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      ‘Don’t go down without a fight’: Texas Democrats’ effort to block voting restrictions sputters

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      Fight to voteUS politics‘Don’t go down without a fight’: Texas Democrats’ effort to block voting restrictions sputtersSome Texas Democrats dismayed their colleagues returned to make a quorum, but others hope their protest has drawn attention to voting rights Sam Levine in New YorkSat 21 Aug 2021 06.26 EDTLast modified on Sat 21 Aug 2021 06.29 EDTA last-ditch effort to stall Texas Republicans from passing sweeping voting legislation effectively ended on Thursday evening after enough Democrats returned to the state capitol in Austin to allow lawmakers to proceed on legislation.It’s a coda that came a little more than a month after Democrats in the state house of representatives dramatically left the state capitol, denying Republicans a quorum to conduct legislative business. As Republicans threatened those who fled with arrest, the effort electrified Democrats, in Texas and around the country, at a moment when Republicans have been able to ram through new voting restrictions in state capitols across the country.With a quorum now intact, Texas Republicans are expected to quickly approve legislation that would outlaw practices that local election officials adopted to make it easier to vote in 2020, including drive-thru and 24-hour voting. The measure would also give more authority to partisan poll watchers, prohibit officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballot request forms, and provide new rules, and potential criminal penalties, for those who assist others in casting ballots – a move that could make it more difficult for people who are disabled and others to get help voting.Texas Democrats always acknowledged that Republicans would be able to pass the legislation. But by denying a quorum, they hoped to buy time for Democrats in Congress to pass new federal voting legislation to blunt the measure in Texas. They spent much of the last six weeks in Washington, lobbying Democrats to do just that.Democrats in Congress have pledged they will move ahead shortly with two pieces of significant voting rights legislation, including one that would require Texas, among other states, to have its voting laws approved by the federal government before going into effect.The three Democrats who returned on Thursday pointed to the possibility of federal action as justification for coming back. But others in the caucus continue to stay away from the capitol and have openly criticized their colleagues for returning, saying it amounted to abandoning the effort.“It was disappointing on so many different levels,” said Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic state representative from Dallas who said she had no plans to return to Austin anytime soon. “We’re supposed to be a family.”Crockett was also among nearly three dozen Democrats who released a statement on Friday saying they were “betrayed and heartbroken” that their colleagues had returned to the capitol. “Our resolve is strong and this fight is not over,” they said.The caucus was broadly divided into three camps on strategy, according to Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. One group felt the best strategy would be to return to Austin and try to negotiate with Republicans in the legislature, while another wanted to maintain leverage by staying away from the capitol and negotiating. A pitfall to both strategies, Anchía acknowledged, was that Republicans in the legislature have shown no interest in negotiating. A third group, he said, was uninterested in returning to the capitol under any conditions.“There was never a disagreement about ultimate goals,” he said. When there was disagreement, he added, “it was always tactical.”Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas house, last week signed warrants authorizing the sergeant-at-arms to arrest the Democrats who were denying quorum and bring them to the capitol. But while law enforcement visited the homes of a few lawmakers, according to the Texas Tribune, none have been arrested. Some of the Democrats who returned to the state were unfazed by the possibility of being brought to the capitol.Celia Israel, a Democrat who represents the Austin area, said she returned to Texas recently to deal with a medical issue. She said last week she had been mostly working from home. While she said it was “unsettling” to have a warrant out for her arrest, she wouldn’t let law enforcement in her house if they showed up.“They can kiss my Texas behind before I walk on to that house floor and give them quorum over the horrible bills that they have lined up,” she said. “I have not committed a crime. The department of public safety cannot come into my house and grab me.”Crockett, the Dallas Democrat, also practices as a criminal defense lawyer. She said she had been to the local courthouse in recent days, and even though it was filled with law enforcement who knew who she was, no one had tried to detain her.While Democrats in the house remained away from the capitol, Carol Alvarado, a state senator from Houston, also tried to slow down the Republican effort. Last week, she held the floor of the state senate for 15 hours, filibustering the Republican voting bill.Running on just a few hours of sleep from the night before, Alvarado wore a catheter – she was prohibited from taking bathroom breaks – as well as a back brace and comfortable running shoes as she spoke on the floor. Once she ended the filibuster, Republicans quickly passed the bill.“This bill’s going to pass in the end, no matter what we do or say, it’s gonna pass,” she said in an interview. “But, just because we don’t have the numbers doesn’t mean that we can’t put up a fight and draw attention to it where possible, when possible, to make sure people know what’s going on in our state.”She also hoped Texas Democrats would “serve as a motivation, energizer, to other legislative bodies, that even if you’re outnumbered, don’t go down without a fight”.TopicsUS politicsFight to voteTexasRepublicansRaceanalysisReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      Biden says ‘I stand squarely behind my decision’ after Taliban takes Kabul – live

