Top Items:
Patrick Tucker / Defense One:
Trump's Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says — Chris Miller now says talk of a full withdrawal was a “play” to convince a Taliban-led government to keep U.S. counterterrorism forces. — AFGHANISTAN - WHITE HOUSE - PENTAGON - TERRORISM
Discussion:
Raw Story, Bipartisan Report, Vanity Fair and Newsweek
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Stuart Ramsay / Sky News:
Afghanistan: Desperate women throw babies over razor wire at compound, asking British soldiers to take them — As every day passes, the relief operation gets more and more urgent and desperate, as the British military tries to move thousands of people out of Afghanistan in just days.
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, The Drive, Politico and RedState
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.
Discussion:
MSNBC, Washington Post, The Independent, The Rectification of Names, HotAir, New York Post, TMZ.com, HuffPost UK, The Gateway Pundit and Ground News
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:
Washington Examiner, HotAir, CNN, CNBC, Washington Post, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Post, ABC News and Forbes
Wall Street Journal:
Afghan Women Are Already Fading From Public View as Fear of the Taliban and Uncertainty Prevail — Women are afraid to go outside or speak out as crackdowns on freedoms begin — Dr. Zuhal used to drive herself to work. — This week, she started taking a taxi to avoid reprisals from the Taliban, who once banned women from driving.
Discussion:
Japan Times and Vanity Fair
Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:
Intelligence Agencies Did Not Predict Imminence of Afghan Collapse, Officials Say — The acknowledgment came as the Biden administration faces heavy criticism over its handling of the withdrawal of American-led forces from Afghanistan. — WASHINGTON — Intelligence reports presented …
Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Is Denied Foreign Aid but Taps Billion-Dollar Drug Trade
Taliban Is Denied Foreign Aid but Taps Billion-Dollar Drug Trade
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo
Zachary Evans / National Review:
Secretary of Defense: 'I Don't Have the Capability' to Escort Stranded Americans to Kabul Airport
Secretary of Defense: 'I Don't Have the Capability' to Escort Stranded Americans to Kabul Airport
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan
A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan
Discussion:
The Western Journal, Balloon Juice, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, The Hill, New York Post, NBC News, The Liberal Patriot and Twitchy
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:
CNN, New York Times and Los Angeles Times
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 …
Discussion:
HuffPost, Politico, HotAir, The Guardian, New York Post, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, CBS News, Townhall, Insider, National File, Forbes, RedState, The Hill, NPR, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Louder With Crowder, The US Sun, Raw Story, TheBlaze, IJR and Washington Post
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Molly Nagle / ABC News:
US troops will stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan, even if past Aug. 31 deadline: Biden to ABC News
US troops will stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan, even if past Aug. 31 deadline: Biden to ABC News
Discussion:
CNN, Breitbart, Fox News, The Hill, Townhall, The Daily Caller, National Review, New York Post, RedState, Bloomberg, Defense One, Mediaite and Just The News
Politico:
Biden scrambles to tamp down panic over Afghanistan
Biden scrambles to tamp down panic over Afghanistan
Discussion:
The New Neo, Fox News, New York Post, Townhall and White House Dossier
Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:
An evasive White House quietly hints that not all Americans will make it out of Afghanistan
An evasive White House quietly hints that not all Americans will make it out of Afghanistan
Discussion:
ABC News, Townhall and Power Line
Tom Rogan / Washington Examiner:
US allies deeply concerned by Biden's detachment
US allies deeply concerned by Biden's detachment
Discussion:
Fox News
Oli Coleman / Page Six:
Larry David ‘screamed’ at Alan Dershowitz at grocery store over Trump ties — It seems that Alan Dershowitz's ties to the Trump administration have made him persona non grata among the Martha's Vineyard elite — including Larry David. — A Page Six spy spotted the Harvard Law professor …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Mediaite, The Wrap, Lawyers, Guns & Money, POLITICUSUSA, Boston.com and Raw Story
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:
