Even NBC News polling says that Biden's approval ratings have tanked.

 

Joe Biden's White House Photo.

Even NBC News polling is reporting that Biden's disapproval rating is bigger than his approval rating. NBC News. In the poll 42% of Americans approve of Biden's administration while 54% disapprove. More critical 71% of the polling sample says that the country is heading in the wrong direction while even 50% of Democrats say the same thing. The economy is a significant weakness for Biden as 60% disapprove of his handling of the issue. The poll also shows that Biden is hurting his party as the poll shows that people now believe the Republican Party would have done better on the economy, immigration and inflation.

My Comment:

The polling is getting worse for Joe Biden and it is happening fairly quickly. This poll number was confirmed by Rasmussen, who is fairly accurate and isn't as biased in favor of Democrats. They might be slightly biased towards conservatives but they are saying about the same thing as the obviously biased NBC News poll.

This is bad news for Biden as it shows that even his supporters are starting to abandon him. That never happened with President Trump as his supporters are still supporting him. I think it's possible that Biden has lost the support of his party. 

It seems pretty clear that the Biden White House has gone off the rails. He hasn't really gotten any legislation passed and it looks very likely that the Democrats will not be able to pass the infrastructure bill. And he has failed on foreign policy, the economy and the Coronavirus. Afghanistan was an absolute disaster, inflation is out of control and the virus is still raging. 

Biden has also taken some hugely unpopular actions that have angered a lot of people. Everyone is upset about vaccine mandates and are angry that virus restrictions are still around. That isn't entirely Biden's fault as those restrictions are mostly in blue states, but his insane vaccine mandate is entirely on him. It is causing thousands of people to lose their jobs, making the logistics backlog even worse and is making people angrier than I have ever seen them. Not to mention that its effect on the virus appears to be negligible at best and actively harmful at worst. 

And I think things will get worse for Biden. The economy is not going to recover anytime soon. Inflation will get worse, especially if the Democrats somehow manage to pass their infrastructure bill. There is a real possibility that we could get into a war with China. And the logistics problems will continue and will make its impact felt during the Christmas season. Biden will take the blame for all of this. 

We have also seen grassroot resistance to Biden and his White House. At every sports venue in the country people are chanting "Fuck Joe Biden" along with the more tongue in cheek "Let's Go Brandon". People are sick and tired of Biden's actions and many people are hoping that Biden is out of office sooner rather than later.

Could Biden turn it around? I think he could fairly easily if he just learned to back down. Simply abandoning his insane vaccine mandate would likely give him a ten point boost from that alone. Not printing any more money and going back to President Trump's America First polices would help him too. 

But he won't do it. Hell, we don't even know if he is really in charge. Biden's mental acuity is obviously in question. He often seems confused and when he isn't, he's angry. I have seen people with dementia before and Biden certainly reminds me of them. He's nothing like the Vice President he was under Obama or the Senator he was before that. Biden has always put his foot in his mouth but at least back then he was comprehensible. 

I am guessing that the Democrats will lose and lose big while Biden is around. This weeks election in Virginia is a big test as I think that Biden is such an albatross around the Democrats neck that he will take them down with himself. Unless things massively change the only way that they can win in 2022 and 2024 is if they cheat and do so in such a away that it's really obvious... 

Bid to smear Republicans in Virginia as racists is foiled and The Lincoln Project admits responsibility.

 

A photo of the incident. National Review. 

A bid to smear Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin and his supporters as racists has been exposed after The Lincoln Project admits responsibility. National Review. The Lincoln Project said that their goal was to link Youngkin to the 2017 Charlottesville march, even though no such link exists. Five people wearing similar clothing to the marchers in Charlottesville and carrying tiki torches were photographed in front of Youngkin's campaign bus. The Democrats pounced on the images saying it disqualified Glenn Youngkin, even though he had nothing to do with it. Many people speculated that the incident was engineered by the Terry McAuliffe campaign before The Lincoln Project took credit for the incident. The Lincoln Project was an anti-Trump group of alleged Republicans who have made headlines for failing to deal with one of their founding members who sent pedophilic messages to young boys on the internet. 

My Comment:

I know I am a day late and a dollar short on this post but I thought it was important to cover this disgusting action by The Lincoln Project. I have been disgusted by them since their inception but this stunt was low even by their pathetic standards. 

The thing is that it was obviously a fraud from the beginning. Pretty much everyone on the right has denounced the Charlottesville incident and nobody dresses like that anymore. Everyone correctly noticed that the incident was poison and did a lot to distance themselves from the founders and participants in the rally (which is sad because the actual issue, defending monuments, is an important one and not one the Republicans should have given up on). In short, nobody who is actually in support of the Republican Party would do this to themselves. Especially near the eve of a critical and winnable election in a blue state that could reverse a lot of the most serious abuses the Democratic Party has done. It made no sense whatsoever. 

Of course it made perfect sense that the incident was a false flag. It was clear that Terry McAuliffe's campaign is in trouble due to his poor debate performance and the utterly radioactive noose around his neck which is the school scandals in his state. The Loudoun County incident where a girl was raped by a non-binary boy and was then allowed to do so again all while the school board lied about the whole thing was an utter disaster for the Democrats nationally, let alone in Virginia. McAuliffe then put his foot in his mouth in the background of this and said that parents shouldn't have a say on how their schools were run. That caused what used to be a safe race for the Democrats to turn into one where Youngkin is slightly favored and may very well win. 

The Democrats had to do something and what better way to tar Youngkin than to link him to the idiots that marched in Charlottesville. Never mind that the vast majority of them are persona non-grata in the Republican Party. Making it seem like they are still around and relevant in any way (seriously that was five years ago) might scare a few independents that care more about such things than the nonsense that is happening in Virginia's schools. 

Cue the useful idiots in the Lincoln Project. They did this false flag to bury Youngkin but since they are incompetent they failed miserably. They claim to be Republicans and they might have a point because now that the truth is out they may have secured Youngkin the election. People will hear about this and are probably going to punish McAuliffe just for being on the same side as The Lincoln Project, even if his own involvement hasn't been definitively proven yet. 

I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved. Internet sleuths have claimed to have identified most of the five people that were involved in this stunt and if they are right then they are Democratic operatives. I am not sure if they are right or not, half the time people on the internet seem totally face blind to me (see Sandy Hook conspiracy theories), but it is certainly possible. 

As for the election itself, I am thinking that Youngkin is going to win. You don't pull a stunt like this if you are confident that you are going to win and I almost wonder about this mornings reports of an ISIS terror threat in Virginia is an effort at voter suppression. There is, of course, the fear that there will be widespread voter fraud yet again but even with that I would encourage anyone who lives in Virginia to vote for Youngkin. The actions that the Democrats have taken in this election are disgusting and should be punished, not to mention the utter absurdity that is going on in Virginia schools. 

Police in Northern Virginia tighten up security after threats of an ISIS terror attack

 

Fairfax County police handout. 

