Posts on Tuesday, August 31, 2021
The Freedom to Be Left Alone
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If one were to come up with a bumper-sticker definition of personal liberty, it would be something like “the freedom to be left alone.” A society that respects the liberty of its citizens is one in which the citizen can be left to live his life as he sees fit, beyond the basic duties incumbent upon all citizens. (snip)
At the root of this, the spring that provides the impetus for such an arrangement, is the cultural understanding that everyone has a duty to mind their own business. What must animate a “free society” is the understanding that you are not only free of the unwanted gaze from others, including the
A Texas man may have been inspired by foreign terrorists when he murdered his Lyft driver, then opened fire inside a local police station, authorities said. Imran Ali Rasheed, 33, was fatally shot by cops in the lobby of the Plano Police Department on Sunday, after he killed 26-year-old driver Isabella Lewis and stole her car, according to officials. Rasheed, who’d previously been investigated by the FBI, left a note in Lewis’ car that led investigators to believe he was a follower of the “rhetoric” and “propaganda” of an unnamed terrorist organization, said Matthew DeSarno, special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas office.
The Justice Department notified judges Monday that at least 17 defendants from the January 6 Capitol Breach are now “effectively without counsel,” citing the absence of high-profile lawyer John Pierce, who says he’s sick with Covid-19. Instead of Pierce showing up to court, he’s tapped an associate, Ryan Marshall, who is notably not a licensed attorney and facing two felony charges.“The Department of Justice (DOJ) says in a new filing it appears (John Pierce’s) 17 #CapitolRiot defendants are ‘effectively without counsel,’ and notes Ryan Marshall, who has been appearing in Pierce’s place, is not a licensed attorney,” reported WUSA9 investigative reporter Jordan Fischer on Monday.
Squad member Rashida Tlaib has been blasted after paying tribute to Palestinian PhD student who died after ramming her car at Israeli checkpoint then running at soldiers with a knife.
The US Representative for Michigan sparked backlash after writing a Tweet claiming Israel is dehumanizing Palestinians by withholding the body of Mai Afana, who was reportedly killed after attacking Israeli Defense Force soldiers.
On Saturday, Tlaib shared a picture of Ph.D. student Afana's mother Khuloud, according to Fox News, and said the Israeli government 'killed' Afana and would not return her body to her family.
Group of 87 retired generals call on Austin
and Milley to resign following
botched Afghan withdrawal replies
and Milley to resign following
botched Afghan withdrawal replies
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley have been called upon to resign by a group of 87 retired generals.In an open letter from the group "Flag Officers 4 America," the retired generals argue Austin and Milley showed "negligence in performing their duties" during the botched exit from Afghanistan.Members of the group, who describe themselves as "retired U.S. generals and admirals defending the Constitution," also wrote Austin and Milley must be held accountable for their actions that have stranded hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies in hostile territory as "de facto hostages of the Taliban."
Last week, political pundit Matthew Dowd outrageously claimed that President Biden “should be congratulated” for doing “unbelievable yeoman’s work” in Afghanistan and now he’s doubling down on his assertion declaring that Biden was extremely “competent” in his handling of Afghanistan.“The fact is the most honest and competent moments of presidential leadership on Afghanistan over the last 19 years was the last two weeks or so. Don’t we want leaders to tell us the truth and serve the public? (Snip) That comment was met with not only extreme criticism but anger by many out there after Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 service members
President Joe Biden wanted the now-departed Afghan president to create the 'perception' that his government was capable of holding off the Taliban - an indication he knew it was only a matter of time before the US ally fell to the Islamic group even while reassuring Americans at home that it would not happen. In the last phone call between Biden and his Afghan then-counterpart Ashraf Ghani, the American president said they needed to change perceptions of the Taliban's rapid advance 'whether it is true or not,' according to excerpts published on Tuesday.
For the past 15 years, Leslie Schweitzer has helped support the American University of Afghanistan, from literally the ground up. As a board member of the university and chair of the Friends of American University of Afghanistan, she spent much of the past week with the president of the university, Ian Bickford, and other members of the board in Doha, Qatar, assisting with the effort to evacuate around 4,000 students, faculty, Afghan national staff and their families, as well as alumni -- namely, all of those who had been involved with the American University of Afghanistan over the past decade and
As news reports spread the word that the United States has officially ended its military presence in Afghanistan, one member of a group of former special operations warriors reminds the world of the terror faced by those the federal government has left behind.
“This is 1936 Germany Gestapo meets the Hunger Games,” Peter Quinn, director of Ark Salus, told The Epoch Times. “It is a high tension, high panic, Anne Frank-like environment.”
(snip) Quinn provided his on-the-ground assessment of the situation in Afghanistan as of Sunday. (Snip)“No matter who is trying to lead the country, no matter who is trying to form a sovereign state, the ISIS-K, Khorasan initiative,
The office of Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., confirmed to Fox News that two dozen Sacramento-area students are stranded in Afghanistan and the Biden administration has not provided an update on their status.
Bera’s office confirmed in an email to Fox News that the students were trapped overseas, and the California Democrat’s team has been in contact with the San Juan Unified School District (SJUSD) but has not received any update from the administration.
"Our office has been in close contact with the San Juan Unified School District, and have urgently flagged this with the Department of Defense and State Department.
“We have quite an exhaustive list of people. I won't tell you who they are.” With those words, House Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) confirmed that a subpoena storm was about to be unleashed in the investigation of the Jan. 6 riot in Congress. The targets would include Republican members, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who have already been told to preserve their phone records to be surrendered to the committee. The Democrats are reportedly trying to prove their prior claims that Republicans conspired or assisted “insurrectionists,” even though the FBI reportedly found no evidence of a planned insurrection.
