Free Republic

President Joe Biden detailed his strategy to get Americans, Afghan allies, and refugees out of Afghanistan on Friday but caveated with “knock on wood” — a superstitious idiom expressing uncertainty about one’s fortunes. “What we’ve done so far is been able to get a large number of Americans out, all our personnel at the embassy out, and so on,” Biden said. “And thank God, so far, knock on wood, we’re in a different position.”

President Joe Biden sought Friday to reassure the United States on the dramatic evacuation from Afghanistan, promising no Americans would be abandoned in one of the "most difficult" airlifts in history. Widely criticized over the chaotic and dangerous exit after a sudden Taliban victory, Biden warned that the frantic effort to fly Americans, other foreigners and Afghan allies out of Taliban-occupied Kabul was dangerous. "This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history," Biden said in a televised address from the White House. "I cannot promise what the final outcome will be." He also said the United States...

In March 2021, when Americans first began hearing about the Delta variant of Covid-19, breakthrough infections among fully-vaccinated Angelenos accounted for just 2% of that month’s case total. By June, when Delta accounted for 50% of all variants in Los Angeles, breakthrough infections among fully-vaccinated residents had risen to 20% of all identified cases. In late July, county officials reported that the Delta variant had overwhelmed all others, accounting for more than 90% of all positive tests analyzed for variants. As a result, the ratio of breakthrough cases increased to 30%, local health officials announced today. While L.A. County numbers...

A COVID-19 outbreak has infected every member of a southwest Illinois police department, the town’s mayor said. All three cops and the chief of police in Venice, a town of 2,100 outside St. Louis, have contracted the bug, forcing the department to shut down as they complete mandatory 10-day quarantines, Mayor Tyrone Echols told the Belleville News-Democrat Thursday. “I think it’s everybody except for possibly two dispatchers,” Echols said of the department’s impacted employees, including Police Chief Theo Adams. “He sounded pretty rough,” Echols said of the town’s top cop. Venice will be patrolled by Illinois State Police and other...

President Biden on Friday claimed that all Americans who want to leave Afghanistan are able to reach Kabul’s airport — before correcting himself after a reporter pointed out that wasn’t true. Biden made an attempt to put a positive spin on what’s widely seen as a disastrous and disorganized US departure. “We know of no circumstance where American citizens are carrying an American passport and 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,” Biden said in the White House East Room. Biden...

Lockheed Martin is closing its Sikorsky helicopter plant in Chester County. The Coatesville plant will close in March next year. Two hundred and forty employees are expected to lose their jobs. The company had intended to close it in 2019. However, it stayed open after pressure from then-President Donald Trump and other Pennsylvania elected officials. Chester County commissioners say they will focus on supporting employees, and coming up with plans for the 22-acre site. The company blames a downturn in the commercial helicopter sector. In a statement, it said: “We were unable to secure enough additional work to sustain operations.”

With more than a third of days marred by fog all year round, Chongqing city in southwestern China is not the ideal place for a solar power plant. But soon it will have the nation’s first experimental facility to test a revolutionary technology allowing China to send, and receive, a powerful energy beam from space in about a decade, according to scientists involved in the project. Harvesting energy from the sun and beaming it to Earth using huge infrastructure in orbit has been regarded as science fiction, but according to a plan by the Chinese government, the nation will put...

Republican Ryan Fazio beat Democrat Alexis Gevanter by nearly 3 points to secure a seat in the Connecticut Senate, flipping state Senate district 36 from blue to red. “Today the voters of Greenwich, Stamford, and New Canaan sent a message loud and clear to the state Capitol in Connecticut that a change is going to come,” Fazio told supporters on Tuesday night, according to the Greenwich Time. SNIP During the 2020 presidential election, then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the district by roughly 25% against then-President Donald Trump. The GOP hailed the victory as a prelude to the 2022 midterm elections.

What should have happened in Afghanistan: The world should have watched an orderly drawdown by America, with everyone who wanted to leave the country given the opportunity to do so, and their passage secured against all foes by the mightiest military on earth. The ‘keys’ to the government given to the Afghan people, along with the promise that ‘big brother’ America would only be a phone call away should trouble arise, like we do for many nations. Instead, the world watched in horror as Afghanistan collapsed in a weekend, the Taliban taking control, and America shown to be weak, ineffective...

Questions Abound on Abandoned Black Hawks Congressman Dan Meuser said on Newsmax there are many questions the administration must face, including the decision to leave behind expensive U.S.-made weaponry including Black Hawk helicopters. The Pennsylvania Republican said 158 Black Hawks were left behind for the Taliban to seize. “That is a billion dollars worth of Black Hawk helicopters left behind,” said Meuser. “Speaker Pelosi refers to this as leaving some stuff behind. These people are thinking in an inverse manner compared to how my constituents certainly feel about this issue, and I believe, most rational members of Congress.” The actual...

