memeorandum: Republicans Blame Pentagon Planner Colin Kahl for Bungled Afghanistan Strategy (Washington Free Beacon)

8:15 AM ET, September 2, 2021

Top Items:

Texas law could flip script on abortion politics, with Democrats eying gains — WASHINGTON — Virginia was once at the forefront of anti-abortion efforts, going to the Supreme Court to defend its right to prosecute a newspaper publisher for running an ad promoting abortion.

Discussion: Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Hill, ABC News and Politico

Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times:

The effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is struggling, new California poll shows — Most likely California voters are opposed to the Republican-led recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom and a growing number fear the consequences of removing him from office with a hard-right conservative best positioned …

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Sacramento Bee and Real Clear Politics

MSNBC:
Sen. Warren: Congress could pass Roe v. Wade

Discussion: Slate, The 19th, littlegreenfootballs.com and Breitbart

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Texas shows us what post-democracy America would look like

Discussion: Raw Story, Forbes, Insider, The 19th, Verdict, NPR, New York Times and littlegreenfootballs.com

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
The Supreme Court Overturned Roe v. Wade in the Most Cowardly Manner Imaginable

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Nation, Florida Politics, emptywheel, FOX 5 San Diego, NBC 6 South Florida and Al Jazeera

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Republicans Are Turning Activists Into Enforcers

Discussion: Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, littlegreenfootballs.com and The 19th

Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Supreme Court declines to block Texas 6-week abortion ban

Discussion: Insider, Associated Press, Bloomberg, UPI, The Daily Caller, SCOTUSblog, Daily Kos and CNN

Chabeli Carrazana / The 19th:
67 abortions in 17 hours: Inside a Texas clinic's race to beat new six-week abortion ban

Discussion: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Bloomberg Law, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, littlegreenfootballs.com, National Review and Law & Crime

Public Policy Institute of California:
PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government

Discussion: CNN, Los Angeles Times, KTLA, FOX 5 San Diego, Mercury News and New York Magazine

The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Texas Law SB8

Alyssa Lukpat / New York Times:

Joe Rogan, A Podcasting Giant Who Has Been Dismissive of Vaccination, Has Covid — Joe Rogan, the host of the hugely popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” said on Wednesday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus after he returned from a series of shows in Florida, where the virus is rampant.

Washington Post:
Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say

Discussion: The Atlantic and ScienceAlert

Politico:
Top U.S. diplomat during Kabul evacuation tests positive for Covid

Discussion: NPR, CBS News and Insider

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:
Sweetgreen CEO: Vaccines and Masks Will Not Save Us, But Salads Might

Discussion: CNBC, Gizmodo, New York Magazine and Eater

Geneva Sands / CNN:

White supremacist praise of the Taliban takeover concerns US officials — Video reportedly shows Taliban celebrating with military parade — (CNN)As the United States-backed government in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and US troops raced to leave the country, White supremacist …

Discussion: New Yorker, Raw Story, Mock Paper Scissors, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, Twitchy, Washington Free Beacon, New York Times and NBC News

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Cotton leads Senate GOP push on Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Beast and The Atlantic

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Don Lemon: ‘Stop beating up’ on Biden admin over Afghanistan, 'We don't know' if we left Americans behind

Discussion: Townhall, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

CNN:
McConnell: 'There isn't going to be an impeachment' of Biden

Discussion: National Review, Wall Street Journal, Townhall, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, New York Post, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Washington Times, Breitbart and Mediaite

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Facts are finally starting to penetrate bad Afghanistan punditry

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, New York Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNBC, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Insider

Reuters:
‘Everybody screwed up’: Blame game begins over turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, National Review and HuffPost

CNN:

Another Trump Organization executive to appear before NY grand jury as prosecutors probe former President's business — Toobin: Trump Organization can try to pretend this is Weisselberg problem — (CNN)The Trump Organization's corporate director of security is expected to appear …

Washington Post:

Trump Organization's security director agrees to testify to grand jury — The Trump Organization's director of security has agreed to testify before a Manhattan grand jury investigating the former president and his company, according to a person familiar with the case.

