It is the beginning of a never-ending bad dream. Joe Biden and the Pentagon have managed to birth a new terrorist haven, destroy much of U.S. strategic deterrence and alienate our allies and much of the country.

In the hours after the horrific deaths of 13 service members, we have been reassured by our military that our partnership with the Taliban to provide security for our flights was wise.

We were told that the terrorist victors share similar goals to ours in a hasty American retreat from Kabul. We were reminded that Afghan refugees (unlike U.S. soldiers) will not be forced to be vaccinated on arrival. Such statements are either untrue or absurd.

On the very day of the attack that killed American troops, the sergeant major of the U.S. Army reminded us in a tweet that diversity is our strength, commemorating not the dead but Women’s Equality Day. If so, then is the opposite of diversity — unity — our weakness? Will such wokeness ensure that we do not abandon the Bagram airbase in the middle of the night without opposition?

The chief of staff at the Office of Naval Intelligence warned the ONI’s active-duty and retired service members that they must not criticize Biden, their commander in chief, over the Afghanistan fiasco. The office correctly cited prohibitions found in the Uniform Code of Military Justice barring any disrespect shown to senior government leadership.

Indeed, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps was relieved of his command for posting a video accurately blaming military and civilian leadership for the Afghanistan nightmare.

Yet until Jan. 20, retired top brass had constantly smeared their elected commander in chief with impunity.

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The Heritage Action for America, a partner organization of the Heritage Foundation, hosted a panel discussion on critical race theory (CRT) in Georgetown, Delaware, on July 29. Six speakers stressed the dangers of CRT and how it has penetrated American society. One speaker compared the similarities of CRT and China’s Cultural Revolution.

About 500 people attended the event in person, while thousands watched it via livestream.

At the beginning of the panel discussion, Jonathan Butcher, senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, talked about the history of CRT and what it’s all about. He said CRT, an offshoot of Critical Theory from the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School, is built upon Karl Marx’s ideas and has slowly and methodically worked its way into American society, infecting the education system, workplace, military, and everything in between. He added that CRT is destructive and advocates for the exact opposite of what it claims to be—treating individuals differently based on the color of their skin.

CRT adherents believe America is systemically racist, that racial oppression exists in every institution, and an individual is either an oppressor or oppressed based on the color of their skin. They reject the idea that America has strived, for more than two centuries, to fully live up to the founding creed that all men are created equal and should be treated so under the law.

Feels Like Communist China

Keynote speaker Xi Van Fleet told the audience that America is starting to feel like communist China during the Cultural Revolution—a sociopolitical movement that occurred between 1966 to 1976 under former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

“We have been seeing that America is going the wrong direction,” she said, in reference to CRT.

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Eighteen Senate Republicans sold out to Senate Democrats, with 17 of them voting Wednesday night to advance a $1.2 trillion Democrat “infrastructure” bill and another signaling he would.

The Senate voted to invoke cloture, or advance, H.R. 3684, the legislative vehicle for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The vote featured Republican and Democrat support for the bill. The Senate voted 67-32 to invoke cloture on the bill, with seventeen Republicans in favor of invoking cloture on the bill.

All of them voted for this procedural vote without reading the bill—because it would have been impossible for them to read a bill that does not yet exist. The bill has still not been written despite months of negotiations.

The Senate Republicans who voted for the Democrat $1.2 trillion bill include:

1. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
2. Richard Burr (R-NC)
3. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
4. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
5. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
6. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
7. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
8. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
9. Rob Portman (R-OH)
10. Jim Risch (R-ID)
11. Mitt Romney (R-UT)
12. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
13. Todd Young (R-IN)
14. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
15. John Hoeven (R-ND)
16. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
17. Susan Collins (R-ME)

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) was absent but signaled that he would have voted yes to advance the legislation.

These Senate Republicans voted to advance the bill even though lawmakers have not yet drafted a physical bill.