Even the Feds Can’t Get Biden’s Pentagon to Say How Many People Were Actually Evacuated During Afghanistan Withdrawal

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Three years on and with pressing questions remaining, not even federal investigators can get the Biden administration’s Pentagon to answer how many people were actually evacuated from Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal.

The Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was a chaotic operation that left 13 servicemembers dead and thousands of Americans initially stranded. Though the State Department estimates that over 125,000 people, including 6,000 American citizens, were evacuated from Afghanistan in withdrawal efforts, the department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in a report on Tuesday it couldn’t substantiate that number because it was unable to acquire the necessary data from the Pentagon.

“State OIG could not confirm the number of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan with the support of the U.S. government in 2021,” the agency said in the report.

The Afghanistan withdrawal raised severe criticisms from both sides of the political aisle against the Biden administration. Multiple after-action reports have found that the administration poorly planned the operation and incorrectly predicted that the Taliban wouldn’t take control of Afghanistan as fast as it did, leaving the military to scramble to try and safely conduct the withdrawal. A State Department after-action report found that there was also confusion as to who at the department was leading efforts during the operation.

No one inside the Biden administration has been fired or has resigned for their role in the botched withdrawal. President Joe Biden continues to defend his decision to leave, though he has been criticized for not personally addressing the matter more thoroughly.

(Read more from “Even the Feds Can’t Get Biden’s Pentagon to Say How Many People Were Actually Evacuated During Afghanistan Withdrawal” HERE)

Trump Says He ‘Took a Bullet to the Head’ Thanks to Dems

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Former President Donald Trump said he “probably took a bullet to the head” in response to overheated rhetoric from Vice President Kamala and Democrats, referring to his near-assassination at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13.

“I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,” the 45th president shot back when Harris charged that he would “weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies.”

“They talk about democracy — I’m a threat to democracy,” he added.

“They’re the threat to democracy, with their Russia, Russia, Russia investigation that went nowhere.”

Trump, 78, and Harris, 59, sparred at their first debate on ABC Tuesday night in Philadelphia, just 55 days ahead of the November election. (Read more from “Trump Says He ‘Took a Bullet to the Head’ Thanks to Dems” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Face off for First Time; Fact Check: Harris Falsely Claims Trump Would Impose a National Sales Tax; Fact Check: Harris Claims She Was Raised in the Middle Class

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By Breitbart. Claim: Kamala Harris on Tuesday night accused Donald Trump of proposing a national sales tax.

Harris referred to a “Trump sales tax” and claimed it would add 20 percent to the cost of goods.

Verdict: False.

President Trump has not proposed a national sales tax. (Read more from “Fact Check: Kamala Harris Falsely Claims Trump Would Impose a National Sales Tax” HERE)

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Fact Check: Kamala Harris Claims She Was Raised in the Middle Class

By Breitbart. CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris claimed during Tuesday night’s presidential debate that she had a middle-class upbringing.

VERDICT: Mostly false. Harris had a rich Canadian upbringing, growing up in Westmount — a majority English neighborhood in the French province of Quebec.

When asked if Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, Harris completely dodged the question, instead beginning with this line: “So, I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America.”

Continuing to dodge the actual question, she said:

I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have, actually, a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy. Because, here’s the thing, we know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children.

(Read more from “Fact Check: Kamala Harris Claims She Was Raised in the Middle Class” HERE)

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Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Face off for First Time

By Breitbart. . .Coming back from the first commercial break, Muir turns to Trump and asks him how he would end the war in Ukraine and whether he wants Ukraine to win the war. Trump said he wants to end the war, and he noted how the U.S. has put hundreds of billions of tax dollars into the war and he called out Harris for failing to get Europe to pay its fair share. He noted how Putin and Zelensky do not respect Biden, and he warns that this could “lead to World War 3” and that President Biden is missing in action and he was thrown aside “like a dog.”

Trump says Kamala “hates Israel,” something Harris denies. Trump also says he would end the war in Ukraine before he even takes office. Then Harris claims Trump said Putin “can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine,” even though Putin did so when Harris was leading the country as Vice President.

The discussion has moved backward to the 2020 election, and now Harris is claiming that Trump was “fired by 81 million Americans”–the vote total for Biden in 2020–four years ago. Harris then claims world leaders are “laughing at” Trump, but then Trump cites several world leaders back at Harris including particularly Viktor Orban of Hungary.

Trump then bashes Harris for getting zero votes but taking the nomination away from Biden, who got 14 million votes. “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Trump says. “He [Biden] hates her [Harris].”

There is another emerging theme here where the moderators keep “fact-checking” Trump–sometimes accurately, sometimes not–live during the debate, but allowing Harris to openly and repeatedly lie nonstop from the stage. Harris continues making ugly frowning faces.

(Read more from “Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Face off for First Time” HERE)

The ABC News Bias: Consistent Negative Coverage for Trump, 100% Positive Coverage for Kamala

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In the realm of news reporting, media bias has long been a point of contention, but recent findings from the Media Research Center’s (MRC) NewsBusters shed new light on how ABC’s “World News Tonight” exemplifies this issue. The analysis reveals a stark contrast in how the program handles Vice President Kamala Harris compared to former President Donald Trump.

According to the MRC report, an analysis of 100 campaign stories from July 21 to September 6 demonstrates a troubling trend: a 100 percent positive spin on reporting about Harris, juxtaposed with a staggering 93 percent negative spin on Trump. This discrepancy is not just a minor quirk but a clear indication of systemic bias in how political figures are portrayed on the network.

For Harris, “World News Tonight” showcased 25 positive statements with no counterbalancing criticism. This contrasts sharply with Trump’s coverage, which featured just five positive remarks amid 66 negative ones. This 93 percent negative portrayal aligns with a broader trend of disparaging coverage of Trump, while Harris is consistently highlighted in a favorable light.

The MRC’s report further underscores this imbalance by citing specific examples. During an interview in January 2017, David Muir seemed fixated on disparaging Trump’s focus on crowd size and media coverage of his inauguration speech, despite Trump’s insistence on the positive feedback he received. Muir’s persistent questioning about crowd size, even as Trump sought to discuss the substance of his address, suggests a deliberate attempt to undermine Trump’s credibility.

In contrast, during an August 2020 interview with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Muir appeared to give Biden a platform to criticize the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic without pressing him on specifics.

This trend is not unique to ABC News. The coverage from CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News shows similar patterns of highly positive coverage for Harris and markedly negative coverage for Trump. CBS’s reporting on Harris was found to be 94 percent positive, while NBC’s was 71 percent positive. Conversely, Trump’s coverage was negative 77 percent of the time on CBS and 86 percent on NBC.

As “World News Tonight” prepares for the upcoming presidential debate between Harris and Trump, viewers should be aware of this bias. The consistent pattern of positive reporting for Harris and negative coverage for Trump suggests a broader issue within mainstream media—a tendency to shape narratives in favor of one political side.

‘It’s in the Works’: Kamala Harris Will Be Installed as President Before Election

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Kash Patel, former Department of Defense Chief of Staff and Deputy Director of National Intelligence under President Trump, believes that Kamala Harris may be installed as President before the 2024 election.

Speaking on the popular X22 Report podcast, Patel shared his belief that President Biden might step down and hand the reins of the presidency to his vice president in a carefully orchestrated political move designed to shield his embattled family.

Patel, who was promoting his new book Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy, didn’t mince words.

“It’s really on him to, I guess in this instance, work with Biden as the Commander-in-Chief, who could also, by the way, slip the Commander-in-Chief hat over to Kamala in the lead up to the election here to make her President and give her a boost politically somehow, and he could just retire from the seat,” Patel said.

Patel speculated that a deal could already be in the works, whereby Biden steps down to ensure that Harris assumes power before the election. (Read more from “‘It’s in the Works’: Kamala Harris Will Be Installed as President Before Election” HERE)

Massive Retailer Files for Bankruptcy as Biden-Harris Inflation Continues to Wreak Havoc on Economy

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U.S. discount retail chain Big Lots filed for bankruptcy Monday as Biden-Harris era inflation continues to weaken consumer spending and push retailers out of business.

The company filed for Chapter 11 protection after posting consecutive quarterly losses since 2022 and being forced to close numerous stores, operating roughly 1,300 stores in the U.S. as of May compared with 1,425 in early 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. Big Lots also announced it had secured over $700 million in funding to guide the company through the bankruptcy process and ensuing sales process, with an affiliate of private equity firm Nexus Capital Management expected to acquire the company.

“The actions we are taking today will enable us to move forward with new owners who believe in our business and provide financial stability,” Chief Executive Bruce Thorn said in a Monday press release.

The Chapter 11 filing follows a wave of bankruptcies in the retail industry, with 21 retailers filing for bankruptcy through July 16 — a record for the same period of any year since the pandemic began in 2020, the WSJ reported. The retail sector lost 11,100 jobs in August, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. . .

“Like many other retail businesses, the Company [Big Lots] has been adversely affected by recent macroeconomic factors such as high inflation and interest rates that are beyond its control,” the company wrote in its press release. “The prevailing economic trends have been particularly challenging to Big Lots, as its core customers curbed their discretionary spending on the home and seasonal product categories that represent a significant portion of the Company’s revenue.” (Read more from “Massive Retailer Files for Bankruptcy as Biden-Harris Inflation Continues to Wreak Havoc on Economy” HERE)

Kamala Harris Missed ‘Big Opportunity’ With One Campaign Decision, Polling Expert Says — And It Could Cost Her the Election

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Election data savant Nate Silver said over the weekend that Vice President Kamala Harris passed up a “big opportunity” with her choice of running mate, a move which polls indicate could cost the Democrat a crucial swing state.

The FiveThirtyEight founder wrote in his “Silver Bulletin” newsletter Sunday that the 59-year-old “blew one big opportunity to tack to the center with her selection of [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz rather than [Pennsylvania Gov.] Josh Shapiro.”

Silver was responding to a New York Times/Siena College poll which showed nearly half (47%) of likely voters considered Harris too liberal, a reflection of her abortive 2020 presidential campaign in which she staked out several far-left positions.

“[Harris] is a more talented politician than she showed in 2019, and it’s shame that her campaign that year was run by people who seemingly thought Elizabeth Warren was a right-winger,” Silver wrote. “I think Walz was a decent enough pick on his own merits, but given an opportunity to offer a tangible signal of the direction her presidency was headed, [Harris] reverted to 2019 mode.”

The potential selection of Shapiro had triggered backlash from far-left Democrats due to his support for Israel. Many critics said the criticism of the Jewish Shapiro was rooted in antisemitism and Silver wrote Sunday “that a tiny minority of progressives objected to Shapiro was an argument in Shapiro’s favor, if anything.” (Read more from “Kamala Harris Missed ‘Big Opportunity’ With One Campaign Decision, Polling Expert Says — And It Could Cost Her the Election” HERE)

Andrew Cuomo’s COVID Scandal: The Cover-Up That Couldn’t Hide the Truth

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The political fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reverberate, with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo now facing intense scrutiny over his handling of nursing home deaths during the crisis. A new report reveals that Cuomo’s office engaged in a deliberate cover-up to downplay the severity of COVID-19’s impact on nursing homes, casting a long shadow over his administration’s response.

According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Cuomo’s office made “demonstrably false” statements while participating in what can only be described as a brazen attempt to obscure the truth. The New York Post has reported that Cuomo’s office was involved in editing state reports to minimize the death toll in nursing homes—a move that raises serious ethical and legal questions.

Cuomo’s administration issued a directive on March 25, 2020, requiring nursing homes to accept patients returning from hospitals, regardless of whether they were COVID-positive. The advisory explicitly stated that nursing homes could not deny admission based solely on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. This policy, as reported by the New York Post, left nursing homes with no choice but to accept individuals who were known to pose a risk to other residents.

In a bid to deflect blame, Cuomo has attempted to shift responsibility to federal and state health officials. During an interview in June 2024, Cuomo argued that the state directive was no different from federal guidelines and suggested that it was not responsible for the tragic outcomes. Representative Marc Molinaro criticized Cuomo’s attempts to evade accountability, stating that the state’s directive was markedly different and led to a significant increase in deaths.

Cuomo’s defense of his administration’s policies has been consistently self-serving. He has frequently pointed fingers at others, including the federal government and other states like Florida, while downplaying the impact of his own directives. In a September 2020 interview with Finger Lakes Daily News, Cuomo claimed that New York had effectively “flattened the curve” and that the state did not force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. This assertion stands in stark contrast to the evidence that his policies did indeed contribute to a significant rise in nursing home deaths.

The true extent of the tragedy may be even worse than currently reported. New York State has acknowledged over 6,600 nursing home deaths related to COVID-19. However, this number does not account for residents who initially contracted the virus in a nursing home but later died in a hospital. Some estimates suggest that the actual death toll could be twice as high. State Senator Tom O’Mara has co-sponsored a bill demanding a full and accurate accounting of these deaths, underscoring the need for transparency and accountability.

Cuomo’s reaction to the criticism has been to downplay his administration’s responsibility. He has insisted that the deaths were inevitable due to the virus’s predilection for senior citizens, rather than acknowledging the role of his own policies. Moreover, his boast that New York was “number 46 out of 50 states” in terms of percentage of nursing home deaths is a disingenuous attempt to shift the focus away from the catastrophic outcomes of his policies.

As the House Select Subcommittee prepares to interview Cuomo, the spotlight is on his administration’s actions and the subsequent cover-up.

Biden Admin Refused to Grant Nikki Haley Secret Service Protection Despite Iranian Threats

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Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley remains without government-provided security, despite facing years of credible threats from Iranian-linked actors, including one revealed as recently as Thursday.

A source close to Haley told The Daily Wire that the former South Carolina governor was told in 2021 that Iran had placed her on a “kill list” because of her work at the UN. The FBI told Haley during her presidential campaign that Tehran was targeting her campaign.

Haley mentioned the FBI’s warning during her campaign. During a Sunday interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, Haley revealed that she was targeted by an Iranian-backed “murder-for-hire plot,” which was foiled in July.

“When I was running my presidential campaign the FBI had a separate hearing with me to let me know that Iran was influencing the election with our campaign to hurt me,” she said. “The murder-for-hire plot, named me. That’s by Iran.”

Revelation of the threats against Haley come as the Secret Service falls under scrutiny following the failed assassination attempt on President Trump in July at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally. In May Trump said Haley would “absolutely” be on his “team in some form” if he wins in November. During her CBS interview, Haley said she spoke to Trump in June and “he’s aware that I’m ready if he ever needs me” to campaign for him. (Read more from “Biden Admin Refused to Grant Nikki Haley Secret Service Protection Despite Iranian Threats” HERE)

Video Shows Massive Explosion Blow Roof off Prison Holding Former Vice President in Apparent Drone Attack

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Ecuadorian government officials reportedly intercepted a drone attack on La Roca prison, a maximum-security facility housing former Vice President Jorge Glas, on Thursday.

The prison was targeted by a drone carrying explosives and was intercepted successfully, Ecuador’s “Security Block,” a joint task force of law enforcement and military personnel formed to combat drug trafficking, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The drone was reportedly used in an attempted “disabling” of the center imprisoning approximately 100 people, including Glas, a statement by the task force stated.

Glas served as Ecuador’s vice president under President Rafael Correa, his running mate, and then President briefly under President Lenin Moreno. He was arrested in April 2024 in a dramatic raid at the Mexican embassy in Quito, where he had sought political asylum.

Glas faced allegations that he was involved in a bribery scheme to secure rulings favorable toward a drug kingpin and his relations, according to The Associated Press (AP). The arrest sparked a diplomatic dispute between Ecuador and Mexico due to the breach of diplomatic norms. (Read more from “Video Shows Massive Explosion Blow Roof off Prison Holding Former Vice President in Apparent Drone Attack” HERE)