Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
August 18, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Ex-CIA Agent: US Enters One of the Most Dangerous Times in History Post-Afghanistan. Here's Why . . . Now, the Taliban have helicopters, Humvees, MRAPS, and scores of weapons that we didn’t destroy. We left Bagram Air Force base which housed at least 5,000 terrorists. The Taliban has released them all. There are 5-10,000 Americans still trapped in the country. How will they get out? We don’t know. The Pentagon has no plan, and the Biden
White House couldn't guarantee that all could be safely evacuated. Yet, let’s go beyond Afghanistan. Former CIA operative Bryan Dean Wright says Afghanistan's collapse showed the world that the US can’t deploy our intelligence or military resources effectively.
“The blame lays at the feet of multiple Presidents. The Generals. The Spies. The Congress. America's Elites are trash,” Wright wrote. But it’s the China and Russia angles we need to watch: China knows it. They will become emboldened, covertly & overtly. War over Taiwan and contested islands in the S. China Sea and E. China Sea is now more likely. Russia will consider similar covert & overt moves, focused on Crimea, & former Soviet satellites. If Cold War III grows
hot, America will need to quickly build up & work with foreign counterparts. But who will trust America after Afghanistan?
Beyond China/Russia, others will take gambles too.
Terror orgs like al-Qa'ida & ISIS are degraded but not dead. Their ideology is very much alive. Iran's Hizballah -- with terror cells throughout the US -- may see an opening to create chaos too. There's also the nightmare of tactical weaponry now awash in Afghanistan, in the hands of the Taliban and -- soon -- on the global black market. These arms will fuel chaos around the world for decades. We could be entering one of the most dangerous and unpredictable times in modern
history. Townhall
I agree, 100 percent, with my fellow intel officer. We must brace for these dangerous times. Articles like this must go into the main outlets. Major TV networks must feature authors like this former intel officer. Yet, it's awfully hard for "big picture" articles like this, especially written by authors who are not government Agency Head level personalities (like Clapper, Brennan, Comey) in the main media. The MSM constantly chases bright and shiny
objects, hosting famous talking heads who rake in $$$, having nothing valuable to say, while article like this struggle to find a home other than in smaller pubs. Thank you, Townhall, for featuring this important read.!
Taliban fighters take control of the skies above Afghanistan . . . Taliban fighters today seized $6million US Blackhawk helicopters alongside tons of American equipment as they took to the skies in captured Russian choppers amid their advance through Afghanistan. A series of videos being shared on social media show insurgents flying the Kremlin-made mi-17 aircraft around the city of Kandahar, with concerns continuing to grow over the
militants' ongoing grab for power. The Afghan government pilots who fly the operational Russian helicopters have been turned to the Taliban. The White House has spent billions of dollars on supplying the Afghan military with the necessary weapons and equipment to wipe out the Taliban, but following the collapse of local armed forces, their investment is now effectively being used by the insurgents themselves as they bid to control more and more major cities. Daily Mail
The strategy of 'training & equipping foreign armies' is shortsighted at best, dumb and dangerous at worst. It's only a matter of time before some of these foreign armies or not-state actors will use the weaponry they received from us or stole against Americans.
Republican senator floats removal of Biden via 25th Amendment . . . Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is suggesting it is time to consider removing President Biden using the 25th Amendment, which provides for his removal if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” But doesn’t that presupposes that Kamala Harris is more fit “discharge the powers and duties” of the office? A dangerous assumption. Anyway, this is
political, not serious, at this point. White House Dossier
Both of them must be impeached. Neither Biden, nor Camella is able to discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President.
Biden finds few Capitol Hill allies amid Afghanistan backlash . . . President Biden is getting little cover from Congress as he faces broad backlash over his handling of the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan. Some Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), have rallied to Biden’s side and circulated White House talking points to their members. Pelosi also urged Democrats during a
conference call to stand behind Biden, according to a source familiar with the conversation. But the quick fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, images of chaos coming out of Kabul and questions about how, and how quickly, Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their families will get evacuated have merged into broad, bipartisan frustration between the two sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Hill
Navy SEALs say the Biden administration is failing Afghanistan . . . Two Navy SEALs criticized President Joe Biden and his administration Monday following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the country's capitulation to the Taliban. Robert O'Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden during the 2011 raid on the terrorist's Pakistani compound, said Biden is a disaster and called on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark
Milley to resign. "So, @POTUS is a disaster," O'Neill wrote on Twitter. The former Navy SEAL said Biden not only opposed the raid to kill bin Laden, but he also managed to lose Afghanistan "in 7 months." "This is the worst loss in American history," he said.
