Congressman goes missing after trying to evacuate family from Afghanistan.

 

Congressman Markwayne Mullin. Congressional photo.

Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) has gone missing after trying to evacuate a family from Afghanistan. The Hill. Mullin reportedly threatened embassy staff in Tajikistan after a request to bring cash into Afghanistan was denied. Mullin's plan was to hire a helicopter to fly out a family of five Americans, one woman and her four children. The State Department no longer knows where Mullin is and his office made no comments. The United States withdrew from Afghanistan yesterday, leaving between 100 to 250 American citizens behind. 

EDIT: Representative Mullin has reemerged and is safe. 

My Comment:

This is a breaking news story and there is not a lot of detail of what is going on. It's unclear if Mullin made it to Afghanistan or not or if he is in some kind of jeopardy. What I write here could be rapidly overtaken by events, so keep that in mind. 

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I think this is an incredibly brave thing to do. It's clear that the Biden administration has written off the people that were left behind and we owe those people a chance to get out. By trying to facilitate that Mullin is doing a good thing. And by putting his life on the line to do so is even braver. 

But I do think that there is a decent chance that this goes terribly wrong. If Mullin is actually in Afghanistan, which is still a war zone, there is a good chance that he could be killed or captured. And as a US Congressman he is a prime target for the Taliban or other terror groups.

And I have no idea if his plan would even work. Flying a helicopter throughout Afghanistan to evacuate one family seems like it has a million possible failures. They could get shot down, the people they went to rescue might not be there, they could be attacked on the ground, they could even have a mechanical failure. If Mullin manages to pull this off it will be legendary. 

Still, none of this should be necessary. Biden should have gotten everybody out and failing to do so is going to cause blowback, and it could even get this Congressman killed. All of this is Biden's fault and I again say that he should resign in disgrace. 

US troops pull out of Kabul airport, ending the 20 year war in Afghanistan and leaving some American civilians behind...

 

A photo of some of the coffins of the 12 Marines and 1 Navy corpsman that died in an ISIS terror attack during the evacuation. CNBC/Air Force Handout. 

The last US troops have been pulled out of the Kabul airport thus ending the 20 year war in Afghanistan and raising questions about the fate of the few hundred US civilians left behind. CNBC. The last Air Force C-17 flew out Monday afternoon. Over 116,000 people were evacuated in the effort. At least 200 American citizens were left behind, not counting Americans that chose to stay. The evacuation was marred by a massive ISIS terror attack that killed 12 Marines and 1 Navy corpsman, along with over 100 civilians and Taliban fighters. The Taliban have almost total control of the country now and are more powerful than when the war began in 2020 due to the massive amount of captured arms and equipment left behind with the former Afghan Army. 

My Comment:

If there has been any good to come from the utter disaster that was this summer it is this. America's longest war is finally over. We are no longer in Afghanistan, a conflict we stayed into for far too long. We really had no business trying to build a functioning democracy in Afghanistan in the first place and it's clear now that we failed completely to do so. 

Other than that single positive thing, this has been an utter disaster, only mitigated by the fact that it could have gotten much worse. After the major ISIS terror attack I was worried that ISIS might have actually been able to shut down the Kabul airport and/or take out an evacuating plane. Though they did apparently try to launch another terror attack they were stopped by a drone strike. 

It didn't have to be this way. If we had done the reasonable thing and started to evacuate the troops before the diplomats and civilians we probably would have gotten everyone out. We could have kept Bagram Air Base as a secondary evacuation site and might have been able to use troops in other cities to evacuate people. 

And the major terror attack? That was because we were forced to rely on the Taliban for our security. Either they failed in that responsibility or they actively thwarted it and now 13 US servicemembers are dead and more wounded. And it's not like we didn't know ISIS was active in Afghanistan, they have been present there for years, and though they were greatly degraded in their battles with the Taliban and through airstrikes, they were still alive and kicking. 

Most embarrassing of all is the fact that Joe Biden broke his promise to get everyone out that wanted out. I don't trust the government numbers of 100 to 200 people still left behind. I am guessing there are quite a few more that never got the chance to actually contact the US government and had no means to even get to the Kabul area. Plus there are more than a few that wanted to stay behind. 

What happens to those people is the biggest question. My sincere hope is that now that the American government is gone the Taliban will simply reopen the airport and buy these folks a ticket. Doing so would be the ultimate slap in the face to America as it would show the Taliban as being merciful. But it's also possible that these folks end up dead or as hostages. Now that America is out for good the Taliban have less reasons to be nice. Time will tell what happens.

Already some in the media are trying to spin this as a victory for the Biden administration. Don't let them. The mission to evacuate all American citizens from Afghanistan has failed. We left people behind and didn't even really try to get them. And no one has ever answered my question about what happened to the people who were in other cities outside of Kabul. These people were left behind and that is on Joe Biden. 

And Biden deserves the lion's share of blame here. Bush deserves some for getting us in and so does Obama for not getting us out when he said he would. Trump might get a small sliver of blame simply for allowing someone as incompetent as Biden to replace him. 

But Biden was the one who broke the truce with the Taliban (which is the reason my nickname for him is 'Oathbreaker'), he was the one who downplayed the threat of the Taliban as the country was falling, he's the one that went on vacation while city after city was falling. And he was the one that got 13 US service members killed. 

This will almost certainly be the thing that Joe Biden's presidency will be defined by. If not, we are going to have an extremely tough remaining three years (assuming he isn't out of office because of death, resignation or removal). The image of American helicopters evacuating an embassy, Afghan civilians falling from airplanes and the wreckage and death left behind by a massive bombing are not going to leave anyone's minds anytime soon. As far as I am concerned Biden is a lame duck President that will cause his party to lose in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential race...

US launches drone strike against ISIS militants preparing to attack Kabul Airport.

 

People being evacuated from the Kabul airport. CENTCOM. 

The US has launched a drone strike against ISIS militants preparing to attack Kabul Airport. NPR. The strike comes as US forces are still reeling from a massive bombing that killed 170 people along with 12 US Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman. ISIS took credit for the attack and the threats have continued. The strike succeeded in destroying a car bomb, creating a major secondary explosion. The strike likely caused collateral damage as news outlets are reporting several civilian deaths. Around 500 American citizens are still in Afghanistan and the evacuation has until August 31st. 

My Comment:

Looks like we dodged a bullet there in Afghanistan. If the car bomb was a big one, at it sure looks like it was considering the collateral damage, it could have killed hundreds. The bomb killed quite a few people as it is so it's very good that this was intercepted. 

This may have even delayed or disrupted the evacuation plan. It seems as though the evacuation is almost complete despite there being quite a few people still left over. A major car bombing could have damaged the airport and since that's the only way out of Kabul right now...

I am guessing that the Taliban found out about these people and passed that on to the United States. We seem to be working fairly closely with the Taliban these days and they hate ISIS even more than we hate us. Plus, they lost a lot of their own people in the recent bombing. 

The threat is far from over though. I am honestly surprised that ISIS just hasn't tried to shoot it out with the US forces still in Kabul. If they did they probably could kill a few people and further embarrass the United States. But other car bombing or suicide attacks could be launched as well. We got lucky this time but who knows what will happen next.  

