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Archive for August, 2021

‘A massive success’: 47 rescued, 102 arrested in human trafficking investigation across 12 states


Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Monday, August 30, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/102-arrested-in-human-trafficking-investigation-across-12-states.html/

Eric Schmitt
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt gives remarks on Operation United Front, a joint state and federal anti-human trafficking operation, in a video uploaded to YouTube on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. | Screenshot: YouTube/Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt

A major human trafficking law enforcement operation has resulted in the rescue of 47 people who were trafficked and the arrest of 102 individuals across 12 states. Two of the victims rescued are minors. 

Known as “Operation United Front,” the endeavor was led by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol and included the participation of law enforcers from the federal government and other states. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement released last Friday that his office’s anti-human trafficking task force is “a national leader for our efforts to investigate and eradicate human trafficking in Missouri.”

“Through that task force, we were able to engage law enforcement agencies and attorneys general from across the country to organize and lead Operation United Front, which was a massive success,” stated Schmitt.

“Operation United Front was an unprecedented human trafficking operation that brought together law enforcement agencies from different jurisdictions – something that rarely happens. When we all come together, we can affect change and more effectively fight human trafficking, a crime that is often multi-jurisdictional in nature.”

In addition to Missouri, Operation United Front also involved arrests and rescues in Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. In South Dakota, nine individuals were arrested for alleged involvement in human trafficking while attending the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice earlier this month.

Eight of the nine men arrested at Sturgis face charges of attempting to entice a minor using the internet. One is facing charges of attempted commercial sex trafficking of a minor.

If found guilty for attempted enticement of a minor via the Internet, the penalty can include 10 years to life in prison. If found guilty of attempted commercial sex trafficking of a minor, the penalty can include 15 years to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In recent years, there has been a concerted effort among states and the federal government to crackdown on human trafficking in the United States.

In March, Texas authorities arrested around 30 people attempting to buy sex and rescued a minor over the course of three days as part of “Operation Cupid.”

“Operation Cupid aimed to combat human trafficking in Fort Bend County by identifying and arresting those intending to buy sex,” stated Assistant District Attorney Craig Priesmeyer, according to the Fort Bend Herald.

“Commonly known as ‘johns,’ they create the demand for human trafficking and contribute to the pervasive problem the community faces from these crimes. We are focused on saving victims by following basic economics; removing the demand will reduce the supply.” 

In Arizona in February, police arrested 37 people charged with child sex crimes and human trafficking as part of the multi-agency “Operation Broken Hearts.”

In January, 33 missing children were rescued as part of “Operation Lost Angels” in California. The effort was led by the FBI in conjunction with over two dozen law enforcement and non-governmental partners. 

Last November, the Tallahassee Police Department in Florida announced that over 170 people were charged in a two-year investigation into a sex trafficking network in the state.

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Most white regular churchgoers voted for Trump in 2020, religious “nones” backed Biden: study


Reported By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/most-white-regular-churchgoers-voted-for-trump-study.html/

Evangelicals
Supporters pray as President Donald Trump speaks during an ‘Evangelicals for Trump’ campaign event held at the King Jesus International Ministry on Jan. 3, 2020, in Miami, Florida. | AFP via Getty Images/Jim Watson

A majority of white Americans, particularly evangelicals who attend worship services regularly, voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020, while President Joe Biden was the overwhelming favorite among religiously unaffiliated voters, especially among those who identify as atheists and agnostics, a recent analysis of 2020 validated voters by the Pew Research Center shows.

According to the analysis by Pew Research assistant Justin Nortey, overall, 59% of voters who attend worship services at least monthly voted for Trump, while 40% voted for Biden. The less voters attended church services, however, the more likely their support was for Biden. Some 58% of white voters who attend worship services just a few times a year voted for Biden, while 40% of that crowd voted for Trump.

The trend remains consistent with voting patterns in previous years which showed a strong correlation between high religious service attendance and support for the Republican candidate among white voters and low religious service attendance and support for the Democratic candidate. This pattern varied in strength based on religious tradition.

Some 85% of white evangelical voters who frequently attend religious services and 81% of those who attend less frequently voted for Trump.

Joe Biden
Joe Biden makes a victory speech from the Chase Center after the media declares him the winner of the 2020 presidential election against President Donald Trump on November 07, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

“White evangelical Protestants tend to be more religious than other Christians by a number of measures, including in their worship habits: Two-thirds of white evangelical voters attend monthly or more often, while one-third attend less frequently,” Nortey noted.

And while the correlation between religious service attendance and voting patterns among other white Christians is not as strong as it is among evangelical Protestants, the data still reflect a majority of those who frequently attend religious services voted for Trump.

“Among white non-evangelicals who attend services more frequently, the vote was almost evenly divided, with 51% favoring Trump and 48% favoring Biden. White Protestants who are not evangelical tend to attend church less frequently than their evangelical counterparts: Three-in-ten white non-evangelical Protestant validated voters say they go to church monthly or more, while nearly seven-in-ten go a few times a year or less,” Nortey wrote.

Some 63% of Catholics who attend mass at least monthly voted for Trump in 2020 while 36% voted for Biden. Among those that attended less frequently, however, the support for Trump was 53% while the support for Biden ticked up to 47%.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. | Getty Images/Joe Raedle

A similar correlation was not found among black voters who overwhelmingly supported Biden whether or not they frequently attended religious services. Some 90% of black Americans who frequently attend religious services voted for Biden in 2020 while 94% of black voters who attend church services less frequently voted for Trump.

According to the analysis, Biden made some gains in support among white Catholics, as he got 11% more support than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. His strongest support among Christians came from black Protestants. He also had a strong showing among the religiously unaffiliated.

“What Biden lacked in support from white Christians, he made up for with support from black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated,” Nortey noted.

Biden received 71% of the votes of people who identified as religiously unaffiliated.

“Biden’s support was particularly strong among voters who identify as atheist or agnostic, with 86% of voters in this category backing him over Trump,” Nortey added.

Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost

Va. Supreme Court upholds reinstatement of Christian teacher who opposed trans pronoun policy


Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/va-court-upholds-reinstatement-of-teacher-in-trans-pronoun-case.html/

Tanner Cross
Byron Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, speaking before a meeting of the Loudon County School Board of Loudon, Virginia on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. | Screengrab: Vimeo/LCPS Board Meetings

The highest court in Virginia has rejected a request by the Loudoun County School Board to allow the suspension of a Christian teacher punished for criticizing a proposed policy requiring teachers to use trans students’ preferred names and pronouns to take effect.

In an order issued Monday, the Virginia Supreme Court granted an appeal to review the merits of a lower court decision in favor of elementary school teacher Byron Tanner Cross and agreed to keep an injunction reinstating the teacher in place. Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School for the past eight years, recently sued the Loudoun County School Board for suspending him after speaking out in his personal capacity at a May board meeting against a proposed policy.

Policy 8040, which was enacted earlier this month, requires teachers to use the preferred pronouns of trans-identified students. In his speech before the school board, Cross cited his Christian faith and said he could not “lie” to students. 

“Looking to federal precedent as persuasive, it is settled law that the government may not take adverse employment actions against its employees in reprisal for their exercising their right to speak on matters of public concern,” reads the order in part.

“Because the remaining interests the Defendants raise do not override Cross’ and other teachers’ interests in exercising their constitutionally protected right to speak on the proposed transgender policy, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit helping to represent Cross, celebrated the Virginia high court order. The organization also suing on behalf of other teachers to get the policy struck down.

“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false, nor should they be silenced for commenting at a public meeting,”  ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement released Monday.

“[B]ecause Loudoun County Public Schools is now requiring all teachers and students to deny truths about what it means to be male and female and compelling them to call students by their chosen pronouns or face punishment, we have moved to amend our lawsuit to challenge that policy on behalf of multiple faculty members.”

Cross was placed on administrative leave after expressing opposition to Policy 8040 during the May school board meeting, although he did so in his personal capacity. 

“My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria,” he said at the meeting. “I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences.”

“I’m a teacher, but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion,” he added.

The school board claimed that following Cross’ comments, parents and students “expressed fear, hurt and disappointment about coming to school.” Contending that the suspension was the appropriate response, the school district argued in court that Cross is unlikely to succeed on his free speech claim because his comments created disruption at Leesburg Elementary. 

In June, Judge James E. Plowman of the 20th Judicial Circuit of Virginia granted Cross’ request for a temporary injunction. Plowman wrote that putting Cross on leave was “extreme” and “an unconstitutional action” since the teacher’s words, even if controversial, were nevertheless “permissible.”

“The Court agrees with Plaintiff’s analysis and concludes that Defendants’ actions to suspend the Plaintiff, as well as the additional restrictions placed upon him, adversely affected his constitutionally protected speech,” wrote Plowman.

The school board appealed the decision, arguing in a statement that the words of Cross were harmful to trans-identified students.

“LCPS respectfully disagrees with the Circuit Court’s decision to issue the injunction, and it is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia,” stated the school district.

“Many students and parents at Leesburg Elementary have expressed fear, hurt and disappointment about coming to school. Addressing those concerns is paramount to the school division’s goal to provide a safe, welcoming and affirming learning environment for all students.”

The Cross legal complaint was later amended when the school district passed the proposed policy in August by a vote of 7-2. Multiple teachers want to have the new policy struck down. 

Follow Michael Gryboski on Twitter or Facebook

Cash, COVID, and cover-up, part 1: ​The questions we should have asked of Fauci about the origins of COVID-19


Reported by LEON WOLF and CHRIS PANDOLFO | August 31, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/cash-covid-and-coverup-part-1-the-questions-we-should-have-asked-of-fauci-about-the-origins-of-covid-19/

Less than two years ago, an outbreak of a new, flu-like virus that would eventually be known as COVID-19 began in Wuhan, China. Today, almost 5 million people globally have died from this pandemic, and we are no closer to understanding how it began.

Well, that’s not entirely true. We are closer, but only by virtue of being allowed to ask in public a rather inconvenient question: Was a foreign lab that received U.S. taxpayer funding for years responsible for the start of the spread of this pandemic?

For months, this question was considered publicly taboo, prohibited from discussion (except as a topic of derision as a wild-eyed conspiracy theory) by a group of scientists who were, incredibly, some of the same people who should have been under the most intense scrutiny. The bizarre tableau would not have played out in any other walk of life. If ExxonMobil had conducted drilling operations that resulted in a massive oil leak, the media would not have refused to investigate the cause of the leak because respected scientists who happened to be employed by ExxonMobil insisted that it was not ExxonMobil’s fault.

And yet, incredibly, that appears to be exactly what happened to the most significant question that has faced our generation. The very people who stood to lose the most were allowed to hastily exonerate themselves, and for months — when important information should have been uncovered — social media companies and the media actually covered for them and are still covering for them today.

The decision to rule this topic out of bounds was made in late January 2020, just a few days after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Washington state. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has perhaps done more to shape coronavirus response policy than any other person in America, was a central figure in those discussions.

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It is difficult, after all that has happened over the last two years, to remember a time when Dr. Fauci was not famous, but it is important to remember that when the discussions that would shape the investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic began, the men and women who conferred with him were not conferring with the celebrity who would soon come to dominate American media coverage. They were, rather, conferring with a bureaucrat — one whom a vast, overwhelming majority of Americans could not have picked out of a lineup when he was announced as a member of then-Vice President Mike Pence’s coronavirus task force on Jan. 29, 2020.

But just because he wasn’t famous doesn’t mean he wasn’t powerful. Not only is he literally the highest-paid employee of the entire federal government, but Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provides billions of dollars for research projects in the United States and around the world. NIAID was responsible for doling out nearly $3 billion annually in federal taxpayer dollars to research scientists between fiscal years 2017 and 2019. In FY 2021, NIAID received an annual budget of $6,067,071,000. The agency plans to fund another $3.8 billion in research grants this year, 62% of its budget.

The director of NIAID wields enormous power and influence over which research projects receive that funding, which scientists will be paid to continue their work, and which therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies get developed in the competitive field of infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. And Fauci is the longest-serving head of NIAID, having been appointed director in 1984 and supervising research both within and without the agency from that position for nearly four decades since.

So, while the average American might never have heard of Dr. Anthony Fauci prior to sometime in February or March 2020, the people who study viruses for a living certainly had. Not only had they heard of him, but they were also acutely aware that he was in charge of the funding upon which a significant portion of their livelihood depends. Risking the disfavor of Fauci was not a move many in the field of infectious disease research would make.

Another important individual in that field was Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the megacharity known as the Wellcome Trust. With an annual total disbursement budget of over $11 billion — a significant portion of which is spent on infectious disease research — Farrar also represented an enormously important gatekeeper of medical research funding. The Wellcome Trust had a financial endowment of £29.1 billion, or just over $40 billion, in 2020, making it the fourth wealthiest charitable foundation in the world.

Both Fauci and Farrar would play key roles in shaping the public response to questions about the origins of COVID-19. And they would serve — whether willfully or not — to stamp out questions that would have tended to implicate recipients of their funding largesse — and thus ultimately themselves. Somehow, very few people in the media found this worthy of curiosity, much less rigorous investigation.

Indeed, when Fauci finally faced aggressive questioning on the subject, from Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, CNN’s Jake Tapper exemplified the approach of most of the media by treating Paul’s questions as scandalous in and of themselves and not worthy of even being repeated on air. Thus has our watchdog media completely failed to fulfill its responsibility to hold powerful bureaucrats in government accountable.

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Although the particulars of the lab-leak theory, as it would come to be called, would not be fleshed out for several months after the pandemic began, when COVID-19 introduced itself to the world in late 2019, it did not take long for a couple of salient facts to begin circulating on the internet. The first was that Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID outbreak, was home to a virology lab that had been the subject of a scathing State Department report that blasted the lab for inadequate security procedures, saying the Wuhan Institute “has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.”

The second was that one of the lab’s top scientists, Shi Zhengli, had for years led a team of researchers into the field to collect dozens of coronavirus samples in the wild. Her virus-hunting expeditions took her deep into bat caves, earning her the nickname “bat woman,” a fact that was of particular interest in early 2020 because Chinese scientists had published a paper showing the SARS-CoV-2 virus was 96% identical to a previously discovered bat coronavirus.

A video released by Chinese state media just weeks before the first official reports of COVID-19 cases in Wuhan also gained attention. The video showed Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention staff (not to be confused with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a separate lab) collecting virus samples from horseshoe and pipistrelle bats in caves found in China’s Hubei province. The video demonstrated that Chinese scientists had been handling bats and collecting virus samples similar to SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to Wuhan, and right there next to the city were a laboratory and a health institute that studied coronaviruses.

Given that the early scientific evidence strongly pointed to bats as the original host animal of what would become COVID-19, this led many to naturally wonder, “Could this lab have been the source of the pandemic?”

Topping it all off, the lab in question, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was funded by taxpayer dollars that were funneled to it via the nonprofit organization EcoHealth Alliance, whose president, Peter Daszak, is one of the leading scientific voices discrediting the possibility that the virus came from the lab. Daszak’s nonprofit received at least $15.2 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health since 2005, according to the NIH’s RePORTER website. Between 2014 and 2019, EcoHealth Alliance directed at least $600,000 in NIH sub-grants from Fauci’s NIAID to study bat coronaviruses in collaboration with the Wuhan lab, a fact confirmed by Fauci himself in testimony given to Congress.

In June, Daszak recused himself from a U.N.-partnered commission investigating the origins of COVID-19 because of his apparent conflict of interest. Meanwhile, Fauci served as a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force all through 2020, is now the top White House adviser on the coronavirus response, and continues to be sought after by the media as an expert authority on all things related to a pandemic that possibly has origins tied to research his agency funded.

It is almost unimaginable that the above series of facts alone did not lead to months of endless public interrogation of Fauci. Every media organization and governmental watchdog in the country should have immediately been calling for nonstop investigations — especially given the eagerness of the press to tar anyone connected with the Trump administration. The national media spent endless hours speculating, without any factual basis, about the contacts with Russia of every obscure member of Trump’s team. Surely they would have interest in whether the man who was fast becoming the face of the Trump response to coronavirus was complicit, even indirectly, with the release of the virus into the world?

It turned out they would not. Somewhere along the line, Fauci became synonymous with “science” for many liberals and other opponents of President Trump. Perhaps nothing shielded Fauci from criticism or even investigation more effectively than the fact that, while he was nominally a member of the Trump administration, he was erected in the minds of liberals as the COVID foil to Trump.

Fauci himself encouraged this deification, telling MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, “So if you are trying to get at me as a public health official and a scientist, you’re really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you’re attacking science. And anybody that looks at what is going on clearly sees that, you have to be asleep not to see that.” Fauci became the scaffolding upon which the entire edifice of COVID-fighting measures favored by Democrats was built, and to attack him was seen as an indication that you probably sided with the “anti-science” crazies who think the virus is fake.

