Posts on Tuesday, August 17, 2021
National security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the Taliban has seized a “fair amount” of U.S. military equipment in Afghanistan Tuesday, adding that the U.S. is unsure where much of the material has gone.President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan left billions of dollars worth of firearms, vehicles and other military equipment in the hands of the Taliban. The “defense material” was intended for use by the Afghan government, but its military dissolved in the face of Taliban aggression in a matter of days. (Tweet/Video)
Days after giving two weeks’ notice that he would resign his office amid a serial sexual harassment scandal Gov. Andrew Cuomo is using the unprecedented lame-duck period to grant clemency and pardons to 10 felons — including three convicts tied to killings.Cuomo, a three-term Democrat forced to resign to avoid impeachment, said, “One of the foundational promises of New York State is that of equal justice, and equal compassion, for all under the law.”“Today I’m proud to help fulfill government’s unique responsibility to harness the power of redemption,
Biden Admin Tells Americans Trapped In
Afghanistan It ‘Cannot Guarantee’
Their Safety To Airport replies
Afghanistan It ‘Cannot Guarantee’
Their Safety To Airport replies
President Joe Biden’s administration told American citizens trapped in Afghanistan that the administration cannot guarantee their safety if they travel to the airport in Kabul to be evacuated.The news comes as thousands of American citizens remained trapped as Taliban terrorists have now taken control of the country.The Biden administration sent the following message to Americans trapped in Afghanistan: To American Citizens, Thank you for registering your request to be evacuated from Afghanistan. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has confirmed that an undefined number of U.S. govern1nentprovided fligl1ts will begin soon. Please make your way
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California admitted over the weekend that Republican recall candidate Larry Elder could replace him as California’s governor. Newsom, who is facing harsh scrutiny for his failed COVID-19 pandemic response, made the comments at a campaign stop at a Mexican resturaunt.“Though we defeated Trump, we didn’t defeat Trumpism. Trumpism is still alive and well, even here in the state of California,” Newsom said, trying to pin his failures on Trump and his allies. “If you don’t believe me, just consider … the likely person to enter an oath of office, to enter in the governor’s office in just a matter of weeks if we
In all my many years of blogging MSM outbursts against Republican presidents, I've never seen anyone angrier than Richard Engel about Biden's Afghanistan fiasco. Well, there was Keith Olbermann. But for present purposes, let's leave aside the clinically disturbed.In a piece with which Morning Joe opened today's show, Engel absolutely unleashed on the Biden administration. Rolling heartbreaking footage of desperate Afghans clinging to a US military plane as it rolled toward takeoff, Engel quoted a US military official saying the situation is "100-times worse than the humiliating American pullout from Saigon."
America’s ‘bewildered’ international
allies go off on Biden’s Afghan
disaster and it’s NOT good replies
allies go off on Biden’s Afghan
disaster and it’s NOT good replies
International allies are joining domestic critics of President Joe Biden over the manner in which he pulled the United States of Afghanistan following horrific images of people clamoring to get aboard American military aircraft, with some falling hundreds of feet to their deaths.In addition to criticism over the chaotic manner of the pullout, which many have likened to the humiliating and equally disordered withdrawal from what was then Saigon, South Vietnam in 1975, some international allies are also questioning Washington’s security commitments and whether Biden will keep foreign policy pledges.“Whatever happened to ‘America is back’?”
It was the most contemptible speech by a U.S. president in modern times — a speech that shames America and leaves its global reputation in the dirt.And given that, until last January, the White House was occupied for four years by a certain Donald J. Trump, there couldn’t be a more damning criticism of President Joe Biden.Much of his address to the U.S. on Monday was Orwellian. In his classic novel 1984, set in a totalitarian dystopia, George Orwell created a Ministry of Peace which waged war, a Ministry of Truth which peddled lies, a Ministry of Love which tortured dissidents and a Ministry of Plenty which oversaw starvation.
The Defense Department has confirmed that Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan, and applying for visas to the United States, will be sent to U.S. military bases in Texas, Wisconsin, and Virginia. For days, reports had circulated that the roughly 22,000 Afghans that President Joe Biden’s administration plans to bring to the U.S. would first be sent to military bases in a number of states. On Tuesday, Defense Department official Gary Reed confirmed to the Texas Tribune that the thousands of Afghans applying for visas will be sent to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and Fort McCoy in Monroe County, Wisconsin, in addition to Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia.
President Trump joined Sean Hannity on Tuesday night to discuss Joe Biden’s complete failure in Afghanistan.Trump told Hannity this is like the southern border but worse the way Biden is handling Afghanistan. The Afghan soldiers were some of the highest-paid soldiers in the world. This is one of the greatest embarrassments in the history of this country. Joe Biden returned to the White House because he’s getting bad press. “And I don’t believe he’s even in charge.”
House Oversight and Reform Committee Republicans sounded the alarm Tuesday about hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that have been improperly spent on one of the government’s largest and fastest-growing entitlement programs. Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the committee, sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, demanding answers about “rampant [and] improper” Medicaid payments. Mr. Comer and the committee’s other Republicans are concerned that CMS’ own data shows that more than $57 billion was spent on improper Medicaid payments in fiscal 2019 and nearly $87 billion in fiscal 2020, accounting for one of every five Medicaid payments.
An Alabama doctor is tired of helping people who refuse to protect themselves and others—so he’s no longer taking appointments with anti-vaxxers. Mobile, Ala., physician Dr. Jason Valentine posted a photo on Facebook in which he’s seen standing in front of a sign that reads “Effective Oct. 1, 2021, Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against COVID-19.”(Snip)“If they asked why, I told them covid is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that,” he wrote.
