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Top Three Takeaways – September 1st, 2021
- The war isn’t over in Afghanistan. That’s certainly true for the Americans Joe Biden left behind along with US allies promised safe harbor. No sooner had the last US troops pulled out, than the first reports started of door-to-door executions in Kabul. Who’s been executed? That’s somewhat unclear. We do know of two high profile executions. One, an Afghan folk singer shot in the head for the offense of signing. According to the Taliban singing isn’t allowed in Islam. Another execution was of a comedian. His deadly offense. He’d joked about the Taliban. How do you think that environment looks for Americans left behind? How do you think the Afghans who aided the US and were likewise abandoned by Biden will fare? And if door-to-door executions are taking place who are they killing? There really aren’t words for what’s happened here and the last person I want to hear any words from on this, is the person responsible. Joe Biden has no credibility with the Americans he left to die in Afghanistan, ditto our Afghan allies. Joe Biden has no credibility with any world leaders that he left hung out to dry by his reckless decisions. Joe Biden retains no credibility with me. This isn’t about politics – that's always supposed to have stopped at the water’s edge and especially in warzones. This is much bigger. If he’d leave Americans behind to die at the hands of terrorists, how much do you think he really cares about you? And no, the war’s not only not over in Afghanistan. The people who kill singers for signing in the name of Islam are the same people who started the war by crashing American planes into American buildings in the first place. What’s changed in twenty years? Technology which makes it easier to recruit and radicalize and a President of the United States who lacks credibility and resolve.
- Florida’s now a light red state. After decades of being about as purple as Barney, Florida’s rightward shift has culminated in a slight but now decisive change according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Partisan Performance Index. The index which comprehensively reviews the political mix of every state house and senate district in the state, shows Florida’s baseline across all districts heading into next year’s election cycle is R+2. That’s independent of cyclical factors favoring Republicans, most notably, the trend in which the party opposite of the President of the United States typically fares best in midterm elections. It’s also a strong indication that most registered NPA’s in Florida are Republican leaners. This has long been true as Florida’s Democrats have held a voter registration advantage over Republicans since partisan record keeping began in 1972. Currently, Florida’s Democrats hold the smallest voter registration advantage to date which also supports the Florida Chamber’s findings. So gone is Barney’s purple in exchange for Elmo’s red – which no doubt leaves Florida’s Republican leadership tickled. Especially ahead of the looming redistricting with the addition of a congressional district.
- Halfway there. At least on the calendar as far as hurricane season is concerned. While the first three months of hurricane season are now behind us with three that remain, historically the next ten days are the most active of hurricane season in terms overall activity. Speaking of active, that’s exactly what this season has been as we’ve reached the halfway mark with 11 named storms, only two fewer than what we’d experienced during last year’s record setting year. This is to say that we’re going to continue to need good fortune to stay out of the soup as we’re pacing well over 20 named storms again this year. That’s a lot of potential dodging left to do - though getting through the next ten days unscathed would get us past the halfway point in terms of typical activity – not just dates on a calendar.