The Democrats' move to
Washington, - U.S. President Joe Biden and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani spoke by phone July 23. Here are excerpts from that call, based on a transcript and recording reviewed by Reuters:
BIDEN: Mr. President. Joe Biden.
GHANI: Of course, Mr. President, such a pleasure to hear your voice.
BIDEN: You know, I am a moment late. But I mean it sincerely. Hey look, I want to make it clear that I am not a military man any more than you are, but I have been meeting with our Pentagon folks, and our national security people,
The GOP-dominated Texas legislature voted Tuesday to pass its elections-reform bill after the state’s Democrats protested and obstructed the measure for weeks, going so far as to walk out of a special session to prevent it from advancing.
The legislation now goes to the desk of Republican governor Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign the bill after lobbying for it for many months.
While state Democrats have attacked the bill as a voter-suppression measure, state Republicans have insisted it will promote transparency, security, and integrity in Texas elections.
Its provisions include rolling back drive-through and 24-hour voting, requiring voters to authenticate their identity on absentee ballots
Elected Republicans demanding President Biden’s resignation swelled to 38 on Tuesday with cries that Vice President Kamala Harris might be a better option.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) demanded Biden’s resignation for manufacturing the Afghan “nightmare” evacuation, so the nation could begin to heal and “unite” our nation. Higgins also noted Harris may be a better choice for president. “You put her in office, let’s see what she’s got,” Forbes reported Higgins said.
President Joe Biden received praise from an unlikely source on Tuesday: Ann Coulter.
Biden had just concluded his address to the nation on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending a war that had lasted 20 years. The president has been criticized for failing to anticipate the rapid crumbling of Afghan security forces in the face of the Taliban’s advance.
That caused a chaotic scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where the U.S. military hurried to evacuate more than 123,000 Americans and Afghans despite being surrounded by the Taliban and ISIS-K.
September 2008 and the photo shows US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Vice President Joe Biden and the new Secretary of State John Kerry smiling after they were rescued in a snowstorm behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. (Infoknomon Politics)Joe Biden left the interpreter who rescued him in 2008 stranded in Afghanistan this week.
The Daily Mail reported: The Afghan interpreter who helped rescue President Biden from a remote Afghan valley in 2008 has been left behind after the last US evacuation flight took off on Monday,
A top Afghan female cop is on the run after suffering a 'brutal beating' from the Taliban in the latest evidence that the Islamists' harsh rule has returned.Gulafroz Ebtekar, believed to be 34, was a deputy head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan's Interior Ministry and is seen as a role model for Afghan women with a notable media presence. She was singled out by the Taliban as a target at the gates outside Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul, where she spent five nights attempting to secure a place on an evacuation flight.
President Donald Trump left 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. But when Joe Biden came in, he was barred from using money from the Department of Defense budget to reduce the number below 2,000 by federal statute, “without first briefing Congress about the expected impact on U.S. counterterrorism operations and the risk to American personnel” and providing a detailed report, according to the Free Beacon.He was required to report on ISIS, the Taliban, al Qaeda, the risk for the expansion of terrorism, and the capacity of the Afghan security forces to deal with them all.
A day after the U.S. officially pulled out of Afghanistan, and less than a week after a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. Service Members, Rep. Carlos Gimenez has just tweeted that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) has blocked the names of those dead servicemen and women from being read on the floor of the House of Representatives. Rep. Brian Mast (R), a wounded combat veteran from Afghanistan, tells The Floridian that during a Republican-only “moment of silence,” Speaker Pelosi refused to recognize them to” read names or bring up bills or anything.”
Manhattan—Two people are accused of selling and registering about 250 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in New York, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Tuesday. Jasmine Clifford, 31, is accused of selling 250 forged vaccination cards through her Instagram account, @AntiVaxMomma, and worked with Nadayza Barkley, 27, who fraudulently entered at least 10 people into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) database, according to the district attorney. Both Clifford and Barkley are charged with offering a false instrument for filing and conspiracy.(Snip)
Clifford began to advertise fake vaccination cards on her Instagram account around May 2021, charging $200 for each card, according to court documents.For another $250,
In the latest example of the complete lack of vetting in the ongoing evacuation of alleged Afghan refugees, a man who was previously deported after being convicted of rape returned to the United States on one of the last Afghan evacuation flights, the Daily Caller reports.
The criminal in question is 47-year-old Ghader Heydari, who is currently on parole as a result of his conviction. He had boarded an Ethiopian flight that was meant to take evacuees, but was detained after arriving at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. (snip), his return to the country marks yet another failure in the chaotic evacuation process that appears to have little to
Angry Joe Biden Refuses to Admit Mistakes
or Accept Accountability in Disastrous
Afghanistan Exit replies
or Accept Accountability in Disastrous
Afghanistan Exit replies
A defiant President Joe Biden defended his tumultuous exit from Afghanistan on Tuesday, refusing to admit mistakes or accept blame for lives lost or Americans left behind.
“Some say that the evacuation from Afghanistan could have been started sooner and completed in a more orderly fashion,” Biden said. “I respectfully disagree.”
Biden began by describing the military evacuation as a success, defying critics of his rushed exit from the country after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15.
President Biden on Tuesday addressed the nation on what his handlers billed as “Remarks on Ending the War in Afghanistan.” Biden, who was careful to read the words someone else wrote for him and uploaded to the teleprompter, celebrated the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan as a huge success, touting the number of Americans airlifted out of the country and claiming that only a handful remain. His tone was almost jubilant as he defended the decisions of his administration while claiming that everyone from the military brass to the State Department was in full agreement about the botched withdrawal.