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      Key events

      Show

      5.13pm EDT
      17:13

      Today so far

      5.08pm EDT
      17:08

      Botched Afghanistan withdrawal gives Biden biggest crisis of his presidency

      4.12pm EDT
      16:12

      ‘I stand squarely behind my decision,’ Biden says after Taliban takes Kabul

      4.05pm EDT
      16:05

      Biden acknowledges ‘rapid collapse’ in Afghanistan after Taliban takes Kabul

      1.59pm EDT
      13:59

      Ambassador to UN tells security council meeting Afghanistan must never be a terrorism base again

      1.18pm EDT
      13:18

      Third Bob Woodward Trump book will also focus on Biden

      1.01pm EDT
      13:01

      Today so far

      Live feed

      Show

      5.41pm EDT
      17:41

      The publishers of the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times asked Joe Biden to move journalists to the US military-protected side of the airport in Kabul, as they evacuate.
      “Brave Afghan colleagues have worked tirelessly to help The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal share news and information from the region with the global public. Now, those colleagues and their families are trapped in Kabul, their lives in peril,” the publishers said in a joint statement.
      The airport today was overrun with desperate civilians fleeing Kabul after the Taliban’s seized the city. Seven died amid the chaos.

      .

      5.13pm EDT
      17:13

      Today so far

      Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan, even after Taliban forces took Kabul and the world saw images of desperate Afghans attempting to flee the country. “I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden says. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”
      At least seven people were killed amid the chaos at Kabul International Airport today, according to the AP. Videos widely shared on social media showed desperate Afghans trying to cling to a US military plane as it departed Kabul and then falling to their deaths.
      Administration officials have continued to defend Biden’s strategy in Afghanistan, even in the face of rebukes from Democrats and Republicans over how the troop withdrawal has been executed. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this morning, “What the president kept saying over and over again is that it was not inevitable Kabul would fall. And it was not inevitable. There was the capacity to stand up and resist. That capacity didn’t happen.”
      The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at the emergency security council meeting today that other countries should Afghanistan becoming a base for international terrorism again. “We must all ensure Afghanistan cannot ever, ever again be a base for terrorism,” she said in New York.

      – Joan E Greve

      5.08pm EDT
      17:08

      Botched Afghanistan withdrawal gives Biden biggest crisis of his presidency

      David Smith

      Joe Biden was facing the biggest crisis of his presidency on Monday after the stunning fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban caught his administration flat-footed and raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
      Recriminations were under way in Washington over the chaotic retreat from Kabul, which one Biden opponent described as “the embarrassment of a superpower laid low”.
      Bowing to pressure, officials said the president would leave his country retreat, Camp David, to address the nation from the White House on Monday afternoon.
      The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, ending two decades of a failed experiment to import western-style liberal democracy. Diplomatic staff were flown to safety but thousands of Afghans who worked with US forces were stranded and at risk of deadly reprisals.
      As harrowing scenes played out on television – including desperate Afghans clinging to a US transport plane before takeoff – the White House scrambled to explain how the government collapsed so quickly.
      Last month Biden, pointing to the Afghan military’s superior numbers and technology, predicted: “The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
      Unrepentant, the president issued a statement on Saturday, insisting the sudden withdrawal had been the only possible choice.
      But the response by Biden, who ran for election promising unrivalled foreign policy credentials after 36 years in the Senate and eight as Barack Obama’s vice-president, was jarring to many. A headline in the Washington Post read: “Defiant and defensive, a president known for empathy takes a cold-eyed approach to Afghanistan debacle.”
      Read more:

      4.30pm EDT
      16:30

      Joe Biden acknowledged that his decision to continue with the Afghanistan withdrawal mission would be criticized by many, and he pledged he would not “shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today”.

      CBS News
      (@CBSNews)
      Biden says he takes “my share of responsibly” for what is happening Afghanistan: “I’m deeply saddened by the facts we now face, but I do not regret my decision… I cannot and will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another country’s civil war.” https://t.co/almuVAk3AW pic.twitter.com/xJicyWQTTu

      August 16, 2021

      “I am president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me,” Biden said.
      “I’m deeply saddened by the facts we now face, but I do not regret my decision to end America’s warfighting in Afghanistan,” the president added. “I cannot and will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another country’s civil war.”
      After concluding his prepared remarks, Biden left the East Room without taking any questions from reporters. He will soon return to Camp David.

