memeorandum: ‘Pain compliance’: Video shows trooper pummeling Black man (Associated Press)

9:50 AM ET, August 25, 2021

Top Items:

Two Congress members make unauthorized trip to Kabul amid evacuation efforts — Two members of Congress made an unauthorized whirlwind trip to Kabul early Tuesday, leaving less than 24 hours later on a flight used for evacuating U.S. citizens, allies and vulnerable Afghans.

Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:

In Kabul, Private Rescue Efforts Grow Desperate as Time to Evacuate Afghans Runs Out — Defense contractor Erik Prince charges $6,500 a person, other groups' planes leave Kabul empty — A disparate group of American veterans, military contractors, aid workers and former spies is scrambling …

Discussion: abc7NY

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

A Better Afghan Policy — What would it have been? — What might a more successful exit from Afghanistan have looked like? — I have spent some time talking with colleagues and experts about that question, and it is a difficult one to answer. President Biden's exit certainly has not gone well.

Discussion: Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vox and Reason, more at Mediagazer »

Sami Sadat / New York Times:

The Afghan Army Collapsed Against the Taliban. Here's Why. — General Sadat is a commander in the Afghan National Army. — For the past three and a half months, I fought day and night, nonstop, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province against an escalating and bloody Taliban offensive.

Discussion: NaturalNews.com and Foreign Affairs

John Sexton / HotAir:

Is Jen Rubin now doing PR for the Taliban now or just lying by omission? — Jen Rubin has been supporting and defending the Biden administration on every possible front for months but she has really put her flack-act into high gear since Biden's drawdown of troops in Afghanistan has turned into a disaster.

Discussion: Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Western Journal and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:

Afghanistan's Falling Man: The 17-Year-Old Soccer Star Who Plunged From a U.S. Military Jet — Zaki Anwari saw no future as the Taliban streamed into Kabul. Viral images of his death horrified the world. — Hundreds of Afghans swarmed the runway of Hamid Karzai International Airport attempting …

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Post, Reuters, Townhall, National Review, HotAir, IJR, Politico and USA Today

Lara Jakes / New York Times:

How Many People in Afghanistan Need to be Rescued? The Number Remains Elusive. — U.S. officials are reluctant to provide an estimate of the one number that matters most in their stream of evacuation updates. — WASHINGTON — More than 70,700 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan as of Tuesday evening.

Discussion: Mediaite, Insider, Politico, National Review, Crooks and Liars, The Hill, Forbes, Independent Chronicle, Financial Times, New York Post and The American Spectator

Ben Smith / New York Times:
How Mexico Helped The Times Get Its Journalists Out of Afghanistan

more at Mediagazer »

Washington Examiner:
Biden's credibility crisis spreads far past Afghanistan

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Fox News

Roosevelt Room / The White House:
Remarks by President Biden on the Ongoing Evacuation Efforts in Afghanistan and the House Vote on the Build Back Better Agenda

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Examiner and Power Line

Joseph Klein / Front Page Magazine:
Biden's Gift to Global Jihadists: A Safe National Homeland

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall, Washington Post, Washington Post and BizPac Review

Charles Lane / Washington Post:
The U.S. must not leave Kabul without these students

Discussion: Inside Higher Ed, RedState and Washington Examiner

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Can the U.S. work with the Taliban in Afghanistan? That's the central question.

Discussion: San Diego Union-Tribune, New York Times and RedState

Bonchie / RedState:
Joe Biden, With Eyes Bloodshot and Five Hours Late, Insults Everyone Watching With Surreal Presser

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Mediaite, Townhall, HotAir, Instapundit and NBC News

NBC News:
Fury and disgust at CIA, Pentagon and in Congress that thousands of Afghans will be left behind

Discussion: New York Times, Representative Claudia Tenney, Townhall, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Times, The American Mind, Washington Examiner, Insider, MSNBC, Politico, Fox News, CNN, CNBC, The Capitolist, eVille Times, The Christian Post and Rasmussen Reports

New York Times:
Interview With Kathy Hochul: Sensing a ‘Weight of Responsibility’

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Examiner

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Biden Has Shown Us That His Promises Are Worthless

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The US Sun and Trish Regan's Intel

Carl Zimmer / New York Times:

Second Dose of J. & J. Vaccine Gives Strong Boost, Company Reports — Johnson & Johnson will submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration, which is evaluating similar data on boosters from Pfizer and Moderna. — A booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine dramatically raises …

Discussion: CNN, Content Lab U.S., Washington Examiner, HotAir, Politico, CBS News, UPI, Financial Times, WKRN-TV, NPR, STAT and 6abc

JoNel Aleccia / Kaiser Health News:
Hot Spots Where Covid Vaccination Lags Push Experimental Antibody Treatment

Discussion: TCPalm.com

Andrew Demillo / Associated Press:
Arkansas runs out of intensive care beds for COVID patients

Discussion: The Hill and Axios

Joe Kovacs / WND:
Gab launches brand-new job board to help unvaccinated Americans

Discussion: Gab News

Thomas Mates / WKMG:
Children 5 to 14 make up largest group of new COVID cases in Orange County

Discussion: CNBC

Eduardo Medina / New York Times:
Ohio State announces a vaccine mandate for students and employees.

