unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Some people get tired of apartments, neighborhoods, jerky neighbors, overbearing community rules and dream of the elbow room and/or not feeling obliged to maintain a military trim on their grass lawns. There is also that romanticized notion as well. And the thought of property as an investment.

I'd probably have a food garden with easy crops no larger than the time I'm willing to spend on it. An unattached garage and workshop would be pretty nifty as well, plus enough space in the house to dedicate an out-of-the-way room for various books and nerd kitsch (video game consoles, carts, discs) that would for once get to be visible outside of a cardboard packing box. I might would even contribute to the "post pictures of your gaming place" thread.

This is hinging on an ideal set of circumstances though that could very well not come to pass. A pipe dream even for a lot of boomers. The pandemic on top of everything else has done a real number on things, unless you're in the top wealth bracket that got richer.

On the bright side, I don't have to worry about the Taliban showing up to brutally execute me because I said they did Bad Things.

e: I did have a place possibly lined up once, but a prospector got to it and flipped for a ridiculous sum, rent or buy. Barely did any work to it. FrEe MaRkEt.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-08-15 01:39:14)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
Just woke up. It's 2:46 PM in Afghanistan. Kabul is completely encircled and the Taliban is inside the city fighting on the outskirts. The city could fall today.

Kabul could fall in 7 days turned into Kabul can fall in 7 hours. The near rest of the country is in Taliban hands.

Christ, 20 years of war over in a blink of an eye. Didn't see this coming. Life can be so full of surprises.

Edit: I didn't finish reading the event feed. The interior minister announced they are going to hand over the city and dissolve the government. The president is expected to resign in hours. It's all over.

Last edited by SuperJail Warden (2021-08-15 03:31:44)

https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+493|3672
zero resistance. taliban just marched right into the halls of power and took it back.

that march into kabul must have come at the cost to the american taxpayer of about a billion dollars per yard.

gj!
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
No matter what you do in life you will never feel the same sense of accomplishment as the Taliban leaders who outlived a Soviet and American invasion.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+493|3672
in the latter case all they had to do was go sit on their home acres and count their rocks for about 15 years.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
Unpopular opinion but the Taliban taking over the country so quickly is a godsend. If the war dragged out another half a decade or decade, the likelihood of us having to go back in would be much higher. The Taliban winning such a swift and overwhelming victory really dissipates any notion we would have a reason to be there.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Article 30 minutes ago, Ghani fled to Tajikistan.

Afghanistan president flees country as Taliban takes control of Kabul
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/sout … 02899.html

A comment 20 minutes ago mentioned Al Jazeera was streaming live footage of the insurgents in the president's office with guns.

While the rate is stunning, we should remind ourselves that the Taliban didn't materialize all this from the void. Apart from being legitimized by Trump, they've had support and sanctuary over the years.

This will be a topic that would overspill the arbitrary cap of 10-30(?) books.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
I am skeptical of the criticism that Trump legitimized the Taliban by negotiating with them. I don't see the harm in attempting to negotiate with anyone who is willing to try to negotiate with us. There must have been Taliban hardliners who were angry leadership was negotiating with the "infidels". Don't fall into the "America fuck yeah" trap where you start to think people will grovel if we bomb them enough.

I saw the Taliban in the presidential office. At least they were smart enough not to be dressed like ISIS ninjas. They took over the broadcasting station and promised the people of Kabul there won't be any bloodshed and to please stay home while things get worked out. They haven't entered the last district where the embassies are. They also promised not to attack them. U.S. leadership met with the Taliban in Doha to warn them not to attack while we evacuate.

We just need to be hopeful the evacuation goes smooth and the Taliban keeps their promise to not allow AQ to set up bases. I would be unsurprised if the Taliban is reasonable to deal with once they feel comfortable in power. They aren't totally brain dead savages. Savages don't win wars as near bloodlessly and quick as they did.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

I'm not being Team America right now. I absolutely don't think "bombing the country into the stone age" is a diplomatically viable option. Don't put that angle on me.

