The 2020 USA POTUS election politics, the civil war, and the world war (Part 2)

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I think there’s a direct connection between Biden’s decision to pull out in the summer because he wanted his symbolic leave Afghanistan on 9/11 and all the failures underneath him.

His advisers told him to leave during the winter. Afghanistan has snowy and cold winters and it would have been a lot more difficult for the Taliban to overrun the country as rapidly as they did in winter. Biden admits that the rapid collapse has caused a lot of his failures.

So yes it is Biden’s fault and that’s absolutely not disingenuous.

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There’s still lots of good people serving in the military, although sadly a dozen fewer after these attacks. Here’s some coverage of the rescue work they were doing in the days ahead of the attacks.

If only their leadership was living up to the same standard.

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Satire roundup

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1431745831351185409

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Why do I smell bait here? An inside joke they know will drive the Right crazy?

I used to point out how Trump would toss thing out just to rile everyone up, and I think Biden has taken a page from that playbook. Plus, playing it up all the time makes it a running joke, and provides cover for the occasional blunder.

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Lt Col Scheller resigns from Marines. he is the Marine officer who criticized the top military brass and said they should accept responsibility for their screwups in Afghanistan in a viral video

"“I’m currently not pending legal action and I could stay in the Marine Corps for another three years, but I don’t think that’s the path I am on. I’m resigning my commission as a United States Marine effective now,” he said in a new video posted on his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. “I have forfeited my retirement, all entitlements, I don’t want a single dollar.”

Towards the end of the 10-minute video, Scheller warned of the consequence of going after stability and money, which, he said, can make a person “a slave to the system.”

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Weather playing into Biden’s hands

The Gulf hurricane weather is offering Biden’s supporters in the liberal mainstream media opportunity to subordinate reporting of his Afghanistan mismanagement and the resultant catastrophe.

As things stand now, several hundred American citizens are trapped, they are stranded, in Afghanistan. Observers are saying those individuals, likely as not, will eventually be able to escape and not too many will die.

It’s MASSIVELY different for the Afghans, and their families, who assisted us over many, many years. Biden has patently broken our escape promise to those people, who number in the thousands. They are highly likely to be tortured, or perish, at the hands of the Taliban.

But look, not all is lost. Biden will have his bragging opportunity on 9/11, as was his goal all along. That is the most important thing to him. Biden’s callousness and cold-blooded indifference should come as no surprise to those who remember past socialist/communist leaders. Think of Lenin, Stalin, Mao . . . . all brutal as hell. For them and for Biden, the ends justify the means and collateral damage merely comes with the territory.

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OMG I did not see this coming. I have given Biden too much credit. This reporting came out over the weekend, buried in a very long Washington Post article. The crux is only being ferreted out today.

Executive Summary: It turns out NONE of this had to happen!!

Now quoting from that very long WaPo article:

In a hastily arranged in-person meeting, senior U.S. military leaders in Doha — including McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command — spoke with Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political wing.

“We have a problem,” Baradar said, according to the U.S. official. “We have two options to deal with it: You [the United States military] take responsibility for securing Kabul or you have to allow us to do it.”

But, and now quoting once again from the WaPo article:

Throughout the day, Biden had remained resolute in his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. The collapse of the Afghan government hadn’t changed his mind.

McKenzie, aware of those orders, told Baradar that the U.S. mission was only to evacuate American citizens, Afghan allies and others at risk. The United States, he told Baradar, needed the airport to do that.

On the spot, an understanding was reached, according to two other U.S. officials: The United States could have the airport until Aug. 31. But the Taliban would control the city.

Fighters were now on the move throughout Kabul, with the group’s spokesman issuing a revision of his earlier guidance: The Taliban hadn’t intended to take Kabul that day. But Ghani’s exit gave the group no choice.

“The government has left all of their ministries; you have to enter the city to prevent further disorder and protect public property and services from chaos,” read a message that pinged on Muhammad Nasir Haqqani’s phone.

Haqqani, a Taliban commander, had led his forces to the city’s gates that morning and been surprised by what he found.

“We didn’t see a single soldier or police,” he said. For several hours after, he had done as he was told, refraining from advancing further.

But after getting word that the government had collapsed, he and his men were in the city’s center within an hour. By late afternoon, they had reached the palace.

