Team one (DoS/CIA) are really putting Team two (WH/DoD) on the defensive with this leak.  [Pentagon video at bottom]

According to a Politico report, using leaked classified intelligence from the U.S. intel community, the Pentagon knew well in advance that a suicide bomber was coming to the Abbey Gate long before the explosion.  According to the leak, the military knew where and when the attack was coming; and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned allies to avoid the area.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chief’s Chariman Mark Milley, and CentCom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie all knew in advance the Abbey Gate was going to be bombed on Thursday, yet they kept the gate open.

(Politico) – Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon’s daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Speaking from a secure video conference room on the third floor of the Pentagon at 8 a.m. Wednesday — or 4:30 p.m. in Kabul — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed more than a dozen of the department’s top leaders around the world to make preparations for an imminent “mass casualty event,” according to classified detailed notes of the gathering shared with POLITICO.

During the meeting, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of “significant” intelligence indicating that the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, was planning a “complex attack,” the notes quoted him as saying.  Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport.

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A very interesting internal dynamic amid U.S. institutions and their media PR networks solidifies around a lengthy Washington Post report about the day Kabul fell to the Taliban.   It’s not the story per se’ that provides the clarity, although the details are interesting; but rather the intent of the narrative around the story putting accountability for the lack of Kabul security upon the Pentagon.

Remember, Team #1 (State Dept./CIA) use CNN and the Washington Post; while Team #2 (White House, Pentagon, NSC)  do not.

The internal battle amid U.S. government institutions, two teams, in the Afghanistan-crisis blame game, are reflected by this organizational relationship between two U.S. Govt. factions and their media allies.  The overarching problem in this part of the blame game is the security situation in Kabul, specifically the lack of security which led to a terrorist attack that killed 13 American service members at the Kabul airport and wounded hundreds more.

According to the Washington Post outline, the Taliban offered to stay out of the capital city until the U.S. military had departed; however, during an in-person meeting between the head of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar, and U.S. Central Command Commander, Kenneth F McKenzie, the U.S. general told the Taliban to take the city but leave them the airport.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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There have been various and increasing ¹reports all day that a Biden-authorized U.S. drone strike targeting ISIS-K, in retaliation for their Kabul terrorist attack, not only killed Islamic terrorists, but also killed allies, innocent civilians and children.

[NOTE: I hate to keep harping on this, but it is important context. Remember CNN represents the official position of the State Dept. If CNN reports it, that is Team #1 (Dos/CIA), positioning a narrative to put Team #2 (White House and Pentagon) in a compromising position.]

New York Post – Multiple Afghan civilians, including relatives and children, were reportedly killed in Sunday’s US airstrike near the Kabul airport.

US officials said the drone strike wiped out a vehicle carrying multiple suicide bombers that posed an “imminent ISIS-K threat” to the city’s airport.

The exact amount of casualties was not immediately clear, but a relative of those killed told CNN that nine of his family members died in the drone strike. Six children, ranging in age from 2 to 10, and three adults were among the dead, the relative told the news outlet. (read more)

[Original CNN report HERE] – As the media start to pick up the story, dig and verify the reports of innocents as collateral damage, unbelievably U.S. Central Command (Centcom) releases a public statement seemingly admitting to the issue.

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Why does government seem to control so much of our lives now? What significant changes happened in the past 15 years that created a social shift and allowed government to influence almost every facet of our activity? Why has the previously ordinary become so complex? Why is it more difficult to be comfortably invisible and just live out the creed of pursuing ‘life, liberty and happiness’? What is behind all this?

We were not sleeping, we were wide awake. Perhaps distracted, yes; but we were wide awake when something shifted. A Fourth Branch of Government was quietly created, and technology allowed the tentacles of the system to touch us. That’s the root of it, and if we take the time to understand how the Fourth Branch originated, questions about this perpetual angst start to make sense.

The number one question on this website, and amid everyone I talk to is: “What can be done? How do we fix this mess?”  There is actually something that can be done at a federal level, but it won’t be easy, and it will take a very strong and deliberate action against one specific chamber of congress to change the dynamic permanently.

The Senate is at the root of the issue.

Without the U.S. Senate being complicit and thoroughly corrupted, none of the events that face us daily would be happening.

The Senate didn’t amass this power overnight, it took decades.  If you look at the root problem of the daily issues we face from wasteful spending, to out of control federal agencies, to just about every institution that has become corrupted -including the DOJ and FBI- what you will note is the continued re-emergence of the Senate as a complicit and enabling body.