And the story of how this prevented the press from questioning Fauci or anyone else associated with him about how this pandemic began is one of the most regrettable failures of investigative journalism in all of history. But even more bizarre, as evidence has begun to mount that the very people who set forth to immediately stamp out all discussion of the lab-leak theory were a) the very people who would be implicated if the lab-leak theory proved true and b) were beholden to Fauci, the press seems curiously uninterested.

Only recently have cracks begun to appear in the façade, such as last week’s surprising Washington Post article that finally began asking government officials in various health agencies some difficult questions about exactly what level of oversight was exercised over the increasingly risky research being funded by taxpayer dollars. A shocking number of government officials absolutely stonewalled even the Post’s inquiries.

This series is not intended to prove that the lab-leak theory is true. That can probably never be known with any certainty at this point, thanks largely to the intentional destruction of evidence by the Chinese government. But it is intended to ask questions that every person in the entire world should be interested in — and it seeks to encourage the public and the politicians who are theoretically accountable to them to demand answers that should have been demanded long ago.

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Over the next days and weeks, this series will investigate what we know, what we don’t know, and what we may never know about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part 2 will examine the “gain of function” controversy and what we know about the research that was done on coronaviruses by Shi Zhengli, Ralph Baric, and others and the evidence regarding the structure of the virus that has led many to wonder if COVID-19 was, in fact, engineered in some way.

Part 3 will examine the early response to the pandemic by the group of scientists who would be responsible for shutting down any discussion of the lab-leak theory and the decision to control the message.

Part 4 will examine the scientific arguments put forth by opponents of the theory and the issues they have either glossed over or failed to examine.

Part 5 will track the effort that was made by social media companies to silence any questions about the theory as conspiracy theories.

Finally, part 6 will discuss the current state of knowledge and suggest a path forward for the debate.

The trail of suffering left across the globe by the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant measures that have been undertaken to attempt to slow its spread are almost incalculable. Millions have died, millions more have suffered severe diseases, and almost everyone has been severely economically and emotionally impacted. Perhaps most devastatingly, so many of those who died during the pandemic had to die alone, isolated from friends and loved ones by fear of the contagion. The full downstream effects of this catastrophe cannot even be guessed at, and the possibility remains that the mutations of the virus may make it virtually undefeatable by vaccines in the long term.

In the face of all this human suffering, humanity deserves answers. We must do everything in our power to determine why this happened, so that we can do everything in our power to prevent it from happening again. The search for answers must be inexhaustible, and any person who might possibly be involved in any way should be an appropriate subject of aggressive investigation. After all that COVID-19 has done, humanity deserves no less. And it certainly deserves more than legacy media and social media companies have given it thus far. We will attempt to find those answers.

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – On Joe’s Watch

A.F. BRANCO on August 31, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-on-joes-watch/

Miss Trump Yet? Biden would rather check his watch than focus on the dead soldiers he caused.

Biden Checks Watch
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

Sky News: Impeach Joe Biden If He Doesn’t Clean Out ‘Woke’ Pentagon Brass


Reported By Richard Abelson | Published August 30, 2021

Read more at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/sky-news-impeach-joe-biden-doesnt-clean-woke-pentagon-brass/

Republicans should start impeachment proceedings immediately if President Joe Biden doesn’t start “cleaning out” the Pentagon brass responsible for the disaster in Afghanistan, said Sky News Australia’s “Outsiders” host James Morrow on Sunday.

Morrow said there is “every indication” the US military has gone “woke”. He pointed to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley who “put aside predictions” that the Taliban would “automatically” take over Afghanistan after a US withdrawal.

“I don’t believe in reincarnation, but if I did, I’d believe General Milley was the second coming of whomever told Napoleon it was a great idea to lay siege to Moscow in winter,” Morrow said.

The same General Mark Milley believes there is a “need for American soldiers to get in touch with their feelings about white rage,” according to Morrow.

“The white rage General Milley referred to was the subject of seminars at West Point, the United States’ premier military academy, one of countless examples of how the Pentagon has been taken over by human resources,” he said.

Under Biden, the rest of the world “stopped taking America too seriously” a lot faster than “anyone ever anticipated”, Morrow said. “If Joe Biden wants to save his sorry legacy, he should start cleaning out the Pentagon brass responsible for the disaster in Afghanistan tomorrow –starting with General Milley,” he said. “If he doesn’t, Republicans should start impeachment proceedings immediately.”

Richard Abelson is Gateway Pundit international correspondent. Follow him on Parler or GETTR.

Afghan Christians left behind will be ‘targeted with deadly violence’: Human rights group warns


Reported By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor| Monday, August 30, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/adf-international-raises-concerns-for-christians-in-afghanistan.html/

Afghanistan, Christians,
Afghan refugee Faridah visits a course preparing her to convert into christian confession by baptism in Berlin, on October 23, 2016. | CLEMENS BILAN/AFP via Getty Images

Human rights group ADF International has urged the international community to address the “dire plight” of religious minority communities in Afghanistan, including 10,000 Christians who are now “at extreme risk of being targeted with deadly violence.” They, too, need to be evacuated, the group says.

Among the communities at risk are “an estimated ten thousand Christians, many of whom are ‘guilty’ of converting from Islam — a crime punishable by death under Sharia law,” Giorgio Mazzoli, a legal officer representing ADF International at the United Nations, said in a statement. The Vienna-based group said it made an oral statement at the 31st Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the serious human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan last week.

“As disturbing accounts of killings, harassment and intimidation against them are rapidly emerging, we urge States and the international community to give utmost attention to these persecuted minorities and guarantee the conditions for their prompt and safe exit from the country, irrespective of whether they have valid travel documents.”

Following the drawing down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly seized control of much of the country, eventually taking the capital Kabul earlier this month and forcing the government to flee. In response to the unexpected speed at which they retook the nation, tens of thousands of Americans, Afghan allies, and others have desperately tried to leave the country.

Last Thursday, a suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul killed 10 U.S. Marines, two Army soldiers and one Navy Corpsman, along with as many as 170 civilians, most of whom were awaiting their evacuation. In response, the U.S. military killed two high profile terrorists from ISIS-K — one “planner” and one “facilitator,” in a drone strike in Afghanistan.

As of Saturday, 117,000 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan, the majority of whom are Afghans, Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor said, adding that the number includes 5,400 U.S. citizens, over 300 of whom have been evacuated since the Kabul attack.

As the number of evacuees increases, the U.S. will increase its efforts to provide temporary shelter for Afghans until they’re resettled at various locations across the U.S.

ADF International said it applauds efforts to evacuate and resettle vulnerable persons and it urges all parties to secure their safe passage out of the country. But there’s a need to rescue, evacuate and resettle even those who are now at a higher risk of severe persecution in Afghanistan, it said.

“We join the call on governments to temporarily halt deportations to Afghanistan and reconsider the applications of rejected Afghan asylum seekers fearing persecution because of their faith or beliefs,” Mazzoli said.

C. Douglas Golden Op-ed: Fury Erupts Over ‘Cargo’ Put on a Plane Escaping Afghanistan


Commentary By C. Douglas Golden  August 30, 2021 at 8:19am

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/fury-erupts-cargo-put-plane-escaping-afghanistan/

There is a time and a place for animal rescue. That time and place isn’t Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021.

In the capital of a failed state, citizens of Western countries — as well as the Afghans who worked with them and likely face severe retribution at the hands of the Taliban — are trying to flee the country the only way they can: through Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The airport has seen one terror attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 169 Afghans, according to The Associated Press. A drone strike that U.S. authorities say prevented another suicide bombing at the airport on Sunday has claimed the lives of numerous innocent civilians in Kabul, CNN reported, including at least six children.

Amid all this, a former British Royal Marine who ran an animal shelter in Afghanistan organized an effort to have his animals airlifted out of the country with the assistance of the U.K. military, which got the rescued pets through the airport in Kabul on Friday, according to the BBC.

Paul “Pen” Farthing, the Royal Marine behind the effort, arrived back at London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday with 90 to 100 dogs and 60 to 70 cats. The effort was dubbed “Operation Ark” and was initially intended to airlift the shelter’s staff and their families — along with 140 dogs and 60 cats — out of Kabul.

Farthing called Operation Ark a “partial success” in a tweet.

That “partial success” didn’t include airlifting the staff out of Kabul; Farthing’s charity confirmed it had to leave Afghanistan without them. Dr. Iain McGill, a veterinarian who traveled back on the plane chartered by Farthing, said the former Royal Marine was “very concerned for his staff and for all the other people suffering in Afghanistan.”

Farthing’s charity said it was a “devastating blow” their “wonderful team” was forced to remain in Afghanistan.

Yes, one might say so.

Farthing’s defenders, including comedian Ricky Gervais, argued the animals traveled in the plane’s cargo hold and therefore didn’t take up any space that would have been used to transport those fleeing the Taliban, according to Bloomberg Quint.

However, the controversy isn’t so much where Farthing’s rescue animals were carried so much as it is one of British resource usage.

According to The Guardian, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace told members of Parliament during a Wednesday conference call that Operation Ark had “diverted” the military’s focus somewhat from saving human lives, adding that the affair was “not something I would be proud of.”

While supporters of Farthing’s charity privately chartered an Airbus A330 to make the flight, Wallace said this wasn’t a “magic wand,” given the logistical difficulties involved with getting people into and through Hamid Karzai International Airport. This call, mind you, took place two days before the suicide bomb attack on the airport complicated things significantly.

Instead, Wallace said the A330 would “block the airfield” and “sit there empty” as the evacuation of people was prioritized.

“What I was not prepared to do is prioritize pets over people. I’m afraid you may dislike me for that but that’s my view. There are some very, very desperate people under threat,” he said.

The BBC also reported Wallace had complained Farthing’s supporters had “taken up too much time of my senior commanders dealing with this issue when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis.”

Early on Wednesday, Wallace tweeted that “if [Farthing] arrives with his animals we will seek a slot for his plane … I have been consistent all along, ensuring those most at risk are processed first and that the limiting factor has been flow THROUGH to airside NOT airplane capacity. No one has the right in this humanitarian crisis to jump the queue.”

British Army head Maj. Gen. Nick Carter also didn’t express unalloyed support for the mission to airlift animals out of Afghanistan when grilled about it on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday morning.

“Our priority has been to evacuate human beings,” Carter said, according to Bloomberg Quint. “We obviously worry about everything that needs to be evacuated, but of course these are very difficult times, and there are very difficult judgments to be made.”

However, in an interview with LBC Radio on Saturday, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the U.K. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was a bit more blunt.

“The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport, and we’ve just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs, meanwhile my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed,” said Tugendhat, according to the BBC.

“As one interpreter asked me a few days ago, ‘Why is my 5-year-old worth less than your dog?’”

However, is Farthing the one to blame? Sam Ashworth-Hayes, writing in the conservative British publication The Spectator, doesn’t think so. Instead, in a piece published Sunday, he said the issue was a government too willing to give into Farthing’s cause instead of focusing on evacuating Britons.

“We can try to spin this as a heart-warming effort as much as we like. I’m sure some politicians will. But the job of government is to make difficult decisions, and ours caved in under pressure from an animal-loving mob,” he wrote.

“If you asked the public tomorrow if the government should set up a National Veterinary Service with a budget equal to the NHS, you would be laughed out of town. Basing policy on what people say in the heat of the moment rather than trying to understand their long-term preferences is a terrible idea. But weak leadership means that we spend far too much time worrying about cute animals on the front pages.

“We’ve left behind 150 Britons and a thousand Afghan support staff. Now consider that for some paratroopers ‘the last thing they do before leaving themselves is putting Pen Farthing’s cats and dogs on a plane,’ and tell me this was still a heroic and noble act.”

But at least there’s a happy ending for the dogs and cats, right? “As you can imagine they’re not short of homes for these animals,” McGill told the BBC.

Shame about Farthing’s staff and Tugendhat’s translator, though.

C. Douglas Golden, Contributor,

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.@CillianZeal

Bolling: Joe, you suck at this President thing


Aug 30, 2021

Jason Whitlock Op-ed: Bill Maher is traveling the slippery slope to a godly awakening about corporate media


Commentary by JASON WHITLOCK | August 30, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/whitlock-bill-maher-is-traveling-the-slippery-slope-to-a-godly-awakening-about-corporate-media/

Bearded conservative talk show host Bill Maher did it again. He turned his Friday-night HBO platform, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” into a smorgasbord of left-wing ridicule. He ended his show trashing the woke, arguing that the events in Afghanistan are an example of what real systemic oppression looks like. Earlier in the broadcast, he lamented the success of Fox News host Greg Gutfield’s comedic late-night show, suggesting the left had opened itself to satire by adopting talking points that sound like Onion headlines.

“Three-year-olds pick their own gender is an Onion headline,” Maher quipped.

In a fascinating moment of unintended irony, Maher griped that politics is becoming a new religion and that America would be better off if we talked less about politics. Maher is an atheist. In 2008, he released a documentary, “Religulous,” that mocked religious faith. He’s unwittingly becoming aware that the removal of religion from American culture creates a void that is filled by the idolatry of partisan politics. I’d love to be in the room when Maher finally realizes that unity among disparate humans can only be achieved through faith in God. I believe he’ll have that epiphany within the next 12 months. He’s too honest to remain in denial.

An honest man can only pretend to be a liberal Democrat for so long. And television is an uncomfortable platform for the last honest man. Each week, Maher sounds more and more like a short-time HBO employee. Nothing breeds honesty more than an expiration date. And honest people can’t work forever within modern corporate media. The restraints are too tight.

Bill Maher is his generation’s George Carlin, the pot-smoking culture critic who performed regular stand-up specials for HBO during the 1970s and 1980s. Like Carlin, Maher is as smart as he is funny. Unlike Carlin, Maher is too smart for the current iteration of HBO, a subsidiary of globalist telecommunications company AT&T since 2016. When Maher arrived at HBO in 2003, the network was at its creative and risk-taking zenith. At the time of Maher’s arrival, “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” made HBO the envy of television.

AT&T’s acquisition of HBO dulled the network’s edge. HBO is safe and corporate. It supports the social engineering the establishment is orchestrating. Maher is doing the best that he can, but you can’t tell the truth on HBO. Not the whole truth. Friday night was a prime example.

While complaining about the Biden administration’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Maher expressed disappointment that the adults (Democrats) handled the pullout as poorly as he theorized the children (Republicans) would. This is becoming a regular theme for Maher. He argues that Democrats are mature, rational, and thinking adults and Republicans are immature, emotional, and unsophisticated children. Maher is too wise to believe this.

Thomas Jefferson and the nation’s founders identified America’s children at the outset. Politicians are kids. Whether Federalists or Anti-Federalists, Jefferson, George Washington, and the rest recognized the childishness of politics and politicians. The founders devised a system designed for the people to supervise the children elected to public office. The adults assigned the primary task of babysitting politicians are called journalists, reporters, pundits, the media, and the press. When the adults act like children, chaos and tyranny take root. When there is no credible supervision of politicians, the whole idea of self-government falls apart.

In 1787, Jefferson wrote a letter to Edward Carrington, a confidant of George Washington, stating the importance of journalism.

The people are the only censors of their governors, and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution…. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

The media has failed America. The mainstream media merged with global corporations, the Democratic Party, and government intelligence agencies. It no longer acts as an independent fourth estate in charge of supervising the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. Corporate media supervises Donald Trump and anyone else classified as an impediment to the Great Reset and the reshaping of America into an authoritarian regime similar to China.

From his $10-million-a-year HBO/AT&T perch, Maher cannot comfortably attack corporate media, the real children selling out America. He can insinuate the stupidity and dishonesty of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, but a full-on assault of the woke’s Pravda would be a suicide mission. It would bait #MeToo allegations.

The woke culture that Maher constantly rails against would not exist if the alleged adults did their job. The Times, CNN, MSNBC, Politico, ESPN, CBS News, the Washington Post all serve woke trickbait for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Maher thinks American oppression pales in comparison to Afghanistan oppression. He’s right. But for how long? We’re trending in the oppressive direction of all nations that govern without proper supervision of their elected officials. Power corrupts. There are no good guys in politics, only children in need of spankings by the press.

When the media refuses to discipline, politicians oppress and revoke freedoms. You must wear a mask. You must take a vaccine. You must tolerate violations of privacy for your own safety. It’s a slippery slope. Things change quickly.One day, the people shouting “I’m with her” and “believe all women” and “Sharia law is misogynistic” turn into the same people defending the execution of an unarmed, 5’2″, 135-pound woman for posing a threat to the House of Representatives.