Police in Northern Virginia have tightened up security around malls and stores after threats emerged of an ISIS terror attack. Fox News. Police have not confirmed that the threat is from ISIS, only saying that there was a threat, though multiple media outlets are reporting it is indeed an ISIS threat. The FBI did not have a comment, though local police said the federal government was involved in combating the threat. 

My Comment:

Just a quick post on this subject just in case it actually pans out. We often hear about terror threats during holiday weekends and they almost always end up being nothing. In theory terrorists would like to attack on holidays as people are out and about but usually it doesn't happen. Sometimes it does as the last major international ISIS attack (not counting Afghanistan) was the Easter attack in Sri Lanka. 

Some people are saying that the attack is related to Afghan refugees. I do not believe that is credible given how thin the articles are. It certainly could be true, I have said for awhile now that it would have been extremely easy for terrorists to sneak into America via the evacuation, but it could also just be hot air. Plus, I would think that it would take more time to organize a terror attack than the Afghan refugees would have. 

That being said it could certainly be a home grown terrorist. We have plenty of Muslims in America and many of them live in the Virginia/Washington/Maryland area. Some of them could be radicalized to ISIS and carry out this attack. I honestly think in the short term that is a much bigger threat than from the Afghan refugees. 

The timing for this couldn't be worse though. As you are almost certainly aware there is a major election in Virginia on Tuesday and even this warning of a potential attack could have an effect on what may be a razor thin race. Some people may get scared and stay home, potentially changing the outcome of the race. 

I also have to note that Loudoun County has been an absolute mess due to their schoolboard. It became a national firestorm after a teenage girl was raped by a non-binary student and then the school board lied about it. I almost wonder if the ISIS threat was wrong and the source is someone on either side of that issue that is really upset about it. 

If a terror attack does happen, and remember I don't think it will, it might shift the news around a bit. ISIS is mostly a bad memory thanks to President Trump (and Russia) destroying most of their leadership and taking back almost all of their land. But the terror group is still around and if they pull off an attack it will be a reminder of the bad old days of the last decade. Hopefully this is nothing but I would still keep an eye out if you live in the area... 

Twitter suspension.

 

As you may know I have a twitter account, @politicswarblog. Just the other day a liberal friend tweeted at me saying that my account was at zero risk of being banned. Well, my twitter account is currently suspended, thankfully only for 12 hours. 

Why? Because I defended Kyle Rittenhouse. In short I said that he was a hero, not racist and that the guys he shot were either communists or pedophiles. The first thing is an opinion but one that millions of Americans shared. The other two things? Objective facts. The people that got shot were in fact bad dudes and one of them had convictions for sexual assault of minors. I mean, here's an article from the Washington Post that backs me up on that. 

Within minutes (seconds?) of posting that my account was suspended for 12 hours. They said I was "glorifying violence" even though Rittenhouse acted in self defense. And he was heroic not because he shot people but because he was there to help and he defended himself from violence. I appealed and it was instantly denied. I was forced to delete the tweet and the countdown for the ban to be lifted started. 

It is a bad situation for me as many of the views for this blog come from Twitter and I have friends on there (though many of them have been banned themselves.) I know I am on Gab and Parler (@politicswarblog for both) but neither website has the reach of Twitter. I also have Facebook (which I only post links to and get limited engagement) and Mewe (which is mostly irrelevant.) 

I'm basically stuck between a rock and a hard place with Twitter. I hate the company and I hate their censorship policies but if I want views for my blog I can't just delete my account. Plus there are a lot of good people on there and the site is wonderful for seeing breaking news as it happens (when they don't censor things). 

I also think that it's disgusting that Twitter is censoring favorable coverage of Kyle Rittenhouse. He has not been convicted of any crime and stands a very good chance of being acquitted. And even if he isn't, he was still at least trying to be a good person. It's very sad that things escalated to what they did last summer but I put the blame on that on antifa and BLM, and the people that support them. It's nowhere near outside of the Overton Window to support Rittenhouse but Twitter bans it anyways. 

In the future I guess I will have to censor myself even more than I do already on Twitter. The rules there are unclear and obviously biased so I am guessing I will get perma-banned there at some point. If that happens I will still be on social media but I can't see myself making another account on Twitter. Perhaps I will have to move to President Trump's new social network instead.  

Major US military contractors are expecting to lose thousands of workers due to Biden's vaccine mandate...

 

A Raytheon building. Reuters.

Major US military contractor Raytheon reports that they will lose thousands of workers if Biden's vaccine mandate comes into effect. The Hill. The Raytheon CEO said he is developing a plan to replace these workers. He also said that Raytheon would comply with Biden's mandate and thought that it might help business. But the disruption in workers will also result in major supply line disruptions, which is a danger due to Raytheon's large impact on the United States defense industry. Other companies have reported the same problem and are begging the Biden administration to delay implementing the mandate. 

My Comment:

It is utterly insane to me that Biden is still pushing the vaccine mandates. At this point it's almost treason as he is doing something that will cripple critical infrastructure and could destroy our economy. Even worse he is not granting an exception to critical defense industries like Raytheon. 

This is, of course, happening while tensions with China have never been higher. The chances of war with Taiwan are real and if it happens we will be caught with are pants down due to these vaccine mandates. Without these thousands of unvaccinated workers will places like Raytheon even be able to run?

Keep in mind that these aren't just lower skilled workers. Many of these workers have been in place for years and years and cannot be easily replaced. A lot of them have skills that have taken years to develop and some newly legalized criminal immigrant will not be able to take their place. Indeed, some of these people might be totally irreplaceable. This is a decision, if not reversed, will cost billions of dollars and will be almost impossible to fix. 

And of course this is a loaded gun pointed at the heart of the economy. Every corporation in America is in a hiring crisis right now and though some of these skilled unvaccinated workers will be hired by other companies, in many cases they simply won't be able to replace the losses they have. 

And the supply crisis we are having? This can only make it worse. Production will be slowed and I am especially worried about the transportation industry. The truckers and dock workers are not going to get vaccinated and will go to work with companies that won't violate their rights. 

I continue to think that the actual mandate will never happen. Indeed, it actually hasn't been released because if it ever is it will be the target of lawsuits and will be overturned, like many OSHA mandates. And indeed, many states are making it illegal to comply with. 

The worst thing is that the mandate is totally pointless. It won't stop the pandemic because the vaccines are not effective enough against the virus to actually stop the spread. You can still get and spread the Coronavirus even if you are vaccinated, even if you get the booster and even if you get a 2nd booster. It's not as effective against the Delta variant and now they are saying that a new variant can completely evade the vaccine, rendering the whole exercise pointless. 

It's been clear for months now that we will not vaccinate our way out of this mess. We are forcing people to lose their jobs and even die (since the vaccine kills people too) for basically no reason. Sure, people should get the vaccine if they want but we shouldn't force people to get the vaccine under any circumstances, let alone for almost zero gain. 

But Biden insists on it. It makes zero sense to me. My only conclusion is that he is either too senile to realize what he is doing or he knows the consequences and is actually in favor of him. If it's the 2nd option then he is a traitor who is actively making war against his own people and he should be impeached and imprisoned. 

