Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Saturday, August 21. 2021Saturday PM linksLazy man's guide to strength, at ACE What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban. I spent 600 hours listening in on the people who now run Afghanistan. It wasn’t until the end of my tour that I understood what they were telling me. Media Turns On Biden: "Why Do You Continue To Trust The Taliban Mr. President?" Actual LA Times Headline: “Larry Elder is the Black Face of White Supremacy. You’ve Been Warned” ColoradoFrom one of our Colorado friends: Rubber Rabbitbrush and Baldwin's Ironweed. I may use this image as a Christmas card! And snow fell near the Eisenhower tunnel last night.
Friday, August 20. 2021DIY LinksThe Biden White House Is Betting That America Is Finished NYC exhibit of Nazi-looted art tells a tale of Jewish loss and recovery: Opening Friday, the Jewish Museum’s ‘Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art’ is a testament to survival, despite attempts to eradicate an identity and culture
Greece Completes Border Wall Extension to Deter Potential Afghan Migrants Pentagon contradicts Biden MINUTES after his fumbling speech by saying Americans HAVE been attacked by the Taliban on the way to Kabul airport and al-Qaeda IS still present in Afghanistan Was Shakespeare "bi"?From Marilyn Simon's The Language of Sex, at Quillette:
Richard Holbrook: About him, Vietnam, and Afghanistan
Friday link deliveryIt Turns Out All Those Plastic COVID Barriers Might Have Made Things Worse Confirmed: "Cancel rent" Tlaib was collecting thousands in rent Investigation: Medical Education And Research Crumbling Under Racial Identity Politics Bank of Amerika - The financial giant teaches that the United States is a system of “white supremacy” and encourages employees to become “woke at work.” Biden Scrapped Trump Afghanistan Rescue Plan "[I]t seems that the president simply didn’t want to appear to be abiding by the terms of a deal negotiated by his predecessor." Et tu, Atlantic? Mainstream media pitch Biden over the side Thursday, August 19. 2021Thursday afternoon linksVia American Digest, Jobs that white men do Socialist magazine founder fires staff for socialist organizing, confesses he felt ownership of what he'd made Now even rape victims are being called bigots Requiem For Afghanistan It is not a country. It is a region. How Russia-China Are Stage-Managing The Taliban Chris Rufo more than held his own in this NY Times interview on Critical Race Theory What are the "dog days"?
Technically, the term "dog days of summer" came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after the alignment of Sirius with the sun -- July 3 to August 11 each year. The phrase is actually a reference to the fact that, during this time, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of Earth and part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog.
Wednesday, August 18. 2021A little of this, a little of that, recipe for failureEfforts and pipe dreams by US policy makers under Trump in the last days of his presidency. Worthwhile background to know, and likely more to come, which stands in sharp contrast to Biden just throwing in the towel and the allied Afghanis under the Taliban bus.
This week's disaster set in motion by US military leadership, following Biden's direction in abandoning Bagram.
Excellent insights (promoted from the Comments, with thanks): What a Retired General Who Served 10 Tours in Afghanistan Has to Say
Personal Update and Random MusingsToday I signed an offer letter, so after 9 months I will finally be going back to work. The role is a step below where I was, but after pursuing lateral and better positions, only to find myself making final rounds and going no further (for obvious reasons that shall not be discussed), I felt just getting back on the playing field was important as long as I wasn't going bankrupt. I have always been realistic about just wanting to get back in the office, so the fact it's a step back isn't bothering me. It's a challenging role that suits my talents well and I'm appreciative of the people who recognized I could provide a value to their organization. Employment opens up other opportunities for me which I'd been reticent about pursuing while I wasn't working. One was to attend a memorial service in Florida to scatter the ashes of a close friend who died during Covid (not from Covid, or even 'with' Covid). With my financial situation sorted out somewhat, I let friends know that I would be attending. One promptly replied they would not be attending due to "Gov DeathSantis" and the "disaster" he "created" down there. I chose not to argue. The statistics are readily available, and this association can't be further from the truth. It is just an example of the truly annoying politicization of the virus. I don't understand anyone who really believes there is a political solution to this. There isn't. New Zealand is unique in attempting to achieve a zero case situation. As an island nation, they have some unique qualities that should allow them to achieve this, at lease in theory. Even they are learning it's not possible in real life. Afghanistan. I never thought I'd see a repeat of Vietnam in my lifetime. You'd think we learned a valuable lesson there. Apparently, we didn't. Or I should say certain members of our government didn't. It's shocking and must be infuriating for allies of ours to see what is happening and wonder "can this happen to me?" The likelihood is no, our relationship with Afghanistan was not typical or standard. However, to see Biden abandoning tens of thousands who the US did have a legitimate and standard relationship with in such callous fashion is concerning. As a result, it does raise one's eyebrows as to the state of affairs in the White House. I know the 'credible' media spent 4 years telling me that Trump (who I certainly was no fan of) had no policies, was erratic, and unreliable. I think that assessment is more applicable today. Finally, Cuomo. I recently read a piece by a person who got their first job from Cuomo. He had glowing things to say about Cuomo. Not to rationalize what occurred, but to point out that even those we admire have flaws. I agreed and acknowledged his comments as justifiable. After all, I remarked, I worked for Roger Ailes twice and I won't spend any time trying to rationalize his personal flaws. But I, too, have many stories of his great treatment of employees, his loyalty and promotion of them, and how he really did run a great shop. As leaders go, Ailes was top-notch. However, since he was a Republican, his behavior is demonized while Cuomo got the kid gloves. I doubt one, let alone two, movies will be made about Cuomo's sexualizing of women.
