Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
We made it! The weekend. Sigh.
Feel free to share any interesting news items, and make sure to include links. Here we go!
First news item
Judging by his inflammatory jibber-jabber, he doesn’t realize that there are a whole lot of Californians who are not Trump supporters, nor Republicans, yet are in the Recall Newsom camp:
Governor’s Answer to the Statement
WARNING: THIS UNWARRANTED RECALL EFFORT WILL COST CALIFORNIA TAXPAYERS 81 MILLION DOLLARS! IT IS BEING PUSHED BY POLITICAL EXTREMISTS SUPPORTING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S HATEFUL ATTACKS ON CALIFORNIA.
In 2018 California voters elected Governor Gavin Newsom by historic margins. As Governor, Newsom is working to 1) increase funding for public education, 2) protect and secure Californians’ health and health care, 3) improve water, roads, and bridges, 4) address the challenges of housing affordability and homelessness, and 5) prepare for the threats of wildfires.
Our budget is balanced. Our fiscal reserves are unprecedented. Our economy and employment are historically strong.
Yet a handful of partisan activists supporting President Trump and his dangerous agenda to divide America are trying to overturn the definitive will of California voters and bring Washington’s broken government to California with this recall effort.
The last thing California needs is another wasteful special election, supported by those who demonize California’s people and attack California’s values.
Do not be fooled—California’s police officers, firefighters, first responders, public school teachers, health providers, and business leaders all STRONGLY OPPOSE this costly recall.
DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR SIGNATURE, YOUR SUPPORT OR YOUR PERSONAL, PRIVATE INFORMATION TO THIS DESTRUCTIVE RECALL SCHEME.
The governor would be foolish to rest on his laurels…
Second news item
He peddles this crap knowing that it’s cable gold and because he’s just an awful person:
Fox News host Tucker Carlson went after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) over her fears about being raped during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, saying “get a therapist.”
[T]he top-rated cable news host mocked Cortez…for telling CNN’s Dana Bash earlier this week that she feared both assault and death during the pro-Trump insurrection.
Carlson was discussing Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she was attempting to breach the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby…
“Occasionally, [Alexandria Ocasio] Cortez tells us about her lived experience on January 6. During a recent special on CNN, Cortez…explained she wasn’t simply afraid of being murdered by Ashli Babbitt. She was also worried about being raped”.
During the interview with Bash, Ocasio-Cortez recounted people banging on her office doors while she hid, saying, “I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed.”
Ocasio-Cortez said “white supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways” and spoke about the sexualization of violence. When asked if she meant that she feared being raped, the New York Democrat said, “Yeah, yeah, I thought I was.”
“Sexualizing? Get a therapist, honey! This is crazy,” Carlson said.
“These people are mad because they thought the election was unfair,” he added of the rioters. “Now you may disagree with that, but it wasn’t about you, surprise surprise. Sexualized violence — I was going to be raped by Ashli Babbitt.”
Third news item
SMDH:
Fourth news item
This isn’t an isolated event. Similar decisions are happening across the nation:
The Talbot County School District held a county-wide threat committee meeting on August 9, 2021 to discuss the level of threat with COVID-19 cases they are facing. It was decided that the school district is facing a high level threat. After shutting down on Friday, August 6, 2021 the school should remain closed until at least Thursday, August 12, 2021.
Superintendent of the Talbot County School District, Dr. James Catrett, describes this has been the most challenging part of his career.
“At this stage of the game, first week of school, we hated that it shut down but again, safety is our number one issue,” said Catrett.
Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas County, Texas, there are “zero ICU beds left for children,” county judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning.
“That means if your child’s in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one. Your child will wait for another child to die,” Jenkins said. “Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”
The judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.
Fifth news item
Justice Amy Coney Barrett says “no”:
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday refused to block a plan by Indiana University to require students and employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Barrett’s action came in response to an emergency request from eight students, and it marked the first time the high court has weighed in on a vaccine mandate. Some corporations, states and cities have adopted vaccine requirements for workers or even to dine indoors, and others are considering doing so.
The students said in court papers that they have “a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate.” They wanted the high court to issue an order barring the university from enforcing the mandate. Seven of the students qualify for a religious exemption.
…
Students who don’t comply will have their registration canceled and workers who don’t will lose their jobs. The policy does have religious and medical exemptions, but exempt students must be tested twice a week for the disease. The school recently announced that for now, everyone, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask indoors while on campus.
Sixth news item
The first sighting of a living “murder hornet” of 2021 was reported by a person in Washington state this week, the state’s Department of Agriculture said Thursday. It marks the second sighting this year of the insect but the first one found in June was dead.
The Asian giant hornet was reported by a Whatcom County resident on Wednesday. Entomologists confirmed the sighting Thursday. The resident’s report included a photograph of the hornet attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area east of the town of Blaine, about two miles from where state workers eradicated the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States last October.
Seventh news item
Predictions that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated continue to fall flat, but about 1 in 10 registered voters continue to believe the former president will be back in the Oval Office before the year’s end.
Religious leaders and Trump’s supporters have thrown out a number of dates that the former president was expected to return to power and the failure for the prediction to come true prompted some to double down, throwing out new expectations. The most recent theory, peddled by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, was that Trump would be back in office “by the morning” of August 13, a date that came to be referred to as Trump’s “reinstatement day.”
Eighth news item
Today, the Texas Supreme Court granted our stay, enabling #Texas police to arrest scofflaw Democrats trying to avoid showing up for work.
We will seek stays of any more orders House Democrats seek. The law is on our side.
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) August 13, 2021
MISCELLANEOUS
Hiking in local mountains:
Have a great weekend!
–Dana
Hello everyone!
Dana (174549) — 8/13/2021 @ 8:43 pmOh my God. MAGNIFICENT photo, Dana.
What kind of camera are you using? Surely this isn’t a smartphone pix.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/13/2021 @ 8:49 pmThose clouds in your photo are spectacular!
norcal (a6130b) — 8/13/2021 @ 8:57 pm‘He peddles this crap…’
Have you ever tasted the stuffing in a Swanson turkey TeeVee dinner?!
‘…and because he’s just an awful person’
No kidding.
He featured an ex-con scumbag on his program recently, who literally wrecked the life and career of a good friend, and called him a ‘great guy’ on air. He’s clueless and useless. It’s television; the time slot keeps him lucking out. O’Reilly, Tucka… an aquarium full of guppies or a kitten playing with yarn would draw eyes at that hour, especially given his cable news competition.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:07 pmThat photo about takes one’s breath away. Wow!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:15 pmHe peddles this crap knowing that it’s cable gold
The last word is key. It’s not about objectivity.
norcal (a6130b) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:15 pmI saw the following comment elsewhere this evening, can’t vouch for veracity but I guess we may soon see:
“The Taliban has seized several hundred U.S. drones including a large cache of hellfire missiles. There is a real chance that the 3,000 U.S. Marines Biden has deployed to rescue Americans trapped in Kabul may face attacks from advanced U.S. drone technology..”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:35 pmFive takeaways from the U.S. census data drop
………
The U.S. saw a decline in the number of white people for the first time in its history
The country has been growing more diverse for decades — since ethnic immigration quotas were dropped in the 1960s — but the 2020 population count is the first since the census began in which the number of white people shrank. White people still make up nearly 58% of the population, the largest racial or ethnic group in the country, but their share dropped 8.6% since 2010.
………
Diverse communities are surging
……..
The Asian population grew by 36%, and the number of Latinos grew 23%. The nation is increasingly looking like California. Latinos are the second largest group after white people, making up nearly 19% of the population. Among the most intriguing findings was the 276% growth among people who identify as belonging to two or more races, up to nearly 34 million people in 2020.
How people self-identify is affecting the census data
Much of the increase in all racial groups was driven by the growing number of people who report belonging to multiple races. For example, the number of Latinos who say they belong to more than one racial group increased by nearly 600%, while the number of Latinos who solely identified as being white decreased by nearly 50%.
………
California remains dominant
Although California lost a congressional seat for the first time in its history because it did not grow as fast as other states, the data released Thursday showcased the state’s dominance. It grew by nearly 2.3 million residents over the last decade.
California, with nearly 40 million residents, and Los Angeles County, with more than 10 million residents, remain the largest state and county in the nation, respectively.
Three of the nation’s 10 most populous cities are in California: Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose. All 10 gained population, but Los Angeles’ 2.8% growth was among the most sluggish. Irvine, which gained more than 95,000 residents, was one of the nation’s 10 fastest-growing cities.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:40 pm………
Related:
2020 Census Statistics Highlight Local Population Changes and Nation’s Racial and Ethnic Diversity
………
Fodder for the Tucker Carlson and Victor Orban fanboys.
Great photo, but where are the mountains?
I visited relatives in the Northwest recently and did a bit of hiking in actual mountains, especially Mt. Rainier. I was surprised at how little snow there was. Part of the reason was the unusual heat wave earlier this year, but I heard that the summer snow pack has been lighter in recent years than in the past
Another surprise: No one in our large hiking party saw a single marmot, though we heard one whistling once. What we saw instead was two wolverines cavorting on a snow field. Needed binoculars (plus confirming opinions from other hikers) to identify them, but their pattern of movement suggested right off that they weren’t marmots. I had no idea that wolverines lived in the state. The internet told us that wolverines were spotted in the park just last your for the first time in a century.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:42 pmHonestly, Dana, you should be entering your photography (especially the B&W stuff) into exhibitions.
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:49 pmI blame Canada.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:52 pmNewsom is very close to getting recalled. And, thanks to the party’s idiotic decision to advise people to *leave question 2 blank*, we’re very close to Elder getting elected with less than a quarter of the votes.
I wonder if he survives until November or if the Legislature impeaches him.
aphrael (4c4719) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:22 pm“The Taliban has seized several hundred U.S. drones including a large cache of hellfire missiles. There is a real chance that the 3,000 U.S. Marines Biden has deployed to rescue Americans trapped in Kabul may face attacks from advanced U.S. drone technology..”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:35 pm
Sure wish they’d be a bit more specific about what “drones” were captured. Hellfires are a versatile weapon that can be fired from a variety of platforms, but as far as “drones” go, the only thing that can shoot them are MQ-9s and MQ-1s, and those require a very specific technology suite to operate.
Unless they plan to use a drone to do the free release of one of things on a Marine’s head, they might as well be paperweights.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:27 pmLovely photo, Dana.
Hope all are well. Keep the faith.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:28 pmThey can sell them. They might get billions of dollars (not from the drones, but from the banks). This afghanistan blunder can’t be overstated. We should have stayed for ten thousand years. We should have built catholic missions, Ann Coulter was right. This is about steel, not virtue.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:33 pmI wonder if he survives until November or if the Legislature impeaches him
Assuming he survives the recall, why would Newsom be impeached? Beating the recall would leave him in a even stronger political position.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:35 pmRip Murdock, i’m speculating that *Elder* might get impeached.
aphrael (4c4719) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:37 pmwho is governor if that happens, Aphrael?
dustin (4237e0) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:42 pmDustin – the Lt. Governor, Elena Koulanakis.
aphrael (4c4719) — 8/13/2021 @ 10:43 pmThey can sell them. They might get billions of dollars (not from the drones, but from the banks).
I guess they can sell them to Pakistan, but that wasn’t the claim of Col H’s friend.
This afghanistan blunder can’t be overstated. We should have stayed for ten thousand years.
Not unless we were prepared to literally colonize the place with our own citizens and violently expel or assimilate the local populace, a la North America from the Spanish Conquest-Wounded Knee, and we weren’t.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/13/2021 @ 11:40 pmRip Murdock, i’m speculating that *Elder* might get impeached.
My bad. I doubt that Elder would be impeached. Whoever becomes governor will have a very short time to do anything, as there are only 9 months until the June 2022 primary. It is a fantasy to believe that any fundamental change will occur in those 9 months as any substantive policy changes will need to be approved by a legislature unlikely to give a Republican governor that entered office through a recall of a Democrat any “wins”.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/13/2021 @ 11:51 pmThe judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.
Huh, wonder what happened in the last year and a half that would cause hospitals in one of the largest counties in Texas to have a staff shortage.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/13/2021 @ 11:55 pmAmerica’s Catastrophic Afghanistan Exit Has Many Fathers
………
………[T]here is a chorus seeking to lay the blame for what is happening in Afghanistan now at the doorstep of President Joe Biden when, in fact, the disaster there represents not only the culmination of millenia of regional history but of decades of bad decisions by U.S. political and military leaders.
America’s errors actually predated 9/11. They began in 1979 when, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. began to provide support to mujahedin fighters who sought to drive out that foreign invader. ……
……..
[D]espite Bush infamously declaring “mission accomplished” in the Spring of 2003, the American invasion of Afghanistan gradually became seen as a long-term effort to hunt down all extremists and to try to remake the country’s institutions so that they would be able to permanently keep the peace even as the Taliban began to regroup. A multi-year U.S. presence triggered the same reaction among many in Afghanistan that the Soviets (and so many others before them) had. By the end of 2004, Mullah Omar formally launched an effort to push the U.S. out.
……..
When Barack Obama took office in 2009, he started with a review of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. It took 9 months. By its conclusion, some, including his Vice President Joe Biden, were calling for the U.S. to wind down the war. Others, including ultimately Obama, suggested a “brief” surge of additional troops. By 2011, the U.S. had achieved a real “Mission Accomplished” moment, killing Osama bin Laden who, at the time, was not even in Afghanistan any longer. The war there dragged on.
………
……… Donald Trump entered office vowing to end the war but his efforts were forestalled because military leaders told him that by pulling out all the troops they would be inviting a collapse. They sought negotiations with the Taliban despite the fact that there is no evidence the Taliban would actually have honored any agreement and there is plenty to suggest otherwise. That did not stop Trump from announcing a departure date for U.S. troops that would ultimately fall on the watch of his successor.
……… [Biden] could not ignore the obvious. America no longer had any pressing national interest in Afghanistan that would warrant a permanent presence …….
……..
Should they have made clear the international response that would follow the abuse of Afghanistan’s women or the curtailing of any human rights in that country? Should it have been strong and swift? Should they have made it even clearer than they did that any emergent terror threats would be met with immediate force—missile or drone attacks or Special Forces? Should they have better prepared to evacuate and give harbor to those who aided us during our time in Afghanistan? Could that have involved keeping the airbase at Bagram open until all key allies, friends and U.S. staff could be evacuated?
Yes. Yes, they should have done all those things.
But, they could not have forestalled the outcome we are seeing now without keeping a permanent U.S. presence in the country. The Taliban were long poised to do what they are doing (otherwise they could not be doing it). Further, the swiftness of the Taliban action, designed to discredit the U.S. government, reveals all we need to know about their intentions as does the brutality of their actions. The ineffectiveness of the (Afghan) government to stop them after all these years of training and expense also suggests that more years of the same would not have produced a different outcome.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:21 am……….
………His team is not executing the departure well. He and they bear responsibility for that. But they no more bear the primary responsibility for the fiasco that was America’s longest war than did Gerald Ford did for all our errors in Vietnam when the last U.S. helicopter lifted off the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon on April 30 of 1975.
……….
Nearly three quarters of all Americans believe, however, that we should be out of Afghanistan. There was no will in the U.S. to do anything other than what Biden has done. ……..
………
boosh is to blame, that moron has an ego the size of Texas, kill, kill, kill. He did – our own best and brightest.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:11 ama useless savage, a pathetic human and a globalist to boot.
Maybe we can find a country that our military can win a war against. Where does Andorra stand on arranged marriages and universal education? Liechtenstein?
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:42 amboosh took us to war with people who live in mud huts… and lost.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:55 amhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9881213/Unearthed-video-shows-naked-Hunter-Biden-claiming-Russian-drug-dealers-stole-laptop.html
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:18 amThe president of the free world, also his dad says hunter is the smartest person he knows.