Washington Examiner
Biden returns to the White House amid criticism he is AWOL . . . Well, nobody in Afghanistan is on vacation at the moment, and now the president isn’t either. The Taliban is busy putting the finishing touches on its takeover of the country, while no doubt in the process of executing people it doesn’t like. U.S. troops are busy trying to keep order at the airport in Kabul and extract Americans and at least some of our Afghan allies from
the country. And now, finally, President Biden is back from Camp David, returning to the White House after an attempted vacation that had started in Delaware. He took no questions from the press. White House Dossier
The Only American Journalist Who Witnessed Saigon Compares It To Kabul: ‘It Is All Collapsing Much More Quickly’ . . . Journalist Jim Laurie said on Fox News Tuesday that watching Kabul fall to the Taliban was like watching Saigon fall in the final days of the Vietnam war. Laurie said that Afghanistan, which was overtaken by the Taliban in a matter of days, is like watching what happened in Vietnam at “warp speed.”
“What is happening in Afghanistan this last seven days is like Vietnam, Cambodia, at warp speed,” Laurie said. “It is all collapsing much more quickly. We at least had in Vietnam 55 days to watch the unraveling of the South Vietnamese effort there.” Daily Caller
Psaki declines to guarantee Americans in Afghanistan after Aug. 31 will get out . . . White House Dossier
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US Officials in Germany Hit by Havana Syndrome . . . At least two U.S. officials stationed in Germany sought medical treatment after developing symptoms of the mysterious health complaint known as Havana Syndrome, according to U.S. diplomats. The symptoms, which included nausea, severe headaches, ear pain, fatigue, insomnia and sluggishness, began to emerge in recent months and some victims were left unable to
work. They are the first cases to be reported in a NATO country that hosts U.S. troops and nuclear weapons. U.S. diplomats said that similar incidents had been registered among American officials stationed in other European nations but declined to provide any detail. Some victims were intelligence officers or diplomats working on Russia-related issues such as gas exports, cybersecurity and political interference, according to U.S. diplomats and people familiar with an investigation
into the illness. WSJ
T-Mobile confirms hackers stole about 7.8M postpaid customers' personal data . . . T-Mobile US confirmed on Wednesday that the investigation into a cyberattack has revealed that some personal data of about 7.8 million customers was affected, according to Reuters. The company says the theft involved current postpaid customers. Vice's Motherboard reported over the weekend that the telecom giant experienced a massive breach, citing
hackers on an online forum purporting to be selling the data. Data was also stolen from about 850,000 prepaid customers and more than 40 million records of former or prospective customers, according to the company. The breached data reportedly included customers' first and last names, date of birth, social security numbers, and driver's license information. Fox Business
Intelligence Warned of Afghan Military Collapse, Despite Biden’s Assurances . . . Classified assessments by American spy agencies over the summer painted an increasingly grim picture of the prospect of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and warned of the rapid collapse of the Afghan military, even as President Biden and his advisers said publicly that was unlikely to happen as quickly, according to current and former American government
officials. By July, many intelligence reports grew more pessimistic, questioning whether any Afghan security forces would muster serious resistance and whether the government could hold on in Kabul, the capital. President Biden said on July 8 that the Afghan government was unlikely to fall. The drumbeat of warnings over the summer raise questions about why Biden administration officials, and military planners in Afghanistan, seemed ill-prepared to deal with the Taliban’s final push
into Kabul, including a failure to ensure security at the main airport and rushing thousands more troops back to the country to protect the United States’ final exit. New York Times
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Taliban faces financial turmoil in Afghanistan as dollars dry up . . . IMF to decide on $460m allocation due to Kabul on Monday under coronavirus support scheme. The Taliban leadership is facing the prospect of financial turmoil in Afghanistan with the nation’s international reserves frozen, dollar shipments stopped and banks limiting withdrawals of cash, according to its former central bank governor. Ajmal Ahmady, who escaped Kabul
on Sunday, said the country had been dependent on bulk shipments of dollar reserves from the US and was now rapidly running short, leading to the likelihood of rising inflation, higher food prices and capital controls. “The Taliban won militarily, but now have to govern. It is not easy,” he said. Financial Times