Comments on Facebook were mostly supportive of the doctor, though not so much of the yokels who oppose vaccinations
There is some speculation floating around social media (mostly, but not totally, from the right) that Democrats may try to pull the 25th Amendment card on Biden to push him aside and bring Kamala Harris forward in an effort to save face in this moment of geopolitical crisis. It is some of the same speculation you saw several times when the Left called for members of the Trump administration to turn on Trump and invoke the amendment. However, the Democrats have put themselves into such a terrible position that they absolutely cannot get rid of Biden through this means, or
Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten are going to be dads. "For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family," the U.S. secretary of transportation posted Tuesday on Twitter. "We’re overjoyed to share that we’ve become parents! The process isn’t done yet and we’re thankful for the love, support, and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us. We can’t wait to share more soon." Chasten Buttigieg quote-tweeted the post with a quick Twitter aphorism, "Some news!" He recently told The Washington Post they had started the adoption process and had gotten close to bringing a
The Alabama Board of Education has decided to ban public schools in the state from teaching the Marxist-invented critical race theory, which critics say holds that white people and the nation itself are inherently racist.
The move comes as public resistance to critical race theory (CRT) grows and intensifies among parents in communities across the nation who are fighting back by protesting and taking over local school boards. In 26 state legislatures, bills have been introduced or other steps have been taken to prevent CRT from being taught, Education Week reported.
Critical race theory spreads a false and hateful narrative about U.S. history that exacerbates racial tensions, opponents say.
CBS reporter Sara Cook posted this note that was sent out to American citizens trapped in Kabul.The note was sent to Americans trying to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the city over the weekend. The Biden administration told Americans to make their way to the Kabul airport But they could not guarantee their security as they made their way there. A congressional aide told CBS there were no partners left in Afghanistan to safely get the 10- to 15,000 Americans trapped around the country to the capital of Kabul.
Pelosi Courts Vulnerable Democrats with
Ritzy Napa Fundraiser to Vote on
Infrastructure Bill replies
Ritzy Napa Fundraiser to Vote on
Infrastructure Bill replies
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will hold a ritzy fundraiser with vulnerable Democrats in Napa, California, in order to court her way into securing the votes needed to pass the radical so-called infrastructure bill, set to take place just days after the fundraiser.Senior Democrats say there will be enough votes on the so-called infrastructure bill to pass from members who previously came out against Pelosi’s plan to pass the massive partisan spending bills, Politico reported.(Tweet) Pelosi’s bill passing is in jeopardy because she needs to have the support of her entire party of 220 elected to pass the so-called infrastructure bill, since Republicans have vowed to not vote for
A damning new government watchdog report on Afghanistan reconstruction revealed on Tuesday the 'many failures' of the last 20 years in the nation. The report, which relied on 13 years of oversight work, more than 760 interviews and thousands of government documents, analyzed the progress of the last two decades, which it deemed 'elusive' and sustainability of that progress, 'dubious.' The report noted that the US has now spent $837 billion on warfighting and $145 billion trying to rebuild Afghanistan, during which 2,443 American troops and 66,000 Afghan troops were killed.
New Yorkers will now have to show photo IDs in order to engage in public life. Along with proof of vaccination, the mayor said "Whatever works, all you have to do is show that proof and have ID as well." "And it's easy, all you have to do is show proof of vaccination — that could be a CDC paper card, that could be an Excelsior Pass, an NYC COVID Safe app, whatever works," de Blasio said. "All you got to do is show that proof and have ID as well, and it’s straightforward."
Disturbing new surveillance video shows the moment a 51-year-old man was brutally attacked by a hatchet-wielding maniac while at a Lower Manhattan ATM. The footage, obtained by The Post on Tuesday, shows the victim at one of the ATMs inside a Chase Bank vestibule on Broadway near Beaver Street in the Financial District shortly before 5:30 p.m. Sunday when his attacker walks in, removes a hatchet from a dark bag, sneaks up behind him and begins slashing him. The frightened and bloodied victim tries to fend off the brutal assault, falling to the floor several times as he futilely attempts to grab his crazed assailant’s weapon
National security adviser Jake Sullivan admitted Tuesday that the Taliban gained significant troves of military hardware and weaponry that they took from Afghan security forces—and the Biden administration is still trying to determine the amount of American military equipment that is now in the hands of the extremist insurgents. “We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone but certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, and obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport,” Sullivan told reporters
Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive Tuesday for COVID-19, according to his office.
Abbott, who is fully vaccinated, is not experiencing any symptoms and isolating at the Governor's Mansion, spokesperson Mark Miner said in a statement. He is getting the Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment.
"The Governor has been testing daily, and today was the first positive test result," Miner said. "Governor Abbott is in constant communication with his staff, agency heads, and government officials to ensure that state government continues to operate smoothly and efficiently."
Shocking video shows Taliban fighters beating Afghans on their way to the Kabul airport, as a former U.S. contractor tells Fox News that fighters are going through neighborhoods looking for those who worked for the U.S. government.The Afghan, who is a former State Department contractor, told Fox News that Taliban fighters have established checkpoints throughout the city and around the airport -- and are beating those on their way to the airport. Video provided to Fox News shows a Taliban fighter kicking a man in the face and another whipping people walking by.
