Tom Nolan looks at a story as the baseball season tries to open back up. A player sites his faith as a reason to not kneel during the anthem. Pointing out that he will only Kneel to God.
Comments chosen by TD:
Thanks for not putting him in a bad light. This is honest journalism.
Finally, a ball player who can think and act on his own. Sam, I don't care for baseball, but you sir have my admiration and respect. You can't go wrong being a Christian because God is always in charge. Amen.
Good for him. It takes a man to stand - any coward can kneel and pretend he hasn't just been bullied into it.Real men stand up.
Biden claims he had much support for pullout from our allies. Let's see.
The United States is in a precarious position, disdained by our allies and unable to strike fear into our adversaries. Despite being assured that was going to be the result of Trump’s presidency by the same mediocre experts who never get anything right, the country came out of his four years stronger and more respected around the globe. It’s only taken seven months for Biden to tear all that down.
UK Parliament Holds Joe Biden in Contempt and the Details Are Disturbing "The embarrassment on the world stage continues under Joe Biden. Following the total collapse of Afghanistan and while in the midst of an ongoing, dangerously chaotic evacuation, the UK Parliament has voted to hold the President of the United States in contempt. That came after several impassioned denunciations on the floor that were covered by RedStatepreviously.". .
Appalling: Biden Scrapped Trump Afghanistan Rescue Plan – PJ Media ..."By closing Bagram Air Base first, Biden shut down America’s last and best military base and logistical center in Afghanistan, removing any ability to respond quickly and effectively. Closing Bagram first also sent a message to the Afghan national government and the army we spent 20 years building up: America is bugging out and you’re on your own." ...
"Lest you think that Biden might be losing sleep because his conscience is bothering him, let me finish with this golden oldie, from the last time Biden wanted to bug out early:
In 2010, Biden reportedly told Richard Holbrooke, then Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, that the US had to leave Afghanistan regardless of the cost for the Afghan people.According to Holbrooke, when Biden was asked about America’s obligation to maintain their presence in Afghanistan to protect vulnerable civilians, he scornfully replied by referencing the US exit from southeast Asia in 1973. 'F*** that, we don’t have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.’
"But it turns out the British and the French are doing exactly that. Both have sent in troops that are going out into the city to get their citizens and escort them back to the safety of the airport:" . . .
Leaked Internal Memo Warned Biden Admin Actions Would Collapse Afghanistan | Neon Nettle ..."Deputy National Security Advisor John Finer echoed these sentiments in an interview with CNN Thursday, telling Wolf Blitzer, "The cable, as I understand it, predicted the potential fall of the Afghan government in the aftermath of a U.S. troop drawdown on August 31st."...
"No memos from the desk of Donald J. Trump, no RNC talking points, no right-wing Twitter memes or excoriating floor speeches by Republican senators possibly could have had the effect on Biden of Biden himself selling and defending his Afghanistan policy in terms instantly discredited by unforgettable and horrifying images on the ground this week.
"The fate of Biden’s presidency might now depend on whether Taliban commanders decide to transform an ongoing evacuation crisis in Kabul into an explicit hostage crisis.". . .
The inability of the Biden regime to fulfill our obligations to allies has raised alarms all over the world, not just in NATO, which was a participant in the Afghanistan occupation. South Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan barely escaped before the Taliban takeover, and now the ruling party there wants greater control over the military forces there.
"Though removal from office once was unthinkable, Joe Biden has lost the support of most of the key actors whose support helped him win the presidency, and whose cooperation is essential to maintaining the illusion that he is capable of fulfilling the duties of president of the United States." . . .
"Because impeachment or the 25th Amendment removal from office would hinge on their support — Democrat officeholders now understand that they are at risk of losing their next election thanks to his sullying of the brand of the party that foisted an already senile placeholder on the public. In a special election Tuesday, voters in Connecticut's 26th Senate District, who supported Biden by a 25-point margin, flipped a seat to the Republican candidate (hat tip: Christina Laila)." . . .
You don’t need to be an affluent suburbanite with friends in London's tonier neighborhoods to be ashamed when you read about British and French forces deploying in Kabul to rescue their citizens, as American forces are kept within the perimeter of Kabul and thousands of stranded Americans are told to make their own way through Taliban checkpoints and other blockages if they are lucky enough to make it to their airfield with their heads intact. Those citizens were facing a State Department demand to pay up to $2,000 for a flight out of Kabul, even as Afghanis were flown out for free, until embarrassment caused that policy to be junked. It is humiliating and downright shameful, and the non-crazy portion of the Democrat vote doesn't want to identify with it.. . .
