The number of victims of the devastating effects of Ida hitting the US states of New York and New Jersey on Thursday has reached 22, media reported on Thursday.
At least 8 people died in floodwaters in New York City, including a 2-year-old boy, while another 14 people were found dead in the state of New Jersey, the report said.
In Passaic, New Jersey, one body was recovered from a vehicle that went underwater near the Passaic River, according to the town’s mayor cited by the report.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night followed by a travel ban issued overnight urging all non-emergency vehicles to stay off-roads on Thursday. Ida, now reduced to cyclone level, hit New York City on Wednesday and inundated some areas with rain, including the subway, causing suspension of train services on some lines.
The hurricane came ashore in south Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour and caused what Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called a catastrophic collapse of the state’s electric power grid. Ida weakened into a tropical storm as it made its way northeast.
Twitter is reportedly working on testing new privacy features that would give users more control over who can see their tweets and likes as well as their follower list, a move that could reduce social media “cancel culture.”
The new tools are related to what Twitter calls “social privacy” and will allow users to manage their brand and identities on the platform better, Bloombergreported.
New features being considered include the ability to remove followers, which is currently only possible by blocking someone; archiving tweets, which will let users hide or delete old tweets after a set amount of time; hiding who can view tweets a user has liked; and leaving conversations, which will allow users to remove themselves from a public conversation or debate on Twitter.
Part of what is driving Twitter’s testing of these new privacy tools is that many individuals and companies across the United States have become increasingly worried about the effects of “cancel culture” — a result of public admonitions made by Twitter users and influencers.
“When social privacy needs are not met, people limit their self-expression,” Svetlana Pimkina, a staff researcher at Twitter, told Bloomberg. “They withdraw from the conversation.”
Twitter’s internal research found many users don’t understand how privacy works on the platform, such as whether their account is publicly visible or not, and this causes some users to engage less on Twitter because they are worried about what others can or can’t see about them, Pimkina said.
Over the past year, many companies and brands have made changes to their names, logos, or product lines to be more culturally sensitive, and a number of employees have been reprimanded or fired because of old content on social media.
The social media giant will start testing some of these features this month.
The country’s top military leaders on Wednesday said they would not rule out future partnerships with the Taliban.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that collaboration with the Taliban, who were the enemy during the 20-year Afghan war, was “possible” to battle the Islamic State Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, according to a transcript of a media briefing.
The group claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 attack that killed 13 U.S. service members at Kabul airport.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted at the briefing that operational coordination between U.S. forces and ruthless Taliban fighters that took place while the United States was evacuating people from Kabul was not necessarily a harbinger of a future partnership.
“Well, first of all, let me applaud the initiative of our commanders on — on the ground who would stop at nothing to accomplish the mission that they were — they were provided of evacuating as many American citizens, third-country nationals and [Special Immigrant Visa] applicants as possible. We were focused on — we were working with the Taliban on a very narrow set of issues, and it was just that — to get as many people out as we possibly could,” he said.
“And so I would not lead to — I would not make any leaps of logic to, you know, a broader — to broader issues,” he said.
“I would just say that, again, I’m immensely proud of — of what — what our troops have done to this point, and it’s hard to predict where this will go in the future with respect to the Taliban,” he said.
“We don’t know what the future of the Taliban is, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is a ruthless group from the past, and whether or not they change remains to be seen,” Milley said, according to the transcript.
“And as far as our dealings with them at that airfield or in the past year or so, in war, you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force, not what you necessarily want to do,” he said.
From the diplomatic side, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland would not rule anything out.
“Our relationship with the Taliban will be guided by what they do not by what they say,” Nuland said, according to CNBC.
“Now that said, there are some urgent questions, like the humanitarian condition of the people of Afghanistan. So we are looking at those kinds of things,” she said.
“But we have made no decisions about any of the rest of it, and we certainly won’t unless and until we see the kinds of behavior expected,” Nuland said.
On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States’ relationship with Afghanistan has been reset, according to The Hill.
“A new chapter of America’s engagement with Afghanistan has begun. It’s one in which we will lead with our diplomacy,” Blinken said. “The military mission is over, a new diplomatic mission has begun.”
