That is all,
LSP
But remember, punters, there's no luggage racks on the back of hearse. Christ says as much, "Put not your trust in earthly treasure which moth and rust consume." Again, "Labor not for the food which perishes but that which endures for everlasting life." Something like that.
And what a sad exchange, to swap out eternity for the fools' gold of the present moment. Saying that, I'm rather looking forward to an island; all can visit, but only some can stay in the Big House, others will have to live "onna beach." Just the way it is.
Sermon over,
LSP
What's happening in Afghanistan is surely tragedy, it's also farce. The Upheaval nails it, and here's a snapshot:
But most of all, farce because our political leadership was somehow reportedly “stunned” by the speed with which the allegedly 350,000-strong Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), despite twenty years of training and almost $90 billion in U.S. security assistance, threw down their weapons and totally collapsed, letting the Taliban seize control of the country in less than a week, instead of the year and a half the military and intelligence establishment had assured them it would take.
But how, exactly, did this come as a shock? Why in the world did they seriously believe those estimates?
Did they somehow fail to read their own thousands of pages of government “lessons learned” reports, as obtained and published by the Washington Post in 2019 as “The Afghanistan Papers,” that described in minute detail how the vaunted ANSF was nothing more than a Potemkin paper army, inflated only by lies, corruption, and pederasty?
You must and should read the whole thing here. Again, words fail, other than "we became a self-licking ice cream cone." Exactly.
Your Pal,
LSP
The military industrial complex spent 20 years on the gravy train with the Afghanistan war. They built missiles, they built tanks, they built aircraft and helicopters. They hired armies of lobbyists and think tank writers to continue the lie that was making them rich. They wrapped their graft up in the American flag, but they are the opposite of patriots... The corruption is deep.
Our old enemy, the Weather, is at it again, changing from triple digit furnace to pounding rain, and all in the space of an hour. I tell you, our adversary can turn on a dime. So it wan't easy driving home from the 'sprawl, pretty much zero vis.
Still, we made it, by the grace of God. In other news, the Taliban's about to seize control of Afghanistan and we have to ask, why did one single American life die there? To fight the scourge of Jihad? For democracy, wimmyns' rights, rare earth minerals?
The people that used our fighting force as de facto mercenaries, for their own wealth, power and political leverage deserve an accounting. Imagine, your young soldier comes home minus legs, and all for what. So that a gang of millionaires can make themselves even richer and more powerful.
Don't get me wrong, defeat the Jihad, and by all means use extreme force, but playing some kind of game with peoples' lives, enemy or friendly, is beyond outrageous.
There's a special place in Hell for those that do. I say this as a religious professional. Of course you all know far more about this than I do. Just saying, I've got a kid in the fight.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
Here we are, back in Dallas, and Blue's taking it easy. I was worried a couple of days ago because he seemed disoriented and lost. Perhaps he'd had a stroke, a dog stroke. But he's better now, and cheerfully begs for treats.
Dogs aside, Dallas is worse now that it's removed statues of famous generals and replaced them with nothing. Has that made one single POC better off? No, it has not. Speaking of which, Leonidas Polk said this:
"I believe most solemnly that it is for Constitutional liberty... for our hearthstones, and for our altars that we strike."
Amen to that. The South fought for freedom against what they saw as central government tyranny. Maybe they were wrong, but here we are, not allowed to leave the country or, you know, have a job unless you do what you're told. So mask up, serf, and don't even think of travelling past your home town, much less having a job. Because science.
In the meanwhile, our millionaire socialist overlords fly private jets around the world to whoop it up at parties on Martha's Vineyard.
Cheers,
LSP
Perhaps you scorn Emmlou. Go right ahead, and I will fight you, physically. So will the monkey. And he's hard. You have been warned.
Your Pal,
LSP
Dasha Kelly, mother of three, got evicted from her Las Vegas home with her children, so Democrat congresswoman Cori Bush launched a GoFundMe acoount for the hapless Dasha and her adorable children. It raised over 200k, all well and good, charity is key.
Only problem being that Dasha isn't the mother of the children, just their babysitter, though she's apparently the kids' bio-father's girlfriend. But now things get complicated. Dasha, who's presently comparatively wealthy, says that the kids who aren't her kids are really her kids coz she's a "mother figure" to them. And that people should still give her money.
Presumably the landlord doesn't get to have any of this money and goes bust because of all the Dashas living rent free with impunity on a CNN, Democrat vote buyer charter. What then? Bankrupt landlord = Blackrock buys the property and all the Dashas get moved to a section 8 camp as our Rainbow Rulers celebrate Pride Month, all year long.
Well done! Infinity pools in Martinique and private jets all 'round,
LSP
You may be surprised at this or you may not, but my eldest seemed way happier in uniform than he was pretending to be a civilian for the last month. Seriously. Hey, just as well, because the kid had to report to Fort Hood today.
We drove out down the Highway to Hell that is I35 and emerged miraculously unscathed in Killeen, a short hop from there to "The Great Place," home of III Corps Phantom Warriors and lots more besides, not least expeditionary signals.
After waiting for an hour to get a pass to enter the fort, we drove on through to the vastness of the thing, and it is huge. The 1st Cavalry motorpool(s) alone probably mustered more armor than the UK's combined equivalent. Quite a thing.
Then we had a late lunch at a dysfunctional Burger King on base and I dropped the Specialist off at the "Welcome Center." Well done, boy, respect. He's got 2 weeks of in-processing and then joins his unit, 57 Expeditionary Signals Battalion, who've been blessed with lighter kit, demanding 4 man teams and a leadership program to boot.
Well, let's see how that goes. In the meanwhile, maybe I should go in as a volunteer chaplain, it'd add another level of accountability, as t'were. Just a thought.
Whatever, good luck son, you've done well so far. Now let's see "green to gold," not that there's any pressure, heh.
God bless,
LSP
A massively racist 42 ton rock has been moved from the University of Wisconsin Madison's Chamberlin Hill, where it used to sit, oppressing persyns of color with its racism. According to students, the weighty pre-Cambrian glacial erratic would often hurl racist abuse.
"It was really offensive," stated one student, "Like, 'Look at me, I'm a rock. Who's smarter, me or you? Who's in debt for life on account of a pathetic trans theater degree, me or you?' Sometimes the rock would play Dukes of Hazard and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Once I heard it whistle Dixie. I didn't feel safe."
Unsafe
Here at the Compound we're glad the racist rock's been removed. One more monument to oppression gone, and not before time. Juliana Bennett, a senior and a campus representative on the Madison City Council shows zhir relief:
“This moment is about the students, past and present, that relentlessly advocated for the removal of this racist monument. Now is a moment for all of us BIPOC students to breathe a sigh of relief, to be proud of our endurance, and to begin healing.”
Hmmmm. Same Old Hippie
Well said, Julia. Now that the crushingly racist rock's removed we can all begin to heal, and breathe.
Your Buddy,
LSP