The After Math

32 thoughts on “The After Math”

1. weighing per- and pro-spectively the aftermath, one might also want to include deaths by shootings, driving and poverty in america

2. 

3. let us not forget the western wildfires –

   repost from last thread by oldman:

   The Caldor Fire forced the evacuation of basically the entirety of South Lake Tahoe, a resort community of 22,000, on Monday. Firefighters are waging an all-out battle to keep the fire from reaching the town and wreaking havoc in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
   Among the tools at their disposal are the snow guns used at the ski resorts that dot the surrounding mountains. On Sunday night, remarkable scenes unfolded at Sierra-at-Tahoe, a resort located along Route 50 and smack in the middle of the Caldor Fire’s path. There, firefighters and the resort stood against the flames.

   Start slideshow

    https://gizmodo.com/surreal-photos-show-the-fierce-battle-against-caldor-fi-1847586021

    

   and in today’s NYT:

   Caldor Fire Intensifies and Evacuations Are Ordered Near Lake Tahoe – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

4. Deaths on US soil from AQ while our forces were in Afghanistan: zero
    

   Covid deaths caused by Republicans lying about vaccines and masks, and, by Republicans issuing EOs or legislating bans on mandates for vaccines and masks: unknown

5. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/31/new-texas-laws-september-2021/

   More numbers: “666 new Texas laws go into effect Sept. 1”

   Future stats in this one may be extremely troublesome:
   “Permitless carry: House Bill 1927 allows Texans ages 21 and older to carry handguns without training or a license as long as they are not legally prevented from doing so.”

   I guess that’s the reason fir the next one.

   Active shooter alert system: HB 103 creates the Texas Active Shooter Alert System, which will notify Texans in the vicinity of an active shooting scene through their phones.

   *******
   Amount of BS: incalculable

   “Social studies curriculum changes: HB 3979 limits teachers from discussing current events and systemic racism in class. The bill also prevents students from receiving class credit for participating in civic engagement and bans teaching of the “1619 Project.”

   “Funding the “1836 Project”: HB 2497 establishes an “1836 Project” committee to produce patriotic Texas history materials, which will be distributed through channels such as when people receive driver’s licenses. “

   (“Patriotic Texas history.” Whatever could that mean?)

   Here’s some patriotic Texas stuff:

   Criminalizing homeless camping: HB 1925 makes camping in unapproved public places a misdemeanor crime that carries a fine of up to $500. Cities cannot opt out of the ban.

   Being homeless in Texas has now been criminalized.

6. “666 new Texas laws …”

   BiD, considering the venal/evil nature of that new legislation that 666 might be more apropos of the character* than the number of them.

    

   *mark of the beast 

7. Axios-Ipsos poll: Vaccine hesitancy may be crumbling – Axios

   Vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. is showing signs of crumbling, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

   Fewer adults than ever now say they won’t take the shot, and in the past two weeks there has been a sharp increase in the share of parents who plan to get their younger kids vaccinated as soon as it’s allowed.

   The big picture: Many factors are playing a role — including the Delta variant’s strength, kids’ return to school and FDA approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine — but the biggest drivers appear to be the rise of mandates.

   One in three unvaccinated Americans in the survey said FDA approval would make them likely to take the vaccine. But 43% said their boss requiring vaccinations would make them likely to do so, up from 33% a month ago.

   […]
   By the numbers: 68% of parents said they either have already vaccinated their children or are likely to as soon as it’s permitted for their age group. That’s the highest share ever in our survey, and a 12-point spike from 56% just two weeks ago.

   72% of adults now say they’ve already taken the vaccine. Another 8% say they’re likely to take it.

   The 20% who say they’re either not very likely (6%) or not at all likely (14%) comprise a new low in the survey, and down from a combined 34% in March and 23% two weeks ago.

   [continues]

8. not quite like the panty raids (nor maybe the kind of students) in grandpa & ma’s college days:

   CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A college student from West Virginia who was seen taking a “Members Only” sign near the Senate chambers after entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 with supporters of former President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count Monday.