VIDEO: Afghan TV anchor tells residents ‘don’t be afraid’ as Taliban fighters stand behind him with guns


Reported by PHIL SHIVER | August 30, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/afghan-tv-anchor-taliban-fighters/

With Taliban fighters standing behind him brandishing guns, an Afghan news anchor nervously urged viewers over the weekend not to be “afraid” amid the fall of the Afghan government and the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The bizarre scene demonstrates the danger that Afghan journalists are likely to face under Taliban rule and foreshadows the end of journalistic freedom in the country.

Armed Taliban militants stormed into the building of Afghan television network Peace Studio during a live recording on Sunday, proceeding to hold the anchor hostage while he granted favorable coverage to the new regime, Republic World reported.

“Don’t be afraid,” the anchor reportedly said during the broadcast.

“With the Taliban militants breathing down his neck, the TV anchor addressed the news bulletin, talking about the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani-led government and the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the news outlet reported. “Visibly afraid and uncomfortable, the presenter then went on to tell the nation to not be scared of the Taliban.”

Video of the incident has since gone viral, having been viewed more than one million times on social media.

“Afghanistan TV – surreal,” tweeted BBC World News anchor Yalda Hakim along with a video of the incident.

“This is what a political debate now looks like on Afghan TV, Taliban foot soldiers watching over the host,” she added. “The presenter talks about the collapse of the Ghani govt & says the Islamic Emirate says the Afghan people should not be afraid.”

A subsequent photo posted on Twitter by Afghan journalist Zaki Daryabi shows that at least eight Taliban fighters were involved in the news station storming.

This is what [we] can’t accept,” she tweeted along with the image. “If so, we will stop our work.”

Amid its takeover of Afghanistan in recent weeks, Taliban leaders promised a “lenient” government and “amnesty” for individuals who worked with Western governments and organizations over the last 20 years of U.S. military occupation. But their promises have been empty ones. In reality, Taliban fighters have been “hunting down” journalists and persecuting women and religious minorities, including Christians. The bloodthirsty militants reportedly murdered the relative of an Afghan journalist partnered with German news outlet Deutsche Welle last week. They also killed a 33-year-old Afghan who had translated for U.S. Special Forces and who worked with newspaper Die Zeit.

Republic World added that “the Taliban barred two women journalists … who worked with the public broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan” and “also attacked two other members of the press for covering the anti-Taliban protests taking place in the eastern Nangarhar province.”

Their actions have reportedly caused many journalists and activists to flee the nation in fear.

Mom of 20-Year-Old Marine Who Was Killed in Kabul Bombing Makes Surprise Call to On-Air Show, Places All Blame on Biden


Reported By Jack Davis | August 29, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/mom-20-year-old-marine-killed-kabul-bombing-makes-surprise-call-air-show-places-blame-biden/

The mother of one victim of the terrorist attack in Kabul sharply criticized President Joe Biden on Friday. Kathy McCollum, the mother of Rylee McCollum, 20, was notified of her son’s death on Friday. He was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the bombing the previous day at Kabul’s airport.

“My son was one of the Marines that died yesterday,” she told the call-in show “The Wilkow Majority.”

“Twenty years and 6 months old, getting ready to come from freaking Jordan to be home with his wife to watch the birth of his son, and that feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap just sent my son to die.”

“I woke up at 4 o’clock this morning. Two Marines at my door telling me my son was dead,” she said.

Voice breaking with anger and emotion, she raged at a previous caller who framed the fall of Afghanistan as a diplomatic event with no consideration for its human toll. The attack was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son. With a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House who still thinks he’s a senator. So I’m gonna try and calm down, sorry,” McCollum said on “The Wilkow Majority.”

Noting that Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was coming to her house in Montrose in an attempt to console her, McCollum said with bitterness, “My son did die in vain.”

“This was an unnecessary debacle that could have been handled properly. They had months and months to remove everyone from Afghanistan and they chose not to,” she said.

“And so they sent in freaking what, 6,000 troops? And my son, through the law of statistics, my son was one of the ones who just got blown up in a freaking terrorist bomb yesterday. … So instead of grieving and crying, I’m just getting mad.”

She spoke about the son she lost.

“My son was a genius child, an IQ of 156,” McCollum said. “He could have done anything he wanted to do in the military, and he chose to be a Marine sniper, and that was his choice.’

“Instead of just being fast-tracked, he chose this course, but I never thought in a million years he would die for nothing.”

“For nothing,” she repeated, “because a feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap decided he wanted a photo op on September 11th.”

She said she never expected to suffer such a loss while seeing a president smirk on television while he’s talking about people dying.”

Amid a stream of insults directed at Biden, McCollum said he “needs to be removed from office. It never would have happened under Trump.”

Boebert shared a letter to McCollum, according to KCNC-TV.

“Kathy, on behalf of a grateful nation, we mourn with you for the loss of your son,” the letter said in part.

Jack Davis, Contributor,

Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

Today’s TWO Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Victor Gets The Spoils

A.F. BRANCO on August 28, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-victor-gets-the-spoils/

Biden’s plan of “Built Back Better” has come true,  but only for the Taliban terrorists.

American Blood and Treasure
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – No Man’s Plan

A.F. BRANCO on August 30, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-no-mans-plan/

Biden says he used Trump’s evac plan. Some say minus a few putting Americans first details.

Biden Evac Plan

Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

ParlerFacebookTwitterPinterestFlipboardTAGGEDAFGHANISTANAFGHANISTAN PULLOUTJOE BIDEN

Judge reportedly stripped mother of parental rights because she’s not vaccinated: ‘I miss my son more than anything’


Reported by PAUL SACCA | August 28, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/mother-parental-rights-custody-vaccination/

A mother in Chicago claims that a judge stripped her of parental rights because she was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

“In what all parties agree is a very unusual and perhaps unprecedented step, a judge at Chicago’s Daley Center has stripped Rebecca Firlit of custody because she refuses to get a vaccination shot,” WFLD-TV reported.

Firlit says that she has not seen her 11-year-old son since Aug. 10, which is when she appeared in court via Zoom for a child support hearing along with her ex-husband. During the hearing, Cook County Judge James Shapiro allegedly asked Firlit if she had been vaccinated for COVID-19. She reportedly replied that she had not been vaccinated because she suffered bad reactions to other vaccines in the past.

Shapiro, a Democrat, then reportedly ordered Firlit be stripped of her parenting time until she gets vaccinated.

Since the ruling, Firlit said she hasn’t seen her son in person for over two weeks. She has purportedly only been able to speak to her son on the phone and on video calls.about:blank

“I miss my son more than anything,” Firlit told WFLD. “It’s been very difficult.”

“I think that it’s wrong. I think that it’s dividing families,” Firlit added. “And I think it’s not in my son’s best interest to be away from his mother.”

“It had nothing to do with what we were talking about. He was placing his views on me. And taking my son away from me,” Firlit said.

Annette Fernholz, Firlit’s attorney, said the judge overstepped his authority and noted that the boy’s father never brought up the concern about his ex-wife’s vaccination status during the hearing.

“In this case you have a judge, without any matter before him regarding the parenting time with the child deciding, ‘Oh, you’re not vaccinated. You don’t get to see your child until you are vaccinated.’ That kind of exceeds his jurisdiction,” Fernholz told the outlet.

“You have to understand the father did not even bring this issue before the court,” Fernholz added. “So it’s the judge on his own and making this decision that you can’t see your child until you’re vaccinated.”

Jeffrey Leving, the attorney for the boy’s father, reportedly admitted he was surprised by the judge’s decision, but supports the ruling.

“There are children who have died because of COVID. I think every child should be safe,” Leving told WFLD. “And I agree that the mother should be vaccinated.”

Firlit, who has been divorced for seven years, is appealing the court order. There is no timetable on when the appellate court will make its decision.

A spokesperson for Judge Shapiro told WFLD that they could not provide a comment at this time because of the ongoing nature of the case.

US Special Ops Veterans Form Their Own Squad, Travel to Kabul for Extremely Dangerous Rescue Mission


Reported By Dillon Burroughs | August 27, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/us-special-ops-veterans-form-squad-travel-kabul-extremely-dangerous-rescue-mission/

A volunteer group of American veterans launched a final mission on Wednesday night, dubbed “Pineapple Express,” to reportedly help hundreds of members of Afghan elite forces and their families reach safety. The group, dubbed Task Force Pineapple, operated in darkness to help those at risk.

“As of Thursday morning, the group said it had brought as many as 500 Afghan special operators, assets and enablers and their families into the airport in Kabul overnight, handing them each over to the protective custody of the U.S. military,” ABC News reported.

“That number added to more than 130 others over the past 10 days who had been smuggled into the airport encircled by Taliban fighters since the capital fell to the extremists on Aug. 16 by Task Force Pineapple, an ad hoc groups of current and former U.S. special operators, aid workers, intelligence officers and others with experience in Afghanistan who banded together to save as many Afghan allies as they could.”

The group was led by Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann, who leads an organization called Rooftop Leadership. Mann is a retired Green Beret commander.

“We made a commitment to get them out and this is our chance to do the right thing. And I’m telling you if we don’t, Brianna, it’s going to haunt us for a very, very long time,” Mann said during a CNN interview on Monday.

GoFundMe page offered supporters an opportunity to donate to the group’s expenses. A video from Mann also explained the purpose behind the group’s effort.

More than $68,000 had been donated as of Friday morning.

The news comes as more than 100 people were killed in Kabul on Thursday. A total of 13 U.S. military personnel were killed, with more injured.

The U.S. continued evacuation flights from the Kabul airport on Thursday. The Hill reported 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan between early Thursday to early Friday morning.

“Of the 12,500 evacuees, roughly 8,500 of them were on 35 U.S. military flights out of Kabul, which included 29 C-17 planes and six C-130 planes. Another 4,000 people were carried on 54 coalition flights out of Kabul,” The Hill reported.

“White House officials said that since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of about 105,000 people out of Afghanistan.’

“Since the end of July, approximately 110,600 people have been relocated.”

Dillon Burroughs, Breaking News/Media Reporter

Dillon Burroughs reports on breaking news for The Western Journal and is the author or co-author of numerous books.@dillonburroughs

‘Political Stunts’: Unspent COVID Relief Funds Could Trigger Eviction Crisis After Supreme Court Ruling, Top Republican Warns


Reported by THOMAS CATENACCI | REPORTER | August 27, 2021

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/27/unspent-covid-relief-funds-eviction-crisis-supreme-court-top-republican-patrick-mchenry/

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge Testifies To House Hearing On Equitable Housing Infrastructure For America
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

House Financial Services Ranking Member Patrick McHenry said Friday that Democrats have been more concerned about politics than helping Americans facing imminent eviction. McHenry’s comments were made following the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday night, blocking the federal eviction moratorium from being enforced.

“No one should be surprised by this decision. Republicans knew months ago the CDC had exceeded its authority,” McHenry said in a statement Friday. “The blame for this entire situation rests squarely with the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats.” 

“Instead of fixing the flawed Emergency Rental Assistance program to provide support to families in need, the Biden Administration extended its unconstitutional eviction moratorium,” he continued. “This shortsighted move did absolutely nothing to help renters or address the Administration’s mismanagement of $46 billion in aid.”

In December and March, Congress approved coronavirus stimulus packages that each allocated tens of billions of dollars for the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program. But states have distributed just $5.2 billion, or 11%, of the $46.6 billion in ERA funds as of July 31, according to the Department of the Treasury.

President Joe Biden sits alongside Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters on June 30. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden sits alongside Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters on June 30. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

McHenry has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for its “gross mismanagement” of the ERA program and asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct an oversight investigation of the administration’s handling of the program. The ranking member and committee Republicans introduced the Renter Protection Act in June, which they said would get funds to renters in need of assistance quicker than the program’s current setup.

“Democrats fixated on political stunts and strong-arming their progressive agenda through Congress,” McHenry said. “Now the Supreme Court has spoken, and Democrats must live with the consequences of their inaction.”

Republican Rep. French Hill, also a member of the Financial Services Committee, echoed McHenry’s comments, adding that Americans “will suffer” because of Democrats.

Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters acknowledged in a statement Friday that the moratorium was always going to be temporary and that a long-term solution was required. She said the committee is preparing to introduce legislation that “addresses this crisis and meets the moment.”

An estimated eight million households are behind on rental payments, according to an August survey conducted by the Census Bureau. Delinquent tenants owe landlords anywhere between $8.4 billion and $52.6 billion in back-rent that has piled up since the eviction moratorium was first implemented last year, according to estimates.

Congressmen Across The Board Demand Biden Respond To ‘Murderous’ Terrorist Attack, Keep Americans Safe


Reported by MICHAEL GINSBERG | GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER | August 26, 2021

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/26/afghanistan-terrorist-attack-isis-khorasan-joe-biden-mitch-mcconnell-chuck-schumer/

Senators Meet For Weekly Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Members of Congress in both parties are demanding that President Joe Biden respond to the ISIS-Khorasan Province terrorist attack that has killed at least 12 Americans.

The attack outside Hamid Karzai International Airport made Thursday the deadliest day for Americans in Afghanistan since Aug. 6, 2011, and the third-deadliest day throughout the 20-year-long war. Two ISIS-Khorasan Province suicide bombers detonated explosive vests before gunmen opened fire on a crowd, U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters.

“This murderous attack offers the clearest possible reminder that terrorists will not stop fighting the United States just because our politicians grow tired of fighting them,” Senate Minority Leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell said in a statement. “I remain concerned that terrorists worldwide will be emboldened by our retreat, by this attack, and by the establishment of a radical Islamic terror state in Afghanistan. We need to redouble our global efforts to confront these barbarian enemies who want to kill Americans and attack our homeland.”

McConnell’s counterpart, Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, declared that “it must be made clear to the world that the terrorists who perpetrated this will be sought and be brought to justice.”

“The U.S. cannot and will not be silent in the face of these attacks – we must bring to justice the terrorists who committed these heinous acts as we work to extract others from harm’s way,” Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen added. “We must work to establish stability on the ground and remain focused on securing the safety of U.S. citizens, our troops, and our Afghan partners.”

House Minority Leader and Republican California Rep. Kevin McCarthy called on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to “bring Congress back before Aug. 31 so we can be briefed thoroughly by the Administration and prohibit the withdrawal of our troops until every American is safely out.”

House Republicans were briefed by Biden administration officials on Tuesday. 

Pelosi did not commit to bringing the House back from recess, but she did say that “Committees of Jurisdiction will continue to hold briefings on Afghanistan.”

Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez appeared to take a shot at the Biden administration’s withdrawal policy, declaring, “We can’t trust the Taliban with Americans’ security.”

Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse urged Biden to “rip up the Aug. 31 [withdrawal] deadline and defend evacuation routes by expanding the perimeter around the Kabul airport or by retaking Bagram” Air Force Base.

Four Republicans, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Georgia Rep. Mark Green and North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker called on Biden to resign.

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Mourning In America

A.F. BRANCO on August 27, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-mourning-in-america/

13 U.S. Troops were killed during Biden’s Afghanistan pullout disaster on August 26, 2021.

U.S. Troops Killed During Pullout
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

WTH? More Than Two Dozen California School Students, Parents Stuck in Afghanistan – Unable to Get to Kabul Airport


Reported By Cristina Laila | Published August 25, 2021

Read more at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/wth-two-dozen-california-school-students-parents-stuck-afghanistan-unable-get-kabul-airport/

More than two dozen students from Cajon Valley School District in San Diego, California are currently trapped in Afghanistan and unable to get to Kabul airport.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the families traveled to Afghanistan for a summer trip on special visas for US military service.

Cajon Valley School Board President Tamara Otero said the families had tickets to fly out of Afghanistan, “but unfortunately they were not able to get to the airport.” – The Times reported.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

At least 24 students from the Cajon Valley Union School District in El Cajon and 16 parents are stranded in Afghanistan after taking a summer trip abroad. They are among thousands of individuals waiting to leave the country amid political unrest caused by the U.S. military pullout after 20 years of occupation. The U.S. government is accelerating efforts to rescue Americans as the Taliban takes over the country.

Cajon Valley Supt. David Miyashiro told school district board members via text message Tuesday that he and other Cajon Valley staff met virtually with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) and his staff about the situation. Miyashiro said that the families are on special visas for U.S. military service and that the Department of Defense considers them allies. He said that the district was able to provide information on the families and that government officials are working to locate the children and their families. He said he was encouraged by the assistance.

Meanwhile Joe Biden is smirking and cracking jokes when asked if he will help Americans trapped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan.

Cristina Laila

Cristina began writing for The Gateway Pundit in 2016 and she is currently the Associate Editor.

