A friend of mine is trapped in Afghanistan at present, a couple of hundred miles from the airport in Kabul.  He can’t get there from where he is.  His only way out of the country is to reach one of its borders, on foot or by vehicle, through Taliban roadblocks and patrols looking for Westerners.  He’s not very confident that he’ll make it out.  (Understatement.)

Bayou Renaissance Man: Pray for those trapped in Afghanistan

And I am afraid this person is not the only one  trapped behind enemy lines (funny nobody in the Media is using this term. I wonder why) and I also fear we will soon start collecting stories of Americans “missing” (read ‘presumed dead’) inside Afghanistan.

If news media had any balls, they would pounce daily pretty much how they did with the Iran Hostage situation. They went as far as reminding people every day how long the hostages had been “Guests of the Ayatollah.”

But today? My guess you will hear less and less about The Missing because they need to scrub the airwaves clean for the Midterm elections. So other than somehow attach all blame to Trump, be ready to add another chapter to the book of Americans in Peril & Forgotten for Political Expediency. As it stands right now, it will take a huge cheating effort to keep both houses of Congress in the hands of the Democrats and probably even  with cheating, the status quo wouldn’t hold.

PS: Apropos of nothing, you need to read this book so you understand how it has been US Gov policy to treat Americans in trouble abroad.

AWFLs at it again pic.twitter.com/2u63zhbIDl

— Huey Lewis (@HAv2RtrnVdeoTps) August 21, 2021

Dumb people thinking they are doing some righteous job screw around somebody not only armed with a gun but actually shooting it. These are people who fear no pain not because they have some of superpower but because they have never faced or understood pain and neither have actually seen violent death happening in front of them. In their little minds, they are above the shooters and superior to the inferior cast who is anybody but them, anybody who does not commune 100% with their belief system.

They all walked free of harm and with the ability to scream their bull crap because the shooters were actually polite enough not to fill their surgical sculpted asses with #6 birdshot and sent them home to their wine and Xanax.

Female residents shoots would-be burglar in south Toledo | wtol.com

See? Now you are feeling better. Great stories with happy endings always cheer good people up.

Hat Tip @ShootyMcBeard

Unless you are Taliban and can get taxpayer-funded ammo for free:

Hat Tip Royko

Reader Andy L sent me this:

Last Thursday, the ISP confirmed that their FOID (Firearm Owners Identification) card portal had been hit with a cyber attack, and that about 2,000 Illinoisans who have FOID cards may have had their information compromised:

“Out of necessity, some of the online account parameters put in place for ease of use and convenience years ago have been appropriately modified and tightened to prevent unauthorized users from attempting to further expand the extent of the identify fraud.”

The ISP news release points out that they’re reaching out to those 2,000 FOID card holders who may have had their personal info stolen.

Illinois’ FOID Card System Hit By Cyber Attack

Besides the obvious info required to steal identities, this breach has provided a nice sexy shopping list for burglars to go find themselves some free guns, courtesy of the Illinois government.  Did you notice the “parameters” explanation? It sounds like they had some 1990s security running or maybe their access password was “password 1”

Anyway, if you needed yet another reason why any kind of firearm registration is dumb and dangerous, you can add this to the always lengthening list.

North Carolina lets you register to vote at the DMV.

I had to tell them my party affiliation.

Unfortunately I could not register as a Pinochetist.

Also, of you try and register two pickup trucks, and the guy asks “why do you have two pickup trucks?”

The correct answer is not “one for each testicle”

I need to get a new drivers license.

I go online to set up an appointment.

Six weeks.

Go in, the DMV requires a mask.  I don’t have one.

Usually they have extras but they are out.

They check my paperwork to make sure I have what I need then send me away to get a mask.

I get one.

Come back.

They sign me in.

Wait five minutes.

They process my paperwork and make me take off my mask for the picture.

None of this makes a God dammed bit of sense.  But obtuse bureaucrats have to enforce obtuse, useless, and inconvenient rules because that justifies their existence.

I hate the bureaucratic state.