Could ISIS in Afghanistan gain the ability to strike the United States in six months?

 

Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl. The Guardian/Shutterstock. 

The US defense community warns that ISIS and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan could be able to strike the United States in as little in six months. The Guardian. They said that neither al-Qaeda or the Afghan branch of ISIS have the ability to launch attacks now but could gain that ability in six to twelve months. ISIS has been very active in Afghanistan since the US pullout, launching several major attacks against the Taliban and their Shiite subjects. Though the two groups are at war it is unclear if the Taliban can do much to stop ISIS. ISIS may have as many as 1000 fighters in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda poses a different risk given their close ties to the Taliban, but the defense community believes it would take much longer, two to three years, before they would be capable of attacking the United States. 

My Comment:

I have mixed feelings about this. I always take proclamations from the Defense Department with a major grain of salt. They have a motivation to lie about the threat caused by ISIS and al-Qaeda as they get funding based on that threat. That doesn't mean they are always wrong, mind you, but it is something to keep in mind. 

Plus, I don't think ISIS is an immediate threat. The reason core ISIS was such a threat back in the day was because they had a major tax base, control over a huge amount of territory, thousands of willing recruits and open borders to get fighters into attack other countries. None of those things are true for ISIS in Afghanistan and I don't see it changing in the short term or even the long term. 

ISIS has also totally changed tactics in Afghanistan. They seem to have given up on taking and holding territory and are now acting more like a traditional terror group. They have gone underground and try to avoid pitched battles with the Taliban. Though it would seem morphing into a traditional terror group would give ISIS more opportunities but they are giving up on the taxes and looting that would pay for those attacks. 

I also don't see how ISIS would get out of Afghanistan. They are surrounded by hostile powers and America has the ocean to prevent infiltration. Europe might be under more of a threat but even then I don't see how they would do it. They just don't have the logistics to accomplish it. 

The big threat from ISIS is the thousands of Afghans that were evacuated to the United States during the pullout. None of these people were vetted and it's very possible that a few of them were ISIS fighters. And even if none of them were they are a base from which to recruit from. If an attack comes it will be from there. 

Al-Qaeda is another situation entirely. Unlike ISIS they have the support of the Taliban and they have used Afghanistan as a base before. I am sure they want to attack the United States. The big problem they have is that al-Qaeda has been almost totally destroyed. They get few recruits as well and I don't see them being a threat anytime soon. But if they do manage to reform I do think they are more of a threat than ISIS, with a caveat. Unlike ISIS, al-Qaeda usually tries to go for complex, spectacular attacks that are easy to detect and get disrupted easily. If they don't change that tactic I don't see much of a threat from them. 

Teenager in the Loudoun county case found guilty on all counts.

Scott Smith getting arrested after the school board claimed his daughter had not been raped. Washington Examiner. 

The teenager in the Loudoun County case that exploded nationally has been found guilty of all counts. Washington Examiner. The case gained national notoriety after the victims father, Scott Smith, was arrested while protesting against the county school board who had said no one had been raped at the school while discussing transgender bathroom policy. The boy who was convicted was reportedly non-binary and was wearing a skirt when he assaulted the Smith daughter. The sentencing has been delayed until the outcome of another case where the suspect attacked yet another girl at a different school. The Smith family is suing the school board due to covering up the case and not protecting the two victims in the case. 

My Comment:

An important update to this case which I first covered here. The case went viral after I posted about it and became a major front in the culture war. 

And it's no wonder why, the case directly damages one of the far left's arguments against bathroom laws. Opponents of these laws have long said that allowing these transgender bathroom laws would lead to these kinds of assaults where transgendered, or people faking being transgender, would assault children. That was always dismissed as bigotry by the far left and something that would never happen. But this case pretty much happened exactly like they said it would. 

The anger over this case was real. I know Obama dismissed it as a faux controversy but nothing could be further from the truth. People were disgusted by the actions of the Loudoun county school board and continue to be so. Not only did their policy allow this to happen they also covered it up and didn't get the attacker out of the school. He went on to attack another girl in a totally preventable incident. 

I do think that the Smith family, and the family of the other girl that was assaulted, should win the lawsuit against the school board. They lied about what had happened, covered up the case and put into place a policy that was pretty obviously going to lead to an incident like this. They deserve to be punished for their actions. 

This conviction also hurts the people that were trying to downplay or ignore the story. Until now there was still the potential that the attacker was innocent, if for no other reason than no trial had happened yet. With the attacker being convicted they can't argue that the incident was overblown or made up. There is court proof that this attacker raped a young girl. 

I do think that this story is an important one and shouldn't be treated as a local story. The protests against the Loudoun County school board were used as an excuse to treat school board protesters as potential terrorists. That's how far gone this country is. Your daughter can be raped, the school board can deny it, activists can call you a liar and you can get arrested. Then your name can be used as an excuse to spy and arrest anyone else that is upset at what these school board are doing.  

400 Americans still stranded in Afghanistan...

 

Press Secretary Jen Paski. Washington Free Beacon/Getty.

400 Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan, a much larger number than originally claimed by the White House. Washington Free Beacon. 363 are American citizens while 176 are US permanent residents. The State Department said that they had evacuated 218 US citizens and 131 permanent residents during the evacuation in August. The source for the number of American citizens comes from congressional staffers and was confirmed by Representative Darrell Issa.  The United States has established communications with the Taliban but it is unclear if the citizens will be evacuated soon. 

My Comment:

There are a few inconsistencies with this story. Other sources say that the 176 permanent residents are just the number of people that want to leave, not a separate class. That was from CNN so I automatically don't trust it, but it's very possible that the error is on the Washington Free Beacon. 

Second the source of this story was anonymous in both cases so as usual, there is the disclaimer that anonymous sources are often wrong. Though a Congressman did confirm the story I wouldn't be surprised if some of the details are wrong. 

Still, it's amazing to me that we left so many people behind in Afghanistan. Our evacuation there was an utter disaster. Instead of getting our people out or the people that helped us in our 20 year war with the Taliban, we kind of just took whoever was there. A lot of these people were not vetted and we have no idea who they are. It's very possible that some of them were Taliban, al-Qaeda or even ISIS members. 

Keep in mind that these numbers don't count the number of translators and other green card holders left behind. These people aren't counted in the official statistics and were left behind just like these US citizens. 

I don't believe that much if anything is being done to get these people out. Some of them probably want to remain for their own reasons but the rest are stuck there against their will. The Taliban seems to have bigger problems and are not interested in tracking down these people and sending them home. And even if they were the ways out of Afghanistan are limited. 

The Biden White House, such as it is, has other problems as well. Biden himself seems to be totally out to lunch and have very little interest in foreign policy. Indeed, I expect them to totally ignore this story as nobody in the media is likely to question people on it. Biden, or more accurately, his staff, is focused on the Coronavirus, the economy and various elections. They have little incentive to actually try and get these people out... 

Joe Biden causes mass confusion by saying that America would defend Taiwan if China invades.

 

Joe Biden at the CNN Townhall. Reuters.

