AFGHANISTAN - Will the Taliban succeed in building a state in Afghanistan or will Afghanistan become another ungoverned territory in West Asia's arch of instability? The Taliban did not win on any battlefield because, outside a few locations such as Kandahar and Lashkargah, Afghan security forces either surrendered or ran away. Like the last time when they emerged as top dog in Afghanistan, the Taliban used a mixture of bribes, promises of safety and appeals to Pushtun tribal affinities to persuade army and police chiefs to sheath their swords. More importantly, most Afghans saw no reason to fight and possibly die for the US-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The regime's corruption, incompetence, tribalism and cowardice prevented the shaping of a will to resist.

IRAN - Iran is set to hold a series of war drills with Russia and China, as the hardline regime celebrates the United States' bungled evacuation in Afghanistan and boosts its enrichment of nuclear weapons-grade uranium to historically high levels. Iranian and Russian leaders announced on Monday that their countries, along with China, will hold joint maritime war exercises in the Persian Gulf later this year or early in 2022, according to Iran’s state-controlled media. The countries said they will focus on "shipping security and combating piracy" as the United States reduces its military footprint in the region following its marred withdrawal from Afghanistan. The announcement comes as the rogue countries step up their involvement in war-torn Afghanistan amid a hurried effort by the Biden administration to evacuate US personnel from the country. Iran, Russia, and China have all expressed an interest in replacing the United States as a powerbroker in the nation and working with the newly installed Taliban government.

USA - This is what can happen when someone says the quiet part out loud. A new study that has just been released is creating quite a bit of controversy, because it calls into question some of the most important scientific narratives that are being pushed all over the world today. No matter what the numbers say, scientists are always supposed to attribute any changes to our planet to the “horrors” of man-made global warming.

SOUTH AMERICA - The average temperature of planet Earth is cooling, not warming — and if the ‘climate sciences’ hadn’t been so utterly corrupted by the powers that be, this fact would be openly reported on, known by all, and freely discussed. A severe winter storm has delivered high winds and blizzards to the higher elevations of Argentina over the weekend. As a result, many regions have been put on “heavy snowfall” alerts, and many more roads and passes have been blocked. The cold is set to further ravage already decimated crops.

EUROPE - It’s more than just UK orchards suffering this year. As reported by thegrocer.co.uk, heavy rain and hail coupled with unseasonably low temperatures have hit harvests and yields across cereal and potato crops, too. In fact, a similar story is being reported across much of Europe. This spells bad news for feed producers in particular: “After supply chain disruptions and raw material unavailability, now weather-related challenges in Europe will most likely affect this year’s crop quantity and quality. Cold temperatures, heatwaves, tornadoes, and hailstorms are expected to adversely affect the quality and quantity of the harvest.” The torrential rains in France and Germany, for example, “have darkened Central and Western farmers’ prospects … while the quantity may be there, the quality of wheat and corn is under question.” Europe’s woes are compounding the misery witnessed across the globe this year: from South America to China, from South Africa to the US, crops are being utterly decimated by inclement weather – usually cold related– and our global stores are running dangerously low.

ISRAEL - The Israeli government has long forbidden Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims, yet Rabbi Yehudah Glick made little effort to hide his prayers. In fact, he was livestreaming them. “Oh Lord!” prayed Rabbi Glick, as he filmed himself on his phone on a recent morning. “Save my soul from false lips and deceitful tongues!” Since Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, it has maintained a fragile religious balance at the Temple Mount, the most divisive site in Jerusalem: Only Muslims can worship there, while Jews can pray at the Western Wall below. But recently the government has quietly allowed increasing numbers of Jews to pray there, a shift that could aggravate the instability in East Jerusalem and potentially lead to religious conflict.

USA - These days, it is a surprise when someone actually does something competently. It is often said that if you want something done right you have got to do it yourself, and today that is more true than ever. Just think about it. How often have you had a delivery delayed or messed up? How often have you had someone supposedly “fix” something but it isn’t actually fixed? How often have you purchased something that breaks shortly thereafter? And don’t even get me started on the complete and utter incompetence that we see in the tech industry. How hard could it possibly be to release a piece of software that is not riddled with all sorts of nightmarish bugs that need to be “patched” as soon as possible? Sadly, in our upside down society some of the most incompetent people that you can imagine end up running entire organizations, and if you are particularly corrupt and useless you may get to be a politician. Every great society throughout history has crumbled eventually, and now our society is crumbling too. I suppose that it was probably inevitable, but do we really have to look so completely and utterly incompetent in the process?