White House aides on Tuesday said they did not know when President Joe Biden would return to Washington, DC, after the president left Monday to resume his August vacation at Camp David.“The president will return to the White House. I don’t have an exact time for you,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said to reporters during the daily briefing.Psaki said Biden would do an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos while at Camp David, which would be aired on Wednesday.She said Biden would likely address the situation in Afghanistan in the upcoming days as well as deliver an update about the coronavirus pandemic.
Americans who requested to be evacuated from Afghanistan received a note from the State Department informing them that the U.S. can’t “guarantee” their security on the way to the Kabul airport, CBS News reported on Tuesday.
The State Department has a list of roughly 5,000 Americans who have requested to leave Afghanistan and roughly half of them received the note, according to CBS.
“Thank you for registering your request to be evacuated from Afghanistan….Please make your way to Hamid Karzai International Airport at this time,” the note reads.
A spokesman for the Taliban warned that U.S. troops in Afghanistan have to leave by Sept. 11—the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that launched the United States into the war—after troops were re-deployed to the Kabul airport to oversee an evacuation.
Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban’s political office, told Sky News on Tuesday that “we are committed not to attack them,” but he stressed they have to leave by that date. It’s not clear what will happen if American forces remain in Afghanistan after Sept. 11.
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration on Monday challenged a federal judge's decision in June to block the Interior Department's pause on oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters - a critical piece of its climate change policy - but will proceed with leasing during the appeals process.
The Interior Department aims to overturn the decision of Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, who said Louisiana and a dozen states that sued President Joe Biden's administration established they would suffer injury
Mask Mandates Fail in California’s Bay
Area as Coronavirus Hospitalizations
Match 2020 Summer High replies
Area as Coronavirus Hospitalizations
Match 2020 Summer High replies
Coronavirus hospitalizations have matched the 2020 summer high in California’s Bay Area, despite the area re-imposing mask mandates — even among vaccinated individuals — this month.
ABC 7’s Bay Area COVID-19 Tracker shows the Bay Area’s case peak exceeding the figures seen in the summer of 2020, despite a year of mitigation measures and strategies, including the recent reimplementation of mask mandates.
According to the data, the Bay Area — which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma — saw 2,484 daily coronavirus cases reported August 16, with the rolling average standing at 1.792/57 as of August 13.
Biden’s Failure on Afghanistan Has Been
So Bad That Even a Friendly Press
Corps Has Bailed on Him replies
So Bad That Even a Friendly Press
Corps Has Bailed on Him replies
The Taliban taking over most of Afghanistan, including Kabul and the presidential palace — where they posed with U.S. guns.
A helicopter rushing U.S. personnel from the embassy in Kabul.
Afghans running to and on the Kabul airport runway to flee the country.
Afghans hanging onto and falling out of U.S. military planes.
The pictures and reports of these events show the inevitable consequences of a withdrawal that President Joe Biden dismissed or disregarded. The first two being examples of the former and the last two as examples of the latter.
The U.S. efforts in Afghanistan have been undone so quickly after Washington spent trillions of dollars there over almost 20 years after 9/11.
Chicago - Masks must be worn in public indoor settings in Chicago regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status as the city continues to see an increase in COVID-19 transmission, public health officials announced Tuesday.
Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said everyone over the age of 2, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask beginning Friday, Aug. 20, while indoors in public settings.
It will apply to gyms, stores, common areas of apartment buildings and in restaurants (Snip) Currently, Chicago is averaging 18 COVID-19-related hospitalizations a day, which is down from a peak of roughly 200 a day, Arwady said.
Perhaps Joe Biden’s speech turned out to be more inspirational than first thought. His incessant finger-pointing over the incompetent and catastrophic bug-out in Afghanistan certainly got everyone’s attention, even for a period of time on CNN’s home page (via Twitchy): CNN later changed the headline to a more anodyne “Biden stands behind his decision,” but the theme has clearly resonated — even within Biden’s own administration. CNN reports this morning that White House “factions” are doing some finger-pointing of their own in an attempt to scrub the stain of this shameful episode off of them:
Factions within the Biden administration are embroiled in a blame game
Joe Biden will be haunted by those images of U.S. helicopters beating a hasty retreat from Afghanistan. But his Afghanistan nightmare is only beginning.
There are between 5,000 and 10,000 Americans still stuck in Kabul, according to the Pentagon. And the military apparently has no plan to evacuate them. The possibility, indeed, the probability, that the Taliban or one of its rogue offshoots will start snatching Americans has always been there. The reason is that the Americans will be huge bargaining chips — not just with the U.S. but with whatever government emerges in Afghanistan. Hostage takers will be able to barter for power
Boris Johnson is preparing to unveil a 'big-hearted' resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees as Tories urge him to welcome tens of thousands. The PM is set to give details of the arrangements as he runs the gauntlet of MP fury in a statement to the recalled parliament tomorrow. It is expected to be 'modelled' on the scheme that has allowed more than 20,300 Syrians to flee to the UK over the last seven years.(Snip)He spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday and ministers are hoping for a meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in the coming days.
Yesterday, a disturbing video emerged from Kabul airport showing thousands of Afghans storming a C-17 transport aircraft. AH-64 Apache helicopters were being used to swoop down and clear a path so the plane could take off. That’s how ill-prepared the evacuation was. Other videos showed the scene after the plane rotated and began climbing, with at least two individuals falling to their deaths. Now, we are learning more about what transpired, including the fact that the deaths didn’t stop there. This is an inexplicable situation, not because the pilots did anything wrong, but because they were put in this position in the first place. They had to make
During his speech yesterday, Joe Biden angrily blamed everyone else for the collapse in Afghanistan, including his predecessor, President Donald Trump, saying that he had to comply with the deal Trump had worked out, despite the fact that the Taliban had breached the agreement and despite the fact that Biden himself had tossed aside so many other deals that Trump had worked out.