Watch reporter hit Psaki with quote from
sister of slain Marine: ‘You
can’t F up as bad as he did…’ replies
sister of slain Marine: ‘You
can’t F up as bad as he did…’ replies
A reporter for the Washington Post used a viral quote highly critical of President Joe Biden from the sister of a Marine who was killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing attack at the international airport in Kabul to ask White House press secretary Jen Psaki a question during her Monday briefing.During the brief, which began with an update on the administration’s response to Hurricane Ida, which made landfall over the weekend in Louisiana, Psaki was also asked about Biden’s interactions with the families of the 13 U.S. military personnel who were killed in the attack, noting at one point she was “not going to speak to private conversations between the president
The establishment media published positive headlines after President Joe Biden fully withdrew from Afghanistan on Monday, leaving billions of dollars worth of abandoned military equipment and up to 200 stranded American citizens in the country.“Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war,” the Associated Press’ (AP) upbeat headline read Tuesday.“Hours before President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline for shutting down a final airlift, and thus ending the U.S. war, Air Force transport planes carried a remaining contingent of troops from Kabul airport late Monday,” the AP wrote
House Republicans are holding President Biden accountable for stranding up to 200 or more Americans while abandoning U.S. military equipment in Afghanistan.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) held a press conference to announce that House Democrats blocked a vote to “require” Biden to recover the military gear and Americans.“Democrats just blocked a vote to require a plan from President Biden to bring Americans home and to account for all the military equipment he left behind,” McCarthy tweeted. “Republicans will not stop until every American is home safely.”
After nearly 20 years of war, the last of America’s troops made a frantic final exit out of Afghanistan on Monday, capping the US’s deadly and botched withdrawal from the strife-torn country.The past two weeks have been filled with scenes of bloodshed and chaos as tens of thousands of US citizens and Afghans fled the Taliban-controlled nation ahead of President Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline.The mass evacuations brought an end to the 19 years and 47 weeks that US troops have been stationed in Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
Joe Biden has told a lot of stories over the years, most designed to puff himself up, and some of them with very little relationship to reality.
But there’s one story that he tells that does have some relationship to reality — that’s the story of having to land in a helicopter in the woods of Afghanistan in 2008. He often told the story to add to his alleged foreign policy credentials when he was running for office.
From WaPo:
“If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where [Osama] bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me,”
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the US troop withdrawal from Kabul that left 13 service members dead was an 'extraordinary success' and blamed Donald Trump and local soldiers for the mess in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover. A defiant Biden said the operation couldn't have been done in a 'more orderly manner' and 'respectfully disagreed' with critics who believed who should have started the evacuation sooner.The president also hailed the 120,000 people they have gotten to safety in 'one of the biggest airlifts in history', vowed to keep working to get Afghan allies out and said the State Department had reached out to stranded Americans
Angry Joe Biden Refuses to Admit Mistakes
or Accept Accountability in Disastrous
Afghanistan Exit replies
or Accept Accountability in Disastrous
Afghanistan Exit replies
A defiant President Joe Biden defended his tumultuous exit from Afghanistan on Tuesday, refusing to admit mistakes or accept blame for lives lost or Americans left behind.
“Some say that the evacuation from Afghanistan could have been started sooner and completed in a more orderly fashion,” Biden said. “I respectfully disagree.”
Biden began by describing the military evacuation as a success, defying critics of his rushed exit from the country after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15. “The extraordinary success of this mission
President Biden declared the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a success in a defiant speech on Tuesday, even as hundreds of Americans were left behind in the country after the last U.S. troops flew out of the Kabul airport.
“The bottom line: 90 percent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave,” Biden said. “For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.”
Biden said that over 5,500 Americans who wanted to leave were evacuated from Afghanistan, along with thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the two-decade war.
The withdrawal was marred by chaotic scenes
The United States officially ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan. Now, President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats are racing to put the conflict’s tumultuous exit behind them.
Consumed with combating the most intensive crisis of Biden’s presidency over the last few weeks, White House officials are plotting a way forward that hinges tactically on Biden’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and passage of his sweeping economic agenda on Capitol Hill.
The cold political calculation is based on a belief inside the White House that Americans by and large will ultimately process the withdrawal from Afghanistan as a necessary, albeit difficult, act, even if they harbor lingering doubts about its execution.
A defiant President Joe Biden called the Afghanistan evacuation effort a “success” on Tuesday, in a speech that marked the end of the United States’ 20-year engagement in the country.
“As we close 20 years of war and strife and pain and sacrifice, it’s time to look at the future, not the past,” Biden said. “I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America.”
His speech came almost exactly 24 hours after Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, announced that the last military flights out of Afghanistan had departed Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The Eternal Jihad
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Although August 15, 2021, will forever live in infamy as the date the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan, for over 13 centuries that date was famous for another event -- Constantinople’s defeat of the caliphate, August 15, 718. While these two events separated by exactly 1,303 years are vastly different in nature -- not least that in 718 Islam lost, while in 2021 it won -- they both confirm one irresistible point that the confident West should take to heart: the tenacity of Islamic jihad -- this relentless snake of war that always bides its time, even if by remaining coiled for many centuries, before striking.
President Joe Biden will address the nation following the US withdrawal from a 20-year war in Afghanistan, after the last American troops departed from Kabul on Monday night. The nation’s longest war – in which nearly 50,000 Afghan civilians, 2,500 US service members, and thousands of Afghan military, police and Taliban fighters were killed – “has ended,” the president said in a statement on 30 August.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday acknowledged that Americans were stranded in Afghanistan despite earlier comments to the contrary made by White House officials. He said it’s not clear how many remain.
“Right now I think the tools we have available to us and that we’re going to use as a U.S. government is going to be more in the diplomatic, economic lanes, and we don’t really see a military role right now,” Kirby told MSNBC on Tuesday morning when asked if the U.S. military would play a role in rescuing those individuals.
