Free Republic

(CNN)America's chaotic, humiliating -- yet, at times, heroic -- final retreat from its defeat in Afghanistan will resonate for years after the last military jet lifted off from Kabul at 11:59 p.m. local time on Monday, ending the country's longest war. The departing troops left somewhere between 100 and 250 Americans, tens of thousands of Afghans entitled to protection from former US comrades and an entire nation to their fates under fundamentalist Taliban rule -- along with an even more extreme faction of ISIS. For them, the "forever war" is far from over. But any sense that the US is...

When the U.S. Constitutional Convention was held, the language argued and debated over had common wording from their day, including high crimes and misdemeanors. Unlike today, misdemeanors were not considered criminal. There was a distinction between criminal actions and misdemeanors. The Constitution limits those who can be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, since the 'high' part covers specific offices. From Wikipedia, “the legal and common parlance of the 17th and 18th centuries of "high crimes," is activity by or against those who have special duties acquired by taking an oath of office that are not shared with common persons.”...

Although August 15, 2021 will forever live in infamy as the date the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan, for over 13 centuries that date was famous for another event -- Constantinople’s defeat of the caliphate, August 15, 718. While these two events separated by exactly 1,303 years are vastly different in nature -- not least that in 718 Islam lost, while in 2021 it won -- they both confirm one irresistible point that the confident West should take to heart: the tenacity of Islamic jihad -- this relentless snake of war that always bides its time, even if by remaining coiled for...

“Lockdowns,” the mass quarantine of both sick and healthy people, have never before been used for disease mitigation in the modern Western world. Previously, the strategy had been systematically ruled out by the pandemic plans of the World Health Organization (WHO) and by health experts of every developed nation. So how did we get here? Mass lockdowns of entire countries as a technique for fighting disease sprung into the world’s consciousness on the order of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who fomented a global propaganda offensive targeting Western governments and media. Within weeks, the WHO,...

A convicted rapist previously deported from the U.S. recently returned on an evacuation flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, according to a new report. The Washington Times reported Monday that Ghader Heydari, 47, boarded an Ethiopian Airlines charter flight for evacuees from Kabul and “was flagged by border officials on his arrival at Dulles Airport, who appear to be the first to have spotted his criminal and immigration history and derailed his entry.”

In National Review Saturday morning, the great and the good are affirming their “long-held doubts about Biden’s ability.” The question that Biden’s media allies and the Washington establishment are now privately wondering: Is the Afghan disaster an aberration, or will the calculated risk they took in helping Biden into the White House prove to be an unending series of headaches and embarrassments?So why in the world did you geniuses deep-six Bernie Sanders back in March 2020? Imagine: if Bernie had been the nominee and defeated by Trump then everything going wrong, from Afghanistan to the cruel end of the rent...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban triumphantly marched into Kabul’s international airport on Tuesday, hours after the final U.S. troop withdrawal that ended America’s longest war. Standing on the tarmac, Taliban leaders pledged to secure the country, quickly reopen the airport and grant amnesty to former opponents. In a show of control, turbaned Taliban leaders were flanked by the insurgents’ elite Badri unit as they walked across the tarmac. The commandos in camouflage uniforms proudly posed for photos.... ...Vehicles carrying the Taliban raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s sole runway on the military side of the...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Sunday that both the Biden and Trump administrations are at fault for the crisis in Afghanistan. During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Romney also told host Jake Tapper that "leaving Americans behind and leaving our Afghan friends behind who've worked with us would put upon us and will put upon us a moral stain." “And this is the result of very ineffective decisions, terrible decisions made by the prior administration and by the current administration. This did not have to happen. It was -- it was preventable,” Romney said. “And let me...

Doctors are being offered training to improve their bedside manner after dozens of patients complained about being ‘fat-shamed’ by NHS staff. Some took exception to being told that they were an unhealthy weight, needed to improve their diet or were too big to fit in scanners or have operations. The Royal College of Physicians said healthcare workers ‘must not be afraid’ to raise the issue because of the ‘very severe risks’ of obesity but they should discuss it ‘sensitively’ and avoid ‘stigmatising language’. NHS trusts received at least 63 formal complaints last year about the way staff spoke to fat...

The U.S. military made sure some of its weapons wouldn't fall into Taliban hands while leaving Afghanistan, according to Gen. Frank McKenzie, U.S. CENTCOM commander. The general, who announced the end of the U.S.'s twenty-year war in Afghanistan on Monday, explained that military forces destroyed dozens of MRAPs, Humvees, and aircraft before they left shortly after midnight Tuesday morning local time, which was President Joe Biden's self-imposed withdrawal deadline.... ... much of the equipment the U.S. had provided to the Afghan forces fell into the Taliban's hands but not the 70 MRAPs and 27 Humvees, both of which are military...

...At V & V Tack and Feed in Las Vegas, store associates like Shelly Smith are asking customers who are interested in purchasing the drug to show a photograph of the horse they own... ...Smith also said that she encountered a customer who was looking for the dewormer. The man had been taking Ivermectin for numerous weeks despite being warned repeatedly about the possible side effects. He insisted, however, that he has not experienced any side effects except not being able to “see in the morning.” Smith said that was a good enough reason to not take the drug.

A cargo building at JFK Airport on Monday was converted into a processing center for refugees fleeing Afghanistan — and many may end up temporarily living in the building, sources told the Daily News. The airport’s massive Building 87, which normally houses cargo operations and is where Port Authority K-9 cops train with their dogs, will be the first glimpse of America for many of the Afghans arriving at the international airport after fleeing the Taliban...

Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, was the last soldier to leave Afghanistan, officials said Monday. U.S. Central Command released a picture of Donahue preparing to board the final military C-17 cargo plane to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport...

“The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him” (Proverbs 31:1 KJV).

August 31st , 2021Memorial of Bl. Edward Shelley, English martyr Basilica of Notre Dame d'Afrique, Algiers, Algeria Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green First reading1 Thessalonians 5:1-6,9-11 ©Keep strengthening one anotherYou will not be expecting us to write anything to you, brothers, about ‘times and seasons’, since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for...

A new “doomsday” Covid variant has been discovered, with health experts fearing it moves nearly “twice as fast” as the deadly Delta strain. (Video at the link)

Now we know. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chief’s Chariman Mark Milley, and CentCom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie all knew about the Kabul Airport terrorist bombing hours in advance at the Abbey Gate. The top US Military leaders knew that the Abbey Gate Soldiers were at the greatest risk. 13 US servicemen and women were killed in the attack. It’s time for heads to roll. Politico reported: (Politico) – Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon’s daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan....

Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, must go. President Biden claims that the military advised him to close Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and instead use Kabul’s airport to evacuate Americans. They were the ones who said the Afghan army would hold, that the pullout would go smoothly. If Biden is telling the truth, this disaster is on Milley’s watch. Or Biden is lying (the more likely scenario, based on what sources inside the administration are saying) and Milley failed to do his duty and push back against a commander-in-chief who is making deadly decisions. Either way,...