The Commentariat -- September 7, 2021

Afternoon Update:

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "The C.D.C. reported a terrifying fact in July: Vaccinated people with the Delta variant of the Covid virus carried roughly the same viral load in their noses and throats as unvaccinated people. The news seemed to suggest that even the vaccinated were highly vulnerable to getting infected and passing the virus to others.... In recent weeks, however, more data has become available, and it suggests that the true picture is less alarming.... If you're vaccinated, a Covid infection is still uncommon, and those high viral loads are not as worrisome as they initially sounded. How small are the chances of the average vaccinated American contracting Covid? Probably about one in 5,000 per day, and even lower for people who take precautions or live in a highly vaccinated community."

Fauci States the Obvious. Madeline Holcombe of CNN: "Dr. Anthony Fauci says there's an important step adults can take to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'The way you protect children who, because of their age, cannot get vaccinated yet is to surround the children ... the children with vaccinated people,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN on Sunday. More children have needed emergency room visits and hospitalizations in states with lower vaccination rates, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Afghanistan. Jim Huylebroek & Matthieu Aikins of the New York Times: "The Taliban announced their choices for several acting cabinet positions on Tuesday, but held off on formally announcing a permanent government for Afghanistan.... The announcement came just hours after the Taliban used force to break up a demonstration by hundreds of women in Kabul. The protesters called for the Taliban to respect their rights and made it clear that they would not easily surrender the gains they have made over the past two decades. Running a government will most likely prove more daunting than toppling one. To succeed, the Taliban will need to secure desperately needed aid, which has been frozen by the United States and other nations. Foreign governments and lenders are waiting to see the fate of the opposition and if rights for women and ethnic and religious minorities will be respected. Without that money, the government faces worsening challenges, including humanitarian and economic crises that have forced Afghans to flee. Basic services like electricity are under threat, and the United Nations warned that food aid would run out by the end of the month for hundreds of thousands of Afghans." ~~~

~~~ AP: "An Afghan employee of an American organization in Afghanistan says the Taliban are blocking her and hundreds of other people from boarding charter evacuation flights out of Afghanistan.... The U.S. organization, Ascend, has worked for years with Afghan women and girls. The woman is among several hundred people, reportedly including American citizens and green card holders, who say they have been waiting in large residence halls and hotels for more than a week for permission to board waiting charter flights out of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.... She says the American citizens she has met in the group are vulnerable people in their 70s, parents of Afghan Americans in the United States. Taliban officials say they will let people who have the proper passports and other documentation leave. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday denied claims from Republican lawmakers that the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif amounted to a hostage-taking...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This morning, a representative of a rescue operation, speaking on CNN, said that his organization had to move vulnerable Afghans through 20 "checkpoints," where the "checkers" demanded payoffs of up to $4,000 for each person they allowed through. I don't know if that's true, but assuming it is, demanding huge bounties is, IMO, comparable to hostage-taking.

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Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is exploring 'all options' to challenge Texas's restrictive abortion law, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday, as he vowed to provide support to abortion clinics that are 'under attack' in the state and to protect those seeking and providing reproductive health services. The move by the nation's top law enforcement official comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas abortion statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. The court's action stands as the most serious threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling establishing a woman's right to abortion, in nearly 50 years." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Here's a statement from Garland.

Abigail Williams & Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The U.S. facilitated the safe departure of four American citizens overland from Afghanistan on Monday, a senior State Department official said. The news came while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was en route to Doha, Qatar.... 'The Taliban was aware and did not impede their transit,' the official said, adding that the Americans were in good condition."

