Top Items:
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 …
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New York Times:
How News Organizations Got Afghan Colleagues Out of Kabul — The evacuation of those who worked for outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post came after a global rescue effort stretching from the Pentagon to Qatar. — For hours, they waited on the tarmac in the relentless heat …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and The Intercept, more at Mediagazer »
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
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:
Metro.co.uk, WV MetroNews, ABC News, RealClearPolitics and National Review
CNN:
US holding direct and daily talks with Taliban in effort to ease Biden's Afghanistan crisis — Washington (CNN)While the US State Department continues to engage in high-level diplomatic talks with the Taliban in the neutral setting of Doha, Qatar, as it has for the past year …
Discussion:
Townhall, Euractiv, Associated Press, Breitbart and Bloomberg
James Jay Carafano / New York Post:
Call Afghanistan what it is: The worst hostage crisis in American history
Call Afghanistan what it is: The worst hostage crisis in American history
Discussion:
Telegraph, The Daily Signal and AP-NORC
Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:
Hunted by the Taliban, US-Allied Afghan Forces Are in Hiding — The Afghan forces disintegrated ahead of the Taliban's rapid advance. Now, the militants are searching for thousands of Afghan soldiers and security officials. — Columns of Afghan soldiers in armored vehicles and pickup trucks sped through the desert to reach Iran.
Discussion:
The American Conservative, The Hill, The Daily Caller and HuffPost
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Reuters:
Planes, guns, night-vision goggles: The Taliban's new U.S.-made war chest — About a month ago, Afghanistan's ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul delivered by the United States. — “They'll continue to see a steady drumbeat …
Discussion:
Axios, The US Sun, The Daily Caller, The Captain's Journal and The Hill
Washington Post:
Biden administration faces big choices as economic calamity hangs over Afghanistan
Biden administration faces big choices as economic calamity hangs over Afghanistan
Discussion:
Macleans.ca, Becker News, BBC and Commentary Magazine
Michael Crowley / New York Times:
Trump's Deal With the Taliban Draws Fire From His Former Allies
Trump's Deal With the Taliban Draws Fire From His Former Allies
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Metro.co.uk, Townhall, coldfury.com and Daily Kos
Carla Marinucci / Politico:
Elder's ex-fiancee said he brandished a gun at her — PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Alexandra Datig, the former fiancee and longtime radio producer for California GOP gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, says she broke off an 18-month engagement with the conservative talk show host in 2015 …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, Insider, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, New York Magazine, Washington Times, KTLA, The Hill, Associated Press and Washington Post
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CNN:
‘Women exaggerate the problem of sexism’: Top California recall candidate Larry Elder has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women
‘Women exaggerate the problem of sexism’: Top California recall candidate Larry Elder has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women
Discussion:
Sacramento Bee and Insider
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:
New York Times, Forbes, HotAir, Ace of Spades HQ, Raw Story and Patterico's Pontifications
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker / wicker.senate.gov:
Wicker Office Statement on COVID-19 Diagnosis — WASHINGTON - The Office of Senator Roger F. Wicker Communications Director Phillip Waller today issued a statement after Senator Roger F. Wicker tested positive for COVID-19: — “Senator Wicker tested positive this morning for the COVID-19 virus …
Discussion:
New York Times, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, USA Today, Mediaite, Politico, Insider, NOQ Report, CNBC, CBS News and Washington Examiner
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Farnaz Fassihi / New York Times:
A 17-Year-Old Afghan Soccer Player Died Falling From a US Evacuation Plane — A member of Afghanistan's national youth soccer team was among the people who were killed as they tried desperately to cling to a U.S. military plane evacuating people from Kabul, the country's official sports federation said Thursday.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Mac Stipanovich / Tampa Bay Times:
Ron DeSantis has ‘made a monumental mess of masking in public schools’ | Column — Several school districts are doing the right thing despite the governor's threats, writes columnist Mac Stipanovich. — Ron DeSantis is a governor uninterested in actually governing …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:
Biden shouldn't cave to the bigots on evacuating our Afghan allies — Lots of explanations have been floated for why the Biden administration didn't get more Afghan allies and refugees out before U.S. troops withdrew, as it had been urged to do. — Maybe the problem was disorganization.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, HotAir, Deseret News, Breitbart, Raw Story, Page Array, Twitchy, Lawfare and Axios
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James Barragán / The Texas Tribune:
After a nearly six-week exodus over GOP voting bill, enough Democrats return to Texas House to resume work — Democrat Reps. Garnet Coleman, Armando Walle and Ana Hernandez were the latest to rejoin the House on Thursday, narrowly clinching a quorum. — Copy link
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Devyani Chhetri / Greenville News:
Greenville County GOP leader Pressley Stutts dies from COVID-19 — Greenville County Republican Party leader Pressley Stutts died Thursday morning after battling COVID-19 for nearly a month. — Stutts death was confirmed by Dan Harvell, who represents the Anderson County Republican Party …
Discussion:
The US Sun, Bipartisan Report, Crooks and Liars and WEB OF EVIL
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Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
South Carolina county Republican Party chair dies of COVID-19 after railing against mask requirements
South Carolina county Republican Party chair dies of COVID-19 after railing against mask requirements
Discussion:
WEB OF EVIL
BBC:
Afghanistan: Taliban carrying out door-to door manhunt, report says — The Taliban have stepped up their search for people who worked for Nato forces or the previous Afghan government, a UN document has warned. — It said the militants have been going door-to-door to find targets and threatening their family members.
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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:
The Hill, Arizona Republic and Arizona Mirror
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
OnlyFans to Block Sexually Explicit Videos Starting in October — OnlyFans is getting out of the pornography business. — The company will prohibit users from posting any sexually explicit conduct, starting in October. Creators will still be allowed to post nude photos and videos …
Discussion:
Axios, The Verge, National File, The Daily Beast, Gizmodo, Mashable, CatholicVote org, Slate, The A.V. Club, Forbes, Sputnik News, TechCrunch, WAVY-TV and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »
Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Almost all eligible Georgians are registered to vote, data shows — Federal election report: 95% of voting-age Georgians registered — Georgia now has one of the highest voter registration rates in the nation, with 95% of citizens over 18 years old signed up to vote, according to federal election data released this week.
Discussion:
@richlowry, Breitbart, The Intellectualist, RedState and Twitchy
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
Unvaccinated terror: Proud Boys push the anti-vaccination movement into a violent threat — The violent, fascist energy of January 6 didn't just disappear — After the January 6 insurrection at the U.S Capitol, domestic terrorism experts were worried about the potential for more violence.
Dave Levinthal / Insider:
Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger failed to properly disclose more than 700 stock trades worth as much as $10.9 million in violation of federal transparency law — Harshbarger disclosed hundreds of stock trades weeks or months after a federal deadline. — The tardy trades could invite an ethics investigation and fine.
Discussion:
The Intellectualist and Political Wire
Amnesty International USA:
Taliban responsible for brutal massacre of Hazara men - new investigation — Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan's Ghazni province last month, Amnesty International said today. — On-the-ground researchers spoke to eyewitnesses …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Are You Ready for Sentient Disney Robots? — Some of the animatronics at Disney's parks have been doing their herky-jerky thing since the Nixon administration. The company knows that nostalgia won't cut it with today's children. — GLENDALE, Calif. — I was en route to meet Groot.
Iain Axon / Reuters:
Former Afghan women's captain tells players to burn kits, delete photos — The former captain of the Afghan women's soccer team has urged players to delete social media, erase public identities and burn their kits for safety's sake now that the country is again under Taliban rule.
Alexei Navalny / The Guardian:
Only action against corruption can solve the world's biggest problems — In a message from his prison cell, the jailed Russian opposition activist calls for the west to take sanctions against oligarchs — xactly one year ago, I did not die from poisoning by a chemical weapon …
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio …