Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 5:56:14 AM

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Good news, everyone!  Gropey Joe says that Gropey Joe handled the whole Afghanistan bugout thing *perfectly*.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58264917

vxbush 8/19/2021 6:07:35 AM

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In #1 Occasional Reader said: Good news, everyone!  Gropey Joe says that Gropey Joe handled the whole Afghanistan bugout thing *perfectly*.

The president himself said:

He added: "The idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens."

The dementia is strong with this one. Oy. This kind of braggadocio is just the stock in trade for the left. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 6:27:24 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 2:

It's telling that even the D/MSM is having trouble digesting this nonsense. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 6:34:17 AM

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Poster "Skeptic" at Instapundit sums things up very pithily:

"We haven't lost 55,000 guys there, but in terms of national humiliation, this is far worse than Vietnam 1975, and we haven't hit the bottom of this crisis. Not even close.

The Taliban have every reason to use their almost infinite leverage at this point to exact maximum additional humiliation. They don't even need to round up the Americans to use them as hostages; they're already prisoners where they are, because they can't get to the airport. I've been there--almost all of them are likely concentrated in international compounds. (Westerners did not live in apartments.)

It may take the Taliban a while even to decide what their demands should be. This is an historic opportunity for jihadists.

What tribute will they demand? What will Biden pay, in order not to have daily beheadings or immolations of Americans broadcast? When in our history have we been this abject and powerless?"

Kosh's Shadow 8/19/2021 6:41:34 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 6:46:20 AM

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Some here may recall my occasional musings on inner cities and alleged urban housing crises, wherein I have proposed that if so-called "civil rights leaders" really wanted to improve and stabilize inner-city neighborhoods, the way to do so would be to work with the city governments, and the construction unions, and repair all of the dilapidated and abandoned housing stock in these neighborhoods with neighborhood labor.   The residents would get job training, marketable skills, and a house or apartment that they had worked on at the end of each program.  The ownership would give these people pride in their neighborhood and an interest in keeping down crime and vandalism---and they'd own property.

I've also mentioned that the "contract buying" which was so decried when King demonstrated in Chicago over 50 years ago was actually a free-market solution to the problem of poor credit/inability to qualify for a mortgage.  Hell, as a freelancer, I couldn't qualify for a mortgage, but as someone who paid his rent I could have bought a house on contract (as a [white] friend of my mother's did early in her marriage).   Also, cities like Chicago have, in recent years, been offering abandoned properties to residents of those neighborhoods for as little as a dollar, if the purchasers would only live in them.

Why do I recap all this? Because---surprise, surprise---some entrepreneurs are doing just that, and are being lauded for it on NPR.   This brief clip from today's broadcast describes the programs---which embrace both the job-training I mentioned AND the contract-buying of the renovated homes. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 6:54:50 AM

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STEPHANOPOULOS: But we’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You’ve seen Afghans falling–

BIDEN: That was four days ago, five days ago.

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 6:56:11 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 7:

And by the way, the incident in question had happened only two days previously.

But to Biden's foggy brain, it was already ancient history and totally irrelevant. 

lucius septimius 8/19/2021 7:16:54 AM

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This has been a hellish week.

Last Thursday the live-in aide for mom arrived.  She has proved totally inadequate.  Can't speak or understand English, doesn't know how do do anything -- the woman can't even make a bed.

We've been fighting with the home care agency all week to come up with a solution.  Then Wednesday the PT person reported that the guest bathroom was flooding.  Turns out a pipe burst in the wall.  The entire bathroom will have to be gutted, which includes pulling out the wall between the bathroom and the dining room of mom's 70 year old ranch.

The contract with the home care agency requires the aid have her own bathroom.  That's impossible now -- there is a huge hole in the floor where the bathroom was.  And mom can't get to her bathroom because of the construction.  That means she'll have to go back to the nursing home.

She will probably have to stay there for the duration, however long that may be.

Waiting for today's cascade of reports.  My sister will likely call and yell at me some more (she was good for a couple of days but is back to screaming at me for recreation) and my uncle will try to talk sense to her and mom. 

My uncle and I had already decided that mom really needs to be in the nursing home; she resisted bitterly, but the combination of a house that is currently unlivable and problems with home care (that is turning out to be, once you reckon in upkeep for the house, food, taxes, etc, about 20% more expensive than the nursing home) seems to have forced everyone's hand.  

Stay tuned.  This might well have the makings of an HBO series.

buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 7:30:44 AM

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In #9 lucius septimius said: Stay tuned.  This might well have the makings of an HBO series.

If you could sell the story you could pay for the home repairs and maybe a year or two's worth of Scotch.

What a nightmare.

vxbush 8/19/2021 7:56:08 AM

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In #10 buzzsawmonkey said: What a nightmare.