Great.
Why, mg, ain’t that exactly the kind of government we want the Afghanis to have?
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:32 amI’ll tell you, old friend, my biggest disappointment in this whole mess is that we’ll never see Marilyn Manson and Rose McGowan in matching see-through dresses on the red carpet at the Kabul Film Festival.
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:45 amIt was dishonorable to abandon and betray the Syrian Kurds, same deal here.
And one of those factors everyone understands at some level––but few like to discuss––is honor. I don’t mean some flowery chivalric concept or some gitchy-goo platitudes––though I do subscribe to some of that stuff. I mean a very basic concept of how nations comport themselves in the world. A nation without a sense of honor is a nation begging to get pushed around. Contrary to all of the treacle we hear about the “international community,” the international realm isn’t a community. It’s a contested sphere of power where individual actors and coalitions of actors exert their will. And honor is a major currency of this realm. It’s what binds allies together when other forms of self-interest militate against loyalty.
If invading Afghanistan in the first place was a bad idea for us, how crazy was it for Estonia, New Zealand, and Poland? Except it wasn’t crazy for them. They had lots of reasons for coming to our aid, but one of them was national honor. America was in the right, the Taliban and al-Qaeda were in the wrong, and it was in their interest to be on the right side of the struggle.
What is national honor? Well, a thorough answer to that requires a lot more space than is available here. But part of it is self-respect. Part of it involves the ability to tell the story of ourselves with pride. Another part of it is to communicate to the world––and especially our allies and enemies––that we are willing to defend our honor, not just our interests. “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute” is a very dumb sentiment in a world of patria economicus, but it gets to the heart of the idea that a nation stands for something.
And here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter if you, or the entire political establishment, thinks it’s idiotic to care about honor. To a certain extent it doesn’t even matter if most Americans don’t care about honor. Why? Because the rest of the world does. Honor is in many respects just another word for reputation, integrity, or credibility. These forms of geopolitical capital buy goodwill, cooperation, and deference in the international realm. Fritter them away and you’ll get less of all three over time––and you may need them later.
So even if you think leaving Afghanistan is the right thing to do, it doesn’t matter, because this is the wrong way to do it. If Trump and Biden wanted to get us out, fine. But they had an obligation to do so in a way that didn’t lead to this.
People who relied on us are going to be murdered––lots of them. And if reports are true, many of them will be murdered with the war materiel we abandoned alongside the Afghan people. That is a blow to American honor. It is shameful. And we’ll be paying a price for it internationally and in our hearts for a long time to come, because this sorry chapter in the story we tell ourselves about ourselves will be written in the blood of people who took our commitments seriously. It will be celebrated as a victory by people who call us their enemies. This news-footage snuff film about a democratic project’s destruction will unfold with narration from a president who keeps saying he’s the leading champion of democracy and keeps promising the world “America is back”––even as he orders a race for the exit.
So please don’t tell me that’s in our vital national interest. Because it’s not.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:59 amDana, where was that picture taken? Beautiful country.
538 has five charts that identify the “hard no” segment of the population on vaccines. 75% of them say that the vaccine is a bigger risk than Covid. A majority are white, Republican and insured, and a plurality have “some degree” of education and earn less than $44k per year.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:23 amPaul at 30. I agree with you. You are right. And it is because you are right that our humiliation in Afghanistan was inevitable.
You see, the Taliban possesses those qualities you praise: A sense of honor, a sense of loyalty, a sense of duty, a sense of dedication, a sense of sacrifice, a sense of shame. Our politicians and our military do not.
Our people … well … did you know that Megan Fox, Megan Thee Stallion, and MGK performed at Lollapalooza?
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:22 am“The swift offensive has resulted in mass surrenders, captured helicopters and millions of dollars of American-supplied equipment paraded by the Taliban on grainy cellphone videos.”
“In some cities, heavy fighting had been underway for weeks on their outskirts, but the Taliban ultimately overtook their defensive lines and then walked in with little or no resistance. This implosion comes despite the United States having poured more than $83 billion in weapons, equipment and training into the country’s security forces over two decades. Building the Afghan security apparatus was one of the key parts of the Obama administration’s strategy as it sought to find a way to hand over security and leave nearly a decade ago. These efforts produced an army modeled in the image of the United States’ military, an Afghan institution that was supposed to outlast the American war…. How the Afghan military came to disintegrate first became apparent not last week but months ago in an accumulation of losses… [beginning] with individual outposts in rural areas where starving and ammunition-depleted soldiers and police units were surrounded by Taliban fighters and promised safe passage if they surrendered and left behind their equipment, slowly giving the insurgents more and more control of roads, then entire districts.”
—- NYT
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:37 amNewly unveiled memos from Adolf Hitler’s chancellery and Foreign Ministry portray a cozy pre-World War II relationship between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the German madman.
Several going up for auction Aug. 24-27 at Alexander Historical Auctions show that FDR pressured Hitler’s aides to have the fuhrer grant a meeting with three pals, top officials from Standard Oil and Texaco, around the time of the 1936 Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg.
In one, an aide wrote to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that “in view of Roosevelt’s personal interest … I recommend very strongly that his request should be granted.”
Hitler eventually blew them off, but the memos show the president’s efforts to help his personal friends in their businesses, something that today would be impeachable at the least.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/documents-fdr-pressured-hitler-to-meet-with-his-oil-buddies
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:50 amHAITI QUAKE HORROR
‘THOUSANDS DEAD’
Clinton Foundation will be all over this like white on rice.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:11 amPaul, thanks for the great comment.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:59 amIn Afghanistan, one side is clearly worse….and whose takeover will create conditions adverse to our national interest…meaning, potential for terrorists to operate and organize with minimal military threat.
Look at the difference in a year. There was a stalemate. So apparently the small U.S. contingent and NATO allies made an important difference. They provided air superiority, unprecedented field intelligence, leadership, special forces expertise, and training that prevented what we are now seeing. All of this at a mere fraction of the $2.23T, I hear, already spent. And there is no surprise. The Pentagon and Intelligence Agencies have predicted this slaughter, so there’s no hiding behind ignorance.
You stay because this is where the jihadis are. We’re not staying to make Afghanistan into anything….that’s a by-product. We should be staying to not give jihadis an inch of breathing room. It’s great that Afghani women were moving forward….and an Afghani economy outside of heroin and goats was moving forward….we should be proud of that…..but first and foremost Afghanistan was about keeping the Taliban bugs in the crevices of the hills…and helping the Afghanis kill them when they stuck their heads out.
Throughout the military, we have far more deaths from training accidents than what we were losing in Afghanistan. That’s not to say that each isn’t a tragedy, but it puts it in perspective….this wasn’t Viet Nam….and the cost was no more disproportionate to what we spend to base soldiers abroad for strategic advantage. This is just Americans thinking war should be a 2hr Marvel action movie….clean with a definitive ending so they can move on to the next trivial thought. People sound so fatigued as if they are trudging along the Mountains of Afghanistan and not sitting fat and content in a well air-conditioned house wondering which flavor of bottled water to drink next. This is about honor and fighting for our national interest, but too many citizens seem to get bored so easily…..and will now put their head in the sand as Afghani allies get slaughtered and jihadis win. We didn’t lose….we just chose to lose….and in time we may really regret it….
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:09 amIf invading Afghanistan in the first place was a bad idea for us, how crazy was it for Estonia, New Zealand, and Poland? Except it wasn’t crazy for them.
The coalition of the billing.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:20 amFor those who favor continued US involvement in Afghanistan, I have yet to hear what the endgame of our involvement would be. What is victory?
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:23 am@22 if he thinks it makes republicans look bad, judge jenkins will hype it
it’s been his bit for years
kinda like a lot of people here
JF (e1156d) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:26 am#9 Radegunda – There’s a wolverine restoration project in Washington state, which has had some success.
(Follow the link to get to the album.)
In one of the recent wolverine releases near Rainier, they brought in an tribal religious leader to bless the wolverines, which was an interesting touch.
(I’ve visited Rainier many times, even climbed it many years ago. But I haven’t been in recent years, so I haven’t seen the wolverines there.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:27 amI thought wolverines were a Michigan thing, Jim, not WA State, like marmots are a Chelan Golf Course thing.
Mrs. Montagu and I are going to Rainier National Park together later this month, for the first time in our 37-year marriage, and I was flipping born in West Seattle. I’m semi-embarrassed.
On an anecdotal Covid level, a friend of mine was scheduled for a heart procedure yesterday (a Watchman implant), and they canceled on him: “Hospital is full, short of medical staff.”
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:45 am29. Rose McGowan is what Bill Clinton wishes Juanita Broaddrick looked like.
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:49 amFalse choice.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:49 amI will lay down money that Newsom scuttles the Recall by resigning before Sept. 14.
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:56 am#42 Paul – Here’s story you may want to pass on to your wife: I was up at Rainier, skiing by myself, about 15 summers ago, when I saw a couple facing each other. I couldn’t see what they were doing, so I skied up to them — and the young woman turned to me and said: “I just got engaged!”
What I had seen was him offering her the ring, I realized.
I mumbled congratulations, being entirely unprepared for that announcement.
(Etiquette experts may want to correct me on this, but I believe you are supposed to congratulate the man, and offer best wishes to the woman. And I believe the usual practice is for the young woman to tell her best friend, secretly, and then her mother officially. So I had, unintentionally, cut in line.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:01 am“I have yet to hear what the endgame of our involvement would be.”
What’s the end-game in Korea….Japan….Germany? Sometimes you have a strategic interest to remain in an area. We made an alliance with S. Korea….to oppose a dictatorial regime. The Afghani government is far from perfect but the alternative is epically worse. Winning is not having the Taliban in charge….and not having jihadi camps operating with impunity because the Taliban is in charge. Winning is giving a fledgling democracy and military a better chance….giving the people a chance to achieve a sustainable peace. No one thought this quick exit was going to work…and lead to peace. Again…we chose to lose….and we chose to abandon our Afghani allies….I see that as shame.
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:15 amWhat’s the end-game in Korea….Japan….Germany?
Those nations are quite a bit different than a mountainous backwater of goat-herding pederasts, if nothing else because we weren’t sending troops over to those countries to get shot at 20 years after sending them. If we still had strategic objectives in staying there, it was incumbent upon the Happy Hour Class and their Think Tank Egghead and Media Bobblehead mouthpieces in DC to lay that out in detail. They aren’t able to do it, because ultimately it’s not about any strategic objective. It’s about keeping the graft going for their ex-GO and politically connected contractor buddies. Pull up the SIGAR reports from the last 12 years if you want to get a good look at where all our supposed investment was actually going.
I’ve done two tours at the CAOC in the 2010s, sitting in on GO-level meetings on ISAF operations there. Never once did it come up what our ultimate endgame even was militarily from an operational standpoint. It was always some whack-a-mole bout of reindeer games that got repeated every couple of years. Claims that “this was the wrong way to pull out” misses the entire history of the last 20 years. It’s the epitome of the sunk-cost fallacy.
There was NO “right way” to pull out of Afghanistan that would have satisfied the neocons and the hawks. None whatsoever. Because these arrogant, prideful people thought, with their fancy degrees, big-paying consultant jobs, and unwarranted sense of self-regard, that they had all the answers. Ultimately, what our adventure in Afghanistan shows is that these people aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:34 amThank you very much for these week-end open threads, Dana!
felipe (484255) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:37 amRIP Kurt Westergaard.
The Danish teacher and cartoonist showed the world admirable bravery, in support of free speech. He died in his sleep at 86, which was a victory for the Danish police.
(The Wikipedia article has some of his thoughts on who didn’t support him.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:43 amJim — thanks for the info on the wolverines. We wondered if their presence had anything to do with the absence of visible marmots. I’ve been there many times over the years, and marmots were a regular feature of the experience.
One of my brothers climbed Rainier because he was bored and wanted a challenge. I’ve been to Camp Muir a few times, and that’s challenging enough for me. On one effort I got altitude sickness and had to turn around. Recently, YouTube has been feeding me videos of Everest and K2 ventures, and I’m alternately awed and baffled by the misery and risk that people take on to get to the top.
Paul — enjoy your trip, and bring binoculars so you can see the wolverines.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:50 amWhat’s the end-game in Korea….Japan….Germany? ……
Korea and Japan-Prevention of a North Korean invasion, the end of the regime, and reunification on our terms.
Germany-Continuing deterrence of Russia. The Cold War has never ended in Europe.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:50 amYou wolverine watchers had better keep your hands in your pockets…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rdWAGFLnOUg
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:00 amRIP Donald Kagan (88).
Kagan is the father of scholars Fredrick and Robert Kagan.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:05 amIn other words, expecting a coherent end game is a false choice. History has taught us this 1000 times. We should have remained in Afghanistan for 10,000 years. We will pay more, lose more of our blood, and they will also be more miserable, because our leaders took the short-attention-span path.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:23 amOur end-game in Afghanistan was to keep the Taliban from returning to power, and Biden gave up, surrendered, and lost.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:38 am42- Climbed Rainier in 76.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:45 amThe Cascades and The Olympic Rainforest are two of my favorite places on earth.
Enjoy Rainier.
Our end-game in Afghanistan was to keep the Taliban from returning to power……
If that was the end game, we should have sent in 100,000 troops and engage in combat operations.
Oh, wait, we did that and still couldn’t keep the Taliban from fighting.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:47 am@55-
Also Germany, Japan, and South Korea are not war zones and the people and governments (for the most part) support our presence. None of those conditions exist in Afghanistan.
But this whole discussion is a moot point, obviously, as the US has left.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:51 amI note that Kevin Paffrath, the “Democrat frontrunner” did not buy space in the voter’s guide, but Angelyne (possibly NSFW) did.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:52 amSouth Korea are not war zones
“Technically,” it still is as the war has yet to be ‘officially’ ended.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:54 amThank you, mg. We’re also going to Blue Lake in the North Cascades. One of the more gorgeous hikes we’ve ever been on.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:54 amAOC was probably right to be worried about rapists. Trump seems have a strong attraction for incels and other gynophobes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:56 amYour child will wait for another child to die,” Jenkins said. “Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”
Not the most robust endorsement of ventilators one could utter.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:00 am@34. Pfft. Review the list of businesses in neutral USA dealing Nazi Germany in 1940 even as Heinkels reigned terror down upon London Town.
Ahhhh, that sweet smell of capitalism: cordite.
“You ahead, in a Ford; Way ahead, in a Ford…” – Louis Armstrong Ford Motor Company ad, 1960s
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:01 am…. and since the Dem “talent” is lacking overall, definitely.
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:02 amIt is interesting to listen to talking heads attempting to blame intel on misjudging the strength of the Taliban rather than focus on the drop-your-rifle-blend-in-and-run-failure of the better ‘armed and trained’ Afghan Security Forces to stand and fight.
You’d think they were French.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:05 amSo, the Asian giant hornet is nearly extinct in the USA! This should trigger the Endangered Species Act! Anyone who says different is an anti-Asian bigot!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:06 amJudge Permits Biden’s Replacement Evictions Ban to Stay in Place for Now
A federal judge on Friday permitted the Biden administration’s replacement evictions moratorium to continue, saying that she lacked authority to block such an emergency public-health policy even though she believed “the government is unlikely to prevail” when the matter returns to the Supreme Court.
In a 13-page ruling, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia expressed doubts about the legality of the policy, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed on Aug. 3 in counties where Covid-19 is raging.
………
Judge Friedrich had in May blocked the nationwide version of the moratorium, but the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia Circuit overruled her, and the Supreme Court let that decision stand in June. On Friday, she ruled that the replacement policy was similar enough to the original one that the earlier appeals court ruling controlled the case — for now.