As for the evacuation itself it is a mess. I can't believe that the United States is reduced to relying on the Taliban for security and we already lost a lot of people. If we are extremely lucky in the next few days we don't have any other major terror attacks...

Fishing report: New personal best!

 

As you can see I had a pretty good day fishing today. I caught my personal best channel catfish! 12.4 lbs. I had been trying to get a big cat all summer and though I did catch a six pounder earlier in the year, I finally caught an actual big cat on my catfish rod. 

I was actually getting ready to leave as the sunset was ending and the mosquitos were starting to swarm. I then got a bit of a nibble on my big rod and I let him play with it a bit. When the line started moving I set the hook and I started reeling him in! The fish was very strong and it even managed to pull drag on me. I got it in with the help of a few other fellow fishermen who helped me net the fish and we landed it! I unhooked it, took a couple of pictures and then released him. 

How did I catch it? Just a store bought shrimp. I put it on a circle hook with a Carolina rig and fished it on the bottom. I haven't had too much luck with that this year but I had a couple of bites before. This was my first catfish on something other than a nightcrawler or jig this year though. 

That wasn't the only fish I caught today though. I had a couple other smaller catfish, and of course, round gobies. I did have a couple of nice fish on my ultra-lite pole though. One appeared to be a largemouth bass that snapped my line right as I was pulling him out of the water, he wasn't big though. I also had a decent smallmouth as well, probably about 15 inches, but as soon as I got him up he jumped and threw the hook. 

All in all it was a great day of fishing, well other than the quart of blood the mosquitos sucked out of me. I am glad that I have decided to go fishing a lot more this year. I've not only caught three new species (well four if you count the gobies), I've gotten new personal bests for channel catfish and freshwater drum (sheepshead). And the year is not over yet! During the week of Labor Day I will be on vacation and assuming the weather is good, I will be fishing the whole time! I don't think I will beat my new personal best anytime soon, but you never know! 

US Marine Battalion Commander sacked for criticizing US leadership in the wake of the Afghanistan debacle.

 

A US Marine Battalion Commander has been fired for criticizing US leadership in the wake of the Afghanistan debacle. Washington Free Beacon. Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller posted a Facebook video being highly critical of US leadership. He said battalion commanders are often removed for mistakes but nobody in charge has taken blame for the fall of Afghanistan and the botched withdrawal from Kabul. Scheller said that he understood that he might be removed from his post because he spoke out but he needed to do so anyways. Scheller said that he had been relieved of command because of his comments:

My Comment:

Utterly disgracefully that Lt. Col. Scheller was punished for the above video. Everything he said was true. The leadership of the military needs to be held accountable for the absolute disaster that is Afghanistan. As of right now I haven't seen anyone punished at all for losing Kabul and for the most recent terror attack that killed 12 Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman. 

But Lt. Col. Scheller? He was out before the end of the day. He got fired from his position and will probably be discharged. His career is over and his family is jeopardy. He might have a second career as a politician, as I would vote for him assuming he's not anti-gun or something stupid. But until than his life has been totally disrupted. 

It really shows where the priorities of America's now-woke military are. Totally mismanage the country's worst foreign policy incident since 9/11, miss all the intelligence that Afghanistan would fall, ignore the threat from ISIS, evacuate the troops before evacuating the diplomats and civilians and then be responsible for the deaths of 13 US servicemen? That's not a big deal. But demand accountability for all that? Your ass is out the door so fast your head will spin. 

And I think he is totally right. There desperately needs to be accountability in the higher echelons. There is no reason why Sec Def Lloyd Austin or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley haven't been fired yet. And some of the higher ups in the intel community as well. But so far nobody has been punished. 

There has been no accountability for any of this. Biden has said that the buck stops with him but then blamed everyone, the Afghan government, the Afghan military and even President Trump. But he never took responsibility for what he did and nobody has been fired. And people are now rightly furious with them. 

Getting rid of Lt Col Scheller is just another incident of the military purging their best warfighters while we are incredibly weak. With the military threatening to fire everyone who refuses to take the vaccine (which is over 800,000 people) they will become a lot weaker. Getting rid of all these people will destroy the military but that might even be the point... 

Supreme Court rules that Biden's eviction moratorium is unconstitutional

 

Protesters supporting the eviction moratorium. NBC News/Getty.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Biden's eviction moratorium is unconstitutional. NBC News. In 6-3 vote the Court ruled that the CDC had exceeded their authority in preventing evictions. The court had signaled in July that they would rule this way but allowed the original moratorium to expire as it was only days before the July 31st end date. However, Biden put the policy right back into place. Several states will still have moratoriums due to local orders. 

My Comment:

Joe Biden is having a bad day today. But in this case, just like Afghanistan, it's a crisis of his own making. He knew for a fact that the Supreme Court would rule this way, knew what he was doing was against the law, but did it anyways. And for what? So that these renters would have yet another month of debt that they won't be able to pay off? 

I always thought this policy was a terrible one just because of the incentives it created. There are a few people that were out of work that simply would not be able to pay their rent but those folks were the minority. For the rest, people just decided that paying rent was not worth it. Why do so when you can't be kicked out? 

This, of course, did a lot of damage to the nations landlords. I don't have a lot of sympathy for the bigger landlords who are pretty terrible. But I do have a lot of sympathy for the smaller folks that have less than 10 units. These people were devastated by this order and will now finally be able to either get their rent paid or find tenants that will pay. Being a landlord is a pretty terrible job under the best of circumstances, but when you can't get paid? 

Biden will of course pay a political price for this. Unfortunately his flagrant ignoring of the judicial branch won't be a problem for a lot of his voters. What will hurt him is that progressives are going to be furious with him, even if SCOTUS ruled against them. They want him to act as a dictator and simply ram through every policy they want. Biden did that once but I don't think he can do it again for this issue. 

I think a lot of the people that are going to be evicted will be furious as well. Most of them deserve it but regardless, they are going to blame the man in the White House. And the folks that really were behind on rent because of the economy? They are going to be furious, especially since the money that was meant to prevent that hasn't gotten to the people yet. 

As for Biden I honestly don't know what he is doing right now. He has been screwing up almost everything and hasn't delivered anything for his progressive base. He failed in Afghanistan and is hemorrhaging support. 

13 Americans dead, along with 60 Afghan civilians, in major ISIS terror attack at Kabul airport.

 

A man wounded in the attack. NBC News/AFP.

13 Americans are dead along with 60 Afghan civilians in a major ISIS terror attack against the Kabul airport. NBC News. ISIS took credit for the attack, which involved two suicide bombings and at least one shooter. The attackers targeted the airport's Abbey gate as well as the Barron Hotel, just outside of the airport. Biden said that the United States would pursue ISIS in Afghanistan but would not deploy more troops. Efforts to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies continued despite the major terrorist attack. The United States has until August 31st to get everyone out, including their own soldiers, due to a Taliban deadline. The Taliban have no love for ISIS as they are enemies, but they were unable to prevent this attack.

The Guardian has a live feed for this event and they have updated the casualty count to 13 Americans dead.  

My Comment:

I wrote about the possibility of an ISIS terror attack at Kabul airport a few days ago. I said the possibility of an attack was unlikely, but certainly possible. ISIS had to first get into the city from the countryside, bypassing Taliban checkpoints and then do the same thing in the city itself. Having done so they were able to attack the forces stationed there and inflicted serious casualties. 

I wasn't sure they were going to be able to pull such an attack off, even though it was obvious they wanted to. ISIS had been greatly reduced since President Trump took office. He led a major bombing campaign against the terror group and killed much of their leadership. The Taliban too attacked them and they were at a fraction of their previous power. But I guess they still had the troops and bombmakers to pull off this attack. 

The situation in Kabul is now very dire. We still have more than 1000 Americans to evacuate and that seems unlikely now. At any moment another major ISIS terror attack could occur and we have to trust the Taliban to keep us safe. And the Taliban are most likely unwilling or unable to do so. 

Mounting an evacuation from an airport that could at any moment come under fire has to be one of the most extremely difficult things that the United States military has ever been asked to do and I honestly don't know if they are going to pull it off. If ISIS can set up rocket and/or mortar attacks then it's done. We won't be able to get our people out if the airport is shut down or damaged enough that it can't operate. At that point the only option for the military on the ground would be to move out on foot and hope to God that the Taliban don't stop them. 

Even if that doesn't happen though, this event surely has to be the end of Joe Biden's presidency. He may not resign or be removed but all respect for the man is gone and a lot of people in his orbit are now trying to distance themselves from this disaster. Biden has completely mishandled this event and the incompetence now has a price in American blood. 

Worst of all is that people do not think that Biden cares at all. When Kabul fell he was on vacation and he only came back for a short statement before going on vacation again. After being shamed into coming back to work he went on vacation. Again. The optics are terrible and his press conferences, where he only answered pre-approved questions and then fled the reporters did not help things. 

A real leader would not have acted this way. The fall of Kabul and the evacuation may have been inevitable but I can't picture President Trump acting this way. Hell, I despise Barack Obama and think he was a bad President, but I can't picture him acting this way either. Or even Hillary Clinton or the rest of the Democratic field for 2020 (other than Kamala Harris who has acted just as bad as Biden). A real leader would have showed up, and actually took some of the blame he deserves instead of trying to blame everyone but himself. 

This really does seem like the end of an era in terms of America's power globally. We are no longer feared and respected and it's clear that we are leaving Afghanistan as a broken power. We did not win there and now it's clear that we aren't leaving on our own terms. Hell, it will be a miracle if we even manage to get our military forces out, let alone the civilians still trapped there. This will have massive consequences down the line as every other power in the world will realize that the world's policeman is now out to lunch. This is going to be a dark decade...

As for Biden, if he had any sense at all he would resign, along with Kamala Harris. There is no way his Presidency recovers from this and the only reason he hasn't been impeached yet is because the Democrats are for some ungodly reason defending him. Indeed, the talking point from Twitter blue checkmarks today is that this is Trump's fault for "not destroying ISIS" even though Biden has been in power now for seven months. 

But that won't save Biden this time. Too many of his own people are turning on him. The media is turning on him. And, most damning of all, the intelligence and military community are turning on him. His base of power is shattered and nobody is going to forgive the 13 Americans left dead and the potential 1000 people he will leave behind in Afghanistan... 

What will happen to the $6 billion currently allocated to helping the former Afghan government?

 

A helicopter evacuates people in Afghanistan. Politico.

With almost $6 billion currently allocated to the former Afghan government, questions are being raised as to what to do with the money. Politico. $3 billion was from the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years that hasn't been spent and another $3.3 billion allocated to train the Afghan army and air force. $350 million will be used to pay out contractors but the rest is up for grabs. Some of the funds will likely be earmarked for counter-terror operations as the fall of Afghanistan has severely disrupted anti-terror efforts in the region. Progressives are demanding the money be spent on Afghan refugees. 

My Comment:

Well, it looks like one of the winners of the fall of Afghanistan will be whoever ends up with this money. There are probably some defense contractors salivating at the thought of getting this money and they aren't the only ones. 

I do worry that the progressives will use this money to bring in Afghan "refugees". I don't have a problem with bringing a limited number of translators but I am guessing this money will be used to bring a bunch of unvetted people that will probably end up blowing up a shopping mall within a year. 

What really bothers me though is the fact that simply using the money to either pay back debt or not accrue new debt. If it was up to me this money would be paid to the national debt. It would be a tiny drop in the bucket of course but it would at least be an improvement on the situation. 

I am guessing that this money will be wasted. It will likely go to something stupid like a bunch of $900 hammers or other stupid project. It won't go to the people of the United States and I doubt anyone will actually get any use out of it. 

I am guessing a lot of the money will go to anti-terror operations now. The fall of Afghanistan has pretty much destroyed our ability to conduct anti-terror operations in the region. We have no boots on the ground, many of our agents are dead or on the run and we have no airbases in the region to launch drone strikes or air strikes. Though I think the threat from al-Qaeda and ISIS in the region has been overstated it is important to make sure they don't come back. My guess is that a lot of the money will go to that goal. 

Widespread anger against the Biden administration as thousands of Americans and Afghan allies are set to be left behind.

 

US Marines guard the Kabul airport. NBC News/Getty.

Widespread anger has broken out against the Biden administration as it becomes clear that thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies will be left behind during the evacuation of Afghanistan. NBC News. Biden has agreed to abide by the Taliban's August 31st deadline for US troop withdrawal. Without US presence further evacuations will be impossible without the Taliban. This has caused massive outrage in the intel community who feel they have an obligation to get their assets out. However, at this point little can be done. US troops are in a vulnerable position at the Kabul airport as they are surrounded by Taliban fighters and would likely not be able to fight their way out. Evacuations are expected to slow by Friday to give the military enough time to withdraw. 

My Comment:

This is without a doubt the biggest foreign policy disaster since 9/11. Thousands of Americans will be left behind. America has a week to evacuate them but not even that as they have said that evacuations will be reduced after Friday. So instead we only have three days. That isn't anywhere near enough time to get everyone out in Kabul that needs to leave. 

Of course the elephant in the room is the fact that thousands of Americans aren't even in Kabul. The fast pace of the advance of the Taliban cut a lot of people off who were in the other cities. Those people have no way to evacuate and will not be able to reach the Kabul airport in time even if the Taliban let them leave. 

What happens to these folks if they are left behind? I think the Afghans who worked with America are probably dead. The Taliban have been holding back a bit but they have been killing a few people who worked with the United States. The rest of those people are only alive because the Taliban are trying to play nice. Once the international community withdraws I am guessing they will be killing almost all of those people. 

What about the Americans and other foreign nationals? That's the big question. I don't think anyone knows, perhaps not even that Taliban. If they want to they can probably kill these people with immunity and there isn't much the Biden administration could do about it. Hell, I am not sure that the Biden administration will admit that a large number of people are being left behind. The hope is that the Taliban will let these people leave or at least take them as hostages. But there is no guarantee whatsoever. 