While our troops showed up and did their jobs, the same can't be said for our nation's political and military leadership.Ever since he was a little kid, Brent Taylor possessed a strong desire to serve his country. Growing up playing games such as “cops and robbers,” the future Utah Army National Guard major understood from an early age the difference between good and evil, while also harboring a passion for protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. Coupled with bedtime stories exploring world history and family vacations to U.S. historical sites, Brent’s destiny to serve his country in the American military...

I was promised an Arizona Audit report today.

July 1973 CBS Evening News wrap ups Stories featured: -Arrests made by federal agents involving persons found with counterfeit 10 and 20 dollar bills. -Maryland State legislator James Scott, Jr found dead in Baltimore, drug trafficking related hit. -Senate approves Trans-Alaskan pipeline -Martha's Vineyard gas scarcity issue, seemed to be resolved by that time. -Death of actor Lon Chaney Jr. -NTSB investigation into Roberto Clemente plane crash -Gifted kids at college over the summer -Dan Rather discussing France nuclear tests and responses to CBS News analysis of Presidential speeches.

Graphical abstract. Credit: DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.033 A multi-institutional team led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has isolated monoclonal antibodies that in laboratory and animal studies prevented infection by alphaviruses, including the often-lethal Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV). EEEV, which infects the central nervous system of humans, horses and other animals, is the most virulent encephalitic alphavirus. Although only a few human cases are reported annually in the United States, the fatality rate exceeds 30%, and there are no approved vaccines or antiviral drugs to treat it. These results, reported in the current issue of the journal Cell, represent new...

They say they'll protect human rights but according to “Islamic values” that are interpreted differently across the Muslim world. Days after the Taliban captured a remote district in Afghanistan's north, they issued their first orders in the form of a letter to the local imam. “It said women can't go to the bazaar without a male companion, and men should not shave their beards,” said Sefatullah, 25, a resident of Kalafgan district. The insurgents also banned smoking, he added, and warned that anybody violating the rules “will be seriously dealt with”. In some areas, they are again introducing the harsh...

Zelenko (Trump’s Doctor) Tells Israel They Genocided the Jews & Just Sacrificed Their Kids to Moloch. He speaks about HCQ and Ivermectin which is NOT available in Israel. FEAR has motivated people to trust evil globalists and run to get the death shot. “I’m sure there are many Israelis who were complicit in carrying out the Greatest Crime Against Humanity the world has ever seen, but whoever these elders are, they look genuinely surprised to learn about just how stupid they were.” Dr. Zelenko even invokes God Almighty and says that everyone who took the shot turned away from God...

Multiple cutaneous reactions to the messenger RNA (mRNA)–1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine have been reported, including immediate injection site reactions,1-3 delayed injection site reactions,1-4 and localized facial/lip swelling in prior dermal filler injection sites.2,3 We report a facial eruption that developed within 24 hours after receiving the mRNA-1273 vaccine in 2 patients without a history of known allergies, rosacea, facial/dental fillers, or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. A previously healthy man in his 50s presented to our department 4 days after receiving his initial dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine. Within 24 hours after receiving his vaccination, the patient noticed chills and facial swelling that...

[T]hey are using thousands of Twitter accounts — some official and others anonymous... Many of the Taliban’s critics and supporters of the U.S.-backed government have gone underground. The Taliban have been able to post much of what they want online. ...The militants’ efforts have focused on Twitter, where the Taliban are not directly banned. Some Taliban opponents have issued rallying cries. By contrast, others have fallen silent and scrubbed their accounts of material that could put them in danger. A female soccer player this week warned her former teammates to take photos down. A teacher at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad...

Senate President Jake Corman is doing everything possible to prevent Senator Doug Mastriano from conducting a full forensic audit in Pennsylvania. ...... Snip...... OANN’s Christina Bobb shared a breaking update on Twitter. BREAKING: @JakeCorman has fired @SenMastriano’s staff to prevent a forensic audit. Republican Jake Corman is using Cris Dush to dispose of any chance at an election audit in PA. More… On Friday morning Senator Jake Corman released a statement lambasting Senator Mastriano and appointing Cris Dush to lead fake audit. Corman Issues Statement on Forensic Investigation of Recent Elections, Mastriano Obstruction Posted on Aug 20, 2021 HARRISBURG –...

A popular Butler University student, who was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Maryland over the weekend, died on Thursday, a report and his family said. The shooting death of Xan Korman, a photographer and photo editor at Butler’s student newspaper, The Collegian, was announced by his mother in a heartbreaking Facebook post. “It is with a very broken heart that we tell you that we said our final goodbyes to Xan this afternoon,” the student’s mother, Carolyn Korman wrote. “He fought as long as he could and the...