memeorandum: Federal officials press GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert over apparent personal use of campaign funds (Brian Schwartz/CNBC)

1:45 PM ET, August 18, 2021

Top Items:

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 Many are premature — or alternatively, out of date.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: Wall Street Journal, BizPac Review, HotAir, Twitchy, NPR, New York Post, Breitbart and Forbes

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, Washington Examiner, Politico, Insider and The Times of Israel

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: The Independent, TMZ.com, Washington Post, New York Post, Trending Politics and HuffPost UK

Mike Pence / Wall Street Journal:

Biden Broke Our Deal With the Taliban — It's a foreign-policy humiliation unlike anything our country has endured since the Iran hostage crisis. — 'The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country [of Afghanistan] is highly unlikely," …

Ahmad Massoud / Washington Post: The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help.

Quin Hillyer / Washington Examiner:
After epochal disaster in Afghanistan, Biden should step down

Discussion: Washington Post, Sacramento Bee, The Daily Caller, Melanie Phillips, Bipartisan Report, Jacobin, Ground News and Crooks and Liars

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Knives out: CIA sources tell NBC they warned Biden of fast collapse

Discussion: National Review, RedState, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
The coming U.S. political fight over accepting refugees from Afghanistan

Discussion: The Daily Beast, IJR, MSNBC and New York Magazine

Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Biden approval drops to lowest of 7-month presidency after Taliban takeover

Yahoo Finance: Taliban Barricade Airport; Ghani Is in UAE: Afghanistan Update

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Senate Dem: We're gonna get to the bottom of this disgrace in Afghanistan; UPDATE: Pelosi too?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Missouri Times, The Carpentariat and Townhall

CNN:
Biden administration faces daunting odds of pulling off massive Afghanistan evacuation in 2 weeks

Discussion: RedState, Mediaite, Breitbart and Ace of Spades HQ

David Rohde / New Yorker:
Trying—and Failing—to Save the Family of the Afghan Who Saved Me

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, HotAir, CNN, The US Sun, Common Dreams, The Dispatch, Sputnik News, Bloomberg and New York Post, more at Mediagazer »

Jazz Shaw / HotAir:

Kinder, gentler Taliban murder woman in the streets for not wearing a burqa — I'm not sure, but it sounds as if not all of the Taliban militants received their copy of the strongly worded letter from the United Nations. The New York Post is reporting today that a woman in Takhar province …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, New York Post and Townhall

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.

Discussion: Reuters, Insider, Washington Post, The Guardian, Committee to Protect …, TheBlaze, New York Post, Trending Politics, Breitbart, The Western Journal and Al Jazeera

Graeme Wood / The Atlantic:

This Is Not the Taliban 2.0 — When the Taliban first sacked Kabul 25 years ago, the group declared that it was not out for revenge, instead offering amnesty to anyone who had worked for the former government. “Taliban will not take revenge,” a Taliban commander said then. “We have no personal rancor.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner and National Review

Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:
Taliban Block Routes to Kabul Airport, Hampering Evacuations From Afghanistan

Discussion: HotAir, Breitbart, Human Events, Washington Post, Anadolu Ajansı … and Townhall

New York Times:
Afghanistan Live Updates: Taliban Meet Public Protest With Violence

Discussion: Stars & Stripes, HotAir, Associated Press, UPI, France 24, Al Jazeera, Forbes, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and CNN, more at Techmeme »

Jerry Dunleavy / Washington Examiner:
From prison to power: Taliban leaders go from jail, to negotiating table, to Kabul

Discussion: Vox, Financial Times and The Moderate Voice

Reuters:
Three killed as Afghan protests test Taliban's promise of peaceful rule

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Associated Press, CNBC and The Daily Caller

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: Calculated Risk, Insider, The Wrap, Chad Prather for Texas, The Guardian, Vanity Fair and Forbes

Reuters:

U.S. reports more than 1,000 COVID deaths in single day — The United States reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, equating to around 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continues to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates.