“Going forward, any engagement with the Taliban-led government in Kabul will be driven by one thing only, our vital national interests,” Blinken said. “Every step we take will be based not on what a Taliban-led government says, but what it does to live up to its commitments.”
“The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support. Our message is, any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned,” he said.
More than 30 California children likely remain stranded in Afghanistan, days after President Joe Biden evacuated U.S. forces from the country while abandoning billions of dollars worth of military equipment to the Taliban terrorists.
According to California school board officials in three districts, which confirmed the U.S. legal status of the children to the Associated Press (AP), 30 children “have been forgotten by the U.S. government.”
The AP reported the children remain stranded due to Biden pulling U.S. forces from the country before the children could make their way through the Taliban terrorists’ check points enroute to the extraction point at the airport.
San Juan Union School District in Sacramento identified “27 students from 19 families” that remain stranded. Another school district inside Sacramento told the AP they had three trapped children in hiding.
Among those abandoned in Afghanistan by Joe Biden is a California family. https://t.co/cz6CZY0IMG
Union School District spokeswoman Raj Rai told the AP she believes “some of these families may be in transit out of Afghanistan, as we have not been able to reach many of them in the last few days.”
Sacramento City Unified School District spokeswomen added, “The only word I can say is heartbreaking,” and “sincerely” hopes “for their speedy and safe return back to the U.S. and back to our school communities.”
Breitbart News reported Wednesday some 29 California students were “reportedly stranded in Afghanistan at the hands of President Joe Biden’s administration — five more than initially reported on Tuesday.”
“We can confirm that we currently have 29 students, from 19 families, in Afghanistan,” Rai affirmed, ensuring her readiness to “support these students and families in whatever way” she can.
It is unknown how many Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan. U.S. officials estimate nearly 200 may remain, though other reports indicate the number could be thousands. An original White House report indicated about 11,000 had been in the country right before its collapse.
A pregnant American woman from California who is trapped in Afghanistan, who goes by ‘Nasria,’ was kicked in the stomach by the Taliban and forced into hiding, according to a report. https://t.co/Jhk5tF2cHl
However, Biden told the world Tuesday he had left ten percent of Americans in Afghanistan stranded but then explained the number was only between 100 to 200.
“Now, we believe that about 100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan, with some intention to leave. Most of those who remain are dual citizens, longtime residents who had earlier decided to stay because of their family roots in Afghanistan,” Biden said.
For the first time since it started in 1998, the FBI’s gun background check program passed 400 million last month when another 2.7 million were conducted.
The number has been on a fast rise since the 2020 presidential election followed by growing safety concerns due to COVID-19 and city riots.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, said it has been used 400,540,500 times since the first was done in November 1998. The NICS was created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which was authored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993.
It was named after former President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary James Brady was shot, like Reagan, in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981.
For its first few years, the system recorded gun sales and other background checks in the hundreds of thousands per month. By this year, it was hitting records, the highest coming in March at 4.7 million.
The last two years have seen historic numbers, and gun sales have largely paralleled that.
Just this week, the system recorded its second-highest tally for August in history, at 2.7 million.
“This indicates that there is a continued strong and steady demand from Americans choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” said Mark Oliva, spokesman for the industry’s trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
He said another record-breaking year of gun sales is within “striking distance,” and he credited the public’s desire to get a firearm as President Joe Biden is threatening to block them.
“The continued demand for lawful firearm ownership is notable because it comes at a time when the Biden administration is pushing to achieve their radical gun control agenda,” Oliva said. “Americans are choosing a different path. Americans acted upon their God-given right to keep and bear arms over 1.3 million times in August. That sends a clear signal that Americans are choosing their gun rights over the Biden administration’s gun control,” he added.
340K Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits in the week ended Aug. 28.
The number of Americans filing first-time jobless claims last week fell to a pandemic-era low as supplemental unemployment benefits are set to expire.
The Labor Department said Thursday that 340,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits in the week ended Aug. 28, down 14,000 from the prior week. The reading was the lowest since March 14, 2020.
Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting 345,000 first-time filings.
