memeorandum: Afghan crisis reveals broken US confirmation process (Laura Rozen/Diplomatic,)

11:50 AM ET, August 20, 2021

Top Items:

‘This is Actually Happening’ — President Joe Biden and his inner circle were in an ebullient mood. — It was Wednesday morning, Aug. 11, and they were basking in the glow of back-to-back legislative wins. The day before, the Senate had passed a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Discussion: HotAir, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The National Interest, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, The Daily Signal and National Review

New York Times:

Live Updates: Biden to Address Afghan Crisis as Desperation Builds at Kabul Airport — President Biden will speak on Friday amid intense criticism of the evacuation effort. A 17-year-old boy was identified as one of the Afghans who fell from a U.S. military plane as it lifted off.

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, CNN and New York Post, more at Mediagazer »

Vivian Salama / Wall Street Journal:

Confidential State Department Cable in July Warned of Afghanistan's Collapse — About two dozen State Department officials in Kabul sent an internal memo to Secretary of State Antony Blinken — WASHINGTON — About two dozen State Department officials serving at the embassy in Kabul sent …

DW.COM:

Relative of DW journalist killed by the Taliban — Journalists and their families are in grave danger in Afghanistan. The Taliban have no compunction about carrying out targeted killings as the case of a DW journalist shows. — Taliban fighters hunting a DW journalist have shot dead …

Discussion: CNN, Insider, Deadline, Variety, Al Jazeera, UPI, Forbes, Sputnik News, Financial Times, Breitbart, Politico, Bloomberg, The Hill, Committee to Protect … and VICE, more at Mediagazer »

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

The Best and Brightest never recovered from Vietnam. Will Biden's team fare better? — The Afghanistan disaster has rocked the Biden administration's foreign policy team, which may need months to regain its sense of balance and momentum. — Senior officials don't have time or emotional bandwidth …

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Post, Louder With Crowder, Sputnik News, Townhall, WV MetroNews, Metro.co.uk, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN and National Review

Michael Crowley / New York Times:

Trump's Deal With the Taliban Draws Fire From His Former Allies — The former president and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are attacking President Biden over Afghanistan even as their own policy faces harsh criticism. — WASHINGTON — Days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 …

Discussion: Raw Story, Metro.co.uk, Washington Examiner, coldfury.com, National Review, New York Post, Politico and CNN

Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times:

Encounter with the Taliban: Punched, detained — then offered an energy drink — FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT AND PHOTOGRAPHER — When I headed out to work, it had been five days since the Taliban took over Kabul. And it was Independence Day, a national holiday, when Afghans celebrate their country's independence from Britain in 1919.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Insider

Reuters:

Biden's Afghanistan policy counts on issue fading in importance for war-weary voters — President Joe Biden is brushing off criticism of his administration's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal because he and his aides believe the political fallout at home will be limited, according to White House allies and administration officials.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Hill, CNN, Louder With Crowder, Twitchy, One America News Network, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Ace of Spades HQ, Real Clear Politics and Althouse

Reuters:

Facing backlash, foreign powers try to speed Afghanistan exodus — Foreign powers sought to increase evacuations from Afghanistan on Friday after reports of Taliban reprisals, including against people who had worked with U.S.-led forces or the previous Western-backed government.

Discussion: Amnesty International

Patrick Reilly / New York Post:

Oklahoma mom of 11 rescues members of Afghan all-girls robotics team — An Oklahoma mother of 11 flew to Afghanistan earlier this month to rescue 10 members of the country's all-girls robotics team, and hoping to save more as the Taliban takes power in Kabul.

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill and The Intellectualist

New York Times:
How News Organizations Got Afghan Colleagues Out of Kabul

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, more at Mediagazer »

BBC:
Afghanistan: Taliban carrying out door-to door manhunt, report says

Discussion: HotAir, Politico, SpyTalk, Breitbart, New York Post, Reuters, New York Times, Agence France-Presse and RedState

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
CNN's Ward: Getting inside the Kabul airport “one of the more harrowing things I have experienced”

Discussion: CNN, Breitbart and New York Post

Peter Nicholas / The Atlantic:
What Joe Biden Is Betting On

Discussion: Telegraph, Ace of Spades HQ, Commentary Magazine, Washington Times, BizPac Review, Sputnik News, Power Line and Mediaite

Zeerak Khurram / NBC News:
Taliban carrying out door-to-door manhunt for Afghans on blacklist, report says

Discussion: HotAir

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:
Hunted by the Taliban, US-Allied Afghan Forces Are in Hiding

Discussion: Reuters, National Review, The American Conservative, HotAir, Breitbart, New York Post, Washington Examiner, The US Sun, The Daily Caller and Just Security

Sean Davis / The American Mind:
Moral Blackmail — Tell them: we do not negotiate with ostracists.