The White House walked back claims by Joe Biden saying that America would defend Taiwan if China invades, causing major confusion. Reuters. Biden was asked at a CNN Townhall if he was going to defend Taiwan if China invaded and said that America was obligated to do so. That would have been a major departure from America's strategic ambiguity on that question, while we are obligated to provide for Taiwan's defense, we have never said one way or the other if we would actively defend Taiwan. White House officials said that Biden had misspoke and that there was no change to our Taiwan policy. China considers Taiwan to be a rouge province and condemned Biden's remarks.

My Comment:

Yet another major gaffe from the Biden White House and one that could have serious diplomatic consequences. I don't think that Biden meant to say this and if he had been properly prepared for this question he would have answered it differently. But he wasn't and he didn't and now we have a major mess on our hands. 

I think it's another example of Joe Biden's obvious decline. Though he has always had major gaffes before he hasn't been one to make international incidents, like this time. I can't see Vice President Biden making this same mistake, though I can see him doing a lot of dumb stuff, this isn't an example of that. Biden was not prepared for this question and he flubbed it because he isn't all there anymore. That's a huge problem and one that needs to be solved. 

Despite the White House pleas and corrections that this isn't actual US policy I wonder if Biden accidently told the truth about his plans concerning Taiwan. I wrote earlier about how we now have troops in Taiwan and that tells me that we probably are committed to defending Taiwan. 

I think there are good strategic reasons for doing so. Countering China's expansionism is one of them, and containing them is a good idea as well. Taiwan is also a major exporter of critical supplies, including computer chips, so it makes sense to keep that industry safe. Plus they import a lot of food and goods from the United States, they are a major trade partner. 

But I do fear that we might not win a war against China over Taiwan. I don't think their invasion will go well with the forces they have and they may even lose entirely, but I fear that they will not only cripple the US Navy in the meantime, but also collapse the world economy. If we win it will be a win that will massively damage the United States at a time we are already extremely vulnerable. We might take China with us but at that point does it matter? 

I also don't think that going to war with China was on the ballot in 2020. Of course elections don't appear to matter anymore but if Biden had made going to war with China on Taiwan's behalf I don't think he would have gotten the number of legitimate votes he did. I don't think there is any apatite for war in this country as we are still recovering from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I doubt there are many people that think Biden will be a good wartime leader. 

Either way, this was a major unforced error by the Biden White House. I tend to say that a lot but it's true, Biden has not been doing well at all in foreign policy. That was fairly shocking for me as I thought at the very least we would have status quo ante with Biden, who had quite a bit of foreign policy experience, but he has failed dramatically more than I expected. 

The National Institute of Health now admits that it funded coronavirus gain of function research in Wuhan.

 

Dr. Fauci. Fox News/AFP.

The National Institute of Health now admits that it funded gain of function research on Coronaviruses in Wuhan. Fox News. Dr. Anthony Fauci had previously denied that any funding of gain of function research had taken place. However, the NIH now admits that it funded some research involving using a spike protein to discover if was effective in allowing humanized mice to be infected with bat Coronaviruses. The research was effective as mice exposed to the spike protein modified virus got sicker than the ones exposed to the normal bat virus. Officials said that the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance lied about the work that was taking place. The nonprofit got funding from Dr. Fauci's NIAD and funneled it to the Chinese lab. The gain of function research is controversial due to the potential of a leak causing a pandemic and many now believe that a leak from one of the Wuhan viral labs was the source of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

“I told you so” doesn’t even begin to cover it here: https://t.co/9JFn85I24i

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 21, 2021

My Comment:

Looks like a major vindication for Dr. Rand Paul. He confronted Dr. Fauci on this and he denied it and the media tried to crucify him for it. But it seems pretty clear that Fauci was laying his ass off and that he was indeed funding the kind of gain of function research that would explain the Coronavirus pandemic. 

I do think that there should be consequences for Dr. Fauci. This was an end run around the US government who had banned this kind of research. The NIAD wanted this research to continue so they just decided to export the research to the Chinese instead. He should lose his job at the very least and the media needs to stop worshiping the ground he walks on. Will anything happen? Probably not. 

And the Chinese? They screwed it up. The danger was very high at US labs but at the Chinese ones? The labs with a long history of making mistakes and releasing viruses into the public by mistake? Sure, let's use them instead of just not doing this kind of research. 

I think the case for this being a lab leak is all but confirmed. The other options don't make sense as no nation would release this virus deliberately and it really does not seem like it was a natural virus. The fact that the Wuhan was doing gain of function on coronaviruses closely related to the SARS-CoV-2 Virus and the fact that the virus has the spike protein makes it seem very clear that the virus escaped from the lab. There isn't a smoking gun yet but the circumstantial case would probably hold up in court. 

As I have said before we actually got lucky with this virus. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is not that deadly and the Chinese were working with much worse diseases, including the original SARS and MERS, a much more deadly disease that kills up to 1/3rd of the people it infects. And I don't know if this research is continuing in the Wuhan labs as we speak. Another accidental release can and probably will happen if something isn't done. And it could be a lot worse next time.  

US base in Syria attacked by unknown drones.

 

A joint patrol between the US military and local rebels. Newsweek/US Army photo.

The US base in Al-Tanf came under fire from unknown drones. Newsweek. No casualties were reported from the attack and the attack was described as "indirect" fire. The Al-Tanf region is one of the few that remains under the control of rebels opposed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad and is backed by US and UK forces. The US uses these forces to counter both ISIS and Iran in Syria. It is unclear who is responsible for the attack though both ISIS and Iran backed militias have used drones in the past. If the attackers can be determined it is possible that strikes will be launched in retaliation. 

My Comment:

A concerning development for our troops in Syria. For many it may come as a surprise that we even have troops remaining in Syria. Their operations there usually do not make the news. And there has been little debate if we should keep troops in Syria in the first place. 

In my view we should be pulling those troops out. Syria is a sovereign country and we should not be funding rebels there. Our main reason to be involved in the Syrian Civil War was ISIS and they are no longer much of a threat in the region. I know that Iran is a threat in the region and I agree we should do things to counter them. But I don't think we need troops on the ground to do so. 

Indeed, I seriously doubt that ISIS was responsible for this attack. ISIS has launched drone attacks in the past but that was back when they actually had an empire. Now they are nothing more than a shadow of their former self and are only really active in Afghanistan. Though drone attacks can range from high tech to low tech, I doubt that ISIS is even capable of strapping a grenade to a drone at this point. 

My guess is that this was an attack by an Iranian back militia. They have a large number of drones that they have used in major terror attacks, most notably in the Yemeni conflict. These drones can either be used as suicide strikers or they can launch their own weapons. Some can do both. If I had to put money on this it would be the Iranians and their proxies that were responsible for this attack. There is a small chance that it was ISIS or even the Syrian government themselves, but that seems unlikely at best. 

If it was an Iran backed militia I don't see much choice. We would have to respond in some way. Not just to send a message to the Iranians but to protect our troops. The people responsible for this attack needs a drone strike of their own. But unlike their strike I am guessing there will be casualties.

