Everyone loves a clown, they're so jolly and, ahem, gay. All the colors of the rainbow. But what if something sinister lurked behind the makeup?
What if that something was USGOV. Where would you run?
Perhaps the sheer, utter, jaw-dropping incompetence of the clowns would save you, as it has the Taliban. Which was perhaps the plan all along. Either way, turpitude, chicanery, malfeasance and gross dereliction of duty hold sway.
Cheers,
LSP
Reports are coming in that the UK's 2 Para have been running patrols into Kabul to save British citizens left behind by the US surrender of Afghanistan and its capital city to the Taliban. Scandalously, it's alleged that US command on the ground, to say nothing of its hide-away leader, Puppet Prez Biden, haven't communicated with their allies, despite thousands of Americans being stranded in a country overrun with Islamist fanatics. Via Alex Wickham:
Well, thank God for the Paras and you know the 82nd Airborne would be in there right away, if it wasn't for someone forbidding them from fighting the enemy. Some say that's the story of our Afghan adventure over the last two decades, and what does it mean?
At least this. A political class getting rich off of de facto, and cheap, mercenaries who they couldn't give a dam for, as long their lives make them moar money and moar power. What an utter betrayal of our young men and women who signed up to serve our country. Patriots in the service of self-serving traitors.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
The savage woman beating, enslaving, Biden trolling Taliban were two months off from taking Afghanistan in what has to be the most humiliating, catastrophic, blunderous, incompetent American defeat since Vietnam, and our guys were pumping out this, in June. Here it is, from Understanding Men and Masculinities: Towards Creating Egalitarian Gender Relations in Afghan Society:
This paper examines how Afghan men from diverse socio-economic, ethno-linguistic and age groups challenge and redefine masculinities in the face of socio-political and economic changes. Understanding diverse and shifting masculinities and the men who practice more equitable gender relations by departing from hegemonic masculinity can help to inform more effective gender-based initiatives. The paper demonstrates the ways in which masculinities are constructed, deconstructed, and change over time and space in different ways for different men.
What were they thinking? Not much, as in no kidding. The author, Munazza Ebtikar, is or was a doctoral candidate at St. John's, Oxford. What a beautiful college, and who knows, perhaps she made it out before Afghan men decided to get all hegemonic on her compound. Let's hope Ektibar hasn't been reconstructed. You can write her here, to find out:
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) Shahr-i-Naw, Kabul, Afghanistan, Post Box number: 38–015
Have you noticed how everything the ProgLeft proposes or enacts produces the exact opposite of its intended result? It's like an axiom. In the meanwhile, here's the Commander-in-Chief of the, ahem, Free World:
Some kind of joke? No, this one's deadly serious.
Cheers,
LSP
"America's Elites are trash" and "China knows it." Former CIA Ops Officer Bryan Dean Wright isn't too happy with the Afghan debacle. Here he is, via twitter:
Former US intelligence colleagues are angry and deeply worried at what has happened in Afghanistan.
Here's what I'm hearing, and why there's nearly universal belief that America and the world are in for one of the most dangerous, unpredictable times in modern history.
Afghanistan has shown the world -- enemies & allies alike -- that our military & intel assets are largely irrelevant because we can't deploy them successfully.
The blame lays at the feet of multiple Presidents. The Generals. The Spies. The Congress.
America's Elites are trash.
China knows it.
They will become emboldened, covertly & overtly. War over Taiwan and contested islands in the S. China Sea and E. China Sea is now more likely.
Russia will consider similar covert & overt moves, focused on Crimea, & former Soviet satellites.
The fear is that China & Russia will act in concert.
Why? America was whipped by a tiny rebel force and couldn't even retreat properly.
Meanwhile, the American people are angry, COVID weary, & divided.
If there were ever a time to push American hegemony aside, this is it.
If Cold War III grows hot, America will need to quickly build up & work with foreign counterparts.
But who will trust America after Afghanistan?
Who believes we have the leadership to use our military might well?
Who will trust us when we say "We Will Stand With You"?
Beyond China/Russia, others will take gambles too.
Terror orgs like al-Qa'ida & ISIS are degraded but not dead. Their ideology is very much alive.
Iran's Hizballah -- with terror cells throughout the US -- may see an opening to create chaos too.
Meanwhile, the disaster inside Afghanistan is only just beginning.
The Taliban will launch a terror campaign against American collaborators. The pictures will shock the conscience of the world, further degrading American moral authority.
Biden & Co will struggle to respond.
There's also the nightmare of tactical weaponry now awash in Afghanistan, in the hands of the Taliban and -- soon -- on the global black market.
These arms will fuel chaos around the world for decades.
The Pentagon has no idea where this stuff is and no plans to destroy it.
Finally, if Afghani refugees pour into the US, there are profound implications for security, culture, the economy, & politics.
Are they properly vetted?
Do they hold Western/tolerant values re: women, gays?
Do they bring skills/education?
Which party will they support?
The existential problem is that America needs good leadership to right its ship but there is none.
Our federal bench is weak.
Biden is a corrupt old man. Impeachment is a long shot; VP Harris is an unpopular paperweight. The Legislature is a feckless cabal of empty suits.
Leadership could come from a state Governor, it's true, but not soon enough.
The above threats by China, Russia, & Co will metastasize well before the 2024 elections, and even a heroic new President will need years to clean things up.
Again, our enemies and allies know this.
Upshot: There is fear and outrage streaming through former intel officers over the Afghanistan debacle.
America is rudderless. And the world now knows it.
Grave dangers lie ahead, some predictable, others unimaginable.
Keep your loved ones tight. Pray. And vote for change.
I can't add to that except to wonder if "voting for change" still has any... meaning.
God bless,
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
Readers, all two of you, I'm doing my level best to drive drama out of the business, and it's not easy. Of course lawyers, guns, and money would have absolutely nothing to do with it. At all. Just kidding.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
Far-sighted readers of this inconsequential mind blog will remember him as "VCC," Veteran Crew Chief. Yes, the same man who confronted a crew of motorcycle hippies chancing it out of Austin and swimming in his stock tank. "Swim away," he told them, "But I'd be careful, it's pretty snaky. Man, you shoulda seen them run."
Before that he'd been with the EMU's, an experimental American/Australian unit, motto, "Get The Bloody Job Done." And they did, which weighed hard on him after retirement.Time on his hands, you see. I liked him a lot, what a good man, so it came as a shock to hear this afternoon that he'd died in a car crash outside of Alvaredo, hit by an 18 wheeler.
Please pray for the repose of his soul. Ronnie Storrs, rest in peace and rise in glory.
Requiescat,
LSP
The Episcopal (TEC) Diocese of Vermont's in trouble, which is weird because they have a famale person of color (POC) at the helm. Problem is, no one's going to their churches or parting with cash.
This got bishop figure MacVean-Brown worried, so she hired a consultant, Stephen Burnett, who used to work for Deloitte, no less. What did Stephen say?
That you're spending more than you're getting, "The Bishop envisioned financial shortfalls early on in her ministry, and we can reaffirm that there is, in fact, trouble ahead, likely in the first quarter of 2023, where, without intervention, expenditures will far exceed revenues.”
Oops, there you are on that old "financial cliff." So what to do, apart from hiring consultants and appointing "task forces"? Merge with other failing dioceses, obviously, in this case New Hampshire and Maine. And we have to ask, does the Episcopal Church and its lib mainstream protestant, bow tie, seer sucker sorority even have the will to live at this point?
Not really, just look how they shut down in the face of a virus that kills what, 0.2something of the people it infects. Or less. But hey, their religion was never the Gospel of salvation, more the gospel of the New York Times and, apotheosis achieved, why not retire?
Tough luck on MacVean-Brown, though. She might be looking for a job.
Cheers,
LSP
It's been a little busy at the Compound with one thing or another, including a visiting seminarian. He's a good guy and we discussed the iniquity of the present age over delicious bean and brisket burritos from Karen's on the porch, and agreed that Satan was waxing strong.
To the point, I was struck by this, via Adrienne:
Lucifer has placed his stamp upon the present age. Open and secret revolt against God and His Church, the spirit of criticism, unbelief and immorality are spreading. The arrogant boast of Lucifer, "I will be like the Most High!" re-echoes everywhere. Puffed up with their discoveries and the progress in material science, men loudly proclaim their self-sufficiency and deny the existence of a Supreme Being. Governments and secret societies, plotting against God and striving to blot out from homes and schools, from offices and factories, all traces of Christianity, show plainly whose standard they follow. Never before in the world's history were God's rights so blasphemously mocked and denied, or the rights of man so arrogantly asserted, as they are today.
These frightful evils must convince us that we must turn to St. Michael, the Archangel, that glorious prince of Heaven who rendered all glory to God, conquering Lucifer and casting him into the abyss.
Already three centuries ago, St. Francis de Sales wrote: "Veneration of St. Michael is the great remedy against despising the rights of God, against insubordination, skepticism and infidelity" - vices which are perhaps more prevalent now than ever before.
Surely, it is time for Christians to "rise from sleep" and to offer vigorous resistance to the enemies of salvation. The weapons in this conflict are not the arms of civil warfare, but the spiritual weapons of prayer and penance, increased fidelity to the Commandments of God, and frequent reception of the Sacraments. And surely we can choose no better leader in this conflict than the powerful captain who led the faithful Angels to victory.
Let us, then, with confident trust invoke the aid and protection of this mighty Archangel whose shield bears the inscription: MICHAEL -- "Quis ut Deus" -- Who is like unto God?
Rise from sleep and enlist the aid of the heavenly host and its archangelic prince, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph. 6:12)
We are in a war, ultimately a spiritual one, of good v. evil, light v. dark. And victory is assured, in fact it's won, though the fight's ongoing. St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism, gives us a weapon to add to our spiritual armory with this powerfully short prayer:
Dragon, ipse venena bibas, drink your own poison.
Yes indeed,
LSP