“Absent the D.C. Circuit’s judgment,” she wrote, she would immediately block the government from enforcing the new evictions ban. “But the court’s hands are tied.”
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:07 am………
The plaintiffs, led by the Alabama Association of Realtors, are expected to swiftly take the case back to the appeals court in an effort to speed its way to the Supreme Court, where five of the nine justices appear likely to agree with Judge Friedrich that the ban exceeds the government’s emergency powers under a broadly worded, but vague, 1944 public health law.
……..
“The minor differences between the current and previous moratoria do not exempt the former from this court’s order,” she wrote, adding that even though the government “has excluded some counties from the latest moratorium’s reach, the policy remains effective nationwide, shares the same structure and design as its predecessors, provides continuous coverage with them and purports to rest on the same statutory authority.
>>>>>>>>
Related: Supreme Court Blocks Part of New York’s Eviction Moratorium
We should have built catholic missions, Ann Coulter was right. This is about steel, not virtue.
I love it when hyperbole and truth collide.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:08 amBiden should be vacationing at Camp David, as he, his administration and his supporters are about to be brutalized by the reality of the situation.
Criminal incompetence… from Biden and our so-called military leaders.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:15 amK.T. McFarland: Afghanistan was always Mission Impossible. Biden’s living in fantasyland with this endgame
President Biden has just sent combat forces back into Afghanistan to evacuate American civilians at the embassy and Afghans who have assisted us in the war effort. The 3,000 American forces will then presumably shoot their way out as they depart.
Inexplicably, we will leave a “core” diplomatic staff and U.S. combat forces to protect them. The Biden administration believes the Taliban will leave these Americans alone, because they want world approval.
The Biden administration is living in a fantasyland if they think this is going to end well. But when it comes to Afghanistan our political and military leaders have been living in fantasyland for years.
………
The tragedy of Afghanistan is that the Taliban were always going to prevail. They knew it was only a matter of time before we got fed up and left and they would have the country to themselves.
All they had to do was wait us out.
When I was in Afghanistan 15 years ago, a tribal leader tapped on his bare wrist and told me, “You Americans, you have the watches, but we have the time.”
……..
The truth is the Afghan war was lost 19 years ago when we switched from our original mission of destroying Al Qaeda to a new mission – nation building a modern Afghanistan.
Our leaders wanted to turn one of the most backward, corrupt, illiterate, desolate, tribal countries in the world into a democracy that would rebuff Al Qaeda.
Our military efforts were doomed from the start when we tried to create a sophisticated Afghan military that relied on American forces, air support and intelligence.
Our original goal in Afghanistan was straightforward – kill those who killed our people. We sent a small contingent of American special forces in right after the Sept. 11 attacks and they succeeded brilliantly.
Within three months our troops, working alongside Afghan tribal leaders, destroyed most of Al Qaeda. They had the few hundred remaining fighters surrounded, including Usama Bin Laden, huddled in the caves of the Hindu Kush mountains separating Afghanistan from Pakistan.
………
We paid Pakistan handsomely, year after year, to finish off Al Qaeda for us. While they happily pocketed our aid, they never went after Bin Laden, and let his organization survive and even grow.
Instead, we stuck around Afghanistan consumed by Mission Impossible. We lost over 2,000 Americans, tens of thousands of Americans were injured, and over a trillion dollars wasted.
Our political leaders, Republican and Democrats alike, and senior military officers failed us in Afghanistan, just as they did in Vietnam.
They were seduced by English-speaking Afghan expatriates living in the West. We put them in power and continued to prop them up, despite their incompetence, corruption and failure to win the support of their own people.
But victory was impossible, even a negotiated settlement beyond reach. Let’s just pray that we get our people out, safely, and our troops home.
And then, once again, let’s promise ourselves that we will never be in this position again. And mean it this time.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:19 am>>>>>>>>>
Saigon
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:23 amBenghazi
Kabul
What a braintrust
I wonder if he survives until November or if the Legislature impeaches him.
The legislature impeaching the replacement election winner, mostly for belonging to the wrong party, would be the end of Democrat dominance in California.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:26 amNot nearly as intelligent as they think they are, mg. Which has been true for decades now.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:26 amOnce you stop focusing on the national issues that the Democrats have been pounding on for decades and look to the state issues alone, the Democrat party is wrong on just about everything.
*Transportation: wrong. The train is worse than wrong, it sucks up money that could be put towards solutions. The city of Los Angeles is increasingly impossible, yet the state spends billions on a train from Bakersfield to Modesto, a route one can drive while never slowing from 90.
*Fuel prices: The state intentionally adds about a dollar a gallon to gas prices through an obscene Green-Big Oil collusion to make California a closed fuel market. There is no benefit to CA’s special fuel (and their first version was toxic), other than making the market off-limits to outside providers.
*Housing costs: By imposing restrictions and conditions (e.g. low-income set-asides, union labor rules) on new apartment construction, the state drives the costs up from already high land costs. That cities also impose restrictions (e.g. the Santa Monica insistence on a public election for each development) very little housing is created.
*The Middle-class squeeze: Within 10 miles of the coast (and increasing) only the wealthy and some few highly-subsidized servants of the wealthy can live. Most of their servants have to drive 50 miles from their homes in the desert to go to work, at exorbitant cost. The middle-class, increasingly taxed to provide those subsidies sees their standard of living declining.
And now the wonderful weather of CA is under threat. Without that you just have a giant Tammany Hall. Things that can’t go on, won’t.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:27 amNote: Although I live in New Mexico, I consider myself a CA expatriate. A refugee. I’m not alone in that. Maybe I should be allowed an absentee ballot.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:29 am@37. Rubbish.
More Neocon bullsh!t: creamed-chipped-Cheney-on-toast.
Bought or sold any Afghan War Bonds lately? Nope.
Since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the United States has spent $2.26 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Note that this total does not include funds that the United States government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war.
For the tents to fold in just 90 days after two decades and trillions charged to Uncle Sam’s credit card speaks volumes to the stunning, spinning stupidity of entrenched, stubborn, anal, right-wing Neocon ideology as well American military brassholes fronting for the MIC pushing it when failing to learn what any savvy West Point professor, wise instructor at Britain’s Imperial War Museum, several well quilled Kipling pieces or a retired Soviet general could have taught them.
And for the misty minded, after a decade-plus, 58,000 U.S. dead and $1 trillion dollars -in today’s dollars- in Vietnam, South Vietnam fell in just 55 days as the ARVN stripped off their uniforms, dropped their weapons and blended in. Might don’t make right if they don’t fight. Bu at least Vietnam was paid for va taxation and program cuts. Afghanistan is not.
Afghanistan is a miserable land of sheep herders, rug weavers, poppy growers and heroin exporters for centuries with no interest in air conditioned schools, maintaining an air force or want a Starbucks and McDonald’s in the Kyber Pass has zero interest or incentive to fight for them.
Roast mutton on a stick around the campfire makes for a contented towelhead. This has been one of the stupidest wastes of blood and treasure since the repeated failures there of the British Empire and Soviet Empire failure there as well.
Afghanistan is where empires go to die.
On deck, China. Even with basic geography a plus- just watch them march, with bayonets gleaming, into that glorious heroin hell in years to come as they spiral down the rabbit hole.
______
Biggst immediate threat to America:
[ ] Taliban
[ X ] Neocons
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:29 amSo whose the next next empire?
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:37 am@76-
Kvetching from afar.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:38 amIt is a fantasy to believe that any fundamental change will occur in those 9 months as any substantive policy changes will need to be approved by a legislature unlikely to give a Republican governor that entered office through a recall of a Democrat any “wins”.
I think that there are quite a few things the governor can do unilaterally:
All contracts for the Train will stop. Call it a “moratorium.”
The execution moratorium will end.
Any number of state department heads will be fired, starting with EDD.
Covid orders will be reviewed.
The flow of crazy from the legislature will slow (the 3/4ths majorities are a problem still).
To the degree that the successor’s orders are supported by the people — and there is such a rich environment of stupidity to attack) — the GOP’s standing in California cannot help but increase. There is nothing that Elder could do to diminish it, save perhaps from bringing Trump in to campaign.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:38 amLot of keyboard commandos in here mocking the Afghan military. Whatever makes it easier to sleep at night.
Biden’s behavior on this matter is maliciously bad. It’s no mistake. Taking up a tough fight among Americans seems like a pretty bad plan. Add it to the ways this week will kill far more American troops than remaining in Afghanistan would cost.
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:38 amMemo to weeping talking head military-types.
You won’t get spit on this time, but best stop the TeeVee whine.
You weren’t drafted; you volunteered.
Managing a MickeyDees for 20 years looks pretty good now, don’t it.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:44 amI wonder the host’s former boss will publicly endorse Elder.
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:44 amI will lay down money that Newsom scuttles the Recall by resigning before Sept. 14.
Perhaps. Not sure how that would work. But he’d do some things on the way out: commute all death penalties, pardon all blacks and many drug dealers and 3-strike losers.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:45 amAfghan military.
Shish kabob.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:45 am@81-
None of which will tackle the issues you outlined previously.
Executions will continued to be litigated in the courts.
Contract terminations or moratorium will also be litigated. The state will need to pay whether work is performed or not (note that I’ve always thought the train was a solution in search of a problem). It would better if the plan was repealed by the legislature or voters).
Re: COVID-I’ve always wondered what the recall candidates would have done differently. Adopt the the policies of DeSantis, Noem, and Abbot? (It sounds like it. )
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:54 am“Also Germany, Japan, and South Korea…”
The point wasn’t that the situations are identical….it’s rare that any two are….but that sometimes winning means maintaining a presence in order to not let the status quo degrade. If you think no one in Afghanistan wanted us to stay, I would say poll some of those currently being slaughtered….though you may have to hurry. Battling fundamentalist jihadis remains one of the top five priorities of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with China, Russia, Iran, and N. Korea. Again, at minimum, establish more conditions for leaving….here we gave the country to the Taliban. Shame.
Oh I see DCSCA is preaching….that’s my cue to go do something productive…maybe hit the gym
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:55 am77… maybe not. You’ve made your choice and have no say – or sway – in Teh Cali.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:56 amAs a matter of fact, under the health orders a lot of other things can be done, or at least it seems that way considering what Newsom did.
So, how about putting a moratorium on the special gas formula that drives up CA gas prices, and allowing any gas that meets EPA clean-air standards for smoggy areas to be sold. When gas drops down to $3/gallon like it is in the rest of the country it will be hard to get people to agree it should go back up.
How about declaring a sales-tax holiday due to robust state income and “the needs of citizens in these terrible times.” Let the Democrats go to court to fight that. Let Biden threaten federal funds. Win-win.
Make it legal to ride motorcycles in the bike lanes “during this emergency.”
Those emergency laws are too broad. He should use them to further his goals AND to get the Democrats to reconsider the laws themselves.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:58 am‘Biden is telling the locally employed staff [Afghans] what Otter told Flounder in Animal House, “…you can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You fu*ked up… you trusted us!”.’
—- jj121957
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:58 amWhen gas drops down to $3/gallon like it is in the rest of the country it will be hard to get people to agree it should go back up.
If the majority of Democrats in this state were concerned about the price of fuel, they wouldn’t have passed that measure in the 2018 election. Sometimes you can’t fix STUPID.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:03 pm(fixing a word that had this in moderation)
Oh, wait, we did that and still couldn’t keep the Taliban from fighting.
Unlike the Russians, we were unwilling to go into their mountains and kill them all. We stayed in camps and held territory. Until we left.
We held our positions and the Taliban did the other things.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:06 pmNewsom could possibly save his azz by -if this is even possible- issuing some kind of emergency executive order with some excuse to recind the CA gasoline tax- at least through the mid-terms in 2022 to January, 2023.
The state gas excise tax is now at 51.1 cents per gallon. In a state full of freeways with a population that worships the automobile out of necessity, it’s hard not to remember that every time you pump gas into your vehicle at $5/gallon.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:08 pmmaybe hit the gym
Careful! It goes the other way around if Convoy Joe takes you behind it!!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:10 pmKvetching from afar.
See 77.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:11 pmRip Murdock
I kvetch. Perhaps. You wring your hands. “Nothing can be done!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:13 pm“Biden is at Camp David this weekend, not at his Delaware beach house. He can relax there, but also has full comms… People can come and go without detection, and he avoids the optics of a beach vacation amid a mass evacuation.”
https://www.axios.com/scoop-biden-braces-for-brutal-loss-7012efe9-c4cd-48df-8c2b-7484e2f17231.html
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:16 pm@88. Bought any Afghan War Bonds lately?? NOPE. =mike-drop=
Calling Neocons on the carpet for their own endless ‘preaching’ over fiscal responsibility yet never paying for… you know… a $2.26 trillion war earns a trip ‘to the gym’– or behind it for a one-on-one w/Kid Joe.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:19 pmHaiku, the tax on gas is the least of it. CA’s tax isn’t the issue. It’s the closed market due to special required formulations. ONLY gasoline produced by the four refineries in CA (and there will never be more than 4) can be sold. This allows them to keep production at a level that maximizes profits.
There is an EPA standard for high-smog areas that is used in other places like Atlanta. Gas prices in those areas are not much different than in the rest of the country (about $1 lower than CA). The cheapest gas right now in Atlanta is $2.64. In Los Angeles it’s $3.79.
https://www.gasbuddy.com
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:24 pmCA’s gas tax is about 25 cents higher than the national average. The fuel prices difference is about 4 times higher than that.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:27 pmhere we gave the country to the Taliban. Shame
WE????
This is Neocon war profiteering stupidity in a nutshell. “WE” gave the Afghans through our MIC $2.26 trillion in treasure; equipment, training, infrastructure– and time- 20 years- and, oh yes, blood and lives.
Might doesn’t make right if ‘THEY’ fail to fight for themselves.
And THAT is the shame.
History rhymes.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:28 pm#62 — Blue Lake looks really nice. One of our hikes was the Heather–Maple Pass Loop in the North Cascades. Wondered where the maples were.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:35 pmWe’ll add that one to the list, Radegunda. It’s just a few miles west of Blue Lake, and it looks like more of a workout.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:38 pmDumb
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:39 pmDon’t blame Biden. [Yes, a good word for the idiot in chief.] This was always going to end this way, no matter who was in the Oval.
Poor management by Westmorland-type Pentagon brassholes fronting for the greedy MIC – like the Cheney Retirement Fund- aka Hallibuton- which collected hundreds of millions of dollars in service contract fees, all charged to Uncle Sam’s credit card. Neocons call it– Reaganomics.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:43 pmAfghanistan on the Rio Grande
Judge orders DHS to restart Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy
A federal judge ordered Homeland Security to restart President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, ruling Friday that the Biden administration cut too many corners when it scrapped the get-tough approach to illegal border crossers.
Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rushed to scrap the policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, without considering the benefits of pushing border jumpers back across the boundary to Mexico to await their immigration court dates.
The decision is a severe blow to the Biden team’s efforts to roll back Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and a victory for Texas Attorney General Kan Paxton and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who brought the lawsuit.
JF (e1156d) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:43 pm“One of our hikes was the Heather–Maple Pass Loop in the North Cascades. Wondered where the maples were.”
The answer is right there, Radegunda. They took a pass on the maples.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:44 pm@105. dumb
Yes, Neocons surely are whn smacked w/t sting of truth. Bengay should set you straight.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:45 pmA federal judge ordered Homeland Security to restart President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy
Administrative Procedures Act is good for the gander, too.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:50 pmHaiku, the tax on gas is the least of it. CA’s tax isn’t the issue. It’s the closed market due to special required formulations. ONLY gasoline produced by the four refineries in CA (and there will never be more than 4) can be sold. This allows them to keep production at a level that maximizes profits.