I do think that Biden is in more serious trouble than he or anyone else seems to realize. President Trump proved what happens to Presidents who anger the intelligence community. They undermined his presidency from day one and fed the media with a steady stream of leaks and lies that did great damage to his agenda. 

But Biden has gone far beyond what President Trump did. Trump just disagreed with them and tried to reverse some policies. Biden has done much more than that. Not only did he essentially end the war in Afghanistan, an intel community priority, he did it in a way that utterly embarrassed the intel community. He's made the entire region go dark in terms of intel gathering and I don't doubt that the CIA and defense community are furious that we are leaving a lot of interpreters and other assets behind. 

I think it was Chuck Schumer that said that the intel community has a million and a half ways to get back at you and I think Biden will find that out soon. If he is lucky he will just face the kind of crap that President Trump had to deal with, leaks, lies and so on and so forth. If he's not lucky? I probably shouldn't say...

But even if the intel community doesn't punish Biden for his failures, I think the US voter will. I don't think Biden is going to run for a 2nd term but there is the 2022 midterms. Though it is kind of far away, I do think voters will remember the scenes of people getting evacuated from the embassy and Afghanis falling off of planes. But if things go really bad then I can't see the Democrats winning in 2022. And that could mean that Republicans could get enough votes to impeach him.

I really do think that there should be a reckoning here. Though Afghanistan would have probably fallen to the Taliban eventually, it didn't have to end like this. We could have begun evacuations as soon as the Taliban offensive began. And if Biden had just kept to the timetable that President Trump had made with the Taliban we would be out of there now, with very few people left behind. It was never going to be easy but it didn't have to be like this... 

Will Afghanistan become a haven for terror groups like al-Qaeda?

 

Taliban fighters. DW/PPA.

After the fall of Kabul and the government of Afghanistan, could the country be used as a haven for terror groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS? DW. The United States invaded Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda but there are fears that the terror group could come back. ISIS is another fear since they have a presence in the country. With the Taliban in control of almost all of the country, anti-terror operations would be difficult at best for US forces. However, al-Qaeda is a shadow of their former self and ISIS and the Taliban are enemies. The Taliban also wants to have more respectability to foreign governments and tolerating terror groups could jeopardize that. However, the Taliban still has relationships with al-Qaeda remnants.

My Comment:

I tend to agree that Afghanistan will not become a terror base. As I wrote yesterday, ISIS in Afghanistan was largely destroyed and are mortal enemies to the Taliban. They still exist but are not anywhere near the threat they used to be. 

Could they regroup and threaten the Taliban? It's possible. With the efforts of the Taliban to be more "respectable" there may be a few Islamists that would see them as "selling out". ISIS has always been more extreme than al-Qaeda and the Taliban so it's possible they will gain some recruits, especially if they manage to pull off a terror attack on Kabul.  

With that being said, ISIS probably won't become a major threat in Afghanistan. For one the Taliban hates them and will do whatever they can to root them out, to the point where they may allow foreign powers to bomb them.

ISIS would also not have any funding if they took over parts of Afghanistan. Unlike Iraq, Syria and Libya, there would be little to no resources they could exploit and there isn't a tax base in Afghanistan. There just isn't a future there for them. 

As for al-Qaeda coming back, how? Al-Qaeda in the region is mostly gone. There is hardly anyone left to fight and what little resources and people they have are concentrated in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. I am sure there are a few al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan but they aren't big enough that they could take over enough to be an international threat.

Plus I don't think that the Taliban will give them safe haven this time around. Though I don't buy their attempt at respectability they also don't want to give anyone an excuse to send troops back in. In the short term it makes zero sense for them to invite al-Qaeda back in.

I do have to note that there is a possibility that the danger of terror groups in Afghanistan will be amplified by the military industrial complex. They hate the fact that we pulled out and would be happy to have any reason to go back in. To Biden's credit he seems to be ignoring them, but who knows what will happen in the future? Take any reports of terror groups popping up in Afghanistan with a rather large grain of salt. 

Is an ISIS attack possible at Kabul Airport?

 

The flag of ISIS.

The Biden administration is citing the threat of ISIS attacks for changes in the evacuation procedures in Kabul, Afghanistan. USA Today. Evacuations were paused today due to the threat of a major terror attack from the Khorasan branch of ISIS as well as the fact that the Qatar processing center being overwhelmed. ISIS is not as powerful as it once was in Afghanistan, but it has taken advantage of the chaos to step up attacks and it is feared that they could attack Afghan civilians and US soldiers defending the airport. However, Kabul is held by the Taliban who is at war with ISIS. 

My Comment:

ISIS is not the threat it used to be in Afghanistan. The Trump administration made destroying them a priority and most of their leadership is dead. The Taliban have fought them for a long time as well and the terror group has been bled dry. They still exist but I don't know how powerful they are these days. 

But I do think that ISIS would love to hit the Kabul airport. Not so much to target the civilians there, though they would consider them to all be enemies, but to draw blood from American soldiers. Doing so would be a propaganda coup for ISIS and could lead to a major wave of recruitment. 

Can they do it? Well, it would probably be difficult. The Taliban are swarming all over Kabul and there are limited chances for them to actually pull off an attack. They would have to get through Taliban checkpoints to even get into the city, let alone get close to the airport. They might be able to pose as Taliban fighters but even that is a stretch. 

But if they somehow do get access to the airport, what happens then? I think there is a chance that they could try and shoot people but if that happens I see them getting ventilated pretty quickly. Of more concern is a major terrorist bombing using a suicide vest or IED. That could kill several US soldiers and possibly even end the evacuation. 

This would be a huge embarrassment for the Biden administration, who is already suffering from a massive credibility problem. A major terror attack in Kabul would ruin his reputation, whatever shreds of it are left, and would likely end his presidency. He's hanging by a thread anyways. 

Which is why the Biden administration is taking the threat seriously, even if the actual chance is pretty unlikely. They are also using it as an excuse though. The evacuation has been a disaster and any delay at this point is due to poor planning.  

Australia shoots rescue dogs in effort to stop the Coronavirus...

 

Photo of a rescue dog. Sydney Morning Herald/Paul Harris. 

Several rescue dogs due to be adopted were shot and killed by officials in Cobar Australia. Sydney Morning Herald. Bourke Shire Council, the ruling local government, shot the dogs so volunteers would not pick them up in an effort to stop the spread of the Coronavirus/Covid19. There have been no local cases in Cobar for quite some time. The decision was harshly criticized by citizens and animal rights groups.  

My Comment:

Australia appears to have lost their minds over the Coronavirus pandemic. This is just the latest horrible thing they have done in the name of disease prevention. Essentially every time someone so much as coughs there they lockdown. They Australian government has taken the example of China and though so far they haven't welded anyone into their apartments yet, they are doing things like this. 

What is shocking about this is how pointless the action is. It's not like these dogs were infected with the Coronavirus or anything. They were just going to be adopted into loving homes and the few minutes of face to face contact between the employees at this pound and the group adopting these animals was too much for the Australian government. And they didn't even put the dogs down in a humane way, they shot them. 

