Lord Liaden

I heard comments from a defense contractor that the Afghan army had been trained, but only in a supporting capacity to American forces. They were used to relying on American electronic intelligence gathering and surveillance, and American air support, neither of which they have any longer.

It saddens me profoundly to say it, but more deaths of prominent anti-vaxxers may be the only thing that can start to change their fellows' minds.

I would take a cue from Katherine Kurtz's "Deryni" series of novels. Those with magic form the world's ruling class, and while they might have started out no worse than most nobility, over time have grown more arrogant and oppressive. But one or more among them have sympathy for the suffering of the magic-less, and teach or grant or steal magic for them, so they finally have a means to fight back.

If the YouTube screen looks blank, don't let it fool you. The video is there, and it's adorable.

Personally, I wouldn't lay that all at the feet of the concept of alternate worlds and character variations. I attribute it more to writers and artists taking over these properties who don't like or respect the comic-book genre, or understand the appeal of the characters. They want to change everything to be "edgy" and "provocative," as though that was the same thing as "creative." Artists forego graphic story telling in favor of showing off with big flashy splash pages. Ego also plays a big role IMO. If the fans don't take to their efforts, they blame the fans for not "getting it." The success of the MCU comes from being led by people who are not only capable, but who grew up with and love the old comics, and understand what made the genre popular. Their adaptations may change the letter of the characters and stories, but remain true to their spirit.

As George Carlin used to observe, "You drive in a car, but you fly on a 'plane. I don't know about you, but I want to fly IN the 'plane. Let Evel Knievel fly on the 'plane!"

😳 I hadn't heard. I had the pleasure of interacting with him a few times on these forums. Always seemed like a gentleman. And obviously a seminal contributor to our hobby.

Turns out that educated people are harder to manipulate or bully. Who would have thought?

I've seen a number of discussions of these points over the years. As I understand it: 1) The initial stated mission objective was to deny Al Qaeda a safe haven from which to operate against the US. 2) That mission was actually accomplished very quickly and efficiently, from a military standpoint. 3) This is where it gets messy. The administration of G.W. Bush intended to leave Afghanistan shortly after the successful completion of the invasion. G.W. Bush apparently believed democracy would flourish anywhere it was allowed and encouraged to, and that once a new government was installed the Afghan people would rally around them, and the US could wash its hands of the situation. This thinking appeared to guide Bush's subsequent invasion of Iraq.

I played around with GURPS Supers for a little while. I quite liked the history and ground rules for the super-Earth they set up, and some of their characters were interesting concepts. GURPS system itself doesn't scale very well for more powerful supers, though, which is my personal preference. I also dabbled a bit with Palladium's Heroes Unlimited, mostly due to my brief infatuation with Rifts. Palladium RPGs often include cool ideas, but the execution of the system is just so clunky.

Lots of opera singers aren't famous divas. She has videos of a number of her own performances on her channel.

Elizabeth Zharoff is a professional opera singer, and as a professional her insightful technical analysis of singers' work is what sets her apart from most YouTube "reactors." But I notice she's still made giddy by Bobby Hatfield's iconic live performance of this classic love song. 😍 Elizabeth also reacted to a video of both Righteous Brothers performing their legendary soul song, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." If you liked this reaction/analysis I recommend following up with that one.

I wouldn't rush to do that. Abbott is asymptomatic, because he's fully vaccinated.

I really shouldn't look at American political stories after dinner. 🤢

If he talks about Daredevil, he's not Ben Affleck.

I don't envy Kevin Feige the choppy waters he has to negotiate now.

I remember in a chat here on the website with Steve Long, someone asked him a question about how many official Champions characters were gay. He answered to the effect that he never went out of his way to define a character's sexuality, because that would almost never affect their motivations for becoming a hero (or villain). Moreover, in contemporary Western society homosexuality is rarely a serious complication any more. Steve said that if a character's sexual preference isn't specified, a given game group who want to use it can define it however would work for them. Both the comics writers and the fans are making more fuss over this than is necessary, pro or con. If you're writing a story with romantic drama, the emotions matter a lot more than the plumbing.

You are correct. The conditions in Afghanistan did not mirror those in Germany and Japan. And America did spend a lot of money in Afghanistan. Over two decades. There was no plan for rebuilding at the start of the invasion. The goals were constantly changing. Efforts were haphazard, and often handed out to private contractors. There was little central coordination or oversight. The coalition was eager to hand over as much responsibility as they could to the proxy government they installed, which as you say, anyone local could have told them was corrupt and incompetent. The mission was bungled from Day One, and the more time passed without addressing its fundamental flaws, the more intractable the situation became.

I dare say it won't be. But there is one other factor that Biden had to weigh in his decision. Donald Trump pulled the United States out of several key international agreements signed by previous administrations. Then he announced the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and made that formal commitment in talks with the Taliban. (Which, by the way, is completely the reverse order in which anyone with a lick of sense would negotiate. You don't reveal your intentions before the deal is struck.) If Joe Biden had reneged on yet another agreement, it would have confirmed to the world that America's promises are worthless, which would have crippled the country's ability to negotiate long-term arrangements with anyone.

The Allied reconstruction plans in Germany and Japan after WW II had the right priorities: security for the citizens; rebuilding infrastructure; investing in the economy. Create goodwill by helping the populace regain their independence. Today both nations are stable, prosperous, and American allies. The precedent was clear but ignored. Since the Afghan war started, no American administration or other country has been willing to invest the resources to do the same there. Since little was sown we're reaping dust.

"My, don't you look tasty." "Say what?!"

It's been a truism for 2,500 years: Afghanistan is where foreign armies go to die.

Please note that those rates are for infections only. The rate of hospitalizations for those infected is still under 25% for both vaccines, even for the Delta variant. When you factor in both percentages, the chance of serious complications from COVID for those fully vaccinated with Pfizer is pretty small. If you're also taking reasonable precautions to avoid contacting COVID -- masks, social distancing, hand washing -- the chance drops significantly. EDIT: The study cited has not yet been peer-reviewed, and conflicts with other studies that quote significantly higher effectiveness for Pfizer.

It's bitter irony that the avowed party of small government and personal freedom is eager to use big government to quash any freedom it doesn't like.