When asked about whether the State Department could help evacuate Americans from the country amid Taliban terrorist rule,
Rep. Madison Cawthorn on Sunday warned there will be "bloodshed" if the "rigged" electoral system suffers from fraud in the future, despite officials' assurances that U.S. elections are secure.
The freshman Republican lawmaker from North Carolina , who attended former President Donald Trump 's "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6 before rioters breached the U.S. Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 victory, suggested armed conflict could result if elections, which experts insist are not susceptible to fraud, continue to be "stolen."
A Nevada school board member said he had thoughts of suicide before stepping down amid threats and harassment. In Virginia, a board member resigned over what she saw as politics driving decisions on masks. The vitriol at board meetings in Wisconsin had one member fearing he would find his tires slashed. School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, traditionally former educators and parents who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget. But a growing number are resigning or questioning their willingness to serve as meetings have devolved into shouting contests between deeply political constituencies
Two high-ranking officials who oversee vaccines for the Food and Drug Administration have decided to retire this fall, raising concerns about continuity during a pandemic and an ongoing intra-government debate over COVID-19 booster shots. Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review, plans to depart on Oct. 31 and Deputy Director Philip Krause will leave in November, according to an agency letter from Peter Marks, chief of the FDA‘s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.(Snip)But the high-level departures are sure to raise questions about the agency and possible tensions over the government’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy. President Biden hasn’t nominated
A group of Democrats is urging Homeland Security to cancel the fees that normally would have been charged for Afghans who are being evacuated to the U.S., saying they are worried the need to pay will hold up some applications and cost some would-be migrants their lives. Rep. Jim Himes, who is leading the push, said they don’t want to see corners cut on the security side.
“But charging a filing fee that holds up the entire process and potentially costs refugees their lives doesn’t make Americans any safer,” he said. “It’s exactly the type of red tape we need to cut through if we’re serious about saving
Horrifying audio of distant gunshots appears to confirm reports of "house-to-house executions" as the Taliban asserts control of Kabul and Afghanistan after the U.S. military's departure on Monday evening.
An Afghan man who worked with Americans on the ground provided Fox News with the chilling audio featuring distant gunshots.
"I think there's a conflict between the Taliban, I have no idea where I'm located. From everywhere I hear the sounds of shooting, gunfire. I have no idea how to leave," the Afghan man said in the audio clip, recorded around the time the final U.S. plane left Kabul.
An 8-year-old girl was fatally shot in the stands at a high school football game in Pennsylvania, authorities said. Fanta Bility, of Sharon Hill, died at a hospital after being blasted in the chest late Friday as she stood in the stands with her mother and 12-year-old sister as the game between Academy Park and Pennsbury high schools ended, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Two other juveniles, including Fanta’s sister, were also reportedly wounded. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer called on the public Monday to identify the gunman who opened fire at the game, sending players and fans running for cover, the Inquirer reported Sunday.
Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon’s daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
Speaking from a secure video conference room on the third floor of the Pentagon at 8 a.m. Wednesday — or 4:30 p.m. in Kabul — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed more than a dozen of the department’s top leaders around the world to make preparations for an imminent “mass casualty event,” according to classified detailed notes of the gathering shared with POLITICO.
During the meeting, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of “significant” intelligence indicating
The withdrawal of the final U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Monday marks the end of the U.S. military's 20-year mission in Afghanistan.
But for President Joe Biden, the end of the "forever war" is more of an inflection point than an actual conclusion. The departure of forces kicks off a new phase of the United States's entanglement in Afghanistan that could also prove perilous - and no less challenging for American leadership than the previous two decades.Biden and his team now have to grapple with deep skepticism over whether the Taliban, which now rules Afghanistan, will keep its promises for a peaceful transition.
Joe Concha has an op-ed over at The Hill this week where he seeks to answer a question that Karen Townsend asks here on a regular basis. Where’s Kamala? You still see the occasional video clip of her fending off reporters or being dispatched on some presumably important business to Central America or Asia, with the occasional, uncomfortable moment where she laughs at serious questions. But aside from that, we just don’t see much of her. Concha makes the argument that none of this is happening by accident.
An American woman, and former military interpreter, remains trapped in Afghanistan after the last US flight departed. The US citizen, who goes under the pseudonym Sara, spoke to CNN’s Chris Cuomo from Kabul on Monday night, outlining how she attempted to get to US checkpoints but was tear-gassed. Sara wanted to get as many people out of the country before she fled herself. “I just can’t believe no one told me that this was the last flight,” she said to Cuomo. (Snip) As they were approaching the airport, Sara “started shouting, ‘I’m an American, please open the gate I’m here
Facebook temporarily deleted the Instagram account of the mother of one of the Marines killed in Afghanistan by an ISIS bomb last week after she publicly blamed President Biden his death and the deaths of the other servicemembers killed. Shana Chapell is the mother of Kareem Nikoui, 20, who was killed in the ISIS bomb attack at Kabul airport on August 26.(Snip)Ms. Chapell says Biden 'rolled his eyes' then walked away from her, putting his 'hands in the air' as she told him she had blood on his hands. 'You tried to interrupt me and give me your own sob story…
Monday on FNC’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson pointed out the contradiction from the pro-gun control Biden administration, which in its withdrawal from Afghanistan left behind nearly $90 billion in military equipment and by doing so, armed the Taliban. Carlson insisted the Biden administration should disarm the Taliban before tried to disarm its own people. Transcript as follows: CARLSON: So on its way out of Afghanistan, the Biden administration left behind an awful lot of Americans but also nearly $90 billion in military equipment. How much is that? Well, only two countries on the planet have a military budget larger, China and the United States.
Considering how much journalists claim to despise falsehoods they continue telling a big lie of their own.