. . . "So while CNN has recently gotten a lot tougher on the Biden administration, MSNBC is making up for it by bending over even more. Case in point, Joy Reid. We’re used to horrendously awful takes from Reid, but this crap is downright offensive: . . ."
"On Sunday, August 15, Taliban fighters captured Kabul, effectively asserting complete control over Afghanistan. For the country’s secretive underground church, the return to Taliban rule has filled many with fear and uncertainty.
“ 'We are telling people to stay in their houses because going out now is too dangerous,” a Christian leader in Afghanistan, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, told International Christian Concern (ICC). While a general amnesty has been announced by the Taliban, this leader fears that Christians will still be targeted by Taliban fighters patrolling the streets of Kabul and other cities.
"Afghanistan’s Christian community is almost exclusively comprised of converts from Islam. Some estimate the Christian population to be between 10,000 and 12,000, making it the country’s largest religious minority group. However, due to extreme persecution, the Christian community remains largely closeted and hidden from the public eye." . . .
“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.”
The American Spectator"Before, during, and after the self-inflicted disaster of appeasement, Winston Churchill criticized Neville Chamberlain’s policy in the starkest language. He said to the Prime Minister, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.”
"Churchill did not continue to dwell on Chamberlain’s failings, because his emphasis was on a victory over Nazism, not on destroying Chamberlain. In fact, Chamberlain was the leader of the Conservative Party to which Churchill at that time belonged, and Churchill wanted to work with Chamberlain, as well as with the other parties, in a broad united national front against what Churchill recognized was a mortal threat to Britain and “an outrage against the civilisation and the freedom of the whole world.”
"Churchill saw that there was a problem in the culture itself of Britain and its allies that left them all unable to defend themselves against a fiercely committed enemy. Addressing that deep-seated cultural sickness was his tremendous focus.
"In the aftermath of the Munich surrender to Hitler, Churchill made his moral point before the House of Commons in memorable words:
… Terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western Democracies: “Thou art weighted in the balance and found wanting.” And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of the bitter cup that will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.
"Churchill’s greatness as a statesman was in recognizing the centrality of the moral issues and communicating the moral imperative with vigor, clarity, and power. How rare that is in politics. Who in power today could one call a statesman without smirking?" . . .
The world is watching and calculating. Hard-earned trust is easily squandered, much harder to recover. The ramifications of Biden’s surrender will haunt America for decades. As President Trump said in a recently released statement, “Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next? Someone should ask him, if they can find him.”
. . . "But Joe knew better, living up to his reputation as a foreign policy dunce. Obama’s Secretary of Defense famously observed of Biden, that he has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy question over the past 40 years. What little foreign policy knowledge he had was decades ago when he was at least firing on all cylinders rather than now, in rapid cognitive decline, surrendering thought and reason to his advanced age.
"Biden also surrendered 40,000 Americans and countless numbers of locals to the whims of the Taliban. Will they be released, held hostage, or beheaded on an international stage? What if they are killed on 9/11 at the surrendered US embassy? America’s humiliation will be complete.
"He also surrendered a generation of Afghan girls and women, for two decades allowed to wear Western clothing, and attend school, hoping for a university degree and profession. Instead, Biden surrendered these women to covering all but their eyes, serving as Taliban brides and sex slaves.
"Where are the Democrats and Hollywood harpies that were screaming about Justice Kavanaugh and supposed “rape trains” while Biden just unleashed the real thing on millions of Afghan women?". . .
RedState "With all the demoralization, horror, and carnage we are witnessing in Afghanistan because of the Biden administration’s failure to properly and safely exit the country, many outlets are bypassing the Afghan Christian Church, which is now under threat of martyrdom.
"According to Open Doors’ World Watch List of the most dangerous countries for Christians, Afghanistan ranks Number 2 in the world. The Taliban has now taken over the country, making this already dangerous situation even more deadly.
As most Americans absorbed the shock of the Taliban’s full takeover of Afghanistan over the weekend, officials at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service followed the rapidly deteriorating situation with resignation, knowing it could have gone differently.
In May, leaders at LIRS, one of several faith-based agencies contracted with the US government to resettle refugees in the United States, sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting it remove Afghan civilians (and their families) who have worked with the US before its planned troop withdrawal.