Hey… fitty cent per gallon here, fitty cent per gallon there, pretty soon we’re talking real money. But yes, I know the problem is much deeper than the recent tax hike. It’s the mindset, it’s everything that contributes.
Reading said measure before that vote, all the unicorns and fairy dust language used, there were probably millions that didn’t understand it was a tax hike.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:53 pm“Our borders are overrun and not by people from Mexico. They are coming in from all over the world, some with bad intent. Many with covid. Biden keeps the borders open and has them being shipped all over the country. Nine months ago we had finally slowed the migration.
Our energy sector has been kneecapped and Biden is now begging Russia and OPEC to pump more oil. Nine months ago we were energy independent.
Inflation is growing faster than corn in Indiana. Nine months ago we were fine.
Crime has skyrocketed across the country making it unsafe for everybody. Democrats defunded police, made police the enemy, and now our cities are sh*tholes. Nine months ago…well…some of them were still sh*tholes.
Covid is running through the country, and the vaccines seem to not matter a whit. Still, Biden is trying hard to make it mandatory nationally. Nine months ago we were cranking out a new vaccine with hope. Now…the Bidens are just hoping while the rest of us are not sure who to listen to or what is fact and what is fiction.
Afghanistan is now a major Taliban and soon to be Al Qaeda country. Bad things are coming. Nine months ago, the Taliban would not have tested Trump.
How’s it going everybody? Happy with your vote? At least there are no mean tweets any longer.”
—- Temujin
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:02 pmI realize you are always right, no matter what the facts are, but this week is showing why staying in afghanistan had literally no downside, relative to any real option.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:07 pmThis half-assed, irresponsible, apparently un-planned withdrawal is an arguably criminal undertaking. Between the Biden junta and our so-called military leaders, it’s hard to say who takes home the prize for incompetence. The lives put at risk and the murder, mayhem and oppression to follow… people need to be held accountable.
I won’t argue with anyone claiming “America is not trustworthy”.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:07 pmI wonder how long it would take the Democrats to force the tax back on, if a new governor “suspended” the gas tax due to the “economic dislocations and the pandemic.” I can’t see why it’s any different that an eviction moratorium.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:20 pmBiden couldn’t have handled this (or pretty much all of his presidency) worse if he were actively opposed to this nation’s long-term success. I don’t think it’s so simple. I think he delegated his decision making to people who are actually hoping to knock the USA down a few pegs.
10-20-30 years down the road, when China and Russia are organizing their allies, will America get any allies? Will they remember how we stuck with our friends in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or honored our own committment to our own goals and our own security?
But delegated or not doesn’t matter, and who he ran against last time doesn’t matter. Today, he is responsible 100% for one of the most needless and massive loses of life and any semblance of liberty we’ve seen in a long time.
Those comparisons of US Army ads to Russian army ads come to mind.
Meanwhile China is playing a 100 year game, lining up allies in Africa, setting the stage ,learning lessons from 2020’s pandemic. We (as a nation) don’t even have the balls to call 2020 what it really was.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:22 pm“At least there are no mean tweets any longer.”
I think stupid-ass, moronic, and wildly-untrue were more accurate.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:22 pmlearning lessons from 2020’s pandemic.
Oh, I think they got their virus pretty much perfected the first time.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:23 pmI wonder the host’s former boss will publicly endorse Elder.
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:44 am
Why? Lacey is a dyed in the wool Democrat. Or is there another reason she should endorse Elder?
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:27 pmWill they remember how we stuck with our friends in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Iraq is a problem, in that our loss there was an unforced error. Afghanistan is more a matter of our friends failing to succeed, even after 20 years of our backing.
If I take the long view in Afghanistan, I think the Taliban will prove our best argument, just as the Mullahs are doing in Iran. When the well-educated and westernized people of Iran finally get rid of their religious masters (who cling to power solely through terror and the police state), the people of Iraq will follow.
I also think that the situation in China is unsustainable. The more people come to the cities and embrace the global culture, the weaker the Party becomes. The more the Party tries to keep the world away from them, the weaker the nation becomes. The weaker the nation becomes, the more the Party’s promises fail, and the weaker the Party becomes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:31 pmThe term “neoconservative” was originally used to describe those on the left who recognized that many of LBJ’s “War on Poverty” programs had failed. They were simultaneously criticizing those failures and looking for alternatives that might work better. The principal place they published was a quarterly magazine, The Public Interest
For example, the lead article in the Winter 1997 issue was “The End of Courtship” by Leon Kass, which was followed by James Q. Wilson’s “Criminal Justice in England and America”, and articles on CEO pay, teachers’ culture, and individualism.
There was some overlap with the Jewish magazine, Commentary; many authors were published by both magazines. As you would expect, Commentary argued for a vigorous American foreign policy to protect Israel, the United States, and other democratic nations.
Isolationists opposed them and began to call them “neocons”, which often allowed them to appeal, not too subtly, to anti-Semitism. (Under Jeremy Corbyn*, some in the British Labour Party dropped the subtlety. That’s one reason why he was dumped after the disastrous 2019 general election.)
Neoconservatives certainly influenced the George W. Bush administration, but they have had little influence on American policy since our 2006 elections.
To blame them for current events in Afghanistan, you have to assume — bizarrely — that Barack Obama and Donald Trump are neoconservatives, and that their administrations were dominated by them.
So, anyone who is knowledgeable about recent history will, when they see the term “neocon”, wonder about the writer’s grasp on mere facts — and, sadly, wonder about their prejudices. Are they, for instance, one of those people who say “Some of my best friends are . . . “?
I sincerely hope that those suspicions are wrong.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:31 pmOr is there another reason she should endorse Elder?
Elder and Lacey see eye to eye on criminal justice and bail “reform.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:33 pmI’ll confess that there were moments on the final uphill stretch when I did not want to be there, doing that. But I had resolved not to let any of my relatives hike any higher than I did. About half of the group, including some young children, had headed down after lunch instead of doing the whole loop.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:36 pmwhen China and Russia are organizing their allies
China, maybe. Russia has a history of terrible rulers. Putin is far above average there. I’d be expecting several Yeltsins or worse to follow.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:38 pmMystery solved.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:40 pmBut I still want to know why the marmots didn’t show themselves on Rainier.
120… so there may be several ponies in the pile of sh*t, but the old among us (raises hand) probably won’t see them in their lifetimes.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:40 pmJim,
I agree the term neocon means a lot of stuff, sometimes ‘jooooos’ sometimes ‘let’s try to build some western civilization out there’.
Kevin,
Obama royally missed his chance with Iran. That’s a good lesson. Bush was right to set things up to pressure some progress. We just didn’t have the follow through we needed.
But Biden is president today and he is the screwup today.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:44 pmDo you like marmots a lot?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:47 pm(Yes, I like marmots a lot.)
Marmalot, marmalot
(You gotta like marmots a lot)
Really like marmots a lot
(You gotta like marmots a lot)
Marmalot, marmalot
(You gotta like marmots a lot)
‘ “America is harmless as an enemy, but treacherous as a friend.” – Bernard Lewis
Why anyone would trust us is beyond me. We are feckless. We waste our passion on trivialities, but have thrown away an entire region of the world and handed it over to implacable enemies for what? So some of us can say, “I told you so,” at a 20 year remove?
If we had any honor, we would be handing out visas and opportunities wholesale to the Afghans. But we won’t. We will make them jump through bureaucratic hoops till they wind up piled into a ditch somewhere on the outskirts of Kabul.
Looking back, with 20/20 hindsight, George W. Bush should have carpet bombed every city in Afghanistan until there was nothing but a smoking ruin and then left the survivors to starve. At least it would have been honest.’
—- policraticus
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:53 pm@113. You got the bill. S2.26 TRILLION. Your check is in the mail, eh Neocon?
Right.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:54 pm#104 – Some time I hope to get up to Mowich Lake
It would, judging by that description, be prudent to drive there in a Jeep, or something similar.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 1:57 pmIf Mr. “I Alone Can Fix It” had gotten his way, all the troops would have been out by May. Donald the Great tells us that the result would have been successful because he “personally had discussions with top Taliban leaders whereby they understood what they are doing now would not have been acceptable.” The Taliban understood better than anybody else that they must obey Donald, because their leaders “personally” told him so!
If our military leaders hadn’t talked him out of a precipitous withdrawal (from everywhere), we would have seen the same result several months ago — and the Trumplicans would all say he did the right thing by ending “forever wars.”
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:01 pm@115. There’s a reasonable surplus now so they could reinstitute in incrementally over 5 years or so. Thing is the roads are still beat to hell as is and repairs are slow.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:03 pm10, 20, 30, 40, 50 more
The bewildered Joe Biden, ran up the score
No one’s even able to prevent that spree
Of Joe Biden’s errors, in W.D.C.
– Duh Capitol’s guardsmen.
felipe (484255) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:10 pm@12. =yawn=
“Prominent neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration included Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle and Paul Bremer. While not identifying as neoconservatives, senior officials Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listened closely to neoconservative advisers regarding foreign policy, especially the defense of Israel and the promotion of American influence in the Middle East. Many of its adherents became politically influential during the Republican presidential administrations of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, peaking in influence during the administration of George W. Bush, when they played a major role in promoting and planning the 2003 invasion of Iraq and invasion of Afghanistan.
Critics of neoconservatism have used the term to describe foreign policy and war hawks who support aggressive militarism or neo-imperialism.’ -wikiscumbags.flushem
Get w/t program, Jimbo.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:12 pmSome years ago, we had to drive up a long windy gravel road (essentially one lane) to get to a trail head, and all the way up I was thinking “I hope we don’t meet anyone coming down!” We didn’t. But on the way down, we had to pass 3 vehicles that were going up — probably people starting an overnight trek. It was scary, and there’s no way I would have done the driving.
What’s worse: My sister & brother-in-law had car trouble on a gravel mountain road. As I recall, they were going up, and someone coming up behind them helped them turn around safely, and they coasted down. They were on the east side of the Cascades, and getting the car to a service station and then getting home to the west side was a complicated operation.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:13 pm119/RipM, tribalism, maybe the chance at the first ______ CA Gov, closet immigration restrictionist, revenge against an San Fran-sourced replacement (Gascon).
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:14 pm#127 dustin – You will probably find this opinion piece surprising — I did.
And the Christians there are profoundly pro Israel.
But I will say that we should not make too much of this growth, since Iran has a population of about 83 million. However, it is also true that many Iranians are secular, and the nation has very large non-Persian ethnic groups.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:15 pmConvoy Joe shudda delegated this Afghan thingy to Queen Kamala and spent the month at his favorite choke & puke.
She would have either been stuck w/t blame for the quick collapse… or for following form– and doing nothing.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:16 pm138, and it will suck not to have bases on both sides
urbanleftbehind (a72c42) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:19 pmGreat link, Jim.
Iran hates two things: the way things are, and change.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:30 pm‘If we had any honor, we would be handing out visas and opportunities wholesale to the Afghans. But we won’t. We will make them jump through bureaucratic hoops till they wind up piled into a ditch somewhere on the outskirts of Kabul.’
ROFLMAOPIP The “honor” of a plagiarist:
“The United States has no obligation to evacuate one — or 100,001 — South Vietnamese,” Mr. Biden said, in an April 1975 meeting at the White House with President Ford. -source history.com
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:37 pmMohammad Reza Pahlavi condemned his nation to four generations of suffering when his stole his father’s throne. The curse might be nearing its expiration date, but I don’t know that it’s done yet.
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:43 pmA worthwhile observation:
https://xkcd.com/2502/
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:51 pmMohammad Reza Pahlavi condemned his nation to four generations of suffering when his stole his father’s throne.
Daddy was a Hitler ally. The son had plenty of help. He took a nation from being a backwater to a 2nd-world western country with civil rights for women and ubiquitous education. Then President Carter got all antsy about the Shah’s ruthlessness when it came to putting down the toothless cretins who didn’t do well in an educated society where women had rights. So, he threw the Shah over for the religious nutbars and washed his hands of it.
The last 40 years of suffering in Iran are Carter’s fault. I hope he rots in Hell. Soon.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:57 pmYou have to remember that Biden’s horizon is a little less than 4 years.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:01 pmOne man’s journey. I think there may be hope for some of the misguided voters/commenters here @PP’s…
https://youtu.be/b56Si3DY6cQ
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:13 pm119/RipM, tribalism, maybe the chance at the first ______ CA Gov, closet immigration restrictionist, revenge against an San Fran-sourced replace (Gascon).
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:13 pmI doubt it. She and Elder politically have nothing in common (except the obvious). The fact she hasn’t endorsed Newsom (after he endorsed Gascon) speaks volumes.
Biden has just ordered 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan, which will bring the total to about 5,000.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:18 pm134… Bonus points for that one, felipe! Your lyrics and the Royal Guardsmen with what looks like a live performance and a little splash of “the Freddie” (Freddie and the Dreamers) choreography thrown in teh mix!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:21 pmThese new norms are kinda abby normal so far. Just sayin’…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:27 pmAmerican politicians are, comparatively speaking, boring.
(For which we can be grateful.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:42 pmSix Days on the RoadSix Months Under BidenWell Joe camped out in his basement and they called it a winning campaign
With his squintin’ and a stutter people thinkin’ he’s a little insane
Got a son that’s hooked on the crack
But he’ll never go to jail that’s a fact
Six months under Biden and I don’t think it’ll end all right
We got Harris in the bullpen and if that don’t give you a fright
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:57 pmIf a cackle was some spackle she could plaster every wall in sight
They spendin’ money like it’s growin’ on trees
Got me feelin’ like I’m weak in the knees
Six months under Biden and I don’t think it’ll end all right
The Royal Guardsmen, Ocala FL-based, no hint of Skynard or Petty with that sound…thought they were Canadians.
urbanleftbehind (b80713) — 8/14/2021 @ 3:59 pmBiden has just ordered 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan, which will bring the total to about 5,000.
“Guns Of August”…
Keep on Truckin’ Joey!
“Cause we gotta great big Convoy;
Rockin’ through the night;
Yeah we gotta great big Convoy;
Ain’t she a beautiful sight! Convoy!!!!”
– ‘Convoy’ C.W. McCall, 1975
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:01 pmPatterico — I wanted to comment on this Twitter post from yesterday. (I don’t do Twitter myself.)
The photo of the black father shows a tragic sadness in his eyes. If a smiling photo had been posted below the headline, Rashid would probably have said it was a racist attempt to suggest that he was happy about having killed someone.
In the case of the white man, the smiling photo below the disturbing headline doesn’t suggest he was happy about killing his kids, since they’re in the picture too. But the idea that it was chosen to “normalize white supremacy” and white dads killing their own children is completely bonkers. Is there anyone who would think “It’s okay that he killed his kids because he’s got my skin tone?”
IMO, Rashid wasn’t making a good-faith argument, but just trying to find white racism (and black victimhood) everywhere. And it’s very unhelpful to social comity.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:02 pmIt’s spelled skynyrd, yankie
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:03 pm“Six Months Under Biden…”
“30 Days in the Hole” – Humble Pie, 1972
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:03 pmThe job is too big for him.
He’s a bum.
Resign.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:13 pm“Trump’s chosen withdrawal date was May.”
Response: “Exactly. 100 days ago. Like Cuomo, Biden thinks he can just give 2 weeks notice and the Taliban will helpfully and politely see him to the door. You are lying when you say, “ The Trump apologists have no basis to criticize the very result that they first proposed.” Neither Trump nor his supporters ever proposed “the result” that you supporters of Biden have handed all of us. You own this. You and the Biden regime and the entire corrupt Democratic Party along with whatever is left of the chickenhawk chickensh*t Never Trump Republicans.”