“We couldn’t control our emotions, we were so happy. Most of our fighters were crying,” he said. “We never thought we would take Kabul so quickly.”

For many others in Kabul, Haqqani’s source of joy was a cause for profound despair.

Bottom line:

According to the WaPo, the Taliban did not take Kabul per se . . .

Instead, Biden literally HANDED the city to them!!

I do not anticipate hearing about this Biden f*** up on this evening’s nightly news.

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I know the CDC has a lot to do, but they made time for Biden’s priorities

  • People who were formerly incarcerated
  • Non-US citizens (or immigrants) in immigration detention facilities
  • People with undocumented status

They sure need a lot of words to describe “criminals”.

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Surprised? Don’t be. Consider:

Biden attended the University of Delaware at Newark, where he earned a degree in history and political science in 1965. According to Paul Taylor’s See How they Run: Electing the President in an Age of Mediaocracy , Biden graduated 506 out of 688 in his class. Somehow, he managed to get into the Syracuse University College of Law. There he graduated 76th out of a class of 85 law students.

Let’s compare:

President Barack Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.

Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, graduated first in his class at West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering.

But what of President Trump himself? I have looked into this. It’s true Trump graduated from Wharton in 1968 and it’s true Wharton is a rather prestigious school.

It’s not at all true Trump graduated first in his class. He was, instead, an average student or perhaps a bit above. But most importantly of all, Trump while in college was not devoting himself to the study of real estate, his degree field. Instead, he was already heavily engaged in the business of real estate.

Trump’s college experience brings to mind that of other very wealthy people, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg for example. Admittedly both Gates and Zuckerberg dropped out of college to pursue their occupations and, unlike them, Trump did earn his degree. But the point is, doing well in his college studies was not Trump’s sole focus. He had other fish to fry involving real estate which were, for him, every bit as important as his studies at Wharton. So you cannot judge him by his college rank alone, and at least he did complete his studies at Wharton and earn his degree.

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Social Security goes bust date is approaching faster than 1 year/year.

The projected reserve depletion date for the combined OASI and DI funds is 2034, also a year earlier than in last year’s report… The main reasons for the larger deficit are a mix of new program data and methodological improvements that worsen the projected deficit by increasing expected benefit costs and lowering anticipated revenue from the taxation of benefits.

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Follow up on Mailchimp, one of the crowd of woke tech censors I mentioned previously.. From the old politics thread, I wrote

MailChimp - a popular email list manager turned censor decided that anyone sending out anything “misleading” in their sole opinion was subject to ban and no, they weren’t providing you the list of your email subscribers if you hadn’t already maintained that locally. Conservative blog lists were primarily targeted, as well as those trying to organize peaceful rallies or protests. This was a departure one month ahead of the election (coincidence?) from their previous long standing policy of not caring about anyone less crazy than Alex Jones (the sole exception going back several years).

So now today, Intuit, making of TurboTax, is in talks to buy Mailchimp. I wonder what the culture of Intuit is and if this buyout, should it come to pass, will change their leftist censorship policies. I’ve got to think tax accountants don’t lean quite as far left, but who knows these days.

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Reuters: Telephone conversation leaked. Biden asked Afghanistan president to lie

Link to Reuters transcript

Analysis:

President Joe Biden offered an apparent quid pro quo to the since-fled president of Afghanistan in the final days leading up to the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

According to the transcript of the final phone call between President Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on July 23 reported by Reuters, Biden instructed his Afghan counterpart to put a defense minister in charge.

“Things aren’t going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban. And there’s a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture,” Biden told President Ghani. “If you empower Bismillah [Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi] to execute a strategy focused on key parts of the population centers … you’re going to get not only more help, but you’re going to get a perception that is going to change.”

Biden went on to pledge consistent air support pending compliance.

“We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is and what we are doing,” Biden said.

Throughout the call, transcripts show Biden repeatedly pressed the Afghan president to change the “perception” surrounding the war as the Taliban took provincial capitals one-by-one.

“I don’t know whether you’re aware, just how much the perception around the world is that this is looking like a losing proposition,” Biden said.

“Mr. President,” Ghani replied, “We are facing a full-scale invasion, composed of Taliban, full Pakistani planning and logistical support, and at least 10-15,000 international terrorists, predominantly Pakistanis thrown into this, so that dimension needs to be taken account of.”