   Gracyn Dawn Courtright of Hurricane, West Virginia, entered the plea by conference call before a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to a charge of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Other charges were dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors, including one count of theft of government property under $1,000.

   She faces up to six months in prison and a $9,500 fine. Sentencing was set for Nov. 16. She remains free on a personal recognizance bond.

   Courtright, a mathematical economics major at the University of Kentucky, initially bragged that the occupation of the Capitol was making “history” and said she thought “it was cool,” according to an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant. Later, she deleted her Instagram account.

   She told the judge Monday that she also withdrew from the school, and that she’s scheduled to appear before a college board in December.

   Courtright, who was 23 when she was charged, was inside the Capitol for 24 minutes, prosecutors said. According to the affidavit, a witness who saw a video of Courtright in the Capitol messaged her on Instagram asking if she was there. The witness provided a screenshot of the messages to the FBI.

   […]

   When the witness accused her of treason, Courtright said she did not know what treason was, according to the affidavit. Before Courtright deleted her Instagram account, she wrote, “Infamy is just as good as fame. Either way I end up more known. XOXO.”

   [continues]

9. WWLTV:

   SLIDELL, La. — A Slidell man was attacked by an alligator during Hurricane Ida and hasn’t been seen since.
   According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s office, a 71-year-old man was in his shed on Avery Drive when his wife said she heard a commotion. 
   Their shed is located near Lake Pontchartrain and reportedly had several feet of water inside of it due to Hurricane Ida’s storm surge.

   Deputies said the woman saw her husband being attacked by an alligator. She pulled him away from the gator before running to call for help.

   Due to the high waters and Hurricane Ida knocking out the cell service, the woman was forced to take a boat to go find help. When she returned, her husband was missing
   Police said they searched for about six hours for the man, but couldn’t find him. Neighbors said large alligators are familiar to the area because some residents feed them.
   The investigation is ongoing, but at the moment they do not suspect foul play.

   https://www.wwltv.com/video/news/local/man-attacked-by-alligator-officials-still-looking-for-the-body/289-d0c054a1-1873-45d5-933a-32567e96a4c3?jwsource=cl

10. 

11. By the math – the number of school districts in this area that have announced they are going virtual – quite a few and growing quickly. The backdrop (WSAZ):

    The West Virginia COVID-19 color code map currently has 35 counties in red, with 20 outbreaks in schools across the state. Those high case numbers are leading to mask mandates in classrooms and even the closure of some buildings.
    The Department of Education is launching a new initiative across all 55 counties in hopes of ensuring schools are safe and can remain open for in-person learning. State Superintendent Clayton Burch said it will focus on COVID-19 vaccination clinics to prevent people from having to enter quarantine.
    […]
    [And the Guv sez] 
    “We don’t want to wear a mask, we don’t want to have mandates, we want to go to school, we want goodness all around,” Gov. Jim Justice said. “What will ensure us of having that happen? Vaccination. That’s it. That’s all it is. If we choose not to have that, then all of those things, all of those things come into play that can disrupt our lives in every way.”

    Yep – 35 of 55 counties are red, and the response is to set up vaccine clinics among the terminally stupid in the heart of vaccine denial country. Brilliant I tell ya. At least Guv Jim has upped the ante a skosh – which will have close to zero effect.  

12. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/27/texas-house-virtual-learning/

    “The bill would allow remote learning to be offered only in schools that received a C grade or higher in the most recent round of state accountability ratings. No more than 10% of the district’s student population could be enrolled online, and schools could require students to return to in-classroom learning if they do not meet academic standards.”

    Texas, where 90% of a district’s students will be legislated into covid exposure by in-class learning.

13. from latest update column at wapo:

    TORONTO — Canadian officials said Tuesday that roughly 1,250 Canadian citizens and their family members were left behind in Afghanistan — the first such estimate provided to the public — while adding that they would resettle 5,000 Afghans evacuated by the United States.
    (continues)

     

    and from same link

    We don’t normally pay much attention to claims made by the former president, as he mostly just riffs golden oldies. But this is a new claim. A version of this claim also circulates widely on right-leaning social media — that somehow the Taliban has ended up with $83 billion in U.S. weaponry. (Trump, as usual, rounds the number up.)
    The $83 billion number is not invented out of whole cloth. But it reflects all the money spent to train, equip and house the Afghan military and police — so weapons are just a part of that. At this point, no one really knows the value of the equipment that was seized by the Taliban.