There is a way, a constitutional outline, for the Senate to be completely reset; and a process where We The People take back control.  I call that solution the “one ring” approach, because it crushes the corrupt political system in the same way that Frodo throwing the ring into the fire of Mount Doom destroyed the evil emanating from the Eye of Sauron. [Lord of The Rings metaphor]

However, before walking through that process, it is critical to remind ourselves of the specific issues that have been created.  As you read or re-read this lengthy outline, keep the issues of the Senate in the back of your mind, and notice them when they appear.

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Secretary of State Tony Blinken appears on several friendly news shows this morning, as he attempts to walk through the aftermath of a massive U.S. crisis created by a botched withdrawal effort from Afghanistan.  The bodies of dead U.S. service members are looming in the background, and the Biden administration is desperate to exit from this problem.  [NBC HERE and ABC HERE]

Notable in the spoken language, as well as the visible physical and mental discomfort, is Blinken’s tenuous position as head of a Deep State operation he does not control.  The career officials within the Dept of State, the CIA and the broader intelligence community, view Blinken as a temporary apparatchik of the Biden administration, and their current position is aligned against him.  That reality is visible in Blinken’s extremely nervous expressions.

The unelected operators, bureaucrats within the Department of State (DoS), make U.S. foreign policy from within the executive branch. There is a pretense promoted by media that the executive branch, specifically the President of the United States, is controlling the internal mechanism of the U.S. State Department, but that’s a ruse. If it were true, the State Department would act like they had accountability to someone or something; they do not.

Team Obama, those in power over the Democrat political mechanisms, are using the Biden crew as useful and disposable idiots. Because Biden was installed, not elected, the Chicago crew are actually in a great position as all the political consequences can fall upon Biden administration personnel, and the people truly in control are isolated and invisible from any repercussions.  It is a very interesting dynamic.

Making the issue even more interesting is the institution under Blinken -which he doesn’t control- is aligned with CNN, CNNi and WaPo.  As a consequence, the Biden administration cannot rely on CNN or the Washington Post and has to stick to the traditional alphabets (ABC, CBS, NBC). (more…)

Speaking toward the end of his remarks at FEMA headquarters, the installed occupant of the White House:

Biden: “I’m not supposed to take any questions, but go ahead.”

Media: “Mr President, on Afghanistan”…  [Biden interrupts]

Biden: “I’m not going to answer Afghanistan now”.  [Walks away]

https://youtu.be/Kym5iiK1L4c

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This is the fifth time in 10 days Joe Biden has refused to answer questions about the crisis in Afghanistan that he created.  There are 13 dead U.S. service members, and the commander in chief refuses to address the questions.

Pathetic.

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The dignified transfer of the fallen service members from the terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, took place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today.  Joe Biden and members from his administration attended the transfer. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other members of the administration participated in the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base of 13 service members killed in Afghanistan. The video segment below is the first of 13 dignified transfers. There is no audio:

There’s not much you can do except hunker down when winds of this scale start hitting the coastline.  Hurricane Ida is about to make landfall along the Louisiana coastal region with winds in excess of 150mph.  A very strong category-4 storm, with massive storm surge potential. The hurricane force winds (the buzzsaw) are approximately 100 miles wide.  Anyone who needs help, feel free to reach out in the comments section, or send us an email and we will do everything we can to assist.

NHC Report – At 1000 AM CDT (1500 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Ida was located by reconnaissance aircraft and NWS Doppler radar near latitude 28.8 North, longitude 90.0 West. Ida is moving toward the northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h). A slightly slower northwestward motion should continue through this evening. A turn toward the north should occur by Monday morning, followed by a slightly faster northeastward motion by Monday night and Tuesday. On the forecast track, the center of Ida will make landfall along the coast of southeastern Louisiana within the hurricane warning area within the next few hours.

Reports from NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that the maximum sustained winds are near 150 mph (240km/h) with higher gusts. Ida is an extremely dangerous category-4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some slight additional strengthening is still possible before Ida moves onshore along the Louisiana coast. (read more)

Hurricanes can be frightening; downright scary. There’s nothing quite like going through a few to reset your outlook on just how Mother Nature can deliver a cleansing cycle to an entire geographic region.  If there’s one positive aspect to this storm, it’s the daylight as she makes landfall…. at least it ain’t night.

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