Security Alert - Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan (August 21, 2021)  —  Event: Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions …

Biden focuses on domestic agenda, even as hot spots flare up elsewhere  —  Every morning this week at 8:45, a newly established “war room” has convened at the White House, with about 20 staffers logging onto a Zoom call to coordinate messaging and deployment of critical resources.

In Iowa, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz Take Trump's Baton  —  At a rally in Des Moines, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz showed that many Republicans do not plan to move on from the Trump era.  —  DES MOINES — Far from Washington, and even farther …

Minnesota GOP ‘in ruins’ after shocking scandal  —  Less than a year ago, Minnesota looked every bit a swing state.  Donald Trump was pouring millions of dollars into his campaign there, after nearly flipping the state in 2016, Republicans were making inroads in the ancestrally Democratic Iron Range.

Biden Ran on Competence and Empathy.  Afghanistan Is Testing That.  —  The chaotic endgame of the American withdrawal has undercut some of the most fundamental premises of President Biden's presidency.  —  For most of the last week, in the fires of the worst foreign policy crisis …

Pompeo Is Lying About Afghanistan  —  He laid the groundwork for the Taliban takeover.  Now he's blaming Biden.  —  Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump's former secretary of state, blames President Joe Biden for the chaos in Afghanistan.  “We're letting the Taliban run free and wild,” he complained a few days ago on Fox News.

‘The Temperature in Saigon Is 105 and Rising’  —  As a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam (1965-1966), a reporter who was among the last to be evacuated from Saigon by helicopter (1975) and a correspondent who covered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan from the Afghan side (1980) …

University of Virginia disenrolls unvaccinated students ahead of fall semester  —  Officials said 49 students who have registered for fall classes are not in compliance with the school's vaccine mandate  —  Forty-nine students who registered for fall classes at the University of Virginia …

American media can't quit the forever war  —  Respecting the troops means keeping them in Afghanistan forever, it seems  —  The American mainstream media is throwing a classic tantrum over President Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.  We've got the hastily-assembled pieces telling …

Mississippi officials warn against using livestock ivermectin to prevent COVID-19 after rise in poison control calls  —  “Please don't do that,” the state health officer said.  —  Mississippi's poison control center has seen an increase in calls of people taking ivermectin …

For China, America's messy Afghanistan exit is more than a laughing matter  —  The catastrophic failure of American might against a ragtag opponent relying on Mao Zedong-style tactics has given Beijing a propaganda coup and Chinese media a field day But beyond the scorn lie serious questions …

Elite Taliban unit wearing US gear appears to mock iconic American WWII photo  —  Propaganda videos show Taliban fighters carrying U.S. and U.S. ally-made weapons  —  Biden refuses to identify the Taliban as an enemy  —  A Taliban fighting unit called the Badri 313 Battalion …

Americans prepare to welcome thousands of Afghan refugees, even as political rhetoric heats up  —  As divisions emerge among some Republicans in Washington over how to handle the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, resettlement groups have been inundated with calls from ordinary Americans seeking …

Orlando urges reduced water usage as liquid oxygen used to purify water goes to COVID patients  —  The city of Orlando and its water utility made an urgent appeal Friday afternoon for residents to cut back sharply on water usage for weeks because of a pandemic-triggered shortage of liquid oxygen used to purify water.

The Elephant in the Room Republicans carefully run for president, not knowing if the last one will, too.  —  One night in June, hundreds of Republicans gathered in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, for two traditions: raising money for their party and listening to a presidential hopeful …

When it comes to population density, the region has a new neighborhood champ  —  We write about density frequently here at GGWash, and for good reason: great cities and regions are, fundamentally, about bringing a lot of people together — resulting in high population densities.

Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on Popular Posts  —  The company praised itself this week for being “the most transparent platform on the internet.”  —  When Facebook this week released its first quarterly report about the most viewed posts in the United States …

Fox News host Mark Levin's bestseller “American Marxism”: A work of staggering ignorance  —  Hothead Fox News host keeps calling the Frankfurt School the “Franklin School.”  Does he mean the Franklin Mint?  —  Fox News host Mark Levin's new book, “American Marxism,” has reached the No. 1 spot …

Rep. Katherine Clark, a potential Pelosi successor, failed to properly disclose stock trades worth as much as $285,000  — Clark was several weeks late in disclosing 19 of her husband's transactions.  — Clark is the US House's assistant speaker and No. 4 Democrat.

The Hill Is Sold to a TV Giant  —  The political news publication, which started as an insider's guide to Washington and greatly expanded its audience after it went digital, fetched a price of $130 million.  —  The local television behemoth Nexstar Media Group announced Friday that it had acquired The Hill …

DOJ wants three months in jail for Proud Boys leader who burned BLM flag  —  (CNN)The Justice Department told a judge on Friday that Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio should get three months in jail for burning a Black Lives Matter flag in December and bringing high-capacity rifle magazines to Washington …