Discussion: Washington Post, Paris News, CNN, Bloomberg, The Texas Tribune, New York Times, CNN, KXAN-TV, HuffPost, VICE, Bloomberg, Balloon Juice and The Texas Tribune

Phil Helsel / NBC News:

Texas school district makes masks part of dress code to get around Gov. Abbott's order … A small Texas school district has made facial coverings part of its dress code, in a bid to get around Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order banning mask mandates. — The board of the Paris Independent …

Discussion: WFAA-TV, Fox News, Human Events, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, KXII-TV, TheBlaze, Common Dreams, Bipartisan Report, KXAN-TV, Insider, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Raw Story, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and The Intellectualist

Cameron Jenkins / The Hill:
Arizona governor withholding grants to schools with mask mandates

Discussion: Forbes, Office of the Arizona Governor, Reason, Associated Press and POLITICUSUSA

Anita Sircar / Los Angeles Times:
Op-Ed: As a doctor in a COVID unit, I'm running out of compassion for the unvaccinated. Get the shot

Discussion: National Review, NPR, VICE and USA Today

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:
QAnon 'Queen's' Followers Are Sending Insane Anti-Vaxx Notes to Hospitals

Discussion: The Root, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

HHS News releases:

Joint Statement from HHS Public Health and Medical Experts on COVID-19 Booster Shots — Today, public health and medical experts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the following statement on the Administration's plan for COVID-19 booster shots for the American people.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Gizmodo, New York Post, Forbes, Roll Call, CBS Pittsburgh and The Atlantic

Erika Edwards / NBC News:

U.S. announces plan to offer boosters to all Americans starting in late September — Top U.S. health officials announced Wednesday that the country has developed a plan to start offering Covid-19 booster shots to all Americans beginning the third week of September, citing evidence that protection …

Discussion: New York Times, BuzzFeed News, NBC4 Washington and Political Wire

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
U.S. will begin wide distribution of Covid booster shots next month, saying vaccine protection wanes over time

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Forbes and The Daily Caller

Sara Boboltz / HuffPost:
White House Recommends COVID-19 Booster Shot 8 Months Post-Vaccination

Discussion: UPI and POLITICUSUSA

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Federal officials press GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert over apparent personal use of campaign funds — Federal officials are pressing Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., for answers on the apparent personal use of campaign funds. — A letter from the Federal Election Commission to the treasurer …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Los Angeles Times:

Cox served with subpoena, Elder blasted for remarks on women at California recall debate — Republicans hoping to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election focused their criticism on the Democratic governor and a leading replacement candidate who both declined to join them at a Tuesday debate …

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Raw Story, Associated Press, KRON4, Sacramento Bee, HuffPost, Political Wire and Politico

FiveThirtyEight:
Latest Polls Of The California Recall Election

Discussion: Tangle, Twitchy, Political Wire and CalMatters

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: Politico and UPI

Washington Post:
Fears over rising illness and death from the delta variant fuel Biden administration push for boosters

Discussion: Associated Press, USA Today, ABC News, The Atlantic, Boston.com and The Verge

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The hidden way Biden will salvage value from the Afghanistan debacle — A narrative is taking shape around the Afghanistan debacle that goes like this: The failure of our mission, and the terrible humanitarian consequences of the botched withdrawal, badly complicate President Biden's claim that “America is back.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, TheBlaze, The Hill and Washington Times

Teaganne Finn / NBC News:

Georgia election board launches review of Fulton County votes setting up possible takeover — Georgia's Republican-controlled State Election Board took a step Wednesday toward a possible takeover of elections in Fulton County. — The board has decided to take aim at Fulton County …

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press and Trending Politics

Kate Brumback / Associated Press:
Georgia board to review Fulton elections, takeover possible

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Forbes and wabe.org

- 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: Wall Street Journal and Israpundit

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A First Amendment Precedent — The Supreme Court may reconsider a major case concerning freedom of the press. The Times's Adam Liptak explains why. — Four years ago, at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch indicated that a 1964 precedent protecting press freedom was secure.

Discussion: Insider and Raw Story

New York Times:

The School Culture Wars: ‘You Have Brought Division to Us’ — From mask mandates to critical race theory and gender identity, educators are besieged. “You are just trying to keep everything from collapsing,” one official said. — July and August are supposed to be the quietest months of the school year.