      4.26pm EDT
      16:26

      Joe Biden warned that the US would carry out a “swift and forceful” response if the Taliban attacked US citizens or attempted to disrupt evacuation efforts in Kabul.
      “We will defend our people with devastating force, if necessary,” Biden said.
      The president said that, once all evacuation efforts have been successfully completed, the US will move forward with wrapping up its withdrawal mission and “end America’s longest war”.
      “The events we see now are sadly proof that no amount of military force would ever deliver a stable, united, secure, Afghanistan,” Biden said.
      “I am now the fourth American president to preside over war in Afghanistan. Two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth president.”

      4.17pm EDT
      16:17

      Joe Biden argued that Afghan troops’ failure to defend their country demonstrates why it was the correct course of action to move forward with the US troop withdrawal.
      “It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not,” Biden said.
      Echoing his message from earlier this year when he announced the planned withdrawal, Biden added, “How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not?”

      4.12pm EDT
      16:12

      ‘I stand squarely behind my decision,’ Biden says after Taliban takes Kabul

      Joe Biden continued to defend his decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan, even after Taliban forces took Kabul and the world saw images of desperate Afghans attempting to flee the country.
      “I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden says. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”

      CSPAN
      (@cspan)
      President Biden: “I stand squarely behind my decision…there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces…The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So, what’s happened? Afghan political leaders gave up and left the country.” pic.twitter.com/v3nnvXxRiI

      August 16, 2021

      Biden said he and his national security team were “clear-eyed about the risks” of leaving Afghanistan, and he argued that the events of the past week demonstrate how America’s continued military involvement could not have ultimately propped up the Afghan government.
      The US president criticized Afghan government leaders for fleeing the country and Afghan troops for refusing to properly defend their country.
      “The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” Biden said.

      Updated
      at 4.17pm EDT

      4.05pm EDT
      16:05

      Biden acknowledges ‘rapid collapse’ in Afghanistan after Taliban takes Kabul

      Joe Biden is now delivering an update on the situation in Afghanistan, a day after Taliban forces took control of Kabul.
      The president said he and his national security team have been “closely monitoring” the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, even though Biden has not delivered on-camera remarks about the issue in several days.
      Biden acknowledged that the world is now seeing a “rapid collapse” of the Afghan government, but he insisted the US mission in Afghanistan was “never supposed to be nation-building”.

      4.01pm EDT
      16:01

      Reporters are now set up in the East Room of the White House, where Joe Biden will soon deliver remarks on the situation in Afghanistan, a day after Taliban forces entered Kabul.

      Peter Alexander
      (@PeterAlexander)
      Inside the East Room, awaiting @POTUS’ remarks on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/vaEzJJPWkQ

      August 16, 2021

      3.55pm EDT
      15:55

      Joe Biden was scheduled to start his remarks on Afghanistan about ten minutes ago, but he appears to be running late — as he so often is.

      Nikki Schwab
      (@NikkiSchwab)
      The pool hasn’t even been called yet, so President @JoeBiden’s remarks will not be happening on time.

      August 16, 2021

      3.40pm EDT
      15:40

      The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss reports:
      The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a congresswoman from California, distributed a set of talking points to members of Congress on the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan. The talking points, obtained by the Guardian, are below. They were sent out around noon on Monday.

      White House Talking Points on Afghanistan
      TOPLINE:

      The President was not willing to enter a third decade of conflict and surge in thousands of more troops to fight in a civil war that Afghanistan wouldn’t fight for themselves.

      It’s clear from the past few weeks that would have been necessary – more troops for an indefinite amount of time.

      The administration knew that there was a distinct possibility that Kabul would fall to the Taliban.

      It was not an inevitability. It was a possibility.

      POTUS said in July that the Afghan military had the capability to fight the Taliban. But they had to demonstrate the will. Sadly, that will did not materialize.

      The administration planned for every possibility. We had contingency plans in place for any eventuality — including a quick fall of Kabul. That’s why we had troops pre-positioned in the region to deploy as they have done.

      We are focused on safely evacuating US Embassy personnel, American citizens, SIV applicants and their families, and targeted Afghans. We have deployed 6000 US military to Afghanistan to secure the airport and ensure that those evacuation flights, as well as commercial and charter flights can safely depart.