—- Meade
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:15 pmI’ll take that any day, Col….might come in handy if I accidently kick a soccer ball into DCSCA’s yard.
urbanleftbehind (b80713) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:21 pm#156 “(I don’t do Twitter myself.)” And you have many other good qualities, I’m sure.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:24 pm‘The Democrat party’s main stream media allies will have their hands full trying to censure and hide all of the cell phone videos of collaborator executions and little girl “marriages” that will come as a result of this boondoggle.’
—- jj121957
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:24 pmShe and Elder politically have nothing in common
One day we will get past the abortion/gay social-norms thing and then all kinds of realignments will happen.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:27 pm158… Joe Bidenese it got you weak in your knees
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:28 pmThe Royal Guardsmen
Not what they are remembered for.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:28 pmNot that it will do any good, because stop #1 for that horrorcore will be here.
urbanleftbehind (b80713) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:29 pmYou wait sixteen weeks, what do you get?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:31 pmAnother day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the Federal Reserve
Biden: We’re leaving, generals, what’s our Exit Strategy?
Generals: DROP EVERYTHING AND RUN LIKE HELL!
Biden: Make it so.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:31 pmBiden has just ordered 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan, which will bring the total to about 5,000.
Same place, another time:
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:34 pmWas there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Biden: We’re leaving, generals, what’s our Exit Strategy?
Generals: Well, first we regroup, bringing all our allies along. It will take a few months to do this. Anything we can’t take, we’ll destroy. We’ll have to prepare resources at home, probably on military bases, for the 400,000 or so evacuees we plan to take. It will be the most massive airlift in history and make this country proud.
Biden: You have 6 days.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:38 pmNot that it will do any good, because stop #1 for that horrorcore will be here.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 4:39 pm170… more like:
Half a brain, half a brain,
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:07 pmHalf a brain onward…
Joe Biden = Commodore Stocker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMaeHGAdZYI
“The Romulans are notorious for not listening to explanations…”
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:20 pmMr Montagu wrote:
President Nixon spent an additional four years and 24,000 American lives seeking his Peace With Honor™.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:38 pm@170. Same place, another time…
Not quite.
The Kyber Pass ain’t in Crimea; but you get marks for your intended messaging. [Late father was into this era which is why we were dragged to the IWM at least once a month. Had Brit crap from this era-Crimea- Boer War etc., all around the house as a youngster- from flags to lead soldiers to regimental books, paintings… even uniforms.] Americans are fools messing about in this region–especially w/a dumb-azzed mick from Scranton issuing orders… or is it Wilmington this week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:39 pm@175. President Nixon spent an additional four years and 24,000 American lives seeking his Peace With Honor™.
And a significant percentage of the $1 trillion [in today’s dollars] of the cost of the Vietnam war as well… but at least it was paid for via taxation and program cuts– not put on Uncle Sam’s credit card like the $2.26 trillion for Afghanistan.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 5:42 pmPresident Nixon spent an additional four years and 24,000 American lives seeking his Peace With Honor™
And still ended with helicopters pushed into the sea.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:06 pmThe Taliban governed Afghanistan before 9/11.
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:07 pmThe year before that, they had attempted to ingratiate themselves with the “international community” by curtailing the cultivation of opium poppies, displeasing the opium-dealing pederasts with whom we eventually allied ourselves under the label of Northern Alliance, and cutting off their own major source of funds as well.
After 9/11, we demanded they turn over Osama bin Laden, and they refused.
Risking everything.
And they did lose a great many things.
But not the two things that mattered.
And that’s the way it is, on this the 7,277th of the Global War On Terrorism.
OK, different British graveyard. Like Gallipoli.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:08 pm7,277th *day*
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:09 pmBeing a critic of Trump and his fanatical devotees doesn’t mean being a supporter of Biden, or an apologist for his Afghanistan policy.
Trump cares about results if they affect him personally. He thought he could personally charm the Taliban leaders into keeping commitments, so he could bring troops back before the election. After the election, he wanted a rapid withdrawal but military leaders talked him out of it.
Trumpers have been saying “America First” and “Bring the troops home” for years, and generally showing a lack of concern for brown-skinned refugees. Trumpers have shown a remarkable willingness to frame everything Trump does as good and proper.
There is no chance that Trump devotees would ever criticize Trump for doing exactly what Biden did.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:10 pmNone.
Also: Biden’s ill-considered policy in Afghanistan (or any other suboptimal policy) in no way justifies the efforts of Trump and his devotees to overturn an election coercively. But Trumpers are busy trying to shame anyone who still believes that one needs to win the election to be president.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:20 pm“ For better or worse, Donald Trump was turned out by the 2020 election. He has nothing to do with this. The President of the United States is Joseph R. Biden. In Biden we have what you get when you put a dim, vicious, mendacious, empty vessel in the office of president. He has surrounded himself with time-servers and radicals who don’t understand what has made the USA successful in the past and don’t believe in the fundamental precepts of our nation. He has a widely recognized record of opportunism, folly, and failure (see the judgments of President Obama and Secretary Gates cited at 1:27 PM above).
I expect much worse in the near future. The West (USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, NZ, Canada, the EU generally) has elected craven officials who make fear their counsellor and who borrow from the future to live in luxury in the present. Does anyone think that the CCP has not noticed? They haven’t had to fire a shot.
Against our hard-earned experience in Vietnam and other places where nation-building has failed (including Detroit, Newark, Portland, and Chicago), we chose to save the world in response to the 9/11 attacks instead of punishing the perpetrators. The results were predictable. Now we can’t even agree to save ourselves from a virus.
In the future we must do better.”
—- Amadeus 48
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:21 pmSure, but who cares. Trump was a sore loser to the point where it’s just not even worth talking about him. Biden is the president screwing up today. And he’s screwing up bigly.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:29 pm“ Another collosal failure of our “intelligence” “services” who are much too busy serving as political messaging and action arms of the democratical party to do anything productive.
Just today, those jackasses have added to their astonishing history of incompetence and endless litany of missed estimates by “officially” modifying their estimate of how long it would take the Taliban to take large swaths of the country from 80 days to……(drumroll)….72 hours.
It was John Le Carre himself who guessed that about 98% of all “intelligence” work products were simply made up! (See the movies “Our Man in Havana” and “The Tailor of Panama” for cinematic illustrations of this truism.
And then picture rooms full of Malcolm Nances and General Millie Vanillis and Brennans and Clappers and Comeys and the entire CNN and MSNBC lineup of foreign policy and strategy “experts” and you too will find yourself thinking: how were these morons not further off in their already grotesquely wrong “estimates”?‘
—- Drago
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:30 pmThis is interesting… https://mobile.twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1426250355415916544
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:43 pm#186 Colonel – I love these jokes: “[Trump] has nothing to do with this [failure in Afghanistan].”
and “[W]e chose to save the world in response to the 9/11 attacks instead of punishing the perpetrators.”
Where do you find them? Are they accompanied with laugh tracks? Are they on Tw****r?
(Notes for the humor-impaired: Trump “negotiated” a withdrawal from Afghanistan, undermining the Afghan government. Biden is simply following Trump’s lead.
Among others, Osama bin Laden is dead. Others are in Gitmo. Most would consider those punishments.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:56 pmI have never understood the idea of sending troops into harms way without the determination to so thoroughly defeat the enemy that their descendants would tell stories of the horror for generations as they huddle in caves trying to stay warm and dry
Horatio (4636cc) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:57 pmI missed one, and possibly two jokes in that comment. Joe Biden has many faults, but calling him “vicious” is just plain funny. If the “mendacious” comes from a Trumpista, well, that’s funny too; it’s like a fan of elephants complaining that a mouse is too big.
Projection?
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:02 pmColonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/13/2021 @ 9:35 pm
They don’t know how to use them.
That is not to say, that soldiers from a foreign army (volunteers, of course and secretly) might be sent to help them.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-poised-to-transfer-1000-hellfire-missiles-to-pakistan/article7081847.ece
Or that they might be exported. Along with the opium. Which can be said to be mainly a problem for the neighboring countries, or India, or Australia or counties in Europe. In the U.S. it comes from South America and besides the big problem is fentanyl.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:03 pmAnd still ended with helicopters pushed into the sea.
Meh. Reaganomics.
“… a noble cause.” – Ronald Reagan
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:05 pmAll depends on the meaning of “this”… here’s another…
Interesting Exit Question: with this utter failure by our General-Patton-Of-Woke, General Millie Vanilli, one in a long series of operational failures which were papered over by political suck-uppery, is the typical transition from “active political duty” to defense contractor/deep state “Think”-Tank still in the cards for General Cinnabon?
Or should he take what he’s best at and play to his strengths in developing new lines of male cosmetics targeted at “Today’s” Armed Forces and gender-transtioning front line soldiers?”
—- Drago
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:06 pm@180. Gallipoli.
Ever the albatross ’round Winnie’s neck.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:09 pmJoe Biden has many faults, but calling him “vicious” is just plain funny.
So you’re okay with the “dim” and “empty vessel” descriptors?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:10 pmKevin:
https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1962-11-4-3
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:13 pmIf the “mendacious” comes from a Trumpista, well, that’s funny too; it’s like a fan of elephants complaining that a mouse is too big.
Projection?
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:02 pm
True, mendacity would involve a degree of active mental acuity, and Biden can’t even get inside the White House door without the Secret Service flagging him to it like some airport crew chief guiding an airplane to the terminal.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:14 pmI have never understood the idea of sending troops into harms way without the determination to so thoroughly defeat the enemy that their descendants would tell stories of the horror for generations as they huddle in caves trying to stay warm and dry
Horatio (4636cc) — 8/14/2021 @ 6:57 pm
Generations of self-doubt inculcated by association with people who are crippled with self-loathing for living in a first world country.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:19 pm@190. Joe Biden has many faults, but calling him “vicious” is just plain funny.
You must be young and don’t know much about this nasty mick when he gets his Irish up.
He’s a mean POS. We knew of him nearly 50 years ago when in South Jersey and he was a freshly minted-hair-plugged-mealy-mouthed-quick-tempered ‘I’ll take-you out-back-the-gymnasium-here-hold-my-coat-blowhard who somehow never gets to the saloon door senator across the bay in Delaware. Channel 12 Wilmington polluted the airwaves w/his BS. Ask Corn Pop– would could take him now from the grave.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:21 pmRip Murdock (431d14) — 8/14/2021 @ 12:21 am
Well, the U.S. didn;t exactly do that.
They let Pakistan’s rogue military intelligence agency decide who got ehe help, and they supported mostly only Islamicists…
Mission accomplished was about Iraq.
Mullah Omar wasn’t making any decisions, He was such a nonentity, he continued to be the leader for two years after he was dead – something even Korean dictator Kim Il Sung did not accomplish.
Pakistan’s rogue military intelligence agency was making all the decisions, or an elite group within it.
The Taliban aren’t taking any prisoners – they either let Afghan soldiers flee across the border otr they kill them, including wounded soldiers in hospitals.
They’ve placed all their chips on military victory. Previously, they exchanged (in a deal pretty much forced in the Afghan government by the United States) an exchange of 1,000 Afghan government people for 5,000 Taliban,
They were in denial; they are still in denial, about the consequences of a U.S. pullout. So how could they do that?
They still rest their hopes on negotiations. Biden’s whole philosophy of war and peace is bankrupt.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:21 pmThe schiff hole country should have been rubble on 9-12.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:26 pmSo you’re okay with the “dim” and “empty vessel” descriptors?
Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to polite descriptors for the 18-wheeler Big Guy.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:26 pmLooking back, with 20/20 hindsight, George W. Bush should have carpet bombed every city in Afghanistan until there was nothing but a smoking ruin and then left the survivors to starve. At least it would have been honest.’
That ain’t no 20/20 hindsight. Not even 20/2000. The history of Afghanistan, from Alexander on down, is invaders occupying the cities (actually forts) and the resistance owning the countryside. If anybody starves, it will be the cities.
I have never understood the idea of sending troops into harms way without the determination to so thoroughly defeat the enemy that their descendants would tell stories of the horror for generations as they huddle in caves trying to stay warm and dry
Sometimes you find an enemy that doesn’t let you defeat him.
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:30 pm82. Dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:38 am
Afghanistan would be better off with a smaller, but more reliable military. There is no thing so bad as having soldiers in one place who suddenly are not there.
Deuteronomy 20:8
Wisdom.
Of course there is also the problem of financial corruption at upper level ranks. Ghost soldiers and not being supplied with food and other supplies.
The United States trained an army that depends on logistics. Biden pulled out the contractors, too.
Not inevitable, but there are many scearios in which that could happen.
Number of Americans killed in Afghanistan since February, 2020: 0
Of course that was connected to the promise of withdrawal. But they weren’t exposing themselves.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:33 pm“The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.” —Temujin
Horatio (4636cc) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:33 pmmore biden crap that we can’t blame on biden
COVID Precautions Are Back — Everywhere but on the Southern Border
When we are asking so much of our own citizens, why are we now allowing people from around the world to enter our country and potentially bring and spread new strains of COVID?
Yet that’s exactly what we are doing today at our Southern border. Bizarrely, the United States is only policing our borders for COVID for those who enter through our airports, not over land borders. At the airport, passengers, including American citizens, must have a negative COVID-19 test or proof of recovery to enter, even if they are fully vaccinated.
No such precautions exist for those entering over the land. Travelers entering a land border, including migrants, are not required to have a COVID test and frequently they aren’t even tested at all before entering and traveling to destinations across the country. A representative of National Border Patrol Council, Christ Cabrera, warned, “Not everyone we encounter we test, only those that exhibit some type of symptoms and not everybody has symptoms that has it … And we’re releasing people out of the door day in and day out with actual positive tests for COVID and more keep popping up.”
JF (e1156d) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:33 pm201.The schiff hole country should have been rubble on 9-12.
Turning rock and caves into rubble and gravel wit multi-billion dollar weapon systems. You can sink a $15 billion American aircraft carrier w/a few $2.5 million French made Exocet missiles, too.
Reaganomics!!!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:33 pm“The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.” —Temujin
Cool. Now look up who the closer relatives of Temujin are these days. We or the Afghanis?
nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:41 pm132. nk (1d9030) — 8/14/2021 @ 2:43 pm
The British put him in. His father was a would-be Nazi collaborator who changed the name of the country in the 1930s from Persia to Iran, to emphasize they were “Aryans” and gain the sympathy of Nazi Germany.
His father was was exiled to South Africa, later Egypt, where he died in 1944 and as preserved as a mummy. His body was later taken to Iran and his burial place forgotten till it was rediscovered and then his body was quietly disposed of.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43891825
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:45 pmAgain the airwaves tonight are filled military brassholes claiming ‘the politicians’ lost Afghanistan and the military did its job.
Conservative CYA,MIC neocon-protecting bullsh!t.
The politicians funneled $2.26 TRILLION to the uniformed Pentagon MIC protecting clowns for 20 years.
And the brassholes failed. Might doesn’t make right if the mutton munchers you’re training won’t fight.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:47 pm93
No, We were unwilling to go into Pakistan and attack them, with minor exceptions.
And Joe Biden opposed even the raid on the house where Osama bin Laden was living.
While John McCain opposed doing anything without notifying the government of Pakistan in advance.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/14/2021 @ 7:55 pmBiden pulled out the contractors, too.
After $2.26 trillion charged to your AMEX card– and the roof still leaks after 20 years of work– you would, too.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:01 pmHave any of you Bourbon enthusiasts tried this? I don’t partake but a good friend loves it.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:07 pmhttps://jeffersonsbourbon.com/jeffersons-ocean/?direct=1&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=Jeffersons_AlwaysOn_H1_2022&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn-uyn4Wy8gIVBeXICh24ewCyEAAYASAAEgLRtPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
@213 I clicked the link, but didn’t see a price.
norcal (a6130b) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:14 pm#195 Colonel – No, but they aren’t funny in the way “vicious” and, probably, “mendacious” are.
