Discourse Blog

Discourse Blog

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Welcome Back, America!
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
User's avatar
Discover more from Discourse Blog
A daily politics, media criticism, and culture newsletter from the left. Worker-owned, subscriber-supported, and free from corporate influence. Est. 2020.
Over 22,000 subscribers
Already have an account? Sign in

Welcome Back, America!

Oh, and The Boys? They're Back in Town.

Jack Crosbie's avatar
Jack Crosbie
Nov 24, 2020

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Welcome Back, America!
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share
Screenshot: C-SPAN

In case you haven't heard, America is back.

Twitter avatar for @JoeBiden
Joe Biden @JoeBiden
America is back.
6:45 PM ∙ Nov 24, 2020
1,616,100Likes93,270Retweets

That's right, baby. *Slides on aviators* We're back.

Oh, and The Boys? They're Back in Town.

Twitter avatar for @attackerman
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman
NEW with ⁦⁦@ErinBanco⁩, ⁦⁦@HCTrudo⁩ & ⁦@samstein⁩: Biden is considering Mike Morell, a defender of CIA torture and drone strikes, for CIA director. Progressive opposition is already building. thedailybeast.com/biden-weighs-m…
7:37 PM ∙ Nov 24, 2020
1,238Likes413Retweets
Twitter avatar for @ddayen
David Dayen @ddayen
The Prospect has learned that Brian Deese, an Obama official and now an executive with the asset management giant BlackRock, is the leading contender to direct the National Economic Council.
prospect.orgBlackRock Executive Brian Deese Could Get Major White House PositionDeese’s views on the deficit and climate policy are at odds with national and planetary needs.
6:25 PM ∙ Nov 24, 2020
653Likes235Retweets

Just in case the Boys have been gone for too long, let's revisit. From the Prospect article on Deese:

During his tenure, Deese endorsed the significant rise in fossil fuel production under Obama, and defended continuing oil drilling in Alaska and fracking on public land, something even Biden has ruled out.

But it’s Deese’s work at BlackRock that has raised the most recent concern. Activists have spent years trying to get BlackRock to divest from fossil fuel companies and other climate polluters, and it was Deese’s job to counteract them.  ...

Deese controlled BlackRock’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategy, an in-vogue designation that makes financiers feel good about their contributions to the world. In this position, Deese made mostly empty promises to environmentalists about BlackRock’s goals, which withered upon close inspection.

From an AP article on Morell's book about his time at the CIA:

But Morell, who was traveling with President George W. Bush on 9/11 and was involved in the intelligence behind the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, mounts a staunch defense of two controversial CIA programs: brutal interrogations of al Qaida prisoners and targeted killing with drones.

While Morell says he is personally troubled by the harshest technique the CIA used on detainees, water boarding, he makes a case that agency leaders had no choice but to use what many consider torture in the years after the 9/11 attacks. He said such techniques saved American lives.

It is difficult for CIA officers to legally talk about the agency’s drone strikes, because they are technically covert and deniable. Morell therefore omits many details as he vigorously defends what he calls “the single most effective tool in the last five years” for counterterrorism.

Drone strikes result in minimal civilian casualties, he says, and claims to the contrary are “highly exaggerated,” flowing from propaganda.

That's right baby. In America, which is back, there will be "minimal civilian casualties" again.


Subscribe to Discourse Blog

Thousands of paid subscribers
A daily politics, media criticism, and culture newsletter from the left. Worker-owned, subscriber-supported, and free from corporate influence. Est. 2020.

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Welcome Back, America!
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Bari Weiss Is Full of Shit
Her big trans panic story turned out to be nonsense, just like everything else she does.
Mar 2, 2023 • 
Katherine Krueger
304

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
Bari Weiss Is Full of Shit
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
5
CNN's Disgraceful Propaganda
This segment from Dana Bash on the Palestine protest movement is one of the most shameful things I have ever seen on cable news.
May 2, 2024 • 
Jack Mirkinson
136

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
CNN's Disgraceful Propaganda
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
55
No Hell Is Hot Enough for Joe Biden
I hope he’s faced with the horror he’s wrought when judgment comes to meet him.
Jan 17 • 
Katherine Krueger
84

Share this post

Discourse Blog
Discourse Blog
No Hell Is Hot Enough for Joe Biden
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
4

Ready for more?

© 2025 Discourse Blog Inc.
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.