With so much strife going on in the world — Afghanistan, a major hurricane, the pandemic, still no host for ‘Jeopardy’ — many are unaware that Washington D.C. is paralyzed in fear and in near shutdown over the promise of impending calamity. That is, based at least on this CNN headline: Renewed fears of political violence grip Capitol Hill ahead of right-wing rally.
I might beg for a small dose of clarity here as I take exception with CNN on one detail; it may not be so much a case
Tuesday, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan did not rule out providing aid to the Taliban following the United States’ withdrawal out of Afghanistan.
Sullivan told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that giving aid to the Taliban “will be about whether the terrorist organization follows through on its commitments,” including safe passage for Americans and Afghan allies.
“[F]irst of all, we do believe that there is an important dimension of humanitarian assistance that should go directly to the people of Afghanistan,” Sullivan outlined. “They need help with respect to health and food aid and other forms of subsistence, and we do intend to continue that. Secondly, when it comes to our economic
The White House is running out of people to blame for the botched exit out of Afghanistan, and some news networks aren’t letting them off the hook. ABC continued to hold the Biden administration’s feet to the fire on Tuesday's Good Morning America, with George Stephanopoulos confronting National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the President’s failed promise to make sure all Americans were out of Aghanistan.
Leading into the interview, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz called out the President for saying no American would be left behind. “Just under two weeks ago, President Biden sitting down with George saying he would not leave any American citizens behind,”
President Joe Biden address the nation on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan at 1.30pm on Tuesday, the White House announced in a statement late on Monday evening.The Pentagon announced Monday the last American troops had left Kabul airport almost 24 hours ahead of schedule, ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan after 20 years and the deaths of almost 2,500 troops.Witnesses in Kabul said the Taliban let off celebratory gunfire as news circulated that the final U.S. flight had left.Biden had stuck to his August 31st deadline despite pressure from some members of his own Democratic Party, many Republicans and several fellow world leaders.
Some family members of the 13 fallen U.S. service members lashed out at President Joe Biden during the Sunday dignified transfer of their remains, a Tuesday report details.Mark Schmitz, the father of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, told The Washington Post that a sister of a fallen troop yelled at the president after receiving the remains on Sunday: 'I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!''I can't fault her for it,' Schmitz told the Post. 'We all lost somebody.'Schmitz said that he showed a picture of his son to Biden
Instagram has reportedly backtracked after it deleted the account of Shana Chappell, the grieving mother of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, who was killed in Afghanistan last week.
Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui was killed in the recent Kabul attack.
Chappell posted that she felt President Joe Biden was disrespectful when they met after the death of her son. She added that she told the president that her son’s blood was “on [his] hands,” according to Reclaim The Net.
Chappell reportedly posted on Facebook that her Instagram account had been deleted, and her Facebook account was subsequently restricted.
Pentagon Press Secretary Excuses Abandonment
of Civilians, Military Equipment
in Afghanistan replies
of Civilians, Military Equipment
in Afghanistan replies
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby is making the rounds — and headlines — on Tuesday’s morning news shows.
On Fox News, Kirby explained away the equipment the U.S. military left in the hands of the Taliban by admitting that “while there’s certainly a lethality component to it, it doesn’t pose a threat to the United States, it doesn’t pose a threat to neighboring nations.” On Monday, America’s 20-year conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan ended when the last U.S. troops exited the country less than two weeks before the anniversary of September 11, 2001, a day made possible by the Taliban’s sheltering of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
House Republicans urged Democrats on Tuesday to postpone consideration of President Biden’s $3.5 trillion expansion of America’s social safety net, arguing that Congress instead should address the nation’s mounting foreign and domestic woes. Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Democratic leaders were putting the spending package above the interests of the country. Mr. Westerman made the argument in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. “America is facing crises both at home and abroad, yet Congress is nowhere to be found,” Mr. Westerman wrote.
The Taliban held mock funerals for American, British, French and NATO forces today as thousands turned out on the streets of major cities to celebrate the end of the west's 20-year war.
Coffins draped with the US, UK and French flags as well as NATO's insignia were paraded through the streets of Khost by crowds flying the Taliban's emblem - just two weeks after anti-Taliban protests in the same city.
In Kandahar - a traditional stronghold of the Islamists - thousands also turned out waving white Taliban flags to celebrate what the group is referring to as its 'independence day', hours after the final American troops boarded an evacuation flight
Shana Chappell is the mother of slain US Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui. Lance Cpl. Nikoui was killed last week when a suicide bomber was allowed into the inner perimeter of the Kabul Airport and blew himself up killing 13 American servicemen and women and over 100 Afghans.Shana Chappell not only lost her Marine son she had her Instagram account deleted after she posted a photo and tribute message to her dead son.** Here is the post that got her Instagram account disabled.
A judge in Ohio ordered a hospital to treat a Covid-19 patient with ivermectin, despite warnings from experts that the anti-parasitic drug has not proved effective against the virus and can be dangerous in large doses. Gregory Howard, a judge in Butler county, outside Cincinnati, ordered doctors at West Chester hospital to administer ivermectin to Jeffrey Smith, 51, who contracted Covid-19 in July and was transferred to intensive care.
“My husband is on death’s doorstep,” Julie Smith wrote in court documents. “He has no other options.” A doctor outside the hospital was willing to prescribe the drug but the hospital refused to administer it.
A poll released Tuesday shows President Joe Biden continues to suffer low approval ratings after his disastrous exit from Afghanistan.Morning Consult reports that 48 percent of voters approve of Biden’s job performance while 49 percent disapprove.That marks a seven-point drop in Biden’s net approval rating in two weeks since Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban earlier this month. (Snip) The latest poll was conducted Aug. 27-29 among 15,623 registered U.S. voters.Biden’s net approval rating has fallen six points among independents, the poll shows, a drop in line with other polling released over the past 48-hours as the president comes under attack from all sides.
