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Now a 4* DE committed (in addition to a recent 4* safety). We might actually have a defense in the near future.
Biden was the Democratic Party pick, not an actual candidate. Using a metaphor, the eunuchs are now in charge. Everyone knows Ron Klain is the most powerful person in the free world, and Kamala is chafing that she’s not getting access to the DNC machine. Now the Democratic Party can run all its policy priorities, pork, and Squad Goals through one-party control until they are so unpopular that the whole thing collapses. Nameless party policy wonks are running the Executive, and running hog wild (as seen through the executive orders). As for actual governance, this is exactly what anyone who isn’t susceptible to media propaganda / DNC propaganda could have foreseen.
As for mid-terms, etc., we’ll see. The current split is 224-214 (3 vacancies, 2DEM, 1GOP), with redistricting meaning the GOP will lose seats in, say New York, and gain seats in other places. Here’s a helpful article.
I mean there’s momentum, but the suburban moms need to see what their collective hypnosis hath wrought. The intersectional coalition is starting to show cracks, and I’m thinking the teacher’s unions are potentially creating a wedge that a smart politician can garner a lot of minority votes through. (We want to give you school choice so you can make sure your children are learning what will make them successful, not a bunch of garbage that isn’t helping anybody, and not under conditions where they are guaranteed not to thrive).
The Senate map is bad for Republicans. I still have no idea how Warnock and Ossoff won those Georgia seats, so I’m assuming Warnock stays. If Sununu runs, he wins (+1), if not, it’s a hold; if Greitens wins the primary, I’m not sure what happens, but he WAS wrongfully accused so maybe?; I see Cortez-Masto holding onto Nevada; if Brnovich or Masters wins the primary in AZ, Kelly is toast, in my opinion (+1); I can see some PA shenanigans resulting in a PA flip of Toomey’s seat (-1); Ron Johnson and Richard Burr’s seats seem like holds to me, but they’re being heavily targeted.
NEW: @Civiqs
President Biden Job Approval by State: pic.twitter.com/DeuNEBLXPU
— PPUSA (@PollProjectUSA) August 20, 2021
Here’s a tidbit for your amusement.
Don’t underestimate Vandy’s ability to suck. At home. Last season they were 0-5 at home (1-4 ATS). They went 3-4 in 2019 (2-5 ATS). David Shaw is usually good for one upset win, and one inexplicable loss per season. So I’m going with 6 wins as the most likely outcome. I’m going with 7 wins (ASU or UCLA) based on a bit of chaos in their programs.
BERLIN — Until Sunday, Europe thought Joe Biden was an expert on foreign policy.https://t.co/zo1hUdfydn
— Matthew Kaminski (@KaminskiMK) August 17, 2021
Hmm. The media drives perception? Internationally, the Europeans read our newspapers and watch our (non-Fox) cable news and allow opinions to be assigned to them. Real people in the decision making rooms were trying to warn us about Biden’s incompetence for years, but if the media spreads the Democrats’ talking points, it’s accepted uncritically because… reasons?
Illustrating my point re: Trump’s negotiated withdrawal versus the Biden Administration’s withdrawal.
The @WSJ editors accurately, succinctly damn @POTUS @JoeBiden. When Taliban violated the Doha agreement —premised on a negotiated power sharing— the U.S. was free to keep Bagram, it’s 2500 troops and NATO’s 5000, to use air power. He could have saved thousands. He chose not to. pic.twitter.com/uIoHlWWaAn
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) August 16, 2021
If the Taliban tested us, and we got to keep Bagram Air Force Base, the evacuation could have been much faster. Instead, we gave up Bagram and a bunch of Blackhawks, A-29s, and drones.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/taliban-at-gates-of-kabul-as-afghanistan-collapses-without-us-support
The key passage:
The Taliban has largely taken Afghanistan without much of a fight, leaving the spoils of war—including military equipment and ammunition supplied by the U.S.—for the militants to further bolster their upper hand.
In the last few weeks, Afghanistan’s air force became a sticking point in negotiations between the Biden administration and Afghan officials, according to one person familiar with the talks.
The country’s mostly U.S.-provided air fleet was dependent on foreign contractors to assist with maintenance. As the U.S. withdrawal took hold, the Biden administration refused to allow contractors into the country to service the aircraft, effectively grounding some of the Afghan Air Force at the same time as the U.S. had withdrawn direct air support to Afghan forces.
Again, the Daily Beast is not exactly a conservative outlet.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-bidens-surrender-is-an-ugly-needless-disaster
“In a commentary directed at Hong Kong, China's state-run Global Times cited Afghanistan in a signal to democracy activists not to heed repeated American promises to ‘stand by’ Hong Kong.” https://t.co/ov8rMsXGBg
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) August 16, 2021
This is what I’m more worried about. The foreign policy implications of this debacle are much more dire than we know.
For those of you confused about why this is a disaster and Trump’s plan to pull out in May had a higher probability of success, this is a good primer.