China: Police arrest 10 kids, 18 adults in raid on worship gathering


Reported By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor| Thursday, August 26, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/china-police-arrest-10-kids-18-adults-at-church-worship-service.html/

early rain covenant church
Early Rain Covenant Church in China | Facebook/Early Rain Covenant Church

Police in China raided a small group of Christian worshipers from a heavily-persecuted house church in southwestern China’s Sichuan province and arrested almost everyone, including an infant less than 1 year old, nine children and 18 adults. Officers from Chenghua District Mengzhuiwang office forcibly entered the home of a church member, He Shan, where the small group of Early Rain Covenant Church was meeting for worship on Sunday, CBN News said.

“The police claimed to have received a call reporting an illegal gathering there,” the church wrote on its Facebook page, persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported, identifying the gathering as the “Treading Water” small group and the preacher as Dai Zhichao. (SEE: “Chinese authorities paying citizens to spy on neighbors, report ‘illegal’ Christian activities” https://wordpress.com/post/whatdidyousay.org/57336)

Preacher Dai asked the officers to show proper documents but the police ignored him and forcibly entered brother He’s home. In the process, the preacher was injured on his arm, as were other men who tried to help. Dai’s phone was also confiscated, ICC said. A church member told ICC that many people were beaten by the police after being held in detention. “When the children were rowdy, the police officers threatened to hit them on their heads,” ICC said.

Police later released most of them, but Preacher Dai and brother He were put under administrative detention for 14 days. Brother He also received a fine of 1,000 RMB ($154).

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be “illegal” and unregistered underground house churches.

Over two years ago, authorities shuttered the 5,000-member church ERCC, broke down the doors of church members’ and leaders’ homes, and arrested more than 100 people. Police continue to harass and track church members, according to a recent report from the U.S.-based group China Aid.

ERCC, led by Pastor Wang Yi, has not been able to gather in person since it was shut down in 2018 when its pastor and other leaders were arrested. Wang was later sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of subversion of power and illegal business operations.

Gina Goh, ICC’s regional manager for Southeast Asia, commented: “The latest raid against ERCC, though nothing novel, shows a worrying trend that house churches are frequently subjected to harassment like this in the name of ‘law enforcement,’ where legally flawed Revised Regulations on Religious Affairs have been employed by Beijing to crack down on house churches around the country.”

Goh added that the Chinese Communist Party’s constant fear of unregistered churches “is both pathetic and preposterous, as it underscores President Xi [Jinping]’s insecurity toward any critical mass. There is absolutely no regard for religious freedom.”

Goh previously said, “Beijing seeks to intimidate the leaders in hopes that the churches will dissolve due to fear. Their plot will not succeed, thanks to the resiliency of the Chinese house church. They survived the Cultural Revolution, and they will survive Xi’s era as well.”

Under the direction of President Xi, officials from the CCP have been enforcing strict controls on religion, according to a report released in March by China Aid. Authorities in China are also cracking down on Christianity by removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts as new highly restrictive administrative measures on religious staff went into effect this year.

China is ranked on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians. The U.S. State Department has also labeled China as a “country of particular concern” for “continuing to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

Afghan Christians ‘Panicking’ as They’re Turned Away from US Evacuation Flights: Report


Reported By Jack Davis | August 26, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/afghan-christians-panicking-turned-away-us-evacuation-flights-report/

In what conservative commentator Glenn Beck slammed succinctly in an Instagram message as “Afghanistan betrayal,” Afghan Christians are being turned away from the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as time ticks away for them to escape the Taliban, according to new reports.

A report by the Catholic News Agency said that although the Taliban have made no secret of the group’s antipathy to Christianity, Christians were not given priority status by the Biden administration, which bestowed it upon women, journalists, academics and other populations the administration considered important. And that means Christians will be left behind when the frenzied flight to find safety ends before the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. forces to leave Afghanistan.

“I was told by contacts from various groups working to rescue those still in danger in Afghanistan — who must remain anonymous — that the State Department, at least at a certain point, was not implementing the lists that they require the organizations to compile — even though they have sent them multiple times,” said Faith McDonnell, director of advocacy at Katartismos Global, an Anglican nonprofit group, according to CNA.

“It seems at present as if no one is getting any priority unless they have some sort of special connection inside the airport.”

Republican Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia said Tuesday that Christians are in danger, according to Townhall.

“The environment, obviously, under Sharia law, creates an extremely dangerous situation for anyone who is of any other faith, probably, the top of which, is Christians. And of course, not only us but many offices have been in contact with many Christians who are being literally hunted by the Taliban right now. Every effort possible is underway to try to evacuate those individuals and I’m sure those efforts will continue with unceasing resolve until we get those people to safety,” Hice said. “[T]heir lives are our biggest concern.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said priority for fleeing Afghanistan should go to “Afghan religious minorities, in recognition of the severe risks they already face, which will only heighten after the end of the U.S. evacuation,” according to a statement by USCIRF Commissioner Frederick A. Davie.

According to CNA, McDonnell said that in the rush to pack planes, lists prepared in advance amount to just so much confetti.

“Several organizations have reported that even though these organizations‘ aircraft have passenger manifests, the airport personnel are loading different people [from] those on the manifest onto all the aircraft that are departing,” she said.

“Others have reported that at times, one government agency is rejecting people that another government agency has approved and tried to bring into the airport,” she said.

Amid the chaos and cross purposes, Beck’s nonprofit group, The Nazarene Fund, is working independently of the Biden administration to rescue Afghan civilians. Beck, who posted a moving message about the crisis on Instagram Wednesday, has said that based on the more than $25 million received, he hopes to get 7,000 people out of Afghanistan by Friday

“I’ve started receiving panicked emails from Afghan Christians through their Western contacts. They are not being allowed to board USG [U.S. government] flights in Kabul. I’m advising them to try to board Glenn Beck’s flights instead,” Shea said, according to CNA.

“Kabul is falling apart and our people are panicking. The next 72 hours are going to be very dark,” Jason Jones, a podcaster who runs a nonprofit humanitarian organization called The Vulnerable People Project, wrote in an email to CNA.

“Kabul has descended into chaos and confusion and our citizens and friends are collapsing into despair. People are being contacted by the State Department and told to go to the airport only to be sent away,” he wrote.

Jack Davis, Contributor

Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

DANIEL HOROWITZ OP-ED: Horowitz: 15 studies that indicate natural immunity from prior infection is more robust than the COVID vaccines


Commentary by DANIEL HOROWITZ | August 25, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-15-studies-that-indicate-natural-immunity-from-prior-infection-is-more-robust-than-the-covid-vaccines/

It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the pandemic. The debate over forced vaccination with an ever-waning vaccine is cresting right around the time when the debate should be moot for a lot of people. Among the most fraudulent messages of the CDC’s campaign of deceit is to force the vaccine on those with prior infection, who have a greater degree of protection against all versions of the virus than those with any of the vaccines. It’s time to set the record straight once and for all that natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is broader, more durable, and longer-lasting than any of the shots on the market today. Our policies must reflect that reality.

It should be noted that this exercise is not even necessary now that our own government concedes that immunity from the vaccines, particularly the Pfizer shot, wanes each month. With the Mayo Clinic researchers suggesting, based on old data that likely got even worse since, that Pfizer’s efficacy against infection is only 42%, there is no reason to even attempt to compare this degree of immunity to the near-perfect immunity of prior infection, even against Delta. It should be obvious to any intellectually honest person that an unvaccinated individual with prior infection is exponentially safer to be around than someone who had the vaccines but not prior infection.

Remember, a significant portion of the population already got infected, and when the latest Delta wave is over in the South, the region will likely reach clear supermajorities of the population with immunity, as was found in India following the circulation of this very contagious strain of the virus.

Now consider the fact that studies have shown those with prior infection are associated with 4.4x increased odds of clinically significant side effects following mRNA vaccination. Thus, it is as scandalous as it is unnecessary to vaccinate those with prior infection, even if one supports vaccination for those without prior immunity. But as you can imagine, that would take a massive share of the market off the table from the greedy hands of Big Pharma.

To that end, it’s important to clarify once and for all, based on the current academic literature, that yes, people with prior infection are indeed immune, more so than those with vaccines. Here is just a small list of some of the more recent studies, which demonstrate the effectiveness of natural immunity — even from mild infection — much later into the pandemic than the study window of the vaccines:

1) New York University, May 3, 2021

The authors studied the contrast between vaccine immunity and immunity from prior infection as it relates to stimulating the innate T-cell immunity, which is more durable than adaptive immunity through antibodies alone. They concluded, “In COVID-19 patients, immune responses were characterized by a highly augmented interferon response which was largely absent in vaccine recipients. Increased interferon signaling likely contributed to the observed dramatic upregulation of cytotoxic genes in the peripheral T cells and innate-like lymphocytes in patients but not in immunized subjects.”

The study further notes: “Analysis of B and T cell receptor repertoires revealed that while the majority of clonal B and T cells in COVID-19 patients were effector cells, in vaccine recipients clonally expanded cells were primarily circulating memory cells.” What this means in plain English is that effector cells trigger an innate response that is quicker and more durable, whereas memory response requires an adaptive mode that is slower to respond. Natural immunity conveys much more innate immunity, while the vaccine mainly stimulates adaptive immunity.

2) Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, May 24, 2021, published in Nature

The media scared people last year into thinking that if antibody levels wane, it means their immunity is weakening, as we are indeed seeing with the vaccines today. But as Nature wrote, “People who recover [even] from mild COVID-19 have bone-marrow cells that can churn out antibodies for decades.” Thus, aside from the robust T-cell memory that is likely lacking from most or all vaccinated individuals, prior infection creates memory B cells that “patrol the blood for reinfection, while bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) hide away in bones, trickling out antibodies for decades” as needed.

It’s therefore not surprising that early on in the pandemic, an in-vitro study in Singapore found the immunity against SARS-CoV-2 to last even 17 years later from SARS-1-infected patients who never even had COVID-19.

3) Cleveland Clinic, June 19, 2021

In a study of 1,359 previously infected health care workers in the Cleveland Clinic system, not a single one of them was reinfected 10 months into the pandemic, despite some of these individuals being around COVID-positive patients more than the regular population.

4) Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle/Emory University, Washington, July 14, 2021, published in Cell Medicine

The study found that most recovered patients produced durable antibodies, memory B cells, and durable polyfunctional CD4 and CD8 T cells, which target multiple parts of the virus. “Taken together, these results suggest that broad and effective immunity may persist long-term in recovered COVID-19 patients,” concluded the authors. In other words, unlike with the vaccines, no boosters are required to assist natural immunity.

5) University of California, Irvine, July 21, 2021

The authors conclude: “Natural infection induced expansion of larger CD8 T cell clones occupied distinct clusters, likely due to the recognition of a broader set of viral epitopes presented by the virus not seen in the mRNA vaccine” (emphasis added).

6) University of California, San Francisco, May 12, 2021

Conclusion: “In infection-naïve individuals, the second dose boosted the quantity but not quality of the T cell response, while in convalescents the second dose helped neither. Spike-specific T cells from convalescent vaccinees differed strikingly from those of infection-naïve vaccinees, with phenotypic features suggesting superior long-term persistence and ability to home to the respiratory tract including the nasopharynx.”

Given that we know the virus spreads through the nasopharynx, the fact that natural infection conveys much stronger mucosal immunity makes it clear that the previously infected are much safer to be around than infection-naive people with the vaccine. The fact that this study artfully couched the choices between vaccinated naive people and vaccinated recovered rather than just plain recovered doesn’t change the fact that it’s the prior infection, not the vaccine, conveying mucosal immunity. In fact, studies now show that infected vaccinated people contain just as much viral load in their nasopharynx as those unvaccinated, a clearly unmistakable conclusion from the virus spreading wildly in many areas with nearly every adult vaccinated.

7) Israeli researchers, August 22, 2021

Aside from more robust T cell and memory B cell immunity, which is more important than antibody levels, Israeli researchers found that antibodies wane slower among those with prior infection. “In vaccinated subjects, antibody titers decreased by up to 40% each subsequent month while in convalescents they decreased by less than 5% per month.”

8) Irish researchers, published in Wiley Review, May 18, 2021

Researchers conducted a review of 11 cohort studies with over 600,000 total recovered COVID patients who were followed up with over 10 months. The key finding? Unlike the vaccine, after about four to six months, they found “no study reporting an increase in the risk of reinfection over time.”

9) Cornell University, Doha, Qatar, published in the Lancet, April 27, 2021

This is one of the only studies that analyzed the population‐level risk of reinfection based on whole genome sequencing in a subset of patients with supporting evidence of reinfection. Researchers estimate the risk at 0.66 per 10,000 person-weeks. Most importantly, the study found no evidence of waning of immunity for over seven months of the follow-up period. The few reinfections that did occur “were less severe than primary infections,” and “only one reinfection was severe, two were moderate, and none were critical or fatal.” Also, unlike many vaccinated breakthrough infections in recent weeks that have been very symptomatic, “most reinfections were diagnosed incidentally through random or routine testing, or through contact tracing.”

10) Israeli researchers, April 24, 2021

Several months ago, Israeli researchers studied 6.3 million Israelis and their COVID status and were able to confirm only one death in the entire country of someone who supposedly already had the virus, and he was over 80 years old. Contrast that to the torrent of hospitalizations and deaths we are seeing in those vaccinated more than five months ago in Israel.

11) French researchers, May 11, 2021

Researchers tested blood samples from health care workers who never had the virus but got both Pfizer shots against blood samples from those health care workers who had a previous mild infection and a third group of patients who had a serious case of COVID. They found, “No neutralization escape could be feared concerning the two variants of concern [Alpha and Beta] in both populations” of those previously infected.

12) Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, published in Journal of Experimental Medicine

Many people are wondering: If they got only an asymptomatic infection, are they less protected against future infection than those who suffered infection with more evident symptoms? These researchers believe the opposite is true. “Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2–infected individuals are not characterized by weak antiviral immunity; on the contrary, they mount a highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response,” wrote the authors after studying T cell responses from both symptomatic and asymptomatic convalescent patients. If anything, they found that those with asymptomatic infection only had signs of non-inflammatory cytokines, which means that the body is primed to deal with the virus without producing that dangerous inflammatory response that is killing so many hospitalized with the virus.

13) Korean researchers, published in Nature Communications on June 30, 2021

The authors found that the T cells created from convalescent patients had “stem-cell like” qualities. After studying SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells in recovered patients who had the virus in varying degrees of severity, the authors concluded that long-term “SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell memory is successfully maintained regardless of the severity of COVID-19.”

14) Rockefeller University, July 29, 2021

The researchers note that far from suffering waning immunity, memory B cells in those with prior infection “express increasingly broad and potent antibodies that are resistant to mutations found in variants of concern.” They conclude that “memory antibodies selected over time by natural infection have greater potency and breadth than antibodies elicited by vaccination.” And again, this is even before getting into the innate cellular immunity which is exponentially greater in those with natural immunity.

15) Researchers from Madrid and Mount Sinai, New York, March 22, 2021

Until now, we have established that natural immunity provides better adaptive B cell and innate T cell responses that last longer and work for the variants as compared to the vaccines. Moreover, those with prior infection are at greater risk for bad side effects from the vaccines, rendering the campaign to vaccinate the previously infected both unnecessary and dangerous. But the final question is: Do the vaccines possibly harm the superior T cell immunity built up from prior infection?

Immunologists from Mount Sinai in New York and Hospital La Paz in Madrid have raised serious concerns. In a shocking discovery after monitoring a group of vaccinated people both with and without prior infection, they found “in individuals with a pre-existing immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the second vaccine dose not only fail to boost humoral immunity but determines a contraction of the spike-specific T cell response.” They also note that other research has shown “the second vaccination dose appears to exert a detrimental effect in the overall magnitude of the spike-specific humoral response in COVID-19 recovered individuals.

As early as March 27, among the many accurate statements Dr. Fauci made before he became a political animal, he declared he was “really confident” in the immunity conferred by prior infection. That was long before 17 months of data and dozens of studies confirmed that. Yet, today, there are thousands of doctors and nurses with infinitely better immunity than what the vaccines can confer who are losing their jobs during a staffing crisis for not getting the shots. Just know that the big lie about natural immunity is perhaps the most verifiable lie, but it is likely not the only lie with devastating consequences we are being told about the virus, the vaccines, and alternative treatment options.

Ann Coulter Op-ed: Teaching Psycho Flintstones About Women’s Equality


Commentary by Ann Coulter | Posted: Aug 25, 2021

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com., and WhatDidYouSay.org.

