White House Dossier's

The Hawaii Emergency Services Administration confirmed that the emergency system it tests every month in preparation for a crisis was not turned on as the flames raced toward residents. New York Post

And at around the same time, superior officers vetoed a plan for a drone strike elsewhere because of the 'negative response' of the Taliban to such a raid. Taken together, the shocking conclusion is that the bloodiest moment in President Joe Biden's presidency might have been avoided if American troops had not been reliant on their enemy for protection in the final days of the evacuation.

A total of 183 people were killed in the blast, including the bomber.

The details are set out in 'Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden's Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End,' which is published by Center Street on Tuesday — the two-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover. Daily Mail

Trump Overshadows DeSantis and GOP Field at Iowa State Fair . . . On Saturday, former president Donald Trump was the center of attention, even on a day when he shared the fairgrounds with four others also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He worked especially hard to overshadow Ron DeSantis, his current top challenger for the GOP nomination, arriving shortly after the Florida governor and stealing crowd and media attention. Iowa starts the Republican nomination process with its Jan. 15 caucuses, and the state’s importance looms large because there’s a belief among party operatives that, if Trump can’t be slowed in the Hawkeye State, he’s likely to become the nominee. Wall Street Journal

GOP sees turnout disaster without Trump . . . Republican strategists are worried that if former President Trump doesn’t secure the GOP’s presidential nomination next year, or if he is kept off the ballot because of his mounting legal problems, it could spell a voter turnout disaster for their party in 2024. GOP strategists say there’s growing concern that if Trump is not the nominee, many of his core supporters, who are estimated to make up 25 percent to 35 percent of the party base, “will take their ball and go home.”  The Hill

hint

Water doesn't have to be boring

1. Joe Biden never discussed business with his son or family.
2. Joe Biden never met with his son's business partners.
3. The Biden family did not get money from China.
4. Hunter Biden "has done nothing wrong." 
5. The Hunter Biden laptop that emerged late in the 2020 election was Russian disinformation. Just the News

Biden's Favorite Super PAC Used Illegal Scheme to Conceal Its Donors . . . President Joe Biden last year condemned so-called dark money as a "serious problem facing our democracy." Now, the unpopular Democrat is embracing a super PAC that experts say used an illegal scheme to conceal its donors. The group, Future Forward, is led by former Obama campaign officials and has earned endorsements from Bidenworld as the "pre-eminent super PAC" supporting the president's reelection bid. Central to Future Forward's success is its ability to raise massive sums of money—nearly $400 million in the past five years—to run ads boosting Biden and other Democrats in battleground states. Washington Free Beacon
 

House Republican rips 'naivete' of Biden admin's $6B Iran prisoner swap deal . . . Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, ridiculed the agreement orchestrated by the Biden administration for Iran to release five Americans in exchange for $6 billion in assets and jailed Iranians. "Look I want to get these Americans home more than anybody. And one of them is a critical asset," McCaul said. "I agree with that, but we have to go in eyes wide open; $6 billion that is now going to go into Iran and prop up their proxy war terror operations, and their nuclear bomb aspirations. They are now starting to talk about the JCPOA all over again, which in my judgment leads down a course to a legal nuclear bomb in Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu came out strongly against this. I think we’re going back to the mistakes of the past." Fox News

Russia equipping submarines with hypersonic missiles . . . Russia is currently equipping its new nuclear submarines with hypersonic Zircon missiles, the head of the country's largest shipbuilder said in an interview published by the RIA state news agency Monday. Alexei Rakhmanov, chief executive officer of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, said work is "already underway" to fit Yasen-class submarines, otherwise known as Project 885M, with the sea-based hypersonic missiles. CNBC

Russia sets Odesa ablaze in overnight air strikes on Ukraine . . . Russian air strikes caused a series of explosions and fires in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, marking the latest bombardment in a weeks-long campaign aimed at choking Ukraine’s grain exports to global markets. “At night, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa with three waves of attacks: two waves of attack drones, a total of 15 drones, and eight Kalibr missiles,” Oleg Kiper, the region’s governor, said on Monday. Debris caused by the “downing of the missiles”, which were all successfully intercepted, damaged three buildings, he added. Financial Times

Poland detains two Russians for distributing Wagner Group propaganda . . . Two Russians accused of disseminating propaganda on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group in two Polish cities have been arrested and charged with espionage, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Monday. They fly-posted around 300 leaflets in Krakow and Warsaw, which were among around 3,000 pro-Wagner items of propaganda in their possession, the press office of the minister responsible for coordinating special services said in a statement. "Both were charged with espionage, among other things," Kaminski wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mercenaries of the Wagner Group have served as shock troops in Ukraine and are expanding their presence in West Africa. Their owner Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass in June. Wagner soldiers have also begun training with the Belarus army, and are being moved close to NATO's eastern flank to destabilise the military alliance, Poland's prime minister said in early August. Reuters

Europe’s largest political party veers right ahead of 2024 election . . .  Europe’s largest political party fought the last election almost as environmentalists, championing the EU’s ambitious plan to cut emissions and nourish nature. The bloc’s Green Deal was its “man on the moon moment”, said the centre-right European People’s Party in 2019. Soaring inflation, a war and a surge in immigration have since brought the EPP back down to earth. Ahead of EU-wide elections in June 2024, with populist and hard-right parties gaining ground, it has shifted to counter — or even adopt — them. Financial Times
 

