Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
August 26, 2021
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Biden Agenda Hangs by a Thread . . . Team Biden's well-credentialed technocrats have proved no match for the Taliban. Even the Washington Post proclaimed last week, "Biden's promise to restore competence to the presidency is undercut by chaos in Afghanistan." On the domestic front, a group of moderates in the House succeeded in derailing, albeit temporarily, a pro-forma vote on the federal budget. Deep fissures between the Democratic
Party's progressive and moderate wings threaten to derail Biden's infrastructure boondoggle, er, domestic agenda. Progressives, who have insisted that that package be tied to their own "human infrastructure" goody bag, are now threatening to walk. And the larger problem remains: Democratic senators Joe Manchin (W. Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), both opposed to the progressive bill, aren't budging. Consider the precarious Democratic agenda against the backdrop of COVID resurgence
and the specter of inflation. The Biden presidency is hanging by a thread. Washington Free Beacon
Democrats, party of tyrants: ‘Reward of vaccination is freedom’ . . . New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told CBS “This Morning” audiences that “the reward of vaccination is freedom” and to those who don’t play — too bad. “Tragically,” he said, “if you don’t get vaccinated, you’re going to be left out.” Democrats are tyrants. Biden wisecracks about Americans stranded in Afghanistan: 'You'll be the first person I call'. De
Blasio is the type of political leader who would see nothing wrong with lining up the vaccine dissenters, corralling them into a clinic, and forcibly injecting their arms with the COVID-19 shots, ordering his minions to tie down the physical resistors if need be. And he’d do it all the while claiming the moral high ground — all the while crowing about his principled protection of the American people. That’s a short hop to the type of logic China uses to force abortions. That’s one small
step from the mental justifications America used to infect Tuskegee airmen with syphilis. See where this is headed? Washington Times
'New normal': GOP signals big headaches for Biden after midterms . . . Republicans are pledging big headaches for Biden if they can win back control of one or both chambers of Congress next year. Amid the days-long fallout over Afghanistan, GOP lawmakers have floated everything from launching select committees to impeachment to even questioning if Biden should be removed through the 25th Amendment. In the minority in both chambers,
Republicans are currently largely powerless to do much beyond use the issue to fire up their voters. But GOP members are feeling bullish about their chances to win back the House, where they are all-but-guaranteed to pick up seats through redistricting maneuvering. And they need only a net gain of one seat to pick up the Senate majority. The Hill
Joe Biden IS the ‘Red Flag’: The problem was not Biden’s plan; it was, and remains, the man . . . On the eve of the 20th observance of the 9/11 Islamist attack on our nation, Joe Biden has re-seeded al-Qa'ida’s terrorist turf — the result of his compressed Afghanistan exit schedule. That schedule was motivated by his desire to take a political victory lap ahead of the 20th observance. What he and his inept foreign
policy team have created is a humanitarian catastrophe. There will be years of leaked videos revealing unmitigated Taliban violence against the men, women, and children Biden and his handlers have abandoned. The Red Chinese stepping into the gap with lots of cash – and they will have no resistance from Biden and his ChiCom appeasers. The blood of thousands of those being readied for slaughter is on the hands of every reckless Biden/Harris voter. Patriot Post
Former White House Doctor: Biden's cognitive 'issues' worsening Afghanistan chaos . . . Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), the former White House doctor for Presidents Obama and Trump, told Just the News that President Biden has cognitive "issues" that are worsening the situation in Afghanistan during the evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies and "impacting our safety and our national security." A cognitive test would only "confirm
what everybody in this country already knows is that he doesn't have the competency and the cognitive ability to be our commander-in-chief," said Rep. Ronny Jackson the former White House physician. Just the News
Harris negatives ‘unprecedented’ for a vice president . . .“America just doesn’t have a good ‘feeling’ about Vice President Kamala Harris. “Going back 28 years in NBC polling, no other new vice president has been welcomed so coldly by Americans as the Democrat and first woman in the job. “In the latest survey, pollster Bill McInturff pointed out her low positive rating, at 37%, and tweeted this morning, “VP Harris has lowest feeling
thermometer of any first year VP going back to Gore in 1993 with an unprecedented ‘very negative’ rating on @NBCNews survey tracking.” White House Dossier
Poll: Most Florida voters don't want DeSantis to run for president in 2024 . . . Most Florida voters don’t want Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to run for president in 2024, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said they want their current governor to sit out the next presidential contest, including 61 percent of independents, the poll found. Democrats were overwhelmingly opposed
to the idea, with 96 percent saying DeSantis shouldn’t seek his party’s nomination in 2024. cRepublicans, however, are more enthusiastic about a potential DeSantis presidential run. Sixty-seven percent of those respondents said they want him to seek the White House next time around, while just 24 percent want to see him forgo a run. The Hill
