US Sending 3,000 Troops Back Into Kabul To "Evacuate" 650 US Embassy Staffers -- Pentagon: Not An Evacuation Or A Combat Mission -- August 12, 2021

Updates

August 13, 2021: UN "demands" that the Taliban stop military action and return to the negotiating table. LOL. 

Later, 8:35 p.m. CT: President Biden has departed the building. On vacation, to Wilmington, DE.

Later, 8:32 p.m. CT: the executions begin. From The WSJ; above-the-fold, front page story. 

Later, 8:09 p.m. CT: going through this list again, there are three top stories that have to have the administration terrified:

• videos of executions coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control;
• $6.00 gasoline before Labor Day; and a reminder the president killed the Keystone XL the first full day of his administration;
  
• lock down ... again... Covid-19

Original Post

Baghdad Bob is reporting from Kabul -- ABC News special correspondent, ABC Evening News. Wow, when you see see this live on television, one gets the feeling that this is the tipping point for the Biden administration. If we start seeing executions in the US Embassy ...

I think the bad news is hitting the Biden Administration much faster than they feared; I think it's caught them completely off-guard.

Surfing through the mainstream news today, these are the headlines and/or the top stories:

Kamala Harris is inching towards running for president in 2024 -- the mainstream Dems are terrified -- this tells me one thing -- the person closest to Biden politically, as far as official titles go -- recognizes that Biden won't be running in 2024

The fall of Cuomo is a bigger story than the mainstream media is willing to admit;

Speaking of falling: Kabul is going to fall by September -- the Biden administration knew that there was a 50-50 chance that Kabul would fall but not this fast -- the optics will get worse over the weekend as the USAF rushes to fly Afghani allies out of Kabul starting as early as tomorrow -- it's being wide reported that the US trained 300,000 Afghani troops to fight the Taliban and it appears that has come to nought

Lebanon is next. Link here.

That "transitory" inflation is looking less transitory every day, and even if it is transitory it's coming at exactly the wrong time (now) and impacting most what Americans buy everyday: food and gasoline

US crop harvests are going to be horrible this year; the numbers are now starting to come out; will impact that "transitory" food inflation

As Covid-19 cases skyrocket folks are finally reporting the true super-spreader: the southern surge

The United States is now at the very beginning of the fourth wave of Covid-19; some states only the third wave, but overall, the US is in its fourth wave -- just as schools are about to re-open; mainstream America at some point is going to figure out it was the southern surge that was the super-spreader

Not asked yet, but it soon will be: what is worse? During the depression, ten million folks wanting a job, and no jobs available; or when Wall Street is setting new records day after day, there are ten million job openings and no one wants them; unemployment claims holding steady (in a bad way)

A reader used to joke with me that when beer prices become unbearable, the silent majority won't be silent any more; one week ago, $7.99 for a six-pack was easily found; today, $9.99 was the best I could do, and not many brand available at that price; in fact, it was quite clear Target was doing what it could to stem the $10-handle for beer

The trucker shortage may be worse than a truck shortage

Yes, I'm saving the best for last

Credibility? What credibility? When the CDC falsely reports a more-than doubling of Covid-19 cases in Florida and then admits, well after the fact, after the damage has been done, they made a "mistake"; credibility has already been lost; this just makes it worse

Census numbers are now starting to turn blue states red in terms of representation (this one needs to be fact-checked); the states may still be blue in some respects, but redistricting is favoring the GOP more often than not -- New York Magazine

In the past, when gasoline prices got high, it was not unusual for presidents to jawbone OPEC / Saudi Arabia to produce more oil, but at the same time offer domestic initiatives to help solve the problem; this time, the current administration offers no solutions; has no arrows in its quiver to do so; killed the Keystone XL the very first day in office; has banned drilling on federal land; had slow-rolled the permitting process where the courts ruled against the bans; and, is simply unable to come up with any solutions

[By the way: the fact that the present administration is asking for OPEC and admits the US has no solutions of it's own, this will make the situation worse; folks will start hoarding, driving prices higher; drillers will minimize bringing oil to the market in the near term when expectations of even higher prices going forward]. Link here.

 

Link here.

There is an outside chance that the slowing of the economy due to Covid-19 will slow the rise in the price of gasoline or reverse it altogether, but slowing the economy is not what any sane administration wants; if the price of gasoline falls because the economy falters, that's not good -- can anyone say "recession"? No one is talking about recession, but ...

How bad is all this? I don't know. All I know is that the Sturgis Rally is not generating a lot of headlines as we go into the second week of the rally

Iowa State Fair opens today; a million visitors expected -- not just Harley riders but kids of all ages -- and no masks, no vaccinations required

When things "get bad" in the United States, Americans often turn to "sports." It's not gonna happen this year. No "heroes" came out of the Tokyo Olympics; lowest television ratings ever; will be remembered as the "Woke Show." Is anyone even following baseball this year? I've lost the bubble. It shows up nowhere in my news feed. NFL: the season can't get here fast enough but in 100-degree weather across the nation, most folks aren't thinking about football. 

But there is one piece of good news: all previous Covid-19 waves peaked and finally came to an end over the space of four to eight weeks; talking heads are suggesting the worst will be over -- at least for this fourth wave -- in three weeks.

*********************************
Portland Rally

Indoor -- no masks -- not yet vaccinated (too young).