Davin News Server

Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 1 May 2025 22:29:15 -0400, -hh wrote:
>> On 5/1/25 18:28, Skeeter OG wrote:
>>> nuh-uh@nope.com says... 
>>>> On 2025-05-01 10:52, Skeeter OG wrote:
>>>>> nuh-uh@nope.com says... 
>>>>>> ...is believing Trump when he claimed before being elected that the
>>>>>> stock market was doing well because of him... 
>>>>>> ...but 100 days into his administration, it's Biden's fault it's cratering. 
>>>>> You blamed Trump for Afghanistan soooo.
>>>> Because his actions were to blame.
>>> 
>>> Nope, he wasn't president.
>> 
>> Trump got the Taliban leader & 5,000 of his army freed...
> 
> The Big Deal Maker has caved repeatedly.  He's now reduced to caving
> in to Zelensky.  The minerals deal was finally signed, but on
> Ukraine's terms.  They owe us nothing for the support they've given
> but we will sell them whatever they have the cash for as well as
> provide intel support.  The EU is onboard with this and even as they
> raise their own defense spending, they're collecting funds to pay for
> purchases of US weaponry.  Word is, the first order, some $50M, is on
> the way already and Zelensky has placed an order for 15 Patriot
> systems at a billion per - in cash USD.
> 
> Big Daddy is mighty upset that his Russian friend dumped him when he
> stopped being useful.  That little chat with Volodomyr at the Vatican
> iced up the cake real well.

What’s humorous about things right now is that with the US having withdrawn
support, Ukraine is no longer constrained to only hit targets within
Ukraine, so they’re hitting targets within Russia, some of which are 1000km
beyond the front.  

FYI, Tonight will be interesting, as Putin’s big parade in Moscow is
tomorrow (5/9), and he’s pulled in a huge amount of air defenses to protect
it, which leaves lot of other high value Russian sites very vulnerable.

>>>> What we absolutely know is that up until Trump's changes in policy, all
>>>> was well in the US economy.
>>> 
>>> What does that have to do with Afghanistan?
>> 
>> It is yet another illustration of how everything Trump touches ... dies.
> 
> No tariff deals yet, nobody even admitting to US/China tariff
> negotiations.  He's done nothing but back down ever since Liberation
> Day.

Reportedly, UK deal is reaching a deal today … the first one in 37 days,
which at this rate means that Trump’s “200 deals” will take just over 20
years to be finished.

>>>> By every metric you can think of, things have been made worse since
>>>> Trump's changes.
>>>> 
>>>> The Afghanistan situation is analogous to being handed the controls of
>>>> an aircraft that was put into a steep dive by the previous pilot and
>>>> being unable to pull up successfully.
>>> 
>>> Joe Biden could have done it many other ways. 
>> 
>> How?  Be specific.
> 
> <crickets>

Of course they’re silent. 

>> Include how Biden could have overruled Trump on the lift restrictions 
>> imposed on the DoD in 2017-20 which is why tons of equipment were left.
>> 
>>> He got people killed.
>> 
>> But soldiers get killed during peacetime too.  In fact, there's been 
>> just as many US soldiers who've died just since Trump took office in 
>> January (13) than those who died in the Afghanistan evacuation:
>> 
>> 4 - Lithuania
>> 1 - Ft Jackson
>> 1 - Ft Campbell
>> 1 - Ft McCoy
>> 1 - Ft Bragg
>> 2 - Fort Stewart
>> 3 - DC Blackhawk
>> 
>> For Afghanistan, success/failure is gauged by the mission vs cost: in 
>> terms of number rescued per US KIA loss, it was the most successful 
>> evacuation from a hot combat zone that the USA has ever performed.
> 
> More than Saigon?

Yea, the 2021Kabul airlift better than Saigon from the perspective of how
many were successfully evacuated per US combat loss:

The fall of Saigon had (1,373 +5,595) = 6,968 rescued with 2 deaths
(6968/2=3,484).
Kabul had 124,334 rescued with 13 US servicemen deaths (124,334/13 =9,564).

This means that the Kabul operation had nearly a 3x better outcome.  FWIW,
I’ve dared the critics to name a similarly under fire US operation that’s
had a better loss ratio.  No one has ever even nominated any, let alone put
up the numbers to substantiate.  

>>>> The economy before Trump was flying high and Trump has pushed it into a
>>>> nosedive.
>>> 
>>> What does that have to do with Afghanistan?
>> 
>> It is yet another illustration of how everything Trump touches ... dies.

Which is now including our international reputation and our domestic
economy.

-hh