As promised in an earlier post, I went out early this evening and procured some Trump yard signs, but not without inspiring some spirited give and take.
I got the signs after dinner at a Chinese buffet, stopping at the Cambria County Republican headquarters along Scalp Avenue.
There I was engaged outside by a man who’d been involved with some activity. I mentioned this curbside greeting and the man said he merely was outside indulging his “filthy habit,” which seemed to be vaping.
We went inside. I told him I needed a Trump sign. There were many stacked against the wall with a note requesting a $5 donation. I just happened to have a $5 bill in my hand in anticipation, so I offered it to him and reached for a sign.
Said man told me that since he was in a generous mood, I could take two. I did, but not without mentioning he might not be feeling so generous if he knew about my Burns Republican sign that had just been planted earlier in the day.
And it was on. You’d have thought I’d called Trump a communist. Oh, I’d hit a nerve, for sure. It’s a gift I have.
I don’t know for sure, but my wife and son who were waiting in the car, said it went about 20 minutes, this discourse over Burns. During our chat, people came and went, and as reported by my son, with one young child telling his mother (I presume) after they’d left that we seemed to arguing in there. She nervously laughed and said “just debating.”
It’s hard to recount word for word, but basically this man and another worker-volunteer who emerged to help man number one, asserted that Burns is a bad guy who sells Cambria County down the river by favoring property tax relief for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia but blocking such relief for us.
Burns also is a bad guy saying nasty things about his pure and innocent opponent. I pointed out that Burns’ opponent has mailers accusing Burns of some pretty bad stuff, too. He tried to pass that off as just her supporters. Funny, I don’t hear her denouncing the mailers hitting Burns for allegedly never showing up for work or not helping the area.
The Myopia 2025 plan to bring Afghan refugees to the area was a hot-button issue and Burns’ opponent is in the group up to her eyebrows. Man No. 1 said it undeniably would have been a good thing because they’d helped us in Afghanistan, this man served there, and they had been vetted, so they would not have produced any harm if they’d come here. Again, we owed it to them as allies.
I pointed out the U.S. giving allies a raw deal is nothing new. I mentioned the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba. I might have mentioned the abandonment of South Vietnam. And the Afghanistan botched pullout was just the latest example. I also mentioned the U.S. looking to intervene against ally Japan to keep Nippon Steel from acquiring U.S. Steel.
Also, I recalled at least one situation in which a “vetted” Afghan shot up a U.S. military base there.
The man was incensed. When? Where? What was his name? He rattled off the questions in rapid-fire fashion.
I told him to give me his name and I’d go home and get the details for him. He didn’t give me his name. I did go home and found verification of what I’d said. I called the Republican headquarters to tell him tonight, but the office was closed. I will be back in touch.
But, just for your benefit, dear readers, there was an attack July 7, 2018, near Tarin Kowt Airfield. One U.S. soldier was killed, others were injured, and the attack was by an Afghan solider, presumably a “vetted” one.
A story posted June 26, 2020, on Armytimes.com under the byline of Kyle Rempfer said the investigation into the incident “called into question the reliability of the vetting process for Afghan partner forces.”
Further in, the story details “There were four insider attacks against U.S. personnel in 2018, one in 2019 and one so far in 2020.”
Can you say failed vetting?
I guess I don’t have all the names of the perpetrators, but I think I’ve made my point that even though I wasn’t in Afghanistan I know about things that happened there, including vetted Afghans acting badly.
The man didn’t know me before. But soon he will know I can back up with facts what I say.
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