Continuing claims for the week ended Aug. 21, meanwhile, declined to a pandemic low of 2.748 million from a downwardly revised 2.908 million the week prior. Analysts were expecting 2.775 million filings.
Almost 12.2 million people received some form of unemployment assistance, an increase of more than 178,500 from the previous week. That was less than half of the 29.7 million that filed a year earlier but well above the 2 million in each week prior to the pandemic.
“After a series of negative surprises with economic data, new pandemic era lows for both new and continuing jobless claims are welcomed developments,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.
The decline in filings comes as the $300 per week in supplemental unemployment benefits is set to expire on Sept. 5. About half of the states ended the additional payments early.
Thursday’s report sets the stage for Friday’s August nonfarm payroll report. Economists expect the U.S. economy added 720,000 jobs last month as the unemployment rate dipped to 5.2%. In July, 943,000 jobs were added as the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%.
Early in 2020, shocked citizens and social scientists predicted the widespread imposition of extreme “non-pharmaceutical interventions” in response to COVID would prove to have horrible and costly human and economic trade-offs — turns out they were right.
In early 2020, when authorities in China implemented — overnight — a draconian “lockdown” of 100 million citizens in response to reports of a new virus, the rest of the world little suspected that in short order, the same unprecedented home incarceration policy, along with a host of other “non-pharmaceutical interventions” (NPIs) would be coming soon to a locality near them.
Never before have so-called NPIs — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also euphemistically refers to as “community mitigation strategies” — so aggressively taken center stage during a declared disease outbreak.
To reinforce the warnings, some pointed to Korea’s experience with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2015, when thousands of school closures, widespread event cancellations and large-scale restrictions on freedom of movement cost the Asian nation $10 billion and an economically damaging 41% drop in tourism.
Noting the disproportionately harsh socioeconomic impact for an illness for which “the numbers of infections and deaths … were smaller than the numbers of those from tuberculosis or seasonal influenza,” a preventive medicine expert who chronicled the Korean fiasco observed, “the people who undertake the costs incurred by movement restriction are not the same people who benefit.”
A similar observation can be brought to bear on the prevailing COVID situation. Eighteen months in, most of the world is still being subjected to an endless Groundhog Day loop of dystopian restrictions (with a virus hardly even needed as justification anymore), while global elites widen the wealth gap to obscene levels and steadily consolidate technocratic controls.
At this juncture, there is little doubt the Cassandras who had the foresight to call out COVID-related NPIs as a “colossal public health calamity” and totalitarian threat are being vindicated — in spades.
“Lockdowners” have not only managed to replace a century of “public-health wisdom … with an untested, top-down imposition on freedom and human rights,” wrote the American Institute for Economic Research in December 2020, but are openly working to establish “universal social and economic controls” as the new “orthodoxy.”
‘Fundamentally altered the child health landscape’
From all corners of the globe, the data flooding in indicate NPI policies have been particularly disastrous for children.
Consider a bombshell COVID preprint study published in August, in which Brown University researchers provide “suggestive” — and alarming — evidence that NPIs have “fundamentally altered the child health landscape” and are “significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development.”
Calling attention to the extensive ramifications for children of closing businesses, daycares, schools and playgrounds, as well as parents’ increased stress and children’s “reduced interaction, stimulation and creative play with other children,” the researchers reported children born during the pandemic are displaying significantly lower cognitive performance (verbal, motor and overall) compared to children born pre-pandemic.
The researchers’ IQ testing of pandemic babies produced an average score of around 78, versus a mean IQ score that, over the past decade, hovered around 100.
The study’s lead author characterized the findings as “not subtle by any stretch.”
Crash-and-burn of jobs and small businesses
A November 2020 report by the University of Southern California (USC) that examined the impact of mandatory closures and “partial reopenings” found those two NPI variables were “the most influential factor in the economy’s decline.”
USC predicted the two drastic policy measures “could result in a 22% loss of U.S. GDP in just one year and an even greater loss … over two years” — amounting to as much as $4.8 trillion in lost GDP.
Job loss and unemployment are an obvious source of parental stress with direct and trickle-down effects on children.
Thanks to the NPI-facilitated COVID recession, job losses during COVID-19 have had the distinction of being the “deepest ever” and the “most abrupt” compared to past recessions, as well as hitting low-wage workers the hardest.
Although economists reported, as of August 2020, recovery of half of the lost jobs, the most economically vulnerable were far less likely to have regained employment — bad news for children and families already living on the edge.
Even with some job recovery, overall job losses remained in excess of the peak recorded during the 2007–2009 Great Recession.
Small businesses that have the well-deserved reputation of being the “backbone” or “lifeblood” of the American economy have suffered acutely under capricious NPIs. Under current or threatened lockdowns, one analysis of small business hardship concluded, “it is hard for small businesses to find certainty in their operations or finances.”
Before COVID, small businesses were responsible for “more than 41% of net job creation, 45% of GDP and 34% of all U.S. exports.” By June 2021, every single U.S. state had lost more than 25% of its small businesses, with at least four in 10 shuttered small businesses in the hardest-hit states.
Although state leaders assign vague blame to “COVID,” it defies logic to let their policies off the hook. In the 10 states adhering the most strongly to NPI restrictions, from 33% to 44% of small businesses closed (with the exception of Vermont, at 29.6%).
Meanwhile, corporate entities like Amazon and Walmart, which continued operating while smaller businesses were asked to make sacrifices, have scooped up Main Street’s market share and made out like bandits.
The two companies’ founders and largest shareholders took home 56% more profits in 2020compared to the previous year, but — notoriously stingy with their employees — “shared almost none of it with their workers.”
The best Amazon seems able to do is to offer “up to $80” to frontline employees who get a COVID shot.
Walmart, meanwhile, is telling employees (called “associates”) who do not get COVID vaccines by Oct. 4 they will go one month without pay and will then be terminated if they do not comply.
Hungry times
Public health researchers have long recognized that “food, nutrition, health and socio-economic outcomes are intimately inter-linked.”
In 2019, U.S. food insecurity (defined as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life”), though still a problem for many, was at its lowest level in more than 20 years.
However, the economic fallout from policymakers’ stay-at-home orders and closure of “non-essential” businesses and schools (including stalled school breakfast and lunch programs) has “upended” that trend.
The organization Feeding America estimates one in eight Americans — and one in six children, as well as one in five black Americans — could experience food insecurity in 2021.
An estimated one in five children went hungry in 2020. Malnutrition in early life can have long-lasting effects on health later in life.
According to Feeding America, the people and households most impacted by the NPI-induced economic crisis were already food-insecure or at risk of food insecurity pre-COVID “and are facing greater hardship since COVID.”
Feeding America also observes “very low food security” (the most alarming type of food insecurity involving “reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns”) is likely on the rise.
Globally, the economic havoc wreaked by lockdowns and other NPIs has doubled the number of people on the brink of starvation, according to former South Carolina governor and Nobel Peace Prize-winning World Food Programme head David Beasley.
Declining life expectancy and worsening mental health
U.S. life expectancy dropped by 1-1/2 years in 2020, falling more in the second half of the year than in the first half.
Putting the startling statistic in context, a CDC representative explained that ordinarily, mortality changes are “rather gradual,” whereas 2020’s drop was precipitate and “substantial.” She noted the CDC does not expect life expectancy in 2021 to “return to what it was in 2019.”
As a direct result of COVID NPIs, studies have pointed to worsening mental health in adolescents and young adults as well as in adults — an effect that manifested almost immediately in spring 2020.
Describing the far greater mental health toll of COVID compared to previous “mass traumas,” one news report acknowledged NPIs eliminated one of the “most effective ways of buffering stress … social connection within a community.”
Interpersonal support is especially vital for youth, so it is not surprising NPI-related measures such as obligatory online instruction and home confinement — as well as worries about meeting basic needs — have been key triggers for youth depression and anxiety.
Data on fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses are starting to reflect the downward mental health trend. For example:
Between May 2019 and May 2020, CDC reported “the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period,” with the most deaths recorded between March and May 2020.
