memeorandum: The U.S. education department is investigating five states over their mask mandate bans. (Erica L. Green/New York Times)

2:30 PM ET, August 30, 2021

Top Items:

David Gilbert / VICE:

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 …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jake Zuckerman / Ohio Capital Journal:

Judge orders Cinci hospital to treat COVID-19 patient with Ivermectin, despite CDC warnings — A Butler County judge ruled in favor of a woman last week who sought to force a hospital to administer Ivermectin — an animal dewormer that federal regulators have warned against using in COVID-19 patients …

Discussion: HotAir, Boston.com, Crooks and Liars, Mock Paper Scissors and Political Wire

Brian C. Joondeph / American Thinker:

Who's Skipping the Vaccine? The Answer May Surprise You — Big media has been in overdrive pushing COVID vaccinations, at least after Joe Biden was ensconced in the White House. Remember that when Donald Trump was still president, the vaccines were suspect, simply because Trump played a major role in their development and rollout.

Discussion: Associated Press and Balloon Juice

James Osborne / Houston Chronicle:
You want tyranny? A war hero died because hospitals were full of COVID patients.

Discussion: Reason

Yelena Dzhanova / Insider:
An 88-year-old professor in Georgia resigned in the middle of class because a student refused to wear a mask over her nose: 'That's it, I'm retired'

Discussion: Georgia Recorder, New York Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and TheBlaze

Dan Levin / New York Times:
The U.S. reaches 100,000 average daily Covid hospitalizations for the first time since winter.

Discussion: WATE-TV

Jason Lemon / Newsweek:
Rand Paul Claims ‘Hatred for Trump’ Hindering Research Into Ivermectin as COVID Treatment

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, New York Times, The Hill, Florida Politics and POLITICUSUSA

Marisa Fernandez / Axios: CDC: Unvaccinated teacher caused an outbreak in classroom

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Rand Paul: ‘Hatred for Trump’ blocks Covid study of horse drug ivermectin

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Vanity Fair, POLITICUSUSA and IJR

David Rothkopf / The Atlantic:

Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan — America's longest war has been by any measure a costly failure, and the errors in managing the conflict deserve scrutiny in the years to come. But Joe Biden doesn't “own” the mayhem on the ground right now.

Discussion: Front Page Magazine, Washington Post, Issues & Insights, Newlines Magazine, Fox News, Crooks and Liars, POLITICUSUSA, Associated Press, The Western Journal, Insider, Patterico's Pontifications, New York Times, National Review, Insider, BizPac Review, Ace of Spades HQ and The Column

Lara Seligman / Politico:

Pentagon prepared for ‘mass casualty’ attack at Kabul Airport hours before explosion — Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon's daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Associated Press, New York Post, RedState, The Hill, National Review, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Task & Purpose, NBC News, Townhall, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, Denver Post and CNN

American Greatness:

Our Afghan Nightmare: Tanks for Nothing — Afghanistan has been reinvented as the best-equipped terrorist nation in the world, basking in the prestige of humiliating the world's superpower. — Joe Biden's scripted or no-questions press conferences, and the clean-up afterward by Antony Blinken …

Discussion: Associated Press, U.S. Central Command, CNN, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, DemCast, theepochtimes.com, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, UPI, Boston.com, Raw Story, Power Line and New York Times

Farnaz Fassihi / New York Times:

American University of Kabul students and alumni trying to flee were sent home. — Hundreds of students and alumni of American University of Kabul gathered at a safe house on Sunday and boarded buses in what was supposed to be a final attempt at evacuation on U.S. military flights, students and alumni said.

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, HotAir, New York Times, Politico, Townhall, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, RedState, BizPac Review, Mediaite, Raw Story, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Mercury News and ABC News

Anita Kumar / Politico:
As Biden winds down Afghanistan, a refugee backlash looms at home

Discussion: Washington Post, Reason, Washington Free Beacon, Reuters, Associated Press, The Federalist, ImmigrationProf Blog, New York Post, Washington Examiner and Informed Comment

Michael Tomasky / New Republic:
Be Glad Donald Trump Isn't Running the Show in Afghanistan

Discussion: Insider, Washington Examiner, NPR, Washington Post, Raw Story, Erick Erickson's Confessions …, The Federalist and The Daily Signal

Mark MacKinnon / Globe and Mail: Ukrainian troops rescue Canada-bound Afghans in daring operation

New York Post:
The fatal failure of Gen. Mark A. Milley over closing Bagram Air Base

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Associated Press, New York Times and Politico

Dave Lawler / Axios:
What Taliban rule will look like in the new old Afghanistan

Discussion: BizPac Review, Outside the Beltway and One America News Network

ED News:

Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Opens Investigations in Five States Regarding Prohibitions of Universal Indoor Masking — Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov — Today, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) …

Discussion: Fox News, CBS News, The Hill, Insider and Axios

Laura Meckler / Washington Post: Biden administration opens civil rights investigations over bans on school mask mandates

Collin Binkley / Associated Press:
State mask bans face federal civil rights inquiries

Discussion: Bloomberg, National Review, POLITICUSUSA and abc7NY

Juan Perez Jr / Politico:
Education Department to probe 5 states with ‘unacceptable’ school mask bans

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Erica L. Green / New York Times:
The U.S. education department is investigating five states over their mask mandate bans.