Ugh, ugh. My friends wonder why I don't haven't hired anyone to help with our son, but we've had bad experiences--thankfully none as bad as yours, which makes me feel even worse for you. 

I could write a small book about the certified nursing assistants and care assistants in this area. I have no desire to do so. Keep pushing the home care agency if you ever get your mother back home--although it does sound like a nursing home would be best for her. 

JCM 8/19/2021 8:04:18 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 7:

The video of the guy caught in the C-17 gear door flapping against the fuselage would on the news every night if this had been Trump.

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 8:04:26 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 9:

So sorry you are having to go through this.

doppelganglander 8/19/2021 8:50:03 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 9:

That's a complete horror show. But it could turn out for the best if she goes back to the nursing home and stays there. The bathroom repair is a giant hassle but it ought to be covered by insurance. Prayers for a solution that works for everyone and spares your sanity.

lucius septimius 8/19/2021 8:59:15 AM

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In #11 vxbush said: I could write a small book about the certified nursing assistants and care assistants in this area.

Nota Bene:  this particular care worker was transferred up north by the agency after working in Normal. I suspect what we've seen is the reason for her transfer.

vxbush 8/19/2021 9:13:34 AM

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In #15 lucius septimius said: Nota Bene:  this particular care worker was transferred up north by the agency after working in Normal. I suspect what we've seen is the reason for her transfer.

Oh, interesting. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 9:18:35 AM

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Old and busted: “what difference, at this point, does it make?”

New hotness: “that was four or five days ago.”

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 9:25:16 AM

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This has all been very stressful for poor Joe, so he is now taking a vacation from his vacation: (Scroll down)

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/468744/#respond

doppelganglander 8/19/2021 9:35:27 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 15:

I know there's a labor shortage,  but that's inexcusable. It might warrant a report to the state accrediting agency. It's only a matter of time before she harms a patient. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 9:58:01 AM

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@PBJ3 8/19/2021 10:03:10 AM

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In #9 lucius septimius said: Stay tuned.  This might well have the makings of an HBO series.

I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this.

buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 10:04:11 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 20:

The question is, will AOC's virtue be saved?

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 10:14:41 AM

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In #22 buzzsawmonkey said: The question is, will AOC's virtue be saved?

She has already literally been figuratively in her mind truck-bomb-raped. 

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 10:16:20 AM

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Boy, it's a good thing that Joe Biden is restoring America's standing in the world, amirite? 

buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 10:20:27 AM

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In #24 Occasional Reader said: Boy, it's a good thing that Joe Biden is restoring America's standing in the world, amirite? 

Did the House of C'mons vote?

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 10:25:38 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 25:

Heh.

Kosh's Shadow 8/19/2021 11:07:44 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:

Will they ask for the bust of Churchill back (assuming it still is in the White Flag of Surrender House) and send one of Chamberlain instead?

Kosh's Shadow 8/19/2021 11:12:07 AM

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Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 11:14:59 AM

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In #28 Kosh's Shadow said: Israeli Prime Minister Bennett will be meeting with Biden next week.

What a contrast.   Brilliant entrepreneur and former Sayeret Matkal on one side; and on the other... uh, Joe.  

buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 1:36:47 PM

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I was hoping---vainly---that my #6 might prove a yeast for conversation that was NOT related to Droolin' Joe's catastrophe. 

Alas.

Occasional Reader 8/19/2021 1:41:32 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 30:

Sorry, but I'm having trouble focusing on much else right now (that isn't home life or work); this is a historic moment we're witnessing, and unfortunately, not a postiive one. 

Kosh's Shadow 8/19/2021 2:47:21 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 31:

At least the bomb threat seemed to be some distraught guy. Not clear if he did have a bomb, but he's in custody.

Kosh's Shadow 8/19/2021 3:23:07 PM

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Afghan army, government, never really existed, says soldier

The problem was the government never existed, he says. While Afghanistan had buildings labeled “defense” or “taxation” departments, in reality it was an empty shell. US Inspector General reports reveal this, Platner says.

“No one wanted to say anything.... Everyone was a coward, from executive leadership down to the company level where the cowardice stopped. Everyone above that was a coward. They believed it because they had to, they couldn’t bring themselves to admit that this might not be real.”

In the end, his diagnosis is that the Afghanistan government the US supported can’t be said to have “collapsed” because it never existed. 

“The Afghan army wasn’t real. The Afghan Civil Authority was never real. They never collected taxes. There were no courts outside of police robbing people. None of it ever existed... it was just a big jobs program funded by American money, and the moment it looked like the money would go away, everyone went home.”

With the exception of Kabul, Charikar and a few other places, he paints a picture of an Afghan state that never controlled much beyond a few highways and cities. That’s why it fell apart so quickly once the US pulled funding.

buzzsawmonkey 8/19/2021 4:38:57 PM

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This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper.

---TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"