Pentagon Supposedly Strikes ISIS-K Planner In Afghanistan

By William Teach August 28, 2021 – 7:35 am

Good if this is real, but, consider me skeptical. Did we just bomb some randos, or get people who were actually important?

‘We killed the target’: Pentagon drone strike KILLS ISIS-K ‘planner’ two days after Kabul airport bombing that left 170 people dead

Joe Biden Ice Cream AfghanistanA Pentagon drone strike has killed the ‘planner’ behind the ISIS suicide bombing at Kabul airport that left more than 170 people dead.

The missile struck an ISIS fighter while he was in his car with another Islamic state associate in Nangahar province, eastern Afghanistan. US officials said the strike was approved by President Joe Biden.

The retaliation came less than 48 hours after a suicide bombing claimed by the group killed 13 U.S. soldiers, two Britons and the child of a UK national outside an entrance to the runway.

U.S. Navy spokesman William Urban confirmed the military ‘conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner.’

‘Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,’ he added.

There’s no footage released of the strike, which is interesting. Hey, maybe we got the guy. Which begs the question, how do we know this guy was the planner? Did we already have intelligence on ISIS-K? Did we get the intelligence from some other intelligence service? If we got the guy, great! With this crew in the White House, you have to be skeptical. And, let’s be honest, if Trump was in the White House all the media outlets would be skeptical and would be demanding proof.

It wasn’t clear if the individual killed in Saturday’s drone strike was involved specifically in the Thursday suicide blast outside the gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to get in as part of the ongoing evacuation from the country after the Taliban’s rapid takeover.

A reaper drone, which took off from the Middle East, struck the militant who was in a car with an Islamic State associate. Both are believed to have been killed, an official said.

Well, gee wiz, if Joe hadn’t shut down Bagram (you know, the one we left in the middle of the night), we could have hit them from there.

And for those who want to Blame Trump for ISIS-K

The group first emerged in 2014 as a splinter from another terror group, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — often known simply as the Pakistani Taliban.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies say that many of ISIS-K’s top leadership came from the TTP — among them spokesman Sheikh Maqbool, and their first emir, Hafiz Saeed Khan.

Khan, a Pakistani citizen, established an early stronghold in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province — on the border with Pakistan.

In 2015 ISIS-K’s formation was officially announced by ISIS’s leadership in Iraq and Syria, and the terror network’s headquarters have funneled money into their Afghan outpost.

Who was president then? Who was VP? I’m not going to take the word of the Biden admin or any of its Woke military leaders without proof.

Read: Pentagon Supposedly Strikes ISIS-K Planner In Afghanistan »

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US And China Poised To Get Tougher On Climate Crisis (scam) Why John Kerry Takes Long Fossil Fueled Flight In September

By William Teach August 27, 2021 – 3:00 pm

China is very big on saying the right things. Doing them? Not so much, but, they’re happy to sell products to the idiot countries who Do Stuff and watch their economies implode

US and China tipped to get tougher on climate change when John Kerry visits in September

John Kerry climateChina and the United States – the world’s top two carbon polluters – are expected to seek solid progress in the fight against climate change during John Kerry’s expected visit next month, according to sources familiar with the matter.

It will be the US special climate envoy and former top diplomat’s second visit to China in five months, coming at a time when overall bilateral tensions are at their highest in decades.

The two countries will continue discussions on efforts to tackle climate change as listed on the joint announcement released in April during Kerry’s first visit, one of the sources said, requesting anonymity.

The two sides are expected to announce further specific actions to reduce carbon emissions, the source said. (snip)

Beijing and Washington have in recent months been at loggerheads over a range of issues including the origins of Covid-19, human rights, the hi-tech sector, Taiwan and the South China Sea, although they have not ruled out space for cooperation.

A climate observer said Kerry’s visit carries significance for bilateral relations that goes beyond the agenda of his trip.

“Under the current bilateral background, John Kerry will visit China for the second time. The two countries don’t have such communication on other issues,” said Li Shuo, a senior global policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia.

