Top Items:
Sarah Kolinovsky / ABC News:
Biden says he did not see a way to withdraw from Afghanistan without ‘chaos ensuing’ — In an exclusive ABC News interview, Biden opens up on his decision to withdraw. — In an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, and the president's first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban …
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Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan — There are many alarmist headlines pronouncing with certitude what has occurred or will occur in Afghanistan. Many are premature — or alternatively, out of date. Others ignore information now available to us that debunks fanciful explanations …
Discussion:
HotAir, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The Liberal Patriot, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Townhall, New York Post, BizPac Review and Twitchy
Douglas London / Just Security:
CIA's Former Counterterrorism Chief for the Region: Afghanistan, Not An Intelligence Failure — Something Much Worse — While it's certainly convenient to depict the shock and miscalculation U.S. officials claim over Afghanistan's tragic, rapid fall to the Taliban as an intelligence failure, the reality is far worse.
Ahmad Massoud / Washington Post:
The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help. — Ahmad Massoud is the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan. — In 1998, when I was 9 years old, my father, the mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, gathered his soldiers in a cave in the Panjshir Valley of northern Afghanistan.
Discussion:
France 24, The Daily Caller and The Drive
New York Times:
The Taliban respond with force to an outpouring of public anger. — Even as the Taliban took their first steps to create a functioning government, they faced the first street protests on Wednesday against their takeover of Afghanistan, with demonstrations in at least two cities.
Tom Rogan / Washington Examiner:
US allies deeply concerned by Biden's detachment
US allies deeply concerned by Biden's detachment
Discussion:
Fox News
Graeme Wood / The Atlantic:
This Is Not the Taliban 2.0 — When the Taliban first sacked Kabul 25 years ago …
This Is Not the Taliban 2.0 — When the Taliban first sacked Kabul 25 years ago …
Discussion:
CNN and Washington Examiner
Andrew Prokop / Vox:
Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan
Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Bipartisan Report
U.S. Embassy / U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan:
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Kabul (August 18, 2021) — U.S. government-provided flights are departing. U.S. citizens, LPRs, and their spouses and unmarried children (under age 21) should consider travelling to Hamid Karzai International Airport. You should plan to enter the airport at Camp Sullivan.
Discussion:
CNBC, ABC News, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Forbes, New York Post and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:
An evasive White House quietly hints that not all Americans will make it out of Afghanistan — The White House has little confidence it can evacuate all U.S. nationals from Afghanistan before the Taliban take full control of the country. — The administration said as much this week, although not in so many words.
Discussion:
ABC News, Bangor Daily News, Townhall and Power Line
Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Block Routes to Kabul Airport, Hampering Evacuations From Afghanistan — Residents in eastern city of Jalalabad stage first protest against Taliban rule — Afghans and Westerners stranded in Kabul after Sunday's Taliban takeover started trickling into the city's U.S.-controlled airport …
Discussion:
HotAir, Washington Post, National Review, Anadolu Ajansı …, Breitbart, Human Events, U.S. Central Command and Townhall
NBC News:
Images of bloodied Afghans contradict Taliban's claims of moderation
Images of bloodied Afghans contradict Taliban's claims of moderation
Discussion:
Al Arabiya, HotAir, Breitbart, Commentary Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Guardian, CNBC, New York Post, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Townhall, Louder With Crowder and Twitchy
Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
Kinder, gentler Taliban murder woman in the streets for not wearing a burqa
Kinder, gentler Taliban murder woman in the streets for not wearing a burqa
Discussion:
RedState, New York Post, TheBlaze and Washington Examiner
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Vaccines' protection against virus infection is waning, C.D.C. studies suggest. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released three studies on Wednesday that federal officials said provided evidence that booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines …
Discussion:
globalnews.ca, Reason, UPI and Politico
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HHS News releases:
Joint Statement from HHS Public Health and Medical Experts on COVID-19 Booster Shots
Joint Statement from HHS Public Health and Medical Experts on COVID-19 Booster Shots
Discussion:
Bloomberg, FiercePharma, Times of San Diego, Vanity Fair, Kansas Reflector, Michigan Advance, KXAN-TV, UPI, Gizmodo, New York Post, CBS Pittsburgh, Forbes and Florida Politics
Jeffrey Morris / Covid Data Science:
Israeli data: How can efficacy vs. severe disease be strong when 60% of hospitalized are vaccinated? — A surge involving the rapidly-transmitting Delta variant in heavily vaccinated countries has led to much hand-wringing that the vaccines are not effective against Delta, or vaccine efficacy wanes after 4-6 months.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Texas Tribune, Slate, Calculated Risk, CNN, KXAN-TV, HuffPost and Bloomberg
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump promoted vaccines on Fox. Then the host goaded him into bashing boosters. — Wednesday was a big day in the fight against the coronavirus. It's the day the U.S. government launched its campaign to get Americans to take booster shots for the vaccines, amid the increasingly challenging situation brought on by the delta variant.
