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"Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues. Everyone knew he couldn't handle the pressure. Even Obama's Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said as much. He ran out of Afghanistan instead of following the plan our Administration left for him — a plan that protected our people and our property, and ensured the Taliban would never dream of taking our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks against America. The withdrawal would be guided by facts on the ground.
"After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America's power. What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America's Embassy in Kabul. This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence."
In a leaked audio tape of a private meeting between Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Border Patrol agents in Texas, the cabinet member can be heard saying that current conditions at the U.S. southern border are "unsustainable," and America is "going to lose."See also:
Mayorkas was at the border on Thursday when he announced that agents had encountered more than 212,000 illegal migrants entering the country in July, a 13% increase from June. He publicly acknowledged that the ongoing crisis is "one of the toughest challenges we face."
Privately, but recorded on tape, he told agents:"our people in the field can't continue, and our system isn't built for it. A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said look, you know, if, if our borders are the first line of defense, we're going to lose and this is unsustainable."One agent in the meeting reportedly responded to Mayorkas by telling him that mitigating the current flood of illegal immigrant crossings is a matter of policy. "We know exactly how to shut it down," he said. "We need to make illegal entry illegal."
The Department of Homeland Security is advocating for an increased number of expulsion flights into the deep interior of Mexico, such that illegal migrants can't "turn around and give it another try," said Mayorkas, adding that 27% of those apprehended last month had tried at least one time in the last 12 months to enter the U.S.
"The 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well [as] religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. Leading up to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released its first English-language copy of Inspire magazine in over four years, which demonstrates that foreign terrorist organizations continue efforts to inspire U.S.-based individuals susceptible to violent extremist influences."The bulletin noted several areas that could spur violence from domestic extremists, with racially motivated and anti-government extremists possibly spurred to action by the pandemic.
"These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks. The reopening of institutions, including schools, as well as several dates of religious significance over the next few months, could also provide increased targets of opportunity for violence though there are currently no credible or imminent threats identified to these locations."The DHS warning also noted disinformation campaigns underway by several U.S. adversaries.
"Russian, Chinese and Iranian government-linked media outlets have repeatedly amplified conspiracy theories concerning the origins of COVID-19 and effectiveness of vaccines; in some cases, amplifying calls for violence targeting persons of Asian descent."
"Florida's recent actions to block school districts from voluntarily adopting science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 that are aligned with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts students and staff at risk."
"We just finished the meeting. Tomorrow, there will be a special cabinet meeting. After that, he will head to Istana Negara [National Palace] to submit his resignation."Muhyiddin, 74, announced the decision to lawmakers during a meeting in his Perikatan Nasional alliance's headquarters on Sunday, Redzuan said. The minister, a member of Muhyiddin's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, made similar comments to The Malaysian Insight. He did not immediately respond to This Week in Asia's queries. Other Muhyiddin allies who attended Sunday's meeting declined to confirm or deny Redzuan's comments when contacted.



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