TL;DR
Trump, for better or worse, understood that the Taliban wanted to be treated like a credible threat. Trump negotiated a phased pull-out, with triggers if the Taliban broke their promises. By unilaterally breaking the negotiated pull-out, and then delaying the pull-out by seven months, Biden gave the Taliban 1) time to prepare an offensive, and 2) cover for the offensive because he broke the deal. You’re telling me that we couldn’t pull out our Blackhawks, drones, and humvees once the administration decided to pull out? Now our tech will be going to China and Iran. There are literally Afghan army forces fleeing into Iran with our vehicles and weapons. Delaying the pull-out to 9/11 shows the arrogance of this administration (and knowledge that they have the media will run PR for them) to try to generate a PR opportunity while failing to take reasonable contingency measures.
Trump, for all his faults, understands when he’s being lied to. The “Intelligence Community” is now full of woke idiots who can’t distinguish between the truth and propaganda. Trump realized that the situation in Afghanistan was worse than he was being told, and decided to try to salvage the situation. Do you remember when the media was livid that he wanted to invite the Taliban to the table? Turns out he was more right about what was going on than the intelligence community.
US intelligence agencies who said just 4 days ago that Kabul could fall in 90 days have revised the figure to 72 hours
https://t.co/v2XUuPVcKX— Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) August 14, 2021
What a disaster. The depth of corruption in Afghanistan is why nation building is now impossible. As much as I have sympathy for the Afghan people, their leaders failed them because they made their people essentially dependent on their local warlord / government. When faced with an organized opposition, the leaders fled without a fight and now the Afghan people will once again be ruled by an Islamist fundamentalist theocracy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grocery-prices-rise-supermarkets/
This has been a long-standing tactic when supply chain prices have gone up. My local grocery store provides unit prices (i.e. cents / ounce) for most foods, so that helps comparison shopping. As for the taste, I would be curious if you looked at the ingredients and noticed some differences. Some, such as the elimination of trans fats, will affect the mouth feel of foods, but are ultimately healthier.
The #Taliban not only seized appr. a hundred US humvees and (MaxxPro) MRAPs at Kunduz airport, but also several US ScanEagle drones.
Billions of US tax payer $ going to Islamist extremists, thanks to the administration's hasty withdrawal without a peace deal or follow up mission. pic.twitter.com/Fb5MTpdLKK— Julian Röpcke (@JulianRoepcke) August 12, 2021
Yikes. Those drones will be going straight to Iran, who will use them to do who knows what.
Well, it appears vaccine passports are systemically racist.
I think people are confusing the media narrative (GOP = anti-vaccination) with reality. Trump obviously is very pro-vaccine, because he wants credit for it. Ron Desantis is also very pro-vaccine, because he not only vaccinated more of his citizens than the average state, but he has some of the highest senior vaccination rates in the country. Journo / Twitter world view demonizing aside, it’s pretty clear at this point that the real barriers are income, race, and education (both ends of the spectrum, apparently). But because we’ve raised a generation of journalists without the credentials to be pundits, who also want to be political operatives, instead of addressing the real issues, we get the blame game.
https://www.upmc.com/media/news/072621-king-mejia-vaccine-hesitancy
So what are we left with? COVID-19 is going to become the fifth endemic coronavirus. We’ll all get a variant at some point in our lives. We can continue to vaccinate to try to reduce the fatality rate / severity of infection, but it’s pretty much inevitable. Zero infections are not a realistic possibility, as demonstrated everywhere. Given this reality, what freedoms are you willing to sacrifice, perhaps permanently?
Here's @PressSec on same topic: "Aside from putting forward a peace proposal that was dead on arrival, we don’t think [Trump admin] did anything constructive, really, to bring an end to the longstanding conflict in the Middle East."
But what would the Saudi FM know about that? https://t.co/intNP1c6xn
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) August 3, 2021
Biden’s foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster. And his administration keeps pushing out quotes like this.
Don’t get me wrong, there was no positive endgame in Afghanistan.
Every piece of data from real-life shows the vaccines work very, very well— yes, even against Delta. Just checked US vaccine breakthrough hospitalizations. It's 6,587 people among the ~163,000,000 vaccinated: or 0.004%. Three fourths are elderly— as happens with other diseases. https://t.co/TmZkxRlETk pic.twitter.com/fUaTyXprey
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) August 1, 2021
Here’s more data on “breakthrough” infections. What are we doing and why?
White House: Here's the data we are basing our new frightening covid policy on
Media: This data is frightening!
WH: Wait, no, stop. Don't say that
Media: Same viral loads!
WH: No but–
Media: THREE QUARTERS OF INFECTED ARE VACCINATED!
WH: Can we blame Tucker for this?
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) July 31, 2021
This is a great summary of what happened (without the White House basically saying we’re imposing new restrictions for… reasons (because “health experts have determined” and “you don’t need to know why” and “we’re following the science”).
A more balanced view, this time discussing the relative correlations between certain variables. Hey, actual journalism instead of political journactivism.
