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2:01 PM ET, August 18, 2021

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 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  Many are premature — or alternatively, out of date.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 …
RELATED:
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.
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.
Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Knives out: CIA sources tell NBC they warned Biden of fast collapse  —  If Joe Biden played checkers in a chess game in his catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, he's playing Tic-Tac-Toe in his distraction campaign against the US intel community.  And losing, too.
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," …
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 …
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
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 …
RELATED:
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.
Ahmad Massoud / Washington Post:   The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help.
Graeme Wood / The Atlantic:
This Is Not the Taliban 2.0  —  When the Taliban first sacked Kabul 25 years ago …
New York Times:
Afghanistan Live Updates: Taliban Meet Public Protest With Violence
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.
RELATED:
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.
Paris Isd / Paris ISD:
Paris ISD Board of Trustees Amends Current Dress Code
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.
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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
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
RELATED:
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.”
Kate Brumback / Associated Press:
Georgia board to review Fulton elections, takeover possible  —  ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's State Election Board on Wednesday took a step toward a possible eventual takeover of elections in the state's most populous county under a process outlined in the state's sweeping new voting law.
RELATED:
- 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
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.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Bojan Pancevski / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Officials in Germany Hit by Havana Syndrome
Discussion: Politico and Political Wire
Jan Hoffman / New York Times:
Sacklers Threaten to Pull Out of Opioid Settlement Without Broad Legal Immunity
BUSR:
2022 Florida Gubernatorial Poll
Discussion: The Hill and Florida Politics
Mel Leonor / Richmond Times-Dispatch:
‘Splitting the baby’: Partisan tension roils Virginia redistricting commission
CNN:
Mississippi eighth grader dies a day after positive coronavirus test
Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story
 Earlier Items: 
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
A First Amendment Precedent  —  The Supreme Court may reconsider a major case concerning freedom of the press.
Discussion: Insider and Raw Story
Julie Barrett / The Federalist:
How To See If Critical Race Theory Is In Your Kids' School—And Fight It
Steve Israel / The Hill:
Do not underestimate Kathy Hochul
Jesús A. Rodríguez / Politico:
What Kamala Harris' Law School Years Reveal About Her Politics
Democracy Docket:
Court Dismisses Right-Wing Group's Counterclaims in Georgia Voter Intimidation Suit
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January
 
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