Free Republic

President Biden pressured Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani to create the “perception” that the Taliban weren’t winning, “whether it’s true or not,” in a phone just three weeks before the insurgents seized control of the country, a bombshell leaked transcript shows. Biden and Ghani spoke for roughly 14 minutes on July 23 in what would be their final call before the Taliban overran the government and Afghanistan descended into bloody chaos amid the botched US withdrawal, according to a transcript and audio obtained by Reuters. Much of the call was focused on what Biden referred to as the Afghan government’s “perception”...

The Mayor says they're welcome and locals are being generous and well meaning donating items, etc. but can't help thinking this isn't' a good idea. Just one rape or murder is one too many. They won't say where their staying just in a local hotel with the cost met by government (i.e. taxpayer). I can't imagine them having many useful skills so they will go straight on welfare! Madness...

California parole commissioners have recommended political assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, for parole after serving 50 years in prison. As a society we should be outraged… yet there is little heard about this not-so-surprising turn of events. The decision is now up to Governor Gavin Newsom to either accept or reverse their finding.Sirhan, a Palestinian militant and Jordanian citizen who lived in California, was actively fighting against U.S. support of Israel in the 1960s. His radicalism culminated in the cold-blooded attack against a sitting senator, Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for the presidency and had pro-Israel leanings. Shortly after midnight on...

The Taliban have seized an air force worth tens of millions of pounds, including US-bought helicopters and attack planes, giving them more aerial firepower than a third of Nato members. Over the last few months, the jihadists have captured 10 major airfields from Bagram to Mazar-i-Sharif, and today took to the skies in a $6 million Black Hawk helicopter in their fight against the resistance in the Panjshir Valley. Taliban chiefs are reported to have ordered their troops to hunt down pilots from the disbanded Afghan Air Force, who received expensive training from the US and its allies to fly...

PARIS -- Now that America's 20-year war in Afghanistan is ending, it's a good opportunity to assess what worked and what didn't. First, to the success! (Try not to blink, because you might miss this part.) The original mission of the post-9/11 military invasion was to overthrow the Taliban and neutralize al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. That mission was accomplished. Bravo to the brave men and women in uniform who succeeded based on the dictionary definition of the tasks initially outlined. Except that the initial mission was itself misguided. Soldiers were following orders issued by people who were either incompetent,...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy Tuesday warned American telecommunication companies not to turn over records related to an investigation by House Democrats into the January 6 Capitol Hill riot. "Adam Schiff, Benny Thompson, and Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians," the California Republican said in a statement to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. "If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and...

VIDEODuring an interview of leading Democrat candidate, Kevin Paffrath, to replace Gavin Newsom as California governor, the Modesto Bee editor, Garth Stapley, dropped his guard and let his utter bias show by stating that he was upset by the "disdain" shown towards Newsom as well as being bothered that Paffrath "disrespected" him. Paffrath then provided a good reason why Newsom is disdained as well as disrespected by revealing in detail how Newsom is a corrupt liar. His answer provides even California Democrats ample reasons why they should vote "YES" on the recall despite the fact it would hurt the feelings...

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has reportedly gone missing after attempting a rogue evacuation mission to rescue five American citizens that President Joe Biden’s administration left behind in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, U.S. officials are now “unsure of Mullin’s location” after he requested help from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan on Monday with his evacuation of a woman and her four children. From the report:

A 747 at close to the speed of sound? Test pilots at an Israeli aircraft company successfully flew a 747 freighter at 98 percent of the speed of sound in a safety demonstration for the Federal Aviation Administration. Israel Aircraft took the speed test as part of its plans to convert old passenger 747s into freighters. Menachem Shimol, a test pilot for Israel Aircraft, reported that its test plane reached 0.98 Mach in an 18-degree dive from 36,000 feet Sept. 30. Pilots described the high-speed experience as ''a little frightening''but said they were confident the plane would remain controllable. In...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

"This is now my family -- at least until they get off our airpatch," Olson, the installation commander at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, told CNN as we drove past tent after tent. "It's my family and I got to figure out how to protect them." Ramstein is one of the largest US airbases outside America and has become a crucial hub for the evacuation from Afghanistan following the Taliban take over. Since August 20, about 106 planes have landed there -- mostly C-17s, their cargo bays crammed with hundreds of evacuees at a time. The airbase was ready with...

