Fun links, oh yeah! We have shaken up the batting order here today, so I am pitching in on links this glorious Fall afternoon. Here are some linkseses for you to ponder on the Tree of Woe Joy… consider it a little competition of fun, between media sources:
Our first entry is from the always reliable NY Post. See idiot punch sharks! Next time try that crap with some Great Whites or Hammerheads.
Next up the always amusing Daily Mail Fail! What did he say? OK, that wasn’t up to their usual standards. Does this one help? OK, not every paper can have a good day, every day.
So, maybe it is cheating to have Infowars provide an entry. The unintentionally amusing “Leave Alex Alone!” entry!
Reuters chimes in, for our last entry. Clearly this guy is a libertarian!
A very special note: Tune in tonight, at 6PM Central for something NOT fun.
A short background and observations on the current Afghanistan situation, as it involves Pakistan & India.
History
The nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan are not friends. The Afghans have been fuming about getting split up by the British (see this article for some background on the “Durand Line”)
Before
After
Pakistan’s intel service, the ISI (a real “Deep State” if there is one to be used as an example) pretty much used/uses the Taliban, and the horrible Haqqani organization as a tool to keep Afghanistan either in turmoil, or a client state. Either way, in no position to revisit the map. Needless to say, the Afghans have been a wee bit miffed about this. The latest growling from Kabul is an example of this.
So what does India have to do with this?
But with foreign military support lessening, Afghanistan is not in a position to do much more than grumble. But they do have one sure way to get the Pakistani goat, so to speak. Seek support from India. “Gosh, Pakistan…I know you guys are mortal enemies, but there really isn’t any threat in us having closer ties with India!” Or, as their Ambassador to India delicately put it:
“Kabul would never allow anyone to use its soil against others. We are an independent country and we hope Pakistan would see Afghanistan as such.”
India (along with Iran) was a refuge for many during the Northern Alliance vs Taliban throwdown. It still was the medical tourism destination for those with the means to get there when I was in country, 2004-2005.
India benefits from this Afghan flirtation in a couple of ways. First, they get to tweak Pakistan a bit, and send a bit of a message – “Hey, you know that Kashmir thing you guys are always banging on about? How would you like a problem like that on your ‘Pashtunistan’ border?” Second, they have a potential market and trading partner. Any libertarian worth their monocle chain would be glad of reason #2, if not so much #1. As a side note, one of the developments that would help this Afghan-Indian trade involves a little work in Iran. Better than shipping the IRGC pallets of cash and propping up their nuclear weapons program.
What to watch?
I am keen to see the reactions of India and Pakistan to the inevitable wrap up of direct US military involvement in Afghanistan. As for Pakistan, I fear the ISI will say “see, we are winning – Taliban harder!” As for India, I hope they continue to step up trade and support of Afghanistan.
I would welcome your observations, relevant links and thoughts in the comments.
It appears that Brett is actually working for a living…I know, right? (jesse: my Brett joke was…less kind) So, while I idle away on the fondue plantation, I have managed to scrape a few links together….at the same time, Jesse wanted to help. So with two sets of links done, we did the only proper thing…combine them for ULTRALINKS!
Mr. Arkwright say make Nigerian students no worry!
A cop…guilty?! Look what it takes to actually get a cop in trouble. [Alternate title: SugarFree scripts a cop drama episode?]
A reminder, that while there are still checks in the book…we are broke.
Get this man a presidency: Justin Amash wrangles broad bipartisan support for rolling back Jeff Sessions’ rolling back of an Obama-era curtailment of asset forfeiture. *takes deep breath*
Speaking of presidencies: Sanders will introduce universal health care, backed by 15 Democrats. There’s your field for the next election cycle. Now for three years of attrition and attempts to out lefticate each other with proposals that will turn us into Venezuela if enacted.
“Nun with a chainsaw“, a phrase sure to instill terror in hearts of Catholic school graduates, is the surprise feel-good story of the day.
Katie Quackenbush, you haven’t heard of her yet, but her music career is gonna be huuuuuuge…at least after she finishes serving time for assault with a deadly weapon.