For what? A disease that the vast majority of people survive? A disease that isn't even in the part of Australia where this occurred? Why in God's name would anyone do this? It just doesn't make any sense. The worst case scenario is that a person sneezes and a few people get sick. I am betting most of the people who wanted to rescue these dogs would find that to be an acceptable risk.

This is of course compared to places like my home here in Wisconsin. Though we have seen a major uptick in cases lately, we are essentially free to do whatever we want. There are a few mask mandates for businesses and the utter mess that is dealing with the healthcare system or government, but other than that we are back to normal and have been for some time. We certainly aren't shooting dogs here and honestly, everything is fine. The Coronavirus remains a disease that mostly affects the elderly, unhealthy and otherwise vulnerable, the vast majority of which had gotten vaccines a long time ago. 

It does seem that the people in Australia have had enough. We have seen large protests lately and there are even rumors that the country's truckers are going to shut down the country. At this point who could blame them. The country's government was out of control before this but I am guessing that this incident will act as a rallying cry. 

People of course love dogs and generally treat them as members of the family in the Western world, to the point where the whole thing is a bit silly. But people are not going to be happy with Australia just shooting dogs in the name of medical "safety". At some point the dam there is going to break and this might just be the incident that does it. 

US issues terror warning in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

 

The US Capitol Building. AFP/SLIM. 

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a terrorism warning in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. AFP. The 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington DC is considered a prime target for potential attacks. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, often considered the most dangerous remaining terror group, has been more active lately and has released the first issue of their Inspire magazine in quite some time. There is also concern that there will be blowback domestically from draconian anti-Covid measures. 

My Comment:

I think that there probably is a heightened threat level right now. From what I understand terror groups across the globe celebrated the fall of Kabul and it has massively increased their morale and recruitment. And for good reason. It just showed that the United States and our allies can be defeated. 

It's also clear that the United States is weaker than at any point in my lifetime at least. With Joe Biden essentially ignoring the Kabul crisis by going on vacation it shows that our President is incredibly weak. Terror groups watch the same news as everyone else and they know that our President and his entire team are out to lunch. 

With that being said, I don't think that a major, organized Islamic terror attack is likely in the United States. The biggest threat was ISIS and they have been all but totally destroyed. They no longer have the capability to launch a major overseas attack. And it's not like AQAP is in that much better of a position. I don't think they have pulled off a major international attack since the Charlie Hebdo attacks back in 2015. They are still a threat but mostly to their fellow Yemeni citizens and perhaps to Europe. 

Of course there is nothing saying that the risk comes from organized terror attacks. There is always a chance of lone wolf attackers. Indeed, if there is going to be a terror attack anytime soon, I think it will be from someone who is inspired by al-Qaeda or ISIS, and not directly controlled by them. Given the weakness of the Biden administration, the huge morale boost from the fall of Kabul and the symbolic importance of the 9/11 anniversary, I do think that we may see some violence somewhere. 

As for domestic threats, I am not sure. I don't think there is any organized right wing terror groups in the United States, at least none that aren't actually run by the FBI. The danger of right wing terrorism is mostly a myth. Left wing terrorists are depressingly common but have largely disappeared after the summer of destruction we had in 2020. But left wing terrorists are usually more focused on looting and rioting, not major attacks. 

But I do think the absolutely tyrannical way the government is acting will probably inspire violence. People tolerated some restrictions when the virus was out of control, but what they won't tolerate is people coming after their jobs. With vaccine passports being rolled out in some areas and workplaces requiring vaccines people are being forced to choose between their convictions and their livelihoods. When that happens violence is sure to follow...

FBI reports that the January 6th protests was not organized.

 

The US Capitol. Reuters.

The FBI reports that the January 6th protests against Joe Biden were not organized by any conservative group. Reuters. The media and Democrats have long argued that the protests were an effort to try and overthrow the government of the United States instead of a protest against the election. However, two FBI agents with knowledge of the case and a Democratic staffer confirmed to Reuters that there was no major scheme. A few people associated with the Proud Boys had a plan to enter the Capitol but had no plans to actually do anything when they entered it. The FBI cleared President Trump of any wrongdoing in the case. 

My Comment:

Since this report is so damaging to the Democrats and far left agenda, the source of the report, Reuters, one of the more respected wire services, is being attacked. Indeed, when this was trending earlier today I saw a lot of blue check marks on Twitter calling Reuters "Russian propaganda". 

Hilariously enough, I still found this article to be horrendously biased against both President Trump and his supporters. They claim, without evidence, that the 2020 election was not stolen, didn't point out that the only person actually killed that day was Ashli Babbitt and the potential role of the FBI and Antifa in the limited amount of violence that did happen. 

Regardless, the Reuters piece did confirm something that should have been obvious anyways. This was not a plot to overthrow the government, it was an organic development. The President's supporters saw what happened on election night and were pretty obviously upset by how crooked the election looked. A few rabble rousers may have encouraged them, but the anger was real and justified. 

And you can't tell me that if there really was a right wing plot to take over the government, it would have looked like this. Any real plot to take over the government would have had people showing up with guns. 

And you know what? They would have then succeeded too. The crowd was large enough on January 6th that if the protesters had guns the government would have had little they could have done. Either they open fire and start a shooting war or they don't and the protesters would have gotten what they wanted. And given the events of the past seven months the universe where that happened is probably doing way better than this one...

Still though, I always thought that the government, media and the Democratic reaction to the events of January 6th was beyond hypocritical. They spent all of 2020 rioting and the second someone decides to throw a comparatively peaceful protest of their own they lose their minds. And unlike the thugs at Black Lives Matter, these people actually had a reason to protest. It's just baffling to me that the American public let them get away with this. 

Will Joe Biden's presidency be able to survive the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan?

 

Joe Biden.

As you may know the fallout from the fall of Kabul is continuing. In the past few days the Taliban has taken over the vast majority of Afghanistan. We have seen the chaos at the Kabul airport with people falling off of planes to their deaths. And now we are seeing people getting murdered by the Taliban while somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 Americans still trapped in the country with only the good will of the Taliban keeping them alive.

You know what we didn't see? Joe Biden and his team. Biden was on vacation last weekend as Kabul fell. His Vice President, Kamala Harris hasn't made a public appearance since. And his Press Secretary, Jen Paski, was on vacation too. Biden was finally shamed into making a short statement, where he blamed everyone but himself and then... went back on vacation. He's back now and gave another update, but completely ignored the elephant in the room, the fall of Kabul. And now I hear he is heading back to Delaware this weekend. 

This is a total lack of leadership. You can argue that Afghanistan was always going to end badly and the Afghan government was always going to fall. You could even argue that Biden really was caught off guard or blame the intelligence community, though that probably isn't accurate. But what you can't argue is that Biden's behavior has been in any way Presidential. 

What should have Biden done? He should have been in DC through the whole crisis. He should have told Americans that there was a decent chance that the government would fall. He should have done everything he could to get Americans out and he should have said to the world that he would not rest until every American was safe. But instead? He went on vacation.

