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US states are suing the social media giant to force an overhaul of its platforms for young users.

If Other Countries Give Fewer Shots, Why Can't We Ask Why?

Authored by Jack Hellner via AmericanThinker.com,

By age 18, a child in the United States can receive roughly 30 to 75 total vaccine doses if they follow standard schedules and get annual flu shots. Fewer shots are needed because vaccines are combined.

By comparison, in Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (via the Standing Committee on Vaccination, STIKO) recommends routine protection against about 12 to 15 infectious diseases for children. Because Germany relies heavily on multi-component combination shots (like the 6-in-1 hexavalent vaccine), children receive roughly 11 to 14 actual physical injections.

Elsewhere in Europe, in England, children receive around 20 to 25 individual vaccine doses from birth to age 14, delivered via roughly 14 to 16 actual needle injections.

Similarly, under Japan’s routine immunization program, children receive around 20 to 22 individual injection shots.

And in Spain, children receive around 15 to 18 individual injection shots from birth through adolescence under the official public health system.

These comparisons raise some obvious questions.

Doesn’t it look like children in the United States get more shots today, and there would be a valid reason to recommend fewer?

Do children in countries with fewer shots have worse health results?

Do other countries ignore science when they have fewer shots?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the media were curious instead of just repeating talking points to trash President Donald Trump?

And vaccines aren’t the only area of health care where such questions should be asked.

Obamacare is one of the worst and most costly bills ever passed, yet the media and other Democrats still falsely claim that it makes health care more affordable.

If Democrats just wanted to cover the poor and those at high risk, they would have just expanded Medicaid and high-risk pools instead of destroying the whole system.

They never wanted affordable care. They wanted government-controlled care.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 05:00

The fix is in: The Democratic establishment thinks it’s hit upon a strategy both for keeping control of the party out of the DSA's hands and wresting the South away from Republicans. 

A 30-year-old woman was fatally stabbed in a Brooklyn park early Tuesday morning.

'Do What Israel Tells You!' - Graffiti On USAF Jet Suggests Troops Think War Isn't For America

It only took two weeks of fighting for a majority of polled Americans to conclude that the war on Iran benefits Israel more than the United States. If comments from a prominent, former Navy SEAL and graffiti written in the dust of a US Air Force jet in the Middle East are any indication, many American service members are convinced their participation in the war only serves the agenda of the State of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  

On Sunday, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft executive VP Trita Parsi posted a photo that he said was sent to him "from the field" showing temporary graffiti one or more service members had written in the dust of a military aircraft: 

"Do what Israel tells you to!" Graffiti scrawled on a US military aircraft flap points to disbelief in the supposed rationale for a US war on Iran (via Trita Parsi)

Some messages on what looks like a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker satirically embrace the idea that American service members should be enthusiastic about serving Israel: 

• "Be a good goy and do what Israel tells you to!!!" 
• "I LOVE ISRAEL. I AM A GOOD GOYIM." 
• "BiBi's Cucks" 

Some clarifications are in order. "Bibi" is a nickname used by Netanyahu, and "cuck" refers to weak men who submit to other men's domination. "Goy" and "goyim" are, respectively, singular and plural Hebrew nouns used to refer to non-Jews. Those two words aren't inherently derogatory toward non-Jews. However, like other labels for people, they can be used derisively or as an "outsider label" depending on the context. For example, in an email conversation with AI scientist Roger Schank, convicted sex-criminal Jeffrey Epstein wrote, "This is the way the jew [sic] make money… let the goyim deal in the real world.”

Epstein made an appearance on the dusty wing flap too. Reflecting a widespread but not-yet-proven theory that Israel coerced Trump into starting a war on Iran by threatening to release damning information obtained by Epstein, one of the messages repeats a common play on words that turns US "Operation Epic Fury" into "Operation Epstein Fury." 

Another message mocks the Trump administration's recurring claims that a deal to end the five-month-old war and open the Strait of Hormuz is imminent: "Peace Deal #64 Incoming... ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND." Another mocks the surveillance state that's rising at home while service members who are sworn to defend the Constitution are sent overseas for an unconstitutional war launched on false premises: "I love Flock Cameras."  

As this is written, mainstream media isn't touching the story with a ten-foot-pole, despite the sound reputation of Parsi, who has vouched for its authenticity. The media silence about the messages has thus far relieved the Pentagon from having to issue a statement about them. If it does, we can expect the DOD to claim the graffiti is unrepresentative of how most US service members feel.

Parsi says a service member told him that journalists have no idea how low morale is. "What people in the media don't understand when they compare past conflicts to this one, is this operation has no morale behind it," the military man told Parsi. "That makes a world of difference to service members deployed to undesirable locations indefinitely."

