https://twitter.com/tplohetski/status/1427735151119896581

https://twitter.com/tplohetski/status/1427736004828479496

If the shoe was on the other foot, everybody here would be baying for heads to roll, and that's not "both-siderism."

State, DoD, somebody.

This has been completely bungled and mis-managed, and it's not OK.

And I agree with full withdrawal, but it needed to be managed properly, and it wasn't. At some point, the honorable thing to do is admit a colossal fuck up and turn in your keys.

It's quite possible that the Taliban will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of that day in full control of Afghanistan.

Kabul - the Afghan capital - could literally fall to the Taliban on September 11, 2021, and that's probably an optimistic assessment.

We probably think too much in terms of "symbolism" when it comes to things like this, but good Lord the bookending here. Imagine if the Taliban "take" Kabul on 9/11.

We heard a lot about how Lollapalooza was a very foolish super spreader event, and that Lightfoot was extremely foolish to let it go on. We saw mocking posts of unmasked young people putting themselves at "extraordinary risk." Fake vaccine cards are being peddled in every alley of the Loop, we were told! How, how could they let it go on, we were asked.

Chicago would surely become the next COVID hotspot.

Two weeks later and, to put it simply, none of that seems to have come to pass.

To be sure, Chicago saw the same Delta surge profile on its curves as everyone else. But the curves on those graphs started before Lollapalooza and, if anything, have even somewhat flattened after Lollapalooza.There's even been a mild trending downward! Here's your Chicago Covid Dashboard: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/covid-dashboard.html

And we have today, this, from today's Billboard article titled "Lollapalooza Wasn't a 'Super Spreader' Event, Say Chicago Health Officials":



The entire article is a fascinating read, even if you're a paranoid who must, absolutely must believe that the Chicago health authorities are definitiely lying about this. Here's the link: Lollapalooza Wasn't a 'Super Spreader' Event, Say Chicago Health Officials.

Pitchfork and Riotfest will be fun.

What's the moral of the story? Vaccines work. Most people do the right thing. And vaccines work. Now rock on.

fauci told

him:he couldn’t
believe it(jesus

told him;he
wouldn’t believe
it)the

CDC
certainly told
him,and surgeon general
(yes

mam)
murthy
and even
(believe it
or

not)you
told him:i told
him;we told him
(he didn’t believe it,no

sir)it took
a Plastiflex bit of
the old auto

ventilator
tube;down the back of his throat;to tell

him

(The original, plato told, https://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/jillyb/plato_told.htm )

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1402831073109807105

Ooooo, child. It's gonna be a doozey.

In another thread (this is not a call out!), a poster attributed a laxity among parents and Kids These Days to the phenomenon of supposed participation trophies in youth soccer, adding that nobody keeps score, and it's an "everybody wins" atmosphere. I suppose I'm here to dispute that, but also to point to the political-economic issues that can be seen as a partial factor to the USMNT not making the Olympics (again) this year.

So, first, youth soccer. I have been involved in youth soccer in the US for more than 40 years, as a player, a parent (girls and boys leagues), a coach, and a referee (also girls and boys leagues). I have participated in a variety of kinds of leagues and clubs across five states and in different kinds of locales. When some kids are very small, they may get, like, a little medal or something for playing. But I have never seen a league that didn't keep score, didn't track who was winning, and didn't reserve trophies for the league winners that year/season. I'm not sure where this idea comes from, but it doesn't match my decades of experience in US youth soccer across the country.

Youth soccer in the US is, in fact, extremely competitive, maybe even too much so. Kids get washed out at ages eight, ten, and thirteen, just like in other sports, when they can't move up in skill and so "lose interest." Club soccer in the US is exorbitantly expensive (which leads to problems, about which more later). Every league I've ever seen keeps score and records wins and losses. You know who the strongest players are in each league, and the clubs start scouting kids at age eight. There are, of course, leagues/organizations like AYSO that seek to ensure that every kid can play. They too are competitive. AYSO keeps score, believe me. In fact, the only place I've seen actually trophies given out to every kid in a league was a t-ball league for 4 -5 year olds that my son played in. I'm sure people will now come in and say "when my kid played..." etc. I guess, but I don't think the "participation trophy" is actually a thing that happens much in US youth soccer, above age 4 or 5 anyway. It wasn't in 1980, and it's not today.

So, the USMNT. They missed the Olympics again this year. One of the major supposed culprits is the club system. What's the problem? A season of soccer for a US kid can cost over $2000; between the club seasons and the high end training, you might be in the $4000 range for a season. It's completely nuts. So, our system actually limits development of talent on the front end - many kids who could be developed into top talent never enter the competitive club system because it is simply too expensive. Participation trophies aren't the problem in US youth soccer. Money is.

The counterpoint is, of course, that the club system is also at play for girls soccer, and the USWNT is the best ion the world, hands down. So, how?

https://twitter.com/chicagosmayor/status/1368955464545832961

Lightfoot Tweet: Folks, we've significantly slowed the spread of COVID, getting our positivity rate down to 2.8%. And now, we can begin to safely welcome fans back to our baseball stands on opening day. Although we’re reopening, masking is still of utmost importance.

But across multiple cites and regions. The official (probable undercount) death toll of the Chicago heat wave of 1995 is around 730. We'll likely be in the low thousands once the Texas count is done.

This is a staggering human catastrophe.

Source: CNN

Federal authorities on Sunday arrested two men for their alleged roles in the US Capitol riot, according to a release.

Two law enforcement officials told CNN earlier that Eric G. Munchel was seen on January 6 in photos and videos that depicted him inside the US Capitol wearing paramilitary gear and carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.

Records from the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee show Munchel is being held on behalf of federal authorities. Munchel was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/eric-munchel-larry-rendell-brock-capitol-riot/index.html

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Fuck around. Find out.