ukraine-keep-javelins-100s?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=23779

McAuliffe hire suggests he is interested in a second bid for Virginia governor

RICHMOND — Former governor Terry McAuliffe is staffing up his political action committee, a move that suggests the Democrat is interested in another run for the Executive Mansion in 2021.

McAuliffe, whose term ended in January 2018, has hired Chris Bolling, executive director of the state Democratic Party, to lead Common Good VA PAC. The PAC has been without full-time staff since McAuliffe announced in April that he would not run for president in 2020.

McAuliffe had spent much of the past year campaigning and raising money to help Democrats win majorities in the state House of Delegates and Senate in November. The former governor’s unusually active role in the elections — assumed when his successor was sidelined by a blackface scandal, and maintained even after Gov. Ralph Northam (D) largely recovered — has fed speculation that McAuliffe was mulling a comeback.

Virginia is the only state that bars governors from serving back-to-back terms. But governors are free to run again after a break. In modern times, Virginia has had just one two-term governor: Mills Godwin, who served from 1966 to 1970 as a Democrat and from 1974 to 1978 as a Republican.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-hire-suggests-he-is-interested-in-a-second-bid-for-virginia-governor/2019/11/22/48de3eb2-0c9a-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html

Bonus Tweet of the Day

Tweet of the Day

Women finally have a chance to make history in Virginia. They already have.

Take a look at the way power works today along gender lines in Virginia’s General Assembly. Now blink. Everything is about to change, astonishingly and for the better.

In the current, Republican-led legislature, women chair just two of 25 standing committees, one in the Senate and one in the House of Delegates. When Democrats take control of both houses in January, women will hold leadership positions almost everywhere you look, not just challenging the old boys’ club in Richmond but rendering it utterly obsolete. It’s about time.

In the House of Delegates, Democratic women will occupy the two top slots — speaker (Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax) and majority leader ­(Charniele L. Herring of Alexandria) — and chair at least three critical legislative panels, including the House Finance Committee, which exercises dominion over tax legislation. Its leader will be Del. Vivian E. Watts of Fairfax.

In the Senate, Sen. Richard L. Saslaw of Fairfax will be the majority leader, a position he has held before. But Sen. Mamie E. Locke of Hampton, who will be the Democratic Caucus chair, and Sen. Janet D. Howell of Fairfax, who will chair the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees both taxing and spending bills, will exercise much power. Democratic women will chair several other key Senate committees.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/women-finally-have-a-chance-to-make-history-in-virginia-they-already-have/2019/11/20/ef27cec6-0afd-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html

PROPOSED OHIO ABORTION BAN WOULD FORCE DOCTORS TO RE-IMPLANT ECTOPIC PREGNANCIES

The ramifications of the bill have abortion-rights advocates concerned. They say that the criteria for determining whether the pregnancy threatens the woman's life are too restrictive. "Instead of making Ohio a safe place for women, children and families, Ohio politicians are focused on outlawing safe medical procedures and punishing people for seeking abortion care," Chrisse France, the executive director of Preterm, Ohio's largest abortion provider, told the Dayton Daily News.

In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo has attached and started to grow outside the uterus, doctors are required to surgically intervene to remove it.

HB 413 contains language that demands doctors take "all possible steps" to save an embryo or fetus, including "attempting to reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman's uterus."

There has never been a documented medical procedure in which an ectopic fetus has been removed and re-transplanted. Rather than surgical intervention, many anti-abortion campaigners have supported "watchful waiting" in which the woman's doctor monitors their condition until the ectopic pregnancy miscarries. That can result in significant health risks.




https://www.newsweek.com/ohio-abortion-ban-force-ectopic-pregnancy-1473050

Trump opens up Camp David as an 'adult playground' to woo GOP lawmakers during impeachment

President Trump, partial to gold and marble elegance, never took a shine to rustic Camp David. So acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney pitched to him an unusual idea at the start of the House impeachment inquiry: Use the secluded mountainous presidential retreat to woo House Republicans.

Since then, Mulvaney and top White House officials have hosted weekend getaways for Republicans at the historic lodge, seeking to butter up Republicans before the big impeachment vote. The casual itinerary includes making s’mores over the campfire, going hiking, shooting clay pigeons and schmoozing with Trump officials, some of whom stay overnight with lawmakers.

During dinners, Trump has called in to compliment members personally.

“I’ve worked with a number of Republican presidents over various administrations .?.?. and I’ve never, ever been invited to Camp David,” said Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.). “It was amazing to go for the short weekend. So historic.”

The Camp David excursions are one prong of a broad White House charm offensive, meant to hold House and Senate Republicans in line through a House impeachment vote and a trial in the Senate that appears all but inevitable.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-opens-up-camp-david-as-an-adult-playground-to-woo-gop-lawmakers-during-impeachment/2019/11/22/ec6e7810-0c6f-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html

Joe Biden unloads on Lindsey Graham amid signs GOP senators will target Hunter

Former vice president Joe Biden lashed out Friday at Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, a longtime friend and once-close Republican ally, as Graham stepped up efforts with other GOP senators to make Biden’s son Hunter a focus of the impeachment proceedings.

The eruption shows how bitter the impeachment battle could become — personally enmeshing a top Democratic presidential candidate — as it shifts from a process controlled by House Democrats to one in which Senate Republicans attempt to reorient the focus toward Biden’s family.

Graham (R-S.C.) requested new documents Thursday from the State Department, attempting to uncover additional information related to Hunter Biden’s activities when he was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

“Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he’s going to regret his whole life,” Joe Biden said on CNN. Asked by host Don Lemon what he would say to his longtime Senate colleague, Biden responded, “I say: ‘Lindsey, I just — I’m just embarrassed by what you’re doing, for you. I mean, my Lord.’?”

At the same time, two Republican Senate committee chairmen are seeking documents from the Treasury Department for any evidence of money laundering or fraud related to Hunter Biden’s business payments.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-unloads-on-lindsey-o-graham-amid-signs-gop-senators-will-target-hunter/2019/11/22/1ce3a4be-0d67-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html

Madeleine Westerhout arranged Rudy's call with Pompeo

Holy Shit. NUNES used a SECURE LINE to screw BIDEN,