I always knew that Joe Biden was going to be a mediocre President but I didn't think he would be this bad. After all he was Vice President and a Senator for a long time. You would think that he would have learned how to be Presidential. I mean, I am no fan of Obama, but I can't imagine him fleeing town during a crisis like this.

Of course, the problem may be Biden's obvious declining mental health. He appears to be afflicted by some kind of dementia and the amount of decline has been obvious. He's not the same man he was as he was when he was a Senator or Vice President. He's not even the same man he was during the campaign. It's possible his decline is even worse than widely realized and his handlers knew that he just wasn't capable of handling the crisis. 

I struggle to think of other reasons why Biden just fled town. Part of me thinks that he never really wanted to be President. Supposedly he ran because he just hated President Donald Trump that much. Perhaps when he got into office he just decided he didn't want to actually do the work. 

Regardless of the reason it's clear that people are turning on him. His approval rate plummeted this week, even among polling firms that usually spot Democrats several points. He's getting criticism from the media, who had in the past worshiped the ground he walks on. And even Democrats are starting to whisper about the 25th Amendment. 

So is there any chance that Biden pulls out of this tailspin? I don't think so. Indeed, I think things are going to start getting a lot worse before they get better. Though Afghanistan was the dam breaking, it's far from the only pressing issue for Biden that he is mishandling.  

Obviously the pandemic has been a total mess. We went from the virus being over and ignored to absolute tyranny. People are barely tolerating mask mandates (and in some cases they aren't) and the vaccine mandates are probably going to end with violence. People remember that the virus was mostly gone and Biden was in charge when it came back. And people are sick and tired of the restrictions and they are going to blame Biden.

And the economy? It's in shambles. Inflation is starting to hit and it's only a matter of time before that results in stagflation. People aren't spending as much money because it's not worth as much and the higher inflation. And it's Biden's economic policies that are causing it. 

I just don't see a way out for Biden, short of resignation. There is a Chinese concept called "the mandate of heaven". In short it means that if a country experiences some kind of disaster, be it man made or natural, it's a sign that the gods no longer respect the government and it's time for a new one. If I was Biden, I would be realizing right now that the mandate is no longer with him... 

Still, it's hard to predict the future. Biden's a stubborn man and I can't see him resigning. And removing Biden would destroy the Democrats chances of accomplishing anything before the 2022 midterms. And don't underestimate how unpopular Kamala Harris is. Even her own staff hates her. So even though Biden is a joke right now, I don't see how anyone else can step up to the plate. He might end up sticking around. But even if that happens, he's a lame duck president now. 

US Senator John Cornyn caused international incident by falsely tweeting out that the US had 30,000 troops in Taiwan.

 

US Senator John Cornyn (R) Texas. Reuters. 

US Senator John Cornyn falsely tweeted out that the United States had 30,000 troops in Taiwan, causing a major incident with China. Reuters. Cornyn deleted the tweet that included statistics of where US troops were stationed and claimed that 30,000 were in Taiwan. As far as is publicly known, no US troops are stationed in Taiwan, which China considers a rogue province. The United States did have troops stationed in Taiwan in the aftermath of the Chinese revaluation but were withdrawn when they recognized the Communist government of China. China threatened war over Cornyn's tweet through their state media magazine, The Global Times, saying that if it was true it would result in a conflict. They also humorously called Cornyn a "dotard".

My Comment:

What a dumb tweet by Cornyn. I am assuming that the tweet is just a mistake as that is what the media is saying but either way it was stupid for him to tweet that out. It made no sense for him to tweet that if it was true but being completely wrong about it? Makes zero sense. 

The timing could not have been worse. After the fall of Kabul, China has been emboldened. Right now they are conducting a massive exercise aimed at practicing for Taiwan and have even said that any war between China and Taiwan would end up like Afghanistan. 

Clearly, China senses the weakness of the United States. We totally failed at evacuating Kabul and keeping Afghanistan. And it's very clear that Joe Biden is out to lunch. Our military is also a woke joke that is more concerned with gender studies, critical race theory and making sure we have a good quota of black trans-lesbian furries and not too many actually competent people. 

In this environment Cornyn's tweet was utterly crazy. Mistake or not the last thing we need to do is give China an excuse. China probably isn't capable of taking back Taiwan but they might not know it. Given our current weakness, an international incident like this could give them an excuse to launch an attack. And given our incredible weakness right now they might actually win the war. 

Our problem in this moment is a crisis of competence. Like I said, the entire Biden administration is out to lunch. One would hope in this circumstance that leadership would emerge from Congress, but that's clearly not happening either. John Cornyn is a popular and powerful senator and he knows better than to make mistakes like this. So how on earth did this happen?

Finally, I have to say China is clearly in the wrong when it comes to Taiwan and if there were 30,000 troops in Taiwan I would be fine with it. As far as I am concerned there is only one China and its capital is Taiwan. That doesn't mean we should be stupid when it comes to China and that is what Cornyn did. 

Biden returns to Camp David after briefly giving a speech about the fall of Afghanistan...

 

The evacuation of Saigon (top) and Kabul (bottom).

Joe Biden is coming under withering criticism for his response to the Taliban's stunning success in Kabul. Fox News. Biden had been on vacation at Camp David during the crisis and the media was demanding he give a speech. He returned to Washington today to give that speech but then immediately returned to Camp David to extend his vacation. This decision led to bipartisan outrage over Biden's behavior. 

My Comment:

Biden's behavior here is almost unbelievable. This is the biggest foreign policy disaster since 9/11 and he is on vacation. He got shamed into giving a speech, which I know he didn't want to give, as even the media and Democrats were noticing that he and his team was out to lunch. He gave the above speech and then went right back to Camp David. 

Considering the video coming out of Afghanistan right now it's totally tone deaf. I am sure everyone has seen the video of Afghans so desperate to escape the country that they tried riding on the sides of a C-17 Globemaster and predictably falling off. And that's just the start. The airport in Kabul is in total chaos and it's only by the good will of the Taliban that there hasn't been a massive slaughter. 

And it's not like Biden's speech was a good one. He mostly blamed others for his failure and then at the end said "the buck stops here". At least he didn't blame President Trump, though many of his defenders are. Biden was his old, stuttering and stumbling self and he left the press hanging. It will be remembered for how ineffective it is. 

Biden isn't the only one who is AWOL. VP Harris has not been heard from in days now. Some say she is trying to keep a low profile so here own political ambitions aren't hurt by this. But we also know that she was in the room when Biden made the call to pull the troops out. Hilariously, Biden's hapless press secretary, Jen Paski, is on vacation now too. It's like nobody wants to talk to the media right now. 

Speaking of the media, for the first time in about five years, the media is actually being critical of the leader of the Democratic Party. I don't think that this will be a permanent state of affairs but when you have lost CNN you know the situation is serious. 

Everyone wonders now if there will be any consequences for this. A lot of people would like to see Biden and Harris both resign but that seems like wishful thinking. But someone's head has to role. What about Biden's generals and advisors? From what I understand Biden didn't listen to them anyways but at this point someone has to take the blame. Will Biden throw someone under the bus? It's unclear. 

