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 …

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 …

Trump's political operation paid more than $4.3 million to Jan. 6 organizers but questions remain about the full extent of its involvement  —  Former President Donald Trump's political operation reported paying more than $4.3 million to people and firms that organized the Jan. 6 rally since the start of the 2020 election.

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”.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

'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 …

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 …

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.

FBI: Texas shooter possibly inspired by foreign terrorists  —  GARLAND, Texas (AP) — Investigators are looking into whether a Texas man was inspired by foreign terrorists when he killed a Lyft driver in a Dallas suburb and later opened fire in the police station of another suburb where officers fatally shot him.

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 …

US travelers dropped from EU safe list as Covid cases surge  —  Sugam Pokharel, Aya Elamroussi and James Frater, CNN  —  (CNN) — The European Union recommended on Monday that Americans should be banned from nonessential travel to its member states after a rise in Covid-19 cases in the United States.

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.

Engel on Afghanistan Debacle: ‘Worst Capitulation of Western Values’  —  Text to Speech Font Size  —  At the conclusion of MSNBC's Morning Joe on Monday, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel reflected on the impact of the Biden administration's “chaotic withdrawal” from Afghanistan.

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.

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.

Stand-in for Hospitalized Conservative Attorney with More Than a Dozen Jan. 6 Clients Is Accused of Felonies and Is ‘Not a Licensed Attorney’: Feds  —  As high-profile conservative attorney John Pierce reportedly grapples with COVID-19, an employee has started appearing on behalf of suspected Jan. 6th rioters.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

American Humane Condemns Death Sentence Delivered to Contract Working Dogs Left Behind in Kabul, Afghanistan … About American Humane  —  American Humane is the country's first national humane organization.  Founded in 1877, American Humane is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare …

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 …