In related CDC research on overdoses involving prescription benzodiazepines (prescribed for anxiety and insomnia) and illicit “benzos,” overdose deaths increased 21.8% and 519.6%, respectively.
More than half (53.8%) of fatal overdoses from illicit benzos and nearly a third (30.7%) of deaths from prescription benzos were in youth aged 15-34 years.
Almost all the deaths also involved opioids, and many involved illicitly manufactured fentanyls. Non-prescription fentanyl use increased by 35% from mid-March to mid-May 2020.
Experts agree the lockdown-related deterioration in mental health could increase suicide rates. They caution, however, that it may take time to ascertain post-NPI suicide trends, noting evidence from previous epidemics suggesting an initial and short-term decrease in suicide “linked to a ‘honeymoon period’ or ‘pulling together’ phenomenon.”
In the UK, however, a July 2020 report highlighted “a concerning signal that child suicide deaths may have increased during the first 56 days of lockdown,” with contributing factors listed as “restriction to education and other activities, disruption to care and support services, tensions at home and isolation.”
The root cause
Although studies of NPIs are multiplying, they tend to promote NPIs’ “importance and effectiveness … in slowing down the spread of COVID-19” and only begrudgingly acknowledge their “high societal costs.”
Insultingly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — CDC’s parent agency — doled out $250 million last September for a PR campaign to “defeat despair and inspire hope.”
An HHS official stated, “there is a lot of amount [sic] of public health information that we need to get out there and it includes how to live your lives, run your offices and businesses in the time of COVID, but it’s also about the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine…”.
Having the taxpayer-funded agency that has so blithely deployed and enforced NPI wrecking balls give advice on “how to live your lives” is a bit rich.
The real problem that needs attention are the tyrannical policies themselves.
Kristin Pitzen, the California schoolteacher who posted a video to social media of herself instructing students to pledge allegiance to the gay pride flag, has been removed from the classroom.
Pitzen recently posted a video on TikTok, where she revealed that she removed the American flag from her classroom in Orange County because it made her feel “uncomfortable.”
Pitzen has been placed on administrative leave, according to the school district.
“We are aware that one of our teachers posted a video on their personal social media that caused alarm and concern related to saluting the American flag,” Annette Franco, a spokesperson for the Newport Mesa Unified School District, said.
“Showing respect for our nation’s flag is an important value that we instill in our students and an expectation of our employees,” Franco continued. “I assure you, we take matters like this seriously and will be taking action to address it.”
“The teacher is no longer in the classroom,” the spokesperson said. “We follow due process and our investigation continues.”
“The school district’s policy requires that each school conducts daily patriotic exercises, including the pledge of allegiance, with an understanding that the pledge is an expression of patriotism and pride in the U.S.,” KTLA reported. “But individuals may choose not to participate in the flag salute for personal reasons.”
Pitzen recently deleted her TikTok account, but it was too late, as the @libsoftiktok Twitter account saved the controversial video and posted it online. The video went viral and has been viewed over 1.6 million times, and the tweet has nearly 6,000 Likes.
“OK, so during third period, we have announcements and they do the Pledge of Allegiance,” Pitzen says in the video. “I always tell my class, ‘Stand if you feel like it, don’t stand if you feel like it, say the words if you want, don’t have to say the words.'”
“So, my class decided to stand but not say the words. Totally fine,” she continued. “Except for the fact that my room does not have a flag.”
Pitzen explained that she removed the American flag from her classroom during the pandemic because “it made me uncomfortable.”
“I packed it away and I don’t know where, and I haven’t found it yet,” she said while giggling.
When one of her students asked what they should do during the Pledge of Allegiance, she replied, “In the meantime, I tell this kid, ‘We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to.’ And he like, looks around and goes, ‘Oh, that one?'” She then pointed to the gay pride flag hanging on the wall of the classroom.
The video went viral, prompting comments from thousands who believe the teacher is not patriotic, including former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, who wrote, “What kind of parent would allow their child to be taught by this wacko? Why are parents turning their kids over to someone they don’t know? I’d like to talk to people who think this is good?!?”
After the story went viral online, local residents have placed dozens of miniature American flags and a few gay pride flags on the school grounds.
