Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Re Florida, the only number that actually matters is VACCINATED death rate. That remains vanishingly small. As it has been for some time, the choice is yours -- get Covid via the vaccine or get Covid for real. I don't much care what you choose, but at the end of the day pretty much all of us are going to get it one way or the other.

[Mike]

Oh, for sure. And they’re no smarter than the average Afghan. Hell, they’re probably even dumber. But always know that the Afghan National Army had greater numbers and far superior equipment than the Taliban. They lost because they are weak and have no pride.

[iam416]

Actually, I think the Taliban tried to stamp out all homosexuality including that bullshit. I mean, sure, they'd kill you at the drop of a hat for much, much less, but they made child rape harder. Not sure if they'll pick that back up.

[lineygoblue]

The Taliban sees no difference between homosexuality and pedophilia. In their rules, both are living on borrowed time.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't remember who was posting it but an Afghan vet on Twitter was talking yesterday about the never-ending fight against the poppy fields.

If you bombed the poppy fields, the farmers would get pissed and go join the Taliban

If you just left them alone, the Taliban would come along and either steal all the opium or the farmer's money to go buy weapons.

If you gave the farmers fertilizer to help them grow wheat or something other than poppies, the farmers would sell it to the Taliban so they could make bombs and the farmers would grow poppies anyways.

[Mike]

Sounds about right. When I was there we didn’t pay any attention to the poppy fields. At that time it was deemed to be an unnecessary hassle.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Also I started seeing hints yesterday and more today but plenty will eventually come out about how various warlords and 'commanders' in the provinces took bribes from the Taliban to stand down. Probably a number of the same guys that fought against them in the past. A lot of these Governors were always just mercs up for bid. And maybe Ghani and his crew back in Kabul had been hogging all the spoils in recent years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-military-collapse-taliban/

Or you can refresh yourself with the Afghanistan papers, which got criminally little notice at the time but proved that the military had been lying for years about the readiness of Afghan troops. One of those reports estimated that at least 40% of all the aid given to Afghanistan was going right into the pockets of the warlords and corrupt govt officials.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

[crashcourse]

Missed this yesterday and have talked about it earlier this summer. Feds declare a water shortage in the Colorado River basin and announce states will have their apportionment cut next year. Arizona expected to have its share cut the most by 18%

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/feds...c-drought.html

well I guess we picked a good year for record rainfalls

July 2021 brought more than record rainfall (kgun9.com)

hasnt stopped in august pretty much rain chances every day--exceeded the total rainfall for the average years and still have 4 months to go--Phoenix is in same boat

[crashcourse]

Just heard they found a body of afghani in the landing gear when that transport landed

[Hannibal]

Just heard they found a body of afghani in the landing gear when that transport landed

A shame we didn't drop that final bomb as a parting gift.

[Tom W]

I don't remember who was posting it but an Afghan vet on Twitter was talking yesterday about the never-ending fight against the poppy fields.

It might sound callous, but if opium is your most remarkable contribution to the global economy, the rest of the world should pretty much want nothing to do with you.

[Mike]

It might sound callous, but if opium is your most remarkable contribution to the global economy, the rest of the world should pretty much want nothing to do with you.

This is a great point. I was talking about the Vietnam comparisons last night and made the point that at least I’ve got some nice golf shirts made in Vietnam. Afghanistan contributes absolutely nothing to anyone. But, hoo boy, can they absorb other people’s money and resources.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Pass The Buck Joe is getting more and more ridiculous...

SAIGON ON STEROIDS!!

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think it pretty hilarious that Joe Biden's supporters have to listen to the liberal, Trump basing media pillory their boy over the withdrawal mostly without a clue about what we've been talking about here. Fair and balanced, right?

I predict an abrupt turnaround by the media - probably by the end of this week - shifting from an uninformed expose of the "tragedy" that is the withdrawal of US troops to unmitigated praise of the Democratic party's Chairmen for his courage.

Actually, he's been pretty much stand-up tough in facing his critics. His blood 02 level must be up. He's actually been sounding sensible.

[Hannibal]

I think it pretty hilarious that Joe Biden's supporters have to listen to the liberal, Trump basing media pillory their boy over the withdrawal mostly without a clue about what we've been talking about here. Fair and balanced, right?

I predict an abrupt turnaround by the media - probably by the end of this week - shifting from an uninformed expose of the "tragedy" that is the withdrawal of US troops to unmitigated praise of the Democratic party's Chairmen for his courage.

Actually, he's been pretty much stand-up tough in facing his critics. His blood 02 level must be up. He's actually been sounding sensible.

When a huge story catches the media off guard, it always takes them a few days to circle the wagons and get on message. As we speak though, the keyboards are clickety-clacking the memos to CNN, ABC, NYT, etc to give them the proper propaganda.