But Politico has a great story that completely blows all this apart. The story basically indicates that this debacle was intentional — that Biden always intended withdrawal, nothing to do with Trump, and to heck with our allies.
They noted on the Afghanistan pullout, for example, Biden overruled
Defense Officials Sidestep Concerns over
Taliban Blocking Off Airport,
Beating Would Be Evacuees replies
Taliban Blocking Off Airport,
Beating Would Be Evacuees replies
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Tuesday sidestepped questions about how the U.S. plans to respond to reports that the Taliban is stopping and beating people who attempt to acccess the airport in Kabul, where the U.S. military is facilitating evacuations from Afghanistan in the wake of a Taliban takeover.
Kirby said during a press briefing that U.S. military commanders at the Kabul international airport are in communication with Taliban commanders on the ground outside the airport. He declined to further detail those discussions, saying only that he would “let the results speak for themselves.”
Asked by a reporter if those discussions include talk of allowing Americans and
Number of Americans Trapped in Afghanistan
May Be Even Worse Than the Biden
Team Is Telling Us replies
May Be Even Worse Than the Biden
Team Is Telling Us replies
As we reported earlier, the Biden team is saying that there may be up to 10,000 Americans who still need to be rescued from Afghanistan. I wrote previously about how they were begging people like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) for help because our government wasn’t responding and had just told them to shelter in place and fill out a form.
But it may be even worse than that, according to Bush Assistant Secretary of State Robert Charles. According to Charles, he said there was a tally and it was between 15,000 and 40,000 people still waiting to be told when they’ll be saved.
Once in a while during the Obama Administration some people liked to say that a re-run of the Carter presidency was a best-case scenario, but that is really coming true under President Biden. As mentioned previously, it took Carter three years to finally hit bottom, with the famous “Malaise” speech of July 1979 (which never actually contained the word “malaise,” but his press secretary accepted that characterization the following day in a press conference).
It was right after that astoundingly bad speech that Ken Bode wrote in The New Republic an assessment
LONDON - OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters.
The price of international benchmark Brent crude has risen 35% this year towards $70 a barrel, driven by economic recovery from the pandemic and supply restraint by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners in the alliance known as OPEC+.
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration urged
The Taliban may be trying to convince the world this will be a far more tolerant regime than last seen in 2001, but the leaders who will take over Afghanistan remain a group of veteran jihadists with a blood-stained history.Many founders of the original Taliban are still in leadership positions today as the militants take control of Afghanistan, while others are the sons of founders who have since died or were killed in action.After the deaths of former chief Mohammed Omar and his successor Akhtar Mohammad Mansour in less than 12 months, the leadership is held by Haibatullah Akhundzada. Dubbed 'Leader of the Faithful', the Taliban's Supreme Commander who has
U.S. intelligence agencies warned of the collapse of the Afghan military and government at the hands of a resurgent Taliban over the summer, as President Biden publicly downplayed the possibility of a government rout.
While Biden assured the American public on July 8 that the Afghan regime’s disintegration was far from inevitable, quieting fears of a “Saigon-like” foreign policy fiasco, previous intelligence reports indicated that Afghan security forces as well as the seat of government in Kabul were weakening and could falter, current and former American government officials told the New York Times.
When a reporter asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan if the government disregarded
The woman arrested Saturday for nearly shoving a 22-year-old man onto the subway tracks at Times Square has been booked seven times since June 25, police sources said—including for several assaults on mass transit. Briana Randolph allegedly came up from behind her victim at around 8 a.m. Saturday on the northbound NQR train platform at 42nd Street and Broadway and pushed him for no reason, according to police.(Snip)She was charged with assault and reckless endangerment and remains in custody pending arraignment. Randolph has been arrested twenty times since 2012, including seven times so far in 2021—once for grand larceny on July 25 and six more
For nearly 20 years, American men and women have gone to Afghanistan and performed heroically. But they were asked by our leaders to do an impossible task: to turn a mountain backwater into a thriving democracy. We lost our best and brightest in those mountains—men and women who would have started families, built businesses, and sustained communities.
My heart breaks that these dead may have died in vain. But they won’t if we learn the long-term lesson of Afghanistan: the people who lead this country aren’t fit for the task.
"Afghanistan's collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?" ABC News asks. "Afghanistan Is Your Fault," barks Tom Nichols at The Atlantic. “Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms,” Politico ponders.
The one thing that the Taliban's conquest of Afghanistan is good for is more media hot takes.
Afghanistan didn't fall because it never existed. The Afghan army laid down its arms because it also never existed. And not just because many of the 300,000 soldiers were imaginary. Its Pashtun members surrendered to their fellow Taliban Pashtuns, or fled to Iran or Uzbekistan, depending on their tribal or religious affiliations which, unlike Afghanistan, are very real.
President Biden’s address to the nation on the unfolding situation in Afghanistan was met with low approval, according to Maslansky + Partners president Lee Carter. In an interview on "Fox & Friends," the polling expert highlighted voters’ real-time reactions to the president’s speech, noting the most surprising response was Democrats’ disappointment.