14. Fawzia Koofi flees Taliban-held Kabul, evacuates to Qatar – The Washington Post

    Fawzia Koofi spent years fighting for women’s rights in Afghanistan. She survived at least two assassination attempts and then last year sat face-to-face with Taliban leaders to negotiate the country’s future.
    But the former Afghan legislator, who once hoped to run for president, finally left Kabul on Monday night on one of the last evacuation flights, despite the Taliban militants who had placed her under house arrest — and who now control her home.
    Hours after landing in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, the outspoken Taliban critic said Afghanistan feels unsafe now but pledged to return one day.
    “It was heartbreaking to see how everything collapsed,” she said in a BBC radio interview Tuesday.
    “I was afraid of being oppressed, of staying under house arrest, not that those people would kill me,” Koofi added. “I never wanted to leave. … To leave in a situation where you think thousands, maybe millions of people, are desperate and hopeless … to leave those people, emotionally, I felt so inappropriate.”
    […]
    Just 10 days earlier, she had said she had no plans to leave the country, but now the widowed mother is with her two daughters, who flew to Qatar on earlier flights.
    […]
    Koofi made it out of Kabul just as the final American plane left the airfield with the last remaining troops, as the United States ended its longest war with the evacuation of some 110,000 foreigners and Afghans.
    Afghanistan’s minister for women also said Tuesday that she had escaped. Hasina Safi told Australia’s ABC News that she hid her face to get past the militants and into the Kabul airport during the final days of the evacuation — in what she called the “most difficult decision” in her life.
    [continues]

15. FL Gov. Ron DeSantis won in 2018 by 0.04% margin, 32,000 votes. Florida’s COVID death count now 39,695

16. No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons

    WaPo Fact Checker:

    […]

    In any case, the $83 billion spent on the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) goes back two decades, including almost $19 billion spent between 2002 and 2009.

    A 2017 Government Accountability Office report estimated that about 29 percent of the funds spent on the Afghan security forces between 2005 and 2016 went to equipment and transportation. (The transportation costs related to transporting equipment and for contracted pilots and airplanes for transporting officials to meetings. There appears to be no way to segregate transportation spending.)

    […]

    That’s certainly a lot of money. Between 2005 and 2016, U.S. taxpayers paid for 76,000 vehicles (such as 43,000 Ford Ranger pickup trucks, 22,000 Humvees and 900 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles known as MRAPs), 600,000 weapons and more than 200 aircraft, according to GAO.

    Of course, some of this equipment may be obsolete or destroyed — or soon may not be usable.

    The SIGAR report shows that 167 aircraft out of an inventory of 211 were usable — but the Afghan Air Force (AAF) still lacked enough qualified pilots. One issue was that the Taliban targeted pilots for assassination.

    Even more problematic, there were not enough maintenance crews to maintain the aircraft. “Without continued contractor support, none of the AAF’s airframes can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months, depending on the stock of equipment parts in-country, the maintenance capability on each airframe, and the timing of contractor support withdrawal,” the report said.

    With great fanfare, the Taliban has seized a number of Black Hawk helicopters, including ones that the United States had just shipped this year at the request of former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. But only the first crew of Black Hawk mechanics had been trained, so the military “can field no more than one UH-60 per night for helicopter missions,” SIGAR said.

    {…}

    The Pinocchio Test

    U.S. military equipment was given to Afghan security forces over two decades. Tanks, vehicles, helicopters and other gear fell into the hands of the Taliban when the U.S.-trained force quickly collapsed. The value of these assets is unclear, but if the Taliban is unable to obtain spare parts, it may not be able to maintain them.

    But the value of the equipment is not more than $80 billion. That’s the figure for all of the money spent on training and sustaining the Afghan military over 20 years. The equipment portion of that total is about $24 billion — certainly not small change — but the actual value of the equipment in the Taliban’s hands is probably much less than even that amount.