Republicans Are Winning. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "This year alone, 12 states have passed income tax reductions, 17 states have increased voting restrictions that are expected to hit Democratic constituencies more critically, and 18 states have enacted new or expanded school choice programs, according to the tallies kept by interest groups. Republican governors in several states have also had success in undermining President Biden's efforts to require masks for schoolchildren and others in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.... By focusing on state and judicial power, Republicans are enjoying something of a provincial policy renaissance. Democrats, meantime, face new pressures to wield their power more aggressively by breaking long-standing precedent.... The success has rewarded a long-running Republican strategy of looking beyond the top-line national ballot trend to focus on state and local elections and judicial appointments." ~~~

~~~ Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Red and blue states are increasingly moving in opposite directions on how millions of Americans can cast their ballots, exacerbating a growing divide as Republicans in states across the country -- most recently Texas -- impose new voting restrictions, while Democrats in others expand access. The conflicting trends are widening the disparities in election policy in the wake of the 2020 election, with Republicans heeding ... Donald Trump's calls to tighten rules and Democrats moving to make permanent many voting policies that helped turnout soar during the pandemic. At least 18 states this year enacted 30 laws restricting access to voting, according to an analysis as of mid-July by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice." ~~~

~~~ Zach Montellaro of Politico:"GOP legislative leaders in key battleground states are increasingly embracing 2020 election investigations that they once held at arm's length, as Arizona Republicans await a long-delayed final report from their own conspiracy-tinged 'audit.' Top Republicans in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have recently thrown their support behind new hunts for fraud or irregularities in the last election. Pennsylvania state Senate President Jake Corman sidelined a prominent Republican backbencher who had tried to lead an investigation and instead empowered a committee chair to launch one with his support. That effort is hiring vendors and scheduling hearings.... It's the next stage in GOP efforts to export the Republican election review in Arizona elsewhere, after state legislators from around the country made pilgrimages to Arizona to see the Republican state Senate's process there."

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "One hundred years ago this week, The New York World began to publish a 21-part explosive exposé on the inner workings of the Ku Klux Klan.... I was struck by just how resilient Klan ideology has been in the years since The World exposed the group's systems and rituals; its ideas have been repackaged and dressed up -- or, disrobed, as it were -- but the core tenets remain the same. I was even struck by how many of the same tactics are still being used to preserve white supremacy and subjugate racial, ethnic and religious minorities in this country.... By the early 1920s, [the Klan's] leaders had moved on from primarily anti-Black hatred. To grow the brand, they had to grow the ring of bias.... Furthermore, the Klan realized, much as Trump did, that hate was an industry and that the right -- or wrong -- man could milk it for profit.... The core ideology of the Klan lives on in a more palatable form.... One hundred years later, pointy-hat white supremacy has evolved into soft-shoe white supremacy: same goal, less gauche."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization, was ousted by the group's board on Monday night over a report revealing that he had advised former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on how to handle sex harassment allegations. Mr. David, the group's first Black president, was terminated 'for cause' in separate votes by the boards of the Human Rights Campaign and its affiliated foundation after the two boards held a joint meeting. Beyond two abstentions from the foundation board, the votes were unanimous.... Mr. David, who had worked as a lawyer in Mr. Cuomo's office, was identified in the [Letitia] James report as involved in efforts to undermine Mr. Cuomo's first accuser, Lindsey Boylan."

Ali Soufan in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the terrorism era is far from over. A new, more dangerous phase has begun. Despite the Taliban's protestations to the contrary, al-Qaeda remains fused to the militants running Afghanistan, by an oath made by Osama bin Laden, and twice renewed by his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In May, a U.N. monitoring group said of al-Qaeda that 'it would be difficult, if not impossible, to separate it from its Taliban allies.' Al-Qaeda is hardly the only terrorist group with a presence in Afghanistan. Most prominently, the local Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, is a deadly threat, as shown by the horrific bombings at the Kabul airport last month. Afghanistan is on the verge of again becoming a hub for terrorism. Even before the Taliban fully took over, various extremist groups were running training camps there, the way they did before 9/11.... Afghanistan is now far from the only country in the region where extremist groups hold sway.... There is little the United States can do about it, because as these groups expand their power, America appears to be in retreat. Over the past decade or so, the United States has systematically dismantled its influence across most of the region's flash points."

