25 August 2021

Where is the Outrage?

Afghanistan is descending into hell. People are dying. Where are the protests? Where is the outrage in this, the San Francisco Bay Area, known for its protests against everything?

Over the past few years alone, there have been numerous BLM and Antifa protests, complete with rioting and looting. Transgender rights protests paired with Drag Queen reading hour for the little ones at libraries and schools. Protests to let the junkies and mentally ill live in squalor on city streets, and supply them with money and amenities. However, now that there are Americans and allies being left behind in Afghanistan, to be tortured and killed, there is only silence.

The front pages of the local newspapers are filled with Covid mandates, restaurant reviews, and a few local bits and pieces. There is nothing about Afghanistan. It is close to the same on the local news stations. If there is any coverage, it seems to support the Biden line of we’re doing a great job getting people out. Last night a local professor stated that there really wasn’t much more that the US could do since the Taliban control Afghanistan. What? When does the United States bow down to the dictates of a medieval, barbaric, terrorist group?

Where is the ethos that we, as Americans, have always stood by – Leave no man behind? Where is the coverage of the horrendous conditions that now exist in Afghanistan and the slaughter that is sure to follow? Why do they not care?

San Francisco’s own Nancy Pelosi spent the weekend at a Napa estate wining and dining Rich White Folks while ignoring the disaster taking place on the other side of the world that has put our fellow Americans and allies in harm’s way. The local councilmembers, who send out flash emails for every possible social justice cause and covid concern, remain equally silent.

This is the worst catastrophic military failure we have ever seen in America. It did not have to be this way. Every day I wake up and hope that the government has sent in the military and warned that Taliban to get out of the way or there will be severe consequences. And every day it does not happen.

I think back to all the people I know who supported Biden. When I would suggest that perhaps electing a man with dementia might be a little dangerous, I was met with “We know he’s feeble, but they’ll take care of him.”  Others, who do not really know that much abut US politics told me "not to be so upset. Afterall, it's only for four years." I predicted all the disastrous consequences of his presidency and quietly told a few friends that I seriously worried about another large terrorist attack. However, I could never have imagined the debacle now playing out because of Biden's ill-planned departure from Afghanistan.

The heartbreaking scenes and updates from Kabul are gut wrenching. I cannot stop watching and reading the news, hoping that there will be a last-minute change to Biden’s disastrous withdrawal plan. I do not understand how any American can ignore this dire situation, yet that seems to be the case where I live.

 

12 August 2021

Free Ebooks

 It's Summer Break time with Kate's books.  Fun, entertaining, globe-trotting, quick reads. 

Aug 13 -15, most of my books are available for free download on Amazon: Kate's Books   (This might not work for those outside the USA. If so, please use contact form on this page and I will sort it out.)


Take a suspensful trip to Naples Italy, (and brief flashabcks to Berkeley CA 1969), with:  A Neapolitan Intrigue


Or a cozy mystery stop in Tel Aviv:  Murder, Jaz, & Tel Aviv

Jaz, Tall Men, & Mayhem

Perhaps the exotic isle of BaliBroadsided in Bali

Surfers, drug lords, and one determinded accountant in Montery, California:  Bad Accounts

There is, of course, Brazil and a bit of magical realism: The Many Wonders of Costa Contente        


Enjoy!