In an interview with Tucker Carlson last month, podcaster and former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan gave some blunt insights into similar feelings among special operators still on active duty:

"I just had some buddies leave and everybody knows what this is. Everybody knows they're fighting for Israel. It's a joke. This is not me saying this, this is them. This is the guys that are gonna go over there in Tier 1, Tier 2 units that are joking around, saying 'this isn't even for us.'

Throughout history, that's not a winning strategy. If they don't believe in what they're potentially going to do...and they know it's not for the United States, it's for a foreign country --- like, the fight's out of the dog, buddy...They know it's not for us. They're not defending our country."

Ryan said he'd just hosted a pre-deployment party for an operator, who was fixated on the grim reality of what service in the war on Iran is really about. "That's all he was talking about. And it's fucking sad...like, why don't you just get out, man?" 

Shawn Ryan just said the quiet part out loud on Tucker:
“Everybody knows they’re fighting for Israel. It’s a joke.”

Active Tier 1 and Tier 2 guys are openly joking: “Yeah… this isn’t even for us.”

“They know it’s not for the United States. It’s for a foreign country.”

“They… pic.twitter.com/sJN20gUJ0b

— Defiant Ghost (@TheDefiantGhost) July 24, 2026

Thanks to reporting on the extent to which the Israeli government went to sell Trump on breaking his campaign promise to be a "peace president," it's been increasingly common to hear the war being characterized as a "war for Israel." Having convinced America to attack its chief regional rival -- in a war that has killed at least 18 service members and wounded more than 600 others -- Israel is now abstaining from direct participation.

As far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said last month, “The State of Israel has no interest in joining the contained confrontation between Iran and the United States. The current situation is the best one for us.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 04:15

Two passenger planes experienced tire blowouts within three hours after landing at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. An American Airlines plane, which had taken off from LaGuardia, suffered tire damage when it landed just after 2 p.m. local time Monday before a United aircraft experienced the same issue later that day. Fire trucks surrounded the American aircraft,...

Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2019 killing of his landlord.

The actress and Klitschko, who were together from 2009 to 2018, share 11-year-old daughter, Kaya.

Meta Flags Migration Searches... Then Offers UN Asylum Help

Via Remix News,

Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have begun displaying targeted warning messages to users searching for news or information related to mass immigration, including terms such as “Ceuta.”

The prompts caution users to “be careful when searching for migration info” and include a prominent link or button offering “help with moving to a new country.”

🌍🔴BREAKING: Facebook is now displaying a message warning users to be "careful when searching for migration info" when they search for news related to mass immigration, including keywords like "Ceuta."

If users click on the new link, they will be directed to a page that offers… pic.twitter.com/EherEJiMJX

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 17, 2026

Clicking through takes users to a Meta Help Center page titled “Help is available if you want to move to a new country.” That page, created in consultation with experts from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), provides tips and guidance to help migrants enter Europe and other states.

The site encourages regular migration, compliant with the laws of origin, transit, and destination countries, compared to illegal migration, which it describes as dangerous and likely to expose people to violence, exploitation, and abuse.

The resource further directs users to the UNHCR website for information on asylum procedures, resettlement options for recognized refugees, and family reunification. These programs are fueling mass immigration into Europe and North America, often through legal channels, which offer a significantly larger demographic threat than illegal channels.

It also references IOM services and, in related materials and app descriptions circulating with the prompts, points toward the IOM’s MigApp. That mobile application is officially branded by the UN migration agency as a tool for “empowering migrants,” offering information on visas, health regulations, risks, money transfers, document storage, and access to IOM programs.

The feature appears to have rolled out recently and has drawn attention amid a surge of irregular migrant crossings into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. In late July 2026, tens of thousands of people attempted to enter Ceuta by swimming or scaling border fences, with reports of dozens of deaths.

Investigations showed that many of the attempts were coordinated through large public Facebook groups that shared maps, distances, equipment recommendations, and calls for additional crossings. Meta removed multiple groups after media reports, stating it monitors the situation in real time and removes content that facilitates human smuggling.

Critics argue that Meta’s messaging goes beyond safety warnings and actively steers users, potentially including those researching or considering irregular routes, toward UN institutions that support asylum claims and migrant empowerment. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin highlighted screenshots of the Instagram interstitial, noting that the “get migration info” pathway leads directly to UN resources for asylum seekers and the empowering-migrants app.

Dan Lyman wrote on X that “journalists in Europe have noticed this ‘guide’ when conducting searches on Instagram for ‘Ceuta.'”

Lyman further notes that a reporter told him, “It’s a guidebook to migration when people are searching for illegal immigration.”