Teaching Psycho Flinstones About Women's Equality

Source: AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi

The universal panning of President Biden’s decision to finally leave Afghanistan is the mirror image of the one time the media loved Trump. Remember that joyous occasion? It was when he bombed Syria two months after taking office. Here’s a sampling of the mash-notes to Trump for sending 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike a country 6,000 miles away from us.

The New York Post: “A New Sheriff in Town: Trump’s Strike on Syria”

New York Daily News: “KICK IN THE ASSAD! U.S. blitzes Syria with missiles to avenge atrocity.”

The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof: “Trump Was Right to Strike Syria.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York: “[It was] the right thing to do.”

And of course, MSNBC’s Brian Williams famously soliloquized the attack on his TV show that night, saying: “We see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean,” adding “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.'”

The very Europeans who are so testy right now about Biden’s decision to end a war, were thrilled with Trump for bombing a country that posed no conceivable threat to us. France, Italy, Israel and the U.K. all sent their hearty support!

That’s quite a contrast from the remarks this week from former prime minister Tony Blair about Biden’s ending a war: “tragic, dangerous and unnecessary.”

I was, and remain, more pro-Afghanistan war and Iraq war than Donald Rumsfeld, but not so we could hang out for 20 years and teach them to respect transgenders.

Unfortunately, once we’d accomplished everything that could possibly be accomplished in Afghanistan, the war became a joint venture of the neocons and the feminists. Instead of punishing anyone who’d had a pleasant countenance upon seeing the World Trade Center collapse, our new mission became: Bring gender studies and gay rights to a Stone Age culture!

Now the media has put Biden on notice: If one Afghan girl gets below B+ in women’s studies, we’re going back in!

How did Afghans become our special charity case? Why not Burkina Faso? Twelve-year-old girls are regularly married off to men 65 or 70 years old in that paragon of modern living. Also in Niger, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and any number of barbaric societies around the globe.

No one weeps for those little girls.

(It may not be favoritism: The prodigious amount of child rape around the world is barely mentioned by the various international organizations on women’s rights because the fanatics writing the reports see no meaningful difference between official, widespread child-rape and men disrespecting their wives’ professions.)

There are loads of primitive hellholes we could make our 51st state. We’ve picked Afghanistan because that’s the country that harbored Osama bin Laden. CONGRATULATIONS, AFGHANISTAN! YOU WON THE LOTTO!

Now, all of America is supposed to be torn up about what one warring tribe will do to another warring tribe, in a country that’s been at war, more or less, for centuries.

They like it that way! Afghanistan consists of a medieval tribal society resistant to change. That’s their raison d’etre. Even under the helpful tutelage of American troops, our dear Afghan allies would not stop raping little boys. Naturally, given our obsession with cultural diversity, U.S. servicemen who objected to the buggery were cashiered out of the military.

More than a year before the 9/11 attacks, an article in The New Yorker quoted Afghans boasting, “In the nineteenth century, we beat the British more than once. In the twentieth century, we beat the Russians. In the twenty-first, if we have to, we’ll beat the Americans!”

They just want to be left alone (something a lot of Americans dearly wish our leaders would let us do).

We’re hearing horror stories about women having to be covered when they leave their homes now that the Taliban is back in charge. Yeah, that’s Sharia law. According to a Pew poll a few years ago, 99% of Afghans — including women — say they want to live under Sharia law.

Afghans were totally down with women’s lib as long as we were bringing them cool stuff, like airplanes, buildings, toilets and electricity, which we did — or you did, taxpayer, to the tune of about a trillion dollars. Now we’ve left and they’ve happily gone back to their old ways.

In all other contexts, we sacralize ancient cultures. We blush to our toes recalling our ancestors’ earlier attempts at “civilizing” American Indians by bringing them clothes, schools and Christianity. Today, we exhort them: Be yourselves!

As long as we’re not forcing something icky on primitive cultures, like Christianity, but, rather, something healthy, like gender-feminism, well, then … “We don’t want to fight but by Jingo if we do, / We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too!”

TRUMP’S NEW AD


Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Dirty Jobs

A.F. BRANCO on August 25, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-dirty-jobs/

It’s going to take more than democrats expert media wordsmiths to clean up Biden’s mess in Afghanistan.

Biden Created a Mess
Political cartoon A.F. Branco Cartoon ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Surrender In Chief

A.F. BRANCO on August 26, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-surrender-in-chief/

Biden’s surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan has put blood on his hands.

08 Biden Surren LI 1080
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

Michael Brown Op-ed: Why a Virginia middle school is removing urinals from the boys’ bathrooms


Commentary By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor | Monday, August 23, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/voices/why-a-virginia-middle-school-is-removing-urinals.html/

It’s bad enough that a middle school in Loudon County, Virginia, has decided to remove “male” and “female” signs from its bathrooms. But in an even more extreme nod to social insanity, this same school is removing the urinals from the boys’ bathrooms. Why? It’s because a number of biological females, who identify as males, are offended by the presence of urinals.

So rather than point out to these females that they are not really males (otherwise, they’d have no problems with urinals), the school turns the world upside down to accommodate them.

This is the direct result of school policy 8040, which states, “LCPS staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student’s permanent educational record.”

So, no substantiating evidence is needed, and, the policy states, all teachers must comply with the students wishes.

In other words, impressionable students, including young children who haven’t the foggiest idea about sexual and gender realities, can simply declare their new identity, and the school must change their records accordingly. And woe be to the teacher or administrator who dares question this cultural madness.

Appropriately enough, the policy is titled, “Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students.” Gender-expansive? What does that even mean? Welcome to the new reality.

Of course, the problem with this new reality is that it has nothing to do with reality at all.

A biological boy who calls himself a girl is still a boy, and vice versa, no matter how much compassion we want to show them in the midst of their gender confusion. That’s why that girl cannot use a urinal: because she is not a boy. And saying this is neither hateful nor bigoted. It’s simply telling the truth.

But alas, we live in an age when truth has been displaced by perception, resulting in men’s bathrooms on college campuses having tampons on hand, because “men can menstruate.” And “breastfeeding” is replaced by “chestfeeding,” lest “men” breastfeeding their children feel offended.

And when you read stories stating, “When Jesse Ballard found out he was pregnant, he was shocked yet excited.” (Jesse, the “husband,” is the biological female, impregnated by his “wife,” who is the biological male.) And this is something we are supposed to celebrate. In reality, for all involved, it is heartbreaking. Surely, God has a better way.

Unfortunately, these decisions do not only affect the individuals making choices for themselves. Instead, they affect others living or working or going to school with them.

As David Kubal pointed out in his article about the urinals being removed from a school in his district, the perceived needs of roughly 0.3% of the population, now turn the world upside down for the other 99.7%.

Accordingly, he writes, because of this tiny percentage of people in Loudoun County: 

  • 46,000 junior high and high school students were given permission, by the school system, to believe they may not be a male or female as their chromosomes have determined by God’s design.  
  • 23,000 young women will be required to share a bathroom and locker room with young men. 
  • Thousands of young women’s positions on teams are now in jeopardy by men who are now allowed to participate in female sports on female teams. 
  • These school bathrooms may now become the scene of sexual assault and sexual immorality in ways that will mark the lives of these young men and women forever. 
  • Teachers will have to remember a person’s desired pronouns or other “gender-expansive” terminology (I must confess, I have never heard this term, nor do I know what it means). 

That’s why, in 2011 in the context of the trajectory of LGBT activism, I asked, “How far have we already deviated from the path? Where will this current trajectory take us? If our college kids can describe themselves as ‘genderqueer dykes’ and ‘transgender gay males,’ what is coming next? How about the ‘trans child’? How about ‘queer in the crib’?”

How about the bathrooms in your children’s schools removing male or female identification and all urinals removed lest they offend biological females who identify as males?

The reality is that, based on where things have been going for several decades now, none of this should surprise us. The big question should be: if we don’t stand together and help turn the tide, what’s coming next?

I’m all for helping kids who are deeply confused about their gender identity and suffering real internal pain. I’m also sure that the current LGBT trajectories will do far more harm than good. Can we not all see where this is going now?

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program.  He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 40 books.  Connect with him on FacebookTwitter, or YouTube.

Parents Furious as Teens Forced to Wear COVID Ankle Monitors Warning Others to Stay Back


Reported By Grant Atkinson | August 24, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/parents-furious-teens-forced-wear-covid-ankle-monitors-warning-others-stay-back/

For the past year and a half, those of us who have felt the pandemic was being used as a tool to manipulate people have been labeled conspiracy theorists by the establishment media and leftist elites. As time goes on, more evidence emerges that seems to suggest we were right all along.

According to the Post Millennial, students at Eatonville High School in Washington were forced to wear ankle monitors in order to participate in athletics.

An anonymous mother who spoke to the outlet said she received a text from her 15-year-old daughter saying she was asked to wear a monitor at a school volleyball practice. When her daughter did not answer her subsequent texts and calls and no one at the school was able to answer her questions, the mother eventually drove to the school’s campus.

School employees told her that a meeting had been held the prior week to discuss the implementation of a monitoring program. It was “allegedly designed for contact tracing in the event of a positive COVID test of a student,” the Post Millennial reported.

Both unvaccinated and vaccinated students were reportedly told to wear ankle monitors. If someone tested positive for COVID-19, unvaccinated students who were identified as close contacts would be required to quarantine for 14 days, while vaccinated students would not.

The device is called TraceTag and is manufactured by a company called Triax, according to the Post Millennial.

“Being able to properly comply with social distancing guidelines is critical to containing and slowing the spread of COVID-19,” the company says in its description of the product.

“Additionally, having a log of all worker interactions for contact tracing, in the event that a worker is diagnosed with COVID-19, will help to accelerate the process for further containment and isolation.”

See, it’s no big deal. Why would you even have an issue with being forced to wear a tracking device? It’s for your own good.

The device also emits “a visual and audible alarm, so individuals know when to adjust their current distance to a proper social distance.” In other words, don’t get too close to someone if you don’t want your ankle monitor to sound the alarm.

Forcing students to wear these devices is a ludicrous idea on its face. Ankle monitors are meant for prisoners, not minors just trying to play school sports.

To make matters worse, the mother said she was never contacted about the program. The school’s head football coach told her forms were provided at the aforementioned meeting for those who wanted to opt out of the program, but the mother said she was never even informed that the meeting was taking place.

According to the Post Millennial, the school’s athletic director “acknowledged the error and apologized for the ‘slip up’ of not getting her consent.”

This was not just an innocent “slip-up.” It’s a symptom of the growing assumption that people should be forced to give up any number of basic rights in the name of public health.”

For months, the establishment media has been telling people they essentially have no right to choose whether they want certain substances injected into their bodies. If public and private employers are allowed to tell their workers what to put in their bodies, why wouldn’t school administrators be allowed to tell students what to attach to them?

The reality is that students in Washington state are being forced to wear ankle monitors. That is not a conspiracy theory — it’s real life. If we don’t stop this kind of invasive behavior now, there is no telling how far it will go.

Grant Atkinson, Editorial Intern

Grant is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has five years of writing experience with various outlets and enjoys covering politics and sports.

Taliban declares it will no longer allow Afghans to leave the country, will not extend deadline for Americans to get out


Reported by PHIL SHIVER | August 24, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/taliban-no-longer-allowing-afghans-to-evacuate/

The Taliban announced Tuesday that it will no longer allow Afghan nationals to go to the Kabul airport in order to flee the country.

“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday morning, according to BBC News. It’s a new development that comes just one week before the U.S. and other NATO forces are slated to fully depart Afghanistan. Mujahid reiterated that Americans can continue evacuations until the Aug. 31 deadline, but made clear that Afghan nationals are not to be a part of that process.

“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he stated.

Mujahid said that evacuating foreign nationals beyond the Aug. 31 deadline would be a “violation” of the agreement the U.S. established with the militant regime.

“The way to the airport has been closed now,” the spokesman continued. “Afghans are not allowed to go there now. Foreigners are allowed to go, but we have stopped Afghan nationals to go because the crowd is more, there is danger that people will lose their lives, there might be a stampede.”

The news comes as President Joe Biden considers pushing back the end date for withdrawals as an unknown number of Americans and Afghan nationals who worked with the U.S. government remain trapped inside the country. Those individuals are believed to be in imminent danger. Several reports have surfaced in recent days indicating that Taliban fighters are executing door-to-door searches and carrying out execution campaigns on womenChristians, and those who worked with the West during the last 20 years of U.S. military occupation.

Yet with the deadline quickly approaching, the Taliban has warned that the U.S. could face “consequences” should they fail to depart the country by the end of the month.

“It’s a red line,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said this week. “President Biden announced that on Aug. 31 they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it, that means they are extending occupation.”

Nevertheless, Biden is set to raise the topic of extending the evacuation date with foreign leaders Tuesday at the G-7 summit.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT August 24, 2021


Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Swamp Thing Returns

A.F. BRANCO on August 24, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-swamp-thing-returns/

Pelosi is back trying to federalize our elections eliminating voter ID and allowing ballot harvesting.

HR 4 Election Steal Bill
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.


The Chamberlain moment and Biden’s present leadership crisis

By Wallace B. Henley, Exclusive Columnist| Monday, August 23, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/voices/the-chamberlain-moment-and-the-present-leadership-crisis.html/

Is the United States, in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis, in a “Chamberlain moment”?

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and concluded that he had Hitler figured out. As Chamberlain stepped off his plane in Munich in 1938, he was certain he was going to make history by out-talking Hitler.

But it was Hitler who had sized up Neville Chamberlain. The Nazi dictator saw Chamberlain as a naïve man who somehow squeezed everything under his ever-present cozy umbrella. Hitler concluded he could promise Chamberlain anything, then do as he pleased.

So, Der Fuhrer promised not to invade more territory, Chamberlain, back home, conducted an airport press conference wherein he announced that he and Herr Hitler had negotiated “peace in our time.” But Hitler made Chamberlain look like a fool. Even as Chamberlain was proclaiming that he had tamed Hitler, Hitler’s armies were blitzing the Sudetenland.

Rather than a cheering Parliament, Chamberlain faced an angry, jeering House of Commons. Leopold Amery, of Chamberlain’s own party, rose, and, borrowing words from Oliver Cromwell in 1653 with regard to another matter, cried out to Chamberlain: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing … In the name of God, go!”

When 40 members of his party voted against Chamberlain, and another 60 abstained, Chamberlain knew he had no choice, and left the ornate chamber where the House of Commons met.

Three days later, King George VI named Winston Churchill as prime minister in that crucial age.

In 2014, I co-wrote a book, God and Churchill, with the late Jonathan Sandys, Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandson. (Tyndale House, 2015) Watching Jonathan’s determined attitude, biting wit, quick comprehension, capacity for persuasive as well as inspiring speech, I could see characteristics that compelled King George to ask Sir Winston to lead the country through the war.

On that day in 1940, Churchill said to Walter Thompson, his bodyguard, “You know why I’ve been to Buckingham Palace.” Thompson nodded and told Churchill he knew the task ahead would be immense. “God alone knows how great it is,” replied Churchill.

Jonathan Sandys was not a professing Christian when he began research on his great-grandfather’s spirituality. But as Jonathan studied with an open mind be concluded that God had brought Sir Winston to the leadership of Great Britain and its allies to stop Hitler’s mad romp through civilization. Later, Jonathan was so energized by this new awareness of God’s hand in history through his great-grandfather that he asked for believer’s baptism, and I had the privilege of conducting that service in Houston.

Back in England, Jonathan visited Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert. Gilbert encouraged Jonathan and told him there was much material that had never been explored. The more we worked on God and Churchill, the more Jonathan and I were in awe of the Lord of history.

In some ways, the task of national leadership is even greater now than Churchill’s era. The present hour demands the strongest and sharpest of leaders. The volatile enmities across the planet are much hotter even than that of Chamberlain’s and Churchill’s day. The weaponry available now are truly doomsday devices.

There is also a principle at stake here. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians about an evil ruler — the antichrist — who will seek to bring global chaos so he can present himself as the only hope and acknowledged as the world’s leader. A key strategy in sparking and spreading the chaos is “lawlessness.” The only reason this madness has not already consumed the world is that there is a “restrainer” who holds it back (2 Thessalonians 2: 7).

Among other things, this illustrates the principle of hegemony in foreign relations. A “hegemon” is a group or geopolitical entity that has the strength to dominate others. One type of hegemonic nation is like that which Adolf Hitler sought to establish through his Third Reich: dominance for the sake of exploitation and destruction. The second type of hegemonic state is that which has the strength to restrain potential rogue nations.

I was a junior aide in the Nixon White House in the late Cold War period. The United States had been involved in Vietnam for a long time, and Nixon sought an end to that conflict. In 1972 Nixon was re-elected by a huge majority, sparking hope that he would have even greater strength to resolve the Vietnam problem. But then came the Watergate debacle and Nixon’s decision in 1974 to resign the presidency. There were many reasons why he felt it necessary to resign. However, Nixon revealed a compelling purpose in his resignation speech:

“In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation … In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.”