"Always Look on the Bright Side." Miriam Jordan & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Throughout the United States, Americans across the political spectrum are stepping forward to welcome Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort in one of the largest mass mobilizations of volunteers since the end of the Vietnam War.... In a nation that is polarized on issues from abortion to the coronavirus pandemic, Afghan refugees have cleaved a special place for many Americans, especially those who worked for U.S. forces and NGOs, or who otherwise aided the U.S. effort to free Afghanistan from the Taliban. The moment stands in contrast to the last four years when the country, led by a president who restricted immigration and enacted a ban on travel from several majority-Muslim countries, was split over whether to welcome or shun people seeking safe haven." PD Pepe reminded us in yesterday's Comments of Monty Python's ironical admonition, but in fact there are a few bright lights dotting our shameful horizon. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. The Freedom Phone, a Smartphone for Dimwits. Jack Nicas of the New York Times: There is "a growing right-wing tech industry taking on the challenge [or providing services for so-called conservatives], relying more on their conservative customers' distaste for Silicon Valley than expertise or experience. There are cloud providers hosting right-wing websites, a so-called free-speech video site competing with YouTube and at least seven conservative social networks trying to compete with Facebook." The story profiles an obnoxious twit named Eric Finman, who introduced -- with little preparation & a crap Chinese android phone -- the "Freedom Phone." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "More than 40 million cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in the United States, according to a New York Times database.... Vaccines are effective in preventing severe disease and death, but 47 percent of Americans are not fully vaccinated.... No U.S. state has more than 70 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to federal data.... After reading a list of people who died in his state from causes related to the disease since Friday, [Gov. Jim] Justice [R-W.Va.] pleaded with the unvaccinated people of West Virginia to get inoculated.... Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that unvaccinated Americans should avoid travel. But ... T.S.A. checkpoints recorded 2.13 million travelers through U.S. airports on Friday, close to the number on the Friday before Labor Day two years ago." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Never realized asterisks were Chinese characters. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. Forrest is rightly concerned that MAGAs won't be able to figure out that the billboard advertises the $7.50 buffet.

Ohio. Jake Zuckerman of the Ohio Capital Journal: "A Butler County judge sided with a local hospital and reversed a previous court order forcing it to honor a prescription of ivermectin, which infectious disease experts have warned against as a COVID-19 treatment, for a patient who has spent weeks in the ICU with the disease. After two days of testimony and arguments, Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster issued an order Monday siding with West Chester Hospital. He said the hospital bears no duty to honor a prescription written for Jeffrey Smith, 51, for ivermectin, a drug used as a dewormer in horses and an anti-parasitic in humans.... Julie Smith [-- who brought the original suit on behalf of her husband Jeffrey --] testified that neither she nor her husband were vaccinated against COVID-19. She said it was 'experimental,' so she didn't trust it." Read on. The doctor who prescribed ivermectin for Jeffrey is not board-certified, hasn't worked in a hospital for ten years, and has neither seen Jeffrey nor reviewed his medical records. But hey.

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Oh, Could It Be Obstruction of Justice? Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Minnesota State Patrol troopers deleted text messages and emails shortly after responding to protests that erupted over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, according to a major who testified in federal court in July. The testimony was included in court documents that were released on Friday as part of a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed last year on behalf of journalists who said they had been assaulted by law enforcement officers while covering the protests. 'The purge was neither accidental, automated nor routine,' lawyers with the A.C.L.U. said in a court memo on Friday, adding that no one had been able to review the deleted communications to see if they might have been relevant to the case."

Virginia. Denise Lavoie of the AP: "A towering statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, is set to come down on Wednesday, more than 130 years after it was built as a tribute to a Civil War hero who is now widely seen as a symbol of racial injustice, state officials said Monday. 'Virginia's largest monument to the Confederate insurrection will come down this week,' Gov. Ralph Northam said in news release on Monday. 'This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth.' The imposing, 21-foot (6.4-meter) tall bronze likeness of Lee on a horse sits atop a granite pedestal nearly twice that high in the grassy center of a traffic circle on Richmond's famed Monument Avenue.... The Northam administration has said it would seek public input on the statue's future."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Frud Bezhan of Radio Azadi in Informed Comment: "The Taliban has imposed a new dress code and gender segregation for women at private universities and colleges in Afghanistan, in line with a decree issued to educational institutions and obtained by RFE/RL. All female students, teachers, and staff must wear an Islamic abaya robe and niqab that covers the hair, body, and most of the face, according to the extensive document issued by the Taliban-run Education Ministry on September 5. The garments must be black, the text added, and women must also wear gloves to ensure their hands are covered. Classes must also be segregated by gender -- or at least divided by a curtain -- according to the order, which added that female students must be taught only by other women. But it added, though, that 'elderly men' of good character could fill in if there were no female teachers. Since seizing power after the collapse of the internationally recognized government in Kabul last month, the Taliban has said 'women and girls will have all their rights within Islam.'"

Australia. Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Damien Cave of the New York Times: "After years of casting doubt on climate change and attacking politicians who favored corrective action, Rupert Murdoch's media outlets in his native Australia are planning an editorial campaign next month advocating a carbon-neutral future. Depending on its content, the project, described by executives at Mr. Murdoch's News Corp on Monday, could be a breakthrough that provides political cover for Australia's conservative government to end its refusal to set ambitious emission targets. If sustained, it could also put pressure on Fox News and other Murdoch-owned outlets in the United States and Britain that have been hostile to climate science."