For the record: I was born during World War II, and have been following politics closely since 1960.
Biden, like Trump, is of average intelligence. Both are better with words than numbers, and neither has any real understanding of grand strategy. (That helps explain why they chose essentially identical Afghan strategies.) Biden, far from being an empty vessel, is filled with standard Democratic ideas, ideas that he has changed as the party has changed.
Neither read serious books, so there is not much reason to think they will learn much in the next year or two.
To his credit, Biden is not a narcissist, which makes it possible for him to listen to other people’s ideas, even ideas that conflict with his own.
Now, Colonel, it is time for you to reveal the source of those jokes. If the jokester has more jokes of that high quality, you should share them with us.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:16 pm@214. It changes hourly— inflation. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:16 pmFor the record: I was born during World War II, and have been following politics closely since 1960.
Apparently not closely enough; then you’d know better about the plagiarizing 18-wheeler Big Guy.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:19 pmTo his credit, Biden is not a narcissist
DEFINITELY not close enough:
hair-plugs. =mikedrop=
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:21 pmdcsca,
Just because you hate someone doesn’t mean every they have every negative attribute.
You’re so repetitive and frankly this is also dumb.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:25 pmFrom March 17:
So Biden’s mistake was not meeting Trump’s deadline, then, because Trump must have been right.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:30 pmBoth are better with words than numbers, and neither has any real understanding of grand strategy.
Let’s see: better with words: one, once a motor mouth a known plagiarist stealing other people’s words who can barely speak coherently these days; the other can vamp on the stump for two hours straight and doesn’t have to steal a line from anybody.
Numbers… one, a rider of never-turns-a-profit-Amtrak who boasts being the poorest senator, tapping his drugged out kid for financing’- the other a blatant, system manipulating capitalist millionaire with his own jetliner and helicopter fleet, wheeling and dealing in NY real estate in the greatest city in the world.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:30 pm@219. Except they do.
Get over it.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:32 pmhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/majority-registered-democratic-voters-prefer-socialism-to-capitalism-fox-news-poll
They tell you what they are.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/14/2021 @ 8:36 pm@219.You know what’s ‘dumb’ Dusty-boy?
This:
–The United States has spent $2.26 trillion on the war [charged to Uncle Sam’s credit card], which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan- which does not include funds that the U.S. is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war.
-America’s costs for the Manhattan Project -developing the atomic bomb- totaled about $21.6 billion thorough 1945 in today’s dollars. -source, https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/costs-us-nuclear-weapons/
-The original twin-tower World Trade Center cost about $3.7 billion in today’s dollars. -source, NYT
-The entire Vietnam War cost the U.S. $1 trillion in today’s dollars– and it was paid for via taxes and program cuts. -source, history com.
-Over 801,000 people have died due to direct war violence, and several times as many indirectly. Over 335,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting 37 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons. The U.S. federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4 trillion dollars. On Uncle Sam’s credit card. -source, watson.brown.edu/costsofwar
-Adjusted for inflation, the entire Second World War against the Axis Powers, cost the United States roughly $4 trillion in today’s dollars.-source, history.com
–The Marshall Plan – the European Recovery Plan of 1948-1951 cost roughly $130 billion in today’s dollars. – source, eurobserver.com
-Adjusted for inflation, the War of 1812 cost the U.S. about $1.6 billion in today’s dollars.
-The Apollo program– to send Americans to the moon- cost the U.S. $152 billion in today’s dollars -source, forbes.com
You know what’s DUMB, Dusty-boy? -charging $2.26 trillion to Uncle Sam’s credit card for 20 years of war, training, supplies/equipment and getting zip for it.
Buy or sell any Afghan War Bonds lately? Nope.
That, laddie, is ‘dumb.’
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:03 pmFrom April 19:
Just like he was all in favor of the Iraq war when it was politically opportune. When it wasn’t, then he claimed to have had the wisdom to know it was wrong all along, and his devotees swallowed it whole.
Oh but Trump had conditions for the Taliban, you say?
Trump thought the Taliban would be a peace partner and help fight the terrorists. And they’re “tough” and “smart.”
Nobody understood the Taliban better than Donald Trump.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 9:07 pmWhen Trump betrayed our Kurdish allies by suddenly pulling troops out of northern Syria and basically inviting Turkey in to kill them, he tweeted:
So no, he would not have been more concerned about the fate of our Afghan allies .
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:22 pmSo no, he [Trump] would not have been more concerned about the fate of our Afghan allies.
As opposed to this idiot:
“The United States has no obligation to evacuate one — or 100,001 — South Vietnamese,” Mr. Biden said, in an April 1975 meeting at the White House with President Ford. -source history.com
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:14 pmTrump cares about results if they affect him personally.
And he will betray anyone if it removes risk from himself. Case in point: he called all these people to the Capitol and apparently thought their storming of the building was great, but refused to issue a blanket pardon — which he could easily have done — because he thought that it would leave him holding the bag. So, he betrayed them all. Live with it Trumpies.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:46 pmSure, but who cares. Trump was a sore loser to the point where it’s just not even worth talking about him. Biden is the president screwing up today. And he’s screwing up bigly.
This. All the back and forth about Trump serves no one other than Biden. I’m guilty too. We have to move on.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:48 pmJoe Biden has many faults, but calling him “vicious” is just plain funny.
Biden orchestrated the Anita Hill thing by leaking her name to the press.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:50 pmLooking back, with 20/20 hindsight, George W. Bush should have carpet bombed every city in Afghanistan until there was nothing but a smoking ruin and then left the survivors to starve. At least it would have been honest.’
Are you kidding? Six months later we’d see the daily reports of the starving children and broken bodies, day in and day out, that the evil Bush-Hilter can caused. The people who opposed him would have used whatever they had at hand. They did anyway.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:52 pmSometimes you find an enemy that doesn’t let you defeat him.
There were quite a few Nazis who tried to fight on. We just killed them and any German near them until it stopped.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:53 pm214- $95.00/bottle is what he paid, norcal.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/15/2021 @ 4:04 amBagram Airfield-BAF as fallen to the Taliban. They’re in Kabul.
After $2.26 trillion wasted and 20 years, this is President Plagiarist’s moment to actually plagiarize President John F. Kennedy’s comments after the Bay of Pigs debacle, do a presser, step up and say to the American people- and the world- he is “the responsible officer of government.”
If he deflects blame to Trump or any of his predecessors instead and evades responsibility… it simply reaffirms… he’s a bum.
And in a piece of sweet irony, Russia wants an emergency session of the UN Security Council to deal with the collapse of the Afghan government. What goes around, comes around, eh, comrades?!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 5:10 amhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9893465/Americans-PhDs-reluctant-vaccinated-against-COVID-study-finds.html
Certainly this is going to throw a money wrench into the usual insults.
NJRob (2be0ea) — 8/15/2021 @ 5:56 am#230 Kevin – Here’s what my 2006 Almanac of American Politics has to say:
That doesn’t prove that Biden didn’t leak it, but Michael Barone and Richard Cohen make it sound as if someone else did. (Who? Teddy Kennedy, or someone on his staff?)
(For the record: Recently Jonah Goldberg was quoted as saying that, even if you believe Anita, what Thomas did was “boorish”, not harassment. I agree.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/15/2021 @ 6:02 amhttps://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/08/is_the_federal_government_torturing_brian_kolfage.html
Absolutely disgusting if true.
Cruel and unusual.
NJRob (2be0ea) — 8/15/2021 @ 6:05 amActually, I cut-and-pasted that line, Commenter Dana, not “wrote”, but I agree with it. I forgot to blockquote, and I wouldn’t want to be referred to “Plagiarism Paul” by a certain shouter-downer here.
In the case of Vietnam, honor would’ve been not starting that war on phony pretenses and lying to the American people as the Pentagon Papers made clear. For Afghanistan, it would’ve been honorable to spend $50 billion a year for a small footprint and aid to prevent the Taliban from returning to power, IMO, and keep the Afghan people from enslavement and slaughter. The Taliban had their chance, and they’re still allied with al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
I also agree with Jonah’s Dispatch colleague:
I don’t agree that we should adopt a “Responsibility to Protect” policy, because we have a higher responsibility to protect our national interests. However, this is true:
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 6:39 am234… looks like I miscalculated when I said teh Taliban would take Kabul by the end of August. Move over, Dementia Joe!
Dementia Joe Biden… when he’s not begging the Russians and ME oil producers to pump more oil, he’s begging the Taliban to slow their embarrassingly fast triumph.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 6:43 amRarely has an American president’s predictions been so wrong, so fast, so convincingly as President Biden on Afghanistan.
Usually military operations and diplomacy are long; the outcomes, foggy. Not here.
Just five weeks ago, President Biden assured Americans: “[T]he likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
In April, Biden said: “We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely.”
This morning, the Taliban is entering the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, “from all sides,” a senior Afghan official told Reuters. Jalalabad, the last major city besides the capital not held by the Taliban, fell earlier today.
Afghan forces today surrendered Bagram Air Base, the Grand Central of America’s longest war, to the Taliban.
CNN showed video of choppers over Kabul — believed to be ferrying U.S. diplomats to the airport.
The U.S. is completely pulling out of the embassy over the next 72 hours, and Taliban representatives are at the Kabul presidential palace, CNN reports.
The top of the Sunday New York Times: “Free Fall in Afghanistan.”
The big picture: It’s a stunning failure for the West, and embarrassment for Biden. And it’s a traumatic turn for U.S. veterans who sacrificed in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, the 20,000+ wounded in action, and survivors of the more than 2,300 U.S. military personnel who were killed.
Ryan Crocker, a U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan under President Obama, said last weekend on ABC’s “This Week”: “I think it is already an indelible stain on his presidency.”
Richard Fontaine, head of the Center for a New American Security and former foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain, told Axios: “It’s striking that, with 20 years to think it over, the United States withdrew its forces without a plan for the aftermath.“
As the bulk of American troops departed,” Fontaine added, “there was no plan for securing regional base access, for the contractors that maintain the Afghan military, for training that military after the U.S. departure, for evacuating interpreters and helpers.”
https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pm-1a490888-785e-413d-991a-ba7309c3fd10.html?chunk=0&utm_campaign=axios_app#story0
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:21 amhttps://www.floppingaces.net/2021/08/14/kabul-is-bidens-saigon/
mg (8cbc69) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:39 amIntelligence says 90 days before Kabul is taken, revised to 72 hours…..
Gone in less than 72 hours.
Afghan President Ghani has fled Kabul, and the Taliban are now in control of the capital. Great decision, Joe. Well done.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:44 amWhen do are intelligence agencies get intelligent? I despise being a booosh surrender monkey.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:45 amAs reported by the WSJ in mid-April, Biden rebuffed his commanders’ advice on withdrawal.
When Jon Karl (ABC News) asked about this today, Sec of State Blinken didn’t deny it.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:46 am🎶They put a boot in their own ass
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:48 amIt’s the Democrat way🎶
the guy is so old, saigon was biden’s saigon
JF (e1156d) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:48 amFunny that one of the “I hate Trump so much” comments above included this gem:
Stupid ol’ Trump listing to military leadership… what a moron.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:52 amThat WSJ piece… https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-rebuffed-commanders-advice-in-decision-to-leave-afghanistan-11618696597
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:53 am….listening to….
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 7:55 amRadegunda wrote:
Actually, it means that you own it!
Our esteemed host wrote, maybe more than a year ago — it was the concluding line of a main post, which, alas!, I didn’t save — that he’d vote for Joe Biden and accept the [insert slang term for feces here] show that would follow, because he thought President Trump was a crook. That, at least, was admitting that he owned the results.
I told everyone here that perhaps President Trump wasn’t a nice guy, but it was his policies, not his personality, which mattered. So many people here voted for Mr Biden’s personality, ’cause he wasn’t an [insert slang term for the rectum here] like President Trump, but along with the nice guy with the two German Shepherds and the wife with a doctorate, you got an imbecile who wants to not only keep abortion legal, but force taxpayers to pay for them, who can’t tell the difference between males and females, who is pushing through a $3.5 trillion (faux) infrastructure plan, who wants to make vote fraud easier rather than more difficult, is locking up the Capitol kerfufflers without bail, so that they can be punished before they ever go to trial, who is caving in to the idiotic Black Lives Matter philosophy, who has reopened our borders to waves of illegal immigrants, and 8,724,366.7 other idiotic things.
If you voted for Joe Biden, you voted for all of those things, along with an even worse person to be just a heartbeat away from a Presidency currently held by a 78 year, 8 month, and 26 day old guy in questionable mental health.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:00 amAfghans will soon learn the true meaning of ښه او سخت
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:01 amښه او سخت
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:05 amGood and hard
Why are you assuming he doesn’t know instead of he’s just claiming it’s all about the extreme right to discourage the recall voters?
BillPasadena (5b0401) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:20 amWhy do Democrats facilitate drunk driving? Biden should do a PSA for Senate Dems.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:23 am…….In the case of Vietnam, honor would’ve been not starting that war on phony pretenses and lying to the American people as the Pentagon Papers made clear…..
The same lies were told about Afghanistan.
Honor in Afghanistan would have leaving after killing bin Laden. Both the American and Afghan people were made suckers by their governments.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:24 amIs the WHO tracking the Taliban super-spreader event?
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:30 amAs reported by the WSJ in mid-April, Biden rebuffed his commanders’ advice on withdrawal.
From the article:
Two thoughts:
1. Apparently Biden’s rejection of the generals advice wasn’t important enough for them to resign over
2. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:44 amYou’d think we’d be good at the troop withdrawal thing by now, no?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:49 amMakes sense.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:49 amBiden carried out the plan that Trump negotiated, which Trump said was “a wonderful and positive thing to do.” Except that Trump thought it should have been done by May.
Trump said the Taliban “are tired of fighting, in all fairness.” He said they “understood” that they were supposed to be peace partners.
I’m not defending Biden. He made the error of fulfilling Trump’s plan and following the Trumpian “America First” doctrine.
The claim that Trump would have done it all better is predicated on the notion that Trump wouldn’t have cone what he plainly wanted to do, and ignoring what Trump actually said about it — until it worked out badly.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:55 amVae victis! (Woe to the vanquished!)
nk (1d9030) — 8/15/2021 @ 8:59 am— Some Gaulish chieftain, some 1,600 years before Temujin. (And neither played FortNite or Call of Duty on their computers or had read Heinlein’s Starship Troopers I believe, but I could be wrong.)
“Out damn spot! C,mon, man… will these hands ne’er be clean?”
—- Dementia Joe Biden
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:00 amNearly a third of Trump voters don’t plan to get vaccinated
Americans who voted for former President Trump last year are 10 times more likely than those who cast their ballot for President Biden to say they don’t ever plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new Fox News poll out Thursday.
Thirty-two percent of Trump voters say they have no plans to receive one of the three coronavirus vaccines available in the U.S., compared to only 3 percent of Biden voters, the poll found.
……….
Seventy-seven percent of Trump voters say that it’s more important to allow people to choose whether or not to be vaccinated, while only 16 percent of Biden voters said the same.
The overwhelming majority of Biden voters — 81 percent — say they believe it’s more important to prioritize overall public health and safety by requiring vaccinations in order for people to participate in everyday activities. Twenty-one percent of Trump voters also hold that belief.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:01 am……….
Poll details.
You don’t know who I voted for, if anyone. (I don’t live in a swing state either, by a long stretch.)
No Trump voter took that view when Trump did something that embarrassed even them. Then it was all “but Hillary” or “binary choice” or “how could we have predicted …”?