Despite a campaign promise to “crush COVID”, the Biden administration has appointed health secretaries Rachel Levine of Pennsylvania and Robert Gordon of Michigan to serve as Assistant Secretaries of Health and Human Services under former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Biden’s appointment of leaders from three of the five states under investigation for controversial lockdowns, misleading death counts, and reckless policies that forced the elderly to remain in care facilities where the Coronavirus spread rapidly raise questions as to what criteria was used in these appointments. Last week, Michigan’s former Health Secretary, who left his job under a cloud of...

Florida Republican Congresman Matt Gaetz has been exonerated after 62-year-old Stephen Alford was recently indicted by the Department of Justice for extortion. "Stephen M. Alford did knowingly and willfully devise, and intent to devise, a scheme to defraud and for obtaining money and property by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and for the promise of executing such scheme, did cause, and attempt to cause, a wire communication to be transmitted in interstate commerce," the indictment states.

Dr. Parks sworn expert testimony in front of the MI legislature is straight forward information about several vaccines we should all know about. No doubt the Gestapo at big tech will take this down soon so if you can; watch it now.

How Democrats Are Using Economic Chokeholds To Restrict Your Gun Rights Without Passing Any New LawsThe State Department announced new sanctions banning the importation of ammunition and firearms from Russia, a decision that comes in the midst of a large ammunition shortage.President Joe Biden’s State Department announced new sanctions banning the importation of ammunition and firearms from Russia, a decision that comes in the midst of a large ammunition shortage that has forced U.S. retailers to depend on foreign suppliers to meet demand. Since 2019, ammunition imports have increased by about 225 percent.President Biden and his elitist allies in woke...

“I don’t understand how a state as red as Oklahoma can have such an obsessively woke state university with so few repercussions,” law professor and New York Post columnist Glenn Reynolds recently marveled. He’s not alone. I don’t understand it, either. Nor do many Oklahoma taxpayers I’ve talked to. The question is whether OU’s regents will choose to right the ship or whether they will continue to preside over the university’s evisceration. Woke Biology, Woke Volleyball, Woke Everything The board of regents recently approved its Fiscal Year 2022 budget—a budget that included a 2.75 percent increase in tuition and fees....

Oh boy..... You want to know why the doctor and hospital won't prescribe and use anything until you're choking -- and then only Dexamethasone, Remdesivir (which has failed twice in random controlled trials and is dangerous enough, on the data, that I'd never take it personally), oxygen, and ultimately a ventilator?Here's the reason directly from the government itself on an official government web page:Section VII. Limitations on DistributionThe Secretary may specify that liability protections are in effect only for Covered Countermeasures obtained through a particular means of distribution. The Declaration previously stated that liability immunity is afforded to Covered Persons...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump who supports an audit into Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential results, acknowledged President Joe Biden’s victory in the key swing state and said Trump underperformed other Republicans in a video released Tuesday. Johnson was seen rebutting suggestions by Democratic activist Lauren Windsor, who was posting as a Trump supporter, that the election was stolen in a video Windsor posted of a GOP event just outside Milwaukee on Sunday. Johnson noted Trump underperformed other Republican candidates further down the ballot, arguing Trump “lost Wisconsin” because “51,000 Republicans didn’t vote for him”...

A controversial Texas law that bars abortions at six weeks went into effect early Wednesday morning after the Supreme Court and a federal appeals court failed to rule on pending emergency requests brought by abortion providers. The lack of judicial intervention means that the law -- which is one of the strictest in the nation and bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant -- goes into force absent further court intervention."What ultimately happens to this law remains to be seen," said CNN Supreme Court analyst and University of Texas Law School professor Steve Vladeck, "but now through their...

Shhhhh. The information I'm about to share with you is dangerous and subversive. You cannot publish it on social media platforms without risking scary labels and permanent suspensions. You and anyone you discuss this topic with will be called anti-science "kooks," "conspiracy theorists" or "quacks."So be it. I've been called every pejorative name in the globalist elites' overworn handbook of ad hominem attacks over the past 30 years. Who cares?The airwaves have been littered the past month with disparaging reports about ivermectin, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns should not be used to treat or prevent COVID-19. "You...