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In The News:
Colorado River: First-ever shortage declared amid record US drought
Around 40 million people in the US and Mexico rely on the river for water.
Lake Mead, which was created near Las Vegas after the building of the Hoover Dam, supplies water to Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico. The lake is now at its lowest level since it was first formed in the 1930s.
This first round of water supply cuts triggered by the shortage are expected to mainly affect farmers in Arizona starting in January. Nevada is also expected to shrink its water use starting next year, but state officials say they have already reduced water deliveries.
Further cuts could hit next year if Lake Mead’s level continues to fall.
Most of the Western US is experiencing a historic multi-year drought.
DEA Seized Life Savings From Hard-Working Grandfather, Never Charged Him With a Crime
Kermit Warren is a hardworking grandfather and the head deacon of his church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
After losing his home to Hurricane Katrina, Kermit managed to rebuild his life. Thanks to a dogged work ethic, frugal lifestyle, diligent saving, and a small inheritance, Kermit managed to build a nest egg of nearly $30,000 in cash over several years.
When Kermit lost his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he tried to use his savings to purchase a tow truck that he could use to support himself.
But, on a trip to Ohio, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers took Kermit’s much-needed life savings.
Now, the federal government is trying to keep his money using the abusive practice of civil forfeiture, which does not require charging Kermit with any crime, let alone securing a conviction.
WFPD locates car involved in shooting of Clay County deputy
Officers with the Wichita Falls Police Department located the car a man used to escape the scene of an attempted capital murder of a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy Monday night.
Police said no one was inside of the vehicle when it was found.
Around 7:30 p.m. on August 17, 2021, Deputy Breanton Chitwood attempted a traffic stop at the Jolly Truck Stop. As he walked up to the vehicle he was shot but recovered and returned fire at a white Cadillac sedan.
BODYCAM: Houston Police Fatally Shoot Suspect Who Opened Fire On Them
HOUSTON, TEXAS – HPD (Houston Police Department) released footage of an incident where a suspect was killed after he opened fire at a Houston motel, killing 2 & injuring 2.
Bodycam: Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at scene of standoff
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office released bodycam footage Sunday afternoon showing the standoff with a man threatening to set himself and the residence on fire.
LEO Round Table: Murder Charges Dropped Against Cop Who Saved Lives!
Topic 1 concerns South Bend (Indiana) Police Officer Gorny being sued for “driving recklessly” during a non-emergency situation, which left Erica Flores dead in a car crash with the cruiser. Also mentioned: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Topic 2 concerns murder charges being dropped against Blackwell (Oklahoma) Police Lieutenant John Mitchell, after he fatally shot active shooter, Michael Godsey. Also mentioned: Judge Lee Turner, Chief Dewayne Wood, and District Attorney Jason Hicks.
Topic 3 concerns Seattle (Washington) police officers fatally shooting a knife wielding man, after he advanced toward officers. Also mentioned: Port of Seattle police.
Whitmer kidnapping case rocked by allegations FBI told informant to lie, delete text messages
Mlive reported Michael Hills, an attorney for Brandon Caserta, one of six men indicted, claimed an FBI special agent told a paid confidential informant identified as “Dan” to lie, delete messages between them, and implicate an innocent third party.
Hills requested government provide all communications between “Dan” and the FBI.
“These text messages indicate the F.B.I. was pushing their paid agent to actively recruit people into an overt act in furtherance of a conspiracy,” Hills wrote.
“Counsel has found further text messages between (special agent) Impola and Dan indicating Dan should destroy his text messages and instruct Dan to lie and accuse an innocent 3rd party of being a federal agent spy to the founder of Wolverine Watchmen.”
Handcuffed man steals cop car after driving another stolen vehicle off cliff: police
According to the City of Lake Ozark, Kenneth Rybolt, 26, of Columbia, Missouri was jailed in Miller County and is facing 10 charges in multiple counties for this police chase that would fit in the Netflix series “Ozark.”
Police received a call on Saturday around 3 p.m. alleging Rybolt was shoplifting at a Kohl’s. Police arrived on the scene and attempted to block in Rybolt’s vehicle, but he rammed one cop car and drove off. The vehicle was later determined to be stolen.
Rybolt made it about 2 miles down a busy Bagnell Dam Boulevard before crashing head-on into an innocent bystander’s vehicle. He still tried to flee in his stolen car, but drove “straight off the roadway” and went off a cliff above the highway.
Still determined to make his escape, Rybolt ran to a nearby intersection and attempted to carjack someone stopped at the light. He was apprehended by police then “handcuffed behind his back and shackled around his ankles and placed in the back seat of our car,” police say.
But somehow he was able to get his hands out from behind his back, broke through the cage, got into the front seat and took off.
NYC woman fights off groper in brazen attack caught on camera
NYPD Crime Stoppers released video on Monday depicting the unidentified male suspect sought in connection to a forcible touching that happened on the corner of South Fourth Street and Havemeyer Street in the New York Police Department’s 90th Precinct.