"For the most part, when Biden speaks, they give him the benefit of the doubt. In this case, while they did give him some credit for what he said, they were really disappointed overall with the message," she said.
Several Taliban leaders pictured Monday inside the vacated presidential palace in Kabul were carrying U.S. military rifles, leading some on social media to question how they came to obtain them. For instance, law enforcement expert and retired FBI agent James A. Gagliano posted a photo of U.S.-armed Taliban leaders in the presidential palace, noting, “So disheartening to see Taliban fighters — armed w/U.S Military weapons systems, M-16s and M-4s (and no determination as to how/where they obtained them) — inside Afghan presidential palace following President Ashraf Ghani’s fleeing the country.” (Tweet/Photo)
Former US women's goalkeeper Hope Solo has launched a withering attack on star player Megan Rapinoe, claiming she's seen the activist 'almost bully' teammates into taking the knee. Rapinoe has been vocal on a range of political issues, with some critics—including former President Donald Trump—blaming Team USA's poor Olympic performance on her activism. Solo, speaking on Goal's women's soccer podcast, was asked what she thought of claims that Rapinoe's behavior—including kneeling to protest racial injustice—had led to the favorite team to win an Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 only taking home a bronze medal. She answered: 'It's tough.
Dallas - Although delta remains the most prevalent variant, the lambda strain of COVID-19 is starting to emerge and there’s little known about it.
“We do not know whether this is going to be better or worse than delta, there’s not enough information,” said Dr. Andrew Yurochko, with LSU Health Shreveport.
According to the World Health Organization, lambda was first discovered in Peru last year. Since April, it’s been responsible for more than 80 percent of cases reported there.
It’s now taken over other parts of South America, including Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil. Now, 44 American states have reported lambda cases
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is requiring its workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4, making it the latest employer to forge ahead with a mandate while some companies wait until U.S. regulators grant full approval of the shots to avoid legal headaches and workplace tumult. The New Jersey-based drugmaker, which makes a one-shot vaccine against the disease, said it will offer exemptions for religious or medical reasons. But its policy is more stringent than one from Pfizer, a rival vaccine maker that this month said workers must get vaccinated or face weekly testing.(Snip)“Effective October 4, all employees and contractors of the company
Former Vice President Mike Pence is ramping up his donor outreach as he weighs a 2024 White House bid.
Pence held a donor retreat late last week benefiting his newly formed nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom. The event, held in wealthy Jackson Hole, Wyo., is the first such gathering the former vice president has hosted since leaving the White House in January.
If President Joe Biden’s no-questions-please press conference on the collapse of the American puppet government in Afghanistan and the end of the American imperium in the Middle East felt like a funeral, that’s because it was. The ignominious defeat after 20 years of fruitless, half-hearted warfare marks the end of the federal geopolitical Leviathan state that emerged during and in the aftermath of World War II. Good riddance to it. It’s fitting that the end should come with Biden [snip]
Over the past seven months as chief executive, however, he has ruined the economy, expanded the welfare state, encouraged anarchy, criminalized dissent,
The US media blasted Joe Biden today for his 'blame shifting' over the Afghanistan crisis after the President criticised Afghan leaders and military for refusing to fight while defending his decision to withdraw troops.The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that Mr Biden 'refused to accept responsibility for the botched withdrawal while blaming others' and the 'one group he conspicuously did not blame was the Taliban'. A Washington Post editorial said he could have listened to the 'many seasoned hands' giving him alternatives to withdrawal, adding that him blaming others was 'unseemly' given that 2,448 US service members died in 20 years.
US defense officials in charge of evacuating Americans and Afghan refugees from Taliban-held Kabul claim they'll remove 5,000 every day but so far, they've only rescued 1,400 since Sunday and as many as 40,000 remain stranded. At a briefing on Tuesday morning, US Army Major General Hank Taylor revealed 700 people were flown out of the region overnight on seven C-17 jets. The number included 165 US citizens and the rest were for foreign nationals. He claimed between 5,000 and 9,000 people will be removed every day on one flight per hour but there was no sign of any US plane at the airport on Tuesday while
Robert O’Neill, the SEAL member who killed Osama bin Laden during a raid on the terrorist’s Pakistan lair in 2011, called President Biden a “disaster” and urged Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to resign over the catastrophe caused by the US military pullout in Afghanistan.
“So, @POTUS is a disaster,” the former SEAL said on Twitter. “This is the worst loss in American history. Our most popular president has vanished. Prove me wrong.”
Outgoing Border Patrol Chief: The Real
National Security Crisis At The
Border Is Terrorists Crossing replies
National Security Crisis At The
Border Is Terrorists Crossing replies
The Border Patrol chief forced out by Joe Biden is sounding the alarm that the real national security crisis is the record number of known and suspected terrorists flooding into America through the U.S.-Mexico border.Ex-Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott is warning that there are more “known or suspected terrorists than recorded in previous years” who have crossed the southern border since Biden took office.“Over and over again, I see other people talk about our mission, your mission, and the context of it being immigration or the current crisis today being an immigration crisis. I firmly believe that it is a national security crisis,” Scott said.
Tennessee's former top vaccination official, who was fired in July, may have sent herself a dog muzzle, and there's no evidence it was intended to threaten her, a new state investigation found. A new investigative report from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security obtained by The Tennessean indicates the muzzle was paid for with Dr. Michelle Fiscus' own American Express credit card, a revelation sure to raise questions about her credibility.(Snip)Michelle Fiscus was fired from her role as Tennessee's top vaccination official in mid-July in a move she has claimed was politically motivated. She received a box marked with Amazon branding
The Tim Tebow experiment in Jacksonville didn’t last long.