An animal rights group has slammed the Biden administration after the US military allegedly left its contract dogs behind in Afghanistan before pulling out of Kabul.“I am devastated by reports that the American government is pulling out of Kabul and leaving behind brave U.S. military contract working dogs to be tortured and killed at the hand of our enemies,” American Humane president and CEO Robin Ganzert said in a statement.“These brave dogs do the same dangerous, lifesaving work as our military working dogs, and deserved a far better fate than the one to which they have been condemned,” she wrote.
Lawmakers Demand Pelosi Begin Biden Impeachment
‘Immediately’ After
Americans Left in Afghanistan replies
‘Immediately’ After
Americans Left in Afghanistan replies
Several lawmakers have written a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that the California Democrat “immediately” begin impeachment proceedings against President Joe Biden after his administration stranded “hundreds” of Americans in Afghanistan.“The American people must have full confidence in their Commander in Chief’s judgment and ability to protect our country and respond decisively to national security threats,” said the letter from Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Yvette Herrell, R-N.M.“We have no confidence in President Joseph R. Biden’s ability to carry out his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces,” they added.
My Parents Were Brutal Dictators Who Controlled
TV Time Like the Video
Censors in Today's China replies
TV Time Like the Video
Censors in Today's China replies
My unelected parents dictated the rules of my youthful world like China’s Communists, if I had known anything about those people in that faraway place who were fighting a revolution there at the very same time in the 1940s.
We had clear one-party rule in our house — two members of the National League of Parental Unity (NLPU) and me, a one-person proletariat. Its self-appointed ruling presidium of two actually and ruthlessly restricted and even censored my TV screen time with firm, non-negotiable limits. Like China’s Communist Party just did for all video-game players among the younger folks in that country’s 1.4 billion population
Chicago - On Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools bus drivers and riders will load up bright and early for day two of the 2021-2022 school year – and both groups hope it goes much more smoothly than it did on Monday. A massive bus driver shortage is creating confusion and stress for parents. (Snip)The district said the rush of resignations was likely driven by COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Families impacted by the loss of school bus service will receive $1,000 for the first two weeks, and $500 in following months to offset some of the costs. “It’s chaos,” Ms. Lewis said. “It’s utter chaos.”
Two photographs, taken 76 years apart — within the lifetime of many — drive home the change our country has taken in that short span of time. First, the famous photo of the Japanese surrender on the deck of United States Ship Missouri on September 2, 1945. Then, the photograph of the catastrophic exit from the war in Afghanistan, where scores of human beings grasp a Air Force Globemaster as it races to escape Kabul.
Like most people in the developed world, Kirsten Gjesdal had long taken for granted her ability to order whatever she needs and then watch the goods arrive, without any thought about the factories, container ships and trucks involved in delivery. Not anymore. At her kitchen supply store in Brookings, South Dakota, Gjesdal has given up stocking place mats, having wearied of telling customers that she can only guess when more will come. She recently received a pot lid she had purchased eight months earlier. She has grown accustomed to paying surcharges to cover the soaring shipping costs of the goods she buys. She has already placed orders for Christmas items
Horrifying audio of distant gunshots appears to confirm reports of "house-to-house executions" as the Taliban asserts control of Kabul and Afghanistan after the U.S. military's departure on Monday evening. An Afghan man who worked with Americans on the ground provided Fox News with the chilling audio featuring distant gunshots.
"I think there's a conflict between the Taliban, I have no idea where I'm located. From everywhere I hear the sounds of shooting, gunfire. I have no idea how to leave," the Afghan man said in the audio clip, recorded around the time the final U.S. plane left Kabul.
Distant gunshots rang in the background in the audio clip.
SLIDELL, La. — A Slidell man was attacked by an alligator during Hurricane Ida and hasn't been seen since. According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's office, a 71-year-old man was in his shed on Avery Drive when his wife said she heard a commotion. Their shed is located near Lake Pontchartrain and reportedly had several feet of water inside of it due to Hurricane Ida's storm surge. Deputies said the woman saw her husband being attacked by an alligator. She pulled him away from the gator before running to call for help. (Tweet) Due to the high waters and Hurricane
With last troops out of Afghanistan, House
GOP plans 'accountability' for
Biden administration replies
GOP plans 'accountability' for
Biden administration replies
With U.S. troops fully out of Afghanistan by President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline, House Republicans who opposed the withdrawal date are full of rage — and planning a variety of legislative tactics to get a better understanding of the situation.
GOP lawmakers say they want to hold the administration accountable for failures in the withdrawal’s execution that left 13 U.S. service members dead and hundreds of Americans still in the country.
Having SARS-CoV-2 once confers much greater
immunity than a vaccine—but
vaccination remains vital replies
immunity than a vaccine—but
vaccination remains vital replies
The natural immune protection that develops after a SARS-CoV-2 infection offers considerably more of a shield against the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a large Israeli study that some scientists wish came with a “Don’t try this at home” label. The newly released data show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than never-infected, vaccinated
Despite the public expectation that the war in Afghanistan is over, it may only be changing form. Even before his retreat from Kabul turned into a shambles, Joe Biden was preparing to pivot to the strategy of waging low-intensity warfare from “over the horizon”. NPR wrote in May 2021: “Right now, ‘over the horizon’ is more a fuzzy concept than a polished military plan.” The Biden plan — before it fell apart — was to use air assets like drones to supplement the now-defunct Afghan air force with intelligence-driven precision strikes.