Belarus. Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "A Belarusian court has sentenced the senior opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava to 11 years in prison, punishing one of the most prominent opponents of the country's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. Kalesnikava, a leader of the opposition's coordination council, was one of three women last year who united to lead an uprising in which tens of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in the largest protests in the country's modern history."

Mexico. Goodbye, Columbus. Adela Suliman & Sofia Mateus of the Washington Post: "A statue of divisive European explorer Christopher Columbus that was on prominent display in Mexico City will be replaced with a figure of an Indigenous woman, the city's mayor said this weekend, as the country becomes the latest to reckon with the public commemoration of its past. The looming Columbus figure had stood tall on the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard for over 100 years, but on Sunday the mayor of the capital city, Claudia Sheinbaum, said it was time for a change of landscape and to make way for a monument that delivers 'social justice.'"

News Lede

New York Times: "Adlai E. Stevenson 3d, a scion of generations of Illinois Democrats, who shared the names and presidential ambitions of his father and great-grandfather but not their political successes, serving a decade in the Senate and losing two races for governor, died on Monday at his home in Chicago. He was 90."

The Commentariat -- September 6, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is exploring 'all options' to challenge Texas's restrictive abortion law, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday, as he vowed to provide support to abortion clinics that are 'under attack' in the state and to protect those seeking and providing reproductive health services. The move by the nation's top law enforcement official comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas abortion statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. The court's action stands as the most serious threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling establishing a woman's right to abortion, in nearly 50 years."

"Always Look on the Bright Side." Miriam Jordan & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Throughout the United States, Americans across the political spectrum are stepping forward to welcome Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort in one of the largest mass mobilizations of volunteers since the end of the Vietnam War.... In a nation that is polarized on issues from abortion to the coronavirus pandemic, Afghan refugees have cleaved a special place for many Americans, especially those who worked for U.S. forces and NGOs, or who otherwise aided the U.S. effort to free Afghanistan from the Taliban. The moment stands in contrast to the last four years when the country, led by a president who restricted immigration and enacted a ban on travel from several majority-Muslim countries, was split over whether to welcome or shun people seeking safe haven." PD Pepe reminds us in today's Comments of Monty Python's ironical admonition, but in fact there are a few bright lights dotting our shameful horizon.

The Freedom Phone, a Smartphone for Dimwits. Jack Nicas of the New York Times: There is "a growing right-wing tech industry taking on the challenge [or providing services for so-called conservatives], relying more on their conservative customers' distaste for Silicon Valley than expertise or experience. There are cloud providers hosting right-wing websites, a so-called free-speech video site competing with YouTube and at least seven conservative social networks trying to compete with Facebook." The story profiles an obnoxious twit named Eric Finman, who introduced -- with little preparation & a crap Chinese android phone -- the "Freedom Phone."

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Marie: I hoped I would not have use for this Labor Day illustration again.~~~ Happy Labor Day. P.S. No More Jobless Benefits. Yeganeh Torbati, et al., of the New York Times: "More than 7 million out-of-work people across the United States are set to lose all of their jobless benefits this week as three federal programs expire on Monday, in what several experts described as one of the largest and most abrupt ends to government aid in U.S. history. In addition to the more than 7 million people who will lose all their benefits, nearly 3 million more people will lose a $300 weekly boost to their state unemployment benefits." The Hill's story is here.

Anne Barnard of the New York Times: "As residents scrambled to clean up and assess damage from catastrophic flash floods that swept the Northeast last week, President Biden prepared to visit hard-hit areas in New York and New Jersey, where he will confront political ferment that is growing over the climate-driven disaster. The lethal deluge from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which killed more than 45 people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, has amped up battles that began in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy over how to slow climate change and protect communities. The floods are already sharpening debate over whether city, state and national leaders are doing enough -- even those who, like Mr. Biden, publicly champion strong measures." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'd like to know how President Biden is supposed to take many effective measures against climate change when Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema & all 50 Republican Senators think either that climate change is a hoax or that the best way to deal with it is to drill for more oil, send shale slurry through pipelines from Canada to Lake Charles and frack their way through the Midwest. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Global warming is affecting people's health — and world leaders need to address the climate crisis now as it can't wait until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, editors of over 230 medical journals warned Sunday evening.... This is the first time so many publications have come together to issue such a joint statement to world leaders, underscoring the severity of the situation -- with the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet and the British Medical Journal among those issuing the warning. Ahead of this November's UN general assembly and the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the journals warned: 'The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5C and to restore nature.'"