The former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback turned sports broadcaster turned minor league baseball player turned long-shot NFL tight end project was cut on Tuesday, after just a single preseason game. The 34-year-old’s football career is presumably over now.
Whitmer kidnapping case rocked by allegations
FBI told informant to lie,
delete text messages replies
FBI told informant to lie,
delete text messages replies
When the Michigan government announced the foiling of a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October of 2020, many applauded the law enforcement agency working the case. Attorneys for the alleged members of the kidnapping plot, however, are claiming Federal Bureau of Investigation deceit and entrapment of innocent people.
Meanwhile, Fauci Says It's Time for Americans
to 'Put Aside Concerns About
Personal Liberties' replies
to 'Put Aside Concerns About
Personal Liberties' replies
One can only imagine — this one, anyway — the withdrawal symptoms Dr. Anthony Fauci has been suffering recently as the disastrous Biden Afghanistan debacle has continued to dominate the news, 24×7. So, what’s an attention-whore to do when all of America is paying attention to something other than him? Why, make some attention-getting “news,” of course. The more Fauci-esque, the better. In an interview with CBS correspondent Nancy Cordes, the infectious diseases “expert” said it’s time for vaccine-hesitant Americans to “put aside” concerns and personal liberties to help fight against COVID-19, asserting that unvaccinated people are spreading the “highly contagious Delta variant” more so than vaccinated
Unprecedented numbers of known or suspected terrorists have crossed the southern border in recent months, the outgoing Border Patrol chief said. The head of the Border Patrol, Rodney Scott, told his 19,000 agents before retiring on Aug. 14 that their national security mission is paramount right now despite the Biden administration's focus on migrant families and children who are coming across the United States-Mexico boundary at record rates.
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush, who launched a "war on terror" in Afghanistan and elsewhere following the Sept. 11, 2001attacks, urged the U.S. government to expedite help for Afghan refugees following the Taliban's swift takeover in recent days. "The United States government has the legal authority to cut the red tape for refugees during urgent humanitarian crises. And we have the responsibility and the resources to secure safe passage for them now, without bureaucratic delay," Bush and former first lady Laura Bush said in a statement late on Monday.
Just about every American Presidency has a singular, “defining moment.” It may be a prolonged affair such as the thirteen days of mettle which made up The Cuban Missile Crisis for the gutsy John F. Kennedy, or the 444 days of utter ineptitude and indecisiveness by the pusillanimous Jimmy Carter. Contrarily, a defining moment may come in the form of a single decision and its precise implementation as we saw with Harry S. Truman opting to bomb Hiroshima, or perhaps with a quote followed by world-changing events as witnessed by Ronald Reagan’s, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Eyes Roll as State Dept. Issues Bizarre
Statement After Taliban Receives
Coveted Hamas Endorsement replies
Statement After Taliban Receives
Coveted Hamas Endorsement replies
While President Joe Biden’s scripted speech on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan left people wondering just who exactly is in charge of things, one thing also made crystal clear today is that the Biden State Department doesn’t have their act together, either.
During their daily press briefing, State Dept. spokesman Ned Price, who is already on record as not being the sharpest tool in the shed, proceeded to confirm that the United States was in agreement with the United Nations Security Council’s official statement on Afghanistan which, in part, called on
Brutal new rules have been drawn up by the Taliban which means women will face torture and death while targets on a 'kill list' could be murdered on their doorsteps.
Harrowing reports have already surfacing from Afghanistan as the government collapsed which paved the way for the Taliban to seize power nearly 20 years after being driven out by the West.
The Mirror understands there are claims of summary killings by the Taliban as fighters perform door-to-door searches throughout Kabul city.
They are hunting down former officials, ex police, soldiers and anyone who worked with the former Kabul government - or with coalition forces.
My father gave me Werner Keller’s The Bible as History when I was a kid. I’ve been a sucker for Biblical histories since then. Keller’s been superseded, both by the deconstructionists who claim the Bible isn’t true and by modern archeology, which has added to and reinterpreted many archeological findings since Keller’s time. And last week, in Jerusalem, an archeologist discovered an earring that helps confirms one of the most pivotal stories in the Bible: The destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the Babylonian captivity.
WASHINGTON — Democrats with proven track records of winning tough districts aren't running for re-election. Republicans are enjoying early fundraising windfalls. And, as Donald Trump and Barack Obama both learned the hard way, midterm elections almost always break against the president's party.
The early indicators that showed Democrats poised to make big gains in Congress four years ago now point the other direction, suggesting that the narrow 220-212 Democratic House majority is in serious danger. (Snip) "Democrats' best hope is that Biden's approval rating stays above 50 percent
Joe Biden and his media acolytes call him Mr. Empathy and Mr. Compassion. His Afghanistan speech yesterday told a different story, and should end that phony spin forever.
My takeaway was how cold, and hard, and compassionless Biden was as he sought to extricate himself from the catastrophe of his own making. He blamed everyone but himself for his failure, particularly the Afghan army. He smarmily assured terrified Afghanis left behind he'd now speak out for their human rights instead of actually protect them. He effectively told U.S. servicemembers their service was for nothing. It was appalling.