The father of a US Marine who was killed in the Kabul airport attack last week said he challenged President Joe Biden to "learn the stories" of the victims at the ceremony where the remains of service members were returned to the US. (Snip) Schmitz said that Biden spoke of losing his son, Beau Biden, an Iraq veteran, to cancer, six years ago. But Schmitz said he wanted to talk about Jared instead, and he and his wife took out a photo of their son to show the president. "I said, 'Don't you ever forget that name. Don't you ever
Fathers of Marines killed in Kabul blast
rip Biden: 'He talked more about
his son than my son' replies
rip Biden: 'He talked more about
his son than my son' replies
Two Gold Star fathers of U.S. Marines killed in an ISIS-K-linked blast in Kabul amid President Joe Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal lambasted the commander in chief for acting selfish in their interactions. Mark Schmitz, father of Missouri Marine Jared Schmitz, and Darin Hoover, father of Utah Marine Darin Taylor Hoover Jr. discussed their tragic and terrible losses in an interview with "Hannity" on Monday.
Schmitz elected to meet with Biden, while Hoover told host Sean Hannity he "didn't want [Biden] anywhere near us."
Schmitz said their meeting, however, was not pleasant, adding that the president reportedly spoke more about his own
I ask this question for two reasons:
I have seen enough videos and read about enough officer-civilian interactions to know that the act of subduing a lethal threat requires several rounds.
If an intruder entered my home and threatened my wife and child, I would shoot until I was able to ensure the target was immobilized.
As to the first statement, there are plenty of examples of police officers firing multiple shots at a suspected threat. In the past year, the American public has been thoroughly able to parse through the shootings of criminals like Breonna Taylor and Antonio Brown, to name just two examples.
On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) stated that the drone strike against ISIS-K isn’t going to stop further attacks and warned that ISIS-K will end up in possession of U.S. military equipment and use it in “a much more lethal and dangerous way than the Taliban would ever use it.”
Bank stated, “We would be naïve to believe that this one drone strike on an ISIS planner — which, by the way, was successful, and I’m glad he was killed — is going to stop more attacks like what we saw this week.
A private airplane that was flying into Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, Afghanistan to rescue stranded American citizens and Afghan allies allegedly was told to turn back or they would be shot down.
In the past 24 hours, American officials in charge of giving clearance at the airport told fellow Americans they would be fired upon if they didn’t leave, Mary Beth Long, a former Department of Defense official, told American Greatness in an exclusive interview. (Snip)
Some American citizens, she said, have made the perilous journey to HKIA four times, only to be turned away at the gates each time. As a result of the Biden Administration’s
We have been constantly told for what seems like as long as we can remember that Antarctica is shrinking because man’s carbon dioxide emissions are overheating our planet. While fearmongering has made its way around the world countless times, the truth is still pulling on its boots.
So what is the truth? It’s quite straightforward: Antarctic sea ice has been growing.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the continent’s annual maximum sea ice has grown for three straight years. The annual mean is increasing,
The case for impeachment
replies
In the past half-century, two Presidents have been impeached, and one resigned on the verge of impeachment. It may now be Joe Biden’s turn.
Article II of the U.S. Constitution requires the President to take an oath to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,” and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The Vice President takes a similar oath, promising to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Article II also obligates the President to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” These include the immigration laws. Article IV requires the federal government to protect every state against invasion.
In all the discussions of vaccines to get immunity (of a sort) from COVID, there is a big blind spot surrounding natural immunity. Studies have shown that natural immunity, the kind one gets from surviving a bout of the actual disease, is superior to the immunity the vaccines may create. The obvious question is “Why are they ignoring natural immunity?” but for some reason, the question is not directly answered. I have a few theories.
For a while, there was no easy way to test for natural immunity. When those tests came out, I found that I had to travel 100 miles to get one
It's the end of August, and all over the United States, children are heading back to school. While some parents went to homeschooling during the lockdown and are continuing to educate at home, most are thrilled to see their children return to schools outside the home. Over the past year and a half, parents were forced to stay at home while their children went to Zoom school, an unmitigated disaster that resulted in far too many children losing a year and a half of their education. As excited as children are to go back to school,
In National Review Saturday morning, the great and the good are affirming their “long-held doubts about Biden’s ability.” (snip) I guess you could say that this is progress. Up till now, the only thing the “ruling clique” cared about was that Trump is a Problem. Otherwise everything was copacetic, except that we had only 12 years to save the planet.
As for the rest of the ruling class, the credentialed and educated liberals everywhere from tech to think tanks to universities to media to NGOs and the nice liberal ladies and their virtue-signaling #WeBelieve yardsigns? They don’t have a clue; not yet.
We’ve written about Biden checking his watch while he was at Dover AFB yesterday watching the transfer of those who died in Kabul from the airplane to the hearses (snip) Marine Lance Corporation Rylee McCollum was one of those who died. (snip) his wife, Jiennah went to meet with Biden. (snip) Roice [McCollum’s sister] said. The president brought up his son, Beau, according to her account, describing his son’s military service and subsequent death from cancer. It struck the family as scripted and shallow, a conversation that lasted only a couple of minutes in ‘total disregard to the loss of our Marine,’ Roice said.
With the final military planes off the tarmac and out of Afghan airspace, the Biden administration was desperate to try to paint their deadly disaster as some sort of success. Each of the press secretaries and top officials at the White House, State Department, and Pentagon parroted the same talking point that it was the largest airlift in U.S. history. But CBS News popped their bubble Monday as they pointed out how the “hundreds” of Americans they abandoned in the terrorist haven would beg to differ.
During their Special Report break-in for the Pentagon press conference with U.S. CENTCOM General Kenneth McKenzie, senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe seemed taken aback
Americans were left outraged Monday after the Biden administration completely pulled out of Afghanistan and left behind some 250 American citizens to be hostages and targets of the Taliban. And in their infinite wisdom, officials anticipated that the Taliban would be kept busy fighting ISIS-K. But in a Special Report and on World News Tonight, ABC News warned viewers that Americans were abandoned in what was sure to become a safe haven for radical Islamic terrorism.