"This request has been lost in the bureaucratic maze of the State Department, and at this point it is like shouting into the void." . . .
Biden’s Surrender Presidency - American Thinker"The seven months of the Biden presidency reveal a theme of surrender. Surrender is to give up possession of something to another or to give up to some influence or idea. President Biden has surrendered so much on so many levels. The only question is how much is due to his abject incompetence versus a deliberate attempt to surrender America, the country he swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend, to dark forces in the world." . . .
...After hiding under his bed for a week, the President explained his brilliant strategy by blaming his predecessor President Trump, and the Afghan military. Surprisingly his speechwriters failed to mention climate change, as another cause for the fall of Afghanistan.
Biden's teleprompter told him to "LEAVE NOW" when his speech was concluded
Comment to this post: "American[s] just suffered the biggest military disaster in 50 years and all you do is read a 10m prepared speech and run back to your basement
RESIGN NOW COWARD"
Malala: I Fear for My Afghan Sisters"In the last two decades, millions of Afghan women and girls received an education. Now the future they were promised is dangerously close to slipping away. The Taliban — who until losing power 20 years ago barred nearly all girls and women from attending school and doled out harsh punishment to those who defied them — are back in control. Like many women, I fear for my Afghan sisters." . . . Malala Yousafzai
. . . "And in Kabul, Taliban vehicles packed with armed militants were recorded on video patrolling residential areas for activists and government workers. Gunshots can be heard as they accelerate down the street.
"Longtime Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid held his first news conference Tuesday to state that the extremist group would honor women’s rights — within sharia law. He also claimed that amnesty would be offered to Afghans who had worked for the country’s defunct, U.S.-backed government" . . .
A representative of Chinese state media mocked the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the Taliban takeover was smoother than the presidential transition earlier this year
"An editorial in the regime-backed Global Times lashed out at a since-deleted tweet by Senator John Cornyn which erroneously stated there were 30,000 American soldiers stationed in Taiwan.
"The bombastic propaganda article said that if Sen. Cornyn’s claim was true this ‘is equivalent to a military invasion and occupation of the Taiwan Province of China. It is an act of declaring war on the People’s Republic of China.’
"It added that China would ‘destroy and expel US troops in Taiwan by any means and realize reunification by force.’
"Backing up this fiery rhetoric, Beijing dispatched warships and fighter jets for drills off Taiwan on Tuesday in its latest show of strength to Washington.
"Although China is the dominant power in east Asia, many of its neighbours like Taiwan and Japan look to the US as their closest military partner. Beijing, therefore, revels in anything which undermines Washington’s credibility.
"Chinese state media pumped out the images of desperate Afghans flooding Kabul airport in an effort to flee on Monday as a sign of the chaos prompted by the US retreat.". . .
Have the Chinese considered this about their enemy?
The American Spectator"Mark August 15 as the day that Joe Biden lost the media. Nine months after the election, they have stopped carrying the president’s water.
" 'CNN’s Jake Tapper was the first crack in the dam.
"Tapper brought on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and stared in seeming horror as Blinken deflected questions and repeatedly said the U.S. accomplished what it came to do in Afghanistan.
"Tapper refused to accept the party line and hung Biden, the man the media desperately tried to convince the public was the saner, more civilized solution to Trump, out to dry on his Sunday show.
" 'President Biden ordered 2,500 servicemen out [of Afghanistan] and now is sending up to 5,000 service members back in,” Tapper said. “Does that not on its face show that the exit was ineptly planned? And again, look you told me again a few months ago on this program that you thought it was entirely likely that the Taliban would be taking over the country . . . but President Biden just last month said ‘the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. . . .’ He was wrong.”
"It may seem ill-conceived to give Tapper or any other media elite too much of a pass for one shining moment of what some might describe as “doing their job” — but perhaps the grace period between Biden and the press is over.
"Politicoreported: “President Joe Biden long touted his foreign policy credentials as a core asset he’d bring to the oval office. And once he was in the White House, he proudly proclaimed ‘America is Back’ on the world stage. Instead, chaos and confusion dominated his first major foreign policy decision.”. . .
How does one know if Joe's actions result from his mental decline or a product of his personal character? This also prompts the question regarding the character of Democrat voters that produce national figures such as Maxine Waters, the "squad", Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, Washington and Oregon's governors (to name just two), and, well, you can name many more plus the nameless masked black-clad arsonists in America's streets. The Tunnel Dweller