“It shows that they have isolated the climate issue from other bilateral issues, though it is unavoidable [the climate issue] will be affected … [but] to some extent the two countries can collaborate.”

So, to hell with human rights issues, China making moves towards Taiwan, and so forth. Oh, and ignore China building all those coal energy plants. They’re like most Warmists: it’s popular in theory to Do Something, but, in practice? Not so much. Just like Kerry taking all those fossil fueled flights.

Read: US And China Poised To Get Tougher On Climate Crisis (scam) Why John Kerry Takes Long Fossil Fueled Flight In September »

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 27, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is the rising sea rushing up to the mountains, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Gen Z Conservative, with a post on Biden voters voting for this.

Read: If All You See… »

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New Yorker Wonders If Government Should Introduce A COVID Vaccine Mandate

By William Teach August 27, 2021 – 10:30 am

Say, I wonder if The New Yorker mandates all their employees get the vaccine?

Should the Government Impose a National Vaccination Mandate?

Earlier this month, a parent asked a question on the community-discussion listserv for the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school district where my teen-ager will start high school this fall. Since the state routinely requires students to have certain vaccinations for enrolling in public school, would it also require vaccination against covid-19, once the F.D.A. moved the authorization status from “emergency use” to full approval? Other parents replied that they supported a requirement, predictably invoking science, public health, and communal values. But the vehemence of their opponents, in highly vaccinated Cambridge, took me by surprise. There were recriminations about interference with personal choice and references to Nazi Germany. One participant accused another of bullying and threatened to consult an attorney.

On Monday, the F.D.A. did grant full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for people sixteen and older, and a decision on the Moderna vaccine is likely to follow in weeks, raising the question of how far and wide the government will now push covid-vaccine mandates. In July, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require some of its employees to get the vaccine or face possible termination. President Biden recently ordered all federal workers to attest that they are vaccinated or else wear masks and get tested weekly. Within hours of the F.D.A.’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the Defense Department announced that it would mandate that all 1.4 million active-duty military members be vaccinated. On the same day, public university systems in New York, Minnesota, and Louisiana rolled out similar requirements for students. Such mandates may be met with intense resistance: the Pentagon’s pre-F.D.A.-approval vaccination efforts, for example, were highly divisive, and more than a third of service members are, at present, not fully vaccinated.

Jeannie Suk Gerse then dives into much of the same information from the article I posted from CNN yesterday. Surely there’s no coordination between news outlets in pushing this, right?

Strong resistance to government-mandated vaccination isn’t new. In 1853, Britain imposed the first mandatory vaccinations, requiring parents to inoculate infant children against smallpox or face heavy fines.

The U.S. is not Britain, and we have a Bill of Rights and state Bills of Rights. Oh, and the smallpox vaccine is virtually 100% effective.

The Court, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, disagreed, reciting the principle that individual liberty is not absolute in the face of “the common good,” and that “real liberty for all” depends on restraining individual exercises of liberty that harm others. …

But, not taking the vaccine only harms you. People with the vaccine can still get COVID, and even be non-symptomatic. If the non-vaxxed want to take the chance on getting much, much sicker than those who took the vaccine, that’s on them. The NY Times is currently reported on breakthrough COVID cases, which are “Uncommon and Often Mild, but Not Always”.

No city or state has yet issued a straight-up requirement that all private citizens be vaccinated against covid-19, along the lines of the Massachusetts smallpox-vaccination law upheld in Jacobson, but some have edged toward it. The closest so far is New York City’s requirement of proof of having received at least one dose for access to certain activities, including indoor dining, gyms, and performances. Various states have also ordered certain subsets of their populations, including health-care and nursing-home workers, school teachers, and state employees, to be vaccinated or face regular testing. The F.D.A.’s full approval of the vaccine this week makes it more likely that cities and states will impose general mandates on residents. If they do, they can feel confident that such requirements will be upheld by the courts, so long as they include medical and religious exemptions.

Yeah, well, we’ll see if suits are filed.