A good day for some Keith JarrettIt's said that he performed this in memory of Miles Davis, with whom he had played. (h/t, reader)
A good day for a Root Beer Float
Works even better with Sarsaparilla if you have some around your cabin.
Much sense from RiceA review of Charles Murray's latestCharles Murray’s ‘Facing Reality’—A Review by Razib Khan It is a thoughtful review, but it seems unfair to expect Murray to offer solutions. Talibans just like to have fun
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Tuesday, August 17. 2021Trump Sneaks Back On Twitter By Disguising Self As Taliban Spokesperson
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Afternoon LinksStrong Demand for Gas Vehicles Drives Detroit Production Plans, Clouds Biden’s 2030 Goal for EVs Call For ‘Decentering Whiteness,’ Blame White Children. “White children have been done a great disservice by sustaining white-centered schools in America over all these years." New Zealand to go into national lockdown over one COVID case Media Literacy’s False Promise - Another social-justice-steeped pedagogy is gaining ground—and like the others, it won’t help students understand the world. AMERICA’S SUICIDE ATTEMPT—THE SEQUEL Must WatchCRT Jew-Israel HatredThe Invisible City Beneath ParisUnder the southern portion of the city exists its negative image: a network of more than two hundred miles of galleries, rooms, and chambers. I feel no desire to see that. Monday, August 16. 2021"This is worse than Saigon"
Read it all. An excerpt: The West’s post-9/11 bluster was continually undermined by the West’s broader descent into moral relativism. How can you assert the civilisational authority of Western values when your entire educational and university system is devoted to questioning and demeaning Western civilisation? You cannot partake in a clash of civilisations if you loathe your own civilisation. Anyone who thinks the Taliban did not pick up on all of this, on the Potemkin nature not only of the Afghan government but also of Western civilisation itself, is kidding themselves. Worth readingWhy We Failed: The American Exit From AfghanistanH.R. McMaster, Nikki Haley, Justin Amash, Elliot Ackerman, Thomas Joscelyn, Eli Lake and Jacob Siegel weigh in.Avoids the excuses spins by Biden and minions, or of defenders of earlier presidents. For me, who proudly served in USMC in Vietnam, the incompetence and timidity of our supposed leaders is despicable. Monday afternoon link dumpFor the Love of Music - Conductor and violinist John McLaughlin Williams’s work constitutes a profound rebuttal to the constricting vision of today’s race arbiters. Scottish Schools Will Allow Kids as Young as Four to Change Gender Without Asking Parents ‘Pregnant People’ and the Erasure of Motherhood Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine suggests ‘chestfeeding,’ ‘father’s milk’ in new guidelines THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO IS “JOIN[ING] THE NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO DECONSTRUCT ANTI-BLACKNESS [AND] DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY” Teachers Union Sues Mom for Demanding to See Her Child’s Curriculum The Fears of the Elite - We aren’t a normal society, and the timid reticence of the elite whenever a charge of political incorrectness is launched is one of the sure signs of abnormality. DHS List of Terror 'Threats' Should Raise All Kinds of Eyebrows Cori Bush Wants to Defund the Police. My Neighbors (in Oakland) Have Other Ideas.. The congresswoman can afford private security. Those who live in Oakland, California, don't have that luxury. The Afghan military was built over 20 years. How did it collapse so quickly? LGBT Pride in Afghanistan Hemingway: Afghanistan Disaster Is The Result Of 20 Years Of Failed Interventionist Strategy We Once Waltzed in Kabul. The U.S. abandoned my friends. Now they are trapped in Afghanistan and hiding from the Taliban. Sunday, August 15. 2021DIY LinksWe Once Waltzed in Kabul: The U.S. abandoned my friends. Now they are trapped in Afghanistan and hiding from the Taliban. Please Don’t Feed the Businesses: Ending crony capitalism requires understanding the difference between a pragmatic, pro-market dispensation and a dogmatically pro-business one. Sasse knocks 'Trump-Biden doctrine of weakness' as situation deteriorates in Afghanistan 'Easy money': How international scam artists pulled off an epic theft of Covid benefits: Russian mobsters, Chinese hackers and Nigerian scammers have used stolen identities to plunder tens of billions of dollars in pandemic aid, officials say.
Nonsense by the NewsJunkie
It only needed several thousand air and logistic support personnel from the US and other countries for the Afghan army to keep the Taliban at bay. Without that, the US-NATO molded Afghan army, which relied on that, crumbled, its troops knowing they couldn't survive without it. Trump and Biden, despite military advice to the contrary, wanted to pander to politics of war-wearied voters by saying a complete withdrawal. The result is a sanctuary for terrorists, energized Al Quada and ISIS, encouraged Russia and China (look out Taiwan), Israel's strategic reliance on its alliance with the US undermined, and other countries reluctant to depend on the US. Not to mention the slaughter of allied or innocent Afghanis, subjugation and rape of Afghani women, and children raised to hate and fight the West. All that for the political pandering removal of several thousand US and NATO troops!
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