Free Republic

...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. Those include the many thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the U.S....

The UK last night told its Afghan allies who are still trying to get out of Afghanistan to head for the border rather than attempt to get into Kabul airport where US and British forces are winding down their operations. As evacuation efforts entered their final hours, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace appeared to signal in a briefing to MPs that there are few places left on British planes. .. ...A US order that Britain must pull out its 1,000 soldiers and officials before the US begins its withdrawal has reduced the time available to process the final claims. US commanders...

A Colorado tourist enjoying a meal with his wife and 1-year-old son in Miami Beach, Florida, was shot and killed Tuesday, with his alleged murderer dancing on his body after the horrifying incident. Police arrested Tamarius David of Norcross, Georgia, charging him with second-degree murder with a weapon and attempted murder for shooting at and missing another man in the area just moments earlier. The victim is 21-year-old Dustin Wakefield, who was dining on the outside patio of La Cerveceria restaurant, in the heart of the city's famous Ocean Drive. An arrest report says David was "high on mushrooms which...

When it comes to so-called smart gadgets, owning just isn't what it used to be. Samsung made that clear earlier this month when it told customers that it can, at any time, remotely disable any and every Samsung TV connected to the internet. The Aug. 6 announcement came in response to the theft of an unspecified number of TVs in South Africa in July, and was likely the first time many customers had ever heard of Samsung's TV Block Function. The feature allows Samsung to remotely check if "TV units have been unduly activated," and "is already pre-loaded on all...

German scientists have applied a new combination of cathodes and electrolytes to improve the stability of lithium-metal batteries. They fabricated a device with an energy density of 560 watt-hours per kilogram and a Coulombic efficiency of 99.94%. Researchers from Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Helmholtz-Institut Ulm (HIU) have built a lithium-metal battery with a new combination of cathodes and electrolytes, which they claim can help the device reach an energy density of 560 watt-hours per kilogram. The battery is based on a low-cobalt, nickel-rich layered cathode known as NCM88, which the scientists said offers a high energy...

The Taliban may have seized control of Afghanistan — but for now, the group can't access the nearly $10 billion in reserves in the country's central bank, most of which is reportedly held by the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Last week, Taliban members attempted to inspect Afghanistan's billions of dollars in foreign reserves, only to be told by officials at the country's central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, that they could not access it because it was being stored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan, the Financial Times reported. Regardless, most of the central bank's...

Jokes making fun of Biden press conferences, sycophantic media.

...Trump is running a shadow government, effectively directing the new GOP...

The mother of the toddler who was randomly shoved to the ground by a stranger in The Bronx recalled the horrifying encounter in an interview with The Post Wednesday — including how the attacker was “speaking gibberish” when she struck. Sahara Bernard, 21, told The Post that the still-at-large suspect “came out of nowhere” Tuesday morning after the mom and her 2-year-old daughter, Scarlett, left a deli at 230 East 198th Street, where they had ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. “Next thing I know my daughter’s on the floor and [the suspect] is skipping off,” the mother recounted. *** The...

Taliban militants have threatened and beaten United Nations staff members in Afghanistan, even as the insurgent group has attempted to portray itself as more moderate than in years past, according to an internal organization document obtained by Reuters. Reuters reported Wednesday that the U.N. document describes dozens of instances of threats and violence faced by U.N. staff members dating back to Aug. 10, just days before the Taliban captured Kabul and toppled Afghanistan’s government. One of the reported incidents involved an Afghan U.N. staff member who on Sunday was attempting to reach Kabul’s airport...

The Chinese government seized on a scheduling delay during Vice President Kamala Harris’ ongoing trip to Vietnam to undercut the White House’s planned outreach regarding COVID-19 vaccine supply, according to a report Wednesday. Harris was set to announce a U.S. donation of one million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine as part of a broader effort to cultivate closer ties with Vietnam and counteract Beijing’s influence in the region. When Harris’ team experienced a three-hour delay ahead of her planned meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, China sent its own diplomat to meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh...

“He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him” (Proverbs 26:24).

For more than seven months, the U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed protester climbing through a broken window in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, has remained anonymous. Though his name was known to U.S. Capitol Police, congressional staffers and federal investigations, no one would divulge it. The secrecy fueled months of online speculation. Babbitt's family alleged a coverup.... ..."The U.S. Congress wants to protect this man. He's got friends in high places and they want to protect him," said Maryland attorney Terry Roberts, who represents the family....Roberts told Zenger Wednesday...

This is on them, those brave and bold MSNBCNN warriors who sold out the conservatives who once took their cruises until Trump exposed the grift; these True Conservatives™ then proceeded to help elect Grandpa Badfinger pseudo-president. Well, at least they are consistent – when they were nominally conservative, the GOP squishes they backed led us to disaster, and the Dem libs they back now are doing the same. The Conservative, Inc., crew are the smart guys. The moral guys. The experts of expertise. Just ask them. The Never Trumpers are the adults in the room, even if adults aren’t the...

Job opening for human shields for Hamas to hide behind. Bring the Kids! https://t.co/JhXbV5e9Ha— Cartright (@Vandalay_Inc) August 23, 2021

A driver wearing a fake U.S. Border Patrol uniform and driving a cloned CBP SUV has been arrested for trying to smuggle illegal immigrants past a checkpoint in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/REbGBVN6gT— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 26, 2021

While it’s evident that vaccination provides strong protection against the coronavirus, scientists are increasingly concerned vaccinated people may be more susceptible to serious illness than was previously thought. According to a report by Bloomberg, this growing concern comes in the midst of a shortage of scientific studies with solid answers, leaving public policymakers and corporate executives with only “fragmented” information on which to base their plans. As a result, the report noted mask mandates are being renewed and office reopenings are being delayed, while other officials are choosing to maintain the status quo, citing the “lack of clarity” to justify...

US officials have hinted that Biden will not put pressure on Bennett ... The U.S. president and his advisers are showing goodwill ahead of his first visit to the White House and are quoting as saying the need to cooperate.

With zero new cases of community COVID overnight, the Queensland Government says it will build a regional quarantine centre at Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba. This is despite the lack of support from the federal government. In the daily media conference Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there were two new cases both in hotel quarantine with 749 people now in home quarantine, 12,733 tests done yesterday and over 21,000 vaccine doses administered. The Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was speaking at the Wellcamp Airport where she reiterated the need for regional quarantine centres as she announced a new one to be built at...

The pandemic exposed the warts of the public-school system. Students suffered academically, and the recent emergence of critical race theory has concerned many parents. While there have been high-profile cases of parents standing up to school boards against school closings and critical race theory, a record number of parents are turning to homeschooling. While the desire to personally shepherd one’s child should be commended, homeschooling en masse cannot be the answer to our educational crisis. ... ...A new report from the Associated Press found that the number of homeschooled children doubled over just six months. One family described their decision...