Footage captured at 2:15 a.m. Sunday showed the man approach the 26-year-old female victim from behind and forcibly grab her buttocks.
The woman, who was looking down on her cellphone as she walked, appears startled as the man grabs her from behind – but then quickly pushes him back.
Video shows she then lunges toward him and swings at him, but the man quickly delivers blows of his own back.
Child disappears from Alamance County home for almost 2 days; man charged with kidnapping, statutory rape
Alamance County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation into reports of the missing juvenile on Aug. 6; the minor “was returned home sometime” early on the morning of Aug. 8, according to authorities.
After getting additional information for their investigation, detectives were able to get an arrest warrant from Thomas Anthony Morales. Working with the SBI, detectives arrested Morales on August 11 in Indian Trail.
Morales is charged with abduction of children, second-degree kidnapping and statutory rape of a child and has a $40,000 bond.
Texas requests mortuary trailers as COVID precaution amid border crisis while readying for Afghan refugees
The trailers would come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and be stationed in San Antonio, where they would then move to various Texas locations if local leaders request them, Loveday told NBC News.
The announcement comes as Texas and other border states face a continued migration crisis, with last month seeing a total of 212,672 encounters – a 13% spike compared to encounters in June.
In the city of McAllen, for example, an emergency shelter was expanded this month to keep up with the number of COVID-positive migrants. City officials said more than 7,500 COVID-positive migrants have been released into the city since February, with 1,500 released over one week in August alone.
“Despite the City of McAllen and its community partners’ best efforts, the sheer number of immigrants being released into the city has become a crisis: a crisis the City of McAllen did not create and has proactively tried to avoid for seven years,” the city said in a statement this month.
Pentagon Spox Says Biden Admin Has No Plans to Help Americans Hiding in Afghanistan Get to the Airport to be Evacuated (VIDEO)
According to reports, up to 10,000 Americans are still trapped in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control of the region.
The Biden Admin made it a priority to evacuate Afghans as Americans were left behind.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday morning told CNN that the Biden Admin doesn’t know how many Americans are still in Afghanistan.
Kirby also said the Biden Admin has no plans to help the Americans evacuate as the Taliban takes over.
Kabul flights resume as Pentagon warns of swift response to any attack
A White House official told Fox News Tuesday that military and civilian flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul are resuming.
The official said that over the last 24 hours, the U.S. has been able to move more than 700 people out of Afghanistan, including 150 American citizens.
The official said the State Department has sent messages to some American citizens in Afghanistan sharing information with them on how to safely assemble at the airport for flights out.
“Things are back up and running,” Kirby said. “We’re going to keep flowing forces to make sure that we can ensure a safe and secure environment for operations at the airport.”
A White House official told Fox News that more U.S. troops will arrive in Afghanistan Tuesday and Wednesday.
US botched Afghanistan reconstruction with ‘staggering’ mistakes, scathing inspector general report finds
A report issued Tuesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which has examined U.S. progress – or lack thereof – in the region since 2008 identified fundamental problems with the work that was being done on the ground.
Nearly 20 years since American forces went into Afghanistan in response to the Taliban harboring 9/11 mastermind Usama bin Laden, the U.S. has spent nearly $1 trillion on war and reconstruction efforts.
“When you look at how much we spent and what we got for it, it’s mind boggling,” a former senior Defense Department official told SIGAR.
The report noted that despite the planned withdrawal, the Biden administration had requested more than $3 billion in additional funds for the coming year to go toward reconstruction. Fox News asked the White House what the plan for that money was and whether its plans have changed now that the Taliban is back in control, but it did not immediately respond.
Politics:
Cori Bush scores book deal worth up to $100K, financial disclosures show
The “Squad” member’s recent financial disclosure form shows that the Missouri congresswoman is receiving between $50,001 and $100,000 in a book advance for her tome from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
According to her disclosure, Bush also paid herself $32,000 in salary from her campaign noted as salary “permissible under FEC rules” and brought in $12,000 from a consulting firm for “research consulting.”
Bush — a vocal advocate of defunding law enforcement — recently came under fire after it was revealed she had spent over $70,000 on private security for herself.
The Missouri Democrat came under fire again recently after it was revealed that she had hired two then-active sheriff’s deputies — thereby personally funding the police — to be her private security, costing them their jobs at the department.
Biden Admin Offers Schools FEDERAL $ To DISOBEY Florida’s Mask Freedom
In a shocking follow-up to Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s bizarre inversion of public school mask freedom, the Biden Administration Friday announced that it will CIRCUMVENT the Florida government and directly fund local schools defying Governor Ron DeSantis’ order allowing mask freedom for students.
Glenn Greenwald, on Fox, on Two Decades of US Government Lying about Afghanistan
Last night I discussed the implications of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, why the Taliban takeover was inevitable, and why both Trump and Biden were right to demand a complete removal of US troops after 20 years.
Tucker: We are led by buffoons, everything they touch turns to chaos
‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host calls ‘neoliberal’ ideas ‘grotesque’ and ‘ridiculous.’