Journalists in Europe have noticed this “guide” when conducting searches on Instagram for “Ceuta.”

“It’s a guidebook to migration when people are searching illegal immigration,” a reporter told me.

This is brand new.

A prompt pops-up with a query followed by a detailed… https://t.co/RXPd4RqQWb pic.twitter.com/GMsChgnZkh

— Wid Lyman (@Wid_Lyman) August 16, 2026

The EU knows that images like Ceuta are a boon to right-wing parties. For those seeking to come to Europe, there are many doors open. This new prompt from Meta may serve as a guidebook for mass immigration through the legal channels the EU desires.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 03:30

The television personality posted poolside snaps with son Sidney on Instagram amid reports of her split from Sid Wilson.

The television personality posted poolside snaps with son Sidney on Instagram amid reports of her split from Sid Wilson.

"Generates A Number Of Risks": UBS Warns German NatGas Storage Levels Alarmingly Below Seasonal Norms

Following up on our "Winter Is Coming: Europe Faces Twin Diesel And NatGas Crunch" note earlier this month, which focused on Europe as a whole, UBS analysts focused on Germany's natural gas inventories Monday morning and warned that levels are alarmingly low for this time of year, raising the risk of elevated prices and a renewed supply crunch if the Northern Hemisphere experiences a severe winter.

Simon Penn, a London-based UBS macro strategist, wrote earlier today that Germany's NatGas storage is just 48% full, compared with 65% a year ago and 75% during the 2022 energy crisis. 

We would go a step further: inventories are now at their lowest level for this time of year in 17 years.

Penn added more color:

Economist Felix Huefner sees Germany hitting 65% in November, compared to the government target of 80% and the EU's target of 90%. This generates a number of risks. 

A surge in demand and hence gas prices if Germany attempts to achieve its targets; increased pressure on Germany's fiscal position if the government needs to use Trading Hub Europe (THE) to replenish stocks; pressures elsewhere in Europe as German demand crowds out other national buyers; Germany's regasification facilities are limited which means even if it can find LNG supply, it can't necessarily convert that to stored gas. Hence, a gas shortage could ensue late winter anyway. 

The ECB estimates that a 10% increase in wholesale gas prices adds 0.6pp to Eurozone headline inflation. In addition, all that is likely to place downward pressure on German GDP, which is already threatened by the consequences of a near-dry Rhine river. There is now a mere 10cm of navigable depth at the Kaub pinch point - in February it was 400cm and a year ago 200cm. Cargo barges are down to 10-20% of capacity to stay afloat.

Circling back to our Aug. 7 "Winter Is Coming" note, we warned that it is not just a global diesel crunch keeping Goldman's Samantha Dart up at night. NatGas is another mounting concern.

Continued disruption through the Strait of Hormuz, compounded by historically low Rhine River levels, is slowing Europe's effort to rebuild NatGas stockpiles. That risk is now materializing in the inventory data.

Here is where Europe stands in terms of NatGas storage:

At this point, Europeans had better hope that a strong El Niño would produce relatively mild weather. Otherwise, the continent could face a cold and extremely expensive winter.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 02:45

Dear Abby advises a woman who feels trapped in a relationship with her fiancé because she fears leaving would devastate his daughters.

"The moral of the story…if you can't hold your liquor, then you definitely shouldn't be out in public causing a scene like this and injuring random people including a child!!"

“Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle wrote on X. 

Europe's Looming Existential Crisis

Authored by Kenneth Timmerman via American Greatness,

Americans pay little attention to Europe, other than to sneer at the Euro-elites and bemoan the fecklessness of European leaders.

I am guilty of both sins. Mea culpa.

But I am also aware of the coming existential crisis facing Europe as a whole and the European Union quite specifically.

It comes in several flavors, and all of them are bitter.

First is the shock and embarrassment posed by the influx of 72,000 North African Muslim wannabe migrants into Ceuta, one of two tiny Spanish enclaves in Morocco, just miles away from the Spanish mainland near Gibraltar.

The inability—or unwillingness—of the Spanish authorities to repulse them has provoked a Europe-wide reaction, prompting Italy’s center-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, to impose passport controls on visitors from Spain for the first time since the Schengen accords of 1995 created a “borderless” European space.

Spain retaliated last week, imposing controls of its own on visitors from Italy.

This week Meloni teamed up with her center-left Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, to jointly condemn uncontrolled migration.

“We are both proud of Europe’s Christian cultural heritage and want to protect it,” they said on Monday. “We expect those who come to our countries and choose to make Europe their home to respect our values and not seek to impose ways of life on us that we do not share.”