 I also think that we need better defenses against drones. They are obviously the future of the warfare and though we have developed the use of drones we haven't gotten much in the way defenses against them. Indeed, the reason we didn't have casualties in this fight is because the base was evacuated. That's not a long term solution and we need to think of one soon given the massive threats the US military is facing. 

Having Hand Foot and Mouth disease as an adult...

As you may be aware I haven't been posting much this week. Why? Because I came down with Hand Foot and Mouth disease of all things. It's preventing me from posting and only today do I actually feel like I can type without it hurting too bad. 

So what is Hand Foot and Mouth? It's normally a childhood disease that is marked by blisters/lesions on the hands, feet and mouth (naturally). It also usually involves a fever. It's almost always non-fatal and it spreads like wildfire. Though it's mostly found in children, adults can do it too. 

How did I get it? Bad luck. I wasn't exposed to any children but I was exposed to two of my coworkers, who had both came down with the virus. They are brothers and were exposed to some family members that had the disease. 

I felt off last week, starting on Tuesday. Not really sick but just off, with a very slight sore throat. On Thursday I started to get chills, which I wrote off as just the weather changing. But on Friday it was undeniable that something was wrong since I had a fairly high fever (102-103 depending on how accurate the thermometer was). 

At this point I was thinking that it was the Coronavirus. Though I am vaccinated I know the virus is still going around and the vaccines are not the panacea that we were promised. I got a covid test and while I was waiting for the results I got the telltale spots on my hands and feet that tipped me off that I did not have covid (which was eventually confirmed by the test results). On Sunday I went to urgent care and it was confirmed that I did have HFM. 

This is not the sickest I have ever been, but this was one of the more debilitating diseases I have ever gotten. The blisters are fairly painful and it made doing pretty much anything a chore. It was never so painful that it couldn't be managed with over the counter pain meds but it was bad enough that I didn't want to do anything. 

The best way to describe the pain is that on the worst day it felt like I had been burned fairly badly. Short of a throbbing pain that didn't really go away. The only other thing I could think of is that it felt like road rash, but even that didn't seem quite right. It was fairly surreal. It did not help when I was trying to sleep. Even though I was exhausted the quality of sleep I got was terrible. It was a major sign in my recovery when I could sleep through the night only waking up once. 

The other major problem was the sore throat. It took a lot of my apatite away and made even drinking difficult. Gargling salt water helped, as did the pain killers, but it did not stop the issue. I have had worse sore throats though, most notably when I had strep throat. 

I'm mostly feeling better now, still a bit of minor pain in my hands, feet and throat. The fever has been gone since Saturday and the Nurse Practitioner that I saw said I should be ready to go back to work on Monday. That was optimistic as I was still feeling a bit rough that morning but I will be heading to work for my next shift. Supposedly I am no longer contagious but I am not sure if I believe that.

I look absolutely horrible though (which is why I am not posting any pictures in this post, it's a gross disease). I've got marks all over my feet and hands but also over my chin and lip. I haven't been able to shave in days either as I thought that would make things worse. I kinda feel like a homeless person with the way I look right now... 

As far as this blog goes things should be back to normal now. I will be posting about normal stuff instead of myself. I usually don't post personal stories on this blog but in this case I though people deserved to know what was going on. 

Editor's note

 Just an FYI, don't expect a blog post for a few days. I have been dealing with an illness for the last couple of days and confirmed today at Urgent Care that I have Hand Foot and Mouth disease of all things. It's not something adults without children usually get but I guess I am just lucky. I am recovering but it has sapped all will to post anything. 

Another major terror attack in Afghanistan kills 33 people at a mosque.

 

People survey the damage. Reuters/Getty. 

Another major terror attack has occurred in Afghanistan with a bombing killing 33 people and wounding 73 more. Reuters. The attack comes on the heels of another major terror attack. This one too targeted a Shiite Mosque, this time in Kandahar. A local reporter said that the mosque was hit by three suicide bombers. One of them targeted the entrance of the mosque while two more bombers blew up inside. It is unclear what terror group was responsible for the attack but ISIS is the most likely suspect. ISIS has long targeted Shiite Muslims while the Taliban is also a group of Sunni extremists, but they have vowed to protect minorities in Afghanistan. 

My Comment:

I covered the previous ISIS terror attack in Afghanistan here. It seems pretty clear that the end of US involvement in Afghanistan was not the end of the war. It appears that ISIS is stepping up their major terrorist campaign in Afghanistan. This was a brutal attack and the casualty rate might not be final. 

And it doesn't seem like the Taliban are up to the task of defeating ISIS. ISIS has gone underground and right now what is needed is not military action but good old fashioned police work. If ISIS was still acting like an army, taking and holding territory, it would be a simple thing for the Taliban to launch an attack on them. But if they are underground? It's a lot more difficult. 

I don't have much doubt that this was an ISIS attack. I don't see who else could be responsible. Al-Qaeda is a suspect but they are a shadow of their old selves and are allies with the Taliban. I don't see them pulling off this attack. And I'm not really aware of any other major terror groups operating in Afghanistan. 

As for ISIS this probably will be a major recruiting opportunity for them. Right now ISIS in Afghanistan is one of the few groups launching major attacks. They are pretty much the only game in town and I have already heard of some militants from Syria and Iraq going to Afghanistan to fight. 

What should the United States do about these attacks? Not a thing. We should be serious about ending the war in Afghanistan. This is the Taliban's problem, not ours and if they can't deal with it so be it. Perhaps if they fail so bad that ISIS goes back to taking over territory we can have a discussion about launching air strikes. But under no circumstances should we send troops back. 

Chicago may lose up to 50% of their police force due to Coronavirus vaccine mandates.

 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Washington Examiner. 

Chicago may lose up to 50% of their police force due to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Coronavirus vaccine mandate. Washington Examiner. The head of Chicago's police union, John Catanzara, urged officers not to fill out paperwork proving that they had the vaccine. Catanzara argued that the city did not have the right to that information or the power to mandate the vaccine. He says that if Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot does not back down up to 50% of the Chicago police department could be out of work. But he also said that the no-pay status for the officers could not last more than 30 days due to the utter chaos that having half of the police force not at work. 

My Comment:

If this comes to pass, get the hell out of Chicago. Crime is already out of control in that city and having 50% of police not working means there will be utter chaos. If you ever wanted to kill someone and get away with it, go to Chicago after this happens. Everyone else should stay away. Far away. 

I really don't know who is going to back down first. This isn't just about the Coronavirus vaccine, it's about how terrible police have been treated in these big American cities. They have no reason to back Lori Lightfoot here given her terrible behavior towards them. Every time there is a shooting, regardless of the facts of the case, Lightfoot takes the side of the criminals, not the cops. 

That makes me think that Lightfoot is going to break first. The police have absolutely nothing to lose. They have the Mayor's officer over their knees and even if the unthinkable happens and all these cops get fired, they can easily get jobs in smaller town departments in Illinois and the rest of the Midwest. That's a win-win for them because not only would they be screwing over Lightfoot, they would be getting good jobs in much better conditions than you would see in Chicago. 

