2nd Round Of US Airstrikes Over Syria As Militias Fire Rockets On Occupied Gas Fields

Update(1833ET): The Pentagon said Wednesday it is looking into reports of an exchange of fire between pro-Iranian groups in Syria and the US coalition forces. Meanwhile during the evening (local time), The Jerusalem Post reports that President Biden has authorized a second round of US airstrikes:

A second round of airstrikes by the US-led international coalition operating in Iraq and Syria targeted Iran-linked sites in the Deir al-Zor region of eastern Syria on Wednesday evening, according to local reports.

The airstrikes targeted Iran-backed militias in the city of Al-Mayadin and Saker Island, according to the reports.

Alongside the reported airstrikes, reports by both Syrian and foreign media indicated that a number of rockets had been fired towards the Green Village and Conoco gas fields, both sites where US forces are hosted.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-orders-airstrikes-iran-backed-groups-syria

White House Says Russia's "Sham Referendums" In Ukraine To Begin In Days

The White House said Wednesday that it has information that Russia is imminently planning "sham" referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories, which is expected to come in weeks or even days. The US has learned that Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing.

"We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referendum in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the so called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics," Kirby introduced. "We’ve also learned that the Russia leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold a sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv as well."

"And these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks. In fact, we can see a Russian announcement of the first one or ones before the end of this week." Kharkiv Oblast broadly is currently scene of heavy fighting, while Kharkiv city itself - which is Ukraine's second largest - has this week been coming under heavy aerial bombardment.

"We expect Russia to try to manipulate the results of these referenda under the false claim of the Ukrainian people wanting to join Russia. It will be critical to call out and counter this disinformation in real time," Kirby continued.

"Russian officials themselves know that what they're doing will lack legitimacy, and it will not reflect the will of the people. The Ukrainian people, in any free and fair referendum, would vote overwhelmingly against joining Russia," he added.

Washington and Ukraine had previously accused Moscow of the same tactics when it came to the 2014 Crimean status referendum. During a July briefing, Kirby had referenced Crimea is alleging that Russia's goal is to roll out an annexation playbook for captured territories. Russian forces are currently slowly struggling to secure all of the Donbas.

Some reporting, including in The New York Times days ago, have strongly suggested a "static" of "stale-mated situation along the front lines of late. But Moscow on Wednesday offered an explanation, claiming that it had deliberately slowed its "special operation" out of a desire to protect local civilians.

Everything is being done to avoid casualties among civilians,” Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday. "Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we are doing it deliberately."

But countering this narrative, according to Reuters…

Ukraine's top military intelligence official said on Wednesday that Russia's military offensive was slowing because of moral and physical fatigue in their ranks and Moscow's "exhausted" resource base.

Casualty counts on either side has also been a source of skepticism and controversy, with both Ukrainian and US intelligence consistently saying Russia has lost into the many tens of thousands of troops, while the Kremlin has given much lower official figures.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/white-house-says-russias-sham-referendums-ukraine-begin-week

Former Schoolteacher Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Child Pornography

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/former-schoolteacher-sentenced-20-years-prison-child-pornography

Clancy: Mayor's appearance in court on behalf of carjacking suspect is a bad look

Mayor Cantrell’s recent appearance in Juvenile Court on behalf of a teenager convicted of multiple carjackings has left a bad impression on the community.

The mayor’s job is hard. But knowing what to do and what not to do as mayor, and what to say and what not to say? That’s pretty simple. Unfortunately, Mayor Cantrell needs a primer on the simple part, so here it is.

When the city’s in the grips of a violent crime wave, you go to court to comfort the victims, not the perpetrator. Especially after the perpetrator has already been convicted.

When the city’s economy depends on tourism, you don’t say off-handedly we may cancel Mardi Gras because we don’t have enough cops. That sends two wrong messages.

And most important: It’s already hard enough to live in New Orleans. As mayor, don’t make it any harder.

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/clancys-commentaries/clancys-commentary-mayors-appearance-court-behalf-carjacking-suspect-bad-look/289-170c24f8-cc6a-4769-9737-39d2214a5103

House Republicans Want to Know Why the TSA Is Allowing Illegal Immigrants on Planes with ARREST WARRANTS for ID

Could the Biden administration all be some huge joke? A parody or some crazy dark comedy in which a career political hack with rapidly advancing dementia somehow becomes president and bumbles around as his radical handlers begin implementing a dizzying number of measures to weaken America and endanger Americans? Is there anything the Biden administration is doing that would make it clear that this is not actually what’s happening here?