Now, in 2021, the question is this: Has Joe Biden’s image been damaged so severely through the events that have occurred in Afghanistan that he has the credibility and ability to lead a powerful nation midst the chaos of our times?

As Parliament had to grapple with the Chamberlain leadership issue, so must Congress now confront the Biden leadership issue. The fate of the United States and perhaps even global security in a nuclear age may be at stake.

Wallace B. Henley’s fifty-year career has spanned newspaper journalism, government in both White House and Congress, the church, and academia. He is author or co-author of more than 20 books. He is a teaching pastor at Grace Church, the Woodlands, Texas. For media inquiries, contact:  ChristianPost@pinkston.co

UPDATE: Only the Servants Wear Masks at Pelosi’s Chi-chi Napa Brunch (VIDEO)


Reported By Jim Hoft | Published August 22, 2021

Read more at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/update-servants-wear-masks-pelosis-chi-chi-napa-brunch-video/

As Cristina Laila reported earlier — Pelosi chichi held a high dollar fundraiser brunch in Napa Valley this weekend as tens of thousands of Americans were trapped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. The cost of a ticket to attend the event starts at $100 and go through $29,000 to chair.

Nearly all attendees were white and unmasked.

The only ‘diversity’ was among the wait staff. Only the servants were in masks.

Masks are for the little people.

Jim Hoft

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

Chinese authorities paying citizens to spy on neighbors, report ‘illegal’ Christian activities


Reported By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor | Sunday, August 22, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/china-paying-citizens-to-spy-report-illegal-christian-actions.html/

China, Heilongjiang province
This photo taken on April 21, 2020, shows staff members keeping watch at a checkpoint in the border city of Suifenhe, in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province. | STR/AFP via Getty Images

China’s communist regime has ordered citizens in the country’s northeastern region to spy on Christians and report any “illegal religious activities,” including preaching and religious house gatherings. Informants will be rewarded with $150 for each tip, according to a report.

The administration of the Meilisi Daur District in Heilongjiang Province’s Qiqihar city released a document titled, “The Reward System For Reporting Illegal Religious Activities Offences,” saying informants would be paid up to 1,000 yuan ($150), China Christian Daily reported.

Officials, it says, are looking for any information — through a phone call, email or letter — on unqualified religious personnel, unauthorized trans-regional activities, preaching and distribution of printed religious literature, audio-visual products outside places of worship, unauthorized donations or private house gatherings.

The objective, it adds, is to “strengthen the control of illegal religious activities in the district, prevent any COVID-19 cluster resulting from religious gatherings, mobilize the public to engage in preventing, suppressing illegal religious activities, and ensure a harmonious and stable religious landscape.”

The document was released this month by the Meilisi Daur District United Front Work Department of Qiqihar. Similar reward systems were later introduced in Zibo city’s Boshan District and Weihai City’s Shandong area. Previously, such rewards have been offered in Fujian, Guangxi, Henan, Hebei and Liaoning.

“While they do not specify which religion they are targeting, it is self-evident that house churches are being suppressed,” the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern commented.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be “illegal” and unregistered underground house churches.

According to recently-released reports, religious persecution in China intensified in 2020, with thousands of Christians affected by church closures and other human rights abuses. Under the direction of President Xi Jinping, officials from the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, have been enforcing strict controls on religion, according to a report released in March by the U.S.-based group China Aid. Authorities in China are also cracking down on Christianity by removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts as new highly restrictive administrative measures on religious staff went into effect this year.

China is ranked on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians. The U.S. State Department has also labeled China as a “country of particular concern” for “continuing to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

It’s Worse Than We Thought: Complete List of Armaments US Is Leaving to Taliban and Islamist Groups — Enough to Fortify Them for Years – Secret Warehouse of US Equipment Captured?


Reported By Jim Hoft | Published August 23, 2021

Read more at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/worse-thought-complete-list-armaments-us-leaving-taliban-islamist-groups-enough-fortify-years-secret-warehouse-us-equipment-captured/

Taliban fighters in US military uniformsI

t’s worse than we thought. Joe Biden has supplied the Taliban terrorist organization and their Islamist accomplices with several years worth of US armaments.

As The Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday — Joe Biden left 300 times more guns than those passed to the Mexican cartels in Obama’s Fast and Furious program. This more complete list was created with public information and help from other intelligence sources. The list does not include all the extra kinds of nonlethal equipment, everything from MRE’s, Medical Equipment, and even energy drinks.

Mgid
Mgid

The big story might be the pallets of cash the Taliban have been posting videos of pallets of weapons and stacks of $100 bills they have seized.

Here is a more complete list of US-supplied and left behind equipment list now controlled by Taliban:

-2,000 Armored Vehicles Including Humvees and MRAP’s
-75,989 Total Vehicles: FMTV, M35, Ford Rangers, Ford F350, Ford Vans, Toyota Pickups, Armored Security Vehicles etc
-45 UH-60 Blachhawk Helicopters
-50 MD530G Scout Attack Choppers
-ScanEagle Military Drones
-30 Military Version Cessnas
-4 C-130’s
-29 Brazilian made A-29 Super Tocano Ground Attack Aircraft 
208+ Aircraft Total
-At least 600,000+ Small arms M16, M249 SAWs, M24 Sniper Systems, 50 Calibers, 1,394 M203 Grenade Launchers, M134 Mini Gun, 20mm Gatling Guns and Ammunition
-61,000 M203 Rounds
-20,040 Grenades
-Howitzers
-Mortars +1,000’s of Rounds
-162,000 pieces of Encrypted Military Communications Gear
-16,000+ Night Vision Goggles
-Newest Technology Night Vision Scopes
-Thermal Scopes and Thermal Mono Googles
-10,000 2.75 inch Air to Ground Rockets
-Reconnaissance Equipment (ISR)
-Laser Aiming Units
-Explosives Ordnance C-4, Semtex, Detonators, Shaped Charges, Thermite, Incendiaries, AP/API/APIT
-2,520 Bombs
-Administration Encrypted Cell Phones and Laptops all operational
Pallets with Millions of Dollars in US Currency
-Millions of Rounds of Ammunition including but not limited to 20,150,600 rounds of 7.62mm, 9,000,000 rounds of 50.caliber
-Large Stockpile of Plate Carriers and Body Armor
-US Military HIIDE, for Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment Biometrics
-Lots of Heavy Equipment Including Bull Dozers, Backhoes, Dump Trucks, Excavators

Much of the information included in the above list is public record.

One example is below:

There are also rumblings of a warehouse of high-level US equipment left behind for the Taliban.
From our source:

Some of my sources are from my previous work background as private agency contractor etc. so can’t direct quote. But I can assure you those numbers are correct and if anything are low.

I have one friend on the ground in Kabul right now.  He is with UK SRR they are trying to track and account for quantities of US Military and Russian Military Equipment now in the hands of Taliban. I spoke with him last night and tonight.

What’s really disturbing is a rumor circulating about some secured warehouses that only highest levels of security clearance US military staff had access to.  No one seems to know what was in them. Taliban is in full control of those warehouses now. And those warehouses were full of equipment whatever it was.

He’s trying to confirm but believes that the Taliban also secured US military drone jamming equipment which is disastrous if true.

CCP has people on the ground right now negotiating on any US technology they see of value. Dealing directly with Taliban based on what he told me tonight.

Not sure if that is any help. I’ll keep you posted if anything else pops up of value.

Hat Tip Lance at @LanceMigliaccio on Gab and GETTR

Jim Hoft

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

Jason Whitlock Op-ed: Bill Maher and the left’s house of Trump cards teeters at the brink of collapse


Commentary by JASON WHITLOCK | August 23, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/whitlock-bill-maher-and-the-lefts-house-of-trump-cards-teeters-at-the-brink-of-collapse/

Bill Maher is lying. To his audience. And to himself.

He’s no longer a loyal Democrat. He’s anti-Trump. And his enthusiasm for Trump resistance is rapidly waning.

The liberal comedian’s HBO talk show, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” has turned into a weekly ray of hope for those of us praying America snaps out of its left-wing fascism revolution.

Every Friday night, it seems, Maher finds a way to trash the woke, and every Saturday morning across social media platforms, conservatives gleefully share his most recent rebuke of the left.

The latest episode of his show convinced me that Maher has been red-pilled and that former President Donald Trump is the sole reason Maher won’t admit it. Trump is the only thing holding together the Democratic Party. He fig-leafs progressive insanity.

On Friday, Maher opened his panel discussion addressing the Biden administration’s catastrophic handling of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. Maher trashed Trump and then declared that the former president couldn’t have made a bigger mess than the current one.

Panelist Jackie Calmes, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, vapidly responded:

“You know how you always say, ‘I can’t believe Trump did that.’ Nothing he did would make you think he’d hit bottom, and then … Well, it could be worse.”

That should be the slogan of the Democratic Party: “It could be worse.”

To his credit, Maher pushed back and demanded that Calmes explain how things could be worse. She had no answer. She backpedaled, claiming she wasn’t trying to defend the Biden administration.

The left is a house of Trump cards. Remove Trump and the progressive movement immediately collapses beneath the weight of its bulls**t. Remove Trump and the left can’t defend the authoritarian actions it’s taking to overhaul America’s cultural norms.

Without Trump, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey would be viewed as treasonous villains for their censorship of free speech. Trump resistance justifies infringement of the Constitution’s First Amendment. Big Tech, especially smartphones, has too much influence over American society. On Friday, Maher ended his show explaining the negative impact of our cellular devices. Maher understands that smartphones and social media apps are disconnecting and dividing us.

Trump resistance is the lone catalyst and justification for corporate media framing the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 as an “insurrection.” The insurrection is the Big Lie. No one authentically believes you can overthrow the government with flagpoles, moose heads, and zip ties. The Taliban staged an insurrection in Afghanistan. Trump supporters staged an unruly, criminal protest that never reached the level of violence seen at a typical Antifa or Black Lives Matter protest.

Without Trump, the left would have to vigorously defend its contention that men can be “birthing people.” It would also be forced to defend allowing biological men to compete against women in sports.

Would America’s laissez-faire policy at our southern border exist without Trump? Our immigration policy makes no sense. It can’t be defended. It doesn’t serve the greater good of our country. It is as big a mess as Afghanistan. We’re allowing illegal immigrants to flood our country simply because doing so is anti-Trump.

Critical race theory depends on Trump resistance for legitimacy. It can’t survive scrutiny and analysis. On Friday, Maher and his interview guest, gay conservative writer Andrew Sullivan, mocked the New York Times 1619 Project and complained that the left has moved away from the goal of a color-blind society.

You should watch Friday’s show. It was amazing. Maher flirted with multiple third rails, including suggesting that vaccines and masks shouldn’t be regarded as a more important response to COVID than exercise, losing weight, and a healthy diet.

Watching Maher on Friday made me ponder what the world would be like if Trump abandoned politics. Would it hasten the collapse of the fascist left? If you removed the Trump card, would it force the fake leftists to confront the fraudulence of the rest of the progressives’ hand?

I believe, at this point, the majority of leftists are fake. Black people, the house pets of liberals, are required to hate Trump and all conservatives. Gangbangers and drug dealers command more respect in the black community than black Trump supporters.

There’s nearly as much pressure on white people. Who wants the baggage of being assumed racist for espousing conservative beliefs? Disavow Trump and supporting leftist policy protects you from accusations of homophobia, racism, and misogyny. Pretending to be a Democrat exempts you from being held accountable for any violations of political correctness. Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel co-hosted “The Man Show” and performed in blackface. He’s in good standing. Meanwhile, “Jeopardy” just canceled its brand-new host because of things he said on a podcast no one listened to 10 years ago.

Maher recognizes this hypocrisy. And he likely knows that he would be canceled, too, if he didn’t keep up the charade of being a loyal Democrat and devout Trump hater.

Trump hate is the Democratic platform. It justifies Afghanistan, the border, 20 new genders, censorship, critical racism theory, mandating experimental vaccines, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Sometimes I think Trump has proven his point. He awakened the public to the swamp, the financial alliance among global corporations, political elites, and America’s adversaries.

Does he have more to offer? Or is he now an impediment, a blinding force that stops well-intentioned people from seeing the damage the other side is doing to America?

Could Trump save America by stepping aside and fully exposing the lunacy of the Left?

What I’m suggesting reminds me of the strategy that civil rights workers used to defeat segregationists. Bible-carrying men and women put on their Sunday-best clothes and let photographers and cameramen document the behavior of bigots. The images won the civil rights movement. Compelling liberals to defend their agenda without their trusty Trump card would unmask their wickedness.

Today’s TWO Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Guess Who?

A.F. BRANCO on August 21, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-guess-who/

Biden stabs pro-American Afghan translators, military, and women right in the back.

Afghan Translators Betrayed
Political cartoons by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Wizard of Odd

A.F. BRANCO on August 23, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-wizard-of-odd/

Everyone is pointing at Biden for the Afghan disaster but not the master behind the scenes.

Obama’s Puppet
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.


Watch: Harris’ Face During Biden’s Afghanistan Presser Tells Us Everything We Need to Know About State of USA

 By Isa Cox  August 20, 2021 at 4:40pm

Earlier this week, as President Joe Biden’s administration scrambled to spin its disastrously botched withdrawal from Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul to Taliban forces, Vice President Kamala Harris was suspiciously absent from the public eye. Suddenly, the “Harris” part of “Biden-Harris” was nowhere to be found and poor old Joe was forced to face the nation alone.

They apparently managed to briefly get Harris out of hiding on Friday, however, and she appeared loyally by Biden’s side as he addressed the nation for a second time on the crisis in Afghanistan and vowed to evacuate the untold number of Americans who are still stranded in the now-fallen nation. As it turns out, the administration may have done better to just let Harris remain in hiding.

Twitter users were quick to notice that while they may have convinced her to show her face in public with the president to demonstrate unity, it was her face that said it all.

“[L]et me be clear,” Biden said at the White House on Friday, flanked by his clearly uncomfortable vice president. “Any American [who] wants to come home, we will get you home.”

Biden said his administration has been in “constant contact with the Taliban, working to ensure civilians have safe passage to the airport” amid reports the insurgent forces are beating Americans who try to enter the Kabul airport.

“[W]e’ve made clear to the Taliban that any attack — any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript.

“We have no indication that they haven’t been able to get — in Kabul — through the airport,” he added. “We’ve made an agreement with the — with the Taliban. Thus far, they’ve allowed them to go through. It’s in their interest for them to go through.’

“So, we know of no circumstance where American citizens are — carrying an American passport — are trying to get through to the airport. But we will do whatever needs to be done to see to it they get to the airport.”

Harris, who was wearing a face mask, probably should have worn sunglasses — because her eyes alone spoke louder than any words could have.

Before a clutch of journalists and Biden’s own defense secretary later refuted his lies about the situation at the Kabul airport, Harris’ face betrayed the falsehood outright.

After Biden’s address, Harris promptly departed the country on a pre-planned trip to Asia to visit Singapore and Vietnam (the latter visit couldn’t have been more poorly nor ironically timed considering the parallels between the fall of Kabul on Sunday and the 1975 fall of Saigon).

Amazingly, she’s just about the only person who isn’t calling out Biden’s lies, and by the look on her face on Friday, it appears even that was a struggle for her.

Biden’s claim that the administration knows of “no circumstance ” in which Americans are having a difficult time getting to the airport in Kabul was hotly contested by establishment media reporters.

Meanwhile, Politico reported Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told House lawmakers during a call on Friday that indeed, multiple Americans had been beaten by Taliban fighters as they tried to reach the airport.

“We’re also aware that some people including Americans have been harassed; even beaten by the Taliban,” Austin said, according to multiple sources on the call. “This is unacceptable and [we] made it clear to the designated Taliban leader.”

Considering how horribly Biden is bungling this thing as our countrymen are subjected to violent assault at the hands of Islamic extremist fighters who just made him look like a fool, one certainly understands why Harris had such a hard time appearing the least bit confident in our commander-in-chief. It’s her job to have his back, and she seemingly couldn’t even do that. Our country is in the hands of these people.

Does anyone in the administration have faith in Biden right now? Or anyone anywhere for that matter?

Isa Cox, Contributor

Isa grew up in San Francisco, where she was briefly a far-left socialist before finding Jesus and her husband in Hawaii. She now homeschools their two boys and freelances in the Ozarks.@crunchyconmama

CNN reporter slams Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal with the perfect description


Reported by CHRIS ENLOE | August 21, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/clarissa-ward-afghanistan-withdrawal-failure/

CNN reporter Clarissa Ward, the network’s chief foreign correspondent, chose the consummate word to describe President Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal as she waited to depart Kabul on Friday.