But on the other hand these insane vaccine mandates have taken an almost religious significance with the left in this country. I personally don't understand it at all. My only guess is that these people are in such a bubble that they think that the Coronavirus can be stopped through vaccination. Given that even states and countries with over 80% vaccination rates are still having major outbreaks of Coronavirus, I don't see how they can still think that but you can never underestimate the ignorance of people. And that's ignoring the large number of side effects and other problems these vaccines have caused. 

However, I do think a lot of the leadership in this country knows that we can't vaccinate the way out of the problem and they are pushing these vaccine mandates anyways. The obvious thought is that the medical community has bought them off, but I think it's a lot more simple. They are pushing these mandates as they are a way to punish people they hate. They hate the deplorables so much that they are fine with these people being permanently removed from the economy. 

The problem is that doing so is going to cause the country to collapse. Chicago is just one example, the crime rate there is out of control and if half of the police in an already understaffed department it will be a disaster. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If Biden's vaccine mandate actually happens and isn't instantly defeated by the courts, it will mean that millions of the most productive people in this country will suddenly be out of work. 

And keep in mind all of this is happening while the country is already spiraling out of control due to Biden's economic policy. Biden is blaming these problems on the virus but it's really because of his economic policies. Reversing the Trump era tariffs and spending trillions of dollars have caused massive inflation and is now causing huge backups in our ports. 

My sincere hope is that the Chicago police union stands firm and starts a major wave of resistance against these mandates. Doing so is probably the only way to save this country as I don't think anyone will be able to convince the unvaccinated to get the vaccines. With that being the case these mandates will cause huge amounts of misery and do nothing to stop the spread of the virus.  

Mass killing in Norway where the suspect killed five people with a bow and arrows.

 

An arrow sticking in a wall in Kongsberg, Norway. Reuters. 

A man used a bow and arrow to kill five people and wound two more in Norway's worst mass killing since 2011. Reuters. The attack occurred in Kongsberg and the suspect is in custody. Police are investigating if the attacker used other weapons. He was found to be acting by himself. In response to the attack, the usually unarmed Norwegian police have been ordered to carry guns as a precaution. The motive for the attack is currently unknown. 

My Comment:

There is a lot of confusion about the perpetrator of this attack. Some outlets are saying he is a German, others a Norwegian Islamic convert and another one saying he was a Dane. I don't particularly believe any of those reports and I will be waiting for a positive identification before I speculate too much. 

I also don't want to speculate too much on motive, assuming there is one. Everyone these days assumes that every mass attack is some kind of terrorism but forget some people just want to kill people. It's very possible that this was some kind of political attack but it's just as possible that he was just a run of the mill murderer. 

I do think that Norway should reevaluate their police laws. If a cop had a gun they could have put this attacker down fairly quickly. Firearms are more effective than bows and arrows of course so if the cops had weapons they could have stopped this attack. Of course that depends on the response time, which didn't strike me as very good. 

I am not surprised that there was a mass killing with a bow and arrow. As a weapon the bow and arrow are fairly effective. With a broadhead arrow you can do a lot of damage and the victim will bleed out very fast. And they inflict wounds that are very hard to wound. Remember, these arrows are designed kill large animals like elk and moose, humans are even weaker. Plus you can shoot arrows fairly fast if you are skilled. 

The main problem with using a bow and arrow is that you are fairly limited with how many arrows you can carry. You can re-use arrows but removing them while in combat is difficult and the arrows may no longer fly true. It's not the best weapon you could use but this attacker shows that it can be effective, especially if you aren't facing effective resistance. 

Of course it's very obvious that this is a strong argument against gun control. Bows and arrows are easy to obtain and anyone with a hunting license can get one easily. You can kill and injure people easily with them. A gun would be more effective but it does show that somehow banning every gun in the world wouldn't stop these kinds of mass killings. 

Loudoun county parent who was arrested for protesting against school board says they covered up the rape of his daughter.

 

The arrest of Scott Smith. Reuters.

A parent who was arrested for protesting against the school board of Loudoun County and their transgender policy says his daughter was raped by a "non-binary" boy. Fox News. Scott Smith was arrested on June 22nd and served 10 days in jail for disorderly conduct. He said his behavior was due to the assault on his daughter, a 9th grader, which occurred in the girls bathroom at school. The boy was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy, which was confirmed by local police. At the school board meeting Smith flew into a rage after the Loudoun Country school Superintendent Scott Ziegler denied that any assault had occurred and denied the existence of a predatory transgender student. A local progressive activist also told Smith that she did not believe his story. The suspect in the assault of Smith's daughter was also charged with another incident where he is alleged to have kidnapped and assaulted another girl. 

The Daily Wire broke this story but the article is paywalled. 

My Comment:

I remember the outrage over bathroom bills a few years ago and this exact scenario was dismissed as anti-transgender propaganda. Activists said for years that nobody would pretend to be transgender just to assault people, even though it would make obvious sense that they would indeed do so. And when the obvious happened people downplayed and ignored the problem pretending it didn't exist. And that's what happened in Loudoun County. 

I am honestly impressed by Scott Smith's restraint. His daughter was assaulted (and from what I have read from the news report this wasn't rape, it was sodomy which is probably even worse) and then the school board had the audacity to lie about what happened. A disorderly conduct charge and resisting arrest is probably the best case scenario. 

The dirty secret of the T part of the LGBT community is there is a large number of sexual predators in their group. Obviously not all or even most transgender people are pedophiles or rapists but there is a large number of them that are. There are people like Johnathan Yaniv (legally Jessica Simpson) who is a vexatious litigant in Canada who gained fame for forcing people to wax his genitals and then suing them when they naturally refused. And there is Chris-Chan (Christine Chandler) who recently got charged with incest for having sex with his mother. 

These are a pair of prominent offenders but there are a lot more that don't make the news. Even on Twitter I have found quite a few accounts ran by transgenders that fly the transgender flag but also admit to being MAP (minor attracted persons). Some of these people are open pedophiles and more than a few of them like to abuse women as well. For all the whining about "incels" you would expect that the huge number of transgender who believe that they are entitled to have sex with lesbian women would get more criticism. 

Again, not all transgender people are like this, but enough of them are that it makes sense to fight these people on issues like these school boards pushing acceptance of the T part of LGBT. The horror stories that have emerged are largely ignored by progressive activists and they act like there aren't consequences for their actions. 

Of course if they would simply confront these people and disavow them they would go a long way to earning back goodwill. I have seen polls that acceptance of LGBT has decreased recently and I think this issue is why. If people would just admit that there was a problem and tried to deal with it, it would be a lot harder for people to be opposed to the T part of LGBT. 

Given the context now reveled about the Scott Smith arrest I have to point out that his arrest was used as justification for targeting protesters at school board meetings. According to the Biden administration Mr. Smith is a domestic terrorist. Because he got angry that his daughter got raped... 

I do think that the push back against schools is working. A lot of these school board members are getting voted out and they are getting replaced by non-woke conservatives. Indeed, I doubt that the Biden administration would be making a stink about it if it wasn't clear that the grassroots resistance against these new LGBT rules (along with Covid restrictions and mask mandates) weren't working. I think people should keep the pressure up and ignore the probably toothless threats from the Biden administration. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott bans enforcement of vaccine mandates.