Either way, this has been a sad week or so for America. I am in no way a supporter of Biden and I am glad that this will almost certainly result in the Democrats losing in the 2022 midterms. But this event will have major repercussions for the rest of the world. America just lost a lot of prestige and status and we have been humiliated globally. 

It may even encourage our enemies to act. What did China just see? We abandoned an ally in ridiculous fashion and showed them our politicians are out to lunch. We have an extremely weak president who won't be around for a second term. Why not hit Taiwan now? And it's not just China. Russia, Iran and every terror group in the world is probably thinking the same thing. America is no longer the power it once was... 

Taliban enter Kabul with the Afghan government saying there will be a peaceful transfer of power

 

Taliban fighters in the city of Herat. Reuters.

The Taliban have entered Kabul with the Afghan government saying there will be a peaceful transfer of power. Reuters. As US diplomats are evacuated from the city, Taliban forces have surrounded Kabul. Both the Taliban and an Afghan government minister claimed that an interim government would be given control under to command of the Taliban. The Taliban are holding off on attacking the city until a peaceful transfer of power can occur. The United States and the United Kingdom had deployed troops to help evacuate the city but it is unclear what will happen with that mission now.  

My Comment:

This is rapidly developing news story with information becoming out of date very fast. It is likely that by the time this post is published some of the information will be obsolete. But the core of this post is that the Taliban appear to have succeeded in their offensive to take back the entire country of Afghanistan. The Afghan government no longer controls much of anything and are at the mercy of the Taliban. 

There will be winners and losers here, with the Taliban obviously coming out on top. China will likely win as well as they will likely have more influence over Afghanistan now with US power waning. The biggest losers are going to be the groups that the Taliban hate, religious minorities, people who worked directly with the United States and educated women. 

The biggest loser though has to be the United States and to a lesser extent our NATO allies. Our almost 20 year experiment in nation building has screeched to a quick stop and our power and prestige has been hugely damaged. This is a national embarrassment. Not so much that the Taliban took over again, but the way that they did so. With our embassy being evacuated and our troops fleeing with their tales between their legs. Much like Vietnam, Afghanistan joins the ranks of wars that the United States decisively lost.

Joe Biden is a major loser as well. This was his first foreign policy challenge and he did not rise to the occasion. Indeed, he is not even in Washington DC right now. Instead he is on vacation in Camp David. Much like Nero fiddling while Rome burned (which is probably historically inaccurate), Biden was hiding out at Camp David while we lost Afghanistan. 

He also has much of the blame. President Trump had a deal with the Taliban to withdraw last May and Biden broke it for pretty much no reason that I can see. That infuriated the Taliban and allowed them to start their offensive earlier, which allowed the government to collapse. That might have happened anyways but we would have completely our pull out a lot more smoothly. It's an embarrassment that the Taliban are now driving around with our Humvees and flying our Blackhawk helicopters. 

Of course the Afghan military and government had much of the blame as well. The army simply didn't fight in the end stages of the war and it's not a real question as to why. They didn't have a reason to do so. Why fight for a corrupt government that stands for nothing? The Taliban at least stand for Allah, and that is a powerful motivation. But what did the average soldier in Afghanistan fight for? A paycheck. And the Afghan army collectively realized that their paychecks weren't worth it. 

Out of everyone though I feel worse for the US soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan. At least when ISIS took over parts of Iraq we ended up bombing the everloving hell out of them, along with all other civilized nations. But in this case there isn't going to be a 2nd win where the government stands strong. In the end our 20 year adventure in Afghanistan ended in unambiguous failure...

Fishing report: new species caught!

 

I went fishing today and after getting skunked last time I decided to bring my ultralight pole with me to the park and it was the right choice. I ended up catching a ton of small fish including a new species for me, the smallmouth bass.

I had been hoping to catch a smallmouth all summer because in 38 years of life and fishing I have never caught one before. They are more of a river fish and I was always a lake fisherman and never had much luck going after them. I've probably caught hundreds of largemouths but this was a first for me. Oh, and that one up there? That was the 2nd one I caught. If you think that one is small, you should see the first...

As you can see, I wasn't catching big fish today. I have caught a few bigger fish this year, including a six pound channel cat and a six pound sheepshead (freshwater drum) but I don't mind the smaller fish either. And smallmouth bass have been a bucket list fish for me for so long that I was happy to catch them at any size. The larger one actually put up a decent fight on ultralight tackle and 4 lbs test. 

So far this year I have caught four new species of fish. 

-Smallmouth bass

-White bass

-White perch

-Round goby

The gobies are kind of out of control on Lake Michigan. From what I understand they have helped our walleye and smallmouth populations and they eat zebra and quagga mussels, but they are still really annoying. I caught around a dozen of these invasive fish today and it was annoying every time. 

Speaking of walleyes, they have so far eluded me this year, along with bigger catfish. I have been going for both but not had much luck. I have caught several catfish this year, more than I have ever caught before, but only that one six pounder was of any decent size. I'm going to keep trying though!

Joe Biden goes on vacation during Afghanistan crisis...

 

Joe Biden and Jill Biden. Jill Biden injured her foot last month in Hawaii. The Daily Mail/AFP.

As you are certainly aware, Afghanistan is falling apart. In the past few days several district capitals have fallen, hundreds of Afghan troops have surrendered, sometimes without a fight, and now even the capital is being threatened. It is a major crisis and one that does not seem to being handled well by Joe Biden. 

Indeed, Joe Biden is on vacation this weekend. He traveled to Camp David with his wife, Jill Biden. He will be there all weekend and there is little indication that Biden will be working on the problem at all. Though I know that a President's vacation bears little resemblance to a normal person's vacation the optics here is terrible. 

Some would argue that there is little left to be done in Afghanistan and I would disagree. Right now we need to evacuate our people from the country and make sure our embassy gets protected and then evacuated. Right now Biden got that process rolling but is no longer monitoring it directly. This is not a good outcome given how many of our troops he has put into the country to try and save and evacuate the embassy. 

Right now I am worried that the capital of Kabul will fall before those troops even get there. The Taliban advance has been stunning and I have seen no indication that the remaining Afghan troops have any will to fight. Today the "gateway to Kabul", Qalat fell and the Taliban now control 18 provincial capitals, in just eight days. At this pace Kabul could be isolated by this weekend and may even fall before the weekend is up. That puts the lives of the embassy personal and the soldiers defending it in extreme danger. 

With this being the situation, I think it's terrible that Biden is taking a vacation. He should be in Washington DC to helm this situation and at least be giving media briefs on what is going on. Instead he took a vacation with his tails between his legs. It's like the fall of Afghanistan is not even happening for Biden. It's a disaster in terms of optics as people will always remember that when Kabul fell Biden was hiding. 

And yes, Biden owns Afghanistan, as much as he would like to blame President Trump, it's on Biden for mishandling the withdrawal. As I have said many times now if he had kept his word with the Taliban the offensive would not have happened as soon as it did and it may have even bought enough time for some kind of peace deal to be made. Now though? The Taliban are going to win and we are getting embarrassed globally. 