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Organization Employees to Testify Before Manhattan Grand Jury

Discussion: Bloomberg, Raw Story and CNBC

Luke Broadwater / New York Times:

McCarthy Threatens Technology Firms That Comply With Riot Inquiry — The top House Republican said his party would retaliate against any company that cooperated with an order to preserve the phone and social media records of G.O.P. lawmakers. — WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy …

Discussion: CNN, ABC News, Associated Press, New York Post, IJR, Washington Post, Insurrection and Insider

CNN:

Liz Cheney named vice chair of the January 6 select committee — (CNN)Democratic Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee Bennie Thompson announced on Thursday that Republican Rep. Liz Cheney will become the panel's vice chair, the latest sign that the Democrat-run committee is attempting …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and New York Times

Wall Street Journal: The Democratic Norm Breakers

CNN:
Biggs to call on McCarthy to boot Kinzinger and Cheney from GOP over January 6 probe

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Forbes, The Hill and Breitbart

Associated Press:

AP sources: Intel shows extremists to attend Capitol rally — WASHINGTON (AP) — Far right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to attend a rally later this month at the U.S. Capitol that is designed to demand “justice” for the hundreds of people who have been charged …

Discussion: Federal Bureau …, Raw Story and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Prosecutors: Jan. 6 rioters committed more than 1,000 assaults on police — The rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection committed more than 1,000 assaults on federal officers, according to a review of body-cam footage that prosecutors described in a court filing late Wednesday.

Discussion: Raw Story

Azi Paybarah / New York Times:

Record Rainfall Swamps Roads and Strands Travelers — Here's what you need to know: — ‘A historic weather event’: The New York area is under a state of emergency after Ida floods the city. — The New York area was under a state of emergency on Thursday after the remnants …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post, Washington Post, Associated Press, KTLA, Forbes and NPR

New York Times:
Scenes from New York City as Ida paralyzes region.

Discussion: Twitchy

New York Times:
Ida will bring heavy rain to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Post, Forbes, UPI, The Times of Israel, Raw Story, Associated Press and The Hill

New York Times:

Mueller Scrutinized an Unidentified Member of News Media in Russia Inquiry — The scrutiny was one of several new disclosures the Justice Department made about investigative actions involving the news media during the Trump years. — WASHINGTON — The special counsel who investigated …

Discussion: Insider, emptywheel, Mediaite, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Jean Guerrero / Los Angeles Times:

How anti-California propaganda and racism are driving the recall — In the summer of 2019, as early efforts to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom foundered, right-wing commentators launched a smear campaign against California to discredit its progressive policies and stoke anger at its leaders.

Politico:
The pandemic recall — THE PANDEMIC RECALL: Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking the same weapons Republicans used …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and The Hill

Trafalgar Group:
California Recall Election Aug Survey

Discussion: HotAir, TheBlaze and Orange County Register

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

For Afghan evacuees arriving to U.S., a tenuous legal status and little financial support — The Biden administration is preparing to screen and resettle tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees in the United States over the coming weeks and months, but the majority will arrive without visas as …

Jan Hoffman / New York Times:

Purdue Pharma Is Dissolved and Sacklers Pay $4.5 Billion to Settle Opioid Claims — The ruling in bankruptcy court caps a long legal battle over the fate of a company accused of fueling the opioid epidemic and the family that owns it. — Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin …

Discussion: Financial Times, The Bulwark, Gizmodo, Rolling Stone, The Times of Israel, CBS News, STAT, One America News Network, Law & Crime and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Brian Mann / NPR:
The Sacklers, Who Made Billions From OxyContin, Win Immunity From Opioid Lawsuits

Discussion: WWTV-TV/WWUP-TV, Reuters, CBS New York, Washington Post, Page Array, Washington Examiner, Common Dreams, UPI and The Daily Caller

Ramon Antonio Vargas / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Woman hurls racist slurs at Jefferson Parish workers, aims car at deputy, is shot dead — 'There didn't seem to be a whole lot right with her,' sheriff says — A crew of Jefferson Parish workers was repairing a Metairie water main broken by Hurricane Ida when a woman pulled up in her car Wednesday, called them “f—

Maya King / Politico:

The election gambit that's sending Georgia Democrats into a frenzy — Georgia Republicans say it's merely an attempt to improve a chronically mismanaged elections administration. — But a newly-formed election review panel in Atlanta's Fulton County is nevertheless sparking outrage …

Discussion: Raw Story

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:

DeSantis, Abbott Retain GOP Backing Even as Overall Popularity Declines Amid COVID-19 Surges — Florida and Texas governors have seen drops in support from independents, Democrats — 48% of voters in Florida and Texas approve of their respective governor's job performance, while similar shares disapprove.

Politico:

Democrats race to resolve House-Senate disputes on $3.5T megabill — Democrats are hustling to finalize their gigantic social spending plan during the dog days of summer recess, wary they will blow their target date to finish as Congress faces a crush of deadlines later this month.

Discussion: Fox News and FiveThirtyEight