To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Ryan McGee presents a top-5 list every week for the rest of 2023. This week: the weirdest announcements. The post 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Weirdest announcements appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
Tag: anniversary
75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Weirdest announcements
To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Ryan McGee presents a top-5 list every week for the rest of 2023. This week: the weirdest announcements.
The post 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Weirdest announcements appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Best title fights
To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Ryan McGee presents a top-5 list every week for the rest of 2023. This week: the best title fights. The post 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Best title fights appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Best title fights
To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Ryan McGee presents a top-5 list every week for the rest of 2023. This week: the best title fights.
The post 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Best title fights appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Greatest races
To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Ryan McGee presents a list of top-5s every week for the rest of the 2023 season. This week: 75 things for 75 years.
The post 75 things for NASCAR's 75th anniversary: Greatest races appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
9/11 anniversary makes it easy for veterans to remember why we were in Afghanistan
“Why does Afghanistan matter so much to you?”
This is a question that comes up a lot in my interviews, most recently with a young reporter while discussing the actions of Operation Pineapple Express and other volunteer groups during the botched August 2021, evacuation of Kabul.
I was floored. How could these people not know why Afghanistan mattered so much to all of these veterans?
Then, it hit me. They don’t remember why we were there. They didn’t even live through 9/11.
How do you explain this deadly lack of understanding to generations who weren’t born yet or were too young to understand what was happening? Or to those who were there, but have simply forgotten?
How can you make them understand that history is about to repeat itself, but it doesn’t have to be that way?
There is a generation of Americans that can never forget the images burned into their minds of planes striking the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, killed 2,977 people, and for the veterans, it was personal. It happened while they stood vigil. American warriors, eyes narrowed and fixed on the smoldering rubble displayed on the television, made a single, silent vow “never again on my watch.” 800,000 American warriors would deploy to Afghanistan, sacrificing youth, marriages, limbs, mental health, and in some cases, their very lives.
America built relationships and made promises during those two decades of war.
Al Qaeda’s attack was largely due to bad U.S. ground intelligence and the inability of a partner force to counter them in their unrestricted planning and preparation. To prevent this from happening ever again, our combat veterans and civilians built partnerships with Afghan police, soldiers, nonprofits, Afghan schools, and a myriad of other organizations. America asked the people of Afghanistan to stand up, reach for freedom, and oppose oppression in all its forms. Like proud parents, we assured them they could be whatever they wanted to be, and we would be there by their sides.
Then, in August 2021, we left. We broke those promises, squandered those relationships, and handed control back to the very oppressors we fought against 20 years before.
Why can’t veterans forget?
Veterans know something most Americans don’t. The enemy gets a vote in what happens next. The United States might be done with al Qaeda and ISIS, but they aren’t done with us. This enemy will follow us home.
There is credible evidence that al Qaeda is fully re-constituting right now. Foreign fighters from Syria, Iraq, North Africa, and even Southeast Asia are openly training on former Afghan Army bases in Kandahar and Helmand. The Taliban are fully accommodating and have gone so far as to issue visas to al Qaeda members that allow them to move freely throughout the country in clear violation of the Doha Agreement.
Additionally, Iran and al Qaeda have set sectarian differences aside and are cooperating to foment disruption in the Middle East. According to numerous Afghan Special Operations Forces, this al Qaeda is a younger, more capable force. ISIS-K is also in play.
There is an unthinkable yet highly possible scenario in how all this plays out. It’s not a stretch to imagine that America’s enemies will launch another catastrophic attack on the homeland. Out of the ashes emerges a freshly mobilized U.S. blinded by revenge and short-term memory toward “bringing justice to the evildoers.” Backed by American citizens, young warriors will load up again on C-17 cargo planes and fly back into the graveyard of empires to exact justice.
But this time it will be different.
Instead of Northern Alliance resistance allies waiting on the ground to receive and work with our troops, there will be thousands of forlorn, pissed-off former Afghan commandos who are well-trained and well-equipped in U.S. tactics and gear. They have been co-opted by al Qaeda after watching their children starve, salivating for revenge over unkept promises.
This September 11th, Americans should demand change and accountability from their government. It’s not too late to protect our homeland if we act now.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
The U.S. government must resume all sanctions on the Taliban and stop all aid. Credible sources tell us that millions of dollars in humanitarian aid is not getting to its intended victims.
The government must assume the care and management of Afghan special operations partner forces and other at-risk, high-impact Afghan security officials from veteran groups.
And the government must support the Afghan National Resistance Front, which is the legitimate Afghan Government. They are the best option for standing against terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
Even if America doesn’t pull its head out of the sand, veterans won’t stop trying to intervene in this impending disaster because they know what’s at stake. Without immediate action, the next 9-11 Commission testimony is practically writing itself.
Prince Charles edits The Voice, Britain's only Black newspaper, for 40th anniversary
Prince Charles edited an edition of the African-Caribbean newspaper The Voice to mark its 40th anniversary.
The Prince of Wales was asked to edit the edition, which will focus on work Charles has done with community leaders over the years.
Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, said he “was so touched” to be asked to edit the edition, which will feature interviews with movie star Idris Elba and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the campaigning mother of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993.
Elba, the Black British actor who starred in “The Wire” and several Marvel movies, tells the weekly newspaper that a grant from Charles’ youth charity, The Prince’s Trust, at age 16 “opened doors that changed my life.”
The Voice was launched in 1982. The paper is published once a month in London, and the edition edited by Prince Charles is due to be published on Sept. 1.
Speaking about the publication, Charles said, “Over the last four decades, with all the enormous changes that they have witnessed, Britain’s only surviving black newspaper has become an institution and a crucial part of the fabric of our society.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“This is why I was so touched to be invited to edit this special edition.”
The Voice’s editor, Lester Holloway, noted in a statement that there are “parallels” between the work of the outlet and Prince Charles’ charity work.
“Our readers may be surprised at the parallels between the issues which The Voice has campaigned on for four decades and the work the Prince of Wales has been involved in over the same period, often behind the scenes. In past decades these causes were once scorned and ridiculed, but today they are widely acknowledged.”
“Yet all the research tells us how far we have to go to be a truly equal society,” he continued “The Prince has an awareness of this, and that in itself is a reason to be hopeful.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.