House probe focuses on Trump's mental health and martial law . . . The trove of documents requested Wednesday by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack shows an interest in former President Trump’s mental health and whether he was considering using the military to remain in power. In addition to seeking records on Trump’s family members and a long list of former aides, the panel is asking the White House and federal agencies
to relay any conversations about removing the former president from office and whether he planned to enact martial law. The committee is zeroing in on the period from Election Day to Inauguration Day and wants agencies to turn over “all documents and communications relating to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” which allows the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members to remove the president if they believe he is unfit for office. The Hill
Larry Elder Could Be The Next Governor Of California. Naturally, The Media Is Trying To Destroy Him . . . After a movement in which organizers were able to obtain over two million signatures, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom will officially be up for a recall election on Sept. 14. A recall ballot in California consists of two questions: whether the incumbent should be recalled? and if so, which challenger should replace them? If a
majority of voters favor removing Newsom by selecting “yes” on the first question, then the recall candidate with the most votes will finish his term as governor of the Golden State. Out of the dozens of contenders that will appear on the ballot, one, in particular, has become the frontrunner to replace Newsom if the recall vote is a success: longtime conservative radio host Larry Elder. Daily Caller
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US warns Americans to flee from the gates of Kabul airport . . . This is the result of one of the many errors of the Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan: Abandoning Bagram Airbase, which is now in the hands of the Taliban. There is only one runway at the Kabul airport, and the place is tough to defend. Our service members are in danger there, and the perimeter is not secured and clearly now being threatened by someone. According to a
bulletin by the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so. U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately. The bolding of the sentence above is by the
State Department, for emphasis. White House Dossier
Might be tough to get people into the airport if they can’t get to the gate.
CIA, U.S. Troops Conduct Missions Outside Kabul Airport to Extract Americans, Afghan Allies . . . The Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military are conducting extraction operations to evacuate Americans using helicopters and ground troops as the window begins to close for rescuing all people at risk in Afghanistan. The CIA has launched clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside Kabul in recent days, according to
U.S. and other officials. The missions are using American military helicopters but under the control of the CIA, a typical arrangement in such operations. A congressional source knowledgeable about the evacuation effort said U.S. troops had gone into Kabul on joint missions with other foreign allies, including Britain and France, to designated locations where they had picked up citizens from all those nations, U.S. green-card holders, and Afghans who hold special visas for helping the U.S.
military. The air and ground operations are considered perilous under the current circumstances in the country as the U.S. has begun to assign priority on evacuating Americans over Afghans who are at risk. Wall Street Journal
In Kabul, Private Rescue Efforts Grow Desperate as Time to Evacuate Afghans Runs Out . . . A disparate group of American veterans, military contractors, aid workers and former spies is scrambling to get as many people out of Afghanistan as they can before President Biden shuts the window for rescues in coming days. Even as tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. and a large number of American and other foreign citizens remain
stranded, Mr. Biden is sticking by his plan to withdraw the remaining military forces from Kabul’s U.S.-controlled airport by Aug. 31. Erik Prince, the American defense contractor, said he was offering people seats on a chartered plane out of Kabul for $6,500 per person. U.S. and NATO forces are sending special rescue teams into Taliban-controlled areas of the city to spirit their citizens into the airport. And countless Afghans who thought the U.S. would protect them after having assisted
the U.S.-led coalition forces in the past two decades are now realizing they will most likely be left behind. Wall Street Journal
No Americans Have Been Rescued Outside of Kabul: Pentagon . . . U.S. troops have not rescued any Americans in Afghanistan outside of Kabul, though they have the capability to do so, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Only three rescue missions have been conducted by American soldiers since the Taliban took over the country, according to military officials. But all three took place within Kabul, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in
Washington. “Could it be done outside Kabul, if needed? We have the capability,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that it would be throughout the whole countryside,” he added later. “When I said ‘outside Kabul,’ I’m talking about relatively close by. I don’t want to set the expectation that we’re going to be able to fly all over the country to pick up people.”
