Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
11:55 AM ET, August 16, 2021

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:
Afghan security forces' wholesale collapse was years in the making  —  In the summer of 2011, Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV made a round of public appearances to boast that he had finally solved a problem that had kept U.S. troops bogged down in Afghanistan for a decade.
RELATED:
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
After Sunday It's Even More Clear Biden Was Right  —  Americans, or at least the commentating classes, are watching aghast as events unfold in Afghanistan.  Some are second-guessing the wisdom of withdrawal - after all, how hard is it to maintain a few thousand soldiers there permanently?
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 …
James Gordon Meek / ABC News:
Afghanistan's collapse: Did US intelligence get it wrong?  —  American intelligence sources say they correctly predicted the fall of Kabul.  —  As panicked Afghans watched Taliban fighters roll into the capital city of Kabul Sunday, sealing the collapse of the U.S.-backed government there …
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Afghanistan Is Your Fault  —  Kabul has fallen.  Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten.
Richard Haass / Project Syndicate:
America's Withdrawal of Choice  —  The swift fall of Kabul recalls the ignominious fall of Saigon in 1975.  Beyond the local consequences - widespread reprisals, harsh repression of women and girls, and massive refugee flows - America's strategic and moral failure in Afghanistan …
Discussion: Politico, PRESS RUN and HotAir
Kurt Schlichter / Townhall:
Our Military Is A Woke Joke  —  Ignore those pictures of the Afghan army that our military senior leader geniuses spent 20 years and zillions of dollars on disintegrating in the face of a pack of glorified mountain banditos from the Seventh Century - the real story is that, finally …
Wall Street Journal:
Biden's Afghanistan Surrender
Associated Press:
The latest on Afghanistan: Four Afghans dead after fall from US plane wheel well  —  Here's the latest on the rapidly unfolding events related to Afghanistan:  —  Report: Afghans who worked for US may temporarily go to bases in Wisconsin and Texas  —  The U.S. intends to evacuate tens …
RELATED:
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 …
Michael Lee / Fox News:
Jen Psaki ‘out of the office’ as Biden remains silent on Taliban takeover of Afghanistan  —  The timing of Psaki's time off comes as Biden has faced criticism for remaining on vacation
Wall Street Journal:
Three Killed in Kabul Airport as Afghans Scramble to Escape Taliban  —  Mass evacuations follow the insurgents' capture of Kabul after a rapid sweep of the country  —  At least three people were killed by gunfire Monday morning in chaotic scenes at the passenger terminal of Kabul's international airport …
Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
US pauses flights out of Kabul
Discussion: CNN, CBS News and Talking Points Memo
Sarah Zheng / South China Morning Post:
China, Russia embassies stay put in Afghanistan as US and allies flee Taliban
Meridith McGraw / Politico:
The GOP waves white flag in the same-sex marriage wars  —  To mark the beginning of Pride Month this year, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel did what party leaders do on these types of occasions: She sent out a tweet.  —  “Happy #PrideMonth!” she wrote, " …
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story
Associated Press:
Detainee says China has secret jail in Dubai, holds Uyghurs  —  A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders.
Discussion: HotAir and The Daily Caller
Dave Orrick / Twin Cities:
Ugly drama inside MN GOP threatens chairwoman's job  —  Indictment of donor sparked fire  —  Following what amounted to a weekend political firestorm, the Minnesota Republican party Sunday evening found itself navigating treacherous waters of possible scandal that threatened to oust the state party's leader.
John Nichols / The Nation:
Ron Johnson Does the Bidding of the Ultra-Rich  —  A new study reveals that Johnson's “principled” stand for tax reform may enrich two of his campaign donors by half a billion dollars.  —  Ron Johnson's public image is that of a delusional conspiracy theorist who struggles to pull together coherent sentences.
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 …
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 11:55 AM ET, August 16, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Donald J. Trump:
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
A Moment for Soul-Searching  —  My Afghanistan war lasted almost exactly two years …
TASS:
No need for evacuation of Russian embassy in Kabul, says mission
Lew Blank / Data For Progress:
NEW NY POLL: Voters Support Criminal Charges Against Andrew Cuomo
Wall Street Journal:
Bitcoin Fans Are Suddenly a Political Force
New York Times:
As Cuomo Exits, Will Congestion Pricing Still Come to New York City?
 Earlier Items: 
Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:
COVID-19 Hospitalizations For Americans In Their 30s Hit All-Time High
Discussion: Raw Story
Timothy Bella / Washington Post:
A Black officer was a rising star. The department's ‘Jim Crow culture’ destroyed his career, lawsuit says.
Discussion: The Root and Raw Story
Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Early indicators suggest Democrats' House majority is in jeopardy
Discussion: Fox News, Salon and New Republic
Henry J. Gomez / NBC News:
The next big existential fight for Democrats? Pennsylvania
Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:
Mary Trump Rails Against ‘Awful’ Meghan McCain and ‘Weak’ Uncle Donald
Discussion: Raw Story and The Guardian
Juan Williams / The Hill:
Trump's coup attempt should bar him from 2024 race
 

 
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

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

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Facebook makes Views its primary metric for content, bringing it in line with Instagram; each time a piece of content appears on a screen, it counts as a View

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page