Taliban Leaders Used Twitter and WhatsApp to Help Capture Kabul . . . Taliban leaders used Twitter and WhatsApp to spread propaganda and establish control over Kabul as they stormed the Afghan capital over the weekend. On Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that residents welcomed the Taliban and that "the situation in Kabul is under control." The jihadist group used WhatsApp to disseminate a similar message to Kabul
residents as it entered the city. In recent days, Taliban leaders have circulated WhatsApp numbers that Afghan regime officials or soldiers could call to negotiate their surrender. Washington Free Beacon
After Kabul, China exploits perceptions of American weakness . . . “If the U.S. cannot even secure a victory in a rivalry with small countries, how much better could it do in a major power game with China?” asked the Communist Party’s Global Times on Monday, hours after the Taliban captured Kabul. The semi-official tabloid also stated this, referring to America: “It cannot win a war anymore.” China’s regime this year has highlighted
themes intended to intimidate others into submission, and Beijing doubled down on this approach in the wake of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. The risk is that Beijing will now press the advantage, taking on what it says is a weak America. The Hill
Haitians still waiting for aid after devastating quake . . . Haitians sheltering in tents grow impatient for aid after devastating quake. Haitians left homeless by a devastating earthquake that killed about 2,000 people voiced anger over a lack of government aid as they spent a fourth night in the open on Wednesday, many without clean water and food. Reuters
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Some of our fellow Cut to the News readers got sick with the awful CCP virus. Let's pray all together for Julie H. for her speedy recovery. Blessings to Julie and anyone else in our little CTTN community who are fighting the Chinese plague. Be strong. ~ Rebekah ~
Booster shot elicits strong immune response to delta variant, Pfizer tells FDA . . . People who received a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine elicited a stronger immune response to the delta variant compared to those who only completed the two-dose regimen, the company told federal regulators on Monday. “The data we’ve seen to date suggest a third dose of our vaccine elicits antibody levels that significantly exceed
those seen after the two-dose primary schedule,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. “We are pleased to submit these data to the FDA as we continue working together to address the evolving challenges of this pandemic.” Washington Examiner
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Walmart’s Earnings Report Shows Sales Rose as Shoppers Returned to Stores . . . Walmart logged another quarter of rising U.S. sales as a return to in-store shopping offset slower online growth, at a time when retailers are navigating rising costs, supply chain snarls and an uptick in Covid-19 cases in many parts of the country. Comparable sales, those from U.S. stores and digital channels operating for at least 12
months, rose 5.2% in the quarter ended July 30 compared with the same period last year. U.S. e-commerce sales rose 6% from a year ago, when Covid restrictions kept many people home. Growth slowed from earlier in the year, both online and off, but was still given a boost by government stimulus dollars and a generally strong U.S. economy, the company said Tuesday. Sales increased each month through the quarter, with July the strongest month, Walmart said. WSJ
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Facebook Removes Campaign Ad Over Link to Fox News . . . Facebook said the post violated its advertising policy, which prohibits ads that link to "low-quality" websites, which it describes as having many ads, aggressive popups, or "unexpected experiences." The Fox article contains few ads and does not appear to meet any of the "low-quality" standards Facebook describes. Dr. Rich McCormick, a Marine veteran and Georgia congressional
candidate, shared the ad, which criticized Biden for doing "a huge disservice" to the U.S. military and Afghan allies. The ad linked to a Fox News Pentagon correspondent's recent piece on the Taliban insurgency. Washington Free Beacon
Twitter Refuses To Ban Taliban Spokesperson’s Account . . . Twitter is refusing to remove the account of Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson announced Tuesday. When asked if they would remove Mujahid because of his affiliation with the Taliban, a spokesman for Twitter replied with a statement announcing it would “continue to proactively enforce” their rules on violence. The statement, released by Mediaite, elaborated
saying that they would continue to condemn and uphold its rules on the “glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
Other social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok, have already banned the Taliban. Daily Caller
Soviet Playbook.
