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Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem fired back Friday night – during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” – against critics who’ve asserted that her state should have scaled back or canceled its Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which draws thousands of visitors, because of concerns about the coronavirus.GOV. KRISTI NOEM: I think it’s interesting that this side, this political party, the Democrats, who embrace getting abortion on demand, are accusing us of embracing death when we’re just allowing people to make personal choices and have personal responsibility over when they want to assemble, when they want to gather and...

A warehouse where fuel was illegally stored exploded in northern Lebanon early Sunday, killing 20 people and burning dozens more in the latest tragedy to hit the Mediterranean country in the throes of a devastating economic and political crisis. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion near the border with Syria. Fuel smuggling operations have been ongoing for months. The Lebanese Red Cross said a fuel tanker exploded and its teams recovered 20 bodies from the site in the border village of Tleil. In a statement, it said it evacuated 79 people who were injured or suffered burns...

Friends it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

President Joe Biden reportedly "overruled" top United States military commanders when he authorized the full withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.What did Biden do?The Wall Street Journal reiterated Sunday that in ordering the full withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, Biden was ignoring the advice of top military commanders, who suggested retaining a nominal force in Afghanistan to help maintain security. From the WSJ:In contrast to the numerous Trump policies he reversed, he opted to carry out Mr. Trump's deal with the Taliban instead of trying to renegotiate it. In so doing, he overruled his top military commanders: Gen....

The Taliban took control of the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday — brazenly posing for pictures inside vacated Afghan government offices and meeting rooms. The images show heavily armed fighters from the extremist Islamic group standing around one Taliban leader as he sits at the desk of departed President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the capital city, according to reports. Another photo shows more than a dozen rebels sitting at a long conference table inside the Afghan government building, Al Jazeera reported. The group announced from the palace that they will reestablish the Islamic emirate that was disbanded after US...

Another Saigon moment: chaotic scenes at Kabul International Airport. No security. None. https://twitter.com/saadmohseni/status/1427000691407654914

The Biden administration has offered to pay off Florida schools that defy Governor Ron DeSantis’ ban on mandatory mask requirements.DeSantis signed an executive order last month banning mandatory masks in schools and on Monday threatened to withhold the salaries of school board members and superintendents who refuse to complyIn a letter to DeSantis and the Florida education commissioner on Friday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said that districts have “sole and complete discretion” to pay salaries that are withheld by the state for violating the order.“We are eager to partner with [the Florida Department of Education] on any efforts to...

Why the rapid collapse? “In the wake of President Biden’s withdrawal decision, the U.S. pulled its air support, intelligence and contractors servicing Afghanistan’s planes and helicopters. That meant the Afghan military simply couldn’t operate anymore. The same happened with another failed American effort, the South Vietnamese army in the 1970s, said retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, who commanded the U.S.-led coalition’s mission to train Afghan forces in 2011-2013.” (WSJ link)

A team of historians and archaeologists from the Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam (KTCB) discovered two menhirs, ancient standing stones, dating back to some 4,000 years in Yadadri-Bhongir district.These menhirs, according to archaeologist and KTCB convenor Sreeramoju Haragopal, seemed to be the kind that were installed at burial sites of some significance...Of the two menhirs found, one stood erect and intact while the other one, partially broken, was found in a field near Venkatapuram village, Turkapalli mandal. The intact menhir stands 15 feet high and four feet wide. “It is broad in the bottom and tapers towards the top,” said Haragopal....

Hello. Hi, table for two, please. Sure, and your name. Fredrick. Great. And do you and your guest have your vaccination cards? We do. Can you tell us who our server will be? Um, looks like Brad will be your server tonight. Great. Can you show us Brad's vaccination card? Um... And also, can you provide me with proof that Brad is not a carrier of HIV, Hepatitis A or B, or any other communicable diseases? Um... Also, we would prefer not to be served by someone who is on or uses recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, meth, fentanyl,...

Ghani has served as president since 2014.

Parents at a grade school in Corpus Christi, Texas are demanding answers after their children were shown a vulgar propaganda video that encouraged the kids to stop complaining about wearing face masks and to put their faith in Dr. Anthony Fauci. It’s a class example of the sort of classroom indoctrination that I wrote about in “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation.” Radicalized educators have turned our public schools into propaganda camps.

Machu Picchu, the famous 15th-century Inca site in southern Peru, is up to several decades older than previously thought, according to a new study led by Yale archaeologist Richard Burger.Burger and researchers from several U.S. institutions used accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) — an advanced form of radiocarbon dating...Historical sources dating from the Spanish invasion of the Inca Empire indicate that Pachacuti seized power in A.D. 1438 and subsequently conquered the lower Urubamba Valley where Machu Picchu is located. Based on those records, scholars have estimated that the site was built after A.D. 1440, and perhaps as late as A.D. 1450,...

I've taken the mortality data from the CDC for the last 3 years, by age, and put it into a spreadsheet. The data for 2020 also includes Covid deaths and I wanted to see what portion of the excess mortality in 2020 was the result of Covid. I was pretty surprised to see that while Covid did not effect those under 45, they had the largest increases in mortality in 2020. You can see the data from 2018 and 2019 is very similar, that shows that overall mortality is typically pretty steady. I've always countered those who claim "Covid is...

Goddio has been taken aback by the latest discoveries. He told the Guardian that the fruit baskets were “incredible”, having been untouched for more than 2,000 years.They were still filled with doum, the fruit of an African palm tree that was sacred for the ancient Egyptians, as well as grape-seeds...It is within an area where Goddio and his team of archaeologists have discovered a sizeable tumulus (a mound raised over graves) – about 60 metres long by 8 metres wide – and sumptuous Greek funerary offerings.They date from the early fourth century BC when Greek merchants and mercenaries lived in...

NBC News has confirmed that the Bagram Air Base has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, where they will be emptying out prison housing 5,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners.

Missing Rush - so much news this weekend

Aiming to introduce the site to cultural tourism, studies will be launched soon on the archaeological site of Kuşaklı, ancient Sarissa, in the Altınyayla district of central Sivas province. Used as a summer residence by the Hittite kings about 3,500 years ago, the site will attract many visitors with the completion of the works.Sarissa was an important Hittite settlement in 1400-1500 B.C. The city, where the Hittite kings came from the capital and stayed as a summer residence, is the fifth city in Turkey that features tablet finds.Archaeological excavations started in 1993 on behalf of the Sivas Museum Directorate at...

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A 54-year-old man is accused of shooting and killing another man who was attempting to steal a catalytic converter from his truck, and then dragging the man's body behind the truck and dumping it into a field in Lakewood. The victim was identified by the medical examiner as Brent Peltomaa, 40. According to court documents, Michael Scott Campbell told police he was sleeping in his Ford F-150 around 3:45 a.m. Saturday when he was woken up by someone attempting to saw the catalytic converter off his truck. Campbell told police he saw two legs sticking out from...