In another since-deleted TikTok video, Pitzen brags about all of the LGBTQ pride flags she put up in her classroom. “I pledge allegiance to the queers,” the teacher says in the video.
She shows off all the pride flags in her classroom and says “I pledge allegiance to the queers” pic.twitter.com/eQXe1OfPoW
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday promised to shield Joe Biden from a push for impeachment, telling reporters that the wildly unpopular Biden regime is here to stay despite a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal that saw 13 American soldiers killed and the Taliban armed with billions of dollars in United States military equipment.
“Well, look, the president is not going to be removed from office,” said McConnell, who was asked if he would support a push for impeachment over the Afghanistan withdrawal. “There isn’t going to be an impeachment,” he added. McConnell then suggested Biden’s performance would result in establishment Republicans making big gains in the 2022 midterm elections, and described the soaring unpopularity of Biden as “buyer’s remorse.”
Despite being friendly with Democrats by advancing Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill that would see drivers taxed per mile, supporting anti-gun, pro-Antifa Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was appointed by Biden. and publicly accusing President Donald Trump of inciting violence on January 6 and suggesting a criminal investigation – even though he voted to acquit him – McConnell has gained few friends on the left.
As National File previously reported, some on the left believe McConnell stole his 2020 Senate reelection using the same type of fraud that many say resulted in Joe Biden winning the presidential election. McConnell also remains a bogeyman to leftists on Twitter, who blame him for the Supreme Court refusing to stop a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks.
At the same time, McConnell has soured his relationship with the Republican base. As President Trump highlighted earlier this year, McConnell has extensive family ties to China that enriched him heavily. His wife, Elaine Chao, is the daughter of shipping magnets James and Ruth Chao, and the sister of businesswoman Angela Chao, who was appointed to a position on the Bank of China’s board of directors in 2016. He inherited $30 million after the death of Ruth, who owned a shipping titan that, while nominally based in the United States, worked almost exclusively with China and never flew the United States flag while sailing.
Following a lengthy public feud with President Donald Trump that began in the days following the 2020 election, with McConnell at one point allegedly blackmailing the 45th President, using the threat of impeachment to influence his pardons, McConnell was not invited to CPAC in 2021. President Trump has bashed McConnell repeatedly, blaming him for the narrow loss of the Senate in 2021, and referring to him as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack” who does not deserve the respect he receives in Washington, D.C. McConnell became so unpopular after betraying President Trump that one county in Kentucky demanded his resignation.
At one point this year, the relationship became so sour that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went to Florida to visit with President Trump and urge him to end his feud with the establishment Republican leader. Graham is widely seen as McConnell’s logical replacement by the establishment, and McConnell is reportedly working on an exit strategy with the Kentucky Republican Party that would allow him to retire before the end of his term.
Critics of the Biden administration are pointing to reports that have surfaced about how the State Department is blocking the rescue of Christian Afghans out of Afghanistan, who may be facing executions at the hands of the Taliban.
Conservative radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck helped raise funds to charter planes out of Kabul and rescue Christian Afghans, but he claims that the State Department was making it difficult for his charitable organization, The Nazarene Fund, to execute rescue operations.
“The State Department has blocked us every step of the way,” Beck told Fox News, as reported by LifeSite News. “The State Department and the White House have been the biggest problem. Everyone else has been working together, putting aside differences and trying to get these people to safety.”
Before the bombings in Kabul on Thursday, Beck’s organization rescued 5,100 refugees out of Afghanistan. About 500 more refugees who were mostly Christian women and children were waiting to board another plane when the bombings took place. A military official then instructed them to head to the other side of the gate, away from the protected area of the airport.
“I have pictures of them pleading to get back through the gate,” Beck reported. “I have pictures of blood and body parts and nothing but death in that same area.”
Beck added that the mission is “now changing greatly” because his organization had to “send people into even greater danger to try to smuggle these Christians out, who are marked not just for death, but to be set on fire alive because they’re converted Christians.” He added that the “senior leadership at the State Department is a different kettle of fish.”