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The U.S. military's top officer asserted last week that a drone attack on a sedan near the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, was a 'righteous strike' that foiled a plot by the Islamic State in the waning hours of the immense evacuation effort. The officer, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that secondary explosions after the drone strike last Sunday supported the military's conclusion that the car contained explosive s-- either suicide vests or a large bomb. General Milley said that military planners took proper precautions beforehand to limit risks to civilians nearby. But the military's preliminary analysis of the strike and the circumstances surrounding it offer much less conclusive evidence to support those claims, military officials acknowledge. It also raises questions about an attack that friends and family members of the car's driver say killed 10 people, seven of them children. So far, there is no ironclad proof that explosives were in the car."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Just a few days shy of his 80th birthday, [Sen. Bernie] Sanders was back on the campaign trail last week, trekking across Republican-leaning districts in the Midwest to cap off a blitz of local television interviews and opinion essays placed in traditionally conservative news outlets. But this time, instead of pursuing a higher political office, he was campaigning for a legislative legacy: a $3.5 trillion package that, if passed, would amount to the most significant expansion of the social safety net since the Great Society of the 1960s.... It is Mr. Sanders who will oversee the drafting of the legislation in the Senate, which Democrats plan to steer through Congress using fast-track budget reconciliation rules, which shield it from a filibuster but will require the support of every Democrat in the Senate and nearly every Democrat in the House. Among the steepest challenges will be persuading conservative-leaning Democrats, such as Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, to drop their reservations about the plan's cost and support it."

Laurence Tribe, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the federal government has -- and should use -- its own powers, including criminal prosecution, to prevent the [Texas abortion] law from being enforced and to reduce its chilling effects.... There are ... solutions that already exist in federal law. Attorney General Merrick Garland has the power, under federal civil rights laws, to go after any vigilantes who employ the Texas law to seek bounties from abortion providers or others who help women obtain abortions.... Section 242 of the federal criminal code makes it a crime for those who, 'under color of law,' willfully deprive individuals 'of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.' This statute -- originally designed to go after the Ku Klux Klan -- fits the Texas situation perfectly.... Section 241 of the federal criminal code makes it an even more serious crime for 'two or more persons' to agree to 'oppress, threaten, or intimidate' anyone 'in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States....' In addition to these criminal provisions, there are civil actions available under federal law, including the ability to seek and obtain court orders to halt the illegal state scheme."

Guardian & Agencies: "Divers searching for the source of an oil spill spotted in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida have identified a broken pipeline on the ocean floor as the possible cause. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued on Sunday evening that the broken pipeline, which is around 30cm (1ft) in diameter, did not belong to them. The company said it is working with the US Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the ruptured pipeline. Divers also identified two 10cm-wide (4in) pipelines that were open and apparently abandoned. The company's statement did not make clear if oil was leaking from the two smaller pipelines, but satellite images reviewed by the Associated Press on Saturday appeared to show at least three different slicks in the same area, the largest drifting more than a dozen miles (more than 19km) eastward along the Gulf coast."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci on Sunday said the Pfizer-BioNTech shot will likely be the only approved COVID-19 vaccine booster by Sept. 20, the date the Biden administration previously recommended for beginning to administer booster shots for all fully vaccinated individuals.... [Fauci said] that Moderna will need some additional time for appropriate approval."