While waiting inside the Kabul airport compound for her flight to Qatar, Ward — who had become the face of on-the-ground reporting from Kabul since the Taliban overtook the city — succinctly described Biden’s withdrawal as an utter “failure.”

“These kids behind me, sleeping on the gravel on a piece of cardboard box, are the lucky ones because there are many others, thousands of them, just outside the perimeter,” Ward began. “I saw with my own eyes the Taliban fighters beating them, mothers throwing their babies trying to get them inside the airport compound.’

“It is just a picture of desperation– of failure, as well, failure to protect our allies, failure to plan for this eventuality,” she proclaimed.

Ward explained there is “a lot of bitterness” among people in Kabul that “every eventuality was not planned for, that evacuations did not begin earlier.”

“Seeing these scenes, seeing this heartache, seeing this desperation, and seeing this chaos,” Ward continued, “you have to ask yourself: ‘Surely there was a better way, surely there was a better way.'”

Prior to departing Afghanistan, Ward directly contradicted Biden’s claim that Americans trapped in Afghanistan were not experiencing difficulty reaching the Kabul airport.

“Working out how to get into this airport is like a Rubik’s cube,” Ward said. “It’s very difficult. It’s very difficult. It’s not a simple process at all.”

“Technically, it’s possible, but it’s extremely difficult — and it is dangerous,” Ward added.

Ward and her CNN team landed safety in Doha, Qatar, shortly before midnight EST on Saturday.

“Just landed in Doha with the team and nearly 300 Afghan evacuees. Huge thanks to all of you for your support and concern, to the US Air Force for flying us out and to Qatar for welcoming us. We are the lucky ones,” Ward said.

FBI has no evidence Jan. 6 riot was organized, coordinated, or otherwise planned by Trump or others: Report


Reported by CHRIS PANDOLFO | August 20, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/fbi-no-evidence-jan-6-riot-organized-trump-or-others/

The FBI has turned up no evidence that the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was a coordinated attempt to launch an insurrection against the United States government by overturning the results of the presidential election, according to officials who spoke to Reuters Friday.

“The FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump,” Reuters reports.

Further, “the FBI has so far found no evidence that [Trump] or people directly around him were involved in organizing the violence.”

Of the more than 570 individuals who have been arrested on charges related to the riot, “Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases,” said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. “Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages.”

Of those “militia groups,” FBI investigators did find that some groups like the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys allegedly planned to break into the Capitol. “But they found no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside,” Reuters’ sources said.

The FBI has filed conspiracy charges against 40 individuals who allegedly had “engaged in some degree of planning” before the riot, but prosecutors “have steered clear of more serious, politically-loaded charges that the sources said had been initially discussed by prosecutors, such as seditious conspiracy or racketeering.”

With no evidence of a centrally coordinated plot to overthrow the U.S. government, “conspiracy charges that have been filed allege that defendants discussed their plans in the weeks before the attack and worked together on the day itself. But prosecutors have not alleged that this activity was part of a broader plot.”

The revelations run counter to the popular media narrative that former President Donald Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to stay in power after losing the election to Joe Biden. On. Jan. 6, Trump gave a speech at a “Save America” rally at the Capitol in which he repeated his various claims about the election being stolen and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to intervene during the Joint Session of Congress and reject the Electoral College results from several contested states.

“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” Trump said.

But contrary to the president’s stated desire for peaceful protest, violence broke out when a mob of Trump’s supporters breached security at the Capitol building and trespassed inside, forcing members of Congress to evacuate. More than 100 police officers were injured in violent altercations with members of the mob. Rioters entered congressional offices, stole government property, and searched the building looking for lawmakers.

One woman, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer during the riot.

National headlines blamed Trump for fomenting the violence by making false claims about the election. Democrats in Congress impeached Trump on charges of “incitement of insurrection,” but the former president was acquitted by Senate vote.

The FBI’s findings will prove an obstacle to left-wing Democrats on the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 who seek to prove that Trump and his Republican allies had a hand in organizing the riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has suggested that the committee will investigate GOP lawmakers who supported Trump’s effort to have the Electoral College results rejected.

But without evidence of a larger conspiracy, attempts to tie Republicans to an insurrection are purely political.

Taliban fighters are ‘hunting down’ journalists, carrying out revenge executions against Afghans who worked with the West


Reported by PHIL SHIVER | August 20, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/taliban-fighters-hunting-down-journalists-revenge-executions/

Despite promising “amnesty” to Afghan residents who worked with Western governments and organizations during the last 20 years of U.S. military occupation, Taliban forces in Afghanistan are now reportedly hunting downjournalists and other supposed dissidents in order to execute them.

According to German news outlet Deutsche Welle, bloodthirsty militants on Thursday shot and killed a family member of an Afghan journalist who works with the Western media organization.

DW director general Peter Limbourg said the heinous attack was carried out during a house-to-house revenge search, during which another one of the unnamed journalist’s family members was seriously injured. The journalist is reportedly safe, having escaped to Germany.

In a statement, Limbourg called on the German government to take action, exclaiming, “We are running out of time!”

“The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves,” Limbourg said. “It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces.”

The New York Times on Friday detailed several other reports of the Taliban carrying out violence against Afghan journalists over the last several days:

Amdullah Hamdard, 33, who learned English as a teenager and translated for U.S. Special Forces — they gave him the nickname “Huggy Bear” — had spent the last four years working with Die Zeit newspaper. He was murdered by Taliban fighters on the street near his home in Jalalabad, the paper reported …

… On Thursday, Taliban fighters beat two Afghan journalists while violently dispersing a protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog group, noted other attacks against journalists in recent days, including the fatal shooting on Aug. 9 of a radio station manager in Kabul, and the kidnapping of a reporter in Helmand Province. Afghan press freedom groups blamed the Taliban for both incidents.

An American journalist, Wesley Morgan, tweeted this week, “Taliban searching my former interpreter’s house (he’s hiding out elsewhere and can see it via the app on his phone from his home security cameras).”

The violence is in direct contradiction to the public messaging espoused by Taliban leadership since taking control of the country in recent days.

“I must remind you that we forgive everyone because it is in the interest of peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced during a news conference on Tuesday. “All the groups that were confronting us are all forgiven.”

However, it is revenge — not forgiveness — that has been observed, and not only against journalists. Taliban fighters have descended on communities to hunt down women and Christians, as well.

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Botched Pullout

A.F. BRANCO on August 20, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-botched-pullout/

Biden has removed the Trump policies that prevented the meltdown at the border and the Afghanistan disaster.

Biden is a Disaster
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

The worldview of the Taliban


Reported By John StonestreetTimothy Padget

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/voices/the-worldview-of-the-taliban.html/

Taliban fighters
File photo of Taliban fighters posing with weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan in this undated photo. | Reuters

After seeing the images out of Kabul in recent days, Maajid Nawaz, a former radical Muslim, said, “Barefoot Taliban conquered a palace. They believed in something and fought for nothing. I have lived with men like this in prison. It is difficult to describe just how seriously they take their cause. There is a lesson here for us in the West, if we are humble enough to see it.”

We hear the terror from Afghan women who now wonder what the lives of their daughters will be like, worried that 20 years of progress in women’s rights have disappeared overnight. We see the desperation of men so afraid of what might come next that they’re literally clinging to the wheels of American aircraft as they depart. Yet, we struggle to have a category for what they actually fear. Many Westerners don’t have the categories to understand the realities of Islamic fundamentalism.

Much of the world has long struggled to understand the worldview that is driving the Taliban conquerors today, or the ISIS fanatics from a few years ago, or the al Qaeda terrorists that struck on 9/11. These groups are driven by their own internal logic, their own worldview.

I’m not going to try to explain the entirety of radical Islam. However, there are a few key points about this worldview that can give us clarity in understanding what’s happening in Afghanistan and what we might expect in the days ahead. 

First, for radical Islam, this isn’t about this particular American president or the last American president or any particular foreign policy decision. This is seen as part of a war that’s been going on for over 1,000 years. 

In the wake of 9/11, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the second in command of al Qaeda, and in many ways the strategic planner for Osama bin Laden, spoke about his group’s goals for this war with the West. In repeated statements to the press, he referred to waging war until all Muslim lands were restored, connecting the conflict in Afghanistan and the battle for Palestine to a worldwide conflict that spans from Iraq to Spain. Yes, Spain. 

To American ears, it doesn’t make any sense. Iraq, Israel, we can follow. Palestine, sure. Spain? You see, what he knew and what many Westerners have forgotten is that the mostly Catholic country of Spain was once the heartland of the Muslim world. Centuries before the Turks or Indonesians followed Islam, Spain was the base of operations for a potential invasion of Europe. It wasn’t until 1492 that Spain was retaken for the Cross.

For radical Islam, once lands have come under the sway of Islam, it is vital that good Muslims do whatever it takes to return those regions to the House of Islam; places where Islamic law and teaching is practiced. Whether we’re talking about Catholics in Spain or Israelis in Palestine, these people are merely occupying what’s rightfully a Muslim land.

This connects to another element of this worldview that we often miss. For Islamists, the West is not the primary enemy. We’re merely in the way of where history’s headed. What they seek is the overthrow of false Muslim rulers who have been corrupted by the wiles of Western influence. These are, as Al-Zawahiri put it, the “near enemy,” and they must be cast down. Only then can true Muslims take control and implement the fullness of Sharia. 

In other words, what we’ve seen on the ground in Afghanistan and what we’ve seen in the Middle East for a long time is the working out of a worldview. None of the happenings of the last 20 years, or the last 20 days, can be understood without understanding the worldview. 

Now, every worldview answers questions. Among these questions are those that ask, what is wrong with the world, and what must be done to make it right? For Christians, the problem is sin and all of its myriad manifestations. The solution is conversion: the conversions of individuals, as well as the restoration of culture through the grace and work of Christ, and through His Church, the restoration of the goodness of His creation. 

For secularists and much of contemporary Western culture, the problem is ignorance. Through education and science, and by becoming aware of the perspectives of others, we can hope to improve the structural failings that have plagued our world. 

But the problem is seen differently in radical Islam. The problem is seen as the internal corruption of the Islamic states and the unwillingness of the rest of the world to bow to what is ultimately true. 

Here’s how Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis described it:

“For Usama bin Laden and those who share in his views, and there are many of them, the object of the struggle is the elimination of the intrusive Western power and corrupting Western influence from all the lands of Islam, and the restoration of Islamic authority in these lands. When this has been accomplished, the stage will be set for the final struggle to bring God’s message to all mankind in all the world.”

Now, I hope one of the things that you notice is that for a true Muslim, Islam is not a point of personal and private belief. Islam describes the actual condition of the world. It describes what’s happening and where history is going. And for radicals, whatever needs to be done to accomplish that mission is justified. Whatever atrocities are committed along the way will find their purpose in this overriding goal. 

For this goal, they are willing to sacrifice themselves by the thousands. Radical Islamic leaders are willing to be incredibly patient to see this goal accomplished, because they are fully assured that one day their work will indeed bear fruit. The brutality, the absolutism, and the unyielding determination that we see in radical Islam are driven by a worldview. Without a true and accurate understanding of the world, they’ll continue to pursue their ends by any means necessary. 

We are right to oppose these ideals because lives are at stake. Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas, like the bad ideas of radical Islam, have victims. How we push back on these forces will take many different forms, sometimes even force, but here’s what’s clear. We will never make headway if we fail to understand the worldview that animates the whole thing in the first place.


Originally published at BreakPoint

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He’s a sought-after author and speaker on areas of faith and culture, theology, worldview, education and apologetics.  

Timothy D. Padgett (PhD) is the Managing Editor of BreakPoint.org with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His focus is on cultural engagement, living out the Christian worldview, and the way Christians argue for diverse viewpoints while sharing a common biblical foundation, particularly regarding the relationship between church and state, Christ and culture, and war and peace.

Hobby Lobby ordered to pay $220K for not allowing trans employee to use women’s restroom


Reported By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter| Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/hobby-lobby-fined-for-making-trans-employee-use-unisex-restroom.html/

hobby lobby
(Photo: Flickr Creative Commons)

A state court has ordered the Christian-owned craft store chain Hobby Lobby to pay over $200,000 in fines for refusing to allow one of its trans-identified employees to use the women’s bathroom. A three-judge Illinois appellate court panel unanimously ruled Friday that Hobby Lobby violated the Illinois Human Rights Act by declining to allow one of its employees to use the bathroom that corresponds with the person’s gender identity instead of biological sex.

Friday’s ruling reinforces an earlier conclusion of the Illinois Human Rights Commission. The company was ordered to pay its longtime employee $220,000 in attorneys’ fees for “emotional distress.” The company argued the fine was excessive. However, the court did not find Hobby Lobby’s arguments persuasive. 

The retail chain, owned by the Green family, has become known for its adherence to Christian principles. As explained in the decision, the employee, a biological male who now identifies as Meggan Sommerville, began working for Hobby Lobby in 1998. In 2007, while working as an employee of the Hobby Lobby in East Aurora, Sommerville began to transition from male to female.

The transition became official in 2010 when Sommerville “formally informed Hobby Lobby of her transition and her intent to begin using the women’s bathroom at the store.” Sommerville presented the store with an updated driver’s license, Social Security card and name change court order. Although Hobby Lobby changed Sommerville’s personnel records and benefits information to reflect a “female identity,” the store never allowed the employee to use the women’s restroom over the past decade. Sommerville has faced disciplinary action for using the women’s bathroom.

The East Aurora store did install a unisex restroom in 2013, enabling store employees and customers to “use either the bathroom corresponding to their [biological sex] or the unisex bathroom.” Sommerville contended, however, that being forced to use the unisex bathroom made it seem as if “they were segregating me,” adding, “I felt as though there were the guys, the gals, and then me.”

“Hobby Lobby’s provision of a unisex bathroom available to all employees and customers cannot cure its unequal treatment of Sommerville with respect to the women’s bathroom,” the court maintained. “If every employee and customer except Sommerville may use either the unisex bathroom or the bathroom corresponding to their sex, but Sommerville’s choices are limited to the unisex bathroom or a bathroom that does not correspond to her sex, Hobby Lobby is still discriminating unlawfully.”

Sommerville alleged that the inability to use the women’s restroom led to severe mental anguish, and the court agreed. It ruled that Hobby Lobby’s actions violated a law barring “discrimination against any individual because of his or her … [sex], or sexual orientation … in connection with employment … and the ability of public accommodations.” 

Additionally, the law makes it illegal for “any employer to … segregate, or act with respect to … discipline … or terms, privileges or conditions of employment on the basis of unlawful discrimination” and for places of public accommodation to “deny or refuse to another the full and equal enjoyment of the facilities.”

The court emphasized that “discrimination against a person because of his or her actual perceived … sex … [or] sexual orientation” constitutes “unlawful discrimination.” 

“Hobby Lobby’s conduct thus falls squarely within the definition of unlawful discrimination under the Act, as it treats Sommerville differently from all other women who work or shop at its store, solely on the basis that her gender identity is not ‘traditionally associated with’ her ‘designated sex at birth,’” the court argued. “The Commission did not err in finding that Hobby Lobby’s conduct of denying Sommerville access to its women’s bathroom violated her civil rights under articles 2 and 5 of the Act.” 

While the court’s opinion never discussed Hobby Lobby’s Christian faith or religious beliefs, it did mention that the arts-and-crafts chain sees “an individual’s ‘sex’ — the status of being male or female” as “an immutable condition.”

Hobby Lobby gained national recognition for citing its religious beliefs when objecting to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The mandate forced employers to cover their employees’ birth control in employer-sponsored healthcare packages. 

Hobby Lobby asserted that providing its employees with contraception coverage, including abortion-inducing drugs, would violate the company’s sincerely held religious beliefs.

In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell that companies could refuse to provide contraception for their employees if doing so violated their religious beliefs. 

The Illinois appellate court’s ruling against Hobby Lobby comes as congressional Democrats are pushing for the passage of the Equality Act, which would enshrine nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community into federal law. The language of the Equality Act is similar to that of the Illinois Human Rights Act. Many conservatives have expressed concern about its implications for religious liberty. 

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com

Taliban Official Announces Group Will Rule Afghanistan with Sharia Law and ‘No Democratic System’


Reported By Jack Davis |August 19, 2021

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/taliban-official-announces-group-will-rule-afghanistan-sharia-law-no-democratic-system/

Sharia Law is triumphant in Afghanistan and democracy is dead.

Although leaders of the Taliban are making up some pieces of how they will govern the conquered country as they go along, those are the foundational principles, according to Reuters.