- Raheem J. Kassam / The National Pulse:
EXC: Joe Biden's State Dept Halted A Trump-Era ‘Crisis Response’ Plan Aimed At Avoiding Benghazi-Style Evacuations Just MONTHS Before Taliban Takeover. — Joe Biden's State Department moved to cancel a critical State Department program aimed at providing swift and safe evacuations of Americans …
Discussion:
Townhall, Trending Politics and Ace of Spades HQ
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- Raheem J. Kassam / The National Pulse:
Stunning Poll Reveals Trump Would Win Election Held Today, As Nearly 1 In 10 Democrats ‘Regret’ Their 2020 Vote. — Stunning new poll numbers from Rasmussen Reports suggest nearly 1 in 10 Democrats regret their vote in the 2020 Presidential election, with 12 percent of ‘Moderates’ saying the same …
Discussion:
Townhall, Israpundit, Small Dead Animals, CD Media, Wall Street Journal and Ace of Spades HQ
Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Biden to require nursing homes get staff vaccinated or lose federal funds — Surgeon general on Covid-19 boosters: The time is now — (CNN)The Biden administration will direct all nursing homes to require their staff be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to continue receiving Medicare …
Discussion:
Forbes, USA Today, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, The Intellectualist and Just The News
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
How Pelosi is trying to jam the rebels threatening to tank Biden's agenda — Incredibly, the nine conservative Democrats who have been threatening to derail passage of President Biden's $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill are still at it. They're still demanding a vote only on the bipartisan …
Discussion:
National Review, Daily Kos, Bipartisan Report, The Western Journal and The Intercept
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Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Poll finds growing support for voter ID requirements
Poll finds growing support for voter ID requirements
Discussion:
USAFeatures.news and Townhall
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
Democrats have finally identified the greatest threat to voting rights — the Supreme Court
Democrats have finally identified the greatest threat to voting rights — the Supreme Court
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The 19th and UPI
Fox News:
Biden's entire national security team should resign: Rep. Andy Barr — ‘Afghanistan has descended into chaos,’ Barr said — Gold Star wife ‘completely defeated’ by Afghanistan collapse — FIRST ON FOX: A prominent House Republican is calling for the resignations of every individual …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Knives out: CIA sources tell NBC they warned Biden of fast collapse
Knives out: CIA sources tell NBC they warned Biden of fast collapse
Discussion:
NBC News, Defense One, Washington Examiner, Fox News, National Review, RedState and Breitbart
Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:
Mark Milley Deserves To Be Fired And Court-Martialed For His Afghanistan Lies
Mark Milley Deserves To Be Fired And Court-Martialed For His Afghanistan Lies
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and Israpundit
New York Times:
Kushner Friend Who Was Pardoned by Trump Is Charged in New York — Ken Kurson, the former editor of The New York Observer, has been charged with two felonies. Prosecutors said he installed spyware on his former wife's computer in order to surveil her. — Seven months after he was pardoned …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC News, Associated Press and The Intellectualist
FiveThirtyEight:
Latest Polls Of The California Recall Election — Voters will decide whether to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom and — if removed — whom to replace him with — Opponents of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California have gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall election for him on Sept. 14 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Twitchy, Tangle, Political Wire and CalMatters
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Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:
Mississippi Quarantines 20,000 With 5,993 Students Positive For COVID; Teen Deaths Rise — With both siblings wearing backpacks, Mkayla Robinson put her arms around her little brother, and the two smiled for a photo on Friday, Aug. 6., as they prepared to leave home to start her final year …
Discussion:
The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi Today and The Daily Beast
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New York Times:
The Biden administration will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms. — The Biden administration, escalating its fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks to protect against the coronavirus …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, NBC News, The White House, Politico, Florida Politics and Washington Post
CNBC:
Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resurfaces in UAE after fleeing Kabul, Emirati government says — Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled his country as its capital Kabul was being overtaken by Taliban fighters, is now in the United Arab Emirates.
Discussion:
mofaic.gov.ae, CNN, New York Post, Vanity Fair, The Times of Israel, Politico, Washington Examiner and Insider
Heather Long / Washington Post:
The U.S. could be on the verge of a productivity boom, a game-changer for the economy — Rapid adoption of robots and artificial intelligence during the pandemic combined with a rebound in government investment is making some economists optimistic about a return of a 1990s economy with widespread benefits