The reason why that distance is so small is because the focus of the mission is on protecting the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where flights are departing regularly with Afghans, Americans, and others, Kirby said. Epoch Times
Al Qaeda could again threaten U.S. from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, experts say . . . Biden administration officials are downplaying the threat of a resurgent al Qaeda under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but security analysts, former U.S. military generals, members of Congress and even the United Nations say the terrorists will become more active now that their Taliban hosts are back in power in Kabul. “They will flourish under the
Taliban leadership. They don’t have to hide,” said retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, the chairman of the board at the Institute for the Study of War. The hawkish Washington think tank is known for closely analyzing developments in the U.S.-led global war on terror.
Afghanistan under Taliban rule will once again be a magnet for global jihadi militants the way it was during the years leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, Gen. Keane said in a recent appearance on Fox Business. “It’s going to be an epicenter for others who want to come,” he said. Washington Times
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China Launches Massive War Exercises Near Taiwan . . . The Chinese military is ramping up massive military exercises in the South China Sea intended to brush back the United States as the Biden administration pleads with the Taliban to bring Americans back home from Afghanistan. People's Liberation Army Navy forces are conducting drills in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea, and Bohai Strait near Korea until Thursday. The intense war drills
come shortly after another set of military exercises off the coast of Taiwan intended to help China achieve "supremacy" in a potential showdown with the United States and Taiwan, and in response to recent activity in the South China Sea, according to one former Chinese colonel. Washington Times
Europe Braces for Immigration Surge as Afghans Flee Taliban . . . Europe’s largest nations have airlifted more than 9,000 Afghans out of their country in recent weeks and are bracing for the possibility that hundreds of thousands more will arrive, in what would be a major test of the region’s ability to absorb another wave of immigrants from the Muslim world. Officials are determined to avoid a repeat of the chaos of the last major
migrant wave in 2015, when more than 1.3 million people from Syria, Afghanistan and other nations poured into Europe, fueling social and political upheaval across the continent. A central challenge for authorities is to quickly and effectively screen new arrivals, who are coming from a conflict zone controlled by Taliban forces hostile to the West and where Islamist terror groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State operate. French and German authorities said this week they had flagged
several evacuees as security risks, with France putting five of them under surveillance. Wall Street Journal
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Welcome to the Forever Pandemic . . . This week, as President Joe Biden attempted desperately to distract from his ongoing surrender in Afghanistan and the attendant chaos in its wake, the White House turned its eyes once again to the issue of COVID-19. On Monday, Biden pressed private industry to mandate vaccination, stating, “Do what I did last month, require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict
requirements.” Meanwhile, the Biden administration also pressed private sector vaccine mandates. Fauci announced on MSNBC that everyone should mask, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Those who demand government restrictions have provided no metric for success by which proposed restrictions end and we all go back to normal life. We are stuck in pandemic mindset permanently. There is literally no goal post. Daily Signal
Sen. Ron Johnson joins Bold & Blunt podcast:
FDA’s curious COVID approval-not-approval. Washington Times
Majority of voters say coronavirus lockdowns did more harm than good: Poll . . . Fifty-seven percent of voters think that locking down the country did more harm than good, a national poll found. This belief in lockdowns doing more harm than good has grown, as a majority of voters held the opposite view in May 2020, according to a survey by Scott Rasmussen. Thirty-six percent disagree that the lockdowns did more harm than good, and 17% are