“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” senior Taliban leader Waheedullah Hashimi told the outlet.

“We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is Sharia Law and that is it.”

Sharia Law is a strict code of behavior supported by some Muslims. Taliban officials have tried to present a softer side to the world in the aftermath of their victory.

“We assure the international community that there will be no discrimination against women, but, of course, within the frameworks we have,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

Since taking power, the Taliban has tried to put a gloss on its image to the extent where one CNN reporter characterized a group of Taliban fighters as seemingly “friendly.”

“The entire world now recognizes that the Taliban are the real rulers of the country,” said Mawlawi Abdulhaq Hemad, a member of the organization’s media team, according to The New York Times. “I am still astonished that people are afraid of Taliban.”

A spokesman for the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, Rupert Colville, expressed skepticism about what the words actually mean.

“Such promises will need to be honored, and for the time being — again understandably, given past history — these declarations have been greeted with some skepticism,” he told The Associated Press. “There have been many hard-won advances in human rights over the past two decades. The rights of all Afghans must be defended.”

For example, Fox News reported Thursday that the Taliban “killed a woman in Takhar province after she went out in public without a burqa.”

According to Aliya Kazimy, 27, of Mazar-i-Sharif, women who went shopping alone were told they had to go home and return with men as chaperones.

“I am from the generation that had a lot of opportunities after the fall of the Taliban 20 years ago,” she told the Times.

“I was able to achieve my goals of studying, and for a year I’ve been a university professor, and now my future is dark and uncertain. All these years of working hard and dreaming were for nothing. And the little girls who are just starting out, what future awaits them?” she said.

Hashimi indicated to Reuters that Afghanistan would likely be run by a ruling council, while the group’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, would keep overall control. When the Taliban previously ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, it had a council making day-to-day decisions, according to the Post.

Jack Davis, Contributor

Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

Shocking videos show just how many US military weapons are now in the hands of Taliban terrorists


Reported by CHRIS ENLOE | August 18, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/videos-us-military-weapons-taliban-terrorists/

Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to President Joe Biden, admitted Tuesday that “a fair amount” of United States military weapons fell into the hands of Taliban terrorists when they swiftly took control of Afghanistan.

But what, quantitatively speaking, is a “fair amount”? New videos suggest that Sullivan may have been understating just how many American arms the Taliban seized.

With the American military presence now limited to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, billions of dollars’ worth of military arms were left behind as American forces were ordered to leave their installations and Afghan security forces, which were armed in part by American tax dollars, collapsed.

Videos circulating on social media show Taliban forces seizing thousands of firearms and ammunition.

One video showed thousands of various rifles, a seemingly endless number; body armor; and other assorted military equipment — all now in the hands of Taliban terrorists.

Another video showed Taliban terrorists raiding a weapons depot, putting hundreds of rifles into the back of a truck.

Other videos showed:

As it has already been reported, Taliban terrorists have also seized U.S. drones and military vehicles.

How did this happen?

The Washington Post detailed the Afghan government corruption that helped facilitate the Taliban’s swift victory and also explains how so many American arms fell into the hands of terrorists.

From the Post:

The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan’s military that allowed Taliban fighters to walk into the Afghan capital Sunday despite 20 years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series of deals brokered in rural villages between the militant group and some of the Afghan government’s lowest-ranking officials.

The deals, initially offered early last year, were often described by Afghan officials as cease-fires, but Taliban leaders were in fact offering money in exchange for government forces to hand over their weapons, according to an Afghan officer and a U.S. official.

Over the next year and a half, the meetings advanced to the district level and then rapidly on to provincial capitals, culminating in a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders by government forces, according to interviews with more than a dozen Afghan officers, police, special operations troops and other soldiers.

By all accounts, the amount of American military equipment seized by the Taliban cost billions of taxpayer dollars. Still, neither the Biden administration nor the military have given any indication that U.S. firepower will be recovered.

When asked by a reporter on Monday what steps the U.S. military was taking to recovery U.S. military assets, Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor said, “I don’t have the answer to that question.”

Shot, stabbed Afghan woman whose eyes were knifed out by Taliban says they ‘torture us,’ feed remains to dogs


Reported by SARAH TAYLOR | August 19, 2021

Read more at https://www.theblaze.com/news/shot-stabbed-afghan-woman-taliban/

An Afghani woman by the name of Khatera says that the Taliban will not respect or honor women’s rights despite the terrorist group’s assertions otherwise.

In a Monday interview with India’s News18, Khatera, 33, recalled the horrific attack that took place in 2020 when her father — a former Taliban fighter — tipped off the Islamist militant group that his daughter was employed.

Women, under Sharia law, are not permitted to work.

In October, Khatera said that her father, who remains unnamed at the time of this reporting, purportedly conspired with the Taliban to stage an attack on her as she returned home from work one day.

During the attack, Khatera — who worked for the police at the time — was shot at least eight times, stabbed, and had her eyes knifed out of their sockets before Taliban fighters left her for dead.

She was pregnant during the horrific attack.

“It’s tough for the world to imagine what we built in the past 20 years,” she told the outlet. “We built dreams. Now they are gone. It’s all over for us. Women who work with the government or police were being hunted and threatened even before the Taliban had taken over the country. Now, the concern has gone beyond letting women work. At this point, I am scared if they would leave these women alive. They don’t just kill women — they make animals feed on their bodies. They are a blot on Islam.”

Khatera said that the Taliban does not view women as “living, breathing human beings,” but “merely some meat and flesh to be battered.”

“[The Taliban] first torture us and then discard our bodies to show as a specimen of punishment,” she said. “Sometimes our bodies are fed to dogs. I was lucky I survived it. One has to live in Afghanistan under the Taliban to even imagine what hell has befallen on women, children, and minorities here.”

After the attack, Khatera fled with her husband and child to Delhi, where she continues to be treated for injuries sustained in the attack.

“The Taliban don’t allow women to visit male doctors, and at the same time, don’t let women study and work,” she told the outlet. “So then what is left for a woman? Left to die? Even if you think we are just reproductive machines, there is not common sense but pure hate. How does a woman deliver her child according to the dictum of these men with guns without medical care?”

Ann Coulter Op-ed: Joe vs. The Swamp


Commentary by Ann Coulter | Posted: Aug 18, 2021

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com., and WhatDidYouSay.org

Joe vs. The Swamp

Source: AP Photo/Susan Walsh

President Biden ended the war in Afghanistan earlier this week, fulfilling the broken promises of the last three presidents, whereupon both the liberal and conservative media rose up as one to shout: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

This is a blow to our national security! Al Qaeda is rising! A disaster! A catastrophe! Biden went against the advice of the “foreign policy establishment”!

And that was just Fox News.

MSNBC and CNN were even harsher, striking a new tone from networks that, heretofore, have found nothing to criticize about Joe Biden.

Under his masterful leadership, our nation’s murder rate has reached breathtaking heights. Despite being handed a miracle vaccine, Biden has made a mess of COVID, unfathomably returning us to masking and shutdowns, as if completely unaware: There’s a vaccine for that, Mr. President. The border is a calamity, with hundreds of thousands of foreign marauders entering our country every month — bringing exotic new COVID variants with them.

MSNBC and CNN: Isn’t he the greatest?

But end the endless war? Suddenly, liberals found a Biden policy worthy of attack.

Hourly, there are fresh wails about our precious “Afghan allies”! We must save the translators who “risked their lives to help us!” What will happen to women under the Taliban! Afghanistan could become a “training ground” for terrorists! What about the Afghan Gender Studies programs?

The voice of moderation, Gen. Barry McCaffrey told MSNBC’S Brian Williams — I quote: “There’s another good argument, we should have stayed there with 35,000 NATO forces for the next 50 years if required.”

Fifty years. You want to see the “Swamp”? It’s out in full force this week!

Former President Bush told the press he watched the withdrawal with “deep sadness” — then demanded that we bring as many Afghans here as possible.

Obama was unavailable for comment this week, as he was partying with Beyonce, but back in 2011, after killing Osama bin Laden, he announced that the troops would be home by Christmas.

President Trump, that weathervane of popular opinion, tweeted — one month before the election — quote: “BRING OUR SOLDIERS HOME.”

Now Biden has done it. It’s our country’s good fortune that our president is too senile to be outmaneuvered by the generals as Bush, Obama and Trump were.

At this rate, maybe he’ll build the wall. (Fox News hosts of the future: Walls don’t work! What about the Emma Lazarus poem!)

On Monday, Biden gave the best presidential address in recent memory — a full-throated, America-First statement of our interests. “I want to remind everyone,” he began, “how we got here and what America’s interests are in Afghanistan.”

That seemed to bring some conservatives back to reality. They must have overheard themselves talking and realized, Wait, I’m against permanent war! But they had to come up with some reason to be against Biden, so they temporized, Of course we want the war to end, we’re just upset at how he did it!

Oh, give it up, conservatives.

1) How smoothly did you expect the withdrawal of American troops from a country of warlords, brigands and pedophiles to go?

2) Our military brass, upstanding folks like Gen. Mark “I Want to Understand White Rage” Milley, may be incapable of creating the most minimal fighting force given $1 trillion and 20 years. On the other hand, they are fully equipped to create colossal fiascos — say, making the withdrawal as messy and embarrassing as possible, so that no one will ever try to end this war again.

But for maximum brain-deadery, nothing beats the liberal media’s incessant bleating about our moral obligation to Afghans who “risked their lives to help us!”

There seems to be some confusion about who was helping whom here. Our “Afghan allies” were not helping us. The Taliban weren’t in Iowa. We were helping them.

This is like demanding that firemen who’ve just rescued people from a burning building go back and make them dinner. These people stepped out of their windows onto a ladder, risking their lives to help YOU!

There’s no reason to bring any Afghans here — much less the 100,000 Biden’s talking about. (So is Trump! Hey, Trumpsters! Ready to move on from this big phony yet?)

We’ve already brought about 50,000 translators to the U.S. and, as Daniel Greenfield points out on Frontpage.com, the maximum number of troops we ever had in Afghanistan was 100,000. That’s one translator for every two troops.

Did every Afghan spend a week as an American translator?

With a war that’s lasted 20 years, it’s easy to forget, but our dear “Afghan allies” weren’t oodles of help. The war would have been over and Osama bin Laden dead by Christmas 2001 — except our “Afghan allies” were bribed by Al Qaeda to let bin Laden slip out the Tora Bora mountains and into Pakistan.

Remember? It was a big point in the 2004 election, raised by both John Kerry and John Edwards during the debates.

Sen. Kerry: “Osama bin Laden attacked us. … And when we had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora … we didn’t use the best-trained troops in the world to go kill the world’s No. 1 criminal and terrorist. [Bush] outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, who only a week earlier had been on the other side, fighting against us. … That’s the enemy that was allowed to walk out of those mountains.”

Here’s Bush’s response: “Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us.” That’s it. The end. If Kerry hadn’t been such a sissy-boy gigolo, he would have won that election.

At least bringing the Stone Age peasants here defeats one objection of the forever-war crowd. They claim that because of our withdrawal, Afghanistan will become a training ground for terrorists.

No worries on that count. With 100,000 “translators,” each of their four wives, 14 children and innumerable uncles and cousins all coming here, Al Qaeda’s next training ground will be America.

BIDEN EFFECT: US Lost Several Military Aircraft that Were Flown Out of Afghanistan – They Have No Idea How Many Were Lost — VIDEO


Reported By Jim Hoft | Published August 18, 2021

Read more at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/biden-effect-us-lost-several-military-aircraft-flown-afghanistan-no-idea-many-lost-video/

It Gets Worse.

During their totally pathetic press conference today at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and woke General Mark Milley admitted that Afghan pilots flew several US aircraft out of the country. They think they were flown to Uzbekistan or Tajikistan but they are not sure.

They also have no idea how many were taken.

This was a complete disaster.

Thousands of Americans are trapped in Afghanistan and these idiots have no plan on how to rescue them.
And they can’t even keep track of their aircraft.

Jim Hoft

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

Today’s THREE Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Burning Man

A.F. BRANCO on August 17, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-burning-man/

Biden is a disaster with Afghanistan, the Border, Law & order, and the economy while blaming Trump.

Biden is a Disaster
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Service With A Smile

A.F. BRANCO on August 18, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-service-with-a-smile/

China is looking at how easily Biden gave up Afghanistan and now thinking hard about Taiwan.

Biden Give Afghanistan to Taliban
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – General Oblivious

A.F. BRANCO on August 19, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-general-oblivious/

Woke General Milley says he didn’t see the Taliban overrunning the Afghan army coming.

Woke General Milley

Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

Teachers ask court to halt Va. school district policy forcing them to use trans pronouns


Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/teachers-ask-court-to-halt-school-districts-trans-pronoun-policy.html/

Kim Wright (R) and Monica Gill (L)
Loudoun County, Virginia teachers Kim Wright (R) and Monica Gill (L) | Alliance Defending Freedom

A pair of teachers are seeking to take a Virginia school district to court over a newly passed policy requiring, among other things, that staff uses the preferred names and pronouns of trans-identified students. Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill and Smart’s Mill Middle School English teacher Kim Wright filed an amended complaint to block the new policy passed last week by the Loudoun County School Board.

By a vote of 7-2, the board passed Policy 8040: Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students last week despite considerable opposition to the proposal from some teachers and parents. 

Gill and Wright propose to be added to a pre-existing legal challenge over the school district’s treatment of Leesburg Elementary School teacher Bryon Tanner Cross, who was placed on leave after voicing his displeasure with the policy proposal during a school board meeting. 

Filed Monday, the amended complaint argues that Cross, Gill and Wright oppose the new policy because they believe it “communicates that gender identity, rather than biological reality, fundamentally shapes and defines who we truly are as humans, that our sex can change, and that a woman who identifies as a man really is a man.”

The complaint further alleges that if the teachers were to comply with the policy, “they would be forced to communicate a message they believe is false.”

“[I]f they refer to students based on their biological sex, they communicate the views they actually believe — that our sex shapes who we are as humans, that this sex is fixed in each person, and that it cannot be changed, regardless of our feelings or desires,” the amended complaint states. 

The legal filing adds that the school district has “refused to find middle ground” and “made this case about far more than titles or pronouns.”

“[T]hey have taken a side in a national debate over competing views of human nature and compelled conformity to, and support for, only one view,” the complaint charges. “Under the timeless free speech principles enshrined in the Virginia Constitution and laws, Defendants cannot compel one side to voice the other’s beliefs.” 

Tyson Langhofer of the Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal nonprofit representing the teachers, said in a statement on Tuesday that he believes the teachers “shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false.”

“Loudoun County Public Schools is now requiring all teachers and students to deny truths about what it means to be male and female and is compelling them to call students by their chosen pronouns or face punishment,” stated Langhofer.

“Public employees cannot be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job. Freedom — of speech and religious exercise — includes the freedom not to speak messages against our core beliefs.”

Policy 8040 requires that school faculty and staff use the chosen name and pronouns of a student who identifies as “gender-expansive or transgender.”

“School staff shall, at the request of a student or parent/legal guardian, when using a name or pronoun to address the student, use the name and pronoun that correspond to their consistently asserted gender identity,” the policy reads.

“The use of gender-neutral pronouns is appropriate. Inadvertent slips in the use of names or pronouns may occur; however, staff or students who intentionally and persistently refuse to respect a student’s gender identity by using the wrong name and gender pronoun are in violation of this policy.”

The policy allows students to use the restroom or locker room “that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity,” advising school administrators to consider adding “gender-inclusive or single-user restrooms” for more privacy.

According to a frequently-asked-questions document, LCPS recommended that schools “make efforts to eliminate gender-based practices to the extent possible,” claiming that these practices “can have the effect of marginalizing, stigmatizing, and excluding students, regardless of their gender identity or gender expression.”

“Examples of practices that may be based on gender, and which should be eliminated, include grouping students for class activities, gender-based homecoming or prom courts, limitations on who can attend as ‘couples’ at school dances, and gender-based events such as father-daughter dances,” reads the FAQ document.

The policy garnered national headlines when LCPS suspended Cross after he spoke out in his personal capacity against the policy at a school board meeting in May.

“My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria,” stated Cross at the time. “I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences.”

Cross sued the school district in response to the suspension, with a judge granting the Christian teacher a temporary injunction for his reinstatement in June while the lawsuit proceeds. LCPS is appealing the judge’s decision. 

“LCPS respectfully disagrees with the Circuit Court’s decision to issue the injunction, and it is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia,” stated LCPS back in June.

“Many students and parents at Leesburg Elementary have expressed fear, hurt and disappointment about coming to school. Addressing those concerns is paramount to the school division’s goal to provide a safe, welcoming and affirming learning environment for all students.”

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