      But indefinite war was and is unacceptable to the President.

      SIV Applicants

      The administration has deployed 6000 US military to Afghanistan to secure the airport and ensure that evacuation flights, commercial and charter flights can safely depart.

      Chairman Miley [sic] and Secretary Austin are working to restore order at the airport so those flights can take place.

      Many have asked why we did not evacuate more Afghanistan civilians, sooner. Part of the answer is that many did not want to leave earlier: many Afghans to whom we gave visas to come to the US chose to stay in their country, still hopeful.

      Nearly 2000 SIV applicants and their families are in the United States, and the administration is prepared to evacuate thousands of American citizens, SIV applicants, and targeted Afghans.

      Was this an intelligence failure

      The Administration knew that there was a distinct possibility that Kabul would fall to the Taliban.

      It was not an inevitability. It was a possibility.

      And the administration planned for every possibility. There were contingency plans in place for any eventuality — including a quick fall of Kabul. That’s why there were troops pre-positioned in the region to deploy as they have done.

      The President said in July that the Afghan military had the capability to fight the Taliban. But they had to demonstrate the will. Tragically, that will did not materialize.

      Here’s what the President was not willing to do: enter a third decade of conflict and surge in thousands of more troops to fight in a civil war that Afghanistan wouldn’t fight for themselves.

      When Trump made the Doha agreement, there were 13,000 US troops in Afghanistan. When POTUS took office – Trump had drawn down troops to 2500. It’s clear from the past few weeks that would have been necessary.

      The President was unwilling to send US men and women back to Afghanistan for an indefinite war.

      Counter-Terrorism

      The United States face terrorist threats in countries around the world including Syria, Libya and Yemen. We don’t have boots on the ground in those countries. We have over the horizon counter terrorism capabilities. And, that’s what we’ll do in Afghanistan – prevent, detect and disrupt terrorism threats with over the horizon capabilities.

      And, we’ll hold the Taliban accountable to not allowing Al Qaeda a safe haven. if they do, there will be consequences that we’ll pursue.

      Two points stand out. One is the emphasis put on the collapse of the Afghan government being a possibility, rather than an inevitability. The second is that the Biden administration is now focused on evacuating personnel, including American embassy staff and the special immigrant visa holders who helped American troops while in Afghanistan.
      The talking points come as Democratic lawmakers emphasize throughout the day that American military forces must secure and retain control of the airport out of Kabul to evacuate people.

      Updated
      at 3.49pm EDT

      3.22pm EDT
      15:22

      Maryland governor Larry Hogan said his state is already slated to welcome at least 180 Afghan citizens through the special immigrant visa program, and the Republican leader said he is “ready and willing” to receive more immigrants.

      Governor Larry Hogan
      (@GovLarryHogan)
      Today, I am announcing Maryland’s commitment to receive more Afghan interpreters who have contributed to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. Many of these Afghan citizens—our allies—bravely risked their lives to support our efforts, and we have a moral obligation to help them. pic.twitter.com/1B89nxz3Bi

      August 16, 2021

      “The chaotic and heartbreaking scenes out of Afghanistan over the last several days—with innocent civilians running for their lives in fear of the Taliban—is the result of a rushed and irresponsible withdrawal,” Hogan said in a video message.
      “Many of these Afghan citizens—our allies—bravely risked their lives to provide invaluable support for many years to our efforts as interpreters and support staff, and we have a moral obligation to help them.”
      Hogan encouraged anyone who is in need of assistance, or knows someone who is, to immediately contact the state’s Office of Refugees and Asylees.
      “I ask all Marylanders to continue to pray for the safety of every American and all of our allies who remain in harm’s way,” Hogan said.

      Updated
      at 3.22pm EDT

      2.59pm EDT
      14:59

      German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that she and other global leaders had “misjudged” the Afghan government’s ability to withstand attacks from the Taliban.
      “This is an extremely bitter development. Bitter, dramatic and terrifying,” the German chancellor said as the Taliban took control of Kabul, per DW News.
      “It is a terrible development for the millions of Afghans who want a more liberal society.”
      Merkel also noted that her misjudgment had been “widespread,” alluding to the incorrect calculations by other leaders, such as Joe Biden, about how long the Afghan government would be able to stand once US troops withdrew from the country.

      DW News
      (@dwnews)
      “Bitter, dramatic and terrifying.”German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the international community was wrong in its assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, with terrible consequences. pic.twitter.com/LCi8KRCfsu

      August 16, 2021 More