Florida. A Cautionary Tale. Saundra Amrhein, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Florida appears to be turning the corner from a coronavirus rampage that fueled record new infections, hospitalizations and deaths, its residents and leaders are surveying the damage left from more than 7,000 deaths reported since July Fourth and the scars inflicted by feuds over masks and vaccines. New infections were averaging more than 22,000 a day in the last days of August but have fallen to about 19,000.... In late June and early July, the state averaged fewer than 30 deaths a day.... Recovery could prove fleeting: Holiday weekends such as Labor Day have acted as a tinderbox for earlier outbreaks, and late summer marks the return of students to college campuses.... Epidemiologists say Florida taught the nation important lessons as the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus accounts for nearly all new cases. Even with vaccination rates slightly above the national average, Florida provided ideal conditions for the virus to flourish. Businesses have largely reopened. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has waged high-profile fights to stop mask mandates at schools and to shield businesses from fines for allowing unvaccinated and unmasked patrons." A related (September 4) AP story is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Taliban on Monday seized Panjshir province, a restive mountain region that was the final holdout of resistance forces in the country, cementing its total control over Afghanistan a week after U.S. forces departed the country. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the Islamist group had 'completely conquered' the Panjshir Valley. 'Our last efforts for establishing peace and security in the country have given results,' he said. Taliban officials shared a photo on social media Monday that purported to show their fighters taking control of local administrative buildings." The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Melissa Eddy & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "Around 1,000 people, including dozens of American citizens and Afghans holding visas to the United States or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for the fifth day on Sunday as they awaited clearance for the departure from the Taliban. The holdup reflects the challenges of foreign governments working with the group, which has yet to form a government. Negotiations to allow the planes to depart, involving officials of the Taliban, the United States and Qatar, have dragged on for days, leaving the evacuees in an increasingly precarious limbo, according to representatives of organizations trying to get them to safety. The plight of the passengers hoping to leave the country from the airport in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif mirrors that of thousands of people who were unable to board planes from Kabul, the capital, after Taliban militants took the city on the eve of the U.S. troop withdrawal." A BBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Joshua Posaner of Politico: "Germany wants talks with the Taliban on flying its remaining local workers out of Afghanistan, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday. 'We need to talk to the Taliban about how we can continue to get people who worked for Germany out of the country and to safety,' Merkel said during a visit to the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. On Friday, EU foreign ministers agreed an outreach plan with the Taliban but that doesn't mean the bloc is about to recognize them as the legitimate Afghan government."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Michael K. Williams, the actor best known for his role as Omar Little, a stickup man with a sharp wit and a sawed-off shotgun in the HBO series 'The Wire,' was found dead on Monday in his home in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the police said. He was 54.... The death is being investigated, and the city's medical examiner will determine the cause."

AccuWeather: "Even though [Hurricane] Larry is forecast to remain well east of the United States, the powerful hurricane is expected to pass close to Bermuda and could make landfall in Atlantic Canada, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. But, impacts from Larry will be far-reaching even though the storm may stay hundreds of miles away from the Atlantic beaches from Florida to Maine. Larry appeared as a very healthy and dangerous Category 3 hurricane on Monday touting a large eye and maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h). The hurricane was moving to the northwest at 10 mph (16 km/h). As of Monday morning, Larry was located 1,015 miles (1,630 km) to the southeast of Bermuda."

AP: &"A man wearing full body armor fatally shot four people, including a mother and the 3-month-old baby she was cradling, and engaged in a massive gunfight with police and deputies before he was wounded and surrendered, a Florida sheriff said Sunday. An 11-year-old girl who was shot seven times survived. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that even after 33-year-old Bryan Riley was arrested Sunday morning, he was so aggressive that he tried to wrestle a gun from police as he lay on his hospital gurney. Judd said Riley, a former Marine who served as a sharpshooter in both Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to have targeted his victims at random and appeared to be suffering from mental health issues. Judd said Riley's girlfriend told authorities Riley had been slowly unraveling for weeks and repeatedly told her that he could communicate directly with God."

New York Times: "Jean-Paul Belmondo, the rugged actor whose disdainful eyes, boxer's nose, sensual lips and cynical outlook made him the idolized personification of youthful alienation in the French New Wave,most particularly in his iconic performance as an existential killer in Jean-Luc Godard's 'Breathless,' died on Monday at his home in Paris. He was 88."

The Commentariat -- September 5, 2021

Zeke Miller & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. Biden will visit ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down, the White House said Saturday. He will be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a separate event before joining the president at the Pentagon, the White House said. Harris will travel with her spouse, Doug Emhoff."

Robert Burns of the AP: "Top U.S. national security officials will see how the failed war in Afghanistan may be reshaping America’s relationships in the Middle East as they meet with key allies in the Persian Gulf and Europe this week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are traveling to the Gulf separately, leaving Sunday. They will talk with leaders who are central to U.S. efforts to prevent a resurgence of extremist threats in Afghanistan, some of whom were partners in the 20-year fight against the Taliban. Together, the Austin and Blinken trips are meant to reassure Gulf allies that President Joe Biden’s decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan in order to focus more on other security challenges like China and Russia does not foretell an abandonment of U.S. partners in the Middle East."

