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12:30 PM ET, August 15, 2021

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 Top Items: 
Axios:
1 big thing: Biden's stain  —  Rarely has an American president's predictions been so wrong, so fast, so convincingly as President Biden on Afghanistan.  — Usually military operations and diplomacy are long; the outcomes, foggy.  Not here.  —  Just five weeks ago, President Biden assured Americans …
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Associated Press:
Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer’ of power  —  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban fighters entered Kabul on Sunday and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government, officials said, as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signaling the end …
Susannah George / Washington Post:
Afghanistan's military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions  —  KABUL — The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan's military that allowed Taliban fighters to reach the gates of Kabul on Sunday despite twenty years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series …
Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Enter Kabul as Panic Spreads in Afghanistan's Capital  —  Mass evacuations of Western diplomats and civilians under way, with insurgents preparing to assume power  —  KABUL—Taliban fighters on Sunday entered Kabul, freeing inmates at the city's main prison and triggering a massive effort …
New York Times:
A frenzied flight from Kabul as the U.S. evacuation accelerates.  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — As the Taliban stood at the gates of Kabul, completing the near total takeover of Afghanistan two decades after the American military drove them from power, a chaotic and frenzied evacuation of U.S. diplomats …
George Packer / The Atlantic:
Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy  —  Our abandonment of the Afghans who helped us, counted on us, and staked their lives on us is a final, gratuitous shame that we could have avoided.  —  About the author: George Packer is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Discussion: Fox News and Associated Press
Stars & Stripes:
‘They are coming’: US diplomats await flights out of Kabul as the Taliban advance and fear spreads in the capital  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Diplomats waiting to fly out of Kabul on Sunday morning spent their last hours at work burning anything of strategic or propaganda value …
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: How the White House wants to spin the fall of Kabul  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  President JOE BIDEN, July 8: “The Taliban is not ... the North Vietnamese army. ...  There's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of ... the United States from Afghanistan.
Adam Weinstein / Responsible Statecraft:
20-year US intervention in ruins as Taliban enters Kabul  —  There are reports this morning that the Taliban have entered the capital city of Kabul.  Developments on the ground are happening quickly after a week in which the insurgent group took one key provincial city after another …
Washington Post:
Taliban enters Kabul, leaving Afghan government on brink of collapse
The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Afghanistan
BBC:   LIVEAfghan President Ghani leaves country - reports
Sky News:   Afghanistan live updates: Taliban enters outskirts of Kabul - as Afghan government promise peaceful transition of power
Michael R. Gordon / Wall Street Journal:   Biden's Afghanistan Exit Raises Questions About His Foreign-Policy Record
Liz Sly / Washington Post:
Afghanistan's collapse leaves allies questioning U.S. resolve on other fronts
Discussion: HotAir, Insider and Politico
New York Times:
Taliban Sweep in Afghanistan Follows Years of U.S. Miscalculations
Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:
Afghans Despair Over Long Visa Process as Taliban Close In on Kabul
Discussion: RedState
France 24:
Weapon seizures ‘massive boon’ for Taliban as cities fall
Associated Press:
Taliban capture key northern city, approach Afghan capital
Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:
Mississippi 8th Grader Dies With COVID Hours After Gov. Reeves Downplays Child Cases  —  An eighth-grade girl died this morning in Raleigh, Miss., mere hours after testing positive for COVID-19.  Multiple sources told the Mississippi Free Press that the student attended classes at the school …
CBS News:
California's vaccinated say unvaccinated are adding risk; strong support for mandates — CBS News poll  —  As Californians express widespread concern about the Delta variant, they overwhelmingly say the state's recent rise in cases was preventable, had more people gotten vaccinated and taken more precautions.
Discussion: CBS San Francisco
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The Daily Beast:
This Pro-Trump Lawyer Was a Rising ‘Stop the Steal’ Star.  His Firm Erased Him  —  WE DON'T KNOW HIM  —  In the months since Trump's failed coup, government documents have further revealed the extent of attorney Kurt Olsen's behind-the-scenes crusade to try to keep him in power.
Discussion: Raw Story
Erin Banco / Politico:
Inside America's Covid-reporting breakdown  —  There were too many cases to count.  —  Covid-19 was spreading rapidly throughout the United States, as cold winter weather began to drive people indoors, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was flying blind …
Reuters:
Quake kills hundreds in Haiti, worsening Caribbean nation's plight  —  At least 304 people died and hundreds were injured after a major earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday, authorities said, reducing churches, hotels, schools and homes to rubble in the latest tragedy to hit the impoverished Caribbean nation.
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 More Items: 
New York Post:
Inflation keeps growing, but Dems won't stop spending
Washington Examiner:
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Los Angeles Times:
One person stabbed as COVID anti-vaxxers and counterdemonstrators clash in front of L.A. City Hall
Hannah Allam / Washington Post:
‘Why Omaha?’: DHS bets on Nebraska as the future of terrorism research
 Earlier Items: 
Carlie Porterfield / Forbes:
FEMA Has Paid Out Over $1 Billion For Funerals Of Coronavirus Victims
Wall Street Journal:
New Covid-19 Hospitalizations for 30- to 39-Year-Olds at Record Rate
Aya Elamroussi / CNN:
‘This is starting to look really ominous in the South,’ expert says, as US is among nations with highest rate of new Covid-19 cases
Discussion: Insider
Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times:
Biden Administration Plans for Vaccine Boosters, Perhaps by Fall
Discussion: KXAN-TV
 

 
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Emma Roth / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads is testing custom feeds for certain profiles or topics; the Threads' version seems easier to use than Bluesky's custom feeds

Financial Times:
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+

Jibin Joseph / PCMag:
UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 creates Daisy, an AI-generated “scambaiter” tool that mimics the voice of an elderly woman to waste scammers' time
 
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