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12:40 AM ET, August 16, 2021

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John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
All Biden Had to Do Was...Nothing  —  All Joe Biden had to do was nothing.  Had Joe Biden done nothing, Afghanistan would not have fallen to the Taliban today.  Had he just let the status quo continue, the status quo would have continued.  Afghanistan would have plodded along and we would have kept …
Discussion: RedState, Breitbart and Instapundit
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Afghans working for U.S. government broadcasters fear Taliban backlash.  —  More than a hundred journalists employed by the American government's own radio stations remain in Afghanistan as the Taliban take power, U.S. officials and Afghan journalists said Sunday.
George Packer / The Atlantic:
Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy  —  There's plenty of blame to go around for the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan—enough to fill a library of books.  Perhaps the effort to rebuild the country was doomed from the start.  But our abandonment of the Afghans who helped us …
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
For Biden, Images of Defeat He Wanted to Avoid  —  President Biden will go down in history, fairly or unfairly, as the president who presided over a humiliating final act in the American experiment in Afghanistan.  —  Rarely in modern presidential history have words come back to bite …
Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban  —  Collapse of Afghan government sets off evacuation scramble but Beijing and Moscow have no current plans to remove staff Chinese embassy warns its nationals to stay indoors, take safety precautions and keep …
Discussion: RedState
Julian Borger / The Guardian:
Taliban's Abdul Ghani Baradar is undisputed victor of a 20-year war  —  Return to power of movement's co-founder embodies Afghanistan's inability to escape history of conflict  —  Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago …
Discussion: The Daily Caller
United States Department of State:
Joint Statement on Afghanistan  —  The following is the text of a joint statement on Afghanistan initially released by the following: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark …
Discussion: RedState
Wall Street Journal:
‘Saigon on Steroids’: The Desperate Rush to Flee Afghanistan  —  Kabul airport descends into chaos as Afghan civilians besiege the terminal and Western countries scramble to evacuate personnel, in a dizzying coda to America's longest war  —  KABUL—The lucky few were already inside …
Associated Press:
Biden team surprised by rapid Taliban gains in Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials were stunned on Sunday by the pace of the Taliban's nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan, as the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently became a mission to ensure a safe evacuation.
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Terrorist threat to U.S. levels up after Taliban rise, Joint Chiefs chair says  —  Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban much faster than President Biden or his top military leaders predicted.
Wall Street Journal:
Chaotic Afghanistan Pullout Caps Two Decades of Missteps  —  Successive U.S. administrations followed strategies that inadvertently fueled support for the insurgency and missed key windows to negotiate  —  WASHINGTON—In early July, President Biden stood in the East Room of the White House …
Robin Wright / New Yorker:
Does the Great Retreat from Afghanistan Mark the End of the American Era?  —  It's a dishonorable end that weakens U.S. standing in the world, perhaps irrevocably.  —  History will surely note this absurdly ill-timed tweet.  On Monday, August 9th, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul posed a question …
Annie Linskey / Washington Post:
From Saigon to Kabul: Biden's response to Vietnam echoes in his views of Afghanistan withdrawal
Discussion: Politico
U.S. Embassy / U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan:
Security Alert - U. S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan
The Bulwark:   America Has a Moral Obligation to Get Our Translators Out of Afghanistan
James Gordon Meek / ABC News:
Afghanistan's collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?
Discussion: Fox News, Breitbart and The Dispatch
ABC News:
Afghanistan updates: Another 1K US troops heading to Kabul, bringing total to 6,000
Axios:
1 big thing: Biden's stain
Financial Times:
Low morale, no support and bad politics: why the Afghan army folded
Discussion: Atlantic Council
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
How America Failed in Afghanistan
Lindsay Kornick / Fox News:
Rep. Van Drew calls for Biden's resignation amid Taliban takeover in Afghanistan
Discussion: Breitbart
Wall Street Journal:
Intelligence Reports From Afghanistan Missed One Key Element: Speed
Discussion: HotAir
Krista Torralva / Dallas Morning News:
Texas Supreme Court blocks mask mandates in Dallas, Bexar counties  —  The entirely Republican court granted a temporary stay at the request of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sunday.  —  Two days after a Dallas appeals court dealt Texas Gov. Greg Abbott …
RELATED:
Allyson Waller / The Texas Tribune:
Siding with Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Supreme Court temporarily halts mask orders in Dallas and Bexar counties
Discussion: Townhall and ABC13
Laura Reiley / Washington Post:
Biden administration approves largest increase to food assistance benefits in SNAP program history  —  Benefits will rise by 25 percent on average, an infusion of cash that advocates say better reflects the modern cost of a basic diet.  —  The Biden administration has approved the largest increase …
Discussion: Associated Press and Politico
RELATED:
Seth Moulton / U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton:
Moulton Statement on the Situation in Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA) issued the following statement on Afghanistan:  —  To say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest.  Worse, it was avoidable.  The time to debate whether we stay …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Kenneth C. Brill / The Hill:
Afghanistan: Can we build bipartisan agreement out of bipartisan failure?
David Schuman / WCCO | CBS Minnesota:
St. Thomas GOP Chair Gisela Castro Medina Arrested In Florida On Sex Trafficking Charges
Discussion: Law & Crime
Roger L. Simon / theepochtimes.com:
Elder Ignores Mainstream Media in First Online Press Conference
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NBC News:
‘Easy money’: How international scam artists pulled off an epic theft of Covid benefits
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Peter Blumberg / Bloomberg:
X sues to block California's AB 2655, aimed at curbing AI-generated deceptive election content on social media, claiming it impinges on free speech

Christopher Grimes / Financial Times:
Analysts say Netflix's live boxing match Friday night between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul is designed to get new subscribers, particularly on its ad-supported tier

John Koblin / New York Times:
NBC names Craig Melvin as Hoda Kotb's successor on Today, teaming up with Savannah Guthrie, starting January 13; Melvin has been Today's news anchor since 2018

 
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