Money

Biden administration coming for middle-class money, not billionaires’ wealth . . . While the Biden administration and others on the far left like to talk about the billionaires and ultra-wealthy paying their "fair share," the proposals that they put forth always seem to focus on keeping the middle class struggling. Whether it is hoping to hire 80,000+ new IRS staffers – which clearly isn’t meant to just go after 800 or so U.S. billionaires – or lowering the IRS reporting threshold for online transactions from $20,000 to $600, these endeavors are squarely focused on Main Street America, not Wall Street’s billionaire class. But these proposals pale in comparison to the setup for what could be the greatest government wealth heist of all time. Fox Business

Luxury watch market demand boosted by younger generation of buyers . . . Investors are dialing into watches as an alternative investment opportunity as the market continues on a three-year hot streak. Rolex cannot make watches fast enough to keep up with the demand. With the average watch taking a year to make and the wait ranging from a couple of months to a couple of years, consumers are turning to the secondhand market. Luxury watch sales are a $75 billion market, with secondhand sales making up 30% of that, according to Boston Consulting Group. It continues to grow as demand, particularly among younger consumers, picks up. Fox Business

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Inflation forcing Americans to spend $709 more per month than 2 years ago: economist . . . Americans are spending $709 more per month on everyday goods and services than they did two years ago, according to Moody's Analytics. Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi made the statement Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, as part of his analysis of July's consumer price index report. Despite the jarring increase in cost, Zandi say inflation is moderating, with just a 0.2% increase from June to July. "To be sure, the high inflation of the past 2+ years has done lots of economic damage. Due to the high inflation, the typical household spent $202 more in a July than they did a year ago to buy the same goods and services. And they spent $709 more than they did 2 years ago," Zandi wrote. Fox Business

Russian Ruble at Weakest Level Since Early Days of Ukraine War . . . Russia’s currency hit its weakest level in over a year, weighed down by Western sanctions and a wholesale reorientation of the economy toward supplying the war in Ukraine. The ruble’s decline picked up pace in recent weeks, and on Monday the currency fell past 100 to the U.S. dollar for the first time since the weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. So far this year, the ruble has lost almost 30% of its value against the dollar. Only a handful of currencies including the Turkish lira, Nigerian naira and Argentine peso are having a worse year. Wall Street Journal

Culture

Video Shows ‘Mob Of Criminals’ Ransacking Luxury Store In Broad Daylight . . . And the decline of America continues. Police are searching for around 30 suspects after wild video shows a mob-style looting robbery at a Topanga mall in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. The incident took place Saturday at around 4:15 PM at the Nordstrom store inside the Westfield Topanga Mall, according to police. Video shows a huge group of criminals destroying display cases, taking merchandise and sprinting out the door. A security guard for the store was sprayed with either bear spray or Mace pepper spray. Between 20-30 suspects were a part of the heist, and then fled the scene in multiple vehicles including a Lexus, BMW and Honda, said police.

The group of criminals stole anywhere between $60,000-$100,000 worth of merchandise, according to investigators. Daily Caller

Can we combat America’s loneliness epidemic? . . . This quasi-official designation of loneliness as an “epidemic” — the Centers for Disease Control only describes loneliness and social isolation as “widespread problems”— drew on data from the fields of sociology, psychology, neuroscience, political science, economics, and public health. The need for such efforts is clear – even if ending social isolation may ultimately be beyond the government’s control. Roughly half of Americans—prior to the pandemic— reported recent experiences of loneliness. These respondents exhibited higher rates of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. “The mortality impact of being socially disconnected,” Murthy observed, “is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than . . . obesity and physical inactivity.” New York Post

This is what happens when the government policies destroy the family unit, pit the children against the parents, attack religion, force lockdowns, and the list goes on.

White House reporter sues Karine Jean-Pierre after losing press pass . . . A member of the White House press corps has filed a lawsuit against White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the Secret Service, alleging they wrongfully revoked his press badge.

In his suit filed Thursday, African journalist Simon Ateba argues that the White House policy for revoking press access violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. President Biden's White House announced new rules in May that – for the first time – allowed for rescinding a press badge. "Defendants violated Mr. Ateba’s First Amendment rights by changing the criteria for hard pass credentials to intentionally prevent Mr. Ateba from obtaining hard pass access," the lawsuit reads. Fox News

Has Rupert Murdoch found love again? . . . Drudge Report claims media tycoon, 92, holidayed on yacht with a 'new woman' – scientist Elena Zhukova – and 'just might be in love again'. He may be 92 years old but media mogul Rupert Murdoch's love life still generates headlines. 'He's got the energy of people half his age,' a source told US news site Drudge Report. 'He just might be in love again.' Daily Mail

Disaster Relief Plane Flies Over Hawaii On Way To Ukraine . . .  According to sources, a plane carrying emergency supplies and $10 Billion in disaster relief flew over the Hawaiian island of Maui on its way to Ukraine. Island residents were at first delighted to see the disaster relief plane on the horizon until they saw it adjust its course to avoid the heavy smoke. "Where are you going?! Help us!" said a mother of four who had become homeless overnight when the fires took her home. Upon seeing the chaos below, the aircraft's pilot reportedly muttered to himself. "Hmm, I wonder why we aren't going there. Oh well! Ukraine, here we come!" 

The crew aboard the disaster relief plane reportedly took exciting photos of the Hawaiian destruction that they agree will make for a great addition to their disaster scrapbook. At publishing time, the pilot had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for expertly navigating the plane around the pillar of smoke that rose up from the smoldering ruins of Maui like a furnace, saving the aircraft from being covered in soot. Babylon Bee