The Afghan capital of Kabul fell less than four weeks later, on Aug. 15., catching U.S. military leaders by surprise. On Aug. 10, officials warned Kabul’s fall would come within 90 days. Three days later, the timeline accelerated to predict the city’s fall in 72 hours.

President Biden stuck to the military withdrawal date of Aug. 31, a hard deadline the administration kept after the Taliban refused to accept a later date. The two weeks between Kabul’s takeover and the American withdrawal featured constant chaos at the Hamid Karzai International Airport adjacent to dense downtown streets where thousands desperate to flee sought evacuation.

ETA

More on this telephone conversation from the NY Post:

Biden pressured Ghani to create ‘perception’ Taliban weren’t winning

Trump was impeached for far less than this . . .

even though no American soldiers were killed!!

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Whatever happened to “say their names”?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has denied permission for a House floor reading of the names of thirteen heroic American service members recently slaughtered at the Kabul airport.

Pelosi also denied a moment of silence for those same soldiers.

Pelosi refuses to allow combat vets in Congress to read off the names of the 13 fallen

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I am pleasantly surprised that the left wing news media are actually still following the story. here’s the full headline

California school district says roughly 27 students stuck in Afghanistan after evacuation ends

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I agree with your post. And arguably the most left wing news “anchor” of them all, George Stephanopoulos, about two weeks ago during his one-on-one interview trapped Biden into saying he would NOT leave Afghanistan until all Americans were out.

Credit to George for that. But of course Biden was lying and the same mainstream media propaganda wing of the DNC is now trying to cover up that lie with the able assistance of a hurricane.

All of the above notwithstanding, Biden’s approval still hovers near 40%. That number, given his absolutely abysmal track record so far, should be nearer to 20%. But socialism and Marxism are very powerful motivating forces. And Biden is all those people have.

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It is noteworthy that CJ Roberts voted with the liberals on the Texas abortion law vote. Fortunately, and thanks to President Trump, he was outvoted.

The ruling is only temporary. But it is interesting that the SCOTUS, even on a temporary basis, has stumbled onto a good solution to the abortion issue. To wit:

Under the Texas law, a woman may still obtain an abortion. But it must be VERY early, likely during the first six weeks of the pregnancy.

Now the pro-death crowd does not like that at all. It requires a woman engaging in sexual intercourse, but who does not wish to bear a child, to know at all times whether or not she is pregnant. For the pro-abortion crazies, this is MUCH too much to ask of a woman. And why, they would ask, should a woman not be allowed to murder a living baby with a beating heart?

Texas has a compromise which allows room for abortion while minimizing as much as possible the taking of a human life. No woman should be forced to bring to term a child she does not want. And no baby with a heartbeat should be slaughtered.

A perfect solution? Of course not because truly none exists. Period.

The Texas compromise is a step forward in our nearly fifty year long abortion polarization and debate. But it does impose on women alone the necessity of knowing, at all times, their pregnancy status. And for so many liberals that is simply asking too much.

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Manchin might not be welcome as a Democrat after this.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/manchin-pelosi-biden-3-5-trillion-reconciliation-government-spending-debt-deficit-inflation-11630605657
Backup link

Establishing an artificial $3.5 trillion spending number and then reverse-engineering the partisan social priorities that should be funded isn’t how you make good policy

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Unfortunately, even pundits on the right like Andrew McCarthy think that there’s not much to this latest episode.

But it’s just noise. Contrary to media-Democrat complex demagoguery, the Court has not green-lighted restrictions on abortion that gut[ Roe v. Wade. ]

Indeed, the five-justice majority was emphatic that it was not rendering a decision on the contested provision’s validity: “[W]e stress that we do not purport to resolve definitively any jurisdictional or substance claim in the applicants’ lawsuit. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law[.]”

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Shinobi comments up-thread that even though Manchin may not agree to $3.5 trillion he might agree to a lesser amount like $2.5 trillion that would still be very destructive to the economy.

Paul Mirengoff of the Powerline blog considers the same thing and hopes that Manchin might want to delay the whole process as he says in the editorial. Mirengoff also hopes that this might cause the Democrats’ coalition between the far left and not so far left factions in the House to fall apart.

It is not wise to bet against the Democrats’ cohesiveness to implement destructive policies but we can hope.

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