Negotiation may have been viewed as inevitable (though Trump had actually pre-presidency been against it, even plugging his books in the same tweets). But rolling out the red carpet for them is repugnant. Trump's buffoonery is definitely not the only thing that's been at play since this all began, but I think it's a recent blunder that deserves mention, especially considering that he's keeping himself on the stage by undermining our sitting president every chance he gets.

There's been older cases made for partitioning Afghanistan on ethnic lines. Very familiar, ill vibes there. I don't think a foreign power should be making that decision for another country. Also a can of worms, there's no guarantee of what quality of character the smaller states would have or that the people living in them would suffer any less. Or how it they would interact with neighboring countries.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
I like the idea of partitioning "shit hole countries". Of course that runs into the major problem of population exchanges. Those rarely go smoothly. In the case of Afghanistan it wouldn't have made a difference unless foreign countries were given ethnic/religiously similar pieces of territory in order to create regional investment. The Taliban would have rolled a bunch of little states just as quickly once we left. Partitioning Iraq three ways would have been a major success I believe though.

I'm pretty sure the U.N. charter has language specifically against violent territorial expansion. So most of the world's borders are frozen. Of course it is easy to advocate people far away needing to give up their homes from the comfort of my bed in NJ.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Arbitrarily/unilaterally drawing up borders for other countries worked out very well last century.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
This time we can have AI do it. Maybe Facebook can make an ethnic cleansing algorithm.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,813|6326|eXtreme to the maX
Remember this?
FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1465/quoovipfz0cveud7vrsd.jpg
https://www.theonion.com/fbi-uncovers-a … 1819576375
Fuck Israel
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,813|6326|eXtreme to the maX
Biden currently looks like an empty grin, going for the soundbite of the '20 year war', now its an utter disaster

It would have been ideal to have maintained the status quo of US troops in Afghanistan to more or less do nothing but provide moral support to the Afghans and the fear of JDAMs to the Taliban for two reasons.

- It would have kept the Taliban out

- It would have kept goobers who just wanted free college out of the army, as there would be an ever present threat they might actually be rotated into an actual warzone

Would have had to be kept going for multiple generations, still better than the alternative.

Some time someone is going to have to take a hard look at Pakistan and all the support and money they've been given - which seems to have resulted in a relaxed and wealthy Taliban ready to operate at the drop of a hat.

These guys haven't been living in caves the last 20 years, they're fat and healthy.
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/2d6ba0bdbb49841590bec98593e42e6b?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=720&cropW=1080&xPos=100&yPos=0&width=862&height=575

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2021-08-16 03:21:01)

Fuck Israel
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,813|6326|eXtreme to the maX
LMAO

https://static.pbslearningmedia.org/media/assets/amex27ldv-vid-embassy3_CBSNews_T3_withcredit.jpg

https://images.wsj.net/im-385776?width=700&size=1.5&pixel_ratio=2
Fuck Israel
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940

Dilbert_X wrote:

Biden currently looks like an empty grin, going for the soundbite of the '20 year war', now its an utter disaster

It would have been ideal to have maintained the status quo of US troops in Afghanistan to more or less do nothing but provide moral support to the Afghans and the fear of JDAMs to the Taliban for two reasons.

- It would have kept the Taliban out

- It would have kept goobers who just wanted free college out of the army, as there would be an ever present threat they might actually be rotated into an actual warzone

Would have had to be kept going for multiple generations, still better than the alternative.

Some time someone is going to have to take a hard look at Pakistan and all the support and money they've been given - which seems to have resulted in a relaxed and wealthy Taliban ready to operate at the drop of a hat.

These guys haven't been living in caves the last 20 years, they're fat and healthy.
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/2d6ba0bdbb49841590bec98593e42e6b?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=720&cropW=1080&xPos=100&yPos=0&width=862&height=575
I mentioned before that the war was a continuing moral wound. "We can spend trillions on Afghanistan but can't have universal healthcare" etc.

