I warned Thursday that we could be facing the worst hostage crisis in our nation’s history. I thought about it some more, and it occurred to me that we are already facing the worst hostage crisis in our nation’s history.

Thousands of Americans are trapped in what is now enemy territory. Many are hundreds of miles from Kabul. And our own leaders are already talking about these trapped Americans as if they are hostages.

The Taliban controls who gets to the airport and who doesn’t. Before this is over, we may learn that the Biden Administration paid the Taliban a ransom for every American who was allowed through their checkpoints.

Perhaps Biden is flying pallets of cash to Afghanistan the way he and Obama did with Iran. There are reports that he wants to give them $3.6 billion in reconstruction aid.

Some people didn’t like Trump’s tweets. The perpetual war wing of the GOP didn’t like his America First policies. But it’s worth remembering that the Trump Administration regularly freed American prisoners without paying ransoms.

Even Trump’s critics know that if he were president today, it would be the Taliban trying to meet Trump’s demands rather than the current American leadership groveling before seventh century sheep herders.

Today’s Disaster Headlines

The Biden Administration is asking our Border Patrol agents, who are overwhelmed with a tsunami of illegal immigration at the southern border, to volunteer to deploy to Afghanistan to help process refugees.

News broke last night that on July 13th nearly two dozen U.S. embassy staff in Kabul sent an emergency memo warning the Biden Administration that its withdrawal plans were inadequate and we were facing an imminent catastrophe if adjustments were not made. Now the most dreaded question in American politics is being asked: What did Biden know and when did he know it? Perhaps the real question should be, “Does Biden actually know anything?”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) was on Fox News this morning calling on Joe Biden to resign. Jackson also predicted that Democrats will invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him. Jackson, a former White House physician, has said repeatedly that he believes Biden is suffering from cognitive decline.

Alienating Our Allies

Remember all the huffing and puffing by our media and political elites about how Trump would offend and alienate our allies? Well, Joe Biden has actually done it.

Many of our NATO allies stood with us in Afghanistan. Next to the U.S., no nation sacrificed more men there than our British allies. Incredibly, Joe Biden ignored calls from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for more than two days as the situation in Afghanistan collapsed.

Tom Tugendhat, a British member of Parliament who served in Afghanistan, delivered an emotional speech in the House of Commons this week. He blasted our commander-in-chief for his “shameful” attacks on the Afghan army, saying, “Those who have never fought for the colors they fly should be careful about criticizing those who have.”

We’ve all had fun over the years mocking perceived French weakness. So, it’s been sobering this week to see French special forces, without the Taliban’s permission, leaving the Kabul airport to rescue their fellow Frenchmen while our soldiers are under orders to stay put. In fact, there are credible reports that the French are rescuing Americans too.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the fall of Afghanistan “an absolutely bitter development: Bitter, dramatic and awful.” Another European leader said it was “the greatest defeat for NATO in history.”

All courtesy of Joe Biden, who the media assured was a foreign policy genius.

Biden Speaks

President Biden addressed the nation Friday afternoon trying to do more damage control.

He was flanked by Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Blinken, both of whom wore masks even though everyone in the room is vaccinated. And while we’re all worried about the Americans being held hostage in Afghanistan, Harris and Blinken looked like gagged hostages themselves.

Biden began his remarks by noting that this withdrawal is one of the most difficult and complex airlifts in history. Well, it’s so difficult and complex because Biden made it that way!

He didn’t make evacuating civilians a priority. He pulled so many troops out first that he was forced to send thousands back in. He gave up Bagram Air Base for no obvious reason. He failed to secure other airfields or billions of dollars of American weapons, military vehicles and other equipment. In short, this withdrawal was so badly managed that it appears to have been deliberately mismanaged.

And in stark contrast to President Trump, who often went toe-to-toe with the Washington press corps for 45 minutes or more, Biden quickly left the room after taking only a few questions from pre-selected reporters.

Pray For Persecuted Christians

While I mentioned it earlier this week, I want to plead with you again to pray for persecuted Christians. Christians in Afghanistan are in far more danger today than they have been at any time over the past 20 years. But it’s not just the disaster in Afghanistan.

In countries like Iraq and Syria, where much of our biblical history took place, Christians have been hunted and killed for decades in a slow-motion genocide.

Coptic Christians in Egypt are regularly attacked; their churches are frequently burned down. In Nigeria, radical Islamists routinely murder Christians. And it’s not just the Muslim world.

Every place where godless communism rules, the church of Jesus Christ is under siege. Christians face extreme persecution in North Korea. In China, the Communist Party has ordered churches to remove crosses and pictures of Jesus and to replace them with pictures of communist leaders like Mao and President Xi.

So, please pray for our fellow Christians facing terrible persecution. And pray that the church in America will be inspired by the bravery of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

God Bless You, Ella

Lost in all the depressing news from Afghanistan was Thursday’s funeral for Chicago Police Officer Ella French. She was murdered by a young black man with a long criminal record.

Thousands of Chicago residents and hundreds of law enforcement officers from all over the country gathered to honor her life of service. Sadly, beyond that crowd, her funeral seems to have attracted little notice.

If that young police woman, approaching a car in one of the most dangerous areas of Chicago, had seen a sudden movement and fired first to save her life, and the man she killed was having his funeral today, the flag at the White House would be at half-staff for the dead thug.

Progressive leaders, if not top White House officials, would be speaking at his funeral. The left would incite violent protests in other cities, trying its best to exploit racial tensions.

Sadly, three police officers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were shot Thursday and a fourth was wounded during an armed robbery. An officer in Jackson, Mississippi, was also shot Thursday.

It’s open season on cops. Leftist politicians have handcuffed them, demonized them and smeared them, while giving criminals a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card.

Good News

• A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law banning “dismemberment abortions.”

• Four more cities join the pro-life “sanctuary city” movement.

• Two federal judges blocked Biden Administration orders seeking to undermine critical immigration enforcement measures. (Here and here.)

• Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge ruled that the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and universities violates state and federal law.

• A Colorado Springs school district banned the teaching of critical race theory.

• More black parents (here and here) are standing up against left-wing efforts to segregate our schools and indoctrinate our children with racial hatred.

• More teachers are resisting the compelled speech of absurd pronoun policies and being forced to teach racist theories.

• Connecticut Republicans recaptured a state Senate seat in a district Joe Biden carried by 25 points.