Alternatively, Congress could rely on the Spending Clause to pass new laws that condition the transfer of federal funds to a state upon its establishing a vaccination mandate. Congress could also use the Commerce Clause to institute a national requirement as a regulation of interstate commerce. But those sweepingly ambitious federal routes are guaranteed to become mired in tremendous political pushback that could ultimately increase public resistance to vaccination, not to mention constitutional challenges claiming federal overreach. Short of those methods, the federal government still has myriad ways that it may yet push states, institutions, and citizens to do more than they otherwise would, with an arsenal of inducements, pressures, conditions, and threats. Depending on how things progress with the coronavirus variants, a national vaccination mandate may remain possible as a last resort.

They really, really do want to find a way to force people to get the vaccines. That might work if the effective rate was at least 95%, but, we’re finding that they are well below that.

Read: New Yorker Wonders If Government Should Introduce A COVID Vaccine Mandate »

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AOC Decides To Jump In On The Science Of Ice Cream

By William Teach August 27, 2021 – 8:17 am

For some reason, ExxonMobile EU decided to post something fun about ice cream. How it’s made, what it’s made of, and more. The article cited has zero to do with their operations, so, of course AOC, who tweeted nothing about the Afghanistan terror attack (she did retweet about taking in Afghan refugees), decided to jump in

She was actually on a tear Thursday, with multiple tweets whining about fossil fuels. You know, the ones which allow her to fly quite a bit between NYC and DC, along with all her stops around the country pushing her Green New Deal. NYC couldn’t operate without them. It wouldn’t be such a big city without them.

Why aren’t Warmists like her giving them up? Fossil fueled vehicles clog the streets of New York. They’re moving people and goods. Fossil fueled ships bring goods and take them away. Fossil fueled airplanes bring goods and visitors, take New Yorkers going on vacation away. How do you replace those?

And why do climate cultists have to ruin everything? It’s ice cream. These people are nuts. And, ice cream companies wouldn’t be able to get their ice cream to market without fossil fueled trucks.

Read: AOC Decides To Jump In On The Science Of Ice Cream »

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Surrender Joe Vows Retribution Or Something

By William Teach August 27, 2021 – 8:05 am

Did you watch the Biden press conference? It was like listening to a man who could barely speak, who wasn’t really interested in what he was saying, except when he was asked some inconvenient questions, then he briefly woke up. That, and showing up for a PC 25 minutes late to discuss an attack that killed, at current count, 13 members of the US military

Biden vows retribution on terrorists who killed 13 US service members in Kabul

Biden Brain SuckerPresident Joe Biden had a clear and directed message for the assailants responsible for the deadly terror attack outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, and for anyone else who might be planning an attack.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. (snip)

“We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation. I’ve also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities,” he said.

Well, I’ll believe it when I see it. Hopefully he does it, sics the armed forces of the U.S. on the perpetrators, but, I have little confidence, not with our Woke military leaders in charge and giving advice. These are the same ones who said we “won’t” go in to protect Americans. Not “can’t”, “won’t”. This is the same administration that basically told Americans in Afghanistan, and all those who helped the U.S and allies, that they were on their own.

“I’ve been engaged all day, in constant contact with the military commanders here in Washington and the Pentagon, as well in Afghanistan and Doha. And my commanders in Washington, in the field, have been on this with great detail, and you’ve had a chance to speak to some so far,” he said to reporters. “The situation on the ground is still evolving, and I’m constantly being updated.”

He said this like a somnambulist. It would have been better to just let everyone read the teleprompter. And, Biden doesn’t actually seem like he’s in charge

President Biden says he was ‘instructed’ to call on reporters from list at presser following Kabul attacks

…

While it has become normalized for the president to rely on a list of pre-selected reporters, he made a rather stunning admission in the process.

“Ladies and gentlemen, they gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on was Kelly O’Donnell from NBC,” Biden kicked off the press conference.

Imagine if Trump said that. Basically admitting that his people are telling him to call on very specific reporters, who are surely asking vetted questions.

The best part is Doocy responding to Joe questioning him with “Donald Trump is not the president anymore,” which is when Biden put his head down, and Doocy continued with “Do you think that people have an issue with pulling out of Afghanistan or just the way that things have happened?” And Joe decided it was time for some ice cream and left.