 

A man in Texas receives the Morderna vaccine. NBC News/Getty.

Texas Governor Greg Abbot has banned enforcement of vaccine mandates on employees or customers. NBC News. Abbot said "The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced,". The order was prompted by Joe Biden's executive order requiring vaccine mandates for employers with more than 100 people. Governor Abbott has resisted mandates against the Coronavirus and has not supported mask mandates to the point he banned government agencies and schools from having mandates. Abbott has requested the legislature to pass their own bill to ban vaccine mandates. Texas joins Montana and Florida in banning vaccine mandates. 

My Comment:

I continue to be impressed with Governor Greg Abbott. He seems to have the interests of the people in Texas in his heart. And it is good to see a Republican who is actually trying to fight. That has been a huge problem for years with the GOP and especially now under Biden. 

Vaccine mandates are a joke and should not be enforced. And I say that as someone who has been vaccinated himself. People should take it if they want to and not be attacked if they choose not to. And it's now pretty clear that the vaccine is not right for a lot of people. Young men face little threat from the Coronavirus but do have to worry about heart problems from the vaccines, with several European countries pulling the Moderna vaccine. I do think the vaccine is the right choice for many, maybe even most, people, but it makes zero sense for anyone to be forced to take it. 

Will some people die if they don't take the vaccine? Sure. Some people die from taking it as well. It is a risk benefit analysis that should be between a person and their doctor, not some government stuffed suit in Washington DC who can't even form complete sentences anymore. The government has no right to force people to take a treatment they do not want. 

But it's very clear that our rights are under assault here. The Biden administration has proposed making millions of people unemployable simply for not wanting to take an experimental treatment for a disease that the vast majority of people survive. I don't think that would be appropriate if the Coronavirus was airborne Ebola. People have the right to work and it's not anyone's business if someone is vaccinated or not.  

I have noticed that no actual mandate has been released. The Biden administration has put out an executive order but OSHA has made no enforcement plans and doesn't even have an actual order to work with. This is almost certainly on purpose. OSHA has tried things like this before and have been struck down almost every time. My guess is that in a few months, after the virus retreats, Biden will announce that the mandate is no longer necessary and will pull back, avoiding any embarrassing lawsuits where Biden would be creamed in court. 

That was the plan all along. Biden (or more accurately his handlers) never planned on enforcing the mandate, he just wants private companies to do it for him. He knew he would get pushback from the states but has avoided lawsuits so far. And the heat from these decisions are falling on the companies and blue state governors that are dumb enough to try and enforce them. Just look at what is happening at Southwest right now...  

The United States will provide humanitarian aid to the Taliban.

 

Taliban fighters. The Hill/Getty.

After a diplomatic meeting with the Taliban the United States has decided to give humanitarian aid but not recognition of the Taliban. The Hill. The talks took place in Doha and were the first face to face meeting since the fall of the Afghan government. The United States agreed to provide humanitarian aid in order to facilitate the evacuation of foreign nationals. The Taliban also agreed to prevent terrorism from taking hold in Afghanistan, which may be a major problem for them considering the massive bombing they had on Friday. 

My Comment:

What a joke. We have zero reason to help the Taliban do anything, let alone give them aid. They have been America's enemy for 20 years now and just like that we forget every terrible thing they did to our soldiers? It's disgusting. 

Honestly, I would have been less angry if they had did the exact opposite of what they did. Recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan but not send them a single cent of aid. It's pretty obvious that the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan, recognizing them is just acknowledging reality. And we probably could have gotten the same things we got with this agreement. 

The fact that there are still foreign nationals left in Afghanistan shows how badly the evacuation failed. Most of the evacuees were just people who wanted out, not vulnerable former government officials or citizens of foreign countries. We left a lot of people behind and it's a minor miracle that the Taliban haven't killed them at all. The fact that we needed to make an agreement about this is a joke.

And the Taliban agreeing to stop terrorism? Fine, but I doubt they can actually do it. The former Afghan government wasn't able to deal with ISIS even with American support and intelligence. The Taliban won't have that and they are already showing that they aren't capable of stopping ISIS now that they have gone underground. I don't think ISIS will take over Afghanistan or anything but I also don't think the Taliban's promise is worth much here. 

Even worse they are agreed about ISIS but what about al-Qaeda? I know al-Qaeda has been mostly destroyed but they have been allied with Afghanistan since before 9/11. Indeed, there isn't too much difference between the two groups. I doubt that the Taliban would actually move against al-Qaeda given their strong links. 

Is there a need for humanitarian aid? Of course! The Taliban are failing in running the country and simple things like health care and power are failing. And that's assuming that they can even feed their people. But that does not mean that we should give them anything. And considering they took over our huge stores of weapons and supplies, I say we have already helped them enough...  

Suicide bomber kills and wounds more than 100 people in mosque bombing in Afghanistan.

 

People gather near the scene of the bombing. UPI/EPA.

A suicide bomber killed and wounded more than 100 people at a mosque in Afghanistan, raising questions about the Taliban's control of the country. UPI. The attack occurred in Kunduz during prayers and was targeting Shiite Muslims. It is unclear if the death total is correct or if it also includes the wounded. ISIS took credit for the attack

Al-Jazeera claims that 72 people died in the attack while 140 were wounded, though those numbers may increase. Causalities may have increased due to slow response time from the Taliban, with ambulances taking 40 minutes to arrive. Most of the victims were young people. ISIS took credit for the attack and have been hard for the Taliban to track down as they now operate less like an army and more like a traditional terror group. 

My Comment:

This attack happened on Friday but I did not have a chance to write about it until now. Given the immense casualties and deaths and the significance of the attack I figured it was more important to cover the attack instead of another "Joe Biden is terrible" post. 

ISIS's Afghanistan affiliate has taken credit for the attack. That they were the perpetrators was pretty obvious from the start. ISIS has long been an enemy of Shiite Muslims, since they are Sunni extremists. The terror group has often targeted Shiite Muslims and bombing their mosques is a favored technique. This is far from the first of these kinds of attacks and I doubt it will be the last. 

The bigger aspect of this story is how incompetent the Taliban have been since taking over the country. They have not been able to stamp out ISIS and they have carried out several attacks since they began taking control of the country. And the response time to this attack was abysmal. It should not take 40 minutes for ambulances to arrive and I am guessing the poor health care in Afghanistan is a reason why so many people died from this attack. 

And it does seem like ISIS is no longer an army in Afghanistan and is instead acting more like a traditional terror group. This is bad news for the Taliban as if ISIS was still taking and holding territory it would be a much simpler thing to snuff them out. If they are operating in smaller cells, military force is less effective and you have to move to police methods. Given how poorly the Taliban seem to be running the country right now I doubt they will have the resources and experience necessary to hunt these terrorists down. 