During his speech at the White House on Monday, President Biden deflected from the current debacle in Afghanistan that his administration helped create by sticking to a carefully written script about how America’s involvement had to end now and not a moment later. President Trump, however, dismissed Biden’s rhetoric, noting that it failed to acknowledge his administration’s hand in botching the U.S. withdrawal from the region.“It’s not that we left Afghanistan,” Trump said in a statement. “It’s the grossly incompetent way we left!”
It’s fair to say Americans, especially the pre-revolution colonists, have always had a healthy skepticism of government. What’s frightening is some days we seem dangerously close to losing the unique quality that separates this country from every other.
The Washington Examiner’s Byron York posted last week in his Daily Memo some interesting data that tells us a lot about Americans’ attitudes about their government. He tracked a long-term Fox News survey in which respondents are asked which message they would send the government if they had the chance: “lend me a hand” or “leave me alone.”
Over the course of
Trump remains barred from Twitter but
Taliban spokesperson still using
platform for propaganda replies
Taliban spokesperson still using
platform for propaganda replies
Social media giant Twitter was taken to task on Sunday by users who noticed that a spokesman for the Taliban remains free to use the platform unfettered to spout whatever messages he wants, sans fact-checks or warnings, while former President Donald Trump remains banned.The observations were made as Taliban fighters have now completely overrun Afghanistan and have taken control of the presidential palace amid deadly, chaotic scenes at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, including three Afghans who attempted to stowaway on a U.S. military jet falling to their deaths.
Horrifying video has emerged appearing to show the body of an Afghan man crushed to death in the landing gear of a flight out of Kabul on Monday - as more footage showed machine guns, body armour and armoured vehicles dumped in an arrivals area of the city's airport amid a desperate rush out of the country. The first piece of footage appeared to have been taken from the rear porthole window of a C-17 military plane, showing a man's legs protruding from the wheel well and flailing against the side of the aircraft in mid-flight.American officials later confirmed that human remains had been found in the wheel arch of
President Joe Biden has disappeared as his withdrawal from Afghanistan has resulted in the Taliban taking the country in a matter of days. This isn’t a surprise: Biden did his best to avoid real questions throughout the campaign because he has no answers.
Biden’s vanishing act during the campaign was designed not just to keep the narrative focus on former President Donald Trump but to keep Biden from answering tough questions about his own policies and track record.
I Am Glad I Was Alive to See It
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It is my very firm belief that when America is strong, the world is safer and more stable. Observe then, that it has taken less than seven months for our installed (*) government to diminish America’s strength and our standing in the world, with the predictable consequence of strengthening the enemies of Freedom.My father had several small desk-top plaques or picture frames in his office that displayed either witty sayings or motivational wisdom. As a salesman and small business owner, I think he wanted to generate conversation with the folks who visited his office so he could learn what “made ‘em tick” and how his company
Although the White House had intended to keep Biden under wraps for as long as possible, the demand that he say something – anything – about the unfolding debacle in Afghanistan forced him to leave Camp David for a 20-minute statement, after which he refused to take any questions. The important part of what he said boils down to one sentence: We had to leave and everything that went wrong was Trump’s or the Afghans' fault. Biden is a craven coward, a feckless fool, a dismal dummy, and a man who will soon have more blood on his hands than a thousand Lady Macbeths.
Since helping to execute a search warrant for evidence in a drug trafficking ring and being shot by Kenneth Walker -- the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor -- in the process, my life has never been the same. (snip) Though I wanted to respond and set the record straight about what had transpired that night, I couldn’t say anything about the case, because my fellow Louisville Metro Police Department officers and I were under a gag order. (snip) I was the first officer to attempt to make an entry into the apartment and was met with gunfire by Walker before I was able to enter the apartment.
The Biden Administration, elected Democrat politicians, government bureaucrats, the education establishment, and clueless corporate management are hellbent on imposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates. These mandates could potentially apply to everyone over the age of 12. The FDA, at the urging of Biden Administration, is on the cusp of granting final approval for the mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) vaccines in an unprecedented and abbreviated period of time, thus, providing the legal basis for the mandates to be imposed and enforced.
Based on ongoing research and actual experience with these drugs, there should be a significant slow-down
While Taliban forces rapidly overtook territories across Afghanistan earlier this month, Joe Biden held an overdramatic ceremony at the White House to once again perpetuate phony narratives about the events of January 6. Biden, falsely claiming officers died as a result of the Capitol protest, signed legislation passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal to the United States Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police for their actions that day.“A mob of extremists and terrorists launched a violent and deadly assault on the people’s house,” Biden said on August 5.
Fmr CIA Analyst Zeller: Biden Lied, No
Plan to Stop Allies Being Slaughtered
by ‘Nazi’ Taliban replies
Plan to Stop Allies Being Slaughtered
by ‘Nazi’ Taliban replies
Former CIA analyst Matt Zeller told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Monday on her show “Deadline” that President Joe Biden lied to the American people during his address on the chaotic evacuation of Afghans that worked with our military over the last 20 years.On Biden’s speech, Zeller said, “I was appalled. There was such a profound bald-faced lie in that speech, the idea we planned for every contingency? I have been personally trying to tell this administration since it took office. I have been trying to tell our government for years this was coming. We sent them plan after plan on how to evacuate these people.