    Three Pinocchios

    So Dumbass the Former continues to rack up his lie tally even without a decent platform upon which to spread them.

17. Joe makes his case. 

19. This is what bad looks like –
     
    

20. Make no mistake  we lost the Battle of Afghanistan which lasted nearly 20 years , and not the war that started when the Jihadist van drove into the parking garage under the World Trade Center. 
     
    This war is older than the current telling of it.  And we will be fighting it  until Climate Change  over runs  the belly of Asia. 
    And it will. 

21. Jack –
    I read your comment about hurricanes  , stick to wonderful music. 
    Your understanding about our changing planet still sucks putty balls. 
    Ida was only  number  2 behind  Katrina  to hit La. 
    And number 5 on the all time list , per the NHC. 
     
    One more thing,  a small  town in BC this summer –
      Hit  116 F on a Saturday , 118 F on that Sunday , and 121 F on Monday.
    On Tuesday it burnt to the ground. 
     If you think that’s “normal” , I got a bridge  I want to sell you. 

22. Can’t wait for the ol soft shoe dance from the Pentagon about trying to keep a few billion of dollars in the defense budget for Afghanistan.

23. Jack –
    When it comes to this topic  you have always  used the BBFF . 
    The “Butt Based Fact File”,  you just reach around pull that crap out of your ass.  
    You sound like the fucking  governor if Texas.  All knowing , while saying bullshit. 
     
    Stick to music .  
     

24. I am sorry  for this attack , but  a 400 foot transmission  tower  blew down , and all the wires are in the river.  Is not what Mr. Whiskey  painted 2 threads ago. 
    Ida is a very Big Deal  to paint it otherwise  is folly  and a willful  ignorance, of the problem  .
    And if Jack’s  ass was on the East bank of the River  some understanding  would come to him after 2 months with out power.  Because  those giant towers were not there  to  make NOLA  more charming. 
    This is a very big deal  for the city , this will be painful .  

25. The great sin of our times to sit in safety , and down play the suffering of others. 
    It really gets my blood  up.  Which makes  my feet numb. 

26. Young  Crawford –
    That same  post  you made about retreating of the coast’s  is spot on. 
    Given our mask  muck.  This fight will be epic. 
    i am waiting for the Insurance guys to move , They will move  on the down low.
    Try and build  a home in the woods any where in the West. 
    Buy a beach house  in NC, 
    That comes first , all of this is not for the “Middle Class”.
     
    But they hit them first . 
    And that will  drive  the market down stream .
    All without a  word  about their plan. 
     
     

27. https://reasonstobecheerful.world/france-peevolution-urine-farming-agriculture-fertilizer/

    OM – Since you seem full of piss and vinegar tonight, you might enjoy this read. Not exactly the still-suits of Dune, but…

    “At first, Roes tested concentrating the urine and then extracting the nitrogen. But the end product was more expensive than farmers would usually pay. So he tried something else: fermenting it and adding natural bacteria to help crops assimilate nitrogen from the air and the plants to absorb nutrients and water.“

    “…human urine is processed by a hugely flawed infrastructure network. In the European Union, almost 6,000 billion liters of drinking water is used to flush away urine each year,…”

28. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/31/texas-senate-border-wall-security-bill/

    How many people could be helped with $2 billion?

29. Yeah Bob, I know you and twitter get off on disaster porn but the facts of that post still stand. 
    This was just a bad hurricane, not the worst ever. 
    Of course if we narrow the window, I’m sure you can find a spot that it was the worst ever.
    Jack

30. BTW
    The worst ever by wind speed was Hurricane Allen , At one point it had wind speeds of 190mph.  by the time it hit southern Texas it was just an ordinary 130mph hurricane.
    Jack 

31. Jack, hurricanes are measured, primarily by strength and damage. Ida was 5th strongest to hit the US. It would be easy for me to sit in East Bumfuck and opine on how bad it was, but I won’t. If you measure by damage let’s wait for those figures. That’s driven more by point of landfall more than strength. We’ll see. 

32. NEW THREAD

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