Finally, I have to say that Biden risks a repeat of the Iraq withdrawal. In that war we pulled out troops but because of the absolute quagmire that was Syria, ISIS arose and we had to bring our troops back to defeat them or risk having Iraq fall yet again. This time the fall is already happening and everyone is afraid that ISIS or al-Qaeda could make a comeback in Afghanistan as well. There is no love lost between the Taliban and ISIS but their links to al-Qaeda are deep and important. We could end up with another 9/11 eventually as Biden has done nothing to ensure that the Taliban won't let al-Qaeda reestablish itself in Afghanistan...  

The Taliban have taken Afghanistan's second and third largest cities.

 

Taliban troops in Ghazni, Afghanistan's third largest city. Reuters/Taliban handout.

The Taliban have taken Afghanistan's second and third largest cities, Kandahar and Ghazni. Reuters. The two cities represent the Taliban's biggest victory since the war began almost 20 years ago. In response the United States and the United Kingdom will send thousands of troops to evacuate their embassies in Kabul. The United States is also trying to evacuate Afghans who had helped them in the war. American intelligence says the Taliban could isolate Kabul in 30 days and capture the capital in 90 days. The decision to pull out troops was made by President Trump but Joe Biden has been in charge as the Taliban launched their major offensive. 

My Comment:
What a disaster. It seems very clear that we are seeing a repeat of Saigon in 1975. The Afghan government lost two of their biggest cities and has lost 12 provincial capitols. The Afghan military has fallen apart and there are few troops standing between the Taliban and the capitol.

I don't think there is much chance of the Afghan government surviving. They have lost thousands of troops and morale is non-existent. They have no allies left and the Taliban has the advantage and momentum. 

At it sure looks like Biden has zero interest in sending troops in. Yes, he is sending in a token force to defend and evacuate the embassy, but those troops will have no impact on the war. Our efforts to bomb the Taliban into submission have failed and that's about all the help we can give the Afghan government without sending troops. 

Biden deserves both blame and credit in this situation. As much as I despise the man, I misjudged him. I thought for sure that as soon as Afghanistan fell apart he would be sending in tens of thousands of troops. Instead he seems content to let the war finish, even if it means we get embarrassed. At this point, any more assistance to Afghanistan is just throwing good money after bad. We tried to get them to stand on their own and they failed miserably. Washing our hands of them is the right call. 

That being said, the endgame didn't have to be this way. If Biden had just followed President Trump's timeline we probably could have avoided much of this. Instead he had to make the asinine decision to withdraw on September 11th, which he later revised. Trump had a deal with the Taliban and they were largely going along with it. But Biden double crossed them and they launched their massive offensive. Afghanistan falling may have been inevitable but if Biden had cooperated he could have bought some time for a political solution. 

This will be a major embarrassment for the United States and Biden in particular. Sure, I know he is going to blame President Trump but when it comes down to it the buck stops with him. He's going to be in charge as Kabul falls and our troops and diplomats flee Afghanistan with their tails between their legs. 

New video shows Hunter Biden claiming he lost a third laptop with blackmail material on it to a Russian.

 

Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The Daily Mail. 

A new video shows Hunter Biden claiming he lost a third laptop filled with blackmail material against him with possible Russian agents stealing it. (LINK NSFW!)The Daily Mail. If confirmed the laptop would be the third one that Hunter Biden lost, including the one that he left at a computer repair shop and another one that was confiscated during a criminal investigation of his friend, a psychiatrist that was under federal investigation. The Daily Mail received a copy of the first laptop and found this video. In it, Biden films himself having sex with a prostitute and then recounts a major drug binge where his laptop was stolen back in 2018. He said he partied with a group of Russian drug dealers and after partying with them for days he passed out and when he woke up the laptop was missing. Hunter Biden said that the laptop had video of him having sex and could be used to blackmail him if his father became President. Hunter Biden also claimed that he would make money if Joe Biden became President. 

My Comment:

This story is being ignored by most major media as usual. After all, they covered up Hunter Biden's disgusting actions throughout the 2020 election cycle. You would think that having the Presidents son admitting to having been compromised with blackmail material would be the biggest story in the world, and if it was one of President Trump's kids it would be. But we all know that doesn't work with the Biden family. 

It honestly would have been surprising if the Russians (or other foreign nationals) weren't targeting Hunter Biden. The man is clearly a mess and is addicted to drugs and sex. He is a total mess and even the most amateurish intelligence operation could turn him. 

And I bet that is exactly what happened. Everyone remembers how Hunter Biden was selling his terrible paintings and getting paid obscene amounts of money for it. There is no way that wasn't because someone was funneling money to him, and it's possible it was the very Russians that stole his laptop. 

It's possible though that these blackmailers no longer have any leverage over him. After all, a ton of stuff leaked from his first laptop. Indeed, there is a circumstantial case that he may have molested his niece, though it hasn't been proven. What could be more embarrassing than that? 

Still, Hunter Biden is a major liability for the United States. Through him foreign governments can potentially bribe or blackmail Joe Biden. That is a risk that is not acceptable, and could possibly explain why Biden ran on being anti-Russia but then green lighted their controversial natural gas pipeline. 

In a perfect world there would be a major congressional investigation, perhaps with a special counsel. And if it can be proven that the Bidens are compromised they should be investigated and possibly removed from office. But my guess is that there will be no investigation and this story will be buried before the week is out... 

Case of Marburg, an Ebola virus relative, confirmed in Guinea

 

Doctors in Guinea. The Hill/Getty.

A case of Marburg, an Ebola virus relative, has been confirmed in Guinea leading to more than a 100 people being quarantined. The Hill. A man died after showing symptoms and his case was confirmed. Marburg can spread though it is not a respiratory disease like the Coronavirus and requires close contact to spread and contact with bodily fluid. Unlike Ebola, there is no vaccine for the virus and the fatality rate can range between 24% and 88%. Guinea has major experience with hemorrhagic fevers as they faced major Ebola virus outbreaks last year and in 2014.

My Comment:

Just something to keep an eye on. Marburg of course won't be the next Coronavirus but it could be the next Ebola. IN that case it would be a major regional disaster if it runs out of control. It could be a major problem for the region if it begins to spread. 

Marburg might be a bit more dangerous than the Ebola outbreak as there is no vaccine to prevent the virus. One could be developed but it would take time to make sure it would work. And I don't know if there is any funding or desire to make a vaccine until things get out of control. I also don't know if immunity from Ebola, either from natural antibodies or the vaccine, would help with the Marburg virus.

If a major outbreak does happen I think Guinea and the rest of West Africa might be in trouble. The world is focused on the Coronavirus outbreak and has little desire to help Africa with its problems while they have enough of their own to deal with. 

Fortunately, I don't think that the virus will spread. It looks like the health officials are already working hard with contact tracing and they took precautions to not spread the virus. Unless this guy was taken care of by his family and a family member ends up spreading their fluids to other people, I don't think the virus will spread. My guess is that this is a one off infection, probably from bushmeat, and it will sputter out soon.