If you voted for Trump — or by your logic, if you ever criticized Biden — then you voted for his effort to shred the foundations of our democratic republic and keep himself in power illegally.
Given the stance of Trumpists over the past several years, it’s extremely unlikely that any of them would criticize Trump over the bad result of carrying out the withdrawal plan that Trump himself negotiated, and that Trump himself recently said was a good and wonderful thing.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:07 amI’ve been saying it for at least a decade here, but this outcome in Afghanistan was always going to happen. Afghanistan isn’t a country, you have no government to negotiate with, you have no army to train, you have tribes.
So, we should have went in, killed the right people, blocked escaped to Pakistan, then left. Much of the blame goes back to the weird infatuation with Iraq that Bush, or more importantly Rumsfeld and Cheney. Once Iraq became the focus, Afghanistan went on cruise control, at exactly the wrong time.
But I’m a broken record, the failure in Afghanistan was 16-17 years ago, and what’s happened this month was always going to be the thing that happened in that first month. Afghanistan has little active opposition to the Taliban, and the Taliban is active, so…
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:10 amThe sneaky stupid Trump plan blamers never go the extra mile to research the UN’s involvement or, more importantly, the Afghan government’s involvement in the negotiations:
https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2538.pdf
Within that link you will find useful links that discredit the notion that Trump made the deal that gets portrayed. The Afghan government said “we got this.” Additionally the negotiation required good faith actions from the Taliban. We will never know what Trump would have done once the bad faith took form, but we certainly know how Biden and the Afghan Government handled the breach in the negotiations.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:12 amIf Trump had gotten his way in trying to overturn the election and then had followed his own plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by May 1 (with trivial conditions), the same result would have happened and no Trump supporter would utter a peep of criticism. None of them would be talking about honor or the fate of our Afghan allies.
If generals had resigned rather than follow Trump’s order for a May 1 withdrawal, the Trumpers would all be howling about a Deep State conspiracy against the Great Patriotic Leader’s “America First” agenda to end Forever Wars.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:18 amDoes that poll ask about natural immunity, Rip?
I wonder what the crossover is between the highly educated group that won’t gat vaccinated and the Trump voters who believe in choice?
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:18 am(Herschel) Walker’s wife voted in Georgia as couple lives in Texas, records show
Potential Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker and his wife live in Texas, but she voted in Georgia’s election for president last fall.
The absentee ballot cast by Julie Blanchard raises questions about whether she was allowed to vote in Georgia while living in Texas. It’s illegal for nonresidents to vote in Georgia in most circumstances.
………
Walker has called for prosecutions of voter fraud, even though there’s no evidence of rampant abuse. And he’s promoted other false claims of voting irregularities by former President Donald Trump, who has encouraged him to enter the race.
………
Election records show that Blanchard used her Atlanta address to return an absentee ballot, which she mailed in October from the couple’s residence in Westlake, Texas. Blanchard also owns a home near Buckhead.
“If we’re residents in both places, is that legally wrong?” Blanchard said when reached by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “If you have multiple homes, you can’t vote where you have a home?”
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:18 am……….
State law determines residency based on where a voter’s “habitation is fixed,” and those who move to another state with the intention of making it their residence lose their eligibility to vote in Georgia.
………..
Blanchard’s quote is priceless. Sounds like something George Constanza might say.
Does that poll ask about natural immunity, Rip?
I wonder what the crossover is between the highly educated group that won’t gat vaccinated and the Trump voters who believe in choice?
It’s a long and detailed poll, which is why I provided a link to it. Feel free to review it.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:20 amCorrect link:
https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2513.pdf
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:21 amGood ol Boys gonna good ol boy, Rip. The Jones cat running for Gov was Farrakhanian back in his county board days.
urbanleftbehind (3a0869) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:25 amFrom the link within the link:
The corrected link, in the previous post, is the UN Security Council’s endorsement of the agreement In the link in this post.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:26 amHopefully this quashes the “Trump’s plan” malarkey.
Thanks, Rip. A scan of the poll reveals, to me, that they left out crucial questions.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:27 amThere are, according to common estimates, 10,000 foreign fighters fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.
After the fall of Afghanistan, these foreign fighters will (1) settle down to live as peaceful sheep herders in Afghanistan, (2) return to the own nations and settle down, or (3) look for new battlefields in other nations.
I think most will choose option 3, but would be delighted if I am proved wrong.
I think it obvious that their morale will be very high, having achieved the first unambiguous victory for jihadists in many years. And that they will find it easy to attract thousands of new recruits.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:30 amMr Alger wrote:
The lesson of Vietnam was that to win a war you actually have to fight a war! If you are more concerned about avoiding non-combatant casualties than you are with killing the enemy, you will always lose, because it just means that the enemy will hide among and shield himself with the non-combatants.
Der Führer’s armies were nice enough to move forward in an identifiable front, which made attacking them easier, but we also bombed the civilian areas, targeting rail lines, transportation hubs, and war materiel factories, of course, not schools, churches, hospitals and residential areas, but, in the end not giving a damn if it left the German people living in burned and bombed out rubble — if they lived at all. We used fire bombing raids on Dresden, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe.
We haven’t won a war since then. We fought a stalemate in Korea, because we were unwilling to go beyond the Yalu, we fought to a military stalemate in Vietnam, because we weren’t willing to make a desert and call it peace, we fought to a stalemate in Iraq, and then in Afghanistan, because we were not willing to utterly destroy the enemy.
If you are going to fight a war, then fight a f(ornicating) war, or don’t get into a war at all.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:30 amJim Miller @215:
DCSCA #217:
That’s only been known since 1987, and only one incident or two then. Did you know of that before?
You could always sense he was being pulled to the left – and toward what he had to know was wrongheadedness – more than he wanted to go. He was never the first.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:31 am@266 — I heard an interview with the Afghan president not long ago in which he sounded reasonably optimistic about it all. I have never claimed that Trump was the only party in negotiating the deal.
What I refute is the unfounded claims that Trump would have been so much wiser and would have prevented the bad result of the deal he negotiated.
There’s blame to go around, and Biden deserves a lot. What I object to is the effort, once again, to push under the rug the awkward facts about what Trump has actually done and said about the issue. Did any Trump defender ever say that his May 1 withdrawal deadline was reckless? Did any of them criticize the weakness of the conditions imposed on the Taliban, or Trump’s naive trust in his own powers to persuade them to be nice?
Trump’s plan didn’t become foolish and evil in Trumpist eyes until it was fulfilled by a non-Trump. If Trump had gotten his way, the Trumpists would all be saying it was the best possible thing to do regardless of the result.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:31 amYou left off #4… start a new GoFundMe grift that exploits the Left’s perfidy.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:33 amPersons with dual residency can register to vote in either state, but not in both, and they can switch back and forth from election to election. As long as the lady did not vote in both Texas and Georgia, she’s fine. And it’s Texas she should worry about if she double voted, because its laws are truly draconian.
nk (1d9030) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:34 amMr. BuDuh:
Does this help or hurt any “look the other way when it’s our kind of gathering” arguments?
https://pitchfork.com/news/chicago-health-officials-tout-lollapalooza-2021-as-success-no-evidence-of-super-spreader-event/
urbanleftbehind (3a0869) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:34 am“I wonder if they have woken Biden up in the last 48 hours to give him some ice cream (everyone loves that Gropey loves ice cream!) and tell him he has to rally his NeverTrump/NeoCon “troops” to defend his decision making?
First in line for rallying will be the disgraced moron Liz Cheney, who will be a full time MSNBC lefty commentator come Nov of 2022, who never met a war she wasn’t in favor of while simultaneously never meeting a conflict she’d ever send one of her family members into.”
—- Drago
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:36 amMr Alger wrote:
Similarly, as in Conan the Barbarian:
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:36 amThough I’d like the book thrown at this wench, I must concur with nk- it’s no different than the 20 something bros and Amys in Lake View and Lincoln Park going back home to mommy and daddy’s swing state home for a presidential election…also why a Vrdoloyak 29 type can’t expand his base beyond Mt Greenwood and Edison Park.
urbanleftbehind (3a0869) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:38 amFrom Jim’s link:
The agreement between The Trump Administration, The Afghan Government, the United Nation, and the Taliban expressly forbade this. Biden has a chance to use the negotiated agreement properly. He failed.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:38 am277… thanks, Sammy, that’s so reassuring!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:39 am…had a chance…
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:42 amJim Miller (edcec1) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:30 am
Whereas our suckass military, for 17 years, used Afghanistan as a live fire training ground; and as a resume builder for careerists and reservists with political aspirations with four-and-a-half to nine-and-a-half month deployments.
Blame Trump? Blame Biden? Blame Obama? Blame Bush? Blame Leonid Brezhnev? Seriously?
Whose job was it? Who didn’t do it? Hell, yeah, Biden was right not to listen to the military tinhorns (or is it tinpots?).
nk (1d9030) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:44 am226. Radegunda (33a224) — 8/14/2021 @ 10:22 pm
While Biden is afraid of increasing immigration, even though there’s overwhelming support in Congress for the immigration of some categories of Afghans. But Biden doesn’t want to be accused of being too soft on immigration.
He really,m really. really, doesn’t want to be more liberal here than Donald Trump.
(The Mexican border he couldn’t help: too much pressure from the Democratic party base, so he liberalized asylum processing a bit. He didn’t want to also make it easier for Afghans to come to the United States. As if he’d really be criticized by the right wing for that. But Biden knows, that at the bottom, the immigration issue is a numbers game, and a numbers game only – legal, illegal it doesn’t matter.)
This is what he is afraid of:
https://www.numbersusa.com
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:45 amMr Murdock wrote:
Really? The voters in the City of Brotherly Love gave 81.44% of their ballots to Joe Biden, but Philadelphia doesn’t have an 80% vaccination rate. Black Americans gave between 87 and 90% of their votes to Mr Biden, but, of the 15 most heavily vaccinated zip codes, white Philadelphians are the plurality in 14 of them, with over 50% of the population in 12 of them, and 49% and 47% in the other two. Only in zip code 19104 are whites not the plurality. In only two of the fifteen zip codes with the lowest rates of vaccination, 19116 and 19135, do white Philadelphians compose the largest racial/ethnic group. In nine if the fifteen zip codes with the lowest vaccination rates, blacks make up 70% or more of the population, and over 90% in zip codes 19132 and 19138.
Then there’s New York City, in which only 28% of black residents aged 18 to 44 have been vaccinated.
Why, it’s almost as though opinion polls don’t match the situation on the ground.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:49 amIt’s fascinating to see Trumpers turning into the same Neocon warmongers they’ve been trashing for the past several years. Now they’re pretending that they really care about what happens in Afghanistan (though they’re still not keen on accepting refugees).
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:51 amjoe cellar is bringing the troops home to go door to door to make the unvaccinated sophisticated.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:51 amIOW — Biden is trying not to anger the Trump base.
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:53 amNumbers USA actually now seems a little bit confused as to what it wants. It probably wants whatever works to lower the numbers of U.S. citizens. So they;ve come out against bashing.
Its highest priority seems to be low numbers, on the grounds of economic harm, and on the grounds that a lower population USA would be less regimented.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:55 amYour link has nothing to do with that, BuDuh. It doesn’t even mention Afghanistan, it’s a non-binding exhortation to include more women in peacekeeping operations, a role that won’t exist under Taliban control.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:56 amYou shot your wad early, Paul.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:58 amI apologize that my comment could come off as vulgar, Paul. I retract it.
I should have just stuck with the obvious, “please see corrected link.”
Forgive me.
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:59 amOkay, I see the updated link, and it’s worthless. The Taliban made no disassociation from al Qaeda or the Islamic State. They didn’t even renounce terrorism or terrorist attacks.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:59 amWho? Teddy Kennedy, or someone on his staff?
Speculation has been Biden, Kennedy or Metzenbaum. If a staff member leaked it, it would have been with their employer’s approval.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:02 amAnd Joe left that agreement in place?!?!?
BuDuh (7bca93) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:08 amIt’s tempting to respond to Trump fans with gotchas about his afghanistan policy. Ultimately that is a distraction. Biden’s disaster is Biden’s, and partisan crap cheapens the issue. We squandered something important to our safety in a way that harms people who helped us. Bottom line, Biden’s foreign policy shows a lack of commitment, respect, wisdom, skill.
dustin (4237e0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:08 amKevin M (ab1c11) — 8/14/2021 @ 11:46 pm
He said they were great people, but that doesn’t mean he thought the storming was great. He praised them because he didn’t want them to turn against him – What! Donald Trump throw away any political support? – or because he thought it was the best way to make them leave and go home.
The New York Times has a whole report on the events of Jan 6 today in the print edition but I can;t quite find it online.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/insider/video-capitol-riot.html
In the introduction they still have Trump telling Fox in July that the crowd that smashed its way into the Capitol was peaceful, among other words. But he was clearly referring to the crow at the Ellipse and their own timeline shows they were largely not the same.
but refused to issue a blanket pardon — which he could easily have done — because he thought that it would leave him holding the bag. So, he betrayed them all. Live with it Trumpies.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:09 amChamberlain had the decency to resign.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:10 am301. dustin (4237e0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:08 am
Mostly a lack of ethics because he didn’t want to be more altruistic and less “America First” than Donald Trump.
He made compromises with reality.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:11 amWhy are you assuming he doesn’t know instead of he’s just claiming it’s all about the extreme right to discourage the recall voters?
No, he’s trying to scare the centrists.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:12 amTaliban’s official spokesman has an active Twitter account. Meanwhile, the former President of the United States remains banned.
I would love to know the criteria they actually use. It’s not the ones they post.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:15 amI’m using that, Rad.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:17 am303. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:10 am
That doesn’t happen in the U,S. system.
The question is: Will he be able to successfully pull off a Dunkirk?
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:18 amAfter $2.26 trillion wasted and 20 years, this is President Plagiarist’s moment to actually plagiarize President John F. Kennedy’s comments after the Bay of Pigs debacle, do a presser, step up and say to the American people- and the world- he is “the responsible officer of government.”
If he deflects blame to Trump or any of his predecessors instead and evades responsibility… it simply reaffirms… he’s a bum.
“I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor.”- President Plagiarist
Confirmed: HE’S A BUM.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:19 amGiven the stance of Trumpists over the past several years, it’s extremely unlikely that any of them would criticize Trump over the bad result of carrying out the withdrawal plan that Trump himself negotiated, and that Trump himself recently said was a good and wonderful thing.
Events are transcending Trump, and that’s a good thing. Even if there are a few commenters here who cannot get past him, pro or con.
By the time of the GOP primaries next year, being pro-Trump will have become less important to most GOP voters than what positions they take. They will not do as well as expected, although Liz Cheney is still toast.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:20 amBuDuh @274-
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:21 amI doubt any poll has asked if a respondent if they are willing to be infected with COVID-19 to achieve natural immunity.
Alright, I’ll ask.
Will the proud vaccine resistors who refuse to get a shot please identify themselves?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:22 amOr resisters.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:22 am“If a staff member leaked it, it would have been with their employer’s approval.”
True… at least before January 2017 and after January 2021.
Colonel Haiku (0c588c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:24 amBiden’s quote that “no, a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is not inevitable” is going to be as historically infamous as “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it”.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:28 amThere won’t be any pictures of helicopters taking off from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The building has been closed and personnel moved to the airport – where they are still functioning says Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/blinken-u-s-will-have-an-embassy-location-at-the-airport-in-afghanistan-118739525798
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-august-15-2021-n1276875
The building housing the British embassy is also closed. A woman, now a UK citizen who went back for her mother’s funeral in April has been unable to get out since. She was famous as opposing the Taliban in 2001.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:28 amThe libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (160996) — 8/15/2021 @ 9:49 am
Really?
