In Afghanistan, an Unceremonious End, and a Shrouded Beginning  —  The last American flight from Afghanistan left behind a host of unfulfilled promises and anxious questions about the country's fate.  —  The end of the United States' longest war was unceremonious — trash blowing across …

QAnon Anti-Vaxxer Called COVID a Hoax Even as His ‘Lungs Stopped Functioning’  —  Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer turned conspiracy theorist who claimed to be the first person to call COVID-19 a hoax, has died from COVID-19.  —  Steele, who was among the earliest QAnon promoters …

January 6 committee to ask telecommunications companies to preserve phone records of members of Congress who participated in ‘Stop the Steal’ rally  —  (CNN)The House Select Committee investigating the deadly January 6 riot is set to request that a group of telecommunications companies preserve …

Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America's longest war  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America's longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures …

Statement by President Joe Biden  —  I want to thank our commanders and the men and women serving under them for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled - in the early morning hours of August 31, Kabul time - with no further loss of American lives.

The Density Divide and the Southernification of Rural America  —  The Old North/South Split Lives on in the Urban/Rural Divide  —  When I was a kid, the accents changed.  Driving north from central Iowa through the corn toward Minnesota, the dialect would gradually get a little Fargo …

Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans  —  In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half - dropping from 70% in 2016 to 35% this year.  This decline is fueling the continued widening …

Biden breaks promise to ‘stay’ in Afghanistan until every American evacuated  —  Biden promised in interview: 'If there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay to get them all out'  —  Lawmakers' demand action against Biden over Afghanistan crisis  —  President Biden appears to have broken …

Laurence Tribe: If Garland doesn't prosecute Trump, the rule of law is “out the window”  —  Eminent constitutional law expert: If Biden and Garland won't go after Trump, country is in “desperate trouble”  —  If American democracy were a hospital patient, the diagnosis would be “critical”.

'Don't you ever forget that name': Biden's tough meeting with grieving relatives  —  President Biden made his way on Sunday around a quiet room at Dover Air Force Base, a chamber filled with couches and chairs, with dignitaries and grieving families huddling together as the president came …

Los Angeles Magazine Gives Union President the Profile She's Earned  —  Something's spreading through newsrooms and it's not the coronavirus.  —  Soon after Emma Green of The Atlantic challenged the well-worn talking points of NEA President Becky Pringle, we get Jason McGahan of Los Angeles Magazine …

Education Department probing 5 states over mask mandate bans  —  The Education Department said Monday that it launched investigations into five GOP-led states that banned mask mandates in schools.  —  Driving the news: In letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina …

A judge asked a mother if she got the coronavirus vaccine.  She said no, and he revoked custody of her son.  —  When Rebecca Firlit joined a virtual court hearing with her ex-husband earlier this month, the Chicago mother expected the proceedings to focus on child support.  —  But the judge had other plans.

Former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, a rising right-wing radio star, doesn't care if you call her a murderer  —  OUTSIDE OF DALLAS — Dana Loesch strides with purpose in chunky black unlaced boots.  Past the wrought-iron chandelier and red upholstered dining-table chairs that evoke some medieval castle.

Hurricane Ida Is a Manmade Disaster  —  “The wind is tearing Pointe-Aux-Chenes apart,” Albert Naquin told me Sunday afternoon.  He was standing in his carport, watching as the first eyewall of Hurricane Ida passed over the bayou where he has lived for almost his entire life.

How Turf Wars Mucked Up America's Exit From Afghanistan  —  In July, at Antony Blinken's State Department, bureaucratic decisions affecting the Afghan withdrawal, one insider said, were “slightly more organized than a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.”  —  On the afternoon of July 9, 2021 …

Twitter Permanently Bans Former NYT Journalist Alex Berenson  —  We previously discussed how Twitter's growing censorship program has targeted former New York Times journalist and author Alex Berenson who is an outspoken critic of the government's scientific claims and response to the pandemic.

AOC, Tlaib, Pressley call on Biden to dump Powell as Fed chair  —  Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley on Monday called for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to be replaced, stepping up the pressure on President Joe Biden as he draws closer to a decision on the government's most important economic post.

Substack Farewell  —  Man bites dog, quitting Substack to work for magazine.  —  A little more than a year ago I lost my job at a mainstream publication and put out my shingle on Substack.  I titled my newsletter Backbencher, a term I knew many potential readers in the United States wouldn't know …

Rep. Cawthorn talks of ‘bloodshed’ over future elections as he pushes voting lies  —  Washington (CNN)Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn on Sunday suggested there could be “bloodshed” over future elections as he pushed false claims about election security and voter fraud.

PHOTOS: Elizabeth Warren Partied Maskless With Actual Native Americans at Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's Wedding  —  Attendees violated New Mexico's indoor mask mandate, putting lives at risk  —  Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in history …

Margaritaville and the Myth of American Leisure  —  Margaritaville, as Parrotheads will tell you, is a state of mind.  But it's also — delightfully, sometimes inexplicably — a real place now open in Times Square.  —  The 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar does not open until 5 o' Clock …

Federal judge throws out Trump administration rule allowing the draining and filling of streams, marshes and wetlands  —  A federal judge on Monday threw out a major Trump administration rule scaling back federal protections for streams, marshes and wetlands across the United States …

Giuliani's PR Guru Resigns as Legal Walls Close In  —  Rudy Giuliani's high-profile, 22-year-old communications director has resigned amid Giuliani's mounting legal troubles. … As Rudy Giuliani navigates an increasingly lonely and stormy world amid a federal investigation …