Rick Kinnaird

Tuesday August 17, 2021

As I watched the clips of what is happening in Kabul and heard the commentators say Trump set this up I didn’t understand because I had not followed the facts closely enough.

But now? I got de facts.

Last year Mike Pompeo had a meeting with the Taliban leadership. He struck a deal. The deal, like most Trump deals, was one sided and not in favor of Trump or the U.S. The deal was “We’re leaving.” Donald wanted to be gone last May, but was talked out of it. He drew down our troops to 2,500. That’s not enough to do much in Afghanistan. Then he left office.

What were Biden’s choices? According to Biden and most others, it was build up or get out. Biden had been opposed to Obama’s 100,000 build up. He had seen the pull out in Vietnam. He didn’t want a repeat. He choose to get out.

Some will argue that he should have done it differently. Yeah. Agreed. However, the fact remains that after twenty years nothing had really changed. 

Richard Engel did a great job explaining the recent history. 

The Washington Post did more to explain how the Taliban took over the country so quickly, and a veteran who was in Afghanistan in 2010 finished the job for me.

Engel explained that the warlords had driven out the Russians and for the next twenty years rode on their reputation of doing so. They had gotten old. The troops they claimed to command were non-existent. The Taliban became the strongest group in Afghanistan. The government propped up by the U.S. was corrupt and incompetent. The siphoned off billions. They build lavish homes for themselves. 

The army was trained but they were starving and they had seen their wages stolen by the upper echelon. They were not going to fight for this government.

The Taliban had started making deals as soon as Pompeo had capitulated. They started at the rural provincial level and worked their way up to the towns and cities. The troops had agreed to basically switch sides. The politicians to keep things running.

How did we get it so wrong? 

The same way we did in Vietnam.

The best and the brightest lied to us there and to themselves.

I read “Facts and Fears” James Clapper’s hagiography. He was in Vietnam. He gave Westmorland intel. Westmoreland barely paid attention. 

Veterans who served in Afghanistan, correspondents who reported, have been warning and screaming for months. Trying to warn the Biden administration. It seems that they don’t have their ears to the ground. Where is the Roosevelt like “can do” team of Franklin and Eleanor? Or Teddy? People could write them letters and they’d do something to help. Why can’t we seem to do that now?

Wednesday August 4, 2021

Someone asked me why the shopping cart push was not an Olympic sport. 

Frankly, it is beyond me, given all the wacky sports they have that I’ve never heard of before the Olympics.

I used to think it was silly.

Now, I’m all for it.

Better than lots of other things young people could be doing.

So, in my training, I think it is important to focus on all aspects of the sport. This includes “The Speech.”

I am speaking about the gold metal acceptance speech. So Here goes:

“This has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I am honored. All the hard work and dedication paid off. I couldn’t have done it without my family. They are my biggest supporters.”

Here is my Silver Medal Speech:

“I am pleased with this award, even though I fell short of my goal. I think I represented my country well. I thought my last push had sealed my victory, but the judges disagreed. I am disappointed, but I’ll be back in four years.”

Here the Bronze:

“Wow, I am pleased beyond words. The competition was really really good. I did not expect the Germans to do so well. I was also stunned by the Sudanese, whom I don’t think have the fields or equipment for this sport. It was great and I am pleased to have done so well. I will be traveling the world for the next four years as an ambassador for the sport. Some want to make this both a summer and winter sport, which would be fantastic. I hope the committee considers the application. Winter shopping cart pushing is a whole different level.”

Here’s the 4th and below speech:

“We did not do as well as we had hoped. Obviously, I’m disappointed. The coaches are disappointed. It’s frustrating to have trained so hard and not to even get a mention. I think the Russians were using some trick grease and I hope the committee examines that. There is just no way they could do what they did without having a small motor in their cart. We’ll see. Peace out.”

Monday July 26, 2021

Item 1 – A person confronted Tucker Carlson. They stood right in front of him face to face and called him the worst person in the world.

Item 2 – A person called Rand Paul a fucking asshole at a virtual town hall. (What? You didn’t expect Rand to actually be somewhere that he could be confronted by the riff riff?)

Item 3 – My brother left his bag at the Arrivals sidewalk at an airport in New York City. He gets a call from a guy who works the midnight shift for Jet Blue. He has his bag, at his home, in Queens. He’s from Tibet.

There is hope, boys and girls. There is hope.

Speaking of which, where is Ms Solo these days?

Sunday July 25, 2021

Two unrelated topics – one Olympics, the other politics.

I watched the women’s soccer team play Sweden. They lost. I had heard all this stuff about how they look lackluster and their game was off – blah, blah, blah. They must have been watching a different game. Both teams looked very good. The Americans did not get the breaks and Sweden is very good, plus they got the breaks. One goal was scored off a rebound and a lucky foot, while the USA watched a certain goal bounce off the goal post. That was the kind of game it was. 

There was a great cameo about Simone Biles showing what she did at the last Olympics. In the clip the announcer said, “This is Simone’s party and we are all guests.” Even in slow motion  it is hard to comprehend what that woman is doing. 

I watched some of the rowing. It was helpful for me to have a commentator who knew and understood the sport explain the eight person race. How the last 500 or 250 meters is where all the training comes in. How you have to practice three times a day, six days a week to be able to have the strength and mental toughness for the last bit of the race.

I watched some skate boarding too. Very strange. These are the best in the world? Most of the guys couldn’t land a trick. I mean it’s one thing to miss one, but all four? The cool dudes broke under pressure. Maybe they should take a few classes in pressure from Simone. In her cameo she said that when you are doing one of her things, “don’t bail.” She laughed. “If you bail you are definitely going to break something.”

Men’s gymnastics, I watched the best all around athlete in the world miss a grip on the bar and fall to the floor. I can’t decide if my physique looks more like the men in gymnastics or the guys swimming the butterfly.

Today, Simone. Can’t wait.

In politics we in Virginia are having an election for governor. The republican challenger is a guy who was part of the Carlyle group. He touts his business expertise and says he’ll bring jobs to Virginia and he says terrible things about the democrats. However, what he doesn’t do is say what he will do. There are the high minded phrases, but after that – nothing. Terry Macauliffe the former governor who is running again has a track record and he tells you what he will do. Interestingly, the Republican won’t debate him. The guy backed out of any debate with Macauliffe. Traditional, long standing debates – nope. 

So what does Carlyle Group do exactly? Well, they invest in stuff. Military stuff and oil rigs stuff. They invest in companies making rip-off of popular shoes. They invest in planes that the Saudis buy and use to bomb school buses in Yemen. They put up the money for Big Machine to buy Taylor Swift’s music, pissing off Tay-Tay.  In fact, Carlyle Group was pulled into the controversy when Scooter Braun who owns Big Machine Records was not going to let Taylor sing her own songs at the American Music Awards. 

So if you like what the Republican challenger has done in business: bombing kids and killing them in Yemen, ripping off shoe brands, and telling Taylor she can’t sing her own music – imagine what his “leadership” will do for the state of Virginia? Of course, we really won’t know what he even plans to do because he won’t discuss it. And, let’s not forget he has no political experience. 

Let’s see, how did it work out for the country when a business man with no political experience was elected president? Half his cabinet were referred for criminal indictment and scores resigned in disgrace. And he led an insurrection against the country.

Yeah. Well. No thank you.