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Rep. Banks demanded the release of Tim Walz’s service record

“The American people deserve transparency,” Rep. Jim Banks said in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, demanding that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s military records be released.

Rep. Banks sent a letter to Secretary Austin on Thursday, as Governor Walz comes under intense scrutiny due to claims about his military service in the National Guard.

“The American people deserve transparency into the military records of service-members who serve in public office and especially when they represent such service as credentials for public office,” wrote Rep. Banks.

“Misrepresentation and deceit intended to mislead the public about their service erode the integrity of our military and impact all Americans who choose to serve.”

Banks also asked Secretary Austin whether “falsely claiming to have carried a combat weapon in war constitutes stolen valor.” Walz claimed at a campaign event to have carried weapons “in war,” despite never having served in a combat theater.

Walz made misleading claims about his military rank, which were picked up on by Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, himself a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, and other veterans. Walz claimed to be a “retired command sergeant,” when in fact he was only a master sergeant when he retired in 2005 to run for Congress.

Walz has claimed to be a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, the US mission in Afghanistan, despite never setting foot in Afghanistan. The closest he came was a support role in Italy. As reported by The Post Millennial, Walz’s staff were confronted by an Iraq War veteran in 2009 over claims Walz had served in Afghanistan.

“Operation Enduring Freedom is limited to Afghanistan and the airspace directly above,” the veteran told an aide in Walz’s office. “Congressman Walz is clearly claiming… to be an Enduring Freedom veteran.”

Supporters of Walz, including former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, are now trying to obfuscate Walz’s claims. In a CNN interview on Friday night, in which he gave his endorsement to Kamala Harris, Ventura said he thought the attacks on Walz as a veteran were “shameful,” especially the claim that Walz may have retired from the National Guard to ensure he didn’t have to go on an actual battlefield deployment, in Iraq.

“I think it’s shameful that a veteran would attack another veteran. Governors Walz served honorably for 24 years in the National Guard. After 20 years you are eligible to retire at any time you deem necessary.”

Ventura went on to say that the main issue with Walz missing deployment to Iraq was that the war itself was illegal, and the National Guard should not have been sent there in the first place.

Initial reports claim drone sent by Iran-backed militants

American troops occupying northeast Syria have come under overnight attack by a drone, which some reports say was sent by ‘pro-Iran’ militants.

US officials did not indicate that there were any initial casualties, in what is the second such attack on a US base in less than a week. “Initial reports do not indicate any injuries, however medical evaluations are ongoing. We are currently conducting a damage assessment,” a defense official told Reuters.

But it’s not just Iran-linked militants who have upped the pressure on the US occupation of late – Arab tribes have been attacking US-backed Kurdish positions in the oil and gas rich eastern region as well.

The whole region is still on edge awaiting a likely Iranian attack on Israel, which would likely see stepped-up activity from Hezbollah and from militias in Syria and possibly even Iraq.

With the Middle East on the brink of a possible major war between Iran and Israel, also involving Lebanese Hezbollah, the White House and its regional partners are desperately trying to salvage ceasefire talks.

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt are calling on Israel and Hamas to step back to the negotiating table. They say it is urgent “to resume urgent discussion” on August 15 in Doha or Cairo “to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay.” Gaps?

While the statement speaks of “remaining gaps” – a fresh Axios report cites a diplomatic source strongly suggests the situation is a far cry from mere closing gaps…

A source familiar with the negotiations said the planned summit is a “Hail Mary” attempt by the Biden administration to get a deal and prevent a regional war.

The White House also needs to present to the American public that it has helped secure a ceasefire, which would be a boost to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her supposed foreign policy credentials going into the November election.

The statement from the US, Qatar, and Egypt continued: “It is the time to conclude a ceasefire agreement and release hostages and prisoners,” they said.

“We have worked for months to reach framework agreement and it is now on the table, with only details of implementation missing.”

But this is the same language that negotiators have presented to the public for several months at this point. They are always and ever “near the goal line,” we are told. Yet Israeli and Hamas officials themselves constantly suggest the opposite. There also doesn’t seem to be much US pressure on Israel, or serious efforts to reign in its adventurism in places like Iran.