The latest appalling news to come from Biden’s handlers is that they are allowing illegal immigrants to board commercial planes using their arrest warrants as identification. No, they’re not then arrested. They’re just flying the friendly skies, thanks to the munificence of Old Joe. Of course, that’s our money they’re spending, but what else is new?

Fox News reported Tuesday that some Republicans in the House are upset about this and are “calling for the Biden administration to provide additional information on what they call an ‘extremely troubling’ policy that allows illegal immigrants to board planes using civil arrest warrants and other related documents as ID.” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and twenty-three other Republicans wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, asking him why the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows illegal immigrants to fly around with “civil immigration arrest warrants and deportation orders” as their only identification.

The letter notes that aside from the obvious problems with this, “these documents are not secure documents and can easily be forged, copied, or otherwise manipulated. Given the fact that American citizens are constantly being reminded that their IDs will soon need to be REAL ID compliant to board an airplane, it is extremely troubling that TSA is allowing illegal aliens to use nonsecure documents as IDs to board planes.”

It’s also a testimony to the breakdown of the proper enforcement of the law under this administration’s misrule. An illegal immigrant with deportation orders shouldn’t be able to board a plane anywhere except to a destination somewhere outside the United States. Instead, the deportation papers themselves allow him or her a taxpayer-funded joyride.

The letter adds: “The fact that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used either directly or indirectly to pay for illegal aliens to be transported throughout the country is a slap in the face to all law-abiding, tax-paying Americans.” Ain’t that the truth? “Instead of using taxpayer funds to transport illegal aliens, DHS should be using those funds to acquire additional detention space so that it may detain the illegal aliens as required by the law.” Sure, but this is the Biden administration we’re talking about. They don’t want to detain illegal immigrants. They want them out there voting for Democrats.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/08/24/house-republicans-want-to-know-why-the-tsa-is-allowing-illegal-immigrants-on-planes-with-arrest-warrants-for-id-n1623966

Wisconsin School District Renames Women, Girls ‘Person With a Vulva’ in New Sex-Ed Curriculum

Children will begin sitting through sex-ed classes in Kindergarten, district officials have announced

A Wisconsin School Board has voted 6-1 in favor of adopting sexual education curriculum standards that reclassify women and girls as a “person with a vulva” in order to comply with a left-wing definition of inclusion while teaching human anatomy to sixth graders.

Under the “Human Growth and Development” curriculum standards adopted by the Wauwatosa School Board, which operates in deep blue Milwaukee County, children in sex-ed anatomy classes will learn that girls are not to be called girls and women are not to be called women. Instead, the curriculum states, they are a mere “person with a vulva,” referring to the genitalia that women are born with.

The curriculum has been blasted by parent groups and others, who point out that, under the left-wing standards apparently meant to shield the feelings of men who claim to be women, real women have been reduced “down to their body parts.”

In a statement released to the community, school officials claimed that, despite referring to female students by their genitals, the sex-ed program is “grounded in the importance of self-worth and the dignity of others.”

“Together with a community of educators and families, students in the WSD will be empowered to develop healthy relationships, to engage in respectful communication, and to practice responsible decision making [sic] that is grounded in the importance of self-worth and the dignity of others. Prepared instructors will provide grade level appropriate information on sexual health that is current, factual, consistent, and inclusive.”

Further information released by the school district sheds light on the so-called “Human Growth and Development” (HGD) program, which appears to have taken inspiration from other far-left practices that are besieging America’s schools.

According to the district’s pro-trans guidelines, children as young as kindergarten will be subject to “discrete lessons” based on the “National Sex Education Standards” and stemming from the HGD program. Those lessons will carry on and ramp up in intensity each year until they’ve graduated high school.

Included in the supposedly “discrete lessons” being taught to kindergarten students will be books about transgenderism. By the third grade, kids will be introduced to alternative genders and “they/them” pronouns, while in fourth grade, they’ll learn about the terms “cisgender,” “non-binary,” and “transgender.”

By the time students finish the fifth grade and have sat through lessons informing them about homosexuality and sexual orientation, they’ll be told to take a deep dive into the LGBT world in the sixth grade, something that will continue for the rest of their K-12 academic careers.

https://nationalfile.com/wisconsin-school-district-renames-women-girls-person-with-a-vulva-in-new-sex-ed-curriculum/

Texas AG Ken Paxton: Public Has the Right to View Voted Ballots Cast in Texas Elections

This is big news.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced this week that Texas citizens have the right to view voted ballots cast in Texas elections.