PLA Eastern Theater Command on Tue dispatched warships, ASW aircraft and fighter jets for joint live-fire assault drills in SW, SE areas off the island of Taiwan as response to recent moves by the US and Taiwan secessionists: spokesperson
This is America’s darkest hour since September 11, 2001. Just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the devastating terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the U.S. has been humiliated in the eyes of the world.For once, the fiercely partisan domestic media is united in condemnation of President Joe Biden’s surrender to the Taliban.Even Fox News and CNN, normally diametric political opposites, are singing from the same hymn sheet.Americans awoke yesterday to television pictures of desperate refugees falling to their deaths from departing U.S. transport aircraft. It was a chilling echo
Former President George W. Bush broke his silence on the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan, which prompted a frantic evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies widely compared to the fall of Saigon in 1975.Hours after President Joe Biden addressed the nation, asserting he stands by his decision to withdraw military forces from the country, Bush released a statement late Monday through his presidential center focusing on the humanitarian situation and evacuations that follow a war he initiated nearly 20 years ago to root out al Qaeda following the 9/11 terror attacks.
Former President Donald Trump issued a short statement after President Joe Biden delivered maybe one of the worst speeches in US history where he blamed Trump for his own disastrous withdraw from Afghanistan while defending his decision to go through with the United States’ abrupt removal from the region.Trump made sure to punch back in a statement: “It’s not that we left Afghanistan. It’s the grossly incompetent way we left!” (Snip) Biden is blaming everyone but himself for the horrifying situation in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon on Monday can’t say if it has plans to keep US weapons and munitions out of the Taliban’s hands.A reporter asked US Army Major General Hank Taylor, a logistics specialist on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if the US is taking action to destroy weapons, vehicles and munitions left behind so the Taliban doesn’t use or sell the war material.“So there’s no US actions being taken to prevent equipment from falling into the hands of the Taliban by destroying it or anything else?”
Kabul airport will reopen on Tuesday, US officials have vowed, as extra security is drafted in to manage the evacuation of thousands of foreign nationals and Afghans trying to escape Taliban rule amid mounting fears that Islamic State could commit a terror atrocity in the country. Joe Biden defended the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, two decades after NATO forces invaded the country and toppled the Taliban regime following the September 11, 2001 attacks, as he blamed Donald Trump and the Afghan security services for the anarchy engulfing the country.Speaking from the White House, the US President - who had returned from his 'vacation' at Camp David -
Household energy bills are expected to rise amid plans to force homes into using hydrogen heating. The starting gun for a new 'dash for gas' was fired yesterday as the Government launched its strategy for Britain to burn hydrogen and create a £900million industry in the next five years.
Energy Strategy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said that creating a UK hydrogen industry would lead to 9,000 jobs by 2030, by which time the sector's economy would be worth £4billion.(Snip)MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith, said that it was a 'hard sell' asking Britons to make sacrifices while 'China, Russia etc' are 'carrying on as usual'.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta compared the reconquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban to the abortive CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba from the early 1960s Monday, adding that the collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul had harmed America’s credibility.“This is a situation that deteriorated rapidly, beyond anyone’s imagination,” Panetta, a former CIA director under Barack Obama and a former White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton, told CNN. “No one expected what happened. No one expected the Taliban to move as quickly as they did. They obviously had a strategy
When then-President Barack Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an American deserter in 2014, he assured a wary public the dangerous enemy combatants would be transferred to Qatar and kept from causing any trouble in Afghanistan. In fact, they were left free to engineer Sunday’s sacking of Kabul. Soon after gaining their freedom, some of the notorious Taliban Five pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan and made contacts with active Taliban militants there. But the Obama-Biden administration turned a blind eye to the disturbing intelligence reports, and it wasn’t long before the freed detainees used Qatar as a base
Not all Big Apple restaurants were happy as a citywide vaccine mandate took effect on Monday—and some are all but thumbing their noses at the controversial clampdown.(Snip)Shortly after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new rules on Aug. 3, a sign appeared in the front window of Pasticceria Rocco, a pastry shop and diner in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn: “We do not discriminate against any customer based on sex, gender, race, creed, age, vaccinated or unvaccinated. All customers who wish to patronize are welcome.” “For me, it’s not political—most of my customers are vaccinated,” said Mary Josephine Generoso, who manages the eatery. “It’s about civil liberties
A female Afghan reporter broke down in the Pentagon briefing Monday afternoon, lamenting the U.S. withdrawal from her home country and explaining what the consequences would be for girls and women.
“As you know, I’m from Afghanistan,” she began, “and I’m very upset today because Afghan women didn’t expect that overnight all the Taliban came.”
“They took off my flag,” she exclaimed, pointing to her face mask emblazoned with the flag of Afghanistan, “and they put their flag” in its place.
“Everybody is upset, especially women,” the yet unidentified reporter explained.
The Biden administration will recommend that most Americans receive a coronavirus vaccine booster shot eight months after their initial vaccination, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Health-care providers could be allowed to offer booster shots around mid-September, two administration officials told the Times. Nursing-home residents and health-care workers, the first groups to be offered initial vaccinations in late 2020 and early 2021, probably will be the first to receive booster shots.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recommends that immunocompromised Americans receive a booster shot.
The proposal for boosters for most Americans includes the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
Biden’s Deflection Won’t Work
replies
Joe Biden’s speech today was a disgrace. He read briefly from a teleprompter, and took neither questions nor responsibility. It is reasonable to infer that his mental condition is such that he is not able to answer questions, or else his actions have been so indefensible that there is no answer to the questions that might be asked. It is a remarkable fact that in the last week, the Taliban has answered more questions from American media than President Biden.
Biden pretended that he is being criticized for withdrawing from Afghanistan. This is a bad joke. I, for one, wrote years ago that we should wind up our involvement