Ingraham calls on top millitary brass to resign
Biden and U.S. military leaders got almost nothing right in Afghanistan.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Drafting Articles of Impeachment for Biden Over Afghanistan
On Monday, Greene appeared on Real America’s Voice’ War Room Pandemic with host Steve Bannon, where she revealed that her team is currently drafting articles of impeachment against Biden.
“I have my team right now working on articles of impeachment,” Greene said. “Because I’m so disgusted with Joe Biden. You know I’ve already filed one set of articles of impeachment. But his failure as a president is unspeakable.”
Greene went on to praise former President Donald Trump, saying “Trump right now is more presidential and he’s not even in the White House than Joe Biden can ever be or stand up to in the past seven months.”
Trump and a slew of congressional Republican have criticized the Biden administration for their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan, along with the tremendous surge in COVID, the Border catastrophe, the destruction of energy independence, and our crippled economy,” Trump said in a statement.
Levin: We Are Less Free Today Than in 1776
Mark Levin on Life, Liberty & Levin: “ Look at representation. Do we have representation today? Have you tried to meet your member of Congress lately?
It’s impossible. And if you meet your representative, what do you tell them?
They are passing 2700 pages of omnibus spending bills in the middle of the night. You have no idea what’s in those bills.
That’s less liberty than you had when we didn’t have representation. Because what happens here is that you get to vote, but you don’t get to know anything.”
World News:
Afghanistan: Striking image captures Kabul exodus
It’s one of the most striking images from the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. Hundreds of Afghans packed into a US military cargo plane as they flee Kabul.
On Sunday, panicked civilians had scrambled up the loading ramp, Defense One quoted a US official as saying, but the crew decided it was best to take off rather than force the Afghans off the plane.
The US defence official quoted by Defense One, says the flight from Kabul to Qatar was one of several which managed to extract hundreds of Afghans from Kabul.
America’s Loss In Afghanistan Is China’s Gain
The CCP took advantage of this opportunity to grow economically and militarily and expand its geopolitical influence overseas with astonishing speed.
On the economic front, Beijing rolled out a massive global infrastructure project called “One Belt, One Road” in 2013 to help the CCP spread its influence.
A vital component is building infrastructure projects along a Eurasian land route linking China and Europe through Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan has kept the violence in the nation under control and effectively provided China a security service free of charge. China has taken advantage of the situation to seize a significant share of Afghanistan’s natural resources.
For example, Chinese state-owned companies are developing the world’s largest copper field in Afghanistan. China is also building a freight railroad from western China to Pakistan through Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Unlike the former Soviet Union or the United States, China clearly learned that Afghanistan is a graveyard for empires.
Beijing has no intention of getting involved in Afghanistan in any military sense. Instead, it is turning the Taliban regime into a client state by deepening Afghanistan’s economic dependency on China.
The battle against Islamic terror – Jerusalem Studio 624
Next month the world will mark the twentieth anniversary of nine-eleven, the most momentous event of this century, so far.
This simultaneous attack on American targets massacred almost three thousand innocent victims and caused two military conflicts, in Afghanistan and Iraq, which in one way or another still persist.
This was the most blatant example of Islamic terror, perpetrated by non-state actors, in this case Al Qaeda and in others the Islamic State, alongside a long list of other groups.
If there is terror in the world today, its Islamic variant is not alone in spreading its evil, but it is surely the most abundant and dangerous.
IAEA warns of Iran’s nuclear advancement; Israel to respond to Hamas aggression TV7Israel News 17.08
1) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warns Hamas over any aggression directed at Jewish State from Gaza – vowing to respond with force to any attack – at a time and place of Jerusalem’s choosing.
2) The International Atomic Energy Agency has raised the alarm over progress being made by the Islamic Republic of Iran in its work on enriching uranium metal – which could be utilized to make the core of a nuclear weapon.
3) China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran are seemingly eager to fill the void of the prompt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Commentary/Opinion:
WOKE, INC: Why Crony Capitalism 2.0 Is Our New ‘DEFINING CHALLENGE’
Vivek Ramaswamy once worked among the biggest business elites in America. But his new book, ‘Woke, Inc.’ exposes those corporations’ phony attempts to appease the far-left, all to cover up their own business practices that they’d ‘rather not talk about.’
But it’s more than hypocrisy; their actions have deep repercussions for our nation.
It’s all a part of Crony Capitalism 2.0, Ramaswamy explains, and it IS this generation’s defining challenge. He tells Glenn the way we can move forward…
Paul vs Fauci
We should listen to Paul, because he got a lot right.
Paul helped inform people that the federal government funded “gain of function” experiments in China.
In May, when reporters called the idea that the virus came from the lab a “conspiracy theory” and social media companies even banned discussion of that idea, Rand Paul helped inform the public that there’s a good chance it’s true.
Now even Anthony Fauci admits, “it could have been a lab leak.”
President Biden eventually ordered intel agencies to investigate that possibility.
When he did that, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter stopped banning the idea.
There was lots of evidence all along.
Social media companies should just stop banning ideas.
The above video has that, and more about Paul’s fight to get important Covid information to the public.