Julie Watson & Bernard Condon of the AP: "Veteran-led rescue groups say the Biden administration’s estimate that no more than 200 U.S. citizens were left behind in Afghanistan is too low and also overlooks hundreds of other people they consider to be equally American: permanent legal residents with green cards. Some groups say they continue to be contacted by American citizens in Afghanistan who did not register with the U.S. Embassy before it closed and by others not included in previous counts because they expressed misgivings about leaving loved ones behind. As for green card holders, they have lived in the U.S. for years, paid taxes, become part of their communities and often have children who are U.S. citizens. Yet the administration says it does not have an estimate on the number of such permanent residents who are in Afghanistan and desperately trying to escape Taliban rule."

MoDo Notices the Great American Debacle. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “One coast is burning. The other is under water. In between, anti-abortion vigilantes may soon rampage across gunslinging territory.... America is reeling backward, strangled by the past, nasty and uncaring.... We feel the return of dread.... With a memory like a goldfish, America circles its bowl, returning to where we have been, unable to move forward, condemned to repeat a past we should escape.” Etc., etc. etc. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Oh, wait, wait; that's not MoDo.

The “Great Reassessment.” Heather Long, et al., of the Washington Post: “There are 10 million job openings, yet more than 8.4 million unemployed are still actively looking for work.... This weekend, the employment crisis will hit an inflection point as many of the unemployed lose $300 in federal weekly benefits and millions of gig workers and self-employed lose unemployment aid entirely.... There is a massive reallocation underway in the economy that’s triggering a 'Great Reassessment' of work in America from both the employer and employee perspectives. Workers are shifting where they want to work — and how. For some, this is a personal choice. The pandemic and all of the anxieties, lockdowns and time at home have changed people. Some want to work remotely forever. Others want to spend more time with family. And others want a more flexible or more meaningful career path. It’s the 'you only live once' mentality on steroids. Meanwhile, companies are beefing up automation and redoing entire supply chains and office setups. The reassessment is playing out in all facets of the labor market this year....”

What Hillary Knew. Colbert King of the Washington Post: “While celebrating the Supreme Court’s June 27, 2016, decision rejecting of two restrictive provisions in a Texas House bill regulating abortion, [Hillary] Clinton warned in a campaign release that the fight for the right to access health care, and for women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures, was 'far from over.... The fact that our next president could appoint as many as three or four justices in the next four years' is a striking reminder 'that we can’t take rulings like today’s for granted.'... 'Just consider Donald Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive nominee. The man who could be president has said there should be some form of ‘punishment’ for women seeking abortions. He pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. And last year, he said he’d shut down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood.'”

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Leaders of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are calling out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for making 'baseless' claims regarding ... Donald Trump’s involvement in that day’s violence. In a joint statement Saturday, committee chairman Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized a Thursday interview by McCarthy, in which he said the FBI had concluded Trump had 'no involvement' in the insurrection.... 'We’ve received answers and briefings from the relevant entities, and it’s been made clear to us that reports of such a conclusion are baseless,' they continued. Thompson and Cheney also pointedly noted that McCarthy’s statements — including remarks he gave on the House floor on Jan. 13, a week after the insurrection — 'are inconsistent with his recent comments.'... On Jan. 13, McCarthy said in a House floor speech that Trump 'bears responsibility' for the Capitol attack and even floated the idea of censuring Trump....” CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Thompson & Cheney's statement, via the House.

Jonathan Greenblatt, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a CNN opinion piece, says the organization was wrong to oppose "the location of the then-proposed Park51 Islamic Community Center & Mosque near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan." He says it's important to make this admission now, when anti-Muslim conspiracy theories & other expressions of hate are being used to discourage the settlement of Afghan refugees.

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: “Richard B. Spencer, the most infamous summer resident in [Whitefish, Montana], once boasted that he stood at the vanguard of a white nationalist movement emboldened by ... Donald J. Trump. Things have changed. 'I have bumped into him, and he runs...,' said Tanya Gersh, a real estate agent targeted in an antisemitic hate campaign that Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, unleashed in 2016 after Mr. Spencer’s mother made online accusations against Ms. Gersh. Leaders in Whitefish say Mr. Spencer, who once ran his National Policy Institute from his mother’s $3 million summer house here, is now an outcast in this resort town in the Rocky Mountains, unable to get a table at many of its restaurants. His organization has dissolved. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him, and he is facing trial next month in Charlottesville, Va., over his role in the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march there, but says he cannot afford a lawyer. The turn of events is no accident. Whitefish, a mostly liberal, affluent community nestled in a county that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, rose up and struck back. Residents who joined with state officials, human rights groups and synagogues say their bipartisan counteroffensive could hold lessons for others....”