OK, no kidding around. NO OT LINKS or material. This is going to stay up and be the spot where our hurricane area Glibs can post their status, requests for help, offers of aid and the like. I will delete OT material and refer you to SP for the appropriate cyber ass kicking.
Having been inspired by sloopy’s efforts, the travails of our FL Glibs, and remembering my own fun with Katrina and Rita:
Take the $%#&ing tent down! Rita is a comin’!
I have decided to post a few things here – and this can be the place our Glibs involved with the various storms and their aftermath can keep us updated on their SAFETY (first and foremost) needs, wants, etc.
First, the givings of teh monies. Charitable giving is a wonderful example of voluntary action. But how do you know your donation is going to go to help people, not for administrative overhead, bloated salaries and cocktailz? Start here. My short advice – yes to the Salvation Army, no to the Red Cross.
Second, the storms that are currently churning around. Where are they going? Try here, for the latest. As a minarchist, this is one of the government agencies I can approve of…
And for once, I am NOT going to bitch about people posting their own links in here – I want your links to helpful sites, information, stories – whatever you think will help.
And FL and TX Glibs – please let us know, if you can, how you are doing. Please stay safe as you can. Things can be replaced. You cannot.
OK, you get me again for morning links. Someone will have to do the music link thing in the comments, that is outside my abilities. I will throw in some sportsball scores for ya:
Cleveland STEVE SMITH’s the Yankees, twice. Cubs win (so what) Minnesoda beats the White Sox (#$%^&*!) Filthadelphia drops a pair. Team Canada gets rogered by the Beantowners. Balmer wins, so OMWC is happy, while the Astros don’t so sloopy is not. Oh, and Cincy loses, but consoles selves with Chili 3-ways. So, enough of that.
On to the linkage:
China’s Most Wanted? Looks like they want to get him the same way Assange is being sought… *tightens foil hat*
Sloopy is still a bit wiped out from usurping rightful government function and insisting on helping people instead of laying back and bleating for the government to do something!!1!1! as all good sheep citizens should! So, you get my version of the Morning Links. So here you go:
Superdeathstormfrom Hell = 2 deaths being blamed on it. People helping(including our own sloopy) out.
Just another weekendin Chicago = 6 dead (amongst 27 shot). Hard to find anyone who cares, and the cops are busy trying to keep Uncle Fed off their butts.
Since I was responsible for the Eclipse Day Afternoon Links lateness, I am going to do the Afternoon Links today to make up for it. I will try to give a little something for everyone:
I am not sure how to snark this story. Something, something Nigerian email scam? Um…fit for a tabloid indeed?
Feel free to make hot/fire jokes and “I’d like to have her be my first responder!” snarks.
I thought this only happened in cartoons and bad sitcoms?
Monument and renaming fever hits Chicago. Mayor gets crabby and Italians get steamed?
And to really show how sorry I am…FEEL FREE TO POST AS MANY OF YOUR OWN LINKS AS YOU WANT. I SHAN’T SAY A WORD!
Our beloved and infallible hosting service is testing our faith right now. Comments are having to be manually approved. WE LOVE YOU, INTERNET…DO NOT FORSAKE US!
UPDATE: I AM TYPING AS FAST AS I CAN, to approve comments. Site is slow reloading.
#$^&ing comments!
UPDATE 2: We have brought additional assets on-line, and they appear to be helping!
“1020 GOTO FUCK OFF SLAVER” What?
From our provider:
August 24, 2017 9:20AM PDT
[Investigating] Our Operations teams are currently investigating connectivity issues which indicate an issue related to our name servers. We will provide updated information as it becomes available.
August 24, 2017 10:20AM PDT
[Identified] Our engineers have identified the cause of the DNS degradation as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. We are beginning to mitigate the attack and will update this post as new information becomes available.
It wasn’t us!
UPDATE 3:
August 24, 2017 12:21PM PDT
[Monitoring] Our engineers are continuing to mitigate the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that targeted our network. At this time, all services have been restored and are operational. We’ll continue to update this post as updates are available.
Get this man a presidency: Justin Amash 