Thankfully, I don't think this is anything other than a regional problem, for the moment. It's not our problem anymore since we have pulled out of Afghanistan. I know the Biden administration says they will launch strikes against ISIS if they get the opportunity but given how ISIS is acting now I doubt they will get that opportunity. They are going to stay underground and continue to launch attacks like this. 

I do fear that if ISIS starts to have more successful attacks like this they could end up rallying people to their cause. Though I don't think there is too much of a risk of them taking and holding territory anymore anything is possible and there is still a huge population of angry young Muslim men that would like to join up with ISIS. If the Taliban can't do anything against them it's possible they could become a larger threat again... 

The United States admits that we have troops in Taiwan...

 

The USS Gerald R Ford. US Navy photo.

The United States has admitted that US Marines and special forces are deployed in Taiwan, drastically increasing the tension in the region. Fox News. The troops are there to train Taiwan's military. The news comes as China has been consistently testing Taiwan's air defenses with massive air intrusions. 150 planes tested Taiwan's air defenses over four days. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province instead of a sovereign nation and may consider the deployment of US troops as an act of war. Officially the United States follows a "one China" policy. 

Why just two dozen members? Why secretly? The US should send 240 servicemen publicly, in US military uniform, and make public where they are stationed. See whether the PLA will launch a targeted air strike to eliminate those US invaders! https://t.co/0Herr8TBtu

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) October 7, 2021

My Comment:

Looks like there was some truth to the tweet that Senator John Cornyn tweeted out. The numbers were way off but according to the Wall Street Journal there was some truth to there troops in Taiwan. He still screwed up and screwed up badly though. 

This is not going to play well with the Chinese government. They consider Taiwan to be their clay and they will see these troops being present as an invasion. It's a major escalation from the United States and may even serve as a casus belli for China to declare war. 

Which begs the question why on Earth would the US government admit this? They just got rid of plausible deniability. Much like the fact that Israel has nukes but will never admit to it, we could have kept those troops in Taiwan and simply lied about it. Why tell anyone about this? It makes zero sense to increase tensions, put these troops at risk and give China a pretty good excuse for war.  

I don't really have a problem with having those troops in Taiwan. They are a buffer against China's imperial ambitions and if they get invaded it will be a major war that the United States might not be able to win. Having their troops trained better might help things in that eventuality. But admitting it? Makes no sense to me.  

This could very well be yet another example of incompetence from the Joe Biden administration. They may have made a massive mistake here and could have even started a war. I don't really think that Biden means to be this aggressive with China so it's very possible that someone screwed up here. 

But if he did mean to do it? It's a major escalation and a signal to the Chinese that we aren't playing around, even if that's not the message he meant to sent. It's a level of antagonism that even President Trump didn't do (even though he was probably the person who sent these troops there in the first place). 

I don't think either the United States or China are really ready for war. China doesn't seem to be using their military budget to create an invasion fleet, they have a major lack of small and medium landing ships. They are instead focusing on building a blue water navy to contradict the US Navy. Plus, I doubt they want to have a war before the 2022 Beijing Olympics. And nobody in the United States outside of the most die hard Neocons are looking for war with China. 

But on the other hand, I think this is a major insult to China and they may feel they have to respond to save face. It's very possible that they could launch limited strikes on Taiwan in revenge for this. If that happens the situation could very easily spiral out of control into a major war, even a nuclear one. A minor skirmish is more likely, but even that would devastate the world economy given the importance of China and its neighbors. And unless you have been living under a rock for the past two years, you know that the economy can not handle another shock right now.  

Joe Biden's polls continue to get worse...

 

Joe Biden. New York Post/CNP.

Joe Biden's polling has continued to sink as even Quinnipiac says his approval is at just 38%. New York Post. This is a major drop from just three weeks ago when he was polling at 42% and 50% last February. Biden is underwater on approval on every major issue. His handling of the Coronavirus pandemic, a former major strength for Biden, has slipped to 48%. On the economy Biden was rated 39%, on foreign policy Biden rated 34% and on taxation he only got 37%. By far though Biden's worst issue is immigration, with just 25% approving of his handling of the border. He also got very low ratings for the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Even more worrying for Biden is that his approval numbers are being held up by Democrats alone as Independents rate him even worse at 32% approval. 

Poll by New York Post

Even #Gallup, which leans left, shows that Fake President Joe Biden is causing massive damage to the #Democrats. The #GOP is now leading on defense, economy and other issues. https://t.co/68jqZ1bN0o

— Jeff H (@politicswarblog on Gab and Parler) (@politicswarblog) October 7, 2021

My Comment:

Things are not looking good for Biden when it comes to polling. His support has utterly collapsed and even sympathetic polling outfits are not able to hide the discontent anymore. People are sick and tired of Joe Biden with only the most die hard of Democrats still supporting him. 

Indeed, he has done a lot worse than even I thought he was going to do. I never thought he would fail so miserably at the Afghanistan withdrawal, but that was just the start of his problems. He utterly failed at the border, which was more predictable, but he also has failed at getting the Coronavirus pandemic under control. Plus his vaccine mandate is very unpopular and unenforceable. He even manage to piss off one of our most vital allies, the French. 

But I think it's the economy which is really hurting his numbers. I was at the store today and we were back to having some shortages. Not as bad as we were during the early days of the pandemic, but it was clear they were out of goods. People are still staying home from work and there is a major labor shortage. Not to mention inflation making everything, from gasoline to groceries making everything more expensive.  And given how badly things seem to be going I would not be surprised if his numbers get even worse. 

And it's also clear that Biden is an albatross around the neck of the Democratic Party. The Gallup poll I posted up there shows that Biden's party is no longer viewed favorable by most Americans. Though I am guessing the civil war between progressives and moderates in the party isn't helping things, it's mostly Joe Biden's fault. 

A good sign of how bad things are going for Biden is the "F Joe Biden" chants that have broken out at sporting events and protests across the country. People are united in their distaste of Biden to the point that entire football stadiums are booing him. And he can't go anywhere without large protests against him. The level of disgusts is sky high and it's important to note that this isn't coming from professional protesters egged on by the media, like the protests and riots against President Trump were. Instead they are grassroots protests against Biden himself. 

This is obviously a dire sign for the Democrats when it comes to the 2022 midterms. If things do not change (and there isn't widespread voter fraud) the Democrats are going to get wiped out. The Republicans should easily get a majority in both the Senate and the House, along with a lot of state and local races as well. They may even get enough seats to impeach and remove Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. That's fairly unlikely but if it does have a chance of happening if things really go off of the rails. 

And that's not to say things aren't off the rails. Our country is in a tailspin and it's clear that the man in charge is out to lunch. Biden's mental state is not good and it's clear he is fading fast mentally. He honestly seems unhinged and I don't really know how much longer he will last. 

Is there anyway for Biden to right the ship? At this point I don't know. He might get a boost as the pandemic starts to fade, but who knows if that will happen for sure. But I don't think he can fix the massive problems he himself caused. Indeed, he just seems to want to double down. And you know what you are supposed to do when you are stuck in a hole? Stop digging. But Biden? He's just digging himself deeper and I wouldn't be surprised if the polling will get even worse for him.