Turkey Republic

We live in a third world country. It’s the only possible explanation.

How else do you explain:

An unelected leader taking power of a country.

A bureaucracy unable to respond to a humanitarian crises IN ITS OWN COUNTRY for five days.

A government so bumbling they can’t evacuate its own citizens from a war zone, but they’re willing to CHARGE for the service.

Or maybe we’re just nuts. Seriously.

This is from the LA Times regarding the American effort to evacuate US refugees in Lebanon:

The frustration has been intensified by news that other countries have already pulled many of their citizens out of Lebanon, efficiently and free of cost. A ferry chartered by the French government carried about 800 of its citizens and several dozen Americans to Cyprus on Monday. The U.S. military evacuated about 60 Americans by helicopter Sunday and Monday. Other nations have packed people into rented tour buses and driven them over the mountains to Syria.

Americans have been told to wait for a telephone call that could come in hours — or days. They've also been told they can't board a ship unless they've signed a contract agreeing to repay the U.S. government for the price of their evacuation.

My wife looks at the current administration and wonders why we just don’t rise up and throw the bums out. She’s working on it.

NOBODY LIKES THESE GUYS. If you are liberal, you wonder why we invaded a country that was of no real threat under very suspicious circumstances. If you’re a conservative, you wonder why we aren’t winning. If you’re a liberal, you wonder where your liberties went. If you’re a conservative, you wonder where your states rights went. If you’re a liberal, you wonder why we’re treating Mexicans with such racism. If you’re a conservative, you wonder why he’s opening the door. If you’re a liberal, you wonder why we can’t spend our tax dollars to help people. If you’re a conservative, you wonder why we’re blowing all our tax dollars away. If you’re a liberal, you wonder why he’s vetoing a bill that could save lives. If you’re a conservative, you’re wondering why he’s vetoing a bill that could have saved Ronald Reagan’s life.

I’ve occasionally played a computer game called Tropico. (Okay, if you ask my wife, the word “occasionally” would be questioned.) In the game, you are El Presidente, the leader of a small banana republic, and to succeed, you have to keep the people happy. If you fail, you wind up in a little rowboat out in the middle of the ocean with what little money you could secret away while the gamevoice tells you how the people didn’t understand you.

That’s what they do in third-world countries.