memeorandum: Gaza: Israel's May Airstrikes on High-Rises (Human Rights Watch)

6:50 AM ET, August 23, 2021

Top Items:

Biden doesn't plan to fire anyone over Kabul chaos, sources say — Biden isn't inclined to fire any senior national security officials over the chaos in Kabul unless the situation drastically deteriorates.

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post and TheBlaze

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

Hundreds of Afghans arrive at Northern Virginia Community College, greeted by outpouring of support — They kept coming: people carrying bags of clothes, bags of toiletries, bags of diapers and baby formula and toys and books. — All were donations for the hundreds of Afghan refugees …

Washington Post:

Biden says safe zone around Kabul airport to expand, as Pentagon enlists commercial airlines to aid evacuations — President Biden said Sunday that the U.S. military is “executing a plan” to move stranded American citizens to the Kabul airport in greater numbers, including through an expansion …

Discussion: New York Times, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, 6abc, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Washington Times, NPR and Fox News

NBC News:

Afghan staff at U.S. Embassy losing faith in evacuation efforts, diplomatic cable says — WASHINGTON — Local staff members at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul are “deeply disheartened” by U.S. evacuation efforts and have expressed a sense of betrayal and distrust in the American government …

Discussion: Insider, Washington Times, The Western Journal, UPI, Forbes and Washington Post

Reuters:

U.S. ‘unwavering’ in Afghanistan evacuations, Biden says; Taliban beat back crowd at airport — The United States has an “unwavering commitment” to get U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans to safety out of Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said, as Taliban fighters beat back thousands desperate to flee outside Kabul airport on Sunday.

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, CNN, Al Jazeera, Politico, Slate and New York Post

Jon Craig / Sky News:
Afghanistan: Tony Blair slams President Biden for ‘imbecilic’ military pullout and says crisis risks relegating UK to ‘second division of global powers’

Discussion: Hackwhackers, The Daily Caller and Mother Jones

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Distinguished persons of the week: Let's hear it for the deep state

Discussion: New Republic, The American Spectator, The Irish Times, NBC News and Twitchy

Matt Viser / Washington Post:
Afghans' suffering is ‘heartbreaking’ but unavoidable, Biden says

Discussion: Boston.com, Boston Herald, Breitbart, Washington Times, HotAir, Fox News and U.S. Department of Defense

Josie Ensor / Telegraph:
Joe Biden's aides ‘too afraid’ to tell him he was wrong on Afghanistan, say White House insiders

Discussion: New York Times, Townhall, Power Line, The American Conservative, Washington Times, Morning Shots and Louder With Crowder

David French / The Dispatch: They Held the Line — The sacrifice in Afghanistan was not in vain.

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Biden began to rebut negative story lines about Afghanistan

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Reuters, Fox News and Becker News

Bruce Haring / Deadline:
Fox News Rescues Afghan Nationals Who Aided Correspondents

Discussion: Fox News and RedState

E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
The Afghanistan outcome is ugly. Biden was still right to say: Enough.

Discussion: HotAir, POLITICUSUSA, E-International Relations and BizPac Review

Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:
What We Left Behind in Afghanistan

Discussion: Washington Post

Financial Times:
Johnson to host emergency G7 talks on Afghanistan with role sought for China and Russia

Discussion: Reuters and Townhall

Washington Post:
Rush of Afghan evacuees to Qatar leaves many crammed in hot hangar, facing an uncertain future

Discussion: Gizmodo, New York Magazine, Power Line, Insider and The Drive

Dominic Green / The Spectator World:
Biden must go — (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Discussion: Instapundit

Devan Cole / CNN:
GOP congressman places blame on Trump admin for crisis in Afghanistan: ‘They set this up to fail’

Discussion: Raw Story and BizPac Review

Martin E. Comas / Associated Press:

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz marries girlfriend in California elopement — MIAMI (AP) — U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, eloped to Southern California and married his girlfriend Ginger Luckey on Saturday in a small ceremony on Catalina Island. — The controversial 39-year-old Republican …

Abigail Tracy / Vanity Fair:
“Trump Was an Inspiration for Me”: Matt Gaetz Tries to Shift the Narrative With a MAGA Romance

Discussion: The Guardian, Insider, The US Sun and Fox News

Charles Gaba / ACA Signups:

A month later, let's check in on the GOP's (supposed) COVID vaccination messaging 180º turnaround — Exactly a month ago I posted an in-depth analysis in which I broke out all 3,114 counties, parishes, boroughs & census areas throughout the 50 United States (+DC) into a 3x3 grid as follows:

Discussion: NBC News and Wall Street Journal

Mercury News:
Exclusive: First U.S. COVID deaths came earlier — and in different places — than previously thought

Discussion: Raw Story and Outside the Beltway

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post: How the U.S. vaccination drive came to rely on an army of consultants

Silas House / The Atlantic:

Some Americans No Longer Believe in the Common Good — As a child in eastern Kentucky, I often helped my grandmother work in her large garden, lush with tomatoes, beans, okra, potatoes, and peppers. Granny was born in 1909, 62 years before me. As we hoed the long rows …

Discussion: TheBlaze

Brian Kahn / Gizmodo:

Trump's Border Wall Torn Apart by Arizona Monsoon Rains — Record monsoon rains have blown floodgates off their hinges as Trump's border wall breaks down. — Alerts — It turns out ignoring bedrock environmental laws may not have been the best choice for a multibillion-dollar construction project.

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Let's take the win. Let's do infrastructure first. — The authors are Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Georgia, Hawaii, California, Texas, Maine, New Jersey and Oregon. — Time kills deals. This is an old business saying and the essence of why we are pushing …

Discussion: The Hill

Allan Smith / NBC News:

Trump booed at Alabama rally after telling supporters to get vaccinated … Former President Donald Trump was booed at a rally on Saturday in Alabama after telling supporters they should get vaccinated. — “And you know what? I believe totally in your freedoms. I do.

Discussion: HuffPost, Mother Jones and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story: ‘What traitors do’: Trump slammed for praising Taliban at Alabama rally

Human Rights Watch:

Gaza: Israel's May Airstrikes on High-Rises — Apparently Unlawful Attacks Cause Major Lasting Harm — The Israeli military's airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during the May 2021 fighting apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:

Democrats scramble to reclaim lost ground in statehouse battles — Arizona state Sen. Lela Alston (D) was sitting at home on Nov. 3 last year huddled with her campaign advisers on Zoom with “huge expectations” that her party could flip at least one chamber of the state legislature.

Adam Elmahrek / Los Angeles Times:

State officials open investigation into whether Larry Elder failed to disclose income sources — California regulators have launched an investigation into whether recall election gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder failed to properly disclose his income sources, a spokesman …

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Hospitals and Insurers Didn't Want You to See These Prices. Here's Why. — The price for an M.R.I. at Mass General is ... Do you have a medical bill we should investigate? Share it with us. — This year, the federal government ordered hospitals to begin publishing a prized secret …