(Breitbart) On Aug. 20, Biden had promised: “[A]ny attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response. We’re also keeping a close watch on any potential terrorist threat at or around the airport, including from the ISIS affiliates in Afghanistan who were released from prison when the prisons were emptied.”

Turx, the White House correspondent for Ami magazine, asked Psaki in a White House briefing following Biden’s speech: “Was this an attack? Were our forces targeted? Was this at the airport? Were our operations disrupted? And if, indeed, it was, would this quality as a ‘swift and forceful’ response?”

Psaki replied: “I think the president just addressed exactly that, when he said, ‘We will not forgive, we will not forget, and we will hunt you down.’”

Turx pressed her for answers, whereupon Psaki snapped: “I don’t think he could have been more clear.”

It’s now over 24 hours since the attack: where’s the swift and forceful response?

Read: Surrender Joe Vows Retribution Or Something »

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Biden’s Afghanistan: Four US Military Members Killed In Suicide Bombing

By William Teach August 26, 2021 – 2:56 pm

Update: the Pentagon now says 12 service members have been killed.

Where’s Joe?

Way to go, #SurrenderJoe

At least four U.S. Marines killed in Kabul airport attack -sources

Four U.S. Marines were killed and three wounded in Thursday’s explosions at Kabul airport, U.S. sources told Reuters, in what the Pentagon said was a “complex attack” during its evacuation mission from Afghanistan.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed multiple U.S. fatalities but did not give details. The U.S. servicemembers were among those killed when at least two blasts tore through crowds thronging the airport gates.

And where are Joe and Kamala? As of this time, there are no statements from Biden or Kamala

Weird, it’s like nothing is happening. Or, more likely, they want to avoid answering pesky questions from reporters.

The Pentagon did release a statement

Read More »

Read: Biden’s Afghanistan: Four US Military Members Killed In Suicide Bombing »

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 26, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is overly bright sunshine from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Evil Blogger Lady, with a post on how Emerald Robinson murdered the Weekly Standard.

Read: If All You See… »

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CNN: You Have No Constitutional Right To Refuse China Flu Vaccine

By William Teach August 26, 2021 – 10:30 am

Funny how quickly they dump “my body my choice”

You do not have the ‘constitutional right’ to refuse the Covid-19 vaccine

Now that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer/ BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, it’s time for all governments across the country to mandate the vaccine for people taking part in indoor activities. There are no more valid excuses for not being vaccinated other than health reasons.

One frequently heard pushback against vaccine mandates is that there is a “constitutional right” to choose whether to be vaccinated or not for adults and a right to determine whether children can be vaccinated. That is a non-starter in the midst of a pandemic.

The Constitution is not a suicide pact guaranteeing a right to harm others. The government has latitude to protect citizens from deadly conditions, especially when the science supporting vaccination is so clear. (snip)

With respect to children, parents do not have carte blanche. At one time, children were the property of their fathers, but that is no longer the case. Children are “persons” under the Constitution, and as the ruling in Prince v. Massachusetts held, parents do not have a constitutional right to make martyrs of their children. Parents have an obligation to protect their children’s health and life, which means that the school district mandates that reduce the risk of death to children should be enforceable, period.

They’re making the case that the Government can vaccinate your children with a vaccine that is showing lower and lower capability to protect people from getting COVID, unlike required vaccines for smallpox, measles, and others required for schooling. Vaccines that virtually no one objects to.

Those challenging the government mandates are likely to invoke their rights under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, which protect speech, religion, and a right not to “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Their view ends up as a snapshot of themselves; nonetheless, rights can be limited if a person is endangering another.

It’s a sentiment that came up in the 1905 Supreme Court decision in the case Jacobson v. Massachusetts. The court ruled against a man who had refused to be vaccinated against smallpox, stating: “Real liberty for all could not exist under the operation of a principle which recognizes the right of each individual person to use his own (liberty), whether in respect of his person or his property, regardless of the injury that may be done to others.” That same principle was apparent when Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is thought to be a strong rights-advocate, left standing Indiana University’s vaccine mandate.

