Free Republic

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is calling out Vice President Kamala Harris for her silence on Monday after major U.S. stock indexes saw sharp falloffs. “This moment could set off a real economic calamity around the globe. It requires steady leadership–the kind President Trump delivered for four years,” Vance wrote in a post on x. “Kamala Harris is too afraid to answer media questions and cannot lead us in these troubled times.” This moment could set off a real economic calamity around the globe. It requires steady leadership–the kind President Trump delivered for four years. Kamala Harris is too...

The Jussie Smollett saga has come to an end – for now. A Chicago judge sentenced the fallen star to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation Thursday for lying to police more than three years after he asked two men to “fake beat him up” and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him in an elaborate scheme to raise his public profile. The judge asked Smollett if he had anything he’d like to say and he at first seemed to say no before a final outburst in which the former “Empire” actor proclaimed his innocence and seemed...

Biden announces six-part plan to tackle COVID-19 pandemic

President Joe Biden on Thursday will present a six-pronged strategy intended to fight the spread of the highly contagious COVID Delta variant and increase U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations, the White House said on Tuesday. The United States, which leads the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths, is struggling to stem a wave of infections driven by the variant even as officials try to persuade Americans who have resisted vaccination to get the shots. Rising case loads have raised concerns as children head back to school, while also rattling investors and upending company return-to-office plans. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters...

North Korea appears to have restarted the operation of its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels, the U.N. atomic agency said, as the North openly threatens to enlarge its nuclear arsenal amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The annual report by the International Atomic Energy Agency refers to a 5-megawatt reactor at the North’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. The reactor produces plutonium, one of the two key ingredients used to build nuclear weapons along with highly enriched uranium.

Nine members of one family were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, according to a relative of those killed.

Lara Seligman @laraseligman·1h BREAKING: US Embassy in Kabul just issued an alert about a “specific, credible threat” to #HKIA. Directed US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates. Defense official tells me it’s a suicide vest threat

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. State Department urges U.S. citizens to leave area of Kabul airport immediately, citing specific, credible threat.

The failure of the Biden administration to name the two Islamic State terrorists killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Friday has led some experts to conclude they were not high-value targets. In a press conference Saturday, Major Gen. William Taylor only referred to the dead targets as a “planner” and “facilitator,” and would not say if they played specific roles in the airport suicide attack Thursday that killed 13 American soldiers and 169 Afghans. Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, was behind the attack. “Normally if they get a high-profile guy they like to name him,” retired US...

Didn't see a thread for todays Presser. Here you go.

Ten US servicemembers were killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks on Kabul airport on Thursday, the first American lives to be lost since Biden's disastrous evacuation effort began on August 14. The President has not commented publicly on the deaths and he is not scheduled to make any kind of statement or speech on Thursday. The deafening silence has angered Republicans who say the blood of those killed is on his hands. Dozens of people were killed, according to those on the ground including a New York Times reporter who counted 40 dead bodies. The Wall Street Journal...

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul has told staff there that four U.S. Marines were killed in an explosion at the city’s airport and three wounded, a U.S. official with knowledge of the briefing said. Two explosions ripped through crowds of Afghans trying to enter the airport on Thursday. At least three U.S. troops were injured, a U.S. official said. Witnesses reported multiple fatalities among the Afghans, many of whom were trying to enter the airport because they had assisted U.S.-led coalition efforts and feared persecution by the Taliban.

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul has told staff there that four U.S. Marines were killed in an explosion at the city’s airport and three wounded, a U.S. official with knowledge of the briefing said. Two explosions ripped through crowds of Afghans trying to enter the airport on Thursday. At least three U.S. troops were injured, a U.S. official said. Witnesses reported multiple fatalities among the Afghans, many of whom were trying to enter the airport because they had assisted U.S.-led coalition efforts and feared persecution by the Taliban.