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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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”.

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.

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 …

Ivermectin Demand Surges Though It Doesn't Work for Covid-19  —  Prescriptions for ivermectin have jumped to more than 88,000 per week, some pharmacists are reporting shortages and people are overdosing on forms of the drug meant for horses.  —  For the past week, Dr. Gregory Yu …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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) …

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 …

No, Biden Didn't Fall Asleep Listening to Israel's Prime Minister.  Yes, You Fell for Fake News  —  Right-wing politicians and activists in Israel and the U.S. spread a false claim that the U.S. president fell asleep in his meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last week.  Here's what actually happened

EXCLUSIVE: Convicted rapist reached the U.S. on Afghan evacuation flight  —  A man who'd been convicted of rape and had previously been deported from the U.S. was allowed to board an Afghan evacuation flight and reach America, according to law enforcement sources.