Hudson Institute’s Nina Shea also took to Twitter to reporte that Afghan Christians “are not being allowed to board USG (U.S. government) flights in Kabul. I’m advising them to try to board [Beck]’s flights instead.”
The American Spectator reported that the reason why the State Department is rejecting Christian Afghans who are refugees is because President Joe Biden prefers Islamic refugees than those who are Christian. It is noticeable that the Biden administration’s immigration policies are a mess, especially given the crisis at the Mexico border. When the Democratic leader took office, he reversed the immigration policies of former Republican President Donald Trump, creating a surge at the border.
Other Democratic officials are believed to be pushing President Biden to “[block] Cubans, since they tend to vote Republican” and instead accept more migrants from Islamic countries such as Afghanistan. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has even called upon the Biden administration to let in 200,000 more refugees from Afghanistan.
President Biden created a “culture war against Christianity” by revoking former President Trump’s “Muslim ban” or the policy that prohibits travel from countries known for terrorism. Trump argued, “The most dangerous terrorists in the world, they come into our country now, with no problem. ‘Come on in, love to have you.’ This is a sick culture and our country is a disaster, and it’s going to die before your very eyes if this craziness isn’t stopped.”
It is also evident in the way Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about such refugees, as he said of religious freedom, “There is no hierarchy that makes some rights more important than others.” The bipartisan government Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has campaigned for the Biden administration “to explicitly include Afghan religious minorities, in recognition of the severe risks they already face, which will only heighten after the end of the U.S. evacuation.”
Teacher who told students to pledge allegiance to gay pride flag has been removed from the classroom
Kristin Pitzen, the California schoolteacher who posted a video to social media of herself instructing students to pledge allegiance to the gay pride flag, has been removed from the classroom.
Pitzen recently posted a video on TikTok, where she revealed that she removed the American flag from her classroom in Orange County because it made her feel “uncomfortable.”
Pitzen has been placed on administrative leave, according to the school district.
“We are aware that one of our teachers posted a video on their personal social media that caused alarm and concern related to saluting the American flag,” Annette Franco, a spokesperson for the Newport Mesa Unified School District, said.
“Showing respect for our nation’s flag is an important value that we instill in our students and an expectation of our employees,” Franco continued. “I assure you, we take matters like this seriously and will be taking action to address it.”
“The teacher is no longer in the classroom,” the spokesperson said. “We follow due process and our investigation continues.”
“The school district’s policy requires that each school conducts daily patriotic exercises, including the pledge of allegiance, with an understanding that the pledge is an expression of patriotism and pride in the U.S.,” KTLA reported. “But individuals may choose not to participate in the flag salute for personal reasons.”
Pitzen recently deleted her TikTok account, but it was too late, as the @libsoftiktok Twitter account saved the controversial video and posted it online. The video went viral and has been viewed over 1.6 million times, and the tweet has nearly 6,000 Likes.
“OK, so during third period, we have announcements and they do the Pledge of Allegiance,” Pitzen says in the video. “I always tell my class, ‘Stand if you feel like it, don’t stand if you feel like it, say the words if you want, don’t have to say the words.'”
“So, my class decided to stand but not say the words. Totally fine,” she continued. “Except for the fact that my room does not have a flag.”
Pitzen explained that she removed the American flag from her classroom during the pandemic because “it made me uncomfortable.”
“I packed it away and I don’t know where, and I haven’t found it yet,” she said while giggling.
When one of her students asked what they should do during the Pledge of Allegiance, she replied, “In the meantime, I tell this kid, ‘We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to.’ And he like, looks around and goes, ‘Oh, that one?'” She then pointed to the gay pride flag hanging on the wall of the classroom.
The video went viral, prompting comments from thousands who believe the teacher is not patriotic, including former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, who wrote, “What kind of parent would allow their child to be taught by this wacko? Why are parents turning their kids over to someone they don’t know? I’d like to talk to people who think this is good?!?”
After the story went viral online, local residents have placed dozens of miniature American flags and a few gay pride flags on the school grounds.
In another since-deleted TikTok video, Pitzen brags about all of the LGBTQ pride flags she put up in her classroom. “I pledge allegiance to the queers,” the teacher says in the video.