The ruling will allow citizens to fight election fraud in the Lone Star State.

For years AG Paxton has been fighting election fraud in the state.

Paxton’s election fraud unit made arrests related to multiple counts of election fraud in 2021. Paxton announced that over 500 election fraud cases still needed to be heard in court.

And Ken Paxton endorsed a proposed election audit in several Texas counties.

If you don’t have fair elections you don’t have a free society.

The Epoch Times reported:

Ballots cast in Texas elections are considered records that the public has a right to access, according to an opinion released by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The decision allows the public and members of the Texas Legislature to view and copy ballots cast anonymously without delay. Anonymous ballots are those with no identifiable information about the voter, or ballots with voter-identifying data redacted.

Paxton said in a statement that the opinion, issued on Aug. 17, offers a crucial new tool to fight election fraud, which he has made a cornerstone of his office.

“This opinion will help create new processes that can be used to verify [that] our elections have been conducted fairly and without any fraud,” Paxton wrote. “My office continues to lead from the front in the battle for election integrity, and we won’t back down until our elections are completely and totally secure.”

Paxton’s opinion said anonymous ballots are election records under the Election Code, and the Legislature has established procedures aimed at both preserving those records and granting public access to them.

The opinion replaces Texas Attorney General Opinion 505, established 34 years ago, making cast ballots confidential during a 22-month preservation period after an election.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/texas-ag-ken-paxton-public-right-view-voted-ballots-cast-texas-elections/

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/texas-ag-ken-paxton-public-right-view-voted-ballots-cast-texas-elections/

Uvalde school board fires Chief Pete Arredondo over police response to shooting that left 19 students, 2 teachers dead

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1562594807394217984

Far-Left and Mainstream Media Blame Trump for Vaccine as Vax Dangers Come to Light

Democrats on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a report on Wednesday alleging that the Trump administration pressured the Food and Drug Administration to authorize unproven treatments for Covid-19 and the first Covid-19 vaccines on an accelerated timeline, according to a report from Politico.

Most people, including Alex Jones, saw this coming, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

As the vaccine’s risks become more evident, they need a scapegoat, and Donald Trump fits the bill.

“The Select Subcommittee’s findings that Trump White House officials deliberately and repeatedly sought to bend FDA’s scientific work on coronavirus treatments and vaccines to the White House’s political will are yet another example of how the prior Administration prioritized politics over public health,” subcommittee chair and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said in a statement.

“These assaults on our nation’s public health institutions undermined the nation’s coronavirus response,” he added.

You may recall that President Donald Trump tweeted a tirade suggesting that the potential covid vaccine’s developers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Democrats had plotted to keep the announcement of the vaccine under wraps until after the election on November 3. The companies even delayed the review of the preliminary trial results.

“Initially, Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech suggested they might have preliminary trial results by late October—a timetable Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, projected as recently as 29 September,” Science.org reported.

“The timeline was based on a plan that called for an outside panel to take a first look at the efficacy data for the vaccine when a total of 32 cases of COVID-19 had accumulated in the vaccine and placebo groups. But the companies and FDA later agreed on a protocol change that nearly doubled that number and delayed that review,” the outlet added.

“We are at this 24/7, thousands of people working diligently to make this work. And for us, it was never about politics, it was always about just the disaster that we were in the middle of, all of us globally, seeing the devastation and the deaths,” Kathrin Jansen, who heads vaccine R&D at Pfizer, told ScienceInsider.

Pfizer released a news release and lied to the American people and to President Trump, claiming the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 at 90%, six days after the presidential election.

We all know now that the COVID-19 vaccines are not effective at preventing infection.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/go-far-left-mainstream-media-blame-trump-vaccine-vax-dangers-come-light/

Facebook blocks GOP account post opposing student loan debt cancellation

"If you take out a loan, you pay it back. Period"

Facebook has reportedly blocked a post from the House Judiciary Republicans opposing student loan debt cancellation for violating its community guidelines.

"If you take out a loan, you pay it back. Period," wrote the Republican account. The House Judiciary GOP tweeted the contents of the post along with an image of the message saying it was blocked.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a plan to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/facebook-blocks-gop-account-post-opposing-student-loan-debt-cancellation