Additionally, Washington policy itself is schizophrenic: President Biden has criticized Israel at times, lamenting the mass civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, while at the same time he continues to arm Israel’s military to the teeth.

Consider too the rosy picture of negotiations painted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month at the Aspen Security Forum: “I believe we’re inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line in getting an agreement that would produce a cease-fire, get the hostages home and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability,” Blinken said July 19.

Perhaps it’s past time for Blinken and US officials to retire the football metaphors when it comes to Hamas negotiations? 

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Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election

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One case of shoddy welding set production back seven months, the agency’s inspector general found

NASA’s inspector general has issued a damning report on Boeing’s rocket division, stating that the aerospace giant’s next-generation spacecraft is years behind schedule, significantly over budget, and built by “inexperienced technicians” led by ineffective managers.

In development since 2014, the Block 1B variant of NASA’s Space Launch System was originally scheduled to lift off as part of the agency’s Artemis II lunar flyby mission next year. The rocket’s debut has since been pushed back to the 2028 Artemis IV moon landing mission, which NASA’s Office of Inspector General warned on Thursday could be delayed even further.

Boeing, which was contracted in 2014 to build the rocket’s powerful upper section, is partly to blame for this delay, the inspector general declared in a report.

NASA inspectors visiting Boeing’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana found glaring “deficiencies in quality,” the report stated. Inspectors issued 71 Corrective Action Requests to remedy these deficiencies, which they noted was “a high number…for a space flight system at this stage in development.” 

These deficiencies “are largely due to the lack of a sufficient number of trained and experienced aerospace workers at Boeing,” the report continued, citing one example of how the company’s “inexperienced technicians” were unable to weld a fuel tank in accordance with NASA standards. This shoddy welding directly led to a seven-month delay in the development of the rocket’s upper stage.

“Boeing’s process to address deficiencies to date has been ineffective, and the company has generally been nonresponsive in taking corrective actions when the same quality control issues reoccur,” the report declared.

Boeing initially promised to deliver the upper stage by February 2021, and now insists that it will be ready by April 2027. Costs have soared in the meantime, with NASA estimating that the stage will set it back $2.8 billion by 2028, more than double Boeing’s 2017 estimate of $962 million.

The inspector general’s office recommended that Boeing be fined for its “noncompliance with quality control standards.” However, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Catherine Koerner, announced on Thursday that the company would not be penalized.

With its aviation division already reeling after a door panel blew off one of its 737 MAX 9 planes in mid-air in January, Boeing was thrust into the headlines again in June when its Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned, leaving two astronauts marooned on the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts were originally meant to stay on the ISS for a week, but NASA announced on Wednesday that they could be stranded in space until 2025, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is scheduled to drop off a fresh crew of astronauts.

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Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election

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Putin will see this as the US much more directly entering the war, and has previously set firm red lines on such a scenario

The Pentagon on Thursday was asked by a reporter during the daily briefing whether Ukraine forces’ use of American weapons in its ongoing Kursk incursion is “consistent” with US policy of what Ukraine can and cannot do with US weapons.

It has become clear that Ukrainian troops are currently using American weapons to attack Russian territory, troops, civilians, and infrastructure.

Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh answered without hesitation that “yes it is consistent with our policy” and explained that Washington has supported the need for “crossfire” from Ukraine back across the border onto Russian positions from which it is being attacked, even if that is on Russian territory. She framed what is happening in Russia’s Kursk oblast—an offensive which has entered day four—as ‘defensive’ in nature.

Singh still tried to point out that it remains US policy for Ukraine to avoid striking deep into Russian territory using American arms; however, when pressed about the scenario of a direct attack on Moscow, she simply said: “I’m not going to put a specific range on it” and thus refused to rule it out.

But she did caveat that “we still don’t support long-range attacks into Russia.”