not sure. Thirty-two percent strongly agree the lockdowns did more harm than good, and Rasmussen wrote that "Republicans overwhelmingly think the lockdowns did more harm than good." Most Democrats , 52%, take the opposite view, but there is a divide in demographics. Most white Democrats, 58%, reject the idea that the lockdowns did more harm than good, while 51% of black Democrats agree that the lockdowns did more harm than good. Washington Examiner
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Bideninflation is here to stay . . . When President Donald J. Trump left office, the average price for a large French fry at McDonald’s was $1.89. A double quarter pounder with cheese cost $4.79, a Big Mac $3.99, Filet O Fish $3.79. As millions of Americans who frequent the fast-food chain today have probably recognized, their bill is much higher. A large French fry averages $3.89 – a whopping 106% increase from just a year ago. A double
quarter pounder with cheese is now $6.79, a Big Mac $5.59, Filet O Fish $5.29 – all about $2 higher than 2020. McDonald’s is not the only fast-food chain raising prices. Chipotle implemented a 4% price increase across its menu in June. Taco Bell’s food now costs consumers 10% more, the cost of donuts and coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts has spiked 8%, according to a Gordon Haskett analysis, which evaluated 24 restaurant chains over the span of a year. The analysis found quick-service restaurants
made the largest price increases, averaging 6%, and most were implemented in March. Exact prices vary by market and franchise. Washington Times
Taliban reliant on illegal drug trafficking for financing as production booms, UN says . . . Gen. Keith Kellogg (Ret.), the National Security adviser to former Vice President Pence, says his greatest concern is the lack of leadership from the Biden administration and says the president isn't listening to military advisers. As the Taliban secures its grip on Afghanistan, the United Nations is warning that the militant group is reliant on
drug trafficking as one of its primary sources of financing, as opium poppy production has increased significantly. In a June report to the Security Council, U.N. officials said the issue of production of poppy-based drugs and methamphetamine was "unaddressed" by the Afghan peace process. "This remains the Taliban’s largest single source of income," the report says. "It also has a destabilizing and corrupting effect within Afghanistan and contributes significantly to the narcotics
challenges facing the wider international community." Fox News
Afghanistan’s a sh--show. But for K Street, it’s an opportunity. . . . The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan has scrambled President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy. And as countries in the region sort out the new geopolitical landscape, seasoned K Street operatives are eagerly extending a hand to help. In recent weeks and months, a slew of Middle Eastern countries — Qatar, Libya and Turkey among them — have put out feelers to D.C.
lobbying firms in an effort to bolster their presence in the U.S. capital, according to federal filings and K Street operatives. The outreach started in the wake of Biden’s election but has continued in recent months. Egypt brought on an additional firm in February. India, which has been preparing for the return of the Taliban to power, and the Kurdistan regional government in Iraq did the same in the early spring. Government officials and organizations in Qatar, which has hosted peace talks
between the Taliban and U.S. and is home to a major U.S. air base, registered with eight new firms this year. Politico
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Baby Born on Afghanistan Evacuation Flight Named After Aircraft Call Sign . . . A baby girl who was born on a U.S. evacuation plane out of Afghanistan on Aug. 21 has been named after the call sign of the aircraft, the head of U.S. European Command told reporters on Aug. 25. “We’ve had further conversations with the mom and the dad of the baby,” Gen. Tod Wolters, who is also NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe,
told reporters at a briefing from the Pentagon. “They named the little girl Reach. And they did so because the call sign of the C-17 aircraft that flew them from Qatar to Ramstein was Reach.” The aircraft’s call sign is “Reach 828.” Epoch Times
Apple Promotes Hookup Apps to Children, Report Finds . . . Apple promotes dating apps to children and withholds information about underage users from app developers, according to a report. The Tech Transparency Project found that Apple actively promotes pornographic content and apps like Tinder to users it believes are underage. The report, released Wednesday, focused on popular apps in the "Lifestyle" category, with names like "Adult
Hook Up & Friend Finder" and "Hahanono—Chat & Get Naughty." In at least one case, Apple hosted an app for "one-night stands" that allowed users to set their age as 14. Washington Times
Awful.
Millions of cars with faulty airbags still on roads despite 37 deaths, recall . . . Millions of vehicles with defective airbags are still on the road despite years of recalls and at least 37 deaths allegedly linked to the safety devices, according to a new investigation. Takata airbags — which can degrade in heat and humidity then explode when activated, killing passengers with shrapnel — are still installed in 14 million US vehicles and
millions more around the world. That’s despite a years-long effort to recall and replace the airbags, which were installed in 42 million vehicles worldwide.
Carmakers involved in the recall include Honda, Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Tesla and Mercedes-Benz. Fox Business
Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt to reveal identity . . . The U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 will reveal his identity this week. NBC News anchor Lestor Holt will speak with the lieutenant in an interview set to air Thursday, NBC announced Wednesday, setting up a television event that will end a line of probing questions by former President Donald Trump and others
about who fatally shot the 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter. Washington Examiner
YouTube Yanks Over 1 Million COVID-19 Videos It Deems ‘Dangerous’ . . . YouTube has removed more than 1 million videos on its platform containing alleged misinformation related to COVID-19. The Google-owned company announced the figure in a blog post Wednesday, “Perspective: Tackling Misinformation on YouTube,” written by Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer. “Since last February, we’ve removed over 1 million videos related to
dangerous coronavirus information, like false cures or claims of a hoax,” he said. YouTube also said it was addressing misinformation by optimizing search results to prioritize “quality” news and information from “trusted sources.” For information related to COVID-19, the company relied on “expert consensus” from health organizations such as the CDC and the World Health Organization. Daily Signal
YouTube Bans Forced-Vaccination, Big Tech Critic Naomi Wolf . . . Liberal author Naomi Wolf’s DailyClout channel was abruptly deleted by YouTube after she posted an interview with a prominent critic of mandatory masking policies in schools.
“This censorship highlights the extreme clampdown on free speech and public discourse prevailing in the United States,” Wolf said in an Aug. 24 statement after the channel was eliminated. Wolf, a co-founder of the DailyClout website, is a widely published journalist and bestselling author of books such as “The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women” (1990) and “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot” (2007). She was an adviser to then-President Bill
Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign and to then-Vice President Al Gore, both Democrats. Twitter banned Wolf for allegedly " disseminating vaccine misinformation in violation of the microblogging website’s policies," a claim she denies. Epoch Times
Robert F. Kennedy killer Sirhan Sirhan might receive parole Friday . . . The killer of Robert F. Kennedy, who in 1968 may have been on his way to the White House when he was cut down, may benefit from the leftist new approach to criminals.
He has been denied parole many times before. But his chances of gaining it this time may be better than ever. Sirhan B. Sirhan, convicted of the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, will face a California parole board for the 16th time Friday in a prison outside San Diego. But unlike the first 15 times, no prosecutor will stand to oppose the release of Sirhan, who is now 77. Sirhan was arrested at the scene of Kennedy’s shooting in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the slaying of a U.S. senator who appeared headed for the Democratic presidential nomination. White House Dossier
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Bear steals Amazon package from Connecticut woman's front step . . . A Connecticut homeowner who reviewed security camera footage to find out what happened to her missing Amazon package was shocked to see the thief was a black bear. Kristin Levine, of Bristol, posted a video to Facebook showing the bear taking the package from her front step and walking down her driveway with the pilfered parcel. Levine said she doesn't know why the
bear was interested in the package, as all it contained was a roll of toilet paper. "It was hysterical, like I said. I knew nothing in there was going to be irreplaceable so it was a fun afternoon, for sure," Levine said. She said the package later turned up in a neighbor's yard. UPI
The bear on the video is walking away with the package, like it was delivered specially for him. So funny.
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