Discussion: CNN and Political Wire

Associated Press:

Ida weakens as rescues begin and damage checked in Louisiana — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Ida became a tropical storm as its top winds slowed over Mississippi on Monday, while across southeast Louisiana residents waited for daylight to be rescued from floodwaters and see how much damage …

Discussion: New Republic, Reuters, Bloomberg, New Orleans Times-Picayune, NPR, Daily Kos, Fox News, CBS News, Associated Press, The Hill and Office of Governor …

Amie Just / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
All of New Orleans without power after Hurricane Ida leaves ‘catastrophic transmission damage’

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, NBC News, UPI, Gizmodo, CBS News, New York Times, The Root, WWL-TV, HotAir, New York Post, Insider, Mediaite, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Townhall, KFOR-TV, Common Dreams, abc7NY and The Daily Beast

Wall Street Journal:
Ida Makes Landfall Near New Orleans, Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane

Discussion: UPI, USA Today, The Weather Channel, Insider, New York Post, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, Gizmodo, NPR, The Atlantic, Informed Comment, Common Dreams, Associated Press, New York Times, KRON4, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and New York Times

Theresa Braine / New York Daily News:

Another conservative anti-vaccine radio talk show host succumbs to COVID, third in a month — A conservative Florida radio host who was dead-set against taking a coronavirus vaccine is now dead. — Marc Bernier died Saturday of COVID-19 after a three-week battle, his bereft radio station announced.

Discussion: Morning Shots, The Root, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Cheyenne Ubiera / The Daily Beast:
COVID Claims the Life of Third Anti-Vaxx Conservative Radio Host

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian and Slate

Joshua Rhett Miller / New York Post:
A third anti-vaccine conservative radio host dies of COVID-19

Discussion: The American Independent, HuffPost and The Hill

Bloomberg:

EU to Reimpose Travel Curbs on U.S. Amid Rise in Covid Cases — The move will come as a blow to airlines banking on reopening — New American cases exceed the limit set earlier by the bloc — European Union countries voted to subject the U.S. to fresh restrictions on nonessential travel amid …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Review and Financial Times

Samuel Petrequin / Associated Press:
EU takes US off safe travel list; backs travel restrictions

Discussion: CBS News and Ground News

Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:

Bombshell Lawsuit Has ‘GMA’ Co-Hosts at Each Other's Throats, Sources Say — Sources said a lawsuit accusing GMA's former executive producer of sexual assault has opened a new rift between the show's hosts and raised the anger of staffers demanding answers.

Discussion: HotAir, more at Mediagazer »

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Disney Held Unsuccessful Mediation Talks With Alleged Sexual-Assault Victims

Discussion: Variety, Deadline and Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »

Houston Keene / Fox News:

Family of Marine killed in Afghanistan slams Biden meeting as scripted, a ‘total disregard’ to Marine's death — “You can't f— up as bad as he did and say you're sorry,” Marine's sister said of Biden — Karl Rove: Biden's decision to ‘limit number of troops’ in Afghanistan led to Bagram closing

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, HotAir, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

Keith Zhai / Wall Street Journal:

China Limits Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People — New regulation will ban minors from playing videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday — SINGAPORE—China has a new rule for the country's hundreds of millions of young gamers: No videogames during the school week …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, MSN, Gizmodo, HotAir and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Hate crimes rise to highest level in 12 years amid increasing attacks on Blacks, Asians, FBI says — The number of hate crimes in the United States rose in 2020 to the highest level in 12 years, propelled by increasing assaults targeting Black and Asian victims, the FBI reported Monday.

Sherman Smith / Kansas Reflector:

Jeff Colyer diagnosed with prostate cancer, ends campaign for Kansas governor — TOPEKA — Jeff Colyer announced Monday he was ending his campaign for Kansas governor and receiving treatment for prostate cancer. — Colyer's departure from the race clears the way for Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt …

Discussion: Political Wire

Eleanor Eagan / American Prospect:

Merrick Garland Is Failing His Biggest Test — Through either trepidation or cowardice, the Justice Department has shrunk from the onslaught of conservative legal opposition to the Biden agenda. — Attorney General Merrick Garland listens to community leaders at a youth baseball game sponsored …

Discussion: Politico, Salon, Unfogged and Pennsylvania Capital-Star

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:

The Obvious Voting-Rights Solution That No Democrat Will Propose — Democrats in Congress are considering a policy that was long unthinkable: a federal requirement that every American show identification before casting a ballot. But as the party tries to pass voting-rights legislation …