HUNGARY - Hungary's unofficial government newspaper Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation) often floats issues that Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government would like to gauge public opinion on without addressing those issues themselves. Last weekend, it happened again. On Sunday (August 15), the paper opened debate on an issue that had previously been deemed off-limits even in Hungarian government circles: Hungary's exit from the EU. "It is time to talk about Huxit" was the title of the Magyar Nemzet opinion piece. The news went off like a bomb in Hungary — with most larger media outlets reporting, opposition politicians up in arms and pundits expressing concern. It was hardly surprising, for in spite of deep political divides, social and cross-party consensus held that the country's rightful place was in the European Union. Until now, that view had been one of the very few things most Hungarians could agree on. Now, however, for the first time since Orban came to power in 2010, Hungary's exit from the EU is being openly broached by the government's most important news outlet. It is a situation without precedent.

USA - As a children’s book about a tiger having a cup of tea faces cancellation on the basis it ‘could lead to rape and harassment’, one wonders if the woke outlook for the future can get anymore ridiculous? My money is on ‘yes’. Imagine the woke paradise of the future. The Taliban in Afghanistan would certainly recognise it, they brook no deviation from their strict interpretation of Islam and will destroy you if you don’t go along with them. That’s because ‘God’ says that this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

GERMANY - The takeover of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan has not only led to the complete collapse of the puppet regime headed by President Ashraf Ghani and the Afghan army, it has also exploded the mountain of lies used to justify the longest, biggest and most expensive military mission conducted by Germany’s post-war army (Bundeswehr). For 20 years, the government, the opposition and the country’s servile media have led the German public to believe that the Bundeswehr was in Afghanistan to drill wells, enable girls to go to school and encourage nation building. None of this was true. The Afghan war was a dirty colonial war from the very start, with all that entails: massacres, torture, crime and corruption.

AFGHANISTAN - Taliban Seized 75,000 Vehicles, 600,000 Weapons and 200 Aircraft in Afghanistan Leftover by Biden Admin – UPDATED. A report from Fox News on Saturday highlighted the scope of the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan as the network claims the Taliban now control 75,000 vehicles, 200 aircraft, 600,000 weapons, and $85 billion in funding. The Taliban just gained a massive new war chest, complete with US-made Humvees, planes, helicopters, night-vision goggles and drones... [plus 11 Former US Bases]

USA - We know it can be confusing to figure out how to respond to the ever-changing mask and vaccine mandates in Texas. We’re here to help. Texas Values has put together a document to help make it easier to know your rights. Many people have contacted Texas Values because they want to understand what their rights are in Texas regarding the mask and the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The short answer is, both Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have recently issued documents that confirm Texans’ right not to wear a mask or be forced to get a COVID-19 shot in Texas. Further, on August 15, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of upholding Governor Abbott’s order prohibiting mask mandates. Your city or town may try to make their own rules, but please keep in mind that local orders don’t and can’t overrule state executive orders. State executive orders have the “force and effect of law” and therefore they supersede inconsistent rules and regulations at the local level.

USA - The National Abortion Federation has told doctors in Texas it will stop referring patients and sending money to clinics that offer abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. In North Texas, the Texas Equal Action Fund will likely “pause” its ride-share program that helps women reach abortion appointments. Dr Bhavik Kumar, an abortion provider for Planned Parenthood, has cleared his schedule to fit in as many patients as he can before the end of the month.

USA - The Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval to Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine – becoming the first in the US to win the coveted designation and giving even more businesses, schools and universities greater confidence to adopt vaccine mandates.

USA - Bands of heavy rain overwhelmed storm drains and cars, flooding roads and homes in central New Jersey as Tropical Storm Henri lashed the region on Sunday. Middlesex County was especially hard hit. According to the National Weather Service, as much as 4-8 inches of rain fell across much of the center of the state by the afternoon, with small pockets receiving 7-10 inches. Multiple posts on social media showed examples of severe, sudden flash flooding caused by the storm. On Sunday afternoon, FOX 5 NY Weather showed that radar estimated rainfall in Jamesburg, New Jersey was 9.7" with more rain falling.