AFGHANISTAN - The Taliban have seized control of a THIRD of Afghanistan as they continue to accelerate their blitz offensive while the US continues to withdraw their forces. The US has wasted nearly $1trillion on the "pointless" 20-year battle trying to stave off the terror group who are fighting to gain ultimate control over the war-torn country. The Taliban now have control of a third of Afghanistan and are set to conquer more. Jihadists have continued to advance across rural areas and are now in reach of major cities. A recent US intelligence report warned they could take the capital, Kabul, within six months. They have now seized hold in almost twice as much of Afghanistan as they had two months ago - sparking concerns they are planning an explosive offensive this summer.
USA - No matter how bad things get in this country, you can rest assured that we will always find a way to sink even lower. From the very lowest levels of society all the way to the very highest levels of society, the level of depravity that we are now witnessing all around us is absolutely stunning. At this point, most Americans do not have any sort of a solid moral foundation, and it shows. Everyone is just basically doing whatever seems right in their own eyes, and that has resulted in complete and utter chaos. We are a very, very sick nation, and we are getting even sicker with each passing day.
EUROPE - The European Parliament (EP) voted Thursday in favor of a report describing abortion as “essential healthcare” and a “human right.” The European Parliament adopted the document on June 24 by a vote of 378 votes in favor, 255 against and 42 abstentions at its plenary session in Brussels, Belgium. Last week, the European bishops denounced the text, insisting that the “unborn child has a human right to life.”
UK - The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, has held 95 meetings with eight repressive monarchies in the Middle East since the ‘Arab Spring’ protests of 2011 threatened their power. Charles has played a key role in promoting £14.5 billion worth of UK arms exports to these regimes in the last decade.
USA - They would like us to believe that what we can see happening right in front of our eyes is not actually real. Over the past year, our politicians in Washington have gone on the largest spending binge in US history by a very wide margin, and the Federal Reserve has created the most enormous financial bubble of all time by pumping trillions upon trillions of fresh dollars into the financial markets. Of course this was going to cause very painful inflation, and prices are rising very aggressively all around us. But Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other leaders in Washington are trying to convince us that even though they added all of this money to the system it has hardly affected the overall rate of inflation at all. They are “gaslighting” us, and it is absolutely infuriating.
USA - Local rescue crews picked through tons of rubble looking for survivors in Surfside, a barrier island town across Biscayne Bay near Miami, after the part-collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium apartment tower overnight on Thursday. Footage captured by a security camera nearby showed an entire side of the building crumbling in two sections, one after the other, in billowing clouds of dust at about 1.30am local time (6.30am GMT). Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said construction work was being done on the roof but there was no indication it caused the collapse. He added: “It's hard to imagine how this could have happened. Buildings just don't fall down." Ms Levine Cava told reporters 99 people remained unaccounted for18 hours after the collapse, though some may not have been in the building at the time.
USA - The great tragedy that we just witnessed in Florida has shocked the entire nation, and it should be a major wake up call for all of us. Our nation really is literally falling apart right in front of our eyes. Just a few short months ago, at least 151 people died during a catastrophic failure of the power grid in Texas. Thousands of water pipes burst, and billions of dollars worth of damage was done. But most people that don’t live in Texas soon forgot all about that, and now we have another spectacular example of the rapid deterioration of the once beautiful cities that previous generations handed down to us. According to the latest report that I have seen, nearly 100 people are still missing, and officials say that they are hearing “sounds like banging” coming from the wreckage…
USA - It appears as though California’s plans to become an environmental and socialist utopia are running face first into reality. The latest dose of reality came this week when the state, facing triple digit temperatures, began to “fret” about pressure on the state’s power grid as a result of everybody charging their electric vehicles all at once. The state’s power grid operators have been telling residents to “relieve pressure” from the grid by charging their EVs at off-peak hours, Newsweek wrote. Twice last week the California Independent System Operator (ISO) told residents to conserve energy voluntarily, including asking to charge their EVs at certain off-peak times. The ISO also suggested “avoiding use of large appliances and turning off extra lights,” the report says.
USA - Environmentalists’ bright promises of utilising solar energy to power the world are darkening quickly as it becomes clear how much dangerous trash is generated, with tonnes of old panels being discarded in landfill sites. The basic pitch for 'net zero' policies to combat climate change is this: a warming world will be devastating, but we can cut emissions down to next-to-nothing by using renewable energy technologies like wind and solar, which will keep on getting cheaper and cheaper. But the idea that we can have it all – energy that is plentiful, zero-carbon, and cheap – is a mirage, at least when it comes to renewables.
FRANCE - President Emmanuel Macron is redrawing the line that separates religion and state, in a battle to force Islamic organizations into the mould of French secularism. In recent months, his administration has ousted the leadership of a mosque after temporarily closing it and poring over its finances. Another mosque gave up millions in subsidies after the government pressured local officials over the funding. A dozen other mosques have faced orders to close temporarily for safety or fire-code violations.
USA - A nurse who was fired from a Texas hospital for refusing to take the coronavirus vaccine says she doesn't need it because she already has antibodies after contracting Covid-19 herself. Jennifer Bridges was fired on Tuesday from Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital after refusing to comply with its requirement that employees be vaccinated. 'If they took that vaccine, and they feel safe about it, then they shouldn't worry about if we had it or not,' she said. '…I had Covid last summer, I do not need that vaccine and Methodist did not care about that.'
RUSSIA - The Russian president held his first face-to-face talks with Joe Biden in the latter's capacity as president last week, with European and world leaders watching closely for any signs that the current icy relationship between Russia and the US might thaw.
UK - Spokesmen for the Russian government have said that if warnings about not entering their waters are ignored their weapons will be “right on target” in future, the latest escalation over the disputed ownership of territorial waters in the Black Sea. Russia has continued to push statements into the public domain since it buzzed a British warship — and, they claim, dropped “warning” bombs in its path — on Wednesday. Britain denied the use of weapons even took place, noting that while pre-announced Russian naval exercises were taking place nearby, no weapons were aimed at the British.
TAIWAN - China's escalating military intimidation of Taiwan shows the self-governed island "needs to prepare" for a possible military conflict, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an exclusive interview with CNN. His warning came one week after the island reported the largest daily incursion by Chinese military planes into Taiwan's self-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The incursion - by 28 Chinese warplanes including fighter jets and bombers - did not violate Taiwanese sovereign airspace or international law, but it was seen as a show of strength by China's People's Liberation Army. "As Taiwan decision makers, we cannot take any chances, we have to be prepared," Wu told CNN in Taipei on Wednesday. "When the Chinese government is saying they would not renounce the use of force, and they conduct military exercises around Taiwan, we would rather believe that it is real."
SAUDI ARABIA - When the Houthis claimed responsibility for suicide drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in September 2019 that paralyzed the country’s economy for several days, the US quickly rushed to blame Iran, while they have also accused Tehran of exacerbating the war in Yemen by supporting the Houthis’ fight against Riyadh. The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) told reporters on Sunday that Riyadh is still asking for US military assistance in deterring Iran. Washington backed out of supporting the Saudi-led war in Yemen earlier this year, but the Biden administration has committed to providing for Saudi Arabia's defense, including increasing the efficiency of its air defenses in shooting down Houthi missiles. US Marine Corps General Kenneth F McKenzie Jr told members of the press that the Saudis “want reassurance that they're going to be helped if they're attacked by Iran, and they want help against the continuing attacks” by Ansarallah, the Yemeni Shiite movement also known as the Houthis.
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