The war was costing us $50 billion a year. That's basically covers the cost of the food stamp expansion yesterday. We can't stay there or elsewhere forever. What makes Afghanistan's people anymore special than say Haiti's people or Ethiopia's?

I was watching CNN this morning. The Taliban has been doing all of the right moves so far. They aren't attacking the airport. Civilians trying to flee breached it but no suicide bombers got through or attempted to. CNN has a lady reporter on the ground still going around doing interviews. The Taliban fighters were willing to be interviewed by the white woman. She said they seemed calm and friendly. The Taliban group was happy to be on camera. The reporter eventually had to leave once a hardliner showed up to complain about her being there. That's life for you. Always someone has to ruin it for everyone. That guy is also probably gay.

The Taliban spokesman gave an interview to CNN in English. He promised that there will be no attacks on people trying to flee. Again the right move. I am hopeful that the Taliban are reasonable to work with at the moment.

I am grateful this happened now instead of closer to the midterm elections. I think media people are being melodramatic about this. The comments on many conservative sites are supportive of the withdrawal. Eventually they will turn but I expect the vast majority of American voters are happy to wash their hands of Afghanistan.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,813|6326|eXtreme to the maX
Prior to being attacked the Taliban were not impossible to deal with. Brutal to their own population especially women obviously.
Fuck Israel
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Didn't Pakistan have to operate as go-between after the Taliban killed a bunch of Iranians, or am I remembering something else?

Anyway, Iran would probably be cool with Afghanistan being ruled by velociraptors so long as water is secure.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
There is a small Shiite minority in Afghanistan that Iran is tied up with. Iran sends them as fighters against the Syrian rebels and Islamist in Syria and Iraq. They are now Iran's problem. Iran is definitely happy to see the U.S. loses its air bases near them.

I would be happy if the U.S. now "goes to the store for cigarettes'" in Iraq and Syria too. We can roll all of the bad P.R. together and never have to worry again.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
https://i.redd.it/hofakptvtrh71.jpg
Non-stop flights like this. Saw one video of two people falling off of a plane while it was in the air. They held onto it until I guess they couldn't any longer and dropped. Pictures of their bodies are going around right now but I didn't click the link when I saw it. Not in the mood.

ISIS took credit for killing a Taliban commander. When the Taliban took control of a prison in Kabul, they sought out the former leader of ISIS who was imprisoned there and killed him. Somewhat comical the U.S. was only thing keeping that guy alive.

Other stuff
""Who is going to protect the childrens now...""
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout … drens_now/

"CNN reporter on the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan: “They’re just chanting ‘Death to America,’ but they seem friendly at the same time.”"
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout … keover_in/

I watched that air live on CNN before they went to the welcome back commercial.

https://preview.redd.it/b6kvrsu8dqh71.jpg?width=432&auto=webp&s=c16064d5fcbe6b2e2d6f560362d79320c2220f75

Last edited by SuperJail Warden (2021-08-16 15:39:01)

https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
Invest in Afghanistan memes
https://i.redd.it/avikmbsx5rh71.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Public freakouts is such a rabbit hole. Clicked on one of mac's antivaxxer links, ended up seeing Taliban(?) guys using gym equipment wrongly: https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout … the_first/

Comments on point as expected.

Fajitajitas
Great now they’ve discovered our secrets to 10 min abs

kookiemonsta420
What about 9 minute abs?

Fajitajitas
God help us if they find 8 min abs

Dry-Departure-7320
No not 7 minutes abs

NihilisticSquirrel
6 minute abs and it's game over.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+640|3940
Would you like an opportunity to stare deeper into the abyss? There is another sub "actual public freakouts". It is the same sort of sub but for people who think PublicFreakouts was too Social Justice Warrior.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ActualPublicFreakouts/
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6992|PNW

Looks like the same stuff but with giant captions in the middle of the videos.

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