Singh additionally explained, “I’m not gonna draw a circular map for you here of where they can and cannot strike.” The Kremlin is likely to remain unconvinced when hearing this clear escalation in rhetoric from the Pentagon where attacking the Russian capital is discussed, even if theoretically.

Watch the full exchange related to the Kursk offensive below:

Needless to say we have entered incredibly dangerous times in this major proxy war when the Pentagon’s daily press briefing is openly talking about strikes on Moscow.

The Ukrainian cross-border offensive, which may have involved up to 1,000 men, began early Tuesday morning and was led by fast moving armored vehicles, which were able to penetrate up to 10km into Ukraine. Moscow says that it has observed US-supplied equipment being utilized in the attack on Russian soil.

A prior Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) statement said, “Video monitoring data shows that Lancet loitering munitions destroyed a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, a Kazak armored vehicle, a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and an infantry fighting vehicle in their firing positions.” Newsweek also confirmed based on video evidence.

The MoD further said that dozens of armored vehicles breached the border and were operating inside Russia amid a major response to push out the invaders which has included airpower.

As of Friday, the fighting in Kursk is in its fourth day, which is unprecedented for a Ukrainian military incursion inside Russia. Ukraine has simultaneously stepped up its cross-border drone attacks, reportedly hitting an important military airfield in the Lepetsk region, impacting a facility where glide-bombs are stored. According to the latest:

• Ukrainian drones struck a key military airfield in Russia’s Lipetsk region, as Kyiv continues its largest offensive on Russian soil since the start of the war.
• Ukrainian forces targeted the airfield in Lipetsk — roughly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the border with Ukraine — on Thursday night, hitting warehouses and a number of unspecified objects in the vicinity of the airport, Ukraine’s General Staff of Command said in a Google-translated Telegram post.
• Earlier in the week, the Ukrainian offensive led to the evacuation of thousands of people and a state of emergency being announced in Kursk.

The timing of this high-risk assault is interesting, happening at a time where Ukraine has been on a slow and steady retreat in the Donbass. Ukraine needed something ‘big’ to both distract Russia’s military command from front line operations and as a blow to Moscow’s morale. 

And now Kiev is pressing the Biden White House to let it use ATACMS long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russia.

“This will give them the leverage they need for negotiations with Russia — this is what it’s all about,” Mikhail Podoliak, a senior advisor to President Zelensky, told The Washington Post.

On Thursday, Zelensky himself had said Russia needs to “feel” the consequences of its invasion and war. “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done,” he said.

It is now looking like Ukraine will actually seek to maintain hold over parts of Kursk Oblast, and its officials have dubiously claimed to have captured approximately 100 square kilometers of territory. Ukraine also says it has taken hundreds of Russian soldiers as prisoners.

According to The Washington post as well as Ukrainian media sources:

The Ukrainian leadership has approached the US for permission to use ATACMS to target Russian territory after the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) conducted an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. This could allow Kyiv to hold the territory they have pushed into, according to The Washington Post, citing an anonymous advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The long-range missiles are planned to be used to strike Russian military airfields from which Russian aircraft conduct bombing raids on Ukrainian positions. According to the source, such a political decision would help the AFU maintain control over parts of the Kursk Oblast.

Based on the above-mentioned words of the Pentagon press secretary where she noticeably did not verbalize limits on striking Moscow, this potential greenlight from Washington to use ATACMS on Russian territory is looking more likely by the day.

President Putin will see this as the US much more directly entering the war, and has previously set firm red lines on such a scenario.

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Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election

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A prominent Australian journalist, who publicly declared that she loathed anti-vaxxers, has died after a short battle with turbo cancer. Jane Hansen used to report for A Current Affair. She developed turbo cancer a year and […]

The post Pro-Vaccine Journalist, Who ‘Loathed’ Anti-Vaxxers, Dies of Turbo Cancer appeared first on The People’s Voice.

Responding to the police crackdown on free speech in the UK, Joe Rogan pointed out that more people in the UK now get arrested for “thought crimes” on social media than they do in Russia. […]

The post Joe Rogan: UK Now More Totalitarian Than Russia appeared first on The People’s Voice.