My physical therapy continues and my shoulder is getting stronger. I had a different physical therapist this past week and she worked me really hard! I was incredibly sore yesterday for the first time in a long time. I still can't lift my arm above my head but I am getting closer!
I watched some of the "We Love New York" homecoming concert on CNN last night (until it was interrupted by the outer bands of Hurricane Henri). The hip hop section was really awesome. I still don't quite understand how having 60,000 people together in a park wasn't considered a COVID-19 super-spreader event, but everyone did have to show proof of vaccination (and kids under 12 a negative test) so I guess that was the argument.
Speaking of the pandemic... don't take bloody horse or cow pills to ward off the disease. Good grief. Just get the damn vaccine, people.
Not much with the pandemic surprises me anymore, but Orlando rationing water so the liquid oxygen used in the treatment process can be sent to hospitals for COVID patients instead definitely surprised me.
I own a Chevrolet Bolt. My husband has a Volt. Before the Bolt, I owned a Mitsubishi i-Miev. All are electric cars (the Volt has a gas engine, too). On Friday after the stock market closed, Chevrolet announced a recall of... every Bolt period. Previously, the 2017-2019 model years were recalled due to bad battery modules which could cause fire. Now every car is under the recall and there is a stop sale order as well. So this is a giant hassle but I love the car. It's the best car I've ever owned. I hope the battery issues get sorted quickly.
Now to Afghanistan, which remains a war zone. Seriously, did anyone think pulling out of a 20 year un-winnable war was going to be anything less than messy? It's like Americans think every image coming from the region should be all kittens and rainbows, with people lined up orderly, each getting a first class seat and pre-boarding beverage out of terrorist land. That was never going to happen, sad to say. When the State Department started telling Americans and SIV-eligible Afghans to start leaving country months ago, they should have listened. That said, the major pull-out push last weekend was definitely chaotic but within a few days, thousands of people were leaving via government, commercial and private chartered flights.
Both Trump and Biden campaigned on leaving Afghanistan, and rightly so. The media and regular folks alike criticized Trump's draw-down deal with the Taliban, but the only issue was that he didn't include the Afghan government in the plans. The Taliban was always going to regain full control of Afghanistan, it was just a matter of time. Apparently no one in the massive United States military, State Department, Congress or White House had any idea the paper army would fold in a couple days. I guess that's what 83 billion taxpayer dollars gets you. That's how much it cost to train up that "army" folks.
As I watched the news a few days ago, I was pretty scared for the Americans and Afghans left behind. I feel sorrow for the mothers who are so desperate they were throwing their babies at American troops to try and get them out of the country... but I also grew increasingly mad, too. Why the hell was the U.S. in Afghanistan for so long (and for so little) anyway? Why is the media giving Bush and Cheney a free pass on this mess? That administration failed to capture Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora and that just set off a cascade of events that left American troops further embedded in the country. Before Barack Obama surged troops to Afghanistan to more than 100,000 at the peak in 2011, Joe Biden fought him tooth and nail the whole way. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum on the issue, with Biden wanting to pull out of the region a decade ago.
As the years wore on, Afghanistan become known as the forgotten war. This wasn't just because Americans quit thinking and talking about it. The media stopped covering it too.
So call me callous. As long as every American gets out of Afghanistan, I'm good. Thanks to all the Americans who are currently serving there for the evacuation operations and to all those who deployed in the past twenty years. It wasn't all for nothing, but the costs in lives and money sure were (are) very high.
And I leave you with this: a Disney World vacation is about to get even more expensive. Get ready to pay for shorter lines and surge prices for the best attractions. It's confusing and if you are planning a Disney trip, this is something you should study carefully!
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 01:21PM 