Commentary
“YOU’RE FIRED!” – President Biden isn’t inclined to fire any senior national security officials over the chaos in Kabul, according to the left-leaning AXIOS. “Why it matters: Dismissing national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin or CIA Director William Burns would be tantamount to admitting a mistake, and the president stands by his decision.”
That “mistake” may reflect his making a bad choice in originally selecting them for their positions, and it may be that they gave him bad advice or they turned into “yes” men and went along with his decision.
After secretly flying to Afghanistan to meet with the Taliban about extending Biden’s August 31, surrender date, CIA Director Burns was turned away. No deal. I thought we didn’t negotiate with terrorists anyway.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING about Biden’s mess in Afghanistan:
“President Joe Biden insists that his calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan has not diminished America’s global credibility. He must be living on another planet.
“U.S. allies and foes knew the Afghanistan withdrawal was coming, (but) they did not know Biden would withdraw with such chaotic disregard for American interests, honor and innocent life.
“(And they didn’t) expect that Biden would react with such petulance and scorn that even Donald Trump could rival when challenged on this record.” – Washington Examiner
AFTER FIGHTING THE TALIBAN for 20 years, the United States is now turning to it for security assistance as it tries to evacuate Americans and Afghans from the country. Can this militant group ever become a reliable partner? Under what conditions should Biden recognize a Taliban-led government in Kabul?” – David Ignatius, Washington Post
CHECKING THE ARCHIVES – “When the U.S. leaves Afghanistan, the Taliban will roar back.” – Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, October 8, 2019
PONDER THIS – Veterans and active-duty military men and women are voicing disgust with the weakness demonstrated by the commander-in-chief of the all-powerful armed forces of the United States, as we now appear to be at the mercy of the Taliban.
And in other news
WHILE WE’RE FLYING Afghan migrants to a number of countries, including the U.S., to conduct state department vetting, it isn’t certain where they will eventually wind up. I found it interesting that Greece has constructed a Trump-like fence at its border with Turkey to keep out migrants.
MAIL-IN BALLOT MYSTERY – The Indianapolis-based Public Interest Legal Foundation, the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity, noted in its recent brief that federal data compilations show that during the 2020 election, there were 14.7 million ballots whose whereabouts were deemed “unknown” by local officials. The largest numbers of “unknown” ballot were recorded in seven California counties.
SPEAKING OF BALLOTS, and California. When the police were called to investigate a man who had been discovered asleep in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven store in Torrance, they found methamphetamines, cash, a firearm, a scale, multiple credit cards in other individual’s names, and 300 unopened recall election ballots.
IT WAS NO SURPRISE to learn that the nine worst states for unemployment are managed by Democrats, with Nevada topping the list at 7.7, followed by California, New Mexico, New York, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois and the District of Columbia (officially not a state) at 6.7.
THE CAPITOL POLICE formally announced that they have cleared the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed January 6, 2021 protestor.
While Babbitt had not broken through the door that she and a handful of other protestors were attempting to gain entry, the Capitol Police found it “reasonable for the officer to be believe he was firing in self-defense or in defense of lawmakers fleeing the House chamber,” and he was “within department policy to use deadly force.”
Photos and videos taken during the time of the shooting show that the shooter was not in danger as three armed SWAT officers were right behind Babbitt, and would have been in a position to arrest her had she broken through the door.
Let’s face it … the shooter panicked.
TOP WIND-TURBINE MAKERS are struggling with lower earnings due to rising raw material costs, problems in shipping the monstrous 100-foot-long blades and the uncertainty over the future of government subsidies.
In addition to a quadrupling of transportation costs, prices for steel, copper, aluminum and carbon fiber are expected to drive wind turbine prices up by 10 percent over the next year.
FINALLY, have you heard that, Fox News Channel’s recent entry into late-night television, “Gutfeld,” featuring Greg Gutfeld, who also co-hosts “The Five,” captured 220,000 more viewers than “Stephen Colbert’s Late Show” on CBS? Gutfeld recently drew about 2.12 million viewers, including about a half million viewers in the sought-after 25-54 age demographic.
Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.