Of course, basic smallpox has a death rate of 30%, quite a bit higher than COVID. Other forms of smallpox are almost guaranteed to cause death. The mortality rate for COVID is all over the place in studies, but, looks to be under 1%. Spanish Flu of 1918 had a much higher mortality rate. Smallpox vaccine has a very higher rate of success.

We would posit, further, that governments that don’t mandate vaccination against Covid-19 are skating very close to violating the standard for a constitutional right to “life” without due process. If a government does not take reasonable action to prevent the likely deaths of so many people, there will be more lawsuits. Already, we’ve seen schools filing lawsuits against former Trump administration officials and individuals suing the World Health Organization contending that they mishandled the Covid-19 response.

Well, they were doing so well in making the case, right up till they said the Government must force you to get vaccinated For Your Own Good. All that drivel about my body my choice, body autonomy, and the rest went right out the window of the cruise ship and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Children and adults have a constitutional right to “life” that can only be protected if there is mass vaccination. It’s time for state and local governments to issue vaccine mandates and fines — as New York and San Francisco have — before this virus mutates into an even more elusive killer than it already is.

And it would be an interesting Constitutional case. Barrett may have had a case regarding the Indiana University mandate, but, for all citizens? The Constitution assigns duties to the federal government, and the Bill of Rights restricts what they can do. Politically, though, would any politician have the cajones to mandate the vaccine at a large scale? Doubtful.

Read: CNN: You Have No Constitutional Right To Refuse China Flu Vaccine »

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Forbes Offers Ways You Can Decarbonize Your Business

By William Teach August 26, 2021 – 8:41 am

Interestingly, Forbes forgot to mention whether they’ve done this in their own operations

How Decarbonizing Your Business Can Help Fight Climate Change

Nine years.

That’s how much time the United Nations says is left before the worst consequences of climate change become unavoidable.

And in nine years they’ve tell us we have 10 years left. They keep saying the same thing and then moving the date forward.

We got here by ignoring scientists’ warnings, putting short-term financial gain ahead of sustainability and squandering opportunities to decarbonize. As a direct consequence, “Human-produced greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible for warming our planet,” according to NASA.

This isn’t a drill: If we fail to dramatically reduce carbon emissions by 2030, the changes we’re already seeing will become much worse. Scientists agree that avoiding further disaster requires immediate action in the form of decarbonization. And decarbonization requires large-scale change. That means every company needs to begin actively reducing its carbon footprint.

You first. Let’s see all you climate cult companies do it. Let’s see if you can avoid raising your prices and getting goods and services to market.

If you’re a business leader, you need to think ahead and consider whether you’ll make things worse by maintaining the status quo. That means business as usual isn’t acceptable anymore; everyone must cut their carbon-emitting activities. For most organizations, measurement — properly gathering and comparing data — will be the critical first step.

So, spend a bunch of money and time figuring out. Perhaps using the software created by the writer, who’s the CEO and co-founder of Persefoni. No conflict of interest in this piece, right?

Once you have the numbers, act on them. Depending on your industry, this could mean reducing travel, curtailing unnecessary shipping, enhancing the efficiency of logistics and/or updating your facilities with green technologies.

This won’t increase costs in the least, nor create problems with operations and getting your goods to the consumers, right? I wonder how many “green” companies actually do a damned thing other than talk about it

Participate in meaningful offsets that can sequester carbon, such as replanting stripped forests and rebuilding shorelines, which will trap and store emissions at ground and sea levels.

And purchase offsets! What a scam.

Meanwhile

Madagascar on the brink of climate change-induced famine

Madagascar is on the brink of experiencing the world’s first “climate change famine”, according to the United Nations, which says tens of thousands of people are already suffering “catastrophic” levels of hunger and food insecurity after four years without rain.

The drought – the worst in four decades – has devastated isolated farming communities in the south of the country, leaving families to scavenge for insects to survive.

There have been other droughts? Huh. What happens if this doesn’t happen? Who’s held responsible for the prognostication failure? There was a massive drought in the 1860’s. What’s to blame for that?

Read: Forbes Offers Ways You Can Decarbonize Your Business »

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