Washington Post, Reason, The American Independent, UPI, globalnews.ca and Politico
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Vaccines show declining effectiveness against infection overall but strong protection against hospitalization amid delta variant
Vaccines show declining effectiveness against infection overall but strong protection against hospitalization amid delta variant
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:
The Western Journal, Breitbart, Florida Phoenix, Bloomberg, Florida Politics, Michigan Advance, Vanity Fair, FiercePharma, Times of San Diego, Boston.com, WJHL, WIVB-TV, New York Post, Forbes and Gizmodo
Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:
A mom of 4 who died of covid days after her husband makes one final wish: ‘Make sure my kids get vaccinated’ — A few weeks ago, Lydia Rodriguez thought her body was strong enough to fight the coronavirus without the vaccine. — But after a week-long church camp, she and other members …
Discussion:
The US Sun, Raw Story, ABC News and ABC13
Arian Campo-Flores / Wall Street Journal:
Miami-Dade Votes to Mandate Masks in Schools, Setting Up Fight With DeSantis — The district and Hillsborough County voted to require masks, a day after the state sanctioned other districts — MIAMI—Two of Florida's largest school districts voted Wednesday to implement mask mandates …
RELATED:
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The GOP is losing the PR battle on coronavirus mandates
The GOP is losing the PR battle on coronavirus mandates
Discussion:
Florida Politics, The Hill and Mock Paper Scissors
- 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:
The Western Journal, RedState, Townhall, CD Media, Wall Street Journal, Israpundit, Small Dead Animals and Ace of Spades HQ
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Claire McNear / The Ringer:
“A Smile With Sharp Teeth”: Mike Richards's Rise to ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Sparks Questions About His Past — The ‘Jeopardy!’ host search is finally over. New reporting reveals that concerns about Richards and the show's selection process remain. — One day in the fall of 2013, Mike Richards called Ken Jennings.
Discussion:
TMZ.com, The Wrap, Deadline, The US Sun, The A.V. Club and Hollywood Reporter
Washington Post:
Biden administration moved slowly to help Afghan refugees as it prepared to exit — The Biden administration moved slowly for months to address the plight of vulnerable Afghans who had worked for the United States even as a deadline for U.S. military withdrawal loomed, refugee advocates said …
Discussion:
Politico, Christianity Today and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Biden's ‘I Am Not Sending My Boy Back There’ Comment in Context — A lot of people are pointing to Biden's 2010 exchange with Richard Holbrooke as an omen of his decision-making regarding Afghanistan: … Judging by the sequence of events in Holbrooke's book, this meeting was sometime in August 2010 or later.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Power Line, Townhall and Washington Examiner
RELATED:
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:
CNBC, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Vanity Fair, Associated Press and The Intellectualist
Josh Partlow / Washington Post:
Federal judge rejects Trump-era permits for major Alaska oil project — Wednesday's decision is a setback for ConocoPhillips's Willow project, which aims to produce more than 100,000 barrels a day on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the permits …
Discussion:
Anchorage Daily News and Politico
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 …
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, Washington Examiner, The Drive and The Daily Caller
Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Facebook shared new data about what's popular on its platform. The answers are deeply weird. — Report shows a Green Bay Packers alumni page and an online CBD store, not right-wing pundits, are among the most viewed links in people's feeds, as Facebook pushes back against independent studies.
Discussion:
About Facebook, Ethan Zuckerman and Wired, more at Mediagazer »
Kat Stafford / Associated Press:
Movement for Black Lives: Feds targeted BLM protesters — The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation last summer in the wake …
Discussion:
The Hill
John Walcott / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
War correspondent Joe Galloway died on Wednesday — War correspondent and author Joseph Galloway, who covered the front lines from the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965 to an onion field outside Basra in 1991, died Wednesday of complications following a heart attack. He was 79.
Discussion:
Associated Press
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