NATO is expected to boost its presence in the region, but not as much as the Baltic states want.

Lithuania’s president wants his country to hike military spending to 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to enable it to host more NATO troops as the Baltic nations are hoping for a significant increase in the alliance’s presence in the region. An increase in NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states is expected to be announced at a summit in Madrid next week. But the alliance is divided over how big a military buildup it will be. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Reuters this week that he hopes Lithuania can host a brigade by 2027. “Infrastructure-wise, we are not ready to deploy a brigade-sized unit in Lithuania because there is no accommodation infrastructure here. I hope that by 2027 we will be ready,” he said.

Video: NATO battle groups ready to “defeat aggressor” in Baltic region (Anti-Bellum)

Health Minister admits that the law "isn't convincing anyone to accept vaccination," and has been responsible for deep social rifts.

eugyppius | Yesterday, Green Party health minister Johannes Rauch announced in a press conference that the Austrian vaccine mandate will be retired after 31 August. His announcement follows the decision in March to suspend the promised fines – as high as 3,600 Euros – for the unvaccinated, which were said to be “disproportionate” given the mildness of Omicron.

👉 I often hear that opposition to pandemic policies is hopeless and that we are condemned to accept nothing but loss after loss. That’s not true. This is a massive victory to Austrian opponents of mass vaccination, and it represents a serious defeat for the pandemicists, who can now only speak of their defunct mandate in apologetic tones and with vaguely embarrassed excuses. General vaccine mandates are dead all over Europe, and Omicron is only the indirect cause. The vaccinators were already at the limits of their strength even at the height of the Delta wave; improving disease statistics merely drained off enough of the ambient hysteria to make their battle wholly unwinnable. They’ll never acknowledge any weakness, they’ll deny us the appearance of every victory. And yet, despite everything they do to present an invulnerable facade, they’re not all-powerful. We haven’t won victories everywhere, but what we have done, is increase the cost of their policies, make them look ridiculous, and develop a more compelling discourse about the pandemic, than the pandemicist experts themselves have ever been able to manage.

Impfpflicht-Aus wird noch heute verkündet (Kronenzeitung)
Haftungshammer: Gesundheitsminister bestätigt – Ärzte bei Impfschäden verantwortlich (Wochenblick)

Eleanor McGee: 💬 "When Covid commenced particularly around March 2020, I was incredibly concerned in general like the rest of the population. I was one of the first to think about closing our borders and stop international travel. We allowed, Cheltenham etc to go ahead. Slowly but surely, the news was consuming so many peoples lives. The first lockdown came and went. I didn’t see any benefit to it. It was causing so much social isolation. Our elderly and our children were especially affected. Schools were closing, children working via pc at home, missing their friends, grandparents missing their families etc. The announcement of a vaccine being worked on sent shivers down my spine. How on earth could they develop a vaccine so quickly? [...] I am no longer fearful of Covid. I have worked through it all. I am now more afraid of where we are going. The WHO wants to create a Global Pandemic Treaty. The proposed treaty is set to be a legally binding tool which will coordinate countries’ response to future pandemics across the globe. This week Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said Ireland would be signing up to the agreement, as reported by Gript."

Assadullah Haroon Gul was returned to his home country of Afghanistan after the US complied with a court order that ruled his detention unlawful.

An Afghan prisoner who was held in US custody for nearly 15 years without charge was released from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre on Friday and returned to his home country of Afghanistan. Assadullah Haroon Gul, held at Guantanamo under the name Haroon al-Afghani, departed the prison and flew on a US Air Force plane to Qatar, which for years has served as an interlocutor between the Taliban and the US. Qatari officials then handed him over to Taliban government representatives in Doha, a senior US official told The New York Times. Soon after this, Afghan government media released photos of Gul meeting with Taliban officials in Qatar.

The pro-choice Washington, D.C. protesters could be heard cheering as the American flag was burned

Pro-choice protesters in Washington, D.C. burned the American flag on Friday night following the Supreme Court decision which reversed Roe v. Wade. Protesters burned the American flag near the intersection of D St. NW and 7th St SW in Washington, D.C. on Friday night. One sign that was next to the burning flag read "F--k MPD" and another reads "F--k you Thomas, Alito, Coney Barrett, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Roberts." Protesters could be heard cheering as the American flag was burned on the Washington, D.C. street.

City of Washington, DC Deploys . . . PALLETS OF BRICKS in front of Republican National Committee HQ, just Blocks from Supreme Court Bldg. (Hal Turner)

The White House is refusing to share details about its coordinated efforts to engage in a federal takeover of election administration.

President Biden [sic] really does not want the public to know about his federal takeover of election administration. Dozens of members of Congress have repeatedly asked for details, to no avail. Good government groups, members of the media, and private citizens have filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Not a single one has been responded to. All signs indicate a concerted effort to keep the public in the dark until at least after the November midterm elections. The lack of transparency and responsiveness is so bad that the Department of Justice and some of its agencies have been repeatedly sued for the information. When President Biden ordered all 600 federal agencies to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process” on March 7, 2021, Republican politicians, Constitutional scholars, and election integrity specialists began to worry exactly what was up his sleeve.

This 45-minute film, directed by Dylan Avery and narrated by beloved actor Ed Asner, tells the story of World Trade Center Building 7 — from its jaw-dropping “collapse” on 9/11 to the government’s blatant cover-up to the intrepid study by Dr. Leroy Hulsey and his Ph.D. students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Please consider purchasing a copy of this film.