Yes, really.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:29 amThe morally-agnostic Dana: “I told everyone here that perhaps President Trump wasn’t a nice guy, but it was his policies, not his personality, which mattered.”
So I guess Jan 6th, the Ukrainian Squeeze, the Mueller Mischief, and the Big Lie are now just mere personality artifacts….saying nothing about character, honesty, and integrity. All that matters is whether the trains are running on time and the President sufficiently hates the right people. This is where the Trumplicans simply are failing at math. There are still enough people in the middle or who are not stridently aligned that must be convinced……and what Trump says and how he acts matters to enough of these people that the GOP has lost governorships, lost the House, lost the Presidency to a geriatric guy stuck campaigning in his basement, and then lost the Senate in a traditional Republican state like Georgia. Trump is shrinking the GOP tent…..and all you have to offer is a feable attempt to shame Patterico?! SMDH. And then there’s the attention-deprived mg who wants someone even worse than Trump…..yes that’s certifiably irrational. At least happyfeet gave us some sort of performance art…
Leadership isn’t about imposing policies but building consensus through persuasive argument. Trump doesn’t do that….he’s a propaganda artist that plays on emotion….to keep people good and angry and afraid so the true believers will put up with anything. This is the breeding ground for a tyrant….and Jan 6th was the opening act….the true believers won’t make the same mistake twice. When is it enough?
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:32 amThere won’t be any pictures of helicopters taking off from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Really?
https://i.insider.com/6118d065c040ad0018ce5de8
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:35 amUK papers seem less reticent:
RACE AGAINST TIME
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:39 amAt least no crowds there,
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:40 am318… C’mon, man! A difference of opinion doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this beautiful Sunday and the Lord’s creation…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:42 amBiden’s quote that “no, a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is not inevitable” is going to be as historically infamous as “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it”.
As if his own party gives a flying roger about that…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:45 amDustin: “We squandered something important to our safety in a way that harms people who helped us. Bottom line, Biden’s foreign policy shows a lack of commitment, respect, wisdom, skill.”
Perfectly succinct and why Klink’s comment doesn’t resonate. We had won an effective stalemate over the past six years. The Afghani army wasn’t going to take out the Taliban, but the Taliban was not able to operate with impunity in the open. That’s what 2,300 lives and >20,000 wounded bought us over 20 years. The current cost of that stalemate was not $2.26T but a small fraction of that…..but our presence was the edge that earned that stalemate. Our leaving does call into question what exactly was the point of those 2,300 lives….and it was a political choice….not a battlefield necessity. We were sold by Trump and Biden to give up….sometimes you take the stalemate….
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:45 amSay… who was it just a few years ago that did something like this in Iraq, i.e., left/no plan… ridiculed the “Junior Varsity“ that filled the vacuum and murdered thousands?
Democrats don’t embarrass easy and are resistant to shame.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:52 amWell with that photo in hand, it shall now be asked – What was the average age of the US serviceman sent to Afghanistan?
https://youtu.be/0sajngb0W6I
urbanleftbehind (3a0869) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:54 amBen Sasse has it right.
Some of us can say “Trump and Biden both got it wrong.”
For others on this site, and for virtually all of Trumplandia, the imperative is to claim that the Trump plan — which they did not criticize when it was a boasting point for Trump — would have worked brilliantly if it had been carried out under Trump rather than anyone else.
No one in Trumplandia would be scorching Trump for the same results we’re seeing now if Trump had gotten his way in overturning the election and kept to his own May 1 deadline, with meaningless “conditions.”
Radegunda (33a224) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:56 amThe current cost of that stalemate was not $2.26T but a small fraction of that…..but our presence was the edge that earned that stalemate.
Except it was. Serving up More Neocon bullsh!t; creamed-chipped-Cheney-on-on-toast, eh, AJ.
The U.S. MIC protecting Pentagon brassholes blew this. They were given $2.26 trillion in resources and 20 goddamned years to make it work.
And failed. The only winners: the MIC war profiteers they serve.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:57 am“A difference of opinion doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this beautiful Sunday and the Lord’s creation”
I had a wonderful 4-mile trail run on a crystal blue morning….and will now close up my laptop to go be productive. I just get a bit annoyed when right wingers still believe that Trump is the best that we can be….and offer no real hope of a new voice. I’m glad five years ago that I chose to not latch onto the Trump train….precisely so I didn’t have to pretzel myself up in defending the indefensible and being burdened by continual what-aboutism. It’s just interesting that so many Trumplicans come rent-free to dance at Patterico’s unambiguously non-Trumplican site…..interesting.
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:57 am“This is where a president with dementia who has been “on the wrong side of every foreign policy issue over the past 20 years” really hurts. Has there been one single issue, in domestic as well as foreign policy, where Biden has led and not been led by either the Obama policy or his radical advisers? The best Biden has to offer is that he inherited an Afghanistan deal from the Trump administration. But that deal called for a conditions-based withdrawal which explicitly sought to prevent the deplorable cut and run of the Biden Administration. Besides, Biden has not let past deals or even laws stop him when he wanted to do something different in energy policy or immigration, just to name a couple of obvious cases.
The bottom line is that Biden has such a limited band width mentally, that he is allowing the worst outcome in Afghanistan. I wouldn’t be surprised if the war hawks are letting it happen in order to show America what happens if we don’t continue to fight endless wars. So two bad actors – Biden and the war hawks – will create a humanitarian disaster with a potential to upset stability throughout the Middle East. Of course, such instability only adds to the war hawk case for going back into battle.”
—- critter
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 10:58 am316.There won’t be any pictures of helicopters taking off from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Except there are.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:00 am@330. Can’t blame Biden, Col. [Yes, he gets a good word from me.] This was always going to end this way no matter who as in the Oval.
Where President Plagiarist does deserve blame is not stepping up like JFK did after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, when he greenlit a plan from Ike’s people- and taking responsibility publicly, as Kennedy did at his presser as the ‘responsible officer of the government.’ Instead, he issues cowardly press releases trying to blame his predecessors for inheriting a policy.
That makes him a bum.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:07 amI certainly hope the leaders in Taiwan have taken notice, have their go-bags packed and can split at a moment’s notice!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:13 am@333. Thought of that last night— but Taiwan produces necessary computer chips and techno-gadgets;
Afghanistan produced sheep dung and heroin.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:24 amI certainly hope the leaders in Taiwan have taken notice, have their go-bags packed and can split at a moment’s notice!
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:25 amAt least the Taiwanese will fight back (not that it will make any difference in the end).
And Taiwan has an influential lobby in Washington.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:27 amYou are not “winning a stalemate”. In what US national interested has the last 18 years in Afghanistan bought? What has 6 years of stalemate delivered for the US. Delaying the Taliban from retaking over all the things that they were going to retake? Sure, so what.
The first rule of digging holes is NOT stop digging, it’s saying “hey, that’s a hole” second rule “what’s that hole doing?” If the answers are yes, and nothing, then stop digging. If it it’s where we’re going to seed the foundation, well maybe digging the hole is a good idea. If you have no idea, stop till you figure it out.
We kept digging a hole for 20 years, decided 10 years in that it was for no purpose, then spent another decade digging the effing hole.
2004 US pulls out, Taliban retakes power in under a month
2014 US pulls out, Taliban retakes power in under a month
2021 US pulls out, Taliban retakes power in under a month
2031…The Afghanis are Taliban, sure, there are factions, some are even pro America, you know like lady Afghanis.
If we’d spent the last 20 years encouraging immigration of Afghani moderates and women to the West, that may have been a fine outcome, but we wanted them there to be our moderates in a failed state we were propping up.
That wasn’t a uniquely American decision, lots of our allies made the same decisions too. Remember there is a NATO force of around 5k on the ground there too, today. They aren’t fighting to keep out the Taliban, they’re defending their embassies and lines of exfil.
It brings me zero comfort, actually pisses me off when I even think about it, that this is the situation we’re in, with the outcome having been determined for decades, but reality world doesn’t care about what you wish it would be, it exists.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:28 amChina’s growing firepower casts doubt on whether U.S. could defend Taiwan
……..
In simulated combat in which China attempts to invade Taiwan, the results are sobering and the United States often loses, said David Ochmanek, a former senior Defense Department official who helps run war games for the Pentagon at the RAND Corp. think tank.
In tabletop exercises with America as the “blue team” facing off against a “red team” resembling China, Taiwan’s air force is wiped out within minutes, U.S. air bases across the Pacific come under attack, and American warships and aircraft are held at bay by the long reach of China’s vast missile arsenal, he said.
“Even when the blue teams in our simulations and war games intervened in a determined way, they don’t always succeed in defeating the invasion,” Ochmanek said.
A war over Taiwan remains a worst-case scenario that officials say is not imminent. But China’s growing military prowess, coupled with its aggressive rhetoric, is turning Taiwan into a potential flashpoint between Beijing and Washington — and a test case for how the U.S. will confront China’s superpower ambitions.
The outgoing head of the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Philip Davidson, warned senators this month that the U.S. is losing its military edge over China, and that Beijing could decide to try to seize control of Taiwan by force by 2027.
Rip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:38 am……
“When you look at the numbers and ranges of systems that China deploys, it’s pretty easy to deduce what their main target is because pretty much everything they build can hit Taiwan. And a lot of stuff they build really can only hit Taiwan,” said David Shlapak, a senior defense researcher at the RAND Corp. think tank who also has worked on war-gaming models involving China.
……..
Even if China refrains from direct military action on Taiwan, U.S. officials and analysts worry that Beijing could eventually force Taipei to buckle through steady military and economic pressure that creates a perception that the U.S. can’t guarantee the island’s defense.
……..
If you like your communism, you can keep your communism.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/15/2021 @ 12:13 pmTaiwan I’m sure is negotiating reconciliation with China. They know we don’t have the stuff to defend them anymore.
Too much self-immolation in our society. Too much weakness. Too many delusional people.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/15/2021 @ 12:19 pmtaiwan needs to build up its nba cachet
JF (e1156d) — 8/15/2021 @ 12:19 pmNotwithstanding the silliness of what you wrote, it is refreshing to see you acknowledge that people with prior infection likely have natural immunity.
BuDuh (7f272f) — 8/15/2021 @ 1:18 pmnothing to see here
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-did-ted-lieus-campaign-donate-50-000-to-stanford-before-his-son-applied-to-stanford
JF (e1156d) — 8/15/2021 @ 2:04 pmWhere did AJ say anything about communism?
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 8/15/2021 @ 2:08 pmRip Murdock (431d14) — 8/15/2021 @ 11:38 am
In all such tabletop exercises the Pentagon runs the United States always loses. It’s not reality.
The problem was assessing what the Afghan armed forces would do and the problem is the fact that it was composed of many unreliable elements was not acknowledged. It would have been better for them to work with a much smaller force. When part of a force suddenly surrenders or leaves, everything collapses. A miiitary commander must know what he has.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 3:22 pm@Dana: picture,
It looks like it is black and white
Maybe you could try selling it – not the rights, but an official copy. This is somewhat like baseball cards, only much more money is apparently being spent.
There are four websites I read about that may host auctions or sales. They were mentioned in the New York Daily News of Sunday,June 6, 2021, page 39, article by Arianna O’Dell:
Rarible, Foundation, OpenSea and NiftyGate.
I’d like to find out more about what happens.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 3:26 pmThere are anumber of other things I;d like to post.
Like I found out that tthe lab near the seafood market in Wuhan was only moved there, or opened for businesss there, on Monday December 2, 2018,
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 3:27 pmI mean Monday December 2, 2019. In ine list the first case was December 8, 2019.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 3:28 pmAlso: Big earthquake in Haiti – to be followed by a tropical storm.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/15/2021 @ 3:41 pmWeird how would be Kamala Harris voters are 44% Vx to 42% NVx while De Santis who represents choice is 17% Vx to 11% NVx.
COVID cases are concentrated in the large blue voting areas of TX.
Get a map of curent Covid cases in TX by county and then check that against a Trump vs Biden 2020 by county map.
To be clear upfront, I am not saying that low population counties with high percentages of the virus don’t count, I’m just using major counties like Harris to see if the Trump voters are f-ing everything up like the polls seem to say they are.
Harris County TX has an estimated Population of 4,800,000 (some estimates are as high as 5.7M)
#1 Harris County TX has 6829 cases compared to #2 Dallas @ 4,232 greater than 50% difference
Harris County TX is 56% at least one dose vaccinated out of an eligible 4,000,000 (4,800,000 minus 800,000 0-12 age children) @56% 2,240,000 Vx.
So 1,760,000 NVx.
Lets break down the 1,760,000 NVx.
12-18 population approx 400,000. Their vaccination rate is a low 40% (140,000Vx), they can’t vote. About 240,000 of them are unvaccinated.
That leaves us with 1,520,000 NVx people eligible to vaccinate but have not, and 1,360,000 NVx of voting age.
Harris County went 900,000 Biden to 700,000 Trump out the 4,800,000 total pop.
I will use 30% Biden voters 270,000 NVx to 70% Trump voter 210,000 NVx
You will note right away that there are more Biden NVx at no matter what percent used, that ratio remains. Fact is there are more NVx Biden voters than NVx Trump voters in Harris County, so if you go count hospital beds or deaths, in Harris, there will be more NVx Biden voters than
NVx Trump voters using the facilities.
Lets get back to the 1,360,000 NVx but age 18 and up. Use the Biden NVx (270,000) and Trump NVx (210,000) numbers to get to an approximation of how many non-voting NVx adults are in Harris. 880,000 NVx
Three thoughts strike me. The second one is just a hunch about the lying.
1. 880,000 NVx Unaffiliated plus Bidens 270,000 NVx. 1,150,000 to 210,000 NVx Trump in Harris County alone. Democrats need to stop blaming Trumpsters and Proud Boys. Think of it as money. If I had a $1,150,000 loss problem here and a $210,000 over there, guess where I’d start?
2. People in these polls seem to be lying. Democrats seem highly motivated by peer pressure to self identify (be lying) about being Vx. Here in CA the statewide numbers don’t add either.
steveg (ebe7c1) — 8/15/2021 @ 5:00 pmCompare Harris County percentages Trump vs Biden to CA. CA went 70-30 Biden
The NVx problem is CA is not Trump voters, they are a very small part. Its Biden voters lying and vast numbers of unaffiliated. Or check out NYC with Trumps 692,000 votes.
The NYT reports that African Americans 18-49 are vaccinating at 28% in NYC. 400,000 NVx within shouting distance to Trump voters NVx at 482,000 calculated at 70% NVx rate
typos
Three Thoughts
2. People in these polls seem to be lying. Democrats seem highly motivated by peer pressure to self identify (be lying) about being Vx. Here in CA the statewide numbers don’t add either.
Compare Harris County percentages Trump vs Biden to CA. CA went 70-30 Biden
3.The NVx problem in CA is not Trump voters, they are a very small part. Its Biden voters lying and vast numbers of unaffiliated. Or check out NYC with Trumps 692,000 votes.
steveg (ebe7c1) — 8/15/2021 @ 5:04 pmThe NYT reports that African Americans 18-49 are vaccinating at 28% in NYC. 400,000 NVx within shouting distance to Trump voters NVx at 482,000 calculated at 70% NVx rate
https://thefederalist.com/2021/08/13/hunter-bidens-russian-prostitute-videos-indict-both-his-father-and-u-s-intelligence-agencies/
mg (8cbc69) — 8/16/2021 @ 3:14 amOur presidents son. What a fricking embarrassment. Lock him up.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/08/why_vote_republican.html
mg (8cbc69) — 8/16/2021 @ 3:25 amAMEN.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/dhs-dropped-40-000-covid-infected-migrants-in-us-cities-ex-border-chief
This administration is deliberately seeding our nation with this virus. Why?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/16/2021 @ 6:48 am