Discussion: New York Post, National Review, Amnesty International USA, Washington Post, New York Post, Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Reuters and CNN

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
The Forever War Isn't Over — Column: The Afghan debacle just marks a new, more murderous phase

Discussion: FDD, Common Dreams and The Bulwark

Kate Storey / Esquire:
Inside Clarissa Ward's 19-Hour Days Reporting From Kabul

Discussion: Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:
The Right and Our Afghan Allies

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Post, Washington Post and HotAir

James Jay Carafano / New York Post:
Call Afghanistan what it is: The worst hostage crisis in American history

Discussion: HotAir, Politico, New York Times and The Federalist

Reuters:

EXCLUSIVE FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated-sources — The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, IJR, Townhall, Sputnik News, Page Array, Summit News and Power Line

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Quiet Rage of the Responsible — Let's talk for a minute about Lollapalooza. After canceling in-person events last year, a few weeks ago Chicago once again hosted the long-running music festival, drawing more than 385,000 people. Many feared that the huge, raucous crowds could produce a coronavirus superspreader event.

Discussion: HotAir, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos and Off the Kuff

CNN:
I live in Texas and I am really angry

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and WGN-TV

Michael Gerson / Washington Post: Govs. DeSantis and Abbott, in denial and risking lives, have betrayed the public trust

Mac Stipanovich / Tampa Bay Times:
Ron DeSantis has ‘made a monumental mess of masking in public schools’ | Column

Discussion: Raw Story

Nick Visser / HuffPost:
Texas Stops Enforcing Ban On Mask Mandates In Schools Amid Lawsuits

Discussion: Bloomberg, CBS News, HotAir, Forbes, Daily Kos, CNN, New York Times, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Insider and Political Wire

New York Times:

The new ‘Jeopardy!’ host, Mike Richards, quits. — Mike Richards, who was named the new host of “Jeopardy!” last week, is abruptly leaving the role as the beloved game show confronts a roiling controversy over offensive and sexist comments he made on a podcast several years ago.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, Page Array, Hollywood Life, NPR, Deadline, Forbes and Chicago Sun-Times

logically.ai:

EXCLUSIVE: Logically Identifies GhostEzra, Florida Man Behind World's ‘Largest Antisemitic Internet Forum’ — Logically, as part of our mission to understand and counter harmful online misinformation, conducts continuous research into the networks, channels, and actors that play an outsized role …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Bob Christie / Associated Press:

Appeals court orders Arizona Senate audit records released — PHOENIX (AP) — An appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by the Arizona Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount.

Discussion: American Oversight, Politico and Raw Story

Ryan Randazzo / Arizona Republic:
Arizona Senate must turn over Cyber Ninjas records related to election audit, Appeals Court says

Discussion: HuffPost, Arizona Mirror and The Hill

Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:

Liberal Democracy Is Worth a Fight — Of all the empty, pointless statements that are periodically repeated by Western politicians, none is more empty and pointless than this one: “There can be no military solution to this conflict.” That was what Ban Ki-moon, then the UN secretary-general …

Star Tribune:

Minnesota GOP chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan forced out amid scandal — She casts deciding vote to give herself $38K in severance — Minnesota Republican leaders forced Jennifer Carnahan out as head of the state party on Thursday, turning a page on a scandal that threatened to consume GOP politics ahead of a pivotal election year.

Discussion: Associated Press, Twin Cities and Fox21Online

J. Patrick Coolican / Minnesota Reformer:
Carnahan resigns as chair of Minnesota Republican Party

Discussion: Raw Story and WCCO | CBS Minnesota

Sam Karlin / The Advocate:

‘Locate us a ring’: Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins challenges Facebook user to a fight — Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins has once again threatened someone on Facebook with violence. — The Lafayette Republican, who has a long history of bizarre social media antics …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Daily Mail:

Fox News' Greg Gutfeld is crowned new king of late night television after he scores 220K MORE viewers than Colbert's Late Show on CBS — Comedian Greg Gutfeld's show pulled in the most viewers during Tuesday's late night time slot with about 2.12 million — Gutfeld! debuted in April …

Discussion: OutKick, Breitbart, The Wrap, The Gateway Pundit and RedState

Stuart / The Roanoke Star News:

Roanoke College Poll: McAuliffe Holds Lead in Race for Governor: Economy / COVID Most Important Issues — Former Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe holds an 8-percentage point lead over Republican Glenn Youngkin (46%-38%) with 13% undecided in race for Virginia governor, according to The Roanoke College Poll.

al.com:

As Cullman prepares for Trump rally, city declares COVID state of emergency — With Cullman Regional experiencing overcrowding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Cullman will be providing more first responders to this weekend's Alabama GOP rally. — The Cullman City Council passed …

Discussion: The Hill, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Reuters:

White House backtracks after Biden appears to say US would defend Taiwan against China — Administration official plays down president's comment comparing Taiwan commitments to those in Nato, saying US policy has not shifted — A senior Biden administration official said US policy on Taiwan …

Discussion: Latest, Fox News, Sputnik News and Human Events

Dave Lieber / Dallas Morning News:

If North Texas runs out of ICU hospital beds, doctors can consider a patient's vaccination status — This would be a big change in health care, but doctors have yet to announce it. So The Watchdog does it for them. — North Texas doctors have quietly developed a plan that seeks to prepare …

Discussion: Forbes, HotAir, Patterico's Pontifications, Raw Story, Ace of Spades HQ and New York Times