Coronavirus Censorship . . . YouTube froze Sen. Rand Paul's channel, saying that Paul violated their COVID-19 misinformation policy when he told an interviewer, “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work … virus particles are too small and go right through.” Paul didn’t make that up. Properly worn N95 masks are effective, but two peer-reviewed studies suggest that simple masks might not work at all. But the
studies aren’t perfect, so Paul shouldn’t use phrases like “no value.” But give him a break; that’s how people talk! It’s good if he tells people not to trust cloth masks. Unfortunately, YouTube bans any video that contradicts pronouncements of the World Health Organization. Patriot Post
Survey: 45% of Americans want Subway to drop soccer star Megan Rapinoe . . . A survey released Tuesday showed that a plurality of consumers find U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe‘s Subway ads hard to swallow. Asked if Subway should “give in to the pressure and drop Megan as the face of the brand,” 45% of Americans polled said yes, while 36% said no and 19% were not sure, according to market research company Piplsay. The Aug. 13-15
online survey of 30,790 U.S. adults also found that 38% believed that the backlash against Subway over Rapinoe was justified, while 36% said it was not and 26% were not sure. Washington Times
Americans' allegiance to National Anthem remains strong despite protests, poll shows . . . Polling ahead of the 2021 NFL season indicates that, despite an increasingly political landscape for the sport and its fans, Americans overwhelmingly would prefer that the National Anthem continue to be the sole anthem played prior to games. According to a recent poll conducted by Newt Gingrich's American Majority Project in conjunction with
McLaughlin & Associates, a total of 61% of Americans believe that “only” the American National Anthem should be played at NFL Games. That figure ticks up slightly to 64% among Republicans, and falls to 58% among Independents, while 11% of those polled said they don’t know. Just the
News
Space Force Officer, Punished After Denouncing Marxism, to Leave Military . . . The Space Force officer who was removed from his command post for condemning Marxism and critical race theory is leaving the military. Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier told The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” that his last day in the service will be Sept. 1. “I wrote a letter to then-Acting Secretary of the Air Force explaining certain circumstances,
which I don’t plan to make public, but also requesting an early retirement, and a separation honorably from the service,” he said. “And they’ve denied me an early retirement, but agreed that they would separate me. And so my family and I have decided that that’s the best course of action for us right now, given the circumstances.”
“I believe I’m able to continue serving my country outside of the service and out of uniform, perhaps in a better way than I was able to, given the circumstances, in uniform at the moment,” he added. Lohmeier plans to accept public speaking engagements and offer consulting services. Epoch Times
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Trump Sneaks Back On Twitter By Disguising Self As Taliban Spokesperson . . . Trump has been allowed back on Twitter after disguising himself as one Donhammed Trumpistan, a newly hired spokesperson for the Taliban. As Trump had previously been banned from the service, then allowed back on after disguising himself as a spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party, then banned again once he couldn't help himself and started claiming the election
was stolen again, this is simply his latest ploy to get back on social media.
"Allah be praised. Allah is pretty great, maybe the best ever. Everyone says so," 'Trumpistan' wrote on Twitter as his first post. "That Joe Biden is really screwing things up over here. What a sad, pathetic loser! Oh man, they're making me do the prayer thing now. Why do I need to pray? Very humiliating! Not good!"
He also promised to "make Afghanistan great again" and wrote on his new Twitter account that "Afghanistan is back, baby!"
Jack Dorsey caught on to what Trump was doing pretty quickly, but wasn't able to do anything about it. "This guy says he's a Taliban spokesperson, and it would be wrong of us to silence someone of a different culture. Now, if he starts questioning whether our government and election practices are worth trusting, then we can ban him immediately. We're keeping a close watch on this 'Trumpistan' person." At publishing time, Trump had asked his Taliban associates if they could "maybe
consider not doing the full burqa thing on all these beautiful ladies." Babylon Bee
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Rebekah Koffler
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