Discussion: Ohio State announces …, The Hill, Jackson County, Oregon, USA, TheBlaze, Fox News, The Daily Caller, National Review, The Hill, Washington Examiner, HotAir and Washington Post

New York Times:
Many Older Americans Still Aren't Vaccinated, Making the Delta Wave Deadlier

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Centers for Disease Control …, Axios, Fox News, Politico, KTLA, Forbes, CNN, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Jackie Salo / New York Post: Fauci: Early use of monoclonal antibodies can cut risk of hospitalization, death up to 85%

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC: CDC study shows unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

The Supreme Court's stunning, radical immigration decision, explained — The Court's decision on Trump's “Remain in Mexico” policy upends decades of precedent warning that judges shouldn't mess with foreign affairs. — The Supreme Court handed down an order Tuesday evening that makes no sense.

Discussion: HotAir, CBS News, Townhall, Conservative Brief, The Federalist, Crooks and Liars, Al Jazeera, Page Array, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and Insider

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court says Biden administration must comply with ruling to restart ‘remain in Mexico’ program for asylum seekers — The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Biden administration must comply with a lower court's ruling to reinstate President Donald Trump's policy that required …

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, Politico, Reuters, Reason, Washington Examiner, Slate, CNN, SCOTUSblog, New York Times, Law & Crime, NBC News, Roll Call, UPI, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, National Review, Washington Free Beacon and Political Wire

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Ron DeSantis's anti-mask mania is deeply unpopular. Democrats must jump on that. — We now have a quality poll — from Quinnipiac University — that seeks to probe public opinion on the great mask debate in Florida in a lot of fine-grained detail. And the conclusion is clear: Anti-mask derangement is losing the argument.

Discussion: CNN, ABC News, Crooks and Liars, PRESS RUN, Sun-Sentinel, Raw Story, HotAir and Discourse.net

Valerie Strauss / Washington Post:
More than half of Florida's students now go to schools mandating masks in defiance of DeSantis

Discussion: Quinnipiac University Poll

Lucia Baez-Geller / CNN:
Why I voted to defy Ron DeSantis on masks for schools

Discussion: Washington Post and Crooks and Liars

Associated Press:

‘Pain compliance’: Video shows trooper pummeling Black man — MONROE, La. (AP) — Graphic body camera video kept secret for more than two years shows a Louisiana State Police trooper pummeling a Black motorist 18 times with a flashlight — an attack the trooper defended as “pain compliance.”

Shibani Mahtani / Washington Post:

Harris, in Vietnam, gets a dose of China's challenge to the U.S. — Vice President Harris, on her second international trip in the role, got a taste of the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China as she flew into Vietnam — a former U.S. adversary wary of Beijing's growing dominance and now courted by Washington.

Discussion: Responsible Statecraft, CNBC and Associated Press

Brie Stimson / Fox News:
Kamala Harris arrives in Vietnam after delay over possible ‘Havana syndrome’ case

Discussion: RealClearInvestigations, Axios, Associated Press and NPR

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver / The Hill:

Democrats shouldn't squander the opportunity to pass transformative legislation — About 2000 years ago, a Jewish man with Roman citizenship shouted out the words, “Do thyself no harm.” I would commend those words of Saul of Tarsus to the members of the Democratic Caucus.

Discussion: Washington Post

Tony Romm / Washington Post:
House passes $3.5 trillion budget plan, aims to vote on infrastructure package by late September

Politico:

Secret Service warned Capitol Police about violent threats 1 day before Jan. 6 — Just a day before the Jan. 6 riot, the Secret Service warned the U.S. Capitol Police that their officers could face violence at the hands of supporters of former President Donald Trump, according to new documents reviewed by POLITICO.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Political Wire

New York Times:

About 89% of Rental Assistance Funds Have Not Been Distributed, Figures Show — Just $1.7 billion in funds intended to prevent eviction were disbursed in July as the White House braces for a Supreme Court decision that could strike down its eviction moratorium.

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Breaking: Herschel Walker is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia — Former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker — at the urging of former President Donald Trump —launched a campaign Tuesday for the U.S. Senate, bringing both his celebrity and his untested political background …

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Herschel Walker on Senate bid: 'I can't sit on the sidelines anymore.'

Discussion: Associated Press, CNN and Fox News

Ally Mutnick / Politico:

How screwed is Adam Kinzinger? — Former President Donald Trump would love to take down Adam Kinzinger, one of his chief House GOP antagonists, in next year's midterms. But Democrats might beat him to it. — Illinois lawmakers are on the verge of rolling out a new congressional map …

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

FCC looks to fine conservative activists $5 million for false mail voting robocalls — The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $5.1 million fine against conservative activists Jacob Wohl and John Burkman and J.M. Burkman & Associates for making 1,141 unlawful robocalls that made false claims …