25 thoughts on “Buggin’ out”

  1. the hill:

    The Pentagon is working to identify possible locations outside of Afghanistan it can move thousands of Afghan translators while they wait safely for visas to enter the United States.
    President Biden on Thursday said the United States would begin evacuating Afghans who helped U.S. troops during the war, along with their families, as soon as this month.
    But details of where they will go and what the evacuation process will look like have been few and far between, with Biden only saying that relocation flights will begin later this month to U.S. facilities outside the continental United States or in third-party countries.
    “Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States, if you so choose,” Biden said. “We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.”
    […]
    But as the U.S. withdrawal has neared its end, Taliban gains have accelerated, prompting more urgent warnings on the need to evacuate Afghans who served as interpreters, lawyers, contractors or otherwise helped U.S. troops during the war. The workers and their families are in danger of being attacked and killed by the Taliban as they wait for their Special Immigrant Visas to be approved.
    Biden on Thursday said that his administration has sped up the process for approving the visas, with the government allowing roughly 2,500 since his inauguration. Of those, fewer than half have been accepted, he said.
    He added that his administration is working with Congress to better streamline the approval process.
    But even with the new efforts, more than 15,000 Afghan translators and their families are still waiting on their visas.

  2. Bruce Dunning produced an unforgettable CBS Evening News segment about the chaotic last Western flight out of Da Nang, South Vietnam, when a plane intended for women and children refugees was stormed by South Vietnamese soldiers desperate to escape.

    A special WBUR documentary. On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, four Massachusetts Marines detail the final evacuation of U.S. and South Vietnamese troops and civilians.

  3. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/08/texas-voting-bill-special-session/

    “Monthly citizenship checks – SB 1 strays from the House’s legislation by setting up monthly reviews of the state’s voter rolls to identify noncitizens…”

    “Enhancing poll watcher protections“

    The eyes of Texas will be upon us as we vote.

    “…strengthen the autonomy of partisan poll watchers at polling places by granting them “free movement” within a polling place, except for being present at a voting station when a voter is filling out their ballot. Both chambers also want to make it a criminal offense to obstruct their view or distance the watcher “in a manner that would make observation not reasonably effective.”

  4. As for Afghanis, they’ve been trained and have weapons.  Fight for your country or don’t.  Those who aided us should be ensured safe harbor.  Something should’ve been in place fir them before drawing down our troops. 

    Americans don’t need to be there. Getting out won’t bring back the dead, but it will save money.

  5. speaking of bugging out, wonder if “the rapture” took them away and nobody noticed

    The rapid decline of White evangelical America? – The Washington Post

    New data suggests a bigger decrease than previously understood — including in the GOP
    […]
    The Public Religion Research Institute released a detailed study Thursday on Americans’ religious affiliations. Perhaps the most striking finding is on White evangelical Christians.
    While this group made up 23 percent of the population in 2006 — shortly after “values voters” were analyzed to have delivered George W. Bush his reelection — that number is now down to 14.5 percent, according to the data.

  6. I concur with BiD.  Their country, we’ve done what we could, provide safe harbor for our Afghan colleagues.

  7. back to thread topic

    VoteVets’ Ad ‘Independence’ Featured On The Rachel Maddow Show Alongside Rep. Jake Auchincloss

     

  8. 30 years ago as the gulf war ended, wasn’t there a similar uproar about G.W Bush & co leaving in the lurch and breaking promises to the iraqi citizens who were called upon to help oust saddam?

     

    these instances remind me of tonto’s  (or was it chief joseph’s) famous observation “white man speak with forked tongue” and how we keep our word or honor treaties.

  9. I agree with BiD and Pogo.  We could stay another 20 years and they’d still say we are leaving too soon.
     
    I feel like I’m living in Jamie’s neck of the woods.  Rain… rain… and more rain.  I think we’ve seen the sun for maybe a total of an hour in the last 2 weeks.  We are afraid that our veggie garden will rot.

  10. Tonto‘s famous observation was, “What you mean ‘we’,  White-Eyes?”

  11. renee, pogo and BiD

    i agree with biden’s statement too that it’s their country and their choice as to what to do. however, that doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility to those who aided us in the war get out safely. 

    as to the taliban and their threat to once more subjugate women, let’s hope there’s a plan in place to convince them otherwise.  maybe a pre-emptive strike along the lines of but  even more than the Lysistrata tactic of withholding sexual favors. all the afghan females could get themselves to a nunnery or whole up behind barricades or leave the country en masse.  let the boys get a taste of life without them.

  12. In BiD’s statement, she specifically says:
     
     Those who aided us should be ensured safe harbor. 

  13. I get where you’re coming from patd, and “provide safe harbor for our Afghan colleagues” is what I mean re: our responsibility to those Afghans who assisted us in creating more Afghan rubble than there was when we got there.  But as to your concluding suggestion I’m afraid that under the watchful regime of the Taliban withholding sex would just encourage beatings and gang rapes.  Horny zealots are a dangerous bunch. Only leaving the country en masse strikes me as a viable option.

  14. CPAC is here this weekend.  The great unvaccinated, most likely, will spread the variant.

    Their motto: America Un-Cancelled

    https://www.salon.com/2021/07/09/white-nationalists-prep-for-physical-altercation-with-security-at-dallas-cpac-conference/

    “Another wrote, “groyper swarm incoming.” In other online forums reviewed by Salon, many of Fuentes’ followers posted plans to attend CPAC and partake in a “White Boy Summer” meetup in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “

    “Holt added that Fuentes and the “groypers” see CPAC as a way to “boost their own visibility” and attempt to “siphon off” attendees from more mainstream conservative groups. “

    WTF is a “groyper”?

  15. So, we’re pretty excited about OTC hearing aids (thanks to POTUS Joe), but will we be able to get our dad to wear them? 

  16. according to wiki

    Groypers

    Organization
    Groypers
    Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a loose group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs, and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the United States. They are known for targeting other conservative groups and individuals whose agendas they view as too moderate and insufficiently nationalist. The Groyper movement has been described as white nationalist, homophobic, antisemitic, and an attempt to rebrand the alt-right movement.

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