The New York Times features on its front page links to three stories about cryptocurrencies:

     ~~~ Eric Lipton & Ephrat Livni: "The boom in companies offering cryptocurrency loans and high-yield deposit accounts is disrupting the banking industry and leaving regulators scrambling to catch up." ~~~

     ~~~ Ephrat Livni & Eric Lipton: "The development of Bitcoin and thousands of other cryptocurrencies in a little over a decade has changed the definition of money — and spawned a parallel universe of alternative financial services, allowing crypto businesses to move into traditional banking territory. Here’s what is happening in the fast-growing crypto finance industry, a sector that has officials in Washington sounding alarm bells." ~~~

     ~~~ Why Bitcoin Is Really Bad for the Planet. Jon Huang, et al., of the New York Times: "Cryptocurrencies have emerged as one of the most captivating, yet head-scratching, investments in the world. They soar in value. They crash. They’ll change the world, their fans claim, by displacing traditional currencies like the dollar, rupee or ruble. They’re named after dog memes. And in the process of simply existing, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, one of the most popular, use astonishing amounts of electricity.... The process of creating Bitcoin to spend or trade consumes around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million. That usage, which is close to half-a-percent of all the electricity consumed in the world, has increased about tenfold in just the past five years.... Much of the electrical energy gets consumed ... [in] the maintenance of the vast Bitcoin public ledger.... The system wastes energy by design." MB: Like Robert Frost's milkweed pod, "... waste was of the essence of the scheme."

Sarah Kaplan & Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post: "Nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in a county hit by a weather disaster in the past three months, according to a new Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations. On top of that, 64 percent live in places that experienced a multiday heat wave — phenomena that are not officially deemed disasters but are considered the most dangerous form of extreme weather. The expanding reach of climate-fueled disasters, a trend that has been increasing at least since 2018, shows the extent to which a warming planet has already transformed Americans’ lives. At least 388 people in the United States have died due to hurricanes, floods, heat waves and wildfires since June, according to media reports and government records." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oddly enough, even though I don't live in one of those counties, I got hit by the dregs of Hurricane Ida as her heavy rains knocked over a huge tree. The tree fell on my power lines & knocked two smaller trees onto the lines, too. The power company came out with tree trimmers & freed the lines, but I still will have to have the half-fallen tree trunks cut down. The point is, you don't have to be part of the statistics to suffer the consequences.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Ken W. contributes this post by an anonymous doctor. S/he must speak for tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other hospital workers. MB: I feel just as this doctor does, but s/he and others who experience the heartache first-hand must feel it a thousand times more vividly than I do. Donald Trump's limp & confusing Covid response, including his discouragement of mask-wearing, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. But at least he did what he knew how to do (shout at subordinates) to facilitate rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines. Now the mini-Trumps like Ron DeSantis & Greg Abbott, along with millions of Trump's nitwit followers who refuse to take the vaccine, refuse to wear masks, and actively promote unsafe health practices are all murderers, too.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.

Florida. There's This. Adriana Licon & Kelli Kennedy of the AP: "Florida is in the grip of its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, a disaster driven by the highly contagious delta variant. While Florida’s vaccination rate is slightly higher than the national average, the Sunshine State has an outsize population of elderly people, who are especially vulnerable to the virus; a vibrant party scene; and a Republican governor who has taken a hard line against mask requirements, vaccine passports and business shutdowns." ~~~

~~~ AND This. Debbie Lord of Cox Media: "Florida businesses, government entities and schools will soon face fines of up to $5,000 fines for asking a customer or visitor to show proof they have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. A bill signed in May by Gov. Ron DeSantis will allow the state to issue fines beginning Sept. 16 if people are asked to show proof they have received a COVID-19 vaccine before being allowed in businesses, schools or government buildings."

Way Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Pope Francis is encouraging countries to welcome Afghan refugees who are seeking a new life. During his appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis also prayed that displaced persons inside Afghanistan receive assistance and protection."

Afghanistan. Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "Taliban fighters violently suppressed a women’s protest Saturday in Kabul, while 70 miles to the north ex-Afghan army and militia members battled the Islamist group in Panjshir Province, as pockets of anti-Taliban resistance continued to flare up. Several of the women, who were demanding inclusion in the yet-to-be named Taliban government, said they were beaten by Taliban fighters — some of the first concrete evidence of harsh treatment of women by the group."