NBC didn’t pull any punches Monday when it came to slamming the Biden administration following the announcement that the final U.S. plane had left Afghanistan, officially ending the war, and leaving behind roughly 250 Americans. Over the course of their Special Report and NBC Nightly News, foreign correspondent Richard Engel and fellow NBC liberals gave a remarkable amount of historical context, criticism of the Biden administration, and skepticism about the future of Afghanistan not harboring terrorism.
NBC Nightly News Sunday anchor Kate Snow went first, tossing to Engel by noting that “[t]his date — August 31, 2021 — will go down in history books
Say, remember when Joe Biden assured us that al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan? Ten days later, the security chief for Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora returned to his home province in Nangarhar, amid adulation — and Taliban protection. Amin ul-Haq even flashed a thumbs-up to his admirers out an open window as Taliban troops waved his car through a checkpoint.
Something tells me that the Taliban might not be the strategic partners against international terrorism that the Biden administration suggests:
Video of Kabul Post-Withdrawal: House
Executions, Taliban with American
Gear, Celebratory Gunfire replies
Executions, Taliban with American
Gear, Celebratory Gunfire replies
After nearly 20 years of U.S. control, Afghanistan officially fell into the hands of the Taliban on Tuesday when the last American plane departed from the airport in Kabul, leaving hundreds if not thousands of Americans and Afghan allies stranded. In the intervening hours, video has poured out across the Internet illustrating what the nation has become.
From reports of house-to-house executions to footage of Taliban fighters storming the Kabul airport with American uniforms to video of celebratory gunfire throughout the city streets, Afghanistan has quickly transformed
Rarely has one image more perfectly captured the moment — and totality — of a man’s presidency.
Befuddled by time, disoriented by a riot of terrible decisions, and confused by the demand for answers, President Joe Biden stood in the East Room of the White House, clutched his binder to his chest, and folded before the American people. Almost weeping, he pressed his face into his hands and closed his eyes.
Just moments earlier, he was mumbling in grief about his dead son. It had nothing to do with the matter at hand.
President Joe Biden ordered a hasty, chaotic, and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving hundreds of Americans stranded there on August 31. Ironically, Biden had promised — repeatedly — to leave “no one behind” there, or anywhere.
Biden broke a specific promise not to leave Afghanistan until all Americans had been rescued: But that’s only the beginning.
The tagline — leave “nobody behind” or “no one behind” — has been a part of Biden’s stump speech since at least the 2019-2020 Democratic presidential primary. He has used it in several speeches, including his speech to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and he has tweeted it frequently from his official account.
Despite Biden’s promise to get every American who “wants to leave” out of Afghanistan, hundreds of Americans remain stranded and are at the mercy of the Taliban.
The last United States evacuation plane left Kabul airport at 11:59 p.m. Afghanistan time, 3:59 p.m. EST.
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Monday evening that the last of the U.S. military personnel stationed at the Kabul airport had left, completing the military’s drawdown and evacuation of Afghanistan, even though hundreds of Americans likely remain.
McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said some American citizens who wanted to leave Afghanistan remain in the country. “We did not get everybody out
'Hostage Video': Fox News' Jen Griffin
Shocked at Blinken's Videotaped
Afghanistan Withdrawal Speech replies
Shocked at Blinken's Videotaped
Afghanistan Withdrawal Speech replies
As the last United States planes departed Afghanistan Monday, myriad questions remained. Many Americans were unable to get to Kabul airport, making Joe Biden the first U.S. president in memory to leave American citizens behind enemy lines, despite saying it would not happen.
Embattled Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the stage for an early evening address and said he could not determine how many Americans remain in Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the speech was pre-taped, but his mannerisms and eye contact were awkward. Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin said Blinken appeared to be in a hostage video.
“I thought that the secretary of state’s statement, which was videotaped
Taking after Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally showed up two hours late and spoke about the U.S. leaving Afghanistan after twenty years today.
He spoke about how they were now going to be setting up diplomatic operations in Doha, Qatar rather than Kabul. He claimed a new “diplomatic mission” had begun.
Blinken then claimed a new international consensus and the U.S. would hold the Taliban accountable to allow freedom of movement for people to leave. We didn’t even do that by the airport for Americans when we had troops there when they were right outside the gates. How are we going to guarantee anything without troops there?
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on August 19, Joe Biden said the U.S. would stay in Afghanistan until every American who wants to get out is out. As of now, the U.S. is out of Afghanistan, but our government concedes that some Americans are still trapped in that chaotic Taliban-ruled country. Moreover, our government does not intend to use the military to get these Americans out.
Let’s break this down. General McKenzie, Commander of CENTCOM, said today:
I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans.
General Motors will keep its Orion Assembly plant idled and not start repairs on the nearly 141,000 recalled Chevrolet Bolts EVs and EUVs until it is confident its supplier can make a defect-free EV battery that does not pose a potential fire risk. And right now, GM does not believe its battery-maker, LG Chem, can do that. GM and LG Chem have "hundreds of people" working around the clock, seven days a week, to find the cause of the defective battery modules connected to some Bolts catching fire without impact, said GM spokesman Dan Flores.
Billions of pounds of new road taxes are needed to plug the tax shortfall set to be created by the switch to electric cars, a new report warns today.
The study, by the think-tank led by Tony Blair, argues that ‘road pricing’ is needed to replace the more than £30billion in revenue generated annually from motoring taxes. This would see drivers pay per mile or per minute for the amount of distance or time spent on the roads. The report, by the Tony Blair Institute For Global Change, urges ministers to reveal how they plan to replace current motoring taxes within a year, warning it may become ‘politically impossible’