Meloni drafted a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemning lax EU immigration policies, which was joined by Frederiksen and 21 EU leaders.

Immigration has been a long-simmering issue since German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the floodgates to hundreds of thousands of Syrian “refugees” in 2015. The Ceuta stampede is just the latest chapter.

Fabrice Leggeri, a Frenchman who was executive director of the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency from 2015 to 2022, fought tooth and nail to standardize EU immigration procedures and to transform his bureaucratic backwater into a real law enforcement agency.

He was stymied by the European Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson of Sweden. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You don’t need guns and uniforms because migrants come in search of love. Europe is an aging continent, so whether you like it or not, it is your job to welcome migrants.”

Next comes EU enlargement.

Standing at the gates to join the EU’s 27 member states are tiny Montenegro and Albania. Then comes Iceland, should its citizens approve a resumption of EU membership talks in an upcoming referendum.

While only Albania, which is predominantly Muslim, is controversial, their accession could open the door to membership talks with Ukraine and Serbia.

Ukraine would require a peace deal with Russia, which would be less likely should Ukraine be rewarded with EU membership. Serbia, a Russian ally and gateway to the Russian economy, poses its own problems.

And finally, there is the whole question of democracy and freedom.

EU citizens rail incessantly over the often ridiculous regulations enacted by the unelected bureaucrats of the European Commission that affect their daily lives.

Many of these are motivated by Europe’s powerful “Green” parties and lobbyists. Others stem from the left-wing, anti-capitalist, anti-farmer bias of the Eurocrats.

One case in point: the reintroduction of wolves onto agricultural lands where the predators had been eradicated generations ago. Today, the wolf packs are protected as endangered species even as they devastate sheep herds from Sweden to southern Italy.

I know farmers who brave the authorities and secretly hunt down wolves endangering their livelihoods. They operate as a veritable underground resistance movement, communicating using coded texts, always watchful of the police.

It’s a running joke that a young Swedish girl could get gang-raped by Syrian immigrants, and the police wouldn’t lift a finger. But if a farmer got caught killing a wolf, they would exhaust every investigative and prosecutorial resource to put him away for years.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is certainly aware of the dissenters among the European Parliament, mainly from the populist or center-right parties.

But instead of accommodating them, she is attempting to reinforce the powers of the unelected Commission by doing away with the existing rule of unanimity when it comes to foreign policy decisions.

For years, Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán vetoed European Commission policies that invariably criticized Israel, supported the Palestinians, or criticized the United States.

His election loss only emboldened Ms. von der Leyen, who frequently clashed with Orbán personally and in public.

Now she wants to allow a simple majority of member states to approve foreign policy dictates, a shift that would essentially create the “tyranny of the majority” America’s founders warned about 250 years ago.

Former Belgian Prime Minister and European Council President Charles Michel is scathing in his criticism of von der Leyen. “Today, the Commission is trying to take control. That’s not in line with the [EU] treaty,” he told a Belgian magazine in April. “There is super authoritarian governance.”

Much but not all of those new powers came during the COVID years and in response to the war in Ukraine. But the anti-democratic gene runs deep among the Eurocrats.

Former Czech President and Prime Minister Václav Klaus lived through decades of Soviet Communism imposed on his country after World War II. Already in 2009, he was warning about the lack of democratic institutions within the EU.

“The present decision-making system of the European Union is different from a classic parliamentary democracy, tested and proven by history… Here, only one single alternative is being promoted, and those who dare think about a different option are labelled as enemies of European integration.

“Not so long ago, in our part of Europe we lived in a political system that permitted no alternatives and therefore also no parliamentary opposition. It was through this experience that we learned the bitter lesson that with no opposition, there is no freedom. That is why political alternatives must exist.”

Europe and the EU are at a crossroads.

Down one road, Europe will become increasingly authoritarian and increasingly centralized, while its founding cultures will be increasingly marginalized and demeaned in favor of Muslim immigration and multiculturalism. These were the faults that led to Brexit, Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

Down another road, Europe will return to its roots, celebrate its diverse cultures and its Christian and Jewish heritage, and honor the wishes of its member states and their people.

Count me skeptical, but I don’t see that democratic alternative on the horizon, at least not yet.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 02:00

The 52-year-old woman was walking near the Glenwood Houses NYCHA complex in Flatlands when she was grazed by a bullet in the left arm Monday afternoon, police said.

"Knowing that I'm fighting this battle not just for my family, but for millions of American families, reassures me that bringing this suit is the right thing to do."

“In fact, according to the evidence uncovered, cutting and packaging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the fraternities," Attorney General Dave Sunday said.

Green was the Mets vice president for player development before replacing fired manager Carlos Mendoza in the dugout in June.